AQA Psychology A Level Paper Three: Schizophrenia

Phil Gorman

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781000066128
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Abnormal Psychology
• Index: Psychology

The Extending Knowledge and Skills series is a fresh approach to A Level Psychology, designed for greater demands of the new AQA specification and assessment, and especially written to stretch and challenge students aiming for higher grades.

Dealing with the optional topic of AQA's Paper 3: Schizophrenia, this book is deliberately laid out with the assessment objectives in mind, from AO1: Knowledge and understanding material, followed by AO2: Application material, to AO3: Evaluation and analysis material. Providing the most in-depth, accessible coverage available of individual topics in Paper 3, the text is packed full of pedagogical features, including:

• Question Time features to ensure that the reader is consistently challenged throughout the book.
• New research sections clearly distinct within each chapter to ensure readers have access to the most cutting-edge material.
• A clear focus on the assessment objectives for the paper topic to ensure readers know when and where to apply knowledge.
• The use of example answers with examiner style comments to provide greater insight into how to/how not to answer exam questions.

An engaging, relevant and challenging text that broadens student understanding beyond that of the average textbook, this is the essential companion for any student taking the AQA A Level Paper 3 in Psychology.

Chapter 1

Introduction

The aims of this book

This book is intended for A Level Psychology students studying the AQA syllabus and has been developed in order to provide further elaboration for the main Paper 3 topics. This particular book will deal with the optional topic of Schizophrenia from section C of Paper 3.

The book has been deliberately laid out with the assessment objectives in mind, so you will find AO1 – Knowledge and Understanding material first, followed by AO2 – Application material, and then AO3 – Evaluation and analysis material.

Each of the assessment objectives will have an injunction/command word or some other indication that will give you an idea of the particular objective being assessed and how you are supposed to answer the question.

AO1 will include some of the following injunctions/commands words that will indicate you are required to show knowledge and understanding:

Compare – identify similarities and differences.

Identify – Name or state what it is.

Name – Identify using a technical term.

Describe – Provide an account of.

Distinguish – Explain how two things differ.

Explain – Show what the purpose or reason for something is.

Give – Provide an answer from memory or from the information shown.

Outline – Provide the main characteristics.

State – Clearly set out.

What is meant by – Provide a definition.

AO2 will open with some kind of stem, which might be in the form of some information that you will need to refer to in your answer. For example:

Question 1

Studies have shown a relationship between early childhood trauma and the development of the positive symptoms of schizophrenia, particularly hallucinations. However, no such link has been found for the negative symptoms such as avolition.

Explain these findings with reference to the influence of both nature and nurture on schizophrenia?

Alternatively, AO2 questions may provide a description of a scenario with the names of some fictional character(s) who are involved in a situation that is relevant to an area of psychology. You could then be asked to explain this situation using knowledge derived from the relevant topic.

Question 2

Ricardo was born on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola but is now living in Britain. He has recently been having some problems with his doctor who he feels is trying to hurt him with the medication the doctor has been trying to get him to take. The doctor seems to be concerned about Ricardo saying that he is able to speak to dead relatives, but Ricardo can’t understand why that is a problem.

Explain why Ricardo may have been given a diagnosis of schizophrenia by the doctor. How might cultural bias have affected this diagnosis?

Questions with a stem like this, which then ask you to refer to the stem in some way, are looking to assess AO2, so you need to ensure that you make clear reference to the stem by using some of the information as part of your answer. You will see examples of these in the coming chapters with some sample answers to show you how to deal with them.

AO3 will include some of the following injunctions/commands words that will indicate you are required to demonstrate skills of analysis and evaluation.

Discuss – Present strengths and weaknesses of a topic (in 16-mark questions, this can also require some element of description and can be taken as similar to describe and evaluate).

Evaluate – Make a judgement about a topic with reference to evidence.

One of the important features of this book and other books in the series is that there is a clear emphasis on the kind of skills required for the A Level Psychology exam, so the plenary sections use questions that are focused on exam skills and, at the end of every chapter, there are some exam-style questions with advice on how to answer them and examples of the kinds of answers that could be given to gain very high marks. Key words will be presented in bold and placed in a glossary at the end of each chapter, to make it easier to follow what these words mean and be able to use them more readily yourself.

Further features include an emphasis on new research that is both up to date and challenging, so there will be topics that don’t just follow the usual pattern but will make you think again about the kinds of topics that you are studying.

The book also uses the technique of interleaving by bringing back topics from earlier studies to reinforce and consolidate earlier learning. All too often topics that have been studied earlier can be forgotten and it has been shown that by regularly revisiting these topics, it is possible to remember much more easily than by simply trying to cram them all in at the end.

What is mental health?

Mental health is as important as physical health for our feeling of well-being and stability, it includes a range of social, psychological and emotional factors that have an enormous effect on our daily lives and can either help or hinder our ability to function at work, within our families and in our relationships with friends or loved ones.

Unfortunately, when people talk about their health, they all too often are talking about their physical health without enough recognition being given to mental health. However, when you ask someone how they are (as we often do), they will often refer to factors that are closely related to their mental health, even if they don’t immediately recognise it. People might say things like ‘not too bad, but I do feel a bit run down today’ or ‘I’m OK, just got a bit of a headache’, etc. Many of the symptoms that someone might put down to their physical health could just as well be related to their mental health.

These are some of the signs that someone might be suffering problems with their mental health:

• Problems with sleeping.

• A change in eating habits (could be eating more or less).

• An increase in smoking, drinking or drug-taking.

• A loss of energy and motivation or feeling like nothing matters.

• Withdrawing from usual activities.

• Having severe mood swings from very high to very low.

• Experiencing unexplained aches and pains.

• Having persistent thoughts, particularly about things that aren’t true or hearing or seeing things that aren’t there.

• Having fights or serious disagreements with people or thinking of harming yourself or others.

• Feeling confused, angry, upset, scared or very forgetful.

Why do we study schizophrenia?

Having taught the topic of schizophrenia many times over the last couple of decades, I can remember introducing the topic to one group of students in a very typical way, by getting them to tell me the first five words that come into their heads when they heard the word schizophrenia. I was expecting some of the usual confusion that surrounds this subject with possibly some suggesting that it involved having multiple personalities, which of course it does not. However, when I asked the first student for their first word, what they said was murder! I was taken aback by this initially, but I quickly realised that I should not be, as one of the most common misconceptions about the disorder is that it makes people violent, aggressive or dangerous. This view of the disorder is perpetuated by the media, with stories about individuals who have attacked someone because vo...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Illustrations
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Classification and diagnosis of schizophrenia
• Chapter 3: Biological explanations for schizophrenia
• Chapter 4: Psychological explanations for schizophrenia
• Chapter 5: Biological treatments for schizophrenia
• Chapter 6: Psychological therapies for schizophrenia
• Chapter 7: Interactionist approach to schizophrenia
• Index
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