HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND INTERVENTIONS (Free Access)

LIFESPAN DEVELOPMENT (Read: Development Through the Lifespan)

  • Lifespan development is the scientific study of courses of growth, change and stability that occurs throughout the human lifespan.
    • Interdisciplinary in nature
  • Key development issues
    • Nature versus nurture
      • Nature viewpoint meant that development was based on natural progression in terms of heredity and genetic makeup and evolution. 
        • It rejected any environmental influences.
      • Nurture viewpoint was that development was a result of only environmental influences and nothing is because of natural impulses.
      • The resolution is that development across the lifespan is a result of both nature and nurture.
    • Stability vs change
      • The debate was whether development is continuous over time or is it stable. The conclusion was that it is both. 
        • In different times, development is constantly changing such as during adolescence and others, during early adulthood it is stable.
    • Change maybe qualitative or quantitative
      • Quantitative change is change in number or amount such as in height, weight or vocabulary.
    • Qualitative change is change in kind, structure or organization, such as the change from non-verbal to verbal communication. 
    • Continuity vs Discontinuity
      • Continuity view suggests that change is uniform and gradual
      • Discontinuity theory suggests that change can be rapid with qualitatively different stages evident across the life span
    • Critical vs Sensitive periods:
      • Critical periods: if a specific event doesn’t occur at a specific time, then it will have an impact on development. E.g. Imprinting in Konrad Lorenz and duckings
      • Imprinting: is an instinct where during a critical period in early development, a young geese forms an attachment to its the first moving object and follows it around.
        • This is automatic and irreversible.
      •  However, critical periods are not absolute or fixed but can be changed to an extent.
      • Therefore, rather than looking critical periods when development takes place, the focus shifted to sensitive periods.
      • Sensitive period is the time where if an individual is presented with certain types of stimuli then they would be better at learning or performing certain kinds of behaviour.
  • Domains of Development 
    • Physical development refers to growth of body and brain and change or stability in sensory capacities, motor skills and health.
    • Cognitive development refers to change or stability in mental abilities such as learning, attention, memory, language, thinking, reasoning and creativity.
    • Psychosocial Development refers to change and stability in emotions, personality and social relationships. 
    • Moral Development is the process through which children develop proper attitudes and behaviors toward other people in society, based on social and cultural norms, rules, and laws. 
  • Periods of Development – to meet the needs of understanding, development is divided into periods.
    • Stage                                               Approximate Age
    • Prenatal                                         Conception to birth
    • Infancy                                          Birth to 3 years
    • Early childhood                            3 years to 6 years
    • Middle & Late childhood             6-12 years
    • Adolescence                                             12-20 years
    • Young adulthood                          20-40 years
    • Middle adulthood                         40-65 years
    • Late adulthood                              65 years to death
    •  Prenatal stage is when the baby is still in the womb and is not formed yet. 
      • It involves a rapid multiplication of cells to form a complex organism in an approx. 9 month period.
    • Infancy is a time of dependence. From birth to 2 years
      • For two years the baby is involved in acquiring psychological abilities such as language, thought, and motor coordination
    • Early childhood is during the preschool years from 2-6 years 
      • Children become self-sufficient, develop goal directed behaviour, and play with peers. 
    • Middle & Late childhood correspond to the elementary school years. Age 6-11(puberty) 
      • Fundamental skills of reading and writing are acquired, achievement becomes a central theme. Formal introduction into one’s culture.
    • Adolescence involves a rapid growth spurt –physical and sexual. Age Puberty- 20 years
      • Issues of independence and identity
      • Thought becomes more abstract and logical
      • Understanding one’s sexuality becomes important.
    • Early adulthood involves establishing financial and individual independence. Age, 20-40 years
    • Middle adulthood involves increasing individual’s financial and developing social responsibility. Age, 40-65 years.
    • Late adulthood involves developing and changing to new rules and dealing with loss of friends and family members including spouse. Age 65>
  • Principles of Development – Provides a theoretical lens to the various aspects within the domains involved in the study of lifespan development
    • Development is lifelong 
    • Development involves both gain and loss 
    • Development is Multidirectional: meaning that development takes place in different speeds. 
    • Development is multidimensional: meaning that it moves in different domain, simultaneously.
    • Development is plastic: meaning that it can change whenever and is modifiable 
    • Development is influenced by the historical and cultural context
  • Individual differences: Differences in characteristics, influences or developmental outcomes. They are based on
    • Heredity and environment
    • Major contextual influences
    • Normative and non-normative influences
  • Heredity & Environment
    • Heredity: Inborn, innate characteristics that are inherited from the biological parents at conception through genes
      • These affect multiple parts of development such as intelligence, personality and resilience.
    • Environment: the effect of the outside world on an individual. 
      • Learning that comes from experience.
  • Major contextual Factors such as family and neighbourhood play a great role in shaping any individual. There diversities must be kept in mind.
  • Normative & non-normative influences
    • Development must be understood in terms of changes that affect a majority and a minority
    • Normative: An event and its impact happens in a related way for most people that belong to a group.
      • Normative age graded influences: Natural and situational influences that are similar for individuals of a specific age range.
        • Biological changes are usually more foreseeable than social changes e.g. adolescence as compared to French revolution
      • Normative history graded influences: Natural and environmental effects that are related with historical changes affect the group that exists around the same time.
        • These are common only for individuals of a specific generation e.g. world war 2
    • Non normative influences: An unusual event that happens to a specific person or a typical event that happens at an exceptional point of time.
      • Non- normative influences are positive or negative 

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT (Read: Life-Span Development)

  • Begins with prenatal development.
  • Prenatal development is the stage before the birth of the infant. It begins with conception.
  • Conception occurs when the male sperm fuses with the female ova. 
    • It is also known as fertilization 
  • Divided into three parts:
  • Germinal Stage/Period of Zygote
    • first 2 weeks after conception. 
    • Development of zygote with increased cell division,
    • Ends with the implantation of the zygote uterus wall.
      • Cell Division
        • Mitotis
        • The Two-cell Human Embryo- 1 ½ days
        • 16-32 cells = 72 hours
        • 64 cells = 96 hours
      • Formation of the Blastocyst
        • Blastocyst: a sphere that is filled with liquid that would eventually form the infant
  • Embryonic Period
    • Occurs 2-8 weeks after conception.
    • The rate of cell division increases leading to Organogenesis:
      • The process of the developing organs
    • Structures that form in this stage:
      • Yolk Sac
      • Placenta
      • Umbilical Cord
    • Embryonic disk creates three layers that form the structures of the infant
      • Endoderm: forms the digestive system, liver, pancreas , salivary glands and respiratory system
      • Mesoderm: forms the cells of the skin, nails, and hair follicles, teeth,
      • Ectoderm: forms the sense organs and nervous system
    • By the 8th week: Rapid growth continues which can be seen in the formation of
      • Body parts such as arms, legs, fingers and toes
      • Facial parts such as eyes, ears, jaws and neck 
      • Internal organs diversify and become separate
      • Functional sense organs
      • Response to touch 
    • Size of the embryo is around 1 inch and weighs around 4-6 grams 
  • Period of the Foetus 
    • Begins at 8 weeks or 2 months after conception 
    • 7 months ( 9-38 weeks) (average)
    • By the end of the fetal stage the infant should be around 20 inches in height and 3 kgs in weight on average
    • Appearance of fingernails, toenails and eyelids.
    • Sense organs taste and smell begin to develop.
    • Organization of organs, muscles and nervous system 
    • Stronger heartbeat
      • Detectable through the fetaloscope
    • Genitals are formed by this time 
      • Sex determination can occur
    • Foetus moves and is active
  • Prenatal development is also divided into trimesters. 
    • First trimester involves both prenatal stages
    • Second and third trimesters are made up of the fetal stage only
  • Some aspects of the infant:
  • Covered with the vernix caseosa  
    • Shielding it from chapping from the amniotic fluid.
    • Hair called lanugo  
      • Aids in vernix sticking to the skin.
  • After birth the infant is assessed using the APGAR scale
    • Appearance
    • Pulse
    • Grimace
    • Activity
    • Respiration
  • Post birth the post natal stage begins, starting with infancy
  • Infancy: is the developmental period from birth to 24 months.
    • Reflexes: are innate, automatic, unlearnt, and involuntary responses to stimuli
    • Human beings have many reflexes from birth and some develop slightly later
      • Rooting: This reflex starts when the corner of the baby’s mouth is stroked or touched. The baby will turn his or her head and open his or her mouth to follow and root in the direction of the stroking. This helps the baby find the breast or bottle to start feeding. This reflex lasts about 4 months
      • Sucking: This reflex doesn’t start until about the 32nd week of pregnancy and is not fully developed until about 36 weeks. Premature babies may have a weak or immature sucking ability because of this. Because babies also have a hand-to-mouth reflex that goes with rooting and sucking, they may suck on their fingers or hands.
      • Eye Blink:
      • Tonic: When a baby’s head is turned to one side, the arm on that side stretches out and the opposite arm bends up at the elbow. This is often called the fencing position. This reflex lasts until the baby is about 5 to 7 months old.
      • Babinski: This reflex takes place when the foot of the baby is stroked and all its fingers fan out
      • Moro: This reflex causes the baby to cry, throw back his or her head, and then pull his or her limbs into the body
      • Darwinian Grasp/Palmar: Stroking the palm of a baby’s hand causes the baby to close his or her fingers in a grasp. The grasp reflex lasts until the baby is about 5 to 6 months old. A similar reflex in the toes lasts until 9 to 12 months.
      • Walking/Stepping: This reflex is also called the walking or dance reflex because a baby appears to take steps or dance when held upright with his or her feet touching a solid surface. This reflex lasts about 2 months.
  • Most reflexes disappear soon
    • first 6 months to 1 year
    • Attributed to the increase in voluntary control over motor behaviour 
  • Only reflexes that serve a protective functions remain
    • Blinking
    • Coughing
    • Gagging
    • Sneezing
  • Principles of Development: 
    • Cephalocaudal: development occurs from top (head) to bottom (legs)
    • Proximodistal: Development occurs from the center of the body outward
    • Independence of systems: Development occurs independently in different part of the part
    • Interdependence of systems: development occurs as a result of coordination of the difference part of the body, in conjunction with one another
  • Gross Motor Development
    • Begins with head control, movement – crawling to walking to running to jumping
    • Hand eye coordination begins
    • Depth Perception begins
  • Brain Development
    • Corpus callosum: helps coordinate between the hemispheres
    • Hemisphere specialization
      • Right: mechanical skills and spatial reasoning
      • Left:, logic, arithmetic, and language development
    • Size of the brain increases due to new connections
    • Synaptic pruning: removal of unrequired neurons is done
    • Increased myelination: aids in stronger connections
  • Early childhood (2-6yrs)
    • Height growth: By the end of early childhood the average child is around 3.5 feet
      • Gender differences: boys are taller than girls
    • Weight: By the end of early childhood the average child is around 15 kilos
      • Gender difference: no difference
    • Nutritional needs: 1500-1800 calories per day on average
      • Too much food intake can lead to obesity
    • Sleep should be for 10-12 hours 
    • Gross Motor Skills:
      • Goal-directed behaviour
      • Movements are simple eventually culminating into athletic movements
    • Fine Motor Skills
      • Hand-eye coordination develops further
  • Middle childhood (6-11/puberty)
    • Height: By the end around 4 feet 10 inches
      • Gender difference: girls taller than boys 
    • Weight: 20-35 kgs 
      • Gender difference: boys heavier than girls
    • Appearance is more adult like – learner bodies
    • Gross motor
      • Athletic prowess
      • Training aids development
      • Rough and Tumble Play
  • Adolescence (Puberty- 20)
    • Height: average growth is around 7 inches
      • Growth spurt: increase in height and weight during puberty
    • Weight- Average growth by 20+kgs
    • Adult like body
    • Fully coordinated movements
    • Puberty: Attainment of sexual maturity and the ability to reproduce
      • Earlier attainment compared to earlier generations – secular trends
      • Increase in sex hormones – gonadotropins 
      • Boys: production of sperm, age 12-14
        • first ejaculation is called Spermache
      • Girls: menstruation, age 8-12
        • first menstruation is called menarche 
  • Puberty can be noticed by changes in primary and secondary sex characteristics
    • Primary sex characteristics are seen in organs directly related to reproduction
      • For males: Enlargement of penis and scrotum sac
      • For females vaginal discharge and changes in Uterus lining
    • Secondary sex characteristics: Physiological signs of sexual maturation that do not involve sexual organs.
      • Females: Breast development, growth of body and pubic hair, oilier skin
      • Males: Growth of body and pubic hair, deepening of voice, oilier hair
  • Adulthood (Early and Middle – 20-40, 40-65)
    • Age related visual and auditory problems
    • Presbyopia: deterioration in sight due to age
    • Presbycusis: deterioration in hearing due to age
    • Basal metabolism: basic rate of calorie burning drops
    • Health: optimum in early adulthood, drops as one gets older
      • Same as strength for energy  
      • Athletic prowess
      • Self-serving bias that no harm will come to the individual as they are in peak physical condition
    • Osteoporosis will develop by the end of middle adulthood
  • Late Adulthood (>65)
    • Primary Aging- aging due to change in chronological age accompanied by body deterioration
    • Secondary Aging- aging due to lifestyle factors and diseases 
    • Functional age: the measure of a person’s ability to function effectively in his or her physical and social environment in comparison with others of similar chronological age.
  • Theories of aging
    • Genetic Programming Theories or Cellular clock theory: Biological aging is due to a preprogrammed timetable where the genes stop cellular growth after a certain limit known as the Hayflick limit.
    • Free radical theory: due to excess amounts of electrons that harm the body
    • Variable Rate theories: Individual difference in growing older
      • Influenced by external and internal factors.
    • Wear and tear theory: aging is due to usage of body parts.

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT (Read: Cognitive Psychology: Mind and Brain)

  • Piaget’s cognitive development
    • Schemas are mental representation of organized mental processes
      • Two processes of schemas development
        • Assimilation- add new but similar information into existing schema
        • Accommodation- changing the schema entirely in the response to new stimuli
    • Basic premise of Piaget’s theory is that Action=Knowledge
  • Stage wise division of cognitive development
    • Sensorimotor stage (Birth-2 years)- 
      • Cognitive developments and actions of the infant begin with reflexes,
      •  Followed by non-goal directed habitual movements called as primary circular reactions
      • Culminating in goal directed behaviour as secondary and tertiary circular reactions
      • By 18 months leading to development of symbolic thought. 
      • By 8 months the infant also develops Object permanence
        • Object permanence is the realization that objects in the outside world remain constant even when they are out of sight
    • Preoperational stage (2-7 years)
      • Children use of symbolic thought but aren’t capable of using logic.
      • Operations- are internalized set of actions that allow children to mentally do what they had done physically before. 
      • Centration: children pay attention on one part of a stimuli to the exclusion of all others
      • Conservation: child’s belief in the permanence of certain attributes of the objects even when surface level changes are made.
        • Children lack conservation skills
          • Maybe due to centration
        • In terms of volume, matter, area and length
      • Ego centrism: inability to take someone else’s perspective.
      • Animism: children’s belief that inanimate objects have “lifelike” qualities
      • Irreversibility: Child’s failure to understand that an operation can go in two or more directions. 
        • 2-2 = 4, but not 4-2=2
  • Concrete operational stage: (7-12 years) 
    • Children can understand and derive logic but not abstract thinking.
    • Classification and categorization: Children can divide things into sets and purpose about their relationships
    • Seriation: Children have the ability to put objects in a structured manner. E.g. lengthwise, weight, size or colour.
    • Transitive Inference: Understanding relationships between 2 objects by knowing the relationship of each to the third. E.g. a>b>c, therefore, a>c
    • Spatial intelligence: Children can give directions to places and locations. And estimate distances between places.
    • Inductive and Deductive reasoning:  Logical reasoning is the go-to thought process and it takes over intuitive reasoning but only when all aspects of a situation are known.
    • Conservation and Reversibility is now possible
      • Horizontal Decalage: inability of a child in this stage to understand that transfer of learning from one type of conservation to other types is possible
  • Formal operational stage (11 and 15) 
    • Individuals move beyond logic and think in abstract manner.
    • Abstract thought also involves meta-cognition
      • Meta-cognition is thinking about thought
    • Argumentativeness: Adolescent develop formal reasoning skills and actively seek out opportunities to test their skills.
    • Adolescents have the capability to consider several, differing options but they lack effective techniques to choose the best suited one leading to indecisiveness
    • Apparent hypocrisy: Adolescents also don’t seem to distinguish the difference between speaking about an ideal while pursuing something entirely different
    • Imaginary audience: the belief that an observer who exists in an adolescent’s mind and is as concerned with the adolescent’s thoughts and actions as the adolescent is.
    • Personal fable: Adolescents’ conviction that they are unique and special
    • Hypothetical- deductive reasoning : Adolescents have the cognitive capability to develop solution based hypotheses for problem
      • They can then methodically deduce the optimum path to follow in solving the problem. 
  • Evaluation of Piaget’s theory
    • Based on limited data – his 3 children
    • Extreme generalization without taking into account differing culture
    • Object Permanence develops earlier in some cultures 
    • Thinking begins earlier around 6-7 months 
    • Logical thinking develops much earlier
    • Ego centrism is absent for some 2 year old children as well
    • Formal operations do not develop for most adults and they aren’t as rational
    • Empirically not much research support
    • Piaget’s theory still inspires research 
  • Post formal thought
    • Cognitive theorist believe that formal reasoning and abstract thinking are not the only capabilities of adult cognitive development.
    • Thinking in adulthood is much more about grey areas in life that require free, flexible, and individualistic options
    • There are also elements of use of personal experiences and intuition
    • Adult thinking also requires dealing with uncertainty
  • Lev Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
    • Vygotsky’s theorystresses the effect of an individual’s culture and social interaction in helping guide cognitive development
    • Cognitive growth is a cooperative process
      • Social interactions aid in its development
      • Also relevant are the primary language and the individuals cultural context
    • Language and thought are separate initially,
      • Later language takes up the role of social communication 
      • Transition takes place between 3 and 7 years
      • This separation leads to private speech- Talking to oneself with no intent to communicate.
        • Helps in transition from directed speech to conversation with self to social speech.
        • self- regulation and inner control over behaviour
        • Vygotsky viewed it as foundation for all higher cognitive processes
    • Zone of Proximal Development
      • The point at which a child cannot complete a task alone but can learn to do the same with the help of an expert
      • Scaffolding- help provided by an expert to help the person in ZPD to learn the new cognitive skill
      • More knowledgable other: is the expert that can guide the novices
        • The MKO need not be an expert but someone who understands the concepts in discussion better than the group
        • Basis for educational institutions
          • Peer Collaboration
          • Reciprocal Teaching
      • Cultural variations 
        • in ability to learn 
  • Evaluation of Vygotsky’s Theory
    • Helps explain cultural variety in cognition
    • Highlights importance of teaching
    • Emphasis on language
    • Not enough information about biological contributions to cognition
    • Vague in explanation of change

Language Development

  • Language is a system of symbols used to communicate with others.
    • Infinite generativity: meaning that unlimited number of words and sentences can be created
  • Language production – Broca’s area- frontal lobe
  • Language comprehension – Wernicke’s area- temporal lobe
  • Characteristics of Language
    • Phonology: sound systems 
      • Ba or ar 
      • /k/- same sound of k for ski and cat
      • Basis for constructing large and expandable set of words
    • Morphology: the study of the rules for combining morphemes
      • Morphemes are the smallest meaningful units of language. 
      • Help- single morpheme
      • Help-er two morphemes 
        • “er” means “one who”
      • Not all morphemes are words with meaning: 
        • Pre, tion, and ing
    • Syntax: the ways/laws/rules in which words are combined to form acceptable phrases and sentences. 
      • You went there, didn’t you?- is correct
      • didn’t you, you went there? – is incorrect
    • Semantics- meanings of words and sentences
      • Incorrect semantic: The bike spoke to the boy into buying a chocolate bar
      • Syntactically correct but semantically incorrect
      • Pragmatics: the use of suitable dialogue and information while having a conversation, especially in a social context
        • Taking turns in discussion
        • Using “a” and “the” correctly
        • Using polite language in appropriate situations
  • How do these characteristics develop?
    • Nature vs Nurture
      • Learnt only because of environmental influences-nurture
      • Behaviourist model-based on Nurture
        • Language is built on learning via reinforcement or vicarious learning through imitation
      • Criticisms:
        • Novelty of sentences and words
        • Reinforcements are in the form of smiles and praises even to half-correct words or sentences
        • Can’t explain how most children develop language around the same age
      • Noam Chomsky questioned this approach to learning language
  • His claims were that children are born with Language Acquisition Device (LAD)
  • LAD is a biological endowment that enables the child to detect certain language categories, such as phonemes and morphemes
  • Support for LAD:
    • Uniformity in learning language across cultures
    • Criticisms: 
      • Wild/Feral children don’t fit the model
      • Language cannot exist in a social vacuum
      • No language gene (which should exist according to Chomsky)
      • Highly focused on linguistic aspects of language like syntax and grammar, however, language is learnt in a more practical physical and social space.
    • Learnt only because of innate capability-nature
    • Interactionist approach
      • Mix of the two- nature and nurture; behaviourist and cognitive
      • Biological Influences
      • Children reach language milestones at a similar age.
      • Brain is most highly responsible for turning humans into linguistic creatures
  • Process of language development
    • Pre-linguistic communication: Children making variety of sounds before babbling begin
      • cooing, crying, gurgling, murmuring etc.
      • Not meaningful but aids language development
    • Babbling: making speech like sounds
      • Eg. Ee-ee-ee, bee-bee-bee
      • Starts by 3 months of age and lasts till approx 1 year
      • Babbling is a universal phenomenon; across all cultures
      • It begins to become progressively more complex
      • By 6 months babbling is more characteristic of the tone of their language
    • First words
      • Between 10-14 months, for some by 9 months
      • Typically continues till 18 months
      • Rapid increase in vocabulary
      • 15 months- 10 words
      • >18 months- language growth spurt- goes from 50-400.
      • Holophrases: one word expressions that mean whole phrase where meaning is dependent on the context
      • North American kids usual use more nouns
      • Chinese mandarin will use more verbs
    • First Sentences
      • Around 18 months, linking two words together takes place to convey a single thought.
      • Variability in age. 
      • Syntax is maintained, albeit some words are excluded – telegraphic speech.
    • Under-extention- using one word for only one concept and not others
    • Over-extention – words that are used too broadly for anything part of that category
    • Adults engage in infant directed speech, earlier known as motherese
    • Private Speech – speech directed towards themselves
    • Social Speech – speech directed towards another and meant to be understood by them

Moral Development

  • Morality is based and dependent on one’s social group/individual thought process
  • Development
    • the gradual development of an individual’s concept of right or wrong – conscious, religion, social and attitudes
  • Kohlberg’s theory (Stage Theory)
    • sequentially
    • Movement from one stage to another occurs as a result of realisation of inadequacies in a person’s way of functioning and dilemma’s relating to morality.
    • created Heinz dilemmas
    • Six stages and 3 subcategories
      • Preconventional Moral Development
        • Stage 1 – obedience and punishment
        • Stage 2 – naively egotistical
      • Conventional Moral Development
        • Stage 3 – “good boy-good girl” orientation
        • Stage 4 – law and social order
      • Postconventional Moral Development
        • Stage 5 – legalistic social contract
        • Stage 6 – universal ethical principles
  • Level 1 – Preconventional (0-9)
    • Stage 1 – Obedience and Punishment
      • Young kids are usually found in this stage
      • Adults have a tendency to behave similarly in certain situations
      • Individuals in this stage consider rules and regulations to be fixed and absolute and thereby follow them in order to avoid punishment
      • Another reason for this is to protect one’s own physical well-being
    • Stage 2 – Naively egotistical
      • Egocentric view point
      • As long as it serves their own needs, the reasoning is fine
      • May follow you scratch my back, I scratch your back principle
  • Level 2 – Conventional Morality (10-15)
    • Stage 3 – “good boy-good girl” orientation
      • Social expectation and roles are extremely important to be followed
      • Conformity is an important value
      • Being ‘nice’ for peer approval is important
      • Intentions more than actions are valued
      • Can be empathetic when required
    • Stage 4 – Law and Social Order
      • Consider the entire society as a whole
      • values law and order are important
      • respects authority and obeys it
      • decisions must be made keeping the majority in mind
      • 80% of the human population is here
  • Level 3 – Postconventional Morality (16+)
    • Stage 5 – Legalistic Social Contract
      • The individual takes into account the values, opinions, and beliefs of others
      • Believes in making decisions that benefit the most number of people
      • Societal rules are dependent on the people living in it
      • Values minorities and systems for change
    • Stage 6 – Universal Ethical Principles
      • Abstract reasoning as long as it makes sense
      • Law and order not absolute if they aren’t fulfilling their purpose
      • willing to accept consequences of disobedience
      • dignity of human being is sacred
  • Sex Differences in Morality
    • Males
      • Justice
      • Rights
      • No partiality
      • Code of conduct
    • Females
      • Care
      • Responsibility
      • Care for suffering
      • Emotional
  • Gilligan’s three stages in Women Morality
    • Orientation towards individual’s survival
      • Initially importance given to what is practically beneficial for oneself
      • Later a transition begins and the individuals moves from selfishness to responsibility 
        • This involves looking at benefitting other people as well as themselves
    • Goodness as self-sacrifice
      • Self-sacrifice to fulfil the wishes of others
      • Gradual transition from goodness to truth 
    • Morality of non-violence
      • An equivalence between self and others is established
      • Hurting anyone is seen as immoral
      • This is the most sophisticated form of moral reasoning
  • Damon → Positive Justice (3 stages)
    • Level 0- Age 4-5
      • I should get everything
    • Level 1- Age 5-9
      • Strict equality and reciprocity
      • Merit is most sacred
    • Level 2- Age 10+
      • Most aspects in life are relative
      • Sometimes special needs must be considered while others deserving people must benefit

PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 

  • Emotional development is a methodical process where emotions get complex overtime, beginning from simple emotions.
    • Emotions develop from childhood and showcase a tendency of the child’s personality
    • Emotions and its expression vary in different cultures and societies
  • Emotional Development In Infancy
    • Emotion at this stage are usually noticed when the child either cries or smiles 
    • Emotions serve certain purposes 
      • Makes them sociable,
      • Builds connections and communication
      • Aids in emotional regulations 
      • Sometime during REM sleep reflexive smile is noticed due to subcortical activity
    • Social smile develops around 10 months
      •  It occurs when the child smiles or laughs at someone it recognizes
      •  Indicates cognitive development 
        • Shows control over outcomes
        • And object permanence 
    • Stranger Anxiety And Separation Anxiety
      • Around 6-8 months
      • Stranger anxiety is the infant’s fear of meeting strangers. 
      • Separation anxiety is the fear that infants experience when separated from a caregiver 
        • Behavioural response is usually crying 
    • Social Referencing
      • It is the ability to understand social and emotional cues and behave accordingly in a hitherto unknown situation 
        • Usually done by imitating another person’s behaviour 
  • Empathy develops by 2 years of age
    • Empathy is the ability to understand the perspective from another person’s point of view and feel the same
  • Adolescence and adulthood
    • Adolescence period is also known as the time of “Storm and stress” due to:
      • Emotional upheavals
      • Varying intensities of emotions
    • During this time individuals develop emotionally in distinct ways and in different manner
    • Emotional intelligence begins to grow
    • Emotional selectivity theory – Here the individual looks to build on positive rewarding relationships that provide satisfaction and contentment while reducing peripheral relationships that may cause emotional risk
  • Temperament until age 15, post which it is termed as personality
    • Typical way an individual react to a particular type of stimuli.
      • Biological and emotional basis
      • Relatively consistent overtime
      • Personality builds around the core provided by the temperament
  • Goodness of Fit is the matching of the parent personality and the infants temperament
    • If fit is good, child rearing becomes easier
    • Difficult children are less likely than easy children to receive sensitive care
    • Goodness of fit depends in part on cultural values
  • Gender identity is the understanding of one’s own gender and roles associated with it.
    • An infant develops the understanding of its gender early in life
  • Gender schema: mental framework that categorizes the meaning of being male or female and the roles based on socialization 
    • However, psychological and behavioural differences exist between males and females          
  • Gender stereotyping are the beliefs about roles that are defined for males and females
    • Very high during middle childhood
    • Changes by adolescences as it undergoes a transition due to intimate relationships and changes in understanding sexuality
    • Gender socialization is important to understand flexibility of gender roles 
  • Females aid in the development of other individuals
  • Males role are contradictory and inconsistent
  • Attachment is a shared, continuing emotional tie between an infant and a caregiver where each contribute to building the quality of the relationship
    • Attachments can be of 4 types:
    • Secure attachment is the pattern of behaviour where the infant seeks out the caregiver in their absence and actively looks for them
    • Avoidant attachment is the pattern of behaviour where the infant rarely cries in the absence of the caregiver and doesn’t seek them when they return 
    • Ambivalent (resistant) attachment is the pattern of behaviour where the infant becomes anxious even before the caregiver leaves and extreme sadness is shown when they leave
    • Disorganized-disoriented attachment is the pattern of behaviour where the infant is unsure of how to behave when the caregiver is present, leaves and return. Showing extremities of contradictory behaviour

Psychopathology (Read: Abnormal Psychology An Integrative Approach, 8E)

  • Psychological disorders are behavioral, psychological, or biological dysfunctions that are unexpected in their cultural contextand associated with present distressand/or impairment in functioning, or increased risk of suffering, death, pain, or impairment (DSM, 2015)
  • Defining a psychopathology requires scientific study from different types of mental health professionals 
  • A diagnosis first begins with a description of current problems which are then understood as symptoms.
    • Symptoms help to segregated dysfunction from common distress
  • onset of disorders can be acute or chronic
    • acute onset is sudden and intense existence of symptoms associated with a disorder
    • chronic onset is a long drawn, not very intense but harmful existence of symptoms associated with a disorder

(Study Tip: Knowing one part of the two types of onset will help you remember the other one:
For the difference between acute and chronic, think of it as a-cute: as sudden and intense, similar to how you feel when you see a cute baby but in this case it’s for existence of symptoms of a disorder)

  • Causation
    • Historically most disorders have existed irrespective of time or culture
    • However, the reasons for the behaviour vary 
  • 3 traditions existed in explaining abnormal behavior
    • Supernatural: belief that paranormal activities were responsible for abnormal behaviour
    • Biological: belief that psychological disorders are an outcome of dysfunctional bodily systems
      • Not in homeostasis
      • Humoral theory claimed that optimum functioning was dependent on an individual having two much or too little of four key bodily fluids (humors)
        • Blood, phlegm, black bile, yellow bile
      • General paresis (syphilis) and the biological link with madness
    • Psychological: present understanding of psychological disorders
      • Patients should be treated with respect as one would any other patient in a normal environment
        • Major proponents:
        • Philippe Pinel, Jean-Baptiste Pussin, Benjamin Rush, Dorothea Dix – mental hygiene movement
  • Psychoanalytic Theory conceptualization (Read: Personality Psychology)
    • Unconscious repressed anxiety causing memories lead to abnormal behaviour
      • Overuse of defensive mechanisms
      • Defense mechanisms are attempts made by the ego to manage the anxiety created by the conflict of id and superego
  • Humanistic Theory: the belief that abnormal behaviour is a result of lack of positivity in the clients life and lack of understanding from their immediate environment
    • Intrinsic human goodness
    • Striving for self-actualization
      • Person-centered therapy: Carl Rogers
      • Hierarchy of Needs: Abraham Maslow
  • The Behavioral Model (Read: Personality Psychology) 
    • Abnormal behaviour is a result of learnt behaviour either by classical conditioning, operant conditioning, or social learning theory
    • Classical conditioning: Ivan Pavlov
    • Operant Conditioning: B. F. Skinner
    • Social learning theory: Alfred Bandura
  • The Scientific Method and an Integrative Approach: understand abnormal behaviour from an eclectic point of view where many biological, psychological, social factors affect the individual resulting in maladaptive behaviour
  • The Clinical Interview is the main source of getting information from the client. It includes asking them about the present situation, past behaviour, history of the issues presented, family history, and a mental status exam
  • Mental status exam is the attempt to see the current disposition of the client. It is assessed by the following aspects:
    • Appearance and behavior
    • Thought processes
    • Mood and affect
    • Intellectual functioning
    • Sensorium
  • (Study Tip:  ATM-IS)
  • Diagnostic classification is important as it helps classifying the varied behaviours into specific parts
    • It is essential for all sciences
  • Idiographic strategy is the method of classifying based on extreme or unique aspects of individual’s personality, and culture
  • (Study Tip: idio for idiots who are unique or not common)
  • Nomothetic strategy is the method of classifying based on identifying a disorder and its patterns
  • Terminology of classification systems
    • Taxonomy is the scientific term for classification
    • Nosology is the taxonomy used for psychological or medical phenomena
    • Nomenclature are the labels attributed to the nosological labels (e.g., “mood disorder” “anxiety disorders”)
  • Classification approaches
    • Classical (or pure) categorical approach creating categories as rigid and unchanging categories
    • Dimensional approach look to create categories along a range of behaviour 
    • Prototypical approach is a combination of the two where labels are given but along a continuum 
  • Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) (Read: (DSM-5: A Comprehensive Overview)
    • Updated every 10-20 years
    • Current edition (released May 2013): DSM-5
    • Previous edition called DSM-IV-TR
  • International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10)
    • By the World Health Organization (WHO)
  • Problems with classification
    • Creates stigma and labels
    • Labels usually have negative connotations and may make patients less likely to seek treatment

Psychotherapy

Psychodynamics: A brief overview

  • There are four major schools of psychoanalytic theory:
    •       Classical Freudian
    •       Ego Psychology
    •       Object Relations
    •       Self Psychology
  • Psychodynamic theorists adhere to the notion of unconscious influences on conscious behaviours
  •  Psychodynamic theorists use introspective methods as a way to tap into internal thoughts and images
  • Sigmund Freud used the analogy of the iceberg to depict the complex interplay of conscious and unconscious forces
  • Freud believed that only 10% of personality is available to conscious awareness
  • Components of the Psyche
  • Freud’s theory outlines three mental components:
  • Id : Hedonistic
  • Ego: Realistic
  • Superego: Moralistic

The Id

  • Unconscious; operates according to the pleasure principle with no regard for moral principles
  • Primary process thinking achieves momentary satisfaction and wish fulfillment
  • Insight (catharsis) reduces tension
  • Freud termed the libido ‘eros’, and termed aggression ‘thanatos’

The Ego

  • Mostly conscious; operates according to the reality principle
  • Tries to align the urge of the id with reality using secondary process thinking
  • The ego considers the situation and past experience to engage in behaviour

The Superego

  • Mostly conscious; operates according to the perfection principle
  • Tries to uphold morality by a strict adherence to societal standards
  • Guilt and shame result from immoral behaviour for those having a strong superego
  • Freud developed a series of four psychosexual stages:
    • Oral Stage
    • Anal Stage
    • Phallic Stage
    • Genital Stage
  • Too little or too much gratification within each stage can result in fixations
  • Defense Mechanisms are the ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality
  • Repression – the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness
  • Regression- defense mechanism in which an individual faced with anxiety retreats to a more infantile psychosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixated
  • Reaction Formation – defense mechanism by which the ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites. People may express feelings that are the opposite of their anxiety-arousing unconscious feelings
  • Projection- defense mechanism by which people disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others
  • Rationalization – defense mechanism that offers self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one’s actions
  • Displacement- defense mechanism that shifts sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person. As when redirecting anger toward a safer outlet
  • Techniques
  • Free Association – is a method of exploring the unconscious
    • person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing
  • Dream analysis:  Dreams express unconscious issues
    • Manifest content:  the actual content of a dream
    • Latent content:  symbols that are disguised unconscious issues or motives
  • Resistance:  Therapist looks for evidence that the patient is avoiding an issue
  • Transference: Does the patient treat the therapist in ways that are similar to their parents?
  • Interpretation: Therapist provides analysis of the meaning of the thoughts, behaviors, and dreams of the patient.

Existential psychotherapy

  • Components:
    • freedom
    • choice
  • existence,
  • meaning in life
  • personal responsibility
  • Precursors of existentialism: Soren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, Fyodor Dostoevsky.
  • Founding of ‘existentialism’ credited to Jean Paul Sartre.
  • Notable figures: Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merlau Ponty, Karl Jaspers, Martin Buber, Edmund Husserl (Phenomenology).
  • Existential Psychotherapy
    • Nature of anxiety, despair, grief, loneliness, isolation and death
    • Attempts to reconstruct the patient’s way of being himself in the world.
    • The therapeutic relationship as the psychotherapy in itself.
    • Aim is to enable the clients to reflect upon their lived experience in order to explore meaning of choices.
    • Existential approach does not have many specified techniques and must be adapted by the therapist for every new client.

Important figures:

  • Viktor Frankl (1905-1997)
    • Viktor Emil Frankl, M.D., Ph.D. (1905 –1997) was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist as well as a Holocaust survivor.
    • Frankl was the founder of logo therapy, which is a form of existential analysis, the “Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy”.
    • His best-selling book Man’s Search for Meaning (published under a different title in 1959: From Death-Camp to Existentialism, and originally published in 1946) chronicles his experiences as a concentration camp inmate, which led him to discover the importance of finding meaning in all forms of existence.
  • Logotherapy
    • Logotherapy is founded upon the belief that it is the striving to find a meaning in one’s life that is the primary, most powerful motivating and driving force in humans.
    • The aim of Existential Analysis is to help each person find a way of living to which s/he can give his/her inner consent to his/her own actions (“affirmation of life”). In short, to find and live out an inner ‘yes’ to one’s life.
    • Existential Analysis can be defined as a phenomenological and person-oriented psychotherapy, with the aim of leading the person to (mentally and emotionally) free experiences, to facilitate authentic decisions and to bring about a truly responsible way of dealing with life and the world.
    • Biographical work and empathic listening by the therapist contribute to an improvement in emotional understanding and accessibility.
  • Four Fundamental Motivations (FM).
    • Need to be able to accept the basic conditions of life.
    • Need to feel values and to have relationships.
    • Quest to becoming one’s own person.
    • Need to achieve something meaningful in the world.
  • Rollo May
    • Goals of Therapy
  • Understand the client and their situation, their values and beliefs;
  • Negotiate coming to terms with past, present and future crises
  • Develop truthfulness with themselves
  • Widen their perspective on themselves and the world around them;
  • Clarity on their purpose of life and learn from the past
  • Find ways of effectively communicating and being with others;
  • Make sense of the paradoxes conflicts and dilemmas of their, existence.
  • Therapeutic Techniques
    • Anti-technique orientation
      • Description, understanding and exploration of reality compared to diagnosis, treatment and prognosis.
  • Themes- The client’s attention is drawn to personal myths and stories that they have created
  • Assumptions- Clarifying implicit assumptions about people and world can be very revealing and may throw new light on a dilemma.
  • Values- Getting clarity about which aspects of life are most important and deserve making sacrifices for is a key step
  • Vicious circles- Making vicious circles of self-fulfilling prophecies explicit can be a crucial step forward. 
  • Meaning- often people assume that they know what they mean but the words they use can hide underlying emotions – questioning the superficial meaning of the client’s words and asking him/her to think of what s/he wants to express.

Gestalt therapy

  • “The whole is greater than the sum of  it’s parts”
  • Gestalt Therapy became an acknowledged therapeutic practice in the early 1950s and has been evolving ever since.
  • Frederick and Laura Perls,
  • Clients open to working towards self-awareness and for those who want natural mastery of their awareness process.
  • Most appropriate for persons who create anxiety, depression, and so forth by rejecting themselves, alienating aspects of themselves, and deceiving themselves

Concepts

  • Wholeness and integration
    • Every individual is a whole and must be understood in terms of current situation
    • Self-awareness is key to self-growth and fulfilling potential.
      • If self-awareness is blocked by negative thought, people become dissatisfied and unhappy in life.
    • Aim of a therapist is to promote environment of non-judgmental self-awareness.
    • Wholeness- Whole person or the individual’s mind and body as unit rather than parts.
    • Integration- how these parts fit together and how individual integrates into the environment
  • Contact
    • “Contact is the lifeblood of growth, means for changing oneself and one’s experiences of the world.
    • People not aware of the contact they have with others and only with objects
    • Levels of contact (neuroses levels)
  • Phony- reacting in unauthentic or patterned ways. Eg: being nice in expectation of something
  • Phobic- avoidance of psych pain. Eg: denial of important relationship
  • Impasse- afraid of change or movement. Eg: being stuck in a bad marriage not knowing what to do. Individuals feel no internal or external support- significant for change
  • Implosive- experience feelings and becoming aware. No action on said feelings
  • Explosive- authentic and most intense. Experience of this leads to individual becoming alive and authentic.
  • Contact boundaries
  • Process of connecting to or separating from other or objects.
    • I- boundaries- those that distinguish between one person and other/object/quality
    • Body-boundaries- those that restrict sensations or place them off limits
    • Value-boundaries- those values that we hold that are resistant to change
      • c. Familiarity boundaries– events repeated everyday but not thought about or challenged.
      • d. Expressive boundaries– learned at early age regarding what is expected and what is not.
  • Awareness
    • Contact within individual themselves as well as with others/objects
    • To become fully aware- becoming in contact with one’s boundaries.
    • What is happening now rather than what is remembered.
    • 2 causes for lacking SA- preoccupation with past, low self esteem

4 types of awareness:

  • Of sensations and actions– sensing through sense organs and expressing oneself through movement or vocal expression
  • Of feelings– emotional and physical feelings
  • Of wants– desires for future events to take place
  • Of values and assessments– larger units of experience if how values another, social and spiritual issues
  • Five major styles of contact resistance
    • Introjection – We passively incorporate what the environment provides & do not know what we want or need
    • Projection – We disown certain aspects of ourselves by assigning them to the environment; and put them on others (e.g. see quality in others, we avoid responsibility of who we are)
    • Confluence – A blurring of the differentiation between the self and the environment (e.g. High need to be accepted and liked)
    • Retroflection – Turning back to ourselves what we would like someone else do to us (e.g. Lash out and injure self because fearful of directing toward others)
    • Devaluation – resistance between contact and satisfaction
      When you devalue yourself, you make contact, but experience it as being less satisfying than it actually is.

Techniques of gestalt therapy

  • The “experiment” in Gestalt therapy
  • Therapy sessions are viewed as a series of experiments, which provide for the client to experientially learn
    • Experiments are therapy techniques that develop from the therapeutic process and client/therapist relationship
  • Authenticity of therapist
  • Interaction between therapist and client
  • Spontaneity of experiments leads to many forms:

-dramatization of painful memory          

-setting up interaction between the client and a significant person in their life

  • Enactment: Bringing struggles to life by enacting them out in the present
    • Experiments will be tailored and focused to each individual and used when in a timely manner
    • The experiments must be carried out in a context that allows for balance between support and risk
  • The “exercise” in gestalt therapy
    • Pre-existing techniques that are used to induce change or progress in a therapy session
    • The purpose of an exercise is to elicit emotion, produce action, or achieve a specific goal.
    • The therapist and person in therapy can then examine the result of the exercise in order to increase awareness and help the person understand the “here and now” of the experience.

• Internal dialogue exercise – the “top dog” and the “under dog”

• Making the rounds – go to each person in the group and talk to them

• “I take responsibility for” – can be added to one of the client’s statements

• Rehearsal exercise – to rehearse with the therapist out loud.

• Reversal technique – asking the client to do the opposite of their behaviors

• Staying with feeling – so that you can work through the fears

  • Empty-Chair Technique:
    – When client speaks to an empty chair as if it were another person or another part of the client
    – Used to help the client get in touch with other views or other aspects of self
  • Exaggeration Exercise:
    – Counselor exaggerates mannerism of client or asks client to exaggerate mannerism in order to make client aware of true feelings
  • Guided Fantasy:
    – Client is encouraged to visualize here & now experiences
  • Playing the Projection:
    – Client is asked to play the role of the person who they are not connecting with
  • Gestalt approach to dream work
  • Does not interpret & analyze dreams

• Instead intent is to bring back to life & relive them as though they were happening now

• Dream is acted out in the present & dreamer becomes a part of his or her dream

Behavioural therapy

It is based on a scientific view of overt human behaviour and the usage of systematic and structured approach to counselling.

It assumes that the person is the result and creator of his/ her environment.

  • Basic Characteristics and Assumptions
  • Behavior therapy analyses a client’s current problems and its causes based on ideas of reinforcement, punishment, or conditioning and not a deep dive into the individuals history.
  • Behavior therapists look to the current environmental events that maintain problem behaviors and help clients produce behavior change by changing environmental events, through a process called behavioral analysis.
  • Clients assume an active role by engaging in activities that deal with their problems.
  • Clients are self-dependent and are asked to monitor their behaviors, learn and practice coping skills, carry out homework assignments.
  • Clients learn new and adaptive behaviors to replace old and maladaptive behaviors.
  • The focus is on a similar platform to the experimental method where assessment of overt behavior directly leads to identifying the problem, finding possible reasons, targeting those variables and evaluating change.
  • Behavioral treatment interventions are individually tailored to specific problems experienced by clients.

Goals

  • Problems must be clear, concrete, understood, and measurable and agreed on by the client and the counselor.
  • The aim is to modify or eliminate maladaptive behaviours and aid to acquire healthy, constructive ways of acting.
  • Continual assessment takes place throughout therapy to assess if identified goals are being met. Accordingly therapists and clients alter goals throughout the therapeutic process.

Therapist’s Function and Role

  • The ABC model – This model suggests that behavior (B) is influenced by some particular events that precede it, called antecedents (A), and by certain events that follow it called consequences (C).
  • Techniques used such as summarizing, reflection, clarification, and open-ended questioning.
  • Based on functional assessment, the therapist formulates initial treatment goals and designs and implements a treatment plan to accomplish these goals.
  • A large part of the therapist’s role is to teach concrete skills through the provision of instructions, modeling, and performance feedback.

Relationship between the Client and the Therapist

  • A therapeutic relationship, is important in the process of behavior change (Granvold & Wodarski, 1994).
  • Use of the client–therapist relationship in facilitating change is important
  • Most behavioral practitioners contend that factors such as warmth, empathy, authenticity and acceptance are necessary, but not sufficient, for behavior change to occur.
  • The client–therapist relationship is a foundation on which therapeutic strategies are built to help clients change in the direction they wish.
  • Behavior therapists assume that clients make progress primarily because of the specific behavioral techniques used rather than because of the relationship with the therapist.

APPLICATIONS

  • Flooding:  it’s a type of exposure therapy that involves either in vivo or imaginal exposure to anxiety-evoking stimuli for a prolonged period of time, without the occurrence of the feared consequence.
  • In vivo: In vivo flooding consists of intense and prolonged exposure to the actual anxiety-producing stimuli.
  • Imaginal: the client is exposed to the mental image of a frightening or anxiety-producing object or event and continues to experience the image of the event until the anxiety gradually diminishes.
    • Implosive therapy: An imaginal flooding approach in which the scenes are exaggerated rather than realistic and hypotheses are made about stimuli in the scene that may cause the fear or anxiety.
  • Systematic desensitization: a type of exposure therapy developed by Wolpe, in which, clients imagine successively more anxiety-arousing situations at the same time that they engage in a behavior that competes with anxiety. Gradually, or systematically, clients become less sensitive to the anxiety-arousing situation.
  • Covert sensitization: “Covert sensitization” associates an aversive stimulus with a behavior the client wishes to reduce or eliminate. This is done by imagining the target behavior followed by imagining an aversive consequence. It has been used to stop smoking, overeating, alcohol consumption, sexual deviations.
  • Token economy: is a system of behavior modification based on the systematic reinforcement of target behavior. The reinforcers are symbols or “tokens” that can be exchanged for other reinforcers. E.g. children may be provided tokens for good performance that can later be exchanged for valued materials.
  • Shaping: gradual movement from original to desired behaviour by reinforcing successive approximations of the desired behaviour. E.g. strengthening behaviour of playing on monkey bars by reinforcing each successive approximation towards it.
  • Pre mack: If high-probability behaviors (more desirable behaviors) are made contingent upon lower-probability behaviors (less desirable behaviors), then the lower-probability behaviors are more likely to occur. E.g. giving a child a banana (less desirable) to eat while he’s watching TV.(more desirable)
  • Aversive therapy works on this principle. E.g. mixing a substance that causes stomach ache in alcohol to decrease alcohol drinking behaviour.
  • Time out: client is separated from the opportunity to receive positive reinforcement.

Modeling is frequently used in situations that involve interpersonal communication.

Social Skills training:

Social skills training is a broad category that deals with an individual’s ability to interact effectively with others in various social situations; it is used to correct deficits clients have in interpersonal competencies.

It includes psychoeducation, modeling, reinforcement, behavioral rehearsal, role playing, and feedback.

Anger management training & assertion training are popular variations of social skills training.

Assertion training is for people who lack assertive skills

Self modification programs:

Psychologists share their knowledge so that “consumers” can increasingly lead self-directed lives and not be dependent on experts to deal with their problems.

Self-modification strategies include self-monitoring, self-reward, selfcontracting, stimulus control, and self-as-model. The basic idea of self-modification assessments and interventions is that change can be brought about by teaching people to use coping skills in problematic situations.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (Aaron Beck) (CBT)

Techniques of cognitive behavioral therapy

  • The therapist and the client work together as an investigative team.
  • Beck termed this form of therapeutic relationship collaborative empiricism.
  • The cognitive interventions used in CBT are designed first to identify and then to modify dysfunctional thinking at two main levels of cognitive processing—automatic thoughts and core beliefs schemas.
  • Identifying Automatic Thoughts
    • Using guided discovery 
      • Guided discovery involves gentle eliciting, exploring, and questioning of the patient’s thinking. Therapists ask Socratic-type questions that encourage the patient to expand his or her perspective and become actively involved in the learning process.
    • Recognizing mood shifts
      • A shift in mood during the therapy session can be an opportune time for the therapist to facilitate the identification of automatic thoughts. When the therapist observes that a strong emotion such as sadness, anxiety, or anger has appeared, she or he can ask the patient to describe the thoughts that “went through your head“ just prior to the mood shift.
    • Imagery and role play
      • Is used in generating suspected automatic thinking.
    • Checklists for automatic thought
      • checklists of thought provide an additional method to help patients identify their dysfunctional cognitions.
    • Thought recording
      • Thought recording is a standard CBT procedure for identifying automatic thoughts.
      • Although patients can log their thoughts in several ways, most begin by using the two-column technique. In this example, the patient was asked to write down automatic thoughts that occurred in situations that he associated with his depressed mood.
  • Identifying the cognitive errors
  • A. T. Beck and others described six main categories of cognitive errors:
    • Selective abstraction,
    • Arbitrary inference,
    • Absolutistic (dichotomous or all-or-nothing) thinking,
    • Magnification and minimization,
    • Personalization, and
    • Catastrophic thinking.

Family Therapy

Family Systems Theory

  • Biological Origins
    • Family systems theory (FST) emerged from the work of Viennese Biologist Ludwig Von Bertalanffy’s work on general systems theory.
    • General systems theory argued that organisms are complex, organized, and interactive.
  • General Systems Theory
    • Focused attention on the pattern of relationships within a system, instead of studying parts in isolation.
    • A system is organized around relationships.
    • Elements (units) interact with each other in a predictable, organized fashion.
    • No element can be understood in isolation.
  • Murray Bowen – Psychiatrist by profession
    • Human relationships driven by two counterbalancing life forces: individuality and togetherness
  • Different perspective on schizophrenia
    • Symbiosis
    • NIMH Project (1954)
    • People were emotional prisoners of the way the others behaved.
    • The hallmark of these emotionally stuck-together, or fused, relationships was a lack of personal autonomy.
    • Anxious Attachment
  • Family is system of interacting parts mutually influencing one another
  • FST allows one to understand the organizational complexity of families, as well as the interactive patterns that guide family interactions.
  • Basic Assumptions
    • Each family is unique, due to the infinite variations in personal characteristics and cultural and ideological styles
    • The family is an interactional system.
    • Families must fulfil a variety of functions for each member, both collectively and individually.
    • Families pass through developmental and non-developmental changes that produce varying amounts of stress affecting all members.

Important Concepts

  • Differentiation of Self
    • The capacity to think and reflect, to not respond automatically to emotional pressures
    • A differentiated person is able to balance thinking and feeling
    • Experience and regulation of expression
  • Emotional Triangles
    • Dyads are inherently unstable, as two people will vacillate between closeness and distance. 
    • Triangle is the smallest stable relationship system
    • Triangles are maladaptive if
    • Attention is drawn away from important issues in a two-person relationship.
    • The third member of the relationship feels pressured, overtaxed, or manipulated as a result of being brought into the conflict.
    • One of the three people in the relationship begins to feel ignored, excluded, or rejected.
    • Triangulation pulls a third party into an inappropriate role (for example, when a child becomes a mediator of conflict between two parents or a friend outside a conflicted relationship becomes a confidant for one of the partners).
  • Family Projection Process
  • Primary way parents transmit their emotional problems to a child. 
    • the parent focuses on a child out of fear that something is wrong with the child
    • the parent interprets the child’s behavior as confirming the fear; and
    • the parent treats the child as if something is really wrong with the child
  • Emotional Cut off
    • Managing unresolved emotional issues by distancing themselves
    • Moving away, avoiding intimacy, insulating themselves with the presence of third parties
    • Mistaking emotional cutoff to maturity
  • Nuclear Family Emotional Process
    • Marital Conflict
    • Dysfunction in one spouse
    • Dysfunction in one more children
    • Emotional Distance
  • Multigenerational Transmission
    • Differences in Levels of Differentiation transmitted across generations
  • Societal Emotional Processes
    • Tendency of people within a society to be more anxious and unstable at certain times than others.
    • Environmental stressors like overpopulation, scarcity of natural resources, epidemics, economic forces, and lack of skills for living in a diverse world
  • Therapy
    • Genogram
    • Detriangulation
    • Process questions
    • Relationship experiments
    • Coaching
    • I positions

Strategic Family Therapy

  • Double Bind Communication
    • The communication involves two or more people who share an important emotional relationship
    • The pattern of communication is repeated
    • The communication involves a primary negative injunction or a command to not do something on threat of punishment
    • The communication also involves a second abstract injunction also under threat of punishment that contradicts the primary injunction
    • A third negative injunction both demands a response and prevents escape, effectively binding the recipient of the demand
    • The recipient becomes conditioned to respond and as a result the entire sequence is no longer necessary to maintain the symptom (Nichols & Shwartz, 2004)
  • The MRI Approach
    • Families encounter many difficulties; response to the problem determines whether it becomes a problem
    • Misguided attempts to solve difficulties
    • Positive feedback loops
    • Solutions that perpetuate problems
    • Denying that the problem exists
    • Effort to solve something that is not really a problem
    • Action is taken, but at the wrong level
  • Assessment
    • Define a resolvable complaint
    • Identify attempted solutions that maintain
    • Understand the client’s unique language for describing the problem
  • The  MRI Approach to problems
    • Identify positive feedback loops that maintain the problems
    • Determine the rules that support these interactions
    • Find a way to change the rules
    • First order and second order change
  • Therapy Process
  • Introducing the treatment set up
  • Inquiring about and defining the problem
  • Estimating the behavior that is maintaining the problem
  • Setting goals for treatment
  • Selecting and making behavioral interventions
  • Terminating therapy
  • Haley and Madanes Approach
    • Haley: Part of Bateson’s Project, Moved to MRI, Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic, 1976: Family Therapy Institute
    • Cole Madanes: Had worked at both the MRI and Child Guidance Clinic
    • Interviewing the entire family
    • Social stage
    • Problem stage
    • Interaction stage
    • Goal setting stage
    • Interpersonal Payoff: Secondary gains
    • Covert function of symptoms
    • Metaphor: A symptom is seen as a metaphor for an underlying problem
    • Power: Money, education, control of children,
      •  Partner with the least power develops the most emotional problems
      • Negotiation: One makes a request, the other names a price
      • Problems as a breakdown of negotiation processes
    • Rules of negotiation
    • Easy to more difficult issues
  • Pretend techniques
    • People will often do something that they wouldn’t ordinarily do if it’s framed as play
    • Encourage the symptomatic child to pretend to have the symptom and encourage the parents to pretend to help
  • Ordeals
    • Ericksonian roots
    • “If one makes it more difficult for a person to have a symptom than to give it up, the person will give up the symptom”
    • Consequences of symptoms
  • Current Form: Strategic Humanism
    • Still involves giving directives,
    • Directives aimed at increasing the families abilities to soothe and love rather than gain control of power
  • Current Form: Strategic Humanism
    • Encourages parents to be sympathetic and supportive
    • After calming the child down, establish rules and enforce consequences

Experiential Family Therapy

  • Evolution of the Model
    • Emerged from the humanistic school of psychology
    • Here and now experience
    • Focused on emotional experience than the dynamics of interaction
  • The Basic Model
    • Emotional Suppression: Root cause of family problems.
    • Families try to regulate actions by controlling feelings
    • Dysfunctional families are less tolerant of negative emotions
    • Repressed affect: Boredom, anxiety, apathy
    • Change can be brought about by getting in touch with their real feelings.
  • A disinclination to theorize
    • Whitaker: Self fulfilment and family cohesiveness
    • Satir: Importance of communication and individual self-expression
    • Individuals as whole persons and offered a positive model of humanity.
    • Emphazised freedom and flexibility
    • To promote individual growth and family cohesion, liberate affects and impulses.
    • Efforts to unlock defenses and unlock deeper levels of experiencing
    • Healthier families- If people are allowed to follow their instincts they tend to flourish
    • Social pressures
  • Ideal situation
    • Parental control is not excessive, children grow in an atmosphere of support for their feelings and creative impulses.
    • Accepting feelings and validating them.
    • Experience and express emotions.
  • Conceptualization of pathology
    • Denial of impulses and suppression of feelings
    • Self-protection and avoidance
    • Couples who remain together: Accommodation
    • Compromise/resignation: Lessens the friction
    • Anxious to avoid conflict
    • Seek support and safety in their routines
  • Emotional deadness: Cold, stay together because of duties and habits
  • Lack of warmth: Avoidance, preoccupation with work and other things
    • Four dishonest ways of communicating: Blaming, Placating, Being irrelevant, and being super-reasonable.
    • Low self-esteem behind inauthentic patterns of communication.
    • If people feel bad about themselves, it’s hard to tell the truth about their feelings and it’s threatening to let others tell them honestly what they feel
  • Process of experiential therapy
    • Uncover deeper levels of experiencing
    • Emphasize the feeling side of human nature: Creativity, spontaneity
    • Alternately provocative and warmly supportive
  • Techniques borrowed from Gestalt Schools and art therapy: Family sculpting, family drawing, animal attribution storytelling, Role Playing
    • Clarify communication, supported the self-esteem of every family member, pointed out positive intentions, showed by example how to be affectionate.
    • Use of touch, especially with children.
    • Imagery

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