Psychopathology- Anagi Gunasekara –Tute -02

Research in abnormal psychology

Research is as important to the field of abnormal psychology as it is to any other field of study.

 Lack of evidence for “Schizophrenogenic mother” explanation for Schizophrenia

 Lack of evidence for the use of lobotomies to treat Schizophrenia

Theories and treatment that seem effective in individual instances may prove disastrous to other people in different
situations. Only by rigorously testing a theory or technique on representative groups of individuals can clinicians
evaluate the accuracy, effectiveness and safety of the ideas and techniques

What are the challenges of conducting clinical research?

What do clinical researchers do?

Also called clinical scientists, they try to discover universal laws, or principles of abnormal psychological functioning.
They search for general truths about the nature, causes and treatment of abnormality (Harris, 2003)They do not
typically assess, diagnose or treat individual clients. To gain a nomothetic understanding of abnormal psychology,
they rely on the scientific method (systematically collect and evaluate information through careful
observations)These observations enable them to pinpoint and explain relationships between variables (such as?)
Three methods of investigation – case study, correlational method, experimental method. These methods enable the
formation and testing of hypothesis and to draw broad conclusions

The case study

A detailed and often interpretive description of a persons life and psychological problems. It described the person
history present circumstances, and symptoms. It may also speculate about why the problems developed, and it may
describe the application and results of a particular treatment - Freud’s case study of Little Hans

Sharing of session notes into a formal case study to be shared with other professionals. The clues offered by the case
study may help a clinician better understand or treat the person under discussion.

How are case studies helpful?

 It can be source of new ideas about behaviour and “open the way for discoveries (Bolgar, 1965).
 Offer tentative support for a theory. Challenge a theory’s assumptions
 Inspire new therapeutic techniques or describe unique applications of existing techniques
 Offer opportunity to study unusual problems that do not occur often enough to permit a large number of
observations (Goodwin, 2007)

What are the limitations of case studies?

 They are reported by biased observers (by the therapists who have a person stake in seeing their treatments
succeed)
 They rely upon subjective evidence (low internal validity)
 Provides little basis for generalization (low external validity)
 Overcoming these limitations through correlational and experimental methods
1. By observing many individuals (enough information gathered to support conclusions)
2. Apply procedures uniformly (allowing for replication to ensure consistency)
3. Use statistical tests to analyse the results of the study (to indicate whether the broad conclusions are
justified)
The correlational method

 Correlation is the degree to which events or characteristics vary with each other.
 The correlational method is a research procedure used to determine this “co-relationship” between
variables
 Activity – develop a correlational hypothesis for something you are curious to study about
 A representative sample is aimed for in order to ensure external validity
 How would you describe a correlation? Positive and negative correlations and the correlation coefficient (r)

Evaluation of the correlational method

Special forms of
correlational research

 Epidemiological studies – reveal the incidence and prevalence of a disorder in a particular population
o Incidence – the number of new cases emerging during a given period of time
o Prevalence - total number of cases in the population during a given period of time
 These studies help identify groups at risk for particular disorders
 Longitudinal studies – (high risk/developmental studies) – observe the same individual on many occasions
over a long period of time

The experimental method

A variable is manipulated and the manipulation’s effect on another variable is observed.

 Independent variable – the variable being manipulated

 Dependent variable - the variable being observed
 Confounding variable - variables other than the IV that may also affect the DV
 Control group – group of participants not exposed to the IV but is similar is all other important aspects to the
experimental group – those who are exposed to the IV
 Random assignment - selection procedure that ensures that every participant in the experiment in as likely
to be placed in one group as the other
  Blind design – participants are blind to the group they are assigned. The imitation of behaviour is known as
placebo effect. (to avoid demand characteristics)
 Double blind procedures – where the experimenter is also blind to the condition of the participant (to avoid
experimenter bias)

Identify the IV, DV and possible CVs

 You want to study whether group therapy or individual therapy is more effective in treating PTSD.
 You want to study whether children who have been through abused are more likely to develop social
anxiety.
 You want to study elders in the nursing care facility have a better psychological wellbeing than those living
with their own children
 You want to identify which is the best treatment for depression- CBT alone, antidepressants alone, CBT and
antidepressants together
o You want to find out if there is a difference in the way the males and females respond to the three
types of treatment mentioned above

Alternative experimental designs

1. Quasi experiment design (mixed design)

 Do not use random assignment but make use of groups that already exist in the world
Eg – research with those who have been through abuse
 Confound problems addressed through matched control pairs
2. Natural experiments
 Nature manipulated the IV and the experimenter observed the effects
 It is a type of a quasi experiment
3. Analogue experiments
 Induce lab participants to behave in ways that seem to resemble real life abnormal behaviour and then
conduct experiments in the hope of shedding light on the real life abnormality
 Mostly done in the form of animal studies
4. Single subject experiment
 A single participant is observed both before and after the manipulations of the IV
o ABAB design - participants reactions are measured and compared not only during a baseline
period (condition A) and after the introduction of the IV (condition B) but also after the IV has
been removed (condition A) and yes again after it has been reintroduced (condition B)
o Multiple baseline design – experimenter selected 2 or more behaviours displayed by the
participant and observed the effect the IV has on these