Cognitive explanations for schizophrenia
AO1 BRIEF: 2 marks AO3: 1-4 marks
Psychological explanations for schizophrenia focus on There is strong supporting evidence for dysfunctional
Aicore environment and its role in making
the psychological information processing in the minds of schizophrenics. For
individuals particularly vulnerable to schizophrenia, as example, a study compared schizophrenic patients to controls
well as emphasising the role of abnormal cognition in on a range of cognitive tasks. The results discovered were in
schizophrenics. These explanations include family line with Frith’s theory of central control dysfunction, as it was
cognitive explanations. found that patients took longer to carry out the tasks given to
them compared to controls. This research and the claim that
symptoms of schizophrenia have their origin in faulty
AO1 EXPLAIN: 6 marks
cognition are reinforced by the success of cognitive based
Cognitive explanations of Schizophrenia focus on the therapies. In cognitive behavioural therapy for psychosis,
role of dysfunctional thought processing. For example, patients are encouraged to evaluate the content of their
delusions and consider ways they might test the validity of
during the formation of delusions, the patient’s
their faulty beliefs. The effectiveness of this approach was
interpretations of their experiences are controlled by
reviewed and found to be the most effective method of
inadequate thought processing, including perceiving reducing symptom severity and improving levels of social
themselves as the central component in events functioning. This is therefore a significant strength of
(egocentric bias) and consequently leading themselves cognitive explanations for schizophrenia.
to jump to false conclusions as well as a tendency to
relate irrelevant events to them. Muffled voices are
AO3: 5-8 marks
interpreted as people criticising them. Hallucinating
individuals tend to focus excessive attention on auditory A problem with cognitive explanations of schizophrenia,
stimuli and find it hard to distinguish between imagery along with any psychological model for the disorder, is that
and sensory based perception. An inner representation they only focus on one aspect of the disorder – dysfunctional
of an idea can override the actual sensory stimulus and thought processing and cognitive impairment. The
therefore produce an auditory image. The Frith model explanation fails to explain, or ignores, any other important
factors which may play a role in the onset of schizophrenia,
identifies two kinds of dysfunctional thought processing;
resulting in the explanation of schizophrenia being limited.
metarepresentation and central control.
Researchers addressed this problem with an integrated
Metarepresentation is the cognitive ability to reflect on
model of schizophrenia, and argue that early vulnerability
thoughts and behaviour, giving us an insight into our factors such as genes or birth complications together with
intentions and goals, and disruption of this prevents exposure to significant social stressors, sensitises the
such abilities. Central control is the cognitive ability to dopamine system. This causes it to increase the release of
suppress automatic responses whilst performing dopamine, which then leads to paranoia and hallucination,
deliberate actions. An inability to do this made lead to and eventually the development of psychosis. This
positive symptoms of schizophrenia such as disorganised contributes to the stress experienced by the individual,
speech and thought disorder. leading to more dopamine release, more symptoms and so
AO3: 9-10 marks on. These research findings place importance on the fact that
schizophrenia is not simply due to cognitive impairment but
also factors like genetic play a role. This is a limitation of the
Notes:
cognitive explanation.
AO3: 8-10 marks
Another limitation of the explanation is the cause and
effect issue – it is unclear whether cognitive factors are
a cause of neural correlates and abnormal transmitter
levels in schizophrenic patients, or when cognitive
factors are a result of this. Therefore, it is difficult to
make a conclusion stating that cognitive factors arean
explanation for the development of schizophrenia, as
there is some controversy surrounding this debate.
Word count: AO1: 220, AO3: 383, TOTAL: 603
AO1 BRIEF: 2 marks AO3: 1-4 marks
Psychological explanations for schizophrenia focus on There is strong supporting evidence for dysfunctional
Aicore environment and its role in making
the psychological information processing in the minds of schizophrenics. For
individuals particularly vulnerable to schizophrenia, as example, a study compared schizophrenic patients to controls
well as emphasising the role of abnormal cognition in on a range of cognitive tasks. The results discovered were in
schizophrenics. These explanations include family line with Frith’s theory of central control dysfunction, as it was
cognitive explanations. found that patients took longer to carry out the tasks given to
them compared to controls. This research and the claim that
symptoms of schizophrenia have their origin in faulty
AO1 EXPLAIN: 6 marks
cognition are reinforced by the success of cognitive based
Cognitive explanations of Schizophrenia focus on the therapies. In cognitive behavioural therapy for psychosis,
role of dysfunctional thought processing. For example, patients are encouraged to evaluate the content of their
delusions and consider ways they might test the validity of
during the formation of delusions, the patient’s
their faulty beliefs. The effectiveness of this approach was
interpretations of their experiences are controlled by
reviewed and found to be the most effective method of
inadequate thought processing, including perceiving reducing symptom severity and improving levels of social
themselves as the central component in events functioning. This is therefore a significant strength of
(egocentric bias) and consequently leading themselves cognitive explanations for schizophrenia.
to jump to false conclusions as well as a tendency to
relate irrelevant events to them. Muffled voices are
AO3: 5-8 marks
interpreted as people criticising them. Hallucinating
individuals tend to focus excessive attention on auditory A problem with cognitive explanations of schizophrenia,
stimuli and find it hard to distinguish between imagery along with any psychological model for the disorder, is that
and sensory based perception. An inner representation they only focus on one aspect of the disorder – dysfunctional
of an idea can override the actual sensory stimulus and thought processing and cognitive impairment. The
therefore produce an auditory image. The Frith model explanation fails to explain, or ignores, any other important
factors which may play a role in the onset of schizophrenia,
identifies two kinds of dysfunctional thought processing;
resulting in the explanation of schizophrenia being limited.
metarepresentation and central control.
Researchers addressed this problem with an integrated
Metarepresentation is the cognitive ability to reflect on
model of schizophrenia, and argue that early vulnerability
thoughts and behaviour, giving us an insight into our factors such as genes or birth complications together with
intentions and goals, and disruption of this prevents exposure to significant social stressors, sensitises the
such abilities. Central control is the cognitive ability to dopamine system. This causes it to increase the release of
suppress automatic responses whilst performing dopamine, which then leads to paranoia and hallucination,
deliberate actions. An inability to do this made lead to and eventually the development of psychosis. This
positive symptoms of schizophrenia such as disorganised contributes to the stress experienced by the individual,
speech and thought disorder. leading to more dopamine release, more symptoms and so
AO3: 9-10 marks on. These research findings place importance on the fact that
schizophrenia is not simply due to cognitive impairment but
also factors like genetic play a role. This is a limitation of the
Notes:
cognitive explanation.
AO3: 8-10 marks
Another limitation of the explanation is the cause and
effect issue – it is unclear whether cognitive factors are
a cause of neural correlates and abnormal transmitter
levels in schizophrenic patients, or when cognitive
factors are a result of this. Therefore, it is difficult to
make a conclusion stating that cognitive factors arean
explanation for the development of schizophrenia, as
there is some controversy surrounding this debate.
Word count: AO1: 220, AO3: 383, TOTAL: 603
