AQA PSYCHOLOGY A-LEVEL-
PSYCHOPATHOLOGY - DEPRESSION
(PSY4-5) QUESTIONS & CORRECT
ANSWERS
List the three behavioural characteristics of depression - Correct Answer ✔✔ > Activity
levels
> Disruption to sleep and eating behaviour
> Aggression and Self-Harm
List the three emotional characteristics of depression. - Correct Answer ✔✔ > Lowered
Mood
> Anger
> Lowered Self-Esteem
List the three cognitive characteristics of depression. - Correct Answer ✔✔ > Poor
Concentration
> Attending to and dwelling on the negative
> Negative view of the world and expect things to turn out badly
Outline Beck's Negative Triad as an explanation of depression - Correct Answer ✔✔
Where a person develops a dysfunctional view of themselves due to three types of
negative thinking (a negative and irrational view of ourselves, our future and the world
around us). For suffers of depression, these thoughts occur automatically, regardless of
the reality of the situation and are symptomatic of depressed people. According to Beck,
negative self-schemas and faulty information processing maintain the negative triad.
Outline faulty information processing as an explanation of depression. - Correct Answer
✔✔ This refers to the fact that depressed people tend to focus on the nagative of a
situation and ignore the positives. They blow very small things out of proportion and
experience very black and white thinking. This leads to overgeneralisations and
catastrophising.
Outline the negative self-scheme as an explanation of depression and give examples. -
Correct Answer ✔✔ Self-schemas are packets of information we have about ourselves
that we use to interpret the world. If someone has a negative self-schema, then they will
interpret information about themselves in a negative way. Some examples are:
ineptness schema (expecting to fail), self-blame schema (feeling responsible for any
misfortunes) and negative self-evaluation schema (reminds them of their
worthlessness).
PSYCHOPATHOLOGY - DEPRESSION
(PSY4-5) QUESTIONS & CORRECT
ANSWERS
List the three behavioural characteristics of depression - Correct Answer ✔✔ > Activity
levels
> Disruption to sleep and eating behaviour
> Aggression and Self-Harm
List the three emotional characteristics of depression. - Correct Answer ✔✔ > Lowered
Mood
> Anger
> Lowered Self-Esteem
List the three cognitive characteristics of depression. - Correct Answer ✔✔ > Poor
Concentration
> Attending to and dwelling on the negative
> Negative view of the world and expect things to turn out badly
Outline Beck's Negative Triad as an explanation of depression - Correct Answer ✔✔
Where a person develops a dysfunctional view of themselves due to three types of
negative thinking (a negative and irrational view of ourselves, our future and the world
around us). For suffers of depression, these thoughts occur automatically, regardless of
the reality of the situation and are symptomatic of depressed people. According to Beck,
negative self-schemas and faulty information processing maintain the negative triad.
Outline faulty information processing as an explanation of depression. - Correct Answer
✔✔ This refers to the fact that depressed people tend to focus on the nagative of a
situation and ignore the positives. They blow very small things out of proportion and
experience very black and white thinking. This leads to overgeneralisations and
catastrophising.
Outline the negative self-scheme as an explanation of depression and give examples. -
Correct Answer ✔✔ Self-schemas are packets of information we have about ourselves
that we use to interpret the world. If someone has a negative self-schema, then they will
interpret information about themselves in a negative way. Some examples are:
ineptness schema (expecting to fail), self-blame schema (feeling responsible for any
misfortunes) and negative self-evaluation schema (reminds them of their
worthlessness).
