AQA PSYCHOLOGY ATTACHMENT EXAM QUESTIONS WITH
ANSWERS RATED A
✔✔*Failure to function adequately evaluation points*
+ Patient's perspective
- Alternate lifestyle
- Subjective judgements
- Labelling - ✔✔*+ Patient's perspective* - this does take into account the subjective
experience of the individual however, suggesting it is useful in assessing abnormalities.
*- Alternate lifestyle* - it can be difficult for someone else to say that they are failing to
function adequately when they may just be deviating from their social norms because
they are living an alternative lifestyle, which can lead to discrimination against minorities
and limiting people's personal freedoms.
*- Subjective judgements* - you have to assess levels of distress and that can be a
subjective process, which can lead to incorrect diagnoses.
*- Labelling* - It is normal to become depressed after the loss of a job, home,
relationship, etc. Someone in that place may benefit from psychological help, but if
diagnosed with depression then that label will stick with them and could cause
employers to discriminate against you (which is illegal, just so you know future
employers!)
✔✔*Ideal mental health evaluation points*
+ Comprehensive
- Cultural relativism
- Unrealistic standards for mental health - ✔✔*+ Comprehensive definition* - covers a
broad range of criteria for mental health making it a good tool for thinking about mental
health.
*- Cultural relativism* - Jahoda's classifications are more specific to western civilisation
(culture bound). Collectivist cultures would view self-actualisation and emphasis on
personal achievement as self-indulgent.
*- Unrealistic standards for mental health* - very few meet all criterion on Jahoda's
scale, and so are we abnormal individuals?
✔✔DSM-5 - ✔✔Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder.
✔✔Phobias - Behaviours - ✔✔1. Panic
2. Avoidance
3. Endurance
,✔✔Phobias - Behavioural:
Panic - ✔✔A phobic person may respond with panic in the presence of their phobic
stimulus. This may result in crying, screaming or running away, and in children maybe
freezing or having a tantrum.
✔✔Phobias - Behavioural:
Avoidance - ✔✔The phobic person will go to a lot of effort to avoid their phobic stimulus,
which can make it difficult for them to go about their daily lives.
✔✔Phobias - Behavioural:
Endurance - ✔✔A sufferer may remain in the presence of their phobic stimulus and
continue to experience high levels of anxiety, which may be unavoidable- e.g. fear of
flying.
✔✔Phobias - Emotional - ✔✔1. Anxiety
2. Unreasonable responses
✔✔Phobias - Emotional:
Anxiety - ✔✔An unpleasant state of high arousal preventing the sufferer from relaxing
and difficulty in experiencing positive emotions.
This can be long term, as fear is the immediate response we experience when we
encounter or think about the phobic stimulus.
✔✔Phobias - Emotional:
Unreasonable responses - ✔✔Wildly disproportionate reactions to danger posed by e.g.
a spider.
✔✔Phobias - Cognitive - ✔✔1. Selective attention
2. Irrational beliefs
3. Cognitive distortions
✔✔Phobias - Cognitive:
Selective attention - ✔✔If a sufferer can see the phobic stimulus it is hard to look away
from it, which is unhelpful when the fear is irrational.
✔✔Phobias - Cognitive:
, Irrational beliefs - ✔✔A phobic may have these beliefs to their phobic stimulus. These
kinds of beliefs increase the pressure on the sufferer to perform well in social situations.
i.e. "I must always prove to people I am intelligent"
✔✔Phobias - Cognitive:
Cognitive distortions - ✔✔Phobic's perception of the phobic stimulus may be distorted,
e.g. an ophidiophobic may see snakes as alien and aggressive looking.
✔✔Depression - Biological - ✔✔1. Activity levels
2. Disruption to sleep and eating
3. Aggression and self-harm
✔✔Depression - Biological:
Activity levels - ✔✔Typically sufferers have reduced levels of energy, making them
lethargic. This has a knock on effect, with sufferers tending to withdraw from work,
education and social life, and in extreme cases it means some people can't get out of
bed.
Or, it may lead to psychomotor agitation- they struggle to relax, and may end up pacing
up and down a room.
✔✔Depression - Biological:
Disruption to sleep and eating - ✔✔Sufferers may experience reduced sleep (insomnia),
particularly premature waking, or an increased need for sleep (hypersomnia).
Similarly, appetite may increase or decrease, leading to weight gain or loss.
✔✔Depression - Biological:
Aggression and self-harm - ✔✔Sufferers are often irritable, and in some cases verbally
or physically aggressive. Some may display verbal aggression by ending a relationship
or quitting a job.
It can also lead to physical aggression directed against the self- cutting or suicide
attempts.
✔✔Depression - Emotional - ✔✔1. Lower mood
2. Anger
3. Lowered self-esteem
✔✔Depression - Emotional:
Lowered mood - ✔✔This is more than just a daily experience of feeling lethargic and
sad. Patients often describe themselves as feeling worthless and empty.
ANSWERS RATED A
✔✔*Failure to function adequately evaluation points*
+ Patient's perspective
- Alternate lifestyle
- Subjective judgements
- Labelling - ✔✔*+ Patient's perspective* - this does take into account the subjective
experience of the individual however, suggesting it is useful in assessing abnormalities.
*- Alternate lifestyle* - it can be difficult for someone else to say that they are failing to
function adequately when they may just be deviating from their social norms because
they are living an alternative lifestyle, which can lead to discrimination against minorities
and limiting people's personal freedoms.
*- Subjective judgements* - you have to assess levels of distress and that can be a
subjective process, which can lead to incorrect diagnoses.
*- Labelling* - It is normal to become depressed after the loss of a job, home,
relationship, etc. Someone in that place may benefit from psychological help, but if
diagnosed with depression then that label will stick with them and could cause
employers to discriminate against you (which is illegal, just so you know future
employers!)
✔✔*Ideal mental health evaluation points*
+ Comprehensive
- Cultural relativism
- Unrealistic standards for mental health - ✔✔*+ Comprehensive definition* - covers a
broad range of criteria for mental health making it a good tool for thinking about mental
health.
*- Cultural relativism* - Jahoda's classifications are more specific to western civilisation
(culture bound). Collectivist cultures would view self-actualisation and emphasis on
personal achievement as self-indulgent.
*- Unrealistic standards for mental health* - very few meet all criterion on Jahoda's
scale, and so are we abnormal individuals?
✔✔DSM-5 - ✔✔Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder.
✔✔Phobias - Behaviours - ✔✔1. Panic
2. Avoidance
3. Endurance
,✔✔Phobias - Behavioural:
Panic - ✔✔A phobic person may respond with panic in the presence of their phobic
stimulus. This may result in crying, screaming or running away, and in children maybe
freezing or having a tantrum.
✔✔Phobias - Behavioural:
Avoidance - ✔✔The phobic person will go to a lot of effort to avoid their phobic stimulus,
which can make it difficult for them to go about their daily lives.
✔✔Phobias - Behavioural:
Endurance - ✔✔A sufferer may remain in the presence of their phobic stimulus and
continue to experience high levels of anxiety, which may be unavoidable- e.g. fear of
flying.
✔✔Phobias - Emotional - ✔✔1. Anxiety
2. Unreasonable responses
✔✔Phobias - Emotional:
Anxiety - ✔✔An unpleasant state of high arousal preventing the sufferer from relaxing
and difficulty in experiencing positive emotions.
This can be long term, as fear is the immediate response we experience when we
encounter or think about the phobic stimulus.
✔✔Phobias - Emotional:
Unreasonable responses - ✔✔Wildly disproportionate reactions to danger posed by e.g.
a spider.
✔✔Phobias - Cognitive - ✔✔1. Selective attention
2. Irrational beliefs
3. Cognitive distortions
✔✔Phobias - Cognitive:
Selective attention - ✔✔If a sufferer can see the phobic stimulus it is hard to look away
from it, which is unhelpful when the fear is irrational.
✔✔Phobias - Cognitive:
, Irrational beliefs - ✔✔A phobic may have these beliefs to their phobic stimulus. These
kinds of beliefs increase the pressure on the sufferer to perform well in social situations.
i.e. "I must always prove to people I am intelligent"
✔✔Phobias - Cognitive:
Cognitive distortions - ✔✔Phobic's perception of the phobic stimulus may be distorted,
e.g. an ophidiophobic may see snakes as alien and aggressive looking.
✔✔Depression - Biological - ✔✔1. Activity levels
2. Disruption to sleep and eating
3. Aggression and self-harm
✔✔Depression - Biological:
Activity levels - ✔✔Typically sufferers have reduced levels of energy, making them
lethargic. This has a knock on effect, with sufferers tending to withdraw from work,
education and social life, and in extreme cases it means some people can't get out of
bed.
Or, it may lead to psychomotor agitation- they struggle to relax, and may end up pacing
up and down a room.
✔✔Depression - Biological:
Disruption to sleep and eating - ✔✔Sufferers may experience reduced sleep (insomnia),
particularly premature waking, or an increased need for sleep (hypersomnia).
Similarly, appetite may increase or decrease, leading to weight gain or loss.
✔✔Depression - Biological:
Aggression and self-harm - ✔✔Sufferers are often irritable, and in some cases verbally
or physically aggressive. Some may display verbal aggression by ending a relationship
or quitting a job.
It can also lead to physical aggression directed against the self- cutting or suicide
attempts.
✔✔Depression - Emotional - ✔✔1. Lower mood
2. Anger
3. Lowered self-esteem
✔✔Depression - Emotional:
Lowered mood - ✔✔This is more than just a daily experience of feeling lethargic and
sad. Patients often describe themselves as feeling worthless and empty.
