(This post gives the example of schizophrenia from some A-level courses. IB Diploma students should use depression instead.) Cultural bias is highly relevant in the content area of psychopathology (abnormal psychology), especially in the definition of abnormality as ‘deviation from social norms.’ This creates the question of whose social norms? Behaviours that may seem normal in one culture are sometimes … Read More
Clinical biases in diagnosis
In the abnormal psychology option, what is the difference between cognitive biases and clinical biases? Clinical biases are cognitive biases that take place when a psychiatrist or psychologist is trying to make a diagnosis and label the behaviour. They can arise from experience (‘these symptoms nearly always mean this mental health problem’) and result in a misdiagnosis when other explanations … Read More
Taking a holistic approach to the course
I have been trying over the past few years to do this, and am sometimes asked what I mean by ‘a holistic approach.’ The easy way is to demonstrate using an example. If you are teaching/studying the abnormal psychology option, for instance, you will probably be doing this after you have spent some time looking at the core approaches to … Read More