new to teaching a level psychology in year 1

New to Teaching

A Level Psychology

in Year 1(AS)

Resources for Courses

Resources for CoursesJackanory

What’s the story JackanoryThis resource is a main activity that can be adapted to teach many areas of psychologyit involves students completing individual research then using this to feedback to theirgroup. They then use pictures to help to explain what they have just learnt eventuallyputting the pictures together into a story (which is the study) in this case Beck’s Cognitive Triad.

Teacher InstructionsSit the students in groups of four. You can either put them in groups based on abilityor mix the abilities. Give each student a number from 1-4 with one being the mostable. Then tell them they have 10 minutes to make notes on Beck’s cognitive triad as an explanation of depression. Each student has different information (providedbelow) that they need to use to answer the following questions. Tell them that theymight not be able to answer all of the questions with the information they have butthey should try to answer as many as possible to help their group.

1 What is the principle behind the theory?2 According to Beck why are people depressed?3 What are the three parts of his theory?4 Any evidence to support this?5 Any evaluation?

Resources for CoursesJackanory

After the 10 minutes the students return back to their original table and they have aset of pictures that are face down. You get the students to take it in turns, number 1 goes first, and picks up the first picture and has to use their knowledge to explainhow this links to Beck’s cognitive triad (e.g. a picture of a triangle, this is showing thethree parts of Beck’s negative triad which are...) there is no right or wrong it is downto the students perception and is to help them develop their explanation. Then thenext student takes the next picture and this continues until all of the pictures are used (there are 8, two each) this should take 10 minutes.

For the next 10 minutes the students need to put the pictures into an order that couldcreate a story to explain Beck’s theory about depression. The pictures can be in anyorder but they need to have a clear narrative that goes with the order that they havechosen.

You then ask the students to take it in turns to share their story with the class.

Jackanory activity instructionsPart 1Each take a picture from the pile and explain howthis links to Becks cognitive explanation from the research that you have just done. (You all need totake this in turns).

Part 2Now organise the pictures into a story to explainBeck’s theory of depression.

Stretch yourself! ...to get the highest marks try to include some evaluation of this theory, if there is not picture you can create your own on the plain paper.

Part 3Get ready to present your story to the class youmight have to do all of it or just one picture so make sure you know what each picture represents.

1 2

3 4

Aaron Beck noticed that many of his clients who came to see him with depressionshowed negative thinking patterns.

He believed that there were three areas of negative thinking:The cognitive triad, faulty information processing, negative self schemas.

He created the cognitive triad (1976)of impairments showing how people with depressionhave three negative thoughts. The self, the future and the world. This stops them frombeing able to move forward as they believe there is no point.

Beck believed that when people think negatively they feel and act depressed so CBT(cognitive behavioural therapy) attempts to identify the negative thoughts and beliefs and alter them.

The self (I am hopeless)

The future (nothing will get better)

The world (is a horrible place)



Cognitive TriadHe created the cognitive triad (1976)of impairments showing how people with depression have three negative thoughts. The self, the future and the world. This stops them from being able to move forward asthey believe there is no point.

Faulty information processingPeople with depression have distorted thinking. Beck believed that people with depression selectively attend to negative stimuli and ignore positive stimuli. This is one way that their information processing isdistorted or “faulty”. He also believed that one they have attended to this negative information they magnify the event or overgeneralise the information.

An example would be a student who receives an essay back from their teacher and has received a Cgrade. The teacher has praised their description of the theory but has said that there is not enough A02 to gain the higher grades. A person who is depressed believes that they have done everything wrong and that their essay was rubbish as they only process the negative information.

Beck believed that this fault in information processing would make an individual prone to becoming depressed and one they are depressed they would struggle to change their negative thinking and cognitions leading to depression.

EvaluationVery difficult to establish cause and effect as it is unclear whether the negative thinking causes depression or the depression causes negative thinking.

If depression is due to cognitive processes as Beck believed then CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) can be used to treat depression whichis a practical application.

Negative viewof the self

I am incompetentand undeserving

Negative view of the

worldIt is a hostile

place

DepressionNegative

view of the future

problems will notdisappesr, there will

always be emotional pain




Faulty information processingPeople with depression have distorted thinking. Beck believed that people with depression selectively attend to negative stimuli and ignore positive stimuli. This is one way that their information processing is distorted or “faulty”. He also believed that one they have attended to this negative information they magnify the event or overgeneralise the information. Beck believed that this fault in information processingwould make an individual prone to becoming depressed and one they are depressed they would struggleto change their negative thinking and cognitions leading to depression.





place

DepressionNegative

view of the future



Negative self-schemaA schema is a mental representation that helps us to make sense of the world and process information selectively and quickly due to a pre-conceived expectation. A self-schema is the beliefs about the self. As schemas can alter the way that we process information leading us to only process information that fit with the existing schema and ignoring information that does not fit with the schema this can lead to dysfunctional (faulty) processing. If an individual has a negative self-schema then the information that isselected (processed) will be information that matches this schema as this confirms the negative beliefs.This means that they will ignore any contrary (positive) evidence.

Key study: Weissman and Beck 1978

AIM to investigate the thought processes of depressed people to establish if they make use of negative schemas.

METHOD thought processes were measured using the dysfunctional attitude scale (DAS). Participants were asked to fill in a questionnaire by ticking whether they agreed or disagreed with a set of statements. For example, ‘people will probably think less of me if I make a mistake’.

RESULT they found that depressed participants made more negative assessments than non-depressed people. When given some therapy to challenge and change their negative schemasthere was an improvement in their self-ratings.

CONCLUSION Depression involves the use of negative schemas.




Faulty information processingPeople with depression have distorted thinking. Beck believed that people with depression selectively attend to negative stimuli and ignore positive stimuli. This is one way that their information processing is distorted or “faulty”. He also believed that one they have attended to this negative information they magnify the event or overgeneralise the information. Beck believed that this fault in information processingwould make an individual prone to becoming depressed and one they are depressed they would struggleto change their negative thinking and cognitions leading to depression.





place

DepressionNegative

view of the future



Negative self-schemaA schema is a mental representation that helps us to make sense of the world and process information selectively and quickly due to a pre-conceived expectation. A self-schema is the beliefs about the self. As schemas can alter the way that we process information leading us to only process information that fit with the existing schema and ignoring information that does not fit with the schema this can lead to dysfunctional (faulty) processing. If an individual has a negative self-schema then the information that isselected (processed) will be information that matches this schema as this confirms the negative beliefs.This means that they will ignore any contrary (positive) evidence.

Critical life eventBeck did not believe that cognitive dysfunction automatically led to depression. He believed that thereneeded to be a trigger to these events which he called a “critical life event”. This could be a death ofsomeone close, divorce, losing a job etc. Beck believed that this would trigger dysfunctional thinking and would lead to the triad of negative thinking developing.

Evaluation• Depressed people undoubtedly have negative thoughts but do the negative thoughts help cause

depression, or do they merely occur as a result of being depressed?

• This approach may succeed in changing the depressed person’s thinking, but may not discover theunderlying cause of the depression.

• Past events, which have a powerful influence on the individual, are often neglected.

• The cognitive explanation cannot account for the physical symptoms of mood disorders. With unipolarthese include aches and pains, a lack of energy, palpitations, headaches and stomach upsets. Forwomen there may be menstrual changes. Sleep disturbance is another possible symptom. Suffererscan experience loss of appetite or weight. With bipolar, during the manic phase the sufferer will tendto sleep very little and have increase in energy levels – how can irrational thought processes causethese symptoms?

• The cognitive approach also does not distinguish between the different types of depression (unipolar/bipolar), but gives the same basic explanation.

Key study: Weissman and Beck 1978

AIM to investigate the thought processes of depressed people to establish if they make use of negative schemas.

METHOD thought processes were measured using the dysfunctional attitude scale (DAS). Participants were asked to fill in a questionnaire by ticking whether they agreed or disagreed with a set of statements. For example, ‘people will probably think less of me if I make a mistake’.

RESULT they found that depressed participants made more negative assessments than non-depressed people. When given some therapy to challenge and change their negative schemasthere was an improvement in their self-ratings.

CONCLUSION Depression involves the use of negative schemas.

new to teaching a level psychology in year 1

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