Ethical considerations in

diagnosisYear 13 Abnormal Psychology

What are the negative implications of labelling

people?

Scheff (1966)

• Scheff (1966) argued that one of the adverse effects of labels is the self-fulfilling prophecy.

• What does this mean?

Doherty (1975)

• Doherty (1975) found that those who reject the mental illness label often make quicker recoveries than those who accept it.

The power of schema processing

Participants were shown a video of a younger man talking to an older man about his job experience.

Langer & Abelson (1974)

The power of schema processing

Participants were shown a video of a younger man talking to an older man about his job experience.

Those who had been told before watching the video that the young man was applying for a job described him as attractive and conventional-looking.

Langer & Abelson (1974)

The power of schema processing

Participants were shown a video of a younger man talking to an older man about his job experience.

Those who had been told before watching the video that the young man was applying for a job described him as attractive and conventional-looking.

Those who had been told he was a patient described him as defensive, tight, dependent and afraid of his own impulses.

Langer & Abelson (1974)

The power of schema processing

Participants were shown a video of a younger man talking to an older man about his job experience.

Those who had been told before watching the video that the young man was applying for a job described him as attractive and conventional-looking.

Those who had been told he was a patient described him as defensive, tight, dependent and afraid of his own impulses.

What does this say about the effects of schema processing when making diagnoses?

Langer & Abelson (1974)

Jenkins-Hall & Sacco

• European American therapists watched videos of recorded clinical interviews and were asked to evaluate the female patient.

Jenkins-Hall & Sacco

• European American therapists watched videos of recorded clinical interviews and were asked to evaluate the female patient.

• 4 conditions

Jenkins-Hall & Sacco

• European American therapists watched videos of recorded clinical interviews and were asked to evaluate the female patient.

• 4 conditions

• The African American patient was seen as less socially competent than the European American woman.

Confirmation bias

• Confirmation bias

• As was shown in the Rosenhan study ‘On being sane in insane places’, clinicians assume that if someone has sought their help, there must be something wrong with them.

Number of assessment techniques

• Kahneman and Tversky (1973) found that there is no positive correlation between the number of assessment techniques and the accuracy of an eventual diagnosis.

• Turn to the person next to you and tell them what you think this means.

Institutionalization

• Institutionalization can be a confounding variable when trying to establish the validity of a diagnosis.

• What does this mean?

Institutionalization

• Once admitted to an institution, all behaviour is viewed as being part of a mental illness. (E.g. Rosenhan’s pseudo patients’ pacing was seen as a symptom.)

Institutionalization

• Powerlessness

• Depersonalization