Psychology 2320A/B Lecture 2: Theories and Causes

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2320A/B
• Professor: Graham Reid

Document Summary

2:29 pm: nearly all child and family disturbances result from multiple, interacting risk factors and processes. "grand theory" formulated at a high level of abstraction; it makes generalisations that apply across many different domains. Abnormal development is multiply determined: our first underlying assumption is that abnormal child behavior is multiply determined. Thus, we have to look beyond the child"s current symptoms and consider developmental pathways and interacting events that, over time, contribute to the expression of a particular disorder. Child and environment are interdependent: our second assumption extends the influence of multiple causes by stressing how the child and environment are interdependent how they influence each other. Studying abnormal development informs our theories of abnormal development: and vice versa. Interactions are transactional: child & environment are interdependent, both are active contributors to adaptive and, maladaptive behaviour, multiple, interactive causes rather than one-dimensional models/ one cause.