Some people who have Parkinson's disease, but have not been diagnosed with schizophrenia, are given L-dopa. L-dopa raises dopamine activity, and some of these people experience hallucinations or delusions as a side effect.
State what the dopamine hypothesis suggests about dopamine activity in schizophrenia.
Give one reason why the effects of L-dopa support the dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia.
144 exam-style questions on OCR GCSE Psychology 3.2 Theories/Explanations, covering 3.2.1 Clinical characteristics of schizophrenia, 3.2.2 Key statistics of schizophrenia, 3.2.3 Dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia, 3.2.4 Brain structure and function in schizophrenia; criticisms, 3.2.5 Social drift theory of schizophrenia, 3.2.6 Schizophrenia research study: Daniel et al. (1991), 3.2.7 Clinical characteristics of clinical depression, 3.2.8 Key statistics of clinical depression, 3.2.9 Social rank theory of clinical depression, 3.2.10 ABC Model of clinical depression, and 3.2.11 Clinical Depression research study: Tandoc et al. (2015). Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.