A Level Psychology

Question 1

Obedience

Answer 1

Directly following an order from an authority figure without personally choosing how you behave. This happens because we live in a hierarchically structured society and to not get harmed or to get what they want.

Question 2

Obedience vs conformity

Answer 2

Obedience- do not have the choice to change behaviour e.g someone forcing you to smoke.

Conformity- you have the ability to change your behaviour e.g you see a group smoking and choose to join in to be accepted.

Question 3

Milgram- aim

Answer 3

• wanted to measure the effect of authority on obedience levels
• to see if people would obey a legitimate authority even if they knew the task they were doing was morally wrong

Question 4

Milgram- findings

Answer 4

• 60% obeyed all the way to 450 volts- potentially deadly
• 12.5% stopped when the actor was in pain (1 in 10)
• clear that when someone had legitimate authority, people will obey even if they know their actions are morally wrong

Question 5

Milgram- evaluation and weaknesses

Answer 5

Milgram conducted this study again without a lab coat and obedience levels dropped, therefore people were more inclined to obey someone that was a legitimate authority figure.

• lacks ecological validity- lab experiment
• actor was always a male- could have impacted the way participants acted

Question 6

Milgram- Ethical issues

Answer 6

• deception- not telling participants the true nature of the experiment and what was going on
• withdraw- very hard for the participant to withdraw due to the experimenter urging the participants to continue
• informed consent-not consenting to the experiment which they were doing, but to the experiment they believed they had signed up for
• harm-psychological, did not get tested beforehand to see if they could cope with what would happen in the experiment

Question 7

Psychodynamic approach- Freud

Answer 7

The unconscious forces control the mind and contain emotions which become conscious thoughts.

Question 8

Components of the unconscious mind

The ID

Answer 8

Part of the brain which control primary drives and impulses. Its only objective is ton meet these drivers.

Question 9

Components of the unconscious mind

The Ego

Answer 9

A reality principle which will balance the ID’s wants with the rules of society.

Question 10

Components of the unconscious mind

The Super Ego

Answer 10

Contains an understanding of society’s rules

Question 11

The psychosexual theory- the stages of childhood

Answer 11

• Oral stage (1-2 years)- seeks oral gratification- fixations on smoking and drinking.
• Anal stage (1-3 years)- pleasure from toileting. Obsession with order.
• Phallic stage (3-5 years)- genitals are more sensitive and child has unconscious sexual desires for opposite parent.
• Latency stage (5-12 years)- sexuality is dormant, concentrates on developing confidence.
• genital stage (12+ years)- become interested in opposite sex- affects their decision making when they are older.

Question 12

Evaluation of the psychodynamic approach

Answer 12

Strengths

• identifies the role of the unconscious
• psychoanalysis is proven to work to treat abnormalities

Weaknesses

• not scientific- hard to prove things
• ignores the physical causes of abnormality
• ignores the conscious thoughts process

Question 13

Psychoanalysis

Answer 13

• brings the unconscious thoughts to the conscious

- the patient will be aware of the unconscious forces which cause undesirable abnormal symptoms

Question 14

Evaluation of psychoanalysis

Answer 14

Strengths
-solves the cause of abnormality, not just the symptoms 
-no harm caused, unlike drugs 
Weaknesses 
-not scientific 
-relies on accurate memory recall
-success rate depends on the skills of the therapists 
-expensive 
-does not work in the short term