AQA PSYCH PAPER 2 2024 Flashcards
Describe the ego and superego according to the psychodynamic approach (4)
ego- rational, conscious part of our mind that balances the id and superego, the ‘reality’ principle formed between the ages of 18months to 3 years
superego- unconscious part of our mind, morality principle acts as the conscience or moral guide based on parental and societal values formed between 3-6 years
Outline Wundt’s method of introspection (4)
introspection is the process of observing and examining your own conscious thoughts or emotions.
- He and his researchers recorded their experiences with various stimuli they were presented with, such as
different objects, sounds. - these parts are elements like sensation, emotional reactions
- people were trained to do this analysis to make the data objective rather than subjective
- Isolating the structure of consciousness in this way id structuralism.
- people were trained to do this analysis to make the data objective rather than subjective
Outline one example on how neurochemistry influences behaviour (3)
Neurotransmitters: travel from one neuron to another through synapses. Two types of neurotransmitters are excitatory neurotransmitters that stimulate the brain (e.g. dopamine= an imbalance is associated with mood disorders/ depression) and inhibitory neurotransmitters which calm the brain (e.g. serotonin)
———————————-
- Hormones: chemicals produced by endocrine glands such as the pituitary gland. They travel in the bloodstream to ‘target cells’ and exert their influence by stimulating the receptors on the surface or inside cells.
Karishma has very low self esteem, even though she achieved very high GCSE grades. She would like to be a lawyer and has delayed her uni application as she believes she will receive zero offers and does not think shes clever enough to study law.
**Explain why a humanist psychologist suggest shes not displaying congruence (2)
**Explain how a humanistic psychologist would help Karishma to achieve congruence (3) **
1) Congruence is achieved when their ideal self and and self image (actual) is the same, however, Karishmas ideal self aspires to be a lawyer but her self image believes she will not become a lawyer.
2) - Roger’s client centered therapy in which unconditional positive regard is used to assess treatment.
- the psychologist will accept her flaws and let her view herself with unconditional positive regard that she will become a successful lawyer
- **Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to achieve self actualisation **
Outline how behaviourists explain learning through the process of operant conditioning. (AO1)
Compare operant conditioning with social learning (AO3) -8 marks
Operant learning is learning through CONSEQUENCES (suggested by Skinner where animals operate on their own environment)
Positive reinforcement= receiving a reward when a certain behaviour is performed (e.g. the mice received a food pellet for pressing the button inside the box)
Negative reinforcement = animal or human avoids something unpleasant (avoidance behaviour over consequence)- Skinner’s study the mice learnt that pulling the lever avoids giving them an electric shock
BOTH INCREASE THE LIKELIHOOD OF A BEHAVIOUR REPEATING
Which two of the following are FALSE about fight or flight ?
A and D
What are hormones? Give an example of a hormone other than adreenaline and outline its function (4)
A hormone is a chemical that is secreted by the endocrine glands into the bloodstream which then distributes it around the body.
The thyroid gland triggers the release of thyroxine for our body’s metabolism
A psychologist conducted a study of someone with difficulty sleeping.
briefly explain one ethical issue the psychologist needs to consider in the study (2)
Protection from harm as they may experience greater anxiety so they display demand characteristics and please you effect
Discuss research into the effects of endogeneous pacemakers and exogeneous zeitgebers on the sleep wake cycle (16)
AO1:
EP- internal body clocks - regulate our circadian sleep wake cycle .
- SCN (superchiasmatic nucleus) - tiny bunde of nerve cells in the hypothalamus - most important pacemaker
- FUNCTION: receives info about light from nerve cells even when sleeping -> body clocks are able to adjust to changing patterns of daylight
- sends info to pineal glands to increase production of melatonin at night to induce sleep
———————————————————————-
EZ- external factors that reset our biological clocks using social cues (e.g. food times) and light
- ENTRAINMENT between our EP and EZ to synchronise light and body clocks
is the diary primary or secondary data? Justify your answer (2)
primary- self report as the data is collected first handedly
Explain how the researcher could’ve used content analysis to analyse the parents’ diaries (4)
Content analysis is a way of analysing text using code and themes. In this case, create categories of different types of play e.g. physical and educational play
Create a checklist / categories of the different types of play
Relevant example(s) of behaviours eg arranging numbers from small to big= educational
Read through the diaries and create a tally when signs of the behaviour is shown
the researcher was concerned about the reliability of the content analysis.
how could the researcher have assessed the reliability of content analysis in this study? (4)
**Inter rater reliability **- the researcher could ask multiple people to independently code the same set of diary entries then compare your tallies
- establish a comparison to come up with a conclusion to calculate inter rater
- HIGH INTER RATER= MORE RELIABLE
_____________________________________________
Test-retest method - researcher could code the same diary entry at two different times and
- compare the consistency of results from both tests
- researcher can assess reliability over time
Explain why the data collected from the interviews might have improved upon the data collected from the diaries (3)
Increased depth + detail as interviews allow for detailed descriptions, examples and insights that might not be fully captured in dairies, helps researcher gain greater understanding
Researchers can clarify any ambiguous entries in the diaries + ask follow up questions to ensure info is accurate + complete, improves validity + reliability
Opportunity to understand context of play + allows parents to explain the reasons behind certain play + how they engage with their children etc
give one q that could be used in the researcher’s interview to give qualitative data (2)
Can you describe a typical play session with your child including the activities you engage in and how your child responds to these?
give one limitation of qualitative data (1)
It’s subjective therefore the researcher can make their own interpretations leading to bias
The researcher noticed age-related differences in the types of play mentioned in the diary enties. They designed an experiment to investigate the differences in play choic between 2-year-old and 4-year-old childhe
The researcher carried out the study using children from two local nursery schools. There were 30 children of each age group at nursery A. There were 20 children of each age group af nursery B. Al parents gave informed consent for their children to take part in the staty. The researcher used stratfied sampling of the nurseries. Ten 2-year-olds and ten 4-year-olds took part in the study
Each child was observed for 15 minutes during playtime in an area of the nursery where they could choose to play with building blocks, a sandpit and a side. The researcher recorded how long each child spent playing with each activity
Explain how the researcher could have obtained informed consent from the parents for his study (4)
Provide detailed information - the researcher should prepare an information sheet detailing the study’s purpose, procedures, duration, and the types of data to be collected. - This should also include an explanation of any potential risks and benefits of participation
- Ensure parents sign consent forms that clearly outline the parent’s rights, including the right to withdraw their child from the study at any time without any consequences
- Ensure the parents aren’t under the influence of drugs or alcohol when they consent
Identify the type of experiment used in this study. Justify your answer (3)
QUASI experiment
- Conducted in a real life setting - nursery school + children were observed during their regular playtime, so the setting reflects the children’s everyday environment + behaviour
- No manipulation by researcher - observed the children’s natural choices from the available play activities
- Children already in pre-existing groups of age that the researcher used for comparison
Explain how a pilot study could be carried out to improve this study (4)
- Test procedures in small-scale version of the study to test + refine the observation procedures
- This would help to identify any issues/ ambiguities in the the observation procedure
- Gather preliminary data that can be analysed to check for trends/ potential outcomes
- Initial analysis can highlight any unexpected variables / issues so the researcher can address them before the actual study
- Helps to improve the reliability and validity of the data collection methods
There were 30 4-year-old children at nursery A and 20 4-year-old children at nursery B. The researcher used a stratified sample of 10 4-year-old children for the study.
Explain how the researcher might have obtained the stratified sample of 4-year-old children from the two different nursery schools. (4)
Identify the total number of 4 year old children in each nursery school (30 at nursery A and 20 at nursery B)
- Determine sample size - 10 children
- Calculate proportional allocation to ensure the sample is representative of each nursery
- Use a random sampling method such as a random number generator or draw names from a hat to randomly select 6 children from nursery A and 4 children from nursery B
- This ensures the sample is representative of each nursery
2 year olds - positively skewed
- Mean is less than median and both are less than mode, suggesting that most 2 year olds spend a higher amount of time in the sandpit, but some spend a lot less, pulling the mean down + creating a positive skew
4 year olds - normal distribution
- All averages equal at 6, suggesting that data is normally distributed around this central point + has a balance spread across either side
What do the mean values in table 1 suggest about play preferences in 2 year old and 4year old children? Justify your answer. (2)
Suggest that 2 year olds have a greater preference for sandpit play than 4 year olds, as seen in the mean average being 5 minutes higher in 2 year olds
The researcher decided to use an unrelated t-test to analyse the raw data from the study on sandpit play.
Explain three reasons for this choice in the context of this study (6)
- Interval data - time in sandpit measured in minutes
- Unrelated design - study involves 2 independent groups (2 year olds and 4 year olds)
- Test of difference - primary aim of the analysis is to determine if there is a statistically significant difference in the average time spent in the sandpit between the two age groups
There is a significant difference as the calculated value is greater than the critical value.
_______________________________________________
A type 1 error occurs when the null hypothesis is rejected and the alternative is accepted. In this case, the null hypothesis is accepted as its a false negative and the 5% level of significance level shows that its not down to chance
AO3 for endogenous pacemakers (strength- hamsters)
(+) Importance of the SCN
- Ralph (1990)- bred mutant hamsters
- set circadian rhythm to 20 hours not 24
- transplanted abnormal SCN neurons into normal hamsters
- significant importance of EP
COUNTER: (-) Ethical issues
- testing on animals
- cannot generalise
- lacks external validity
AO3 Strength EZ (research support)
Siffre (1975) - stayed underground for 3 months in a cave with no light or clocks
- believed the date was a month earlier than it was
- 24 hour sleep wake cycle increases due to the LACK OF EXTERNAL CUES (EZ) so one day was longer than it supposedly was
- highlights the impact of external cues on sleep wake cycle
COUNTER: individual case study -> lack generalisability and population validity as only Siffre conducted the study
COUNTER: LACKS internal validity -> use of artificial lights (extraneous variable)
AO3 (-) EZ (blind man)
Miles et al - research on a blind man with a circadian rhythm of 24.9 hours
- exposure to social cues had no effect on his sleep wake cycle -> had to take sedatives at night and stimulants in the morning
- People who live in arctic regions still maintain a regular sleep wake cycle despite prolonged exposure to light
- Suggests EZ may be over exaggerated and there are occasions where they have little bearing on internal rhythms
COUNTER: (-) Small sample -> neglects individual differences -> lacks validity
