Areas/perspectives/debates

Question 1

Benefits of keeping ethical guidelines

Answer 1

We wouldn’t like it if we were treated with lack of respect

Enhances the credibility of psychology as an academic discipline

Likely to get funding and more people will want to take part

Question 2

Weaknesses of keeping ethical guidelines

Answer 2

Limits on sort of research you can carry out

Reduce validity of research if participants know the aim of a study

Sampling bias can be an issue if they withdraw. May be left with a ungeneralisable sample

Question 3

Strengths situational explanations

Answer 3

Helps us understand why people behave the way they do. Investigate several reasons behind behaviour

Useful- can apply to real life

Question 4

Weaknesses of situational explanations

Answer 4

Socially sensitive- can be seen as an excuse in controversial research

Reductionist approach- individual factors are overlooked and doesn’t take into account all factors affecting behaviour

Question 5

Nature debate

Answer 5

S- not ethnocentric as biological factors will effect people the same everywhere
W- reductionist, Sicily insensitive, may pin tout issues you can’t change about yourself

Question 6

Nurture debate

Answer 6

S- useful time suggest ways to change behaviour for the better through things like upbringing
W- reductionist, ethnocentric (cultures vary in upbringing)

Question 7

Benefits of psychological research being useful

Answer 7

• it can have positive practical applications that can improve the quality of people’s lives
• if research is likely to have practical application, it’s more likely to have funding
• improve credibility

Question 8

Drawbacks of psychological research being useful

Answer 8

• can be put to socially harmful use
• usefulness can be cancelled out in courtrooms
• if they prioritise useful research instead of interesting research they may lose love for it as a subject and may not research what could be useful in future
• could put pressure to breach ethical guidelines

Question 9

Individual differences principles

Answer 9

• why people differ
• develop understanding of disorders
• how to measure differences

Question 10

Individual differences key concepts

Answer 10

Understanding disorders, phobias, autism, measuring differences, intelligence testing, cultural bias, psychopathy

Question 11

Psychodynamic perspective

Answer 11

Focused on role of unconscious mind & past experiences as cause of behaviour
Conscious, pre conscious (accessed by retrieving memories), unconscious (hard or impossible to access directly)
Access unconscious through dream analysis, slips of tongue, free association
Id (instincts), superego (morality), ego (reality debates between two)
Defence mechanism: denial, repression, displacement

Question 12

Psychodynamic s&w

Answer 12

✅ explanation for developing mental disorders (phobias)
highlights importance of unconscious mind (id, ego, superego) pre-conscience & unconscious
Suggests way people can be treated (dream analysis etc)
Made case studies popular (particularly in abormal psychology)
❎ unscientific not objective so can’t be falsified
Based on Freud’s case studies (subjective and researcher bias) on 1 person (can’t be generalised)

Question 13

Social area studies

Answer 13

Milgram, Piliavin

Bocchiaro, Levine

Question 14

Developmental studies

Answer 14

Bandura, Kohlberg

Chaney, Lee

Question 15

Individual diff studies

Answer 15

Freud, Gould

Hancock, Baron-Cohen

Question 16

Cognitive studies

Answer 16

Moray, Loftus & Palmer

Simons and Chabris, Grant

Question 17

Biological studies

Answer 17

Sperry, Blakemore & Cooper

Casey, Maguire

Question 18

Cognitive area principles

Answer 18

Mind works like computer processor

• input, storing, retrieving information (Loftus & Palmer)
• investigates internal processes (perception,attention,memory) influence behaviour (Simons & Chabris)

Question 19

Cognitive area key concepts

Answer 19

Auditory attention, attentional barrier, cocktail party effect (Moray), inattentional blindness (Simons & Chabris), reconstructive memory (Loftus & Palmer), context dependent memory

Question 20

Biological area key principles

Answer 20

Behaviour explained by biological factors (genes, hormones, brain)
Psychology should be studied in scientific way (Sperry, Blakemoore & C)
Brain structure/function influences and is influenced by behaviour

Question 21

Biological area key concepts

Answer 21

Brain plasticity (Blakemoore & Cooper), visual development, lateralisation of function (Sperry), delay of gratification, specialised functions of regions in brain (Maguire)

Question 22

Developmental key principles

Answer 22

Behaviour can be innate or learned
Early experiences can affect later development (study children) Bandura & Lee
Behaviour changes throughout lifetime (even if predetermined stages) Kohlberg

Question 23

Developmental key concepts

Answer 23

Social learning theory (Bandura), moral development (Kohlberg), operant conditioning (Chaney), cultural differences in development (Lee)

Question 24

Individual diff key concepts

Answer 24

Understanding disorders (Freud), measuring differences, intelligence testing (Yerkes/Gould)

Question 25

Individual diff key principles

Answer 25

Why people fall out of normal range
Why people differ
Understanding disorders (Freud)
How people measure measure differences

Question 26

Social key concepts

Answer 26

Diffusion of responsibility (Piliavin)
Bystander effect (Piliavin)
Cultural differences in helping (Levine)

Question 27

Social key principles

Answer 27

Behave differently based on perception of prescence of others or social role
Other people & environment influence behaviour
Relationships with others influence how we behave

Question 28

Behaviourist perspective s&w

Answer 28

✅ shows how important role of nurture
Useful- lots of practical implications
Controlled lab experiments give scientific credibility
❎ ignores nature placing limits on what can be learnt
Lab experiments can lack ecological validity