B1 Gesell/Bandura/Stress Diathesis

Question 1

What is nature?

Answer 1

Genetic inheritance and biological factors

Question 2

What is nurture?

Answer 2

The influence of the external environment and factors

Question 3

What is maturation?

Answer 3

A genetically programmed sequence of change

Question 4

What were Gesell’s maturation theory’s key principles?

Answer 4

• Children develop in similar and predictable sequences at their own pace
• This pace was influenced by genetics
• A child should only be taught to complete tasks when they are physically and mentally ready

Question 5

What are criticisms of Gesell’s theory?

Answer 5

• He only used white middle class children so it’s not generalisable of all children from different backgrounds
• Doesn’t explain those with learning difficulties
• Doesn’t consider environmental factors
• Research shows his milestones were incorrevr

Question 6

What are the strengths of Gesell’s theory?

Answer 6

• Practical applications — milestones are helpful to education in measuring child development
• Observed lots of children increasing reliability
• Most children develop in the same sequence despite different environmental experience (nature)

Question 7

What does Bandura’s Social Learning Theory suggest?

Answer 7

• Individuals learn through observation of models and imitation

Question 8

What are the social learning theory’s 4 stages of learning?

Answer 8

• Attention
• Retention
• Reproduction
• Motivation

Question 9

What happens in the attention stage?

Answer 9

• child pays attention to the person they wish to imitate

Question 10

What happens in the retention stage?

Answer 10

• they retain the behaviour they observed and remembered the actions and the consequences received

Question 11

What happens in the reproduction stage?

Answer 11

• they reproduce the behaviour with the aim to receive the same consequence the model recieved

Question 12

What happens in the motivation stage?

Answer 12

if they receive this response they are more likely to repeat the behaviour (positive reinforcement)

Question 13

What is the application of the social learning theory?

Answer 13

• Can explain why young people succumb to peer pressure

Question 14

What research supports the social learning theory?

Answer 14

• Bobo Doll experiment
• Had a model inflict aggressive behaviour on the bobo doll whilst child watched
• Child then imitated this same aggressive behaviour on doll

Question 15

What are the criticisms of the social learning theory?

Answer 15

• Doesn’t explain behaviour when a role model isn’t present
• Ignores biological influences for behaviour

Question 16

What are the strengths of the social learning theory?

Answer 16

• Ideas are backed by research
• Explains both positive and negative behaviour (aggression/working hard)

Question 17

What is the stress diathesis model?

Answer 17

• Explains how stress caused by events in our life (nurture) interact with genetic vulnerability (nature) and impact wellbeing

Question 18

What is diathesis?

Answer 18

Having biological predispositions to developing an illness

Question 19

What does the stress diathesis model suggest?

Answer 19

• mental illnesses occurs due to stressful events in the environment interacting with the biological and psychological characteristics of the individual
• mental disorders can require a predisposition towards the disease

Question 20

What are diseases that may be explained by the SD model

Answer 20

• heart disease
• anxiety
• depression
• insomnia