Basics of Areas (for Mox)

Question 1

Social Area

Answer 1

The social area looks at understanding human
behaviour in a social context;
* Factors that lead to us to behave in a given way due to
the presence of others
* How our behaviour is influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of others

Question 2

Cognitive Area

Answer 2

• Investigation of our internal mental processes
• Behaviour is highly predictable based on identifiable
  patterns in thinking
• Computer Analogy; everyone has an inpuy process and output

Question 3

Developmental Area

Answer 3

Change and development goes on throughout our lifetime
and never stops..
* Behaviour may be learned (nurture) and develop on an
individual basis.
* Early experiences my not impact until later in
life.Development may be driven by nature i.e. maturation
process.
* Development may happen in pre-determined stages.

Question 4

Biological Area

Answer 4

what is psychological is first physiological
* role of evolutionary genetics
* role of genetic inheritance
* study of brain and brain function
* role of nervous system
* hormones and other chemicals affecting brain
and behaviour
* the impact of environment on biology

Question 5

Individual Differences Area

Answer 5

Possible principles/concepts:
* People are unique/ everyone is different/ we are not
the same
* Individual personality
* Measuring differences
* Idiographic approach
* Quantifying psychological attributes
* Investigating complex behaviours
* Use of case studies.
* Supports dispositional explanations of behaviour
* Holism/ Interactionist approach

Question 6

Behaviourist Perspective

Question 7

Psychodynamic Perspective

Answer 7

• ID, Ego, Superego
• Conscious, Subconscious, Unconscious
• Psychosexual stages

Question 8

Social Area - Strengths & Weaknesses

Answer 8

Scientific – use of experiments
* High experimental realism
* Can explain extreme behaviours
* Ethical issues around research
* Lack of mundane realism
* Ethnocentric
* Ignores individual differences in response
* Too deterministic
* Useful with many applications

Question 9

Cognitive Area - Strengths & Weaknesses

Question 10

Developmental Area - Strengths & Weaknesses

Answer 10

Possible strengths:
* Better understanding of how people develop has
potential to improve lives
* Allows early identification and intervention
where there are developmental problems
* Considers both nature and nurture, and how
they both impact on development

Possible weaknesses:
* Some theories of development too rigid/too deterministic e.g. Kohlberg
* Over-reliance on children for evidence e.g. relies
on children’s ability to articulate, easily
influenced, etc
* Raises ethical issues in terms of reliance on
children as participants
* Not always a good predictor of future behaviour
where people do not follow expected patterns
* Longitudinal research suffers from attrition
* Cross-sectional research may not be using
reliable comparisons

Question 11

Biological Area - Strengths & Weaknesses

Question 12

Individual Differences Area - Strengths & Weaknesses

Answer 12

• Focused on understanding
  individuals/understanding complex disorders
• Recognises the importance of subjective experience
  in studying behaviours
• Holism – multiple factors (takes an interactionist
  approach)
  Possible weaknesses:
• Too complex to study people reliably
• Cannot establish causal relationships
• Unable to generalise
• Lacks objectivity
• Makes people responsible for actions/ignores
  determinism
• Socially sensitive findings