Paper 1 Flashcards
All AO3 for Paper 1
What is the AO3 for ISI?
RTS - Jenness - individual estimate of jelly beans, group estimate, final private estimate.
Limitation - Lacks ecological validity - controlled setting/artificial environment - less likely to conform in real life - decreases EXTERNAL validity
What is the AO3 for NSI?
RTS - Asch - a, b or c line closest to stimulus line ‘x’ . Confederates answered first and gave wrong answer. 37% of participants said same wrong answer.
Limitation - gender bias - only males - females more conformist as more concerned with social relationships - weakens EXTERNAL validity
What is the AO3 for Variables affecting conformity?
RTS - Lucas et al - easy and hard maths questions - more conformed on harder question
Limitation - conformity more complex than Asch said - high confidence in maths - conformed less
Limitation - gender bias - only males - females more conformist… - Lowers EXTERNAL validity
Limitation - culture bias - western culture
What is AO3 for conformity to social roles - Zimbardo?
Strength - high control over extraneous variables - assessed emotional stability and roles were randomly assigned - must be down to role itself changing behaviour
Criticism - prone to demand characteristics - Zimardo was prison super intendent - lowers INTERNAL validity
Criticism - ethical issues - no informed consent as arrested at homes and deloused - reduces credibility
What is the AO3 for Situation Variables affecting Obedience - Milgram?
RTS -UNIFORM - Bickman - security guard, business man and milkman - asked to pick up litter or for money for a parking ticket - TWICE as likely to follow security than business man
Criticism - gender bias - only males - females more submissive due to gender roles - lowers EXTERNAL validity
Criticism - Mandel - mass killing of Jews in holocaust was in close proximity which goes against Milgram - ALSO uniform - acts as an excuse for evil behaviour and is offensive to survivors
What is the AO3 for Explanations of Obedience to Authority - LoA and Agentic State?
RTS - AGENTIC STATE - most resisted giving shocks in Milgram’s experiment - when asking who is responsible for harm experimenter says they are - participants often continued shocks
Strength - legitimacy of authority - accounts for cultural differences - some cultures more likely to perceive authority as legitimate - differences in obedience - Australia 16% to 450V Germany 85% 450V - Increases EXTERNAL validity
RTC - AGENTIC STATE - Mandel - Nazi soldiers were ordered to shoot civilians in Poland - were told they can opt out and do other duties. Soldiers chose to shoot civilians even when they knew they would be responsible.
What is the AO3 for Dispositional Explanation of Obedience to Authority - Authoritarian personality?
RTS - Milgram and Elms - asked Milgram’s participants to complete the F scale questionnaire - higher levels of authoritarianism in obedient participants compared to defiant ones.
Criticism - social desirability - participants may have exaggerated their fascist views to present themselves in the best light possible as this was done after WW2 so may be done to look more obedient - reduces INTERNAL validity
Criticism - limited - difficult to use personality to explain a whole population - pre war Germany had millions of obedient citizens - won’t have all had the same authoritarian personality - doubt on this explanation
What is the AO3 for resistance to social influence - Social Support?
RTS - Albrecht - smoking among pregnant adolescents - social support provided by slightly older ‘buddy’ - found participants were less likely to smoke when paired up with a buddy - valid and useful in intervention in the real world
However - credibility of ally may reduce the effectiveness of social support - no identification so less resistance - Asch - dissenter with clearly poor eyesight caused resistance levels to drop significantly
RTS - Milgram - variation - 2 additional varients who both refused to go on and withdrew - obedience to 450V dropped to 10% from 65%
What is the AO3 for resistance to social influence - Locus of Control?
RTS - Milgram and Elms - interviewed participants - found those with an internal locus of control were significantly more likely to refuse continuation compared to those with external locus of control
RTC - Twenge - analysed data over 40 year period - over time people became MORE RESISTANT to social influence but MORE EXTERNAL - should have became more internal if they were more resistant - therefore, explanation is not valid.
What is the AO3 for Minority Influence?
RTS - Moscovici et al - two confederates with 6 participants - Blue slides with different intensity: confederates CONSISTENTLY participants gave wrong answer 8% of the time WHEREAS INCONSISTENTLY participants gave wrong answer 1% of the time - consistency is important.
Criticism - Lacks mundane realism - artificial task of identifying colour of a slide - difficult to generalise findings - minority may be less influential in jury settings - lowers EXTERNAL validity
RTS - Nemeth and Brilmayer - mock jury setting to decide how much compensation to be paid to someone in a ski lift accident - confederate who compromised had larger influence on group than a confederate who gave an alternative and refused to change their stance - supports flexibility.
What is the AO3 for Social Change?
Real life evidence to support - Suffragette movement - minority group showed consistency with a shared belief of equal rights, dedication by a hunger strike and flexibility by accepting women having a vote at age 30 - society internalised the ideas
Discussion - actions by minority groups may be seen as deviant - majority may not want to be seen as deviant so do not internalise the messages and behaviours
Alternative explanation - NSI - minority groups provide information about what others are doing - telling young people that most young people do not smoke to deter smoking behaviours - social change is encouraged by drawing attention to what the majority is doing and how individuals can be seen as more desirable
What is the AO3 for Deviation from Social Norms?
Strength - Practical Applications - aids diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder - practitioners can look at what is deemed acceptable in society and use these norms to identify abnormal behaviour e.g. someone who lacks remorse or engages in repeated illegal acts is deviating from social norms - behaviour is unexpected - used by practitioners to diagnose APD.
However - WEAKNESS - limited by Cultural Relativism - as conditions of abnormality are created within a culture - some behaviour may be considered abnormal in some cultures as they have different cultural and social beliefs e.g. some one receiving messages sent from spirits could be seen as a symptom of schizophrenia in western culture but is seen as a spiritual gift in some non western cultures - not appropriate outside a specific culture.
What is the AO3 for Failure to Function Adequately?
Strength - acknowledges personal experience - as it takes into account a person’s subjective experience, including their perception of their ability to cope with their everyday life and whether they are experiencing severe personal distress - captures the experience of many who need help - so useful definition of abnormality.
However - a weakness is that it is easy to label non-standard lifestyle choices as abnormal - this definition cannot differentiate between a person who is failing to function adequately and someone who has simply chosen to practice behaviour that is potentially dangerous e.g. high risk sport activities - this would seem abnormal - therefore it limits failure to function adequately as individuals are at danger of being labelled as abnormal just because they make unusual choices - restricts freedom of choice.
What is the AO3 for Deviation from Ideal Mental Health?
Strength - covers a broad range of criteria for mental health - covers most of the reasons why someone would seek mental health services - this is in contrast to other definitions - deviation from social norms that only focuses on one criterion - therefore, more appropriate as there s a vast range of criteria.
Weakness - DIMH is found to be TOO STRICT - people may not realistically be able to avoid all six criteria that define poor mental health at any one time - e.g. someone who lost their job may develop negative self attitudes as a result further induced by stress. - may mean they are abnormal by definition even though it is a rational response for many - therefore limiting this definition for abnormality.
What is the AO3 for Statistical infrequency?
Strength - Practical Applications - used in clinical practice as part of diagnosis and to assess severity of symptoms - for example intellectual disability can be diagnosed by an IQ of below 70 (bottom 2%) - therefore, its and important part of applied psychology.
Limitation - cannot differentiate between behaviour that is desirable and undesirable - e.g. a high IQ is seen as desirable in society but statistically rare and therefore abnormal however we would not consider them as abnormal - therefore, they wouldn’t need treatment for abnormality - limiting Statistical infrequency as a definition for abnormality as it cannot be used singularly for diagnosis and assessment.
What is the AO3 for the Behavioural Approach to explaining Phobias? (Classical and Operant conditioning)
Criticism - for environmental reductionism - reduces complex human behaviour of phobias down to simple basic unites of learning a PHOBIA through stimulus, response and association between stimuli and through maintaining a phobia through reinforcements - this neglects the holistic approach that would take into account a person’s social and cultural context e.g. a phobia of displeasing others is relative only to Japan where as other cultures are more individualistic so it is less prevalent - therefore, lacking validity as it does not allow understanding of behaviour in context.
Strength - Practical Applications - due to the idea of learning a phobia through association and therefore can be unlearnt has led to the development of Systematic Desensitisation as a way of treating phobias - which works by using relaxation techniques and gradually exposing the individual to their phobic stimulus - they begin to associate their stimulus with relaxation and therefore the phobia is unlearnt - therefore it is an important part of applied psychology.
RTS - Ad De Jongh et al - found 73% of people with a fear of dental treatment had experienced a traumatic experience, mostly involving dentistry - this can be compared to a control group of people with low dental anxiety where only 21% had experience d a traumatic event - confirms the association between a traumatic event and an unconditioned stimulus e.g. dentistry - therefore, supporting the behavioural approach for explaining phobias.
What is the AO3 for Systematic Desensitisation as a Treatment for Phobias?
RTS - effectiveness comes from Gilroy - followed up on 42 people who had SD for spider phobias in three 45 mins sessions of gradual exposure - at both three and thirty three months the SD group had less fear than the control group which did not involve exposure to their phobic stimulus - therefore, suggests that SD is an effective treatment for phobias by reassociating a phobia with relaxation.
Criticism - may not be appropriate for all - requires MOTIVATION and COMMITMENT - patients must attend multiple sessions where they are put into anxiety provoking situations which may cause people to stop the therapy - this is unlike drug therapy which would require little motivation and commitment as they only need to remember to take a drug in order to reduce anxiety - therefore, limiting SD as a treatment for Phobias.
However, STRENGTH - may actually be more appropriate as the individual has control over their own therapy - they create their own hierarchy of anxiety and only move onto the next stage when they feel relaxed - this is unlike flooding where they are immediately exposed to their most phobic stimulus which causes high anxiety levels - leads to less attrition rates during Systematic Desensitisation - therefore, more appropriate treatment for Phobias.
