paper 2 Flashcards
true or false “mental processes are studied directly by making inferences”
false
1 reason why schema is useful/not useful
useful: prevents us from being overstimulated by our environment/having to process too much information
not useful: may cause biased recall/make us see what we expect
displacement
focus of strong emotiom is expressed on a neutral/alternative person/object
denial
when someone refuses to accept reality
repression
when someone buries a memory or thought deep into their subconscious/mind and avoid it
compare behaviourist and biological approach
- nature/nurture
- scientific methods
- both reductionist
- applications to abnormal treatment
- both determinist
ANS
governs vital functons
SNS
Governs muscle movement and receives information from sensory receptors
sympathetic nervous system
increases heart rate, activates the “fight or flight” response
parasympathetic nervous system
decreases heart rate, activates “rest and digest” response
how many directions can information travel at a synapse
1
why can neurons only transmit information in one direction at a synapse (3)
- the signal can’t go backward due to necessary structures which are only in the presynaptic terminal
- neurotransmitters are released from the presynaptic membrane
- receptors are only found on the postsynaptic membrane
Summarise the ‘fight or flight’ response (4)
- Stressor activates the pituitary
- Activates sympathetic nervous system
- Adrenaline (stress hormone) released from adrenal medulla into the bloodstream, causing changes around body
- Once threat has passed the parasympathetic nervous system ‘rest and digest’ response is activated
how are signals in/between neurons transmitted
signals are transmitted electrically within a neuron but transmitted chemically across the synapse between neurons
chemical transmission
where neurons communicate with each other using neurotransmitters
neurotransmitters
chemical messengers
explain the 5 stages of chemical transmission
- electrical impulse travels down the axon of the presynaptic neuron
- triggers release of neurotransmitters in tiny sacs called synaptic vesicles
- neurotransmitters are then released into the synaptic cleft
- neurotransmitters bind receptors on the postsynaptic neuron
- binding generates a response in the postsynaptic neuron (exhiting or inhibiting it)
exogenous zeitgebers
external changes in the environment (eg. light) that help regulate biological cycles (eg. the sleep/wake cycle)
why does light have such a powerful effect on sleep
light is one of the most powerful exogenous zeitgebers because it influences the production of melatonin which is one of the key hormones that helps control sleep
discuss what julia could do to encourage her baby to sleep more at night
- establish a night routine
- dim the lights
- expose the baby to natural light during the day
julia and her baby evaluations (8 marker)
(s) studies show light has an impact in regulating sleep. Gooley et al. (2003) found light exposure during the day can help promote babies to sleep at might
(L) young babies may have not developed their own internal biological clocks also known as exogenous pacemakers. meaning the child may be less responsive to external cues so julia has to be patient
endogenous pacemaker
internal biological clocks (eg. SCN provides information from the eyes about light)
what do external cues effect on endogenous pacemakers
may influence/entrain biological rhythms (endogenous pacemakers)
does the production or suppression of melatonin influence people’s sleep/wake cycle
suppression
why is the mean the most appropriate measure of central tendency for this set of data (table of the hours julia’s baby slept in the night and day in 1 week)
- the mean takes into account and uses all the data so it is more representative than other data measures
- data is time and time is therefore interval data
pilot study
small-scale trial runs of investigations
two reasons why a psychologist decides to conduct a pilot study for their investigation
- to see if there are any modifications needed to be made
- to see if studying [___] is possible/feasible
qualitative data
non-numerical data expressed in words
1 strength of using qualitative data
enables the reseaecher to develop a deep understanding of the content as it is richer in detail
quantitative data
numerical data
strength of quantitative data
easier to analyse so comparisons between groups can be made
one limitation of qualitative and quantitative data
- difficult to analyse and hard to identify patterns to make comparisons
- less rich in meaning, less detail than qualitative data, lower external validity
standard deviation
measure of amount of dispertion in a set of data measures
investigator effects
any influence of the researchers behaviour/characteristics on participants/data/outcome
2 ways how investigator effects can be minimised
- train interviewers to ask questions in a neutral tone
- ensure all interviewers were all male or female
- ensure students/participants interviewed were interviewed by someone of the same gender as themselves
field experiment
natural setting, researcher goes to particpants, IV manipulated and the effect on the DV is recorded
natural experiment
researcher observed and measures the effect of naturally occurring events/condition on participants without manipulating the IV
quasi-experiment
examines cause-effect relationships on pre-existing differences between people
Another researcher who did not know the purpose of the study carried out a content analysis of the interview data. Explain hiw this content analysis could have been conducted (4)
- identify important categories from the interviews
- include examples of possible categories
- repeatedly listen to segments of the recordinf
- tally the number of occurences of each of the categories
The psychologist wanted to assess the reliability of content analysis. Explain how reliability of content analysis could be assessed. (4 marks)
- test-retest reliability: repeat content analysis on a second occassion using the same interview data, compare results of two tests
- inter-rated reliability: use a second person to work with the original researcher and compare observations from different observers
is the y axis left or right
left
is the iv top or bottom
bottom
is the iv top or bottom
bottom
ethical guidelines
- no pressure to consent
- right to withdraw at any time
- right to withdraw their data from the experiment
- data wil be kept confidential and anonymous
- fee free to ask the researcher questions at any time
- receive full debrief at the end of the programme
format and style of consent form:
- requires participants agreement
- written as a form participants need to sign
- includes space for participant to sign form
- includes space for particopant to wrte te dTe
- includes space for partiocpant to print their name
2 ways to improve validity in a study
- ensure anonymity (not responding to demand characteristics)
- questionairres (lie scale control)
- include more questions/ do watever to make the aim of the study not obvious (study not obvious= reduces demand characteristics)
