Psychological Knowledge has Developed Over Time

Question 1

How Psychological Knowledge has Developed Over Time AO1

Answer 1

Psychology should adjust its focus based on current events. This happened with the holocaust and Milgram. Important when we look back on past research we assess the historical context due to different social norms, thus this would have affected results. Burger did this in his replication of Milgram’s study to see if it was era-bound. Recent replications useful but limited by recent ethical guidelines

Question 2

Examples for Y1 Topics

Answer 2

Social - Developed over time due to historical events such as the Holocaust & Milgram. Still being used as a present day explanation as Burger showed not era-bound. Sherif still used

Cognitive - WMM originally an advance on MSM. WMM has been supported by research such as Seb Hernandez-Gil in 2012.

Biological - Brain scanning significantly advanced biological knowledge and our understanding of aggression. Before aggression based on Trepanning, boring into skull to release evil spirits, and Darwins theory of a ‘physical person’ being aggressive

Watson & Rayner - Classical conditioning. Hasnt really been built upon, maybe for ethical reasons