S1 Wk 1 - What is Psychology?

Question 1

What do clinical psychologists do?

Answer 1

• Deliver therapy
• Make assessments
• Write reports
• Carry out research
• Teach
• Sit on various committees

Question 2

what do clinical psychologists not do

Answer 2

• diagnose mental illness
• prescribe drugs

Question 3

what does health psychology deal with

Answer 3

the psychological impact of physical ill-health
focus on lifestyle, prevention of illness, intervention etc

Question 4

what does educational psychology do

Answer 4

• support kids, parents, teachers
• have PGCE and classroom experience
• deal with special needs
• can diagnose conditions like dyslexia

Question 5

what does forensic psychology do

Answer 5

• apply psychology in Legal settings
• prisons, courts, police force, hospitals
• assessment and intervention
• advice and training
• don’t catch criminals

Question 6

What does occupational psychology do 4 points

Answer 6

• Apply psychology within the workplace
• work with workers, management and organisations
• focus on motivation and well-being
• May be based in institution or independent service

Question 7

What does sport and exercise psychology do 2 points

Answer 7

• apply psychology in context of professional Sport, e.g. with teams, injured players, coaches and referees
• work in context to promote well-being, rehab etc through sports/exercise

Question 8

teaching and research 3 points

Answer 8

• based mostly in unis
• most have PhD
• most expected to: do research, peer-reviewed journals, obtain funding, publicise findings

Question 9

the academic discipline of psychology 3 points

Answer 9

• aligns up to a point with applied psychology / practice
• academic research is not directly associated with practice
  (development of theory, production of literature,
  focus on specialist areas, work within
  interdisciplinary context)
• put all these can be seen as ‘practice’ up to a point

Question 10

Biological psychology 5 points

Answer 10

• the idea that behaviour is best understood as a physiological response to stimuli
• events in the brain
• genetics
• human evolution
• animal comparisons

Question 11

Cognitive psychology 3 points

Answer 11

• focus on thinking - not necessarily with regard to brain function
• cognitive processes often draw on metaphors from computing
• memory, attention, problem solving, visual processing etc

Question 12

Developmental psychology 3 points

Answer 12

• study of behaviour as maturational phenomenon
• mostly focused on childhood but can cover lifespan
• tendency to rely on Cognitive and explanations but some social Theory

Question 13

Individual differences 3 points

Answer 13

• focus on phenomena that differentiates strongly between individuals
• personality and Intelligence, health, mental health
• dominated by psychometric testing and statistics

Question 14

Social psychology 2 points

Answer 14

• preference for explanations rooted in social interaction
• maybe based around experiments, self-reporting of the behaviour, or through talk

Question 15

4 points of the scientific method from Gross

Answer 15

1. Definable subject matter
2. Theory construction
3. Hypothesis testing
4. Empirical methods

Question 16

4 points why psychology might not be specific

Answer 16

1. Failure to adequately define subject matter
2. Inadequate or inconsistent theories
3. Theories that can’t be tested, are difficult to test, or don’t test the real issue
4. Methods are insufficiently objective

Question 17

psychology vs. other sciences 2 points

Answer 17

• most Sciences have a paradigm, e.g. biology - evolutionary theory
• some are more endearing than others, so paradigm shifts take place over time

Question 18

Four stages in the development of science

Answer 18

• Prescience (paradigms compete for dominance)
• Normal science part 1 (dominant paradigm constrains subject matter, methods, vocab)
• Revolution (dominant paradigm overturned - counter evidence)
• Normal science part 2 (same again)

Question 19

objectivity problem

Answer 19

Most Sciences have external objective inquiry but psychology is “the human activity of studying human activity” Richards, 1996)
Makes it true objectivity difficult or even impossible

Question 20

Demand characteristics of experiments 3 points

Answer 20

• participants tend to give answers that will please researchers
• so need to avoid ‘hypothesis guessing’ in the designs
• this is also true of some qualitative research

Question 21

Alternatives to science in psychology 3 points

Answer 21

Psychology as philosophy (part of the humanities)

Psychology as anthropology (‘soft’ social science)

what about psychology as a practice?