Work for Mr Lawrence - Friday 2nd December. Maintenance and Breakdown of Relationships

For the maintenance of relationships there are four different theories, but they are all similar to the simple idea of reward / need (they are based on the behavioural model, and use the idea of a 'balance sheet' of rewards and costs to explain why some relationships are maintained while others aren't), and are given the general term 'economic theories'. Here's a presentation on them.

Complete this sheet, which summarises the key ideas you need for outlining and evaluating the four theories.

Each of these 'maintenance' theories can be used to give a different reason why a relationship ends. Have a go at answering the following question for each of the four:

"According to the .......... theory, a relationship will come to an end if ....."

Duck has a four-stage theory addressing the questions 'how do relationships end?' (rather than 'why?'). You need to be able to give a fairly detailed outline of this and evaluate it. Have a go at the questions on this sheet, and bring all this to next Thursday's lesson.

Work for Mr Lawrence - Thursday 1st December

I am not in today due to illness. Here is an essay question on the evolutionary approach to relationships we looked at last week:

a) Outline and evaluate research into human reproductive behaviour. (5 + 6 marks)
b) How successfully do evolutionary theories explain the observed differences in male and female behaviour? (4 + 10 marks).

For next Thursday 8th December.

The next section we will move on to deals with a different set of questions: why do relationships form between some pairs of people but not between others? What factors lead to two people moving beyond casual 'dating' to become an established couple? Why do some relationships break up while others are maintained?

This is how your textbook's chapter on Relationships starts - you don't need to know the first bit on studies of attraction. You do need to know two theories of the formation of relationships - use the Filter Model and Reward / Need theory. Here's a presentation on them - hopefully I'll see you tomorrow to go over this, but make some basic notes on the two theories today.

Work for 30th November - Mrs Watson

As we won't have a lesson on Wednesday 30th, here is the work that you need to do:

Please could you have a go a this sheet - you need to know about the issues involved with identifying and diagnosing schizophrenia (you will see that there are many). There is a web-link on the sheet and some questions to aid you in making notes. The textbook covers this well - see pages 317-324 or thereabouts.

To have thorough notes you need to fully answer every question on the sheet. Any problems, send me an email.

Relationships - evolutionary theories

In today's lesson we started our Relationships topic by looking at the evolutionary theories which use the concept of sexual selection (behaviour which leads to successful reproduction, and offspring which will themselves reproduce successfully) to explain differences in male and female reproductive behaviour. There is lots of overlap here with the evolutionary aspects of gender we've already looked at - Parental Investment Theory and Sexual Strategies can be used for both.

Here is the presentation we looked at for sexual selection and differences in reproductive behaviour between males and females.

Here is a presentation looking at for the evolutionary theories, Parental Investment Theory and Sexual Strategies, which explain these differences.

You need to know some research studies that show there are differences between male and female reproductive behaviour, and some that can be used to support these theories (Clark & Hatfield, Buss & Schmidt).

Bring notes to next Thursday's lesson which cover the following:

• Describe and evaluate Parental Investment Theory as an explanation for human reproductive behaviour. 
• Describe and evaluate Sexual Strategies Theory. 
• Critically compare these two theories. 
• Evaluate sociobiological explanations in terms of nature/nurture, reductionism, determinism and psychology as a science.

Approaches to psychopathology

Today we started the unit 4 psychopathology section. Find the specification content here. We will be studying schizophrenia but need to start with a review of the models of abnormality from AS. You need to make notes on this from the textbook, which covers this very thoroughly on pages 317 & 318.

Powerpoint from James/Ben/Robin/Kema/Meg is here.

Please can other groups email their powerpoints to me so I can post them here as well.

Psychological Androgyny and Gender Dysphoria

A final essay for Gender - to be handwritten in no more than 30 minutes but you can use notes - just get ready before you start!

a) Discuss explanations of psychological androgyny (4 + 6 marks)
b) Discuss explanastions of gender dysphoria (5 + 10 marks)

For Thursday 24th November.

Here is the presentation on Androgyny and Gender Dysphoria. When evaluating these issues, think about which material you can use from the rest of the topic. Gender dysphoria in particular allows you to bring in lots of issues related to the biological/evolutionary and social learning approaches, as these are the two ways of explaining it.

Work for Mr Lawrence - Thursday 17th November

I'm afraid our lesson on Thursday afternoon is cancelled as I need to go with Y12 to the 'Safe Drive Stay Alive' event with them. Any Y13s who didn't attend last year should come to - coaches from Gypsy Lane at the start of Lesson 4.

Work to be completed for Friday's double lesson:

Review your notes on Kohlberg's Gender Constancy theory and Martin and Halverson's Gender Schema Theory for a little test on these.

Read your textbook's short section on Androgyny and Gender Dysphoria, and answer the following questions in note form:

1. What is androgyny?
2. How did Bem's Sex Role Inventory measure it?
3. Why did she argue that androgyny is psychologically healthy?
4. What is the evidence that this is the case?
5. What is gender dysphoria?
6. What is the biological explanation for this?
7. What is the social learning explanation?

Final sleep essay

Outline and evaluate restoration theory as an explanation for the function of sleep (8 + 16 marks)

Due in to me by Wednesday 30th November

Narcolepsy & sleepwalking

A fairly easy topic to finish off the sleep module. Don't forget to make use of the diathesis-stress model in your explanation of narcolepsy.

The powerpoint is here.

Biosocial timed essay

In case you missed it, we did a timed essay last Thursday:
'Outline and evaluate one of more biosocial explanations for gender development' 9 + 16 marks. 30 minutes writing time only if you still need to do this.

Insomnia

Today's powerpoint is here - lots of new terms that all sound similar but have slightly different meanings. The important point with insomnia is to determine whether it is primary or secondary - this is vital for treatment.

A2 long reports

Student information entry sheet is here.

The Cognitive Developmental Approach to Gender

Hopefully we all agree that nature and nurture are both important in the development of gender identiy, role and behaviour, but how and when do children acquire information about their own gender and associated behaviours? Developmental psychologists study how the way children think changes and, er, develops, and this impacts on their gender role.

In this video young Ernest Lawrence participates in a couple of 'conservation' experiments. Typically for a three year old, he apparently lacks the cognitive ability to understand that cuperficial changes don't affect the underlying nature of things.


In this video we chat about gender, and his answers suggest that while he has definitly reached Kohlberg's first stage - gender identity - he is only starting to acquire gender stability and definitely doesn't have gender consistency.


Here is the presentation on Kohlberg's theory of Gender Constancy. The fact that children move through these three stages, at approximately these ages, is well supported by evidence. Kohlberg's controversial idea was that children need to reach the stage of gender consistency before they start to actively acquire information about behaviours associated with their own gender.

Here is the presentation on Gender Schema Theory. This suggests that children acquire schemas - sets of general information - relating to gender as young as two years, and that these affect what they learn from their environment.

The Biosocial Approach to Gender

The answer to the question 'nature or nurture?' is almost always 'both', but this poses another important question; 'how exactly do the two interact?' The Biosocial approach essentially says that the main factors shaping our gender behaviour are the 'nurture' processes of the Social Learning approach (see previous post), but that biological differences need to be taken into account. These lead to children being labelled as male or female, and society 'interprets' these differences and 'constructs' (this kind of approach is called 'social constructionist') ideas about gender. These then lead parents / peers / the media / schools to reinforce and model appropriate behaviours.

Here is the presentation from the lesson.

We will have a timed essay on the biosocial approach next Thursday 10th November.

Theories of sleep

We've discussed sleep a lot - now we move on to WHY we sleep. Evolutionary accounts include energy saving and predator avoidance - these are satisfactory up to a point. Restoration accounts are similarly overly simplistic but straightforward - we sleep to restore our body and brains after the demands of the day. The ppts are here and here.

We also looked into the dangerous world of sleep deprivation.

Cross Cultural Gender Research and Homework for Monday 7th November

We've now looked at the cross cultural research into gender development. Here is the presentation from the lesson. This contributes to the nature/nurture question, because if gender roles / behaviour are genetic / hormonal in origin we'd expect every culture to show the same differences. Anthropologists like Margaret Mead went looking for cultures which didn't fit, and found them, providing seemingly strong evidence for the Social Learning explanation of gender. However there are big methodological issues with anthropological research, particularly investigator effects (seeing what they want to see) and participant reactivity (trying to please the investigator).

Here's the question, for Edmodo submission on Monday 7th November please, 600-900 words:

a) Discuss the social learning explanation for the development of different gender roles / behaviour. 6 AO1 + 8 AO2
b) To what extend does cross cultural research support the importance of social learning in gender development? 3 AO1 + 8AO2

Essay

Discuss the consequences of disrupting biological rhythms, for example shift work and jet lag (25 marks).

Due after half-term: Wed 2nd November.

Suggested plan here.

TV alert

This looks great - if you missed the first episode like I did, catch up on i-player

I need some sleep

We looked at the nature of sleep (ppt here) - what can we say about sleep in general? It involves being still, unresponsive, quiet and the time spent asleep varies. As there's costs involved and it is so widespread, sleep is assumed to be adaptive.

We also discussed lifespan changes in sleep, from infancy through childhood and adolescence to old age. The ppt is here.

The Social Learning approach to gender

The presentation from today's lesson is here.

This is the nurture side of the nature/nurture gender debate. Behaviourism assumes that humans (and other animals) are 'blank slates' with nothing inherited or innate except for some very simple reflexes (automatic responses to stimuli). Everything else is learned according to this approach. Extreme behaviourism is highly reductionist, denying the importance of mental processes and explaining all behaviour through classical and operant conditioning. Social Learning Theory (sometimes called Social Cognitive Learning Theory) uses the same ideas of association and reinforcement, but is less reductionist as it includes 'mental' or cognitive learning, for example Modelling.

• Use your textbook to complete your notes on Social Learning explanation of gender development.
• Carry out a content analysis on at least 10 adverts featuring male / female role models, classifying them as either ‘traditional’ or ‘non-traditional’ gender role.
• Investigate Margaret Mead’s anthropological research in Samoa – what did she find about gender and why has this been challenged? Bring a page of notes to Thursday’s lesson.

Here's the first part of a documentary about her on youtube.

Intersex documentary

Thanks to Robin for sharing!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0139jv4/Me_My_Sex_and_I/

Evolutionary Explanations of Gender Behaviour

Here is the presentation from last week's lesson. You need to be able to outline the key assumptions of the evolutionary approach - that our behaviour is controlled (or at least influenced) by genes, and that it has evolved to be adaptive in the EEA. There is important general evaluation here - that is, evaluation of the whole approach (in terms of nature over nurture, reductionism and determinism, and in terms of scientific testability).

Useful explanations of gender behaviour are the 'division of labour' theory (not in your textbook) which focuses on hunting / gathering and child rearing roles, and the 'parental investment' theory and its effects on mate-choice and reproductive behaviour.

Disrupted rhythms

We looked at ways in which humans have attempted to override our natural rhythms. The shift work ppt is here and the jet-lag one is here. Most of what we learnt is AO2 ie interesting stuff to say about the facts - research, applications, commentary.

Exogenous zeitgebers

The powerpoint for today is here - we discussed external factors that also affect our cycles, like light, temperature, social cues etc.

Biological clocks

Endogenous pacemakers are inbuilt biological clocks. The two we discussed are the SCN and the pineal gland. Both are intricately linked with light, sleep, melatonin production and many other cycles.

The powerpoints are here and here.

Some more info about Kate Aldcroft is here.

Biologicl explanations of gender - exam quetion homework

a) Outline the biological explanation for the development of gender identity. (5 marks AO1)
b) Assess the evidence supporting this explanation. (4 marks AO1 + 16 marks AO2/3)

For part a) you need a fairly brief (one paragraph) summary of the chromosoms/genes > hormones > neuroanatomy explanation of gender development.

Part b) needs to be around 600 words. Organise it into paragraphs dealing with the three strands of evidence we have looked at (animal, case study and correlation). Description of these needs to be very brief - it's all about the evaluation.

You need to include a research methodology issue (e.g. reliability, validity, generalisability, cause & effect) and an IDA (issue, debate or approach) related discussion for higher mark bands.

Word processed and turned in via Edmodo in time for our next lesson on Thursday 29th September please.

Infradian rhythms

Today we discussed infradian (over 24 hrs) and ultradian (under 24 hrs) rhythms including the delights of the menstrual cycle, SAD, sleep/wake and the paradoxy of REM sleep.

The powerpoints are here. and here.

The exam questions that you will need this term are here.

Don't forget we have a TEST next Wednesday. Details on the test page of the blog.

Biological explanations of gender development

Our Gender topic is dominated by the nature nurture debate, where 'nature' means biological and evolutionary explanations for observed gender differences. You need to be able to outline how sex chromosomes and the genes on them lead to hormonal differences (mainly levels of androgens including testosterone) which in turn lead to differences in brain structure at birth (mainly in the hypothalamus). Make sure you can include some evidence for these biological differences - and briefly evaluate this. None of this is really in doubt - the controversy is over whether these biological differences between the sexes are the main reason, or even a contributing reason, for (psychological) gender differences.

We are examining three strands of evidence which aim to answer this question: research involving manipulating sex hormones in animals, case studies of individuals with sex / gender mismatch, and correlation studies looking at hormonal differences and gender differences in normal populations - we will conclude this next Thursday.

Here is the PowerPoint from last Friday's lesson.

TEXTBOOKS

If you have a copy of this at home please return it to me ASAP.

Biological rhythms

Today we started Biological Rhythms and Sleep with some work on circadian rhythms. The powerpoint is here.
The spec content is here.
We also discussed approaches, issues and debates and started to think about AO2. Lots more of this to come.
Great start year13! Please let me know if any of these links don't work.

Gender - Key Terms

On Friday we reviewed key terms associated with Gender and began to discuss psychological gender differences and where their origins might lie. In Thursday's lesson we will look in detail at the biological determination of sex and possibly gender, and the different strands of evidence on which it is based.
Here is the presentation which covers both lessons. It would be useful to have a look ahead at it.

Homework for Thursday which I didn't set in the lesson:
Research human sex chromosome abnormalities. What syndromes / conditions are caused by unusual combinations of sex chromosomes? What are these people like? How useful is this as evidence for tackling the nature / nurture question of gender development? Collect your findings / thoughts on a piece of paper and bring it on Thursday.

Introduction to the physiological approach

In today's lesson we watched a documentary entitled 'Phantoms in the Brain' which looked at neuropsychiatry - the investigation of people with unusual and interesting neurological (brain-related) conditions such as phantom limbs and 'blindsight' in order to learn about how normal brains function.

We then started to look at the physiological approach (basically the biological approach, focusing on how the body functions rather than genetic or evolutionary factors).

Here is the presentation, which is mainly questions and some stimulus pictures, but which gives a flavour of what we talked about. On Thursday we will get stuck into the brain and I will set another piece of written work.

Your essay "Discuss evolutionary explanations of human behaviour" is due in on Friday via Edmodo.

Evaluating Evolutionary Explanations

We've looked at two different evolutionary explanations for human behaviour. The 'division of labour' explanation states that in the EEA (Environment of Evolutionary Adaptiveness - the East African savannah 100,000 years ago) it was adaptive (beneficial in terms of survival) for our male and female ancestors to have different roles.

Here is the clip from 'Life of Mammals' of the persistence hunt.

Sexual selection is the selection of characteristics because they increase the chance of genes being passed on as a result of successful mating. Human partner selection and willingness to engage in casual sex can be explained by the difference in 'parental investment' in offspring between men and women.

Here is the presentation introducing evolutionary explanations.

Evolutionary Psychology and Qualitative Research Task

We introduced the Evolutionary approach to psychology and looked at a couple of examples of evolutionary explanations of behaviour today.

I also gave out instructions for Miss Kelly's Qualitative Research Task. You need to get a proposal ready for what you will research and how for this Thursday's lesson.

Last-Minute Unit 1 Revision

Come to L1 (the common room) from 8am tomorrow morning if you want some last minute questions answered and a bit of a chat before your exam (9am in the Assembly Hall).

Interesting article on memory

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13333117

Memory revision sheet

I recently got hold of this revision and exam technique sheet for memory from my friend who teaches the same specification as us at a school in Birmingham. Miss Kelly may have something different in mind, but I thought I'd share it while I thought of it.

Unit 2 Revision Mind Map

http://popplet.com/app/#/24311

By popular demand (Mahliqa) I've made mind maps for the Unit 2 topics which I've taught, attempting to clarify what I recommend you focus your revision on. If you're aiming for an A or B grade you will need a bit more detail than is here, e.g. brief details of some additional research which you can find in your textbook which will be useful for evaluation in your longer answers.

Popplet is a fairly new website for mind mapping - it's in beta development meaning that the programming isn't quite finished and they're looking for feedback on how it works, but it's really easy to use and might make this kind of revising painless if you don't enjoy doing it on paper. Give it a try (e.g. by making a detailed mind-map for one topic e.g. 'independent behaviour' or 'stress management') and share your creations on Edmodo to win mega-points!

EWT, cognitive interview and your test

Here's some stuff for you to get your teeth in to over Easter: the second powerpoint for Eyewitness testimony, the working memory test and mark scheme in case you missed it! Have a look at your research methods books over the break - we'll be recapping some of that and filling in the gaps after Easter. Have a good holiday!

Stress resources uploaded

The resources page of this blog (you can also follow the link at the top) now has all the Stress presentations and a few other resources. More useful things for your revision to follow. I've also added a page of useful links - have a look.

Independent Behaviour

Sorry I didn't post about this last week - thank you Shanice for pointing this out on Edmodo. On Tuesday we looked at situational factors that can lead to independent behaviour (that is, not conforming or not obeying) such as the presence of allies, fewer buffers, less legitimacy to the authority, reduced proximity to the authority figure etc. Here's the presentation for this lesson.

On Thursday we looked at individual differences - personality factors which make certain people more likely to act independently. We mainly focused on locus of control - people with an internal LoC see themselves as being in control of their actions and are less likely to enter an agentic state. Here's the presentation.

Social Influence Essays

Here is the homework tracker document which I gave out a couple of weeks ago for the Social Influence topic (one third of unit 3).

1. “Describe and evaluate research into conformity.” 12 marks AO1 + 12 marks AO2
is now overdue.

2. “Discuss whether studies such as those of Asch, Milgram and Zimbardo are ethically justifiable.” 12 marks AO2 - we will have a go at in Thursday's lesson.

3. “Critically consider research into obedience to unjust authority” 12 marks AO1 + 12 marks AO2
is due in on Thursday.

4. “Describe and evaluate research findings relating to independent behaviour” 6 marks AO1 + 6 marks AO2
and
5. “How has research into social influence improved our understanding of social change and manipulation?” 12 marks AO1 + 12 marks AO2
are to do over the holidays.

You may not have done any of these. Don't panic. Do what you can. Use them as exam practice - revise and then spend 15 or 30 minutes on them and let me give you some feedback.

Implications of social influence research for social change

Today we looked at how research into obedience and conformity can be applied to real-world examples of social change, e.g. changed attitudes to minority groups. Here's the presentation. Read this section in your textbook and consolidate your notes in time for Thursday's lesson when we'll practise some exam questions on this topic.

EWT and the cognitive interview

We finished off the first powerpoint today - along the way discovering that quite a lot of you are capable of creating false memories! We also briefly looked at individual differences in participants, and how they affect accuracy of memory. We started to talk about the cognitive interview - make sure you have read up on this before next lesson, and listened to the audio clip that is linked from the powerpoint, as it's a really clear explanation of the technique. Next lesson we'll be having a go at the cognitive interview, and you will also have a small test on working memory next week.

Eyewitness Testimony

We ran through the beginning of EWT at a frightening speed today, suddenly aware of the looming nature of exams! Here's a powerpoint for you to work through at a more sedate pace - don't forget to make notes from your textbook as well as there are extra studies in there that I haven't mentioned. We got up to the slide that says "Quick discussion break". I will give you a test on the Working Memory Model next week so make sure you are confident with that as well. I will also be expecting a flurry of emails from tutors saying what brilliant presentations you have given - if you want me to do a final check before you present then do email them to me.

TLa work for Monday 28th March - Obedience reading and Independent Behaviour

A combination of poorly children and a broken mains stop tap (resulting in no water in my house) is keeping me at home today. We are in something of a race against time to finish Social Influence by the end of term next week - so do this work!

Read the 'Obedience to Authority' section in your textbook - p.202-214 if you haven't already, and add to your notes on obedience research. We have covered Milgram, field studies including Hofling and Bickman, ethical issues and the questions of internal and external validity in the past few lessons. Pay particular attention to the 'authoritarian personality' as an alternative explanation for obedience to the situational factors (legitimate authority, agentic state, gradual commitment) which Miglram proposed.

Answer summary questions 13, 14 and 15 on p.214

Read about explanations of independent behaviour (i.e. not conforming or obeying, but doing what you feel to be right) on p.216-218 and make notes on Gamson et al (1982). This obedience study resulted in fairly consistent disobedience - what makes it so different from the Milgram, Bickman and Hofling studies?

There's an assignment on Edmodo - five short answer questions which should only take 10 minutes to do once you've done the reading. Have a go at 'turning in' this. If you've not yet signed up, you might not see it when you do, so here are the questions.

Try to get all this done this afternoon / this evening - it will make tomorrow's lesson more useful.

Social Psychology: Ethics, Obedience and Edmodo

We're experimenting with Cheney's new VLE site today - http://www.cheney.edmodo.com/ - sign up and use the code 'hq96uy' to join the AS Psychology group. There are two assignments set, plus questions for you to ask / respond to and a poll!

Majority and minority influence test and essay and other obedience research

We did a test today - I have a plan to scan these and the mark schemes so I can upload them for you but haven't done this yet.

This essay is for next Tuesday 29th March:

“Describe and evaluate research into conformity.”

12 marks AO1 + 12 marks AO2

We also looked briefly at some more studies into obedience - here's the presentation again. You need brief notes on Sheridan (puppy electrocution), Hofling (doctor smith and the nurses) and Bikman (the power of the milkman's uniform).

Useful websites

Here's a website with lots of info on working memory:
http://www.psypress.co.uk/ek5/resources/demo_ch06-sc-02.asp

And here's on with some memory games - might be useful for your presentations:
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chmemory.html

Strategies for memory improvement

Exams are not far away now – we’re going to help each other prepare for these by sharing your knowledge of how to improve memory.

There are four main strategies that we will cover:

Visual imagery
Verbal mnemonics
The role of organisation & active processing
Dual coding hypothesis

In groups of four, your job is to design a 25 minute activity for your tutor time, which covers all four areas of memory improvement. It should include:

- A brief account of research evidence on which each strategy is based
- A handout on an A4 sheet.
- Some tips on how to make revision easier
- Activities, games, a chance to put them in to practice!

You may want to use a powerpoint slide so they have something to focus on but the structure is up to you. Keep each bit short and punchy. It is boring sitting and listening for too long so maybe you could give them something to do?

We will do a trial run of this in class before taking it to tutors!

For the presentation you will choose one tutor group from within your group of four, and all four of you will present together to that one group.

On Tuesday we introduced Milgram's classic experiment into obedience to unjust authority with Derren Brown's very accurate replication which you can watch here.

Here's the presentation for obedience research - we will look at the field studies over the next couple of lessons.

For next Tuesday 22nd March make notes on Milgram's study (aims, procedure, findings, conclusions and brief criticisms) including the variations. We will also have a shortish test on the Social Influence work we've done up to today - majority and minority influence, Asch, Clark, Moscovici and Zimbardo, informational and normative influence and the three theories (Duel Process, Social Identity and Social Impact).

WMM essay

Today we spent a lot of time talking about how to write the following essay:

“Briefly describe one alternative to the multi-store model of memory and consider the strengths and/or limitations of this model.” (12 marks)‏

First I asked you to brainstorm everything that you would have put in, and then to group and order this information in to five paragraphs. We discussed various ways of starting the essay off, and how to link a couple of ideas together.

Kema and Patrick read us the start of their introductory paragraph, which we all agreed was excellent!

If you missed this lesson I'd recommend talking to someone who was there to get a full idea of what we discussed.

I'd like to take the essays in next Tuesday.

Social Influence - minority influence and factors, issues and explanations in conformity research

On Thursday last week we looked at key terms for describing and explaining social influence, and then at some research into minority influence - where an individual or small group changes the attitudes/beliefs and ultimately the behaviour of the majority through the process of internalisation. (This compares with the influence of majoritieso on individuals, which can involve informational influence and internalisation, but is more often the result of normative influence and therefore compliance).

Here is the presentation for Minority influence research.

Homework for Thursday 17th March was to produce a table comparing two classic studies - Moscovici and Clark - see the presentation for details.

Here is the presentation for Issues, Factors and Theories of conformity - you need to finish off your notes for the factors and theories using your textbook for Thursday, as well as revising thoroughly for a test on Social Influence up to this point.

Working Memory Model

We went through this powerpoint on the WMM today.

Your homework is to read and make notes on the studies in your textbooks p21-23, and to make notes on the strengths and limitations of the model.

Next lesson we will do a timed essay!

Social Psychology - Identification

We spent most of today's lesson watching the documentary about the Stanford Prison Experiment which you can watch here, here and here.

Sub-headings for your notes on this study (use your textbook):

• Aims
• Participants - including their allocation to the two conditions (guards and prisoners)
• Instructions given to the guards
• Behaviours observed
• Ethical issues (and how the experiment was stopped)
• The demand characteristics problem
• Conclusions

Multi-store model & work for CKe next Tuesday

We went over the powerpoint for evaluating the MSM today (scroll down for the link).

I'm on a course next Tuesday, and you have all written essay plans - I would like you to write the essay in the lesson and give it to Mr Lawrence when you see him the lesson after.

Your homework is to revise the two MSM powerpoints and make sure that you can do a really good job on the essay. A tip for you - remember you are *evaluating* how well the research supports the model rather than just describing it.

1st March - Recap of Multi-store model

Although Robin clearly did an excellent job in taking you through the Multi-Store model of memory, it seems that you hadn't got quite as far through it as I'd hoped, so we spent most of today recapping the basic principles.

You should be able to describe what a model is, what the multi-store model is, talk about the components of sensory memory (iconic, echoic and haptic) *and* describe the Sperling study and the later variation.

Homework was to research flashbulb memories, and answer the question: Do flashbulb memories support the concept of a multi-store model of memory?

Social Psychology - Conformity

We introduced our new topic with an experiment on Kiran in which he conformed to a group norm established by the majority - an example of normative influence.

Here is the presentation for conformity research we started looking at.

Here is a very good video discussing some of the classic studies we looked at in the lesson and some more recent neurological research. Your homework is to watch it an leave a comment (include your name) or question by Thursday.

Opportunity to take part in Psychological study

There's another opportunity for you to take part in a Psychological study which you might be interested in - this one is to do with how our mood affects our perception of faces. It's really interesting and very relevant to a lot of things that you might study at A2, so I'd encourage you to take part if you can.

The researcher's name is Belinda Platt (it's the same lady who came in and talked one lunchtime before Christmas) and if you contact her on Belinda.Platt@psy.ox.ac.uk to let her know you're interested she can arrange a time during half term for you to go in and take part.

Think Week - Friday Psychology Talks

As part of Oxford's Think Week there are two very interesting looking free psychology events in town on Friday.

http://www.thinkweek.co.uk/events/

Facebook event for Colin Blakemore

Facebook event for Raymond Tallis and David Papineau

Half term work

Hi everyone

I'm still poorly I'm afraid, so please continue learning about the Multi-Store model as best you can using the powerpoint presentation.

Here is a second presentation which talks about how to evaluate the model using research evidence. I'd like to to have a go at the essay which is at the end of this powerpoint over half term please. Seeing as I have been away and you've had to learn this on your own I would like this handed in on the second lesson back so you have a chance to ask me questions about anything you're not sure of. (This doesn't mean you don't have to write it until we get back, it means you should have had a go at the essay over half term so that you know what you need to ask me!)

Good luck; email me if you need desperate help and I'll do my best to reply.

Work for CKe Tuesday 15th

Hi everyone - I'm afraid I'm still poorly today so am not in.

We need to start work on looking at some models of memory, so I have adapted this powerpoint presentation for you to work through yourselves. Hopefully it will make sense but if you can any questions you can email me or ask Mr Lawrence.

I've also emailed the powerpoint to you as for the study demo you need to be able to view it as a slideshow and it doesn't work properly in the Google docs slideshow.

Memory Progress Test

For anyone who missed the second progress test and would like to have a go, click here.

You can find the mark scheme here.

Abnormality - Thursday work for TLa - Cognitive and Psychodynamic Therapies

I am ill today. Read and make notes on the two remaining psychological therapies we need to cover: CBT and Psychoanalysis.

Your notes need to cover: techniques used as part of the therapy, strengths and limitations. I will look at these on Tuesday.

Psychoanalysis often uses dream analysis as a means of uncovering unconscious anxieties - keep a dream diary over the next few days, recording in as much detail as you can any dreams that you have as soon as you wake up.

Two more essays need to be written to complete our abnormality unit.

"Discuss biological treatments for psychological disorders" 6 marks AO1 + 6 marks AO2 is due in on Thursday 17th February.

"Critically consider the use of psychoanalysis, systematic desensitisation and CBT" 12 + 12 will be your next test, immediately after half-term.

Thursday 10th

I'm not feeling well so won't be in school on Thursday.

Your set work is to take one of the processes of memory that we have looked at (duration, capacity or encoding) and design a presentation to teach it to year 10 students. The presentation should obviously include an explanation of the concept, but should also include a description of a research study, and a plan to carry it out with the students (as I did with you in class). You'll need to put your instructions to your 'participants' in to the presentation, and include the results and conclusions from the original study - make sure to include an explanation of how/why the researchers came to that conclusion.

You can do this in pairs; please email it to me when you have finished it.

If you have missed lessons since Christmas I would encourage you to use the lesson time to make sure you are fully up to date on the notes so far.

Next week we will move on to looking at models of memory, starting with Atkinson and Schiffrin's multistore model.

Memory experiment - results!

Today we were able to pool results from the whole class for our memory experiment, which you can find here. The only thing this is missing is the graph, which it doesn't seem to have wanted to upload. Never mind - you can create your own using the mean scores from each group.

We also went through what to put in a results section, and what to put in a conclusion. A powerpoint with this info on can be found here - work through this stage by stage as you write it and it should come out ok.

What you need to hand in:
- Aim & hypothesis
- Method: Design, participants
- Consent form (see the previous powerpoint for this)
- Results and conclusions from this experiment

Also, please can you make sure you are totally confident with everything we have covered in memory so far ready to move on to looking at models of memory.

Abnormality: Behavioural Therapies

Behavioural therapies are those based on classical and operant conditioning. You need to know about systematic desensitisation in detail, and it's helpful to know a little about aversion therapy, flooding and token economies so you can write about the approach to therapy in general.

Click here for Behavioural Therapies presentation (you only need to know SD in detail).

Remember that most people need to prepare for the definitions and models of abnormality test tomorrow. We will cover psychoanalysis and revisit CBT on Thursday.

Progress test

This lesson we had a surprise progress test - because not enough people had done their homework and brought their experiment results to the lesson. I'm very disappointed in that, especially as I had only asked you to bring two results each - this should have taken you a maximum of 10 minutes to do.

If you missed the test and would like to have a go you can find it here.

For next lesson (Tuesday) you need to carry out the digit span experiment on two people - make sure you record their age, and the number of digits they could correctly recall.

If you missed the original lesson and don't have a clue what I'm on about, scroll down to where I've given links to all the previous powerpoints - this is in the one about capacity. Failing that, ask someone who was there or send me an email.

We can't move on to the next part of what we're doing until we've got these results in, so until you do this work and we can do the lesson that I've actually planned, I'm going to have to keep thinking up things on the spot to give you something to do, which - guess what - are going to be tests or essays. So it's in your own interest!!

Memory research project

In today's lesson we continued work for our research project.

By next lesson you should all have:

- written up your aim, hypothesis and variables

- written up your design section (4 sentences)

- written up your participants section (3 sentences)

- written a consent form for participants

- carried out the study on 2 participants each

We spent quite a bit of time talking about the ethics of Psychological research, and watched a video of a very unethical experiment which you can see here if you missed it. There's some general info on the experiment in this article.

Please make sure you bring your results to next lesson - we are going to pool results from the whole class which will give us a nice big sample.

ECT and Drugs research task

We covered ECT - a biological therapy - in the lesson. Here's the link to the video we watched:

Electroconvulsive therapy

Click here for the presentation

For your drug produce 2-3 ppt slides on the following and email to tla by Weds 3rd:
How it was discovered, what it treats, how it affects the nervous system, how effective it is, issues including side effects and addiction.
You have been told your drug’s number (if you weren't in the lesson email tla!):

1. Valium 2. Prozac 3. Thorazine 4. MAOIs 5. Clozapine

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy

Chris Cullen spoke to us about Mindfulness - the 'third wave' in cognitive therapy - and about principles of cognitive therapy more generally. You need to be able to describe and evaluate CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) and MBCT is one form of this.

The key idea is that you can improve your mood and your resistance to stress by regularly using meditation techniques to clear your mind of all thoughts, become aware of your body and the present moment, and then realise that thoughts that do pop into your mind are not facts but opinions. This breaks a constant cycle of stressful 'overthink' where we regret the past and worry about the future without appreciating the present moment.

Here is the presentation that Chris showed.

And have a look at www.bemindful.co.uk if you're interested.

The past is history. The future is a mystery but this moment is a gift. That is why it is called "the present".

MEMORY ESSAY DEADLINE!

Remember your memory essay is due this Thursday. Scroll down for the question...

Research project

Today we spent quite a bit of time looking in detail at some of the Research Methods terminology, and applying it to designing a new study. You'll need to make sure you have a really clear understanding of the difference between a lab, field and natural experiment, as well as the different experimental designs.

We also learned a new word today - Counterbalancing! If you missed the lesson anyone who was there should be able to explain it to you ;o)

Here's a link to the powerpoint - we only got about half way through this today and will continue with it on Thursday. Please make sure you've written up your Design section - 4 sentences only!

Models of Abnormality Test

Today's test caused some problems for some people, either because of a lack of preparation, intellectual power, or in some serious cases a bit of both. Disturbingly, some are finding it hard to tell the models apart, so here's a quick idiot's guide:

• Biological model - physical causes and 'brain stuff' - genes; infection; biochemistry (neurotransmitter imbalances); neuroanatomy (brain structure)
  
• Psychodynamic model - Freud; unconscious desires and memories; id, ego and superego; psychosexual stages and fixation; defence mechanisms
• Behavioural model - faulty learning - simple associations; classical and operant conditioning; no biological or mental causes
• Cognitive model - faulty thinking - negative thoughts, beliefs or schemas; biases in attributions or memories

Click here for a model answer (and a 4/6 mark evaluation) to the psychodynamic model question in the test.

A hard question was about twin or family studies - these are important evidence for the biological model because they support some role of genes in most disorders.

This web page is a fairly straightforward explanation of twin studies.

Or try this youtube tutorial.

Models of Abnormality Test

This test caused some people some problems - seemingly because of a lack of revision, intellectual power, or (in some serious cases) both. Alarmingly, some people can't tell the models apart, so here's a quick idiot's guide:

• Biological model - physical causes and 'brain stuff' - genes, infection, biochemistry (neurotransmitters) and neuroanatomy (brain structure)
  
• Psychodynamic - Frued; unconscious desires and memories, id, ego and superego, psychosexual stages, fixation and defence mechanisms
  
• Behavioural - simple associative learning; classical and operant conditioning; no biological or mental causes
  
• Cognitive - faulty thinking / negative beliefs / biases to attributions and memories

This topic is very simple - you just need to be able to write 6 marks worth of description and 6 marks worth of evaluation for each one.

• 
  

Memory essay deadline

Your essay:

‘Give a brief account of the differences between STM and LTM and consider the extent to which research supports the distinction between them’

is due on Thursday 27th January.

We spent some time planning this in the lesson and working out how to answer the question, so if you were absent then make sure you catch up the notes from someone else.

Memory Powerpoints

Hi everyone

So far in memory we have looked in detail at the concepts of Short Term Memory (STM) and Long Term Memory (LTM), and the three processes of memory: capacity, duration and encoding.

You can access the powerpoints from the lessons from these links:

Memory 1 - introduction

Memory 2 - duration in STM

Memory 3 - duration in LTM

Memory 4 - capacity

Memory 5 - encoding

Memory 6 - encoding 2

and as a special treat...

The "Who wants to be a A level Psychology Unit 1 Memory Expert" game :)

Biological Therapies: Psychosurgery, Drugs and ECT

Biological therapies assume that the causes of abnormality are physical, so the treatment should be too. Psychosurgery involves deliberately damaging the brain in an attempt to relieve mental symptons, Electroconvulstive therapy involves triggering seizures with electric currents applied through the brain, and drugs interfer with the brain's natural neurotransmitter chemicals.

Only drugs and ECT are mentioned in the spec, but we spent Thursday's lesson looking at psychosurgery as this is useful for evaluating the approach in general, and for comparison with the other two approaches which we will deal with next week. There is a slide of questions at the end of the psychosurgery part of the presentation - answering these with the help of your textbook will give you plenty of detail for the exam (you don't need all the detail about cingulotomies etc).

Click here to download presentation.

REMEMBER MONDAY AFTERNOON IS AN ABNORMALITY TEST - DEFINITION AND MODELS (NOT THERAPY).

The Behavioural and Cognitive Models

The Behavioural Model was a reaction to Freud's unscientific, untestable and unfalsifiable model, based as it was on unobservable subconscious thoughts. Instead, behaviourists like Pavlov, Watson and Skinner based their theories (in the first half of the 20th century) purely on directly observable stimul and responses (in Classical Conditioning), behaviours and reinforcers (in Operant Conditioning). Because they assumed that humans and other animals learn in the same way, and that genes are not relevant to behaviour, they could conduct highly controlled, scientific experiments on dogs, rats and pigeons to support their theories.

Download Behavioural Model presentation here.

The Cognitive Model, developed later when psychologists had computers as a model for the mind, assumes that thoughts and beliefs can and should be studied, but focuses on conscious thinking and memory unlike psychodynamic theories.

Donload Cognitive Model presentation here.

Homework essay: "Compare and contrast the behavioural and cognitivemodels of abnormalty" 12 marks AO1 + 12 marks AO2
This needs to be a double-length essay, showing that you understand the models and their strengths and limitations, but also that you can draw out similarities and differences between them. What do they have in common, both in terms of assumptions and good and bad points? You will lose marks if you simple describe and evaluate the two models without doing this.

Due on Tuesday 1st February

There will be a test on Definitions and Models of abnormality on Monday 24th January.

The Psychodynamic Model

Freud's theory of personality started the psychodynamic approach. Many of his ideas are now widely thought to be wrong, or at least only relevant to the types of people and the time he was living in (Mainly middle class Jewish women in Vienna, Austria around 1900). However modern psychodynamic theories are still important today and work on the same assumptions - that abnormality arises from unresolved conflicts within the mind, and subconscious desires and memories.

Download presentation here.

Click here for a list of defence mechanisms.

Homework essay:
"Describe and evaluate the psychodynamic model of abnormality" 6 marks AO1 + 6 marks AO2
Not actually set yet - watch this space...

The Biological Model

This explains abnormality in terms of physical factors including genes, pathogens (infection), brain biochemistry (neurotransmitters) and neuroanatomy (abnormal brain structure / brain damage).

Download presentation here.

Homework essay:
"Outline and evaluate the biological model of abnormality" 6 marks AO1 + 6 marks AO2
Now overdue if you haven't already handed it in!

Definitions of Abnormality

You need to be able to describe and apply three definitions of abnormality, and evaluate them including explaining how they are limited by culture. They are:

Deviation from Social Norms (DSN) - click here for presentation
Failure to Function Adequately (FFA) - click here from presentation
Deviation from Ideal Mental Health (DIMH) - click here from presentation

Essay question:
"Describe and evaluate three definitions of abnormality" 12 marks AO1 + 12 marks AO2
Now overdue if you haven't already handed it in!
This should be longer than a standard homework essay, taking around a side of A4 (if you handwrite) or 300 words to outline (with examples) and then discuss the strengths and limitations of each of the three definitions above.

Individual Differences: Abnormality

Abnormality is the second of three topics we cover for Unit 2 at AS. It deals with three questions: how do psychologists define abnormality? (how can we decide who is normal and who is abnormal?); how do they explain abnormality with different models? (what causes psychological disorders?); what treatments do the models propose?

Here's the homework tracker sheet for the topic.