Welcome!

Here you'll be able to navigate your way through the notes, resources and other bits and bobs relating to Psychology that you might find interesting.

Psychology in the news...

Improving student memory

Going to a gig soon? Exercise a little patience

 



PSYA2 booklets

Below you'll find all of the booklets used in lesson to prepare you for the PSYA2 exam.

Feel free to print off yourself, download or just use online

Individual Differences (1 of 3)

Individual Differences (2 of 3)




Individual Differences (3 of 3)

Content analysis

Here you'll find out all about how to conduct qualitative data analysis.
Remember qualitative data? Yes, the words one!


Presentation found below - you need to make sure that you know the step by step guide (that's typically how you would answer a question).

 

The class activity is also below, students were required to create a list of categories they'd expect to see in personal ads (dating columns).
Sheet below...

 

Students then worked through the stimulus material and tallyed when specific topics/categories appeared.
Sheet below...


The class then made conclusions about gender differences in personal ads based on their results.

Block D - July work

Hello all,

 

You are going to be completing work relating to the research project investigating the relationship between stress and food choice.

Over the 2 lessons we miss I'd like you to gather a selection of information on all of the following 3 topics

 

1. General research into the effects of stress

2. General research into factors that affect food choice/amount

3. Research investigating a relationship between stress and food choice/amount

 

Additional information relating to the project can be found here 

Make sure that you bring all of your findings (printed from the internet, photocopied from books etc) with you to Friday's lesson.

 

Any problems just email or tweet me.

Lauren

Block B - July work

Hello all,

 

Following the research you've done I'd like you to spend this time writing up your introduction section.

Help and guidance of how to do this can be found here.

 

Make sure that your introduction is like a 'funnel' that the information gets more specific relating to the relationship with stress and food as you go on.

Also ensure that you finish if with the IV (stress or not) and the DV (something to do with food choice/amount)

 

Any problems/questions just email or tweet me.

Lauren

Block A - July work

Hello all,

 

As all of you have been in at least one lesson while we've been doing this project it shouldn't be too difficult to catch up/continue with the work.

 

Please make sure that the following jobs are completed...

1. Research gathered (make sure you find pieces of research to do with a) Stress b) Factors influencing food c) The relationship between stress and food

2. Method section completed (remember that you're completing a questionnaire and the IV is stress and the DV has to be something to do with food (e.g. amount, types)

Tips on completing the method section can be found on this page - click here

 

The following 2 tasks need to be completed by Thursday's lesson.

During Thursday's lesson we will complete the data collection.

 

Any problems just email or tweet me!

Lauren

End of year research project

 As part of the A2 course you will be studying factors that affect food choice and so as an introduction to this you will be conducting a research project in pairs.

 

The title of your project is -

"to investigate the effect of stress on food choice"

You are to conduct the research independently, researching the topic using the internet, department booklets (on studentshare) and books from the library - be sure to note down the source details for referencing!

On your teacher's homework feed (right of main page) you'll find instructions for completing each part of the project
On this page you'll find all the resources you'll need to begin planning your research, including...

Questionnaire

Research project framework

Guidance on writing up your investigation

Example research project

Impact of day care

This area of the specification focusses on the impact the day care can have on a child's behaviour, basically whether day care has a positive or negative impact on the child.

Social development is looked at specifically - Social development refers to aggressive behaviour and sociability (peer relations)

Be aware that there are 3 potential essay questions for this topic - the essay plans are at the end of the presentation.

Privation

Following from the research into short-term separation (AKA disruption) researchers becase interested in what the consequences were if a child never formed an attachment, this is typically as a result of early institutionalisation.

It was suggested that children would never be able to recover from privation, the presentation and note sheet below will tell you whether that's true...

Effects of Institutionalisation

This part of the specification refers to finding out the long-term effects if a child has not experienced an emotional bond in their early years.

Make sure that you know a definition of Institutional Care (first slide on the presenation) as the exam board can ask you to define it and remember that 2 marks can equate to half a grade!

Cross-cultural variations in attachment type

This part of the specification looks at how different cultures might vary in terms of their child rearing techniques and whether or not this results in a different % of each attachment type.

Look at the presentation and complete the note sheet to find out...
 

Disruption of attachment (short-term separation)

At this point in the specification we begin to look at what happens if attachments don't form or if they are broken, temporarily or for the long-term.

Disruption of attachment refers to when an attachment has been formed but the child suffers short-term separation (meaning that the parent/s leave but return soon after). An example of when disruption can occur would be if the child or a parent had been hospitalised.

Below is the presentation and note sheet to work through, enjoy!

Individual differences in attachment

As you will have gathered, not all children attached to their caregivers in the same way, meaning that there is clearly more than one attachment type.

On noticing this Ainsworth and Bell devised "The Strange Situation" which was a controlled observation to see how children responded to a set of scenarios consisting of their mother and a stanger, these scenarios involved leaving the child with the stranger, leaving the child on their own etc...

Ainsworth and Bell were interested in the 4 of the child's behaviours
1. Separation anxiety
2. Stranger anxiety
3. Reunion behaviour
4. Willingness to explore.

Use the presentation below to complete the note sheet below that

Types of attachment

Information regarding the types of attachment came from the findings of Ainsworth's research into individual differences in attachment.

You must be really clear on which attachment type is which and be aware that there are 4 factors on which you can draw comparisons between the different types.

Make sure you learn and know the table below.

Attachment type	Separation Anxiety	Stranger Anxiety	Reunion Behaviour	Willingness to Explore
Securely      Attached	Moderate distress	Wary of stranger	Enthusiastic	High (use mother as secure base)
Insecure-         Avoidant	None	No anxiety shown	Indifferent	High
Insecure-        Resistant	Very high	Very high	Seek & reject	Limited

 

A few little hints to help you remember which insecure attachment type is which...

Insecure-avoidant = avoid contact and so are independent (e.g. indifferent on separation etc)

Insecure-resistant = are resistant to being separated (e.g. distress on separation, confused reuinion behaviour)

Bowlby's theory

The specification requires that you know 2 explanations of attachment, the first of which is Bowlby's Theory (AKA the evolutionary theory)

 

It's important that you know both the main features of Bowlby's Theory and how it differs from the Learning Theory.

The main one is that Bowlby's Theory focusses on nature

Use the powerpoint below to fill out the note sheet below that.

Sneaky video treats are at the bottom of the page!

 

 

The learning theory

The specification requires that you know 2 explanations of attachment, the first of which is the Learning Theory (AKA the behavioural theory)

 

It's important that you know both the main features of the Learning Theory and how it differs from Bowlby's Theory.

The main one is that the Learning Theory focusses on nurture

Use the powerpoint below to fill out the note sheet below that.

Sneaky video treats are at the bottom of the page!

 

Memory Improvement

This area of the specification is certainly going to come in handy around exam time...memory improvement.

You need to:

1. Know and be able to describe techniques for improving memory

2. Be able to apply memory improvement techniques to a range of scenarios

3. Be able to explain why/how each of the techniques actually works.

You'll find all of the information you need below

  

Cognitive Interview

Cognitive interview note sheet from sssfcpsychology

Age

The final factor that can affect the accuracy of EWT is the age of the witness.

Following a discussion in class it was identified that you think that children and O.A.Ps are the worst eyewitnesses...and ou're right!

As usual the presentation and note sheet are below

 

Psychological explanations SZ

Psychological explanations - brain and/or body

 

The specification states that you need to know psychological explanations and it doesn't specify which psychological explanations you need to know, just make sure that you know at least 2!

So, if you are only looking at knowing the minimum (2 psychologicalexplanations) then make your decision which of the 3 approaches (at least 2) you'd prefer to discuss in the exam.

Once you've gone through the presentation have a go at the recap sheets below.

Psychodynamic...

Behavioural...

Cognitive...