SSC Psychology: PSYA1

Showing posts with label PSYA1. Show all posts

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.

Memory revision booklet

Attachment revision booklet

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:

Know and be able to describe techniques for improving memory
Be able to apply memory improvement techniques to a range of scenarios
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

Anxiety

Another factor that can have a negative impact on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony is anxiety.

It has been widely researched and laboratory studies have found that high levels of anxiety have resulted in poor recall of an event, however real life studies tell a different story...

Eyewitness testimony

Start off by watching the video below and testing your own awareness...

Eyewitness testimony refers to evidence provided in court by a witness of an incident, there have been many debates as to how reliable any testimony is due to the various ways in which memories can be distorted.

You will be expected to know how several factors can influence the accuracy of recall, this page focusses on the role of misleading information.

Working memory model

This is the second model of memory you need to know, most importantly you need to be aware of why it was even created...

Once upon a time...

...when the multi-store model was heavily criticised by research/case studies that demonstrated that the stores were not unitary as MSM suggested Baddeley and Hitch (1974) created a model that focussed on the movement of information within the STM.

Multi-store model of Memory

This is the first of 2 models of memory that you need to know for the exam.

This means that is it a suggestion as to how information travels from the environment to our long-term memory.

The multi-store model is pretty straight forward as it's a linear model.

Use the presentation below to help you complete the work sheet, the long box at the bottom of the sheet is for you to summarise the model (including how information is lost, especially in the STM - Displacement and Decay)

Characteristics of memory

It's important that you know the characteristics of memory -

You're likely to get a definition question or a one that asks you to identify one/all of the characteristics of memory so learn the definitions and learn the table below!!

Capacity - The amount of information that can be held by the memory store

Duration - The time that information can be held by the memory store

Encoding - The way information is processed/changed into a form that can be stored in the memory store

You can use the sheet below to work out the characteristics of your own STM

It's also important that you know how you would research the characteristics of memory -

Capacity - Digit span test (reading a list of numbers increasing in length until the individual can't remember - the last number of digits they could remember fully is the capacity of their STM)

Duration - Nonsense trigrams (give participants a nonsense trigram and a distraction task for a certain amount of time and ask for recall, last successful recall is the duration of STM)

Encoding - Similar & disimilar words (the disimilar words should be recalled with fewer errors as there'd be less confusion in the memory store)

Lauren's AS

Welcome to the section of the website where Lauren's AS resources are held (powerpoints, handouts etc)

Just follow the links below

PSYA1 - May exam

Revision materials - let me know if you want them printing!

Research Methods
- Qualitative & quantitative data
- Variables
- Aims & Hypotheses
- Experimental methods
- Non experimental methods
- Participants (sampling & experimental design)
- Ethical issues
- Quantitative data analysis
- Qualitative data analysis
- Measures of central tendency & dispersion

Memory
- Multi-store model, including the concepts of encoding, capacity and duration. Strengths and limitations of the model
- The working memory model, including its strengths and limitations

- Factors affecting the accuracy of EWT, including;

- Improving the accuracy of EWT - including the use of the cognitive interview

- Strategies for memory improvement

Attachment
- Explanations of attachment, including learning theory and Bowlby's theory
- Types of attachment: secure, insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant
- Individual differences in attachment (including the use of "The Strange Situation")
- Cultural variations in attachment
- The effects of disruption of attachment
- Failure to form attachment (privation)
- Effects of institutionalisation
- The impact of day care on social development
- Impact on child care practices

PSYA2 - May exam

Individual Differences

- Definitions of abnormality

- Biological approaches to psychopathology and Biological therapies

- Psychological approaches to psychopathology and Psychological therapies

Stress
- The body's response to stress
- Stress and the immune system
- Life changes & daily hassles
- Stress and the workplace
- Personality factors (type A & B) and Hardiness
- Stress management (Psychological and Physiological)

Social Influence
- Types of conformity - Compliance and Internalisation
- Explanations for conformity - Normative SI and Informational SI
- Obedience to authority
- Explanations for obedience to authority
- Independent behaviour
- Social change