Psychology A level OCR
🇬🇧
In English
In English
Practice Known Questions
Stay up to date with your due questions
Complete 5 questions to enable practice
Exams
Exam: Test your skills
Test your skills in exam mode
Learn New Questions
Manual Mode [BETA]
Select your own question and answer types
Specific modes
Learn with flashcards
Complete the sentence
Listening & SpellingSpelling: Type what you hear
multiple choiceMultiple choice mode
SpeakingAnswer with voice
Speaking & ListeningPractice pronunciation
TypingTyping only mode
Psychology A level OCR - Leaderboard
Psychology A level OCR - Details
Levels:
Questions:
1049 questions
🇬🇧 | 🇬🇧 |
What are the main functions of the left and right hemisphere of the brain? | - The lefts role is language, reasoning and logical thought - The right hemispheres function is creativity, imagination and spatial awareness |
What was the aim of Sperry's research? | - To show the independent streams of conscious awareness possessed by each hemisphere and to show how each hemisphere has its own memories |
What was the research method used in research by Sperry? | - A quasi experiment - Can also be augured that that because extensive tests were carried out on so few participants it could be seen as a set of case studies |
What was the IV in research by Sperry? | - Having a split brain or not Participants with split-brains had already undergone hemisphere disconnection to reduce severe epilepsy - No actual control group was necessary for comparison in the study because the functions and abilities of the visual fields and hemispheres in non split-brain individuals was already known |
What was the DV in research by Sperry? | - The participant’s ability to perform a variety of visual and tactile tests |
What was the sample Sperry used? | -11 patients who had undergone an operation to sever their Corpus Colosseum for treatment of epilepsy - There operations took place at a range of times from the earliest being 5 and a half years ago |
What were the key tests conducted? | - Visual test - Tactile test |
What was the visual test used? | - The participant (with one covered eye) centred their gaze on a screen - A visual stimulus appeared on the screen from 1/10 of a second, to fast to get the eyes in the wrong visual field - Everything projected to the left of the screen is passed via the left visual field (LVF) to the right hemisphere and vice versa |
What was the tactile test used? | - Below a screen there was a gape so participants could reach object but not see them - Objects were placed in either the Ps left or right hand or both hands - Information about the objects placed in the left hand is processed by the right hemisphere and vice versa |
What were the key findings from the visual test? | - Information shown and responded to in one visual field could only be recognised again if shown to the same visual field - Information present to the RVF could be described in speech. If the same information was present to the LVF the participant said they did not see anything. However the participant could point with his left hand to a matching picture of the object - $ sign to the LVF and ? to the RVF, the participant could draw the $ sign with his left hand but reported that he had seen a ? |
What were the results for the tactile tests? | - Objects placed in the right hand could be described in speech or writing - If the same objects were placed in the left hand participants could only make wild guesses and often seemed unaware they were holding anything - When two objects were placed simultaneously in each hand and then hidden in a pile of objects, both hands selected their own object and ignored the other hand’s object |
What are the main conclusions from Sperry's research? | - People with split brains have two separate visual processors, each with its own train of visual images - Split-brain patients have a lack of cross-integration - Split-brain patients seem to have two independent streams of consciousness, each with its own memories, perceptions and impulses ie two minds in one body |
Evaluate the research method used by Sperry | - Highly controlled experimental design, such as the time the image showed up for - As it was a Quasi experiment it may have been hard to change the effects of previous treatment such as drug treatment participants had had |
Evaluate the data collected by Sperry | - The data collected was qualitative descriptions of participants actions, this provided rich and detailed data - However if quantitative data was collected it would of been easier to quantify and directly compare between groups - The qualitative data interpretations may have been subjective |
What are the possible ethical considerations in this research? | - The experiment kept to all ethical guidelines |
Assess to what extent Sperry's research can be seen as valid | - The sample was very small, this puts into question whether the abnormal behaviour shown is generalisable to a normal brain - The differences in their brain may be caused by epilepsy or the medication they take.. |
Overall key ideas | - All things psychological are in its origin biological - Behaviour is due to genetics + hormones |
What hemispheres of the brain control each hand? | - The right hemisphere controls of the left hand, while the right hemisphere controls the right hand |
Key concepts | - Behaviour is influenced by genes inherited from parents - Influenced by biological chemistry e.g hormones, neurotransmitters - Structure of the brain, specific regions of the brain |
Strengths | - Highly controlled/highly specialised techniques - Objective methods used - Practical applications - Explains causes of abnormal behaviour |
Weaknesses | - Low ecological validity - Reductionist - Ignores environmental factors - Idiographic theories |
Prinicples | - That everyone is unique - Behaviour is due to differences - Looks at differences rather than nomothetic approach |
Strengths | - Studies many different human behaviours: A + T (baron-cohen), psychopathy (hancock), phobias (freud)... - Social benefits, improving our understanding of mental disorders and suggesting treatments e.g. Freud talking therapies - Attempts to answer free will–determinism debate e.g. debate about convicting psychopaths |
Weaknesses | - Lacks set of defining beliefs about why people behave the way they do - More disagreement in this area compared to others - e.g. eyes teset, nomothetic, sees itself as science, little hans, idiographic, does not see itself as scientific - Socially sensitive, potential harmful use e,g Yerkes’ study - scientific racism |
Usefulness of the area (1) | - Objectively measures difference through psychometric tests, allows to diagnose disorders - e.g. B+C made valid test for ToM deficit in adults where previous tests had had a ceiling effect at around ages 8-9 years - Benefitting society in a positive way - Increase psychology's reputation, encourage people to participate in future research |
Usefulness of the area (2) | - Explains complex human behaviours - Helps remove stigma + discrimination towards specific disorders - Like B + C looked at autistic adults + how these individuals lacked theory of mind which is why they cannot understand certain social situations -One of the key features of psychology is to help people and psychology is used to diagnose and to treat disorders -In 1969 Miller from APA said that the purpose of psychology is ‘to promote human wellbeing’ and both of these studies do that. -The findings have been used to help identify/diagnose a disorder and treat it. Freud not only identified the source of hans phobia (a projection of unconscious anxieties of the oedipus complex onto horses) he was able to treat it so by the time he experienced the plumber's dream the boy was cured. |
PIES + M | - Physically - Intellectually - Emotionally - Socially - Morally |
4 points of the developmental area | - Long life process (from birth to death) - Tends to focus on children - mouldable, available - Development happens in stages e.g. infancy - Debate: development influenced on nature + nurture |
The principles of the behaviourist perspective | - 'tabula rasa' - born blank - We learn through conditioning |
Bandura theory | - Social learning - Imitation |
'tabula rasa' meaning | - Latin for born blank - All behaviour is learnt |
Classical conditioning meaning | - Leaning by association (used in advertisments) |
Operant conditioning meaning | - Learning with consequence + Positive reinforcement (rewards) + Negative reinforcement (avoidance) + Punishment |
Vicarious reinforcement (social learning) | - Copying a role model to seek the rewards they are getting |
Self-efficacy (social learning) | - Believing you can successfully imitate the model |
The Law of Temporal Contiguity | - The closer in time the reward to the behaviour the stronger the learning will be |
The law of effect | - Rewarding behaviour will be repeated - Non rewarding behaviour will extinguish |
Bandura Theory (further) | - How children observe models - How they copy behaviours and emotional reactions. |
What the experiment included | - 72 children from Stanford university nursery - 36 girls, 36 boys - Behaviour study - 3 groups - aggressive adults, non-aggressive adults, control group -no adults |
Matching process | - Test children beforehand - Parents and teachers rate out of five their verbal + physical aggression and their control |
Phase 1 - Exposure (Aggressive adults) | - Models have scripts - Bobo doll in room - Verbal aggression: "pow!" "sock him on the nose" and "stay down" - Physical aggression: punching, kicking and throwing |
Phase 1 - Exposure (Non-aggressive adults) | - Adults play with tinker toys |
Phase 1 - Exposure (Control group) | - No adults - Used for baseline to compare the other groups results with it |
Phase 2 - Arousal | - Exciting new toys in room - Children there for only 30 seconds - Used to give them a reason to display aggression in phase 3 |
Phase 3 - Performance | - Observers are behind mirror - Observing: imitated aggressive and non-aggressive verbal + physical behaviour - Lasts 20 mins - looking every 5 seconds - timed sampling |
Independent variables | - Gender of model - Aggression of model - Gender of child |
Results (Aggressive adults) | - Significantly showed more aggression than the other groups |
Results (Non-aggressive adults) | - NO signs of aggression |
Results (Control group) | - Showed signs of aggression but not as much as the aggressive adult group |
The experiment and standardisation | Conditions that were kept the same were: - The room - The script - The actions - The toys |
Conclusions | - Children will learn though imitation + observation - More likely to learn verbal aggression from the same-sex adult - More likely to learn physical aggression from male models |
Type of method and design Bandura used | - A mixture of laboratory, field and quasi experimentation - Used the match pair design. |
Weakness with the sample | - Didn't involve children with different backgrounds - Could react differently |
How does the study lack ecological validity | - Very controlled - unrealistic - The script is dramatised |
Strengths of the developmental area | - Many useful applications to child care, education... - Attempts to answer the nature/nurture debate - Participants can be studied over time to reduce participant variables |
Weaknesses of the developmental area | - Research with children may raise ethical issues, such as consent and protection - Research may be constrained by time or culture - Samples are often small and unrepresentative |
Similarities between the developmental area and the behaviour area | - Both are deterministic and ignore the effect of freewill on behaviour |
What is the main focus of the cognitive area? | - Focuses on the way our brains processes information - Covers many areas like memory, perception, language, thinking + attention |
What are the key assumptions of the cognitive area? | - Information processing affects our behaviour - Our brains operate like a computer – they rely on input, they process information and this leads to an output (behaviour) - We can make assumptions about what is happening in our brain based on external observations of behaviour |
Information processing | - The way that information is taken in by the senses, analysed and then responded too |
Memory | - The capacity to encode, Store and retrieve information - Without memory , learning could not take place |
Forgetting | - An experience of not being able to recall information such as an event, fact or a person's name |
Storage | - The maintenance of information without actively using it for a period of time after initial encoding |
Retrieval | - The process of locating and extracting stored information so that it can be recalled |
Strengths of the cognitive area | - Can help us understand how we think + process information - Can have useful practical application in schools, crime etc. - Favours scientific method, so research is usually well controlled, high internal validity - High in internal validity, often uses quantitative data, high in credibility |
Weakness of the cognitive area | - Scientific approach, some studies lack ecological validity, take place in lab conditions - Lab experiments, demand characteristics - Whilst there have been technological advances, still limits to understanding internal mental processes - Models of information processing aim to generalise to everyone, but are often overly reductionist |
Key principles of the social area | - Human behaviour is influenced by the real or imagined presence of others - The situation is often more powerful an influence on behaviour than individual personality |
Strengths of the social area | - Improves our understanding of human behaviour - Useful in a range of different settings - Often high in ecological validity |
Weaknesses of the social area | - Findings may not be true for all time for all places (as social situations can change over time) - Difficult to stay within the ethical guidelines |
Horizontal relationships | - The relationship of equals e.g. friends |
Vertical relationships | - The relationships we have with our teachers or our employers, give us commands on how to behave |
Conformity | - Wanting to belong and going along with the group |
Informational influence | - Going along with the group as you think they know more than you |
Normative influence | - Going along with the group as you don't want to stand out or be marginalised by the group - Being marginalised by a majority can be an unpleasant place to be |
Obedience | - Complying to an order from an authority figure |
Types of obedience to authority | - Positive obedience - Negative obedience |
Positive obedience | - e.g. following road traffic rules |
Negative obedience | - Following orders that go against conscience |
Types of experiments | - Laboratory experiments - Field experiments - Quasi (natural) experiments |
Lab experiments | CAUSE/EFFECT - High control - manipulate IV ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY - Artifical |
Field experiments | CAUSE/EFFECT - Manipulate IV - not complete control ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY - More like real life |
Quasi experiments | CAUSE/EFFECT - Natural occurring IV - Cannot say cause and effect ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY |
One-tailed hypothesis meaning | - One group is better than the other |
Two-tailed hypothesis meaning | - The difference between the groups |
A confounding variable (random variable) | - Something not controlled by experimenter - Effects DV - e.g weather |
An extraneous variable | - Could effect the DV - Controlled so that it does not become a confounding variable - Controlled through STANDARDISATION - making all conditions the same |
Participant variables | - When participant differences are a confounding variable - Effects DV - Controlled by using REPEATED MEASURES |
Order effects | - When people behave differently because of the order in which the conditions are performed - Controlled by using REPEATED MEASURES and COUNTERBALANCING |
How to write a hypothesis | - Clear statement - IV + DV clearly stated |
What is a null hypothesis | - Written alongside the main hypothesis to complete the prediction |
How to write a null hypothesis | - There will be no significant difference between scores on condition A and B - Any difference is down to chance |
Different experimental designs | - Independent measures design - Repeated measures design - Matched pairs design |
Independent measures design | - Using different individuals for each condition of the experiment |
Disadvantages + advantages of INDEPENDENT MEASURES DESIGN | - Advantages = no problem with order effects - Disadvantages = problem with individual differences |
Repeated measures design | - Testing the same individuals on two or more conditions |
Disadvantages + advantages of REPEATED MEASURES DESIGN | - Advantages = no problem with individual differences, requires fewer participants - Disadvantages = it is not always possible to test the same participants twice, problem with order effects |
Matched pairs design | - Using different individuals for each condition of the experiment - Participant variables are controlled by matching pairs |
Disadvantages + advantages of MATCHED PAIRS DESIGN | - Advantages = no problems with order effects - Disadvantages = its difficult and time consuming, too dependent on the validity of the procedures for pre-testing |
Why use a mode? | - Easiest when all the scores are close together |
Snowball sampling definition | - A recruitment technique where participants are asked to choose other subjects |