PSYCHOLOGY

PAPER 1
No. Topic Lesson
1 Social influence
1.1 Types & explanations of conformity
1.2 Conformity (Asch & Zimbardo)
1.3 Obedience (including factors)
1.4 Resistance to social influence
1.5 Minority influence & social change
2 Memory
2.1 Coding, capacity & duration
2.2 The multi-store model
2.3 Types of LTM
2.4 Working memory model
2.5 Explanations for forgetting
2.6 Factors affecting eyewitness testimony
3 Attachment
3.1 Introduction to attachment
3.2 Schaffer's stages of attachment
3.3 Animal studies of attachment
3.4 Explanations of attachment: learning theory
3.5 Explanations of attachment: Bowlby's theory
3.6 Ainsworth's strange situation
3.7 Cultural variation
3.8 Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation
3.9 Romanian orphan studies
3.10 Influence of early attachment
4 Psychopathology
4.1 Definition of abnormality
4.2 Phobias
4.3 Depression
4.4 Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
4.5 Behavioural approach to explaining & treating phobias
4.6 Cognitive apporach to explaining & treating depression
4.7 Biological approach to explaining and treating OCD
5 Research methods

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 PSYCHOLOGY
PAPER 2
No. Topic Lesson
5 Research methods
5.1 Experimental method
5.2 Variables & sampling
5.3 Experimental design & types of experiment
5.4 Ethical issues
5.5 Pilot studies
5.6 Observational design & techniques
5.7 Self-report design & techniques
5.8 Correlations, data analysis & stat testing
5.9 Peer review, psychology & the economy
6 Approaches
6.1 Origins of psychology
6.2 The behaviourist approach
6.3 Social learning theory
6.4 The cognitive approach
6.5 The biological approach
6.6 The psychodynamic approach
6.7 The humanistic approach
6.8 Comparison of approaches
7 Biopsychology
7.1 Studying the brain
7.2 Brain localisation & lateralisation
7.3 Brain plasticity and functional recovery
7.4 Endocrone system
7.5 The nervous system
7.6 Biological rhythms
7.7 Neurons & synaptic transmission

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 CONFORMITY OBEDIENCE Obedience Obedience
SOCIAL-PSCYHOLOGICAL FACTORS DISPOSITIONAL FACTORS
Types of conformity (Kelman, 1958) Milgram (1963)
• Compliance: changing public behaviour and attitudes to 'go along' with the group, but not accepting it Aim: Agentic state Evaluation of social-psychological factors Adorno et al (1950) Authoritarian personality
privately • To measure the level of obedience to an authority figure, A mental state where we feel no + Research support Adorno et al (1950) wanted to A personality that is disposed to favour
• Identification: conforming to the opinions/behaviour of a group because we value the group and want when asked to administer electric shocks to another person. personal responsibility for our investigate the cause of the obedience to authority and intolerance of
Hofling et al found 21/22 nurses obeyed an
to be part of it. We publicaly change our views and behaviour but may not fully agree privately. obedient personality. outgroups and those with lower status.
Procedure: behaviour because we believe ourselves order to give an overdose of an unknown
• Internalisation: when a person genuinely accepts the views and behaviour of the group. This means the to be acting for an authority figure, i.e. drug by a fake doctor over the phone. Procedure: • They have an extreme respect for authority
• 40 males aged 20-50
person has both publicly and privately accepted the attitudes of the group This lends validity to the agentic state and and submissiveness to it
• Participants 'randomly' assigned to teacher or learner role. we are their agent. This allows us to • He studied 2000 middle-
legitimacy of authority theory. class, white Americans and • They have highly conventional attitudes
Rigged so participant was always the teacher obey even a destructive authority figure.
their unconscious attitudes towards sex, race and gender
Explanations of conformity (Deutsch & Gerard, 1955) However, we will feel anxiety about
• Teacher asks basic memory questions to learner and gives
towards other racial groups • They believe we need strong leaders to
• Informational social influence (ISI) electric shocks when they get it wrong committing acts that we deem wrong - Cultural differences
• They developed several enforce traditional values, such as love for
Often we are uncertain about whether something is right or wrong. In these situations, we might follow and • Learner gave mainly wrong answers and the teacher was (moral strain). Some countries differ in the extent to which
scales to measure this, the country, family and religion
accept what the majority of the group think. For example, when answering a question in class, a student ordered to shock them by the experimenter they are traditionally obedient to authority
might follow what most other people say. ISI is considered a cognitive process. • Autonomous state (Australia: 16%, Germany 80%). including te potential for
Findings: This means in some cultures, authority is fascism scale (f-scale). Evaluation of authoritarian personality
• Normative social influence (NSI) A person in an autonomous state is free
Norms regulate the behaviour of individuals and groups. When looking for approval from a group, we may • 87.5% of participants continued past 300 volts to behave according to their own more likely to be accepted as legitimate and + Research support
adopt their norms and behaviours. NSI is an considered an emotional process. • 65% of participants continued to 450 volts entitled to demand obedience from. Findings: Milgram found that most of his highly
principles, and therefore feels a sense of
Therefore, the theory may be less valid in • People on the authoritative obedient participants scored highly on the f-
responsibility for their own actions. The other cultures.
+ Research support for ISI - Individual differences in NSI - ISI and NSI may work together - Low internal validity + Good external validity end of the scale identified scale. However, this is just a correlation (not
shift from autonomy to 'agency' is called causation). It's possible that a third factor (e.g.
Lucas et al (2006) asked There is research to suggest Deutsch and Gerrard's 'two process' Orne & Holland (1968) argued As a lab experiment, Milgram’s more with 'strong' people
students to answer the agentic shift, it usually occurs when Legitimacy of authority and were contemptuous of lack of education) could cause a high level of
that NSI does not affect approach is that behaviour is due to that the participants behaved study may appear to lack
mathematical problems of an individual perceives someone else as We are more likely to obey people who we the weak obedience and authoritarian personality.
everyone in the same way. E.g. either ISI or NSI. However, often both the way they did because external validity. However,
varying difficulty. perceive to have authority over us. This
Students were more likely to people who do not care as processes are involved. they didn't believe the electric Milgram argued that the lab an authority position • They have a lot of respect
authority is justified by the individual's - Limited explanation
conform to an incorrect much about being liked are For example, in Asch's study, shocks were real. This means accurately reflected authority for authority and show
answer when the questions • Binding factors position of power within a social hierarchy. servility to those of higher
Dispositional explanations of obedience can't
generally less affected by NSI. participants were less likely to conform Milgram wasn't testing what relationships in real life. This is
were more difficult. Aspects of the situation that allow the One of the consequences of this legitimacy easily explain the wide-scale obedience by a
People who have a high need when one of the confederates didn't. he intended to, giving the supported by other studies, status
This demonstrates that person to ignore or minimise the of authority is that some people are granted significant amount of the population.
for association with others This may be due to NSI (the non- study low internal validity. e.g. Hofling et al (1966), who • Their cognitive style means
people are more likely to damaging effect of their behaviour and the power to punish others, for example, the For example, in Nazi Germany, millions of
(called nAfilliators) are more conformer provides social support to However, Milgram counter- found that most nurses they have very clear
conform when they don't thus reduce the 'moral strain' they are police are allowed to punish people who people displayed obedient behaviour, but it's
likely to conform (McGhee & the participant) or ISI (the non- argues that 70% of (21/22) would follow distinctions between
know the answer, as feeling. E.g. shifting the responsibility to break the law. We learn to accept this unlikely they all had an authoritarian
Teevan 1967). conformer gives an alternative source participants believed the unjustified demands by categories of people, with
predicted by the ISI the victim ('he was foolish to volunteer') legitimacy of authority from a young age. personality
This is a weakness because of information). shocks were real doctors. rigid stereotypes
explanation. This is a
some people do not respond in This is a limitation because it suggests
strength because it gives the
the same way to NSI as others. that NSI & ISI may not be independent
ISI explanation more validity.
processes.
MINORITY INFLUENCE & SOCIAL CHANGE
CONFORMITY CONFORMITY
A LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY
Minority influence Key factors in minority influence
ASCH ZIMBARDO Social influence knowledge organiser psychhub.gumroad.com
A form of social influence where a minority group (or
even just one person) persuade the majority to
• Consistency
Minority influence is most effective if the minority keeps
adopt their beliefs, attitudes and behaviours. This the same beliefs, both over time (diachronic consistency)
Aim: To investigate the extent to which social pressure from a
leads to internalisation, when private attitudes are and between all the individuals that form the minority
majority group will cause an individual to conform Aim: To investigate whether prison guards behave brutally Locus of control
RESISTANCE TO SOCIAL INFLUENCE
changed as well as public behaviour (synchronic consistency). It's effective because it draws
because they have sadistic personalities, or is it the situation First proposed by Rotter (1966), LOC attention to the minority view.
Procedure: that creates such behaviour? refers to the sense we each have about
Evaluation of minority influence
123 Male US undergraduates had to compare 3 lines of different what directs events in our lives.
lengths to a standard line. Procedure: People with internal LOC believe they Resistance to social influence + Research support for consistency • Commitment
There was only one naïve participant in each group, the other 6- Zimbardo and his colleagues set up a mock prison in the Refers to the ability of people to withstand the social Moscovici et al demonstrated that a consistent Sometimes, minorities engage in quite extreme activities
are mostly in control of what happens
8 people were confederates. basement of Stanford university. They recruited students pressure to conform to the majority or to obey authority. minority had a greater impact on others than an to draw attention to their views. It is important that these
to them, while people with external
On the first few trials, confederates gave the right answer, but deemed 'emotionally stable' and randomly assigned them to This ability to withstand social pressure is influenced by inconsistent minority. This provides validity to the extreme activities are risky to the minority, because that
LOC believe it's mostly down to luck or
during the 12 'critical trials' they gave wrong answers either a guard or prisoner role. both situational and dispositional factors. consistency factor in minority influence. shows commitment to the cause.
other external factors.
The add to the realism, prisoners were arrested in their homes When the majority see this commitment, they are more
People with an internal LOC are more
Findings: and arrived blindfolded, before being strip-searched. - Artificial tasks in research likely to consider the minority's viewpoint (augmentation
likely to resist social influence, as they Social support
The prisoners and guards were each given their own uniform, The tasks involved, such as identifying the colour of a principle)
• The naïve participant gave a wrong answer 37% of the time generally base their decisions on their The pressure to conform is greatly reduced when other
and the prisoners made to feel oppressed and powerless slide, are artificial, meaning studies have limited
own beliefs and thus resist pressures people are present who are not conforming. The person
• 75% of participants conformed at least once application in everyday life. In real life cases of
from others. not conforming doesn't even have to give the right answer • Flexibility
• When interviewed afterwards, most participants said they Findings: minority influence, such as when making jury Relentless consistency may be viewed by the majority as
(shown by Asch), they just have to go against the group.
conformed to avoid rejection (normative social influence) decisions, the outcome is vastly more important. unbending and unreasonable. Sometimes it is better for
• The guards took up their roles with enthusiasm, treating the Evaluation of locus of control Social support can also help to resist obedience. In one of
This means the research may lack ecological validity, the minority to show flexibility by accepting the possibility
prisoners harshly and constantly enforcing their power (e.g. Milgram's variations, the rate of obedience dropped from
Variations: + Research support as it can't be easily applied to real life situations. of compromise
by doing pointless headcounts in the middle of the night 65% to 10% when the genuine participant was joined by a
• Group size: the rate of conformity does not increase Holland (1967) repeated Milgram's
• Initially, the prisoners rebelled. However, they soon became disobedient confederate
significantly beyond a majority of three study and measured participants LOC. Stages of social change Conformity & obedience in social change Evaluation of social change
subdued, depressed and anxious, with one even going on He found that 37% of internals resisted,
• Unanimity: when another person doesn't conform, the rate hunger strike. • Drawing attention • Asch's research showed that if just one + Research support for
while only 23% of externals did. This Evaluation of social support
of conformity of the participant drops significantly person broke from the power of the normative social influence
• Over time, both the guards and prisoners began to conform research increases the validity of the + Research support - conformity • Deeper processing - the
• Task difficulty: when the task becomes more difficult, the majority, it would encourage others to Nolan et al (2008) studied the
more to their roles. LOC explanation, and gives us more Allen & Levine (1971) found that conformity decreased attention means that society
rate of conformity increases dissent too. This has the power to role of normative influence in
confidence that it can explain when there was one dissenter in their Asch-like study. This begins thinking and questioning
ultimately lead to social change. social change. They found that
+ High internal - Lack of realism - Ethical issues resistance. effect was observed even when the dissenter mentioned the status quo
people lowered their energy
+ Lab - Cultural context - Artificial task validity Banuazizi & Zimbardo took he had vision difficulties (meaning he is not reliable at • Augmentation principal - • Milgram's research demonstrates the
consumption significantly if
experiment In 1950’s America, Participants knew Zimbardo had a Mohavedi (1975) on a dual role in - Contradictory research judging line lengths). This gives the social support individuals may perform risky importance of disobedient role
they believed others were
Asch's study was conformity would they were in a high level of control argued that the the study, as both Not all research supports the link explanation validity because it demonstrates that when acts to demonstrate their models. In one variation, a
doing the same.
a lab have been study so may have over many aspects participants were researcher and between LOC and resistance. Twenge et one person disagrees with the majority, other people are devotion (e.g. Emily Davidson confederate teacher refused to shock
experiment, encouraged much displayed demand of the experiment merely displaying prison warden. al (2004) analysed data from studies more likely to resist too. jumping in front of the king's the learner, which resulted in a
- Minority influence is only
meaning he had more than nowadays. characteristics. (e.g. allocation of demand This meant his investigating LOC over a 40 year period. horse) massive drop in obedience from the
indirectly effective
a high level of Perrin and Spencer The task was quite pp’s). The fact that characteristics, interests often The data shows that people have + Research support - obedience genuine participants.
• Snowball effect - a minority Social change happens very
control and was repeated Asch’s study artificial, and there the participants based on their conflicted and he simultaneously become more resistant There is also research into the role of peers in resisting • Zimbardo suggested the concept of
view begins to gain traction and slowly. E.g. it has taken
able to minimise in 1980, where they was really no were assigned their preconceptions of may have failed to obedience, and more external. obedience. For example, Gamson et al (1982) found higher gradual commitment, where people
eventually becomes the majority decades for attitudes towards
extraneous found much lower reason not to roles randomly but the role. to protect If resistance was linked to internal locus levels of resistance than Milgram, which was attributed to obey a small instruction, and then it
view smoking to shift. The fact that
variables. rates of conformity. conform. The still conformed Zimbardo counter participants from of control, we would have expected the fact that in Gamson's study, participants were in becomes much more difficult for them
• Social cryptomnesia - people change takes so long suggests
This gives the This means Asch’s study has limited suggests it is the argues that 90% of some degree of people to become more internal. This groups. 88% of participants rebelled, which suggests that to resist a bigger one. People
realise that change occurred but that minority influence may
study more study may lack real life role itself conversation was psychological or means the locus of control explanation peer support is important for resisting obedience because essentially 'drift' into a new kind of
don't remember exactly how be delayed and indirect.
validity temporal validity application influencing them. about prison life physical harm. may lack validity. this is much higher than Milgram's study. behaviour
 Visuo-spatial sketchpad (VSS) + Supporting clinical evidence
Multi store model Working memory model
Retrieval

Sensory The second slave system is Supported by Shallice & Warrington's

• Developed by Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968)
• Theoretical model that views memory as information flowing through a
series of storage systems
Long-term memory (LTM)
The potentially permanent
store for information that
has been rehearsed for a
prolonged period of time.
It's capacity is believed to
be unlimited and duration
can be for many
years. Bahrick et al
(1975) found that pp's
could still recognise their
classmates 50 years later.
LTMs tend to be
coded semantically. When
we want to recall a
memory from LTM, it has
to be sent to STM in a
process called retrieval.
Explanations for forgetting
Interference
• Interference is one of the theories that explains how and why memories
are forgotten from long term-memory
Short-term memory (STM)
Limited-capacity memory system, this means
it can only store 7 ± 2 items. Information in
STM is coded acoustically and has a duration
of about 30 seconds unless
rehearsed. Maintenance rehearsal will let the
information pass into long-term memory.
Sensory register (SR)
Sensory information from the environment is
held here very briefly (< 0.5 second). There is
a sensory register for each of our senses
(sight, sound, etc), but the main ones
are iconic (visual) and echoic (auditory).
While the duration is very low,
the capacity for information is very high.
Information will only pass further into the
memory system if you pay attention to it.
register Short-term Long-term the visuo-spatial sketchpad (1970) case study of patient KF. Due to
• Iconic memory Prolonged memory • A model of short -term memory developed by Baddeley & Hitch (1974) (VSS). The VSS stores visual brain damage, KF had difficulty recalling
• Echoic rehearsal
and/or spatial information sounds but not visual information,
• Aimed to explain aspects of memory which weren’t accounted for by the multi store model
when required. For example, supporting the idea that there are
if you are asked to work out separate stores for different types of
Response Working memory model (WMM) Episodic buffer (EB) how many windows there information. In this case, only his
An explanation of how one aspect of The third slave system added to the model by Baddeley in 2000. It’s are on your house you phonological loop was damaged.
Maintenance memory (short-term) is organised a temporary store for information, integrating the visual, spatial, visualise it. It also has a However, as he had brain damage, it may
rehearsal and how it functions. and verbal information processed by other stores and maintaining limited capacity, which not be possible to apply findings based
The WMM is concerned with the a sense of time sequencing —basically recording events (episodes) according to Baddeley (2003) on him to the general population.
part of the mind that is active when that are happening. it can be seen as the storage component of the is about three or four objects
+ Supporting research
we are temporarily storing and central executive and has a limited capacity of about four chunks (see ‘Using the VSS" below). + Dual task performance
The multi store model is supported by research that shows STM & LTM are
manipulating information, for (Baddeley 2012). The episodic buffer links working memory to LTM Logie (1995) subdivided the Studies of dual task performance support
qualitatively different. E.g. Baddeley found that we tend to mix up words that sound
example when working on an and wider cognitive processes such as perception. VSS into: the separate existence of the visuo-
similar when using our STM, but we mix up words with similar meanings when using
arithmetic problem or playing chess • The visual cache, which special sketchpad. E.g. Baddeley et al
LTM. This suggests they have different encoding systems and must be seperate and
or comprehending language, etc. Central executive (CE) stores visual data. (1975) showed that pp’s struggled doing
independent, as in the MSM.
The model consists of four main The central executive is essentially an attentional process that two visual tasks more than doing a visual
• The inner scribe, which
components, each of which is monitors incoming data, makes decisions and allocates slave and verbal task simultaneously. This is
records the arrangement
- More than one type of STM qualitatively different especially in systems to tasks. The central executive has a very limited because when doing two visual tasks,
of objects in the visual
The MSM describes the short-term memory as a single store. However, we know from terms of capacity and coding. processing capacity both tasks are competing for the same
field.
research such as Shallice & Warrington (1970) that this is not true. They found that slave system. This means there must be
patients suffering from amnesia had different levels of recall for visual and auditory different slave systems for processing
Phonological loop (PL)
information, suggesting there are at least 2 separate stores for these. This means the Central executive visual and verbal information.
MSM may be less comprehensive and valid. (One of the slave systems is the phonological loop (PL). It
deals with auditory information (i.e. coding is acoustic) and
- Lack of clarity over central executive
preserves the order in which the information arrives. The
Cognitive psychologists believe that the
- More than one type of rehearsal PL is subdivided into:
The MSM suggests there is only one type of rehearsal, and the most important thing to • Primary acoustic store: which stores the words you
Phonological loop Visuospatial sketchpad central executive, as explained by the
• Episodic • WMM, is unsatisfactory and doesn’t really
Primary acoustic Visual cache (VC)
the amount of rehearsal that you do. However, Craik & Watkins (1973) suggested that hear. store (PAS) buffer explain anything. The CE needs to be
•
• Inner scribe (IS)
what really matters is the type of rehearsal. Maintenance rehearsal only maintains • Articulatory process: which allows maintenance Articulatory process
more clearly specified than just being
information in STM, while elaborative rehearsal (not described by MSM) is needed for rehearsal (repeating sounds or words in a ‘loop’ to keep simply ‘attention’. E.g. some psychologists
long-term storage. This is another limitation of the MSM because it's another research them in working memory while they are needed). The believe it may consist of several different
finding that cannot be explained. capacity of this ‘loop’ is believed to be two seconds’ components. This means the WMM hasn’t
worth of what you can say. Long-term memory been fully explained.

Interference + Real life studies

Factors affecting Eyewitness testimony Factors affecting Eyewitness testimony
A LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY
Interference is when one memory affects another, causing them both to Some studies have attempted
be distorted or forgotten. This explanation is generally associated with to study interference in a more
long-term memory.
Proactive interference is when older memories, already stored, disrupt
realistic context. Baddeley &
Hitch (1977) asked rugby
ANXIETY MISLEADING INFORMATION
the recall of new memories. The degree of forgetting increases when the
memories are similar.
players to recall as many teams
they’d played as they could.
Memory knowledge organiser psychhub.gumroad.com
- Weapon focus may not be relevant Misleading information

Retroactive interference is when newer memories disrupt the recall of They found that the number of Johnson & Scott’s study on weapon focus may be testing Incorrect information given to the eyewitness
surprise rather than anxiety. Witness’s focus on the weapon after the event. It can be in the form of leading
old, existing memories. Again, the degree of forgetting increases when games played would cause
Positive effect on recall because they are surprised at what they see, rather than questions or post-event discussion.
the memories are similar. forgetting more than the Explanations for forgetting The stress of witnessing a crime or accident creates anxiety, which scared. Pickel (1998) demonstrated that eyewitness accuracy
amount of time between
McGeoch and McDonald (1931) studied retroactive interference. They games. This study has higher
ecological validity and supports
Retrieval failure triggers the fight or flight response. This increases our alertness which
may make us more aware of cues around us, meaning we have a better
is significantly worse in unusual or unexpected conditions.
This means weapons focus may not tell us anything about
Leading questions
asked pp’s to learn a list of 10 words until they could recall with 100% Phrased in a way that suggests a certain answer.
interference theory. memory of the event. anxiety specifically.
accuracy. Then they were split into 6 groups and given a second word list, • Retrieval failure is the other theory that seeks
Yuille & Cutshall (1986) interviewed witnesses’ to a real life fatal shooting. Loftus and Palmer (1974) showed a video of a car
with varying similarity to the first. to explain why memories cannot always be accident to students and then asked questions
They found that after being interviewed again 4-5 months later, there - Field studies can lack control
When the pp’s were asked again to recall the first list, their performance - Artificial task accessed from long-term memory about it. They were asked how fast the cars were
was only a slight drop in accuracy. Witnesses’ stress levels were Researchers usually interview real-life witnesses sometime
depended on the nature of the second list. The groups that had a similar Most of the lab experiments going when the accident occurred, with the verb
assessed using a 7 point scale and if they experienced emotional issues after the event. Between the event and the interview, many
second list struggled more to recall the first, suggesting there was asked participants to recall a used being ‘hit’, ‘contacted’, ‘bumped’, ‘collided’ or
or insomnia. things happen to the witness that the researcher cannot
interference. list of words. This is an artificial + Supporting research ‘smashed’.
The results showed that witnesses’ with higher stress levels were more control (e.g. post-event discussions). This means there are
task compared to the things we Multiple studies support the theory of retrieval accurate than those with lower stress. The mean estimated speed for the word
confounding variables.
+ Lab studies remember in real life (people’s failure (e.g. Carter & Cassaday (1998) and ‘contacted’ was 31.8mph, while for ‘smashed’ it
Thousands of lab studies (e.g. McGeoch & McDonald) into interference faces, birthdays, etc) so the Godden & Baddeley (1975)). This gives the theory Negative effect on recall was 40.5mph.
have shown that both types of interference are common ways we forget. studies could lack ecological validity because studies have demonstrated - Ethical issues
The anxiety created by witnessing a crime or accident may stop us from Why do leading questions affect EWT?
This is a strength because lab studies control variables well, meaning the validity, and can’t be easily retrieval failure in real life situations as well as Creating anxiety in participants may be unethical as it is
focusing on the important cues, so recall of useful information is worse. The response bias explanation suggests that
studies have higher validity. applied to everyday life. highly controlled lab studies. potentially causing psychological harm. E.g. Johnson & Scott
Johnson & Scott (1976) studied this by telling pp’s they would be in a lab leading questions have very little effect on the
study. They were lead to a waiting room and witnessed either a low or created anxiety in their participants. The ethical issues may actual memory of the eyewitness, it just
Context dependent cues: Retrieval failure + Overestimated importance of context high anxiety condition. In the low anxiety condition, they heard a heated outweigh the benefits of lab research. influences the way they choose to answer the
external cues; e.g. the environment around us. Retrieval failure is a form of forgetting. It Baddeley (1997) argues that context is not as important as argument and a man walked in holding a pen. In the high anxiety question.
occurs when we don't have the necessary his study initially suggested. In real life, we rarely find condition, pp’s heard the same argument and the sound of breaking + Real-life application The substitution explanation suggests that the
Godden & Baddeley (1975) asked deep sea divers
to learn a list of words either on land or cues to access memory. The memory is environments as different as on land and underwater. glass, then a man walked in with a bloody knife. Research into misleading information has significant leading question does affect the witnesses’
underwater, and then recall it on land or available but not accessible unless a Therefore the effects of context are unlikely to be as strong The witnesses were then asked to identify the man from a set of 50 application in the legal system. Loftus (1975) suggests that memory. Loftus and Palmer (1974) showed that
underwater, creating four experimental suitable cue is provided. as Baddeley's study suggested because the encoding and photos. 49% of the low-anxiety pp’s identified the man correctly, while police should be very careful how they phrase questions pp’s in their experiment were more likely to
conditions. A cue is a trigger of information that allows recall environments won't be different enough. only 33% of the high-anxiety pp’s were able to. when interviewing witnesses, as a result of her and others report seeing broken glass (there was none) if
us to access a memory. They can be This means the study could lack ecological validity because The tunnel theory of memory argues that a witness’s memory narrows to research. they heard the word ‘smashed’, compared to the
They found that when the recall environment
meaningful, or they can be indirectly it has limited application to everyday life. focus only on the weapon, as it’s the source of anxiety. This means they word ‘hit’.
didn't match the encoding environment, their
linked. For example, cues can be external will struggle to accurately recall anything else. - Artificial tasks
recall accuracy was 40% lower
(the environment at the time of encoding) A key limitation of Loftus & Palmer’s study is that it lacks Post event discussion
State dependent cues: + Recall vs recognition
or internal (mood or being drunk). Yerkes-Dodson law ecological validity. The participants only watched a video of a Co-witnesses may discuss events they saw,
internal cues; e.g. how we feel. The context effect may also depend on the type of memory car accident, which is very different to seeing a real accident
Yerkes & Dodson (1908) suggested contaminating their memory. Gabbert et al (2003)
Carter & Cassaday (1998) gave participants anti- being tested. Godden & Baddeley repeated their because it lacks the stress. This means it has limited
that the relationship between put participants into pairs and showed them
histamine drugs, which have a mild sedative effect. Encoding specificity principle experiment in 1980, using a recognition test instead of
Performance

They asked participants to learn words either in
their normal state or the partially sedated state,
and then to recall them in normal or sedated state.
They found that when pp's recalled the words in
the same state they learnt them, accuracy was
significantly better.
Described by Tulving (1983). He suggested
that in order to help us recall information,
a cue needs to be present at both encoding
and retrieval. They can be meaningful or
meaningless. Mnemonic techniques are an
example of meaningful cues
recall; they asked pp's if they recognised a certain word
from the first list.
They found that there was no difference between each of
the experimental conditions. This means the context
dependent forgetting theory may lack validity because it
cannot explain these experimental findings.
emotional arousal and performance application to real witnesses’. each a video of a crime, from a slightly different
looks like an inverted ‘u’. angle so they could each see things the other
- Individual differences
In the context of EWT, this means couldn’t. Both participants then discussed what
accuracy of memory increases as they saw, and each completed a recall test.
Older people may be less accurate when giving eyewitness
stress increases, but only up to a testimony, according to Anastasi & Rhodes (2006) who found Results showed that 71% of participants recalled
certain point, where it drops that people in age groups 18-25 & 35-45 were more accurate something that they hadn’t actually seen, as they
Arousal
drastically. than people 55-78. This is not explained by Loftus & Palmer. picked it up from their partner.
 Sexual imprinting - Limited sample Aim
ANIMAL STUDIES OF ATTACHMENT Lorenz also
investigated the
characteristics
The sample size of 60 is
Aimed to investigate the formation
of early attachments. In particular,
SCHAFFER’S STAGES OF ATTACHMENT INTRODUCTION
good, considering the
relationship the age at which they formed, their
Lorenz’s research depth of data collected. Stages - Problems studying the Attachment is a close, two way emotional bond between individuals. Interactional synchrony is when the actions
between emotional intensity and who they asocial stage
Lorenz wanted to study the phenomenon of imprinting in However, the fact that 1) Asocial stage Each individual views the other as being essential for their own of the mother and infant mirror one
imprinting and were directed at. Shaffer and Emerson describe
animals. all the participants emotional security. another. Or, as Feldman (2007) put it,
adult mate The baby is beginning to recognise and form the first few weeks of life as the
His method was to randomly divide a clutch of goose eggs. came from the same From birth, babies and their mothers spend a lot of time in intense, ‘coordination of micro-level social
preferences. He Method bonds with its carers. However, the baby asocial stage. During this
Half of them hatched with their mother in a natural social class and region pleasurable interaction with each other. Babies signal that they’re behaviour’.
found that birds responds to human and non-human objects in period, babies have poor co-
environment, while half of them hatched in an incubator, over 50 years ago is a The study involved 60 babies, the ready for interaction, and the mother notices and responds around Interactional synchrony may begin as early
which imprinted a similar way. ordination and are pretty much
limitation. Child rearing majority being from skilled working two thirds of the time. This is called reciprocity - when each person as two weeks old, and is thought to be
where the first moving object they saw was Lorenz. onto humans Babies in this stage show a slight preference
practices vary widely by class families. The babies and their immobile.
He found that the geese would follow whichever moving responds to the other, usually with verbal signals or facial important for the development of a strong
would later display for familiar adults. This means it's hard to make
object they saw first (their mother or Lorenz). This is called region, culture, time mothers were visited at home every expressions. attachment.
courtship 2) Indiscriminate attachment judge there is very little
imprinting. He also described a critical period. The time in period, etc. month for the first year, and again
behaviour towards From 2-7 months, babies display more observable behaviour.
which imprinting needs to take place. This means the study at 18 months.
them. The researchers questioned the observable social behaviour. They show a We traditionally think of attachment being between mother and infant. Schaffer & Emerson (1964) found that the
does not generalise
well to other cultural & mothers about how the babies react preference for humans, over inanimate objects. - Measuring multiple majority of babies do become attached to the mother first (around 7 months) and then begin forming secondary
- Generalisability - Some observations questioned historical contexts. to 7 everyday separations (e.g. adult They also recognise and prefer familiar adults. attachments attachments within a few weeks or months (including to the father).
Babies will accept comfort and cuddles from The method used to measure Grossman (2002) carried out a longitudinal study looking at both parents' behaviour and its relationship to the
Mammalian attachment is very Researchers have later questioned some of leaving the room). This was
any adult, and won't tend to show separation. multiple attachments may be quality of children's attachments into their teens.
different to birds (e.g. mammals Lorenz’s observations. For example, the designed to measure the infant's
+ Good external Their attachment is called indiscriminate problematic. Just because the
have more emotional attachment). idea that imprinting has a permanent effect attachment. It found that the quality of infant attachment to mothers (but not fathers) was related to their attachment in
validity baby gets distressed when an
This means Lorenz’s findings cannot on mating behaviour. Further research Schaffer and Emerson's because it is not directed at any particular adolescence.
person. individual leaves the room,
be generalised to humans. This is a showed that with experience, chickens study was carried out in Findings However, the quality of fathers' play with infants did affect their attachment in adolescence, suggesting the role of
does not mean it's a true
weakness because the study lacks imprinted on inanimate objects would learn the families' own 3) Specific attachment the father is more to do with play & stimulation than care and nurturing
They found that between 25 & 32 attachment figure. Bowlby
validity, when applied to humans. to mate with other chickens (Guiton 1966) homes, and most of the weeks old, about half of babies From around 7 months, most babies begin There is evidence to suggest that when fathers take on the role of primary carer, they adopt behaviours typically
(1969) pointed out that
observation (except showed signs of separation anxiety showing stranger anxiety and separation associated with mothers.
children have playmates as
Harlow’s research stranger anxiety) was anxiety. At this point, the baby has formed a
towards a certain adult, usually the well as true attachment figures. Field (1978) filmed babies in face-to-face interaction with primary carer mothers, secondary carer mothers and
Harlow experimented on rhesus monkeys, which are more similar to humans than done by parents, before mother (specific attachment). specific attachment . The adult they are attached
They also get distressed when primary carer fathers. She found that the primary carer, whether mother or father, spent more time smiling,
Lorenz’s birds. This means the results can, mostly, be generalised to humans. being later reported to Attachment tended to be towards to is called the primary attachment figure.
the playmates leave, even imitating and holding the infant.
Harlow observed that newborn monkeys would usually die if left alone in a bare researchers. This the caregiver who is most 4) Multiple attachments though they are not a true This suggests that the father can be the more nurturing figure, when necessary.
cage, but were much more likely to survive if given something soft to cuddle. means there is a very interactive and sensitive to infant Shortly after showing attachment behaviour to attachment figure. This means
In 1958, Harlow reared 16 baby monkeys with two wire ‘mothers’. One provided low chance of the signals and facial expressions one adult, babies usually form several more that Schaffer & Emerson were
milk and the other was soft. He found that the baby monkeys always preferred the babies behaviour being (reciprocity). attachments with adults they spend a lot of + Controlled observations - Hard to interpret infant - Conflicting research about
not able to distinguish between capture fine details observations role of the father
soft model, especially when scared. This shows the importance of contact comfort. altered by the presence By 40 weeks old, around 80% of time with. These are called secondary attachment figures and Observations of mother-infant Observations of infant-mother Grossman (2003) suggests that
The deprived monkeys were observed into adulthood, to understand if the effects of observers, so the babies had a specific attachment, attachments. By the age of 1, most babies will playmates, so their study may interactions are generally well- interactions often show the same fathers have an important role
of maternal deprivation are permanent. Researchers found that the monkeys were study has good external and around a third had multiple have formed multiple attachments. not be accurate. controlled, with both mother and behaviours (Gratier 2003). However, in their children's development,
more aggressive, less sociable and aggressive to their own offspring. validity. attachments.
infant being filmed from several what is being observed is only hand other studies (e.g. MacCallum
angles. This ensures fine details of movement or changes in expression. It's & Golombok 2004) suggest
+ Theoretical & practical value - Ethical issues
behaviour can be recorded and extremely difficult to understand what is that children growing up

Harlow demonstrated the importance of contact
comfort, as well as the effect of early attachment
on adult behaviour. This has been applied to a
wide range of contexts, for example, helping social
workers understanding risk factors in child neglect
& abuse, allowing them to intervene (Howe, 1988).
A LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY
Harlow was criticised heavily for his research. The later analysed. And, as babies happening from the infant's perspective. without a father do not develop
monkeys suffered permanent psychological damage. aren't aware they're being E.g. is the imitation of their mother a any differently.
As they were considered close enough to humans to observed, their behaviour won't deliberate act? This is a weakness because
generalise the results, their suffering was most likely
ATTACHMENT KNOWLEDGE ORGANISER (PART ONE)
be affected by observation. This may give the research less validity, there is no general consensus
quite human-like. The counter argument is that the
This is a strength because it gives because we don't know for sure what from research.
importance of the research is enough to justify it. psychhub.gumroad.com the research more validity. the meaning of the infant's behaviour is.

Explanations of attachment Explanations of attachment

LEARNING THEORY
Learning theory of attachment
The theory that infants become attached to
their mothers because she is the main
provider of food. Hunger can be thought of
as the primary drive, it's an innate biological
drive that we naturally want to satisfy.
Sears (1957) suggested that attachment is
the secondary drive, learned by an
association between the caregiver and
satisfaction of the primary drive.
Classical conditioning
Learning through association. In this case,
food serves as an unconditioned stimulus (it
provides pleasure automatically) and the
caregiver begins as a neutral stimulus. Over
time, as the caregiver feeds the child, the
pleasure from the food is associated with
the caregiver. The baby is now conditioned
to feel pleasure when they see their
caregiver.
Operant conditioning
Learning through reinforcement. In this
case, it explains why babies cry for comfort.
When they cry, they are given food/
attention which acts as positive
reinforcement. Simultaneously, the
caregiver learns that when they give their
baby food/attention they stop crying, so
negative reinforcement is taking place. The
interplay of mutual reinforcement
strengthens the attachment.
- Counter evidence from
human and animal studies
Animal studies have shown that
young animals don't necessarily
attach to the caregiver that
feeds them. E.g. Harlow's
monkeys.
This research is supported by
human studies. For example,
Schaffer & Emerson (1964)
- Ignores other factors
Research into early attachment
shows that the quality of that
attachment is dependent largely
on developing good reciprocity
and interactional synchrony
(Isabella et al 1989).
Learning theory fails to explain
why these complex emotional
interactions are necessary.
+ Conditioning may be partly
involved
There is likely to be an element
of conditioning involved in
attachments.
While food doesn't seem to be
the unconditioned stimulus, it's
possible that the association
between social interaction/
comfort and the caregiver is part
of what builds the attachment
BOWLBY’S MONOTROPIC THEORY
Monotropy
Bowlby's theory is described as monotropic
because it places great emphasis on a
child's attachment to one specific caregiver.
He suggested this attachment is different
and more important than others.
He put forward two rules to explain what
influences the quality of this attachment:
the law of continuity and the law of
accumulated separation.
Social releasers & critical period
Babies are born with innate 'cute'
behaviours (such as smiling, cooing and
gripping) to get attention from adults. They
are called social releasers because they
activate the adult attachment system.
Critical period
The critical period is when the child's
attachment system is most sensitive. If an
attachment is not formed in this time, the
child will find it much harder to form one
later. Bowlby suggested it’s around 2 years.
Internal working model
A child forms a mental representation of
their relationship with their primary
caregiver. This affects the nature of their
relationships in the future.
For example, if a child has a loving early
relationship, their later relationships are
also more likely to be loving.
+ Support for social releasers
Evidence shows that cute infant
behaviour is intended to initiate
social interaction. Brazelton et al
(1975) tested social releasers by
asking caregivers to ignore their
babies' signals. The infants appeared
distressed and then lay down
motionless.
Such a strong reaction demonstrates
the importance of social releasers.
+ Support for internal working
model
The idea of the internal working
model is testable because it predicts
that patterns of attachment
behaviour will be passed onto
subsequent generations.
Bailey et al (2007) found that mothers
who had poor attachments to their
children also tended to have poor
attachment to their own parents.
- Mixed evidence for monotropy
Bowlby believed that babies
generally form one special
attachment to a primary caregiver
(monotropy) before other
attachments can be formed.
However, Schaffer & Emerson (1964)
found that a significant minority of
babies are able to form multiple
attachments at the same time.
AINSWORTH’S STRANGE SITUATION
Strange situation
A controlled observation designed to test
attachment security. Infants are assessed on
their response to playing in an unfamiliar
room, being left alone, left with a stranger and
being reunited with a stranger
- Proximity seeking: staying close to the
caregiver
- Exploration and secure base behaviour:
children are confident to explore, with their
caregiver as a secure base
- Stranger anxiety
- Separation anxiety
- Response to reunion
Attachment types
Secure attachment (Type B):
These children explore happily but return to
their caregiver regularly (proximity seeking &
secure-base behaviour). They usually show
moderate separation and stranger anxiety. 60-
75% of UK toddlers considered secure.
Insecure—avoidant (Type A):
Explore freely, but do not show proximity
seeking or secure-base behaviour. They show
little reaction when the caregiver leaves or
returns, and little stranger anxiety. 20-25% of
UK toddlers considered insecure-avoidant.
Insecure—resistant (Type C):
Seek greater proximity, so don’t explore much.
They show huge stranger and separation
anxiety, and resist comfort when reunited with
their caregiver. Around 3% of UK toddlers
considered insecure-resistant.
+ High validity
Attachment type, as defined by
Ainsworth, has been shown to be
predictive of later outcome in life.
Babies assessed as secure typically
have more success academically,
romantically, etc. While insecure-
resistant is linked to the worst
outcomes, including bullying and
mental health problems. This
suggests the study has high validity
because it can explain outcomes.
+ Good reliability
The strange situation shows
good inter-rater reliability. This means
different observers watching the
same children generally agree on
which attachment type to classify
them as. Bick et al (2012) found that
observers agreed on 94% of babies.
This is a strength because we can be
confident in the attachment type of
an infant identified in the strange
situation
- The test may be culture-bound
The strange situation may be culture-
bound, as both infants and caregivers
from different cultures may behave
differently in the strange situation.
Takahashi (1990) has noted that the
test doesn't work in Japan. E.g.
Japanese mothers are rarely
separated from their infants, so there
is high levels of separation anxiety.
CULTURAL VARIATION IN ATTACHMENT
Cultural variation
'Culture' refers to the norms and values that
exist within any group of people.
The proportion of children of different
attachment types varies between cultures.
Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988)
The researchers located 32 studies where the
strange situation had been used to used to
find the proportion of infants of each
attachment type. These studies were spread
across 8 countries.
These studies gave a combined sample size
of nearly 2000 children. The data was then
meta-analysed
There was wide variation between the
proportions of attachment types in different
countries.
- Secure attachment (most common)
- Insecure-avoidant
- Insecure-resistant (least common)
They also found great variation between
different studies in the same country. E.g. one
study in the US found 46% securely attached,
while another found 90%.
Simonella et al (2014)
An Italian study that used the strange situation
to assess whether the proportions of babies
in different attachment types matches what
was found in previous studies.
They found a lower rate of secure attachment
than previous studies. They suggested this is
because mothers work longer hours and use
more professional childcare now
+ Large sample size
By combining different studies,
researchers ended up with a much larger
sample size. For example, the Van
Ijzendoorn meta analysis had data from
nearly 2000 babies in total. Simonella et al
also had large comparison groups from
previous studies.
Large samples increase internal validity by
reducing the impact of anomalous results.
- Countries have multiple cultures
The Van Ijzendoorn meta analysis claimed
to study differences in culture. However,
they were actually making comparisons
between different countries. Counties
have multiple cultures within them, each
with different child-rearing practices.
For example, within the UK, there are
many religions. In Islam, mothers are
encouraged to breastfeed up to 2 years.
- Biased assessment method
In cross-cultural psychology, etic means
cultural universals while emic means
cultural uniqueness.
The strange situation was designed by an
American researcher (Ainsworth) based
on a British theory (Bowlby's). It may not
be possible to apply Anglo-American
methods to other cultures, this is called
an imposed etic. For example, the idea that
a lack of separation anxiety indicated
insecure attachment may not apply in
Germany, where it's seen as a sign of
independence

BOWLBY’S THEORY OF MATERNAL DEPRIVATION
Bowlby’s theory
Separation vs deprivation
Separation simply means the child is not in the presence of the primary
attachment figure. Extended separation can lead to deprivation (they lose an
element of her care), which causes harm to the child.
Critical period
The first 30 months of life are seen as the critical period. If the child is deprived
of its mother's care during this time, psychological damage will occur.
Effect on development
Intellectual development
Bowlby suggested that children who were deprived during the critical period may
Maternal deprivation + Support from animal studies
The emotional and intellectual consequences of
separation between a child and their mother. Bowlby
Despite most psychologists being critical of this theory, there is some research that offers support. Levy
et al (2003) showed that separating baby rats from their mother for as little as a day had a permanent
effect on their social development, although it didn't appear to affect other areas of development.
proposed that continuous care from a mother is
essential for normal psychological development, and However, the extent to which studies of rats can be applied to humans is debatable. It may not be
that prolonged separation from this adult causes possible to generalise the results to humans.
serious damage to emotional and intellectual
development. - Counter evidence - Critical period may just be a sensitive period
There is counter evidence Bowlby suggested that prolonged separation during the critical period
from studies such as Lewis would inevitably cause damage. However, later research has shown that
44 thieves study
(1954), who partially damage is not inevitable. Even severe cases of deprivation have shown
The sample consisted of 44 teenagers accused of
replicated the thieves good outcomes if the child is given good aftercare and social interaction
stealing (thieves). Bowlby interviewed the thieves,
study on a much larger For example, Koluchova (1976) reported that a pair of deprived twin
looking for signs of affectionless psychopathy.
scale (500 participants). boys appeared to recover fully when looked after by two loving adults.
Their families were also interviewed, to see if the
In her study, there did not This suggests that the critical period may be more 'sensitive' but not
thieves had prolonged separation from their mothers
seem to be a link between 'critical'.
as children. A control group of emotionally disturbed
prolonged separation
teenagers, who were not thieves, was also set up.
from the mother and

INFLUENCE OF EARLY ATTACHMENT

suffer intellectually. Goldfarb (1947) found that children who were fostered had a Bowlby found that 14 of the 44 thieves could be criminality or difficulty
higher IQ than children who remained in care. described as affectionless psychopaths. 12 had forming relationships.
Emotional development experienced prolonged separation from their
This is a limitation of
Bowlby suggested that deprived children may develop affectionless psychopathy - mothers as children. Of the control group, only 2 of
Bowlby's theory because Internal working model
the inability to feel guilt or empathy. This means they have problems building the 44 had experienced prolonged separation.
there may be other factors Bowlby (1969) suggested that a child’s first relationship, the one with
relationships and often leads to criminality. Bowlby concluded that maternal separation/ he did not address. their primary caregiver, forms a mental representation of what a
deprivation lead to affectionless psychopathy.
relationship should be like. This internal working model acts as a template
and shapes the child’s future relationships with others.

EFFECTS OF INSTITUTIONALISATION A LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY

psychhub.gumroad.com Children who have bad experiences of their first attachment will bring
that to later relationships. This means they might struggle to form
relationships in the first place or they might not behave appropriately
Rutter’s ERA (English & Romanian Adoptee) study (2011) when they do have them.
Rutter followed 165 Romanian orphans who were adopted in Britain, to
test the extend to which good care would make up for poor early
ATTACHMENT KNOWLEDGE ORGANISER (PART TWO) Childhood relationships

experiences in institutions. Their physical, cognitive and emotional
development were assessed at ages 4, 6, 11 & 15 years old. A control
group was made up of 52 British children adopted at the same time.
Initially, around half the adoptee's showed delayed intellectual
development, and most were malnourished. By age 11, children showed
varying levels of recovery (depending on adoption age). Children who
were adopted at age < 6 months had higher IQ's than older children.
In terms of attachment, children adopted at 6 months or older showed
signs of disinhibited attachment, while children adopted before 6 months
rarely showed this.
Zeanah et al (2005)
Around 100 children aged 12-31 months were used in the study. They
had spent most of their lives in institutions (avg. 90%).
The control group was 50 children who had never lived in an institution.
Their attachment type was measured using the strange situation, and
their carers were asked if they displayed signs of disinhibited attachment.
74% of the control group were securely attached, compared to only 19%
of the institutionalised group. 44% of the institutionalised group showed
signs of disinhibited attachment, compared to only 20% of the control.
Effects of institutionalisation
• Disinhibited attachment
• Mental retardation
+ Real life application
Studying the Romanian orphans has lead to
improvements in the way children are cared
for. E.g. children's homes now avoid having
lots of carers for each child. Instead, a child
will have 1 or 2 'key workers', allowing them
to form normal attachments.
+ Fewer extraneous variables
While there were many orphan studies before
the Romanian crisis, they usually involved
children who had suffered trauma (e.g. loss or
abuse) before they were institutionalised. The
Romanian studies have a higher internal
validity because they were able to study
institutionalisation without the participant
confounding variables.
- Romanian orphanages not typical
Conditions in the Romanian institutions were
so bad it might not be possible to generalise
the results to all institutions. For example,
they had extremely low levels of care and
intellectual stimulation, which is not typical of
most institutions.
Attachment type is associated with the quality of peer relationships in
later childhood. Securely attached infants tend to have good quality
- Most studies lack validity friendships, while insecurely attached infants don’t (Kerns 1994).
Most of the studies into the effect of early
Myron-Wilson and Smith (1998) found that securely attached children
attachments use a self-report interview or
are unlikely to be involved in bullying, insecure-resistant are more likely
questionnaire. This means they may lack
to be victims and insecure-avoidant are more likely to be the bullies.
validity because participants are not
always honest, or may remember things Adult relationships (romantic)
inaccurately.
Hazen and Shaver (1987) studied the association between attachment
and adult relationships.
- Correlation does not equal causation
They analysed 620 replies to a ‘love quiz’ printed in an American local
In studies where infant attachment type is
newspaper. The quiz had 3 sections, to test their current/most important
associated with later relationships, the
relationship, general experiences with love and their attachment type.
results are usually correlational. There
may be other factors, aside from the 56% of participants were identified as secure, 25% as insecure-avoidant
and 19% as insecure-resistant. The secure respondents were more likely
internal working model, that influence
to have good and longer lasting relationships, while the avoidant
both attachment type and later
respondents were more likely to show jealousy and fear of intimacy.
relationships (e.g. parenting style).
Adult relationships (parental)
- Mixed evidence of continuity
Zimmerman (2000) found very little Internal working model affects how people parent their own children. As
people’s parenting style is based on their internal working model,
relationship between the quality of infant
attachment type tends to be passed down through families. Bailey et al
and adolescent attachment.
(2007) studied around 100 mothers and found that the majority of them
If internal working models affected our
had the same attachment type to their children as they did to their own
relationships, we would expect to see
mothers.
continuity from childhood to adolescence.
 Drug therapy Evaluation of drug therapy
DEFINITIONS OF ABRNORMALITY OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER (OCD) Aims to increase/decrease the levels of
neurotransmitters in the brain.
+ Drugs are cost-effective and easy
Drug treatments are cheaper than psychological
treatment like CBT. They are also easier for patients,
Statistical infrequency + Real life application - Uniqueness can be positive Behavioural characteristics Emotional characteristics Cognitive characteristics - SSRI's (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor) as they do not require engagement and hard work
Any usual or common behaviour can be Statistical infrequency IQ scores above 130 are • Compulsions: (repetitive • Anxiety and distress • Obsessive thoughts By preventing the reuptake and breakdown of (unlike therapy).
thought of as normal. Therefore, any is used in clinical statistically infrequent, but and reduce anxiety) serotonin, SSRI's effectively increase the amount of
• Accompanying depression • Cognitive strategies to deal with obsessions
behaviour that is not common or usual diagnosis of mental that doesn't make them a bad • Avoidance serotonin in a synapse. It takes 3-4 months of daily use
• Guilt and disgust • Insight into excessive anxiety - Side-effects
(statistically infrequent) can be considered disorders. The severity thing. Statistical infrequency for SSRI's to reduce symptoms.
Like all drugs, SSRI's can have side-effects, which can
abnormal. of symptoms can be alone cannot indicate whether include: indigestion, weight change, loss of sex drive.
Under this definition, someone with a fear of assessed by comparing something is undesirable, Neural explanations for OCD Genetic explanations for OCD - CBT This is a limitation because it may cause patients to
buttons would be considered abnormal against statistical meaning it cannot be used CBT is often used alongside SSRI's. Once the drugs have stop taking the drugs.
Low levels of serotonin may contribute to the development Researchers have identified several candidate genes which
because that is a statistically infrequent fear. norms. alone to make diagnoses. reduced the emotional symptoms, the patient is able to
of OCD. If serotonin is low, transmission of mood-related create a genetic vulnerability to OCD (which could be
information between neurons may be interrupted. activated by a stressor, according to the diathesis-stress engage with therapy more effectively.
Some cases of OCD, particularly the hoarding aspect, seem model).
+ Cultural relativism - Human rights abuses Deviation from social norms
to be associated with impaired decision making systems. OCD is polygenic, meaning it is caused by a combination of
This definition takes This definition of Concerns behaviour that is different from the Areas of the brain, such as the lateral (sides of) frontal multiple genes, rather than a single one. One group of
cultural context into abnormality can lead to accepted standards of behaviour in a community or cortex are responsible for logical decision making, which genes might cause OCD in one person, but a whole different

PHOBIAS
account, which can be human rights abuses. society. may be impaired in OCD patients. set of genes might cause it in another person.
a strength because Ethnic minorities may Social norms vary between cultures and generations.
social norms will vary hold different social This means there are very few behaviours that would
across cultures, norms from the wider be considered universally abnormal.
therefore the country they live, so For example, antisocial personality disorder is Evaluation of neural explanations Evaluation of genetic explanations Behavioural characteristics Cognitive characteristics
definition of may be labelled considered abnormal in the majority of cultures, + Supporting evidence + Good supporting evidence • Panic • Selective attention: it's difficult for the
abnormality should abnormal. because its traits are deviant from most social Some antidepressants that are effective in reducing OCD Twin studies have provided supporting evidence for the • Avoidance sufferer to focus on anything except the
vary too. norms. symptoms work purely on the serotonin system. This genetic explanation. Nestadt et al (2010) did a meta-analysis • Endurance: when a sufferer remains in the presence of the phobic stimulus
suggests there is a biological basis to OCD. of previous twin studies, and found a high concordance rate phobic stimulus, and continues to experience anxiety • Irrational beliefs
• Cognitive distortions: perception of the
Failure to function adequately + Patient perspective - Uniqueness can be - It's not clear which neural mechanisms are involved Emotional characteristics
- Too many candidate genes phobic stimulus may be distorted.
Occurs when someone is unable to cope with A strength of this positive Studies have found that the decision making systems
Although twin studies suggest OCD is largely genetic, • Anxiety Someone with a fear of dogs may
ordinary demands of day-to-day living, such explanation is that it function abnormally in people with OCD. However, other
When deciding whether researchers have not been able to isolate specifically which perceive them all as disgusting and ugly
as holding down a job or having meaningful attempts to include the research has found other brain systems that are sometimes • Emotional responses are unreasonable: for example,
someone is failing to genes are responsible, because there appears to be many. someone with a phobia of spiders may have a completely
interactions with others. subjective experience of involved. This means we don't yet fully understand which
function adequately, This means the genetic explanation is not very useful, unreasonable level of fear for a small, harmless spider
For example: someone who is statistically the patient. That means neural systems are involved in OCD.
someone has to make a because it has very little predictive value.
infrequent may only be diagnosed with a this definition is focused judgement about whether Two-process model (Mowrer 1960) Evaluation of two-process model
mental health disorder if they are also failing on recognising people who the patient is in distress.
Phobias are acquired by classical conditioning and maintained by + Good explanatory power
to function adequately. might need help.
operant conditioning The two-process model is good at
explaining how phobias are formed and

+ Comprehensive - Unrealistically Deviation from ideal mental health A LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY • Acquisition through classical conditioning
Involves learning to associate something of which we initially have
maintained over time, and why patients
need to be exposed to the feared
definition high standard Occurs when someone does not meet a set of criteria no fear with something that already triggers a fear response. stimulus. Once a patient is prevented

Psychopathology knowledge organiser

for good mental health. This explanation looks at what For example, someone may not be scared of bees until they get from practising their avoidance
The criteria for ideal Very few of us will be
is considered normal (i.e. ideal), and defines stung. They are likely to associate the unconditioned fear response behaviour, the behaviour ceases to be
mental health, such as able to achieve all of
abnormality as deviance from normal. psychhub.gumroad.com caused by the sting with the bees, meaning just seeing bees will reinforced, so it declines.
Jahoda's list, is very the criteria outlined
comprehensive, and by Jahoda, especially Jahoda (1958) came up with a list of traits that she trigger a fear response.
suggests are indicative of ideal mental health. - Incomplete explanation
covers a broad range of not at the same
conditions. time.
DEPRESSION • Maintenance through operant conditioning
Responses acquired through classical conditioning will usually fade
There are probably other factors
involved in phobias that require more
explanation.
over time. However, phobias often last a long time. Mowrer explains
For example, evolution may have a role.
Cognitive characteristics Emotional characteristics Behavioural characteristics Ellis’s ABC model (1962) Beck’s cognitive approach (1967) this as a result of operant conditioning.
It may be adaptive to develop fears of
When we avoid a phobic stimulus, we escape the fear and anxiety
• Poor concentration • Low mood • Change in activity levels Ellis created the ABC model to explain how irrational Beck (1967) suggested a cognitive approach to explaining why some people some things, such as spiders or darkness,
thoughts can lead to depression. are more vulnerable to depression than others. An individual's cognitions associated with it. This reduction in fear reinforces the avoidance
• Dwelling on the • Anger • Disruption to sleep and eating which were sources of danger in our
behaviour and so the phobia in maintained.
negatives • Low self-esteem behaviour: including insomnia • A: Activating event are what create this vulnerability. It includes: evolutionary past.
• Absolutist thinking: and hypersomnia. Appetite may We experience negative events (failing a test, a break- • Faulty information processing: when depressed we attend to the
increase or decrease significantly
thinking in ‘black & up, etc) which leads to irrational beliefs negative aspects of a situation and ignore the positives. We also tend to Systematic desensitisation Flooding
white’ terms
• Aggression & self harm
blow small problems out of proportion and think in 'black and white' Behavioural therapy designed to gradually reduce phobic Another treatment for phobias. Instead of
• B: Beliefs terms. anxiety through classical conditioning. The fear response is exposing patients gradually in an anxiety
CBT: Beck’s cognitive therapy CBT: Ellis’s rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT) We may believe that we must always succeed or • Negative self-schema: a self-schema is the information we hold about replaced with relaxation (called counterconditioning). It is hierarchy, they are immediately exposed to the
This applies Beck's cognitive Attempts to identify and challenge irrational thoughts. For achieve perfection (which is unrealistic). The slightest ourselves. If our self-schema is negative, we will interpret all information impossible to be anxious and relaxed at the same time phobic stimulus. For example, someone with
therapy to identify negative example, if a patient talks about how unlucky they've failure may be massively overblown. about ourselves in a negative way (reciprocal inhibition). arachnophobia might have several large
thoughts about the world, self and been or how unfair things seem, a REBT therapist might There are 3 processes involved: spiders crawl all over them.
the future. These thoughts must identify this as utopianism and challenge it as an irrational • C: Consequences - Anxiety hierarchy: a list of situations relating to the phobic Although they will panic initially, the patient will
then be challenged, by testing the belief. The intention is to change this belief and therefore We may take consequences that make the situation The negative triad stimulus that induce anxiety. eventually begin to relax and the fear response
reality. break the link between negative life events and worse and cause more problems. For example, if we fail A person develops a dysfunctional view of themself because of three types - Relaxation: the therapist teaches the patient to relax deeply will be replaced with relaxation (extinction).
For example, patients who depression. a test we might give up on that subject and stop of negative thinking. (using breathing exercises, mental imagery, and even drugs This can be a very traumatic experience for
believed everyone hates them Ellis identified different methods of disputing, such as revising (which will make the situation worse). like valium) patients, so it's important they give fully
• Negative view of the world: people think that everything is hopeless
might be asked to record times empirical argument, which involves disputing whether - Exposure: the patient is finally exposed to the phobic
and the world is a bad place informed consent first.
when people are nice to them. there is actual evidence to support the negative belief. stimulus while in a relaxed state
• Negative view of the self: people think of themselves in a negative way,
Evaluation of Ellis’s ABC model
which reinforces the existing emotions caused by low self-esteem
+ Practical application in CBT Evaluation of systematic desensitisation Evaluation of flooding
• Negative view of the future: people think there is no hope for the
Like beck's explanation, Eliis' model has lead to the + It is effective + Quick and cheap
Evaluation of CBT future, and things won't improve
development of successful therapies, such as CBT. Gilroy (2003) followed up 42 patients who had SD sessions for Patients should only require one session to get
+ It is effective These work by challenging the irrational thoughts.
There is lots of evidence to support the effectiveness of CBT. March et al (2007) studied spider phobia. After 33 months of treatment, those who had over their phobia. This is a strength because it
Evaluation of Beck’s cognitive approach
adolescents with a main diagnosis of depression, and found that CBT was just as effective as SD were less fearful than the control group. This is a strength is cost-effective, and doesn't require multiple
- Does not explain the origin of irrational thoughts + Application in CBT because it shows that SD is helpful in reducing the anxiety in sessions (like SD does)
antidepressants, while the combination of antidepressants + CBT was even more effective. The cognitive explanation does not explain where The cognitive aspects of depression, as defined by Beck's triad, can be easily spider phobia & that the effects are long-lasting (it works).
negative thoughts come from. For example, we don't identified and addressed with CBT. A therapist can identify the negative - It is traumatic for patients
- CBT may not work for severe depression know whether they are a result of depression, or a thoughts and challenge them. - Costly and time consuming While patients do give informed consent, the
In the most severe cases of depression, patients may not be able to motivate themselves to cause. Compared to flooding, SD can take a long time to fix a phobia. treatment is still traumatic, meaning many
engage with the therapy. The biological approach may be able to explain this - Not a complete explanation as it takes time, it will also cost the individual a lot of money. patients will not be able to finish it. This is a
However, they can be treated with antidepressant medication until they're well enough for better, such as explaining the role of neurotransmitters Beck's triad explains the basic symptoms of depression, but is less useful for For this reason, many might prefer flooding as it is quick & limitation because time and money will be
therapy to be effective. and genetics and how this might lead to negative the more complex ones. Some depressed patients may feel deeply angry or cheap. wasted preparing patients if they don't finish
thoughts. experience hallucinations. These cases are not easily explained by Beck. the treatment.
1
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Social Influence

Types of conformity, Explanations for conformity and Variables affecting conformity (16
marks)

Compliance - When you go along with the group behaviour publicly, even if you don't share their
views privately. This usually happens due to normative social influence I.e you do it to keep to
the norms of the group so that you remain a member of the group.
Internalisation - This is going along with the group behaviour because you actually share their
views, you have accepted and internalised their views so that they are now your own. I.e your
public beliefs and private beliefs are the same. This is sometimes a part of informational social
influence because it often happens when we are unsure of how to behave ourselves and so
look to others for information on how to behave.
Identification - Conformity to the behaviour that is expected of you in a particular social role e.g
a teacher not acting inappropriately in front of students.

Majority Influence - When the majority influence and change the beliefs of the minority.
Minority Influence - When the minority influences and changes the beliefs of the majority.

Asch
Asch investigated normative social influence in his line study. This lab study involved a naive
participant being placed in a room with a group of confederates, they were then asked to
publicly judge the length of a standard line to 1 of 3 control lines. However the confederates all
purposely gave the incorrect answer before the naive participant had answered. Asch then
measured how many of the participants conformed and gave the wrong answer despite the task
being unambiguous, and these results were compared to a control trial in which no confederates
were present.

Results showed that in the control trials, participants gave the wrong answer 0.7% of the time,
demonstrating that the task is unambiguous. Whereas in the critical trials participants gave the
wrong answer 37% of the time, with some participants stating after that they knowingly gave the
wrong answer because they did not want to look different.
Asch concluded that these results suggest that the naive participant conformed due to
normative social influence.

(+) because this was a lab study the process was highly controlled, this means that any effects
of extraneous variables is minimised, allowing Asch to more accurately assume cause and
effect between social influence and conformity rates. In addition to this the study being highly
controlled means it is easily replicable, allowing other researchers to replicate the study and
check the findings for reliability.
 4

(-) However, because it was a lab study the experiment took place in an artificial setting. The
issue with this is that it may lack ecological validity, as the findings may not apply to conformity
in the real world.

(-) In addition there are also ethical issues with the study as participants were decieved
throughout by not being told the true nature of the study e.g that the other participants were
actually confederates. This means that the participants could not have given informed consent,
and thus the study may be difficult to replicate today to check the findings for reliability.

Factors affecting conformity

Group size - Asch conducted variations of his conformity experiment with different numbers of
confederates as the majority.
He found that when there were only 2 confederates, conformity dropped from 37% to 14%, this
suggests that small majorities are easier to resist than large ones. However, influence does not
continue to increase if the number of members in the majority is increased.

Social support - In another variation, Asch asked one confederate to give the correct answer
rather than the rest who had given the incorrect answer. The participant having an ally broke the
unanimity of the group, which in turn made conformity rates drop from 37% to 5.5%.

Task difficulty - When the task is made more difficult by making the lines more similar in length,
the levels of conformity increase. This is because people are more likely to conform if they are
less confident that they are correct - due to the task being more ambiguous.

Conformity to social roles as investigated by Zimbardo

Zimbardo investigated conformity to social roles in a mock prison study in which participants
were randomly assigned to the role of either prisoner or prison guard. Prisoners were given a
jumpsuit to wear and a hat to cover their hair, they were only identified by a number, and the
prison guards were given a khaki uniform, a wooden bat and mirrored sunglasses (making eye
contact impossible). Both of these uniforms were designed to de-individualise the participants
and make them conform to their new social roles.

Zimbardo observed the participants conform to their new social identity, with the prison guards,
over time, coming up with increasingly violent punishments to discipline the prisoners. The study
even had to be abandoned early because the behaviour became too violent. These results
suggest that because the participants were not previously like this, that the social role of an
individual can shape and change their behaviour.
 5

(+) Zimbardo's study led to massive changes in psychology with the introduction of an ethical
code of conduct, which ensured that researchers experimented ethically without causing harm
or exploiting participants. Although these rules were not in place during Zimbardo's prison study,
they are now and so the study cannot be replicated to check the original findings for reliability.

(-) In addition to this the study may be subject to observer bias, this is because Zimbardo ran
both the experiment and the prison and even said himself afterwards that he became too
personally involved in the study. The issue with this is that Zimbardo could have promoted
particular behaviours that go along with the trend etc, potentially reducing the validity of the
study.

(-) Furthermore not all participants did conform to their social roles, and Zimbardo had no
explanation for this. And in one case a prison guard being interviewed after the study said that
he based his “performance” on the prison guard from the movie “cool hand luke”. This may
mean that the study lacked ecological validity, as it was a mock prison and not real life, the
behaviour observed may not generalise to real world conformity to social roles.

Explanations for obedience (16 marks)

Milgram carried out an experiment testing obedience to authority among 40 male volunteers.
The participants were always assigned the role of teacher who had to administer shocks of
increasing volts to a confederate learner in another room when they answered a question
wrong. Participants did not know until the end that the shocks were not real and the learners'
protests were pre-recorded. The results showed that none of the participants stopped before
300 volts and 65% administered the lethal shock.

Milgram concluded that ordinary people will obey authority even if it means acting against their
conscience.

Milgram identified several situational factors that affect rates of obedience and carried out
variations of the experiment to test these effects in comparison to the original study.

Location
The influence of location on obedience was shown In a variation of Milgram's study obedience
rates dropped from 65% to 48% When the study moved from Yale university to a set of run
down office blocks. Obedience dropped because the legitimacy of the authority was reduced
making it harder for participants to diffuse responsibility.

proximity
 6

In a variation of the study where the learner was in the same room as the teacher only 40% of
participants gave the maximum shock, compared to 65% in the original study. And further
dropped to 30% when the participant had to put the learner's hand onto the shock plate. This is
because proximity made the learners' suffering harder to ignore as the consequences of the
shocks became more apparent.

Legitimacy of authority
Obedience can be affected by the legitimacy of the authority figure instructing you.
Societies are structured in a hierarchical way in which some e.g police officers have more social
power than others.
We are brought up to see these as legitimate authority figures who have the right to tell us what
to do.

Obedience is increased when the individual is wearing uniform, because it usually implies
knowledge or comes with social power.

(+) This is supported by variations of milgram's study

Because the experimenters wore white lab coats in the original study it increased the legitimacy
of authority, this is because we are socialised to obey people in uniform e.g. teachers or police.

(+) Furthermore, Brickman's field experiment showed that 92% of pedestrians obeyed an order
from a researcher to give a stranger money for a parking metre when the researcher was
dressed as a guard. However this dropped to 49% when he was dressed in normal clothes. This
experiment is more ecologically valid than milgrams as it takes place in the real world, therefore
it better generalises to real life obedience, providing more valid evidence to support the
importance of uniform on obedience.

Agency theory
Milgram suggested people can act on two levels, an autonomous level and an agentic level.

- The autonomous level is when the individual believes they are responsible for their
own actions.
- The agentic level is when they see themselves as an agent of others, who are
responsible for their behaviours.
I.e they are in an agentic state
As a result the legitimate authority figure replaces the individual's personal responsibilities for
their actions. The person is seen as responsible for the consequences of the agent's actions,
this is called the diffusion of responsibility.

+ This is shown in milgram's experiment

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Many had concerns about giving the shocks and needed reassurance that they were not
responsible for any problems, i.e this shows the diffusion of responsibility onto a legitimate
authority figure.

+ Shown in hoflings study

21 out of 22 nurses were prepared to administer a lethal dose of drugs when ordered to by a
confederate doctor with more authority.
However, other studies have challenged these findings.

+ Obedience rose when only had to read out the shocks

In a variation of milgram's study obedience rose from 65% - 92.5% because participants were
able to shift responsibility onto a partner.

The authoritarian personality

This theory is a dispositional (personality) based explanation of obedience. He proposed that
strict parents cause children to be socialised to obey authority unquestioningly. Because they
learn strict obedience from their parents.
He also believed that strict parenting results in prejudice:
- Strict parenting causes the child to feel constrained which then leads to aggression.
- But the child is afraid if they show parents this aggression theyll be disciplined so they
direct it at weak individuals e.g peers at school in the form of bullying.

He defined this collection of traits that they thought resulted from over strict parents as the
Authoritarian Personality.

(+) Elms and Milgram found that participants with more authoritarian traits gave willing “bigger”
and longer lasting shocks in the experiment. But Milgram found that situational factors e.g
proximity still has a much bigger effect on obedience.

Explanations of resistance to social influence (16 marks)

Social support (situational)

In a variation of Milgram's study he showed that obedience reduces with the presence of an ally.
In the variation, another participant who was giving shocks at the same time refused to obey.
When this happened, obedience fell from 65% to 10%.

This suggests that people find it easier to stand up to authority if they have support from others,
because they no longer have to take full responsibility for rebelling.
 8

Asch's research on conformity also showed that participants were more likely to resist the
pressure to conform if one of the confederates agreed with them. It seems that people are more
likely to display independent behaviour if they've got support from others.

locus of control (dispositional)

Your resistance to social influence may also be affected by a personality characteristic called
locus of control. Locus of control is the extent to which people feel they are in control of their
behaviour.

Internal locus - generally feel that they are in control of the events in their lives, and take
responsibility for their own behaviour.

External locus - feel that the events in their lives are controlled by external forces e.g people or
luck, they are also less likely to take responsibility for their behaviour.

Research evidence generally shows that those with an internal LOC are more likely to show
independent behaviour and resist social influence than those with an external LOC. This may be
because they have more self confidence to resist the pressure of social influence. Whereas
those with an external LOC sometimes have a lower self esteem and need more social
approval, making independent behaviour less likely.

Measuring Locus of control is difficult e.g. people may give socially desirable answers in
personality questionnaires i.e. answer in a way that shows them in a positive light ; this would
reduce the validity of the results and therefore the theory itself.

Minority influence including reference to consistency, commitment and flexibility (16

marks)

Research suggests that if a minority are going to try and influence the views and beliefs of the
majority they need to be :

Consistent
Research by Moscovici suggested that the minority must be consistent with their message if
they wanted to change the views and behaviour of the majority.
females in groups of 6 were asked to name the colour of 36 slides all with various ‘greenish’
shades of blue, but were still clearly blue. Two of the 6 were confederates. Moscovici found
that 4 naive participants named the slides as ‘green’ on 8% of the trials when both confederates
answered green on every trial. However, they only answered green on 1.25% of the trials when
the confederates were inconsistent with their answers. This suggests that a minority can
influence the behaviour of the majority , but only if they are consistent with their viewpoint.
 9

Flexibility
Research by Nemeth et al suggests that they must be flexible in order to change the views and
behaviour of the majority.
Nemeth et al repeated Moscovici’s experiment but gave participants the option to say
‘green-blue’ rather than just green. They found that when confederates always answered green
it had no effect on the participants' answers. However,when confederates answered ‘green-blue’
the participants were more likely to conform. This suggests that the minority is more likely to get
the majority to conform to its viewpoint (behaviour) if they are flexible

Commitment
Research suggests that when people show commitment to a viewpoint they are much more
likely to influence others.
E.g
The augmentation principle suggests that if people are willing to make sacrifices in order to
maintain their minority point of view then they are more likely to change the views of the
majority.
Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for over 20 years fighting for his beliefs.

The role of social influence processes in social change (16 marks)

Research suggests that when people show commitment to a viewpoint they are much more
likely to influence others. E.g Hogg and Vaughn claimed that minorities are more likely to bring
about social change if they are seen to be acting from principle and not out of self interest.
In addition, the augmentation principle suggests that if people are willing to make sacrifices in
order to maintain their minority point of view then they are more likely to change the views of the
majority.
E.g Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for over 20 years for campaigning for equality.

(+) Latane and Wolf suggested that 3 factors influence whether the minority can change the
views of the majority to bring about social change.
Strength - how powerful and knowledgeable the minority are
Numbers - the number of people in the minority
Immediacy - how close people are both physically and in terms of relationships.

(-) Many studies have supported this theory, however Mullen carried out a meta analysis of
these studies and found out that many of them used self report methods and thus it is difficult for
any valid conclusions to be drawn as the participants behaviour was not directly observed.
 10

Another factor in minority influence is the “snowball effect”. Once some members of the majority
start to move towards the minority viewpoint then the influence of the minority begins to gather
momentum.

(+) E.g Clark carried out a mock jury study, and showed how people begin to change their minds
when they see others changing “sides” and adopting the minorities viewpoint. In addition, Clark
also found that if the minority are to have the best chance of convincing the majority to join their
viewpoint, then they should be non-dogmatic in their argument.

Changes in public opinion in society often happen gradually over a long period of time.
However, we often forget the gradual step changes that took place to achieve it - this is called
social cryptomnesia.
E.g The change in laws on gay marriage was the result of gradual changes over many years.
And eventually the minority view because the majority view and the new norm.

Memory

The multi-store model of memory (16 marks)

The multi store model Suggests that memory is composed of 3 sub stores, the sensory
register, short term memory and the long term memory, all of which differ in terms of capacity,
duration and coding.

Firstly information from stimuli in our environment enters the brain via the senses, most of this
information is then lost almost instantly via the process of spontaneous decay. However, if the
person pays attention to something then that information can move into the short term memory,
where unless it is rehearsed it is forgotten. If it is rehearsed enough then the information can
enter the long term memory where it can be recalled from, back into the STM for recall of the
information.

(-) Evidence to support the MSM comes from brain damage patients who have damaged one
store without damaging the other. E.g the case study of KF who after an injury had lost the
ability to recall recent information but still had an intact ability to remember older memories like
his first day at school. These results suggest that KF had damaged his STM but not damaged
 11

his LTM, thus supporting the Multi store models theory of memory being composed of different
sub stores located differently within the brain.

(-) However, the MSM has been criticised for being oversimplified in comparison to other models
of memory. This is because the MSM suggests that the short term memory is only one single
store, whereas the working memory model suggests that the short term memory alone is
composed of multiple sub stores. These sub stores include the visuo-spatial sketchpad,
responsible for processing visual and spatial information. Alternatively the phonological loop is
responsible for processing auditory information and both of these “slave systems” are overseen
by the central executive which temporarily stores all information before deciding which of the
two slave systems is required to process the information. This may mean that the multistore
model is a reductionist model of memory.

When information from our environment enters the brain via the senses it needs to be stored for
a very small amount of time until the body's processing systems can decide what to do with it.
Because there is so much information in our surroundings most of it is forgotten straight away
via the process of spontaneous decay. Unless the information is paid attention to in which case
it can move into the short term memory store.

Sperling investigated the capacity and duration of the sensory register by flashing a 3 by 4 grid
of numbers for 50 milliseconds to the participants before asking them to recall either the top row,
middle row, bottom row or all rows (indicated by a tone). Results showed that when asked to
recall the entire grid participants on average could only recall 4-5 numbers, however when
asked to recall a specific row they could recall 3-4 numbers of any row.

These results suggest that initially the whole grid was in the participants sensory register, it is
just forgotten so quickly that the entire grid cannot be recalled. Demonstrating that the sensory
register has a potentially unlimited capacity, just for a very short duration.

Capacity of the STM - Jacobs

Participants were presented with a string of letters or digits and had to repeat them back in the
same order. The number of items increased until the participant failed to recall the sequence.
Results found that the majority of participants recalled about 9 digits and about 7 letters. And
the capacity increased with age during childhood.

Based on the range of results, Jacobs concluded that STM has a limited storage capacity of 5-9
items. Miller also looked at the capacity of STM and suggested that it was 7 +/- 2 items. Like
Jacobs he believed that the capacity of STM could be increased with ‘chunking’.

Because this was a lab experiment it was high in control of all variables, which makes it easy to
replicate and check the reliability of the findings. However, because the setting is artificial results
may lack ecological validity i.e results may not generalise to real life memory.
 12

Duration of the STM - Peterson

Participants were shown nonsense trigrams and asked to recall them after either 3,6,9,12,15,18
seconds. During the pause they were asked to count back in 3s from a given number, this acted
as an ‘interference task’ to prevent them from repeating the letters internally.
Results found that after 3 seconds, 80% of trigrams where recalled
Whereas after 18 seconds only 10% of trigrams where recalled

The results suggest that when rehearsal is prevented, very little can stay in the STM for longer
than 18 seconds.

Because this was a lab experiment it was high in control of all variables, which makes it easy to
replicate and check the reliability of the findings. However, because the setting is artificial results
may lack ecological validity i.e results may not generalise to real life memory.

Bahrick investigated the duration of LTM in several studies using a field study method in which
participants of various ages were asked to identify people from their high school yearbook. The
participants were tested on their ability to match photographs to a list of names of their old
classmates. Participants that had left school 14 years ago could accurately recall their
classmates 90% of the time. This then dropped to 60% after 47 years of leaving highschool.
These results suggest that the long term memory could have a potentially unlimited duration,
especially when presented with a cue to help prompt the memory.

Types of long term memory (16 marks)

Episodic memory - This is the part of LTM that relates to experiences a person has had
or events from their life. E.g their first day of school. These memories are often linked to
emotion I.e the way they felt during that event.

Semantic memory - This is the part of LTM that involves knowing and recalling facts,
concepts and meanings e.g general knowledge like the capital of England.

Procedural memory - This is the part of LTM involved in knowing how to do certain
actions or skills E.g Knowing how to ride a bicycle. These memories are often very hard
to explain but are highly automated allowing the person to focus on more demanding,
complex tasks.
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The working memory model (16 marks)

The visuospatial sketchpad - this processes visual and spatial information

The phonological loop - this processes auditory information and stores it in a speech based form
acting as an inner voice when rehearsing things. It consists of the articulatory control process
and the phonological store.

The episodic buffer - briefly stores information from the 2 slave systems and integrates the
information they process along with information from the LTM. ( i.e link the STM to LTM).

The central executive - this controls the slave systems (phonological loop and visuo-spatial
sketchpad) by deciding which system is required to process information and send the
information there for processing and storage. The central executive has a limited capacity.

The model proposes that we cannot properly perform 2 tasks using the same slave system at
the same time. However, it does suggest that we can carry out 2 tasks using the different slave
systems at the same time, and perform them just as if we did them separately.

(+) Logie et al asked participants to play a computer game while also performing another
visuo-spatial test, they found that the participants performance was much worse than those who
didn't do an additional visuo-spatial task. These results suggest that we can't effectively do 2
tasks using the same slave system at the same time, just like the model suggests.

(+) Brain damage patients have supported the model's idea that the STM is more complex than
just one store. E.g the study of KF who after suffering brain damage had very poor recall of
auditory information, however completely functioning recall of visual and spatial stimuli. This
 14

suggests that only the phonological loop was damaged / affected, proving the WMM’s theory
that STM is in two separate stores.

(-) The central executive has not been properly defined

E.g the term ‘process’ is vague and so the role of the most important component of the WMM
lacks detailed explanation which causes doubts about the accuracy of the rest of the model.
Furthermore the capacity of the central executive that's identified as ‘limited’ hasn't actually
been measured.

(+) Unlike the multistore model the WMM sees rehearsal as an optional process, rather than it
being the only way of keeping information in the STM as suggested by the multi store model e.g
this might explain how information that we haven't rehearsed can end up in our long term
memory.

Forgetting (16 marks)

Retroactive interference - This is when a new memory interferes with your ability to recall an
old memory.
Proactive interference - This when an old memory interferes with a new memory.

This is more likely to occur when the two memories are similar e.g learning a new language may
interfere with your ability to remember the correct vocabulary for a previously learnt language.

+ Baddeley and Hitch

Rugby players were asked to recall the names of all the teams they had played across one
season
It was found that those who had played the least matches had the greatest recall. The players
who had played every game were more likely to forget matches because the later games had
interfered with a recall of the earlier games

- Lack ecological validity

most of the research into interference have been lab experiments and so the tasks being tested
may not generalise to real life activities e.g
Baddeley argues that in real life similar tasks are often spaced out so there is the time between
them.

Retrieval failure

Cue dependent forgetting - is an explanation for forgetting based on an absence of cues that
were present when the memory was learnt. E.g students' memories of content for their exams
 15

may be associated with cues that were present in the classroom that they learnt the information
in and so the recall during the test in an unfamiliar context may be worse.

Tulving et al asked participants to learn six word lists. All the words were divided into categories
e.g animals
In the first condition the participants were not told the categories of the words
In the second condition participants were told about the categories
It was found that recall was higher when participants knew the categories in advance
The presence of the cues (in condition 2) had recall rates of 70% compared to 50% in condition
2.

State dependent forgetting - People find it easier to recall information if they are in the same
emotional and/or physical state as they were when they originally learnt it
I.e If a person learnt something when they were upset then they are less likely to recall it when
they are happy.

(+) Goodwin et al asked 48 male medical students to learn a list of words either drunk or sober.
They were then asked to recall the words 24 hours later
This was either in the same condition: Drunk on both occasions/sober on both days Or they
were asked to recall the words in the opposite state i.e. learnt drunk so recalled sober.

It was found that information learnt when drunk was more easily accessed the next day if drunk
again. When the state was different the next day then recall was shown to be the worse.

Eyewitness testimony (16 marks)

Leading Questions
Leading questions are questions that are phrased in a particular way that implies that
there is a correct answer to the question. E.g asking if a person “saw the gun” is a
leading question, in comparison to asking if the person “saw a weapon”. The issue with
this is that it can affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimony because it can lead
witnesses to reporting things they didn't actually witness.

(+) E.g Loftus and Palmer carried out a lab study testing the effects of leading
questions. Participants watched a short clip of a car crash and were then asked to
estimate how fast the car was going when it crashed, however the verb “crashed” asked
in the question was changed in a number of variations e.g smashed, contacted, bumped
etc. Results showed that on average participants estimated the speed of the car to be
 16

8.7mph faster when asked how fast it was going when it “crashed” compared to when it
“contacted”.

Anxiety
Anxiety can have both a positive and negative effect on the accuracy of eyewitness recall. In
some cases the increased physiological arousal caused by anxiety can mean the individual is
more likely to pay close attention to the event, potentially making recall better. However,
alternatively if the arousal caused by anxiety is too high then it can impair cognitive functions
making memory less accurate.

The weapon effect suggests that when someone witnesses an event involving a weapon e.g a
robbery, the witness's attention is focused onto the weapon as a source of anxiety, thus making
recall of the event less accurate.

(+) E.g In a study by Loftus and Palmer testing the weapon effect, participants sat in a waiting
room purposely overheard an argument, the sound of smashing glass and then a man walking
out and down the hallway. There were two variations of the study, in the high anxiety condition
the man was holding a blood knife, and in the low anxiety condition the man was holding a
greasy pen. Results showed that in the low anxiety condition, participants correctly identified the
man with the pen 49% of the time. Whereas in the high anxiety condition the participants
correctly identified the man with the knife 33% of the time. They concluded that anxiety can
have a negative effect on the accuracy of eyewitness recall.

Cognitive interview techniques (16 marks)

1.Report everything - even seemingly insignificant pieces of information can act as cues for
larger more significant events, helping prevent retrieval failure. (e.g if victim had a bag)
2.Reinstate the context - recalling weather, location and mood prevents context dependent
forgetting.
3.Change the perspective - prevents eyewitnesses' accounts being affected by their own pre
conceived perception of what happened. (e.g from another witness pov)
4.Reverse the order - as it reduces the witness's ability to lie, because it is simply harder. (e.g
non chronological)

(+) Support for the CI comes from a meta analysis of 53 studies which found an average of 34%
of correct information recalled using the basic cognitive interview compared to the standard
interviewing techniques

(-) However, research has found that the cognitive interview not only leads to higher amounts of
correct recall, but also leads to higher amounts of incorrect recall.
 17

(-) Furthermore, Kebbel surveyed police in the UK who used the cognitive interview and found
that some officers were concerned about the amount of time it took to complete, and how long it
took to train them.

(-) Researchers aren't actually sure which part of the CI is the part that leads to improved recall.
E.g research has found that only using one part of the CI on its own may give no better EWT
than a standard interview, but combining two or more of the techniques seems to lead to more
accurate recall.

Attachment

Caregiver infant interactions (8 marks)

Schaffer and Emerson Studied 60 babies from the same housing estate in Glasgow over an 18
month period (longitudinal study)
The infants were all observed by their Primary Caregiver who kept a diary
There were various conditions the PCG's had to complete and take notes on for the diary e.g
leaving the infant in their pram alone outside a shop.

- 50% of babies showed separation anxiety towards their PCG in the first 25-32 weeks This
showed attachment had started
- Stranger anxiety followed within one month of attachment forming
- The person who interacted with the child was the one who tended to become the PCG
Regardless of whether they fed the baby
E.g In 37% of cases the mother was not the main person doing the day to day care of the child,
but in all cases she became the PCG

Shaffer found that after 18 months, 32% of children had at least 5 attachments the first still
being the strongest

(+) High ecological validity

 18

(+) Allowed for the development of the stages of attachment which are still influential and used
today

(+) As it is a longitudinal study we can see the development over time of the same infants,
reducing individual differences

(-) The mother was asked to self-report how the child responded and this could have led to
demand characteristics
I.e she may not have reported all of her infant's behaviours to try and make herself look better

(-) Population validity as infants all from one specific area (glasgow)
This means we may not be able to generalise to other caregivers-infants in other places

Stages of attachment (8 marks)

Asocial (0-6 weeks)

- Infants respond to people and objects the same
- But they do show a preference for faces and eyes

Indiscriminate Attachment (6 weeks-6 months)

- Preference begins to now be shown for familiar face
- Primary and secondary caregivers are preferred

Specific Attachment (7 months +)

- The attachment between the Primary Caregiver has now formed
- All the signs of attachment are observed: Stranger and stranger anxiety, proximity seeking
behaviour and clinginess

Multiple Attachment (10/11 months)

- Within a month after attachment begins in stage 3, then multiple attachments begin
- This, from Schaffer and Emerson’s research, is usually with the father
- It can also be with grandparents, siblings and anyone else who has regular contact with the
infant
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Role of the father in attachment

Shaffer and Emerson found that 75% of infants studied had formed attachments with their
fathers within the 18 month study.
However Greiger Found that fathers had a different role from the mother:
- The mum is associated with care and nurturing the child
- The dad is more about fun and playing with the child
This has proved very important for healthy cognitive development e.g social interactions and
problem solving

Whereas the mothers role is much more about healthy emotional development as suggested by
bowlby's internal working model which is important for future relationships.

Fathers are less likely to be primary caregivers for several reasons:

They are usually less affectionate and nurturing due to less oestrogen and they often spend less
time interacting with the infant as they are busy working.

Animal studies on attachment and what they have taught us about human attachment (16
marks)

Imprinting
Lorenz found that geese automatically attach to the first moving thing they see after hatching,
and follow it everywhere. This is called imprinting.
He randomly divided a clutch of goose eggs into two groups. One group was left with the mother
and the others were incubated with lorenz. Lorenz found that the goslings from the incubator
eggs followed him around in exactly the same way that the goslings from the other eggs would
follow their mother. To test this he put both sets of goslings together with both the mother and
Lorenz present.

He observed that when they were released, the two groups quickly reformed as they went off in
search of their respective ‘mothers’. He concluded that i.e the goslings had imprinted on the first
moving thing they saw.

After further experiments, Lorenz identified a critical period in which imprinting was likely to
occur. This is similar to human attachment, in the form of a critical period between 3-6 months
proposed by bowlby. However this was changed to a ‘sensitive period’ as despite this being the
 20

period in which children are maximally receptive to the formation of an attachment, they can still
be formed outside of this window.

(-) Imprinting is unlikely to occur in humans as our attachments take longer to develop and we
don't automatically attach to particular things - quality caring seems more important in human
attachment formation.

Animal studies have provided valuable information for attachment that couldn't have been
ethically conducted on humans e.g. Harlow's study where young monkeys were separated from
their mothers. However it is still unethical to inflict suffering on animals e.g many animals used
in attachment studies have had issues in adult life due to poor emotional development.

Harlow
Harlow created two wire monkeys both with different heads and one wrapped in soft cloth. 8
infant rhesus monkeys were studied for 165 days. For 4 of the monkeys the milk bottle was on
the cloth covered monkey and for the other 4 it was on the wire monkey. Measurements were
made to determine the amount of time each infant spent with the two mothers. Observations
were also made of the monkeys' responses when frightened e.g. by a mechanical teddy bear.

All 8 monkeys spent most of their time with the cloth mother whether or not it had the feeding
bottle. With the monkeys who fed from the wire monkey only spending short amounts of time
getting milk and returning to the cloth mother. When frightened all monkeys clung to the cloth
monkey.

These findings suggest that infant monkeys formed more of an attachment with the figure that
provided comfort and protection not just to who feeded them. Growing up also negatively
affected their development.

(-) Generalising animal studies to human behaviour

It is difficult to generalise findings of animal studies to human behaviour because humans differ
in significant ways. E.g. much more of human behaviour is governed by conscious decisions.
Nevertheless many studies have found that the observations made on animal attachment are
mirrored in studies of humans. E.g the idea that infants are not the most attached to the person
who fed them is supported by Shaffer and Emerson.

(-) harlow's study may have confounding variables

One criticism is that the suffragette mothers differed in more ways than being cloth covered or
not. The two heads were different, which may act as a confounding variable making it difficult to
assume cause and effect. I.e it is possible that the reason the monkeys preferred one mother to
the other was because the cloth covered monkey had a more attractive head. Therefore the
conclusions may lack internal validity.
 21

Explanations for attachment (16 marks)

Classical conditioning
Is the idea that we learn through association of a stimulus and a response
An unconditioned stimulus causes an unconditioned response. If the unconditioned stimulus is
paired enough times with a neutral stimulus, the neutral stimulus will become the conditioned
stimulus that causes a conditioned response

Classical conditioning In attachment

- Infant is hungry (uncomfortable feeling) so craves food

- The food is the unconditioned stimulus which gives the infant pleasure, pleasure being the
unconditioned response
- The primary caregiver provides the food and so at the start is the neutral stimulus
but after providing food a number of times the infant begins to associate the primary caregiver
with the food
- The primary caregiver then becomes the conditioned stimulus and pleasure is the
conditioned response

The attachment has started and the infant begins to want the parent around, not because they
provide food, but because they enjoy having them around.

Operant conditioning
Positive reinforcement - When something desirable is obtained in response to doing something
e.g rewarded for good behaviour.
Negative reinforcement - When something undesirable is removed when something happens
e.g no extra homework if you pass the test.

Operant conditioning in attachment

- Babies feel discomfort when they're hungry and so have a desire to get food to remove
the discomfort.
- They find that if they cry, their mother will come and feed them - so the discomfort is
removed (negative reinforcement).
- The mother is therefore associated with food and the baby will want to be close to her.
 22

- This produces ‘attachment behaviour’ e.g distress when separated from mother.

Evaluation for learning theories

(-) Animal studies do not support learning theory explanations

E.g The goslings in Lorenz imprint within minutes of being born so have no time to learn.
Furthermore, Harlow's monkeys prefer the cloth mother that provides comfort to the mother that
provides food In both studies, food is not the primary reason for attachment

(-) Schaffer and Emerson also demonstrated that food was not a factor in the attachment: In
over 1/3rd of cases, the mother did not do all of the day-to-day care for the infant such as
feeding or bathing/nappy changing Yet in all cases, she became the PCG. Schaffer and Emerson
stated that the attachment was more about who was the most sensitive and loving in
responding to the baby: Clearly the mother in these cases.
So again, food has nothing to do with attachment therefore the learning theory is highly
reductionist in only looking at food as the main drive behind attachment

Bowlby’s monotropic theory (16 marks)

Innate process - promotes survival, and so it cannot be left to chance or to be learnt

One key attachment - with the primary caregiver, acts as a template for future relationships
(internal working model). Acts as a safe base for exploration, important for healthy cognitive
development
Critical period - 9 months to 3 years

Bowlby believed that infants form key attachment (usually with their mother) who becomes their
primary attachment. This bond is important as it acts as a template for the infants' later
relationships by developing a set of unconscious rules and expectations for relationships. This
is called the internal working model. Bowlby suggested that attachment is an innate process
that promotes survival and so it is too vital to be left to chance or it being learnt. Bowlby also
suggested that there is a critical period between 9 months - 3 years in which this attachment
can occur.

Types of attachment (16 marks)

 23

Strange situation
Ainsworth observed the behaviour of infants in a standardised room created in a lab, in
response to a series of different situations e.g
- stranger entering the room
- mother leaving the infant with the stranger
- mother entering and stranger leaving
- mother leaving
- stranger entering
- mother returning and stranger leaving

Ainsworth was investigating how willing the infants were to explore, how the infant reacted to
the stranger, how the infant reacted to being left alone, and on reunion with the mother.

Results showed that:

70% secure
15% insecure avoidant
15% insecure resistant

(-) It assumes mother is the primary attachment figure. This is because the study only uses
mothers in the situations and Ignores the possibility of the father being the primary attachment
figure and so the study could wrongly assign an infant as insecure but in actual fact it is
securely attached to their father.

(-) Strange situation may not apply to other cultures as it assigns children different attachment
types based on western ideas of what is considered normal infant behaviour.
E.g in German cultures insecure avoidant behaviour is considered much more normal as
children are encouraged to be independent from a young age.

Cultural variations in attachment

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg carried out a meta analysis of 32 studies of the strange
situation across many different countries, looking for any overall patterns.

They found that there were cross-cultural similarities in that across all cultures the
percentages of securely attached infants and insecurely attached infants was similar. With
secure being the most common attachment type accounting for about 70%. However there
were differences in the proportion of insecurely attached infants between cultures. In
western cultures the more common type of insecure attachment type was avoidant, with the
highest proportion for this coming from Germany. This may be because the parents often
encourage children to be independent at a very young age. Whereas in eastern cultures the
 24

more common insecure attachment type was insecure resistant, with the highest proportion of
this coming from japan.

They concluded that there were cross cultural similarities in attachment types, with common
reactions to the strange situation. However, the findings could be questioned if the method
uses the strange situation which is developed around western ideas of attachment. Therefore if
a different study was used the meta analysis may reveal different patterns and
attachment types. Furthermore the study assumes that different countries are the same
thing as different cultures, where in actual fact there may be thousands of different sub
cultures within one country, meaning more differences could be found within a country than
between different ones. Finally because it was a meta analysis, any anomalous findings could
have been ignored if they went against the overall pattern.
 25

Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation (16 marks)

Deprivation: This is when the child is deprived of either their primary caregiver as a whole or
elements of their emotional care, which leads to developmental issues with the child. They have
had a primary caregiver but this has been interrupted, permanently.
Privation is different from deprivation in that the infant never has a primary caregiver figure, and
so never even gets close to forming an attachment.

Theory of maternal deprivation

Bowlby used the term maternal deprivation for the long-term separation or loss of a mother.
Bowlby's theory looks at how early experiences may interfere with attachment formation and
later life.

Consequences of deprivation:
Delayed social development - Behaviour is often delinquent and outside of social norms.
Delayed intellectual development - Due to the deprivation, children often have low cognitive
functions and a low IQ.
Delayed emotional development - Bowlby claimed that children who had maternal deprivation
could not experience guilt or strong emotion is known as affectionless psychopathy.
Affectionless psychopaths lack any remorse for their actions, and as the condition is
untreatable, it can have serious consequences for those around the sufferer

The 44 thieves study involved:

- 44 participants, consisting of teenage criminals accused of stealing
- Participants were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy (lack of guilt for their
actions, lack of empathy for their victims, lack of affection)
- Researchers also interviewed the participant's families to see if there was prolonged early
separation (deprivation) from their mothers/ mother figure
- Compared to a control group of 44 non-criminal teenagers who had emotional problems. They
were also assessed to see how maternal deprivation affected the children who were not thieves

Results showed that 14 of the thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths and that
12 of the 14 had been affected by prolonged separation from their mothers in the first two years
of their lives.
Whereas only 2 in the non-criminal group were subjected to prolonged separation.
And none of the control group were diagnosed as affectionless psychopaths.

Conclusion
It suggests that affectionless psychopathy and thieving behaviour are linked to the periods of
separation they experienced from their mother/mother figure in early life
 26

(+) Real world application

Led to a focus on child welfare in hospitals introducing new rules e.g
Children in the hospital were allowed to have their PCG stay with them, whereas before they
were only allowed in during visiting hours. There was also an increase in the ratio of childcare
workers per child and children were also allocated a key worker/nurse who would be there for
them during their hospital stay.

(-) Researcher bias

Bowlby himself carried out the interviews and research, which means he already knew what he
was looking for from the teenagers.
I.e he could have drawn false conclusions from the interviews to support his theory.

(-) Bowlby confuses early experiences of deprivation and privation. Rutter drew a distinct
difference between them and pointed out that the severe damage Bowlby suggests happens
with deprivation, is actually more likely due to privation.

○ Deprivation: The loss of the primary attachment figure after the attachment has
been developed
○ Privation: The failure to form any form of attachment in the first place

Romanian orphan study

Rutter et al conducted a longitudinal study on 165 Romanian orphans adopted by British

parents. The children were split into 4 groups:
- Children under the age of 6 months
- Children between the ages of 6 and 24 months
- Children over 48 months
- British adoptees who were the control group

Each group was assessed at the ages of 4, 6, 11 and 15

At the start of the observations, over half of the Romanian children were suffering from severe
malnutrition and a low IQ, showing delayed intellectual development, compared to the control
group.

Age 6 - those adopted after 6 months showed disinhibited attachment (overly friendly
behaviour towards unknown adults)

Age 11 - 54% of those children who were adopted after 6 months still showed disinhibited
attachment

Age of adoption was also a key factor in attachment type, Those adopted before 6 months
 27

showed signs of a secure 'normal' attachment, whereas those older than 6 months displayed
disinhibited attachment

The mean IQ score for those adopted before 6 months was 102, compared with a mean score
of 86 for those children adopted between 6 months and 2 years but the mean score fell to 77
for those adopted after the age of 2

In conclusion Adoption after the first 6 months of life, means the child will have
longer-term effects of institutionalisation
However, recovery is possible - if they are able to form attachments and instead they may just
have slower development rather than irreversible damage (like Bowlby suggested)

This challenges Bowlby's Theory of Maternal Deprivation as Rutter shows recovery is possible:
Difficult but possible

(+)cause and effect

The Romanian orphanage study allowed psychologists to study cause and effect, which is
usually incredibly hard to do with adoptions studies, as those children being adopted have been
removed for neglect or abuse reasons, however, this was not the case with the Romanian
orphanages. As in all cases the infants were given to orphanages because the parents couldn't
afford to keep them.

(-) This study could lack external validity as the quality of care was so poor in the Romanian
orphanages that it cannot be compared to others. This means the harmful effects seen in the
studies of Romanian orphans may represent the effects of poor institutional care rather than
institutional care in general.

The influence of early attachment on later life (16 marks)

The internal working model

Bowlby suggested that the attachment an infant has with its primary caregiver acts as a
template for future relationships by creating a set of unconscious rules and expectations for
future relationships called the internal working model.
As a result this bond is important for later life.

The continuity hypothesis

Suggests future relationships will follow the pattern based on this template, impacting
childhood relationships, adult relationships and even their relationships with their own children.
 28

Secure attachment - When a child has a secure loving relationship with their primary caregiver,
they will assume all relationships should be like that and will seek out functional relationships
and be functional within these relationships.

However, when a child does not have a loving relationship with their primary caregiver, they are
more likely to be unable to function in their relationships and be:

Insecure-avoidant - Emotionally Closed and uninvolved in their relationships, making it difficult

to form secure attachments.
Insecure-resistant - Controlling and argumentative in their relationships, making it difficult to
form secure attachments.

Hazan and Shaver conducted the love quiz which consisted of two parts, the first identifying the
individual's attachment type as a child and the second assessing their current views about
romantic love.
They found that:
securely attached were most likely to be in a healthy, loving relationship.
Insecure avoidant were more likely to not be in a relationship because they fear intimacy and
commitment
Insecure resistant were more likely to fear that they weren't loved within their relationship

They concluded that early attachment types did influence the person's future relationships, as
suggested by Bowlby’s internal working model.

(-) The love quiz used a volunteer sample and so may have only tested a certain type of person
that was more likely to volunteer, findings may not generalise to the rest of the population.

(-) The quiz also relies on people remembering details from their childhood, which may not
always be accurate. Therefore peoples attachment types may be wrongly identified.

Psychopathology

Definitions of abnormality (16 marks)

Deviation from social norms

 29

Anyone who behaves differently and deviates from the socially created (unwritten) rules about
what is considered acceptable behaviour is classed as abnormal.

(-) Time sensitive/ temporal validity

Social norms vary as times change. I.e what is socially acceptable now may not have been
socially acceptable 50 years ago.
E.g homosexuality is acceptable but it was not in the past
The issue with this is that if we define abnormality in terms of deviation from social norms, what
we consider abnormal will change as social norms change

(-) Cultural differences in what is considered normal

(-) Difficult to decide how much a behaviour must deviate before its considered abnormal
(-) Overlooks desirability - some behaviours are positive and some negative but both may be
statistically abnormal e.g smart/ dumb

Failure to function adequately

Defines abnormality as when a person is unable to cope with simple day to day life and fails to
complete basic tasks e.g washing clothes or talking to people i.e failing to function adequately.

Personal dysfunction may include:

- Personal distress which is personal stress that the sufferer experiences due to the
abnormality e.g not being able to hold down a job
- Irrationality displaying behaviour that cannot be explained rationally
- Maladaptive behaviour is when they display behaviour that prevents the person from
achieving life goals both socially and occupationally.

(-) Subjective
In order to determine failure to function adequately someone needs to decide if this is actually
the case, therefore it is subjective and one therapist may think it is abnormal but another might
not.
Aswell as this, the individual's behaviour is compared to ideas on how one's life should be lived
which changes between cultures as living style varies.

Statistical infrequency
Defines abnormality as behaviour that is statistically very rare e.g OCD affects 2-3% of the
population. I.e if behaviour that is common is considered normal then behaviour that is
uncommon can be considered abnormal.

(-) Some abnormal behaviour is desirable

This definition overlooks the fact that some behaviours are positive and some are negative but
both may be statistically infrequent
 30

E.g being very smart therefore it may identify desirable characteristics like high IQ as abnormal
and therefore a psychopathology.

Ideal mental health

establishes what psychologically healthy individuals look like and then use this to identify
individuals with absences of these behaviours.

Jahoda identified 6 characteristics that an individual should display if they have an ideal mental
health:
- Positive self attitude - self esteem
- Self actualisation - personal growth and achieving goals
- Autonomy - ability to act independently
- Integration - coping with stress
- accurate perception of reality - having a realistic view of the world
- Environmental mastery - meeting the demand of the environment/ situation you are in

(-) The concept of ideal mental health may vary between cultures
E.g individualistic cultures emphasise personal control and individuals needs, therefore jahoda's
criteria are more applicable to these cultures as they focus on the person themself e.g self
actualisation
Whereas collectivist cultures focus more on the group's needs rather than the individuals. I.e
they strive for the greater good of the community rather than themselves and so criteria e.g self
actualisation may not be applicable.
This means what is considered ideal mental health may be different across cultures and so
identifying abnormality is partly subjective.

(+) It is a positive approach to defining abnormality

Because it looks at desirable behaviours rather than undesirable behaviours. Therefore giving
the person personal goals to strive for to achieve an ideal mental health e.g by learning to deal
with stressful situations ‘autonomy’.

Characteristics of Phobias (6 marks)

Emotional Characteristics
The person usually has an excessive or unreasonable fear of something, which occurs when
there is anticipation of the phobic stimuli or a cue present.

Behavioural characteristics
The primary behavioural characteristic linked to phobias is avoidance i.e when presented with
the feared object the initial response is usually to avoid it to prevent the feared response e.g
 31

anxiety. This can impact the person's day to day life. Alternatively the opposite could occur and
the individual may freeze/faint, which is an adaptive response resembling ‘playing dead’.

Cognitive characteristics
The individual may acknowledge that the fear is excessive and unreasonable, which is the
characteristic that distinguishes the phobia from a delusion.
Another characteristic is the irrational nature of the person's thinking and the resistance to
rational argument, e.g if they are scared of flying an argument that flying is the safest mode of
transport wont help.

Behavioural explanation for phobias (16 marks)

The behavioural approach explains phobias using the two-process model which suggests that
phobias are learnt through classical conditioning and maintained through operant conditioning.

The first process (acquiring the phobia) happens when a neutral stimulus is paired with an
unconditioned stimulus that produces an unconditioned response. If this unconditioned stimulus
causes a negative response it is soon associated with the neutral stimulus. Eventually the
neutral stimulus will become a conditioned stimulus that causes a conditioned response. And
the conditioning is then generalised to similar objects.

The second process is the maintenance of the phobia through operant conditioning. If the
person avoids the phobic stimuli then they are rewarded by not experiencing the anxiety
associated with it. This negatively reinforces the behaviour as by avoiding something
unpleasant they are rewarded and so more likely to continue avoiding it. As a result the phobia
remains as they don't confront the phobia to learn to re-associate it with something more
pleasant.

Little albert
Watson and Rayner studied an infant boy called Albert in a study investigating the acquisition of
a phobia. At the beginning Albert had no unusual anxiety around any objects, he even played
with white rat presented to him at the beginning of the study.

Every time the white rat was presented to Albert they made a loud bang with two iron bars
behind alberts head. The noise (unconditioned stimulus) caused a feared response. Over time
as the rat (neutral stimulus) and the noise were paired together, they became associated and
both caused the unconditioned response of fear. Over time the rat (neutral stimulus) became a
conditioned stimulus and fear became a conditioned response, and eventually Albert showed
the conditioned response when presented with the neutral stimulus alone.
 32

They then showed that the conditioned stimulus could be generalised to other similar objects
e.g a white fluffy hat.
In conclusion little albert had successfully acquired an irrational phobia of white fluffy objects
through classical conditioning.

(-) May not generalise to whole population (little albert)

Because this study was only conducted on one individual (little albert) it is difficult to generalise
the findings to the rest of the population i.e the study lacks population validity. Furthermore
Albert had been brought up in a hospital environment from birth and had been seen to show
some unusual behaviour e.g a general lack of fear. Therefore Albert may have responded
differently to the study compared to how other children would have therefore the results are
unique to him.

(+) There are real world applications

This explanation has led to the introduction of methods for treating phobias e.g systematic
desensitisation and flooding which have proved very successful in treating the condition. These
put emphasis on exposing the patient to the phobic stimulus to prevent the negative
reinforcement of avoiding it. The idea being that the patient realises that the phobic stimuli is
harmless and that their fear is irrational, leading to a successful treatment.

(-) Evolutionary component

However, another explanation for phobias is that we are more likely to develop phobias to
stimuli that have an underlying survival component linked to our evolutionary past. E.g snakes
are a common phobia because they were a threat in our evolutionary past and so we are
innately programmed to rapidly associate them with fear to increase our chances of survival by
avoiding them. This theory can explain why some phobias (‘prepared phobias’) are more
common than others.
E.g supported by Davey who found that only 7% of spider phobics recalled having a traumatic
experience with spiders, which means most cannot be caused due to classical conditioning.

The behavioural approach to treating phobias (16 marks)

Systematic desensitisation
An individual is taught through classical conditioning to associate the phobic stimuli with a new
response e.g. relaxation instead of fear. Usually clients are given special training in deep
relaxation techniques until they can rapidly achieve muscle relaxation on command.

They then create an anxiety hierarchy each stimuli increasing in anxiety

E.g. starts as a drawing of a spider eventually exposed to real spider.
 33

The client works through the hierarchy from least feared to most feared using the relaxation
techniques until the feared situation fails to evoke anxiety. Eventually the learnt response
(relaxation) replaces the feared response. This may take several attempts.

(-) However Ohmen et al suggested SD may not be as effective in treating phobias that have an
underlying evolutionary survival component e.g. fear of dangerous animals, compared to
treating phobias which have been acquired as a result of personal experience. This is because
we are innately programmed to fear these things in order to enhance survival in our evolutionary
past.

Flooding
The patient is flooded with immediate exposure to the phobic stimuli without any gradual build
up e.g in a room with lots of spiders all at once

Flooding stops the phobic responses quickly because the patient is unable to avoid the phobia
in the flooding situation, and therefore the irrational avoidant behaviour is stopped and the
patient realises that the phobic stimuli is harmless.
I.e the fear is extinguished

(+) More practical

This is because flooding requires much less sessions than systematic desensitisation because it
is not a gradual process. E.g most people only need one or two sessions before their phobia is
extinguished. I.e it is more time effective for people with jobs etc and also costs much less,
meaning more people are likely/able to use this method to treat their phobias.

(-) However, because it is a much more unpleasant experience for the patient the situation can
become unbearable, and if they panic and do not complete the treatment the traumatic
experience could worsen the phobia.

Overall evaluation of behavioural treatments

(-) Behavioural treatments only treat the symptoms of phobias e.g the feared response, but they
do not tackle the cause of the phobia. E.g cognitive behaviour therapy attempts to change the
patient's thought processes around the phobia which may have a more long term benefit.

Characteristics for Depression (6 marks)

Behavioural characteristics
Change in activity levels - can cause the individual to withdraw from daily life e.g not going to
work.
Affected sleep - insomnia (being unable to sleep) or hypersomnia (sleeping more than usual)
 34

Affected eat - can lead to increased amount of ‘comfort eating’ or less eating e.g due to self
consciousness.

Emotional characteristics
Sadness - is the key defining emotion linked to depression, the lowered mood can lead to the
person feeling hopeless
Loss of interests - the person suffering may lose interest in all of the things that used to bring
them pleasure.
Anger - people with depression often have anger outbursts, these can be directed at
themselves or others. This can also be a behavioural characteristic as the anger can lead to
them causing harm to themselves or others.

Cognitive characteristics
Persistent negative beliefs about themselves and their abilities, this is often caused by them
having unrealistic expectations of themselves.
Slower thought processes - the person may have difficulty concentrating and making
decisions.

The cognitive explanations of depression (16 marks)

Beck's negative triad

Explains depression as a vulnerability that is caused by the person's cognition and their
negative schemas.

He identified a negative triad of automatic thoughts linked to depression which involves negative
thoughts about:
- themselves (e.g that they can't succeed at anything)
- the world (e.g everyone is against me)
- The future (e.g that nothing will change)

A depressed person tends to only focus on the negative things in their lives rather than the
positives, which means they often blow small problems out of proportion.
These cognitive biases cause the depressed person to constantly have a negative view on
themselves.

This may involve developing a negative self schema

which means they interpret all of the information about or around themselves negatively. E.g
they could have an ineptness schema where they believe they will always fail.

Ellis's ABC model

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Ellis suggested that depression is caused by irrational thoughts and that rational thoughts cause
good mental health. She stated that these irrational thoughts interfered with happiness and
cause the person to be unhappy

She then identified the ABC model to explain how irrational thoughts affect the individual:
Activation event - this is a negative event e.g failing an exam that triggers the irrational
thoughts
Beliefs - these are the thoughts that the person associated with the person, they can be rational
(healthy) e.g i'll revise more next time or irrational (unhealthy) e.g im worthless.
Consequences - rational beliefs lead to healthy consequences and irrational beliefs lead to
unhealthy consequences which will always lead to depression.

(+) The view that depression is linked to irrational thinking is supported by research
E.g Hammen and Krants found that depressed participants made more errors in logic when
asked to interpret written material compared to non-depressed participants. Furthermore Bates
found that depressed participants who were given negative automatic thought statements
became more and more depressed.

(-) This research supports the link between irrational thinking and depression, however it does
not mean that irrational thinking causes depression in the first place.
Faulty cognitions may simply be the consequence of depression rather than its cause. E.g
depression may be caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain which causes people to think
very negatively.

(+) The cognitive approach suggests that the client is responsible for their disorder
Which may be beneficial for treatment because it gives the client power to change the way
things are rather than them feeling powerless. However, this may lead to the client and therapist
overlooking situational factors e.g not considering life events or family problems which may
have contributed towards the mental disorder.
Therefore, the strength of the cognitive approach lies in its focus on the clients mind and
recovery, but other (external) aspects of the clients life also need to be considered.

(+) CBT is consistently found to be the best treatment for depression,

especially when used in conjunction with drug treatments. The usefulness of CBT as a therapy
supports the effectiveness of the cognitive approach. I.e If depression is alleviated by
challenging irrational thinking, then this suggests such thoughts had a role in the depression in
the first place.
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Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

CBT aims to identify and change the patient's faulty cognitions. The idea is that the patients
learn how to notice negative thoughts when they have them, and then test how accurate they
are.

1. The therapist and client identify the clients faulty cognitions (thoughts and beliefs)
2. The therapist tries to help the client see that these cognitions aren't true
3. Together they set goals to think in more positive ways
4. Therapists sometimes encourage clients to keep a diary so they can record and identify
situations in which negative thinking occurs so these situations can be tackled.

Challenging irrational thoughts

Ellis extended the ABC model to ABCDEF where:
D - Disputing irrational thoughts and beliefs
E - Effects of disputing and Effective attitude to life
F - the new Feelings (emotions) that are produced

The key idea is that the ‘activating event is not what causes the depression, it is the unhealthy
beliefs. Therefore REBT focuses on challenging or disputing the irrational beliefs and replacing
them with effective rational beliefs.

Effective disputing changes self-defeating beliefs into more rational beliefs. The client can move
on from negatively interpreting everything which in turn helps the client to feel better, and
eventually become more self-accepting.

(-) Individual differences

CBT appears to be less suitable in situations where high levels of stress in the individual reflect
realistic stressors in the person's life that therapy cannot resolve e.g getting evicted. Ellis agreed
with this possible lack of success in terms of suitability, and suggested some people simply do
not want the direct sort of advice that CBT practitioners tend to dispense. And instead just want
a therapist to listen and share their worries without getting involved in the cognitive effort that is
associated with recovery.

(+) CBT suggests that the client is responsible for their disorder
Which may be beneficial for treatment because it gives the client power to change the way
things are rather than them feeling powerless. However, this may lead to the client and therapist
overlooking situational factors e.g not considering life events or family problems which may
have contributed towards the mental disorder.
Therefore, the strength of CBT lies in its focus on the clients mind and recovery, but other
(external) aspects of the clients life also need to be considered.
 37

(-) Furthermore, because CBT places responsibility on the client for their problems, in some
cases they may begin to feel like he or she is to blame for their problems. This could lead to
further negative thought processes and ‘spiralling’

(+/-) Derubeis compared CBT and drug therapy as depression treatments in a

placebo-controlled trial. Both treatments were more effective than the placebo after 8 weeks.
Generally the two therapies were similarly effective, but CBT may have been less effective than
drug therapy in cases where therapists lacked experience.
He concluded that CBT may only be effective if the therapist is experienced. Patients whose
therapists are not may be better off with drug therapy.

Characteristics of OCD (6 marks)

Obsessions - intrusive and persistent thoughts and impulses e.g excessive worrying about
germs (this is the cognitive aspect of OCD)
Compulses - the behavioural aspects of OCD in the form of repetitive actions that help to
reduce the anxiety caused by the obsession e.g excessive hand washing.

Behavioural - compulses which help to reduce the anxiety caused by the obsessions, these
actions are repetitive and so can affect daily life as they are time consuming
Cognitive - obsessions
Emotional - likely to suffer from extreme levels of anxiety, obsessive thoughts (which are often
frightening and overwhelming)

The genetic explanation for OCD (16 marks)

One explanation for mental disorders is that they are inherited, meaning that individuals may
inherit specific genes from their parents that are related to the onset of OCD.

The COMT gene regulates the production of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which has been
implicated in OCD. One form of the COMT gene has been found to be more common in OCD
patients than people without the disorder. This particular variation produces lower activity of the
COMT gene and higher levels of dopamine.

The SERT gene could also contribute to OCD, however this gene causes lower levels of the
neurotransmitter serotonin. These lower levels are also implicated in OCD.
 38

Diathesis-stress Is the idea that a simple link between one gene and a complex disorder like
OCD is unlikely. Single genes can account for things as simple as eye colour but not for
complex behaviours. Genes such as SERT are also involved in the development of other
disorders e.g. depression and posttraumatic stress disorder.

What this suggests is that specific individual genes only create vulnerability for OCD as well as
other disorders. And it is other factors ‘stressors’ that affect what condition develops or if any
disorder develops at all. I.e some people could contain the COMP gene or the SERT gene and
still not develop OCD.

(+) Evidence for a genetic basis of OCD comes from studies of relatives
Nestadt et al identified 80 patients with OCD and 343 of their first degree relatives and
compared them with 73 control patients without mental illness and 300 of their first degree
relatives. They found that people with a first degree relative with OCD had a 5 times greater risk
of having the illness themselves at some time in their lives, compared to the general population.
In addition, a meta-analysis of 14 twin studies of OCD found that, on average, MZ twins were
more than twice as likely to develop OCD if their co-twin had the disorder than was the case for
DZ twins.

(-) This evidence suggests a clear basis for a genetic influence on OCD, however the
concordance rate is not 100% which means that environmental factors must play a role too (As
suggested in the diathesis-stress model).

(+) Many studies demonstrate the genetic link to abnormal levels of neurotransmitters.
E.g menzies et al used MRI scans to produce images of brain activity in OCD patients and their
immediate family members without OCD and also a group of unrelated healthy people. OCD
patients and their close relatives had reduced grey matter in key regions of the brain, including
the OFC. This supports the view that anatomical differences are inherited and these may lead to
OCD in certain individuals. Menzies' conclusions have real world applications as he suggested
MRI scans can be used to preemptively detect OCD risk.

Neural explanations (4 marks)

Some research using PET scans has found that abnormality in the basal ganglia within the brain
may be linked to OCD.
E.g Max et al found increased rates of OCD in people after head injuries that caused damage to
the basal ganglia. In addition, as well as this OCD is often found in people with other diseases
which involve the basal ganglia e,g parkinsons. This suggests a link between this region of the
brain and OCD.
 39

(-) However, basal ganglia damage has not been found in 100% of people with OCD and so
cannot be a full explanation for the disorder.

Biological treatments of OCD (16 marks)

The biological approach to treating OCD involves drug therapies which aim to increase the
levels of serotonin in the brain.

One type of drug is called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which are a type of
antidepressant that increase the availability of serotonin in the synapse.
SSRI’s work by preventing the reuptake of serotonin by the presynaptic neuron in the synaptic
cleft, which means there is more serotonin available to the postsynaptic neuron.
SSRI’s usually take 4 months before they start to have significant impacts on symptoms.

(+) Drug trials against placebo

Several researchers have found SSRI’s to be effective in treating OCD.
E.g Thoren et al found that use of an SSRI was significantly better at reducing obsessional
thoughts than a placebo.

(+) In addition research has found that using other antidepressants that don't affect serotonin
levels is inefficient at reducing OCD symptoms.

(+) Drug therapy is non disruptive to peoples lives because they do not have to give up time to
attend therapy. As a result patients are more likely to continue with their treatment and therefore
see a reduction in their symptoms.

(-) Drug therapy is not a permanent treatment for OCD, it only minimises symptoms while they
take the drugs.
E.g Simpson (2004) found that 45% of cases in 12 weeks relapsed, compared to only 12% of
patients who had CBT. This suggests that drug therapy does not treat OCD.

(-) Publication bias has been shown that positive results are more likely to be published than
not, as drug companies sponsor the drug trials, they selectively publish positive outcomes for
the drugs their sponsors are selling.
 40

Approaches

Cognitive approach (16 marks)

Internal mental process

The cognitive approach studies information processing i.e way to extract, store and retrieve
information helping us guide our behaviour.
Cognitive psychologists explain our behaviour by looking at our perception and memory.

The three principles are :

- Our mental systems have a limited capacity
- A control mechanism oversees all mental processes i.e. the brain
- There is a two way flow of information i.e. we take in information from the world, process and
react to it. We also use our knowledge and experiences.

Computer models are used to represent particular features of the human mind. The brain is
described as a process with inputs and outputs like a computer. The computer and human
system follow the same route (data input → data processing → data output).

Schemas are knowledge structures that allow humans to interpret the world around them. They
contain all the information that you know about objects, actions and concepts, helping you to
organise and interpret information and experiences.

- Events Schema - These also referred to as scripts. They contain information about what
happens in a situation. E.g what you expect to see in a restraunt
- Role Schemas - Contains information about how people are meant to behave based on
circumstances like social situations or their role. E.g. a teacher to behave in a certain
way.
- Self Schemas - These contain information about ourselves based on physical
characteristics, personality beliefs and values. E.G. you may have a self schema that
says you are sporty

Through the process of assimilation and accommodation schemas change and become more
sophisticated: Assimilation - when information is consistent within a schema, e.g a child’s
schema for a human may be that they all have two arms and two legs and this is reinforced
every time they see that
Accomodation - when the information is inconsistent within a schema, accommodation occurs,
meaning the schema changes to adapt to the new information, e.g. when they see a human
being with a limb missing they have to accommodate that new information and realise that not
 41

all humans have four limbs.

Bartlett investigated schemas

Method - English participants were asked to read a native american folk tale, called ‘The war of
the ghosts’. It was an unusual story. It was structured differently to a typical English story and
contained lots of strange and unfamiliar concepts. The participants were then asked to recall the
story, after different lengths of time
Results - Participants rearranged the story to match their own schemas. The structure became
more traditional and their stories contained more elements of English culture (names, ideas etc.)
and different details/emotions were added. The amount of information remembered by the
participants decreased, after increasing the length of time after hearing the story Conclusion -
Schemas are used to help people interpret the world around them more quickly and use our
existing expectations of the world

Cognitive neuroscience is an approach in psychology which maps human behaviour to brain

function. With modern brain imaging techniques and procedures, cognitive neuroscience started
to emerge. Brain imaging techniques allow psychologists to discover when and where things
happen in the brain in relation to people’s behaviour. There are three major types of brain scans,
computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and positive emission
tomography (PET).

(+) The cognitive approach uses controlled rigorous scientific procedures which means the
variables are high in control and the studies are easy to replicate and show cause and effect.
However, as they are scientific they take place in an artificial setting i.e. results may not
extrapolate to real life cognitive thinking as the tasks have little to no correlation to everyday
tasks.

(-) With the computer models it has been criticised for reducing human personality and
overlooking the impact of emotion on behaviour. This is an issue as it does not recognise the
complexity of humans compared to machines

(-) The results of the approach may not be as accurate as once thought as it involves internal
mental processes that cannot be directly measured.

Psychodynamic approach (16 marks)

Sigmund Freud believed that behaviour was determined more by psychological factors than
biological factors or environmental reinforcement. He believed that people are born with basic
instincts/drives and that behaviour is largely controlled by the unconscious mind.
 42

Freud used the metaphor of an iceberg to describe the mind.

- The tip of the iceberg represents the conscious mind which contains all thoughts,
memories and feelings which we are aware of
- The unconscious mind is the larger part of the iceberg hidden under water. This is
where the majority of the personality is - containing the ego, superego and ID.
- Freud believed that the mind actually prevents traumatic memories from the unconscious
from reaching the conscious awareness i.e the mind uses defence mechanisms to
prevent the person coming aware of them.

The structure of the personality

Id - operates solely in the unconscious and according to the pleasure principle, it demands
immediate gratification regardless of the circumstance. E.g. if a person feels hungry, the id
demands they eat there and then. It contains libido, which is our sex drive.
Superego - i.e the conscience is the internalisation of societal rules, it decides which behaviours
are acceptable and feelings of guilt are caused when rules are broken.
Ego - balances the id’s impulsive demands and the moralistic demands of the superego.

Defence mechanisms
defence mechanisms may be triggered to reduce anxiety. Defence mechanisms allow
individuals to stop becoming aware of unpleasant memories associated with a traumatic
situation.

Repression - refers to the process by which unbearable memories (e.g. Those related to internal
conflicts) are kept out of consciousness. These repressed thoughts/impulses influence
behaviour without an individual being aware. E.g. a child may not remember past abusive
experiences with parents.
Denial - is the refusal to accept reality so as to avoid having to deal with any painful feelings that
might be associated with the event. The person carries on acting as if the traumatic event never
occurred. E.g. a drug addict often denying their problem.
Displacement - is the redirecting of (usually) hostile thoughts/feelings by directing emotions to
an innocent victim instead of the person they should be directing it towards.

Pyschosexual stages:
Freud claimed that we have to pass through these five stages successfully (without getting
fixated) or it would cause problems for our adult personality.

Stage Age Characteristics

Oral 0-2 years Id gratification is focused on the stimulation of the mouth e.g.
sucking/biting.

Anal 2-3 years Potty training occurs at this age which places focus of pleasure on
the anus. A major issue is a child learning to control bodily waste.
 43

Phallic 3-6 years Sexual energy is now focused on the genitals (physically). Boys
develop a Oedipus complex where they have unconscious sexual
desires for their mothers.Whereas girls develop an Electra
complex, where they too have unconscious sexual desires for
their father and then develop penis envy.

Latent 6-12 A child suppresses any sexual desires as they aren’t fixated on
years any centre of pleasure and instead focus interest on social
interaction, school work and hobbies.

Genital 12+ Focus returns on the genital region and as a result a sexual and
years romantic interest becomes directed towards peers.

Freud carried out a case study with a boy called Hans who had a phobia of horses. He was
directly observed by his father, who noted details of Hans’ dreams and what he said to then
pass them on to Freud for analysis.
He found that Hans was afraid of horses because he thought they might bite or fall onto him.
Throughout the study, Hans developed an interest in his penis. His mother told him not to play
with it, or she’ll cut it off.
The results suggest that Hans had reached the ‘phallic’ stage of development as he showed
evidence of the oedipus complex i.e. he wanted to have an exclusive relationship with his
mother and was jealous of his father. His fear of horses was an example of displacement i.e a
defence mechanism that protected him from the real fear of his father.

(+) Psychodynamic approach was the first theory to focus on psychological causes of disorders
as before this the focus had always been on physical causes, or things like possession by evil
spirits. It was also one of the first approaches to suggest mental health disorders may have
some correlation to unresolved conflicts in childhood.

(+) It offers methods of therapy e.g. psychoanalysis which may also reveal unconscious conflicts
i.e. patients can understand the causes of their problems to then resolve them and release their
anxieties.

(+) Finally, Freud’s theory places emphasis on how early childhood experiences can affect later
development which has formed the basis of lots of other important theories.

(-) Freud claims are based on his subjective interpretations of his patients dreams i.e. they are
often unreliable and open to bias.
His theories are also related to the unconscious mind which cannot be assessed, meaning his
theories are unfalsifiable.

(-) Furthermore, psychoanalysis may take a long time and can become very expensive. The
childhood conflicts that are revealed may be emotionally distressing and potentially inaccurate
depending on the reliability of the patient's memory, the techniques used to uncover them and
 44

the interpretations made.

(-) The focus is on the patient's past, rather than on the problems they are currently suffering
and the unscientific research method means it is not possible to show cause and effect.

(-) Finally the approach is based on case studies of people in distress i.e. the findings may not
generalise to the wider population.

Social learning theory (16 marks)

Social learning theory is an alternative take on the behaviourist approach, it is the idea that
behaviour is learned by observing and imitating the behaviour of others.

How can a behaviour be learnt?

- Vicarious reinforcement - seeing others being rewarded for a behaviour may influence
someone else in whether they chose to imitate the behaviour.
- Modelling - involves observing and imitating another person (the model).
- Identification - where certain attractive qualities and characteristics are picked up on. If
you identify with the model, you can imitate and learn from their behaviour.

Mediational Processes these are cognitive processes:

1. Attention - to be able to learn from someone else you have to attend to the model.
2. Retention - you need to be able to remember and visualise what you saw to be able to
replicate it.
3. Reproduction - decide whether you have the capabilities to reproduce the behaviour. It
requires you to believe in yourself because then you're more likely to actually do it
4. Motivation - we assess both the positives or negatives that may follow imitating the
behaviour, either immediately or in the future, a beneficial outcome leads to imitating that
behaviour again.

Bandura carried out a study where he recorded the influence on children's behaviour after
observing adults being aggressive with a bobo doll e.g hitting with a mallet or adults being non
aggressive with the bobo doll and ignoring it. These two situations were compared to a control
condition in which the children had no exposure to a model.The children's behaviour was then
 45

observed for 20 minutes in a room with both the bobo doll, a mallet and non aggressive toys e.g
tea set and crayons.

He found that children exposed to violent models often imitated the violent behaviour they
observed. Whereas children exposed to non aggressive adults showed barely any aggressive
behaviour.
These results suggest that aggressive behaviour is learned through the imitation of others
acting aggressively

(+) Biological research has also supported social learning theory with the discovery of mirror
neurons. Which showed that there are neurons which fire when both the animal does something
itself and when it observes the actions of others.

(+) SLT provides a more comprehensive explanation of human learning than Beaviourist theory
by recognising the role of mediational processes.
For example, SLT is able to explain many more complex social behaviours (such as gender
roles and moral behaviour) than models of learning based on simple reinforcement.

(-) One criticism of social learning theory is its commitment to environmental factors being the
lead influence on behaviour.
It is limiting to explain behaviour only in terms of either nature or nurture. As it makes much
more sense to explain behaviour as an interaction between nature and nurture.

(-) Social learning theory is not a full explanation of behaviour. This is because it doesn't explain
people's behaviour in cases where they have no clear role model to imitate.

(-) The Bobo doll experiment has several methodological flaws eg. It could be argued that
because the bobo doll is meant for aggressive play and the children had just seen the adult
being aggressive towards it , they may have been showing demand characteristics. In addition,
while they may have been aggressive immediately after watching the adult being aggressive
with the doll, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it affected their aggression levels in the long term.
The issue with this is that if the bobo doll study is flawed then so is the whole of SLT because
the theory is based on the study.

The Biological Approach (16 marks)

Biological Psychologists believe that all behaviour is due to biological factors. The biological
approach investigates how biological structures and processes influence behaviour, I.E genes
affect behaviour and influence behavioural differences between people.

Heredity is the passing of characteristics from one generation to the next through genes, and is
 46

the reason offspring are both biologically and psychologically similar to their parents. Genes
carry the instructions for characteristics e.g. intelligence, temperament, but how this
characteristic develops depends partly on the influence of the environment.

- There is an important difference between the genotype - the genetic code that is
‘written; in the DNA of an individual's cells - and the phenotype, which is the physical
appearance that results from inherited information through genes.

Biological psychologists believe that genetics can explain ‘psychological traits’ e.g. gender,
intelligence and personality. Biological psychologists also study genetics to see which genes
make some people more likely to develop mental illnesses or addictions. Twin studies and
adoption studies are useful for investigating these areas:

Gottesman carried out a meta-analysis of approximately 40 twin studies. He found that having
an identical twin with schizophrenia gave you a 48% chance of developing the condition,
compared to 17% in non-identical twins. Schizophrenia has a strong genetic basis.

(-) Because identical twins share 100% of their genes, if one suffers from schizophrenia, it might
be expected that both twins will suffer the same conditions. However, the results showed that
this was only true in around half of the twin studies i.e. another factor must be involved. Identical
twins tend to be treated more similarly than non-identical twins, and so the family environment
may also be a factor.

Maguire et al - A study of taxi drivers’ brains.

MRI scans from 16 male London taxi drivers were compared with a control group. All taxi drivers
had been working for at least 18 months. Maguire found that the average size of the right
posterior hippocampus was significantly larger in the taxi driver group compared to the control
group. In addition the increased size was relative to the amount of time the taxi driver had been
working i.e. the longer they’d been working, the larger their right posterior hippocampus.

He concluded that because the brains of the taxi drivers had physically changed, it suggests
that the hippocampus is responsible for storing spatial memories.

(+) These findings have real world application as it could be used to help those with brain
injuries - the size of structures within the brain can be influenced through cognitive activity. The
study was high in control of the variables and could easily be replicated to check its reliability.

Neurotransmitters
Too much or too little of a particular neurotransmitter may produce psychological
disorders e.g. increased level of dopamine is linked to schizophrenia. Drugs e.g.
cocaine, which increase dopamine levels can lead to schizophrenia.

Darwin's theory of evolution suggests that over time, individuals who are better adapted
 47

to their environment through having better genes, are more likely to survive to
reproduce and pass on their genes. Individuals with less well-adapted genes will be less
likely to reproduce and pass on their genes. After a long period of time, the less
well-adapted genes will become extinct from the gene pool for that species. Through
this process of natural selection, early humans became better adapted to their
environment e.g. behaviours such as phobias and aggression may have evolved
because of the advantage they gave.

(+) Biological approach uses the scientific method particularly the experimental methods.
Experimental studies take place in highly controlled environments which makes them easy to
replicate to check for reliability.

(+) A strength of the biological approach is that it provides clear predictions, e.g. about the
effects of neurotransmitters. This has led to real life applications of biological research. E.g.
research into the role of neurochemical imbalance in depression has led to the development of
drug treatments which minimises the effects of depression.

(-) The biological approach is reductionist and ignores other influences of behaviour e.g. nurture
i.e. the approach doesn’t take into account the influence of peoples’ environment, family etc.
Other approaches see these as being important factors in explaining behaviour.

Humanistic Approach (16 marks)

The Humanistic approach emphasises that people have conscious control (free will) over how to
behave. Free will allows us to take responsibility for our actions to improve.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs

Each level has to be fulfilled before someone can move up to a higher need. Maslow believed
that the more basic the need, the harder it is to ignore. At the top is self actualisation and at the
bottom is physiological needs.
 48

Self actualisation- creativity, problem solving, morality

Esteem- confidence, respect, self esteem
love/belonging- family, relationships
Safety- security of health, body, employment
Physiological- breathing, food, water, sleep

Self -actualisation is an individual’s full involvement in life and achieving your full potential. It is
seen as obtainable after a fundamental need for survival, safety, love and self-esteem are met.

Focus on the self refers to how we view ourselves as an individual. Rogers proposed that
people have 2 basic needs: positive regard from others and a feeling of self-worth (i.e. what we
think about ourselves). Self-worth stems from child and parent interactions and further
interactions with others e.g. our friends. The closer our self-concept and ideal self (i.e. who we
would like to be) are to one another, the greater our feelings of self-worth and psychological
health.

Congruence is when there is a similarity between someone’s ideal self and how they see
themselves. The closer the self-image and ideal self, the greater the congruence and self worth.
However, if there is a difference between the self image and ideal self, people experience a
state of incongruence e.g. low self esteem.

Humanistic psychologists concentrate on the role of conditions of worth to explain

behaviour.People often believe they will only be loved and valued if they meet precise
conditions of worth (e.g. achieving good grades). These conditions can create incongruence
between the real self and the ideal self. Being motivated to close this gap in ways that make the
individual unhappy e.g. choose a career to make their parents happy.

The influence of counselling

Rogers believed that with counselling, people would be able to solve their problems in
constructive ways. Humanistic therapists help people understand themselves by providing
empathy and unconditional positive regard, helping the client to be more true to themselves
(client-centred therapy). By doing this it could help the client's conditions of worth. I.e. able to
behave in a way that is true to the person they are, rather than the person others want them to
be.

(+) Research has shown consistent evidence with Roger’s view. Individuals who experience
conditional positive regard are likely to develop a ‘false self’ to meet others' expectations.e.g.
Harter et al found that some teenagers feel they have to meet certain conditions in order to gain
their parents’ approval, often ending up not liking themselves. Researchers found that children
who create a false self are more likely to develop depression.

(+) This approach is a very positive approach which suggests that people strive to do better.
 49

(+) Because the Humanistic approach suggests that we have free will over how to behave it is
less deterministic than other approaches and helps explain complex behaviour.

(+) The counselling techniques that have come from this approach have proved to be really
effective.

(-) The humanistic approach uses case studies to explain behaviour; however these aren’t
scientific and makes it very difficult to show cause and effect.

(-) It represents an unrealistic view of human nature as people aren’t as growth-orientated as

theorists suggest. The approach doesn’t recognise people’s capacity for self destructive
behaviour.

(-) Later in Maslow's theory, he did acknowledge that, for some individuals, needs may appear
in a different order or absent altogether. This is found by cross-cultural evidence. E.g. A study in
China (Nevis) found that belongingness needs are seen as more fundamental than
psychological needs. Furthermore, self-actualisation was defined more in terms of contributions
to the community, rather than individual needs and development.

Biopsychology

The divisions of the nervous system: central and peripheral (16 marks)

Autonomic nervous system is involuntary (self regulating)

Somatic nervous system is under conscious control

Sensory neurons convert information from sensory receptors e.g eyes into neural impulses.
When they reach the brain it is translated into sensations like visual input.
Relay neurons allow sensory neurons and motor neurons to communicate with each other,
these are located wholly in the brain and spinal cord.
Motor neurons form synapses with muscles and control their contractions

Hormones are chemicals that are released by glands and circulate the bloodstream to target
cells which have specifically shaped receptors for that hormone. Once enough receptor sites
are stimulated by hormones, it results in a physiological reaction in the target cell.

Excitation - in the process of excitation an excitatory neurotransmitter will leave the presynaptic
neurons via exocytosis and bind to the specifically shaped receptor on the postsynaptic neuron.
This causes an electrical change in the membrane of that neuron, resulting in an excitatory
postsynaptic potential, which is therefore more likely to fire the action potential.
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Inhibition - in the process of inhibition an inhibitory neurotransmitter binds to the specifically

shaped postsynaptic receptor, causing an inhibitory postsynaptic potential, making it less likely
that the neuron will fire the action potential. Therefore reducing the electrical activity in this
region of the brain.

Excitatory neurotransmitters such as noradrenaline are the nervous systems “on switches”
causing the postsynaptic neuron to fire. Whereas Inhibitory neurotransmitters such as serotonin
are the nervous systems off switches which reduce the likelihood of the postsynaptic neuron
firing.

The function of the endocrine system: glands and hormones (6 marks)

The endocrine system works alongside the nervous system to regulate physiological processes
in the body.
The endocrine system consists of a network of glands which are groups of cells that are
specialised to secrete chemical messengers called hormones.
These hormones are secreted when the gland is stimulated, either by an electrical impulse or by
a change in conc. Of a specific substance e.g blood sugar levels.

Hormones Diffuse directly into the blood and then are transported around the body in the blood
circulatory system to the target cells.
They diffuse out of the blood and bind to a specifically shaped receptor on the cell surface
membrane of the target cell. This then triggers a response from the target cells (effectors)

(-) Hormones are much slower in their effect compared to the nervous system. This is because
they are not secreted directly onto the target cells and so they have to travel their in the
circulatory system. This means that the chemical communication is much slower than electrical
impulses.

(+) However, the effects are much longer lasting as the hormones are not broken down as
quickly as neurotransmitters.

Fight or Flight response including the role of adrenaline (16 marks)

When someone is threatened the body responds by preparing for action (e.g fighting or running
away) this is called the fight or flight response.
The hypothalamus helps coordinate this response.
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The amygdala responds to the sensory input and connects it to emotions associated with the
fight or flight response (e.g fear or anger). It sends distress signals to the hypothalamus. In the
initial shock the hypothalamus triggers activity in the sympathetic branch of the autonomic
nervous system. This stimulates the adrenal medulla within the adrenal glands, which releases
adrenaline and noradrenaline into the bloodstream.

These hormones have several effects:

Heart rate and blood pressure increase to get blood quickly to areas of the body where it's
needed for respiration during activity.
Breathing rate increases so that more oxygenated blood can be sent to muscles.
Pupil size increases so more light can enter the eye for clearer vision.

When the threat has passed the parasympathetic dampens down the stress response, slowing
down heartbeat and reducing blood pressure. It also allows digestion to begin again.

(-) ‘Tend and Befriend response for females’

Taylor et al suggest that for females, behavioural responses to stress are more characterised by
a pattern of tend and befriend than fight or flight. This involves protecting themselves and their
young through nurturing behaviours and forming protective alliances. Women having a different
system for coping with stress may be because their response evolved in the context of being a
primary caregiver of their children. E.g fleeing too early might put the females offspring at risk.

(-) Negative consequences of the fight or flight response

The physiological responses associated with fight or flight may be adaptive for a stress
response that requires energetic behavioural responses. However, the stressors of modern life
rarely require such levels of physical activity. The issue with this for humans is that when the
stress response is repeatedly activated e.g in ongoing chronic stress. E.g cortisol may assist the
body in fighting a viral infection or healing damaged tissue, however too much cortisol
suppresses the immune response, shutting down the very process that fights infection.

(-) ‘There may also be a freeze response’

Gray argues that the first phase of reaction to a threat is not to fight or flee but to avoid
confrontation. He suggests that prior to responding with attacking or running away, most animals
typically display the ‘freeze response’. This initial freeze response involves the animal being
hypervigilant, alert to the slightest sign of danger. The advantages of this response for humans
is that freezing focuses attention and makes them look for new information in order to make the
best response for that particular threat.

Localisation of function in the brain: motor, somatosensory, visual, auditory and

language centres; Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas, split brain research (16 marks)
 52

Motor cortex - a region of the brain responsible for the generation of voluntary motor
movements
Somatosensory - a region of the brain that processes input from sensory receptors in the body
that are sensitive to touch e.g skin. It uses this sensory information to produce feelings like pain
or temperature.
Visual cortex - processes information from the eyes
Auditory cortex - process information from the ears
Broca’s area - located in the posterior portion of frontal lobe related to speech production
Wernicke's area - a region in the temporal lobe important for the comprehension of language.

It is now known that Broca's and Wernicke's area are connected by the arcuate fasciculus
running between them.
At one end lies the Broca's area, responsible for production of language and at the other lies
Wernicke's area responsible for the processing of spoken language.

(-) Equipotentiality theory

Some researchers have challenged the view that brain functions are localised to certain areas
of the brain. E.g equipotentiality theory suggests that basic motor and sensory functions are
localised, but more complex mental functions are not. It also suggests that intact areas of the
cortex could take over responsibility for specific cognitive functions following injury to the area
that is normally responsible for that function. Equipotentiality theory has been supported by
some people being able to regain cognitive abilities following damage to specific areas of the
brain.

(-) Communication may be more important than localisation

Other psychologists suggest that It might actually be more important how the different areas of
the brain communicate rather than where the different functions are located.
E.g Wernicke claimed that although different regions of the brain had specialist functions, they
are interdependent in the sense that in order to work they must interact with each other. I.e
localisation of brain function may be a limited explanation for the brain because it's looking at
the wrong part of brain activity e.g location rather than communication.

(+) Aphasia impairments

Evidence that supports the different functions of the Brocas and Wernicke's area comes from
the discovery that damage to these different areas of the brain causes different types of
aphasia. Aphasia is the inability to produce or comprehend speech.
Expressive aphasia is an impaired ability to produce language and is caused by brain damage
to the Broca's area which is responsible for speech production.
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Whereas, Receptive aphasia is the loss of ability to understand language and extract meaning
from words. This form of aphasia is the result of damage to the wernicke's area which
demonstrates its role in the comprehension of language.

hemispheric lateralisation (16 marks)

refers to the fact that some mental processes in the brain are mainly specialised to either the left
or right hemisphere:
Left hemisphere - responsible for speech and language
Right hemisphere - responsible for spatial processing and facial recognition

Split brain research studies individuals who have had surgical separation of the two
hemispheres of the brain as a result of severing the corpus callosum.

Sperry and Gazzaniga's split brain research studied the capabilities of split brain patients.
Because information presented to the left visual field is processed in the right hemisphere and
information presented to the right visual field is processed in the left hemisphere.
But because the corpus callosum is cut in split brain patients, the information cannot travel to
the other hemisphere.
I.e info from the left visual field can only be processed in the right hemisphere.

Method
Information presented to either the right or left visual field
They were asked to make responses with either their:
- left hand (controlled by right hemisphere)
- Right hand (controlled by left hemisphere)
- Verbally (controlled by left hemisphere)

If the pictures were presented to the right visual field all patients could say and write what they
had seen without a problem. (as processed in left hemisphere that has a language centre)
If the pictures were presented to the left visual field the participants could not say or right what
they had seen, but they could draw what they had seen with their left hand. (processed in the
right hemisphere which does not have a language centre so cannot say they saw it, but it does
process visual information so they can draw it).

(+) It is assumed that the main advantage of brain lateralisation is that it increases neural
processing capacity.
I.e by using only one hemisphere to engage in a particular task (e.g language), it would leave
the other hemisphere free to engage in another function.
E.g Rogers et al
 54

Found that in domestic chickens brain lateralisation is associated with an enhanced ability to
perform two tasks simultaneously i.e finding food and being vigilant for predators. These
findings do provide some evidence that brain lateralisation enhances brain efficiency in cognitive
tasks that demand the simultaneous but different use of both hemispheres.
(-) However, there is very little evidence in humans that shows that brain lateralisation confers
any advantage to the functioning of the brain.

(+) Lateralisation and immune system function

Architects and mathematically gifted tend to have superior right-hemispheric skills but are also
more likely to be left-handed and to suffer higher rates of allergies and problems with their
immune system.
E.g Tonnessen et al found a significant relationship between handedness (using either your
right or left hand) and immune disorders, which suggests that the same genetic processes that
lead to lateralisation may also affect the development of the immune system.

(+) Lateralisation changes with age

Lateralisation of function appears not to stay exactly the same throughout an individual's
lifetime, but changes with ageing. I.e many lateralized patterns found in younger individuals tend
to switch to bilateral patterns in healthy older adults.
E.g Research found that language became more lateralized to the left hemisphere with
increasing age in children and young adolescents, but after the age of 25, lateralisation
decreased with each decade of life.
One explanation for this is that using the extra processing resources of the other hemisphere
may compensate for age-related declines in function.

Split brain research evaluation:

(-) Language may not be restricted to the left hemisphere

Gazzaniga said that early split brain research suggested that the right hemisphere was unable
to process even basic language, and that damage to the left hemisphere was much more
detrimental to language function than damage to the right.
However, Case studies have demonstrated this is not always the case
E.g the case study of J.W who developed the capacity to speak out of the right hemisphere
after suffering an injury to his left hemisphere, regardless of which side of the brain the
information is presented to.

(-) Limitations of split brain research

Split brain operations are a rare procedure, therefore patients who have had the procedure are
rarely encountered in sufficient numbers to be useful for research.
I.e because the individuals had very specific disorders it may not be possible to generalise the
findings of the studies to the wider population.
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Plasticity and functional recovery (16 marks)

Brain plasticity
Brain plasticity refers to the brain's ability to change and adapt because of an experience.
Research has demonstrated that the brain continues to create new neural pathways and alter
existing ones in response to new experiences.

Maguire et al - A study of taxi drivers’ brains.

MRI scans from 16 male London taxi drivers were compared with a control group. All taxi drivers
had been working for at least 18 months. Maguire found that the average size of the right
posterior hippocampus was significantly larger in the taxi driver group compared to the control
group. In addition the increased size was relative to the amount of time the taxi driver had been
working i.e. the longer they’d been working, the larger their right posterior hippocampus.

He concluded that because the brains of the taxi drivers had physically changed, it suggests
that the hippocampus is responsible for storing spatial memories.

(-) However, research investigating the plasticity of the brain is flawed. E.g maguire did not test
taxi drivers' brains before they became taxi drivers, so a clear change in structures of the brain
due to their experiences can not be concluded. E.g they could have already had a larger right
posterior hippocampus before becoming taxi drivers. I.e cause and effect cannot be assumed.

(+) Khun et al found a significant increase in grey matter in various regions of the brain after
participants played video games for 30 mins every day for 2 months. Suggesting that the actual
structure of the brain has changed in response to learning how to play a video game.

Functional recovery
The brain also appears to show evidence of functional recovery. This is the transfer of functions
from a damaged area of the brain after trauma to undamaged areas.

Neural unmasking
Whis is where dormant synapses open up connections to compensate for a nearby damaged
area of the brain. This allows new connections in the brain to be activated, thus recovering any
damage occurring in other specific regions.
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Stem cells
It Is also used to recover brain functions. These are unspecialised cells that can take on the
characteristics of nerve cells allowing the brain to create new neural pathways and recover any
damage to existing cells.

(+) There is research to support the claim for functional recovery.

E.g Taijiri et al found that stem cells provided to rats after brain trauma showed a clear
development of neuron-like cells in the area of injury. This demonstrates the ability of the brain
to create new connections using neurons manufactured by stem cells.

(+) While there is evidence for functional recovery, it is possible that this ability can deteriorate
with age.
E.g Elbert et al concluded that the capacity for neural reorganisation is much greater in children
than in adults, meaning functional recovery is less effective in older brains.
This may be why adults find change more demanding than young people do.
I.e we must consider individual differences amongst people when assessing the likelihood of
functional recovery after trauma.

Ways of studying the brain (16 marks)

fMRI
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a brain scanning technique that measures
blood flow in the brain when a person performs a task. An increase in blood flow is a response
to the need for more oxygen in that area of the brain when it becomes active.

EEG
Electroencephalogram measures electrical activity through electrodes attached to the scalp.
Small electrical charges are detected by the electrodes that are graphed over a period of time,
indicating the level of activity in the brain.

(+) An advantage of EEG technique is that it has good temporal resolution, as it takes readings
every millisecond, meaning it can record the brain's activity in real time as opposed to looking at
a passive brain. This leads to an accurate measurement of electrical activity when responding to
a specific task.
 57

(-) However, it could be argued that EEGs are uncomfortable for the participant as electrodes
are attached to the head. This could result in unrepresentative readings as the patient's
discomfort may affect cognitive responses e.g discomfort while measuring sleep.
Whereas fMRI scans are not invasive and would not cause the participants any discomfort,
potentially leading to more representative recordings.

ERPs
Event related potentials work by measuring small voltage changes in the brain triggered by
specific events of stimuli. Establishing a specific response to a target stimulus requires multiple
presentations of that stimulus and then averaging the responses together. This filters out brain
activity that is not related to the appearance of the stimulus.

(+) This way of measuring brain activity is advantageous as it enables determination of how
processing is affected by a specific experimental manipulation. This makes ERP use a more
experimentally robust method as it can eliminate extraneous neutral activity, something that
other scanning techniques may struggle to do.

Post mortem
Refers to investigating the brain in post mortem examination where researchers will study a
person who displayed a particular behaviour while they were alive that suggested possible brain
damage. An example of this technique is the work of Paul Broca, who examined the brain of a
man who had speech problems. It was subsequently discovered that he had a lesion in the area
of the brain important for speech production that later was named as the Broca's area.

(+) Post mortem examinations have successfully contributed to the understanding of many
disorders. E.g after examining the brains of dead schizophrenics they found that they all had
higher concentration of dopamine, especially in the limbic system compared to non
schizophrenic individuals.

(+) It also allows for more detailed examination of the brain that would be possible with other
techniques. As they allow the researchers to examine deeper regions of the brain e.g the
hypothalamus, something that is difficult with other methods.

Discuss the difference between circadian, infradian and ultradian rhythms (16
marks)

A rhythm is a physiological pattern of changes within the body, which repeats itself on a regular
basis.

Circadian - a rhythm that repeats itself approximately every 24 hours

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e.g sleep-wake cycle (8 hrs asleep, 16 hrs awake)

Infradian - a rhythm, that repeats itself less than once every day
E.g the monthly menstrual cycle
Ultradian - a rhythm, that occurs more than once a day
E.g the stages within sleep (90 minute cycles)

Internal (endogenous) factors e.g our internal body clocks

External (exogenous) factors e.g light

Endogenous and exogenous factors interact to influence our biological rhythms, particularly our
circadian cycle
Disruption to our biological rhythms e.g jet lag can have serious consequences on our health
and cognitive performance.

Infradian rhythm
It was always assumed that the approx. 28 day menstrual cycle was controlled by the body's
internal biological clock. However, research has found that external factors also have an
influence
e.g Sabbagh and Barnard found that when women live together their menstrual cycles often
synchronise. It isn't clear why this happens but it may be due to pheromones which are airborne
chemicals detected by smell that can influence another person's behaviour.

Research using EEG’s has identified 5 stages of sleep. Stages 1-4 are NREM sleep and stage 5
is REM sleep. It suggests that these changes occur over 90 minutes which is about 4-6 cycles a
night i.e 6-9 hours of sleep

Stage 1 (NREM sleep) only occurs in the first cycle as you drift off to sleep
Stage 2 (NREM sleep) is the first proper stage of sleep and consists of theta and delta waves
Stage 3 (NREM sleep) is transitional and you fall into a deeper sleep and into:
Stage 4 where the brain is least active and in its deepest sleep. The cycle descends the sleep
staircase back to stages 3 then 2 before entering:
Stage 5 which is REM sleep. The brain is most active in REM sleep and this is where most
dreaming occurs; muscles are paralysed in REM sleep, possibly to stop you acting out your
dreams.

(+) NREM sleep is thought to be for physiological restoration and REM sleep is thought to be for
psychological restoration
e.g research has found that infants have a lot more REM sleep than adults, which suggests that
its function is linked with psychological restoration e.g brain development, learning and
restoring.
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(-) Most of the evidence for changes in sleep patterns comes from laboratory research using
EEG recordings. These recordings are obtained by attaching electrodes to participants; this
creates an unfamiliar sleeping environment for the participants which may disrupt their usual
sleep patterns and affect the validity of the results.
However, empson suggests that after the first night participants adjust to the conditions and
sleep becomes representative of usual patterns.

(-) However, the biological approach to the body's rhythms is reductionist in that it oversimplifies
a complex process which is influenced by both internal and external factors. Furthermore, this
reduces a complex human behaviour like sleep to simple explanations and ignores other factors
such as culture e.g siestas in spain. The biological approach to explaining changes in our
biological rhythms is also quite deterministic i.e it suggests that we have little or no control over
our body's rhythms but that is not the case e.g we can make ourselves stay awake as long as
possible in new time zones to combat jet lag. In addition, people who live in far northern regions
e.g eskimos can modify their environment e.g 23 hours of daylight, to have a normal sleep-wake
cycle.

Discuss the effect of endogenous pacemakers and exogenous zeitgebers on the

sleep/wake cycle (16 marks)

The sleep wake cycle (8 hours-16 hours) occurs approximately every 24 hours and is termed
the circadian rhythm.

The circadian rhythm is affected by internal (endogenous) factors e.g our internal body clock
and external (exogenous) factors e.g light.

The main endogenous pacemaker for the circadian rhythm is the suprachiasmatic nucleus
(SCN), part of the hypothalamus, which acts as an internal body clock to keep the body on an
approximate 24 hour sleep-waking cycle. It is sensitive to light and regulates the pineal gland,
which secretes melatonin - a hormone which encourages sleep. When there is less light, more
melatonin is produced. When there is more light, levels are reduced and waking occurs.
E.g Menaker lesioned this structure in hamsters and their sleep wake cycle was disrupted,
which suggests that the SCN regulates the circadian rhythm. However, these results may not
extrapolate to human rhythms because we have more control over our environment.

The role of the SCN is also supported by Appenzellers case study on people who had suffered
damage to the SCN, most often through the removal of a nearby brain tumour. All suffered
disturbances to the sleep wake cycle e.g some lost the ability to stay awake for more than 20
minutes and others experienced the reversal of the day/night cycle. This suggests that the SCN
plays a key role in regulating the sleep wake cycle.
 60

Light is the most important exogenous zeitgeber.

This was studied by Siffre who spent 6 months in a cave with no natural light and no clocks. His
sleep wake cycle extended from the normal 24 hour cycle to between 25-30 hours, which
suggests that natural light is needed to fine tune our 24 hour cycle. However, in the study and
similar studies they did have some artificial light which may have affected the validity of the
results. Additionally, Siffre's findings were based on one unique individual, so they may not be
generalisable to the wider population. In addition, individual differences can also affect the
circadian rhythm. Aschoff and Wever found that in a group of people isolated from daylight,
some maintained their regular sleep wake cycles but others had their own very extreme cycles
e.g 29 hours awake followed by 21 hours sleep.

(-) However, eskimos often live in permanent daylight or permanent night but can still maintain
regular daily sleep wake cycles i.e it is unlikely that the cycle is only determined by levels of light
acting on the pineal gland.

(-) In addition, Pengelly and Fisher found that squirrels will still hibernate, even when kept in
lab conditions very different from their natural environment, which suggests that their sleep
wake cycle is internally controlled rather than controlled by light.

However, many animals can react more flexibly, particularly humans who are able to adapt their
surroundings e.g we can change the environment to suit our needs e.g offices in Norway use
artificial blue light in the winter months to improve alertness. In addition, we can use certain
strategies to reverse the effects of factors like shift work and jet lag on our sleep wake cycle e.g
forward rotating shifts, rapidly changing shifts, making ourselves stay awake for longer at new
destinations and the use of melatonin tablets to encourage us to sleep.

Issues and debates

Gender bias (16 marks)

Gender bias refers to when theories and psychologists describe male and female behaviour in
research based on stereotypes rather than actual differences.
 61

Alpha bias refers to theories and research that exaggerates the difference between male and
female behaviour.
Beta bias refers to theories and research that minimises the differences between the two
genders.

Androcentrism is when men are seen as the centre of culture as male behaviour is considered
the norm. Theories are then developed based on male behaviour which is then applied to
females. E.g Milgram's study looked at obedience in male participants only which was then
generalised to the whole population.
Ethnocentrism is the opposite in that female behaviour is the norm and women are seen as the
centre of culture, however this is a much rarer phenomenon.

Androcentrism exaggerating the differences between men and women ends up often devaluing
one gender in comparison to the other. E.g Josselen suggested that Freud's theory portrayed
women as the inferior gender, as they are jealous of men's penises (penis envy) and so women
do not experience the same oedipus conflict as boys do. I.e suggesting female is a failed
masculinity.

Beta bias minimises the difference between men and females, which often occurs when
research only studies one gender and then applies it to the other gender. E.g the fight or flight
response suggests that men and women respond in the same physiological way to stressors in
the environment. However research by Taylor found that women actually show more of a tend
and befriend response than men, who are more likely to respond with action.

(-) In addition to this biological research often studies male animals, this is because variations in
female hormones due to the menstrual cycle can act as an extraneous variable potentially
influencing behaviour thus making it more difficult to assume cause and effect. Using male only
samples is seen not to be an issue because what is true for males should also be the same for
females so results can be generalised.

Feminists argue that lab based experiments put women at a disadvantage because findings
created within a lab tell us very little about the experiences of women in the real world. E.g
research has always shown that women are more likely to conform than men, however this was
challenged by Eagly and Carli who showed that this was only true for asch-like studies in which
a public opinion was required that was likely to disrupt group harmony. I.e if answers were not
made public conformity was much less.

In addition to this the evolutionary explanation for gender differences in partner preferences
portrays women as picky and men as competative e.g inter sexual selection for the females
attention. However, this view has been challenged and more recent research has shown
females to be equally as competitive when required to be. This highlights the importance of
 62

challenging gender differences and minimising gender bias in order to ensure research portrays
a valid picture.

In addition to this the evolutionary explanation for gender differences suggests that it is
legitimate and natural for men to be promiscuous but not women. Potentially providing an
excuse for male infidelity.

Gender biases can also be produced in publication bias. This is because it has been suggested
that research findings that show a difference in the behaviour of men and women are more likely
to be published than those that show no difference. This may exaggerate the difference
between genders, ultimately leading to alpha bias.

Cultural bias (16 marks)

Because psychology has developed in western countries, psychologists would typically study
those that were available i.e people from their own culture. And historically there hasn't been
much other research to compare people of other cultures' behaviour to.
There are several reasons for this:
Researchers assumed that people's behaviour in western cultures would be the same as those
in other cultures.
Non-western cultures were considered more primitive and so less worthy of study
Researchers that did want to carry out cross cultural research may have lacked the resources
and time.

Etic research is research carried out in one culture i.e findings are specific to the behaviour of
one culture but they are then generalised to other cultures which have not been studied.
Because in order to create general rules on behaviour psychologists would have to take
samples of all populations they rarely do this. And so if they still generalise the findings they
may be guilty of an imposed etic.

Ethnocentric research is when our own culture is taken as the norm, which other cultures'
behaviour is then judged against. E.g Ainsworth's strange situation studied american
participants but has been used all over the world e.g by Van Ijzendoorn to assess attachment
types in different cultures.

E.g Asch study on conformity assessed participants willingness to change their answers to a
simple line study in response to hearing confederates give the wrong answer.
Asch's study showed etic bias because it only studied conformity in American participants but
asch then generalised the findings to groups that had not been studied. Future research actually
showed cultural variations in conformity rates.
 63

(-) Culturally biassed research can lead to culturally biassed theories, which is an issue as it can
lead to psychologists making claims that aren't actually true. It's especially problematic when it
affects psychological practices e.g understanding and treating abnormality.

E.g cochrane found that african-caribbean individuals in the UK were 7 times more likely than
the white people to be diagnosed with schizophrenia. The rates of schizophrenia are no higher
in the Caribbean than they are in England which suggests that they have not got a genetic
disposition to the disorder. Therefore it could be the result of culturally biassed assumptions
influencing how we interpret people's behaviour. It seems all peoples behaviour is judged
against norms for the white population regardless of where they are originally from.

(-) There are issues with cross-cultural research as well, as even with a translator it can be
difficult to interpret what people say and do which can lead to us misinterpreting behaviour. In
addition research may still be ethnocentric if the behaviour is then judged against the
researcher's own culture.

Because cultural bias is not usually intentional it can be difficult to prevent, however there are
some ways:
● Cultural relativism should be recognised i.e acknowledging that there are no universal
standards for behaviour and that all research should take into account where they take
place.
● Samples should be representative of all the groups in which you intend to generalise the
findings to.
● Berry suggested that research should be carried out in a meaningful context with local
researchers from the culture being studied to avoid the problems of an imposed etic.

Free will vs determinism (16 marks)

Free will refers to the belief that people have the power to make decisions on how to behave,
whereas determinism is the view that human behaviour is shaped by either internal forces e.g
innate biology or genes, or environmental factors both of which we have no control over.

Most psychological research is determinism as it allows them to study cause and effect by
isolating variables and looking for patterns, however they all consider free will to a certain
extent.
Therefore there are two types of determinism:
Hard determinism completely rules out the idea of free will e.g the biological approach
Soft determinism suggests that we have control over choices, however these choices are
determined by previous biological or environmental factors which we don't control.
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Biological determinism is the idea that behaviour is determined by genetic inheritance,

neurotransmitters or neural structures, e.g aggression is caused by the MAOA gene.

Whereas behaviourist psychologists e.g Skinner suggest that behaviour is determined by

environmental factors and that it is the result of conditioning processes, this is called the
environmental determinism.

Psychic determinism is the view that adult behaviour is determined by both innate biological
drives and early life experiences i.e both internal and external forces shape behaviour.

(-) It is doubtful that 100% genetic determinism will ever be found for any behaviour as studies
investigating similarity in behaviours of twins have never found complete similarity. E.g the
concordance rates between MZ twins for aggression is only 35%, and this does drop to 12% in
DZ twins. This does suggest that genes do influence behaviour, however concordance rates are
not 100% despite MZ twins sharing the same genetic information. I.e it is likely that the
environment also influences behaviour.

(-) In addition to this deterministic behaviours often oversimplify human behaviour. This is
because it implies that behaviour is out of our control and we cannot change it, which is not
always the case for most people. This may be appropriate for explaining animals that act more
instinctively but human behaviour is governed much more by conscious decision making. This
has led to many theorists, law practitioners and psychologists being against a deterministic
explanation for behaviour as it could act as a defence against criminal convictions. Because it
implies that the behaviour was out of the individual's control.

Humanistic psychologists like Rogers and Maslow believe that taking responsibility for
behaviour is a necessary part of human behaviour and without it personal growth and
improvement can not occur. The idea is that in order to improve you must take moral
responsibility for your actions regardless of internal or external forces.

(-) However, Skinner argued that simply choosing between different courses of action may not
be free will but could give the illusion of being free will. His point was that we might choose a
particular car to buy, however these choices were determined by previous reinforcement factors
outside of our control.

The free will side of the debate suffered a significant blow after research using brain imaging
techniques found activity in the brain before the behaviour even occurred. E.g soon et al found
activity in the prefrontal cortex up to 10 seconds before the person was aware of their conscious
decision to move. This suggests that we are not always in complete cognitive control on how or
when we behave. Although other psychologists have argued that this brain activity is simply a
readiness to act rather than an intention to move.
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Nature vs nurture (16 marks)

Nature is the view that behaviour is the product of innate biological or genetic factors whereas
nurture is the view that behaviour is the product of environmental factors e.g upbringing. The
nature vs nurture debate is centred around the relative contributions of biological factors and
environmental factors on human development.

Most psychologists accept that nature and nurture must interact, because behaviour and
personality appears to be influenced by both. This is called the interactionist approach.

The diathesis stress model supports the interactionist approach to explaining behaviour. It
suggests that genetic inheritance creates a diathesis or vulnerability to a particular disorder e.g
high dopamine receptor density. However whether the disorder develops or not is determined by
the amount of stress the individual experiences in their environment i.e stressors. This may
explain why not all individuals with a genetic disposition to a disorder develop it.

Gottesman investigated concordance rates between twins for schizophrenia.

He found that MZ twins had a concordance rate for schizophrenia of 58% compared to only
12% in DZ twins. This provides strong support for a genetic influence on schizophrenia as the
twin of a schizophrenic is more likely to also develop the disorder if they share all of their co
twins genes rather than just some. However the concordance rates were not 100% and so
genetics cannot be the only influence on schizophrenia. It is likely that environment also plays a
role too, e.g because MZ twins look the same, they are more likely to be treated the same and
thus have more shared experiences and a more similar environment. I.e supporting the
interactionist approaches suggest that behaviours are influenced by both environmental and
genetic factors.

Plomin identified 3 types of genotype-environment correlations:

Passive i.e people with similar genes e.g family members may have similar behaviour because
of genetic inheritance or because of environmental similarities. E.g violent siblings may be
violent because of genes, or because they both grew up in a hostile home environment.
Reactive i.e inherited characteristics might influence the experiences of an individual. E.g
people respond more positively to attractive people. I.e genetic factors can influence the
environment of an individual.
 66

Active, i.e people with specific inherited tendencies may seek out a certain environment which
then shapes their behaviour, and thus genes determine the environment which determines
behaviour.

Zimbardo investigated conformity to social roles in a mock prison study in which participants
were assigned the roles of either prison guard or prisoner. Findings showed that prison guards
became increasingly violent towards prisoners as punishment, who then became increasingly
distressed and submissive. He concluded that the cause for the change in behaviour was due to
the new environment and social role, supporting the nurture side of the debate as these ordinary
people changed behaviour dramatically in response to being in prison.

A strictly nature or nurture approach to explaining behaviour is reductionist as it simplifies

complex behaviours down to one single explanation. The issue with this is that it means the
explanation may ignore other influences on behaviour from the other side of the debate thus not
giving a full explanation for behaviour.

In addition it is very difficult to control all variables in nature vs nurture studies. E.g twins may
have high similarity in behaviours due to similar genes or because of similar environments from
growing up in the same house. I.e researchers cannot control all nurture variables making it
difficult to assume cause and effect between nature and behaviour.

Holism and reductionism (16 marks)

Reductionism is explaining behaviour by boiling complex theories down to their basic

components e.g that aggression is caused by the presence of faulty MAOA gene. This is
beneficial for testing theories as psychologists can isolate variables to assume cause and effect.
However this means they often unrealistically oversimplify behaviour and fail to account for
other influences on behaviour, thus giving a less accurate account for behaviour.

There are 3 levels to explaining behaviour that are increasingly holistic i.e starting from the most
simplistic to more complex.
The lowest level of explanation is the biological which reduces behaviour to the simple product
of genes.
The next level of explanation is the psychological explanation such as the cognitive approach
which suggests behaviour is the product of information processing.
The highest level of explanation and the most complex is based on social and cultural factors
e.g. behaviour is based on the influence of upbringing.

There are two types of reductionism

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Biological reductionism reduces behaviour down to a physical level and explains it in terms of
genes, neurochemistry and neural structures. E.g that Schizophrenia is caused by high levels of
dopamine.

Environmental reductionism is based on the idea that external forces determine the outcomes of
behaviour. E.g the behaviourist approach puts emphasis on the stimulus response dynamic of
classical conditioning. This reduces complex behaviours such as phobias to a simplistic learning
process seen in the two process model that suggests that they are attained and maintained
through classical and operant conditioning.

Holism is the argument that human behaviour is more complex than the processes studied by
single sciences. And that behaviour should be viewed as the product of different influences that
all interact. E.g trying to study one of them means that complex behaviours can be
misunderstood, so a holistic approach avoids this problem. However it does make it more
difficult to test as it means variables cannot be isolated which makes it hard to assume cause
and effect.
Humans do not live in a “bubble” so many different factors influence behaviour rather than single
variables as studied by reductionist approaches. Therefore holistic approaches reflect real life
experiences more than a reductionist approach by considering many different influences, thus
giving a more ecologically valid explanation.

Taking a holistic approach may become very complicated for researchers, if there are two many
variables all in play it makes understanding behaviour very difficult. As well as this it makes it
more complicated to identify the most influential factors.

At one end of the continuum is the reductionist viewpoints of the biological approaches because
they focus on the simple link between genes and inherited biology on behaviour. Thus ignoring
any other environmental influences e.g upbringing which have been shown to be heavily
influential on behaviour e.g as suggested by freud. At the other end of the continuum is the
humanistic approach which is the most holistic as it tries to understand the individual by looking
at their behaviour as a whole taking all aspects into account. In the middle of the continuum is
the psychodynamic approach, as it acknowledges both biological innate drives as well as
environmental influences and experiences during early life. I.e not reducing behaviour down to
one single influence.

Discuss Idiographic and nomothetic approaches to psychological investigation (16

marks)

Nomothetic
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A nomothetic approach studies large groups and applies the findings to the behaviour of a
whole population, creating general laws. These approaches usually obtain quantitative data
through lab experiments, drawing general conclusions.

The research methods frequently used in the nomothetic approach mean it's a highly controlled,
scientific approach. The theories it produced can then be scientifically tested by other
psychologists and checked the findings for reliability.
However, because many of these research methods are lab experiments they may lack
ecological validity. This is because the studies may have taken place in artificial settings with
tasks that have little correlation to everyday tasks, and so the findings from the studies may not
generalise to real world behaviour.
E.g most of the studies on the MSM and WMM were carried out in a lab which is an artificial
setting meaning results may not generalise to real life memory.

Furthermore, creating general laws that apply to a whole population ignores individual
differences, and therefore it is less useful for explaining behaviour that doesn't fit in with the
norm of the general laws.

Idiographic
Whereas the idiographic approach focuses on the individuals in detail, looking at what makes
each person different and avoiding making general laws and theories. Idiographic research uses
research methods such as case studies and interviews that obtain more qualitative data on the
person.

The idiographic approach may be a more complete explanation of behaviour than the
nomothetic explanation, because it focuses on individual people. As a result the explanation
may be able to account for people outside of the norms behaviour.

Does Not generalise to wider population

However, this often means that fewer people are studied, making it more difficult to generalise
findings to larger populations. But when combined with other research methods e.g lab
experiments nomothetic laws can be developed. I.e detailed studies of individual cases can be
combined with more general studies giving a more complete explanation of behaviour.

Humanistic approach
Different psychological approaches fall on different sides of the debate. At the idiographic end of
the continuum is the humanistic approach, which focuses on individuals and their personal
growth e.g Maslow's hierarchy of needs and peoples quest for self actualisation.

Biological approach
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At the other end of the continuum (idiographic) is the biological approach, which focuses on
how genetics, hormones and brain chemistry affect behaviour. E.g the biological approach
claims that OCD is caused by higher levels of dopamine and lower levels of serotonin.
Behaviourist approach
The behaviourist approach is also at the nomothetic end of the continuum e.g Pavlov and
Skinner used their research findings on operant/classical conditioning to generalise laws to the
wider population about how people develop phobias.

Cognitive approach
The cognitive approach falls somewhere in the middle e.g the MSM and WMM both suggest
that memory operates this way for everybody, however case studies like the one with KF who
had brain damage showed that there is room for individual differences.

Psychodynamic approach
Finally the psychodynamic approach is probably slightly more towards the idiographic end of
the continuum because Freud used case studies on two women to generate his whole
psychodynamic theory, but then generalised the laws of the theory to the whole population
which is nomothetic.

Ethical implications of research studies and theory, including reference to social

sensitivity (16 marks)

As well as ethical guidelines which psychologists have to adhere to when planning research,
there are also ethical implications when it comes to what the findings might tell us.

This is because psychological research might highlight social issues that stigmatise certain
members of society or even lead to laws being passed that disadvantage some groups.
Seiber and Stanley used the term socially sensitive to describe research that has the potential
to cause negative social consequences for the participants or the group represented by the
study.

There are several things that researchers must consider:

The research question e.g are there racial differences in intelligence may not be an appropriate
topic of study because of the potential social tensions it could produce.
The research methods i.e this refers to the way participants are treated during research and
their rights to confidentiality and anonymity.
The institutional context i.e who is funding the research and how will the findings be used.
The interpretation and application of findings refers to how the findings will be used in the real
world and how people will view them.
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E.g research in whether there is a genetic influence on aggression may be socially sensitive
because of the negative implications findings may have in society e.g the MAOA gene. This is
because it could be used as a potential defence against criminal convictions by suggesting it is
out of the control of the individual. In addition it could lead to laws being passed to test people
with the relevant genes and thus them being stigmatised even if they haven't shown any
antisocial behaviour.

Some researchers have used IQ tests to test whether there are racial differences in intelligence.
The debate is whether or not this is an appropriate topic of research because of the clear social
tensions and effects it could have on different ethnic groups. E.g Yerks gave white and black
soldiers an IQ test and found that the average IQ of white soldiers was higher. However it was
later found that the IQ test used required cultural knowledge of the US and so it was biassed
towards white soldiers. Unfortunately some people still believe these findings today despite the
study being discredited.

Bowlby's research into attachment may also be considered socially sensitive as by suggesting
that the primary caregiver (the mother) being present during the first 2 years of an infant's life
was vital for healthy development. This led to many women giving up their careers to look after
their children thus creating a gender difference in opportunities in the workplace, i.e the theory
could be criticised as promoting sexism.

However some argue that socially sensitive research should still be carried out as the more we
know about society's behaviour, good or bad the better, and it may even have positive effects.
E.g research into the fathers role in attachment showed his importance in healthy cognitive
development led to more men taking paternity leave and evening out gender differences in the
workplace.

Some psychologists propose that the only way to minimise social tensions caused by research
is to avoid studying socially sensitive topics, however this would leave many psychologists
without relevant areas to study. Perhaps we should encourage researchers to take responsibility
for the effects of their findings, thus helping avoid and prevent misuse of data.

Relationships

The evolutionary explanations for partner preferences, including the relationship

between sexual selection and human reproductive behaviour (16 marks)
 71

Evolutionary psychologists believe that the process people use to choose a partner stem from
evolution.

A key part of this explanation is the theory that attractive traits in a potential partner are an
indicator that they would help us pass on our genes successfully e.g singh asked male
participants aged 18-22 to rank drawings of female figures with different waist to hip ratios and
found that drawings with a whr is a reliable indicator of health and ability to trproduce in woman,
and it was this that made the woman appear more attractive.

Evolutionary psychologists suggest that attractive characteristics evolve through sexual

selection. Natural selection is the process where characteristics that make an individual more
likely to reproduce and pass on their genes become more common in a population, and one of
the processes of natural selection is called sexual selection i.e within a species there are certain
characteristics that make an individual more able to find a partner (e.g being physically
attractive) and reproduce. These characteristics give an individual a reproductive advantage.

There are two types of sexual selection :

1. intra-sexual selection - when males compete (often aggressively) and the winner is
rewarded with the female - the female is passive in this process and doesn't choose her
own mate.

2. Inter-sexual selection - takes place when males compete for the attention of a female -
the female plays an active role in choosing her mate.

Evolutionary explanations can also account for gender differences in partner preferences. E.g
buss et al carried out a cross cultural study using questionnaires, which looked at gender
differences in partner preferences across 33 different cultures. They asked about preferences
for things such as marriage, age difference, characteristics in a mate e.g intelligence and
financial prospects.

Buss found that women in all cultures valued factors associated with gaining resources e.g
money and a safe environment more highly than men. However men valued factors associated
with reproductive capacity e.g youth more highly than females. Buss concluded that women
have had limited access to the resources needed to provide for themselves and their offspring in
the past, and therefore they have evolved through sexual selection to select mates who can
provide these resources. There are similar findings across a range of different cultures. Cross
cultural research is important as it suggests universality, providing strong evidence for an
evolutionary explanation of gender differences in sexual selection, because it suggests that
learning has little effect
 72

In addition, buss and schmitt came up with the sexual strategies theory. They suggested that
men and women apply different strategies for choosing partners e.g women try to assess the
quality of a partner's genes whereas men are more concerned with availability and fertility.

(-) In many societies women still don't have the same opportunity to provide for themselves as
men do, and this may have more influence on the differences in partner preference than
evolutionary factors. In addition, some of the evidence for evolutionary explanations of partner
preference comes from studies on other animals, and this evidence may not extrapolate to
human partner preferences e.g. animals act more on instinct but humans have more conscious
control over their behaviour.

(-) Finally, attitudes and women's ability to provide resources for themselves and their children
have changed alot since Buss 1989 study , and therefore the results might be very different if
the study was carried out today i.e the results may be era dependent.

Discuss factors affecting attraction in romantic relationships (16 marks)

Self-disclosure refers to the information we choose to reveal about ourselves within a romantic
relationship. The aim of self-disclosure is to increase the intimacy, understanding and empathy
between two individuals.

An increased understanding of the importance of self-disclosure in building and maintaining

intimacy within relationships can have a real-life practical advantage, as suggested by Hass and
Stafford. They found that for couples with high levels of intimacy and commitment within their
relationships, 57% reported the use of self-disclosure as a way to maintain it. This supports
what was proposed by the social penetration theory; that intimacy and long lasting relationships
can be obtained through penetrating deeper into their partner's life.

In addition, Collins and Miller carried out a meta analysis that showed that people tend to like
somebody more if that person has self disclosed to them. They also found that self disclosing to
someone tends to increase liking for that person.

Physical attractiveness
From an evolutionary standpoint, there are several characteristics which we are innately
attracted to, for benefits in our evolutionary past e.g how fertile a woman was. Cunningham
carried out a survey by asking 75 undergraduate students to rate photos of 50 females for
attractiveness. He found several features that consistently correlated with attractiveness.
- woman with large eyes symmetrical faces as it implies good genes
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- women with a good hip to waist ratio as it's beneficial for childbirth so they are perceived to be
more fertile.

Although physical attractiveness is a broad term, it is not significantly affected by cultural

differences, and so what is considered attractive (factors suggested by cunningham) are
consistent in both individualistic and collectivistic cultures.

Matching hypothesis
Waltser et al developed the matching hypothesis which suggested that people tend to choose
partners of similar attractiveness as themselves. The computer dance tested this hypothesis.
376 boys and girls were sold tickets to a dance and the people selling the tickets secretly rated
each student for attractiveness. The students were unaware of this and were told they were
matched based on similar interests, whereas they were actually randomly selected partners. 4-6
months later the students were contacted to see if they had tried to go on a second date.

They found that participants paired with similarly attractive partners were not significantly more
liked by their date than those paired with someone of different attractiveness. These results
suggest that there was no correlation between similarity of attractiveness in a pair. And so the
matching hypothesis was not supported - the results show that people prefer attractive partners
regardless of their own attractiveness.

Filter theory
The first level of filters are called the sociodemographic characteristics which allows us to form
a ‘field of availables’, these are people to potentially form a relationship with based on factors
e.g proximity.

Secondly is the similarity of attitudes, this narrows down the ‘field of availables’ to people who
a relationship is likely to progress with. This filter is based on sharing similar attitudes and core
values.

Lastly is the complementarity filter, this plays a large role in the long term, as relationships will
further progress if both partners are fulfilling each other's needs. So this filter is based on two
people that complement each other.

Kerckhoff and Davis surveyed university students that were considering marriage, the survey
asked about personalities, attitudes etc. 7 months later they carried out a follow up survey to
see if the couples relationship has progressed towards a permanent partnership.

They found that couples who had been together less than 18 months were more likely to have
progressed towards a permanent partnership if they had similar values. Whereas among
couples who had been together for longer than 18 months it was the couples with
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complementary needs who were more likely to have progressed towards a more permanent
partnership.

Winch supported this study by surveying 25 couples married for less than 2 years. He found a
significantly stronger correlation in spouses between complementary needs e.g needing to be
nurtured and a nurturer.

Theories of romantic relationships (16 marks)

Social exchange theory

SET suggests that people try to maximise the rewards gained from a relationship e.g attention
and self esteem, and minimise the costs e.g time and emotional support. In order for the
relationship to continue, the rewards have to outweigh the costs and there should be a profit left
over. It is similar to cost benefit analysis, but both partners have to feel this in order for the
relationship to be maintained. However, striving to get more and give less could make for an
unequal relationship.

Rusbult developed social exchange theory and came up with the investment model of
commitment. This model suggests that the stability of a relationship and how likely it is to last is
determined by how committed the individuals are to the relationship.
Commitment varies depending on :
● Satisfaction - how well the relationship fulfils a person's needs
● Comparison with alternatives - to what extent the person thinks their needs could be
better fulfilled in another relationship or by not being in a relationship at all.
● Investment - how much the person feels they've put into the relationship (emotionally), in
terms of time etc).

Lee and Agnew carried out a meta-analysis of 52 studies and found a significant correlation
between commitment to a relationship and satisfaction, quality of alternatives and investment.
Commitment level was also found to be a significant predictor of whether participants sayed in
their relationships.

However some psychologists have argued that these theories are reductionist in trying to
describe how relationships are formed - as relationships are actually quite complex.

Comparison level alternative has real world application as it can be used to explain why some
women stay in abusive relationships. Rusbult and marts argue that when you invest a lot into a
relationship e.g children, and you have few alternatives e.g somewhere else to go, the
relationship may be seen as a profitability, so the woman remains in the relationship.
 75

However moghaddam suggests that set only applies to relationships in western cultures where
women expect more from a relationship, and therefore the theory is culturally biassed.

In addition, SET assumes that people want to maximise the benefits of a relationship, while
minimising costs. It could be the result of weighing up the benefits and costs that determines the
maintenance of relationships. It also makes the assumption that all people are selfish.
Finally , the theory does not explain why people leave relationships despite having no
alternative, nor does it suggest how great the disparity in comparison with our previous
relationship, or the relationships that other people have has to be for our current relationship to
become unacceptable.

Equity theory
Equity theory suggests that people strive to achieve a sense of fairness in relationships and feel
distressed if they perceive unfairness. A relationship can be seen as inequitable when one
person believes that they put a lot of effort into the relationship and get very little in return, or
when one person receives a lot from a relationship but gives little in return. Either one of these
situations would leave an individual feeling dissatisfied, and the greater the inequity, the greater
the dissatisfaction.

Stafford and Canary surveyed 200 married couples concerning equity and relationship
satisfaction. They found that relationship satisfaction was highest for spouses who perceived
their relationship to be equitable.

Hatfield et als research also supports equity theory they asked newlyweds to assess what they
and their partner contributed to the relationship and their level of contentment with the marriage:
● The least satisfied were those who were underbenefited (unhappy about giving the most.
● The next least satisfied were those who were overbenefited (perhaps they felt guilty
about giving the least)
● Equal relationships were the most satisfactory.

However there are several limitations to this theory. Clarke and mills argue that a concern for
equity may only characterise relationships between work colleagues rather than romantic
relationships, e.g they suggest that romantic relationships are governed by a desire to respond
to the needs of the partner, rather than any concerns about equity.

Some also argue that relationships in collectivistic cultures are not equitable, particularly for
women, but yet people remain in those relationships and appear to be happy.

Outline and evaluate theories/research into the breakdown of romantic relationships (16
marks)
 76

Ducks phase model

Duck created a stage theory or phase model to explain why relationships break down; it
consisted of 4 stages. intrapsychic phase – one person is privately dissatisfied with the
relationship, considering ending the relationship, worrying about problems to come, considering
expressing dissatisfaction to their partner.
Dyadic stage partners assess each other’s behaviour and evaluate the costs of withdrawing.
Social phase – the breakdown has happened, other people are told/it becomes public, there is
negotiation about practicalities, eg division of assets, childcare responsibilities etc

Duck identified three risk factors for the breakdown of romantic relationships. Lack of skills i.e
not being able to show interest in someone, lack of stimulation i.e boredom, and difficulties in
maintaining the relationship.

(+) Boekhout et al
supported the idea that lack of skills was an important factor in the breakdown of relationships.
He found that extra-marital affairs were often a reaction to a lack of skills or stimulation in a
relationship.

(+) This theory has real world application

because the importance of social skills in a relationship has led to the development of training
programmes to enhance relationship skills. E.g cina et al found that couples who had received
couples training had much higher quality of marriage compared to those who did not receive
training.

(-) Does Not explain why

Ducks phase model is descriptive and doesn't explain why relationships might break down. It
also doesn't take into account any cultural differences in relationships e.g in western cultures
women will have equal say.

(+) Resurrection stage

In 2006 duck updated the model to add the resurrection stage which focuses on the time after
the relationship when each partner re-established themselves as an individual. e.g. new hobbies
and interests, in preparation for a new relationship.

(-) Population bias

A limitation of this type of model is that they tend to be based on the experiences of white
middle class hetrosexual relationships which may not represent the experiences of the wider
population.

(-) Reductionist
 77

Stage theories can also be seen as reductionist as they oversimplify complex issues like
relationship breakdowns. Additionally , ducks model assumes that the relationship is definitely
going to end whereas other models of breakdown e.g. Lee's model, assumes that there is hope
of saving the relationship. Ducks model may also contain beta bias, minimising the differences
between men and women. Men often suggest a lack of sex is responsible for breakdowns,
whereas women often list lack of emotional support as their reason.

(+) Rusbult and Zembrodt

said some people in a relationship actively lead the process e.g to resolve the problems or to
speed up the ending) whereas others are more passive (and believe things will resolve
themselves)

(-) Social Exchange Theory can also be linked to relationship breakdowns. If a partner in a
relationship comes to believe that the costs outweigh the benefits, and if an alternative
relationship seems to offer more, they are more likely to leave the relationship.
Aswell,
According to equity theory, the same is true if the relationship comes to be seen as unfair and
unequal.

In conclusion, duck's phase model is very descriptive i.e it suggests that all people go through
the same stages in the same order which is probably not the case. It also outlines how the
relationships break down but doesn't really focus on why.

Discuss virtual relationships in social media, including the role of self-disclosure and the
absence of gating (16 marks)

Altman and Taylor's social penetration theory suggests that intimacy and closeness develop in
relationships through a gradual process of self disclosure i.e gradually revealing more personal
information about yourself to the other person. Research suggests that self disclosure increases
(share more details and faster as well) when people communicate through social media
because of the anonymity that it provides.

(+) Joinson paired same sex participants and asked them to discuss an abstract dilemma which
simulated conversation. Half of the pairs discussed the dilemma face to face and half discussed
it using a computer chat programme. Transcripts of the discussions were rated on their levels of
self disclosure. The results showed that participants in the computer condition showed
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significantly more self disclosure than the face to face participants. Joinsen concluded that
people disclose more when communicating via computer.

(-) However, Sproull and Kiesers suggested that self disclosure happens less in virtual
relationships due to a reduced number of cues i.e. there are less non verbal cues such as facial
expressions when communicating online compared to face to face, and it is this that leads to
less self disclosure.

Communicating through the internet removes a number of factors that normally in real life would
act as filters or gates stopping interactions in face to face encounters -this is called the
“absence of gating”. E.g level of attractiveness and age group.

Deindividualisation results in a reduction of feelings of responsibility, leading to a loss of

inhibition and individuals can say things online that they never would in real life. This can lead to
feelings of closeness and intimacy but also behaviours like sexting and trolling.

However, people can manipulate their online identity and show a hyper honest or hyper
dishonest version of themselves (Hyperpersonal model)
e.g
(+) In a survey of 2000 American participants carried out by Smith and Duggan, they found that
the use of online dating is becoming more accepted. With 53% of people agreeing that “online
dating allows people to find a better match because they can meet more people”, with the
biggest reason for online dating being for meeting people with similar hobbies, beliefs and
values.

This suggests that people see the internet as a way of overcoming filters/gates by being able to
meet more people and get to know them through self disclosure of personal interests. However
some are able to take advantage of the animosity and show a dishonest version of themselves.

(+) Mckenna and Bargh showed that after 2 years 70% of relationships formed online had
lasted compared to only 50% of those formed in real life.

(-) However, some research/theories on virtual relationships may lack temporal validity e.g early
computer interactions had an absence of gates, but the development of media like
skype/facetime has introduced more non-verbal communication.

(-) Furthermore, a dependence on virtual relationships may lead to negative social

consequences e.g people may lose the ability to read nonverbal cues e.g facial expressions.

(+) However, there are significant benefits to virtual relationships e.g. lonely people and people
and people with social anxiety can still meet potential partners.
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Discuss parasocial relationships, including levels of parasocial relationships, the

absorption addiction model and the attachment theory explanation (16 marks)

Parasocial relationships are one sided relationships where one person invests a lot of
emotion, energy and time in another person (often a celebrity) in most cases, that person is
totally unaware of the other person's existence.

According to McCutcheon there are 3 levels of PSR’s

1. entertainment - social = the relationship with the celebrity is fun and is shared with your
social group.
2. Intense personal = obsessive thoughts about the celebrity start to develop
3. Borderline - pathological = obsessive thoughts develop into fantasies (e.g that the
celebrity is my boyfriend) and it may lead to behaviours such as stalking.

Attachment theory
Bowlby suggested that we form close attachments with our caregivers and these attachments
form a template or internal working model for all future relationships. If a person does not form
these attachments in early childhood then it can lead to insecure attachment, which may make
the person more likely to form PSR’s which have no fear of rejection.

(-) Mccutchen et al
carried out a questionnaire asking over 250 university students various questions about their
personality types and their views on celebrities. However he found no correlation between
insecurely attached individuals and forming parasocial relationships.

(+) Robert
carried out a survey asking 200 students similar questions to McCutchen and found a positive
correlation between insecurely attached individuals and frequently contacting celebrities.
This supports Bowlby's idea that there is a link between childhood attachments and parasocial
relationships.

(+) Kienlen et al
supported the idea that poor attachment in childhood may lead to the development of
borderline pathological level ( the 3rd phase of PRS’s). He investigated the past experiences
of stalkers and found that 63% experienced a loss of caregiver in early childhood, while 50%
experienced emotional and physical abuse.
 80

(-) research has methodological flaws

The research studies that form the basis of the theories on parasocial relationships are flawed.
Because correlational research can only demonstrate a link between 2 variables it ignores any
possible unmeasured extraneous variables which could have affected the outcome (e.g.
whether someone forms a parasocial relationship or not). Furthermore much of the research is
highly reliant on self report e.g their relationships with their parents, which could be subject to
social desirability bias or poor memory. Ultimately if the studies that formed the parasocial
relationship theories are flawed then the validity of the model as a whole could be questioned.

Absorption addiction model

Suggests that people form PSR’s when they have weak sense of identity and following a
celebrity gives them a sense of fulfilment.

McCutchen outlines 2 stages to the model;

● Absorption - the individual becomes absorbed by following the celebrity and the
relationship becomes a form of escapism.
● Addiction - the PSR can become addictive if the person becomes obsessed with the
celebrity and this can lead to behaviour such as stalking.

(+) Maltby et al
studied the connection between parasocial relationships and mental health, he found a positive
correlation between levels of depression and anxiety and the frequency of more extreme
parasocial relationships, which matches the models predictions.
This showed that participants who engaged in parasocial relationships were usually functioning
less well psychologically.

(-) However this model has been criticised for overlooking the positive aspects of celebrity
interactions e.g being part of a social group and creating a stigma around parasocial
relationships that could be healthy with poor mental health.

(-) The studies supporting this model are majorly based in western countries and so may be
subject to cultural bias e.g more common in countries with social media. And so results may not
be generalised to other countries.

Schizophrenia
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Outline and evaluate issues associated with the classification and diagnosis of
schizophrenia (16 marks)

The problems surrounding the diagnosis and classifications of schizophrenia lie in the methods
reliability and validity.

Reliability of diagnosing schizophrenia is when the process of diagnosing (the DSM 5 manual
and the psychiatrist) is consistent over time. I.e other psychiatrists would also diagnose the
individual
Validity of the diagnosing is whether or not the diagnosis system actually assesses what it
claims to be assessing. I.e that those diagnosed with schizophrenia actually have
schizophrenia.

One issue is that there are two different classification manuals which have slightly different ways
of identifying the same condition; these are called the DSM-5 and the ICD-11. e.g. different time
scales are used in each manual to determine how long the symptoms have to occur for before
they are considered schizophrenic. The issues with this are different countries may use different
classification systems, meaning the standard for what's considered schizophrenic will vary
between countries and psychiatrists. Ultimately this may lead to there being higher or lower
incidences of schizophrenia than there actually are in some countries.
Copeland found that 69% of American psychiatrists diagnosed schizophrenia but only 2% of
English psychiatrists gave the same diagnosis. The issue with this is that there isn't a universal
method of diagnosing schizophrenia and so some methods may be less reliable than others.

Research has shown that there is a significant variation in the amount of diagnosed individuals
between cultures. I.e culture has had an influence on the diagnosis process.
This may be because there are cultural differences in what is perceived as abnormal, i.e in
western countries symptoms like hearing voices is considered mentally ill and the individual
should seek help to treat the condition. Whereas in some cultures ‘hearing voices’ is seen as a
good thing, luhrmann et al showed that Indian and ghanain schizophrenics viewed the voices as
“advice giving” and stated that the negative hatred filled voices were not an inevitable feature of
schizophrenia.

Furthermore, many of the symptoms that are used as criteria to diagnose schizophrenics are
also found in other mental disorders such as depression and bipolar disorder, this is called
system overlap. The issue with this is that it's difficult to determine which disorder the individual
actually has which could lead to incorrect diagnosis and hence the individual not receiving the
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correct treatment. The symptoms for schizophrenia overlap with other disorders so much so that
most schizophrenics have sufficient symptoms to be diagnosed with at least one other illness.
E.g Ellason and Ross pointed out that people with Dissociative identity disorder actually have
more schizophrenic symptoms than people diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Finally, the diagnosis of schizophrenia is thought to be subject to gender bias, this is when
psychiatrists describe the behaviour of men and women in such a way that may not accurately
represent one of the genders. I.e the accuracy of the diagnosis is dependent on the gender of
the individual.
E.g Boverman et al found that clinicians in the U.S equated mentally healthy adult behaviour to
mentally healthy men, and consequently this meant women were more likely to be perceived as
less mentally healthy.

Overall the main issue with the diagnosis of schizophrenia is that the classification of the
disorder is difficult to determine as symptoms aren't specific to just one illness, and so different
psychiatrists use different means to diagnose individuals. This makes the diagnoses and
classification of schizophrenia variable based on the judgement of psychiatrists. Hence it is less
accurate compared to other mental disorders.

Outline and evaluate genetics as a biological explanation for schizophrenia (8

marks)

Genetic explanations suggest that schizophrenia is inherited.

Twin studies have provided good evidence for a genetic explanation by investigating
concordance rates between schizophrenic twins. Gottsman summarised 40 studies varying in
the severity of schizophrenic symptoms. Results found that 48% of individuals with a
schizophrenic identical twin were also diagnosed with schizophrenia. Whereas only 17% of
individuals with a schizophrenic fraternal twin were also schizophrenic.

(+) These findings suggest that genetic factors play an important role in the development of
schizophrenia. Gottsmen also reported that the concordance rate for twins raised apart was
very similar to those brought up together. This suggests that high concordance rates for
identical twins was not due to them being treated in a similar way by the family, i.e
environmental factors had little effect on the development of schizophrenia.

However, the concordance rate is not 100% therefore it cannot be completely caused by genes.
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(-) One limiting factor of twin studies is the assumption that the environments of MZ twins and
DZ twins are similar. It is therefore assumed that the higher concordance rates in MZ twins is
because of higher genetic similarity. However, as Joseph pointed out, it is widely accepted that
MZ twins are treated more similarly, encounter more similar environments e.g more likely to do
the same things, and more likely to experience identity confusion i.e being treated like ‘twins’
rather than individuals. As a result there is reason to believe that the differences in concordance
rates between MZ and DZ twins reflect nothing more than the environmental differences.

Adoption studies have also supported the idea that genetic factors are important in the
development of schizophrenia. Tienari found that 10.3% of adopted children who had
schizophrenic mothers also developed schizophrenia, compared to only 1.1% of children
without schizophrenic mothers.

However, these studies also show the environment to be an important factor. Children at genetic
risk because of schizophrenic mothers had good psychological health if raised by an adopted
families low in communication deviance (i.e they communicated very clearly)
This suggests that although genetic factors are important in the development of schizophrenia,
environmental factors are also important.

Outline and evaluate the dopamine hypothesis as a biological explanation for

schizophrenia (8 marks)

It has been suggested that schizophrenia might be a result of abnormally high levels of the
neurotransmitter dopamine, or possibly that the receptors in the patient's brain are more
sensitive to dopamine.

Dopamine hypothesis suggests that patients schizophrenia had excessive levels of dopamine,
evidence for this theory comes from several sources:
- Antipsychotic drugs used to treat schizophrenics have the ability to block dopamine
receptors and therefore reduce symptoms of schizophrenia.
- The use of a drug called L-dopa which has the ability to increase dopamine levels has
been used on animals and shown to produce many of the symptoms of schizophrenia.
- And finally, post mortem examinations have shown that patients with schizophrenia have
higher densities of dopamine receptors in certain parts of the brain than those without.
However, it is very difficult to measure an individual's dopamine levels, except either by post
mortem examination or by taking fluid from the spine.

But, with the development of brain imaging techniques they are starting to provide more detailed
evidence. Wong found that individuals with schizophrenia had more than twice as many
dopamine receptors than the control group.
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(+) Much of the evidence for the dopamine hypothesis comes from the success of drug
treatments that attempt to change dopamine activity in the brain. E.g leucht et al carried out a
meta-analysis of 212 studies that had analysed the effects of different antipsychotic drugs
compared with a placebo. They found that all drugs tested were significantly more effective than
the placebo in the treatment of positive and negative symptoms, achieved through the
normalisation of dopamine .

(-) However, Monsief claims that the evidence for the dopamine hypothesis is far from
conclusive, e.g although stimulants such as cocaine have been shown to induce schizophrenic
episodes, such stimulants are known to affect many neurotransmitters other than dopamine.
Monsief also pointed out that other sources of dopamine release e.g. cigarettes have not been
considered. Therefore the theory that schizophrenia is caused by overactivity of the
dopaminergic system is not fully supported by current evidence.

Psychological explanations for schizophrenia: family dysfunction (8 marks)

The family dysfunction explanation for schizophrenia suggests hostile communication and
maladaptive relationships within a family can act as stressors that may lead to the development
of schizophrenia.
The double bind theory suggests that when parents give contradictory messages e.g asking for
a hug and then turning and stiffening it causes the individual to show social withdrawal to
escape the uncomfortable situation. This in turn may act as a stressor leading to the
development of schizophrenia. These interactions prevent the development of an internally
coherent construction of reality.

Another explanation is that families that are consistently hostile have a negative influence on the
individual causing a reduction in emotional expression. This is more significant in relapsing
individuals who may have returned to a hostile family after recovery.

(+) Tienari et al found that children with schizophrenic biological mothers were 31% more likely
to develop schizophrenia when adopted into dysfunctional families compared to functional ones.
This supports the influence of family relationships on the development of schizophrenia. As well
as this it also highlights how biological vulnerability increases the effects of environmental
stressors on the development of schizophrenia.

(-) However, this cannot be a full explanation for schizophrenia as some individuals grow up in
healthy families and still develop schizophrenia.

(-) Furthermore the explanation has been criticised for being reductionist, this is because it
ignores the influence of genetic/biological factors on aggression e.g abnormal levels of
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dopamine. Instead it places all blame on the parents and the home environment, thus reducing
the complex disorder to just one explanation.

Cognitive explanation for schizophrenia (4 marks)

This explanation suggests that the cognitive impairments shown by people with schizophrenia
e.g poor attention, and disorganised thinking play an important role in the development and
maintenance of schizophrenia.

E.g Mckenna suggested that symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations might all depend
on the poor ability of a person with schizophrenia to concentrate or an inability to focus attention
on one thing.

Frith argued that delusions of control and auditory hallucinations might occur because
individuals with schizophrenia have problems with self monitoring and so fail to keep track of
their own thoughts and intentions. They may also mistakenly think their own thoughts come
from someone else.

Outline and evaluate drug therapy as a treatment for schizophrenia (16 marks)

Typical antipsychotic drugs inhibit the effects of the neurotransmitter dopamine which is
thought to be heavily associated with schizophrenia thus minimising the symptoms associated
with the disorder. They do this by binding to the D2 receptor and preventing dopamine from
being received by those receptors. They tend to be more effective at helping patients with
positive symptoms e.g hallucinations.

Whereas Atypical drugs only temporarily inhibit the neurotransmitter dopamine, as after
they've binded to the D2 receptor they rapidly disassociate allowing normal dopamine
transmission to occur. Aswell as this, Atypical drugs also have a higher affinity for serotonin.
This has proven to work more effectively on reducing negative symptoms e.g loss of motivation.
Because atypical antipsychotic drugs have very little effect on the dopamine systems that
control movement, they tend not to cause the movement problems found with the use of typical
antipsychotic drugs.

Support for the effectiveness of antipsychotics comes from studies comparing the real drug to a
placebo. E.g Leucht et al carried out a meta-analysis of 65 studies involving 6000 patients in
which all patients had been stabilised using antipsychotic drugs. Some patients were taken off
their antipsychotic medication and given a placebo instead, and the other participants were kept
on their regular medication. The results showed that within 12 months 64% of the patients who
had been given the placebo had relapsed, compared to 27% of those who stayed on the
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antipsychotic drug. Leucht concluded that antipsychotic drugs are efficient at minimising the
symptoms of schizophrenia.

However, one weakness of antipsychotic drugs is that they can produce a variety of side effects.
E.g because typical antipsychotic drugs affect the dopamine systems that control motor
functions (the extrapyramidal area of the brain) the drugs can sometimes cause movement
problems for the patient. More than half the patients taking typical antipsychotic drugs will
experience symptoms that resemble parkinson's disease.
After taking antipsychotic drugs for an extended period of time, a second extrapyramidal side
effect called tardive dyskinesia can occur. This is an involuntary movement of the jaw, which can
be so distressing for the patient that the patient may stop taking their medication completely.

On the other hand, one key advantage of atypical antipsychotic drugs is that patients
experience fewer side effects. Particularly the more recently developed antipsychotics which are
less likely to produce the extrapyramidal effects often found with typical antipsychotics.
Therefore patients are more likely to continue with their medication, which in turn means they
are more likely to see a reduction in their symptoms.

The introduction of atypical antipsychotic drugs has led to claims of them being more efficient
than the ‘older’ typical drugs. Crossley et al carried out a meta analysis of 15 studies to examine
the efficacy of atypical drugs on reducing symptoms and side effects compared to typical drugs.
Results showed no significant difference in the reduction of symptoms however did note
differences in the types of side effects the patients experienced. They found that those on
atypical drugs gained more weight than those on the typicals, whereas those on typical drugs
experienced more extrapyramidal side effects. They concluded there was no difference in
efficacy in the two drug types however there was a clear difference in the side effect profile.

The problems associated with the use of antipsychotic medication raise significant ethical
issues. This is because some argue that if side effects, deaths and psychosocial consequences
were taken into account, a cost-benefit analysis of its advantages and disadvantages would
most probably be negative. E.g a large out-of-court settlement was awarded to a patient
suffering tardive dyskinesia on the basis of article 3 of the human rights act, which states that no
one shall be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Cognitive behaviour therapy and family therapy as used in the treatment of

schizophrenia. Token economies as used in the management of schizophrenia (16
marks)

CBT and family therapy are used in the treatment of schizophrenia

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Token economies are used in the management of schizophrenia

Cognitive behaviour therapy

CBT is based on the idea that some individuals have irrational thoughts and beliefs about
themselves and the world around them. These irrational thoughts are typically negative and self
defeating. A central goal of CBT is to eliminate these irrational thoughts and beliefs by
challenging them and demonstrating they are wrong. In combination with drug therapy CBT has
been effective at helping schizophrenic patients.

- Change patients thoughts and beliefs

- Change behaviour in a desirable way

The use of CBT to help schizophrenic patients has been enhanced by the discovery that many
patients actively engage in coping strategies to control their delusions and hallucinations e.g.
distractions (turning up the TV), concentrating on a particular task and positive self talk. CBT for
schizophrenia has focused mainly on the positive symptoms of hallucinations and delusions.

Family therapy
It has been shown that high levels of expressed emotion (e.g hostility and criticism) within the
families of patients with schizophrenia are associated with relapse and negative outcomes. This
suggests that therapy with a focus on social dynamics within a family might prove beneficial in
helping schizophrenic patients. Fallon et al devised a form of family management to be used
when the patient returned home from hospital. It is based on teaching everyone in the family
how to be constructive, undemanding and empathetic in their feelings with each other and the
schizophrenic relative.

Family therapy is nearly always used in addition to drug therapy. Research has compared
individuals having family therapy with patients having individual therapy. In terms of hospital
readmission rates within 1 year, 50% of those in individual therapy returned to hospital
compared to 11% of those in family relationships.

Token economies

Token economies are based on the principles of operant conditioning in order to modify
undesirable behaviours into new ones. There are 3 main steps to setting up a token economy:
- Firstly the therapist would identify the undesirable or maladaptive behaviour and thus
what the desirable behaviour would be.
- Secondly they would remove any reinforcers in the environment that might be
maintaining the undesirable behaviour.
- Lastly they would give a reward for desirable behaviours (token)
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The token positively reinforces the desirable behaviour as it is given when the behaviour is
completed, the token can be exchanged for tangible items e.g a cigarette.
This technique is useful for patients who have become institutionalised and have developed bad
habits like struggling to get dressed in the morning. It helps improve their quality of life whilst
preparing them for their lives outside of the institution when they are released.

Each patient is treated individually and specific target behaviours for each person are identified.
The tokens should be given immediately after the desirable behaviour is produced, as if there is
a delay it can reduce the effectiveness of teh therapy.

(+) In support of token economies there has been research to support effectiveness. Glowacki
et al found that, in 7 studies there was a reduction in negative symptoms and a decline in
undesirable behaviours as a result of using token economies.

(-) Not a cure

However one weakness of using token economies to treat schizophrenia is that it is not a cure
for the illness. The therapy does not address the symptoms of schizophrenia and so can not be
used as a standalone treatment. Also once patients leave the hospital it is difficult to continue its
use as there is no way to administer tokens when they are in the real world. Therefore, the
therapy only really helps patients in the short term, whilst they are under the care of mental
health professionals. However it could be argued that token economies enable a patient to
make enough recovery to be discharged from hospital and then undertake other longer term
treatments, such as CBT.

(-) Ethics
Another weakness of token economies is that there is concern over ethics. This is because for
those with severe symptoms that are more difficult to control, they will receive less rewards than
those with less severe symptoms. This can lead to the patient feeling discriminated against,
causing them to feel distress and potentially worsen their symptoms. Therefore it could be
argued that the ethical costs outweigh the benefits of using token economies.

The interactionist approach to explaining and treating schizophrenia (16 marks)

Integrated model of schizophrenia

A problem with any psychological model of schizophrenia is that it deals adequately with one
aspect of the disorder (e.g cognitive impairment) but fails to explain, or ignores, another aspect
(e.g neurochemical changes). Howes and Murray addressed this problem with an integrated
model of schizophrenia. They argue that early vulnerability factors e.g genes, together with
exposure to stressors, sensitises the dopamine system, causing it to increase the release of
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dopamine. Biassed cognitive processing of this increased dopamine activity results in paranoia
and hallucinations, and eventually the development of psychosis. This contributes to the stress
experienced by the individual, leading to more dopamine release, more symptoms and so on.

Diathesis stress model

Explains mental disorders as the result of an interaction between biological vulnerability and
environmental stressors. It considers the combined effects of internal vulnerability and
environmental stress triggers.
I.e symptoms of schizophrenia are triggered or made worse when stressors are combined with a
biological vulnerability to the disorder. This model might therefore explain why not all people
who have a genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia develop the disorder.
This model can be used in explaining and treating schizophrenia.

However the diathesis stress model emphasises vulnerability in terms of genetic influences
alone, which are assumed to cause neurochemical abnormalities that, in turn, result in an
increased risk for schizophrenia. However this vulnerability can also be caused by unhealthy
brain development caused by environmental factors in a child's upbringing.
E.g Verdoux et al estimated that the risk of developing schizophrenia later in life for individuals
who have experienced complications at birth is 4 times greater than those who experienced no
such complications.

Tienari et al
Adopted children from schizophrenic mothers (high risk group) were compared to adopted
children from healthy mothers without the genetic risk (low risk group). Both groups were
assessed after an interval of 12 years and then 21 years, the psychiatrists also assessed family
functioning in the adoptive families measuring aspects like parent-offspring conflict.
Results showed that of the 303 adoptees, 14 had developed schizophrenia over the course of
the study, with 11 of the 14 being from the high risk group. With being adopted into a healthy
adoptive family having a protective effect even for those with the high genetic risk. I.e high risk
individuals adopted into healthy families were far less likely to develop schizophrenia despite
being genetically vulnerable.

However, when the psychiatrists assessed the stress in the adoptive families they were only
assessing family functioning at one time. And Tienari acknowledges that this fails to reflect
developmental changes in family functioning over time. And so the study may lack internal
validity.

The diathesis stress model often looks to and makes references to stressors that occur close to
the onset of schizophrenia However it is possible that stressors earlier in life can also influence
how people respond to later stressful events and increase their future susceptibility to the
disorder. E.g Hammen argues that maladaptive methods of coping with stress in childhood and
throughout development means that the individual fails to develop effective coping skills, which
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in turn compromises their resilience and increases vulnerability to the disorder. Ineffective
coping skills may make life generally more stressful for individuals and so trigger mental illness.

The interactionist approach is a much more comprehensive explanation for schizophrenia

compared to the more extreme approaches e.g biological which suggests that the disorder is
solely caused by the presence or absence of certain genes. Whereas the interactionist
approach acknowledges both sides of the argument, potentially giving a more accurate account
for schizophrenia.

Aggression

Discuss neural hormonal mechanisms in aggression, including the roles of the limbic
system, serotonin and testosterone (16 marks)

The limbic system (amygdala, the hippocampus and the hypothalamus) is associated with
emotion and memory that affect aggression.
It's also connected to the prefrontal cortex, temporal lobe + limbic system are linked to
different forms of aggression.
Stimulation of the amygdala can increase or decrease aggression.
Amygdala has a strong connection to aggression - attaches emotional significance to sensory
info. Can cause or reduce aggression.
Prefrontal cortex - regulates social behaviour and aggressive responses. Damage to this would
reduce the inhibition, resulting in higher levels of aggression.

Keiver and Bucy removed parts of the limbic system from monkeys i.e the amygdala. The
monkeys displayed lack of emotional reactions associated with fear + anger.
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Monkeys with removed parts lost the understanding of group hierarchies and would try to fight
the more dominant members.
This demonstrates the importance of the limbic system in regulating aggressive behaviour.
However, research on monkeys may not apply to humans.

MRI scans investigate the relationship between neural structures and aggressive behaviour.
Wong et al looked at MRI scans of 29 violent criminals and compared the size of amygdala with
20 control subjects (non violent). Found that the volume of amygdala was smaller in criminals.
Suggests it is linked to aggression.
However, there is a lack of population validity and whether it can be generalised to the wider
population i.e research was male dominated (gender bias) as well as beta bias as study is
generalised to both men and women.

Serotonin works to inhibit the firing of the amygdala, which controls fear and anger.
E.g Ferarri et al found that allowing rats to fight caused their serotonin levels to drop by 35%.
However, this suggests that aggression causes serotonin levels to drop rather than the other
way round.

Testosterone is the male sex hormone that usually peaks in young males before declining with
age. Men produce more testosterone than women, and so they are statistically more likely to
engage in violent behaviour. E.g a high proportion of people in the uk arrested for violence are
men. It has been argued that it indicates testosterone is linked to aggression.

Psychologists questioned if testosterone was implicated in aggression and wanted to test out in
theory by castrating animals. Wagner castrated mice and found that aggression levels went
down. However, Wagner's research only provides correlational support for the cause of
aggression, as it only demonstrates that with lowered testosterone comes lowered aggression.

E.g Van Goozen looked at female to male and male to female participants (transgenders) who
were taking opposite sex hormones when transitioning he found that female to male reported an
increase in feelings of aggression whereas male to female participants reported a decrease.
These results suggest that testosterone is linked to aggressive behaviour. However, although
this suggests cause and effect, the participants may have been showing demand characteristics
and conforming to their new gender stereotype.

Much of the hormonal research on humans has focused on men so it may be androcentric
(focusing only on men) and the results may not extrapolate to the wider population.

Neural/hormonal explanations of aggression are reductionist as they only focus on biological

factors, overlooking social issues such as environmental and upbringing. As a result it can be
seen as a one dimensional explanation of aggression.
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The ethological explanation of aggression, including reference to innate releasing

mechanisms and fixed action patterns (16 marks)

Ethology is where we learn about human psychology from studying other animals.

Lorenz suggested that aggression was an innate response to environmental stimuli.

Innate releasing mechanisms (IRM) - a set of neural circuits that a species inherits. These are
triggered by a cue or ‘sign stimulus’ from our environment e.g. a sheep dog is born with an IRM
to herd - the ‘sign stimulus’ could be the presence of an animal (e.g. sheep) in its environment.
Fixed action patterns (FAP) - automatic behaviours within a species that are triggered by the
innate releasing mechanism e.g. a sheep dog will start herding when the IRM is triggered.

Characteristics of Fixed action patterns:

1. Stereotyped - the behaviour always occurs in the same way (in the same species)
2. Universal - the behaviour is the same in all conspecifics e.g. all dogs bark the same
3. Independent of individual experience - the behaviour is innate, with no leaning
involved e.g. baby's cry for attention
4. Ballistic - once triggered, the fixed action pattern cannot be changed or stopped e.g.
dog wont stop barking
5. Specific triggers - each fixed action pattern has a specific trigger e.g. sheep for a sheep
dog.

+Timburgen looked at male stickleback fish, and noticed that they produced a fixed series of
aggression upon encountering another male. However he found that the sign stimulus wasnt the
other male, but instead the sight of its red underbelly. I.e if this was covered then no aggression
would occur and the intruder would be attacked. Because the stickleback even attacked
unrealistic fish models with a painted red underside, Timburgen concluded that the sign stimulus
was the colour red which triggered the IRM which triggered the FAP to occur.

Lorenz suggested that the potential for any aggressive behaviour builds up over time and will
be released when the sign stimulus is recognised. This depletes that energy and the FAP won't
happen again until that energy has been replenished (Hydraulic model). Lorenz used this to
explain why animals don't always show an FAP.

Ritualised aggression
Often aggression is not fighting, but ritualised threat displays e.g. dog barking or bearing its
teeth. This allows contestants to assess their relative strength before deciding to escalate the
conflict or withdraw. This makes costly and dangerous violent behaviour less likely to occur
which could affect their ability to pass on their genes.
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Lorenz claimed that sport was an example of harmless ritualised aggression released in
humans, and argued that sport was an important method for reducing aggression in society.

Lorenz found that wolves, which have the potential to kill each other, would show their jugular
vein in a fight if they were losing as a way of showing submission rather than risk being killed,
which is bad for a species from an evolutionary point of view.

However, Lehmen criticised lorenz's innate explanation of aggression in terms of being too
reductionist e.g. he suggested that lorenz had underestimated the role of environmental factors
in terms of aggressive behaviour. He claimed that environmental factors e.g. learned behaviour,
interacted with innate factors in complex ways, and that learned behaviour could actually
override IRMs. These views have caused the term fixed action patterns to be changed to the
term behaviour patterns.

This theory could explain why humans kill each other relatively often - without weapons human
fighting isn't usually lethal, so we haven't evolved to back down. However, now that we have
access to weapons, fights are more likely to kill.

However, the ethological theory doesn't explain aggression which isn't an immediate response
to an environmental stimulus, e.g. a premeditated murder.

Discuss Social psychological explanations of human aggression: frustration-aggression

hypothesis, Social Learning Theory as applied to human aggression and deindividuation
(16 marks)

Social Learning Theory suggests that aggressive behaviour is learned by observing and
imitating the behaviour of aggressive models. An example of this modelling is through vicarious
reinforcement where people would watch videos of other people play violent games and receive
rewards for aggressive behaviour, thereby becoming a model.

E.g. Bandura’s Bobo doll in which children observed videos of a model behaving aggressively
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towards a bobo doll with the model either being rewarded, punished or neither (in the control
group). He found that those who viewed the reward condition behaved more aggressively
towards the doll than those who viewed the model-punishment condition which therefore
illustrates how children can learn aggression through vicarious reinforcement.

(-) However, the Bobo doll experiment has several methodological flaws - e.g. it could be argued
that because the bobo doll is meant for aggressive play and the children had just seen the
adult/model being aggressive towards it, they may have been showing demand characteristics.
(-) In addition, while they may have been aggressive immediately after watching the adult being
aggressive with the doll, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it affected their aggression levels in the
long term.

Dollard et al proposed the Frustration-Aggression hypothesis and where they argued that
aggression was the result of frustration (defined to be caused by interference with the attempts
to reach a goal) which then always leads to aggression (either behaviour or thoughts, or feeling
aggressive). They hypothesised that the strength of aggression was dictated by the
severity/degree of frustration. This degree of frustration is dependent on the significance of the
goal set (how much the goal is wanted) and how close you were to achieving the goal.

(+) Buss supported this theory with his findings that cases of frustration can increase the
frequency of aggression e.g. when participants were frustrated when they were prevented from
winning money, showed slightly more aggressive behaviour than the control group (that wasn't
frustrated).

(-) However, the idea that frustration always leads to some form of aggressive behaviour
(thoughts, actions or feelings) was widely disputed leading to further research by Buss who
found contradictory information to his previous findings, now, found no link between frustration
and aggression.

(+) Harris found that people are more likely to show aggression the closer they are to achieving
their goal e.g. we show more frustration and aggression when somebody cuts in front of us in a
queue rather than behind us.

Deindividuation results in a reduction of feeling of responsibility and fear of public disapproval

when made an anonymous member of a crowd or anonymous through fake names online,
leading to disinhibition compared to when an individual can be identified.

(+) Support for deindividuation comes from Zimbardo’s study showing anonymity did affect
behaviour with participants administering shocks to learning participants. Using different
conditions, individuated and deindividuated, where the participants introduced themselves or
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were made anonymous through no reference of name and wearing hoods. Zimbardo found that
deindividuated participants gave longer and higher shocks.

(-) However, there is evidence to the contrary showing that deindividuation (due to being in a
crowd) can have no effect or even decrease aggression e.g. crowds of religious festivals often
expressed more goodwill suggesting a conformity to a pro-social group norm which may cause
the individual to behave that way too.

Discuss institutional aggression in the context of prison e.g. dispositional and situational
explanations (16 marks)

Institutionalisation aggression refers to aggressive behaviours adopted by members of an

institution, e.g. prisons may form gangs that commit violence against other inmates.
Theorists believe there are 2 main approaches to explaining institutional aggression within an
institutional environment e.g. prisons.

The situational approach - prisons make people aggressive i.e the situation is to blame

Situational explanations claim that institutional aggression is caused by the environment in the
institution. The deprivation model (sykes) states that conditions e.g. overcrowding in prisons
causes stress, later causing aggression. Sykes suggested this occurs as prisoners experience a
particular type of deprivation called ‘pains of imprisonment’, causing feelings of loss of
autonomy, liberty etc.
This results in some inmates acting aggressively towards others in order to reduce stress and
obtain resources. Aggression is a way in which prisoners can gain some control over the social
order imposed on them in prison.

(+) Johnstons research found that prison overcrowding led to increased aggression as there
was more competition for resources and tendency to adopt violent behaviour i.e. the prison
system itself is responsible for a change in behaviour of the inmates and could be the cause of
institutional aggression, supporting the deprivation model.

(+) A study at Woodhill prison found that giving prisoners more space, more light and softer
furnishing led to decreases in aggression.

(-) However mcCorkle et al investigated aggression in 371 state prisons in the US. He found
little evidence to support the link between violence and overcrowding and highlights that stress
is experienced by most individuals in a prison environment, yet not all individuals resort to
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aggression i.e. the assumption that stress and frustration always leads to aggression is a flawed
presumption.

The dispositional approach - prisoners are aggressive people who make the
prisons violent. It proposes that institutional aggression stems from the individual's disposition
e.g. their characteristics and traits.

Irwin and Cressey suggested that the characteristics and social norms which inmates bring into
prison are the main factors that lead to institutionalised aggression e.g. if an individual comes
from a subculture where violence is the norm, then they will continue to be violent in the prison -
criminal gangs. This is called the importation model i.e. inmates import characteristics from
their lives outside.

(+) Support for this explanation comes from Harer and Steffensmeier, who looked at data from
male prisoners and found that levels of violent behaviour were significantly higher amongst
black inmates, whereas drug offences were significantly higher amongst white inmates. These
results mirror US society outside of prison i.e. supporting the importation model that inmates
import their characteristics into the prison setting because of the individual's disposition.

(-) However, Delisi studied male inmates in US prisons and found no correlation between
violence in prisoners and previous gang members. It would be expected that gang members
would be more likely to display aggression inside prisons. This refutes the dispositional
explanation for institutionalised aggression.

Research evidence for dispositional and situational explanation of institutional aggression in

prisons is often contradictory i.e in practise both factors probably play a part in the occurrence of
aggression.

Discuss media influences on aggression, including the effects of computer games. The
role of desensitisation and cognitive priming (16 marks)

Social Learning Theory suggests that we imitate behaviour we observe. E.g Bandura showed
that infants often recreated aggressive actions they were previously exposed to.
It is thought that the same applies to observing violence through media e.g films or video
games.
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There are several theories about how seeing violence in the media might lead to aggressive
behaviour in real life including :

Desensitisation People become physiologically aroused by aggression and feel empathy

towards the victim, however this arousal may be reduced if the amount of violence we are
exposed to is increased. I.e people no longer get shocked by violence as they are desensitised
to it. Which means they become more violent themselves.
E.g. Carnagey et al asked participants to play violent or non violent video games and then
watch a short clip containing scenes of real life violence. Their sweat and heart rates were
monitored and those who had previously played violent video games had lower heart rate and
less sweating when watching the real life violence. This physiological difference demonstrated a
psychological desensitisation to violence.

Disinhibition is when most people have inhibitions about behaving aggressively, it's seen as
unacceptable, however seeing violence repeatedly in the media may mean it begins to seem
acceptable as people become accustomed to it (people become disinhibited).
A practical application for disinhibition is its use in the American army's recruiting process. By
using violent video games the army is able to identify and recruit individuals with an interest in
violence and a disinhibition to aggression. This is beneficial for future soldiers as they are likely
to have to behave violently to ensure their own survival.

Cognitive priming is when cues associated with violence e.g guns in media trigger aggression
in us when we see them in real life. This is because we are primed to retrieve these memories
of violence if we are exposed to the cues in a similar context the memory may lead to
reproducing the aggressive behaviour.
E.g. Bushman tested this hypothesis and showed a short violent film to one group of
participants and a non violent film to another group. Participants who watched the violent film
had faster reaction times to aggressive words shown to them compared to those in the control
group; this suggests that they were primed for aggression.

Paik and comstock

Conducted a meta analysis studying the impact of media violence on behaviour.
The results showed that there was a significant correlation between watching violent television
and violent behaviour. Furthermore there was a more significant correlation for men, and those
who watched violent cartoons also showed more aggressive behaviour than people who
watched other types of films.
These results suggest that there is a correlation between aggressive behaviour and watching
violent media.

However, the results can only show a correlation, and not a casual relationship e.g more
aggressive people are simply just more likely to choose more violent and aggressive media.
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Furthermore, many of the experiments took place in laboratories and therefore may lack
ecological validity making it difficult to generalise the results to real life aggression.

Charlton et al studied children in st. Helena, before and after television, was introduced to the
island in 1995. They observed children aged 2-8 in the school playground before television and
children the same age 5 years after TV was introduced. The results showed a very slight
decrease in anti social behaviour in the post television group.

Research findings from studies on the effect of aggressive / violent media on children's
behaviour have had real world applications e.g the introduction of age restrictions on films/
video games and the 9pm watershed on tv.