Paper 1: Section A: Short Answer Questions (all) 1. Biological Perspective 2. Cognitive Perspective 3. Socio-cultural Perspective Section B: Essay (one)

Paper 1:

Section A: Short Answer Questions (all)

1. Biological Perspective

2. Cognitive Perspective

3. Socio-cultural Perspective

Section B: Essay (one)

1. Biological Perspective

2. Cognitive Perspective

3. Socio-cultural Perspective

Short Answer Questions

Mini-essays No introduction or conclusion About 350 words/ one page answer Always use psychological terms, concepts,

and theories to answer. Try to mention two concepts or theories if

possible.

Paper 2:

In paper 2 of the external assessment, a list of twenty-one questions is given, three questions from each of the seven options.

You are to answer one question from the Human Relationships option.

You must show empirical research, consider cross-cultural issues, and evaluate issues of ethics, method, and gender.

If you always consider the following as part of evaluations in your essays you ….

Cultural Considerations and Biases- would there be different results in another country with different cultural beliefs.

Ethical Considerations: how are the participants selected? Were they deceived? Was there consent?

Gender Considerations and Biases: is there a difference between males and females.

Methodological Considerations: biases associated with each methodological orientation. Strengths and limits of data gathering techniques. What was done to protect the integrity of the results?

If you always consider the following as part of evaluations in your essays you ….

Application: Effectiveness of the perspective in explaining psychological and/or social questions Memory research is used in education and therapy.

Empirical Evidence: What scientific research has supported the assumptions of this perspective?

Perspective comparisons: how one perspective evaluates another. For example the difference of opinion on Nature vs. Nurture between the perspectives.

The researchers in the learning perspective believe you can only use observed

behavior to reach accurate conclusions about behavior.

EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE

The word empirical denotes information gained by means of observation, experience, or experiment, as opposed to theoretical.

Empirical data are data that are produced by experiment or observation.

BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

Biological Perspective

Biological psychologists are interested in the relationship between the body and the mind.

They study the structure of the brain and the central nervous system, the parts of the brain and their specific functions, and the links between physical and emotional reactions to events.

Biological psychology also focuses on biological processes such as hunger, thirst, and fatigue.

KEY CONCEPTS OF THE BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

Localization of brain functions Sensation and perception Motivated behavior (hunger, thirst, sex) Control of movement Learning and memory Emotion

Explain two key concepts of the Biological perspective.Describe empirical studies upon which these key conceptsare based.

Contributions

Gender development Aggression Abnormality Memory Motivation Emotion Awareness Localization of function

BIOLOGICAL

WERNICKE’S AREA

Wernicke's area is named after Carl Wernicke, a German neurologist and psychiatrist who, in 1874, hypothesized a link between the left posterior section of the superior temporal gyrus and the reflexive mimicking of words and their syllables that associated the sensory and motor images of spoken words.

He did this on the basis of the location of brain injuries that caused aphasia.

Receptive aphasia in which such abilities are preserved is now sometimes called Wernicke's aphasia. In this condition there is a major impairment of language comprehension, while speech retains a natural-sounding rhythm and a relatively normal syntax.

Explain one study related to the localization of function of the brain. (Examples: Wernicke, Broca, Gazzaniga, and Sperry)

BROCA’S AREA

Patients with Broca's aphasia are individuals who know "what they want to say, they just cannot get it out." [12]

They are typically able to understand what is being said to them, but unable to fluently speak.

This is also known as non-fluent aphasia. Other symptoms that may be present include problems with fluency, articulation, word-finding, word repetition, and producing and comprehending complex grammatical sentences, both orally and in writing.

GAZZANIGA

In 1961, Gazzaniga graduated from Dartmouth College. In 1964, he received a Ph.D. in psychobiology from the California Institute of Technology, where he worked under the guidance of Roger Sperry, with primary responsibility for initiating human split-brain research. In his subsequent work he has made important advances in our understanding of functional lateralization in the brain and how the cerebral hemispheres communicate with one another.

SPERRY

Split-brain is a lay term to describe the result when the corpus callosum connecting the two hemispheres of the brain is severed to some degree.

Some of the earliest split-brain research was carried out by Roger Wolcott Sperry. Results from this research have led to important theories on the lateralization of brain function.

Split Brain

a condition in which the two hemispheres of the brain are isolated by cutting the connecting fibers (mainly those of the corpus callosum) between them

WILDER PENFIELD

Wilder Penfield (1891-1976) Neurosurgeon specializing in the

surgical treatment of epilepsy Kept his patients awake so they

could talk to him about what they were feeling as he stimulated areas of the brain to locate seizure activity

Developed a map of the cortex showing how much space is taken up by the different regions of the body.

Using one or more examples, explain the functions of two hormones in human behavior. (Examples: adrenaline, testosterone, estrogen)

Adrenaline is a hormone produced by the adrenal glands during high stress or exciting situations.

This powerful hormone is part of the human body's acute stress response system, also called the "fight or flight" response. It works by stimulating the heart rate, contracting blood vessels, and dilating air passages, all of which work to increase blood flow to the muscles and oxygen to the lungs.

Additionally, it is used as a medical treatment for some potentially life-threatening conditions including anaphylactic shock. In the US, the medical community largely refers to this hormone as epinephrine, although the two terms may be used interchangeably.

Testosterone

The earliest experimentation with steroids is credited to John Hunter, a man who in the 1700s put the testosterone hormone from a rooster into a hen, and observed the hen to develop male, rooster characteristics.

Berthold’s classic study of domesticated roosters in 1849 demonstrated that testicular secretions are necessary for the normal expression of aggressive behavior.

DABBS

Social psychologist Jim Dabbs & colleagues found high testosterone levels in:– Aggressive boys– Violent criminals– Men and women with criminal records– Military veterans who went AWOL or got into

trouble after their service

Discuss how and why particular research methods are used at the biological level of analysis.

Laboratory experimentation :Stimulation (ESB)Giving drugs

Psychosurgery (removing parts of brain, split brain studies)

Laboratory observation (e.g. sleep) Correlations:

Twin studiesAdoptive studies

Case studies – accidental injuries

Methods of Investigating the Brain

Accidental Damage -Strokes/Tumors -Head Trauma- Phineas Gage -Virus- Clive Wearing

Disadvantage: lack of precision, cannot replicate, non-physical effects may cause behavior changes.

Methods of Investigating the Brain

Deliberate Damage

-Ablation/Lesion Studies look at the effect on:

1. Motivation

2. Aggression

3. Memory- Lashley

4. Consciousness- Sperry (split brain)

Methods of Investigating the Brain

Stimulation of the Brain -Electrical Stimulation: microelectrodes to

reveal brain function. 1. Delgado- animal studies where aggression was studied in monkeys. 2. Penfield- human studies using the cortex to show locations that cause body movement.

Discuss the ethical considerations at the biological level of analysis:

Any experimental study that creates anxiety, stress, pain or discomfort for participants • must not be permitted.

unjustified deception, involuntary participation

informed before commencing the experimental study

informed of the aims and objectives

Participants must be debriefed and given the right to withdraw their own personal data

With reference to relevant research studies, to what extent does genetic inheritance influence behavior?

Bouchard's longitudinal studies of twins reared apart are world-renowned.

His research topics have been diverse - ranging from sociology to human resources, as have the methods he has used: from large scale quantitative analyses to case-studies of twins reared apart.

This latter work demonstrated numerous astounding similarities in identical twins separated at birth and living without knowledge of the other twin for many decades.

The detailed reports of similarity went a long way to answer critics of twin studies.

BOUCHARD

In 1979, Bouchard came across an account of a pair

of twins (Jim Springer and Jim Lewis) who had been separated from birth and were reunited at age 39.

He found that an identical twin reared away from his or her co-twin seems to have about an equal chance of being similar to the co-twin in terms of personality, interests, and attitudes as one who has been reared with his or her co-twin.

BOUCHARD

He found that an identical twin reared away from his or her co-twin seems to have about an equal chance of being similar to the co-twin in terms of personality, interests, and attitudes as one who has been reared with his or her co-twin.

This leads to the conclusion that the similarities between twins are due to genes, not environment, since the differences between twins reared apart must be due totally to the environment.

Researchers had also studied the prevalence of psychopathology, substance use, divorce, leadership, and other traits. The relevance of the studies pertained to the importance of heredity as a determining factor in shaping our physical appearance, mental acuteness, preferences, personal characteristics, and personality.

Examine one evolutionary explanation of behavior.

Evolutionary psychologists argue that much of human behavior is the output of psychological adaptations that evolved to solve recurrent problems in human ancestral environments.

Cross-cultural Consistency. Characteristics that have been demonstrated to be cross cultural human universals such as smiling, crying, facial expressions are presumed to be evolved psychological adaptations. Several evolutionary psychologists have collected massive datasets from cultures around the world to assess cross-cultural universality.

Form to Function (reverse-engineering -- or "solution to problem"). Morning sickness, and associated aversions to certain types of food, during pregnancy seemed to have the characteristics of an evolved adaptation (complexity and universality). Margie Profet hypothesized that the function was to avoid the

ingestion of toxins during early pregnancy that could damage fetus

COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE

Cognitive Perspective Review

Basic Assumptions History and culture Key concepts Empirical evidence Limits of evidence

Cognitive Perspective

Cognitive psychology is the study of memory, perception, thought, and other mental processes.

Cognitive psychologists are concerned with people’s emotions, intelligence, motivations, and problem-solving skills.

Any subject connected to knowledge, intellect, or the mind in general can fall into the realm of cognitive psychology.

Explain how the principles that define the cognitive level of analysis may be demonstrated in research.

Schema Theory• Frederic Bartlett coined the term schema, and carried out

research related on how cultural schemas influence remembering.

• He found that people had problems remembering a story from another culture, and that they reconstructed the story to fit in with their own cultural schemas.

• However, through his research he also demonstrated that memory is not like a tape recorder but rather that people remember in terms of meaning ad what makes sense to them. This also explains why memory is subject distortions, according to Bartlett, who showed how this principle could be investigated scientifically.

More…

Use of the experimental Scientific Method. Studies on information processing. Akinson-Shiffrin Model & Baddeley’s Working

Memory Model. Representative Heuristic- judging based on how well

something matches a proto-type or mental image. Availability Heuristic- likelihood based on availability

in the memory. Comes to mind more easily we presume it is common.

Outline the principles that define the cognitive level of analysis. (Examples: mental representations guide behavior, mental processes can be scientifically investigated.)

Mental Representations: Schemas Mental Processes: Memory

~Ebbinghaus: effortful processing through rehearsal of non-sense syllables.

~Stroop: processing speed of words or colors

~Sperling: performed an experiment using a matrix with three rows of three letters. Participants of the study were asked to look at the letters, for a brief period of time, and then recall them immediately afterwards.

Ebbinhaus -Effortful Processing

We can enhance our memory through rehearsal and repetition. This was shown by the German researcher Ebbinhaus. This method often produces durable and accessible memories.

Ebbinhaus used verbal material that was not familiar by forming a list of non-sense syllables. He was have the subjects read the list 8 times out loud and then try to recall the items.

Ebbinhaus would try to recall them the day after. He could recall a few but were they entirely forgotten?

It took fewer repetitions on the second day to recall the list. This began the simple beginning principle that “the amount remembered depends on the amount of time spent learning”.

George Sperling

Sperling, through several experiments, was able to prove his hypothesis that human beings store a perfect image of the visual world for a brief moment, before it is discarded from memory.

Sperling performed an experiment using a matrix with three rows of three letters. Participants of the study were asked to look at the letters, for a brief period of time, and then recall them immediately afterwards.

If you present people with randomly scattered letters and numbers, and ask people to recall the letters (or numbers), which is a partial report task, people perform very poorly.

This is because the category “number” vs. the category “letter” is semantic in nature. The fact that people have a difficult time recalling that information suggests that SM is veridical and sensory (i.e., no meaning).

•The effect is named after John Ridley Stroop who first published the effect in English in 1935.

•The effect had previously been published in 1929, but only in German.

•The original paper has been one of the most cited papers in the history of experimental psychology, leading to over 700 replications.

Evaluate schema theory with reference to research studies.

Explain what schemas are and what they are thought to do (influence our behavior).

Then use relevant research studies like Bartlett's war of ghosts which showed that schemas influence the reproduction of stories.

Schemas can influence different stages of memory (encoding, retrieval) like Anderson & Pichert (1978). They found that schemas affect both encoding and retrieval.

Evaluate schema theory. It does a good job of explaining how people categorize information and helps explain memory distortion (Bartlett's war of ghosts, eyewitness testimony). Schemas are linked to stereotypes which have been invaluable at explaining prejudice. Now for the cons. We don't know how schemas are acquired nor do we know how they precisely influence behavior. Cohen (1993) claimed that schemas are too vague as a concept to be useful. We also don't know where schemas exist in the brain.

Evaluate two models or theories of one cognitive process (for example, memory, perception, language, decision‑making)

with reference to research studies.

Memory: The Atkinson-Shiffrin classics three-stage model of memory

suggests that we:– register fleeting sensory memories.– processed into on-screen short term memories and– a small fraction of those are encoded into long term

memory.

Working Memory Model

The working memory model can be tested using dual-task experiments (the research) to show that the different aspects of working memory exist (which relates to the principle that mental processes can be studied scientifically).

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Working Memory (WM) Baddeley’s Working Memory Model

Visuospatial Sketchpad

Central Executive

Input

Phonological Loop

Long Term Memory orShort Term Memory

Working Memory

Explain how biological factors may affect one cognitive process (for example, Alzheimer’s disease, brain damage, sleep deprivation).

Clive Wearing- anterograde and retrograde amnesia from brain infection, implicit memory not affected.

HM Case- tissue from temporal lobe and hippocampus removed, caused anterograde amnesia.

With reference to relevant research studies, to what extent is one cognitive process reliable (for example, reconstructive memory,

perception/visual illusions, decision‑making/heuristics)?

Loftus and Palmer People watched a video of a car accident Asked: ‘How fast were the cars going when they

____ each other?’ Misinformation Effect: people thought the cars were going at a

higher speed depending on the type of words used in the description. Hit, Smashed

You may also discuss Ebbinghaus, retrieval cues, information processing and priming

Evaluate one theory of how emotion may affect one cognitive process (for example, state-dependent memory, flashbulb memory, affective filters).

Flashbulb memories typically are remarkably vivid and seemingly permanent memories.

These memories are typically of highly emotional and personal events in one's life.

Flashbulb memories can also be of personal circumstances during an event that did not affect one personally, such as a leader's assassination or a devastating airline crash.

Some theorists have suggested that a certain flashbulb mechanism is responsible for capturing such events and storing them in memory for an indefinite period of time, yet others suggest that these memories are not encoded any differently than others.

What makes flashbulb memories different, they argue, is that they are much more often rehearsed. Personal reactions to such events are usually brought up in conversation often, and so they are remembered more often.

Brown and Kulik

More…

State Dependent Memory: learned in one state remembered in that same state. It could be environmental, sensory, or emotional.

Affective Filters: ability to block information so that you do not have and overload of information.

Discuss how social or cultural factors affect one cognitive process (for example, education, carpentered-world hypothesis, effect of video games on attention

One of the more popular explanations is the so-called "carpentered world" hypothesis. The idea is that in Western civilization, we are used to seeing lots of ruler-straight lines due to the dominating style of design and architecture - we live in a carpentered world of square houses, rectangular doors etc. Thus when a Westerner sees Müller-Lyer-type lines, the brain unconsciously interprets them as if they were the inside or the outside of a rectangular walled building.

Video Games and Attention Span

Researchers found that those who used electronic technology at bedtime (texting, game playing, email, surfing, etc.) also experienced sleep-related problems such as excessive movements, leg pain and insomnia, and also had a "high rate of daytime problems, which can include attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD], anxiety, depression, and learning difficulties.” Dr. Peter Polos

Study based on questionnaire.

Examine one interaction between cognition and physiology in terms of behavior. Examples: agnosia, anagosia, prosopagnosia, amnesia

Amnesia: study of hippocampus and how it malfunctions and disrupts memory.

Prosopagnosia- ability to associate names with faces is damaged.

Agnosia- loss of ability to recognize objects.

Anasognosia- unaware of the disability.

Damage to the cerebellum can cause these malfunctions.

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

Social Psychology

Prejudice and Discrimination Definitions of prejudice and discrimination The origins of prejudice The link between prejudice and

discrimination Strategies for reducing prejudice Evaluation of attempts to reduce prejudice

Discuss how and why particular research methods are used at the socio-cultural level of analysis (for example, participant/naturalistic observation, interviews, case studies).

Participant/Naturalist Observation- to observe in the natural environment otherwise the study may become irrelevant.

Milgram: Look into the Sky.

Interviews: a way to study individuals and get insight on their perspectives. Conversation analysis.

Case Studies: one person in depth may discover the truth to us all for example: The Kitty Genovese Case.

Discuss ethical considerations related to research studies at the socio-cultural level of analysis.

Overt/ Covert Methods: deception can be used and could be harmful.

Asch Experiment and Milgram Experiment.

Harm to participants: Zimbardo and Stanford Prison Experiment.

Describe the role of situational and dispositional factors in explaining behavior.

Fritz Heider

~Situational- explanation of behavior using outside factors.

~Dispositional- explanation of characteristics due to internal factors.

Discuss two errors in attributions (for example, fundamental attribution error, illusory correlation, self‑serving bias).

Fundamental Attribution Error: underestimating the impact of the situation and overestimating the personal disposition.

Illusory Correlation- seeing a relationship in data when explaining superstitions- cold/wet causes colds

Self-Serving bias- perceive oneself favorably. Accept responsibility for good deeds.

Good grades- themselves

bad grades- teacher’s fault

Evaluate social identity theory, making reference to relevant studies.

How people develop a sense of membership and belonging to a group. Seek out group membership for self esteem.

Categorization of people Personal identity, role, perception Ingroup/outgroup

Stanford Prison Experiment

Explain the formation of stereotypes and their effect on behavior.

Use schemas to process information, selectively filter information leave a lot of information out.

People naturally classify.

Stereotypes happen almost in any parts of the world and are illustrated frequently in movies or jokes. It is “a social perception of an individual in terms of group membership or physical attributes” (Crane and Jette). The image we apply to a certain social group is “often attributed to all members of the group” (Crane and Jette)

and because of this, it is a type of social categorization.

Explain social learning theory, making reference to two relevant studies.

Social Learning Theory: is a perspective that states that people learn within a social context. It is facilitated through such concepts as modeling and observational learning

Bandura- 1961 bobo doll experiment. Those exposed to the aggressive model were more likely to be aggressive.

1. Attention – in order for an individual to learn something, they must pay attention to the features of the modeled behavior.

2. Retention – humans need to be able to remember details of the behavior in order to learn and later reproduce the behavior.

3. Reproduction – in reproducing a behavior, an individual must organize his or her responses in accordance with the model behavior. This ability can improve with practice.

Meltzoff- children will imitate behavior on television.

Discuss the use of compliance techniques (for example, lowballing, foot‑in‑the‑door, reciprocity).

Foot in the Door- People who have complied with a smaller request may agree to a larger request that goes against their values.

Milgram

Lowballing: telling the appealing part to get people to agree and then tell them the rest.

Reciprocity Norm:

Evaluate research on conformity to group norms.

Asch Experiment: Normative Influence: desire for approval Social Influence: willingness to accept others opinions

Discuss factors influencing conformity (for example culture, groupthink, risky shift, minority influence.

Risky Shift: make decisions about risk while in a group.

Groupthink: desire for harmony overrides alternatives in decision making.

Minority Influence: people will respond to the opinion of the minority because they are the only one with that perspective. It carries more weight.

Define the terms “culture” and “cultural norms”.

Culture: behaviors, ideas, attitudes, shared by a large group. Norm: understood rule of accepted behavior.

Examples:– Personal Space– Gestures– Concept of Time

Examine the role of two cultural dimensions on behavior (for example, individualism/collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity/femininity).

Individualism: giving priority to one’s own goals over the group goals, identity based on personal attributes.

Collectivism: giving priority to the groups goals based on the extended family.

Using one or more examples, explain “emic” and “etic” concepts.

Emic: behavior from within the culture Etic: behavior from an observer that is considered culturally

neutral.

How do biological, cognitive, and socio-cultural perspectives influence human relationships?

Distinguish between altruism and prosocial behavior

Pro-social behavior benefits others or has positive social consequences (Staub, 1978)

Helping behavior intentionally helps or benefits others in the spirit of making a difference

Altruistic behavior is helping someone else without reward and can even be at some cost to yourself

Contrast two theories explaining altruism in humans

Negative-state relief model (Schaller and Cialdini, 1988) - motivated to reduce distress experienced by watching others in awful situations

Empathy-altruism model (Batson et al., 1981) - we experience either

-personal distress - anxiety or fear which motivates us to help egoistically to relieve our fear or anxiety

-empathetic concern - sympathy or compassion which motivates us to help where the goal is relieving the person's suffering (not your own fear or anxiety)