Textbooks

Please return ALL CHENEY TEXTBOOKS on Tues 15th either before or after the unit 4 exam.

Thanks

Mrs Watson

Tuesday 2nd June

NO LESSON TODAY

Apologies - I am ill and at home. 

All the best for revision, any problems please send me an email. Hoping to be back in tomorrow for a final drop-in lesson.

Mrs Watson

Group displays of aggression

Today we went back to the aggression topic and filled in the remaining gap - group displays of aggression. This looks at the adaptive reasons behind aggression in the areas of sport and warfare. The reasons for aggression in these areas can largely be separated into those concerning territoriality (protection of resources) and sexual selection (aggressive group members being more likely to be sexually selected). The ppt is here.

The essay title on this topic would be something like ' Discuss one or more evolutionary explanations of group display in humans', so you should make sure that you can write this or at least construct a plan. 

Designing your own experiment

Today we started with a brief discussion of what to do when rho (the observed value in Spearman's rho) is negative, as I know this came up last week and I didn't do a very good job of clarifying the issue. Here is a simple powerpoint explaining what to do in this scenario.

We then moved on to answering the question on designing your own experiment. This often comes up and can be worth 10 or 12 marks so is worth doing well. Here is the powerpoint. We answered January 2011 Q26 in class and it would be worth doing this if you were absent. 

Wilcoxon's t-test

Today we covered the last statistical test - Wilcoxon's. This is used when the investigation has a repeated measures or matched pairs design. The worksheets to fill in are here and here and the ppt is here.

Here is a useful summary of all four statistical tests.

Here is a useful overview of the different types of data (nominal, ordinal etc). 

More statistics

Today we covered two more statistical tests - Mann-Whitney and Chi-squared. You need to know when to use each test and how to complete each test, although you would never be asked to complete a whole test. The formulae and necessary tables will always be available on the exam paper as well.

Tomorrow we will do Wilcoxon and then look at the exam questions on statistical tests.

The Mann-Whitney worksheets are here and here. The Chi-squared tests are here and here.

Probability and significance

Today we started the statistics section of the research method spec with a look at probability and significance (ppt here). Remember we always start off with a null hypothesis, with the aim being to try and disprove this and find something significant. If the probability of getting our results when the null hypothesis is true, is less than or equal to 0.05 then we say we have a significant finding and our null hypothesis can be rejected.

We then looked at our first statistical test, Spearman's rho. This is used when the data is from a correlation and when the data is ordinal or nominal. The ppt is here and the worksheets to fill in and work through are here and here. 

June 2014 papers and mark schemes

The June 2014 question paper and mark scheme are not on the AQA website. The links are as follows for you to download:

Unit 3 paper
Unit 3 mark scheme
Unit 4 paper
Unit 4 mark scheme

More research methods

Today we covered quite a lot of material from the RM section of unit 4. A lot of this is revision from AS, and is all fairly straighforward. You need to make sure you that a) you use the correct terminology and b) you answer the exam questions in the context that they are are set - so if the question is about patient health questionnaires then refer to these in your answer.

The ppt on reliability is here and the writing frame is here.

The ppt on validity is here and the writing frame is here.

The ppt on sampling techniques is here and the one on descriptive statistics (measures of dispersion, spread and graphs) is here.

Make sure you complete the following questions as homework:

June 14 Q18

June 13 Q20, Q22

January 13 Q17, Q20

Research Methods

Here is the schedule explaining what we will be doing every lesson this term. We will be covering the research methods section of the unit 4 paper.

Yesterday we spent some time revising our knowledge of the different research methods from AS. The ppt is here and the big table to fill in is here. We also discussed research design - independent groups, matched pairs and repeated measures. The ppt for this material is here, but this is well covered in any AS textbook.

Today (Wednesday) we looked at the Scientific process and peer review (ppt here) . This is all fairly straightforward and easy marks if you know the material.

AO2 points for essays

Reigner has helpfully come up with a really useful list of all the possible AO2/AO3 points that could be useful to comment on in an essay:

- Weakness + how it impacts study

- Strengths + how it impacts study

- Alternative Explanation

- Generalisability

- Ethics

- Ecological/Temporal/External/Internal Validity

- Correlation, corr. doesn't equal causation

- Cause and Effect

- Gender Bias

- Deterministic/Simplistic

- Reductionist

- Experimenter/Participant Bias

- Individual Differences

- Sample Size

- Diathesis Stress Model

Here are three more from me:

Population bias (most psychology expts are carried out on psychology undergraduates)
Animal research - evaluate in terms of generalisability and ethics
Evaluate the research design (independent groups/repeated measures etc) and say whether this was a good or bad choice of design & why

Thanks Reigner

Psychic mediumship & healing, OOBEs and NDEs

Today we finished the Anomalistic Psychology unit and covered four topics very quickly.

The ppt on psychic healing (including therapeutic touch (TT)) and psychic mediumship is here. Psychic healing refers to treatments used to deal with health problems by purely mental means. Psychic mediums claim to be able to communicate with people in the afterlife or spirit world. The Barnum statements sheet is here.



We also started to look at out-of-body experiences (OOBEs) and near-death experiences (NDEs). Both of these are reasonably well supported, scientifically, unlike the other paranormal phenomena we have covered. Research has indicated real physiological explanations for both of these experiences, however some people still use paranormal arguments to explain them.

The ppt on OOBEs and NDEs is here. Make sure you complete the list of questions on OOBEs and NDEs, which is here.

Do attempt the exam questions on both ppts. Mark schemes are on the AQA website, or you can email answers to me.

Personality factors underlying anomalous experience

Today we looked at how personality factors affect whether someone is more likely to believe in the paranormal. We looked at Locus of Control. Eysenck's personality types and imaginative personalities.

Today's ppt is here. The exam questions that you need to do are near the end of the ppt, the mark schemes are on there as well. 

Superstitious behaviour and magical thinking

Today we looked at superstition and magical thinking. These are both examples of irrational thinking where a causal relationship has been assumed between events that are merely correlated. There are various explanations as to why some people believe in these more than other people - it could be to create an illusion of control, or because they have learnt them through conditioning (like Skinner's pigeons), or because they are good at separating their logical from their intuitive brains - the dual processing theory.

Today's ppt is here.

Coincidence and probability judgements

Today we looked at some of the reasons why some people make illusions of causality - thinking coincidences are causally linked, or thinking unrelated events are linked to each other. One reason is that it allows people to feel in control of an unpredictable world, another is that it could be adaptive, another is that believers are lower in academic ability and another is that believers are just not good at making probability judgements. Furthermore, don't forget that human memory is notoriously unreliable and that some of the illusions of causality may just be down to a dodgy memory.

Today's ppt is here. Make sure you answer the exam questions at the end - all mark schemes on the AQA website, or see me if you are having trouble locating them.

Psychokinesis

Today we covered psychokinesis - the ability to move objects without touching them, and also micro-psychokinesis, which is the supposed ability to affect probability outcomes (such as random numbers or flipping a coin).

In this topic, you need to be able to discuss methodological issues. These are basically the reasons why positive findings are often reported.

Today's ppt is here. 

The Ganzfeld procedure

Today we looked at the Ganzfeld procedure - a methodology that attempts to objectively measure ESP. We used Zener cards (here) to carry out our own procedures, and looked at some of the reasons for positive results for ESP being shown in Ganzfeld studies.
The ppt is here. 

Anomalistic Psychology

Today's ppt is here - we started the next unit 4 topic today, Anomalistic Psychology. I introduced a few key terms and we looked at some examples of bad science from Ben Goldacre.
More to come next week.

Why Natural Selection Hasn’t Trashed Mental Illness

For a psychological disorder, schizophrenia has a very large genetic component - up to 48% in MZ twins, as you know. It's pretty maladaptive to have schizophrenia so why has it persisted in the genome?

Here is an interesting read about schizophrenia and evolution. It's hard to get our head round the fact that schizophrenia may actually be adaptive in some form or other. There are various evolutionary explanations and the article explains that the genes for SZ may be coupled to other, more positive traits, like intelligence.

Thanks to Jack C-J for suggesting the article. Anyone should feel free to contribute to the blog.

CAKE ROTA

I have been persuaded that we should have a cake rota. This will supply cake on Wednesdays during period 4 every week.

The first and second rules of cake club are that you do not talk about cake club but the third rule is that you have to contribute cake to eat cake.

If you are stuck for ideas, something like this should suffice:



Or this, if you are in a rush:



The rota is as follows:

4th March  Shannon, Husna & Nirmala
11th March: Sarah, Moram, Heaven
18th March: Jack, Daisy, Alice
25th March: Dan, Jack C-J, Reigner
15th April: Billay, Hamish, Francesca
22nd April: Jokha & Sumaya
29th April: Mrs Watson

Psychological therapies for schizophrenia: CBT

Today we finished the Schizophrenia topic with a look at the last psychological therapy - CBT. The aim is to change the faulty thinking that underlies the abnormal behaviour and resultant symptoms. We discussed two CBT techniques - CSE (coping strategy enhancement) and reality testing. There are many more but I suggest you only learn a couple and evaluate them well.

Today's ppt is here. The evidence that you will need to support and oppose the use of CBT is here and here (paper copies from me in R23).

Don't forget the timed essay next Tuesday.

Psychological explanations of schizophrenia - psychoanalysis

Yesterday (Tues 24th) we studied some Freudian theory to look at why Freud believed psychoanalysis was unsuitable for schizophrenics. He said that they were unable to form a therapeutic relationship or 'working alliance' between the client and the therapist.

Today's ppt is here.

Your next timed essay is next TUESDAY (3rd March). The title is: Outline and evaluate psychological explanations of schizophrenia (8+16)

Psychological explanations of schizophrenia: Cognitive and sociocultural explanations

Today we looked at two more psychological explanations of schizophrenia. Frith's cognitive model of schizophrenia does acknowledge a biological basis, but is rather simplistic. However, cognitive models are of use because of the therapy (CBT) that has arisen from them has been useful.

We also discussed three sociocultural explanations - life events, family dysfunction (encompassing double binds and expressed emotion) and labelling theory. Any one of these are their own are not satisfactory explanations of the disorder, but they could play a role in the stress aspect of the diathesis-stress model.

Today's ppt is here.

The homework essay (biological explanations of schizophrenia -essay plan here) is due on Wednesday 25th Feb.

Psychological explanations of schizophrenia: The psychodynamic viewpoint

Today we finished the biological explanations of SZ with a look at the neuroanatomical view - the finding that some schizophrenics (mostly those with negative symptoms) have enlarged ventricles in the brain. On it's own this isn't enough to explain why schizophrenia arises (and it may even be the result of a virus caught in the womb, thus affecting brain development) - and we can argue about whether this a cause or just a complication of schizophrenia. The info on this is in the ppt in the previous post - biological explanations for SZ.



We then looked at how Freud explained schizophrenia, and started with some revision of the tripartite personality. His view is obviously outdated, but, as you know the classification and diagnosis of the disorder has changed somewhat over the past century.

Today's ppt is here (first few slides - we didn't get onto behavioural or cognitive theories).

A useful handout on the psychodynamic view is here

Here is a useful slide showing the pros and cons of the dopamine hypothesis.

Biological explanations of schizophrenia

Today we looked at biological explanations for schizophrenia - genetic and biochemical explanations. There is some strong evidence of a genetic component to the disorder, but this is by no means the only story. Adoption studies have attempted to disentangle the effects of nature and nurture so these are particularly interesting - we discussed Kety et al (1984).

We also looked at the dopamine hypothesis - the idea that schizophrenia can be attributed to excess dopamine.

Today's ppt is here.

Population validity - use of student participants.

Here is a link to a blog that I follow by Cara Flanagan - one of the authors of the A2 dog book. The post is about population validity, and one reason why student participants might be different to the general population.

If you are interested, here is a general article about the use and abuse of student participants.

Insomnia question

Someone emailed me a question on insomnia recently - copied below in case anyone finds it useful:

'Hi Mrs Watson,I'm redoing the exam question on insomnia and I was wondering, what are the explanations for insomnia? I just want a list of them so that I can be sure that i'm on the right track.'

'Hi,
This is a good question as it's not immediately obvious. The explanations are ways to explain insomnia i.e. the primary/secondary distinction (plus implications for treatment; use the Ohayon & Roth study) and the precipitating/perpetuating/predisposing way of describing insomnia, leading onto diathesis-stress. Just make sure that you put in lots of research.
Mrs Watson'

Issues in the diagnosis and classification of schizophrenia

Today we looked at why it is difficult to diagnose schizophrenia - and reasons for why the diagnosis could be low in reliability and validity. This is not just a historical problem. You need to be able to discuss some of the reasons behind this difficulty, and where appropriate to cite relevant studies.

The original Rosenhan article ('On being sane in insane places') is here.

Today's powerpoint is here.

Schizophrenia introduction

Today we started our first unit 4 topic - Schizophrenia. We looked at what schizophrenia is and isn't, and listed the clinical characteristics (symptoms). Today's powerpoint is here.

We also reflected on our mock performance. If you got a U grade on any essay then these need to be redone. The deadline is Wednesday 12th February. 

Evolutionary explanations of aggression

We started with a cheery clip from Bridget Jones but went downhill from then on in.



We finished the aggression topic with a look at the evolutionary explanations for human aggression, in particular sexual jealousy and infidelity.

This is all fairly depressing stuff and highly determinist. You can really go to town on the evaluation here. Mostly the studies are at best correlational, and they are generally all self-report/natural experiments - so you should be careful to interpret them carefully. It isn't enough to say 'this is too determinist, obviously our genes don't control everything' - you must be able to state the other factors that are at play. Use your knowledge from the aggression topic, and refer to concepts like social learning theory, predisposition and diathesis-stress.

Apologies for the totally gratuitous photo of Colin Firth looking rather dishy.

Genetic factors in aggression

Here is today's powerpoint. We discussed whether or not there is a genetic link to aggression - the answer is that there is probably an inherited predisposition but which is massively affected by environmental factors. I set an essay for homework:

(a)Outline the role of genetic factors in aggressive behaviour (4)

(b)Outline and evaluate one social psychological theory of aggression (4 + 16)

Due Wednesday 4th February

AS mock feedback

Here is a powerpoint showing model answers for all the questions (except the essay) on the AS mock that some of you did last week. Please ask if there's anything you don't understand.

Biological explanations of aggression

Today we looked at two biochemical explanations of aggression. We started with the idea that low levels of serotonin is linked to aggression. There is fairly strong research support for this, from both human and animal studies, but the idea on it's own is rather reductionist as a causal explanation of aggression.
We then looked at the effects of testosterone - again, widely documented but slightly more complicated that the serotonin link. We ended up with two hypotheses - the reciprocal and basal models, which argue for the direction of the link between testosterone and aggression to be in opposite directions.
Today's powerpoint is here.

Institutional aggression

Today we looked at aggression within institutions, particularly prisons (the picture above shows a prison riot in action). We divided the factors that cause institution in prisons into situational and dispositional factors, and evaluated these in turn. We looked at evidence from Zimbardo (1973) briefly - your homework is to rewrite your notes on this study from last year. We also looked at Abu Ghraib and the fallout from that - Zimbardo himself had some interesting points to make.

Today's powerpoints are here and here.

Don't forget the AS mock is on Friday (P3 and P4) and the A2 mock is next Wednesday (P1 & P2).

Deindividuation

Today's lesson went from the extremely frivolous to the extremely serious, as we tried to explore whether or not deindividuation is a valid theory of aggression.

The theory goes that anonymity, sometimes provided by being in a crowd, creates the perfect atmosphere for aggression, as individuals lose their self-awareness and stop being concerned with how they evaluate their own behaviour and how others see them. This makes a lot of sense, but is rather simplistic if you look carefully. In reality, the context of the crowd and the specific social norms applied to it are much more important in determining whether or not aggressive (or peaceful, or loving, or whatever) acts take place.

Today's powerpoint is here. 

Aggression - social learning theories

Today we started the final unit 3 topic - aggression. We looked at Bandura's social learning theory of aggression, supported by his famous Bobo Dolls experiment.

This topic is fairly straightforward but there are various technical terms that you need to be able to use appropriately, and if you don't this will seriously weaken your written work. The worksheet of the technical terms that we filled in is here. The info sheet about the Bobo dolls experiment is here.

Today's ppt is here.

Don't forget, ongoing homework is to revise for the mock exams. Any probs, see me.