The specification

1
The specification debates - DO NOW what do you
know already?

• 3.4.3 Debates in Psychology
• Free will and determinism. Hard determinism and
  soft determinism.
• Biological, environmental and psychic
  determinism. The scientific emphasis on causal
  explanations.
• The nature-nurture debate. The relative
  importance of heredity and environment in
  determining behaviour. An interactionist
  approach.
• Holism and reductionism. The strengths and
  limitations of reductionist and holistic
  explanations. An interactionist approach.
• Idiographic and nomothetic approaches. The
  strengths and limitations of idiographic versus
  nomothetic research.
• Psychology and science. The features and
  principles of the scientific approach a
  paradigm the role of theory hypothesis testing
  empirical methods and replication
  generalisation. The subject matter of psychology
  overt behaviour versus subjective, private
  experience.
• The role of peer review in validating research.
  Strengths and limitations of the scientific
  approach in psychology.

2
Learning Objectives

• To understand the layout of the PSYB4 unit
• To explore the concept of determinism

No wonder he drinks, you never see his dad
without a glass in his hand
I smoke because I need to, my body needs nicotine
DO NOW how does what is in the speech bubbles
relate to our learning objectives?
3
PSYB4 Your final exam

• 3 sections, 2 hours, 60 marks
• Section A (Approaches in Psychology) Mr B
• Section B (Debates in Psychology) Miss E
• Section C (Methods in Psychology) Mr B and Miss E
• Be aware A03 skills (your knowledge of research
  methods / how science works) will always be
  assessed in all 3 sections of this paper

4
What support is in place for you?

• All past paper questions on shared area already
  for this unit
• Past paper questions, mark schemes and examiners
  reports collated into a single word document for
  you
• Lunch-time drop-in support on a Monday and
  Tuesday (Miss Earl)

5
How the rest of your year looks.

• 4 weeks until Feb half-term (break up 17th Feb)
• 1 week off for Feb half term
• 5 weeks until Easter (break up 29th March)
• 2 weeks off for Easter
• 6 weeks until May half term
• 1 week then exam
• PSYB4 exam Monday 18th June (am)

6
Planning The bigger picture until Feb half term
Week Topic Content
1 (w/c 23.1) Free Will and Determinism
2 (w/c 30.1) Free Will and Determinism
3 (w/c 6.2) Nature- Nurture
4 (w/c 13.2) Nature-Nurture
7
Learning Objectives

• To understand the layout of the PSYB4 unit
• To explore the concept of determinism

Any questions?
8
How is PSYB4 different?

• PSYB4 is all about links to what you have learnt
  before
• It will require you to form and structure
  arguments rather than simply recall learned
  information
• We will move on to structuring your evaluation
  points to P-E-E-L
• The evidence will generally involve things which
  you are learning currently (with Mr B) or have
  learnt already (in PSYB1, PSYB2, PSYB3)
• The Link part is about relating everything back
  to the question in order to form and structure
  your argument

9
Specification Content

• Free will and determinism hard determinism and
  soft determinism biological, environmental and
  psychic determinism the scientific emphasis on
  causal explanations
• This lesson definitions of free will and
  determinism, biological determinism

10
Determinism
Internal Determinism
External Determinism
Biological determinism
Environmental determinism
Psychic determinism
11
Determinism
Internal Determinism
External Determinism
Biological determinism
Environmental determinism
Psychic determinism
12
Carousel Learning

• We are learning about biological determinism and
  the various things that this can mean
• The information you need is around the room, you
  should complete your sheets as you move around

Dont forget to mark your groups progress on the
board!
13
Instinctive Needs

• We can generally choose when to eat, drink or
  sleep
• However, these behaviours are essential to our
  survival, we have no choice, these behaviours are
  determined

14
The brain

• Different areas of the brain control different
  things e.g
• The hypothalamus controls water and food intake
  and aggression
• Brocas area is linked to speech production,
  Wernickes area is linked to speech
  understanding. Damage to this area (resulting in
  aphasia) means that no amount of willing can
  help someone overcome the effect that this has on
  language

15
Hormones

• Synthetic oestrogen (taken to prevent
  miscarriage) has been linked to sexual preference
• 7/30 adult women whose mothers had taken the
  synthetic oestrogen reported some degree of same
  sex or bisexual interest
• Compared to1/30 in a control group whose mothers
  had not taken synthetic oestrogen
• Meyer-Bahlburg et al (1995) said that this could
  mean sexual preference may not necessarily be the
  result of free choice

16
Evolutionary forces The fight or flight response

• A sequence of activity in response to an acute
  stressor involving the sympathetic nervous system
  preparing the body for flight (escape) or fight
  (defending or attacking)
• Questionable how useful the response is today
• However, these behaviours are determined i.e. we
  do not choose to freeze in front of an audience

17
Genes

• Twin studies have pointed towards a genetic
  predisposition in depression and schizophrenia
  for example
• Gottesman and Shields found a concordance rate of
  46 for Schizophrenia in monozygotic twins in
  comparison to 14 in dizygotic twins

18
Essay question Free will is an illusion. What
seems to be freely chosen behaviour is really the
result of internal and external forces acting
upon the individual. Discuss this view. Refer to
at least one topic area in your answer. (12
marks)

• The examiners always look for you to link what
  you are talking about to a topic
• This is basically about you interpreting
  information from the entire course (PSYB1,2,3) in
  light of your new knowledge and understanding
• Try to highlight these whenever they come up and
  make sure you use them in any essay questions

19
Reviewing our learning

• Essay question Free will is an illusion. What
  seems to be freely chosen behaviour is really the
  result of internal and external forces acting
  upon the individual. Discuss this view. Refer to
  at least one topic area in your answer. (12
  marks)
• Which aspect of the question does our learning
  today relate to? How can we apply it?

20
Consolidating our learning

• Essay question Free will is an illusion. What
  seems to be freely chosen behaviour is really the
  result of internal and external forces acting
  upon the individual. Discuss this view. Refer to
  at least one topic area in your answer. (12
  marks)
• Write two sentences to summarise your learning
  today in the context of the above examination
  question and using PEEL
• E.g. One way in which internal forces act upon an
  individual is (p), elaborate (e), evidence (e)
  link back to the question (l)