to OCR Psychology

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to OCR Psychology

• What to expect from your AS course

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Units of study

•  AS Unit G541 Psychological Investigations
• This unit is 30 of your total AS psychology and
  consists of a 1 hour written paper marked out of
  60.
• Although you will have to learn four sections for
  this paper, you will only be asked questions on
  three of the sections.
• The four sections are
• self report
• experiment
• observation
• correlation

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Self Report

• A self report is any method which involves asking
  a participant about their feelings, attitudes,
  beliefs and so on. Examples of self reports are
  questionnaires and interviews but note that self
  reports are often used as a way of gaining
  participants responses in observational studies
  and experiments.
• Questionnaires are a type of self report method
  which consist of a set of questions usually in a
  highly structured written form.
• Questionnaires can contain both open questions
  and closed questions and participants record
  their own answers.
• Interviews are a type of spoken questionnaire
  where the interviewer records the responses.
  Interviews can be structured whereby there is a
  predetermined set of questions or unstructured
  whereby no questions are decided in advance.

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Experiment

• An experiment is a research method used by
  psychologists which involves the manipulation of
  variables in order to discover cause and effect.
  It differs from non-experimental methods in that
  it involves the deliberate manipulation of one
  variable, while trying to keep all other
  variables constant.
• The two main types of 'true' experiments are
  laboratory experiments and field experiments.
• When psychologists carry out experiments they use
  one of three basic experimental designs to
  investigate the effects of an independent
  variable on a dependent variable. These are the
  independent measures design, the repeated
  measures design and the matched pairs design.
• Before researchers carry out experiments they
  operationalise the variables and create
  hypotheses. A hypothesis is a testable,
  predictive statement.
• Experiments produce quantitative data which can
  be analysed statistically. For this part of the
  course you need to be aware of descriptive
  statistics including measure of central tendency
  and bar charts.
• Follow this link for a full evaluation of this
  method.

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Observation

• All types of research involve some element of
  observation. It is not just observational studies
  that use observation. For example, when we use
  self report measures we observe the responses of
  the participants, when we carry out experiments
  we observe the behaviour of our participants and
  so on.
• A full evaluation of this method can be found by
  following this link.

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Correlation

• Correlation refers to a measure of how strongly
  two or more variables are related to each other.
• A positive correlation means that high values of
  one variable are associated with high values of
  the other. Or if you like, the variables increase
  together.
• A negative correlation means that high values of
  one variable are associated with low values of
  the other. Or if you like, as one variable
  increases the other decreases. Note that like a
  positive correlation, a negative correlation
  still indicates that some kind of relationship
  exists.
• If there is no correlation between two variables
  they are said to be uncorrelated.

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Correlation

• What type of correlation do these scatter graphs
  represent?
• Correlations are expressed as a correlation
  co-efficient which ranges from 1 to -1, with 0
  indicating no correlation at all.
• Click on this link for further evaluation, pay
  specific attention to the cause and effect
  problem.

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Units of study

• AS Unit G542 Core Studies
• This unit is 70 of your total AS psychology and
  consists of a 2 hour written paper marked out of
  120. The question paper has three sections.  
• Section A requires you to answer short questions
  related to each of the 15 core studies.  
• Section B requires you to answer one question,
  which requires considerable detail of one core
  study.  
• Section C requires you to answer one question
  from a choice of two focusing on approaches,
  issues and methods.  

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Core studies (cognitive approach)

• Baron-Cohen et al. (autism)Baron-Cohen, S.,
  Jollife, T., Mortimore, C. Robertson, M. (1997)
  Another advanced test of theory of mind evidence
  from very high functioning adults with autism or
  Asperger syndrome.
• Loftus and Palmer (eyewitness testimony)Loftus,
  E.F. Palmer, J.C. (1974) Reconstruction of
  auto-mobile destruction An example of the
  interaction between language and memory.
• Savage-Rumbaugh et al. (animal language)Savage-Ru
  mbaugh, S., MacDonald, K., Sevcik, R. A.,
  Hopkins, W. D. and Rubert, E. (1986) Spontaneous
  symbol acquisition and communication use by pygmy
  chimpanzees (Pan paniscus)

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Core studies (developmental psychology)

• Samuel and Bryant (conservation)Samuel, J. and
  Bryant, P. (1984) Asking only one question in the
  conservation experiment
• Bandura, Ross and Ross (aggression)Bandura, A.,
  Ross, D. Ross, S.A. (1961) Transmission of
  aggression through imitation of aggressive models
• Freud (Little Hans)Freud, S. (1909) Analysis of
  a phobia of a five year old boy. In The Pelican
  Freud Library (1977), Vol 8, Case Histories 1,
  pages 169-306

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Core Studies (individual differences)

• Rosenhan (sane in insane places)Rosenhan, D.L.
  (1973) On being sane in insane places.
• Thigpen and Cleckley (Multiple Personality
  Disorder)Thigpen, C.H. Cleckley, H. (1954) A
  case of multiple personality.
• Griffiths (gambling)Griffiths, M. D. (1994) The
  role of cognitive bias and skill in fruit machine
  gambling.

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Core Studies (physiological psychology)

• Maguire et al. (brain scans)Maguire, E. A.,
  Gadian, N. G., Johnsrude, I. S., Good, C. D.,
  Ashburner, J., Frackowiak, R. S., Fith, C. D.
  (2000) Navigation-related structural changes in
  the hippocampi of taxi drivers.
• Dement and Kleitman (sleep and dreaming)Dement,
  W. Kleitman, N. (1957) The relation of eye
  movements during sleep to dream activity An
  objective method for the study of dreaming.
• Sperry (split brain)Sperry, R.W. (1968)
  Hemisphere deconnection and unity in
  consciousness.

13
Core studies (social psychology)

• Reicher and Haslam (BBC prison study)Reicher, S.
  Halsam, S. A. (2006) Rethinking the psychology
  of tyranny. The BBC prison study.
• Milgram (obedience)Milgram. S (1963) Behavioural
  Study of Obedience.
• Piliavin et al. (subway Samaritan)Piliavin,
  I.M., Rodin, J.A. Piliavin, J. (1969) Good
  Samaritanism An underground phenomenon?

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Cognitive Psychology

• Cognitive psychology studies our mental processes
  or cognitions. These mental processes that
  cognitive psychologists focus on include memory,
  perception, thinking and language.
• The main assumption of the cognitive approach is
  that information received from our senses is
  processed by the brain and that this processing
  directs how we behave or at least justifies how
  we behave the way that we do.
• Cognitive processes are examples of hypothetical
  constructs. That is, we cannot directly see
  processes such as thinking but we can infer what
  a person is thinking based on how they act.
• Cognitive psychology has been influenced by
  developments in computer science and analogies
  are often made between how a computer works and
  how we process information. Based on this
  computer analogy cognitive psychology is
  interested in how the brain inputs, stores and
  outputs information.

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Developmental Psychology

• Developmental psychology is interested in
  discovering the psychological processes of
  development. The three core studies in this
  section all focus on how children develop. It is
  worth noting that developmental psychologists
  also study adulthood too.
• A main assumption of the developmental approach
  is that cognitive, emotional and behavioural
  development is an ongoing process and that such
  changes result from an interaction of nature and
  nurture.