National Year 10 Psychology
Chapters: 4
1. 3.1.1 Memory
3.1.1 Processes and types of memory · 3.1.1 Structures of memory · 3.1.1 Memory as an active process
- Human Memory: How We Keep Information – Memory keeps information over time. It works in three steps: encoding, storage and retrieval. The stage model says information passes from sensory memory (huge, about a second) to short-term memory (about 7 items, about 20 seconds) and, with rehearsal, to long-term memory (unlimited, years). Short-term memory works as working memory. The levels of processing view says deeper, meaning-based processing gives longer memory. Long-term memory has declarative memory (episodic and semantic) and procedural memory.
- Reconstructive Memory – We do not store memories like a video. We store pieces and rebuild the memory each time we recall it. While rebuilding, our schemas (ready-made ideas about how things usually are) fill gaps and change odd details. So memories get shorter, more familiar and sometimes false. Interference between similar memories and missing context cues also cause forgetting.
2. 3.1.2 Perception
3.1.2 Sensation and perception · 3.1.2 Visual cues and constancies · 3.1.2 Theories of perception · 3.1.2 Visual illusions · 3.1.2 Factors affecting perception
- Perception: How the Brain Makes Sense – Perception is giving meaning to what the senses bring. We work bottom-up (parts to whole) and top-down (ideas guide what we see). The perceiver's needs, interests, expectations and mood shape it. Gestalt principles (figure-ground, proximity, similarity, closure, continuity) organise parts into wholes. Monocular and binocular cues give depth. Constancies keep size, shape and brightness stable. Illusions are perceptions that do not match reality, and culture changes how strongly we fall for them.
3. 3.1.3 Development
3.1.3 Early brain development · 3.1.3 Piaget's stage theory · 3.1.3 Effects of learning on development
- Child Development: Stages, Milestones and Care – Growth is a child getting bigger. Development is a child getting more skilled: in body, thinking, language and feelings. It happens in an order, through stages (infant, toddler, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence), with milestones that most children reach at about the same age. Good nutrition, play, love, safety and responsive adults help every area grow.
- Cognitive Development – Cognitive development means how thinking grows from birth to adulthood. Jean Piaget said children build schemas (boxes of knowledge) by assimilation and accommodation, and pass through four stages in a fixed order: sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete operational and formal operational. Conservation and egocentrism tests show the change. Learning also shapes development: Carol Dweck's mindset theory says believing ability can grow, plus praise for effort and self-efficacy, helps children learn. 'Learning styles' are popular but poorly supported.
4. 3.1.4 Research methods
3.1.4 Hypotheses and variables · 3.1.4 Sampling · 3.1.4 Designing research · 3.1.4 Research procedures and ethics · 3.1.4.1 Data handling
- Research Methods in Psychology – Psychologists test ideas by research. A hypothesis is a testable prediction; the null hypothesis says there is no effect. In an experiment the independent variable (IV) is changed and the dependent variable (DV) is measured, while extraneous variables are controlled. People are chosen by random, opportunity, systematic or stratified sampling. Designs are independent groups, repeated measures or matched pairs. Experiments can be lab, field or natural; other methods include interviews, questionnaires, case studies, observation and correlation. Good research is standardised, counterbalanced, reliable, valid and ethical.
- Data Handling in Research – Researchers collect data as words (qualitative) or numbers (quantitative), either first-hand (primary) or from existing records (secondary). Number data is summed up with averages (mean, median, mode) and a spread (range), shown in tables, bar charts or scatter diagrams, and many human measures form a bell-shaped normal distribution.