National Year 13 Psychology
Chapters: 13
1. 4.2.1 Approaches in psychology (A-level extension)
4.2.1 Psychodynamic and humanistic approaches
- Approaches in Psychology – An approach is a set of ideas about what causes behaviour and how to study it. Psychology became a science in 1879 with Wundt's lab. Behaviourism studies only observable behaviour learned through conditioning; social learning theory adds imitation. The cognitive approach sees the mind as an information processor using schemas, studied with models and brain scans. The biological approach explains behaviour through genes, neurochemistry and evolution. The psychodynamic approach (Freud) stresses the unconscious, the id, ego and superego, defence mechanisms and psychosexual stages. The humanistic approach (Maslow, Rogers) stresses free will, self-actualisation and congruence. Approaches differ on free will vs determinism, nature vs nurture, reductionism and scientific method.
2. 4.2.2 Biopsychology (A-level extension)
4.2.2 Brain function · 4.2.2 Studying the brain · 4.2.2 Biological rhythms
- Biopsychology: How the Body and Brain Shape Behaviour – Biopsychology studies how the body, especially the nervous and hormone systems, shapes what we think, feel and do. The nervous system has a central part (brain and spinal cord) and a peripheral part (somatic and autonomic nerves). Neurons pass messages electrically along their length and chemically across a synapse using neurotransmitters, which can be excitatory or inhibitory. The endocrine system uses glands and hormones; in danger the sympathetic branch and adrenaline produce the fight-or-flight response. Some jobs are localised in particular brain areas, and some are lateralised to one half, as split-brain studies show. The brain can rewire itself (plasticity) and recover after damage. Scientists study it with fMRI, EEG, ERP and post-mortems. Our bodies also run on cycles: circadian (about 24 hours), ultradian (shorter) and infradian (longer), kept by inner pacemakers and reset by zeitgebers such as light.
3. 4.2.3 Research methods (A-level extension)
4.2.3.1 Science and reporting · 4.2.3.3 Inferential testing
- Psychology as a Science: Features, Paradigms, Reports and Validity – Science gains knowledge through a cycle: a theory leads to a hypothesis, a test, and data that support or change the theory. Key features are empiricism, objectivity, replicability, falsifiability and theory construction. Kuhn argued that sciences work inside a shared paradigm and change through paradigm shifts when anomalies pile up; psychology may still be pre-paradigmatic. Research is shared through peer review and a report with set sections: abstract, introduction, method, results, discussion and references. Good research must be reliable (consistent) and valid (measuring what it claims), and there are several types of each.
- Inferential Statistics: Significance, Errors and Choosing a Test – Inferential statistics tell us whether a result in a sample is likely to be real or just chance. We start from a null hypothesis (no effect) and ask how likely our data would be if it were true. If that probability is 5% or less (p ≤ 0.05), we call the result significant and reject the null hypothesis. We can still be wrong: a Type I error is a false positive, a Type II error is a false negative. The right test depends on three things: whether we look for a difference or a correlation, whether the design is related or unrelated, and the level of data (nominal, ordinal or interval). We then compare the calculated value with a critical value from a table.
4. 4.3.1 Issues and debates
4.3.1 Gender and culture bias · 4.3.1 Free will and determinism · 4.3.1 Nature and nurture · 4.3.1 Holism and reductionism · 4.3.1 Idiographic and nomothetic · 4.3.1 Ethical implications
- Issues and Debates in Psychology: Bias, Free Will, Nature-Nurture and More – Issues and debates are big questions that run through all of psychology. Gender bias can exaggerate differences (alpha bias) or ignore them (beta bias); androcentrism treats male behaviour as the norm. Culture bias includes ethnocentrism and imposed etic research, while cultural relativism judges behaviour inside its own culture. The free will vs determinism debate includes hard and soft determinism. Nature vs nurture is now mostly answered by interactionism. Holism looks at the whole person; reductionism explains through smaller parts at lower levels. Idiographic research studies individuals in depth; nomothetic research seeks general laws. Socially sensitive research has ethical implications for the groups it describes.
5. 4.3.2 Option 1 (choose one): Relationships
4.3.2 Relationships
- Relationships in Psychology – Psychologists explain romantic relationships in stages: why we pick certain partners (evolution, looks, self-disclosure, filter theory), why we stay (social exchange, equity, investment), how relationships end (Duck's phases), and new kinds of relationships online or with celebrities (virtual and parasocial).
6. 4.3.3 Option 1 (choose one): Gender
4.3.3 Gender
- Gender Development – Sex is biological; gender is the psychological and cultural side of being male, female or another gender. Psychologists explain gender development through biology (chromosomes, hormones, atypical patterns like Klinefelter and Turner syndromes), cognition (Kohlberg's stages, gender schema theory), psychodynamic theory (identification with the same-sex parent) and social learning (models, reinforcement, culture and media). Androgyny and atypical gender development, such as gender dysphoria, show that gender is more varied than two fixed boxes.
7. 4.3.4 Option 1 (choose one): Cognition and development
4.3.4 Cognition and development
- 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.
8. 4.3.5 Option 2 (choose one): Schizophrenia
4.3.5 Schizophrenia
- Schizophrenia – Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness that affects thinking, perception and motivation. It affects about 1 in 100 people worldwide. Symptoms are positive (hallucinations, delusions) or negative (speech poverty, avolition). Diagnosis has problems of reliability and validity. Causes include genes, dopamine and brain differences, family stress and faulty thinking. Treatment combines medicines with CBT, family therapy and token economies. The diathesis-stress model joins these ideas. It is treatable, and many people recover well.
9. 4.3.6 Option 2 (choose one): Eating behaviour
4.3.6 Eating behaviour
- Eating Behaviour – Eating behaviour is shaped by evolution (we like sweet and salty foods and fear new ones), by learning (family, friends, culture, media) and by a body control system: ghrelin from the stomach makes us hungry, leptin from fat tells us we have stores, and the hypothalamus starts (LH) and stops (VMH) eating. Anorexia nervosa has biological (genes, serotonin, dopamine) and psychological (family, social learning, cognitive) explanations. Obesity is explained by genes and hormones and by restraint, disinhibition and the boundary model, which also explain why diets often fail.
10. 4.3.7 Option 2 (choose one): Stress
4.3.7 Stress
- Stress – Stress is the body and mind's response when demands seem greater than our ability to cope. The body responds through two routes: the fast SAM route (adrenaline) and the slower HPA route (cortisol). Long stress can weaken the immune system and harm the heart. Sources include life changes, daily hassles and workplace stress, measured by self-report scales and body measures. Personality (Type A, Type D, hardiness) changes how we react. Stress can be managed with drugs, stress inoculation training, biofeedback and social support, and there are gender differences in coping.
11. 4.3.8 Option 3 (choose one): Aggression
4.3.8 Aggression
- Aggression: Why People Hurt Others – Aggression is behaviour meant to harm someone who does not want to be harmed. Psychologists explain it at many levels: the brain (amygdala and prefrontal cortex), hormones (testosterone, serotonin), genes (MAOA), animal instincts (ethology), evolution, social causes (frustration, social learning, deindividuation), settings like prisons, and media such as violent films and computer games. Most behaviour comes from several causes working together.
12. 4.3.9 Option 3 (choose one): Forensic psychology
4.3.9 Forensic psychology
- Forensic Psychology: Understanding and Dealing with Crime – Forensic psychology uses psychology to help the justice system. It covers offender profiling (top-down and bottom-up, including geographical profiling), biological explanations of crime (old atavistic ideas, genes, brain), psychological explanations (Eysenck's criminal personality, thinking errors, learning from others, psychodynamic ideas) and ways of dealing with offenders: prison, reoffending (recidivism), behaviour modification, anger management and restorative justice.
13. 4.3.10 Option 3 (choose one): Addiction
4.3.10 Addiction
- Addiction: Why It Starts and How People Recover – Addiction is when a person cannot stop a habit (a drug, nicotine, alcohol, gambling, gaming) even though it harms them. Key signs are craving, loss of control and continuing despite harm. Tolerance means more is needed for the same effect; withdrawal means feeling ill when stopping; dependence is needing the habit to feel normal. Genes can raise risk, learning (rewards) keeps it going, and stress, peers, age, family and personality are risk factors. It can be reduced with aversion therapy, self-management, CBT, medicines and support, and change models such as the theory of planned behaviour explain how people decide to quit.