GCSE Psychology PDF

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Get the most from this book
Everyone has to decide his or her own revision strategy, but it is essential to
review your work, learn it and test your understanding. These Revision Notes
will help you to do that in a planned way, topic by topic. Use this book as the
cornerstone of your revision and don’t hesitate to write in it – personalise
your notes and check your progress by ticking off each section as you revise.
Track your progress

Use the revision planner on page 4 to plan your revision, topic by topic.
Make a note when you have:
• revised and understood a topic
• tested yourself
• practised the exam questions and gone online to check your answers and
complete the quick quizzes.
You can also keep track of your revision by noting each topic heading in the
book. You may find it helpful to add your own notes as you work through
each topic.
Features to help you succeed
Exam tips
Expert tips are given throughout the book to help you polish your
exam technique in order to maximise your chances in the exam.
Typical mistakes
The author identifies the typical mistakes candidates make and
explains how you can avoid them.
Now test yourself

These short, knowledge-based questions provide the first step in
testing your learning. Answers are at the back of the book.
Definitions and key words

Clear, concise definitions of essential key terms are provided where
they first appear.
Key words from the specification are highlighted in bold throughout
the book.
Revision activities
These activities will help you to understand each topic in an
interactive way.
Debates
Debates are highlighted to help you assess arguments and use
evidence appropriately.
Exam practice
Practice exam questions are provided for each topic. Use them to
consolidate your revision and practise your exam skills. Answers are
at the back of the book.
Summaries
The summaries provide a quick-check bullet list for each topic.
Online
Go online to try out the extra quick quizzes at
www.hoddereducation.co.uk/myrevisionnotesdownloads
My revision planner
1 Criminal psychology
Key concepts
Explanations of why criminal and anti-social behaviour occurs
Application – the changing nature of punishment
2 Development
Key concepts
Explanations of children’s development
Application – the changing role of education
3 Psychological problems
Key concepts
Explanations of psychological problems
Application – the development of treatments
4 Social influence
Key concepts
Explanations of social influence
Application – changing attitudes
5 Memory
Key concepts
Explanations of memory
Application – techniques used for recall
6 Sleep and dreaming
Key concepts
Explanations of the nature of dreaming
Application – development of treatments for insomnia
7 Research methods
Planning research
Doing research
Analysing research
Now test yourself answers
Exam practice answers
Glossary
Countdown to my exams
6–8 weeks to go
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Use the revision planner on page 4 to familiarise yourself with the
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2–6 weeks to go
• Read through the relevant sections of this book and refer to the
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off the topics as you feel confident about them. Highlight those
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test yourself’ questions in the book. Look up the answers at the
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exam practice questions provided in this book. Check your answers
at the back of the book and try out the extra quick quizzes at
www.hoddereducation.co.uk/myrevisionnotesdownloads
• Use the revision activities to try out different revision methods. For
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One week to go
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• Attend any revision classes put on by your teacher. Remember, he
or she is an expert at preparing people for examinations.
The day before the examination

• Flick through these Revision Notes for useful reminders, for
example the exam tips, exam summaries, typical mistakes and key
terms.
• Check the time and place of your examination.
• Make sure you have everything you need — extra pens and
pencils, tissues, bottled water.
• Allow some time to relax and have an early night to ensure you are
fresh and alert for the examinations.
My exams
GCSE Psychology Paper 1
Date: ……………………………………………………………….
Time: ………………………………………………………………
Location: …………………………………………………………
GCSE Psychology Paper 2

Date: ……………………………………………………………….
Time: ………………………………………………………………
Location: …………………………………………………………
1 Criminal psychology
1.1 Key concepts

Different types of crime
Not all crimes are the same, and different crimes involve different kinds of
behaviour. From a psychologist’s point of view, there may be different
reasons for committing different types of crime.
Table 1.1 Different types of crime

Type of
crime Definition Examples
Acquisitive Taking money or belongings without the Theft
consent/knowledge of the owners Fraud
Anti-social Causing harassment or distress to people Drunk and
who are not part of your family disorderly
Graffiti
Drug- Trading or using illegal substances Supplying
related drugs
Buying drugs
Sexual Making someone else submit to a sexual Rape
act against their consent Use of child
pornography
Violent Causing physical harm or even death to Physical
someone else assault
Murder
Criminal behaviour as a social
construct
Crimes are any acts against the law. Although this definition is
straightforward, you need to remember that laws differ depending on the
society. This is why crime is seen as a social construct.
Exam tip
You might be able to think of other types of crimes than those that
are listed but these are the only ones you need to know about for the
exam because they are the only ones on the specification.
For example, in some societies it is acceptable to be married to more than one
person at a time, so this is not against the law. In British society, however,
this is a crime known as bigamy. Similarly, laws change over time as society
changes. Nowadays there are no laws against homosexuality in the UK.
However, about 50 years ago, it was illegal to engage in gay sex.
How does a society decide on what is legal and illegal? It is often based on
what is normal and acceptable. When behaviours deviate from norms they
can be defined as crime. For example, most people do not think it is right to
steal from someone else so this is a well established crime. As fewer and
fewer British people smoke, there are more laws in the UK to prevent or limit
smoking.
To conclude, culture has a role in defining criminal and anti-social behaviour.
Criminal and anti-social behaviour are not absolute behaviours – they are
determined by what is acceptable at any point in time by the people who
make up the culture. This is why communities have the power to change laws
– for example, through protests, campaigns or by voting different people into
power.
How crime is measured

If we accept that a crime is any act against whatever is law at the time then
this is something we can try to measure.
Official statistics
One way of measuring crime is to use official statistics. These are the
statistics produced by the Government’s Home Office which are based on
crimes recorded by the police force. Of course, the police can only record
those crimes that are either detected or reported. Even though this means
some crimes are missed, it can still show us which crimes are increasing or
decreasing in number and what the most common crimes are.
Self-report
Another way of measuring crime is through self-report surveys. This allows
researchers to find out about crimes that are not reported or detected.
One type of survey is a victim survey. These are questionnaires (usually
anonymous) given to the general public to find out what crimes have been
committed against them, whether the crimes have been officially recorded or
not.
Another type of survey is an offender survey. These are questionnaires (again
anonymous) given to the general public or to a more specific group of known
offenders. Again, this is to find out about crimes that may or may not be on
record.
Typical mistake
Students often mix up defining crime and measuring crime.
Remember, defining crime is about deciding what crime is, whereas
measuring crime is about how much crime is happening.
Now test yourself

1 What are the different types of crime listed on the specification?
2 How is criminal behaviour a social construct?
3 What is meant by ‘deviation from norms’ in relation to crime?
4 What are some of the ways that crime can be measured?
1.2 Explanations of why criminal
and anti-social behaviour occurs
The Social Learning Theory of
criminality
This theory states that criminal and anti-social behaviours are learned
behaviours. People are not born criminals but become criminals depending on
their experiences.
So, how does this learning happen?
According to Social Learning Theory, we go through a process of
identification with role models. These are people whom we look up to and
admire. By identifying with them, we have decided that we want to be like
them. Role models are often people like parents, peers and media figures.
We pay particular attention to what our role models do. Not only do we
observe their behaviour, but we also try to imitate it. In other words, we learn
new behaviours through copying them.
We are more likely to want to imitate behaviours that we see have positive
outcomes. When we observe a behaviour being rewarded, we go through a
process of vicarious reinforcement. We are not rewarded directly, but
want to imitate the role model’s behaviour because we think it will reward us
too.
If a behaviour is copied and then followed by a reward, this is an example of
direct reinforcement. It is likely we will want to keep repeating the
behaviour to be rewarded again and again. This is how a behaviour becomes
established. There is a point at which the behaviour is so well learned that it
becomes a part of us and is fully ingrained – this is known as
internalisation. At this point the behaviour happens regardless of the
consequences, whether they are good or bad.
If we apply Social Learning Theory to criminal behaviour and anti-social
behaviour, we can see that these behaviours are learned from role models
who are already criminals. People may be motivated to copy criminal
behaviour because they see it being rewarded by money or power, for
example. This is vicarious reinforcement. If people receive similar rewards
when they commit crimes or anti-social acts, then they are being directly
reinforced and have a reason for continuing with their crimes. Eventually, the
imitated criminal behaviour may become internalised so that a person is an
established criminal.
Now test yourself

1 Who are typical role models for criminal behaviour?
2 Can you explain the difference between vicarious reinforcement
and direct reinforcement?
3 How does criminal behaviour become internalised?
Key criticism
• The theory focuses too much on nurture and ignores the role of nature. In
other words, it believes criminal behaviour can be learned and therefore
unlearned. It might, however, be something that is more innate.
Debate
The nature vs nurture debate is all about whether people are born
with a certain trait or behaviour (nature) or whether it is a result of
their experiences (nurture).
Other criticisms
• If criminal behaviour is imitated from others, from where did it originate in
the first place?
• Attempts to control criminal behaviour – such as age restrictions on films
and video games – have not been that successful in stopping the rise of
crime.
Social learning research study –

Cooper & Mackie (1986): study into
video games and aggression in
children
How the study was carried out
• The researchers aimed to see whether video games had more effect on
violent behaviour than TV did, on the basis that video games are more
active. They therefore compared the effects on people who played the game
and those who just watched others playing. They also wanted to see if there
were any gender differences in the effects on violent behaviour.
• Their hypothesis was that playing aggressive video games would have
more effect on violent behaviour compared to playing other games.
• The sample was 84 nine- to eleven-year-olds from New Jersey in the USA.
• The researchers carried out a laboratory experiment.
• The independent variable was the type of game played: a violent video
game, a non-violent video game or a paper-and-pen maze game. Pairs of
children were allocated to one of these games – so it was an independent
measures design. In each pair, one child played while the other child
watched. They swapped around in a second trial so all children ended up
playing the game.
• The dependent variable was aggression levels displayed by the children
after playing the game. This was measured in two ways. One was by
covertly observing how long children played with certain types of toys
from a choice of an aggressive toy, an active toy, a skill toy and a quiet toy.
The other was through a test activity, where children showed how much
they would punish an imaginary child who had been naughty – measured
by how long they pressed a buzzer for. This was a measure of interpersonal
aggression.
• At the end of the procedure, children completed a questionnaire on their
experience of playing the game they had been allocated.
Revision activity
As you read through this study, highlight all of the key words that you
already know from doing research methods. Where they are features
that have strengths and weaknesses (for example, the method used)
think about how the strengths/weaknesses apply to this particular
study.
What the study found
• Participants in the aggressive game condition spent more time playing with
the aggressive toy than participants who played one of the other two
games. This was truer of girls than boys.
• The type of game played had no effect on interpersonal aggression (how
much the participants wanted to punish the naughty child). However,
children showed higher levels of aggression here when they had actually
played a game rather than watched it being played.
• The questionnaire showed that boys performed better on the violent game
compared to girls and also enjoyed playing it more.
• The researchers concluded that children (mainly girls) had played more
with the violent toy after playing the violent game because of some level of
imitation. The game did not affect interpersonal aggression because the
game itself did not involve any human characters. In other words, what the
children had observed happening in the game had some impact on learned
behaviour.
Evaluating the study

• The study lacked ecological validity because it was carried out in artificial
conditions. Video games would normally be played at home or in arcades
rather than in a laboratory under strict conditions.
• The study used independent measures so it is possible that the violent video
game condition showed higher levels of aggression because of the
individuals who happened to be allocated to that group – they may simply
have been more violent on average by their nature or for other reasons
outside of the experiment.
• The sample was not representative of other cultures and other age groups as
it was only carried out on American children (who may have been more or
less affected by video games as they were very common in their country)
and only a narrow age group (for example, younger children may be more
easily influenced by what they observe).
• Only the immediate effect of violent games was tested whereas, in reality,
playing games like this may have a greater effect over time.
• The findings are out of date as computer games are very different
nowadays. With better graphics and more realism, today’s computer games
may have even more influence on aggressive behaviour.
Exam tip
Note how each of the evaluation points has been related to the study.
It is important to do this to earn higher marks. For example, you will
get credit for knowing that a laboratory experiment lacks ecological
validity but you will get more credit for knowing how this point applies
specifically to the way the Cooper & Mackie study was set up.
Revision activity
Outline the following key features of the Cooper & Mackie study
using a suitable diagram: the hypothesis, the sample, the method,
the independent variable, the dependent variables and a key finding.
Eysenck’s criminal personality theory

This theory states that criminal behaviour is more a product of nature than
nurture. It says that some people are born with a personality that makes them
more prone to committing crimes.
According to Eysenck there are two key personality traits on which people
can be measured:
• One trait is extraversion. Extroverts are very active and sociable; at the
other end of the scale there are introverts who are passive and shyer.
• The other trait is neuroticism. Neurotics are worriers and are easily
agitated; at the other end of the scale there are stable people who are more
in control of their emotions.
People who score high on extraversion and also high on neuroticism can be
called neurotic extroverts. This is the personality type that is most likely to
end up committing a serious offence. This is because the characteristics
include thrill seeking, risk taking and aggression. They also tend to be
optimistic which means they believe they will get away with their crimes.
Eysenck also identified a third trait in criminals known as psychoticism. If
a neurotic extrovert also scores high on psychoticism then they are very
likely to become a criminal.
The important point about all of these traits is that they are apparently fixed
because the theory says they are part of our genetic make-up and cannot be
changed. Our genes affect our biology, and our biology can be used to
explain traits like extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism.
People with a criminal personality score high on extraversion, neuroticism
and psychoticism. This is linked to the fact that these people are easily
aroused when things happen in their lives and in their environment and this
itself is linked to how their central nervous system operates.
Revision activity
Go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=6J73tzP2zFg for a recap of
dopamine activity in the brain.
Psychoticism is specifically linked to an overactive dopamine system in the
brain. Messages are sent through the brain by passing synapses, which are
gaps between nerve cells. In people who are psychotic there are too many
dopaminergic neurons which means there is an excess of dopamine. Too
much dopamine is related to high levels of violence.
Exam tip
Although ‘introversion’ and ‘stability’ are not on the specification, it
still makes sense to know these terms – even though stable
introverts do not make very good criminals, according to the theory!
Extraversion is linked to a number of parts of the brain. The reticular
activating system (RAS) is a part of the brain and sits at the top of the brain
stem. It is like a portal through which most information comes to enter the
brain itself. In introverts, the RAS is highly active – even when it is not being
stimulated – so it only needs a small stimulus to produce a large response.
However, extroverts need a much larger stimulus to generate a response. This
stimulus could be the thrill associated with committing crimes. This stimulus
is sent to, and processed by, the cerebral cortex at the top of the brain. The
cerebral cortex is the conscious part of the brain and wants to be stimulated.
Extraversion is also linked to the dopamine reward system which starts in the
core of the brain. Dopamine is released in response to pleasurable
experiences. Extroverts need more exciting stimuli to produce pleasure
compared to introverts. This is why they may be driven to rape or attack
someone, or steal goods – because it is a way of meeting their desire for
pleasure but has to be quite extreme.
Neuroticism is linked to the autonomic nervous system (ANS) as this part of
our biology regulates how we respond to stressful situations. Neurotics’ ANS
is more easily aroused because they are anxious individuals. This has an
effect on an area of the brain known as the limbic system. The limbic system
is also at the core of the brain and is in control of sexual and aggressive
urges. If this part of the brain is over-active, it can lead to physical and sexual
offences.
According to Eysenck’s theory, neurotic extroverts are the most difficult
personality type to condition. As children, they don’t learn easily. In this
case, they don’t easily learn the association between committing a crime and
the negative outcomes for themselves. This can be linked to early
socialisation, when parents and other people may find it difficult to teach
these children right from wrong.
Now test yourself

1 What is meant by psychoticism?
2 What are the traits of a neurotic extrovert?
3 How does the reticular activating system work differently in
extroverts and introverts?
4 What is the role of dopamine in criminal behaviour?
5 What is the role of conditioning in criminal behaviour?
Key criticism
• Eysenck’s theory underplays individual differences. He sees criminals as
being broadly the same as they share the same personality type. Other
psychologists argue that this is an over-generalisation.
Other criticisms
• The theory is too deterministic as it says that criminal behaviour is largely
genetic but this suggests that there is little that can be done to control it.
However, evidence suggests that criminals can be rehabilitated.
• The neurotic extrovert personality links with some crimes better than
others. For example, its traits fit well with crimes like murder, rape and
theft but less so with more introverted crimes such as fraud.
Exam tip
Some of the criticisms of the theories are generic, such as
‘underplays individual differences’ or ‘too deterministic’. To make
them better criticisms, make sure you relate them to the topic being
studied – in this case, you would want to refer to crime.
Revision activity
Draw or download an image of the brain. Colour code different parts
to show the areas associated with crime. Annotate the image using
the different colours to explain how the different parts are associated
with different personality traits.
Criminal personality theory research

study – Heaven (1996): study into
delinquency, extroversion,
psychoticism and self-esteem
• Heaven recognised there was an association between the traits identified by
Eysenck and criminal behaviour, and he wanted to explore this further.
• He predicted that measures of psychoticism, extraversion and self-esteem
(which is associated with neuroticism) would be significant predictors for
self-report (rather than recorded) delinquency.
• He carried out a longitudinal study over two years where he started by
measuring the three traits and then correlated these with self-reported
delinquency at the end of the study.
• The sample was made up of 282 thirteen- to fifteen-year-olds taken from
two Catholic independent schools in Australia.
• Questionnaires with closed questions were used to measure the three traits.
• Self-reported delinquency was also measured using closed question
questionnaires.
• Eighty per cent of the original participants were surveyed again after the
two years using the same anonymous questionnaires.
Typical mistake
When candidates are asked to describe a study in the exam they
sometimes get so carried away with describing how it was done that
they forget to include any of the findings. This will limit the mark that
can be awarded. Remember, what a study found out is crucial for the
success of the study so it must be included.

• There was a positive correlation between psychoticism and delinquency at
both the beginning and end of the study.
• Extraversion showed a weak positive correlation with delinquency at the
end of the study.
• There was no significant correlation between self-esteem and delinquency.
• Psychoticism was the best predictor of delinquency.
• Males, who made up approximately half of the sample, had higher
delinquency scores than females – at both the beginning and the end of the
study.

• The sample was culturally biased in two main ways. The children were all
from one religion and from one particular country. Other religions and
other countries may have a different influence on delinquent behaviour.
• The participants may have given socially desirable responses, especially
when being asked about their delinquency. Even though the questionnaires
were anonymous, some children may not have wanted to admit to all the
delinquent things they had done.
• The use of closed questions may have led to low construct validity as
personality and delinquency are too complex to be reduced to scores.
• The 20 per cent of children who dropped out of the study may not have
been representative of the ones who were left in. For example, children
with low levels of delinquency may not have been interested in carrying on
with the study.
• It is not possible to establish cause and effect with correlational studies.
It may be that delinquency affects children’s personality (if we assume it’s
not that fixed) rather than the other way around.
Revision activity
Imagine you were a participant in Heaven’s study. Write an account
of how you were studied and what you found out about yourself from
the results. Personalising the study in this way may help you to
remember at least some aspects of it.
1.3 Application – the changing

nature of punishment
The role of rehabilitation in reducing
criminal/anti-social behaviour and
increasing pro-social behaviour
Crime is not always dealt with through punishment. Psychologists have
had a lot to do with the other side of punishment – rehabilitation.
Restorative justice
Restorative justice is one example of rehabilitation and tries to get offenders
to behave more pro-socially rather than anti-socially. Restorative justice
normally involves the victim meeting with the person who has offended
against them. This is so the criminal can literally ‘face up’ to the
consequences of their actions. Justice is often restored by the criminal paying
for their crime – either in money or through community service, or
sometimes through something as simple as an apology or an explanation.
Use of positive role models
This example of rehabilitation is based on the principles of social learning. If
criminals have learned their anti-social behaviour from bad role models then
the idea is that they can learn pro-social behaviour from good role models.
These role models may be people like mentors who are assigned to offenders,
or professional trainers who lead social skills training sessions.
The effects of punishment and

deterrents in reducing criminal/anti-
social behaviour
The theory behind punishments is that people are less likely to repeat a
behaviour if the consequences have been negative. However, for some people
it’s enough to see others being punished to stop them committing a crime.
This is what is meant by a deterrent.
Prisons
Prisons punish by taking freedom, as well as other privileges, away from
offenders by confining them to an institution.
Community sentences
Community sentences punish offenders by making them give up their time to
do unpaid work for the community, such as litter picking, gardening, painting
or using job skills they have already.
Fines
Fines punish offenders by making them pay money for their offence. The
negative consequence of their behaviour is losing earnings or savings.
Now test yourself

1 What is meant by rehabilitation in relation to crime?
2 How does restorative justice try to reduce criminal behaviour?
3 How does the use of role models try to reduce criminal behaviour?
4 What are the different ways of punishing criminal behaviour?
5 How can punishment also act as a deterrent for crime?
Summary
Tick the following when you think you know and understand them
well enough:
the five different types of crime
how crime is a social construct determined by deviation from
norms and culture
how crime is measured through official statistics and self-report
the Social Learning Theory of criminality including the concept of
role models, and the processes of observation, imitation,
reinforcement and internalisation
criticisms of Social Learning Theory including the nature/nurture
debate
Cooper & Mackie’s experiment into computer game violence
criticisms of Cooper & Mackie’s study
Eysenck’s theory of the criminal personality including the concepts
of extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism, and the role of the
central nervous system, the autonomic nervous system, the
reticular activating system, the limbic system, the cerebral cortex
and dopamine
Heaven’s longitudinal study into personality traits and delinquency
criticisms of Heaven’s study
the role of rehabilitation including restorative justice and use of
positive role models
the role of punishments and deterrents including prisons,
community sentences and fines
Exam practice
1 Using an example, explain what is meant by the idea that crime is
a social construct.
[3]
2 Outline one criticism of the Social Learning Theory of criminality.
[2]
3 Describe and evaluate the procedure used in Cooper & Mackie’s
study into the transmission of aggression through imitation and
aggressive role models.
[8]
4 (a) Give two features of the sample used in Heaven’s study into
delinquency.
[2]
(b) Name two variables that were measured using questionnaires
in the study.
[2]
(c) State two criticisms of the study.
[2]
5 Harry has been cautioned on a number of occasions for anti-social
behaviour. This has not stopped him from continuing to break the
law even though his crimes are minor – such as disturbing the
peace, and being drunk and disorderly.
Using the source:
(a) Explain how punishment could be used to reduce Harry’s anti-
social behaviour.
[3]
(b) Explain how rehabilitation could be used to reduce Harry’s
anti-social behaviour.
[3]
2 Development
2.1 Key concepts

Stages of development
Development describes the changes that all humans go through as they get
older. This applies to psychological development as well as physical
development. Rather than relating development to specific ages, we tend to
talk about stages of development which cover a range of ages.
Four broad categories of development are:
• pre-natal: the period of time spent in the womb before an individual is born
• childhood: the time between birth and the start of puberty
• adolescence: the transitional period between childhood and adulthood that
includes going through puberty
• adulthood: the final stage of development when the individual has reached
full maturity which comes with certain responsibilities and expectations.
Exam tip
Sometimes stages like childhood and adulthood are broken down
into shorter stages but these are the only four stages on the
specification so all you need to know for the exam.
The development of brain structures

and functions
As an individual develops psychologically, changes take place in the way the
human brain is structured and functions.
As we get older, our nervous systems go through natural changes. The
brain and spinal cord lose nerve cells and weight. Nerve cells may begin to
pass messages more slowly than in the past. Waste products can collect in the
brain tissue as nerve cells break down. This can lead to plaques and tangles in
the brain.
A newborn baby’s brain contains approximately 100 billion neurons but
these begin to die immediately after birth and continue to do so throughout
our lifetime. Each individual neuron can form thousands of links with other
neurons, giving a typical brain well over 100 trillion synapses. Synaptic
pruning, which is the process of eliminating synapses, happens throughout
our lives but largely during childhood and adolescence. In general, synapses
can strengthen or weaken over time depending on how they are used as part
of everyday life.
Revision tip
Look at the way the brain develops and changes over time and see if
you can relate these developments to the behaviours we associate
with children, adolescents and adults. Thinking about the brain in this
way will give you a deeper understanding and improve your memory
for the facts.
IQ tests as a measure of intelligence
Although it is now very easy to observe the brain through various scanning
techniques, it is still difficult to accurately observe cognitive ability. One way
in which psychologists try to measure intelligence is through the use of IQ
tests. IQ stands for ‘intelligence quotient’, which is a score that tells us how
intelligent someone is. The score comes from answering a series of questions
which normally have one right answer. The average IQ score is 100 and
approximately two-thirds of people score between 85 and 115. If you score
140 or more you are considered a genius.
Now test yourself
1 What is the name of the stage of development between childhood
and adulthood?
2 What happens to neurons and synapses over the lifespan?
3 How does brain structure change over the lifespan?
4 How does an IQ test measure intelligence?
2.2 Explanations of children’s

development
Piaget’s theory of cognitive
development
Piaget believed that children’s cognitive development followed
invariant stages as these are the same for children all over the world and
happen at approximately the same age. This tells us that the stages are to do
with nature rather than nurture and are unaffected by the environment.
Piaget identified four stages of cognitive development as shown in Figure
2.2.
Typical mistake
Students can often remember the names of the stages but not the
order. Use your common sense where you can, for example pre-
operational must come before the operational stages. Or use
memory tricks, such as formal operational begins with ‘for’ and is the
‘fourth’ stage.
As children move through the stages, they continually go through the

processes of assimilation and accommodation.
• Assimilation happens when children come across new information and
make it fit with what they already know by integrating it into existing
schemas. For example, they may change their thinking to recognise that
not all men are daddies and include people that are not fathers in the
category of men.
• Accommodation happens when children come across new information that
does not fit easily with existing schemas so that a new schema needs to be
created in the mind. For example, a child realises that not all people speak
English, and so creates a schema for foreign languages as the new words he
or she is hearing do not fit into the schema for English language.
Features of the pre-operational stage

Object permanence: Children should have this skill before they enter Stage 2.
It is when they understand that someone or something exists even when it is
not present. This is because they are now able to hold a mental image of
things or people they have encountered.
Animism: Children in Stage 2 still make the mistake of believing that
inanimate objects (like toys or furniture) have feelings. For this reason,
children might tell a chair off if it falls on them, or spend a lot of time talking
with dolls or teddy bears.
Egocentrism: Children in Stage 2 remain egocentric. This means that they are
only able to perceive situations from their own points of view. Not only do
they literally find it difficult to picture something from another angle but it
also means they lack empathy with others.
Features of the concrete operational stage

Decentration: This skill develops in Stage 3. This is when children are able to
deal with two bits of information at the same time, so can sort toys by colour
and shape at the same time, for example. It also means they begin to see
others’ points of view alongside their own so become less egocentric.
Reversibility: Children can also reverse their thinking by the end of Stage 3.
They understand that objects or numbers can be changed and then taken back
to their original form. Children also have the logic to understand reverse
facts; for example, if they have a brother, then they must be a brother or sister
to that child.
Conservation: This also develops by the end of Stage 3. This is when children
understand that the properties of certain objects (such as their mass, size,
length) do not change even if the object’s appearance does.
Exam tip
It is easy to get Piaget’s ideas mixed up in the pressure of an exam.
Take the time to stop and think what different key terms mean. Most
have sensible names; for example, egocentrism is about centring on
yourself (your ego), conservation is about understanding that objects
conserve (do not change) their properties and animism is about
assuming objects are animated (have life).
Now test yourself

1 How do Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development differ from
each other?
2 What is the difference between assimilation and accommodation
according to Piaget?
3 What cognitive skills do children show by the end of the concrete
operational stage?
Key criticism
• Piaget’s theory is criticised for being too reductionist. This is because it
takes something as complex as cognitive development and reduces it down
to stages driven by age. Some other psychologists argue that we should
take a more holistic approach and look at all the different factors that work
together to affect a child’s development, such as their genetic inheritance,
emotional state, family upbringing and standard of education.
Other criticisms
• For some critics, the stages are too rigid and don’t allow for individual
differences. There is evidence that children develop at different rates and
this may have something to do with their upbringing.
• Critics say that Piaget’s theory focuses too much on logical thought and
ignores other types of thinking, such as creativity.
Debate
The reductionism vs holism debate is all about whether a behaviour
can be simplified down to one cause (reductionism) or whether it is
explained better by looking at a number of factors that interact with
each other (holism).
Cognitive development research study:

Piaget (1952) – study into the
conservation of number
• Piaget predicted that children in the concrete operational stage would
demonstrate conservation but that children in the pre-operational stage
would not.
• The study used the experimental method where the independent variable
was the age of the children used, and the dependent variable was whether
they could conserve number or not.
• The study used independent measures – there were two separate groups of
children representing different age groups.
• The sample was a small group of Swiss school children, including Piaget’s
own children.
• Each child was tested individually. They were shown two identical parallel
rows of counters and asked if there were the same number of counters in
each row.
• One of the rows of counters was then spread out in front of the child. The
child was then asked the same question again.

• Three- to four-year-olds (in the pre-operational stage) tended to say that the
spread out row had more counters when asked the question a second time.
• Five- to six-year-olds (at the end of the pre-operational stage) tended to
recognise the number of counters had stayed the same in the spread out row
but could not really justify the logic of it.
• Seven-year-olds and older (in the concrete operational stage) were able to
recognise that both rows still had the same number of counters and could
also explain the logic behind it – they showed they were able to conserve.

• Piaget was criticised for asking the same question twice. Younger children
especially may have thought this meant that their first answer was wrong so
changed it even though they could see the rows had the same number of
counters.
• The sample was culturally biased as only Swiss children were used. More
recent evidence shows that cognitive development can vary depending on
environmental experiences.
• The sample of children was also small so it is difficult to generalise –
especially as the findings are supposed to apply to all children.
• The experiment used an artificial task which had little bearing on real life.
Children may have been able to conserve if the task made more sense to
them.
• The experiment lacked construct validity as a narrow measure of
conservation had been taken. There are other ways in which children may
be able to show conservation of number that do not involve rows of
counters.
Revision activity
This is an interesting experiment to try to replicate if you happen to
know some younger children. You can use things like coins or
buttons if you do not have counters handy. Actually performing the
experiment will bring it to life and make it more memorable.
Learning theories of development

Learning theories focus on the idea that development happens as a
consequence of learning rather than being something that happens more
naturally. Children’s experiences with the environment are important in terms
of how well they develop.
Dweck’s mindset theory

According to Dweck’s theory, people tend to have one of two beliefs about
their abilities: a fixed mindset or a growth mindset.
Table 2.1 Fixed and growth mindsets

Fixed mindset Growth mindset
People see their own intelligence as People believe that intelligence
fixed. is something that can be
developed.
People tend to avoid challenging People will take on challenges.
tasks because they don’t want to Failure can still be painful for
fail due to what they see as their these people but they see this as
lack of intelligence. Remember, this part of the learning experience
is something they don’t think they and as something that will help
can change about themselves. them to grow and improve.
For these people, being wrong or For these people, it is okay to
getting feedback on how to improve get things wrong, especially if
is seen as a negative as it focuses this leads to useful feedback.
on their limitations. Both are seen as positives.
Dweck believes that we don’t just have one mindset or the other, rather that it
can differ for different abilities. For example, a child may have a fixed
mindset when it comes to their mathematical ability so they don’t try hard
enough in the subject on the basis they think they will fail and there is
nothing they can do about it. However, they may have a growth mindset for
their sporting ability where they are prepared to be challenged and embrace
feedback and the chance to improve.
The important point is that Dweck believes that a particular mindset is not
necessarily permanent. Mindsets can be changed, which is why this is
identified as a learning theory. However, her research shows that mindsets
can change in either direction. Dweck does suggest that just by knowing
about the two mindsets, people can start thinking and reacting in new growth-
orientated ways.
Dweck has also studied the impact of praise, specifically the type of praise
that children receive. Her research has shown that praise linked to reassuring
students about their intelligence or talent has a negative effect on their view
about their abilities. This is because it reinforces a fixed mindset by making
them think that their achievements are a consequence of innate intelligence.
Instead, Dweck argues that praise should recognise effort. So praise that
recognises processes such as practice, persistence and resilience has been
shown to support and develop a growth mindset in students.
Exam tip
This is the only part of the specification where there are two theories
(Dweck’s and Willingham’s) under one broader heading. This means
you need to be prepared to answer questions on either theory, or
both together.
Willingham’s theory
Willingham’s theory starts by criticising the once well-established theory of
different learning styles. Early this century, there was a lot of work done on
learning styles and it was not unusual for schools to test children for their
learning styles (for example, visual learners, auditory learners) and then to
differentiate activities for different types of learners. Willingham disputes
learning styles and argues that children may express a preference but it does
not mean they cannot learn in a variety of ways. In fact, he argues that
children often want to know what they are studying before they commit
themselves to an activity based on a particular learning style.
Willingham argues that what really helps children to develop is to make
things meaningful to them. He talks about the importance of meaning in
learning. In other words, children need understanding alongside knowledge.
He does not say that learning needs to be personalised for each child (so that
it is personally meaningful) but that the child must understand the point to it.
Now test yourself

1 Why are both Dweck’s theory and Willingham’s theory identified as
learning theories?
2 What is the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth
mindset?
3 Why is it important to praise effort, according to Dweck?
4 Why does Willingham disagree with the idea of learning styles?
Key criticism
• Since Dweck‘s and Willingham’s theories are both learning theories it is
easy to criticise them for focusing on nurture over nature. Both are
optimistic in the sense that they believe that learning experiences can have
a positive influence on children’s development. However, if a child’s
development is more a product of nature, then learning experiences will
have very little influence.
Other criticisms
• There is a danger that both theories are over-generalising by dismissing
certain approaches to development while promoting others. It might be that
certain approaches suit certain children and that both theories should
consider the individual more.
• Both theories have mixed evidence to support them. For example, a large-
scale study of British schools showed no difference in progress between
children adopting a growth mindset and those adopting a fixed one.
Willingham’s ideas are also questioned by research that shows that rote
learning may be useful for learning some content even though the
technique is not very meaningful.
Revision activity
You may find it useful to relate Dweck’s and Willingham’s theories to
your own experiences of school. Personalising the content in this way
should increase your chances of remembering it. It is not the kind of
‘meaning’ that Willingham is talking about necessarily but other
research has shown this technique to be successful!
Learning research study: Blackwell et

al. (2007) – study into fixed and growth
mindsets
Study 1

• The researchers predicted that students’ beliefs about intelligence – fixed
versus growth mindset – would correlate with their achievement grades on
a maths test.
• It was a longitudinal correlation study which took place over five years.
• The sample was made up of 373 students from four successive seventh
grade classes who attended a public secondary school in New York. They
varied in terms of ethnicity, social economic status and achievement.
• Both the students and their parents gave their informed consent to take part,
and were aware they could withdraw at any point.
• At the start of seventh grade, the students completed a motivational
questionnaire during lesson time. The questionnaire used a rating scale to
measure each student’s theory of intelligence, their learning goals, their
effort beliefs and their helpless responses to failure.
• Scores from maths tests taken in the seventh and eighth grade were
compared with scores from a test done in the sixth grade as a way of
measuring progress.

• There was no significant correlation between theory of intelligence (fixed
versus growth mindset) and maths test scores at the start of the seventh
grade.
• When students were tested in the autumn term of seventh grade and the
spring term of eighth grade, their mindset became a significant predictor of
maths achievement.
• The researchers concluded that those students who had a growth mindset
and believed they had the capacity to change their intelligence made a
greater improvement on their maths test scores than those with a fixed
mindset.
Exam tip
Because this study has two separate studies within it, you may be
asked about Study 1 or Study 2. Make sure you do not miss this if it
happens. You also need to be clear on the differences between the
two studies.
Study 2

• The researchers predicted that students who were taught to think that
intelligence is malleable would show more positive motivation in the
classroom and achieve better than those students who were not taught
about the growth mindset.
• It was a correlation study with an experimental section.
• In terms of the experiment, the independent variable was whether the
student was in the intervention group (taught about growth mindset) or the
control group. The dependent variables were levels of motivation and
achievement on a maths test. The study used independent measures, with
students in one condition or the other.
• In terms of the correlation, researchers analysed the relationship between
students’ theories of intelligence and achievement-related beliefs at the end
of the seventh grade and their scores in maths tests over the course of the
study.
• The sample was made up of 99 students from a seventh grade class from a
different public secondary school in New York. Again, the students came
from varied ethnic and socio-economic groups.
• The students completed the motivational questionnaire at the start of
seventh grade.
• Students were told they had the opportunity to take part in an eight-week
workshop looking at the brain to help them with their revision skills.
Students were then randomly assigned to the intervention group or the
control group.
• The intervention group were taught that learning changes the brain. The
control group were taught about memory. Undergraduates took the role of
the teachers but were also mentors to the two groups so that what had been
taught could be reinforced.
• At the end of the eight weeks, students completed the motivational
questionnaire again, and also did a multiple-choice test on what they
recalled from the course.
• Teachers were blind to which group their students had been placed into
and, on that basis, were asked to comment on changes in motivational
behaviour. These comments were coded by researchers to identify the
number of positive changes.

• The multiple-choice test showed there was no difference between the two
groups in terms of their recall of general content from the workshops but
the intervention group scored significantly higher on recall of the content
from the theory that they had been taught about.
• The questionnaire showed that the intervention group had more positive
mindsets than the control group by the end of the study.
• The teachers’ reports showed that more of the intervention group displayed
more positive motivation compared to the control group.
• The intervention group got significantly higher scores in their maths tests
after doing the workshop. This was not true of the control group. Indeed,
some the control group had a decline in scores.
• The researchers concluded that teaching students that intelligence is
flexible has a positive effect on their motivation and achievement in maths.
Evaluating the studies

• The sample was culturally biased as it only took place in one part of the
USA. Different states and indeed different countries may have different
education systems which could influence the impact of growth mindsets.
• The sample was age biased and therefore the findings may not apply to
other age groups. Growth mindsets may have more or less impact on
younger or older children.
• The researchers only measured achievement in maths. We cannot
generalise and say that growth mindsets influence the learning of other
subjects in the same way.
• It is difficult to control variables in naturalistic studies like these. For
example, teachers may respond more favourably to students with a ‘can do’
attitude and this may be why they make better progress rather than due to
their own mindset.
• Because Study 2 used independent groups, the difference between the
effort and achievement of the students could be down to individual
differences.
Revision activity
Imagine you are presenting this study to an audience of teachers to
convince them of the importance of having a growth mindset. You
may want to do this as a PowerPoint presentation or similar. You will
have to know and understand the study in order to use it as evidence
for your presentation, which is a good process to go through in terms
of revision.
2.3 Application – the changing role

of education
How Piaget’s ideas have been applied
to education
The use of key stages in education ties in with Piaget’s ideas that cognitive
development follows set stages. This is why many education systems around
the world group children by age when teaching them and getting them ready
for assessments. In broad terms, the key stages used in UK schools follow
Piaget’s ideas. For example, Key Stage 2 corresponds with the concrete
operational stage so that a lot of junior school lessons rely on using objects
and images for learning as well as lots of practical activities.
Key stages link to the idea of readiness. In primary school we do not try to
teach students algebra or get them to consider complex debates because we
would argue that they are not mentally ready for these ideas. This is why
there is a set curriculum for each key stage which spells out what children
should be able to learn and how far they are expected to go.
Active learning is an important of part of cognitive development according to
Piaget. Although children develop naturally they still need the opportunity to
explore and investigate, acting like ‘little scientists’ to use Piaget’s words.
This is how many classrooms work nowadays rather than children doing set
tasks or rote learning.
Piaget believed that intelligence is innate and therefore fixed. We can see this
in the way that many schools use pathways where they expect different
children to reach different targets depending on their natural ability.
How learning theories apply to the development of

education and intelligence
Many British schools now explicitly teach students about the importance of
having a growth mindset and how this can aid their learning and outcomes.
This philosophy can then be adopted across all lessons by all teachers.
The idea that different children have different learning styles is not something
that is supported by many schools. Instead, teachers are seeing the
importance of lessons having meaning for children, and to some extent this
means that learning is quite personalised.
Exam tip
You may get a broad question in the exam about application to
education in which case you can write about a number of ideas. Or
the question may be specifically about applying Piaget’s ideas or the
ideas of learning theories. Or it might focus on a specific technique or
concept, such as active learning. In other words, be prepared for
different levels of questions.
Now test yourself

1 How do key stages in education relate to Piaget’s theory of
cognitive development?
2 What did Piaget mean by active learning?
3 What evidence is there of learning theories being used in
education?
Summary
well enough:
the four stages of development
how brain structure and function develop over time, including the
nervous system, neurons and synapses
IQ tests as a measure of intelligence
Piaget’s theory including the four invariant stages of development;
the processes of assimilation and accommodation; the concepts of
object permanence, animism and egocentrism; the processes of
decentration, reversibility and conservation
criticisms of Piaget’s theory including the reductionism/holism
debate
Piaget’s experiment into the conservation of number
criticisms of Piaget’s study
Dweck’s learning theory including fixed and growth mindsets and
praise for effort
Willingham’s learning theory including the myth of learning styles
and the importance of meaning in learning
criticisms of learning theories including the nature/nurture debate
Blackwell et al.’s longitudinal study into the effects of different
mindsets
criticisms of Blackwell et al.’s study
how Piaget’s ideas have been applied to education through key
stages, readiness, active learning and the concept of intelligence
how learning theories have been applied to education through
growth mindsets and meaning rather than learning styles
Exam practice
1 Outline one stage of development.
[2]
2 Describe the function of a synapse.
[3]
3 Explain the difference between assimilation and accommodation in
cognitive development.
[3]
4 Give one example of a weakness of the sample used in Piaget’s
(1952) study into the conservation of number.
[1]
5 Evaluate Blackwell et al.’s (2007) study into fixed and growth
mindsets.
[6]
3 Psychological problems
3.1 Key concepts

An introduction to mental health
Ways of defining mental health
Mental health is not easy to define with different professionals having
different ideas of what it means to be psychologically healthy.
The mental health continuum is one way of defining health. It sees mental
health on a spectrum starting with mental healthiness moving to mental
health problems and finishing with mental disorder, as shown in Table 3.1.
Other definitions may draw a clearer line between mental health and mental
disorder, or may try to be more positive by just focusing on what mental
health is rather than what it is not. In short, mental health is a subjective idea
so is always open to interpretation.
The current prevalence of mental health problems

• One in four British adults report having been diagnosed with a mental
health disorder.
• The number of mental health problems tends to decline with age.
• Women tend to be diagnosed with mental health problems more than men.
• People who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender are particularly
at risk of experiencing mental health problems.
The incidence of significant mental health

problems over time
The two main classification systems for diagnosing mental health disorder –
the ICD (International Classification of Diseases) and DSM (Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders) – have both gone through a number
of revisions; the ICD, for example, is on its 11th edition. This shows that
professionals, and society in general, have changed their view on what counts
and does not count as a mental health problem.
There are differences in the incidence of some mental health problems over
time, with many increasing. However, rates of some disorders (such as
schizophrenia and bipolar disorder) have stayed relatively stable.
Since the 1959 Mental Health Act, there have been some steady changes in
society’s attitudes towards mental health problems. The Act itself removed
some of the stigma around people seen as ‘lunatics’ or ‘insane’ by using the
term ‘mental disorder’. It also aimed to make sure that patients were treated
with the same respect and rights as patients with physical illnesses as well as
initiating the idea of community care.
Recent surveys have shown that the public have a better understanding of
mental health problems, and are more tolerant of and less judgemental about
people who experience them. This is partly the result of many high-profile
campaigns, by charitable organisations, to raise awareness of mental health
problems and what can be done to support people with them.
Exam tip
You won’t be expected to define mental health in the exam but
should be able to explain why it is difficult to have one definition of
mental health.
Revision activity
Obviously, statistics change year on year so try to go into the exam
with some up-to-date figures on the prevalence of mental health
problems – but also remember that this is not the most important
thing to know. Knowing about general patterns or trends is key.
The effects of significant mental health

problems
The effects of stigma on individuals before and
after diagnosis
Even before individuals are diagnosed with an actual mental disorder, they
are likely to display behaviours which are bizarre (such as talking to
themselves out loud) or socially unacceptable (such as taking long periods off
work). For these kinds of reasons, individuals can be stigmatised because
they are not conforming to what society expects. If they are later given a
diagnosis of, for example, schizophrenia or depression – then this is a ‘label’
that people will judge them by. Despite changing attitudes, there are still
some negative ideas associated with these labels, which could mean
individuals are stigmatised further.
The effects of discrimination on individuals before

and after diagnosis
Stigmatisation is to do with what people think about mental disorders
whereas discrimination is more to do with how people act on their
thoughts. When individuals are perceived as different or abnormal because
they have a disorder, this can lead to others discriminating against them – for
example, by not giving people the same rights (such as to make their own
choices) or the same opportunities (for example, at work). Individuals can be
discriminated against before diagnosis on the basis that their behaviour may
cause concern (for example, if they withdraw from society, people may not
include them in the same way as others). Individuals can be discriminated
against after diagnosis because people may be concerned about their disorder.
For example, individuals may miss out on promotions at work.
The effects of significant mental health problems

on the wider society, including care in the
community
If mental health problems are on the increase then this clearly has an effect on
society because we need to find the time and resources to support and treat
individuals. Treatments can be expensive and keeping people on wards is
very expensive so there has been a movement towards care in the community.
Many professionals also believe in the philosophy behind care in the
community – the idea that individuals with mental health problems will
recover better if they are with their families and continue to feel part of
society while undergoing treatment. Currently there is concern about the
absence from work associated with mental health problems, and its cost to the
economy. Of course, the rise in mental health problems may have something
to do with the fact that people are better educated about them and more likely
to seek help for themselves and others. This also suggests that society is
becoming more tolerant and understanding of mental health problems over
time.
Exam tip
This part of the specification is very broad and so, if you want to, you
can bring in your own examples of stigma and discrimination as well
as how society has been affected by mental health problems.
Now test yourself

1 Why is there more than one way of defining mental health?
2 What is the difference between the prevalence and the incidence
of mental disorders?
3 How did the Mental Health Act 1959 begin to change attitudes
towards mental health?
4 Why might an individual be discriminated against after being
diagnosed with a mental disorder?
5 What is meant by care in the community in relation to mental
disorders?
3.2 Explanations of psychological
problems
Schizophrenia
The clinical characteristics of schizophrenia
The ICD is a manual used by psychiatrists and other professionals to help
diagnose disorders. It identifies the following clinical characteristics as being
necessary to diagnose schizophrenia.
At least one of these symptoms:
• Thought disturbances
• Delusions of control
• Hallucinatory voices
• Persistent delusions
Or at least two of these symptoms:
• Persistent hallucinations
• Disorganised speech
• Catatonic behaviour
• Negative symptoms
Key statistics of schizophrenia

Schizophrenia:
• is prevalent in approximately 1 per cent of the population
• is only diagnosed in adults; with men it is normally in their 20s and with
women it is normally in their 30s
• is diagnosed equally in females and males
• is diagnosed more in people of Caribbean or African origin compared to
people who are white
• leads to hospitalisation in about 15 per cent of cases, while 25 per cent of
patients fully recover from the disorder.
Typical mistake
Students often confuse schizophrenia with what used to be known as
multiple personality disorder. Or they use terms which are vague and
not useful – such as ‘insane’ or ‘mad’. Make sure you use the
technical terms and symptoms used by the ICD as this is what the
specification requires.
Biological explanation of schizophrenia

A key part of the biological explanation of schizophrenia is the dopamine
hypothesis. This theory says that people with schizophrenia have an
overactive dopamine system which causes high dopamine levels. Because
dopamine is a neurotransmitter associated with mood, perception and
movement, it makes sense that this may be high in people with schizophrenia
since their moods can fluctuate a lot, they perceive things which are not true
or not there, and display unusual movements (catatonic behaviour). Brain
scans have shown that people with schizophrenia have dopaminergic neurons
that fire too easily or too frequently which means there is an excess of
dopamine travelling across synapses. They also have an excess of dopamine
receptors which results in more dopamine binding.
As the human brain plays a large part in our cognitions and behaviour, when
its structure or functions are different from normal then our thoughts and
actions will be abnormal. This is the biological explanation for schizophrenia.
It blames schizophrenia on brain dysfunction. The theory is that
neurological damage happens as a result of either defective genes or
problems during pregnancy when the foetus’s brain is developing. As the
individual matures, this damage causes the symptoms of schizophrenia to
develop.
Neurological research on people with schizophrenia includes the following
findings:
• The volume of the brain is around 5 per cent lower than the average brain.
• The frontal lobes are less active due to decreased blood flow.
• The temporal lobes lack grey matter.
• The hippocampus is smaller than average.
Now test yourself

1 What is meant by the dopamine hypothesis?
2 What is meant by brain dysfunction?
3 Which parts of the brain are associated with the symptoms of
schizophrenia and how are they different in the people with the
disorder?
Revision tip
Look at how these different parts of the brain normally function and
then think about how their dysfunction may relate to symptoms of
schizophrenia. Thinking about the brain in this way will give you a
deeper understanding and improve your memory for the facts.
Key criticism
• The explanation focuses too much on nature and ignores the role of nurture.
Even if biology is responsible for the symptoms, how society responds to
these symptoms also has an effect. For example, in the UK we use the label
‘schizophrenia’ to categorise these symptoms but this particular disorder is
not recognised everywhere. In some cultures, delusions and hallucinations
are seen as positive experiences, even a sign of magical powers.
Other criticisms
• There are problems establishing cause and effect. Is brain dysfunction the
cause of schizophrenia or just another symptom of it?
• The theory is too reductionist. Schizophrenia refers to a set of highly
complex behaviours and it seems too simple to explain this in terms of
parts of the brain just not working properly.
A psychological explanation of
schizophrenia – the social drift theory
Social drift theory starts with the fact that individuals diagnosed with
schizophrenia are more likely to be in the lower classes in society. It then
tries to explain why this is the case.
Social drift theory suggests that once people have schizophrenia they begin to
drift or move down the social scale so that they end up at the bottom of
society. In extreme cases they may end up living on the streets and not really
be part of society at all.
One of the reasons for social drift is that individuals disengage with society
once they have schizophrenia. This is because the things that are important to
most people – having a job, having a home, having a family – become less
important to someone who is experiencing lots of terrible symptoms that
completely occupy them. Indeed, one of the early signs of schizophrenia is
when sufferers withdraw from social activities.
Another reason for social drift is that individuals are rejected by society. This
is linked to stigmatisation and discrimination. This means they may lose jobs
or not find it easy to get a job because of their diagnosis. Society may also
reject them because their behaviour is not normal and so they are socially
excluded in a wider sense.
Disengagement and rejection form part of a cycle that sends an individual
with schizophrenia spiralling downwards in terms of their place in society.
Now test yourself

1 What is meant by ‘social drift’?
2 What is meant by the ‘disengagement of individuals’?
3 What is meant by ‘rejection by society’?
Key criticism
• There are problems with establishing cause and effect even though
schizophrenia and social class seem to be linked. Rather than the disorder
affecting social class (as social drift theory says), it may be the other way
around. Being in the lower social classes may cause the disorder because
people suffer the stress of poverty.
Other criticisms
• People of lower social class may be more likely to be diagnosed with
schizophrenia than more affluent people. This is because of a bias in
diagnosis among middle class psychiatrists.
• The theory focuses too much on wider society and ignores the role that the
family environment may have in the development of schizophrenia.
Exam tip
Note how the two explanations of schizophrenia on the specification
sit on opposite sides of the nature versus nurture debate. This means
you can use each explanation to evaluate the other one if this is
something you are asked to do in the exam.
Schizophrenia research study – Daniel

et al. (1991): the effect of amphetamine
on regional cerebral blood flow during
cognitive activation in schizophrenia
• The aim was to investigate the activity in the prefrontal cortices of people
with schizophrenia.
• This was done as an experiment using a SPECT (single-photon emission
computer tomography) scan of the brain.
• The sample was made up of ten in-patients from mental health research
wards in the USA.
• The independent variable was whether participants had been given
amphetamine or not. The dependent variable was how they performed
on a cognitive task.
• Controls included making sure all participants’ symptoms were stabilised
through the use of drugs, that they were not physically ill and not using
alcohol or drugs.
• Participants also did a control task (a sensori-motor task) with the cognitive
task.
• A repeated measures design was used – so participants were tested with
and without amphetamine on two different days. Half were tested first with
amphetamine, and the other half were tested first without. When tested
without they were given a placebo drug – so they did not know whether
they had been given real amphetamine or not.

• There were significant differences between the two conditions (with
amphetamine and without) when participants were doing the cognitive task
but not when they were doing the sensori-motor task.
• Amphetamine significantly increased prefrontal cortex activity during
performance of the cognitive task (scores were higher) despite it reducing
blood flow in the brain.
• This supported the idea that dopamine plays a part in modulating and
enhancing cortical activity – as amphetamines stimulate dopamine activity.

• The sample size was too small to be representative.
• The task that the participants did was too artificial to relate to real life.
• The drug used to stabilise symptoms may have been an extraneous
variable.
• The findings can be seen as outdated as schizophrenia is being diagnosed
differently nowadays.
• There are ethical concerns about using scanning equipment for research
purposes alone as it is potentially dangerous.
Revision activity
Create your own multiple-choice questions for the Daniel et al. study.
Doing this is good revision in itself but you can also give it to
someone at a later date and get them to test you.
Clinical depression
The clinical characteristics of clinical depression
The ICD identifies the following clinical characteristics as being necessary to
diagnose clinical depression:
• depressed mood
• disturbed sleep
• diminished appetite
• reduced energy
• reduced concentration/attention
• reduced self-esteem
• loss of interest and enjoyment
• bleak and pessimistic views of the future
• ideas of guilt and unworthiness
• ideas or acts of self-harm
Key statistics of clinical depression

• Clinical depression is prevalent in approximately 25 per cent of the
population each year.
• Clinical depression is most common among 18–30-year-olds, and least
common in under 18s. Depression is more common between the ages of 30
and 65, than in over 65s.
• Approximately twice as many females are diagnosed with depression
compared to males.
• People of Indian and Pakistani/Bangladeshi origin report experiencing
depression more than people of Caribbean and African origin.
• Although the vast majority of people recover from depression, about 50 per
cent of people who have an incident of severe depression will go on to have
a second episode, and about 80 per cent of those will have a third.
Exam tip
Statistics can vary depending on the source of the information and
they also change over time. This is why it is important to go into the
exam with knowledge of the patterns of data rather than specific
figures.
A biological explanation of clinical
depression – the social rank theory
Evolutionary theory states that all adaptive behaviours have a survival value
– allowing us to live long enough to reproduce and pass on our genes. Social
rank theory relates to this idea by stating that depression has an evolutionary
function – in other words, it helps us to survive.
If we experience loss (such as losing a loved one) then a natural reaction is to
feel depressed. When we feel depressed we are less motivated to do things
and become more self-contained. But how does this help with survival?
Imagine an individual experiences a loss like losing a boyfriend or girlfriend
to somebody else, missing out on a promotion at work, or something as
simple as losing a game of tennis. They could try to fight back (for example,
by trying to win back the boyfriend or girlfriend, trying for another
promotion, having a rematch) but there is a risk of experiencing more failure.
Another alternative is to accept the loss but this will make the person feel
depressed. However, in feeling depressed, they keep themselves safe from
harm by not fighting back. This may have been particularly important in our
ancestral past when conflicts would have been more physical and could
therefore have resulted in death or physical harm.
By not fighting back, an individual is accepting they are of a lower rank than
the person who stole their boyfriend or girlfriend, or who got the promotion
or who won the tennis match. Although this is an unpleasant feeling for
many, it stills allows them to keep their place in a social group, community or
society. Being part of a group and having people around us is important for
survival, even if we are not as high up in the group as we would like to be.
Now test yourself

1 According to social rank theory, how does depression have an
evolutionary function?
2 According to social rank theory, how does the role of lower social
rank reduce conflict?
Key criticism
• The theory is seen as too reductionist as it takes something as complex as
clinical depression and tries to simplify it down to an instinctive reaction to
losing something. Other psychologists take a more holistic approach and
argue that depression happens because of a number of different factors
working together against an individual, not just one factor alone.
Exam tip
Sometimes you have to apply a theory to a source in the exam. If you
have to apply social rank theory, then first of all look for the loss that
has been experienced. Also look for the type of conflict that is being
avoided by accepting a lower rank.
Other criticisms
• Depression is not limited to people of lower social ranks. There are many
successful people, such as celebrities, professional sports people and
leaders, who have experienced clinical depression.
• Severe depression can lead to suicide attempts and suicide itself which
clearly goes against the idea that depression is a mechanism for survival.
A psychological explanation of clinical

depression – the ABC model
The ABC model is a cognitive theory of clinical depression as it focuses on
what is going on in people’s minds when they are suffering from the disorder.
According to the model, depression begins with irrational beliefs. The
model says that we cannot stop bad things happening to us, but we can
choose to think about things in a rational or irrational way. Rational thinking
leads to good mental health whereas irrational thinking leads to problems like
clinical depression. Beliefs are therefore central to the model.
The ABC model takes its name from the three features that it uses to explain
depression.
Typical mistake
It is a mistake to think that the ABC model is deterministic because it
talks about an activating event being the initial trigger for depression.
It is how people respond to the event that is key and this is actually
down to free will. Do they choose to think rationally or irrationally?
• The activating event is the situation which can trigger an individual to have
an irrational thought, for example not being invited out by a group of
friends or not getting a good grade in a test.
• The belief (about the event) can be rational or irrational. For example,
someone thinking rationally will think that the group of friends left a
message that they missed, or will put a poor grade down to poor effort.
However, someone thinking irrationally may decide the group of friends is
plotting against them, or that they will never do well in a test again because
they are stupid.
• The type of belief obviously has an impact on what happens next (the
consequences). If beliefs are irrational then the person is more likely to feel
hopeless and down, leading to symptoms of depression.
This tells us that two people can experience the same event (such as losing a
loved one) but one may get depressed about it while the other does not and
that this comes down to the way they decide to think about their
circumstances.
Debate
The determinism vs free will debate is all about whether people’s
behaviour is determined by factors outside of their control
(determinism) or if it is under their conscious control and they
therefore choose what to do.
Key criticism
• The model assumes that people have some control over their beliefs
because it believes in the idea of free will. Other psychologists suggest that
this makes the theory over-optimistic. For them, depression is determined
by other factors that are out of our control and therefore depression is not
that easy to get rid of (just by changing thought patterns).
Now test yourself

1 What is the difference between rational and irrational beliefs?
2 According to the ABC model, why does an activating event
sometimes lead to depression but at other times does not?
Other criticisms
• The model does not really explain the type of depression that seems to
‘come out of nowhere’ without any obvious activating event. This kind of
depression may be more biologically driven.
• There are problems with cause and effect. Do irrational beliefs actually
cause depression or are they symptoms of it instead?
Clinical depression research study –

Tandoc et al. (2015): study into
Facebook use, envy and depression
among college students
• The aims were to see whether depression was linked to Facebook usage,
and whether using Facebook led to feelings of envy (which can lead on to
depression).
• There were a number of hypotheses:
• that Facebook users would report higher levels of envy
• the higher the network of friends, the greater the feelings of envy
• higher levels of envy would be associated with more symptoms of
depression.
• The method was a questionnaire conducted online. Responses were coded
into quantitative data.
• The questionnaire measured Facebook usage, levels of envy using a rating
scale and symptoms of depression.
• The sample was a self-selecting sample made up of 736 students from an
American university with an average age of 19.

• Heavy Facebook users did report higher levels of envy than light users.
• However, the size of the network was not related to levels of envy.
• Facebook envy was a significant positive predictor of depression.
• However, there was no relationship between how frequently Facebook was
used and how depressed people felt.
• Facebook surveillance did not predict depression either.
• The overall conclusion was that Facebook usage does directly relate to
depression but is indirectly linked by causing envy.

• The study was culturally biased in a number of ways. The participants were
all well educated, all from the USA and all journalism students. These
factors may influence how Facebook is used, and also how the participants
deal with feelings.
• The fact that the survey was online may bias the findings as this is likely to
represent people who use technology regularly and with ease which is
important when the study is about use of social media.
• There may have been a social desirability bias where participants
underplayed their use of social media, the level of envy and their
experience of depression, giving invalid results.
• Findings may lack construct validity as complex behaviours were reduced
to numbers by the rating scale and this may not give a true representation
of people’s experiences.
• There are difficulties establishing cause and effect with this study. Where
there were relationships between variables, we cannot be sure of the cause.
For example, does using Facebook increase feelings of envy, or does envy
draw people to Facebook?
Revision activity
Your challenge is to summarise this study in 100 words or fewer.
Even if you do not manage it, you will have thought about what the
study is about and what the most significant details are – which is a
useful revision activity in itself. However, if you do manage to
summarise Tandoc et al.’s study in so few words then do reward
yourself!
3.3 Application – the development

of treatments
The use of anti-psychotics to treat
schizophrenia
Anti-psychotics are a type of drug treatment. Since schizophrenia has been
linked to problems with the functioning of the brain, it makes sense to try to
correct the way that the brain works and this is what these drugs do.
Typical mistake
Because anti-psychotics and anti-depressants are both examples of
drug treatments it is easy to mix up how they work. Make sure you
are clear on the distinction between them in terms of the
neuropsychology behind them.
Anti-psychotics improve mental health mainly by reducing symptoms like

hallucinations and delusions. The chemicals in anti-psychotic drugs block
some of the receptors in the brain. When a neuron sends too much dopamine
across a synapse, the blocking means that not all of it is received by the next
neuron. This reduces the number of messages being sent through the brain.
The use of anti-depressants to treat

clinical depression
Anti-depressants are a type of drug treatment. Since clinical depression has
been linked to problems with the functioning of the brain, it makes sense to
try to correct the way that the brain works and this is what these drugs do.
Anti-depressants improve mental health by raising people’s mood. The
chemicals in anti-depressants increase the amount of serotonin and
noradrenaline in the brain. For example, one type of anti-depressant
prevents serotonin being reabsorbed by blocking the neurons that released it.
This means more serotonin remains in the synapses and this lifts the mood.
The use of psychotherapy

Psychotherapy focuses on the psychological explanations for mental health
rather than looking at biological factors. All types of psychotherapy involve
talking to the individual with a mental health problem, and aim to improve
mental health by changing the way that people think and behave.
Psychotherapy for schizophrenia

One example of psychotherapy is psychoanalysis. This involves uncovering
the childhood traumas that may have led to schizophrenia developing in
adulthood. These traumas are often based on conflicts with parents that have
not been resolved and so end up buried in the unconscious part of the
mind. Psychoanalysis aims to improve mental health by discovering these
conflicts and resolving them in therapy – sometimes with the therapist
playing the role of the parent. Past conflicts can be discovered through
techniques such as analysing dreams and hypnosis.
Psychotherapy for clinical depression

One example of psychotherapy is counselling. This involves clients
recognising their own problems and deciding how to address them
themselves. A counsellor’s role is to listen, to be empathetic and to be non-
judgemental. Counsellors do not direct their clients’ thinking and do not give
advice. The idea is that those who are suffering from depression know
themselves best, and they will come up with their own solutions for
improving their mental health. This often involves clients improving their
self-esteem by having a better view of themselves and being realistic about
their expectations.
Exam tip
The specification does not specify the type of psychotherapy that you
need to know about. For example, counselling and psychoanalysis
can be used on either schizophrenia or clinical depression. Cognitive
therapy is another example of psychotherapy that you could write
about in the exam.
The development of neuropsychology

for studying schizophrenia and clinical
depression
Neuropsychological tests
These are standardised tests that give scores that show how well a brain is
functioning. The scores of people with mental health problems can be
compared to the scores of people without, whose brain is functioning
normally. For example, the Wisconsin Card Sorting test is a cognitive ability
test that checks the function of the frontal lobe in people with schizophrenia.
Another example is the Beck Depression Inventory, which measures the
severity of depressive symptoms through multiple-choice questions.
Brain imaging techniques

Brain scans allow neuropsychologists to produce images of the brain so that
brain structure and function can be seen. The brains of people with mental
health problems can then be compared with those without. For example, PET
scans have been used to show that the brains of people with schizophrenia
have larger ventricles than normal. fMRI scans have been used to measure
the strength of connections between neural circuits in the brain to show there
are different types of depression.
Now test yourself

1 How do anti-psychotics treat schizophrenia?
2 How do anti-depressants treat clinical depression?
3 How does psychotherapy work as a treatment?
4 How has neuropsychology contributed to the treatment of mental
disorders?
Summary
well enough:
ways of defining mental health, including the mental health
continuum
the current prevalence of mental health problems, including
differences based on age, gender and sexual orientation
the incidence of significant mental health problems over time,
including changing classification; similarities and differences; and
changes in attitudes towards mental health since the 1959 Mental
Health Act
the effects of significant mental health problems, including the
effects of stigma on individuals before and after diagnosis; the
effects of discrimination on individuals before and after diagnosis;
the effects on the wider society, including care in the community
the clinical characteristics of schizophrenia as outlined in the ICD
key statistics of schizophrenia including prevalence, age, sex,
ethnicity, recovery rates
the biological theory of schizophrenia including the dopamine
hypothesis; brain dysfunction in relation to brain volume, the roles
of the frontal lobes, the hippocampus and temporal lobes
criticisms of the biological theory including the nature/nurture
debate
the social drift theory of schizophrenia including rejection by
society and the disengagement of individuals
criticisms of social drift theory including problems establishing
cause and effect
Daniel et al.’s experiment into the effects of amphetamine on the
brain activity of people with schizophrenia
criticisms of Daniel et al.’s study
the clinical characteristics of clinical depression as outlined in the
ICD
key statistics of clinical depression including prevalence, age, sex,
ethnicity, recovery rates
the social rank theory of clinical depression including the
evolutionary function of depression and the role of a lower rank in
reducing conflict
criticisms of social rank theory including the reductionism/holism
debate
the ABC model of clinical depression including rational versus
irrational beliefs; the roles of activating events, beliefs and
consequences
criticisms of the ABC model including the free will/determinism
debate
Tandoc et al.’s study of Facebook use and experiences of envy
and depression
criticisms of Tandoc et al.’s study
the use of anti-psychotics to treat schizophrenia
the use of anti-depressants to treat clinical depression
the use of psychotherapy to treat schizophrenia
the use of psychotherapy to treat clinical depression
the development of neuropsychology for studying schizophrenia
and clinical depression, including neuropsychological tests and
brain imaging techniques
Exam practice
1 Outline how the mental health continuum defines mental health.
[4]
2 Outline one effect of discrimination on individuals after they have
been diagnosed with a mental health problem.
[3]
3 Describe the social drift theory of schizophrenia.
[8]
4 Outline two criticisms of the findings of Tandoc et al.’s (2015)
study into Facebook envy.
[4]
5 Use your knowledge and understanding from across the
psychology course to explain how far you agree with the following
viewpoint:
‘Depression is more to do with how people think about an event
rather than what actually happens to them.’
In your answer you should refer to the ABC model of clinical
depression and at least one other area where you have studied
cognitive psychology.
[13]
4 Social influence
4.1 Key concepts

Conformity
Conformity is an example of social influence as it describes the tendency to
behave as others do. This is often driven by a desire to fit in and not wanting
to stand out from those around us.
Conformity tends to happen when a majority of people behave or think in a
certain way so that other individuals begin to see themselves as ‘different’ or
‘abnormal’. They end up following the norms of their group, even if they
may do or say things that they don’t really want to do or do not believe in.
The pressure to do this is known as majority influence.
Collective and crowd behaviour

Social influence can be seen in groups when people gather together and each
member of the group has the potential to influence everyone else.
Collective behaviour describes the actions of a group of people who have
come together for a particular reason.
Crowd behaviour is a more specific example of collective behaviour and
often involves unplanned activity.
Pro-social and anti-social behaviour

When people come together collectively they may engage in pro-social
behaviour, for example working together to raise money for charity or to
raise awareness of a social issue. Crowds may also engage in pro-social
behaviour, but in a more spontaneous way, for example in a group effort to
save someone in danger.
When people come together collectively they may engage in anti-social
behaviour, for example a gang may plan an arson attack or a group of
friends may keep neighbours awake with their party antics. The anti-social
behaviour of a crowd may be something less planned, for example a mob
rioting at a football match.
Obedience
Obedience is a type of social influence that involves following the orders of
an authority figure. The individual behaves in a certain way because they
feel there will be severe consequences if they do not do so.
Now test yourself

1 How do obedience and conformity differ from each other?
2 How might collective behaviour lead to pro-social behaviour?
3 Why might crowd behaviour lead to anti-social behaviour?
4.2 Explanations of social

influence
The effect of situational factors on
behaviours
Situational factors are those factors outside of the individual and in their
environment which influence how they act, such as people and social
situations in general.
The effect of majority influence on conformity

We are more likely to conform when we are in the minority as most of us
have a desire to belong and it feels uncomfortable to be the ‘odd one out’.
Research has shown that the tendency to conform increases with the size of
the majority. In other words, four people will put us under more pressure to
do as they do (for example, smoke, vote a certain way, dress in a particular
way, adopt a viewpoint) than just two people. However, research has also
shown that there is a point at which the size of the majority makes little
difference. For example, six people have about the same effect on rates of
conformity as seven people, eight people and so on. To conclude, if we are in
a situation where many people are putting pressure on us to conform then this
will have more effect than if we are in a situation with fewer people.
The effect of collective and crowd behaviour

One of the major effects of being in a crowd or collective group is that
individuals experience deindividuation. Deindividuation is the loss of a sense
of individual identity that occurs when we are surrounded by a sizeable group
of people. This means that we become less conscious of what we are doing or
saying as we do not monitor ourselves in the same way as when we are alone
or in a much smaller group. This can be quite liberating for people, for
example they may find themselves ‘letting go’ and dancing crazily at a
concert. It can also be quite dangerous as people may not feel personally
responsible for their behaviour anymore which can lead to problems such as
mob violence. In close proximity to a large group of people we may be
influenced to behave with less guilt or shame than if we were alone or with
fewer people.
The effect of culture on pro-social and anti-social

behaviour
Certain cultures – such as those of China and Japan – are more collectivist
in their approach, which means their members are more community minded
and often consider others (such as family, friends, neighbours) in their
decision-making. It is normal for them to do things that may not suit them but
benefit society as a whole. For this reason, these cultures tend to be
associated with more pro-social acts (such as helping others) and fewer anti-
social acts (such as being aggressive towards members of their community).
Exam tip
If asked to describe situational factors in an exam, you will need to
choose at least two from majority influence, crowds, culture and
authority. However, for a high-mark question, you should consider
covering all of them. Together, they give a detailed account of the
theory of situational factors.
Opposing cultures – such as the USA and the UK – are more individualistic.
This means that it is normal for their members to make decisions that suit
their own interest but perhaps not the interest of others. These cultures tend to
be associated with more anti-social acts (such as competing rather than co-
operating with others) and fewer pro-social acts (such as giving money to
charity). If we find ourselves in a situation where people tend to be
individualistic we are more likely to adopt this behaviour too and be more
anti-social than pro-social.
The effect of authority figures on obedience

In simple terms, the more authority a person has, the more obedience they
can command. For example, a headteacher has more authority than a
classroom teacher and so students are more likely to follow his or her orders.
What is authority therefore? It relates to having the power to punish people.
When someone is superior to us, we fear the consequences of not doing as
they say. However, if someone has little or no control over what happens to
us then it is easier to disobey them. The theory is that under the control of
someone with authority, individuals move from an autonomous state,
where they feel responsible for their own actions, to an agentic state,
where they feel that the person in authority takes responsibility. If we find
ourselves in a situation where we are being told to do something we don’t
want to, then we are more likely to obey if the person giving the orders has
authority over us.
Key criticism
• Only looking at situational factors to explain social behaviours is seen as
too deterministic. It suggests that people are at the mercy of their situation
and have no or little control over what they do. However, critics say that
this ignores the fact that people have free will. For example, people can
choose not to follow an order or not to follow the crowd if they really want
to.
Other criticisms
• Explanations focusing on situational factors tend to make over-
generalisations. There is an assumption that people will behave in similar
ways when put in a certain situation (for example, individuals always
conform more as the size of the majority increases) but this ignores
individual differences.
• It is difficult to test situational factors as this can involve actually setting up
situations to influence people’s behaviour which can be seen as both
artificial and unethical.
Typical mistake
Sometimes students think they need to provide a criticism for each
situational factor listed. This is not true. Instead, you need to treat
situational factors as one explanation or theory and be able to
evaluate it on that basis.
Now test yourself

1 What is the effect of the size of the majority on conformity?
2 Why does deindividuation tend to happen in crowds?
3 Why are collectivist cultures associated with pro-social behaviour?
4 What is the relationship between authority and obedience?
Situational factors research study –

Bickman (1974): study into obedience
and the social power of a uniform
• The aim was to investigate the degree of social power associated with
different types of uniform.
• The hypothesis was that members of the public would obey orders more or
less depending on the uniform being worn by the figure giving the orders.
Experiment 1
• The method was a field experiment which was carried out on the streets of
New York.
• The independent variable was the type of uniform being tested and the
dependent variable was whether people obeyed an order or not.
• An independent measures design was used where people were either given
an order by a confederate in a guard’s uniform or in a milkman’s
uniform or in no uniform (civilian dress).
• The sample was an opportunity sample made up of 153 adult pedestrians
who were judged to be between the ages of 18 and 61.
• The confederate giving the orders was always a white male aged between
18 and 20. All four confederates were used for all three conditions (they
trialled all three outfits). All confederates were briefed to behave in the
same way.
• The experiment was conducted on weekdays and mainly in the afternoon.
• Pedestrians were approached and asked to do one of three things: pick up a
paper bag from the ground, give a dime to a stranger for parking or stand
on the other side of a bus stop pole that they were already standing at.
Exam tip
Most exam questions are likely to focus on Experiment 1 as this is
the most significant part of Bickman’s study. However, do be
prepared for questions on the other experiments too.
Experiment 2
• This was another field experiment also carried out on the streets of New
York.
• There were two independent variables: guard versus civilian uniform and
surveillance versus non-surveillance.
• The sample was another opportunity sample of 48 adult pedestrians with an
estimated average age of 46.
• The confederate gave orders to give a dime to a stranger for parking.
• In half of the situations the confederate stood by the participant at the meter
after giving the order and in the other half he walked away after giving the
order.
Typical mistake
A lot of students make the mistake of thinking that different
confederates wore different uniforms. However, this would have been
a significant extraneous variable. This is why it was controlled – by
making sure all confederates tested out all the outfits.
Experiment 3A
• This experiment used a questionnaire with 29 different scenarios to do with
obedience.
• The sample was made up of 141 college students who were asked if each
request was legitimate depending on whether it was made by a young man,
a milkman or a guard.
Experiment 3B
• Questionnaires were used again, but this time to ask participants what they
thought people would do in one of the scenarios from Experiment 1.
• The sample was made up of 189 students.
Experiment 1
• As the graph shows, regardless of the scenario, there was no significant
difference in obedience rates between the milkman uniform and the civilian
dress. However, when the confederate dressed as a guard, the rates of
obedience were significantly higher than when he dressed as a civilian.
• This demonstrated the social power of certain uniforms (those that signify
authority).
Experiment 2
• When the guard’s uniform was used, the obedience rates were much higher
than when the civilian outfit was used.
• However, surveillance had no significant effect on whether participants
obeyed or not.
Experiment 3
• In the three original scenarios that participants were questioned about, the
guard’s uniform was not seen as any more legitimate than the other two
outfits.
• In the second questionnaire, participants did not think the guard’s uniform
would make them obey any more than the other two outfits.
• These findings showed that there is a mismatch between how people think
they will behave when faced with apparent authority figures and how they
actually behave when put in a situation.
Revision activity
Draw up a storyboard for Experiment 1 as a way of remembering the
different uniforms and tasks used in the procedure.

• The study lacked control of extraneous variables as Experiments 1 and 2
were carried out in a natural environment. For example, factors such as the
weather, how busy the street was and people’s reasons for being on the
street could all have affected whether they followed the orders or not.
• The findings are culturally biased as people living in an American city may
obey less than people in more rural settings where there is more of a sense
of community. The findings also do not represent other countries.
• The study raises ethical concerns, as the participants in Experiments 1 and
2 did not consent to being experimented on, were not debriefed afterwards
and so could not withdraw their data, and may have been caused distress by
the situation they were put in.
• The use of opportunity sampling can give a biased sample. For example,
confederates may not have approached pedestrians who they thought were
going to be aggressive, or pedestrians who looked like they were too
important to stop. This would make the findings unrepresentative.
• The use of the scenarios in the questionnaire were not ‘real’ enough, which
is why more people said they would not obey. Questionnaires rely too
much on people’s honesty and insight.
The effect of dispositional factors on

behaviours
Explanations that focus on situational factors suggest that any one of us could
be conformist or non-conformist, obedient or disobedient, anti-social or pro-
social depending on the situation in which we find ourselves. However,
alternative explanations suggest that behaviour is more about an individual
and their disposition (their personality).
The effect of self-esteem on conformity

If an individual has low self-esteem they do not think very highly of
themselves and therefore rely on others for approval. On this basis,
individuals with low self-esteem are more likely to conform, regardless of the
situation. In an effort to fit in, they may even do or say things they do not
really believe. They hope that this will raise their self-esteem but, of course,
there is a danger that this will make them feel worse about themselves –
especially if they have gone against their principles.
Self-esteem has been linked to neuropsychology, which would suggest that it
is a part of personality which cannot be easily changed. Research shows that
people with lower levels of hippocampal volume tend to have lower self-
esteem.
The effect of locus of control in crowds

Individuals with a more internal locus of control are more likely to
believe they have control over their lives and behaviours and are more
confident about going against the crowd if that is what is right for them.
However, individuals with a more external locus of control are more
influenced by being in a crowd, regardless of the situation. So, whether the
crowd behaviour is positive or negative, individuals with a more external
locus of control believe they are controlled by others and are therefore more
likely to go along passively with the crowd.
The effect of morality on pro-social and anti-social

behaviour
Individuals with higher levels of morality are more likely to engage in pro-
social behaviour and less likely to engage in anti-social behaviour, regardless
of the situation. This is because their beliefs make them think of others and
not just themselves so they want to help others and not harm them, even if
this does not bring personal benefits. Psychodynamic theory suggests that
individuals with low morality have a weak superego which allows their id
to dominate. If the id is in control, individuals can behave very aggressively
and very selfishly to get what they want.
There is evidence that there is a neuropsychological basis to morality.
Damage to the prefrontal cortex seems to have a negative effect on morality.
The effect of the authoritarian personality on

obedience
Individuals with an authoritarian personality are more prone to obeying than
other individuals, regardless of the situation. This is because their personality
makes them more conformist, more strict when it comes to rules and
respectful of those they see as being above them. This type of personality is
usually a result of an individual’s upbringing. Individuals with this type of
personality normally come from families with strict parents. The theory is
that these individuals unconsciously resent their parents but displace their
anger not on to authority figures but those whom they see as being beneath
them. This means that people with an authoritarian personality tend to be
very intolerant.
Now test yourself

1 Why is someone with low self-esteem likely to conform?
2 Why is someone with an external locus of control more likely to be
affected by being in a crowd compared to someone with an
internal locus of control?
3 How does someone’s morality affect their pro-social behaviour?
4 What is meant by an authoritarian personality?
Key criticism
• Since dispositional factors focus on the individual it makes it more difficult
to make predictions about when people will obey. It is important for
psychology to be able to make generalisations about why people obey or
conform so that situations can be manipulated to increase or reduce these
types of social influence.
Other criticisms
• Dispositional factors are more difficult to test than situational factors as
they are subjective and rely on studying the mind. Situational factors have
an observable effect on behaviours.
• There is some dispute over how innate dispositional factors are which
makes it difficult to decide how much we can change personality and
therefore the negative effects of social influence.
Typical mistake
Students sometimes get situational factors and dispositional factors
mixed up. Situational factors are the situations we are in that affect
how we behave. Dispositional factors are individual characteristics
that influence how we behave.
Revision activity
Use a mnemonic to help you to remember lists, such as the list of
dispositional factors. For example, Stroppy Edward Lost Cheeky
Martina At Playtime is easier to recall than Self-Esteem, Locus of
Control, Morality and Authoritarian Personality.
Dispositional factors research study –

NatCen (2011): study into the August
riots in England with reference to anti-
social collective behaviour and
dispositional factors
• The aim was to find out what had triggered the English riots of August
2011, with a focus on the involvement of young people.
• The interview method was used. Participants were interviewed individually
or in groups of two or four, depending on what they felt most comfortable
with. The interviews took place five weeks after the riots.
• The sample was made up of 36 participants evenly split between those
below and above the age of 18. Both genders were represented and there
was a range of ethnic groups. Most participants were still in education.
• The researchers gained full informed consent from the participants and
reassured them that their answers would be kept confidential.
• Other members of the community and participants from areas unaffected
by the riots were also interviewed using focus groups.
Exam tip
When you learn about the NatCen study you only need to know
about the findings from the Tottenham riots, not the riots that took
place in other places in England.

• Rioting first started during a peaceful protest about the fatal shooting of a
London man by police.
• The Tottenham riots were triggered more specifically by an alleged
incident between a local girl and the police.
• The riots involved a wide range of different people including a mixture of
ethnic groups and age groups and people who were employed, unemployed
or still in education and training.
• The researchers categorised those involved in the riots into four types:
• Watchers – those who were present at the riots but just observed what
was happening. Some were bystanders passing by and others were
curious and had come along to watch on purpose.
• Rioters – those who were actually involved in the violence and
vandalism. Some were protestors who were acting out because they were
upset about the initial shooting. Others were retaliators who wanted to
get their own back on the system or the police. The rest were thrill-
seekers who got a buzz out of being directly involved.
• Looters – those involved in breaking into shops or stealing from shops
that had been broken into or stealing goods left on the street. Some were
opportunists who seized the chance to get goods for themselves and their
families or to sell on. Others were sellers who got involved to maximise
their own profits.
• Non-involved – those who did not take part. Some were stay-aways who
chose not to get involved and others were wannabes who would have
liked to have been there but were not.
• The researchers identified ‘nudge’ factors which were things that
encouraged certain young people to get involved in the riots and ‘tug’
factors which were things that discouraged them from getting involved.
• The researchers then divided these ‘nudge’ and ‘tug’ factors into
dispositional (individual) factors and situational (social) factors.
Exam tip
In preparation for the exam, make sure you can distinguish between
nudge and tug factors. Also, make sure you can distinguish between
dispositional and situational factors.
Table 4.1 Dispositional factors affecting decision-making in young

people
Nudge Factors Tug
• Easy to get involved; Previous • Been caught once;
‘this is what they do criminal know the risks
around here’ activity
• Cynicism towards Attitudes • No negative
politicians and authority towards experience with
figures authority police
• Negative experience
with police
• Poor job prospects Prospects • In work or having
• Low income expectations of
• Limited hope for the future work
future • A lot to lose
Table 4.2 Situational factors affecting decision-making in young

people
Nudge Factors Tug
• Feeling disinhibited Group • Actively thinking
and swept along by the processes toward future goals
power of the group • Not focusing on the
• Seeing others ‘get ‘here and now’
away with it’
• Feeling anonymous
• Friends involved Peer • Friends not involved
pressure
• Seeing it on the TV Information • Not watching TV
• Getting • Didn’t get any
texts/Facebook/Instant messages
messages
• No adult telling them Presence • Parents, relations or
not to of authority youth workers telling
• Everybody was doing figure them not to get involved
it and nobody seemed
to be getting caught
Table 4.3 Other factors affecting decision-making in young people

Nudge Factors Tug
• Relatives not Family • Disapproving
disapproving attitudes • ‘Not brought up like that’
• Attachment to a Community • Attachment to a
community with a community with pro-social
culture of low-level values (including religious
criminality communities)
• Little sense of Belonging • Sense of ownership or
ownership or stake in stake in society
society
• Desire for material Poverty • Adequate resources to
goods but no means and purchase desired goods
to pay for them materialism
• The researchers concluded that decisions about whether to get involved in

the riots or not were influenced by what young people thought was right or
wrong and whether they thought the benefits of joining in outweighed the
risks.
• The researchers concluded that anti-social behaviour is mainly determined
by dispositional factors and collective behaviour.
Revision activity
Have a go at summarising the findings of the NatCen study by using
imagery. Either draw or find pictures that represent the different
categories of people involved in the riot, as well as the various nudge
and tug factors.

• The sample may not have been representative as it was quite a small
proportion of the people involved in the riots. It may not be reliable to
make generalisations on this basis.
• The sample was biased by the fact that researchers struggled to find
participants. They ended up relying largely on people who had been
imprisoned for their involvement in the riots who may be particularly
deviant.
• The findings may have lacked validity due to socially desirable responses.
The participants may have underplayed their involvement or may have
exaggerated it to look harder (especially as many were interviewed in
groups).
• The findings relied on people’s memory of events. Even five weeks later
these may have been unreliable.
• The findings may have been influenced by the fact that the researchers had
to interpret the results to fit in with their categories. This may have
introduced some bias into the results.
4.3 Application – changing

attitudes
How minority influence affects social
change
Social change often relies on an individual or small minority going against
the norm. Nothing would ever change if everyone just stuck with what the
majority do.
Minorities can influence social change but this often relies on certain factors:
• Consistency is important as having an unchanging view shows confidence
and suggests the message is unbiased.
• Commitment is important as it shows perseverance which means that you
are taken more seriously.
• Flexibility is important as the minority lack power initially so need to come
across as reasonable and co-operative.
Minority influence in relation to changing attitudes

and behaviour towards, increasing awareness of,
and reducing mental health stigma and
discrimination
Up until about 200 years ago, society believed that people with mental health
problems were possessed by evil spirits. This was a commonly held view and
it took a small group of medics and other professionals to convince others
that this was not true. In more recent times, small groups and organisations
have campaigned for a more positive view of mental health problems, in
preference to labelling them as an illness. As more people accept this view of
mental health, it begins to reduce stigma and discrimination.
How majority influence affects social

change
As we have seen, it is easier to influence individuals with a majority because
those individuals have a desire to fit in with others and follow norms. This
can also happen when individuals lack information about a situation – it is
easier to do and say as the majority do, as they seem better informed. As
more and more people join the majority, it becomes easier, through
democratic systems, to affect social change.
Now test yourself

1 What is the difference between minority and majority influence in
relation to social change?
2 How is research into social influence relevant to reducing mental
health stigma and discrimination?
Majority influence in relation to changing attitudes

and behaviour towards, increasing awareness of,
and reducing mental health stigma and
discrimination
As minority groups began to change society’s views of mental health then, bit
by bit, the minority becomes the majority. When a significant number of
people share a view of mental health then it becomes easier to instigate
change. For example, you could argue that the Mental Health Act of 1959
followed pressure from society to view mental health differently. As both
famous and everyday people speak out about their own experiences of mental
health problems, we begin to see that these problems affect large numbers of
people. In time, this should make us see that it is quite normal to have these
problems. We tend not to stigmatise or discriminate against those things we
see as the norm.
Exam tip
Although the specification relates minority and majority influence to
changing views of mental health, do be prepared for questions that
may ask you to apply the same ideas in a different context where
views are or could be changed.
Summary
well enough:
conformity including majority influence
collective and crowd behaviour including pro-social and anti-social
behaviour
obedience including obeying the orders of authority figures
the theory of situational factors including the effect of majority
influence on conformity, collective and crowd behaviour and how it
can lead to deindividuation, the effect of culture on pro-social and
anti-social behaviour, and the influence of authority figures on
obedience
criticisms of the theory of situational factors, including the free
will/determinism debate
Bickman’s experiment into the social power of uniform
criticisms of Bickman’s study
the theory of dispositional factors including the effect of self-
esteem on conformity, locus of control in relation to crowds, the
effect of morality on pro-social and anti-social behaviour, the
relationship between the authoritarian personality on obedience,
the influence of the brain in dispositional factors (hippocampal
volume in self-esteem and regions of the prefrontal cortex in
morality)
criticisms of the theory of dispositional factors including issues of
generalisability
the NatCen study into the August 2011 riots in England
criticisms of the NatCen study
how minority influence affects social change in relation to
changing attitudes and behaviour towards, increasing awareness
of, and reducing stigma and discrimination related to mental health
how majority influence affects social change in relation to the
changing attitudes and behaviour towards, increasing awareness
of, and reducing stigma and discrimination related to mental health
Exam practice
1 Outline what is meant by deindividuation in relation to crowd
behaviour.
[3]
2 Complete the passage below, on Bickman’s (1974) study into
obedience, by filling in the gaps.
You must choose a different term for each gap from the list below.
[3]
dependent design guard independent milkman sample
Bickman used an opportunity ………………………… to test
obedience. The ………………………… variable was the type of
uniform a confederate wore when approaching people on the
street. He found that people were most likely to obey someone
in a ………………………… uniform.
3 Outline one way in which the procedure of Bickman’s study could
have been improved.
[2]
4 Name two dispositional factors that affect social influence.
[2]
5 Explain how research into social influence can be useful for
changing attitudes.
[6]
5 Memory
5.1 Key concepts

The stages of information processing
Many psychologists compare the human memory to a computer memory.
They say that, like a computer, we process information through a number of
stages.
Typical mistake
When asked to define the stages of information processing, students
sometimes use the language of the stages themselves which will not
get any credit. For example, you should not define storage as ‘storing
information’ or retrieval as ‘retrieving data’. Make sure you use
another word that means the same thing. For example, encoding is
about ‘reformatting data’ rather than ‘putting data into a different
code’.
Types of forgetting
When we forget something, this can happen for different reasons. These
include:
• decay – when information has not been rehearsed or used enough in
memory so it just fades away over time.
• displacement – when older information is pushed out by newer information
because there is not space for it all in storage.
• retrieval failure – when information that is still in memory cannot be easily
accessed due to a lack of cues.
Now test yourself

1 Which stages of information processing come between input and
output?
2 Which type of forgetting happens when we run out of space in
short-term memory?
3 What is the difference between anterograde and retrograde
amnesia?
4 What is meant by procedural memory?
How the brain works in the formation of

memories
Psychologists know which parts of the brain are associated with different
types of memory because when certain parts of the brain are damaged
(neurological damage), the change in structure affects memory function.
• Anterograde amnesia is severe memory loss for experiences and
information received after the neurological damage. This is linked to an
area of the brain known as the hippocampus – the area where new
memories are formed.
• Retrograde amnesia is severe memory loss for experiences and information
learned before the neurological damage. This is linked to an area of the
brain known as the frontal lobe – the area that holds memories to allow for
planning and making judgements.
• The cerebellum is a part of the brain that is associated with procedural
memory. Because it is deep in the brain it is rarely damaged. This means
that people with severe memory loss rarely forget how to do things (such as
walk, talk, read or feed themselves). Procedural memory is the part of
memory that holds motor skills. People with anterograde amnesia are very
poor at learning new facts or remembering recent events but they can still
be taught new skills if their procedural memory is still intact.
Revision activity
It can be quite hard to remember the different parts of the brain but
try to make connections between their names and their function. For
example, cerebellum has the word ‘bell’ in it which you could link to
bell ringing – a motor skill which would be held in the procedural
memory.
5.2 Explanations of memory

The multi-store model of memory
This model focuses on the structures of human memory with specific
reference to time and space.
It can be summarised as shown in Figure 5.2.
Exam tip
It is acceptable to reproduce the diagram of the multi-store model in
an exam but it will earn limited marks. If asked to describe the multi-
store model, you will need to provide some commentary too.
However, the diagram may act as a useful cue to help you do this.
• This shows that an input comes from the environment and through the
senses into sensory store. This data is held for a very brief period of time
but soon decays. If we pay attention to it before it decays then it is passed
to short-term memory.
• Data is only held in short-term memory for a short period of time and then
it will decay. The short-term memory also has a very limited capacity so
older information can be displaced by newer information. If data is
rehearsed in the short-term memory (for example, by repeating a word)
then it will stay for longer and, with continual rehearsal, will eventually
transfer to long-term memory.
• Once data is in long-term memory it has the potential to stay there forever.
This store has an infinite capacity. This data needs to be retrieved back into
short-term memory in order to use it but this can sometimes be difficult to
do. This is known as retrieval failure.
Revision activity
When revising the different types of forgetting that you have to know
about, note how they link in with the multi-store model. For example,
decay relates to time and displacement relates to space.
The three stores that make up the multi-store model differ in terms of
duration (how long information lasts before it decays), capacity (how much
space there is in the store) and the way in which they code data. These
differences are summarised in Table 5.1.
Now test yourself

1 What are the three stores that make up the multi-store model of
memory?
2 In what ways do the stores in the multi-store model differ from
each other?
3 According to the multi-store model, what processes does data go
through as it moves between stores?
Key criticism
• The model overemphasises the role of rehearsal in memory. There are
many things we rehearse that do not seem to be in long-term memory and,
similarly, there is information we recall well even though it has not been
rehearsed. Critics would say that this is because the meaning of data is
more important than how much we rehearse it. In other words, meaningful
information and events are recalled easily because they are significant to
us. However, if we rehearse something that is not that meaningful to us, we
will struggle to remember it in the long term.
Other criticisms
• The model over-generalises by seeing us as mass-produced machines
whose memories are built in the same way and function in the same way.
However, evidence suggests that our memories work much more
individually than that. This could be because what is meaningful is not the
same for everyone.
• The model can be criticised for not recognising there is more than one
long-term store. Evidence shows that when people suffer from brain
damage, they lose certain types of long-term memory but not all,
suggesting there are separate long-term stores for procedures, for personal
experiences, and for general knowledge and facts.
The multi-store model of memory

research study – Wilson, Kopelman
and Kapur (2008): prominent and
persistent loss of past awareness in
amnesia: delusion, impaired
consciousness or coping strategy (the
Clive Wearing study)
• The aim was to record the neuropsychological assessments and experiences
of an individual who suffered from a severe and rare case of both
anterograde and retrograde amnesia.
• The method was a longitudinal, case study.
• The participant was Clive Wearing – a British man who was born in 1938.
• Clive had been an outstanding musician and a gifted musical scholar but, in
1985, he developed an influenza-type illness, and was later diagnosed with
herpes simplex viral encephalitis – a virus which destroyed large sections
of his brain.
• Clive was first referred to Wilson in 1985 and was studied on many
occasions over the following 21 years.
• The research involved detailed observations and in-depth interviews as well
as taking brain scans at intervals.
Exam tip
Do note that the Wilson et al. study is also listed as an example of
the impact of neurological damage on behaviour and so may be used
to assess your knowledge of neuropsychology.

• Clive’s verbal and performance IQ scores, although in the average range,
had declined compared to his ability before the illness.
• His short-term memory was normal but his long-term memory was
severely affected.
• Scans showed Clive’s brain was very different from normal in the
following areas: hippocampal formations, amygdala, mammillary bodies
and temporal poles.
• Clive always scored zero on tests of delayed recall (long-term memory).
• His episodic memory was severely affected, and there were also some
problems with his semantic memory.
• He could not lay down new memories nor recall previous ones, showing
that he suffered from both anterograde and retrograde amnesia.
• However, Clive still had the ability to talk, read, write, conduct and sight-
read music.
• For many years, Clive did not appear to accept that he had a memory
disorder. He explained his memory problems in terms of the fact that he
had not been conscious since he became ill. For example, if shown his
diaries, he accepted that the entries were in his handwriting but said, ‘But I
wasn’t conscious when I wrote that. I’m now conscious for the first time.’
• In 1995, Wilson et al. suggested Clive’s preoccupation of having just
regained consciousness could perhaps be interpreted as a delusion.
However, they later decided that he may have just been trying to make
sense of why he couldn’t remember things as he did not show any other
psychiatric features associated with delusions.
• The researchers concluded that Clive’s temporal lobe damage was so
severe that this explained why he did not recognise the existence of his past
consciousness.
• The fact that Clive’s short-term memory functioned when his long-term
memory did not supports the multi-store model’s ideas that memory stores
are separate and distinct.
• The study also lends some support to the idea that there are different types
of long-term memory – procedural (this was intact for Clive), episodic and
semantic.

• It is difficult to make generalisations about the effect of brain damage from
studying just one person. It may be that other people would be affected
differently under the same circumstances.
• The case has been used to draw conclusions about normal human memory
and how it works. However, because Clive Wearing is an unusual case it
may not be reliable to do this.
• Some of the commentary on the case relied on the researchers’
interpretation of Clive Wearing’s behaviour, especially as he was not able
to easily explain his own experiences. This means some of the findings
may be open to researcher bias.
• The study raises a number of ethical concerns including the lack of
confidentiality (the participant was named), the way he was tested when it
did not benefit him directly (not considering his welfare) and the fact that
he seemed to be distressed by the investigation (especially when he could
not explain certain aspects of his experiences when questioned).
• Because the researchers did not know Clive before he suffered amnesia
they had to rely on his family members’ accounts of his life before his
illness. This relied on some level of interpretation, making some findings
subjective.
Revision activity
To help you remember the details of the Wilson et al. study it might
be useful to rewrite it in a different format. This is the kind of case
that may appear in a magazine so why not try to write it up as an
article as part of the revision process. The idea is that you must
understand the study well to be able to present it back in a different
format.
The theory of reconstructive memory

While the multi-store model focuses on the structure of memory, the theory
of reconstructive memory is more about the processes involved in
remembering and forgetting. It makes the point that our recall is rarely
accurate – we do not remember things exactly as they happened as our
memories do not operate like video recorders. The term ‘reconstructive’
refers to the theory that we build a version of events and ideas to store them
in memory.
According to the theory, schemas are an important part of our memory. A
schema is a mental framework for an object or a situation that we have
experienced. We use schemas to build a ‘picture of the world’ and to make
sense of new incoming information. It may seem obvious to say that
experiences play a significant role in memory (we need to experience
something to remember) but it also means that we can sometimes
misremember things as we have made them fit in with our previous
experiences. For example, if we see something unusual (such as a car with
three wheels) we may modify our schema for cars to account for this or we
may instead recall seeing a car with four wheels because that fits our existing
schema.
Schemas also drive our expectations so that we may go into a situation
knowing what is going to happen (from memory) rather than relying on our
direct experiences. For example, we may have a schema for what happens in
an exam hall which means that we don’t need to pay close attention to
instructions and routines as they are well established. However, this also
means that we may not notice a change to proceedings. For example, we may
forget to hand in a watch because we didn’t always have to do this.
We also use schemas as part of a process known as confabulation. This is
when we rely on past memories to ‘fill in gaps’ to give a more detailed
account of an event or situation. This is not a conscious process (people are
not lying when they use confabulation). It is another example of us trying to
make sense of something that has happened but where the memory is not
complete. This can happen when people have witnessed a crime and
remember key points but not everything.
Sometimes, we don’t change our memory of events ourselves but are
influenced by others. Memories can become distorted because of things we
have heard or seen elsewhere. For example, a witness to a crime may
unconsciously add in details of the event based on what they have picked up
from a news report. People are also vulnerable to leading questions. The way
that a question is phrased can influence people’s memory of events. For
example, if a police officer asks which hand a suspect was holding a weapon
in, this implies the suspect had a weapon – something the witness may not
have recalled. However, at a later date, because memory is reconstructive, the
witness may incorporate this information into their own memory and could
recall a weapon (whether one was being held or not).
Now test yourself

1 What is meant by schema?
2 How do experiences and expectations play a part in memory?
3 What is the purpose of confabulation in memory?
4 How do leading questions affect memory?
Key criticism
• The theory is not as reductionist as the multi-store model as it fails to give a
simple and predictable explanation of how memory works. It takes a more
holistic approach to explaining memory, seeing it as a product of many
different processes working together.
Other criticisms
• The theory is too abstract. For example, the concept of a schema is difficult
to test as it is not something that can be observed through scanning the
brain.
• The theory does not really explain how or why processes such as
confabulation and distortion happen – just that they do.
Exam tip
Remember that every theory has key terms that you can be
assessed on specifically. For the theory of reconstructive memory
these are schemas, the role of experience, the role of expectation,
the process of confabulation, distortion and the effect of leading
questions.
Reconstructive memory research study

– Braun, Ellis and Loftus (2002): study
into how advertising can change our
memories of the past
Experiment 1
• The aim was to see whether autobiographically focused advertising could
affect how people remember a childhood experience.
• The hypothesis was that people would reconstruct their childhood
memories to incorporate information used in an advert.
• The method used was a laboratory experiment.
• The experimental design was an independent measures design.
• The independent variable was whether participants were shown a Disney
advert or a control advert.
• The dependent variable was measured using a questionnaire, and was the
difference in the score (when measured two weeks apart) for a question that
asked how likely it was that the participant had ‘met and shook hands with
a favourite TV character at a theme resort’. The score came from a rating
ranging from 0 to 100 where 100 meant it definitely did happen and 0 that
it definitely did not. The question was always the fourth out of 20 questions
about childhood events.
• The sample was made up of 107 undergraduates from an American
university.
• Participants were randomly assigned to either the group who received the
Disney advert or the group who received the control advert.
• During week one of the experiment the participants were given the
questionnaire about childhood events along with two other distractor tasks.
The distractor tasks were used to help disguise the aim of the experiment
and reduce the effect of demand characteristics.
• In week two, participants were shown the advert that they had been
assigned. They were also asked to visualise the advert and imagine
themselves experiencing the situation described in the advert. They were
then given five minutes to write down their feelings about the advert. After
that, they also rated the advert using a questionnaire.
• After a short distractor task, an experimenter from week one entered the
room and acted out the same scene each time. The experimenter pretended
to be in a panic and said there had been a problem with scoring the
questionnaire on childhood events from the week before. This was the
excuse for getting the participants to do the questionnaire again.
• After a 15-minute distractor task, a different experimenter gave the
participants a questionnaire which asked if they had ever been to Disney
World and, if so, to describe their memory of it. They also rated the
reliability of their memory for the event.
• Two independent judges rated these questionnaires.
• Finally, the participants were asked what they thought the aim of the
experiment had been (to test for demand characteristics) and also whether
they believed their memories of Disney had been affected by the advert
they had seen.
Revision activity
There are lots of stages in this experiment. It might be useful to write
each stage on to a separate cue card. You can then test yourself by
trying to put the cue cards in the right order to describe the
procedure.
Experiment 2
• This experiment was another version of Experiment 1 where the aim was to
see whether false information in an advert could make participants think
that those events had happened to them as a child.
• Again, a laboratory experiment was conducted with an independent
measures design.
• The sample was 167 undergraduates from an American university.
• There were three conditions in this experiment – advert one suggested they
had shaken hands with Bugs Bunny (who is not a Disney character), advert
two suggested they had shaken hands with Ariel (who was a new Disney
character at the time and not around when the participants were children),
and advert three was factual and acted as a control.
• The questionnaire on childhood memories was the same as before but
Question 4 was reworded to ask about shaking hands with a cartoon
character in a theme park. This was then measured on a 10-point rating
scale.
• The procedure was the same as Experiment 1, apart from the fact that all
participants were given a Disney advert to see whether just mentioning the
Disney name was enough to trigger autobiographical memories.
Experiment 1
• The two judges showed a high level of inter-rater reliability when rating the
questionnaires.
• Of the participants who saw the Disney advert, 65 per cent mentioned
memories of Disney World, 74 per cent mentioned that the advert caused
them to imagine the experience, and even those who had not visited the
park before said they were able to imagine the experience. This showed the
potential effects of autobiographical advertising.
• Significantly more participants in the Disney condition compared to the
control condition increased their scores from week one to week two in
relation to their confidence that they had personally shaken hands with a
famous TV character at a theme resort. The percentages were 90 per cent
versus 47 per cent. This was evidence for imagination inflation, which was
more common in those who had seen the Disney advert.
• There were significantly more positive thoughts in the Disney condition
than the control condition, and significantly more of the advert’s elements
(such as the words used) occurred in the Disney group.
• Nobody had been able to guess the aim of the experiment – there was no
evidence for the effect of demand characteristics.
Exam tip
This study refers to lots of key terms you should know from research
methods. This means the study may be used to assess your
knowledge of research methods in the exam by asking specific
questions about concepts such as laboratory experiments,
experimental designs, variables, inter-rater reliability and demand
characteristics, for example.
Experiment 2
• The two autobiographical adverts were more involving for participants than
the informational advert.
• All three groups increased their confidence that they had shaken hands with
a cartoon character after seeing the advert but the increases were more
marked in the two autobiographical conditions: 78 per cent in the Bugs
Bunny condition and 76 per cent in the Ariel condition compared to 62 per
cent in the non-autobiographical condition.
Overall, the experiments led to the following conclusions:
• Autobiographical advertising can make people more confident that they
experienced an event as a child that was suggested by the advert.
• Autobiographical advertising can affect how people remember the past.
• Introducing false events in autobiographical advertising can cause people to
believe they have experienced those events.
• Autobiographical advertising can lead to the construction of false or
distorted memories.

• The study lacked ecological validity. People are not normally exposed to
adverts under such controlled conditions. For example, it is artificial to
expect people to analyse an advert as much as they had to in this study.
• The study lacked construct validity. This is because the measure for
imagination inflation was a very narrow one. It focused on one event and
this was also measured using a crude scoring system.
• The sample was age biased. As undergraduates, the participants represented
a very narrow age range. It might be that children and older adults are
influenced differently by autobiographical advertising, especially when it
relies on triggering past memories.
• The sample was culturally biased. America is a very commercial country
and so its citizens are exposed to a lot of advertisements. This may impact
on how they respond to autobiographical advertising. It may, for example,
make them more resistant than other cultures because they are used to it.
• There are ethical issues in relation to this study. Participants were
obviously deceived and therefore had their memories manipulated without
their consent.
Exam tip
Note that this study is made up of two experiments and you may be
asked about one experiment or the other in the exam so watch out
for this. However, also note that the evaluation points work for either
experiment.
5.3 Application – techniques used

for recall
How research into memory has been
applied to advertising
One of the aims of advertisements is to get the audience to remember the
product. Research into memory gives ideas of how this can be done.
Cues
We know that cues trigger information that is hard to retrieve from long-term
memory. For this reason, advertisements often make an association between a
product and something else (the cue). The cue may be a celebrity (someone
who is well known already) so that when an individual thinks about the
celebrity they are reminded of details of the product. Situations can also be
cues so that when someone is in a setting similar to one that they have seen in
an advertisement (for example, in a supermarket) it will trigger a memory for
the product. Adverts can also make an association with feelings. For
example, food products are often advertised before meal times so that they
become associated with hunger. This means that when an individual feels
hungry this acts as a cue and they may recall the product and want to buy it.
Avoiding overload
We know that the short-term memory has a limited capacity so gets
overloaded very easily. Information recently processed into short-term
memory can be quickly displaced by newer information. For this reason, TV
advertisements often present information about products in small chunks so
that there is time to process it. For example, slogans for products are often
short and snappy so that audience are not overloaded and can understand
what the product is about without having to remember lots of details.
Repetition
We know that repeating things is a form of rehearsal and this process allows
information to be stored in long-term memory. In simple terms, the more
often we see an advertisement, the more likely we are to remember the details
of its product. Within a TV advertisement, repetition is also used. For
example, the image of a product may be shown a number of times, or the
voiceover may repeat key information (such as a phone number or the date
that a sale ends) a number of times.
Typical mistake
You may be asked to outline how memory techniques can be used to
advertise a particular product. A common error is for students to
ignore the product and either give a generic description of advertising
techniques or to write about a different product they have used as an
example before. To have a chance of earning full marks, it is
important you make the effort to apply the ideas to the product
referred to in the question (for example, the information that would be
repeated about this product or the type of cues that would work with
it).
Autobiographical advertising
Autobiographical advertising is about using images and themes from the past
that the audience can associate with their own life experiences. The advert
aims to trigger positive memories so that the audience associate the product
with pleasurable feelings, and are therefore more likely to want to buy it.
The development of neuropsychology

for measuring different memory
functions
Neuropsychological research has made links between different parts of the
brain and different types of memory functions. This also means tests have
been developed that can assess these different functions. A well known test is
the Wechsler Memory Scale which scores people in five areas: auditory
memory, visual memory, visual working memory, immediate memory and
delayed memory. The Wechsler Memory Scale is successful at differentiating
people with amnesia and other neuropsychological disorders from people
with normal memory functioning.
Now test yourself

1 What kind of memory techniques are used as part of advertising?
2 What is meant by autobiographical advertising?
3 What is the Wechsler Memory Scale?
Summary
well enough:
stages of information processing – input, encoding, storage,
retrieval and output
types of forgetting – decay, displacement and retrieval failure (lack
of cues)
the role of the hippocampus on anterograde amnesia
the role of the frontal lobe on retrograde amnesia
the role of the cerebellum on procedural memory
the multi-store model of memory, including sensory store, short-
term memory, long-term memory; the differences between stores
in terms of duration, capacity and types of encoding
criticisms of the multi-store model including rehearsal versus
meaning in memory
Wilson et al.’s case study of Clive Wearing
criticisms of Wilson et al.’s study
the theory of reconstructive memory including the concept of
schemas, the role of experience and expectation on memory, the
process of confabulation, distortion and the effect of leading
questions
criticisms of the theory of reconstructive memory including the
reductionism/holism debate
Braun et al.’s experiment into the effects of advertising on memory
criticisms of Braun et al.’s study
the use of cues, repetition and avoiding overload in
advertisements
the use of autobiographical advertising
the development of neuropsychology for measuring different
memory functions, including the Wechsler Memory Scale
Exam practice
1 Outline two stages of information processing.
[4]
2 Psychologists tested 20 participants on their short-term
memory with a list of 20 words. Half recalled the list of words
immediately and the other half after a delay in recall.
The results are shown below.
(a) Calculate the mean of both groups from the raw data provided.
Show your workings for each mean.
[4]
(b) State what the means for each group show about the effect of
delay on memory. Justify your answer.
[2]
3 (a) Identify how many years Clive Wearing was studied for in
Wilson, Kopelman and Kapur’s (2008) case study.
A 1 year
B 11 years
C 21 years
D 31 years
[1]
(b) Identify the type of brain imaging technique reported on in the
Wilson, Kopelman and Kapur study.
A CT
B EEG
C MRI
D PET[1]
(c) Identify the cognitive process tested during the Wilson,
Kopelman and Kapur study.
A delusions
B disorganised speech
C hallucinations
D thought disturbances
[1]
4 Outline what is meant by a schema in relation to the theory of
reconstructive memory.
[2]
5 An advertising company wants to promote a new cereal bar.
Using your knowledge of techniques for recall, explain how they
could do this.
[6]
6 Sleep and dreaming
6.1 Key concepts

The functions, features and benefits of
sleep
Sleep is something that every single human being does. This shows that it is a
natural function and something that benefits our survival. It helps us survive
in a number of ways.
Healthy brain
The gaps between brain cells get larger during sleep and this is important for
getting rid of toxins that would otherwise damage the brain. Sleep also helps
to protect information stored in the brain as well as being a time when new
memories are consolidated.
Physical repair
Sleep is a time when damaged cells are repaired, when hormones are
rebalanced and when the immune system is more active so that it kills more
bacteria and viruses.
Exam tip
REM sleep is the most important stage to know about for the exam
as it is the stage in which most dreaming occurs and a large part of
this topic focuses on dreaming.
Emotional stability
A lack of sleep can lead to various emotional problems such as feeling
irritable, agitated and lethargic.
Stages of sleep
Sleep happens in cycles that last around 90 minutes each and are made up of
five stages as shown in Figure 6.1.
The role of the pineal gland and

melatonin
The pineal gland is an endocrine gland at the centre of the brain. It
produces a hormone called melatonin, which is responsible for sending us to
sleep. During the day, the pineal gland is not active but is ‘switched on’ as
night falls. This is when melatonin is released into the blood stream. The
effect of this is that we feel drowsy and eventually fall asleep. Melatonin
levels remain high for about 12 hours after first being released.
The causes of sleep disorders

When people do not follow normal sleep patterns, we say they have a sleep
disorder, or insomnia. This can happen for a number of reasons.
Sleep onset insomnia

When people have this disorder, they struggle to get to sleep, often lying
awake for hours. Causes include:
• anxiety problems
• having too much caffeine, too much nicotine or a heavy meal too close to
bedtime
• playing computer games too close to bedtime.
Sleep maintenance insomnia

When people have this disorder, they struggle to stay asleep and end up
waking regularly through the night. Causes include:
• feelings of depression
• drinking too much alcohol
• being with someone who snores.
Endogenous pacemakers and

exogenous zeitgebers
Both of these sets of cues have a role to play in controlling the 24-hour sleep
and wake cycle.
Endogenous pacemakers
These are biological clocks inside of the body (endogenous). A part of the
brain known as the SCN (suprachiasmatic nucleus) is an endogenous
pacemaker. It responds to light and dark, and sends messages to other parts of
the brain that control things like body temperature and hormone production –
things that affect whether we feel tired or awake.
Exogenous zeitgebers
These are cues external to the body (exogenous – in the environment) which
help to regulate sleep and waking. They can be physical factors such as
exposure to daylight, or more social factors such as eating times.
Now test yourself

1 What are the benefits of sleep?
2 What happens in the REM stage of sleep?
3 What is the pineal gland’s role in sleep?
4 How are the causes of sleep onset insomnia and sleep
maintenance insomnia different?
5 What is the difference between endogenous pacemakers and
exogenous zeitgebers?
6.2 Explanations of the nature of

dreaming
The Freudian theory of dreaming
A key idea in Freudian theory is that most of the mind is made up of our
unconscious mind. This is the part of our mind of which we have no
awareness even though it controls many of our behaviours. One of the things
that the theory says it controls is our dreams.
According to the Freudian theory we have many instinctive urges that we
need to repress – often because they are aggressive or overly sexual. When
we repress them, we basically push them into the unconscious mind so that
we are no longer aware of them. However, using repression as a defence
mechanism only deals with these urges temporarily. The theory argues that
eventually these urges are released through our dreams.
Typical mistake
Students often use the term ‘subconscious’ instead of ‘unconscious’
but these are not the same thing. The unconscious is something that
the conscious mind cannot easily access whereas information in the
subconscious is just below conscious awareness and can be
accessed with a shift in attention.
The Freudian theory states that dreams are a form of wish fulfilment. In other
words, we dream about the things that we secretly desire and privately want
to do. Dreams perform an important role, according to the theory – they allow
us to release some of the anxiety we have around our hidden desires.
The Freudian theory states that dreams don’t often reflect our urges in an
obvious way. Instead, they have a manifest content which means we dream
about images and events that represent our urges but do not relate to them
directly. For example, a person may dream about being sat on a toilet in the
middle of a street – this isn’t because they have an urge to do this in real life
but it may mean they have a hidden fear about being exposed in some way.
The real meaning of dreams is known as the latent content in this theory.
Now test yourself

1 What is the difference between the conscious and unconscious
mind?
2 How does repression work as a defence mechanism?
3 How are dreams examples of wish fulfilment?
4 How does the latent content of a dream differ from the manifest
content?’
Key criticism
• The theory is too subjective. This is because dream analysis is open to
interpretation. The content of a dream can be viewed in many different
ways depending on your viewpoint.
Other criticisms
• The evidence for the theory is weak as many of the ideas are difficult to test
and even then it relies on case studies which can also be very unreliable.
• The theory is potentially historically and culturally biased as dreams are
interpreted in terms of what was acceptable and unacceptable at the
beginning of the twentieth century when Freud was writing. For example,
society used to be much more uptight about sexual relationships.
The Freudian theory of dreaming

research study – Freud (1918): dream
analysis study of ‘The Wolfman’
• The aim was to show that dream analysis would help treat psychological
problems by releasing repressed memories.
• The method used was a longitudinal case study with interviews that took
place over four years.
• The sample was a man in his twenties from a wealthy Russian family, who
was investigated under the name of ‘The Wolfman’.
• The Wolfman came to Freud suffering from depression after his sister and
father had both committed suicide. One of the Wolfman’s problems was
that he could not empty his bowels unless he had taken an enema.
• Freud’s treatment centred on a dream that the Wolfman had experienced in
which he woke to find his bedroom window opening by itself and outside a
number of white wolves sitting staring from a tree.

• The wolves watching the Wolfman as a boy was interpreted as a real event
when, as a young child, the Wolfman had seen his parents having sex.
• The wolf symbolised the father, and their whiteness represented the bed
clothes and sheets of his parents.
• The tree represented a Christmas tree as the original dream had occurred at
Christmas time and so the wolves had replaced presents.
• Freud concluded that the Wolfman had had an unconscious desire to be
seduced by his father and this was related to the pleasure of receiving
Christmas gifts.
• However, the Wolfman also feared his father, like he feared the wolves, as
he was scared of being castrated by his father (as he thought his mother had
been).
• Freud suggested that the Wolfman had repressed his fear of his father (the
latent content of the dream) but displaced it on to the wolves (the manifest
content of the dream).
• The study found that dreams can represent repressed thoughts which hide
in the unconscious.
Exam tip
Because this study is a case study it does not have as many
research methods concepts and terms in its description. However,
make sure you are aware of where it overlaps with the research
methods topics as you could be asked questions specifically about
this.

• It is difficult to make any reliable generalisations from the study of one
person. Other people’s dreams may be more literal than the Wolfman’s, for
example.
• The Wolfman is also unrepresentative in the sense that he was suffering
from mental health problems so may have had different types of dreams
compared to other people.
• The study focuses on something that cannot be objectively tested – the
unconscious.
• The study relied on the Wolfman accurately recalling his dream but there is
no guarantee that this is the case. Dreams are notoriously difficult to
remember.
• The case study used the interview method but this can be unreliable. The
Wolfman may have lied, or lacked insight or may not have been able to
adequately explain what he had experienced.
Revision activity
You may find it useful to rewrite the description of the Freud case
study but leave some gaps by missing out key facts and ideas. At a
later date, go back to the description and test yourself by seeing if
you can fill in the gaps.
The activation synthesis theory of

dreaming
This theory is particularly focused on the REM (rapid eye movement) stage
of sleep. In this stage, there is a lot of brain activity compared to other stages.
At points, powerful electrical signals pass through the brain. The signals
come from a part of the brain called the pons. The pons sits in the brainstem
and operates like a message station. Signals also come from neurons that
control eye movement (hence REM) and also activate the limbic system. The
limbic system is the part of the brain responsible for a number of functions
including memory, behaviour and emotions.
The theory is that these random surges of brain activity stimulate the higher
parts of the brain (the cerebral cortex). This part of the brain then tries to
make sense of the activation – this is what the theory means by synthesis. The
effort to give the brain activity some meaning is what leads us to dream. Of
course, the brain activity is random so it is hard to attach real meaning to it
which is why our dreams end up being quite strange a lot of the time.
Now test yourself

1 What is REM sleep?
2 What is the pons?
3 How does brain activity link to the limbic system?
4 What is the role of the cerebral cortex according to the activation
synthesis theory?
5 How does the theory explain the randomness of dreams?
Revision activity
You may find it helpful to annotate an image of the human brain – not
only to show the parts of the brain involved in dreaming but also to
describe the processes involved.
Key criticism
• The theory is highly reductionist. Critics say it is too simplistic to try to
reduce something as complex as dreams to random electrical activity.
Consider how this contrasts with Freudian theory and its much deeper
analysis of why dreams occur.
Other criticisms
• Dreams often follow patterns (for example, they can be recurring) or can be
quite coherent sometimes. This does not fit in with the idea that they are
generated by different types of random activity throughout the night or
across nights.
• People whose brainstems are damaged still dream even though the pons is
not necessarily producing any signals. This suggests that dreams are a
product of something else.
The activation synthesis theory of

dreaming research study – Williams et
al. (1992): study into bizarreness in
dreams and fantasies
• The aim was to show that dreams are a product of different brain activity
which occurs during sleep.
• The hypothesis was that the bizarre content of dreams would be different
from the bizarre content of daytime fantasies as they are products of
different types of brain activity.
• The method was a natural experiment which also used self-report.
• The independent variable was whether people were reporting on dreams or
fantasies.
• The dependent variable measured how bizarre dreams and fantasies were.
• The sample was made up of twelve biopsychology students from an
American university whose ages ranged from 23 to 45.
• For one term, students were asked to keep a written journal to record any
dreams they could recall as well as any fantasies they experienced during
their waking hours.
• Using these journals, the researchers selected 60 dreams and 60 fantasies to
be analysed. They selected reports that were more detailed and had visual
content.
• The dreams and fantasies were scored on two scales – one for the locus and
one for the type of bizarreness per sentence (or unit).
• A bizarreness density score was calculated by dividing the number of
bizarre items in a report by the number of sentence units.
• The scoring was done by three separate judges and this was checked for
inter-rater reliability.
• The judges did not know whether they were scoring a dream or fantasy
although, each time, they were asked what they thought they had read after
analysing the report.

• The three judges showed good levels of inter-rater reliability.
• There was a significant difference between the mean density scores for
dreams and fantasies, with the mean for dreams being approximately three
times higher than the mean for fantasies – showing dreams were more
bizarre on average.
• The most significant difference between dreams and fantasies was on plot
discontinuity.
• Seven out of twelve participants had dreams with significantly higher
bizarreness scores than their scores for fantasies.
• The judges were 88.7 per cent accurate on judging whether a report
described a dream or fantasy, suggesting the two processes involve
different types of cognitive activity.
• The researchers concluded that the bizarreness of dreams correlates with
brain activity during REM sleep, which is why dreams contain more
bizarreness, including remoteness of time and place compared to fantasies.
• There was some overlap between the content of dreams and fantasies
during inattentive waking but this was explained in terms of the similarities
in brain activity during REM sleep and during the wake–sleep boundary.

• The sample was too small to generalise from and also ten of the twelve
participants were female so the findings may also have been gender biased.
• The use of the self-report method can be unreliable as it relies on people’s
memories, insight and ability to explain their experiences (in writing in this
case). The researchers could not be sure they were getting an accurate
account of participants’ dreams and fantasies.
• The results lack construct validity as qualitative data was turned into
quantitative data and so the complexity of dreams and fantasies was lost
when the content was analysed in terms of numbers.
• The independent variable was difficult to control as there was no guarantee
that dreams being described happened in REM sleep (as opposed to other
stages of sleep). Also, what were described as fantasies could actually have
been more like dreams if they happened when participants were feeling
drowsy.
• The differences between scores for dreams and fantasies may have more to
do with how they were recorded by participants. For example, it is more
likely that fantasies were recorded not long after they happened whereas
dreams were recorded longer after the event. This means the details of
dreams are more likely to be forgotten and that participants tried to make
sense of them, making them appear more coherent than they really were.
Exam tip
For any study, make sure you have at least one criticism that you can
explain well in case you are asked for one that is going to earn you
three marks. It is also important to have a range of criticisms as this
helps with higher scoring questions where you are asked to evaluate
a study.
Revision activity
Write a description of the study using your own words. Keep rewriting
this description but each time try to reduce it down so that what you
end up with is a skeleton description which contains the key features
of the study. This is much easier to revise from but also the whole
process is an effective revision activity in itself.
6.3 Application – development of

treatments for insomnia
Features of insomnia
Remember that insomnia is a sleep disorder as it describes an inability to
sleep. This can either be sleep onset insomnia or sleep maintenance insomnia.
The role of the nervous system and its

management through relaxation
techniques
The nervous system plays an important role in sleep because it affects how
relaxed or stressed we feel. When we are anxious this is a result of the
sympathetic nervous system being activated. To balance this, the
parasympathetic nervous system is activated to calm us down again.
Therefore, the parasympathetic system has a role in helping us get ready for
sleep.
Sometimes, the parasympathetic system struggles to do its job – for example,
when people are suffering from prolonged stress. This is when people may
try relaxation techniques in an effort to take conscious control of their stress.
Relaxation techniques include:
• clearing the mind by writing down worries or imagining them floating
away
• deep breathing
• relaxing different sets of muscles across the body.
The role of the physical environment in

insomnia and its treatment through
improved sleep hygiene
The physical environment refers to the place where we sleep – for most of us,
this is our bedroom. Sleep hygiene refers to the idea that we can ‘clean up’
our physical environment to make it easier to get to sleep or stay asleep.
Ways of improving sleep hygiene include making sure bedrooms are:
• dark – using blinds, turning off equipment that gives off light
• neither too hot nor too cold – turning down radiators, using different
bedclothes and linen for different seasons
• quiet – not listening to music, removing ticking clocks.
The impact of neurological damage to

the hypothalamus on sleep
Neurological damage to the hypothalamus may happen for a number of
reasons, such as disease, neurosurgery, injury or ageing. Because the SCN is
part of the hypothalamus, damage can lead to problems with sleeping. This
could be due to the brain not reacting to daylight in the usual way which
means that melatonin is not produced as normal. For this reason, people with
damaged hypothalamuses are sometimes given a drug, to use at night, which
is a substitute for melatonin.
Now test yourself

1 How do relaxation techniques help with insomnia?
2 What is meant by sleep hygiene?
3 Why does neurological damage to the hypothalamus have an
effect on sleep?
Summary
well enough:
the functions, features and benefits of sleep including healthy
brain, physical repair and emotional stability
stages of the sleep cycle and when dreaming occurs
the role of the pineal gland and melatonin
the causes of sleep disorders (sleep onset insomnia and sleep
maintenance insomnia)
endogenous pacemakers and exogenous zeitgebers, and their
role in sleep
the Freudian theory of dreaming, including the idea of the
unconscious mind, the role of repression, the concept of wish
fulfilment, the manifest and latent content of dreams
criticisms of the theory including the issue of subjectivity
Freud’s case study of ‘The Wolfman’
criticisms of Freud’s study
the activation synthesis theory of dreaming, including the role of
REM sleep, the function and actions of the brain during sleep (the
limbic system and activity of neurons in the pons), the process of
synthesis as a function of the cerebral cortex
criticisms of the theory, including the reductionism/holism debate
Williams et al.’s experiment into the bizarreness of dreams and
fantasies
criticisms of Williams et al.’s study
features of insomnia
the role of the nervous system and its management through
relaxation techniques
the role of the physical environment in insomnia and its treatment
through improved sleep hygiene
the impact of neurological damage to the hypothalamus on sleep
Exam practice
1 Outline one benefit of sleep.
[2]
2 Outline one stage of the sleep cycle.
[3]
3 Evaluate the Freudian theory of dreaming.
[4]
4 Describe the procedure of Williams et al.’s (1992) study into
bizarreness in dreams and fantasies.
[6]
5 A questionnaire survey was carried out to investigate people’s
experience of sleep. One question asked about the use of
relaxation techniques among different age groups.
The results of the question are shown below.
Table 6.1 Survey results

Age group Percentage using relaxation techniques
13–18 6%
19–25 10%
26–40 18%
41–60 19%
60+ 11%
(a) Calculate the fraction of 26–40–year–olds who used relaxation

techniques in its lowest possible form. Show your workings.
[2]
(b) Calculate the number of 13–18–year–olds who used relaxation
techniques if 150 people from this age group were surveyed.
Show your workings.
[3]
(c) Outline one strength of using closed questions in this survey of
sleep.
[2]
(d) The survey used a self-selected sample.
Explain one weakness of using this sampling method in the
study.
[3]
7 Research methods
7.1 Planning research

Hypotheses
Hypotheses are statements made by researchers to show what they predict
their findings will be before carrying out a study.
Null hypotheses
If a prediction suggests there will no pattern in the results then this is known
as a null hypothesis.
A null hypothesis can predict no difference in a dependent variable even
when the independent variable changes. For example: ‘There will be no
significant difference in the number of people that pick up litter for someone
in a milkman uniform and someone not in a uniform.’
Exam tip
The specification expects you to know the difference between null
and alternative hypotheses, and that both differences and
correlations can be predicted (as well as no patterns). Remember, if
a study has an IV and DV it will be predicting a difference but if it has
co-variables and is looking for a relationship between them, it will be
predicting a correlation.
A null hypothesis can also predict no correlation between two co-variables.
For example: ‘There will be no significant correlation between people’s
neuroticism scores and how many crimes they have committed in the past
year.’
Alternative hypotheses
An alternative hypothesis is an alternative to the null hypothesis and therefore
does predict some kind of pattern in results. For example: ‘There will be a
significant difference in the number of children that show the ability to
conserve depending on whether they are four years old or seven years old.’ or
‘There will be a significant correlation between people’s psychoticism scores
and how many crimes they have committed in the past year.’
Variables
Variables describe things that can change in studies.
Independent variables and dependent variables

Sometimes, variables are changed by (or are in the control of) the researcher.
We say these variables are manipulated. This is what happens to the
independent variable (IV).
The IV represents the conditions in an experiment, such as wearing a
milkman’s uniform or not, or being four years old or seven years old.
Typical mistake
Students often write alternative hypotheses which predict a difference
between the IV and DV but this makes no sense as they are different
variables anyway! Note that you should be predicting a difference in
the DV depending on the IV.
When the IV is manipulated it is because it is normally predicted to have an
effect on the dependent variable (DV). In other words, this variable depends
on the IV (hence its name).
To see if the DV is affected, it needs to be measured; for example, the
number of people who pick up litter, whether a child conserves or not.
Exam tip
Under the pressure of the exam, it’s easy to get IVs and DVs
muddled with each other so use a simple diagram like the one in
Figure 7.1 to make sure you have them the right way round.
Co-variables
Only experiments where differences are predicted have an IV and a DV.
When correlations are investigated, we call the variables co-variables because
one does not necessarily affect the other – they are just related to each other.
For example, criminal activity may affect psychoticism or vice versa, so they
are both co-variables.
Co-variables always need to be measured on some kind of scale; for example,
the number of crimes committed in the past year, a score for neuroticism.
Extraneous variables
Other factors that can affect the outcome of a study if not controlled are
known as extraneous variables.
In the case of experiments, these are variables that affect the DV, apart from
the IV. For example, in an obedience experiment, if different people were
used to wear different uniforms this would be an extraneous variable, as
participants may be responding to the appearance of the actual person and not
the uniform itself.
Extraneous variables need to be controlled so that they cannot affect results.
The most straightforward way to do this is to keep them the same so they do
not vary. This process of ‘keeping things the same’ is known as
standardisation. For example, if the same person is used to test all types of
uniform then this extraneous variable has been controlled.
Exam tip
Note that the only method of control listed on the specification is
standardisation. However, you may know about others such as
counterbalancing and randomisation. It is also acceptable to write
about these in an exam where appropriate.
Experimental designs
Once researchers have decided to carry out an experiment, they then need to
decide on their experimental design. Experimental designs describe how
participants are allocated to the different conditions of the IV.
Repeated measures design

With this type of experimental design, participants take part in both (or all)
conditions. For example, a participant’s aggression levels may be tested after
playing both a violent computer game and a neutral computer game.
Strengths of repeated measures designs

• There are no participant variables so any differences between conditions
cannot be put down to using different participants. If participants end up
being more aggressive after playing the violent computer game they have
not changed within themselves so it is likely to be due to the game.
• It is more cost effective as the same participants can be used for both
conditions rather than having to recruit additional participants.
Weaknesses of repeated measures designs

• There is a risk of order effects as performance may be affected by things
like the practice effect (where participants perform better on the second
condition) or the boredom/fatigue effect (where they perform worse on the
second condition). For example, if participants play a neutral game after a
violent game, their aggression levels may drop because they are getting
mentally and physically tired of playing games, not because the second
game itself is affecting them.
• Often, the test (or measure) needs to be changed when participants do both
conditions, otherwise doing the same test may lead to fatigue or practice.
However, varying the task gives an extraneous variable.
Typical mistake
When asked about experimental designs, students often make the
mistake of writing or talking about experimental methods – as in
laboratory, field and natural experiments. In an exam, this error could
lose you a lot of marks. Make sure you are clear on the distinction.
Independent measures design

With this type of experimental design, participants take part in only one
condition. They are normally randomly allocated to one condition or the
other. For example, with 20 participants, 10 would play a violent computer
and 10 would play a neutral game. Then all would have their aggression
tested in the same way afterwards.
Strengths of independent measures designs

• There are no order effects. Since participants take part in one condition or
the other, they cannot get better through practice or worse through
boredom/fatigue.
• The task can remain the same between conditions as the participants are not
the same. This removes a potential extraneous variable.
Weaknesses of independent measures designs

• Any differences between conditions may be due to individual differences
between participants rather than the independent variable. So, if an
experiment shows the aggression levels of participants who’ve played a
violent computer game are higher than another group of participants
who’ve played a neutral game, this may be down to the fact that the first
group are naturally more aggressive or have more experience of being
violent, for example.
• More participants are needed. For example, rather than recruiting 20
participants and using them twice, 40 participants would be needed with an
independent measures design. Or the 20 participants are split between two
conditions, only giving a small number (10) in each.
Revision tip
Do pay attention to the names used for different research methods
and concepts. The name ‘repeated measures’ makes sense if we
recognise that participants are repeatedly measured as they go
through each condition. Similarly, ‘independent measures’ tells us
that the participants on one condition are independent of the
participants in the other condition (because they are different sets of
people).
Populations and sampling
Target populations
The target population is the group of people that psychologists are
investigating. In some cases, this may be the entire human population if it is
something that applies to everybody – for example, investigating forgetting
or conformity. However, the target population may be more specific than this
– for example, criminals, children or people with schizophrenia.
Sampling
Even when the target population is quite small – for example, people
suffering from amnesia – it still might be too big for the psychologist to
investigate everyone in that population. Instead, most psychologists sample
from the population. This means that they select a smaller group to study but,
hopefully, one that represents the rest of the population by being a good
cross-section. The more representative a sample it is, the easier it is to make
generalisations about the rest of population. When psychologists generalise,
they draw conclusions about the whole population based on the sample they
have studied.
Exam tip
The specification also refers to ‘principles of sampling as applied to
scientific data’. This means you may have to apply your knowledge of
sampling and populations to numerical data in the exam. For
example, you may have to calculate the percentage or fraction of a
population being sampled or you may have to explain why a larger
sample is more representative than a smaller one.
Sample size
The larger the sample, the greater the proportion of the target population that
is being studied. In general, a sample that makes up 10 per cent of the target
population is going to tell you more about the rest of the population than one
that just makes up 1 per cent. In other words, larger samples tend to be more
representative. If a sample is too small, then key types of people may be
under-represented or not represented at all (for example, a certain age group,
a certain ethnic group) and therefore it is more difficult to make
generalisations.
Sampling methods
There are different ways of selecting a sample (the participants) for a study.
The key methods and their advantages and disadvantages are shown in Figure
7.3.
Exam tip
If you want to argue that a sample is not representative of the
population in the exam, remember there are many ways of making
this point. You can say it is unrepresentative or difficult to generalise
from. You can also say that it has low population validity. Or you can
write about the sample being biased – you may also be able to refer
to how it is biased (for example, gender biased).
Ethical guidelines
Ethical guidelines refer to a set of recommendations that psychologists
should try to follow when carrying out research. Because our subject matter
is people, we need to make sure we are protecting them when we are
investigating them and this is what ethical guidelines are about.
Ethical issues
Lack of informed consent
Ideally, participants should agree to being studied (consent) and
should also know why they are being studied (informed). This is not
always possible for practical reasons but does raise the ethical
concern of a lack of informed consent.
Protection of participants from psychological
harm
Psychologists should protect participants as far as possible and avoid
causing them psychological harm. However, because of the nature of
some investigations participants may be caused distress, which
causes ethical concerns. The question is whether the benefit of the
research outweighs the cost to the participants.
Deception
Sometimes psychologists believe they need to research people
without them knowing or mislead them about the aim of a study.
Although this type of deception causes ethical concerns, it may be
necessary to make sure participants do not behave differently from
normal.
Ways of dealing with ethical issues

Use of debriefing
If participants have been deceived then they can be told in a
debriefing, apologised to and given the right to withdraw their data.
Debriefings are also useful for making sure any psychological harm is
addressed so that participants leave in the same state as when they
entered the study.
Right to withdraw
It should be made clear to participants at the start of a study that they
have the right to withdraw at any point. This means that if they feel
distressed or uncomfortable during the study they do not have to
continue, thus protecting them from psychological harm.
Confidentiality
Psychological research can deal with sensitive and personal matters
so participants may be reluctant to take part (because, for example,
they think they will embarrass themselves). Guaranteeing their
confidentiality (for example, making their data anonymous) is a
good way of reassuring them and also is highly ethical.
The British Psychological Society’s code of ethics

and conduct
In the UK, ethical guidelines for research have been drawn up by the British
Psychological Society and are known as the code of ethics and conduct.
Failure to follow these guidelines may mean that psychologists can no longer
be part of the society, which will make it difficult for them to carry out
research in the future. The guidelines appear under four main headings.
Respect
This is about valuing the dignity and worth of all individuals and includes
getting consent, giving the right to withdraw and ensuring confidentiality.
Competence
This means that psychologists should work within the limits of their
knowledge, skill, training, education and experience, and not try to carry out
research that is too challenging for them, as this may result in damage to the
participants.
Responsibility
This is about a psychologist’s obligation to protect their participants – for
example, by not putting them at risk, making sure any negative effects of
doing the study are dealt with, and that concerns are raised if a participant
reveals anything potentially harmful to them during the study. This is also
why debriefings are important.
Integrity
This is about valuing honesty, accuracy, clarity and fairness. For this reason,
deception should be avoided wherever possible.
Now test yourself

1 What different types of things can hypotheses predict?
2 What is the difference between an independent variable and a
dependent variable?
3 Why do extraneous variables need to be controlled?
4 Why would a psychologist choose a repeated measures design
rather than an independent measures design?
5 Why would a psychologist choose an independent measures
design rather than a repeated measures design?
6 What is meant by a sample?
7 What are the strengths and weaknesses of different types of
sampling methods?
8 How can psychologists make sure their research is ethical?
Exam tip
There are two main questions that come up around ethical issues.
One is to identify an issue in a piece of research, and the other is to
do with resolving the issue. Make sure you understand the difference
between these questions, and that you can spot them in the exam.
7.2 Doing research
There are many different methods for psychologist to choose from when
doing research, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.
Experiments
Experiments always have an independent variable and dependent variable,
and then other extraneous variables which are controlled. In a laboratory
experiment the environment is also controlled whereas in a field experiment a
natural environment is used instead. In a natural experiment the IV is not
directly manipulated by the experiment but instead is something that would
change naturally (or in real life) anyway.
Table 7.1 Strengths and weaknesses of experiments

Strengths Weaknesses
• Because the IV is • Experiments tend to have low
manipulated while other construct validity as the DV often
variables are controlled it is has to be measured in a narrow
possible to establish cause way.
and effect with some degree • Experiments often suffer from
of reliability. demand characteristics
• The method is very especially if the participants are
objective because it is so aware they are being
highly controlled. investigated.
• Laboratory experiments • Laboratory experiments often
are the most reliable form of use artificial environments that
experiment as there are so do not relate to real life (have
few extraneous variables. low ecological validity).
• Field experiments have • Field experiments have more
high ecological validity as extraneous variables than
participants are laboratory experiments, meaning
experimented on in their they are not as reliable at
normal setting. establishing cause and effect.
• Natural experiments allow • Natural experiments may have
experimenters to investigate other variables that cannot be
IVs that it would be controlled and change with the
impossible or difficult to set IV, which makes it more difficult
up. to establish cause and effect.
Typical mistake
It is easy to get natural experiments mixed up with field experiments
since field experiments take place in a natural environment. Just
remember that the ‘natural’ refers to the IV. In fact, natural
experiments can be laboratory based or field based.
Interviews
Interviews involve asking participants questions, usually face to face or
alternatively over the phone or via the internet. Structured interviews use pre-
set questions whereas unstructured interviews are more like conversations
where questions are based on the answers given.
Table 7.2 Strengths and weaknesses of interviews

• Interviews allow • Interviews rely in
psychologists to access what participants having insight into
cannot be observed (thoughts their thinking and then being
and feelings). able to articulate it. If they are
• Because the interviewer is not able to do this, the findings
present during questioning may be unreliable.
they can clarify questions and • Because interviews are face
answers. to face, there may be a
• Structured interviews are problem with social desirability
useful because it is easy to with participants wanting to
make comparisons between look good and saying what
participants’ answers as they they think they ought to rather
have all been asked the same than telling the truth.
questions. This makes it easy • Structured interviews do not
to identify patterns. allow the interviewer to follow
• Unstructured interviews tend new lines of enquiry that may
to give more valid data as they be of interest or importance.
are more conversational and • Interviewers can influence
can explore issues more answers more easily in an
deeply. unstructured interview, which
can make findings less
objective.
Typical mistake
Students sometimes make the mistake of thinking structured
interviews only use closed questions and unstructured interviews
only used open questions. Both types of interviews can use both
types of questions. The difference is down to whether questions are
pre-set or not.
Questionnaires
Questionnaires consist of a set of predetermined questions that are given out
to participants, often to complete by themselves. Questions can be open,
allowing participants to answer freely and usually in some depth, or closed,
which involves participants choosing from a set of possible answers. Closed
questions can also use rating scales where participants score their response to
a question or statement.
Table 7.3 Strengths and weaknesses of questionnaires

• Questionnaires allow • Questionnaires rely on
psychologists to access participants having insight into
what cannot be observed their thinking and then being able
(thoughts and feelings). to articulate it. If they are not able
• Because questionnaires to do this, the findings may be
can be anonymous this unreliable.
should encourage • Questions may be
participants to give truthful misunderstood or missed out as
responses, leading to valid there is often no one there to
findings. clarify them.
• Open questions allow • Answers to open questions can
psychologists to gain be open to interpretation when
richer, more meaningful analysed.
data. • Closed questions may restrict
• Closed questions allow responses so that participants
psychologists to draw easy cannot express their true thoughts.
comparisons between • Rating scales generate
participants and to look for quantitative data, which may lack
patterns. construct validity.
• Rating scales allow
psychologists to analyse
responses statistically,
again looking for patterns.
Observations
Observations involve watching people’s behaviour and recording what is
seen and heard. Naturalistic observations can take place in real-life
environments whereas controlled observations take place in laboratory
settings. Observations can also be overt or covert. During overt observations
the participants are aware that they are being observed; during covert
observations the psychologist observes in secret. Finally, observations can be
participant or non-participant. For participant observations the psychologist
joins the group or situation that is being observed to experience it first hand,
whereas in a non-participant observation the psychologists observes
behaviour from outside of the situation.
Exam tip
Interviews and questionnaires are both self-report methods and
therefore have some common strengths and weaknesses. Identify
what they have in common as this can reduce the number of different
evaluation points that you need to learn for the exam.
Table 7.4 Strengths and weaknesses of observations
• Observations allow • Observations are generally
psychologists to see a open to observer bias and the
situation for themselves rather psychologist only seeing what
than relying on participants he or she wants to see.
telling them about it – this • Naturalistic observations
potentially gives more reliable make it difficult to control
findings. extraneous variables.
• Naturalistic observations • Controlled observations may
have high ecological validity as create artificial situations.
people showing their natural • Overt observations suffer
behaviour. from the observer effect as
• Controlled observations people behave differently
make it easier to establish because they know they are
cause and effect. being watched.
• Overt observations are more • Covert observations can be
ethical as people can consent seen as deceptive because
to being observed. they are done in secret.
• Covert observations give • Participant observations
more valid results as people make it difficult to record data
behave as they normally do. as psychologists are also
• Participant observations give taking part in whatever is going
psychologists better insight on – so important details may
into a situation as they be missed or forgotten.
become part of it. • Psychologists cannot
• Non-participant observations normally ask questions in non-
are more objective as the participant observations so are
psychologist is literally just relying on what they can
‘standing back’ from what is see – which may not give the
being studied. whole picture.
Exam tip
Note how the strengths and weaknesses of the different pairs of
observations are opposites of each other. This is true of lots of types
of research methods, such as experimental methods, experimental
designs, sampling methods and different types of data. Make sure
you are aware of these ‘opposites’ as it makes it much easier to learn
and revise the various strengths and weaknesses.
Case studies
Case studies focus on one individual or one group of people (for example, a
family, a school, a village, a culture). Since only a small sample is used, the
investigation goes into a lot of detail using methods such as naturalistic
observations and unstructured interviews. This means that case studies
produce qualitative data.
Table 7.5 Strengths and weaknesses of case studies

• The data is rich and in-depth, • Small samples mean
making it highly valid. it is difficult to make
• Case studies tend to investigate generalisations.
unusual situations that could not easily • Psychologists can
be set up for practical and/or ethical get too involved in their
reasons. cases and lose their
objectivity.
Correlations
Correlations investigate the relationship between two co-variables. Both
variables need to be measured in some way and therefore quantitative data is
analysed. The data is analysed to see if there is a positive or negative
correlation, or no correlation at all (zero correlation). Positive correlations are
when the co-variables change in the same direction (for example, as one
increases so does the other). Negative correlations are when the co-variables
change but in opposite directions (for example, as one variable increases the
other decreases).
Table 7.6 Strengths and weaknesses of correlations

• Correlations can • Unlike experiments,
investigate situations that correlations cannot establish
could not be set up for cause and effect.
practical/ethical reasons. • Because co-variables have to
• Since co-variables occur be scored in some way this can
naturally, findings have high cause problems with construct
ecological validity. validity.
Typical mistake
Students often confuse experiments and correlations but they are
different methods. Experiments are set up which is why it is possible
to establish cause and effect. Something is manipulated (the IV) to
see if it has an effect on something else (the DV). In correlations
nothing is set up as such. The co-variables are naturally occurring
anyway – the researcher just needs to investigate whether they are
related. However, because any relationship is found after the event, it
is not possible to establish cause and effect.
Now test yourself

1 What do different types of experiments have in common, and how
are they distinct from each other?
2 What are the benefits of doing a structured interview rather than an
unstructured interview?
3 What is the difference between using a questionnaire and carrying
out an interview?
4 What are the benefits of using open questions rather than closed
questions?
5 What are different ways of doing an observation?
6 Why is it difficult to generalise when using a case study?
7 What is the difference between a zero correlation and a negative
correlation?
8 Why is an experiment better than a correlation when carrying out
research?
7.3 Analysing research

Types of data
When research is carried out, different types of data can be collected.
Quantitative data and qualitative data

Quantitative data is numerical (for example, measures of central
tendency, percentages, ratings) whereas qualitative data is descriptive (for
example, written in words, images, voice recordings).
• A strength of quantitative data is that it easy to analyse numbers to make
comparisons and look for patterns.
• A strength of qualitative data is that it is more valid as it is rich and
detailed.
• A weakness of quantitative data is that it lacks construct validity as it
narrows behaviours and thinking down to just numbers.
• A weakness of qualitative data is that it is more open to interpretation than
quantitative data so is not as objective.
Primary data and secondary data

Primary data is collected directly by the psychologist whereas secondary data
has been collected or produced by someone else and is used by the
psychologist – it is second-hand data.
• A strength of primary data is that it should be well focused on the aims of
the study as the psychologist is in control of the data that they collect.
• A strength of secondary data is that it can give the psychologist access to
people who they would not be able to investigate directly (for example,
studying a dead person by analysing the diaries they have left behind or
analysing the drawings of vulnerable children).
• A weakness of primary data is that it can be influenced by the psychologist
who is collecting it (for example, they may ask questions in a certain way).
• A weakness of secondary data is that it tends to be less reliable than
primary data as the psychologist is not there to verify how true or accurate
it is.
Exam tip
The chances are that you are more likely to be asked a question
about primary data than secondary data in the exam as most of the
methods you learn about collect this type of data. However, make
sure you are prepared for a question on secondary data including
how it might be better or worse than primary data.
Typical mistake
Not surprisingly, students can get quantitative data and qualitative
data mixed up as they have very similar spellings. In the exam, make
sure you read these words carefully so you are sure what type of
data you are being asked about. Similarly, if you are writing about
these types of data, make sure your handwriting is clear enough for
the examiner to see which one you are writing about.
Descriptive statistics
When quantitative data is collected it can be analysed and summarised using
a set of statistics known as descriptive statistics. The ones you need to know
for the exam are detailed in Table 7.7.
Table 7.7 Descriptive statistics

Type of
statistic Definition Example
Mode/modal A measure of central tendency The mode of
class – the most common score in a {10, 5, 2, 10, 5, 5, 7, 1}
set of data =5
Median A measure of central tendency The median of
– the middle score when a data {3, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 15,
set is put in numerical order 20} = 10.5 as it’s
between 9 and 12, the
two middle numbers
Mean A measure of central tendency The mean of {5, 11, 15,
– the outcome of adding all the 9, 7} =
scores together and then (5 + 11 + 15 + 9 + 7)/5
dividing this sum by the total =
number of scores in the data
set
9.4
Range A measure of how spread out The range of
data is – calculated by working {5, 15, 4, 4, 11, 8, 17,
out the difference between the 19, 3}
highest and lowest score in a = (19 − 3) + 1
data set, and then adding 1 to
= 16 + 1 = 17
ensure the lowest score is
included back in the measure
Ratios A measure that shows the If the ratio of males to
relative sizes of two or more
females is 75:5 it
numbers means there are 75
males and 5 females.
This ratio can be
simplified to 15:1 – for
every 1 female there
are 15 males.
Percentages A proportion of something If 5 out of 50 people
shown as a number out of 100 agreed with a
statement this could
also be expressed as
10% (as 5/50 = 0.1).
Fractions A proportion of something If 5 out of 50 people
shown as one number over agreed with a
another statement this could
also be expressed as
(which is in its
lowest possible form).
Expressions A number that is a series of
If participants
in decimal digits with some to the right of a
form point that represent numbers completed a test this
less than 1 would be 0.64 of them
(to 2 decimal places).
Expressions A method for expressing very 0.0035 = 3.5 × 10–3 as
in standard large or small numbers using –3 tells us to move the
form the digits 0 to 9 decimal point 3 places
to the left.
2.7 × 104 = 27 000 as 4
tells us to move the
decimal point 4 places
to the right.
Decimal The position of digits to the 23.745689 can be
places right of a decimal point rounded to 3 decimal
places and would be
23.746 as 5 is rounded
up rather than down.
Significant The number of digits from the 2.56 has 3 significant
figures first non-zero digit which are figures.
used to show how accurate a 0.003 has 1 significant
number is figure.
17.05 has 4 significant
figures.
12 000 has 2 significant
figures.
9.333 becomes 9.3
when rounded to 2
significant figures.
Normal Where a set of data follows a IQ scores are normally
distributions bell shape when plotted on a distributed as most
graph to show the middle score people score 100 which
is the most common and the is in the middle of the
extremes are the least common range.
Estimations Estimations involve making a A psychologist may
from data rough judgement of a value or estimate how many
collected pattern children are playing in
groups in a playground
observation.
Exam tip
On each exam paper, 10 per cent is made up of mathematics-based
questions, which also includes questions about graphs. On this basis,
it is important to go into the exam being aware of the kind of maths
you can (and cannot!) be asked about.
Tables, charts and graphs

It is often useful to summarise and analyse quantitative data visually by using
tables, charts and graphs.
Table 7.8 Tables, charts and graphs
Bar charts are used

to present data in
categories with the
height of each bar
Frequency tables (tally charts) are useful for showing the
both collecting and presenting data. frequency for that
category.
Histograms are used

to present continuous
data where the
height and width of a
bar show the
frequency of the
score or scores that
each bar represents.
Pie charts are used to present data – usually as

percentages – where each segment represents
a proportion of the whole data set.
Scatter diagrams are

used to show
whether two
covariables correlate
or not.
Line graphs are used to present continuous

data where each line shows the change in
frequency for a range of scores.
Reliability and validity

When analysing the data from a piece of research, it is also important to
evaluate it too. This means deciding how reliable and valid any findings are.
Reliability refers to consistency – so if something is reliable it keeps
happening. The logic here is that if a psychologist finds out the same thing
again and again then it is likely to be true (valid).
Revision activity
It is likely that you will need to do more than just know and
understand these evaluative terms for the exam. As you are likely to
have to apply them to a study (whether it’s one you know or one that
you have never seen before), it is useful to look back over the studies
you have done as part of the course to see where these issues arise
and how they relate to that particular piece of research.
Validity refers to accuracy – when something measures what it is supposed to
measure and is a true reflection of whatever is being studied.
There are other specific issues that often come up in psychological research
and are associated with validity.
Sources of bias
When evaluating research, it is also important for psychologists to see if there
are any potential sources of bias as this affects the validity of results.
In general, bias in research suggests that findings may be skewed to favour
one perspective over others. An obvious way this happens is with a sample of
participants that represent certain types of people and not others. Another
example is when research is set up in a way that means some results are more
likely than others (for example, because of the materials used or the way
instructions are given out). Bias basically means that findings are not as
objective as they could be.
There are a number of different types of bias that can occur in psychological
research:
• Gender bias – where research favours one sex or gender so that the other is
not represented fairly
• Cultural bias – where research favours one culture (for example,
nationality, religion) so that others are not represented fairly
• Age bias – where research favours certain age groups (for example, adults,
adolescents) so that others are not represented fairly
• Experimenter bias – where experimenters or researchers let their own
theories or viewpoints affect how they carry out or interpret a study
• Observer bias – where psychologists see what they want to see, based on
existing beliefs and then record a version of events rather than what
actually happened
• Bias in questioning – where psychologists phrase or ask questions in a
certain way (for example, using leading questions) so that participants’
responses are no longer a true response.
Revision activity
Sometimes silly memory aids can help with revision. In this case,
think about the sources of bias as sauces of bias instead. So, for
example, Gender becomes Gravy, Cultural becomes Chilli sauce,
Age becomes Apple sauce, Experimenter becomes Egusi sauce
(look it up!), Observer becomes Oyster sauce and Q … well, good
luck with Q … perhaps you can invent your own sauce!
Now test yourself

1 What advantages do quantitative data have over qualitative data?
2 When might secondary data be used in psychological research?
3 What are the three measures of central tendency?
4 What is meant by a normal distribution in data?
5 How are bar graphs and histograms different from each other?
6 Which graph is used to show a correlation?
7 What is the difference between internal and external reliability?
8 What does it mean if research findings have low construct
validity?
9 How might a study be culturally biased?
10 How does observer bias affect the validity of a study?
Summary
well enough:
null and alternative hypotheses and how to predict differences,
correlations or no patterns
independent variables and how they can be manipulated,
dependent variables and how they can be measured, and co-
variables and how they can be measured
extraneous variables and how they can be controlled, including
the use of standardisation
experimental designs including repeated measures design and
independent measures design, and their relative strengths and
weaknesses
target populations, sampling and sample size with reference to
representativeness and generalisability
sampling methods including random, opportunity and self-
selected, and their relative strengths and weaknesses
ethical issues including lack of informed consent, protection of
participants from psychological harm, and deception
ways of dealing with ethical issues including the use of debriefing,
right to withdraw and confidentiality
the features, the strengths and the weaknesses of experiments
including laboratory, field and natural experiments
the features, the strengths and the weaknesses of interviews
including structured and unstructured interviews
the features, the strengths and the weaknesses of questionnaires
the features, the strengths and the weaknesses of open questions,
closed questions and rating scales
the features, the strengths and the weaknesses of observations
including naturalistic and controlled observations, overt and covert
observations, and participant and non-participant observations
the features, the strengths and the weaknesses of case studies
with reference to the use of qualitative data and the use of small
samples
the features, the strengths and the weaknesses of correlations
with reference to the use of quantitative data and to positive,
negative and zero correlations
quantitative data and qualitative data, and their associated
strengths
primary data and secondary data, and their associated strengths
using and interpreting measures of central tendency (mode –
including modal class, median, mean and range)
use of ratios, percentages and fractions
use of expressions in decimal and standard form, decimal places
and significant figures
estimations from data collected
frequency tables (tally charts), bar charts, pie charts, histograms,
line graphs and scatter diagrams including their use and
interpretation of them
reliability including internal reliability, external reliability and inter-
rater reliability
validity including ecological validity, population validity and
construct validity
demand characteristics, observer effect and social desirability
sources of bias, including gender bias, cultural bias, age bias,
experimenter bias, observer bias and bias in questioning
Exam practice
A psychologist carried out a study to investigate whether women
were more superstitious than men. They used a field experiment
where a ladder was positioned against a building so that it took up
the whole width of the pavement. This meant that to pass the
building, pedestrians either had to walk under the ladder, or go into
the road and around the ladder. The psychologist carried out a covert
observation to record the proportion of male pedestrians and the
proportion of female pedestrians who did not walk under the ladder.
When pedestrians did not pass under the ladder, he judged this as a
sign of their superstition. Findings were collected using all of the lone
pedestrians that passed the building in a period of two hours.
1 Write a null hypothesis for this study.
[2]
2 Explain why this study is an example of a field experiment.
[2]
3 Outline one strength and one weakness of using a covert
observation in this study.
[4]
4 Name the sampling method used in this study.
[1]
5 Findings showed that of the 52 female pedestrians observed, 33
walked around the ladder.
Express this proportion as a percentage to three significant figures.
Show your workings.
[3]
Now test yourself answers
Chapter 1 Criminal psychology

Page 7
1 Acquisitive, anti-social, drug related, sexual, violent
2 Criminal behaviour is a social construct because it is determined by the
norms and values of society rather than be a ‘real’ thing.
3 This is the idea that crime is not normal because it breaks the expected
standards of society – normally because it is committed by a minority.
4 Official statistics collected from police records, offender surveys, victim
surveys
Page 8
1 Parents, peers, media figures
2 Vicarious reinforcement is when somebody wants to repeat a behaviour
because they have seen someone else rewarded for it whereas direct
reinforcement is when somebody repeats a behaviour because they have
received a reward as a consequence themselves.
3 Criminal behaviour is internalised when it happens regardless of the
outcomes and this happens as the behaviour becomes reinforced over
time so that it becomes ‘part’ of the person.
Page 12
1 It is a trait that makes someone aggressive and inconsiderate of others.
2 A neurotic extrovert would be thrill seeking, risk taking and over-
optimistic.
3 In extroverts the reticular activating system tends to be underactive so it
needs a lot of stimulus from the environment to be aroused whereas it is
overactive in introverts so it does not need much to stimulate it.
4 Too much dopamine has been associated with higher levels of aggression.
The dopamine reward system is also weaker in extroverts so they need
more thrilling experiences to trigger feelings of pleasure.
5 Criminal personality types are harder to condition so this means they do
not easily form an association between committing a crime and its
negative outcomes.
Page 14
1 Rehabilitation is when we try to turn people away from crime by educating
them to be better citizens.
2 Restorative justice attempts to make an offender feel guilty or ashamed of
their crime by getting them to make direct contact with their victim(s).
3 Positive role models can be used to demonstrate appropriate behaviours for
offenders to observe and hopefully imitate – especially if the offender can
see that it is rewarding to be law abiding.
4 Prisons, community sentencing, fines
5 Punishment can be a deterrent because if people in general can see the
negative consequences of another person committing a crime (for
example, being sent to prison) then they will be less motivated to imitate
the criminal acts themselves. This is essentially the opposite of vicarious
reinforcement.
Chapter 2 Development
Page 17
1 Adolescence
2 Neurons are formed in the womb but begin to die immediately after a child
is born and keep on doing so throughout our lifetime. Over time, each
neuron can form thousands of links with other neurons, giving the average
brain in excess of 100 trillion synapses. Synaptic pruning also happens as
we develop, although mainly during childhood and adolescence.
3 A foetus’s brain develops quickly throughout pregnancy, and in childhood
it goes through a big growth spurt so it ends up 90 per cent the size of the
adult brain. The frontal lobes develop a lot in childhood and the amount of
grey matter also peaks at this time. A lot of grey matter is pruned away in
adolescence as part of significant brain remodelling which finishes with
further development of the prefrontal cortex. In adulthood, brain volume
decreases as ventricles get bigger.
4 An IQ test gives people a score for their intelligence after they have
answered a series of questions with a particular right answer.
Page 19
1 In the first stage (the sensori-motor stage) children understand the physical
world and rely very much on what they can sense. In the next stage (the
pre-operational stage) children can think about things that are not
necessarily present as they have developed language and symbolic
thought. In the third stage (the concrete operational stage) children’s
developing understanding allows them to solve problems but they tend to
need to do this using concrete objects or by writing things down. In the
final stage (the formal operational stage) children’s problem-solving
ability develops further and they can do this in a more abstract way
without having to rely on objects.
2 According to Piaget, assimilation is when children come across a new
object or situation and make it fit in with what they already know and
understand. At other times, the experience is so new that they create a new
schema for it, which is what Piaget meant by accommodation.
3 By the end of the concrete operational stage children’s skills include
being able to think about two different pieces of information at the same
time (decentration), being able to use logic to think backwards
(reversibility) and being able to understand that the properties of an
object do not change just because its appearance has (conservation).
Page 22
1 Both theories are learning theories as they state that development is
influenced by environmental experiences and is not simply a natural
process. For example, both theories suggest that schools can have an effect
on the way children think. Therefore, Dweck believes that children can
learn to change their mindset, and Willingham believes that children learn
better when something is meaningful to them.
2 People with a fixed mindset believe their intellectual ability is fixed
whereas people with a growth mindset believe it can grow. In this sense,
such people do not mind making mistakes and think they can learn from
them. Because people with a fixed mindset do not cope as well with failure
they tend to avoid challenges.
3 Dweck argues that praise should recognise effort rather than intelligence or
ability. This means reinforcing processes such as practice, persistence and
resilience, which have been shown to support and develop a growth
mindset in people.
4 Willingham disagrees with the idea of learning styles and argues that
children may express a preference but it does not mean they cannot
learn in a variety of ways. His argument is that children tend to want to
know what they are studying before they commit themselves to a
particular learning style.
Page 25
1 Key stages in education specify what children should be able to achieve at
different stages of education based on their age category. This fits in with
Piaget’s idea that cognitive development is age related and that you should
not expect children to be able to do things that go beyond their years.
2 According to Piaget, active learning happens when children get to play at
being ‘little scientists’ and are given the opportunity to investigate and
explore their environment freely rather than being sat down to learn.
3 The whole idea of education is to teach children and so there is an
assumption that they can learn concepts and skills that will allow them
to make progress. For example, Dweck’s idea of growth mindsets is
popular in education because it encourages children to learn from their
mistakes and work beyond what they think their potential is. As schools
move away from the idea of children having different learning styles we
can see the influence of researchers like Willingham. Instead, schools
are moving towards children understanding the meaning of what they
are doing regardless of their own particular talents.
Chapter 3 Psychological
problems
Page 29
1 This is because mental health is quite a subjective concept so researchers
have different ideas of what it looks like. For example, it can be dictated
by what a society thinks is normal or not.
2 The prevalence of mental disorders refers to how common different
disorders are at any one point in time whereas incidence refers to the
occurrence of new cases of different disorders over a given period of time.
3 One change was to do with the fact that it introduced the term ‘mental
disorder’ which meant people started to see mental health problems as an
illness like any other. Indeed, one of the aims of the act was to ensure that
mental disorders were treated as seriously as physical illnesses so that
people saw them both as genuine problems. Another aim was to make
local councils responsible for people with mental health problems, which
started the idea of ‘care in the community’ which people widely accept
nowadays.
4 This is because there is still some stigma attached to having a mental
disorder. For example, individuals may be viewed as less capable or more
vulnerable because of their mental health problem and so may be treated
differently from others on this basis.
5 Care in the community relates to the idea that some people with mental
health problems are better off being treated in their community so that
they are still able to engage with society as normal rather being taking
away from it which could be more damaging. For example, they can
remain with their family or possibly still go to work as usual.
Page 32
1 The dopamine hypothesis is a theory which suggests that individuals with
schizophrenia have an overactive dopamine system which causes high
dopamine levels in the brain. The theory is that these individuals have
dopaminergic neurons that fire too easily or too frequently, which means
there is an excess of dopamine travelling across synapses. They also have
more dopamine receptors than is normal which results in more dopamine
binding.
2 Brain dysfunction refers to a situation where a person’s brain, or parts of
their brain, do not work in the same way that typical brains do.
3 The prefrontal lobe is associated with schizophrenia and is activated less
frequently in people with the disorder, which means they can lose
control over their psychological functioning.
The temporal lobes are also associated with schizophrenia and have a
lower volume in people with the disorder, which means they may have
issues with sensing information accurately, or with understanding or
generating speech.
The hippocampus is associated with schizophrenia too and has a smaller
volume in people with the disorder, which means they may have
problems with forming accurate or reliable memories.
Page 33
1 Social drift is the idea that people (with schizophrenia) move down the
social scale over time.
2 Disengagement of individuals describes a situation where people (with
schizophrenia) withdraw from society because they no longer feel part of it
or are not interested in being part of it.
3 Rejection by society is a term that refers to the idea of people (with
schizophrenia) being ignored or shunned by their communities, often as
a result of stigmatisation.
Page 36
1 Depression follows loss, so it is a way of making us stop competing and
accept our loss. If we carry on competing when we are not up to it, then
our survival is under threat. Instead, we take time out and withdraw
ourselves until we are fit to ‘fight’ again.
2 Accepting we have a lower social rank – although making us feel
depressed at the time – means we know our place in the social order and
do not try to fight for something we cannot win which in turn could
have been a threat to our survival.
Page 37
1 Rational beliefs are ways of thinking that are logical and fit in with reality.
Irrational beliefs are ways of thinking that are not supported by evidence
and don’t make sense to others.
2 The same activating event can lead to depression or not, depending on
what happens next. If people think about the event in a rational way then
the chances are that they will avoid depression. However, if they try to
explain the event using irrational thoughts then the consequence may be
depression. In summary, the consequence of an event is determined by
what we attribute it to, which is a cognitive process.
Page 40
1 Anti-psychotics treat schizophrenia by blocking some of the dopamine
receptors in the brain, which stops some of the chemical messages (that
cause the symptoms of schizophrenia) being sent around the brain.
2 Anti-depressants treat clinical depression by increasing the amount of
serotonin and noradrenaline in the brain. They can work by stopping the
neurochemicals being reabsorbed by blocking the neurons that released
them.
3 Psychotherapy works by talking to the individual with a mental health
problem with the aim of improving mental health by changing the way that
the individual thinks and behaves.
4 Neuropsychology has contributed to the treatment of mental disorders
through the development of brain scans. Brain scans allow the images of
dysfunctional brains to be compared with typical brains to identify the
biological causes of disorders. Neuropsychological tests have also been
developed which allow people to be scored for brain function to help
identify underlying problems.
Chapter 4 Social influence

Page 42
1 Obedience is when people change their behaviour to follow an order
whereas conformity is when people change their behaviour to follow
others.
2 Collective behaviour happens when a large group of people gather together
for a purpose. This purpose can be pro-social because they may be looking
to support each other (as in a mass funeral) or to support a cause (as in a
charity event).
3 Crowd behaviour happens when a large group of people gather and then
this leads to an unplanned activity. Sometimes this spontaneous activity
can be anti-social, such as when a crowd turns violent.
Page 44
1 The larger the majority, the more likely it is that an individual will conform
and follow the group. However, there is a point (around about six in the
group) where the size of the majority stops having an effect and
conformity just remains high.
2 Deindividuation tends to happen in crowds because the crowd acts as a
kind of mask for individuals that are part of it. This means they lose their
sense of awareness and end up doing things they would not normally do as
they are not monitoring their behaviour as usual.
3 Collectivist cultures are made up of people who have been socialised to
think of the wider community before themselves. This means they often
behave pro-socially and do things for the good of society even if it does
not necessarily benefit them directly. The idea is that they will get the
same back in return at another point in time.
4 People are more likely to obey someone who has authority compared to
someone who has not. This is because authority is related to someone’s
ability to punish another so individuals fear the consequences of not
obeying.
Page 48
1 Someone with low self-esteem is more likely to conform than someone
without because they do not really value themselves and hope to raise their
esteem by following what others do. Because people with low self-esteem
also lack self-confidence, they may find it more difficult to stand up
against a group.
2 Having an external locus of control means that someone believes their life
is under the control of factors outside of them and this could include a
crowd that they are part of. This means they simply follow the crowd
because they believe it is their destiny. Someone with an internal locus of
control believes their destiny is more under their own control and so may
use their free will to go against the crowd.
3 The more moral a person is, the stronger their sense of right and wrong.
Because being pro-social is essentially good (for society) then a moral
person will be more interested in this type of behaviour rather than being
anti-social.
4 An authoritarian personality is a set of traits associated the type of
person who tends to be very obedient. The traits include being more
conformist, being strict when it comes to rules, and being intolerant of
people who are ‘different’.
Page 51
1 It is easier for a majority to influence social change because of the desire of
individuals to fit in and follow the norms. Most people do not want to go
against a majority and therefore will change their behaviour and conform.
Minority influence is more difficult to achieve but without it, majority
opinion would never change. If a small number of people are trying to
change the behaviour of a larger group then it helps if they are consistent
and committed in their views yet flexible with this.
2 Research into social influence tells us about how to get others to change
their thoughts and behaviours. Because stigma is linked to thinking, and
discrimination is a behaviour, these are both potentially open to change.
Research shows it is possible to establish new norms and values, either
through majority or minority influence, and so these norms and values
could relate to having a more positive attitude towards mental health
problems and how they can be treated.
Chapter 5 Memory
Page 53
1 Encoding, storage and retrieval
2 Displacement
3 Anterograde amnesia is severe memory loss for experiences and
information received after neurological damage whereas retrograde
amnesia is severe memory loss for experiences and information learned
before neurological damage.
4 Procedural memory is a part of long-term memory that holds motor
skills.
Page 54
1 The sensory store, short-term memory and long-term memory
2 The stores differ in terms of capacity, duration and how they encode
information. For example, the capacity of the sensory store is large but
limited, the capacity of short-term memory is very limited (7+/–2 chunks)
and the capacity of long-term memory is unlimited.
3 Data is encoded before entering the sensory store, then it is paid
attention to before entering short-term memory, and finally it is
rehearsed before entering long-term memory.
Page 57
1 A schema is a mental framework for an object or an event. Schemas help
to build a ‘picture of the world’ and to make sense of new incoming
information.
2 Sometimes, people recall events not because they happened but because
they expected them to happen based on past experiences. This can
sometimes lead to false memories.
3 Confabulation helps us to fill in the gaps when we come across incomplete
information or partial events.
4 Leading questions can distort memories. This is because they imply
something has happened when it may not have. People may
unconsciously incorporate this information into their memories and then
believe it has really happened.
Page 62
1 Advertisers try not to overload the audience with information in case some
is displaced. They also repeat key information about a product so that it is
rehearsed and more likely to make it to long-term memory. They use cues
too by including features that people may come across in real life that then
trigger memory of the product.
2 Autobiographical advertising uses imagery and themes from the past so
that the audience can associate them with their own personal experiences.
The aim is to trigger positive memories so that the audience associate the
product with good feelings, and are therefore more likely to want to buy it.
3 The Wechsler Memory Scale scores people in five areas: auditory
memory, visual memory, visual working memory, immediate memory
and delayed memory. It’s used to identify people with amnesia and
other neuropsychological disorders from people with normal memory
functioning.
Chapter 6 Sleep and dreaming

Page 65
1 The benefits of sleep include helping the brain to stay healthy, giving the
body a chance to physically repair itself and supporting our emotional
stability during waking hours.
2 Its name comes from the fact that we experience rapid eye movement
(REM) while the rest of our muscles are paralysed. Brain waves are fast
like when we are awake, and most of our dreams happen in REM sleep.
3 The pineal gland produces a hormone called melatonin, which is
responsible for sending us to sleep.
4 Sleep onset insomnia is caused by anxiety problems or consuming things
that stimulate us (such as caffeine or nicotine). Sleep maintenance
insomnia is caused by depression or consuming too much alcohol.
5 Endogenous pacemakers are internal cues that help regulate sleep
patterns (like biological clocks). The exogenous zeitgebers are external
cues (in the environment) that do the same job.
Page 66
1 The conscious mind is that part of our mind that we are aware of whereas
the unconscious mind contains thoughts that we are not consciously aware
of.
2 Repression involves pushing unwanted urges and traumatic events into the
unconscious mind. It works as a defence mechanism because it means we
are then no longer aware of those things that may cause us anxiety or
stress.
3 Dreams are examples of wish fulfilment as we dream about the things that
we secretly desire and privately want to do.
4 The manifest content of dreams describes the actual images and other
features of dreams whereas the latent content describes the underlying
meaning represented by the images and other features.
Page 68
1 REM sleep is rapid eye movement sleep, which happens in the fifth stage
of the sleep cycle where most dreaming occurs.
2 The pons is a part of the brain that acts like a message station sending
electrical signals through the brain.
3 When the limbic system is activated it affects memories, emotions and
other behaviours.
4 The cerebral cortex tries to make sense of electrical signals, which is what
produces dreams.
5 Because the electrical signals are random, when the cerebral cortex tries
to make sense of them it produces dreams that are also random.
Page 71
1 Relaxation techniques are designed to do the job of the parasympathetic
nervous system by addressing anxiety and arousal through exercises,
including clearing the mind, deep breathing and relaxing particular
muscles.
2 Sleep hygiene relates to the physical environment and how well it is set up
for sleep. For example, good sleep hygiene includes an environment that is
dark and well ventilated with minimum noise.
3 Neurological damage to the hypothalamus affects sleep because it
contains the SCN, which is involved in sleep regulation. This means the
brain doesn’t react to daylight in the usual way so that melatonin is not
produced as normal.
Chapter 7 Research methods

Page 79
1 Hypotheses can predict a difference or a correlation, or no pattern at all.
2 An independent variable is manipulated by the researcher whereas the
dependent variable is measured.
3 If extraneous variables are not controlled they can have an effect on the
dependent variable.
4 If a psychologist chooses a repeated measures design it is because they
want to compare the same participants in both conditions and eliminate
individual differences.
5 If a psychologist chooses an independent measures design it is because
they want to use different participants in each condition, perhaps to reduce
order effects.
6 A sample is the participants that have been selected for a study.
7 The strength of a random sample is that it tends to be representative; a
weakness is that it may produce a freak sample. The strength of an
opportunity sample is that it is quick and convenient to use; a weakness is
that it tends to produce a biased sample based on who is available. The
strength of a self-selecting sample is that it is an ethical way of selecting
participants; a weakness is that it may produce a biased sample because of
the kind of people who volunteer.
8 Psychologists can follow ethical guidelines to make sure research is
ethical. This includes getting informed consent from participants,
ensuring their confidentiality, giving them the right to withdraw,
avoiding causing them psychological harm, and debriefing them where
appropriate.
Page 83
1 All experiments have an IV and a DV, and establish cause and effect.
However, laboratory experiments take place in controlled environments
whereas field experiments take place in natural environments. Natural
experiments can take place in either type of environment, but unlike the
other two, they have IVs that are naturally occurring.
2 The benefits of a structured interview are that the set questions give the
interview a focus and allow comparisons to be made more easily been
interviewees’ answers.
3 Interviews involve direct contact with the people being questioned and this
is normally face to face. However, questionnaires can be sent out or
published, so that people can complete them in their own time and space.
4 Open questions normally encourage deeper responses compared to closed
questions. This means answers are likely to be more valid.
5 Observations can be controlled or naturalistic, covert or overt, and
participant or non-participant.
6 It is difficult to generalise with a case study as the investigation is based on
one individual or one group, which may not necessarily represent others.
7 A zero correlation means there is no relationship between the two co-
variables being measured whereas a negative correlation suggests there is a
relationship (as one of the co-variables increases, the other one decreases).
8 An experiment is better than correlation because an experiment can tell
us whether one variable directly affects another whereas a correlation
can only tell us about the relationship between two variables, which
means either could affect the other or that they may only be related
indirectly.
Page 89
1 Quantitative data is easier to analyse than qualitative data, which means
patterns can be more reliably identified. It is also seen as more objective
than qualitative data.
2 Secondary data is data generated by somebody else besides the
researcher. This can be useful when the researcher does not have easy
access to someone they want to study, or are concerned that they may not
get valid data if a person feels under pressure from being investigated.
3 Mean, median and mode
4 A normal distribution occurs across a data set where the most frequent
score is the one that occurs in the middle, while frequency goes down the
more extreme scores get – whether higher or lower than the middle score.
5 Bar graphs are used to measure the frequency of data in categories, which
is why their bars are separate from each other. Histograms are used to
measure the frequency of data that comes from a continuous, numerical
scale, which is why the bars touch each other.
6 A scatter diagram
7 Internal reliability measures how consistent a test or tool is within itself
whereas external reliability measures how consistent a test or tool is
across different points in time (whether it gives the same score for the
same thing on two different occasions).
8 If research findings have low construct validity it means that the
behaviour being investigated (the construct) has been measured in a very
narrow way so that the findings do not represent the whole construct very
well.
9 A study may be culturally biased if a sample only contains people from
certain cultures and not others, or if it is run in a way that makes
assumptions based on the cultural background of the researcher.
10 Observer bias occurs where a researcher sees what they want to see,
based on their own views or opinions, which means that the findings are
potentially subjective rather than fact.
Exam practice answers
Chapter 1 Criminal psychology

1 A social construct is something that does not physically exist and instead is
a product of society. Crime is a social construct because it comes from
people interacting and creating an idea that then exists in an abstract way.
For example, it is acceptable to drink alcohol in the UK as long as you are
over a certain age – we have only made underage drinking a crime. In
other societies – like Saudi Arabia – drinking alcohol is illegal for all. This
means that the same activity (drinking alcohol) can be perceived
differently depending on society’s norms and expectations.
2 According to Social Learning Theory crimes are learned, and this would
imply that they can be unlearned. However, evidence suggests that
attempts to curb crime (for example, through restricting exposure to
violent media and by punishing offenders) are not as effective as they
should be, with many people offending or re-offending.
3 Cooper & Mackie tested the effects of violent computer games by
randomly exposing 84 nine-to eleven-year-olds to one of three conditions:
they played an aggressive computer game (Missile Command) or a non-
aggressive one (Pacman) or were in a control condition where they played
a paper and pen maze game. After playing these games, their aggression
levels were tested in two ways. One measure was based on observation,
where children were given a choice of four toys to play with, including one
aggressive one. A researcher covertly measured which toys were selected
first and how long each toy was played with. The other measure focused
on interpersonal aggression by recording how long children pressed a
buzzer in response to scenarios where fictional children either behaved
well or behaved badly. The length of time the buzzer was pressed for was
an indication of how much the fictional child should be punished or
rewarded.
One limitation of this study is that the sample only represented a narrow
age range. Because the sample was age biased, the researchers would not
know whether younger or older children would react in the same way to
playing the games. The measures of aggression also lack construct validity
as aggressive behaviour is more complex than just toy play and how long a
buzzer is pressed for. In fact, the measure using the buzzer is too artificial.
When children show interpersonal aggression in real life it is normally
aimed at a real person through verbal or physical aggression. One strength
of the study is that, as an experiment, it has a high level of control. This
makes it easier to establish the cause and effect between playing violent
computer games and subsequent aggressive behaviour.
4 (a) They were all adolescents and all attended Catholic schools.
(b) Self-esteem and extraversion.
(c) The sample was culturally biased.
There may have issues with social desirability.
5 (a) Harry could be fined for his behaviour. The punishment is that Harry
loses some of his income or savings and the negative consequence of
this should make him think about the outcome of his anti-social
behaviour in the future. It is obvious that getting a caution is not
negative enough.
(b) Rehabilitation is about trying to reform people. Restorative justice
could be used on Harry where he makes contact with the people who
have complained about him – such as his neighbours. If Harry had to
talk to his neighbours face to face then he might empathise with them
and realise the impact of his behaviour on them.
Chapter 2 Development
1 One stage of development is the pre-natal stage. This stage focuses on
what how the embryo develops in the womb up until birth.
2 The synapse is the gap between two neurons which is found at the end of
the axon. When the electrical impulse travels along the axon it triggers the
release of neurotransmitters which leave the axon and diffuse across the
synapse taking the chemical message to the receptors of the next neuron so
that the message can pass on.
3 Assimilation is where new information is merged into an existing schema
in the child’s mind whereas accommodation is where a new schema is
formed or an existing one is modified to take into account new
information. This means that in the first process, information can become
distorted so that it is misunderstood or misremembered.
4 The sample was culturally biased.
5 The sample was culturally biased so might not be generalisable in the
sense that it does not tell us whether growth mindsets would have the same
effect on children in different types of education system. In addition, the
study used an independent measures design which means there could be
problems with participant variables. In other words, the children who were
taught about growth mindsets may just have been better motivated or more
intelligent in the first place. On a good note, the study was a field study
which meant that it had high levels of ecological validity showing how
Dweck’s theory has the potential to be used in real-life situations.
Chapter 3 Psychological problems

1 The mental health continuum sees mental health as being a matter of
degrees. At one end of the continuum people are generally happy, and
have high self-esteem and productive lives and relationships. At the other
end, people experience severe and long-lasting symptoms. In the middle of
the continuum people cannot cope with everyday stresses and may show
moderate symptoms such as poor appetite and sleep problems.
2 One effect is that people with a mental health problem can feel excluded as
they are not given the same opportunities as others. Society can
discriminate by assuming that an individual with mental health problems is
not well enough to take part in certain activities, especially those that
require them to use their thinking skills or to work with other people.
3 The theory of social drift says that people with schizophrenia get caught in
a trap where they don’t feel part of life and end up in poverty. The theory
tries to explain the relationship between social class and schizophrenia
because people who are part of the working class are five times more
likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia than people from higher classes.
The theory sees that it can be difficult for people with schizophrenia to be
part of the community because they lose touch with reality and might not
be motivated to do things like hold down a job or stay in school or even
just go out and socialise with their friends. Even if they do try to hold
down a job it might be hard as they might need to take time off work quite
often with their illness or they might not be able to cope with their job. For
all of these kinds of reasons, a people with schizophrenia may begin to
disengage with society.
Once people with schizophrenia are not engaged with society it is really
hard for them to become part of their community again and this can make
it hard for them to recover from their illness. This is partly because society
begins to reject these people because they are not following the norms –
not just because of their strange behaviour but because they’re not doing
the things that most people are expected to do, such as go to work. This
means that people with schizophrenia withdraw from normal activities
even more so that they end up spiralling down into the lowest social
classes if they are not there already.
4 One criticism is that the findings were culturally biased because it only
used students from the USA. They may not represent how older people or
people from other countries experience the symptoms of depression.
Another criticism is that questionnaires can give socially desirable
responses so the findings may not be a valid picture of how much people
use Facebook or how envious people are as they won’t want to admit to
being addicted to social media or being jealous of others.
5 The reconstructive theory says that memory is not like a video camera –
we don’t remember things exactly as they happened. Instead, we create
schemas based on past experiences and these have an effect on new
experiences. Therefore, if someone has depression then the things that
happened to make them feel depressed may not have happened as the
person remembers them. They could have just focused on the negative
things that happened and not remembered the positive. Or maybe if
something positive did happen they are remembering it in a negative way
because that’s what fits with how they’re feeling. Bartlett states that people
use confabulation when reconstructing a memory to fill in the missing
pieces. People do not deliberately make things up but a person who is
suffering from depression might be more likely to fill the gaps with
negative things than positive so that their memory of an event may end up
much more negative than it actually was.
The ABC model of clinical depression states that how we perceive things
can make a difference to us being happy or depressed. It says that
depressed people usually have one or more core irrational belief which
might be about themselves or circumstances, for example having to have
good surroundings in order to be happy. If they interpret an event in an
irrational way this can become a habit and can lead to the person becoming
depressed. The model has three stages. The first is the activating event
where something happens, like seeing your friend in town and them
ignoring you. The second stage is beliefs – this is where the person
interprets what has happened. If someone is thinking irrationally then they
might think their friend deliberately ignored them because they don’t like
them anymore. The third stage is consequences. If the event has been
interpreted in a negative way then the person might feel sad or lonely and
this could result in depression.
Both of these theories suggest that it is not the actual event that causes a
person to become depressed but how the person perceives the event. The
problem with both of these theories is that they both imply that people
have control over their thoughts and therefore depression. This ignores
biological explanations which state our way of thinking may be pre-
determined by factors such as genetics. It can also be seen as reductionist
to simplify depression down to thought processes when other interacting
factors may play a part.
For some critics, cognitive psychology is too mechanical and treats people
like machines. This may not be the right approach when we are dealing
with something as complex as depression.
Chapter 4 Social influence

1 Deindividuation refers to when you feel anonymous and you lose your
sense of self when you are in a crowd of people. If people are part of a
protest march and they become deindividuated, then they may become
violent as people lose their sense of personal responsibility and stop
monitoring themselves or don’t feel that they can be monitored as closely.
2 Bickman used an opportunity sample to test obedience. The independent
variable was the type of uniform a confederate wore when approaching
people on the street. He found that people were most likely to obey
someone in a guard uniform.
3 Bickman could have used a more representative sample. He could have
done this by carrying out his study in other cities as well as New York.
4 Morality
Self-esteem
5 Society now has a very different attitude towards smoking compared to
what it had twenty or so years ago. Today, many people are anti-smoking
and view it as a disgusting habit. But how did society change people’s
attitudes to smoking when once upon time it was seen as a ‘cool’ thing to
do, which is why so many people did it?
One way was through minority influence. Even when the anti-smoking
lobby was a minority, they were consistent in their message (they kept
saying smoking is bad for your health and that of other people). The
minority also had to show they were committed to a cause, for example
through constant campaigning to get anti-smoking laws in place and secure
smoke-free places. Finally, the minority had to be flexible – recognising
that they may not secure as many smoke-free places as they wanted in the
first place but being content with what they had achieved.
Once more people were behind the anti-smoking lobby, this eventually
gave a majority. It became much easier to change attitudes when there was
majority. This is because people like to conform where they can – they
don’t want to stand out or be rejected for being the only smoker in a group.
However, people need to do more than just comply – particularly in the
case of smoking, as it has not really worked if people don’t smoke in
public but then go home and smoke a pack of cigarettes! The aim is to
make people conform to the point where they internalise group norms and
actually believe that smoking is wrong and bad for them. The more they
are exposed to the message by people who are genuinely anti-smoking, the
more likely it is that attitudes will change.
Chapter 5 Memory
1 Input is the first stage of information processing. The information is input
into the brain through the body’s senses, such as sight and sound. These
are registered by the eyes and the ears which send the information through
to the brain.
Encoding is the second stage. Encoding means that the information from
the senses is changed from one format, like sound waves such as music or
words that enter the ear, to nerve impulses which travel up to the auditory
cortex in the brain. Here, they are decoded and changed into what we
perceive as sounds.
2 (a) No delay 20 + 17 + 9 + 12 + 16 + 19 + 17 + 18 + 19 + 16 = 163
163/10 = 16.3
Delay 9 + 6 + 7 + 12 +16 + 8 + 10 + 9 + 12 + 11 = 100 100/10 = 10
(b) There is a difference between the two groups with the no delay group
recalling 6.3 more words on average compared to the delay group.
This demonstrates that having a delay before recalling the words
resulting in participants recalling less.
3 (a) C
(b) C
(c) A
4 A scheme is a mental framework for an object or a situation. Schemas are
built through experience and are used to help us to make sense of new
incoming information.
5 The advert could use cues to promote the new cereal bar. One theory of
memory says that if the advert creates a certain context or feeling when
advertising the bar then when people in the audience are in the same
situation, it will act as a trigger and they will recall the cereal bar and want
to purchase it. For example, the advert could show various situations in
which a person may want a cereal bar – on the way to work, after a
workout, for a school snack – so that when a person is in a similar situation
their memory is triggered and they recall the bar and may decide to buy
one.
The advert could also use repetition so that the audience becomes more
familiar with the cereal bar. One theory is that repetition strengthens the
memory for something. So, if the cereal bar is clearly shown in its
wrapping in every scene as well as at the beginning and end of the advert,
the audience should have good memory of what it looks like when they’re
searching for it on a shop shelf.
The advert would also need to avoid overloading the audience. This means
that the information that they include about the bar itself should be kept to
a minimum so that consumers can recall the key information. For example,
the advert could use a short slogan that sums up the product, such as
‘Healthy, Hearty and Totally Delicious’.
Chapter 6 Sleep and dreaming

1 One benefit of sleep is that it allows the brain to consolidate and organise
the memories from the day as well as clear out toxins that are associated
with brain degeneration.
2 One stage is the REM stage. This gets its name from the fact that rapid eye
movement happens at this stage. This is because there is a lot of brain
activity with brain wave patterns very similar to those when people are
awake. It is also the stage when dreaming is most likely to happen.
3 This is a difficult theory to test as it relies on things that happen in the
unconscious and in the past – and neither can be observed. The theory
therefore relies on case studies which are open to interpretation and are not
easy to generalise from. This adds up to the theory being more unscientific
than the activation synthesis theory which is more objective and focuses on
brain activity which can be observed. The theory is also accused of being
historically and culturally biased as it relates lots of dreams to repressed
urges relating to sex and aggression. However, society is more liberal
nowadays yet it does not stop people having the same types of dreams as
in the past.
4 Twelve participants were asked to keep a written journal during one term.
They recorded all of the dreams they recalled either when they woke up in
the morning or if they woke during the night. They also recorded if they
had had any fantasies during the day – something that had popped into
their heads without being related to what they were doing at the time. Of
the reports, 60 dream reports and 60 fantasy reports were chosen for
analysis based on the amount of detail (more than five lines) and because
they had a visual experience. The reports were divided into individual
sentences and were scored separately for bizarreness using a scale which
judged the locus of the bizarre item and the type of bizarreness. The judges
scored all 120 reports. They did not know if they were rating a dream or a
fantasy but were asked afterwards which they thought they were. The
judges were then checked for inter-rater reliability.
5 (a) 18% = 18/100
Divide both top and bottom by 2 to give
9/50
Answer: 9/50
(b) 6% = 6/100 = 0.06
0.06 × 150 = 9
Answer: 9 people
(c) An advantage is that everyone has the same set of answers to
choose from so direct comparisons can be made. This means the
researchers can more reliably identify patterns in people’s
sleeping habits.
(d) A weakness is that all participants have actively volunteered
which may give a biased sample so that people’s experiences of
sleep is not represented properly. For example, people who have
issues sleeping may be more likely to volunteer for this survey
because they have more interesting experiences to share. These
people might be more likely to use relaxation techniques which
means percentages are exaggerated.
Chapter 7 Research methods

1 There will be no significant difference in the proportion of male and
female pedestrians who walk around the ladder.
2 It is an experiment because a situation has been staged – the ladder has
been put up on purpose. It is a field experiment because it was done in a
natural environment (a real-life street).
3 A strength is that the pedestrians are not aware of being watched so will
behave as they normally would when faced with a ladder rather than
going under or going around it according to what they think is expected.
A weakness of covert observations is that they are unethical as people
are being studied without having given their consent. Although the
pedestrians were out in public, they did not know the ladder had been set
up to test their superstitions and they may object to this if they had
known.
4 Opportunity
5 33/52 = 0.63461538461 × 100 for percentage
= 63.461538461%
= 63.5% to 3 sig fig
Glossary
Agentic state: where an individual feels they are the ‘agent’ of another
person and that this other person is responsible for the individual’s actions
Amphetamine: a chemical stimulant
Anti-social behaviour: actions that work against society
Auditory coding: where data is formatted acoustically (as a sound)
Authority figure: someone who has the right or power to give orders
Autonomous state: where an individual feels responsible for their own
actions
Catatonic behaviour: behaviour ranging from repetitive, frenzied actions
to statue-like stupor
Chunk: an item, or a set of items, related by meaning
Cognitive development: development of the mind and mental processes
Confederate: someone who is part of the experiment and is playing a role
as part of it
Confidentiality: the act of keeping something secret or private
Consciousness: being aware of yourself and your experiences
Correlational studies: research that looks at the relationship between two
or more variables
Cue: something inside of us or in our environment which triggers a memory
Culture: the ideas, customs and social behaviour of a particular group of
people
Debriefing: a conversation between researchers and participants that
happens at the end of a study
Deception: the result of deliberately causing someone to believe something
that is not true
Defence mechanism: an unconscious psychological mechanism that
reduces anxiety arising from potentially harmful events or thoughts
Delusions: false beliefs
Deviation from norms: something that differs from what is considered
socially acceptable
Direct reinforcement: a behaviour is repeated because it has been
rewarded
Discrimination: treating an individual or group differently from others
Disposition: a set of personality traits
Dopamine: a neurotransmitter associated with mood, perception and
movement
Endocrine gland: a group of cells that secrete hormones directly into the
blood
Episodic memory: long-term memory for storing personal experiences
External locus of control: a belief that one’s life is controlled by external
factors
Extraversion: being out-going and confident
fMRI scan: functional magnetic resonance imaging scan – magnetic
resonance is used to detect changes in blood flow in the brain
Frontal lobes: parts of the brain immediately behind the forehead;
concerned with behaviour, learning, personality and voluntary movement
Grey matter: the darker tissue of the brain; contains ‘thinking’ cells
Hallucinations: experiences in which you see, hear, feel, taste or smell
something that does not exist
Hippocampal volume: the volume of a part of the brain called the
hippocampus
Hippocampus: part of the brain mainly associated with the formation of
memories and the emotions that go with them
Hypothalamus: a part of the brain that regulates important bodily functions
including hunger, thirst, temperature, sex drive and sleep
Id: an unconscious and instinctive part of personality that represents our
sexual and aggressive urges
Incidence: a measure of the number of new cases of a particular disorder
over a given time period
Insomnia: inability to sleep
Internal locus of control: a belief that one’s life can be controlled by
one’s own actions
Internalisation: when a behaviour is well learned and will happen whether
it is rewarded or punished
Invariant: unchanging; fixed
Irrational belief: something that is thought to be true but is in fact not
logical or reasonable
Limbic system: located near the centre of the brain; controls basic drives
and emotions
Low construct validity: when the behaviour being investigated (the
construct) has been measured in a narrow way so that the findings do not
represent the whole construct very well
Measure of central tendency: an average value that represents a data set
Mindset: a relatively stable set of ideas about a situation or event
Modality specific coding: where data is coded in the same format as it
enters memory
Morality: a sense of what is right and wrong
Negative symptoms: symptoms that include loss of normal function, such
as social withdrawal, apathy or lack of emotion
Nervous system: the network of nerve cells and fibres which transmits
nerve impulses between parts of the body
Neurological: relating to the brain
Neuron: a cell that carries messages within the brain and from the brain to
other parts of the body
Neuroticism: being anxious and easily stressed
Noradrenaline: a neurotransmitter associated with feelings of stress
Norms: standard ways of behaving
Parasympathetic nervous system: a branch of the central nervous
system which counterbalances the activity of the sympathetic nervous system
through actions such as slowing breathing and relaxing muscles
PET scan: position emission tomography scan – radioactive glucose is
injected into the bloodstream and then traced by scanning the brain to show
where neurons are firing
Placebo: a fake drug
Prefrontal cortex: at the front of the frontal lobes, this part of the brain
deals with complex behaviours such as planning and decision-making
Prevalence: a measure of the proportion of the population that experience a
particular disorder at any one point in time
Pro-social behaviour: actions that work in favour of society
Psychoticism: being aggressive and not considerate of others
Punishment: a way of trying to stop reoffending through the use of
negative outcomes for criminal behaviour
Rehabilitation: training and teaching offenders new behaviours and skills
with the aim of stopping them reoffending
Role model: a person who is admired and therefore imitated
Schema: mental ‘pockets’ of organised information
Self-esteem: a measure of how much a person values their self
Semantic coding: where data is stored in an abstract way based on its
meaning
Semantic memory: long-term memory for storing facts
Serotonin: a neurotransmitter associated with mood balance
Social construct: something that is not real but exists because people in
society have created it through social interaction
Stigma: a strong feeling of disapproval about something
Superego: a subconscious part of personality that represents the rules and
expectations of our society
Sympathetic nervous system: a branch of the central nervous system
which prepares the body for ‘fight or flight’ when under threat
Synapse: a tiny gap at which a nerve impulse passes from one neuron to
another
Temporal lobes: parts of the brain located by the temples; concerned with
vision, hearing and speech comprehension
Unconscious: part of the mind that contains feelings and thoughts that we
are not aware of
Vicarious reinforcement: a behaviour is imitated because it is seen to be
rewarded

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Features to help you succeed

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Definitions and key words

The day before the examination

GCSE Psychology Paper 2

1.1 Key concepts

Table 1.1 Different types of crime

How crime is measured

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Social learning research study –

Evaluating the study

Eysenck’s criminal personality theory

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Criminal personality theory research

What the study found

Evaluating the study

1.3 Application – the changing

The effects of punishment and

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2.1 Key concepts

The development of brain structures

2.2 Explanations of children’s

As children move through the stages, they continually go through the

Features of the pre-operational stage

Features of the concrete operational stage

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Cognitive development research study:

What the study found

Evaluating the study

Learning theories of development

Dweck’s mindset theory

Table 2.1 Fixed and growth mindsets

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Learning research study: Blackwell et

How the study was carried out

What the study found

How the study was carried out

What the study found

Evaluating the studies

2.3 Application – the changing role

How learning theories apply to the development of

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3.1 Key concepts

The current prevalence of mental health problems

The incidence of significant mental health

The effects of significant mental health

The effects of discrimination on individuals before

The effects of significant mental health problems

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Key statistics of schizophrenia

Biological explanation of schizophrenia

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Schizophrenia research study – Daniel

What the study found

Evaluating the study

Key statistics of clinical depression

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A psychological explanation of clinical

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