Who and when
AQA A-Level Psychology 7182
Social Influence
Memory
Attachment
Topic overviewCaregiver-infant interactions: reciprocity and interactional synchronySchaffer's stages of attachmentMultiple attachments and the role of the fatherAnimal studies of attachmentExplanations of attachmentAinsworth's Strange Situation and types of attachmentBowlby's theory of maternal deprivation and effects of institutionalisationInfluence of early attachment on relationshipsCultural variations in attachment
Approaches in Psychology
Biopsychology
Topic overviewDivisions of the nervous systemStructure and function of neurons and synaptic transmissionThe endocrine systemThe fight or flight responseWays of studying the brainLocalisation of function and hemispheric lateralisationPlasticity and functional recovery of the brain after traumaBiological rhythms: circadian, infradian and ultradian
Clinical Psychology and Mental Health
Research Methods
Scientific Processes
Topic overviewAims and hypothesesSamplingPilot studiesExperimental designsObservational designQuestionnaire construction and design of interviewsVariablesControlDemand characteristics and investigator effectsEthicsPeer reviewImplications of psychological research for the economyReliabilityValidityFeatures of scienceReporting psychological investigations
Quantitative and Qualitative Data
Topic overviewQuantitative and qualitative data; the distinction between qualitative and quantitative data collection techniquesPrimary and secondary data, including meta-analysisDescriptive statistics: measures of central tendency and measures of dispersionPresentation and display of quantitative data: graphs, tables, scattergrams, bar chartsDistributions: normal and skewed distributionsIntroduction to statistical testing; the sign test
Data Handling and Analysis
Inferential Testing
Issues and Debates in Psychology
RelationshipsOption 1
GenderOption 1
Cognition and DevelopmentOption 1
SchizophreniaOption 2
Eating BehaviourOption 2
StressOption 2
AggressionOption 3
Forensic PsychologyOption 3
AddictionOption 3
Explanations for Nicotine AddictionOption 3
Approaches in Psychology
- 7 subtopics
- 28 things to know
- Paper 2
What Approaches in Psychology covers
Approaches in Psychology is the first topic of Paper 2. It covers the emergence of psychology as a science and the learning, cognitive, biological, psychodynamic and humanistic approaches, then sets them against each other on determinism, nature and nurture, and the status of internal mental events.
The 7 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- Origins of Psychology: Wundt, introspection and the emergence of Psychology as a scienceWundt's laboratory, introspection as a method for studying conscious experience, and the criticisms that pushed psychology towards more objective methods.Open →
- Learning approachesClassical conditioning from Pavlov's work, operant conditioning and the effects of reinforcement and punishment, and the four mediational processes of social learning theory.Open →
- The cognitive approachInternal mental processes studied by inference, the role of schemas in shaping how information is processed, theoretical and computer models, and cognitive neuroscience.Open →
- The biological approachGenotype and phenotype, the role of evolution and genetics in behaviour, the influence of neurochemistry, and the study of the brain structures behind mental processes.Open →
- The psychodynamic approachThe unconscious mind, the id, ego and superego with the principle each follows, the ego defence mechanisms, and the five psychosexual stages.Open →
- Humanistic PsychologyFree will and personal growth, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Rogers's account of the gap between the self and the ideal self, and conditions of worth.Open →
- Comparison of approachesThe approaches compared on determinism and free will, their positions on nature and nurture, and whether internal mental events count as evidence.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
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Key term
What was the method Wundt used to study conscious experience?
Evaluation
Give one criticism of Wundt's method for studying the mind.
Study
What did Pavlov's dogs demonstrate about learning?
Key term
How do positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement and punishment each change behaviour?
Study
What apparatus did Skinner use, and what did his animals learn to do?
Process
Name the four cognitive processes that come between observing a behaviour and copying it.
Study
What did Bandura's Bobo doll research show about learning?
Key term
Which private processes does the cognitive approach study, and how are they investigated?
Key term
What is a schema and how does it affect information processing?
Key term
What two kinds of model does the cognitive approach use?
Evaluation
Give one strength and one limitation of the cognitive approach.
Key term
Distinguish between a person's genetic makeup and their observable characteristics.
Process
How does the biological approach explain why a behaviour spreads through a population?
Key term
How do chemicals in the nervous system influence psychological functioning?
Key term
What field studies the brain structures underlying mental processes?
Key term
What determines behaviour according to the psychodynamic approach?
Key term
Name the three parts of personality and the principle each follows.
Key term
How does the Ego protect itself from the anxiety of inner conflict?
Process
Name the five psychosexual stages in order.
Key term
What happens if a conflict at one stage of development is not resolved?
Key term
What does humanistic psychology assume about human choice and personal growth?
Process
List the five levels of Maslow's hierarchy of needs from lowest to highest.
Key term
What did Rogers say about the gap between the ideal self and the actual self?
Key term
What does Rogers say a parent imposes when acceptance is not unconditional?
Evaluation
Which approaches are deterministic, and which one stands apart?
Evaluation
How do the biological and behaviourist approaches sit on the nature-nurture debate?
Evaluation
How do behaviourism and the cognitive approach differ over internal mental events?
Take Approaches in Psychology further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Classical conditioning vs Operant conditioning
Classical conditioning: learning through association between two stimuli. Operant conditioning: learning through the consequences that follow a behaviour.
Negative reinforcement vs Punishment
Negative reinforcement: taking away something unpleasant, making a behaviour more likely. Punishment: applying something unpleasant, making a behaviour less likely.
Imitation vs Identification
Imitation: copying the behaviour of a model. Identification: associating oneself with a model and wanting to be like them.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
Who is regarded as the father of experimental psychology?
Model answer
Wilhelm Wundt.
- 2
When and where did Wundt open the first psychology laboratory?
Model answer
In 1879 in Leipzig, Germany.
- 3
Why was the opening of Wundt's laboratory significant?
Model answer
It marked the separation of psychology from philosophy and biology and the beginning of psychology as a distinct scientific discipline.
- 4
What is introspection?
Model answer
The systematic examination and reporting of one's own conscious thoughts, feelings and sensations.
- 5
How did Wundt use introspection?
Model answer
Participants were given controlled stimuli and asked to report their inner experiences in a structured, replicable way.
- 6
What is meant by describing Wundt's approach as 'structuralism'?
Model answer
He attempted to break down conscious experience into its basic structures or component parts.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Approaches in Psychology revision questions
- What does Approaches in Psychology cover in AQA A-Level Psychology?
- 7 subtopics: origins of psychology: wundt, introspection and the emergence of psychology as a science, learning approaches, the cognitive approach, the biological approach, the psychodynamic approach, humanistic psychology and comparison of approaches. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Approaches in Psychology organised?
- By the AQA 7182 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Approaches in Psychology, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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