Key term
Eduqas A-Level Psychology A290QS
Biological Approach
Topic overviewAssumptions and evaluation of the approach: Evolutionary influences and Localisation of brain functionAssumptions and evaluation of the approach: Neurotransmitters and Weaknesses of the approachTherapy derived from the approach: Drug therapyTherapy derived from the approach: PsychosurgeryClassic research: the methodology and proceduresClassic research: the findings, conclusions and evaluationContemporary debate
Psychodynamic Approach
Topic overviewAssumptions and evaluation of the approach: Influence of childhood experiences and Unconscious mindAssumptions and evaluation of the approach: Tripartite personality and Weaknesses of the approachTherapy derived from the approach: Dream analysisTherapy derived from the approach: PsychodramaClassic research: Methodology and ProceduresClassic research: Findings and ConclusionsClassic research: Ethical issues and social implicationsContemporary debate: the mother as primary care-giver — the argumentsContemporary debate: the mother as primary care-giver — the evidence and conclusion
Behaviourist Approach
Topic overviewAssumptions and evaluation of the approach: Blank slate and Behaviour learnt through conditioningAssumptions and evaluation of the approach: Humans and animals learn in similar waysTherapy derived from the approach: Aversion therapyTherapy derived from the approach: Systematic desensitisationClassic research: Methodology and ProceduresClassic research: Findings and ConclusionsClassic research: Ethical issues and social implicationsContemporary debate: using conditioning to control children — the argumentsContemporary debate: using conditioning to control children — the evidence and conclusion
Cognitive Approach
Topic overviewAssumptions and evaluation of the approach: Computer analogy, Internal mental processes and SchemasAssumptions and evaluation of the approach: Strengths of the approach and Weaknesses of the approachTherapy derived from the approach: Cognitive behavioural therapyTherapy derived from the approach: Rational emotive behaviour therapyClassic research: Methodology and ProceduresClassic research: Findings and ConclusionsClassic research: Ethical issues and social implicationsContemporary debate: the reliability of eye-witness testimony — the argumentsContemporary debate: the reliability of eye-witness testimony — the evidence and conclusion
Positive Approach
Topic overviewAssumptions and evaluation of the approach: Acknowledgement of free will and Focus on 'the good life'Assumptions and evaluation of the approach: Strengths of the approach and Weaknesses of the approachTherapy derived from the approach: MindfulnessTherapy derived from the approach: Quality of life therapyClassic research: Methodology and ProceduresClassic research: Findings and ConclusionsClassic research: Ethical issues and social implicationsContemporary debate: the relevance of positive psychology today — the argumentsContemporary debate: the relevance of positive psychology today — the evidence and conclusion
Comparing the Five Approaches
Core Studies in Social and Developmental Psychology
Topic overviewSocial psychology core study: Milgram (1963) — Method and procedure, ResultsSocial psychology core study: Milgram (1963) — Conclusions and Evaluation of the studyDevelopmental psychology core study: Kohlberg (1968) — Method and procedure, ResultsDevelopmental psychology core study: Kohlberg (1968) — Conclusions and Evaluation of the study
Planning Psychological Research
Topic overviewDeciding on a research question: Aim of the research and Independent variablesDeciding on a research question: Co-variables, Operationalisation of variables and Extraneous variablesMethodologies: Experiments, Participant observations and Non-participant observationsMethodologies: Content analysis, Structured interviews / questionnaires and Correlational studiesMethodologies: Case studies, Cross-sectional studies and Self-reportsLocation of researchParticipants and sampling: Target populations, Sampling frames and Opportunity samplingParticipants and sampling: Systematic sampling, Stratified sampling and Quota samplingParticipants and sampling: Self-selected samplingExperimental design
Data Handling, Statistics and Mathematical Skills
Topic overviewLevels of measurementGraphical representation: Frequency tables and Graphical representation (including line graphsGraphical representation: Distribution curves (including normal, positive and negative skewedDescriptive statistics: Measures of central tendencyDescriptive statistics: Measures of dispersion and Calculating from a set of resultsInferential statistics: Chi Square testInferential statistics: Mann Whitney U test and Critical values from tablesMathematical requirements (Appendix A): Standard form and unit conversionMathematical requirements (Appendix A): Calculations for statistical tests
Evaluating and Validating Research
Topic overviewReliabilityValidity: Internal validity, External validity and Specific validity issues (including researcher biasValidity: Ways of dealing with issues of validityEthics: Confidentiality and Risk to the participants’ valuesEthics: Valid consent and Managing the risk posed by ethical issues (including the use of ethicsThe role of the scientific community: Peer review and its purposes, Criticisms of peer reviewThe role of the scientific community: Sections of a psychological report
Personal Investigations and Novel Research Scenarios
Topic overviewPersonal investigations: applying — Hypotheses and variables, Methodology and experimental designPersonal investigations: applying research methods to first-hand investigations — SamplingPersonal investigations: applying research methods to first-hand investigations — Inferential statisticsApplication of research methods to a novel scenario
Addictive BehavioursAddictive
Topic overviewCharacteristics of the behaviour: What the behaviour is, How it is recognised and diagnosedCharacteristics of the behaviour: How common it is, Effects on the individual and on societyBiological explanations: Addiction genes and Disease of the brainBiological explanations: DopamineIndividual differences explanations: Cognitive biases and Field dependenceIndividual differences explanations: Lang's addictive personality traitsSocial psychological explanations: Co-morbidity with mental and Peer pressureSocial psychological explanations: Role of the mediaMethods of modifying the behaviour: Agonist and antagonist substitutionMethods of modifying the behaviour: Aversion therapy
Autistic Spectrum BehavioursAutistic spectrum
Topic overviewCharacteristics of the behaviour: What the behaviour is, How it is recognised and diagnosedCharacteristics of the behaviour: How common it is, Effects on the individual and on societyBiological explanations: Amygdala dysfunction and Chloride ions at birthBiological explanations: Genetic predispositionIndividual differences explanations: Gender differences and Theory of mindIndividual differences explanations: Weak central coherence theoryExtreme male brain and empathising-systemising theoriesThe refrigerator mother theory, and evaluationMethods of modifying the behaviour: Picture Exchange Communication SystemMethods of modifying the behaviour: Relationship Development InterventionMethods of modifying the behaviour
Bullying BehavioursBullying
Topic overviewCharacteristics of the behaviour: What the behaviour is, How it is recognised and diagnosedCharacteristics of the behaviour: How common it is, Effects on the individual and on societyBiological explanations: Bullying genes and Evolved gender differencesBiological explanations: HormonesIndividual differences explanations: Cognitive biases and Narcissistic personalityIndividual differences explanations: Threatened egotism, narcissism and theory of mindSocial psychological explanations: Cultural differences and In-group / out-groupSocial psychological explanations: Moral disengagementMethods of modifying the behaviour: Creating A Peaceful School Learning EnvironmentMethods of modifying the behaviour: Olweus Bullying Prevention ProgrammeMethods of modifying the behaviour
Criminal BehavioursCriminal
Topic overviewCharacteristics of the behaviour: What the behaviour isCharacteristics of the behaviour: How it is recognised and diagnosedBiological explanations: Disinhibition hypothesis and Inherited criminality personality theoryBiological explanations: Role of the amygdalaIndividual differences explanations: Eysenck's criminal personalityIndividual differences explanations: Intelligence factors and Psychopathic personalitySocial psychological explanations: Differential associationSocial psychological explanations: Gender socialisation and Normalisation theoryMethods of modifying the behaviour: Anger managementMethods of modifying the behaviour: Restorative justice
SchizophreniaSchizophrenia
Topic overviewCharacteristics of the behaviour: What the behaviour is, How it is recognised and diagnosedCharacteristics of the behaviour: How common it is, Effects on the individual and on societyBiological explanations: Dopamine hypothesis and Enlarged ventriclesBiological explanations: Cannabis, genetics and the diathesis-stress modelIndividual differences explanations: Thought disorderIndividual differences explanations: Schizophrenogenic mother and Sex differencesSocial psychological explanations: Cultural normsSocial psychological explanations: Dysfunctional familiesSocial psychological explanations: Expressed emotionMethods of modifying the behaviour: Antipsychotic drugsMethods of modifying the behaviour: Cognitive behavioral therapy
StressStress
Topic overviewCharacteristics of the behaviour: What the behaviour is, How it is recognised and diagnosedCharacteristics of the behaviour: How common it is, Effects on the individual and on societyBiological explanations: Adrenaline and Evolutionary adaptationBiological explanations: Stress genesIndividual differences explanations: Type A behaviour and hardinessIndividual differences explanations: Self-efficacySocial psychological explanations: Daily hassles and Life eventsSocial psychological explanations: Locus of control and control at workMethods of modifying the behaviour: Beta blockersMethods of modifying the behaviour: Stress inoculation training
Controversies in Psychology
Topic overviewCultural bias: Cross cultural studies and Difference or biasCultural bias: Ethnocentrism, Historical and social contextEthical costs of conducting research: Benefits to society and the economy, Individual participantsEthical costs of conducting research: Potentially negative consequences for societyThe use of non-human animals: Why animals are used, comparative psychology and ethologyThe use of non-human animals: Therapy, speciesism and the BPS GuidelinesScientific status of psychology: Features of science, Popper and KuhnScientific status of psychology: Methods, benefits and costs of being a scienceSexism: Gender difference or gender biasSexism: Heterosexism, Historical and social context, 'invisibility' of women in psychology
Controversies in Psychology
- 10 subtopics
- 30 things to know
- Component 3 Controversies
What Controversies in Psychology covers
Controversies in Psychology is examined on Component 3 of Eduqas Psychology, Psychology: Implications in the Real World. 130 recall questions across 10 subtopics.
Where it is assessed
Component 3 Controversies
Psychology: Implications in the Real World, one synoptic question of two.
Check the Eduqas specification ↗The 10 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- Cultural bias: Cross cultural studies and Difference or biasRecall questions on Cross cultural studies and Difference or bias.Open →
- Cultural bias: Ethnocentrism, Historical and social contextRecall questions on Ethnocentrism, Historical context and social context.Open →
- Ethical costs of conducting research: Benefits to society and the economy, Individual participantsRecall questions on Benefits to society, the economy and Individual participants.Open →
- Ethical costs of conducting research: Potentially negative consequences for societyRecall questions on Ethical costs of conducting research: Potentially negative consequences for society.Open →
- The use of non-human animals: Why animals are used, comparative psychology and ethologyWhy psychologists study non-human animals, landmark studies by Olds and Milner and by Harlow, comparative psychology and ethology, Lorenz's imprinting, Tinbergen's four questions, and the problem of anthropomorphism.Open →
- The use of non-human animals: Therapy, speciesism and the BPS GuidelinesAnimal-assisted therapy and its evidence, speciesism and the arguments of Singer, Regan and Gray, the three Rs, the BPS guidelines and UK law on animal research, and Bateson's decision cube.Open →
- Scientific status of psychology: Features of science, Popper and KuhnThe features of science, Popper's falsifiability and his criticism of psychodynamic theory, Kuhn's paradigms and whether psychology is pre-paradigmatic, the changing definition of science, and the replication crisis.Open →
- Scientific status of psychology: Methods, benefits and costs of being a scienceHow each approach studies behaviour, the benefits of scientific status to society and the economy, and its costs: reductionism, determinism, demand characteristics and scientism, ending with whether psychology is a science.Open →
- Sexism: Gender difference or gender biasRecall questions on Sexism: Gender difference or gender bias.Open →
- Sexism: Heterosexism, Historical and social context, 'invisibility' of women in psychologyRecall questions on Heterosexism, Historical context, social context and invisibility of women in psychology.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Numbers
Why is the universality of emotion recognition still treated as an open dispute?
Key term
What makes consent difficult to obtain properly in a study like Raine et al. (1997)?
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Give three therapeutic benefits to society that have come from psychological research.
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How can biological explanations of criminal behaviour have harmful social consequences?
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Name three techniques psychologists use when full prior consent would destroy the study.
Key term
What is comparative psychology?
Numbers
Give two proposed mechanisms by which contact with an animal might produce a therapeutic effect.
Numbers
Define speciesism, and say who introduced the term.
Evaluation
How does Regan's (1983) argument differ from Singer's?
Key term
Name three reforms psychology has adopted in response to the replication crisis, and explain why they can be read as evidence for its scientific status.
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Which methods does the biological approach use, and how scientific are they?
Numbers
Distinguish alpha bias from beta bias, and say who introduced the terms.
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Give two examples of alpha bias drawn from the psychodynamic approach.
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How does research on the stress response illustrate beta bias?
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Reaching a conclusion, has psychology dealt with the charge of sexism?
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Distinguish between an emic and an etic approach to studying behaviour.
Who and when
What did Berry (1969) mean by an imposed etic?
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What is a cost-benefit analysis in research ethics?
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Which behaviourist assumption underpins the use of animals to explain human behaviour, and name two human therapies that rest on it.
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Name six features usually said to characterise a science.
Who and when
What did Popper mean by falsifiability?
Numbers
What was the variability hypothesis, and who tested it?
Who and when
What did Grossmann et al. (1985) find with German infants, and how was it explained?
Numbers
Give a historical example of psychological testing that carried cultural bias into public policy.
Who and when
Why is it argued that Milgram's participants did not really have the right to withdraw?
Who and when
What did Olds and Milner (1954) find, and why does it matter for the study of addiction?
Key term
What is a paradigm, in Kuhn's sense?
Who and when
What did Orne (1962) identify as a threat to the validity of laboratory research on people?
Key term
Which co-author of the classic conditioned fear study is frequently dropped when it is described?
Take Controversies in Psychology further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
A leading question vs Post-event information
A leading question: wording that suggests a particular answer and so alters what the witness reports. Post-event information: anything learned after the event that becomes mixed into the memory of it.
Ethnocentrism vs Cultural relativism
Ethnocentrism: judging other cultures by one's own standards. Cultural relativism: refusing any culture-free standard.
Alpha bias vs Beta bias
Alpha bias: exaggerating the difference between two groups, so that a real similarity is overlooked. Beta bias: minimising or ignoring a difference, so that one group's findings are assumed to apply to the other.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What is meant by cultural bias in psychology?
Model answer
Interpreting and judging behaviour using the assumptions of one's own culture, so that theories and measures built in one culture are treated as though they described everyone.
- 2
Why is cultural bias regarded as a controversy rather than simply a mistake?
Model answer
Because psychologists genuinely disagree over whether reported differences between cultures are real differences in behaviour or artefacts of biased theories and tools, and over how far any claim about human behaviour can be universal.
- 3
Define the term ethnocentrism.
Model answer
Ethnocentrism is judging other cultures by the standards and values of one's own, treating one's own group's behaviour as the normal or superior form and other behaviour as a deviation from it.
- 4
Distinguish between an emic and an etic approach to studying behaviour.
Model answer
An emic approach studies behaviour from inside a culture, using constructs that are meaningful within it; an etic approach studies behaviour from outside and looks for patterns that hold across cultures.
- 5
What did Berry (1969) mean by an imposed etic?
Model answer
Taking a theory or measure developed inside one culture and applying it to another as though it were universal, so the second culture is assessed against standards it never generated.
- 6
Which attachment procedure is most often used to illustrate an imposed etic, and why?
Model answer
Ainsworth's Strange Situation, because a procedure built around middle-class American ideas about how an independent infant should behave was then used to classify infants across the world.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Controversies in Psychology revision questions
- What does Controversies in Psychology cover in Eduqas A-Level Psychology?
- 10 subtopics: cultural bias: cross cultural studies and difference or bias, cultural bias: ethnocentrism, historical and social context, ethical costs of conducting research: benefits to society and the economy, individual participants, ethical costs of conducting research: potentially negative consequences for society, the use of non-human animals: why animals are used, comparative psychology and ethology, the use of non-human animals: therapy, speciesism and the bps guidelines, scientific status of psychology: features of science, popper and kuhn, scientific status of psychology: methods, benefits and costs of being a science, sexism: gender difference or gender bias and sexism: heterosexism, historical and social context, 'invisibility' of women in psychology. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Controversies in Psychology organised?
- By the Eduqas A290QS specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Controversies in Psychology, on a schedule.
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