Been hammering revision and I've got too much knowledge flying round my head! So I decided to do some past exam papers to relieve the load on my brain. Here's the first one I've done so far and I will post more. Feel free to post your answers as well.
I didn't keep to the mark scheme on part (c) I just wrote as much as I could from memory (although only about 95% is from memory, I had to take a peek at some key words to open the floodgates!)
Originally Posted by AQA, PYB4, JAN '05
1 (a) Explain one way in which children between 15 and 21 months have been shown by psychologists to have developed self-awareness. (3 marks)
Self-awareness refers to the explicit understanding that one exists as an individual. Psychologists have demonstrated this by placing a piece of blue tack on a baby’s forehead then placing a mirror infront of the baby's face. The babies who demonstrated self-awareness were those who saw the blue tack in the reflection and began to touch their own forehead in recognition that it was their own reflection.
(b) Describe one study of sex differences in children’s friendships. Indicate why the study was conducted, the method used, results obtained and conclusion drawn. (5 marks)
Lever aimed to uncover differences between sexes in terms of friendship. He interviewed hundreds of 10 year olds in the USA about their attitudes and behaviour towards friends. He discovered a range of differences. He found that boys tended to have more group friends whereas girls preferred best friends. It was also found that boys are prone to outdoor play, and girls indoor play. Additionally, boys were more open to new entrants into the group, however, girls were more jealous of new people joining the group. Lever concluded that sex influenced attitudes and behaviours in children towards their friends.
(c) Discuss Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation. Refer to the work of at least one other researcher in your answer. (12 marks)
Maternal deprivation refers to a bond or attachment between a child and its mother which has been broken during the critical period of 6 months to 3 years (and sometimes up to 5 years). Bowlby stated that in order to grow up into a healthy, psychologically normal individual we need to experience a continuous, warm loving relationship for approx. 3 years. Children have an innate predisposition to attach to a single individual, Bowlby called this monotropy. If this does not happen a child can experience psychological damage, affecting the individuals behaviour and personality. The child can become a delinquent and suffer from affectionless psychopathology. This psychological damage is irreversible.
Spitz observed that children who were maternally deprived often showed apathy, slow development and general depression. Further support comes from Goldfarb, who suggested that children raised in institutions were often intellectually sub-normal in language and cognitive development. Lorenz developed the concept of imprinting in birds. He found that a bird will attach to its mother immediately after birth. Lorenz developed an experiment whereby baby chicks were raised in isolation and found that, when the chicks hatched, they would follow the first moving object. If there was no moving object during the critical time period of 15 hours the chick had trouble later attaching and became disoriented.
The Harlow study raised young Rhesus monkeys in isolation. When they were reunited with the group, the monkeys displayed fear, anger and an inability to function socially. Isolation for 3 months allowed for later integration. Any longer than this, however, resulted in long term effects, e.g. the inability to mate satisfactorily and, if a mother had young, she tended to abuse it rather than care for it. There are also positive correlations between lack of attachment and adult personalities. Adults who had experienced maternal deprivation tended to develop into compulsive care givers, and those who had a secure and loving attachment during the critical period often developed compulsive independence.
There is extensive evidence which contradicts Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis, however. Koluchova found twins raised in isolation from 18 months to 7 years of age. They had no parental attachment, only a bond between each other. After fostering and care, however, they were able to develop an attachment to the substitute mother and became intellectually normal, happy and popular at school. This shows the need, according to Rutter, to draw a distinction between deprivation and privation. Deprivation refers to a bond or attachment that has been broken during the critical period, whereas privation denotes never having experienced a bond or attachment.
Frued and Dann conducted a study whereby they followed the progress of 6 children from concentration camps who had no maternal attachment, only a bond to each other. After a period of care, however, the children had formed an attachment with their substitute mother. After many years, two of the children had married and although, some showed emotional problems, they did not display any signs of affectionless psychopathy that Bowlby had predicted. Rutter also contradicted Bowlby’s assumptions regarding attachment, stating that long term effects did not occur from lack of attachment but through problems and conflicts within the home. For instance, children do not suffer long term effects of the death of a relative, but they do suffer from the upheaval of their parent’s divorce. He found that delinquency and disturbed children were most often found in those families with high emotional conflict.
Shaffer and Emerson followed a group of Scottish infants from birth up to 18 months. They later interviewed the mothers to discuss the infants reactions to certain situations, e.g. in the presence of a stranger, and who these responses were directed to. They created a stage theory with 4 components. The asocial, indiscriminate attachment, specific attachment and multiple attachment phase. Later research, notably by Lamb, found that each stage served a difference function. For example, when scared the child prefers their mother, but when playing they prefer their father.
I know I started rambling on about attachment which you shouldn't if the question specifically asks for a discussion on maternal deprivation...but oh well, my brain feels a little lighter now
Also, can anyone verify the comment that "Adults who had experienced maternal deprivation tended to develop into compulsive care givers, and those who had a secure and loving attachment during the critical period often developed compulsive independence." Have I got that the right way around?
Again, not written in terms of the mark scheme. But, oh well...
Originally Posted by AQA, PYB5, JAN '05
2 (a) Outline two characteristics of Piaget’s formal operational stage of cognitive development. (4 marks)
Formal operational thought is characterised by thinking that is flexible, rational and systematic. When a child enters the formal operation stage of cognitive development, Piaget believed they were then able to manipulate mental problems. For example, adding and subtracting can now be performed in the head without a physical aid. Additionally, hypothetical questions can now be answered, such as, ‘who am I?’
(b) Lesley and Kathryn are nursery school teachers. They each take a very different approach to their work. Lesley is influenced by the cognitive developmental theory of Piaget, but Kathryn is influenced by the cognitive developmental theory of Vygotsky.
Identify which teacher would encourage children to explore their environment and find out things for themselves without any instruction. Explain why this approach to learning is consistent with the work of one of the developmental theorists named above. (4 marks)
The idea that the concepts a child needs to learn can be discovered by the child in the real world was supported by Piaget. He believed the early years of schooling should be child centred. The child’s own interest and stage of stage of cognitive development should determine what the child learns. This is because children will develop cognitively in their own time, and, in terms of the 4 stages of cognitive development which he proposed, their development cannot be facilitated through teaching. Furthermore, Piaget went as far as to say that the role of educators is not to teach, but to provide opportunities for discovery by providing appropriate play materials, stimulation and support.
(c) Discuss Bruner’s theory of cognitive development. Refer to empirical evidence in your answer.
Bruner believed that children acquire their cognitive development in the way they represent and understand the world. This occurs in 3 stages: enactive (0-2 years), Iconic (2-7) and symbolic (7-adult). During the enactive stage the child learns to coordinate muscle movements. At first objects are put in the mouth, which ties in with the oral stage in Freud’s theory of sexual development. Later, the child learns to coordinate movement in the form of crawling, and eventually walking. We still, as adults, use enactive representation, e.g. using hand gestures when talking about being on the phone, despite having also acquired iconic and symbolic cognition. This implies that Bruner’s stage theory is not a classic stage theory, in comparison to Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, because once we have acquired all the stages we are able to use them at our convenience.
During the iconic stage, we are able to hold mental images or pictures that represent our environment. These icons have been shown to be essential in the child’s reading and writing development. An example of the way adults use iconic representation may be memorising road signs when learning to drive. The symbolic stage is characterised by language and is the most powerful form of communication. As adults we predominantly rely on symbolic representation, however, we are able to use the others when appropriate.
Bruner’s stage theory is different to Piaget’s. Where Piaget said children go through stages sequentially and at certain ages, but Bruner’s modes are not stages and suggests a more continual development. Further contrast can be made around the fact that Piaget believed children learn when they are biologically ready to do so, whereas, Bruner put forward the idea of scaffolding.
Scaffolding refers to the instructional framework laid down by the adult which facilitates a child’s learning of something that would have been beyond their ability to learn of their own accord. The idea is that, as the child becomes more independent, the scaffolding is gradually removed until the child no longer needs it. This is a child centred strategy which supports a child in learning new things, but also gives them a base for discovering other new knowledge or concepts. Examples of scaffolding may be verbal suggestions or the reduction of a task into manageable parts. This is especially useful within education as it enables teachers to break down learning into structures that enable children to learn within their own zone of proximal development (Vygotsky).
Bruner and Kenny’s conducted a study to find out at what age children begin using the symbolic mode of representation. Children aged 3-7 years old were shown a 3 x 3 grid containing 9 beakers. The beakers went from shortest to tallest in one direction and thinnest to widest in the other direction. After familiarising themselves with the grid, the experimenter removed the beakers and placed one glass in a different corner. When asked to reconstruct the grid most 7 year olds were successful whereas younger children had difficulty. Bruner and Kenny believed that the 7 year olds must have been in the symbolic stage of cognitive development, and therefore were able to use a conceptual rule in order to correctly reconstruct the grid. Younger children, however, were believed to only have iconic representation and so seemed to be dominated by the mental image of the original grid. It was concluded that, on average, children acquire symbolic representation aged 7.
The results from this research contradict Piaget, who believed that children cannot do This research was conducted using an experiment, which has benefits over other methods such as correlations as it can determine cause and effect due to the presence of a dependent and independent variable. A criticism of this, however, is that the experiment was conducted in a laboratory setting, which produces results with low ecological validity.
Piaget stated that language was a direct result of cognitive development but various studies have shown that language can in fact facilitate development. Bruner’s ideas can be applied to education by suggesting that teachers should actively intervene in the child’s construction of new knowledge. His modes can also be used in different ways to help a child understand (Sonstroem). Finally, by engaging the child, motivating them and modelling solutions to problems development can progress at a faster rate.
I didn't strictly keep it in the context of children in part (c) but it all relates to the consequences of self-esteem.
Originally Posted by AQA, PYB4, JUN '05
1 (a) The following are all developmental psychologists who have been interested in aspects of
attachment:
Rutter;
Bowlby;
Schaffer;
Ainsworth.
In your answer book, write down which one of these psychologists is most likely to be associated with each of the following beliefs:
(i) that young children often develop attachments with more than one person;
(ii) that maternal deprivation is responsible for behaviours such as delinquency;
(iii) that quality of attachment can be studied using “the strange situation” procedure;
(iv) that the reason for separation between child and parent is an important factor in determining whether or not the child becomes a delinquent. (4 marks)
(i) Schaffer
(ii) Bowlby
(iii) Ainsworth
(iv) Rutter
(b) Briefly explain one strength and one limitation of using animals to study attachment. (4 marks)
A strength of using animals to study attachment is that there is often a behavioural continuity across species. This makes generalisation easier and more reliable. A limitation in using animals, however, is the ethical issues raised regarding their treatment. For example, many animals are restrained in studies causing stress that is not found in their natural environment.
(c) Describe and discuss the possible consequences for a child of having a high level of self-esteem and for a child of having a low level of self-esteem. Refer to psychological research in your answer.
Self-esteem is a part of our self-concept which is an awareness of ourselves as human beings. It relates to how we value ourselves, e.g. I am good/bad at drawing. Self-esteem can be in general or in one specific area of our lives. High self-esteem is a positive evaluation of yourself, e.g. I am good enough to pass this exam. Low self-esteem is a negative evaluation of ourselves and can lead to a desire for change or alternatively anxiety. According to Rogers, the closer our real and ideal self is, the higher our self-esteem will be. He continued to identify low self-esteem as a barrier to self-actualisation.
Stanley Coopersmith investigated low and high self-esteem through the use of interviews and documented the consequences. He found that, where people with low self-esteem were more self-conscious, people with high self-esteem were less affected by the judgements of others. Also discovered was that low self-esteem led to an individual being more isolated, which ironically led to a further decline in self-esteem resulting from lack of human contact. High self-esteem, on the other hand, was found to be a good indicator of an active social life and wide social circle. People with high self-esteem also generally had better quality of social relationships. Perhaps one of the most important discoveries was the link between individuals with low self-esteem and under achieving at school. According to Coopersmith, however, children with high self-esteem performed better academically.
The study conducted by Coopersmith is not without limitations, however. One such limitation is that measuring self-esteem is difficult because it is essentially an internal belief which cannot be observed directly. Furthermore, the subject’s responses during the interviews are subjective and therefore open to bias. Another criticism of Coopersmith’s study was that he did not investigate the influence of gender upon self-esteem. During the investigation, he also didn’t control for background influences.
Additional consequences of self-esteem were documented by Fontana, who did investigate sex and background in relation to self-esteem. Fontana found that working class children tend to have lower self-esteem than middle class. It was also discovered that girls are more likely to suffer from low self-esteem than boys. Even when they perform better at school they still often underrate their abilities.
There are correlation studies, such as those by Lawrence, which found a positive correlation between low self-esteem and poor reading ability. However, this research method is unable to determine whether self-esteem trouble was the cause of poor reading ability because correlations do not have dependent or independent variables. Seligman, who also performed research in this area, found that children with low self-esteem viewed their life as more difficult than those with high self-esteem, who saw everything in life as a challenge. Kernis echoed these findings, and went on to suggest that low self-esteem can act as a self-fulfilling prophecy, for example, if a child believes they are not capable of passing a test they might choose to not attempt it, thus living up to their own expectation.
(a) Briefly explain one reason for self-disclosure.
Self-disclosure is a display of trust and signals that a person wants the relationship to progress.
(b) Sadia and Omar finally started a conversation at their local gym, where they had often seen each other before. When they found out that they both enjoyed films, they decided to go to the cinema together. At the end of the date, Omar told Sadia how much he liked her. “That’s great,” she said, “because I really like you too.”
Identify three factors affecting interpersonal attraction. Illustrate each factor with reference to the description of Sadia and Omar.
Proximity, as they went to the same gym.
Similarity, as they both enjoyed films.
Reciprocal liking, as they both stated their interest in each other at the end of the date.
(c) Describe and discuss the nature-nurture debate in relation to sexual orientation. Refer to evidence in your answer.
The nature-nurture debate in relation to sexual orientation asks to what extent our sexual preference is determined by our genes or the environment in which we learn and are raised. Many researchers believe that the endocrine system has a role in determining our sexual orientation, and in particular, homosexuality. Studies using rats, for example, have shown that stress during pregnancy can affect the level of sex hormone production, which in turn affects the sexual development of male pups (Anderson et. al). However, this study is comparative, and therefore would be rejected by humanists as they believe humans have freewill, whereas animals merely act on instincts. Additionally, if this was the case, it would mean female pups would have to become homosexual as well.
Another line of thought is that homosexuals possess lower levels of sex hormones. In their study of human sexuality, however, Kinsey et. al noted that boosting levels of androgens increased sexual appetite but did not alter the sexual preference of the recipient of the treatment. Further research focused on discovering a biological cause was conducted by Le Vay (1991), who studied the brain structures of deceased heterosexuals and homosexuals. It was found that a region of the hypothalamus was enlarged in homosexual corpses. While this does not provide conclusive evidence that brain structures are directly involved in determining sexual orientation, it does hint at possible prenatal influences while the brain is still undergoing development (Carlson, 1993).
Bell was interested in identifying the factors that influenced sexual preferences among male and female homosexuals. He interviewed approximately 1,000 lesbians and gay men who responded to a newspaper article. The fact many participants were recruited this way, however, means that the sample is limited to a specific type of person, i.e. someone who reads newspapers. They were asked questions concerning their sexual behaviour and their past and present relationships with family members, together with childhood experiences. Again, therein lies a limitation as the subjects were relying on memories which may have become distorted over time. Among the factors found to be significant indicators of sexual preferences were: identification with parents, early sexual encounters and gender roles in childhood. These findings led Bell to the conclusion that, although resistance towards social and cultural factors suggests there may be some biological influence over sexual preference, it is difficult to deny the influence of the environment with regards to the shaping of sexual orientation.
Psychology discussion, revision and homework help.
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