Notes and Model Answers for PYA4 and PYA5

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Reply 20

flarenixie

Hi nathann1066 could you send me a pro social essay, I have everything else covered (I hope)

[email protected]

Cheers

Reply 21

mikedixon88

Hi Nathan...You said you had all A grade essays for the relationships questions....Could you pleeaaasssseee send them to me...it would be a great help

Thanks Mike

Reply 22

mikedixon88

Has anyone got good essays for either relationships...pro and anti social behavior or development of personality....it would be of much help if you could send them to me

Thanks Mike

Reply 23

Beckifoxall

why have all you people left it will yesterday to get notes?! this thread has been open for about a week! :mad:

anyway rant over, now for pya 5 any model answers welcome :smile:

Reply 24

x Rizwana x

yeh same here ne model answers wud be great!!!thanx a lot

Reply 25

kayliejs

Does anyone have model answers to the debates question? If you could email them me that would be fantastic, my email address is [email protected] also i have really good typed notes for the question on mental disorders if anyone would like a copy?

Reply 26

Twinkle06

Cant u guys attach the model answers onto a message, it would be easier than emailing everyone one by one..

Reply 27

Loopy lu

ahhhhhh havin problems with studies in the issues - none in my book! can any one help????

Reply 28

girl89

I need any notes/model answers on approaches please! We barely learnt anything in our lessons! :frown:

Yeah I agree, attach them to a message on here so everyone can download it :smile:

Reply 29

lordgavemestyle

Hi all...

PYA5 next week! Jeez stressed up like a pig in a butcher house!
Any notes on debates and approaches would be greatly appreciated!!!
Also... does anybody have the January 2007 PYA5 paper?

you can mail me on.. [email protected]
cheers
best of luck for the exams!

Reply 30

Loopy lu

email me with anything to do with psychopathology, issue (studies in issue) - [email protected] xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Reply 31

geographyrevision

hi has anyone got anything a model answer on is psychology as a science?
would be most grateful if someone could send it to me!
thanks

Reply 32

Beckifoxall

ive got one, it was an A grade model answer a couple of years ago, ill post it up when ive finished typing it up

Reply 33

girl89

Ooo yes could you attach it on the site? I'd love to see an answer to that

thanks
x

im doin psychpathology, approaches, issues and debates:use of non human animals in reserach, ethical issues when using huamn participants, reductionism, nature/nurture debate and psych as a science, any model answers would be oh so welcome!!! damn i havent even started revising 4 pya5...im doomed...and its nxt week aswell....well good luck 2 u all!!!

Reply 36

girl89

Yeh I've not started revising either!! :s-smilie:

Areas I've been looking at are schizo, depression, did a little about OCD, Debates (nature nuture, free will determinism, a little on reductionism, psych as a science) that's about it really. And approaches, which we did fook all on :s-smilie:

any help would be very grateful!! :frown:

Reply 37

geographyrevision

ok heres the free will vs determinism debate as best as i could do. i will re post the nature vs nurture one as well as it is not on this thread so will keep it together.:
i am waiting for this one to be marked by my teacher so any constructive critism is welcome:
Discuss free will and determinism with respect to 2 or more psychological theories.

The debate surrounding free will and determinism is one that has occupied psychologists and philosophers for centuries. Those who believe in determinism believe that all behaviour is determined by external and internal forces acting on the person. An example of an external force would be parents rewarding certain type of behaviour, therefore further encouraging it, whilst an internal force would be that of hormones. Those who believe in free will believe matters are slightly more complex. They agree that external and internal factors do exist but that people have free will to choose their behaviour. The argument of freewill and determinism can be summed up by the questions “could a person’s behaviour have been different in a certain situation if they willed it?” Those who believe in determinism would argue no whilst those who believe in free will would say yes.

Determinism is espoused by more theories in psychology than in free will. Behaviourists are strongly determinists. Determinists claim that the nature of the universe is such that it is goverened by certain universal scientific laws, so that each action is caused by a specific prior cause, and human action is no exception. They believe that precise prediction of human behaviour is possible if an individual’s current stimulus situation is known and if there conditioning history is also known. Skinner argued that all behaviour is determined by environmental events and that humans tend to repeat behaviours that are rewarded. Skinner stated that free will was simply an illusion.

Bandura, a neobehaviourist, believed in reciprocal determinism and pointed a flaw in Skinners approach. If people’s actions are solely determined by the external rewards and punishments then people would be like weather vanes constantly changing direction to conform to the whims of others. Bandura stated that people have long-term goals and strive to meet these rather than following others. Skinner focused exclusively on the nation that our behaviour is determined by the external environment however our behaviour also determines our environment. There are a number of different multi determinants of behaviour and Skinner largely ignored these.

Freud also believed strongly in determinism. According to Freud, trivial phenomenons such as calling someone by someone else’s name are due to definite causes in the person’s motivational system. Freudian slips are involuntary but motivated errors that reveal a person’s true desires. The Psychodynamic approach believes that internal systems such as defence mechanisms determine the way people behave as adults.

The biological approach believes that behaviour is determined by a person’s genes and internal systems. In regards to mental disorders this approach states that it is not the patients fault they are ill. Their biology pre-disposes them to certain conditions and therefore cannot be controlled unless their biological make up is manipulated. This has been proved, to an extent, with the knowledge that disorders such as schizophrenia are as a result of high levels of dopamine within the brain.

Psychology although deterministic might in fact be better described as probabilistic. The chaos theory and butterfly effect are an example of this.

In contrast the humanistic approach believes that individuals have free will. Manslow and Rogers argued that the notion that people’s behaviour is at the mercy of external forces is inaccurate and that people have free will in that they can choose how they wish to behave. Rogers client centred therapy was based on the notion that individuals have free will. The psychologist was known as the facilitator and his or her role was to help the patient exercise free will and increase the benefits of life. Roger’s believed our actions are free within a framework. The approach states that determinism is too mechanistic and being unfalsifiable it is impossible to assume behaviour is determined. With regards to mental illness, it is a result of the patient not being able to accept themselves or others around them. Therefore the humanistic approach believes illness is due to freewill and personal decisions. The psychodynamic approach, although mainly deterministic, believed that there is a potential for free will. Freud stated that psychoanalysis is based on the belief that people can change their behaviour.
However there are two main problems with this approach; firstly what is meant by freewill? If according to determinism everything has a definite cause then is free will random? Very few people would argue in favour of such an extreme position. Also it may be that determinism does have an effect on the world but not on humans in which case there are many implications which have been left unanswered.

The ethical argument also supports free will. In order to expect moral responsibility, one must accept the concept of free will. If an individual’s behaviour is determined by forces beyond an individual’s control then the individual cannot be held responsible for their actions. However our laws insist that adults do have individual responsibility for their actions and so implicitly society supports freewill.

Soft determinism is an approach that argues that people’s behaviour is constrained by the environment, but only to a certain extent. Some behaviour is more constrained than other. There is an element of free will in all behaviour however it can also be controlled by outside forces. William James advocated this approach which is a medium between the two extreme views.
The issue of the extent to which we have free will is more of a philosophical question rather than scientific, as both beliefs are unfalsifiable. All psychologists agree on the fact that behaviour is made up, to an extent of biology, past experiences and present environment.

Reply 38

geographyrevision

this has been marked and gained an A. Though a note to everyone, although this was taken from a past exam paper, they will not ask about the history of the debate anymore. however it is useful to know some of it as makes a good introduction to the essay.

Explain what is meant by the terms nature and nurture (5 marks)
Nature is the extent to which abilities are present at birth. Ability can be determined by genes, including those which develop by age. The biological and evolutionary approach both support the view that all behaviour is determined by nature.
Nurture refers to the influence of experience. Empiricists had the view that all behaviour is learnt and that through reciprocal determinism we influence the environment as the environment influences us. The behaviourist approach is the most common supporter of this view.

Outline the history of the nature-nurture debate in psychology (10 marks)
Philosophers in ancient times, such as Plato, believed that a child was born with some innate knowledge. Rather than learning anything new, people simply recollected knowledge which lay dormant within their mind.
Locke, however, was an Empiricist and believed that the mind at birth was a blank slate. He believed that all behaviour was learnt and that the environment and up-bringing made people behaviour in certain ways.
In the 19th century there was much tension around the argument. In order for the debate to be tested, psychologists looked at changing behaviour, such as maladaptive behaviour. If behaviour was to be changed for the better then it made sense that only the environment could do this (nurture). Behaviourists, such as Locke, supported this view due to their assumptions of classical and operant conditioning. However at the time, the dominant view was that behaviour was fundamentally hereditary. Many thought behaviour was a product of biological influence. Therefore environmental influences were limited.
By the mid 20th century there were two main thoughts. American behaviourists concluded that all behaviour is learnt through trial and error (nurture). Their work was conducted on animals yet Waal (1999) saw this as irrelevant and stated learning processes were universal across species.
In contrast the ethological school in Europe focused on natural behaviour. According to this theory animals are born with abilities. They used the example that you do not learn to cry or laugh.
Contemporary beliefs are that it is in fact an interaction of both nature and nurture that determines behaviour, with the environment acting as a catalyst for pre-disposed genes.

To what extent is it possible to explain behaviour in terms of only nature or nurture? (15 marks)
Some behaviour more than others suit either the nature or nurture view more appropriately. The evolutionary approach explains behaviour as a result of nature. Bowlby (1969) suggested that attachment behaviours are displayed because they ensure the survival of the infant. It is also instinctive of the parent to make this attachment. By making attachments infants are set-up for later life increasing their chance of reproduction, thus extending there genes.
Yet a behaviourist would state that rather than nurture, individuals learn to make attachments through classical conditioning. An infant learns that as attachments are made food, play and love is given, therefore reinforcing and rewarding behaviour. As an infant ages, they will learn through modelling that the more attachments made then the more rewarding and simply life can become (in terms of large friendship groups).
It could be said that stress is an adaptive response to environmental pressures. Animals which are born with out such responses (including the fight or flight response) quickly die. However behaviourists would claim that in certain environments stress is encouraged (such as some exam stress is seen as motivation). Therefore through rewards and reinforcement, individuals display and experience stress.
The behaviour of aggression could be explained in terms of nurture. Bandura’s bobo doll studies provide evidence that behaviour can be modelled and imitated through vicarious reinforcement, especially if the model is similar to the viewer in terms of age and personality. However nativists would claim that those individuals who become aggressive are already pre-disposed to the behaviour through their genes and that if that gene is not present than a person is unlikely to experience aggression.
However it is impossible to assume that all behaviour is determined by either nature or nurture. Instead the interaction of the two by gene-environment relationship has more face validity and is being supported now by more psychologists, including the Psychodynamic approach. Using the three types of relationship I will show various ways in which a child may be musical. The first type of relationship is passive. An example of this would be a musical parent transmitting a musical gene to their offspring, then constructing a musical environment to rear their children. An evocative relationship would be if a child was musically gifted (i.e. had the pre-disposed gene) and then received special training and opportunities by teachers (therefore rewarding and encouraging such behaviour). The third is an active relationship where individuals are pre-disposed to the gene and then select their own environments to match them (e.g. a musical child chooses musical friends).
In the diathesis-stress model, a genetic vulnerability or predisposition (diathesis) interacts with the environment and life events (stressors) to trigger behaviors or psychological disorders. The greater the underlying vulnerability, the less stress is needed to trigger the behavior/disorder. Conversely, where there is a smaller genetic contribution greater life stress is required to produce the particular result. Even so, someone with a diathesis towards a disorder does not necessarily mean they will ever develop the disorder. Both the diathesis and the stress are required for this to happen.