AS Psychology AQA PSYA1/2 Revision Thread 2015!

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Reply 1900

cilla_e

Hi can you guys please give me some AO2 point for explanations to "conformity" please?

Reply 1901

Thoth's World

Original post by Whilerisleeps

could someone please outline what i need to know for social influence e.g. topic headings, key studies etc? my teacher's absolutely crap and we only finished the unit last friday and I'm incredibly confused, all my notes are totally useless! majorly stressing (ay lmao) :frown:

thanks

For social influence in everyday you need to know:

The reasons why people may resist obedience which are dependent on:
The huminisation of the person
The status of the authority
Social support
The distance of the authority figure

And you need to know why people may resist conformity which are dependent on:
The group size
Morals
Resistance of other peers
Simplicity of the task.
Private or public answer.

I can extend these points into more detail if you need it. There are other things you need to know too, like the locus of control and how minority influence is created

Reply 1902

spiritless98

I only know stress(not even properly)
And social psych
I need to do all the approaches

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Reply 1903

FluorescentM

Original post by m1503_

Do I have to remember all Johada's 6 criteria for abnormality? I was thinking to remember 3 of them :s-smilie:

Yeah we only need to know 3 with a brief description about them

Reply 1904

Thoth's World

Original post by cilla_e

Hi can you guys please give me some AO2 point for explanations to "conformity" please?

It helps explains mindless conformity and stop world's disasters such as the holocaust of Nazi Germany.
It is supported by research evidence.

The limitations
It is unethical - Most research is conducted by Milgram
Participants may have had demand characteristics

Don't know many more off the top of my head soz.

Reply 1905

jnenp

Original post by studentwiz

no, fight or flight only happens during acute stress and this happens in SAM.

For HPA (chronic stress)
- the stress is perceived by the hypothalamus which releases (CRF). This triggers the pituitary gland which secretes (ACTH). ACTH stimulates the adrenal cortex which releases stress hormones called cortisol and corticosteroids into the bloodstream. Cortisol enables the body to maintain a steady supply of glucose.

Adequate sugar levels help a person cope with prolonged stressor and helps the body return to normal state.

omg thank you!!

Reply 1906

Thoth's World

Can someone help me clarify the findings in my book.

According to my booklet on the research Solomon Acsche conducted there were 123 students who participated in the study. The participants were placed into groups of 7-9 other people and shown two large cards: one was a standard line, and one had three lines which differed in length named ABC. The participants were asked to choose the line which matched the standard line.

The other people in the group were stooges, they were instructed to answer 6/18 trials correct. Within the 12 incorrect trials 36.8% of the participants conformed.

This is the confusing part : 75% of the participants conformed once within the 12 trials.
25% of the participants never conformed during the trials? Is this 15%?

Asch concluded normative conformity ensued because the participants answered the questions wrong, although the correct answer was obvious. When they were interviewed at a later date the 123 participants said they feared being mocked by the group therefore the majority can influence the minority.

Reply 1907

Relish

does anyone by any chance have a link to a 12 mark model answer for the relationship between stress and the immune system or can anyone type the answer pls, or just give me a specific structure so i can expand the points.

Reply 1908

studentwiz

Can someone explain to me Ellis ABC cognitive model and give me an example please

Reply 1909

dottielottie

Original post by studentwiz

Can someone explain to me Ellis ABC cognitive model and give me an example please

The abc model stands for activating event, belief and then consequences. In activating event, something happens to trigger the irrational thinking such as a ferocious dog that scares you. If you make a rational belief you will think 'most dogs aren't like that'. However, you may think irrationally and think 'Every dog is ferocious and will attack me' leading to the consequence, abnormality like stress or chronic anxiety.

Hope that helps a bit :smile:

Reply 1910

studentwiz

Original post by dottielottie

thanks so much !!

Reply 1911

dottielottie

Original post by Relish

The main points I have:

Lymphocytes and phagocytes are types of white blood cells. When stressed the body releases hormones like corticosteroids which can result in us being more susceptible to stress related illness due to the corticosteroids lowering the number of white bloods cells within us. This is an immuno suppresive effect.

Kiecolt-Glaser et al (1984) seemingly proves this (google it, you'll find an outline)

Good things about good, good external validity as the exams were going to occur anyway.
Variables like other stressors in their life and alcohol intake weren't taken into account, the validity of the findings could be questioned.

Robles et al (2095) contradicts howeveer and finds chronic stress enhanced aspects of immune function.

Hope this helped

Reply 1912

Relish

Original post by dottielottie

thanks

Reply 1913

k.bryan4

Original post by cilla_e

Hi can you guys please give me some AO2 point for explanations to "conformity" please?

You don't evaluate conformity itself you evaluate studies into it, for example Asch carried out the study on conformity so you'd say something like: (these are only brief so you would want to elaborate on them some more)

Strength: He carried out a controlled condition. For example: Asch asked the naive pps to evaluate the line length by themselves to test if the experiment was unambiguous. Only 0.7 wrong answers given. Testing what it set out to so has high internal validity

Weakness: bias sample as 123 male students were used so lacks population validity

Weakness: ethical issues as pps were deceived into thinking they were paired with other pps and also that they were carrying out a task on the perception of line length. As they were deceived Ach could not have gained complete informed consent therefore concerns with the study

Reply 1914

k.bryan4

Original post by Troytheboy

Firstly, I thought he was paired with 5 confederates, making a group of 6 as the male in the experiment was the only naive pps taking part.

No you're right with the 75% conforming at least once and 25% never conforming, also if you wanted to add this in, 50% conformed on at least 6 of the crucial trials (the ones the confederates purposely got wrong)

Reply 1915

k.bryan4

Original post by Relish

I'd answer it like this.

Stress has the ability to lower the effectiveness of the immune system. For example: Kielcolt glazer carried out a study on first year medical students (49 male and 26 female) whose important exams were coming up. He took blood samples from the students a month before the exam and on the day of the exam. Their level of T-cells was measured. Also, a questionnaire was given to the students to evaluate their psychological state. Kiecolt-glazer found that the level of t-cells in the blood on the day of the exam was much lower than a month before. Also, those students who rated themselves as lonely and depressed had even less t-cells than those who didn't. This suggests that stress from important exams has the ability to lower the effectiveness of a human's immune system by reducing T-cell production meaning a person is more likely to get cancer.

Strength: natural experiment, stress occurs naturally from exams was not manipulated, high ecological validity

weakness: natural experiment so lack of control over extraneous variables such as age, personality etc, cannot determine cause and effect

weakness: bias sample only used medical students, could be more prone to stress than others, lacks population validity

if the question stated what has research SHOWN us about the link between stress and and the immune system, only findings and conclusions are credit worthy so then you would have to include other studies like:

marucha et al: discovered that the healing process is slowed down significantly by stress. For example on his 11 dental students, the time it took for the small wound on the inside of their mouth to heal 2-3 days before the exam was 40% (3 days) longer than in college vacation

Riley et al: discovered that lymphocyte production lowered with high stress. For example, mice which were put under high stress tasks went on to develop cancerous tumours but those in low stress did not

Russek et al: split doctors into high stress occupations (GPs) and low stress (dermatologists). Discovered that 11.9% of GPs went on to develop CHD but only 3.2 dermatologists went on to develop it

Hope this helps, sorry if it's a bit long but thought it would be better than you having to research it all

Reply 1916

k.bryan4

Original post by Eleonore

for psychological therapies do I need to learn each specific for each approach in details who do I learn it in general

It can come up as a question on its own for example: "Mia is suffering from .... explain how systematic de-sensitisation can help her"

and i have seen when they have asked you to evaluate just a single therapy, therefore I would learn them in detail, but only 6 points because the maximum A01 and A02 you're going to get is 6 each.

Reply 1917

faith7

Can any of the following be possible 12 mark questions?

1) Research into cardiovascular and psychiatric disorders
2) Explanations of why people obey
3) Explanations of why people conform

Reply 1918

k.bryan4

I've seen questions were it asks you to distinguish which person is type A and type B personality and then asks you why type A are more prone to stress related illness than type B

Is this because their SAM system is activated more frequently as even the smallest things cause them stress therefore, the body decides whether to act with a fight or flight response. The adrenal medullary is activated which releases noradrenalin and adrenalin. These hormones are key components that raise blood pressure, therefore putting strain on the heart and increasing the chance of cardiovascular disease, like CHD.

Also could you speak about how the HPA system is activated more meaning corticosteroids are released more (like cortisol) which suppresses the immune system making us more likely to get an illness?

Reply 1919

k.bryan4

Original post by faith7

Can any of the following be possible 12 mark questions?

1) Research into cardiovascular and psychiatric disorders
2) Explanations of why people obey
3) Explanations of why people conform

first one can't, I don't think that will be a question of any mark but the other two can be 12 markers