Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

AS psychology revision

Hi I was just wondering if anyone could help me to understand stress as a bodily response please

its all to do with the hypothalamus and pituitary gland- exams next mon.
would be very very very grateful!!!

it just wont stick in my head,need a way to remember it, would help if i understood it!

Thanx

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

HelenBrownsell

Hello

I cant be much help but I know a little bit as I did stress in AS level psychology a couple of years ago. I think the main focuses was on GAS (so thats the bodily responses and the stages it goes through), Homes and Rae Scale (life of life events and how stressful they are) and the biology of stress responses was also important. I had to know a bit about stress for my exam but it is all to do with the limbic system responses - including the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, adrenal gland and the hormones such as adrenaline, noradrenaline, ACTH, CRH and cortisol. I used a diagram to describe the connections between all the parts of the body and the hormones they use as well as the effects of the hormones. I think the easiest way is to break it down into a kind of family tree diagram. Start with the hypothalamus and split it into the pituitary gland and the adrenal gland (for example). Then split the adrenal gland into noradrenaline and adrenaline, and the pituitary gland has a branch called ACTH. Carry this on until you have the finished version. Have a go. If you get stuck, Ill try and give you some more clues as to what branch needs to be connected to another. Good luck!

Helen Brownsell

Reply 2

Jacquie

Hi. I'm in the middle of learning stress at AS level for exams in just over a week!
Helen's spot on - as usual.
I'm finding it better to remember it if you put it into it's real context rather than looking at it as a piece of work to learn. E.g. imagine yourself in a stressful situation - i.e just before you go into the exam! The first stage is your heartrate will increase, mouth go dry, pupils expand etc. this is your body getting ready to either 'fight or flee'! It then goes into resistance; maintaining this 'excited' stage - (I think of this as how you feel while you're doing the exam). Then it's the exhaustion stage - how you feel when you come out of the exam - knackered!
Once you've learned the biology part, the rest is fairly easy- coz you're experiencing it during the exam!
Hope this helps - and good luck!
(Fellow psy.exam sufferer!).

Reply 3

Unregistered

I have my Psychology exam next week too, and im having trouble finding past papers, other than the ones my college have given me. I was wondering if anyone has a link to a site where I can download some?

Also, is anyone else doing AQA(b)?

Thanks

Reply 4

HelenBrownsell

Hello

The only place I know to get past papers from is the AQA website (www.aqa.org.uk) but you cant download them. You have to send off for them and pay a little bit. If you have the Gross et al book on A new introduction to AS/A2 Psychology or something like that - it has practice questions at the end of each chapter which are similar to the ones you get in the exam. The Letts revision guides can also be handy to use for practice questions.

I did AQA(B) 2 years ago for psychology...I think. Is it the one where you just do one piece of coursework in the second year rather than the first and second year. Well I did that one. Why?

Helen Brownsell

Reply 5

Unregistered

i also have a as psychology exam on monday and need help finding past papers on the net....any idea?
Jemma

Reply 6

Unregistered

anone know any goof ways to revise psychology?..i find it all soo boring..xam next monday

goof= good..lol

i think im doing aqa, one piece of coursework second year, although we r doin straight after exams, http://www.coursework.info/i/13052.html, this site has tons of essays and coursework u can see and d/l. the essays r much the same as the 18 mark questions, so im just gunna read some and memorise them. GL every1 next monday whos doin as :smile:

Reply 9

Unregistered

you can download past papers from the AQA website, its www.aqa.org.uk then use 'search' and just type in 'past papers'!there's loads! good luck x

Reply 10

Unregistered

i have also got an examnxt monday an i am totally stuck. help?

Reply 11

Unregistered

its about the endocrine system it releases adrenaline into the system giving us energy to react to our fight or flight state if this is not used up then over prolonged period can cause ulsers. e-mail me for more help on [email protected]

Reply 12

Unregistered

what help do you need in psychology??? e-mail me for help or how to cram for the exam! [email protected]

Reply 13

Unregistered

can anyone help me on research methods eg null and alternative hypothesis etc

Reply 14

HelenBrownsell

Hello

What type of things do you need help on? Hypothesis, different types f experiment, experimental design, ethics? I cantry and explain some concepts if you give me some detail on the types of things that you are unsure of. With reference to your first question, the null hypothesis states that the independent variable is not affected by the dependent variable. For example, alcohol does not effect memory. Hypothesis (not null) can be one-tailed or two-tailed. One-tailed hypothesis state that their is a change in a specific change in the independent variable. For example, alcohol decreases memory. The two-tailed hypothesis suggests that the independent variable is affected by the dependent varibale but it doesnt state how it is affected. For example, alcohol affects memory recall. It does state whether memory is increased or decreased. Hope that helps.

Helen Brownsell

Reply 15

Unregistered

I also have my psychology exams on monday, and find it very hard and boring learning everything, anyone got any gd ways of doing last minute revision?

Reply 16

HelenBrownsell

Hello

It might be a good idea to try and do a couple of sort questions now and then as this will keep your mind ticking over the main ideas. The psychology link in the sticky "Forum guidelines and useful links" has multiple-choice questions which might be useful but they may also cover the odd thing that you havent covered. You could try to write down as much as you can on an area within a topic and then check how well you did. You can have breaks in between this task and that might help to get you motivated. Dont try to sit there for hours doing the same thing over and over again. We are only supposed to be able to consentrate for about 20mins so dont do hours of revision as you wont remember it. Just try doing short bursts with regular breaks in between. Also, try to get rid of distractions, such as music and tv. I always spend about 15 mins checking my emails before I start revision in order to waste time. I deleted all the games on my computer as well, as these occupied more time than the revision did. Give it a go. Good luck!

Reply 17

Unregistered

hi! i am just revising that right now and it's dead simple you just need to know how to go about it.

i had all my notes written out then instead of writting them in words i wrote them in pictures and i remembered them!

The 2 parallel effects of the alarm reaction: (this is one of them!)

1. The hypothalumus initaites the release of CRH
2. This stimulates the anterior pituitory gland to secrete another hormone called ATCH
3. ATCH acts on the adrenal cortex to stimulate the release of cortisol and other corticoid hormones
4. Cortisol released into the blood controls the amount of sugar level in the blood

Reply 18

Unregistered

Originally posted by rosie
its about the endocrine system it releases adrenaline into the system giving us energy to react to our fight or flight state if this is not used up then over prolonged period can cause ulsers. e-mail me for more help on [email protected]

HI IVE GOT MY PSYCHOLOGY AQA AS EXAM NXT MONDAY. IVE LEFT MOST OF MY REVISION AT THE LAST MINUTE, AS I HATE REVISING AND CANT CONCENTRATE. IVE GOT SO MUCH 2 CRAM IN. CUD ANYBODY TELL ME THE EASIEST WAY 2 LEARN A LOT OF NOTES. EMAIL ME AT [email protected]

Reply 19

Unregistered

my exam is 2moro and stress confuses, but this has helped, cheers