PILS Consultants Project
Final Report
Name
Linda Green
PILS Theme
Programme Mapping
Project Title
Seeking the As and Bs: Moving from description to critical evaluation in DSE212 (Exploring Psychology)
assignments A toolkit for students and associate lecturers
Full Project Report
Full project description and description of project outcomes
What was your initial rationale for your project?
How did you go about it?
What was your timeframe?
What did you find out / produce?
If you created a product – were you able to pilot your project? And what refinements did you make as a
result of this piloting?
1. Description and critical evaluation in DSE212 (Exploring Psychology)
A fundamental skill in psychology is the ability to understand and evaluate different perspectives, theories,
approaches, concepts and the evidence presented to support them.
DSE212 (Exploring Psychology) provides you with a stepped and progressive approach that supports you
to develop critical evaluation skills. The course module materials, the study guide, the audio visual
materials and the workbook all provide materials that will enable you to develop and practice your critical
evaluation skills. Your assignments together with your associate lecturer feedback will help you to develop
and improve your critical evaluation skills.
You will find, as you progress from DSE212 (Exploring Psychology) to your third level course modules you
will be expected to a more independent and critical learner. Gaining and practicing critical evaluation skills
within DSE212 (Exploring Psychology) will allow your associate lecturers to provide you with feedback
from which you can develop your skills and improve your grades. So don’t just look at your grade when
you get your assignments back, reflect on the comments as well.
In the DSE212 (Exploring Psychology) workbook you are introduced to and provided with materials to
support:
 active reading and critical engagement
 how to take notes that incorporate evaluation
 evaluating evidence within essays
 evaluating what the key words are in essay titles.
This toolkit focuses on critical evaluation in relation to your assignments within DSE212 (Exploring
Psychology). It will take you through the essays and assignment requirements and provide you with
activities to help you develop and practice your critical thinking skills. These will allow you to critically
evaluate and use this skill in your essays and project work, not only within DSE212 (Exploring Psychology)
but also in your subsequent course modules whether they are at the same or higher levels.
Before we begin have a go at assessing your own critical thinking skills now.
Activity 1: Are you a critical thinker?
Use your critical evaluation skills to assess whether you are a critical thinker in every day life.
For each of the questions, Tick the Box, that best describes the type of person you are :
Critical evaluation and everyday life
Questions
Almost
always
Sometimes
Almost
never
I am curious about things
I do not take things at face value but like to examine and question them
I relate ideas to my previous knowledge, experience and wider contexts
People might describe me as opinionated but I can always give reasons
for my opinion
I like to be innovative and creative
I like to evaluate all sides of an argument
I don’t like it when people make statements and give opinions without
having evidence to support what they are saying
I like to reflect on things before, during and particularly after the event
When other things occur that are related to what I have been doing I’ll
think, and sometime talk about how they connect
Which columns did you tick for which question? Was there a pattern to your responses? Have a look at
the feedback for this activity in the Appendix.
2. The critical thinking staircase
At the core of description and critical evaluation is the ability to think critically. You have just had a go at
assessing your critical thinking skills in everyday life.
There are a number of skills and processes involved in critical thinking and these have been captured
within the Critical Thinking Staircase below.
You will find that some of the skills are ‘harder’ than others. They require you to:

move you away from simply describing the content of the learning materials

evaluate the content
 examine other ways in which the materials may be viewed.
The different skills can be seen within the Critical Thinking Staircase. The blue stairs relate to your skills
involved in processes involved in working with your course module materials and the green stairs when
apply your critical thinking skills in assignments and projects.
Use your critical thinking skills now and have a go at the Activity 2 to see if you can match the words to
their descriptors
Innovate
Extrapolate
Apply
Evaluate
Synthesise
Compare
Analyse
Understand
Process
A
Assess the worth of the information in terms of its strengths, weaknesses, evidence base
and its relationship to other knowledge, information and experiences
B
Bring together the different strands of information and make logical connections between
the information
C
Comprehend the key points, assumptions, argument and evidence presented
D
Explore the similarities, differences and relationships with your own and the knowledge,
information and experiences of others
E
Identify new and different ways in which the subject matter could be explored and taken
forward
F
Identify the key components of the information and examine how they fit together and relate
to each other
G
Take in the information (i.e. in what you have read, heard, seen or touched)
H
Use critical thinking to develop arguments, draw conclusions, make inferences and identify
implications
I
Use the information in a similar or different context or in response to a question, assignment
or project
3. How tutor marked assignments in DSE212 (Exploring Psychology) are graded
Your assignments in DSE212 (Exploring Psychology) will be graded on a 17 point scale and it has been
agreed that this grading scheme will be adopted by all the core psychology course modules.
1. X (0): no answer
2. Grade G (12): fail
3. Grade F (22 F-; 32 F; 37 F+) a bare fail
4. Grade D (42 D-; 47 D; 52 D+) a pass grade which just meets the tutor marked assignment
requirements
5. Grade C (most common grade 57 C-; 62 C; 67 C+) a clear pass which meets tutor marked
assignments requirements but is primarily descriptive and does not show much evidence of your own
thoughts and ability to analyse issues
6. Grade B (72 B-; 77 B; 82 B+) a good pass that:

is well written and organised

demonstrates a good understanding of the course module materials

focuses on the question

includes well chosen examples and references

shows evidence of an argument being developed

contains evidence of analytical thinking about key issues (e.g. references to commentaries in book
1)
7. Grade A (88 A-; 93 A; A+ 98) an excellent assignment that:
 provides a clearly and concisely expressed answer that is relevant to the topic of the question
 shows an excellent understanding of issues
 has applied and synthesised broader issues from the course module
 provides arguments that are well structured, logically developed and are supported by evidence
 shows some originality of thought and an ability to be critical about evidence/ methods theories /
perspectives.
4. Some do’s and don’ts for assignment writing
The DSE212 (Exploring Psychology) workbook has a study week devoted to constructing essays and you
will be able to try some of the activities set within that week.
Box 1 highlights some dos and don’ts which need to be considered when writing your assignments. They
are all important when evaluating:
 what the question means
 what to put in the answer and what to leave out
 where materials are complementary (provide explanations which complement each other); conflict
(provide explanations that do not agree) and co-exist (provide alternative explanations that ‘live
together’)
 what type of evidence can be used to support your claims
 how and where to use evidence
 which terms to use and how to describe them
 how to select appropriate examples and what these should be in terms of the assignment
 how to balance any claims you may make
 how to draw conclusions from the content of the assignment.
BOX 1: Some dos and don’ts in assignment writing

DO:
make sure that you are answering the question – keep referring back to the question – in exams
as well!!
use terms precisely and define specialised or technical terms – either in your own words or
‘quoted’ using the words of the theorist – remember your associate lecturer needs to know that
you understand the terms you are using
write your assignment as though it is for another student studying your course module,
remembering that not all students get As and Bs
be selective when using examples, make sure they are relevant to the question and fit in with
your argument. Remember being selective doesn’t just mean less in number, it mean analysing
which are the most appropriate to your assignment.
remember the word limit remember, associate lecturers are told not to read more that a few lines
beyond the prescribed length. It is useful to keep counting your words and thinking about how
much more you need to write to answer the question
reference materials correctly both within and at the end of your assignment
make sure any ‘claims’ you are making about perspectives, theories, approaches, methods and
or concepts are clearly presented
try to produce arguments from all sides, you can conclude stating that one position is stronger
than another, and why you consider this to be so
use psychological evidence or logical reasoning (based on psychological evidence) to support
any claims you make
try to draw on wider material within the course module, e.g. the green pages




DON’T
use whole chunks from any source without referencing it properly this will be plagiarism
just give a list of facts you must show that you understand what you are saying
just describe a theory – attempt to analyse what it means
give lengthy accounts of personal experiences.









Finally, remember is it is not the final view you adopt that is important it is:
 the quality of your arguments
 backed up with relevant evidence
 well organised and structured in your essay
 expressed clearly.
5. Getting to grips with the terms
As we mentioned before, your early assignments in DSE212 (Exploring Psychology) are less demanding in
terms of critical evaluation skills. You may be asked to outline, identify, explain and/or describe theories,
approaches or methods used within the first few Chapters of Mapping psychology 1. These seem simple
enough terms, but remember there are different levels of description.
The marking scheme in Section 3 has two parts:
1. being able to structure and communicate your ideas in a coherent way
2. relates to levels of description, evaluation and inference.
(2) provides the focus for this toolkit.

For D grades you need to provide basic description that meets the needs of the question

For C grades you need to provide a good descriptive account with some analysis

For B grades you need to provide evidence of an argument being developed, analytical thinking
about and critical evaluation of key issues

For A grades you need to provide evidence of critical and independent thought.
These have been captured in the BACEI model.
The BACEI model to good grades
(Basic, Analytical, Comparative, Evaluative, Inferential)
Inferential
description
Draws out inferences
that go beyond the
information presented
identifying new ideas, issues,
implications in relation to the
original material presented
Evaluative description
Evaluates the required content identifying
the relative value of the different components
that underpin the question
Comparative description
Uses evidence from the different components required
by the question and compares and describes their
similarities and differences
Analytical description
Analyses the main content, thinking about the parts and how each
fits together to make the whole
Basic description
Describes accurately the main content required for each component required by
the question
Activity 3:
The five paragraphs in Box 2 (page 8) have been written in response to the question:
‘Psychological theories of identity aim to define identity and to explain the processes that produce
it’. Describe two of these theories and, using examples, highlight the methods they use to
underpin their theories.
Activity 3A: Use your critical evaluation skills to analyse and evaluate the requirements of the question.
Note down the things you would need to address in the essay and how you might use the higher levels of
description. Then check your analysis with ours in the appendix.
Activity 3B: Read the extracts in Box 2 (page 8), from an essay written in response to the
question. Use your practical evaluation skills, to tick the different levels of description (remember
there may be more than one in a paragraph) and the grade you appropriate to each paragraph.
Then compare your ticks and grade with ours in the Appendix
Two things to remember:
1. As the gestalt theorists say (Chapter 6 in Mapping Psychology 1, Book 2) ‘the whole is more
than the sum of the parts’; associate lecturers will not be grading on particular paragraphs
but on the entire essay.
2. Critical evaluation might be evidenced based but is not an exact science. It depends
on your justification and the evidence you use to support this. Do your ticks agree
with ours? If not, why not!*
6. Project work and critical evaluation
In your qualitative and quantitative research projects you’ll develop, analyse and evaluate evidence
underpinning the theories and research associated with your hypothesis or research question. You’ll then
have to interpret the results/findings/analysis from your own research and evaluate:
 whether and how they supported the research cited in your introduction
 whether and how they supported your hypothesis or research question
 whether and how you could have done things better or changed things
 whether and how your results could link to any applied issues
 any further research that would be relevant for you could to conduct
 how any further study be conducted - the same methods? different methods? more than one
method?
 whether the research raised any ethical issues, what these were and how/whether they could be
overcome in future research
In addition, in your qualitative research report you’ll have reflected on, and evaluated your own role in the
research process.
If you have already completed either of your research reports, look at your discussion. Did you cover all of
the above points? If you have not yet completed a research report check that you have covered the above
in discussion when you do.
7. Learning from associate lecturer feedback
1. Two theories that seek to explain the processes that produce identity
are Psychosocial and Social Identity Theory. They view identity from
different perspectives, Psychosocial focusing on personal and social
factors and Social Identity Theory focusing on social groups. They
can be seen to be complementary in some ways and conflicting in
others. Each use different methods to underpin their theories.
2. The psychosocial theory of identity acknowledges the interplay
between social and personal factors on identity development. These
act as a ‘bridge’ between our central or core identity and the social
situation. Identity development from a psychosocial perspective is
lifelong involving a series of crisis resolutions that allow individuals to
move from of one of Erikson’s eight developmental stages to
another.
3. Social Identify Theory (SIT) focuses on the social identity of
individuals. It proposes that we self categorise ourselves into
particular groups. Individuals and groups, within this theory, seek to
improve their status through social mobility, social creativity and
social competition. Ingroup similarities and outgroup differences are
emphasised and lead, according to SIT, to discrimination and
prejudice.
Grade
Inferential
Evaluative
Analytical
Basic
BOX 2
Comparative
An essential part of your Open University tuition is through your associate lecturer’s feedback. Your
associate lecturers will be aware of the overall marking scheme and will mark according to, and give
feedback based on, the guidelines that you and they have been given for particular assignments.
Higher grades whatever the level will demand the use of critical evaluation skills and your associate
lecturer’s feedback should demonstrate, not only by the grade but also through their comments, any areas
you need to improve on.
Often this relates the use and evidence of critical thinking/evaluation (or the lack of it) in your assignments.
4. Different methods are used to underpin psychosocial and Social
Identity theory. Underpinning psychosocial theory, Erikson used
clinical and naturalistic observation and biographies of famous men
(as cited in Phoenix, 2007, p53) and Marcia developed semi
structured interviews to support the work of Erikson (as cited in
Phoenix, 2007, p57). Whereas Tajfel used minimal group
experiments carried out in laboratories to underpin Social Identity
Theory (as cited in Phoenix, 2007, p62). To address some of the
issues of using laboratory experiments Elliot used naturalistic
experiments in her ‘class divided’ investigations. All methods,
however, have limitations. Experiments, even those in naturalistic
settings are not completely natural, therefore it may be useful to
develop a naturalistic observational study, focusing on in group and
out group interactions. The ‘class divided’ experiment raised ethical
issues because of the potential distress and longer term effects it
may have had on the children. Clinical and naturalistic observations,
could have been influenced by the context in which they were
studied and the people being studied. For example, much of
Erikson’s clinical work was with veterans of the Second World War.
Perhaps a longitudinal study could be carried out with people who
are not in a clinical situation to establish whether the development
levels are appropriate today.
5. This essay covered only two of the three theories described in
DSE212 (Exploring Psychology). Social constructionism provides an
alternative explanation and uses different methods from which to
draw its conclusions. Social constructionism considers that multiple
identities are constructed from everyday discourse. It could usefully
be considered alongside the other two theories covered in this essay
to provide different ideas about how our identities develop.
Reference
Phoenix, A. (2007) Identities and diversities. In D. Meill, A. Phoenix, & K. Thomas (Eds.), Mapping
psychology (2nd ed., pp. 43-95). Milton Keynes:The Open University
Your associate lecturer may say in his/her feedback ‘you described well…. but you need to:

analyse the differences, similarities…

compare and contrast the approaches….

show how your ideas link to the different approaches….

look at similarities and differences…

provide evidence to support your assumptions…
These types of comments indicate that you think more critically about the content in your answer.
Your associate lecturer will most probably write notes around your essay. They could highlight where and
how you could use your critical evaluation skills.
They may also indicate where you need to think about what you include, and how much explanation you
give e.g.

‘Why’ can indicate that you have not provided sufficient evidence support your comment. This
might refer to your description, analysis, comparison, evaluation or when you make a claim to
substantiate an inference you have drawn

‘Explain’ can show that either the statement is not clear or that you may need to add more
information to substantiate or clarify the point you are making.
Tip:
For every paragraph ask yourself: ‘How does it answer the question?” If it doesn’t
delete it.
Reflect on the outcomes
An essential part of critical evaluation is self reflection. When you write assignments, projects or in
examination questions, think about your own role in the process. Were you objective? Have you shown
any biases or preferences? When you receive an assignment back don’t just look at the grade, think
about:

What your associate lecturer said about your work that relates to your critical thinking/evaluation
skills

Whether you described rather than analysed and evaluated

Whether you built a convincing argument
 What your associate lecturer said that you could build on when thinking about future assignments.
If you do not understand your associate lecturer’s comments – ask your associate lecturer to explain them
further.
Have a go at Activity 4 overleaf, use your critical evaluation skills to examine whether you use your
associate lecturer feedback effectively.
Activity 4: How do you use associate lecturer feedback?
For each of the questions, Tick the Box, that best describes what you do when you receive an
assignment back
Associate Lecturer feedback
Questions
Do you take a deep breath, whatever the mark, and then work
systematically through the feedback?
Do you ‘pause for thought’ regularly, and reflect on the feedback
thinking how you can improve your grades next time?
When you get comments such as ‘explain further’ do you think
about how you could have explained it further?
When you get comment such as ‘why’ do you think about what
you could have put in the assignment to address the why?
Do you find yourself querying the feedback in relation to your
ideas?
If you not agree with some of the claims that your associate
lecturer has made do you reflect on them, trying to examine the
feedback from your associate lecturer’s (and the question’s)
viewpoint?
Do you compare your comments with the comments you received
for previous assignments to see if you have improved?
Do you analyse and evaluate the feedback?
Do you go back and look at the feedback again to ensure you
understand it and can use it to improve future work?
When your associate lecturer wants you to explain something
further and you have used up all your words, do you think about
what you could have omitted to allow you to include an
explanation?
Almost
always
Sometimes
Almost
never
8. Moving from description to critical evaluation
The assignments at the beginning of DSE212 (Exploring Psychology) focus on levels of description. Many
of you will have developed an argument in response to the questions and this, together with accurate
description and a clear, concise and coherent structure will gain you the high grades.
Later in DSE212 (Exploring Psychology) you will be expected to take a stance on a particular topic and
develop an argument drawn from the evidence in the course module readers.
Developing an argument
Questions that ask you to develop an argument start with words such as:

Discuss….

Compare and contrast…..

Evaluate the claims……

To what extent……..

Assess the value of ……….. to our understanding…….
They all require you to take a stance on the topic. To be able to do this you need to critically evaluate the
materials. Your ‘stance’ and the claims you make within your argument need to be based firmly on
evidence related to the question and its component parts. Even if you introduce new ideas you need to
have drawn them logically from the course module material. The reader must be able to see what
evidence your ideas have been based on, and how valid they are in relation to the arguments and claims
you present. You need to show:

which theory or theories, approaches, methods or concepts (whatever is relevant to your question)
underpin your claims

the evidence from the theories, approaches, methods or concepts that support your claims

any facts related to the original materials (and sometimes from other sources, especially at the
higher levels of study were you are expected to think independently) that support your claim

how you analysed and evaluated the theories etc., to come to your conclusions

the steps in your thought processes

how the different parts of your argument fit together to make a cohesive whole

that your argument is balanced rather than just taking a stance from one point of view.
You need to ask yourself:

Is there enough evidence to support my claims?

Do I need to rethink, or tone down my argument?
You need to make sure that you write your argument up as an argument not just as your opinion.
The types of things you would want to ask, for example, to build an argument in response to a
perspectives question are:

Are you confident about the perspective(s), some or all of the theories, approaches, and methods?

Are there any ethical considerations related to the perspective(s) and/or the research underpinning
the perspective?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using the differing perspectives?

Which viewpoint do they use (insider/outsider viewpoint etc,) and what are the advantages and
disadvantages of these?

How are they similar (complement each other)?

How do they differ (conflict)?

Do/can they ‘live together’ to further our understanding of a particular psychological topic (coexist)?
Activity 5
Examine the following statements and use your evaluatory skills to match the statements to the
terms you think are the most appropriate.
Statement
It is clear that learning can occur by conditioning i.e. that in response to given
stimuli, through stages of continuous and then intermittent reinforcement of
the behaviour, learning to do a particular task can ensue. This is the basis
operant conditioning and is fundamental to the behaviourist’s perspective.
Term
Different perspectives in learning can be seen to “offer different insights into
the diverse processes of learning’ i.e. the live quite happily together offering
alternative explanations
‘Behaviourists use experiments to explain behaviour, whereas cognitive
psychologists use experiments and their findings make inferences about
mental processes’
Biological psychologists use a predominantly ‘outsider viewpoint’ but recent
neuroimaging techniques have allowed ‘insider viewpoints’ when the
researchers ask questions about their experiences as they record brain
activity. Together these may give a more holistic view of the biological
processes that underpin behaviour. The advances in neuroimaging
techniques over the past ten years have revealed some interesting insights
into the biological bases for behaviour and different neurological conditions.
In the future as the techniques improve further it may be possible to redefine
many psychological problems in terms of their biological bases.
A biological psychologist may ask questions about depression from a
biological point of view (genetic inheritance, structure of synapses, about
neurotransmitters). On the other hand social psychologists might study a
person’s recent life events, social networks and relationships. Both
perspectives can provide useful findings at different levels of analysis but they
could result in treatments that could be used together, e.g. antidepressants
and psychological counselling
The behaviourist perspective does not take account of the mental processes
that cognitive psychologists focus on
Terms: Co-existing; Analysis; Inference; Comparative; Conflicting; Complementary
Thinking about essays that demand an ‘argument’
In DSE212 (Exploring Psychology) you will come across essays that demand you to critically evaluate the
evidence throughout your assignments and in your examination. These will involve questions relating to
the content of individual chapters or give you a free choice to select from one or two chapters or examples
from Chapters. Below are three questions that relate to theories of perception (Chapter 6, Book 1), select
1 and discuss what your group would include in the answer.
Question 1:
To what extent can perception be understood from a ‘phenomenological’
perspective?
Question 2:
Discuss the assertion that perception is actively constructed
Question 3:
Different perspectives can be seen to complement each other. Draw on two
Chapters in Book 2 to illustrate this.
Box 3 on page 12 might help you to Organize your thoughts.
Box 3
Stance
Claims
Levels of
analysis
Ethics
Introduction
Key point 1
Key point 2
Key point 3
Key point 4
Conclusion
Content
Evidence
Glossary
Analyse
Identify the key components of the information and examine how they fit together and
relate to each other
Apply
Use the information in a similar or different context or in response to a question,
assignment or project
Claims
Ideas that are used to support an argument, these should be based on and derived
from evidence that can be clearly stated and referenced
Co-exist
Where particular perspectives, theories and methods on a particular topic, have not
point of contact, they neither conflict nor complement each other i.e. they provide
alternative explanations that ‘live together’
Cognitive
Processes that take place in the brain
Compare
Explore the similarities, differences and relationships with your own and the
knowledge, information and experiences of others
Complement
Where contrasting claims are mutually compatible and can be accommodated within a
common explanatory framework i.e. they provide explanations which complement
each other
Conflict
Where conflicting claims from different perspectives, theories and methods are
mutually exclusive and cannot be resolve i.e. they disagree
Description
An explanation of the key points, assumptions, argument and evidence presented
Epistemology Knowledge about the way in which different psychologists try to understand or explain
people and their behaviour and experience. It is related to the questions that are
asked, the methods that are used, the sort of evidence that is examined and the
criteria used to evaluate explanations
Evidence
The data, facts, studies etc used to support the information presented.
Evaluate
Assess the worth of the information in terms of its strengths, weaknesses, evidence
base and its relationship to other knowledge, information and experiences
Extrapolate
Use critical thinking to develop arguments, draw conclusions, make inferences and
identify implications
Implications
The effect and issues arising out of the original topic of study in relation to other topics
and areas of study
Inferences
To go beyond the information presented identifying new ideas, issues, and implications
in relation to the original information. These should be based on evidence and/or on
logic propositions developed from the original materials
Innovate
Identify new and different ways in which the content of the learning materials can be
explored and taken forward
Interpret
Drawing together of conclusions based on the information provided
Justify
Valid and evidenced information provided to support what you are saying
Notes
Summary of the information presented, those that involve critical thinking are notes
that analyse the materials, group them together as a whole, link them to other areas of
study and include your own ideas with the evidence to support these
Paradigm
Philosophical framework made up of assumptions about the subject matter and the
ways it should be studied. In DSE212 (Exploring Psychology) the ‘doing’ of
psychology within a given paradigm is called a perspective
Perspective
A style of psychological explanation that are affected by historical tradition that
underpins their ideas and methods
Process
Take in the information (i.e. in what you have read, heard, seen or touched)
Reasoned
arguments
Arguments where the claims, reasoning, rationale and evidence to support the
propositions being made are clear
Synthesise
The drawing together different strands of information and making logical connections
between the information
Think more
deeply
Thinking that involves you interacting with the information in ways that develop your
understanding of the subject; enable you to relate new knowledge, ideas and concepts
to previous knowledge, ideas and experience; examine and relate evidence to
conclusions you may draw and to better examine the logic of any arguments put
forward
Thinking
skills
A set of skills that enable you to process and make connections between information
Understand
Comprehend the key points, assumptions, argument and evidence presented
Answers and feedback on Activities
Activity 1
Mainly almost always: Well done, you are obviously a critical thinker, practice these skills and apply
them to you studies and you’ll do well
Other combinations: Most people have a combination of these skills. Work through some of the critical
thinking learning objects on the Open University’s Skills for Study website and you’ll most probably be
surprised about the critical thinking skills you possess
Mostly almost never: You might want to have a go at using some of the skills identified in the questions
and try to use them in your daily life, but especially relate them to you studies.
Activity 2
Identify new and different ways in which the
Innovate subject matter could be explored and taken
forward
Extrapolate
Apply
Use critical thinking to develop arguments, draw
conclusions, make inferences and identify implications
Use the information in a similar or different context or in
response to a question, assignment or project
Assess the worth of the information in terms of its strengths,
Evaluate weaknesses, evidence base and its relationship to other
knowledge, information and experiences
Synthesise
Compare
Bring together the different strands of information and make logical
connections between the information
Explore the similarities, differences and relationships with your own and the
knowledge, information and experiences of others
Identify the key components of the information and examine how they fit together
and relate to each other
Comprehend the key points, assumptions, argument and evidence presented
Analyse
Understand
Process
Take in the information (i.e. in what you have read, heard, seen or touched)
Activity 3
Question:
‘Psychological theories of identity aim to define identity and to explain the processes that produce
it’. Describe two of these theories and, using examples, highlight the methods they use to
underpin their theories.
Activity 3a
The question is about identity (so it would be useful to define identity). DSE212 (Exploring Psychology)
covers three theories and their methods (need to select 2).
Psychosocial
Social Identity
Theory
Social
Constuctionism
Lifelong development (8 stages)
Core identity developed through normative crises
at end of each stage
Takes account of social and person (but treats as
two separate systems)
Adolescence (moratorium stage important)
We self-categorize ourselves as belonging to social
groups
Importance of social identities
Individuals try to improve their status through group
social mobility, social creativity and social
competition
Groups treated as individuals
We have multiple identities that are constructed
through everyday interaction
No distinction between social and personal
identities
Identities created in social contexts
May neglect the experience of a ‘stable identity’
Semi-structure interviews
(Marcia)
Clinical and naturalistic
observations, biographies
(Erikson)
Minimal group quasi
experiments (Tajfel and
Elliot)
Discourse analysis (Hall)
2. The psychosocial theory of identity acknowledges the interplay
between social and personal factors on identity development. These
act as a ‘bridge’ between our central or core identity and the social
situation. Identity development from a psychosocial perspective is
lifelong involving a series of crisis resolutions that allow individuals to
move from of one of Erikson’s eight developmental stages to another.
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Evaluative
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Grade
Comparative
1. Two theories that seek to explain the processes that produce identity
are Psychosocial and Social Identity Theory. They view identity from
different perspectives, Psychosocial focusing on personal and social
factors and Social Identity Theory focusing on social groups. They
can be seen to be complementary in some ways and conflicting in
others. Each use different methods to underpin their theories.
Analytical
Basic
BOX 2
Inferential
Activity 3b
You may have ticked and graded the paragraphs the same as in Box 2. If not have a look again at where
your ticks don’t match ours and evaluate why
yours are different. You may still disagree with us.
Remember it’s a matter of judgment and evidence; you might be able to argue for your responses just as
we could if we were debating the issue with you.
B
C
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4. Different methods are used to underpin psychosocial and Social
Identity theory. Underpinning psychosocial theory, Erikson used
clinical and naturalistic observation and biographies of famous men
(as cited in Phoenix, 2007, p53) and Marcia developed semi
structured interviews to support the work of Erikson (as cited in
Phoenix, 2007, p57). Whereas Tajfel used minimal group
experiments carried out in laboratories to underpin Social Identity
Theory (as cited in Phoenix, 2007, p62). To address some of the
issues of using laboratory experiments Elliot used naturalistic
experiments in her ‘class divided’ investigations. All methods,
however, have limitations. Experiments, even those in naturalistic
settings are not completely natural, therefore it may be useful to
develop a naturalistic observational study, focusing on in group and
out group interactions. The ‘class divided’ experiment raised ethical
issues because of the potential distress and longer term effects it may
have had on the children. Clinical and naturalistic observations, could
have been influenced by the context in which they were studied and
the people being studied. For example, much of Erikson’s clinical
work was with veterans of the Second World War. Perhaps a
longitudinal study could be carried out with people who are not in a
clinical situation to establish whether the development levels are
appropriate today.
√
5. This essay covered only two of the three theories described in
DSE212 (Exploring Psychology). Social constructionism provides an
alternative explanation and uses different methods from which to
draw its conclusions. Social constructionism considers that multiple
identities are constructed from everyday discourse. It could usefully
be considered alongside the other two theories covered in this essay
to provide different ideas about how our identities develop.
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3. Social Identify Theory (SIT) focuses on the social identity of
individuals. It proposes that we self categorise ourselves into
particular groups. Individuals and groups, within this theory, seek to
improve their status through social mobility, social creativity and
social competition. Ingroup similarities and outgroup differences are
emphasised and lead, according to SIT, to discrimination and
prejudice.
C
√
A
B
Reference
Phoenix, A. (2007) Identities and diversities. In D. Meill, A. Phoenix, & K. Thomas (Eds.), Mapping
psychology (2nd ed., pp. 43-95). Milton Keynes: The Open University
Activity 4
Mainly almost always: Well done, you are obviously thinking critically and reflecting well on the feedback
your associate lecturer gives. Using the critical thinking skills that underpin the questions should help you
to develop your critical thinking skills and to improve your assignments
Other combinations: Most of you will have ticked a combination. The questions contain important
strategies to help you use your associate lecturer feedback to improve your grades. Have a look at the
ones that you clicked almost never for and next time you receive associate lecturer feedback
Mostly almost never: You might want to have a go at using some of the skills identified in the questions
the next time you receive feedback from your associate lecturer
You might also want to print the questions off and pin them up on the wall as a reminder of the skills to
practice when you are working with other students.
Activity 5
Statement
Term
It is clear that learning can occur by conditioning i.e. that in response to given
stimuli, through stages of continuous and then intermittent reinforcement of
the behaviour, learning to do a particular task can ensue. This is the basis
operant conditioning and is fundamental to the behaviourist’s perspective.
Analysis
Different perspectives in learning can be seen to “offer different insights into
the diverse processes of learning’ i.e. they live quite happily together offering
alternative explanations
Co-existing
‘Behaviourists use experiments to explain behaviour, whereas cognitive
psychologists use experiments and their findings make inferences about
mental processes’
Comparative
Biological psychologists use a predominantly ‘outsider viewpoint’ but recent
neuro imaging techniques have allowed ‘insider viewpoints’ when the
researchers ask questions about their experiences as they record brain
activity. Together these may give a more holistic view of the biological
processes that underpin behaviour. There is evidence that in the future as
neuroimaging techniques improve it may be possible to redefine many
psychological problems in terms of their biological bases.
Inference
A biological psychologist may ask questions about depression from a
biological point of view (genetic inheritance, structure of synapses, about
neurotransmitters). On the other hand social psychologists might study a
person’s recent life events, social networks and relationships. Both
perspectives can provide useful findings at different levels of analysis but they
could result in treatments that could be used together, e.g. antidepressants
and psychological counselling
Complementary
The behaviourist perspective does not take account of the mental processes
that the cognitive psychologists focus on
Conflicting