June 10 – unit 2
Stress
1a. That men are more likely to use the problem focused approach to coping with stress and
women are more likely to use emotion- focused – similar to their natural tend and befriend
response.
1b. Uses retrospective recall when asking participants which they prefer to use, which can be
unreliable – could counteract by asking them to keep a diary on which ones they do use over
a period of time.
1c. Looking into researching different ways to change the stressful event e.g. if in stressful
debt – arranging a plan to pay back the money as you can to make it less intimidating and
stressful and put yourself in control.
2a. Harry
Type A’s have a constant sense of time urgency and are highly strung meaning they’re more
easily stressed. They’re also hostile and likely to be angry more than type B’s and anger has
been found to have links to stress. You’re 2.5 times more likely to have cardiovascular
problems if you are prone to anger as shown in the study by Williams. Therefore type A’s are
more likely to get cardiovascular problems. Friedman and Williams also found your 50x more
likely to have a heart attack if you are type A.
2b. Questionnaire, where they rely on participants to rate themselves. Questions such as “do
you have a sense of time urgency” to indicate their type.
3. It has been found that chronic stress is detrimental to the immune system. The prolonged
release of cortisol reduces immune system activity, and cortisol is released as stress defence
mechanism. This is adaptive if the required response is fight or flight but maladaptive for
most modern day stressors. Acute stress has also been found to be detrimental . kielcot and
Glaser measured the link between stress and the immune system by measuring NK cell
activity in students a month before exams and again during exams (around the time of acute
stress) and found significantly lower figures during, showing that illness has an adverse affect
on immune system. This conclusion is supported with research by Manucha who inflicted
punch biopsies in the mouths of students during exam period and again during summer
holidays. He found that the wounds took 40% longer to heal during exams – showing a
lowered immune system. However, both of these studies use students so the findings can’t
be generalised to the whole population. Conflicting research has found that acute stress can
actually enhance the immune system. Evans measured sig A (immune system activity) in
students during exam period (classed by Evans as chronic stress) and when giving a
presentation to peers (acute stress). He found that levels of sig A fell significantly during
chronic but he also found that levels during acute stress rose. This is supported by a meta –
analysis by Sergerstrom and Miller who also found that chronic stress weakens the immune
system but acute stress boosts it.
However, none of these studies take individual differences into account. Taylor found
differences in coping responses to stress between men and women. These were caused by
physical levels of the hormone Oestrogen in the body, which is a natural stress defence and is
shown to reduce anxiety and stress and therefore relieve the immune system. Female
hormones were shown to amplify this affect but male hormones were shown to reduce it.
This means that men are more vulnerable to the effects of stress than women are, and thus
the findings of these studies can’t be generalised. People are much more likely to get illnesses
when their immune systems are hindered as there is no way for the body to kill the infected,
destructive antigens.
Question
1a
1b
1c
2a
2b
3
AO1
AO2
Mark
2
0
2
4
2
6
4
Social
4a. Ethical issue 1 Deception – participants were led to believe it was an experiment on how
punishment affects learning.
Ethical issue 2
Right to withdraw – participants were pressured by the examiner to carry on
4b. Deception – a full and in depth debriefing would be necessary to put the participants
minds at ease and try to reverse any harm they put them through
5. Minority influence – a small amount of people began to go against the majority suggesting
that smoking should be banned. They were more powerful than the majority because you
have to believe in something to go against the majority so it made people stop and think.
(conversion theory) when the majority started losing their control, the satisfaction decreased
and the desire to join the majority grew. Eventually the minority became a majority and
forced social change. – in this case the banning of smoking in public places.
6. People with an internal locus of control believe that they’re in control of their own lives.
They’re much more likely to actively seek information that is of relevance to themselves and
are therefore, much less likely to depend on other peoples information – showing a much
more independent attitude e.g. Alan Sugar who has shown fiercely independent behaviour
through his career, due to his internal locus of control. They don’t believe that their lives are
controlled by fate so try to determine their own paths rather than thinking they should follow
someone else –Independent.
7. A The deepest level of conformity
C The beliefs of the group become part of the individual’s own belief system
8. Normative Social Influence is when people go along with the majority even though they
don’t agree (compliance) Research to support this has found that groups with low
interpersonal friendships can be manipulated by a skilful bully so victimisation of another
child becomes a common focus for them all. This includes in group minorities. More
supporting research has found that people are more likely to agree publically with the in
group (to gain their approval) though agreeing privately with the out group. Another
explanation is informative social influence where people conform because they genuinely
believe it to be the right thing to do. This is most likely when the right course of action is
unclear, situation is a crisis or when we believe others to be experts. Supporting research
comes from a study by Witten Brink and Henly who exposed participants to negative views
about an African American target (that they were led to believe was the majority opinion)
they found that most participants later went on to express negative personal views about a
black target
Question
4a
4b
5
6
7
8
AO1
AO2
Mark
4
1
4
1
2
3
3
Individual Differences
9a. Definition one. Deviation from ideal mental health. If you don’t have positive mental
health you are abnormal. According to Jahoda, this includes being independent, having the
ability to deal with stressful situations and fulfil tour potential, having confidence and having
a sense of reality.
Definition 2. Deviation from social norm. In any society there are standards of ‘acceptable’
behaviour. It is expected that ‘normal’ people will follow these rules.
9b Deviation from social norm. Era dependent. Some things that are acceptable now weren’t
acceptable 100 years ago. E.g. homosexuality used to be considered a form of mental illness
but is now considered as normal.
10a. Mental illness isn’t the effect of physical changes but of unresolved conflicts between
the id, ego and superego. Unresolved conflicts cause mental illness through over use of ego
defences. Early childhood experiences get repressed and later lead to mental illnesses.
Unconscious motivations control our behaviour and lead to mental illnesses if they are
restricted.
10b. Only behaviour is important. All abnormal behaviour is learned through classical
conditioning and social learning. Learning envioronments reinforce problematic behaviour
e.g. at the start of illness, people may compliment anorexics on how much weight they have
lost, encouraging them to lose more.
11a. Only used as a last case scenario. Not sure why it works bit it’s thought to change
behaviour of neurotransmitters in the brain. Shown to be effective – Comer found 60-70%
improved after ECT. He could explain the procedure to her. 1) Attach machine giving electric
shocks to side of head. 2) inject barbiturates to knock her out 3) inject nerve blockers so her
muscles don’t spasm and fracture 4) shock for half a second on o.5 amps. 5) seizure for one
minute repeated 3 times a week for 5 weeks. However, she needs to know that it does have
side effects (e.g. –cardiovascular changes).
11b. Mixture of behavioural therapy (changing behaviours) and cognitive therapy (changing
maladaptive thoughts in response to those behaviours). The longer this treatment lasts, the
more effective it is so it will be much more effective than the drugs which only lasted
temporarily. Will teach her how to deal with situations and maladaptive thoughts on her
own. Try to see obstacles as a challenge rather than a problem and generally just help her to
think more positively.
Question
9a
9b
10a
10b
11a
11b
Mark
5
2
4
0
4
2