Revision Guide Y13 Psychology Unit 4 Anomalistic, Depression, Research Methods.
Depression
1. When are mood disturbances classified as depression?
2. What is meant by ‘melancholic depression’?
3. Why might it be difficult to diagnose melancholic depression reliably?
4. What do you think are some of the problems of diagnosing depression in children?
5. Why might the axial system of DSM-IV lead clinicians to make dual diagnoses?
6. What are some of the factors clinicians have to consider when they are assessing people from
different cultures?
7. Outline two factors that affect the reliability of diagnosing depression.
8. Outline two factors that clinicians must bear in mind if they are to make valid diagnoses of
depression.
9. What is meant by the nature-nurture debate with regard to depression?
10. Give three reasons why biological factors might be important in understanding the origins of
depression.
11. Briefly outline the role of neurotransmitters in depression.
12. Evaluate research findings concerning biochemical explanations of depression.
13. Outline two strengths and two limitations of the biological explanations of depression.
14. Give a brief evaluation of Freud’s theory of depression.
15. Explain what is meant by ‘learned helplessness theory’ and explain how this is different from
‘hopelessness theory’.
16. Briefly outline and evaluate Beck’s cognitive theory of depression.
17. What role might stressful life events have in the origins of depression?
18. Explain what is meant by the diathesis-stress model?
19. Identify the three main types of drug used to treat depression and outline some of the advantages
and limitations of using antidepressants in the treatment of depression.
20. Give a brief evaluation of ECT as a treatment for depression. What new therapy might replace
ECT?
21. Why is it particularly important to obtain informed consent from patients before they undertake any
biological therapy?
22. What is the principle aim of psychoanalysis?
23. Describe three techniques used in psychoanalysis and summarise how effective psychoanalysis is
for treating depression.
24. What are the goals of CBT?
25. Explain briefly how the ABC model (part of REBT Rational-emotive behaviour therapy) works.
26. Outline the procedures used in Beck’s cognitive-behavioural therapy.
27. Outline two strengths and two weaknesses of CBT.
28. What is the principal focus of PIT and how effective is it?
Addictive behaviour
29. Define the term addiction (3).
30. What is meant by initiation, maintenance and relapse?
31. What is a neurone?
32. What is a synapse?
33. Sketch a synapse, label it and explain briefly how it works/what its needed for.
34. According to biological models of addiction, what is the reward pathway and where is it?
35. What is dopamine?
36. How would dopamine and the reward pathway be involved in the initiation of a smoking addiction?
37. What is meant by downregulation?
Revision Guide Y13 Psychology Unit 4 Anomalistic, Depression, Research Methods.
38. How would downregulation explain the maintenance of a smoking addiction?
39. According to neurochemical explanations, how do we relapse?
40. What is the difference between monozygotic and dizygotic twins?
41. Explain what specific genes have been found to be involved in addiction. What evidence is there to
support this?
42. Outline and evaluate the role of genetics in the initiation, maintenance and relapse of addiction.
43. Outline and evaluate the role of neurochemistry in the initiation, maintenance and relapse of
addiction.
44. How do cognitive models explain the initiation of a gambling addiction?
45. How do cognitive models explain the maintenance of a gambling addiction?
46. How do cognitive models explain the relapse of a gambling addiction?
47. What is meant by the gambler’s fallacy? How does this explain gambling addictions?
48. Outline one study that supports the cognitive model of addiction and explain why it offers support.
49. Evaluate the cognitive model of addiction.
50. What is classical and operant conditioning and how can these explain the initiation of smoking?
51. How can classical and operant conditioning explain the maintenance of a smoking addiction?
52. How can social learning theory explain smoking addiction?
53. Outline one study that supports the behavioural model of addiction and explain why it offers
support.
54. Evaluate the learning model of addiction.
55. Outline and evaluate risk factors in the development of addiction.
56. Explain how the media can increase our vulnerability to developing an addiction.
57. What evidence is there to suggest that the media does increase addictive behaviour?
58. What evidence is there to suggest that the media does not increase addictive behaviour?
59. Outline the theory of planned behaviour.
60. Evaluate the theory of planned behaviour.
61. Outline and evaluate two types of biological intervention
62. Outline and evaluate two types of psychological intervention
63. Outline and evaluate two types of public health intervention and legislation.
64. Outline research that supports the effectiveness of public health and legislation as an intervention.
65. How effective are each of these intervention? Use studies and evidence from theories to support
your answer.
Research Methods
66. Outline the main stages of the scientific process.
67. What are the main limitations of the inductive method?
68. What is the hypothetico-deductive method and what does it contribute to knowledge generation and
testing.
69. Is the statement ‘a theory can never be proved’ true or false? Give reasons for your answer.
70. Explain what is meant by the term ‘empirical evidence’. Why is empirical evidence deemed to be
important in science?
71. Explain the principle of falsifiability as articulated by Popper. Why is it considered to be an
important hallmark of science?
72. What is a paradigm and why might it be considered useful?
73. What, according to Kuhn, are the three stages in the development of any scientific discipline?
74. Why are the principles of openness and transparency important for a scientific community?
75. What kinds of behaviour are expected of members of a self-regulating scientific community?
76. How do primary sources and secondary sources differ? Which is likely to provide the most reliable
source of research evidence?
Revision Guide Y13 Psychology Unit 4 Anomalistic, Depression, Research Methods.
77. What are the main differences between external review and double-blind peer review.
78. Distinguish between a research aim, a research question and a research hypothesis.
79. What is a null hypothesis?
80. What is the purpose of a control condition?
81. How might you counterbalance a two-condition experimental design?
82. What is meant by randomization?
83. When and why would you use counterbalancing or randomization?
84. Prepare an operational definition of happiness.
85. Give two examples of a constant error.
86. What is meant by the term ‘demand characteristics’?
87. Explain one way in which participant reactivity could manifest itself in psychological research.
88. Identify and define three ways of sampling behaviour in a naturalistic observation study.
89. In interview- or questionnaire-based research, what is a leading question, a closed question and an
open-ended question?
90. What is a ‘target population’ in psychological research?
91. Give two reasons why a researcher may study a sample rather than the target population.
92. Why is it important that a sample is representative of the target population?
93. What is a sampling error?
94. Describe a procedure for selecting a random sample.
95. Identify three potential sources of sample bias and suggest ways of minimizing each one.
96. What is meant by the term ‘reliability’?
97. What is the difference between the internal and external reliability?
98. What is the difference between intra- and inter-rater reliability? How can they be assessed?
99. Explain two ways in which researcher reliability can be improved.
100. What is the split half method and how can it be used to assess and improve internal reliability?
101. What is the test-retest method? How can it be used to improve external reliability?
102. What is meant by the term ‘validity’?
103. What is the difference between internal and external validity?
104. Briefly describe four techniques that can be used to assess and improve the internal validity of
psychological tests and measuring instruments.
105. What are the three types of external validity? How might each of these be assessed and
improved?
106. What are the four main aspects of ethical responsibility in the BPS Code of Ethics and Conduct
(BPS 2006)? Briefly explain the meaning of each one.
107. What alternatives are there to fully informed consent and the use of deception?
108. What are the two major responsibilities of an ethics committee?
109. Give two reasons why a departmental ethics committee might refer a research proposal to an
institutional ethics committee.
110. What are the three possible recommendations that an ethics committee might make after it has
formerly considered a research proposal?
111. What sanctions can be brought to bear if a psychologist in the UK is found to have breached the
BPS ethical guidelines?
112. Give an example of how changes in both the Zeitgeist and technological changes have
influenced ethical guidelines.
113. Identify two ways in which changes in ethical guidelines have restricted access to potential
participants.
114. Describe the concepts of probability, statistical significance and level of significance.
115. ‘A statistically significant result is one which is highly unlikely to have occurred by chance’. Is
this statement accurate? Explain your answer.
Revision Guide Y13 Psychology Unit 4 Anomalistic, Depression, Research Methods.
116. Is a significance level of p = .001 more or less stringent than a significance level of p = .05?
117. When might a researcher choose to use more stringent levels of statistical significance?
118. Explain what is meant by a Type 1 and Type 2 error.
119. Identify two key factors that determine which statistical test you will use to analyse quantitative
data.
120. Give an example of a measurement scale for each of the following, nominal data, ordinal data,
interval data and ratio data.
121. What is meant by magnitude, equal intervals and absolute zero in relation to levels of
measurement?
122. On what basis might quantitative and qualitative psychologists disagree about how to do
research?
123. Define content analysis and outline an example of psychological research that has used this
method.
124. Outline two strengths and two weaknesses of content analysis.
125. What kind of material would be appropriate for thematic analysis?
126. Distinguish between inductive and theoretical thematic analysis.
127. Discuss two limitations of content analysis.
128. What is the purpose of a research journal?
129. What is the purpose of an abstract?
130. Why is it preferable to use primary source material rather than secondary source material?
131. What is meant by plagiarism and how can it be avoided?
132. Identify two key differences between a quantitative and a qualitative research report.