GCSE Psychology Teachers' Guide pdf

GCSE TEACHERS’ GUIDE

New Specifications: for teaching from September 2009

Psychology

GCSE Psychology Teachers’ Guide 1

Contents

GCSE in Psychology

Teachers’ Guide

1. Introduction

1.1 - Rationale

1.2 - Overview of the Specification

2. Delivering the specification

2.1 - Pathways through the Specification

2.2 - Unit 1 – An example of one possible pathway through

the

2.3 - Unit 2 – An example of one possible pathway through

the

3. Support for Teachers

3.1 - General Resources

3.2 - Specific Resources

3.3 - Suggested Activities

Page

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8

25

Appendices

1.

2.

3.

Glossary of Terms

Table summarising ethical issues in research

Summaries of studies

26

33

36


1.

INTRODUCTION TO SPECIFICATIONS

The new GCSE in Psychology has been drawn up by WJEC for delivery from

September 2009. The first GCSE award will be made in Summer 2011. The specification can be delivered and assessed in centres throughout the UK.

This Guide is one of a number of ways in which the WJEC provides assistance to teachers delivering the new specification. Also essential to its introduction are the

Specimen Assessment Materials (question papers and marking schemes) and professional development (INSET) conferences.

Other provision which you will find useful are:

 Examiners' reports on each examinations series;

 Free access to past question papers via the WJEC secure website;

 Easy access to specification and other key documents on main website;

 Regular INSET delivered by Chief Examiners;

 Easy access to both the Subject Officer and to administrative sections for individual support, help and advice.

Contact Points for GCSE Psychology are as follows:

Subject Officer: Dr. Alison George

Direct Line Phone: 029 2026 5302

E-mail Address: alison.george@wjec.co.uk

Administrative Support Officer: Greg

Direct Line Phone:

E-mail Address:

Subject page

029 2026 5035 greg.lewis@wjec.co.uk

www.wjec.co.uk

INSET Section inset@wjec.co.uk www.wjec.co.uk/professionaldevelopment


1.1 Rationale

The GCSE Psychology was drawn up by a team of practising teachers and examiners. There was fundamental recognition from the start that Psychology has grown as a discipline and that any specification should reflect the interests of both students and teachers.

The principal aims were therefore to ensure that teachers had access to a specification that:

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Is manageable to deliver and fun to teach;

Is interesting to candidates;

Can be tailored to suit the interests and expertise of teachers;

Encourages candidates to understand the practice of psychology;

Develops skills useful for higher level study.

1.2 Overview of the Specification

SUMMARY OF ASSESSMENT (UNITISED)

Unit 1: Social, Biological and Developmental Psychology

Written Paper: 1 hour 30 minutes (50 %)

80 Raw Marks 100 UMS

One paper which is targeted at the full range of GCSE grades.

Compulsory, short-answer questions based on the three areas identified in the content and on stimulus material at the start of the question. Some of these questions will require extended writing and will assess the quality of written communication.

Unit 2: Cognitive Psychology; Individual Differences; and Ethics and

Research Issues in Psychology

Written Paper: 1 hour 30 minutes 50 %

80 Raw Marks 100 UMS

One paper which is targeted at the full range of GCSE grades.

Compulsory, short-answer questions based on the three areas identified in the content, and on stimulus material at the start of the question. Some of these questions will require extended writing and will assess the quality of written communication.

AVAILABILITY OF ASSESSMENT AND CERTIFICATION

Entry Code

June 2010

Option*

Unit 1 4431 01 or W1 

Unit 2

Subject Award

4432

4430

01 or W1

01 or W1

June 2011 and each year thereafter







* Option Codes: English Medium 01, Welsh Medium W1

Qualification Accreditation Number: 500/4570/2


2.

DELIVERING THE SPECIFICATION

There are, as expected, various ways of planning a route through this course. There are also well established books and resources to support both teachers and candidates. Whilst all options are comparable, the resourcing of some options might offer more problems for teachers because they are not as well established in schools and colleges. Whatever options are chosen, however, it is expected that all candidates will develop skills, knowledge and understanding in psychology that will also prepare them for higher level study.

GOOD PRACTICE IN PSYCHOLOGY

In the design of this specification, WJEC considered that the following were elements of good practice for the delivery of GCSE Psychology.

 Collaboration between students – there should be opportunities for students to work in such a way as to support their own and other's learning.

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Collaboration with teachers – there should be opportunities for students to work with their teaching staff.

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Active learning techniques. learning.

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Organised and planned teaching.

Prompt feedback to students.

High expectations of student achievement.

Respect for different ways of learning.

An awareness of key skills.

2.1 Pathways through the Specification

There are various possibilities in terms of drawing up a scheme of work dependent upon factors such as the amount of time available and number of teachers involved.

What follows in 2.2 and 2.3 are examples of one possible pathway for each of the units.

Individual centres may, of course, place more or less attention on activities such as practice examination questions and mock examinations.


An example of one possible pathway through the specification. Please note that opportunities for key skills have been highlighted against these activities.

SYMBOLS RE KEY SKILLS

Developing Thinking Skills

Developing Communication

Week Possible content to be covered Activity

Practical activity: Monitoring the change in pulse rates while in a mildly stressful situation such as trying to complete an impossible puzzle.

Defining stress. Studying the body’s response to a stressor.

Understand ways in which stress can be measured.

Practical activity: Completing both Holmes and

Rahe and Delongis et al’s stress measuring scales and comparing both (note issues with confidentiality.)

Research activity: Show on a diagram of the body the areas that have been shown to be affected by exposure to long-term stress.

Research into the links between stress and illness including the work of Friedman and Rosenman.

Evaluate the research work in this area.

4 Biological organs. Describe the functions of the five basic sense organs.

Understand what exactly the skin, ears, tongue, eyes and nose are sensitive to.

5 Biological organs. Understand what is meant by ESP including defining the terms telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition and psychokinsis. Be able to evaluate for and against

ESP.

6 Biological Psychology: Brain. The neuron. without the sense of sight. See how well a classmate can sense the world when blindfolded. one end being 100% belief and the other being

0% belief, classmates should show what their opinion of telepathy clairvoyance and so on is.

They can then debate with others about their opinions.

Activity: Make a model of the neuron ensuring that each part is labelled correctly.


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17

Recognise and understand the functions of different parts of the brain as mentioned in the syllabus.

Activity: Draw a poster of the brain, stating the function of the frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital lobes, hypothalamus and pituitary gland. (Possibly by using drawings to explain

Biological Psychology. Brain. How brain-damaged individuals and brain-examining techniques has increased our understanding of the functions rather than words.)

ICT activity: Design a power-point presentation on the study of brain-damaged individuals, using the internet as your main source, and then present the work to your classmates. brain.

Biological Psychology: Revision Activity: Test

Social Psychology: Prejudice.

Understanding what is meant prejudice and stereotyping, and different types of discrimination.

Practical activity. Study stereotyping by getting the class to draw a doctor, criminal, teacher, volunteer worker and so on. These results can be analysed to see if they are influenced by stereotyping.


Learn about Elliott (1977) and

Steele (1997) studies including the procedures and findings.


Understand ways of overcoming prejudice.

Practical activity. Using Allport & Postman

(1947) study’s picture, see if racial prejudice still occurs in this day and age.

Group activity: Design an activity for a year 7 class that would help the class identify and overcome their prejudice.

Practical work. Encourage students to plan their own investigation into conformity.

Social Psychology: Conformity.

Define what is meant by conformity. Understand the procedures and findings of Sherif

(1935) and Asch’s (1951) studies.

Social Psychology: Conformity.

Define what is meant by social roles. Understand the procedures and findings of Zimbardo’s 1971 study.

Social Psychology: Attraction.

Understand and be able to evaluate Walster et al’s research into the significance of physical attractiveness in relationship formation.

Social Psychology: Attraction.

Understand and be able to evaluate the social exchange theory of relationships and the three factor theory of love.

Social Psychology: Revision +

Test

Group work activity: Students could be given the task of supporting or criticising the above studies, possibly by acting as an ethics committee.

Practical activity. Test the importance of physical attraction in celebrity couples by cutting out couples faces from magazines and then placing all the pictures of males an females in order of most to least attractive, then seeing if the males and females match on their attractiveness ratings.

Class activity. All students could list 5 reasons why they would start a relationship. Then it would be possible to compare these results and see if they relate to the above theories.


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Learning. Classical and Operant

Conditioning. Understand the two different types of conditioning and the studies they are based on.

Activity. Hot chair, the tutor could act as a grown up Albert (the subject in Watson’s early classical conditioning study) and answer questions from the class about the experience and the effect the study had on his life.

Activity: The students could apply social learning theory to any behaviour that they have recently shown.

Learning. Social Learning Theory.

Understanding and knowledge of the basic principles of social learning theory.

Learning. Learning Styles.

Understand the terms audio, visual and kinaesthetic.

Learning. Application of learning styles in education.

Animal Behaviour. Study the work on attachment of Lorenz and

Harlow and Harlow.

Animal Behaviour. Understand the advantages and disadvantages of using animals in psychological research including ethical considerations.

Gender Development. Define the terms sex and gender.

Understand how both the biological and behaviourist approach explain the acquisition of gender identity.

Practical activity. Students could find their own learning styles.

Practical activity. Students should design a 5 minute lesson on a relevant topic, as if all the class possessed own learning style (audio, visual or kinaesthetic). They could then present the lesson to their classmates.

ICT activity. Students could research and collect photos of Harlow and Lorenz’s studies to get a visual feel for their work.

Classroom activity: Using a long piece of string with one end as being in full agreement with using animals in psychological research and the other being totally against. Classmates could show what their opinion on the use of animals in psychological research. They can then debate with others about their opinions.

Classroom activity. Defining male and female, students could list male and female personality traits and then debate which are true to all members of the gender.

Gender Development. Understand the nature / nurture debate in terms of gender development.

Classroom activity. The students are given a list of statements which are true to males / females or both. The must then place each statement under the category of biological or learned from the environment. Finally they could debate the position of the statements with the rest of their group / classmates.

Revision + Test

Revision: Mock Examination



Unit 1 External Exam


An example of one possible pathway through the specification.

Note: The best method to teach the research issues would be to imbed the work into the study of Cognitive Psychology i.e. hypothesis formulation could be done when doing a digit span experiment or the independent and dependent variables can be taught while studying Loftus and Palmer’s research (i.e. the independent variable is the verb used while the dependent variable is the estimated speed: this is shown in the practical activity as an example).

Another method would be to incorporate the research methods element throughout the two years of GCSE study. Therefore students could have a research section at the back of the file so all work relevant to research methods can be placed in the research part of the file when completing a different section.

Although these two ways would probably be the best way to study research methods, to present it in this way in a Teacher Guidance would be seem muddled. Therefore all sections are dealt with separately below.

Week Possible content to be covered Activity

Memory. Practical activity: Replicate the work of Loftus

Understand the importance of

Eyewitness testimony. Understand using only two verbs i.e. smashed and bumped and a video clip of a (non-stressful) car crash.

Loftus et al’s and Ceci’s studies in the field.

(Note the concepts of independent groups design and independent and dependent variables could be introduced to the students here.)

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5

6

7

Factors that effect eyewitness testimony and evaluating work in this field.

Linking schemas to the formation of stereotypes.

Memory. Activity. Draw a mind map with EWT at the

Cognitive Psychology: Memory. The ability to define what schemas are. centre and then all the related ideas, work, research and evaluation flowing from it.

Class activity. Students could write down and compare their schemas to specific aspects of their world.

Cognitive Psychology: Perception.

Label a diagram of the eye and understand the function of each part.

Practical activity: Dissection of the eye. Note: see CLEAPSS guidelines. (Risk assessment needed.)

Cognitive Psychology: Perception.

Visual Perception including the application of Gestalt principles.

ICT activity. Students could compete to find the three most dramatic visual illusions, and then the class could discuss how they can be explained.

Cognitive Psychology: Cognitive

Development. Recall stages, characteristics and application of

Piaget’s model of cognitive development.

Cognitive Psychology: Cognitive

Development. Understand the zone of proximal development as proposed by Vygotsky.

Activity: Students could draw a poster to show a child’s cognitive development from birth to the end of formal operations.

Activity. Link the work of Vygotsky with 3 tasks that the students are currently learning or have just learned.


8 Cognitive Psychology: Cognitive

Development. The modes of representations / scaffolding as proposed by Bruner.

Group activity. From a pre-prepared list of strengths and weaknesses, in groups the students allocate strengths and weaknesses they believe belong to each theory. Each group then presents their results to the rest of the class.

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11 +

12

Cognitive Psychology: Revision +

Test

Individual Differences: Types of

Mental Illness. Defining mental illness using statistical infrequency and deviation from social norms.

The limitations of these models.

Individual Differences: Types of

Mental Illness. Symptoms of

Depression (uni-polar and bi-polar) and phobias. Symptoms of

Schizophrenia and ADHD.

Mental Illness. Biological approach to treating mental illnesses including chemotherapy.

14

Mental Illness. Biological approach to treating mental illnesses including psychosurgery and ECT.

Practical activity. Use case studies of patients with mental illness to see how well they fit these definitions of mental illness.

Research work. Each student to be allocated one of the mental illnesses above, then they can research and prepare a presentation on that work and present it to the rest of the class.

Activity. Using the animation on the biological approach of PY1 on the AS WJEC Psychology e-book on NGFL-Cymru website as help, draw a poster to show how Prozac works to treat depression.

Practical activity: Design an experiment to test if chemotherapy, psychosurgery or ECT is the best form of therapy for schizophrenia. The students could also write a short paragraph on the ethical issues that their study would have to deal with.

15

Mental Illness. The behavioural approach to treating mental illness, including systematic desensitisation.

Mental Illness. The behavioural approach to treating mental illness, including implosion / flooding.

Group activity. Students could act out how this type of therapy happens when treating arachnophobia (fear of spiders). Teachers could allocate one student in a group to be a therapist and another to be the client.

Activity. Students could write a short note on what an observer would see when viewing this type of therapy happening.

Mental Illness. The effectiveness of treatments for mental illness

Group activity. From a pre-prepared list of strengths and weaknesses, in groups the students allocate strengths and weaknesses they believe belong to each of the five therapies. Each group then presents their results to the rest of the class.


Week Possible content to be covered

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19

20

21

22

Individual Differences: Revision +

Test

Ethics and Research Issues in

Psychology: Psychological Methods of Investigation. Writing an aim and hypothesis to an investigation.

Being able to identify the independent and dependent variables.


Psychology: Psychological Methods of Investigation. Understanding the experimental and observational methods of investigation.


Psychology: Psychological Methods of Investigation. Understanding the correlational, surveys and case studies methods of investigation.

Activity

Practical activity: Students could go back through all the experiments that they have seen over their two years on the course and identify the independent and dependent variables of the experiments.

Activity. Using Zimbardo’s and Asch’s studies, the students could debate if these are experiments or observational research.

Class activity: Each group of students are allocated a method of investigation, then they are all given the same question to study. They then swap groups showing how the question could be investigated in their method.


Psychology: Design of Investigation.

Sampling Techniques.

Practical activity. Using the students of the school register as their population students could perform the different sampling techniques to get a sample of 40. They can then evaluate the effectiveness of each technique.

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25


Psychology: Design of Investigation.

Experimental design


Psychology: Data analysis and presentation. Calculate measurements of central tendency.


Psychology: Data analysis and presentation. Drawing and being able to read bar charts and scattergraphs.

26 + Ethics and Research Issues in

27 Psychology: Ethical Considerations.

Knowledge and understanding of the ethical issues and dealing with ethical issues.

Class activity. Using the students as participants the class can actively participate in different types of memory experiments i.e. is recall effected by music, using the different experimental designs.

Practice activity. Using sets of numbers students should be able to work alone and calculate the different measurements of central tendency.

Practice activity. Using sets of numbers students should be able to draw relevant graphs, and be able to answer questions on the data given in a graph.

Practical activity. Set up an ethical committee to decide if Zimbardo, Harlow and Harlow,

Asch and other relevant studies from the GSCE course should have gone ahead. Also demonstrate ways in which you would deal with the ethical issues if these experiments were repeated.

28 Ethics and Research Issues in

Psychology: Revision + Test

Mock

Unit 2 External Exam


3.

SUPPORT FOR TEACHERS

There are many useful books and websites for this specification and it is recommended that teachers use the variety of resources available. A useful resource for students is highlighted below.

*

Benson, Nigel (2007) Introducing Psychology - A Graphic Guide to your Mind and Behaviour , Gutenberg Press, Malta.

Cash, Adam (2002) Psychology for Dummies , Wiley Publishing Inc, Indiana.

* Dwyer, D & Roberts. C (2007) Psychology for GCSE Level , Psychology Press,

Hove. Covers many of the specification topics in a relevant and engaging way for students.

Kincher, J (2009) Psychology for Kids: 40 Fun Quizzes That Help You Learn

About Yourself v. 1 (Book & CD Rom) , Free Spirit Publishing, Minneapolis.

Kincher, J (2008) Psychology for Kids Vol.2 (Book & CD Rom) , Free Spirit

Publishing, Minneapolis.

Shoesmith, Geoffrey (2003) Psychology: A complete GCSE course , Lutterworth

Press.

Stat, David (2003) A Student’s Dictionary of Psychology , Psychology Press,

Hove.

Psychlotron Website http://www.psychlotron.org.uk/resources.html

.

Download a zip file of GCSE resources presented at the 2008 ATP conference at http://2008.atpconference.org.uk/w3.php

This web link takes you to the ‘Research Digest’ section of the British Psychological

Society (BPS) website http://www.bps.org.uk/publications/rd/rd_home.cfm

This web link takes you to the ‘Association for the Teaching of Psychology’ website http://www.theatp.org/


3.2

Unit 1: Topic 1 – Biological Psychology

Stress

Dwyer. D & Roberts. C (2007) Psychology for GCSE Level , Psychology Press,

Hove. (Chapter 12)


Press. (Chapter 49)

Woods, B (2006) Psychology First , Hodder Arnold. (Chapter 11)

Introduction to stress accessed at: http://psych-ology.co.uk/Stress.html.

This web link takes you to an NHS page all about stress http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress/Pages/Introduction.aspx

This web link takes you to the ‘Stress Management Society’ website, to a page on the effects of stress http://www.stress.org.uk/How-stress-could-effect-your-life.aspx

Sensory Organs

The Senses

Howard Hughes Medical Institute Seeing, Hearing and Smelling the World accessed at: http://www.hhmi.org/senses/ .

Practical hearing project – locating sound sources. Teaching resource accessed at: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/hearing.html

.

Teacher guide accessed at: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/pdf/heartg.pdf

.

Student guide accessed at: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/pdf/hearsg.pdf

.

Practical smell project - Olfactory Fatigue. Teaching resource accessed at: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chems.html

.

Teacher guide accessed at: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/pdf/chemstg.pdf

.

Student guide accessed at: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/pdf/chemssg.pdf

.

Practical touch project - Two-Point Discrimination. Teaching resource accessed at: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/twopt.html

.

Teacher guide accessed at: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/twopt.html

.

Student guide accessed at: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/pdf/mmsg.pdf

.

Practical taste project - How Taste and Smell Work Together. Teacher resource accessed at: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/taste.html

.

Teacher guide accessed at: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/pdf/tastetg.pdf

.

Student guide accessed at: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/pdf/tastesg.pdf

.

Practical sight project – Colour afterimages. Teacher resource accessed at: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/eyecol.html

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Teacher guide accessed at: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/pdf/coltg.pdf

.

Student guide accessed at: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/pdf/colsg.pdf

.

Practical project on whether colour affects the taste of food. Accessed at: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2008/hitt8j2/index.htm

.

Your amazing brain website – super senses. Accessed at: http://www.youramazingbrain.org.uk/supersenses/default.htm

.

‘Five Senses Bingo’, available at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Learning-Resources-

Five-Senses-Bingo


ESP

Blackmore, S.J (2001) Why I gave up in P. Kurtz (Ed) Skeptical Odysseys: Personal

Accounts by the World’s Leading Paranormal Inquirers , Amherst, New York,

Prometheus Books, 2001, 85-94 accessed at http://www.susanblackmore.co.uk/Chapters/Kurtz.htm

.

Goldberg, C (2008) Brain scan tests fail to support validity of ESP accessed at: http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2008/01/14/brain_scan_tests_fail_to support_validity_of_esp/ .

How Stuff Works accessed at: http://science.howstuffworks.com/esp.htm

.

Information and suggested tests at: http://www.newagedirectory.com/esp/esp.htm

.

This web link takes you to a website called the ‘Sceptic’s Dictionary’; useful for arguments against ESP http://skepdic.com/esp.html

Brain

Taylor, I & Hayes, N (1990) Investigating Psychology , Longman, Essex. (pp.62-

66)

Neuroscience for kids website. Accessed at: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html

.

Brain explorers' website with numerous lesson plans on the brain and neurons.

Accessed at: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/bex/bex.html

.

Your amazing brain website. Accessed at: http://www.youramazingbrain.org.uk/insidebrain/default.htm

.

Brain damage and perception at: http://www.youramazingbrain.org.uk/brainchanges/braindamage.htm

.

Visit @Bristol and download their Psychology trail, accessed at: http://www.youramazingbrain.org.uk/teachers/trail.pdf

.

This web link takes you to a more academic page of information about brain imaging techniques http://www.nida.nih.gov/NIDA_notes/NNVol11N5/Basics.html


Unit 1: Topic 2 – Social Psychology

Prejudice

Dwyer, D & Roberts, C (2007) Psychology for GCSE Level , Psychology Press,

Hove. (Chapter 9)

Parsons Richard (2008) AS Level Psychology Revision Guide (AS Revision

Guides) , Coordination Group Publications Ltd. (pp.86-87)


Press. (Chapter 33)


Woods, B (2004) Understanding Psychology , Hodder & Stoughton. (pp.13-22)

Video footage of Elliott’s Brown-eyes, blue-eyes study – ‘A Class Divided’.

Accesssed at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/view/ .

Teacher’s guide with lesson plans accessed at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/ .

Responding to prejudice: a role-playing exercise. Accessed at: http://www.understandingprejudice.org/teach/activity/roleplay.htm

.

Conformity

Cardwell, Clark & Meldrum (2008) Psychology for AS Level , Collins Educational.

Dwyer, D & Roberts. C (2007) Psychology for GCSE Level , Psychology Press,

Hove. (pp.14-17)

Parsons, Richard (2008) AS Level Psychology Revision Guide (AS Revision

Guides) , Coordination Group Publications Ltd. (pp.72-77)


Press. (pp.31-36)


Woods, B (2006) Psychology First, Hodder & Stoughton (pp. 3-11)

Web Activity on Zimbardo accessed at: http://www.psychlotron.org.uk/resources/social/AS_AQA_socinf_zimbardowebactivity

.pdf

Attraction

Haralambos, M & Rice, D (2002) Psychology in Focus A Level , Causeway Press.

(pp 288 – 301)

Hayes & Orrell (1998) Psychology an Introduction , Longman. (pp.321-338)



Unit 1: Topic 3 – Developmental Psychology

Learning

Davenport, G. C. (1998) An Introduction to Child Development , Collins

Educational. (Chapter 6)


Hove. (pp.71-74 & Chapter 7)

Hayes & Orrell (1998) Psychology an Introduction , Longman. (Numerous

Sections, e.g. Chapter 2 & 21)

Parsons, Richard (2008) AS Level Psychology Revision Guide (AS Revision

Guides) , Coordination Group Publications Ltd. (p.114)

Russell & Jarvis (2007) WJEC Psychology for AS Level , Hodder & Arnold

(Chapter 2, p.23)


Press. (pp.69 -81)


On-line VARK questionnaire accessed at: http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=questionnaire

Animal Behaviour

Eysenk & Flanagan (2001) Psychology for A2 Level , Psychology Press. (Section

13)

Malim, Birch & Hayward (1996) Comparative Psychology: Human and Animal

Behaviour - A Sociobiological Approach , Palgrave, Macmillan.

This web link takes you to a download page for the most recent British Psychology

Society (BPS) ‘Code of Ethics and Conduct’ for working with animals http://www.bps.org.uk/document-download-area/documentdownload$.cfm?file_uuid=DA9509C9-1143-DFD0-7EE7-9D998D01F023&ext=pdf

Gender Development

Davenport, G.C (1998) An Introduction to Child Development , Collins Educational.

(Chapter 15, p.253)


Hove. (Chapter 13)

Eysenk & Flanagan (2001) Psychology for A2 Level , Psychology Press.

Kalat, James (2006) Biological Psychology , Wadsworth Publishing Co Inc;

International ed edition. (p.402)


Press. (p.272)

Woods, B (2006) Psychology First , Hodder Arnold. (pp.167-168)

Introduction to sex and gender accessed at: http://psych-ology.co.uk/Sex%20and%20gender.html

.


Unit 2: Topic 1 – Cognitive Psychology

Memory

Eysenk, M (2005) Psychology for AS Level , Psychology Press.

Rice et al (2004) Psychology in Focus AS Level , Causeway Press. (pp.34-35)


Press. (Chapter 39)

Woods, B (2006) Psychology First , Hodder Arnold. (p.9)

Woods, B (2004) Understanding Psychology , Hodder & Stoughton. (p.12)

Schema – War of the Ghosts (Barlett) can be accessed at : http://penta.ufrgs.br/edu/telelab/2/war-of-t.htm

.

Eye Witness Testimony video footage and questions accessed at: http://www.youramazingbrain.org.uk/testyourself/eyewitness.htm

.

Vantage Point [DVD] [2008]

Perception


Hove. (Chapter 11)


Press. (pp.229)

Taylor, I & Hayes, N (1990) Investigating Psychology , Longman, Essex. (pp.82-

87)


Woods, B (2004) Understanding Psychology , Hodder & Stoughton. (p.104)

Practical project on eye anatomy and function - Peripheral vision. Teacher guide accessed at: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/eyetr.html

.

Teacher guide accessed at: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/pdf/eyetg.pdf

.

Student guide accessed at: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/pdf/eyesg.pdf

.

Your amazing brain website – super senses – optical illusions. Accessed at: http://www.youramazingbrain.org.uk/supersenses/illusions.htm

.

Visual illusion lesson activity accessed at: http://www.youramazingbrain.org.uk/teachers/interactive.htm

.

Introduction to perception accessed at: http://psych-ology.co.uk/Perception.html

.


Cognitive Development

Davenport, G. C. (1998) An Introduction to Child Development , Collins Educational.

Eysenk, M (1994) Individual Differences: Normal and Abnormal (Principles of

Psychology) , Psychology Press.

Eysenk & Flanagan (2001) Psychology for A2 Level , Psychology Press. (p.627)

Hayes, Nicky (1991) Introduction to Cognitive Processes , Wiley Blackwell.

Hayes & Orrell (1998) Psychology an Introduction , Longman. (Numerous Sections, e.g. p.442)

Kalat, James (2006) Biological Psychology , Wadsworth Publishing Co Inc;

International ed edition. (p.548)

Piaget (summary) accessed at: http://psych-ology.co.uk/Cognitive%20Development.html

.

Russell & Jarvis (2007) WJEC Psychology for AS Level , Hodder & Arnold.

(Chapter 1)


Press. (p.153)



Unit 2: Topic 2 – Individual Differences

Types of Mental Illness

Teacher information about Mental illness. Includes symptoms of depression, schizophrenia and ADHD. Accessed at: http://scienceeducation.nih.gov/supplements/nih5/mental/guide/info-mental-c.htm#specifics .

Lesson plans on the science of mental illness. Accessed at: http://scienceeducation.nih.gov/supplements/nih5/mental/guide/guide_lessons_toc.htm

.

Handouts can be accessed at: http://scienceeducation.nih.gov/supplements/nih5/mental/guide/nih_mental_masters.pdf

.

This web link takes you to the full text of the ‘Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of

Mental Disorders’ produced by the American Psychiatric Association http://books.google.com/books?id=3SQrtpnHb9MC&dq=DSM-IV-

TR&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=XcI3X6sIXF&sig=EFr5AdP2Y7I_uEm7rlA3

OQJGEUs&hl=en&ei=c7HlSaj-HcKw-

AbO0dCGCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6#PPP1,M1

This web link takes you to a simplified version of the DSM-IV http://allpsych.com/disorders/dsm.html

This web link takes you to MIND’s main information page http://www.mind.org.uk/Information/


Treating mental illness

Lesson plan on treatments of depression, schizophrenia and ADHD. Accessed at: http://science-education.nih.gov/supplements/nih5/mental/guide/lesson4.htm

.

Handouts can be accessed at: http://scienceeducation.nih.gov/supplements/nih5/mental/guide/nih_mental_masters.pdf

.

This web link takes you to MIND’s main information page http://www.mind.org.uk/Information/

These NHS pages cover up to date, practical information on the treatments available for mental illness http://www.nhs.uk/livewell/mentalhealth/Pages/Mentalhealthhome.aspx


Unit 2: Topic 3 – Ethics and Research Issues in Psychology

General

Dwyer, D & Roberts, C (2007) Psychology for GCSE Level , Psychology Press, Hove.

(Chapter 14)


Press. (Chapters 58-62)

Taylor, I & Hayes, N (1990) Investigating Psychology , Longman, Essex. (Chapter 9)


Woods, B (2004) Understanding Psychology , Hodder & Stoughton. (Chapter 13)

Research methods test accessed at: http://www.learner.org/discoveringpsychology/methods/analysis.html

.

Interactive research methods site accessed at: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/proj/res_meth/login.html

.

Psychological Methods of Investigation

Interactive site on Psychological methodology accessed at: http://www.ngflcymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/psychology/learn_train/research_methods/ .

Name that method accessed at: http://www.psych.umn.edu/courses/spring06/fuglestadp/psy3201/name%20that%20me thod.pdf

.

Methodology site accessed at: http://psych-ology.co.uk/Methodology.html

.

Interactive site on research hypotheses accessed at: http://www.ngflcymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/psychology/learn_train/hypothesis/ .



This web link takes you to ’S-cool’, a fun and friendly student-oriented website http://www.s-cool.co.uk/alevel/psychology/research-methods.html

Design of Investigations

Interactive site on research design accessed at: http://www.ngflcymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/psychology/learn_train/alternative_designs/



This web link takes you to ’S-cool’, a fun and friendly student-oriented website http://www.s-cool.co.uk/alevel/psychology/research-methods.html


Data Analysis and Presentation


Press. (Chapters 65-67)

Interactive site on data collection accessed at: http://www.ngflcymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/psychology/learn_train/alternative_measurement/ .

Quick bar chart generator for class practicals accessed at: http://faculty.vassar.edu/lowry/graphs1.html

.

Quick scatterplot & coefficient generator for class accessed at: http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/frames_asid_144_g_4_t_5.html



This web link takes you to the BBC GCSE ‘Bitesize’ webpage for Maths: Data Handling http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/maths/data/

Ethical Considerations


Press. (Chapter 64)


Society ‘Code of Ethics and Conduct’ for working with human participants http://www.bps.org.uk/document-download-area/documentdownload$.cfm?file_uuid=5084A882-1143-DFD0-7E6C-F1938A65C242&ext=pdf

This web link takes you to a web page version of the BPS guidelines for working with human participants http://www.bps.org.uk/the-society/code-of-conduct/ethicalprinciples-for-conducting-research-with-human-participants.cfm


Society ‘Code of Ethics and Conduct’ for working with animals http://www.bps.org.uk/document-download-area/documentdownload$.cfm?file_uuid=DA9509C9-1143-DFD0-7EE7-9D998D01F023&ext=pdf

This web link takes you to a web page version of the BPS guidelines for working with animals http://www.bps.org.uk/the-society/code-of-conduct/guidelines-forpsychologists-working-with-animals.cfm


Activities

It is highly recommended that this specification is taught through activities. What follows are some ideas of the kinds of activities that may be useful.

General Activities

Crosswords and word searches can be made using words from psychology on the

Discovery for Teachers' Website.


Stress

 Watch an episode of 'Fawlty Towers'; (DVD/You Tube). Make a list of the stressors that Basil is reacting to, as well as his physical and psychological reactions to stress. (TV gameshows can work well also.)

 Use biodots to measure sympathetic activity in response to a stressor (for example a time limited DOT to DOT with a missing dot).

 Using actual absenteeism figures for the school (made anonymous) to study how illness changes as the term proceeds.

Sensory Organs

 Play 'five senses bingo' – students create a bingo board of nine squares, each with one sense written in (i.e. only 4 are repeated). Teacher then calls out e.g.

'music' – students must identify/cross out matching sense. (You can buy this as a board game at amazon.co.uk).

Brain

 Teacher to place a large scale diagram of the brain on their desk then split class up into teams. Groups to nominate one person to be the 'scribe' and one person to be the first 'runner'. 'Runners' are to go to the teacher's desk and look at the diagram for 30 seconds, then return to their team – they need to tell their scribe what to draw, but they cannot draw themselves. Team members take turns as runners until they have a complete, labelled diagram. The scribe must never act as a runner.



Prejudice

 Questionnaire on stereotypes e.g. young people, old people, students etc.

Students get questionnaire filled in and then analyse findings.

 Leaflet could be created to help reduce prejudice within schools.

 Look at existing legislation / recent court cases.

Conformity

 Recreate research. Split class into groups. Each group has a chart with high/low estimates of the amount of sweets in a jar. Students take the jar and charts to do an experiment to see if people conform to estimates.

 Recreate experiment – Powerpoint with black dot.

 Role Zimbardo's study.

 List examples of everyday conformity.

Attraction

 Pictures of men and women. Students have to try to match them up. Do the couples support the matching hypothesis?

 Write a magazine article advising people on relationships, utilising psychological theories.



Learning

Devise a manual for brothers/sisters, parents/children, husbands/wives to train each other covertly using classical and operant conditioning.

 Watch an episode of 'Super Nanny'. Try to spot the different learning techniques.

 Role plays of SLT, CC and OC.

 www.nobelprize.org

Interactive resource – conditioning of Pavlov's dogs.

Animal Behaviour

Have a debate on whether animals should be used in research – 'PRO' group to describe pivotal research i.e. cost-benefit analysis; 'ANTI' group to research e.g.

PETA.

 Zoo Visit. Many Zoos will give talks geared to whatever you want. Packs of information available from the internet.

Gender Development

Create 'moodboards'/collages of a stereotypical male / female using magazines and newspapers – add key words and students give presentations.

 Powerpoint of babies. Which are male? Which are female? How can you tell if babies are dressed?

 Case studies of Hermaphrodites.

 Questionnaire – masculine / feminine traits e.g. jobs, hair, clothes etc.

 Case studies of feral children – use for nature v nurture debate.

 Case study of the 4 girls in the Batista's village – J Imperato – McGinley et al

(1974).



Memory

 Eye Witness Testimonies

Students watch a short film of a crime.

Do allow them to talk about it to each other and give them something else to do. After some time (maybe even the next lesson) ask students to write down what they can remember of the crime they saw.

They could be split into two groups with leading questions given to them (as

Loftus & Palmer).

 Schemas

Read 'War of the Ghosts' to students. Give them a distraction task or explain schemas to them. Then get them to recall the story by writing it out. Compare what they wrote with the actual story and show how they would have changed the story to be more acceptable to their own experiences of what they think should happen.

Perception

 eye

Make an eye using either plasticine or playdough of different colours.

 perception

Demonstration of size constancy (figure 10.1a in B. Woods (Psychology First)

Woman sitting in a corridor.

Photocopy 2 of these pictures per student.

Get students to cut out the 'smaller; woman sitting and place it next to the picture of the 'bigger' woman. They can then see the smaller woman is too small.

 Visual illusion – web search (BBC has some).

Cognitive Development

 Piaget – conservation task – 2 glasses: one tall; one short; and same amount of juice in each.

 Vygotsky – ZPD – questions that are easy for some but hard for others – get the ones who find them easy to explain to the ones who find them hard.

 Scaffolding – a task that requires stages but is too hard for students to do. The stages can then be explained one by one to demonstrate scaffolding.


Unit 2: Topic 2 – Individual Differences

Types of mental illness

Take the shoe size of 10 people and use to plot a graph to show deviation from the social norm.

Treatment of mental illness

Students develop a hierarchy to show how systematic desensitisation can be used to treat a phobia, e.g. phobia of clowns.

Wear shoes of a clown.

Watch film of a clown.

Look at a photo of a clown.

Look at a picture of a clown.



1. Plan, carry out and analyse a piece of research on the effect of music on recall.

2. Using studies that are part of the syllabus (e.g. Asch, Zimbardo ) set up an ethical committee to discuss issues such as confidentiality, informed consent and protecting participants from harm that are involved with the study. Then students can discuss if the study should have gone ahead on ethical grounds

(cost-benefit analysis).


4.

ASSESSMENT GUIDANCE

The following terms are indicative of those used to assess the three skill areas.

AO1 Recall, select and communicate knowledge and understanding of psychology and how psychology works.

 Label

 What is meant by?

 Identify

AO2 Apply skills, knowledge and understanding of psychology and how psychology works.

 Explain the difference

 Give

 Give

 Explain

 Give one problem

 Give an advantage

 Describe ways of dealing with

 Describe differences

 Advantages/disadvantages

 two criticisms

AO3 Interpret, evaluate and analyse psychological data and practice.

 Briefly

 Discuss

 two criticisms


APPENDIX 1

Glossary of Terms


Brain

 Hypothalamus controls the release of hormones by the pituitary gland and regulates drives involved with survival such as thirst, sleep patterns and appetite.

 Pituitary gland : It releases hormones that control things like the body’s response to stress, growth, and puberty.

 Cerebrum : The largest part of the brain and has two hemispheres. It has many functions and can be separated into 4 specific lobes, carrying out these functions:

1. Frontal lobe : Does most of our complex thinking, involved in creativity and planning

2.

3.

Occipital lobe : Contains the visual cortex, which processes sight

ERP

Parietal lobe : Contains the motor cortex (this controls movement) and sensory cortex (which processes the feelings of touch, taste and temperature)

4. Temporal lobe : It processes hearing and is involved in memory

Clairvoyance Obtaining information which is not available by the normal five senses.

Event Related Potentials. Picking up the patterns of brain activity using electrodes on the head.

E.S.P. Extra Sensory Perception. Being able to perceive something that is not normally possible with the five sense organs.

Hormone A chemical messenger released by the glands that is carried in the blood, and controls and co-ordinates activities in the body.

MRI Scan

Telepathy

Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Using a strong magnetic field to build up an image of the active brain.

Neuron

PET Scan

A specialized cell that carries electrical impulses.

Positron Emission Tomography. Using a radioactive marker to build up an image of the active brain.

Precognition

Stressor

The ability to perceive the future before it happens.

Stress  p hysiological – the physical response to a stressor.

 p sychological – perceived inability to cope.

A characteristic of the environment that causes arousal (e.g. exams, stress at work).

The sending of information from one mind to another.



Ageism Discriminating against someone on the basis of their age.

Conformity Where people take on the behaviours, values and attitudes of a group, due to real or imagined pressure.

Discrimination Treating people unfavourably as a result of prejudiced attitudes.

Prejudice A positive or negative attitude for, or against, a group

(or member of a group), usually based on generalisations.

Racism

Sexism

Social exchange theory

Discriminating against someone on the basis of their race.

Discriminating against someone on the basis of their sex.

Stereotyping

(With reference to relationships), trying to maximise the rewards you gain and minimise the costs to you.

Making assumptions about others, based on characteristics of their group (e.g. gender/race) which they are presumed to have.



Androgyny Behaviours that are both masculine and feminine.

Attachment A close emotional bond/relationship with another person.

Audio

Classical Conditioning

An individual's preference to learn via listening.

Showing an automatic response to a previously unlearnt/unrelated stimulus.

Gender Identity

Genetics

Gender

An individual's view of being either male or female.

Pairing of chromosome XX female XY male.

The physiological or cultural aspects of maleness or femaleness.

Gonads

Hormones

Reproductive organs: ovaries – female; testes – male.

Chemicals that determine reproductive structures and organs. Ovaries produce oestrogen and progesterone.

Testes produce testosterone.

Kinaesthetic

Learning style

An individual's preference to learn via doing an activity.

The preferred method of learning. An individual's preference to learn in a particular way.

Operant Conditioning Learning that takes place as a result of reinforcement and punishments.

Sex

Social Learning Theory

Biology of an individual – identified by genitals.

A form of human learning that involves observing and imitating others.

Visual An individual's preference to learn via watching/looking.



Cognitive Development

Cornea

Eye

Eye Witness Testimony

Gestalt principles; whole configuration

Iris

Lens

LTM (Long-Term Memory)

Memory

Optic nerve

Perception

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive

Development

Pupil

Retina

Scaffolding

Schemas (Constructive Memory)

The process of developing mental ability involving memory, language, problem solving, perception and thought.

Transparent cover on the front of the eye that allows light in while also protecting it.

Sense organ that is sensitive to light.

The account of an event (usually a crime) that a person who was a witness to the event makes, relying only on their memory.

The emphasis on the whole (perceptual image) is always greater than the sum of its parts. This means that the visual image is more than just a sum of component parts.

A circular muscle that contracts and relaxes depending on light intensity.

The lens, by changing shape, functions to change the focal distance of the eye so that it can focus on objects at various distances.

A long-term store for items and events that are remembered.

The mental process by which we are able to input, store and retrieve information about events in the world that have happened to us.

Carries information from the eye to the brain.

The process of changing information received from the environment into an experience of objects, sounds etc.

The sensori-motor stage;

The pre-operational stage;

Concrete operational stage;

Formal operational stage;

A hole in the middle of the iris.

Contains the cells that are sensitive to light.

Interaction with the world can increase a child's cognitive capacity.

An organised store of knowledge about previous experiences which helps us make decisions about future events. They also help us to fill in any gaps in our knowledge based on past information.


Stereotypes

STM (Short-Term Memory)

Visual illusion/

Visual perception

Zone of Proximal Development –

Vygotsky

A way of defining a person (or people) using readily available features (e.g. skin colour or gender) in ways that focus on these rather than the individual.

A short-term store for items that are remembered.

The process of interpreting, organising and elaborating information received through the visual system (sensory information).

The child can move from their zone of actual development into the zone of proximal development through interaction with peers and adults.


Unit 2: Topic 2 – Individual Differences a childhood disorder characterised by high levels of activity and failure to concentrate.

Chemotherapy A therapy for mental illness involving giving the client drugs to change chemical levels in the brain.

Depression; (unipolar – bipolar)

Deviation from social norms

Extreme feelings of sadness and low self-esteem.

Abnormal behaviour defined by a group norm/not behaving in a way that society would expect e.g. kissing strangers.

ECT Electro Convulsive Therapy. A treatment for depression involving an electrical shock current being introduced to the body.

Implosion/Flooding A treatment for phobias involving the person facing up to their fear in an unconscious way.

Phobias An anxiety disorder/a persistent and unreasonable fear of an object or situation.

Psychosurgery

Schizophrenia

A treatment for mental disorder involving removal of brain tissue to change levels in the brain and psychological behaviour.

Serious mental illness characterised by disruptions in psychological functioning.

Statistical infrequency A definition of psychology based around behaviour that is statistically rare in the population.

Systematic Desensitisation A treatment for phobias involving creating an anxiety hierarchy based around the fear.



Aim A statement of what the researchers intend to find out.

Case Studies A detailed investigation of one person or a small group.

Consent

Correlation A method to establish the strength of a relationship between two variables.

Deception When participates are not told the truth about the purpose of the research.

Dependent Variable

Ethics

Experiments

The variable that is measured.

Understanding of behaviour.

A method involving the manipulation of the independent variable in order to measure the effect on the DV.

Hypothesis A testable statement to prove or disprove a theory or statement.

Independent Groups Two separate groups are studied under different experimental conditions to aid manipulation of the

IV.

Independent Variable The variable that is manipulated to test the effect on the DV.

Matched Pairs Two separate groups are studied and participants are matched on every possible characteristic, e.g. age, gender, IQ, in order to reduce individual differences.

Measures of central tendency A way of describing numerical data including mode/median/mean.

Mean The added values of a set of numbers divided by the number of values.

Mode

Median

Observations

Most occurring number.

Middle score in a range of scores.

A method that involves watching and recording behaviour.

Repeated Measures Using the same group of participants in both experimental conditions.

Sampling The method used to select participants from a given population including systematic, random, opportunity and volunteer.

Surveys A method of investigation that gathers data by asking people (questionnaires and interviews).

Ways of displaying data E.g. scattergraph/bar chart.


APPENDIX 2

Table summarising ethical issues

Are the participants volunteers?

(exceptions include children, the elderly and those with special needs).

Have they been told what the research is about?

Has informed consent been obtained?

Are you sure that no deception has taken place?

Are participants aware they can withdraw at any time?

Respect participants' privacy and keeps data confidential-don't break the law (e.g. on data protection).

(protection from harm)

Ensuring participants cannot be identified.

Being professional in the way you behave and honest about your own competence.

Get participants agreement if you are to discuss their data.

All records should be kept safely and not left where others might have access to them.

Controlling who else will see the data.

Treating participants with respect and due regard for their rights and welfare.

Maintain the highest standards of safety for equipment etc.

Don't allow participants to attempt tasks that are embarrassing, dangerous, painful or illegal.

Not causing stress, discomfort or embarrassment; allowing participant to withdraw.

(withdrawal)

WITHDRAWAL DEBRIEFING

Making sure that participants can drop out at any time. (consent)

Always debrief participants at the end of the study.

Being prepared for people to say

'no'. (consent)

Explain exactly what the study is about.

Be prepared to answer any questions. results available to them.

Participants should have the right to withhold their results.

(withdrawal)


APPENDIX 3

INSET Autumn 2009

Summaries of some of the studies in the GCSE Psychology Specification

Please note that the original sources should be used.


Delongis (1988)

DELONGIS, FOLKMAN & LAZARUS (1988) The Impact of Daily Stress on Health and

Mood: Psychological and Social Resources as Mediators Journal of Personality and Social

Psychology Vol. 54. No. 3.p. 486-495


Procedure

As part of a larger study, 75 married couples completed a large amount of questionnaires and were interviewed once monthly, over a 6-month period, about their social support, selfesteem, beliefs, values and commitments, life stress, health, and psychological well-being.

Between each of the six monthly interviews, participants completed the Hassles and Uplifts

Scale and the Daily Health record at the end of each day for a four day period. This procedure resulted in 20 daily assessments of stress and illness, in addition to data obtained during the six interviews.

Findings

Overall, there was a significant relationship between daily stress and the occurrence of both simultaneous and subsequent health problems such as flu, sore throat, headaches, and backaches. The relationship of daily stress to mood disturbance was more complex. The negative effects of stress on mood were limited to a single day, with the following day characterized by mood scores that were better than usual. Furthermore, striking individual differences were found in the extent to which daily stress was associated with health and mood across time. Participants with unsupportive social relationships and low self-esteem were more likely to experience an increase in psychological and physiological problems both on and following stressful days than were participants high in self-esteem and social support.

These data suggest that persons with low levels of support, both psychologically and socially, are vulnerable to problems with illness and mood when their stress levels increase, even if they generally have little stress in their lives.

Advantages

Participants could indicate the strength of a factor either as a hassle or an uplift. This allowed for the fact that the same life event can be experienced in different ways by different people or by the same person on different occasions. This built on the work of Delongis et al in 1982.

Weaknesses

This approach overlooks many chronic 'ongoing' sources of stress. These may well have had an effect on the overall results.


Elliott (1977)

A transcript of the documentary 'A class divided' can be downloaded from : http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/etc/script.html


Procedure

This is a type of field experiment (it was not actually planned as an experiment but more of a classroom study) where Elliott divided her class of primary school children into two groups; those with blue eyes and those with brown eyes. She told the blue-eyed group they were more intelligent and would be given extra privileges than those with brown eyes. The group started to behave according to their stereotypes and produce better work and treat the brown-eyed students badly, whilst the brown-eyed children acted angry and depressed.

The next day she told them she had made a mistake and reversed her procedure.

Findings:

The groups behaved according to their stereotypes. The ones that were told they were better, produced better work and treated the other students badly, whilst the children in the other group acted angry and depressed.

She repeated the study every year with every class she taught to try and get them to understand racism and how it felt to be prejudiced against.

Advantages

This study not only shows how easy it is to form prejudice but also shows one way in which it can be reduced.

The study has been replicated many times in different establishments increasing the reliability and since the amount of prejudice is measured differently i.e. teacher reports and self report this increases validity.

Weaknesses

The study could show experimenter bias not prejudice.

There are ethical issues of using children in a study that reduces self-esteem in half the participants. She did not gain parental consent, but it can be argued that this was just a normal, if very effective, lesson.


Steele 1997

Is there such a thing as stereotype threat?

This study aims to see if black students under perform in school tests because of the negative stereotypes about their ability. It also aims to see if the same is true about females' ability in science and maths.


Procedure

The study performed 3 separate experiments.

1. It gave women and men of excellent mathematical ability very hard maths tests where they should have equal chance of completing the task. Half the participants were told that the math tests should be better suited to males while the other half were told that the tests would be just as hard for both genders.

Findings

This suggests that females under perform in maths when it is believed by them that they should under perform. Thus showing that negative stereotypes can have a significant effect on the success chance of an individual.

Procedure

2. A similar test was done to compare black and white Stanford (a very prestigious

American university) students. This time the two conditions were that half the students were told that the test would diagnose their intellectual ability while the other half were told that success on the test was no indicator of intellectual ability. The student's actual non-verbal activity was factored into the results.


Findings

This shows that black students are affected by the negative stereotype that they will not succeed. Even those that are very intelligent and academic.

Procedure

3. The third study aimed to see if self-labeling the ethnicity of the black students would have an effect on their performance. I.e. would reminding someone of their ethnicity

(being black) before a test reduce their performance?

Findings

Writing down that they were Black African American before the test, reduced their performance on the test. While White Americans performance increased after writing down their race.

Advantages

The study has excellent control groups for all three studies and therefore the validity of the findings is high. I.e. there are males as well as females tested in both conditions in experiment 1.

The study has show the possibility of increased success for individuals if the issues of negative stereotyping are addressed

Weaknesses

The study is over 10 years old and stereotypes significantly change over short periods of time. Would black students still believe themselves to be less likely to succeed with

President Obama in the Whitehouse?

The findings could be as easily down to researcher bias as negative stereotyping


Walster (1966)

ELAINE WALSTER, VERA ARONSON, DARCY ABRAHAMS (1966) Importance of Physical

Attractiveness in Dating Behaviour Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Vol. 4, No.

5, 508-516


Procedure

Walster et al. (1966) advertised a "computer dance" for students during fresher's week at college. The first 376 male and 376 female volunteers were allowed in at $1.00 each.

When the students arrived to sign up for the dance, four independent judges assessed each student's physical attractiveness as a measure of social desirability. The participants were seated upstairs and asked to fill in a lengthy questionnaire, ostensibly for use in the computer pairing. In fact the questionnaire was used to provide data about similarity and the pairing was done randomly (except that no man was assigned to a taller woman). The dance was held two days later, before which the students were given their dates' names.

During the dance, participants were asked to complete a questionnaire about the dance and their dates.

Findings

The more physically attractive students were liked more by their partners than were the less attractive students, a finding that does not support the matching hypothesis.

Physical attractiveness proved to be the most important factor in liking, above such qualities as intelligence and personality. Liking was not affected by how attracted the other person felt towards the participant. Physical attractiveness was also the best predictor of the likelihood that they would see each other again, though it assumed less importance.

Discussion points

1. Does the matching hypothesis seem correct in your experience?

2. Why does physical attractiveness play such an important part in dating behaviour and in relationships?

Advantages

When Walster et al. asked the students six months later whether they had dated their partners since the dance, they found that partners were more likely to have dated if they were similar in physical attractiveness than if they were dissimilar. This more realistic assessment does support the matching hypothesis.

Weaknesses

The computer dance was not a very realistic test of the matching hypothesis because dates were assigned, and assessments were made before any rejection could have taken place.

The interaction was very brief and therefore interpersonal assessments had to be based on superficial characteristics. It is also possible that the measure of physical attractiveness was not reliable. Finally, we should remember that the participants were students and therefore the findings may only apply to a youthful population who are not making long-term romantic choices.


Diamond and Sigmundson 1997

DIAMOND, M & SIGMUNDSON, H. (1997) Sex Reassignment at Birth: A Long Term Review and Clinical Implications Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine vol. 151. pp.298-304


You do not need actual procedures and findings of this study. A basic understanding of what they found and the implications of this is what is needed.

Diamond and Sigmundson followed up on the case of David Reimer a boy raised as a girl after a circumcision went wrong. Following the thinking of the time David was raised as a girl and received corrective surgery to ensure that he had female genitals. It was believed at the time that nurture rather than nature was of most importance in gender.

Dr. Diamond with the cooperation of Dr Sigmundson, who had been Reimer's supervising psychiatrist tracked down the adult Reimer and found that the sex reassignment of Reimer had failed. The 'girl' Reimer had been very unhappy and had corrective surgery to become male again. This case is also called "John/Joan case" to protect Reimer's privacy, before he himself went public. http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2000/boyturnedgirl.shtml

"The Boy who was Turned into a Girl

First shown: BBC2 9.00pm Thursday 7th December 2000

In 1965 in the Canadian town of Winnipeg, Janet Reimer gave birth to twin boys - Bruce and Brian. Six months later a bungled circumcision left Bruce without a penis. Based on a radical new theory of gender development the decision was taken to raise Bruce as a girl. In 1967 Bruce became Brenda and for the next three decades this case would be at the heart of one of the most controversial theories in the history of science.

The man behind this work was world-renowned psychologist Dr John Money.

In the 1950s Dr Money developed a theory that revolutionised our understanding of gender.

Money believed that what he called our 'gender identity' - what makes us think, feel and behave as boys or girls - is not fully formed by the time of birth. While we may have some innate sense of being a boy or a girl, for up to two years after birth, our brains are, in effect, malleable and we can be taught to grow up as either a boy or girl by how we are raised - by the toys we are given, the guidance we receive from adults and the clothes we are given to wear. This became known as the 'theory of gender neutrality'.

Dr Money had reached this conclusion by working with a rare group of individuals born with ambiguous genitals - people known as intersexuals or hermaphrodites. Dr Money studied groups of intersex children, and concluded that these children could be brought up as either boys or girls regardless of their genetic or physical sex. The legacy of Dr Money's work was a revolution in the treatment of 'intersex'. From the 1950s to the present day many intersex children born with a tiny penis are reassigned as female even if they are actually genetically male.

But not everyone agreed with Dr Money's theories. Since the 1950s a small group of scientists including Dr Milton Diamond have questioned John Money's work. Diamond believed that our sex is already defined in our brains before we are born. He was convinced that the power of our genes and hormones was so strong that no amount of nurturing could override them.

But John Money's theory had already become firmly accepted around the world and the most dramatic confirmation of the theory came from one particular case - the case of Bruce

Reimer.


Bruce was a normal boy, not an intersex child, and yet the decision was made to turn this boy who had lost his penis, into a girl. Under the guidance of Dr Money and his team at

Johns Hopkins University this baby boy was surgically changed into a girl. After surgeons at

Hopkins had castrated baby Bruce, he became baby Brenda. The family were instructed how to bring up Brenda as a normal little girl. According to Dr Money's theory she would grow up believing herself to be female and would go on to live a normal happy life as a woman. It seemed the ultimate test that nurture could override nature.

Thirty years after Bruce became Brenda, the impact of this extraordinary story continues.

After almost 14 years living as a female, Brenda Reimer reverted to her true biological sex - the case of the boy who was turned into a girl had failed. Brenda took the name David and for the last twenty years he has lived anonymously in his hometown of Winnipeg. For almost all this time no one knew the outcome of John Money's celebrated case. But now that David has gone public, the case is being widely discussed once again and its impact on John

Money's theory of gender development and the treatment of intersex children is being hotly debated."


Loftus and Palmer (1974)

LOFTUS, ELIZABETH F (1974), Reconstruction of Automobile Destruction: An Example of the

Interaction Between Language and Memory, Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior ,

13:5 p.585


Bartlett (1932) was the first person to demonstrate that memory for an event is not as accurate as we may like to believe. This is because we try to understand what is happening by making sense of it using what has happened to us in the past. Loftus and Palmer showed that it is possible to change the way a person remembers an event by the way that questions are worded.

Loftus and Palmer (1974) – Summary

Aim

The aim of the study was to show how the information given to a witness after an event may change a person's perception of that event.

Method

There were two experiments both using independent groups design. The independent variable in the study was the verb used and the dependent variable in the first experiment was the speed the participants estimated the cars to be travelling when the accident occurred and in the second experiment it was how likely the participant was to report seeing broken glass.

Procedure - experiment 1

The participants were 45 students in groups of varying sizes watched films of traffic accidents which were made as safety films for driver's education. Following each film clip the participants were asked a number of questions but the critical question was the one that interrogated the participants about the speed of the vehicles involved in the collision. Nine participants were asked, "About how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?" Equal numbers of the remaining participants were asked the same question with the verbs smashed, collided, bumped, and contacted in place of hit. e.g.

 'About how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?'

 'About how fast were the cars going when they collided into each other?'

 'About how fast were the cars going when they bumped into each other?'

 'About how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?

 'About how fast were the cars going when they contacted each other?'

Four of the seven films shown were staged crashes and in these: One collision took place at 20 mph, one at 30 and two at 40.

Findings - experiment 1

Table 1. Participant estimates for the verbs used in the estimation of speed question:

VERB MEAN SPEED ESTIMATE (mph)

Smashed 40.5

Collided 39.3

Bumped 38.1

Hit 34.0

Contacted 31.8

The results in table 1. show that the way the question was worded brought about a change in speed estimate. With smashed eliciting a higher speed estimate than contacted.


Interpretation of the results

The researchers suggested that two interpretations of this finding are possible. First, it is possible that the differential speed estimates result merely from the fact that a participant is uncertain whether to say 30 mph or 40 mph, for example, and the verb smashed biases his response towards the higher estimate. A second interpretation is that the verb smashed may change a participant's memory so that they remember the accident to be more severe than it was in reality. Loftus and Palmer were interested to see whether this was happening and suggested that if this was the case, we might expect participants to "remember" other details that did not actually occur, but can be associated with an accident occurring at higher speeds.

Procedure - experiment 2

The second experiment aimed to find out why the participants estimate the speeds as they do. A similar procedure was used as for the first experiment and one hundred and fifty students took part in this experiment, in groups of various sizes. A film showing a multiple car accident was followed by a questionnaire. The film lasted less than 1 minute and the accident in the film lasted 4 sec. At the end of the film, the participants received a questionnaire asking them to describe the accident in their own words and then to answer a series of questions about the accident. The critical question was the one that asked about the speed of the vehicles. Fifty participants were asked, "About how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?" Fifty participants were asked, "About how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?" Fifty participants were not asked about the speed.

A week later, the participants returned and without viewing the film again they answered a series of questions about the accident. The critical question here was, "Did you see any broken glass?" which was answered by "yes" or "no." This question was one of a list totalling 10 questions and it appeared in a random position in the list. There was no broken glass in the accident.

Findings - experiment 2

Table 2. Response to the question 'Did you see any broken glass?'

Response Smashed Hit Control

Yes 16 7 6

These results show a significant effect of the verb in the question on the perception of glass in the film.

Loftus and Palmer suggest the following explanation:

They argue that two kinds of information go into a person's memory of an event. The first is the information obtained from seeing an event (e.g. witnessing a video of a car accident), and the second is the other information given after the event (e.g. the question containing hit or smashed). Over time, the information from these two sources may be integrated in such a way that we are unable to tell the source specific detail is recalled because we only have one 'memory'. This explanation is referred to as the reconstructive hypothesis . To explain this think of the following: In Loftus and Palmer's 2nd experiment, the participants first form a memory of the video they have witnessed. The experimenter then asked, "About how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?" and this supplies a piece of external information, namely, that the cars did indeed smash into each other. When these two pieces of information are put together, the participant has a memory of an accident that was more severe than in fact it was. Since broken glass corresponds to a severe accident, the participant is more likely to think that broken glass was present.


Advantages

Loftus' work has important implications. If eye witnesses are so inaccurate then we must not allow a person to be convicted just on the basis of an eye witness report. Leading questions in court should also be avoided.

Disadvantages

However, the study lacks ecological validity in a number of ways, which may mean that the results cannot be generalised to real life. Some of the ways in which the study lacks ecological validity are discussed below.

1. Choice of participants. Who were the participants? Why might their memories be different from the rest of the population?

2. Participants knew that they were being studied and this may have led to demand characteristics .

3. Participant's memory traces may not have been altered at all. They may simply have been using the information provided by the experimenter (smashed, hit etc.) to take a guess as to the speed of the vehicle. They may even be trying to please the experimenter by giving the answer that she seems to want.

4. There are numerous ways in which taking part in this study is different from witnessing a real life car accident. The accident is seen on film, the person is looking directly at the film and has been told to watch, the person is unlikely to find the film stressful, it is not important if the estimate of speed is not accurate. Perhaps witnessing a real life event is different. You may only see part of it, it may frighten you and it is obviously vital that you report it accurately.


Ceci & Bruck (1993)

CECI, S & and BRUCK, M (1993) Suggestibility of the Child Witness: A Historical Review and

Synthesis Psychological Bulletin Vol. 113, No. 3, 403-439


Procedure

Ceci & Bruck reviewed the entire collection of social science research concerning young children's presumed suggestibility. The aims of the review were to provide a historical integration of the research in this area. They were particularly interested in how accurate children's recollections of everyday events are and how suggestible the child witness is, how honest they are and whether children have difficulty in distinguishing reality from fantasy.

They also wanted to find out if younger children are more suggestible than older children and the degree that suggestibility reflects social, cognitive and biological factors.

They reviewed all the research that had been conducted over the past 100 years into children as witnesses and split the research into:

Early research 1900 -1914

The dry middle years 1924 - 1963

The modern period 1979 - 1992

The years in between 1963 and 1979 are referred to as a '16 year hiatus in research on children's suggestibility'.

The researchers looked at such factors as causal mechanisms from a cognitive point of view with focus on memory, language, knowledge and children's ability to distinguish reality from fantasy.

Findings

To summarise cognitive ability, the authors found that IQ correlated with children's levels of suggestibility. Preschoolers with low IQ scores were more likely to be in error.

They also reported on causal mechanisms using social and motivational factors which are present in the interview process. The authors note that there is evidence that suggestibility effects are influenced by the dynamics of the interview, the knowledge or beliefs of the interviewer (especially one who is unfamiliar with the child, the emotional tone of the questioning and the props used. Children attempt to comply with what they perceive to be the belief of their questioner.

Ceci and Bruck also looked at biological factors that may be causal factors.

The authors were interested in the extent to which stress affected the children's reports. They found that the research reviewed suggests that younger the child the more suggestible they are.

They conclusions they drew from all the research they reviewed was that children are able to encode and retrieve large amounts of information, especially when it is personally experienced and highly meaningful. Equally true, however, is that it needs to be remembered that part of the research demonstrates potentially serious social and cognitive hazards to very young children as witnesses if adults who have access to them attempt to usurp their memories.

Advantages

The fact that children can be led to make statements about and even believe in events that have not happened does not necessarily mean that children lie, but rather that they are influenced by the adult's beliefs. These findings have had a great impact on the procedures used to gather statements from children.

Disdavantages

Could this research lead to children's witness statements having less impact on a jury? Would they believe the statement from a child?

This covers the study in enough detail.

It is from the A2 level book by Eysenck and is found on http://www.alevelpsychology.co.uk/common/supplementary/1841693650/Chapter1.pdf

GCSE Psychology – Teacher Guide (2009) MLJ

12 April 2010

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APPENDIX 2

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GCSE Psychology Teachers' Guide pdf

GCSE TEACHERS’ GUIDE

New Specifications: for teaching from September 2009

Psychology

Contents

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Teachers’ Guide

INTRODUCTION TO SPECIFICATIONS

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