Well, you’ve done it ! – Psychology exams for 2019 are well and truly over. A massive well done to you all for your hard-work, perseverance and stamina.
I hope you are all able to enjoy a well deserved rest over the summer holidays. I look forward to seeing you all again on results day. 🙂
PS: If you have psychology text books you no longer require – please donate them to the dept. Many thanks 🙂
You will all be fine – I have every confidence in you 🙂
Help!! My blogs are getting in a mess!
I had written a detailed year 13 blog about choosing stat tests and social sensitivity and it is showing up on my home computer but not this school one ???
I will investigate again when I get home.
Needless to say if you need any help or assistance with revision I am contactable via email, and I will try to be in the classroom when we would ordinarily have a lesson.
Hi everyone,
I am aware that you are all busy revising, taking exams, being sick, attending weddings, etc etc … and that consequently lesson attendance has been considerably diminished since Easter 😞 I’m feeling like billy no mates tbh 😂
Today I was also feeling sick and so I went home ill. I only saw Abbie, who said she was happy to continue with her revision without me. 🎈
I’m guessing that I may never see you again as a whole class, that means you will not benefit from my input on statistical tests and designing research studies, both of which may come up in your examinations. (When I next see anyone this is what I will be focusing on). Additionally I had intended to go through reductionism and holism this week as well as the issues of socially sensitive research.
I am sending you some material (via email) to help you – do have a look as most of you missed the determinism sessions too.
I hope you are all working hard, if you run into any problems drop me an email.
Remember to get the maximum use out of the tutor2U website- their revision videos and how to answer questions videos are really helpful.
best wishes
Ms A
Hopefully you have already started revising ‘issues and debates’ which appear on paper 3 as stand alone questions, but which are also useful as evaluation issues on any of the papers.
I thought you might like to get prepared for revisiting the issues and debates with me in class this week ….. this is a fascinating idea….should we be able to control certain behaviours or temperaments by implanting electrodes directly into the brain?
This info sheet should be read before the lessons this week if possible >>Biological determinism
This power point should give you a head start on the determinism vs freewill debate. It is straight forward and linked to some you-tube clips – so again, I suggest you work through it before the lesson if you can. >>> power point fw & D
Finally, here is some scary food for thought >>>> Free Will experiments and brain scanning
Bring your Determinism-Freewill notes to class, plus any questions you have 🙂
Lesson 1 – We started to consider determinism vs freewill – see above
Lesson 2-4 – Only 3 students present today – so we used the time for personal revision. Think about how you are revising – make it active – brainstorm the topic first- then fill in the gaps. Recall takes effort and is the only way that revision is 100% effective. Reading and making notes is too easy – it is passive – challenge yourself for maximum learning.
Lesson 5- 6 – Still only 3 students in lessons again today. However we forged ahead and finished of the determinism vs freewill debate. We completed 2 x PHG exercises then a past exam question from 2017 paper 3. After planning the answer we looked at the mark scheme and examiners report. Students then did a mix and match activity and finished off by completing a whole bunch of mini 2 and 4 marks questions to check that concepts could be put into your own words.
Prep:
Next week we are going to focus on research methods and specifically how to select the appropriate statistical test. I also want to look briefly at holism and what we mean by socially sensitive research. Read ahead to make the learning more effective.
KEEP ON REVISING
I hope you had a bit of a break over Easter, and I also hope you feel you have revised a sufficient amount. We need to finish off the gender unit so it would be super helpful if you were knowledgeable about Gender Identity Disorder which is the final topic.
This NHS website is easy to read and extremely informative – please look at it before our first lesson on Tuesday.
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Gender-dysphoria/Pages/Introduction.aspx
Also watch the following film – part 3 should be visible once you have watched part 2
NHS website: http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Gender-dysphoria/Pages/Introduction.aspx
Lesson 1 –3 – we examined the concept of Gender Identity Disorder. See >>> Atypical gender development 2019
You linked GID to the definitions of abnormality which you had previously examined in year 1. You also researched various explanations for GID. You need to be able to describe and evaluate both a social and a biological explanation. See power point above.
Remember to look at the T2U pack and Information pack sent again via email today- both are excellent resources. Well worth reading.
| Gender identity disorder | Individuals who identify much more with the opposite sex than the sex they were given at birth. |
| Brain sex theory | BSTc is around 40% larger in males. Post-mortem studies of transgender males found the BSTc to be similar size to that of a typical female brain. |
| Genetic factors | Concordance rates of 39% for MZ twins and 0% for DZ twins suggest heritability. |
| Psychoanalytic theory | Child fantasies and becomes the mother and thus adopts a female gender identity. |
| Cognitive explanation | Gender schema directs attitudes and behaviour and the individual’s personal interests may become more dominant than the gender identity. In most people this leads to androgyny but for some may lead to GID. |
You were asked to complete exercise 6.18 in the PHG pack which will need to be finished for prep.
You need to be able to explain the economic implications of the research. Below are a few examples but there are many others.
Attachment research
There are opportunities for discussion of economic implications here. Bowlby’s WHO report in the 1950s was taken to suggest that babies needed the constant care of the mother for healthy psychological development. This led to ‘stay at home’ mothering. Later evidence has shown that good substitute care childcare either in nurseries or by other family members e.g. father does not have a detrimental effect on social development. As an example then, this means that mother can happily return to work after having a child, remaining economically active.
Psychopathology research/Schizophrenia
Anything to do with treatment and people’s ability to work and contribute as effective members of society would be relevant. For example, studies often compare the effectiveness of different therapies. If research shows that people with a disorder such as depression are less likely to suffer a relapse after having cognitive therapy then, even though cognitive therapy might initially be more expensive than drug therapy, in the long-term it might be more economically sound to offer cognitive therapy as people would have less time off work.
Memory research
Any evidence relating to more efficient use of public money would be relevant. For example, research showing the cognitive interview facilitates accuracy of eyewitness reporting enables better use of police time and resources.
Stress research
Again, this would relate to people’s ability to work effectively. Research showing how to cope with workplace stress could be useful to companies whose productivity would increase if members of the workforce are better equipped to deal with stress.
Forensic Psychology research
Obvious economic benefits relate to the cost and effectiveness of treatments, custodial sentencing and alternatives to custodial sentencing. If research shows that custodial sentence does not necessarily result in lowering of recidivism rates then perhaps it would be more economical to focus on alternatives such as restorative justice.
Lessons 4-5 During our final 2 lessons we completed the GID unit by looking again at the power point from last lesson. You then completed the remaining activities in the PHG pack.
We then went on to look at the examination/prediction grid which I emailed you. This is a useful starting point for understanding the likely look of your summer examination. However, it cannot replace actually DOING at the past papers yourself, checking your answers with the mark schemes and really reading and learning from the examiners reports. All these things have been emailed to you already.
READ AHEAD: Next week we will be looking at the determinism vs free will debate, holism and reductionism and research methods too. We will also look at some different statistical tests.
This week we will be finishing off the psychodynamic explanation for gender development. We will then start examining the effect of culture and the media. I would suggest you read ahead in your digital text book to ensure you are familiar with this material. As we examine the role of culture on gender development it is also a good opportunity to also look at the concept of cultural bias which is one of the issues and debates we need to be familiar with. See pages 96-97 digital PHG.
Do watch the videos below as part of your preparation 🙂
Here is a great article to read too http://www.sociology.org/care-bears-vs-transformers-gender-stereotypes-in-advertisements/
this is an extract from the article and links to the Friend’s clip below
An episode of the popular television show Friends illustrates the gender stereotype surrounding dolls. One of the male characters, Ross, had recently become a father. He was divorced from his wife, who had taken a lesbian lover. During one of the episodes, Ross’ ex-wife dropped the baby off for him to spend some time with. Much to his dismay his son was hugging a Barbie doll. The rest of the episode centered around his efforts to interest his son in GI Joe instead of the Barbie doll which is stereotypically associated with girls. The GI Joe doll is stereotypically associated with boys, because he is an “action figure”. When confronted by another character that GI Joe is a doll, Ross quickly counters that he isn’t a doll he is an action figure. Thus, somehow making him more appropriate for boys. This example illustrates the stereotypes surrounding dolls. Girls play with dolls and boys play with action figures. By calling the doll an action figure it makes is an appropriate boy toy, because of the emphasis on action. This example also illustrates the influence of parents in reinforcing gender stereotypes. Apparently Ross’ son was young enough not to be aware of gender differences and was willing to play with anything. Ross, however, was uncomfortable with his son playing with a Barbie and reverted to gender stereotypes by encouraging the boy to play with an action figure instead. Another thing that this example shows is that television programs as well as advertising can be influential in perpetuating traditional gender stereotypes.
Lesson 1 – You started with a domino activity to remind yourself of the key terms associated with the psycho-dynamic approach. We then went on to examine the Little Hans case study. Freud used this to provide evidence for the Oedipus complex. We will evaluate the study tomorrow. 1 gender powerpoint
Lesson 2-4 We consolidated our understanding of the Psychodynamic explanation of Gender with a mix and match activity, then you completed exercises 6.12 and 6.14 in your PHG pack. We also watched some funny/creepy film clips to illustrate the Oedipus complex. Have a look on YouTube to see what else you can find.
We also examined the SLT explanation of gender development. This generally supports the schema theory. It was evident that you all knew a great deal about SLT and could explain it using the correct terminology …go you guys!! 🙂 >>see power point slt-gender
You completed Exercise 6.15 in the PHG pack and we checked all the answers.
Mini prep for tomorrow >>>
Describe the research of Perry and Bussey (1979) . you should use your digital textbook.
Read ahead about culture bias in the issues and debates section of the text book.
Lesson 5-6 – Cultural explanations for gender development and the issue of cultural bias and ethnocentrism. Power point >> The Influence of culture and media
We are moving on this week with 2 cognitive explanations of gender develop – Kohlberg’s stage theory – remember him from his theory of moral development? Also Gender Schema Theory. It would be a good idea to revise your knowledge of schema from the first year cognitive approach (memory) topic.
This is a great starting point >> https://www.simplypsychology.org/a-level-gender.html
I also intend to look at the Psychodynamic Theory of Gender development too. As there is a lot to cover this week I suggest you read ahead to ensure you can keep pace 🙂
Lesson 1 – recap and checking activities from PHG pack – see first couple of slides of the power point which I sent you 20/3/19.
We will start Kohlberg’s cognitive explanation tomorrow
Lessons 2-4 – We examined Kohlberg’s gender consistency theory and we then started to evaluate it. See power point I sent you.
We then went on to look at the Schema Theory of Gender Development. I have sent an updated power point in an email.
Lessons 5-6 – Evaluating the Cognitive Theories and looking at exam questions and how best to answer them. We compared 3 student answers and looked at how the examiners marked each one.
Read the worksheet I gave you about Little Hans. You should also read the psychodynamic explanation of gender development in your PHG digital text book.
As always, try to read ahead as much as you can. I’d like to try and finish this topic next week if I can.
I have set an essay due next Wednesday
Outline and evaluate Kohlberg’s theory of gender development. As part of your evaluation, refer to another explanation of gender development (16 marks).
Totally Psyched 2 