AQA A LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY PAPER 2 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

AQA A LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY PAPER 2 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Give one reason why schema's are useful? - Answer-When we're in unknown situations schemas help us know how to behave. So when we do not know what to do our schema fills in the gaps for us and allow us to process situations better. Give one reason why schema's are not useful? - Answer-schemas may exclude information which doesn't conform to our prior expectations. As a result, we may form stereotypes which are difficult to shift, even if new,disputing information is presented. This means we may not be processing the world around us accurately and may misjudge or represent a person or situation. Discuss the defense mechanism shown by Jed? - Answer-Displacement is when we redirect our hostile feelings onto something else because it is not appropriate to express their feeling towards the person or object in question. Jed can't take his frustration out on his teacher, who issued the detention and he displaced his feelings by kicking the locker. Outline the key features of the behaviourist approach. Compare to the biological approach, (A01 Behaviourist) - Answer-The behaviourist approach suggests that the basic processes that govern learning in all species are the same. We learn through two concepts: operant conditioning and classical conditioning. Outline the key features of the behaviourist approach. Compare to the biological approach, (classical conditioning) - Answer-The idea of classical conditioning was developed by Pavlov who found that we learn through association. He found that it was possible to condition dogs to associate the sound of a bell with food. This resulted in the dogs producing a salivation response at the sound of a bell even when no food was present. Pavlov demonstrated that repeated exposure to an event leads to a learned and uncontrollable behaviour. Outline the key features of the behaviourist approach. Compare to the biological approach, (operant conditioning) - Answer-Skinner suggested behaviour resulted from learning through the consequences of our actions. He conducted research into operant conditioning theory using rats, and found that three types of consequences will affect behaviour: positive reinforcement involves rewarding a behaviour, which increases it being repeated; negative reinforcement involves removing an unpleasant outcome to increase it being repeated; punishment involves adding an unpleasant outcome,reducing the behaviour. Outline the key features of the behaviourist approach. Compare to the biological approach, (similarity to biological) - Answer-Both the behaviourist approach and biological approach share a similarity in being determinist. Both ignore the influence that the person can have and whether they have free will and can make their own choices in these decisions. Outline the key features of the behaviourist approach. Compare to the biological approach, (difference) - Answer-However, they differ in that the behaviourist approach is environmentally determinist while the biological approach is biologically determinist. Stating that behaviour is the product of internal biological factors (e.g. genes, hormones, neurotransmitters, etc.) while behaviourists argue that behaviour is determined by the environment and is a product of stimulus-response associations Outline the key features of the behaviourist approach. Compare to the biological approach (similarity) - Answer-Both approaches take a nomothetic approach when studying human behaviour. Both investigate behaviour to try to create universal laws that apply to all human beings. Biologists argue that this is possible because human beings share similar physiologies, and behaviourists argue that this is possible because all behaviour is the result of learning and stimulus-response associations. Therefore, the aim of generating universal laws that apply to all humans is another similarity between the behaviourist and biological approaches. Outline the key features of the behaviourist approach. Compare to the biological approach (nature + nurture) - Answer-the behaviourist approach and biological approach are different in their position on the nature-nurture debate. Behaviourist views rest firmly on the nurture side of the debate, and that human beings are blank slates and that all behaviour is learned. Biological psychologists argue a nature-based view of behaviour. They posit that behaviour is the result of innate biological factors (e.g. genes, hormones, neurotransmitters. etc.) and is, therefore, the product of nature and not nurture. Therefore, despite their similarities in terms of determinism and their approach to investigation, the behaviourist and biological approaches are radically different in terms of their position on the nature-nurture debat