Cultural Bias in Psychology

Hi year 13
I found this very useful essay by a student on the internet. It is much longer than you would be expected to write in your exam (1500 words) but you might find it a useful read

http://www.rmjs.co.uk/bham/11ps01.pdf

This should give you an idea of the wort of standard that would be expected of you at university - I think this is the work of an undergraduate in Psychology.

Happy reading!

DEFINING ABNORMALITY

The definition of abnormality has changed over time and it is difficult to agree on one definition for it. There are 4 definitions we learnt about in the lesson today and these definitions are not mutually exclusive. The fact that there are so many ways to define abnormality shows the complexity of identifying and diagnosing abnormal behaviour.

I found the role plays today very useful in helping me remember each definition. First there was the 'fatty' who stuffed her face while everyone else ate sensibly, this was a deviation from social norms. What is the danger of using this to define abnormality?
Secondly, there was deviation from ideal mental health. So we had the boy who blamed his imaginary friend Clarence the dragon for being unable to solve the Rubik's cube.
Then there was the person who could not make tea or toast or even answer a simple question for that matter - failure to function adequately. Finally statistical infrequency such as midgets...and I am not referring to Jasmine!
Which do you think is the best definition?

How was it for you?

So how did your Psychology exam go today. Post a comment so we can discuss the good bits and the bad bits. What questions were you pleased to see? Which bits were you surprised about? What would you do differently if you were preparing for the exam again?

Looking forward to reading your thoughts

Exams tomorrow

Just a quick message to you all, both year 12 and year 13, to wish the success you deserve tomorrow in the exams. You will have done lots of revision now and the chance of doing anything more than refreshing your memory has passed now. Tonight you could usefully just go over your revision sumaries and then have a look at a few exam questions. If possible, it is a good idea to go to bed at your normal time and get up as usual too (assuming this isn't very late in either case).

Just a last reminder about good A02 material. You need to do 3 things in A02, each time you make a criticism:

• State the criticism (this study has low ecological validity)
• Justify the criticism (because other studies did not support its findings)
• Explain the criticism (which means that it cannot be generalised to all situations)

Make sure when you are asked to discuss or analyse or evaluate theories or studies that you give both positive and negative criticisms so that you get a balance. You also need to ensure that your 18 mark answers are about 1/3 A01 and 2/3 A02.

Finally, using the principals of retrieval failure and Beck's positive Psychology, if you feel that your mind haas gone blank in the exam, close your eyes and visualise yourself in G6 where you have your Psychology lessons. Look around mentally and imagine the room, the posters and the experiences. You will gain the confidence that you have in lessons and be in a similar state to when you are successful. Tell yourself that you will do well and then you will be in a positive mental attitude for the exam!

How's your revision going?

Less than a week to go now before the exams on the 10th January. Are you working away at your revision and doing lots of timed practice questions?

Test yourself against the following:

Memory
Can you describe and evaluate a study for STM for duration, for capacity and for encoding?
Can you describe and evaluate one study for LTM for duration and for encoding?
Can you explain and evaluate the multistore model (Atkinson and Shiffrin)?
Can you also describe and evaluate at least one other model (either working memory or levels of processing)?
Can you explain and evaluate decay and displacement as theories of forgetting in STM and decay, interference and retrieval failure in LTM?
Can you explain the role of emotion in LTM both in terms of remembering (Flashbulb memories) and forgetting (repression)
Can you explain what is meant by EWT and why it is unreliable? Do you know the work of Elizabeth Loftus and the criticisms that have been made of it? Can you describe and explain the significance of the cognitive interview?

If you can answer yes to all the above, then you have learnt memory well!

Attachment:
Can you describe and explain Bowlby's theory of attachment?
Do you know what is meant by securely attached, insecure avoidant and insecure resistant?
What is separation anxiety?
Can you describe and explain Margaret Ainsworth's research 'the strange situation'?
Can you explain what was found when this method was used all over the world?
Can you explain and evaluate 2 theories of the formation of attachment?
Do you know what is meant by deprivation, privation and separation?
Can you describe and explain Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation and his research '44 Juvenile Thieves'?
Can you also describe and evaluate the study by Hodges and Tizard on instituionalised boys?
What do you know about the Czech twins and Geni?
Do you also know the work of Robertson on separation?
Can you describe the effects of daycare on social and cognitive development? What studies do you know that support daycare and what studies suggest that daycare is harmful to a child's development?

Again, if you can answer all of the above, you must be doing you revision well.

Keep working hard and practising those questions! :-)