PSYCHOLOGY: UNIT 1 AQA B

AO1:

• Our biology is responsible for our personalitly and behavior. Social factors have minimal effect.
• The mind and the brain are the same, both should be studied in a biological way, not concentrating on unobservable mental processes
• Our genes have adapted to the environment, they have evolved to give us the best chance of survival
• Characteristics are due to genetic make-up e.g intelligence

AO2

• Reductionist, doesnt take into account social factors or mental processes
• Deterministic, doesnt account for a persons choice of behaviour
• Scientific methods, use of lab experiments means firm conclusions about cause and effect can be made
• Doesnt take into account for unconscious mind psychodynamisists would say this is a major downfall
• Over simplified reduces behaviour to terms of chemicals and nerves

AO1:

• Personality is made of 3 components: Id (desire principle), Ego (reality principle), Superego (morality principle)
• There are 3 states of consciousness: Conscious (here and now), Pre-conscious (information that can be recalled), Unconscious (unaccsesible)
• The Ego uses defence mechanisms to protect you from traumatic experiences e.g denial repression and regression
• Children develop in stages, resolving conflicts in each stage to shape personality
• Therapy should be impersonal you should not have any relationship with the patient

AO2:

• Revolutionary Frued was the first person to consider an unconscious mind
• Unfalsifiable His theories cannot be proved correct or false, due to them being unobservable, making them unscientific
• Unscientific The methods he used were often subjective (dream analysis) 
• Ideographic He used a case study methods meaning his results cannot be generalised 
• Reductionist doesnt take into account for social factors later in life having an effect on you

AO1:

• We are born with only innate reflexes, everything is learnt from the environment
• Conditioning determines behaviour, making it less or more likely to be repeated
• The mind is a black box, we cannot scientifically study mental processes so we should only study the behaviours the produce
• Everything should be scientific, meaning easily repeatable with reliable results 

AO2:

• Deterministic, doesnt consider choice or free will, assumes everyone is passive to conditioning
• Reductionist, doesnt consider biological or unconscious factors
• Scientific menthod, results are reliable and easily repeatable
• Lab conditions, experiments are often done in lab conditions which lack ecological validity 
• Over-simplified, doesnt consider mental processes

AO1:

• Mental processes should be studied to understand things like memory and vicarious reinforcement
• Experiences in the environment shape behaviour, biology has minimal effect
• People can learn through observation and imitation from models
• We imitate people who we can identify with role models
• Learning can be through direct or indirect (vicarious) reinforcement

AO2

• Scientific methods results are reliable
• Lab experiments mean low ecological validity a lab is an artificial environment
• Reductionist looks at mental processes but not how they work
• Deterministic assumes everyone is passive to conditioning and reinforcement
• Doesnt explain spontaneous behaviour