Psychology –
Unit 2
A- Level’s Revision Notes
SAMPLE
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Contents
UNIT 2
.............................................................................................................................................. 3
Biological Psychology .............................................................................................................................. 3
Overview ............................................................................................................................................. 3
Research Methods Associated with Biological Psychology ................................................................ 5
Stress as a Bodily Response
............................................................................................................... 0
Physical Reaction to Stress.............................................................................................................. 0
Stress and Physical Illness .................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Stress in Everyday Life.......................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Life Changes and Daily Hassles as sources of stress ........................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Workplace Stress ............................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
The effects of Workload and Control............................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Personality Factors and Stress ............................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Stress management ............................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Social Psychology ..................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Overview .............................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Research Methods Associated with Social Psychology........................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Conformity ........................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Independent Differences in Conformity .......................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Obedience ........................................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Individual Differences – Psychopathology ............................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Abnormal Psychology............................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Overview .............................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Defining Psychological Abnormality .................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Limitations of Definitions of Psychological Abnormality ................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Explaining Abnormality - The Biological Approach to Psychopathology ............ Error! Bookmark not
defined.
Treating Abnormality – Biological therapies........................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Explaining Abnormality - The Psychological Approach to Psychopathology ...... Error! Bookmark not
defined.
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UNIT 2
Biological Psychology
Overview
a) Biological psychology, also known as behavioural neuroscience, is the study of how the
brain and nervous system control our behaviour.
b) The brain and nervous systems work intimately with various glands of the endocrine
system and different tissues (such as lymph and bone marrow) that contribute to the body’s
immune system.
c) Assumptions of biological psychology include
i.
Human behaviour can be explained by the biological interactions of hormones,
genetics, evolution, and the nervous system.
ii.
Theoretically, if all behaviours (including unwanted behaviours such as antisocial
behaviour) can be explained using a biological basis, then unwanted behaviour can
be changed or eradicated using biologically based treatments such as medication for
mental illness.
iii.
It is assumed that animal studies can inform us about human behaviour and
biological influences on behaviour because we share a lot of biological similarities.
d) Genetics explain psychological traits
e) The nervous system controls what we do and how we do it – the nervous system allows
parts of our body to communicate
f) Parts of our bodies communicate through neurons – a neuron is a nerve cell that processes
and transmit information – this is carried out through electrical and chemical signals
g) In a neuron, neurotransmitters are chemicals that are released from the synaptic knob –
they pass over the synapse, and relay a signal to the dendrites of the next neuron – this is
how messages are passed on through the body
h) See below for an illustration of the main neuronal structures
i) Biological psychologists look at how neurotransmitters work (e.g., how they are influenced
by diet, drugs etc). For instance if a medication can be used to change levels of
neurotransmitters, we can change different behaviours (e.g., depression – SSRI’s do just
that).
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j)
Criticisms of Biological psychology include;
i.
The biological approach does not take into account people’s environment – for
example their family, friends, upbringing, childhood experiences, or social situations.
ii.
A biological approach to behaviour – for instance adolescents engaging in antisocial
behaviour – can lead to people not taking responsibility – social or individual – for
the behaviour. For example, an adolescent may (or may not) say “I broke a window
because I’m cognitively immature, therefore it is not my fault”.
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Research Methods Associated with Biological Psychology
2 Main research methods are used to study genetic influences (i.e., the influence of our genes on
behaviour). Each of these methods has strengths and weaknesses.
a) Twin Studies
- Twin studies use monozygotic (MZ; i.e., identical) twins – this is because they have
identical genes
- This means that monozygotic twins can be compared or contrasted to see if there
are similarities/differences in their behaviour
- For instance – if both twins behave aggressively when 5 years old, that suggests a
possible genetic cause for aggression.
- Dizygotic (DZ; i.e., non-identical) twins share 50% of their genes – so it is less likely
that their behaviour will be similar due to genetics
- Criticism– all twins usually share similar environmental experiences – if they live in
the same family (sometimes twins may be adopted into different families)
- So it may not always be clear to what extent genetics or shared environments are
responsible for behaviour
b) Adoption Studies
- These are studies that compare family members who have been brought up in
different environments
- Ideally the studies will be conducted with identical twins (100% shared genes) who
are in different environments – but close genetics (e.g., family members) can also be
used
- Two important factors can be assessed in adoption studies – biology (i.e., genes) and
environment (i.e., new home)
- Links between the biological parents and the adopted child may be explained by
genetics – while links between the new environment (e.g., similarities between new
parents to adopted child) may be attributed to the environment.
- Example – If adopted children’s birth mother (biological mother) had schizophrenia,
the adopted child was at a much higher risk of developing schizophrenia, even if the
adopted family (environment) did not (Plomin et al., 1997)
- This suggests that there is a strong genetic risk for schizophrenia
- Criticisms of adoption studies:
o Adopted children are not representative of the general population
o Children are usually placed selectively into homes that are similar to their
natural parents
Primary Limitation of Studying Genetic Influences
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-
Identical twins who share the same genes (i.e., monozygotic) AND who are raised in
the same family environment may also share the same environmental influences
o So in an ideal world, monozygotic twins raised in different families should be
used in research to examine the influence of genes on behaviour
o However, there is not a lot of people in this situation
-
Genetics do not explain 100% of behaviour
o If genetics explained 100% of behaviour, then behaviour found in one
monozygotic twin would certainly be found in the other
o However, this isn’t the case (see Gottesman & Shields, 1966)
o This means that there must be other factors in addition to genetics that
explains behaviour
Partial Support for a Genetic Cause for Schizophrenia
-
Gootesman & Shields (1966) – studied schizophrenia in twins (monozygotic and
dizygotic)
40 sets of twins were included in this natural experiment – two groups: identical
twins, and non-identical twins (i.e., groups not manipulated by researcher)
The concordance rate (i.e., the percentage of twins that both had schizophrenia)
was 48% in monozygotic twins vs. 17% for dizygotic twins.
The exact figure varied depending on the type of schizophrenia
Overall – identical twins had a much higher concordance rate
Results suggest a genetic influence on the development of schizophrenia
However, because there is not a 100% concordance rate for identical twins, other
factors must also influence the development of schizophrenia.
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Stress as a Bodily Response
Feeling stressed? What if you were to learn that stress and emotion were two different things?
Stress is a state of being (i.e., a bodily response – physiological and psychological) brought on by any
situation that threatens, or appears to threaten, a person’s sense of well-being, therefore
challenging the person’s ability to cope.
A situation or circumstance that causes or triggers a stress response in an individual is called a
stressor (e.g., exam, moving house, job interview, etc.).
Stressors can be acute (short-term, e.g., job interview) or chronic (long-term, e.g., high-pressure
job).
It is important to remember that a stress response is caused by our own appraisal of our ability to
cope – we could (and do) over or under-estimate the demands on us or our abilities to cope.
It does not matter whether being stress is justified, if we think that the demands put on us outstrip
our abilities – we feel stressed. When we feel stressed – our body reacts physically.
Physical Reaction to Stress
Think about a time when you felt under stress – what happened?
Typically, stress causes a number of reactions in the body;
-
Increased heart rate and breathing
Mouth may become dry
Decrease in digestive activity
Stomach tightens
Liver releases glucose for energy
Sweating
All of this starts in the brain:
-
Whether something is a stressor or not is evaluated in the cerebral cortex
If something is identified as a stressor a signal is sent to the hypothalamus
The hypothalamus controls the physiological responses to stress
Two processes are activated by the hypothalamus (see figure)
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