Study Unit 1 - Introducing Psychology (40510A)

A Level Psychology
Introducing Psychology
40510A
A Level Psychology
About the author

Kathy Daniels is a graduate in psychology from the University of Birmingham. Having worked as a
personnel manager in senior positions in the manufacturing industry she now runs her own
consultancy. Her main activities are focused on lecturing within the area of work and organisational
psychology and personnel management and consultancy on related topics.
Product Manager: Stuart Duncan

Design & Layout: Alex Miller
Published by:
ICS
Breckenridge House
274 Sauchiehall Street
Glasgow, G2 3EH
www.icslearn.co.uk
Version 8
These study units are written to AQA A Level Psychology syllabus 2185(B), and match specification
version 1.1
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Contents
1 Key Approaches in Psychology
Psychodynamic Approach
Limitations of the Freudian Approach
Progress Check 1
Behaviourist Approach
13
Progress Check 2
Humanistic Approach
19
Progress Check 3
Cognitive Approach
23
Progress Check 4
Social Learning Theory
29
Progress Check 5
Biological Approach
Evolutionary Approach
Evolutionary Explanations
33
Progress Check 6
41
2 Biopsychology
Physiological Psychology
The Brain
Neurosurgery
The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)
43
Progress Check 7
The Genetic Basis of Behaviour
Twin Studies
Adoption Studies
53
Progress Check 8
57
3 Gender Development
Concepts
Influences on Gender Identity
Methods
Nature vs Nurture
Progress Check 9
Theories of Gender Development
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Contents
Progress Check 10
Cognitive Approach
75
Progress Check 11
81
4 Research Methods
Planning Research
Populations and Sampling
83
Progress Check 12
Experimental Methods
Design of Experiments
Experimenter Expectations
Participant Expectations
89
Progress Check 13
Non-Experimental Methods
Interviews
Correlational Studies
Observational Studies
101
Progress Check 14
113
5 Representing Data and Descriptive Statistics

Introduction
Representing Data
Progress Check 15
Descriptive Data
Measures of Dispersion or Variability
Characteristics of Distribution Curves
6 Ethics
BPS Guidelines
Animal Research
115
119
127
Progress Check 16
133
Test Paper 1 - 40510/01
135
Answers to Progress Checks
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Introduction
Welcome to the study of A level psychology. Psychology is a fascinating subject, and you
are starting out on a very interesting journey.
Students who come to study A level psychology have a number of different backgrounds.
Some have taken GCSE psychology and want to explore the subject further. Others come
to the subject with a general fascination in people, but no previous formal study. This
does not matter the course is accessible to everyone keen to gain a greater knowledge
and understanding of psychology.
We will begin by considering exactly what psychology is. It is largely accepted that
psychology first appeared as a subject in its own right in 1879. At this time Wilhelm
Wundt opened the first laboratory in Leipzig, Germany. Others would argue that
psychology is much older than this and is a branch of the philosophy of the Ancient
Greeks. Indeed, some would credit Aristotle as being one of the first psychologists.
At this time the definition of psychology was not particularly clear, because it was very
much influenced by the individual researchers and their interests. However, over time it
has become clear that psychology can broadly be defined as the study of behaviour.
This is a broad definition and the breadth of the definition emphasises the range of
different approaches that still exist to the topic.
Looking back at the development of psychology, it is certainly true that it did not become
a mainstream topic until much more recently. In recent years there has been a significant
surge of interest in the subject, with many people becoming more curious about the ways
in which people behave. This has led to specialisms developing within the topic such as
forensic psychology which looks at behaviour in relation to crime, and sports psychology
which looks at behaviour and the link to performance in sport.
In gaining its role as a mainstream subject there has also been considerable debate about
whether psychology is a science or an art. Indeed, if you look at university prospectuses
you will see that some courses result in a Bachelor of Arts award, whereas others result
in a Bachelor of Science award. The reality is that psychology is a mix of many things
(which is why so many people find it so interesting).
In this unit, which is the first of four that you will study to complete the psychology A level,
you will cover a number of different areas.
We will start by considering the different approaches to psychology. Some of these will
be science based (such as the biological approach). Others will be more philosophically
based (such as the humanistic approach). Looking at the different approaches is a great
way to start the course, because it helps us to see the different strands within psychology.
We will then move on to a very science-based section physiological psychology. Here we
will gain an understanding of the brain and the nervous system. Students who do not
have a background in biology can feel nervous about this section of the course (indeed,
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I remember feeling very nervous when it was one of the courses in the first year of my
degree!!). However as we progress through the course, it will all become clear and you
will soon see how important it is to understand these aspects of the human being.
After gaining an understanding of the biology we will then look at our first rather specific
area of psychology that of gender development. Here we will apply the approaches that
we learnt earlier to the development of gender, and understand the different impacts
that gender can have on behaviour.
Finally, in this unit, we will spend time looking at research methods and statistics. This is
another area that some students approach with fear particularly those that are not
confident with mathematics. However, do not worry we are not going to be setting
pages of sums. It is simply the case that to understand behaviour we need to carry out
research, and in this section we will be looking at a wide range of ways of carrying out
research, and interpreting the results.
This is, therefore, a varied unit. This is a very useful as a starting point because it helps
to introduce us to some of the breadth of the topic.
Although the materials that you have been provided with by ICS are very comprehensive
it is strongly recommended that you purchase a textbook to study alongside the materials.
The recommended book for the first part of the course (AS) is:
Billingham, M., Ladbrook, S., Standring, S., & Teahan, R. (2008). AQA psychology B
AS: Students book. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes.
The recommended book to accompany the second two units is:
Billingham, M., Brewer, K., Ladbrook, S., Messer, D., Padley, H., Standring, S., &
Teahan, R. (2008). AQA psychology B A2: Students book. Cheltemham:Nelson
Thornes.
These books have been specifically written to accompany the syllabus that you are
following. Therefore, it will be very easy for you to link up the sections in the textbook with
the sections in this learning material.
To conclude the introduction, a word about assessment. This unit forms 50% of the AS
level, and 25% of the total A level for psychology. It is assessed through an externally
assessed examination that lasts for 1 hour and 30 minutes. In this exam you will answer
three compulsory questions.
Activity 1
Psychologists in the UK have their own professional organisation the British
Psychological Society. Go to their website (www.bps.org.uk) and have a general
browse, becoming more familiar with the work of psychologists.
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Key Approaches in Psychology

The aims of this section are to:
Introduce students to the key approaches in psychology.

Promote an understanding of the role of physiology in behaviour.
Promote an understanding of the genetic basis of behaviour.
Enable appreciation of research methods and ethical issues in the different
approaches.
Develop an appreciation of how science works in psychology.
Reading
Read chapter 1 of the textbook.
One of the reasons that some people argue that psychology cannot be a science is that
there are many different approaches which can be taken and there is not a right and a
wrong way. When we contrast this with other sciences, that often do have right and
wrong approaches we can see an immediate difference. However, one of the interesting
aspects of psychology is that many different approaches have developed rather than there
being simply one correct approach. Rather, it is through using the variety of approaches
that we develop a richness of data about behaviour.
In this course you are required to learn six different approaches, which are the main ones
that are used in psychology. These are:
Biological
Behaviourist
Social learning
Cognitive
Psychodynamic
Humanistic.
In this section of the course we are going to define each of them, and identify the main
research methods that are used in each. We are also going to consider the strengths and
limitations of each approach.
We will start with the approach developed by Sigmund Freud a name that will be familiar
to many of you.
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Sigmund Freud lived from 1856-1939, and worked as a psychiatrist in Vienna. The
psychodynamic approach was developed from the information that he collected from his
patients, as he asked them about their feelings and experiences. This is one of the first
criticisms of the approach it was based on a very limited group of people (the more
wealthy people of Vienna) and was not based on well-controlled research. From his
findings he developed the psychodynamic approach, and a form of therapy known as
psychoanalysis.
The psychodynamic theory explains behaviour as the interaction between two factors:
Innate drives that we have (such as the desire for pleasure)
and
Early experience (the emphasis here is on the extent to which early desires were
gratified).
Hence, Freud argued that behaviour can be explained by the conflicts that there are
between our desires and our early experience. For example, if a child desired love and
affection (innate drive) but was constantly pushed away by a parent (early experience)
that conflict will remain with the child as it becomes an adult and will shape their
behaviour on an ongoing basis.
Freud also defined the structure of the personality. Many of us will have presumed (if we
have ever thought about it) that our behaviour is controlled by our consciousness.
However, Freud argued that the mind has different levels of consciousness. He assumed
that there were three levels of mind:
The conscious this is accessible to all, and contains all our thoughts and feelings. This
is where the things that we are currently thinking about are.
The preconscious This is where thoughts that have bubbled up from the unconscious
are found. This is where we store information and ideas that we can easily retrieve. The
thoughts are accessible, but they may be selectively filtered in order to be acceptable.
The unconscious this is the area of our mind which is inaccessible, or very difficult to
access without the assistance of a psychoanalytic therapist. Most of the information in this
part of our mind relates to very emotional experiences from out past.
This description that Freud gave of the mind is often described as an iceberg where the
conscious mind is above the water, but the unconscious and the preconscious are out of
sight under the water.
As well as having three different levels of mind, Freud also argued that the mind is divided
into three different parts these are:
1 The id which is present at birth and is known as the pleasure-seeking part of the
personality in the direction of biological needs, the instinctual drives of hunger,
thirst, sex and so on. It is driven by the libido, psychic energy. The id demands
immediate gratification and is seen most clearly in the average two-year-old child
demanding I want it and I want it now!
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2 The ego emerges as the infant grows and begins to adapt to the outside world. The
ego operates on the reality principle, and considers the consequences of an action.
The child discovers that the use of the word Please may result in a more attractive
outcome than I want it now. The ego maintains the individual as a whole and may
attempt to mediate between the outside world and the ever impatient id. The
functions of the ego are always directed towards external reality.
3 The superego emerges around the age of four to six. The superego is often called
the conscience, usually at this stage being the moral views of our parents and
society. There are, however, two component parts to the superego, the ego ideal
and the conscience. The ego ideal is concerned with what is correct; it is sometimes
seen initially as the childs beliefs about the behaviour which will be approved of by
their parents. There may be a conflict between what is assumed to be acceptable
behaviour and what actually is behaviour acceptable to parents. The conscience is
more censorious about bad behaviour or the childs concept of the behaviour that
would be condemned by their parents as bad.
Freud argued that there are often conflicts between the id, the ego and the superego
and it is these conflicts that result in individuals experiencing anxiety. In particular, he saw
there being conflict between the id (wanting immediate satisfaction) and the superego
(which wants to obey societys rules). He argued that there were a number of defence
mechanisms used by the ego to protect itself. Put more simply there are a number of
mechanisms used to reduce anxiety. The main ones that he identified are:
Repression this is keeping thoughts out of the consciousness, deliberately trying
to bury memories or thoughts
Displacement transferring reactions from one threatening object to a less
threatening object (for example, a teacher makes you angry but you shout at your
friend when expressing that anger)
Projection putting ones own negative characteristics on another. For example,
you might be a very greedy person, but you accuse other people of being greedy.
Denial refusing to accept the existence or reality of a threatening event. Maybe
the most common example of this is someone with a terminal illness refusing to
accept that they are going to die.
Intellectualisation taking the emotion away from an event when thinking about
it. For example, instead of thinking about the terminal illness and the emotions that
accompany it focusing on ways of developing medicines to cure the illness.
Freud was convinced that adult behaviour related to childhood experiences, and many
people who know a bit about Freud have heard primarily about his theory of psychosexual
development which explains this. Freud assumed that all children go through five stages
of development. However, if a child has either severe problems or excessive pleasure at
any of the stages this can lead to fixation. If fixation occurs the child becomes stuck at
that particular stage for many years. Freud argued that, in later years, adults can
experience regression and their behaviour can become similar to that of the stage that
they fixated on as a child.
The five stages that Freud identified are:
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1 Oral stage this occurs during the first 18 months of life. In this stage the child
gains satisfaction from activities using the mouth, such as eating and sucking.
2 Anal stage this occurs between about 18 and 36 months. During this period
toilet training occurs, and hence there is attention on the anal region.
3 Phallic stage this occurs between about 3 and 6 years. Freud argued that the
genitals become a key source of satisfaction at this stage. In particular, he suggested
that, at around the age of 5 years, boys have sexual desires for their mother and
start to see their father as a rival this is known as the Oedipus Complex.
Eventually, this is resolved by developing an identification with the father, becoming
more like the father and developing a superego. For girls, Freud argued that they
start to suffer from penis envy and blame their mothers for the fact they do not
have a penis. As a result the girl projects her love onto her father, and resolves her
penis envy with a desire to have a child.
(It is this stage that has brought much criticism of Freuds work, and maybe has
resulted in a lot of his good work also being brought under the general umbrella of
criticism. There is no research evidence to support either the Oedipus complex or
penis envy.)
4 Latency stage this occurs from 6 years until the onset of puberty. During this
stage boys and girls tend not to interact much.
5 Genital stage individuals develop a strong interest in sexual activity and the
genitals provide a significant source of pleasure.
Limitations of the Freudian Approach

There are many criticisms which can be made of Freudian theory. However, it remains true
that there are very few psychologists whose name is still a household word and whose
theories have made such an impression in areas such as literature and the theatre. Some
of the limitations include the following:
1 Psychoanalysis is a theory that was not constructed using scientific method. There
are problems with the experimental method, i.e. objectivity, replication, and
empirical evidence.
2 The theory is very difficult to falsify. An individual showing certain symptoms may be
diagnosed as regressing to the oral stage, discussed later, but the regression can be
orally retentive or orally expulsive which covers the whole gamut of symptoms. Most
of the processes cannot be directly observed or tested which makes it difficult to
construct testable hypotheses.
3 Freud used a very narrow sample of mainly Jewish women from a narrow culture
and society. They were referred because of their symptoms, suffering from some sort
of psychological disturbance. From these individuals, Freud constructed a theory to
be generalised to all humans.
4 Freuds use of the clinical case study was poorly controlled. Unlike the popular
image, he listened, but did not take any notes during consultation. He wrote his
clinical notes some time later, i.e. retrospectively, and perhaps selectively.
5 There have been many attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of psychoanalytical
therapy. The findings remain unclear for many reasons including difficulty in defining
an illness, defining when a cure has occurred and spontaneous remission rates.
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6 Freud overemphasised sex. This could be because of the time at which he was
carrying out his work, when there was much sexual repression. Hence, it might have
been more evident in his work.
7 The stage theory of development (and there are other stage theories that we will
look at later in the course) does not work in the neat way that he proposed.
Strengths of the Psychodynamic Approach
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It is certainly true that the unconscious mind does have an impact on behaviour and maybe
Freud was right in his iceberg model
There is plenty of evidence that childhood experience impacts on the development of an adult
personality. For example, many child sex offenders report that they were sexually abused as
children.
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Progress Check 1
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What are the id, the ego and the superego?
What are the five defence mechanisms?
Why did Freud compare the mind to an iceberg?
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Describe the five stages of development identified by Freud.

a
Check your answers with those at the end of the study unit.
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Behaviourist Approach
The behaviourist approach sees human behaviour as being determined by learning that
learning being primarily related to interactions with the environment. The main learning
processes are known as classical and operant conditioning.
The basic assumptions made by behaviourists are:
Introspection is not a suitable matter for psychology and should be replaced by a
more objective approach.
This approach must concentrate on the study of behaviour based upon observable
and objective responses to known stimuli.
The basic unit of study is the association between stimulus and response, the S-R.
However, there are differences between classical and operant conditioning, in how
the relationship is perceived between stimulus and response. Classical conditioning
sees the stimulus as triggering an automatic response. Operant conditioning
assumes a form of associative learning also but sees behaviour as being emitted by
the organism, and the likelihood of that behaviour being repeated depends upon
the reinforcement received.
Behaviour is seen as being almost entirely determined by the environment rather
than heredity.
Humans are seen as biological organisms and therefore that there is continuity
between human animals and non-human animals. This belief also assumes animals
are capable of adapting to their environment. It is therefore reasonable to study
animals and generalise these studies to humans.
You need to be able to define and understand certain key terms within the behaviourist
approach. These include:
Stimulus can sometimes be difficult to define but usually can be taken to be an
object or an event that may influence behaviour. A stimulus is usually external in
origin, for example Pavlovs work with dogs and food where the food is a stimulus.
Pavlov observed that dogs would salivate not only to natural responses such as the
sight and smell of food, but could be conditioned to salivate to unrelated stimulus, if
paired with the original cue.
Response refers to the reaction to a stimulus. Using Pavlovs work again, the
stimulus is food and the response is salivation. The response in strictly behaviourist
terms must be able to be measured.
Reinforcement refers to the process by which a response is strengthened, i.e. the
response is more likely to be repeated. Reinforcement is a term used most often
when looking at operant conditioning. Reinforcement can be positive or negative.
A positive reinforcement could be the reward of a food pellet when a pigeon taps a
key. The pigeon is likely to tap the key again, i.e. repeat the response, in order to
obtain further reinforcement by way of food pellets.
A negative reinforcement is the removal of an unpleasant stimulus (this is not the
same as punishment.) Using the example of a pigeon again a mild electrical charge
may be placed through the floor of a Skinner box and the pigeon may press a lever
which switches off the electrical charge. The pigeon will repeat the action to remove
the unpleasant sensation of the electrical charge.
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In both cases, that is in negative and positive reinforcement, the result has been to
make the pigeon more likely to peck or press a lever.
Having understood the basic terms, let us now apply them to classical and operant
conditioning:
Classical Conditioning
During the summer I took my children to a place where lots of swans are reared, and
injured swans are brought to recuperate. The place is on the edge of a lake and there
are many wild swans in the area as well. On the notice board it said that feeding was at
12 noon.
In the minutes before 12 noon a huge number of birds started to flock down to one
particular part of the lake. However, there was no food there. However, there were two
workers at the swannery, who were collecting their wheelbarrows, ready to fill them with
food which they would then throw to the swans. The excitement amongst the swans was
very evident.
You might have experienced something similar at a zoo or, if you have a pet, when you
have opened the cupboard containing the pet food.
This is a very similar experience to that of Pavlov who lived from 1849-1936. He noticed
that when his dogs were offered food they started to salivate. However, he then noticed
that when he opened the door to bring them food they also started to salivate.
Let us go back to the words we have just used and try to explain what was happening:
The stimulus was the food
The response was salivation.
As a result of the dogs linking the opening of the door with the experience of food the
opening of the door had become the stimulus. Pavlov argued that the opening of the
door had become the conditioned stimulus. To make the distinction between the
different stimuli and responses he used the following terms:
Food was referred to as the unconditioned stimulus and the
Salivation was referred to as the unconditioned response.
He argued that this was a natural reaction and not one which had been learned.
However, the learning resulted in conditioned stimuli and responses.
Pavlov carried out further work, and rang a bell every time food was produced. After a
period of time the dogs would salivate at the sound of the bell alone. In other words:
The bell was the conditioned stimulus and the
The salivation was the conditioned response to the bell.
His argument was that we learn by making associations between responses and stimuli.
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Operant Conditioning
There is an obvious limitation to classical conditioning not everything in behaviour has
a clear stimulus and response, hence it appears that it cannot explain everything.
Thorndike (1874-1949) suggested, therefore, that learning took place through trial and
error, rather than through conditioning. He started the development of this idea by
looking at a hungry cat (the hunger was supposed to be the incentive) placed in a puzzle
box. On the first occasion it tried a number of different ways to get out of the box.
However, on each subsequent attempt it would take less and less time to get out as it
learnt the escape route through trial and error. Eventually it would get straight out when
placed in the box.
This idea was developed further by B. F. Skinner (1904-1990). He argued that learning is
controlled by the consequences, and hence focused on reward and punishment. He
carried out a number of experiments with rats and with pigeons, where they received
food as the reward for finding the way out of a maze (rats) or for pecking the correctly
coloured button (pigeons). Once the rat or pigeon learnt which reaction received the food
they only gave that reaction.
Skinner did further work by also giving punishments for wrong reactions, and found that
this increased the speed of the learning.
This led to four possible consequences of learning being identified:
Positive reinforcement receiving a reward for behaviour

Negative reinforcement avoiding an unpleasant result of the behaviour
Positive punishment receiving a punishment for behaviour
Negative punishment removing a reward as a result of behaviour.
Assumptions of the Behaviourist Approach

It is useful to summarise the key assumptions:
The stimulus and response are all that matter

It does not matter what happens to cause the stimulus and response
All behaviour is learned
The theory applies to humans and animals.
Limitations of the S-R Approach

The limitations of the stimulus-response approach include the following:
Pavlov suggested that the process of stimulus-response was automatic, involving no
cognitive factors. Later research has argued for the importance of predictability and
the use of memory to predict whether or not an event will occur.
There are biological constraints on learning. Some actions are learned more quickly
than others because of biological preparedness. For example, blue tits very quickly
learned that milk bottles can be opened and the milk drunk. However, it is worth
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noting that the actions involved in opening a milk bottle are very similar to the
apparently innate actions used by blue tits to strip bark from trees to reach insects.
The blue tits are therefore biologically prepared to learn the actions to open a milk
bottle top.
Many psychologists have a problem with the behaviourist view that humans are
merely passive beings controlled by the environment. This is a very reductionist
approach in many ways and as such behaviourism appears to underestimate the
complex nature of human beings. It would be a useful exercise at this point to go
online to attempt to identify some of the individuals who leveled such criticism and
the behaviourist approach.
The use of stimulus-response concentrates purely on observable behaviour and
ignores aspects of humans such as their feelings, hopes, and desires.
Strengths of the Approach
The approach has been developed systematically with proper research
It does appear to explain some aspects of behaviour but not all.
Activity 2
Have a bit of fun at applying operant and classical conditioning! Go to the following
link and read how the approaches are applied within the context of animal training.
Hopefully this will help you to ensure that you understand the different approaches:
http://www.wagntrain.com/OC/
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Progress Check 2
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What is the difference between an unconditioned response and a conditioned

response?
How did Thorndike suggest that learning occurred?
Explain the following terms:
Positive reinforcement
Negative reinforcement
Positive punishment
Negative punishment
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Identify two strengths of the behaviourist approach.
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Humanistic Approach
The humanistic approach was developed by Rogers and Maslow partly as a reaction to the
strictly scientific behaviourist approach which dominated the study of psychology from the
1920s to the 1950s.
The humanistic tradition has its roots in the work of one of the fathers of modern
psychology, William James. He defined psychology as the science of mental life and he
devoted much of his research to very carefully analysing and describing mental states. He
used introspection and his reflexive mind and continuously produced accounts of his own
experience which are published in his major work Principles of Psychology (1890). James
was also confident that there was such a thing as free will, although he could not prove
its existence.
It is from these roots that humanistic psychology has arisen. From the time of James until
the emergence of the American Association for Humanistic Psychology (AAHP), the two
main forces in psychology were the behaviourists with their emphasis on observable
behaviour, and the psychoanalysts, with their concentration on instinctual drives. Both
these two approaches suggested that humans were determined, one (behaviourism) by
their environment and the other (psychoanalysis) by their biology and the influence of
their parents. By contrast the AAHP described humanistic psychology as:
Primarily an orientation toward the whole of psychology rather than a distinct
area or school. It stands for respect for differences of approach, openmindedness as to acceptable methods, and interest in exploration of new
aspects of human behaviour it is concerned with topics having little place
in existing theories and systems: e.g. love, creativity, self-growth.
(American Association for Humanistic Psychology, 1962, page 2)
Humanistic psychologists argue the following conditions of worth:
It is important to show that individuals have conscious experience of themselves and
their role in directing their own lives
People have the capacity to be self aware
People are guided by purpose and meaning.
The assumptions, made by this approach, differ slightly since this approach does not
assume that the methods of natural science are the best methods for psychologists to
use (contrary to behaviourist approach for instance). Humanistic psychologists argue that
the rigour and objectivity of experiments may limit our understanding of human
experience. They try to focus and start from the nature of a human being and then make
assumptions from this point, if necessary developing new goals and methods. The main
assumptions are:
Psychology should be concerned with the subjective, conscious experiences of an
individual, the phenomenological approach
Humans are unique individuals with the freedom to choose their destiny (free will)
Scientific methods are inappropriate for studying human beings
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People should be encouraged to reach their maximum potential in terms of

psychological growth (self actualisation).
Two of the main exponents of the humanistic approach were Carl Rogers (1902-87) and
Abraham Maslow (1908-70). In their different ways they sought to promote this very
optimistic psychology, suggesting that individuals do possess free will and they have the
ability to change and grow.
Limitations of the Humanistic Approach

The limitations of the humanistic approach include the following:
Some would argue that there is too much emphasis on the individual, ignoring the
power of social and cultural factors.
Slife and Williams (1995) argue that although humanistic psychologists deny
advocating selfishness, there does not appear to be an argument within this
approach to exclude this form of selfishness that occurs when an individual wishes
to reach their potential at the expense of others.
Research studies to support this approach have tended to come from case studies
and interviews. It is difficult to construct a testable hypothesis using these methods.
The client-centred therapy which was proposed by Rogers has some limitations since
it appears to be most successful with those who are articulate and are motivated to
seek help.
Strengths of the Humanistic Approach
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It mixes some of the strengths of the behaviourist and psychoanalytical approaches
It emphasises the uniqueness of each individual human being, and maybe is very sensible in
not trying to explain everything.
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Progress Check 3
1
Describe the humanistic approach.
What are the limitations of the client-centred therapy that comes from this
approach?
What are the other limitations of the approach?
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Cognitive Approach
The cognitive approach is a relatively new approach in psychology. Psychologists became
more interested in cognition during the 1950s and 1960s partly as a result of increasing
dissatisfaction with behaviourism. Cognitive psychology arose because of the beliefs of
many psychologists that complex behaviours had been overlooked or oversimplified by
behaviourists who were only interested in external events and observable behaviour. On
the other hand, psychoanalysts tended to be uninterested in behaviour and were mainly
concerned with the unconscious mind. Cognitive psychologists wanted to explore
cognitive processes such as how humans pay attention, store and retrieve material from
memory, process visual and auditory signals, produce and develop language. Cognitive
psychologists are particularly interested in the processes of perception, attention, memory,
language and thinking. This interest had been stimulated by the work of psychologists like
Piaget and Tolman.
A second major factor in the growth of cognitive psychology was the beginning of the
computer revolution. The computer itself was barely developed before the end of the
Second World War but the growth of the use of computers and the computer analogy
was rapid. The human brain had been compared to a telephone exchange but computers
can also be shown to have similarities with how the brain functions. Computers have
inputs and outputs and memory stores and actively process information. It is not an exact
match, however, although with advances in technology some would argue that the gap
is narrowing.
A third factor in terms of the growth of this approach was the renewed interest in research
that had been carried out during the nineteenth century. Broca (1865) discovered that
some patients with brain damage were unable to speak but could understand language
normally. The area of the brain affected is called Brocas speech area. Wernicke (1874) also
demonstrated that if patients suffered damage to a specific area of the brain (now known
as Wernickes area) these patients showed great difficulty in understanding spoken and
written language but still possessed the ability to speak normally. The research was the
forerunner of cognitive neuropsychology which has become increasingly important today.
Assumptions of the Cognitive Approach

The assumptions implicit in this approach are:
Mental processes can be studied scientifically. This assumption is contrary to that of
behaviourists and has arisen partly as the result of new methodology, such as
devices capable of timing a tapped key response.
Humans are autonomous beings who interact with the external world, rather than
being controlled by the external world. Our cognitions actively organise and
manipulate information received.
The mind can be regarded as a system which processes symbols. Cognitive
psychology assumes that it is possible and necessary to identify the processes and
representations that are part of all cognitive tasks.
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The mind is assumed to be a limited-capacity processor. This assumption has been

tested in research into memory and attention where for example two inputs
presented to different ears are not processed simultaneously.
Models of cognitive functions can be proposed and tested experimentally with the
model being accepted, rejected or modified.
Information Processing
Information processing means going through a series of stages to select, organise and
interpret incoming information. Broadbent, in his work on attention, was one of the early
proponents of this approach. In his model of attention, processing took place during a
series of stages. This is bottom-up processing where the incoming stimulus drives the
process. Atkinson and Shiffrins multistore model of memory is another good example of
this information processing approach. However, there are problems with this type of
model. The model assumes that the stimulus is being received and acted upon by an
inactive organism. The model fails to take into account past experiences or expectations
of the individual who is doing the actual processing. For example, if I read a poorly written
word in a letter in the phrase the babys c-- I will probably see the word, based on
expectations, as cot. If the same poorly written word was used in the phrase the c-- has
nine lives I would more probably see the word as cat. This is a mixture of top-down and
bottom-up processing where the information and semantic knowledge of words is topdown, the individual words or letters, bottom-up processing. If I was given a poorly written
letter of which I had no prior experience and knowledge I would need to use much more
stimulus driven processes, that is, try to puzzle out every letter.
Early information processing models also tended to use serial processing, that is, where
the processing flows from one stage to another. These early models are sometimes
referred to as box-and-arrow models for this reason. Today more psychologists would
argue that parallel processing occurs where several tasks or processes are performed at
the same time. Participants do seem able to complete two tasks at once if one task is
well practised and the individual is highly skilled at the task. For example, highly skilled
typists are able to type in a foreign language whilst shadowing a message in their own
language.
Perception, memory and attention are clear examples of the information-processing
approach. The work of Jean Piaget, Jerome Bruner and Vygotsky have all contributed to
our understanding of how cognitive development occurs in children.
You can find out more about the work of these researchers at:
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/instrctn/in5lk2-4.htm
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Limitations of the Cognitive Approach

The cognitive approach is probably the most dominant approach in psychology today. It
investigates areas within psychology that have been neglected by the prior dominance of
the behaviourists, but unlike psychoanalysis or humanistic approaches, the cognitive
approach uses more scientific methods. There are, however, weaknesses in using this
approach:
There is no dominant, coherent theory integrating the theories which exist in areas
of psychology. There has also been no single essential theorist in this approach. The
other approaches have all arisen from individuals who have constructed a theory,
Freud, Rogers, Watson. Cognitive psychology lacks this figurehead.
The information-processing approach is seen by some as being too cold, making
humans appear to be machines. The computer analogy fails to point out essential
differences between computers and humans; a computer never forgets or refuses to
take in data because they are having a bad day. Humans can be emotional and
irrational, they have conscious experience and, some would argue, free will.
Although research is being carried out today on making computers feel, it can be
argued that there is a qualitative difference between human feelings and any
generated by a computer.
The cognitive approach is sometimes seen as being oversimplistic, ignoring the huge
range of human functioning compared to the much narrower range of computers.
The concentration on experimental procedures has also been criticised since these
often look at measures of speed and accuracy of performance, providing rather
indirect information about mental processes. The data is often gathered under strict
laboratory controls, making it difficult to argue that the behaviour is natural or the
experiment is ecologically valid.
Strengths of the Cognitive Approach
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It uses more scientific methods that most other approaches
The ability of the human to process information is given more priority than in other
approaches.
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Progress Check 4
1
What are the assumptions of the cognitive approach?
Define the term information processing.
What are the strengths of the cognitive approach?
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As we saw when looking at the behaviourist approach, one way in which psychologists
try to explain behaviour is through the process of learning. This idea was developed further
by Albert Bandura in developing the idea of Social Learning Theory.
He added another type of reinforcement to our list vicarious reinforcement. He sees
this as us watching what other people do, and whether they appear to be rewarded. If
they are then we are likely to imitate them and this is known as vicarious reinforcement.
To investigate this further Bandura and his colleagues wanted to know whether children
exposed to aggressive behaviour are more likely to display such aggressive behaviour.
The participants in the study were 36 boys and 36 girls, aged between 37 to 69 months
with a mean age of 52 months.
There were three groups within the study a control group who were not exposed to any
situation by the experimenters, a group exposed to an aggressive model and a group
exposed to a passive model. In addition, each of those three groups was divided according
to their gender and the gender of the person they were exposed to (in the passive and
aggressive conditions).
Each child was tested individually. They were taken into a play area with toys that were
expected to be of great interest to the children. The model (an adult) went to an opposite
corner of the room where there was a table and chair, some toys, a mallet and Bobo (a
five-foot inflatable doll).
In the passive group the adult played with the toys on the table and ignored the Bobo doll.
In the aggressive group the adult started by playing with the toys, but then started to
attack the Bobo doll. This was done physically (by using the mallet) and verbally (by
shouting expressions at the doll to accompany each blow). Each condition lasted for ten
minutes.
The children then moved onto the next stage of the experiment known as mild aggression
arousal. In this stage the child went to a room with attractive toys. However, after just a
short period of play the child was told these were the experimenters special toys and
that it had been decided to reserve them for other children. This was designed to cause
some sort of arousal in the child.
Then the children moved to the third and final stage of the experiment. They were taken
to another room where they remained for 20 minutes. In this room was a variety of toys
some of which were seen as passive (eg crayons) and others aggressive (including a
three-foot Bobo doll). The childs play was observed and categorised according to any
acts of aggressive behaviour.
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The results showed that:

Children exposed to the aggressive adult made more aggressive acts
Boys made more aggressive acts than girls
Boys exposed to the aggressive adult made more aggressive acts if the adult was
male than if the model was female
Girls exposed to the aggressive adult made more physical aggressive acts if there
was a male adult, and more aggressive verbal acts if there was a female adult.
Of course, this experiment does have a certain artificial aspect to it, but nevertheless there
was a clear link between the exposure to aggressive acts and the displaying of aggressive
acts. This suggested that the children were learning through vicarious reinforcement.
Bandura then went on to conduct a similar experiment in which one group of the children
saw the person carrying out the aggressive behaviour being rewarded by being given
sweets and a drink. Another group saw the person being aggressive being punished by
being reprimanded. A third group saw the aggression happening, but no reward or
punishment taking place.
The children who saw the person being rewarded, and those who saw no reward or
punishment then behaved much more aggressively than those who saw the person being
punished. Bandura argued that the children were modelling their behaviour on that which
they observed as being acceptable.
Limitations of the Approach

The experiments Bandura carried out did not distinguish clearly between actual
aggression and playfighting.
Some argue that the nature of the Bobo doll suggested aggressive play
It presumes that behaviour is based only on observed learning.
This develops a pure learning approach and adds in the social aspect of behaviour
There is evidence that the approach has some truth as people do model their behaviour on
those that they see as role models.
Activity 3
Go to the following website to read more about the Bobo doll experiments at:
http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Bandura/bobo.htm
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Progress Check 5
1
What did Bandura find in his second set of experiments?
What are the limitations of the approach?
What are the strengths of the approach?
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Biological Approach
Genetic Basis of Behaviour
The study of genetics refers to the study of genes and the mechanisms by which
characteristics are passed from parents to offspring within a species.
The nucleus of every cell within the human body (other than sperm or egg cells) contains
forty-six structures called chromosomes (assuming a normal individual). Chromosomes
are made up of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) which carries the genes.
Genes can be thought of as units of information which interact with the environment to
produce body structures and functions. Genes, for example, will control factors such as
your eye colour, hair etc. However, the genes do not act alone; there is a complex
interaction with the environment. It may be that genetically you are programmed to reach
a certain height, but if you fail to receive the correct nutrition it is unlikely you will reach
that height. A second example of the interaction between genes and the environment is
intelligence. Many psychologists now subscribe to the rubber band theory which suggests
that an individual may be born with a predetermined amount of intelligence. However, it
is the environment in which an individual lives which will determine whether the rubber
band is stretched or remains at rest. If the environment is stimulating and encouraging and
the individual has access to good educational opportunities, it is likely the rubber band will
be stretched. If, however, the environment is poor, the individual is not exposed to
language or has little opportunity to receive an education, the rubber band will tend to
remain the same size.
When a human egg is fertilised, the initial cell divides into two cells, then four and so on.
In this cell division the process of replication takes place, with the DNA in each cell being
a replication of the DNA in the original cell. This DNA is formed in the initial cell by the
process of reproduction. Both the egg and the sperm contain one half of each of the
chromosome pairs, twenty three in all.
At fertilisation the two halves come together, one half from the male sperm cell and one
half from the female egg cell.
This process differs from replication as the cell formed is not an exact replica of either of
the parent cells. Every human comes from the fusion of two cells into a single cell, with
the gene carrying chromosomes from the mother (the egg cell) being paired with the
gene carrying chromosomes of the father (from the sperm cell). The result is a new and
original genetic combination. You can see the differing results that occur if you compare
siblings. There may be a family resemblance but there will also be differences depending
on how the combination of genes occurred.
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Studies of genetics have been and are carried out for many reasons. Studies have been
utilised to try to predict difficult gene pairings or to give genetic counselling to couples
who have some form of hereditary illness in their family history. At the time of writing,
scientists have announced that they have identified the human genetic blueprint, which
will have enormous implications for medicine.
Psychologists are interested in genetics for many reasons. You have already come across
the concept of nature versus nurture, i.e. whether behaviours are inherited or learned
from the environment. Today, psychologists are more interested in the relative importance
of genes and the environment. We know genes may influence the processes of
development in various ways, but these processes are also affected by the environment.
Behaviour is always acquired by a process of interaction between genes and the
environment. One way of studying the effects of genetics is to consider the process of
evolution.
Evolutionary Approach
Charles Darwin (1859) showed in his work, The Origin of Species, that all species are
biologically related to each other through evolution. The theory of evolution suggests
that species develop through a process of natural selection where those individuals, within
a species, who are best fitted for survival, go on to breed successfully and thus perpetuate
their characteristics. Darwin observed many different species, especially on his voyages
with HMS Beagle. Darwin noticed that birds on different islands in the Galapagos had
developed different features, for example finches on some islands had thick beaks whilst
on other islands the finches had thin elongated beaks. Darwin believed these changes
had occurred because of the differing diets available on the different islands. This is an
example of natural selection in action.
Further, Darwin, himself a keen breeder of pigeons, noticed how farmers deliberately bred
animals with different characteristics. When breeding horses, for example, it is necessary
to have relatively light horses for horse racing , but horses, like cart horses bred for, say,
ploughing work, need to be much heavier with more endurance. This is artificial selection
where breeders select those characteristics they wish and breed only from animals
exhibiting these characteristics. This form of artificial selection takes place with
horticulturists also in their attempts to develop different crops and flowers.
In the natural world, individuals within a species vary because of different combinations,
for example, when two tall individuals mate rather than one tall and one small, or when
a genetic mutation takes place. This mutation or variation may or may not be beneficial
to the species. If the variation is beneficial then the individual will be more likely to survive
and pass on the more adaptive genetic material. This is sometimes referred to as survival
of the fittest, the ability to reproduce successful offspring. Darwin did not coin the phrase
survival of the fittest. In fact, the term was first used by Herbert Spencer, a political
economist, referring to the marketplace.
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Darwin could not explain how variation occurred but at the same time as he was
struggling to develop his theory of evolution, Gregor Mendel was carrying out research
into pea plants. However, Mendels work was not published until after Darwins death.
Mendel was responsible for originating the science of genetics, explaining how genes
must interact to produce variations.
Darwins theory of evolution, although controversial, was very successful. However, there
were two main problems with his theory. The first concerned examples of animal
behaviour, or morphology, that apparently give no advantage to the individual. The
example most frequently quoted is the tail of the peacock. Peacocks have such long tails
that their flight and mobility are adversely affected. Darwin explained this problem in his
book The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex. He explained that a feature
may evolve due to the pressure of sexual selection if the feature is attractive to members
of the opposite sex. In the case of the peacock, peahens are clearly more attracted to
peacocks with long tails. Therefore, the peacock with the longer tail will be more
successful in acquiring a mate and passing on the characteristic of a longer tail. Peacocks
with shorter tails are less likely to be selected for mating and therefore less likely to pass
on their characteristic of a shorter tail.
Darwins second problem was the existence of altruism in animal societies. Logically, the
most optimal strategy for a species is to behave selfishly in order to survive and reproduce.
However, many species do exhibit altruistic behaviour, that is behaviour which promotes
the fitness of one at the expense of the other. In many social insect colonies, for example,
some insects may behave suicidally by attacking aggressive intruders. Army ants may
sacrifice themselves by forming a bridge over a small stream to allow the rest of the ants
to cross in safety. Other animals may feign injury or draw attention to themselves to divert
a predators interest from their offspring. It was Wynne Edwards (1962) who first
suggested that natural selection may operate at the level of the group, especially in herd
animals. It therefore makes sense for an insect to commit suicide, if by doing so, the
survival of the group ensues. However, it is difficult to explain how natural selection can
operate at a group level. Natural selection seems to take place at the level of the
individual.
A more successful attempt to explain altruism was made by sociobiologists who attempt
to understand all social behaviour in evolutionary terms. The argument is that the
individual is not as important as the survival of the genes of the individual. Hamilton
(1964) proposed the theory of kin selection. Hamilton argued that if an animal dies whilst
saving four offspring then in genetic terms it will have saved twice its own genetic
inheritance. Each offspring inherits half of its genes from one parent, therefore four
offspring make twice the whole genetic inheritance. This means, in terms of inclusive
fitness, the animal has successfully survived to reproduce and pass on its genetic
inheritance.
This theory explains why animals who are genetically related behave in an altruistic way.
In many social insect groups there is a high degree of genetic interrelatedness.
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However, Hamiltons theory does not explain why animals who are not genetically related
to one another, should, at times, also behave altruistically. Trivers (1971) proposed a
principle of delayed reciprocal altruism, suggesting that animals will return a favour at a
later stage. This is a sort of you scratch my back and Ill scratch yours later scenario.
Reciprocal altruism will prove to be an adaptive behaviour if the animal is guaranteed, or
almost certainly likely, to be paid back by the animal it has already helped. This type of
altruistic behaviour is sometimes seen when monkeys are mating where two males act
together to help one of the males gain access to mate a female. The monkeys who help
the most are, in turn, most often given help when it comes to their turn to mate. This is
a successful strategy especially if there is a shortage of females. Sociobiological
explanations have also been applied to human behaviour.
But be careful. When looking at the behaviour of any species, it is necessary to distinguish
between behaviour which has been genetically transmitted and behaviour which has been
acquired due to experience i.e. learned. Behaviour which has been genetically transmitted
is referred to as phylogeny. One example can be seen in the cat species where all cats
exhibit species-specific behaviour, such as arching of the back when threatened. Behaviour
which is acquired because of experience is known as ontogeny and this behaviour will not
be shared by all the members of the species. An example of ontogenic behaviour is a dog
begging for food titbits the dog has learned to perform the action, begging, in order
to receive a reward, food.
Darwin suggested that behaviour evolved in the same way as physical characteristics.
Lorenz (1958) supported this notion and suggested that when individual members of a
species all exhibit the same behaviour that behaviour must be genetically transmitted
(phylogeny). Tinbergen and Lorenz are regarded as the founders of modern ethology.
Ethologists study behaviour in an evolutionary context and are particularly interested in
instinctive behaviour. Instinctive behaviour can be regarded as an inherited behaviour
pattern which is common to all members of a species. However, the use of the word
instinct has caused some problems; therefore ethologists tend to use the term fixed
action pattern (FAP).
Lorenz and Tinbergen (1970) examined the fixed action pattern of egg-retrieval behaviour
exhibited by the grey lag goose. If an egg rolls out of the nest, the goose always retrieves
it by putting its beak on the far side of the egg and attempting to scoop it back to the
nest. The goose will perform this same action even when it is unsuccessful. FAPs are
always stereotyped, species-specific behaviours which are triggered by specific stimuli
called sign stimuli. However, the problem with instinct is that it suggests that there is an
absolute, clear-cut distinction between innate and learned behaviour. In practice this is
unlikely. For example, Sherry and Galef (1984) argued that the action of blue tits, in
opening milk bottle tops, is not a purely learned behaviour. They suggested that the action
itself is similar to the actions used to strip bark from trees to reach insects underneath
(innate behaviour).
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Evolutionary Explanations
We have looked at animal behaviour but what are the implications for human behaviour?
Well, concepts from evolution are becoming more popular as possible explanations of
human behaviour. This is sometimes known as evolutionary psychology. A comparative
approach is useful since all behaviour is constantly being adapted from previous
behaviours and will continue to be adapted in the future. The study of evolution enables
us to place human behaviour in the context of the environment, to see the effects of
time, i.e. history. Studying animals can allow us to apply the knowledge gained about
evolutionary processes to human evolution. Comparing our behaviour to the behaviour
of animals, especially animals which are close to us on the evolutionary scale, can help us
to show what, if any, human behaviour is unique.
Human behaviour which has been at least partially explained by evolution includes
explanations of aggression. Aggression can be defined as behaviour which is intended to
cause harm to another individual. Intention is important even the law recognises a
difference between an intentional act and an accidental act, e.g. between, say, murder
and manslaughter. There are many explanations for aggression in humans and the
influence of evolution can be seen in the biologically based explanations.
Sexual behaviour has also been explained from an evolutionary standpoint. The human
male cannot be certain (without genetic testing) that the children he is bringing up are
definitely his children. However, since the female gives birth, unless there has been some
form of fertility treatment, the woman can be sure that her children have half of her
genes. It is to the advantage of the male to have exclusive access to the female to protect
his investment. This may explain why in human societies, adultery has been punished
severely, by stoning in some countries for example. Equally some sociobiologists, including
Richard Dawkins, have suggested that it is logical for women to remain faithful and males
to act unfaithfully to maximise their reproductive transmission.
There are apparently gender differences in attraction where women prefer power and
status, males preferring youth and beauty. In humans there is a limited time range of
fertility for females and increasing age can be linked not only to lack of fertility but also
to above average chances of some genetic problems, such as Downs syndrome. It is
therefore logical, from an evolutionary standpoint, for a man to choose to mate with a
younger woman. This will give the male the best chance of having successful progeny
(remember as you read this viewpoint that many criticisms have been made of this whole
thesis).
Parental care has also been explained in evolutionary terms. Bowlby suggested that
attachment can be explained in terms of evolution. Animals may imprint and bond during
a critical period shortly after birth. Bowlby suggested that humans too form attachment
bonds for protection, food and the development of social behaviour. There may be conflict
between parents and offspring in terms of the different evolutionary investment goals. It
makes sense for a parent to supply only protection and sufficient care to a child for the
shortest possible time, so that the parent can then have another child, to be sure of
passing on their genes. However, the offspring wants to be cared for as long as possible
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to give itself the best possible chance of survival. This conflict could explain topics such
as crying, regression, smiling and sibling rivalry (where the child sees his/her sibling
removing some of the parents care from him/her, possibly jeopardising his/her survival).
To end our discussion of genetics, take note of the following important terms:
Genotype the genetic constitution of an individual organism, the particular set of
genes carried.
Phenotype the physical, observable structure, function or behaviour of an organism.
Limitations of the Approach

The approach does not take account of the differences between people. The biological
approach would suggest that people are much more similar than they actually are.
There is an ongoing conflict between whether behaviour is the result of nature, or
nurture (the environment). The reality is that it is a mixture of both.
It does not explain why people in the same family can be very different
It is very focused on fact
It has a strong scientific basis
Twin studies (as we will see in the next section) have helped to give some important insights
into behaviour.
Activity 4
Read the following short article to further your understanding of evolution theory
http://www.allaboutscience.org/darwins-theory-of-evolution.htm
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Progress Check 6
1
Describe the theory of evolution.
What is a genotype?
What are the strengths of the evolutionary approach?
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Biopsychology
Reading
Read Chapter 2 of the textbook
This section is divided into two different areas. We are going to start by looking at
physiological psychology. This will involve us understanding the biology of the nervous
system, parts of the brain and the autonomic nervous system.
The second half will involve us looking at the genetic basis of behaviour which we have
already touched on briefly in the last section when looking at the biological approach.
Physiological Psychology
The passing of messages around the human body is a very complex affair, It involves
nerves, the brain and also hormonal responses.
We will start our study by looking at the role of the neurons.
Physiological psychology is sometimes referred to as biopsychology or psychobiology. This
approach uses biology to describe and explain psychological functioning.
Psychologists who take this approach assume that all psychological behaviour is basically
physiological; therefore, psychology should investigate the brain, nervous system,
endocrine system, neurochemistry and genes. These psychologists suggest that behaviour
depends on the nervous system, with the help of the endocrine system, integrating many
bodily processes.
However, behaviour is not only caused by processes within the body, but also by the
interaction between the body and external factors caused by the environment. For
example, a person who is very frightened will have adrenaline flooding through their
internal organs preparing them for fight or flight. This flood of adrenaline is caused by
the adrenal gland secreting various hormones in response to particular situations. It is the
situation that will determine whether the person fights (if their child is in danger of being
attacked) or runs (if they are being chased by someone).
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Neurons
The nerve cells or neurons (sometimes spelled neurones) are cells which process and
transmit information around the body. Neurons are the basic building blocks of the
nervous system and they vary in size and complexity. All neurons have three main parts:
Cell body (or soma) contains a nucleus surrounded by cytoplasm within a cell
membrane
Dendrites finger-like projections that receive electrochemical impulses from the
terminal end of other neurons and send the impulses to the cell body
Axon a long tail that projects from the cell body, which transmits electrochemical
impulses away from the cell body to other neurons.
There are three main types of neuron:
1 Sensory neurons carry information from the sense organs to the brain. These
neurons are present in the ear (hearing), at the back of the eye (vision), on the skin
(touch), on the tongue (taste) and in the nose (smell). Special cells in each sense
organ change the stimulus from its original form into electrochemical impulses.
These are carried to the brain via sensory neuron chains and then translated.
2 Connector (relay) neurons mainly located in the brain (and sometimes called
cortical neurons) have very short axons. The neurons are concerned with interpreting
and organising incoming information and sending out messages via the motor
neurons.
3 Motor neurons transmit electrical impulses to skeletal muscles and those parts of
the body involved in movement. When the electrical impulse reaches a muscle, the
muscle responds by contracting.
Neurons that carry information to the central nervous system are called afferent neurons.
Neurons that carry information away from the central nervous system (for example motor
neurons) are called efferent neurons. Neurons work or are activated when the impulse,
coming into the neuron, exceeds a certain threshold level. When this occurs, the neuron
fires (sends out an electrical impulse) and chemical changes take place in the cell.
Sodium, which is normally found on the outside of the axon, moves inside and potassium
moves in the opposite way, inside to outside. You may remember this by thinking of
sodium in (Sin) and potassium out (Pout or Pot).
Inside the axons, the potassium is positively charged, and on the outside is a positively
charged sodium ion together with a negatively charged chloride ion. At rest, a sodium
pump operates, taking the positive sodium ions outside the membrane. When the neuron
fires, the positively charged sodium ions rush in and are retransported out by the sodium
pump. This changes the electrical activity causing an action potential to occur. After each
action potential has passed there is a very short period of time, milliseconds, during which
the axon cannot fire again (the absolute refractory period).
Nearly all axons are coated with a myelin sheath which improves the transmission of
electrical impulses. Some diseases, polio and multiple sclerosis, interfere with this myelin
sheath and affect the transmission of nervous impulses.
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The area where an axon connects with a dendrite from another neuron is called the
synapse. The connection is actually a small gap known as the synaptic cleft. Chemical
messengers are responsible for transmitting the nervous impulse across this gap. The
messengers are neurotransmitters such as serotonin or acteylcholine. If there has been
sufficient neurotransmitter received by the next neuron, that neuron will fire. If there is not
sufficient, the message will lapse. The synapse can be thought of as a sophisticated switch.
The nervous system is made up of 10-12 billion neurons. The system includes:
1 the central nervous system (CNS) consisting of the brain and the spinal cord
2 the peripheral nervous system (PNS) consisting of nerves linking the senses to the
CNS and the CNS to the muscles and organs. The PNS functions through two main
systems:
the somatic nervous system which allows communication and interaction with
the outside world and is concerned with voluntary movements
the autonomic nervous system (ANS) which connects the CNS to glands, organs
and involuntary muscles. This system regulates internal processes without
conscious control; for example, you do not need to consciously think I must
breathe as your respiratory functioning is controlled by the autonomic nervous
system. This system has two branches which interact:
the sympathetic branch prepares the body for action using energy
the parasympathetic branch acts to conserve energy.
Activity in the sympathetic branch of the ANS stimulates the adrenal medulla, which is part
of the adrenal glands. This results in the secretion of adrenaline and noradrenaline. These
hormones lead to increased arousal in the sympathetic nervous system and reduced
activity in the parasympathetic nervous system.
This arousal is often referred to as the fight or flight arousal as the release of the
hormones gives increased energy, preparing the person to have the strength to fight or
to run away!
Activity 5
Remember that you are not expected to become a biologist we are only looking at
an overview of neurons and the nervous system. However, it is always useful to read
a little bit further to consolidate your understanding.
Go to http://psychology.about.com/od/biopsychology/p/NervousSystem.htm
and read the description there of the nervous system it is a useful support to the
material that you have just read.
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A Level Psychology
The Brain
The brain is composed of soft tissue, without any pain receptors, and is encased (for
protection) inside the bony structure of the skull. The brain does not possess the ability
to regenerate. It is divided into two hemispheres:
the left hemisphere is usually the dominant hemisphere for language, especially
speech and writing. This hemisphere is also regarded as important for logical,
analytical thought. Its importance for speech was discovered by Paul Pierre Broca in
1869. Broca examined the brains of twenty-five dead patients, all of whom had lost
the power of speech in life. He found that all had similar lesions in the same area of
the left hemisphere the left inferior frontal gyrus, now know as Brocas area.
Similarly, Carl Wernicke found that injury to another part of the left hemisphere
caused an inability to understand speech (receptive aphasia). It seems then, that
there are two areas in the brain that are separately responsible for both language
production and language comprehension.
the right hemisphere is the dominant hemisphere for visuospatial tasks, such as face
recognition, and also more holistic thought.
The outer covering of the brain is known as the neocortex, usually shortened to cortex.
The cortex is sometimes called the grey matter after its appearance when removed, but
is actually pink. It is only 4 mm thick; but because the layer is convoluted and folded, the
actual surface area is much greater. Imagine an area the size of a pillow case, screwed up
and squashed into the skull. The cortex of an animal is much smoother, since they do not
have the higher-order brain functions of humans. Each hemisphere is subdivided into four
lobes frontal, parietal, occipital and temporal.
The brain is considered to be divided into three subdivisions. The location of different
functions in the brain is known as the cortical specialisation within the brain.
1 the hindbrain consists of the pons, medulla and cerebellum:
the pons is involved with sleeping, dreaming and waking and can be thought of
as an extension of the spinal cord within the skull.
the medulla controls the involuntary functions of breathing, heart rate etc.
the cerebellum, slightly behind and above the medulla, is involved with motor
coordination and balance and is believed to act as a memory store for fine motor
skills.
2 the midbrain the smallest subdivision, appears to be involved with visual system
and auditory system pathways.
3 the forebrain consists of the diencephalon and the telencephalon:
the diencephalon contains the hypothalamus and thalamus.
the hypothalamus plays an important role in motivation, homeostasis and
emotional arousal. It controls the hormonal secretions of the pituitary gland
(sometimes known as the master gland).
the thalamus lies above the hypothalamus and acts as a relay station at the top
of the brain stem by linking information from the senses to the cortex.
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the telencephalon, or cerebral hemispheres, consists of:

the cortex which appears to be the site of most of our higher cognitive abilities,
including language and thought, consciousness, planning and problem-solving.
The somatosensory area of the brain is also within the cortex it is here that
information from other body regions (such as that for touch, temperature,
pressure and taste) is transmitted.
the limbic system (sometimes known as the old brain because these structures
were present in humans much earlier on in the evolutionary scale) consisting of
the hippocampus, septum, amygdala and mammillary bodies. The limbic system
plays an important part in learning, memory and emotions.
the basal ganglia contained within the cerebral hemispheres have important
functions regarding control of movement.
The somatosensory cortex which receives messages from skin senses all over the
body. This includes warmth, cold, touch, pain and movement.
Activity 6
Go to:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/body/interactives/organs/brainmap/
which is an interactive way of finding out more about the different areas of the brain.
There is more detail here than you need to know, but it is a fun way of consolidating the
learning that you do need.
To be clear, you need to understand the localisation of function in the brain (known as
cortical specialisation) including:
motor
somatosensory
visual
auditory
language.
Methods used to Identify Areas of Cortical Specialisation

It is not easy to investigate the brain the brain is a delicate and essential part of the
body, and it would not be safe or ethical to probe into a brain without being very sure that
no damage was taking place.
Many of the early studies into the brain came from looking at the brains of those who had
died (through post-mortem investigations) or through looking at people who had been
brain damaged through an accident.
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Post-Mortem Investigations
An example of a post-mortem investigation has already been cited the work of Broca.
He used his investigations to identify the part of the brain that is linked to speech. In his
case, he knew that all the brains that he was working with had belonged to people who
had lost the power of speech. Hence, if he found a similar abnormality in all the brains
this could lead him to identify which part of the brain was linked to speech.
Today, with much more advanced knowledge of the brain, pathologists carrying out postmortems are much more likely to be looking for reasons that people have died. For
example, if an individual had suffered an illness or accident that had resulted in damage
to the brain the pathologist can identify whether the damage led to a crucial part of brain
control (eg breathing) being destroyed.
Neurosurgery
The branch of surgery that deals with the brain and nervous system is known as
neurosurgery. Specialist surgeons can remove tumours, blood clots or address other
abnormalities and hence allow the brain to carry on functioning normally. Through
examining any damage to the brain, and looking at any impairments that the individual
suffers, they have been able to extend the knowledge of the specialisation of different
areas of the brain.
An early example of brain damage, which started thought about the areas of the brain
and their specialisation, is the case of Phineas Gage (1848). Gage was a railroad worker
in the USA. Part of his job was to prepare the dynamite to blast out rock, and one day he
made an error and set off the dynamite too early. An inch thick metal rod shot through
his cheek and brain and out of the top of his head.
Amazingly, Gage survived. His wounds healed, but he became undependable, foulmouthed and ill-mannered. Although no investigations took place at the time, subsequent
researchers have suggested that the rod damaged the areas of the brain that are
connected with personality.
In science the way to test a theory is often to try it out. So, when early researchers started
to think that (for example) the medulla controlled breathing and heart rate one way to
test this theory would be to damage the medulla in people and see if their breathing
stopped, or their heart stopped beating. Obviously, that was not possible so many of the
early experiments were carried out on animals, primarily monkeys. Due to ethical concerns
about experimentation on animals this is now increasingly rare, and most developments
nowadays come about through the treatment of those with brain damage, or through
non-invasive methods.
You can read more about Phineus Gage at:
http://www.thepsychologist.org.uk/archive/archive_home.cfm/volumeID_21editionID_164-ArticleID_1399-getfile_getPDF
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Non-Invasive Methods
There are a number of different ways used to investigate brain activity:
1 The Electroencephalogram (EEG): Electrodes are fitted to the scalp in order to record
brainwave patterns. Four major types of brainwave have been identified Delta,
Theta, Alpha and Beta. You will be able to find more details about how these
brainwaves are related to different states of consciousness in your textbook.
2 Computer Axial Tomography (CAT) scan: This takes a series of X-ray photographs of
the brain which are then converted into cross-sections via the computer. This is
useful for detecting brain injury or disease.
3 Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan: A radioactive tracer is added to a
substance that the body uses (glucose or oxygen). As the substance is metabolised,
the pattern of its use can be detected from the radioactive emission.
4 Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan: Here the computer produces a crosssectional image of the brain through the use of a strong magnetic field. The
magnetic field causes the atoms in the brain to line up like magnets, all facing in the
same direction. The atoms are then subjected to a blast of radio waves which cause
them to rotate. The rotating atoms give off radio waves themselves which are used
by the computer to form the image. Atoms rotate to different speeds according to
type of tissue. This enables the computer to distinguish between each structure
within the brain. The more advanced Functional MRI (fMRI) enables an even deeper
look into the brain to pinpoint the areas that are active when the patient has certain
thoughts and feelings or performs certain actions.
Roger Sperry in the 1960s and 70s also made a huge contribution to our
understanding of how the brain specialises, especially in relation to how the left and
right hemispheres think in different ways. His split brain studies of patients who
had their hemispheres surgically separated as a last-resort way of controlling
epilepsy, are probably the most famous and the most interesting in the history of
brain studies. Details can be found in your textbook.
However, there have been arguments made against the search to localise functions of
the brain.
The issue of localisation is not always clear-cut. There are many variations between males
and females and those who are right- and left-handed, in the localisation of functions in
the cerebral hemispheres.
Another criticism is that this attempt to localise functions ignores how integrated the
brain actually is. It has been argued that there are many areas involved in the visual system,
and therefore psychology would be better off concentrating on how these areas interact.
For example, Lashley (1929) destroyed most of the brains of rats trying to find the seat of
memory and concluded that there was a law of mass action. He suggested that the
memory loss was related to the amount of damage rather than the location of the
damage.
Further when concentrating on the functions of various parts of the brain, psychologists
may lose sight of the impact of the environment on the brain.
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A Level Psychology
The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)

The ANS controls the glands and muscles of the internal organs. Therefore, the ANS is
controlling activities such as:
heartbeat
breathing
digestion
dilation of the pupils of the eyes.
Autonomic means automatic and the control of activities, such as those listed above
is largely automatic. As you are reading this you are unlikely to be thinking about your
breathing, or doing anything to control the digestion of your last meal. However, some
of the processes can be overridden by conscious control. For example, you can hold your
breath or you can decide to take several short breaths if you want to.
The ANS is divided into two divisions:
The sympathetic
The parasympathetic
The two branches have opposing effects however, some organs and glands are
stimulated by both of the divisions, and when this occurs the effects are largely balanced
out.
The sympathetic division is most active during emotional responses, such as fear and
anxiety. This division spends the bodys reserves of energy when making an emotional
response.
The parasympathetic division is most active during processes such as digestion which
restore the bodys reserves of energy.
Fight or Flight
The different roles of the two divisions of the ANS can be explained through looking at
the fight or flight dilemma.
When one is faced with something that is frightening there is an emotional response (of
fear, for example) and we make a decision whether to fight or to take flight. As a
result, the sympathetic division is stimulated into action using up reserves of energy
(this is why someone can often feel quite weak and hungry after a frightening ordeal).
One of the responses to fear is an increased heart rate and this is stimulated by the
sympathetic division. The sympathetic division is using up energy by taking it to our
muscles to give us the strength either to fight or to run away.
Hence, when faced with something frightening it is the sympathetic division of the ANS
which is active.
When the frightening ordeal has passed, the parasympathetic division becomes active
decelerating the heart rate. As we regain calmness the parasympathetic division resumes
work on restoring our energy working on processes such as digestion.
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Indeed, digestion is an interesting process to shed light on the way that the two divisions
can have opposing effects.
When we are faced with something which is frightening the sympathetic branch is
activated, and this inhibits digestion. When we calm down we might find that we have
indigestion, because the digestion process has been interrupted.
Adrenaline and Adrenal Glands

As already noted, the ANS controls the glands as well as the muscles of the internal
organs.
The endocrine system consists of an interlinked system of glands which produce
secretions. These secretions are known as hormones which are sometimes referred to as
chemical messengers and are circulated through the blood supply. The hormones are
released unconsciously and the effect of the hormone may interact with that of the
nervous system. Hormonal effects tend to be longer lasting as the chemical will circulate
until broken down by the body.
The endocrine system is controlled by the pituitary gland which is known as the master
gland. The pituitary gland is situated in the brain and is itself controlled by the
hypothalamus.
One of the many hormones which is developed is adrenaline something we will have
all heard of, and linked to increased performance and energy. Adrenaline is secreted by
the Adrenal Medulla, and is manufactured by the adrenal glands.
When the sympathetic branch of the ANS is stimulated to respond to the fearful situation
that we have described it causes the adrenal medulla to secrete adrenaline and this
helps with the arousal of the body to cope with the frightening situation.
Adrenaline is an interesting hormone because it is linked to both physical and emotional
effects.
Activity 7
Read the description of fight or flight at:
http://www.brainskills.co.uk/FightOrFlight.html
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Progress Check 7
1
What is a neuron?
What are the two systems within the nervous system?
Define the two branches of the ANS and describe what they do.
What methods can be used to explore the specialisations of the brain?
What hormone is secreted in a frightening situation?
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The Genetic Basis of Behaviour

One of the questions that psychologists come back to time and time again is whether
people are as they are because of nature or because of nurture the Nature-Nurture
Debate. Put another way are people as they are because of their biology (their nature)
or because of the environment in which they have been raised and in which they live
(their nurturing)?
Remember the two important definitions we looked at earlier:
Genotype the genetic constitution of an individual organism, the particular set of
genes carried
Phenotype the physical, observable structure, function or behaviour of an
organism.
The more closely that people are related the more genetically similar they are and it is
twins that are most genetically similar.
Twin Studies
There are two different types of twins:
Monozygotic twins (MZ) are identical twins. They occur when an egg splits into two
after fertilisation. The twins are genetically identical (and hence always of the same sex).
Dizygotic twins (DZ) occur when two eggs are released and fertilised at the same time.
The twins are only as genetically similar as siblings, and can be of different sex.
In examining the nature-nurture question, therefore, it is useful to look at studies of twins
particularly MZ twins. If twins show identical behaviour then it could be argued that this
is because they are genetically identical. This would support the nature side of the
nature-nurture debate.
However, most twins are brought up together, and will experience the same environment.
They are likely to go to the same schools, they will experience the same parenting, they
will go on the same holidays etc. Hence, looking at the behaviour of twins can only really
shed light on the nature-nurture debate if the twins are raised separately which is rare.
Another interesting approach is to compare the traits and behaviour patterns of MZ and
DZ twins. Both MZ and DZ twins are likely to have experienced the same environment as
their twin (more so than siblings because they are of differing ages, and hence will have
more differing experiences). If MZ twins are more similar in their behaviour than DZ twins
this could add weight to the argument that genetic factors have the most influence.
There have been many twin studies, and the most common findings are that MZ twins are
more similar to each other than DZ twins in the following ways:
Personality (eg shyness, irritability, sociability, happiness)
Cognitive functioning, including the incidence of autism and signs of attachment
(which we will look at later in the course)
Personality disorders such as anxiety, substance dependence, schizophrenia.
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Adoption Studies
As already noted, twins are likely to be raised in the same environment and hence this
might mask genetic similarities. Studies have been carried out on children (sometimes
twins, but that is rare) who have been taken from their natural parents at an early age and
raised by adoptive parents.
Clearly, these children have no genetic similarity to the adoptive parents. The argument,
therefore, is that:
If the children are most similar to their adoptive parents then the environment (the
nurture part of the debate) has proved most strong
If the children are most similar to their natural parents then the genetics (the nature
part of the debate) has proved most strong.
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Progress Check 8
1
What is a phenotype?
What is the difference between MZ and DZ twins?
What factors, other than genetics, might explain similar behaviour being displayed
by MZ twims?
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Gender Development
Reading
Read chapter 3 of the textbook.
We now move on to a very interesting topic that of gender development. Our gender
is a key part of our identity, and in this section we will be looking at how different
characteristics of our gender develop.
In the first section of this unit we looked at different approaches to psychology. In this
section we will be applying four of them to gender development. Our particular aims will
be to:
Demonstrate how key approaches can be applied to the development of gender
Demonstrate how psychology provides an understanding of human development
Develop an appreciation of how science works in relation to the investigation of
gender development.
Activity 8
Go back to the first section and recap on the following four approaches which we
will be applying in this section:
Biological
Social learning theory
Cognitivie
Psychodynamic.
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Concepts
How do Children Acquire Gender Roles?
At what age do children acquire their sex identity?
Developmental psychologists have studied children, asking questions and observing
behaviour, and have come to the conclusion that children begin to acquire their sex
identity at about 18 months. At about 2 they can identify what sex other children are,
although this tends to be based on external indications such as what they are wearing or
how long their hair is.
The developmental psychologist Piaget said that the cognitive ideas of children of this
age are dominated by what things look like. In his classic conservation experiments
children were unable to understand that different-sized beakers of water or balls of clay
which actually had the same volume or mass as each other were actually the same. They
were influenced by the visual appearance. A taller glass was said to contain more water.
A three-year-old is often asked at the developmental check-up at this age if they are a boy
or girl, although it is nothing to worry about at this age if they do not know.
Gender identity seems to begin around the age of 2-3 years, when children will
successfully identify themselves as a boy or a girl. However, at this age children may lack
the concept of gender constancy; for example, a little girl may suggest that she will grow
up to be a daddy! This assumption of identity is linked to the formation of a categorical
self, since sex is one category that is discussed with children from an early age.
By about the age of 4-5 years, children have usually acquired the concept of gender
stability, i.e. that they will remain (except for a very few cases) the same biological sex
during their lifetime. A girl may say to her younger brother You cant grow up to be a
Mummy. I can.
Around the age of 6-7, children are fully aware that their gender will remain the same,
whether their dress, hair, behaviour or age change. This is the stage of gender constancy.
Sandra Bem (1989), in a very carefully controlled study, showed children photographs of
other children, first in the nude (with their sexual anatomy showing), then dressed in
gender-inappropriate clothing, e.g. girls in cowboy suits and boys in ballerina dresses. Of
the children tested in this way almost half of the 3-5-year-olds knew that the childs
gender had not changed even when the clothing had. However, this does mean that half
had not acquired gender constancy at this age. Younger children appear to understand
that their own gender will not change but are not so sure of other people.
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Androgyny
Society expects certain types of behaviour for males and females. We can call a set of
expectations like this a stereotype. These affect the way a child is brought up, for example
the reaction from others regarding what might be seen as appropriate or inappropriate
behaviour for a childs gender.
Sandra Bem (1975) claimed that the rigidity of the male and female stereotyping might
be unhealthy for the developing child, and that it would be better to mix characteristics
from both sexes leaving an individual the freedom to adapt to a situation. This is known
as androgynous behaviour. Bems idea was that in order to be more psychologically
healthy, each individual should feel free from the rigid stereotyped sex role pattern. This
would mean that people were more able to deal with new situations in a flexible manner.
Usually, we suppress the unfeminine or unmasculine part of our personality. For
example, men are not able to cry, and women are reluctant to be assertive. Bems belief
was that this was unhealthy.
She investigated this with 444 male and 279 female participants. They thought they were
taking part in a study on humour, but were first asked to complete a sex role inventory.
This is now known as the BSRI (Bem Sex Role Inventory). From this, Bem classified the
participants into 6 basic groups. These were masculine feminine and androgynous
males and masculine feminine and androgynous females. She found that androgynous
individuals of either sex were more able to show suitable masculine assertiveness in a
conformity type experiment, and feminine nurturing behaviour with a small baby.
Bem claimed that every person has the potential to develop both masculine and feminine
aspects of their nature, but usually suppress the traits that society labels as appropriate
only for the opposite sex. She emphasises the personal and social benefits of being more
androgynous.
Influences on Gender Identity

Sex and Gender
Obviously an important part of self-concept relates to gender identity. Gender identity
also implies certain types of behaviour in a society so bound to gender distinctions.
Gender development has been of interest to psychologists for many years. As children
develop, they become able to label their own sex correctly and associate different sexes
with different patterns of behaviour.
Other influences on gender identity, i.e. peoples perceptions of themselves as either
masculine or feminine, come from the wider social environment in which children live,
particularly with regard to television and other media. Leary et al (1982) showed that
children who watch television more frequently are likely to hold more stereotypical ideas
about gender and race. Durkin (1985) found that in most areas of television, males
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outnumber females in the ratio of 7:3. Males are frequently shown in dominant roles with
high status, whilst women are portrayed in subordinate roles, often in stereotypically
feminine occupations such as secretary, nurse or housewife. In commercials, women are
frequently portrayed as users of products, with a male voice providing the authoritative
voice-over. Men are seen, in commercials, receiving services or commentating on the
product. Althea Houston carried out a study of advertisements for childrens toys. She
found toys perceived as male were advertised in loud, primary colours with a fast rocktype soundtrack. Toys perceived as being female were much more likely to be advertised
with pastel shades and softer, more melodic, music.
Children are also exposed to information about gender-appropriate behaviour in books.
Many fairy tales include the rescue of a beautiful princess by a handsome prince. In the
past, childrens reading schemes portrayed very gender-specific behaviour, although
efforts have been made in childrens literature to show alternative concepts, with Mummy
appearing in the role of a plumber for example.
Another important factor is cultural diversity. In some cultures (such as the UK) equality
between men and women is largely promoted, and some of the gender differences have
become blurred (although there is no doubt that they still exist). However, in other cultures
(such as in the Middle East) men and women are treated very differently, and have very
different roles. In such cultures young girls will be taught to behave differently from young
boys right from birth.
Methods
Gender has been studied using a number of different research methods available. Here
are some examples, and you may have come across others in your background reading.
Observation
Peer-group pressure can affect all aspects of childrens behaviour, and studies have
suggested that this includes gender role behaviour. Michael Lamb studied a number of
3 to 5-year-old children of both sexes at play with various toys. If a child played with a
toy that the others considered inappropriate for them and more suitable for the
opposite sex, (eg if a boy chose a doll instead of the building toys) then their peers
would become critical and perhaps even isolate the child. When this happened, the
child soon put down the toy and chose something more appropriate.
You can find out more about Micheal lambs research at his website:
http://www.psychol.cam.ac.uk/people/directory/mel37@cam.ac.uk
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Experiment
Experimental work on the influence of parents
Goldberg and Lewis (1969) carries out a study of 32 boys and 32 girls. At the age of 6
months they were observed with their mothers, who were also interviewed about how
they treated their children. At 13 months they visited a playroom with their mother, and
observed for 15 minutes with various toys. Some were passive toys such as cuddly toys,
others were active such as balls and drums, and there were also non-toys such as a door
latch. Since 13-month-old children, although mobile, might be distressed on separation
they were seated on their mothers lap until settled, and then placed on the floor with the
toys. Differences were noted, even at this young age. Girls tended to play with the cuddly
toys, and seemed to need to be near their mothers and show them what they were
playing with. Boys preferred the noisier toys, and also explored the door latch. They liked
to play away from their mothers and seemed more independent and energetic. The
researchers also varied this experiment by seeing what the effect would be on the children
if their mothers were seated behind a mesh barrier so the child couldnt go to them during
the play session. Girls became very distressed and the boys explored the barrier or tried
to work out a way through. Goldberg and Lewis concluded that even at 6 months girls
and boys were treated differently. For example, girls tend to be breast-fed for much longer,
and also handled more, spoken to in a different tone of voice. At least some of the
difference in behaviour at 13 months could be explained by this.
Beverly Fagot (1978) sampled 24 families, each with a child between 20 and 24 months
old, recording the kinds of behaviour which parents encouraged and discouraged. She
found that most parents give boys and girls different toys to play with and dress them
differently.
It should be noted that the advertising methods used to promote commercial toys
reinforce sex-role stereotypes, for example dolls and cars.
Content Analysis
This method is used when sampling and analysing information from the media. For
example, Manstead and McCulloch (1981) analysed 170 British television programmes
for gender role portrayal, and found that there were differences, and that these agreed
with national stereotypes. Others have done the same for childrens books. Content
analysis can be used to highlight the omission of certain themes as well.
Cross-Cultural Research
One of the advantages of cross-cultural studies is that they enable the comparison to be
made between the behaviour of some very different societies. Any big similarities are
probably genetically determined, and any differences are probably as a result of social
influences.
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Margaret Mead (1935) studied sex and temperament in several tribes in some Pacific
Islands such as Samoa and New Guinea. She claimed to have found that sex and gender
roles are a result of the way people are brought up and not as a result of their genetic
inheritance since gender roles and expectations of appropriate behaviour were different
in each tribe she studied.
Case Study
One approach is to follow young children as they grow up, and look at how they develop
and the choices that they make. Of course, such experiments are very lengthy and time
consuming. There have been a number of television programmes (such as Seven Up)
which have taken this approach. In Seven Up a number of children were tracked at their
7th, 14th, 21st, etc. birthdays to compare differences in how their lives had mapped out.
Survey and Questionnaire

As we saw in the last section, one approach to research is to ask people questions. This
could be done through a survey or a questionnaire. Men and women (or boys and girls)
could be asked about their attitudes to different things, and see if there was a significant
difference between the genders.
Activity 9
Go to: http://www.neiu.edu/~tschuepf/bsri.html
There is a copy of the Bem Sex Role Inventory. Have a go at filling it in. Look at the
different characteristics that are listed on the inventory, and note how they link to
male and female stereotypes.
It is certainly interesting to look at cultural variations in gender-related behaviour. In the

UK and many other western societies, there is a definite acceptance of androgynous
behaviour. Think of the many factors that suggest this, for example:
Men and women dress very similarly it is very common for women to wear
trousers. Indeed, it is very common for women to wear trousers as part of a business
suit.
Behaviour that is stereotypically male is often found in women. Maybe a good
example in the UK at present is aggression. Over recent years there has been a
definite increase in the number of women binge drinking and getting into fights.
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This is a behaviour than was once restricted to men.

Men are encouraged to get in touch with their feminine side. It is increasingly
acceptable, for example, for a man to cry in public.
Raising a family is increasingly a much more joint effort than it was a few decades
ago. Few men who were raising children in the 50s and 60s, for example, would
have ever changed a nappy! That was a womans job. Nowadays the specific roles
allocated to a father and mother are much more blurred.
This evidence of increased androgynous behaviour is not evident in all societies. For
example, the woman and man have much clearer roles and expected behaviours in many
Muslim societies. Here it is expected that the man takes the lead role, and demonstrates
more of the characteristics which Bem would have defined as masculine. Women are
expected to demonstrate feminine characteristics such as being soft spoken, gentle and
submissive.
Nature vs Nurture
These cultural differences lead us on to the interesting question of Nature vs Nurture.
This is a concept that we have already mentioned, but it is an important theme in
psychology so we will just take a moment to recap what it means.
The nature approach presumes that our behaviour is determined by our biology.
The nurture approach presumes that our behaviour is determined by the environment
in which we have been brought up.
The different cultural behaviours amongst genders seem to add weight to the nurture
argument. A woman in a strict Muslim country is the same genetic make-up as a British
woman. However, the submissive, soft spoken and gentle behaviour of the Muslim is less
likely to describe the British woman. In the same way, the aggressive, dominant, forceful
British woman is very unlikely to be a description that can be applied to a woman living
in a strict Muslim country.
The argument is not that straightforward, however. Although we can easily find an
aggressive, dominant and forceful woman in Great Britain we might well find that the
majority of women in Great Britain are not like that. Even if they have been brought up
in the same environment there will still be some variation in behaviour, and in the
dominant characteristics that are shown. This would suggest that nature is also playing a
part. In the same way, we might find that it is acceptable for men in Great Britain to be
submissive and gentle characteristics that would not usually be applauded in a man in
a strict Muslim country. However, we find some men who are like that!
There is no simple answer to the nature v nurture debate and we will find this as we
return to the argument on a number of occasions. Maybe the right answer is that our
behaviour is determined by a bit of both!
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Progress Check 9
1
Identify the key areas in which Macoby and Jackson found differences between the
genders.
Define the term androgynous behaviour.
What did Mead find when studying in the Islands?
Describe the key points of the nature v nurture debate.
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Theories of Gender Development

But how do we come to develop our own sense of gender, of who we are? Well, four
main psychological theories can be divided into two different approaches:
the biological or nature approach interested in whether the differences between
men and women are due to inherited biological factors
the psychological or nurture approach interested in how the differences may be
due to the different treatment given to males and females. These approaches
include the psychoanalytical approach, social learning theory and the cognitive
developmental approach.
This debate is essentially another nature v nurture issue, since although it would seem that
biological factors are important, social factors cant be overlooked. Perhaps we inherit
our sex and learn our gender. One of the first things everyone wants to know about a
newborn baby is its sex, and from that moment on just about every aspect of the way the
child is treated will be determined by its sex. The child will be spoken to differently, dressed
differently, handled differently and have different things expected of it.
Biological Theory
Bowlby claimed that at least some of the differences noted between males and females
were genetically transmitted instincts. In particular, the need that babies have to form
attachment bonds with their mothers is as a result of a maternal instinct in the mother
to bond with their baby. This explanation is not believed today. Studies have shown that
men are just as capable of being a good caretaker, and not all women want to be mothers.
Natures impulse is to create a female. For the first six weeks after conception there is no
difference in the embryo for a male or female, until in some embryos a hormone is
released which causes the male parts to develop. Without this hormone the embryo
develops as female. At birth, children are assigned a sex according to their external organs.
(Sometimes there is a problem with this since occasionally children are born
hermaphrodites, with the organs for both sexes, and a decision needs to be made about
removing one set to give the child one sex).
There are early differences in the behaviour of male and female babies. Male babies are
generally bigger and heavier, also they sleep less, cry more and are generally more active.
They are more irritable as babies and are harder to comfort and settle down. Female
babies are usually more robust and healthier, easier to settle and care for. (However, at
least some of these differences could be due to the way that people treat babies, the
social factors which we will look at later.)
Biological Factors
Even biologically, sex is not a single variable. Sex can be identified in various ways,
beginning with identification via chromosomes. Usually females have two X
chromosomes, one from each parent (XX), whereas males inherit one X chromosome
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from their mother and a Y chromosome from their father (XY). There are also hormonal
differences. Although males and females produce the same hormones, they do so in
different amounts. Males produce more sex hormones called androgens, the most
important androgen being testosterone; whereas females produce mainly oestrogen and
progesterone.
Androgens male sex hormones. When they are produced the sex organs of the
foetus are further masculinised. The most commonly known androgen is
testosterone.
Oestrogens female sex hormones. These are produced in the ovaries, and play an
important part in the process of menstruation and pregnancy.
These two physical characteristics, chromosomal and hormonal differences, affect the
genetic blueprint which determines masculinity and femininity. However, how these
biological factors influence gender role behaviour is a matter for debate. Further sex
differences, even biologically, are not as clear-cut as we may think.
Hermaphrodism is a congenital condition in which the structures of the reproductive
system are hard to differentiate, and so an ambiguous judgement is made about
whether to assign them as male or female. Some people are born and are known as
hermaphrodites. True hermaphrodites are very rare and have functioning organs of
both sexes.
Pseudohermaphrodism is a congenital condition in which the external genitalia are
of one sex but the internal organs are of the other. Pseudohermaphrodites are more
common, possessing ambiguous reproductive structures. One such case of
pseudohermaphroditism occurs with androgenital syndrome (AGS). This happens
when a chromosomally normal female foetus is exposed to androgens during a
critical period of development. This exposure sometimes occurs when certain drugs
are given to pregnant women to prevent early miscarriage. These female babies are
born with functioning internal reproductive organs but appear to have external male
sexual organs, since the enlarged clitoris may be mistaken for a penis.
Klinefelters syndrome (also known as XXY syndrome) occurs when an individual has
at least two X chromosomes and at least one Y chromosome. The effect of this is
the development of small testicles and reduced fertility.
Men with KS tend to be tall but their limbs are disproportionately long compared
with their bodies. Many also have big feet and obviously have problems getting
clothing to fit. Body hair may fail to appear and facial hair rarely attains the level
that feelings of masculinity may desire. Boys developing these characteristics are
often teased at school and this may give rise to a boy turning off and exhibiting
behavioural problems.
Turners syndrome (TS) is a chromosomal condition that describes girls and women
with common features that are caused by complete or partial absence of the second
sex chromosome. As already noted, females normally have two X chromosomes and
males have one X and one Y. Turners syndrome individuals are missing all or part of
one of their sex chromosomes. About half of girls with Turners syndrome have only
one X chromosome. Another third have two X chromosomes, but part of one X is
missing. Other individuals with Turners Syndrome have a mosaic pattern: some of
their cells are missing an X chromosome, while other cells have different
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chromosome composition. The most common feature of Turners syndrome is short

stature. The average height of an adult TS woman who has received human growth
hormone treatment is 48. Growth failure continues after birth, and most girls with
TS fall below the normal female growth curve for height during early childhood. TS
girls who are not treated with hormone replacement usually do not have a pubertal
growth spurt; many will continue to grow at a slow rate until they are in their
twenties. Many girls who undergo growth hormone treatment have been able to
achieve adult height within the lower range of normal.
Activity 10
There are support groups for both Turners syndrome and Klinefelters syndrome.
Have a short browse through the websites to learn more about these syndromes.
www.turnersyndrome.org and www.ksa-uk.net.
Why do we mention these conditions? Well, we need to look at these because crucial
studies suggest that hormones affect behaviour. However, this does not necessarily relate
to human beings. Therefore, by studying people who have abnormal hormonal conditions,
we can search for clues as to the influence of biological factors.
Money and Erhardt (1972), studying females who were exposed to male hormones before
birth, suggested that these females did display more gender-role behaviour compared
with other females not exposed to abnormal hormonal levels. This could be used,
therefore, to suggest that biology does direct sex-related behaviour. However, this is
debatable, because children who are exposed to abnormal hormonal levels pre-birth,
often have abnormality of the genitals. Therefore, it may be that, because of the masculine
appearance, the behaviour of such a female reflects how others act towards her, rather
than because of hormonal difference, i.e. people make the physical appearance significant
because they react in different ways towards the baby.
Further, in terms of research on hermaphrodism, studies suggest that socialisation is very
powerful; therefore it is about learning what is central to forming gender roles rather
than biological ones (Money and Erhardt 1972).
If we turn to cross-cultural studies, the picture becomes even more confusing about
whether biology is central. Across cultures, biology may be similar but gender role
behaviour would need to be the same if biology was the control. Although much evidence
suggests that, across cultures, women and men do have similar differentiated roles, e.g.
women are carers, men are protectors, this may be due to similar socialisation processes.
Furthermore, anthropologists and sociologists have found evidence of differences across
cultures in terms of roles conducted by men and women.
The situation is not straightforward and we cannot state with any certainty that biological
difference is the cause for gender role behaviour differences.
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However, there is some support for the idea that brain structures affect behaviour because
there do appear to be structural differences between male and female brains. Spatial
tasks carried out by males and females seem to involve different hemispheres, males
showing greater electrical activity in the right hemisphere, while women show electrical
activity in both hemispheres when performing the same task. Women appear to have a
larger corpus callosum than males (the connecting tissue between the two hemispheres).
However, despite differences it seems more likely that the biology may predispose us to
certain ways; but this predisposition is strongly influenced by our interaction with the
social environment which thus causes gender differences.

Social learning theorists do not accept that chromosomes and hormones determine much
of our behaviour. They see the environment, the socialisation process, modeling,
reinforcement and punishment as well as social customs as just as important. Either
children are deliberately taught what is appropriate or they see it for themselves and
imitate it.
In our own society there has been a dramatic change in the roles women are expected to
play. In the past, women were regarded as being inferior in most ways, and the tradition
was to see males and male interest as the most important.
In Britain, as in many other countries, childrens books, stories, films and TV have all been
used to present a picture of the roles of boys and girls, men and women. Even in the
permissive 60s gender roles were clearly defined. In childrens media boys were often
shown as the central character. They were either brave and adventurous, or sneaky and
cunning. Adult males usually took care of those weaker than them, i.e. women and
children. Girls needed boys to help them, or else they were featured as being interested
in looking after animals or in pony clubs or ballet classes. If young children are constantly
exposed to these stereotypes, they will come to believe them, or at least draw some
conclusion about the way that males and females are expected to behave, especially if
they have yet to reach the higher levels of moral and cognitive development outlined by
Piaget and Kohlberg. These effects are found in some adults too.
Social learning theorists argue that gender roles are learned in the same way as all other
forms of learning, by using reinforcement and modelling. Modelling refers to the
process by which children imitate a person chosen as a model. Therefore, social learning
theorists argue that children acquire gender role stereotypes through observational
learning. Furthermore, children are also more likely to be either rewarded or punished by
parents or carers for gender-appropriate or gender-inappropriate behaviour, and thus
learn through reinforcement (Mischel 1966). The phrase Big boys dont cry used to be
commonly quoted to boys. Girls were also encouraged to behave in stereotypically
feminine ways, for example, Isnt it good to see Sarah in a pretty dress?
(praise/compliment is used as the reinforcer/reward).
One of the central tenets of this theory is that children are systematically rewarded for
behaviour that is consistent with their sex, e.g. choosing sex-appropriate toys. Further, a
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second major tenet is that of imitation. When Freud talked of identification, he used
this to refer to a process whereby children incorporate the qualities of the individual they
identify with. However, social learning theorists, like Mischel, do not make assumptions
about internal processes because what they emphasise is children imitating others.
However, who children will copy/imitate follows certain rules. For instance, children will
model themselves on an adult who shows power over resources/rewards. So, if they
observe a situation where a male adult is more powerful, both girls and boys will imitate
this adult. Over and above this, who children copy and how they behave, will have
consequences for the children. For instance, if a girl behaves too boyishly, then her father
may rebuke her, whereas imitating her mother is rewarded; therefore the child is shaped
to take on the behaviour of the same-sex parent.
When we look at research, and indeed everyday life, parents can often be seen to be
actively encouraging gender behaviour. In a series of experiments by Smith and Lloyd
(1978) a baby was dressed in a unisex snowsuit and given a name which was sometimes
the same gender as the child and sometimes not (e.g. a baby girl called either Mary or
Tom). The adults who played with the baby tended to treat her differently depending on
the gender they believed the baby to be (i.e. based on the name). When the adults
believed the baby was male, the play was much more physical, e.g. tickling and throwing
the baby up into the air. When the adults perceived the baby to be female, the baby was
more likely to be held and talked to rather than played with physically.
There is also evidence that parents actively encourage and shape behaviour. In two studies
carried out fifteen years apart, boys rooms were found to contain more vehicles,
machines, soldiers and action-oriented toys; girls rooms were more likely to have dolls and
be decorated with feminine ruffles. There also seem to be differences in the ways in which
males and females view gender-inappropriate behaviour. Women appear to be more
tolerant to both boys and girls, whether or not they are engaging in gender-appropriate
play. Fathers appear to be much more sensitive to gender-inappropriate play, especially
when their sons are involved. Similar findings have been observed when children are
playing girls appear more tolerant than boys about cross-gender behaviour. For example,
it does not bother girls if a boy wants to play with a doll; but boys react differently, jeering
at a boy playing with a doll.
The studies quoted so far have generally supported the idea that gender development is
learned through the various processes of social learning theory. However, there have been
criticisms of this theory. According to Maccoby and Jacklin (1974) boys are not reinforced
for aggressive behaviour any more than girls. There are observed differences in the levels
of physical aggression shown by boys and girls. Also, some studies appear to show that
children are less influenced by the sex of the model than by the desire to imitate behaviour
that is seen as gender appropriate. Masters et al (1979) used a toy-choice experiment to
investigate this phenomenon. The children appeared less influenced by the sex of the
model shown playing with the toy than by the gender label attached to the toy. A boy
would still play with a toy soldier, even if he had just watched a girl playing with the
soldier, because the boy sees the soldier as being an appropriate toy for a boy to play
with.
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One of the strengths of this theory is that it can explain why, for instance, boys are
aggressive in one situation and not another, and why girls are docile in one action and not
another. The theory takes context into consideration, i.e. the situation and whose
behaviour the children are imitating, or what is being reinforced. If Freud was right, these
types of behaviour, e.g. aggressiveness of boys, should be consistent across situations,
because it is meant to be an all-encompassing identification process. However, there are
several difficulties other than the one Maccoby and Jacklin support. For instance, social
learning theorists do not acknowledge developmental sequences. Childrens concept of
gender does change with age and stage of development, and this is important.
To help you see what I mean, lets look at Mischel. He assumed that children will simply
repeat actions that are rewarded. However, Mischel also suggested that children are
systematically reinforced for imitating same-sex adults; but within this, children need to
be able to discriminate consistently between males and females. Thus the theory cannot
explain this.
Further, there is little evidence that parents systematically reinforce appropriate behaviours
in boys and girls (Maccoby and Jacklin 1974). In these studies, Maccoby and Jacklin found
that parents did treat boys more roughly and did give out more physical punishment to
boys, but there were no systematic rewards for stereotype female/male behaviour.
However, it may be that early differential reinforcement is more subtle than researchers
have picked up on, but we may need to look for other explanations, namely within the
cognitive-developmental theory.
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Progress Check 10
1
Identify three key biological differences between the two genders.
Which part of the biology is affected in Klinefelters and Turners syndrome?
Explain the terms reinforcement and modelling.
What is meant by imitation and identification?
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Cognitive Approach
Cognitive Development Theory
The biological approach to gender development looks at the innate, inherited side of
gender and gender roles. Social learning theory by contrast, emphasises the influence of
nurture, the external influences on the developing gender identity of the child. By contrast
cognitive developmental theory emphasises the childs participation in developing an
understanding of gender.
This is based on the work of Kohlberg (1969). Social learning theories and psychoanalytic
theories assume that children acquire their gender roles from observing others. Kohlberg
disagrees, and claims that children acquire an understanding of what it is to be male or
female in the same way as any other cognitive skill. Like other aspects of a cognitive
theory, this takes place in stages.
Basic Gender Identity

From around 3, children know what sex they are, although their knowledge is a bit vague,
consisting of the name of the sex and some appropriate behaviour, and the ability to
identify the sex of other children, although they do not necessarily know that they will
remain this sex when adult.
Gender Stability
After a time the child realises that their gender is fixed and will not change with age. This
is achieved through observation of others, adults in particular, and also through mixing
with children of the same sex. However, they can still make mistakes when identifying
others. For example, men with long hair or women with short hair might be mistaken
because visual impressions still dominate at this stage of cognitive development.
Gender Constancy
At around 7 the child has the knowledge that gender is fixed and cannot change
regardless of how people appear. They have learned to conserve gender identity.
This has already been discussed in the earlier section on acquiring gender identity. The
important factor according to cognitive developmental theorists is that children, once
they understand they are male or female, then identify with members of their own sex.
This is different from both psychoanalytical theorists and social learning theorists, who see
the process of identification taking place first. So, reinforcement of gender-appropriate
behaviour does not necessarily mean production of that behaviour. Cognitive
developmental theorists argue that reinforcement merely gives the children information
about what it is to be male or female. The most important factor in this theory, however,
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is the childrens levels of cognitive ability. The links between cognitive developmental
theories can be seen when it is realised that gender constancy occurs around the age of
6-7 years, the same time Piaget suggested that the ability to conserve is acquired.
There has been cross-cultural support for the idea that gender identity, gender stability and
gender constancy appear to develop sequentially in many cultures. One major problem for
this theory is that it predicts that there should be little gender-appropriate behaviour
before gender constancy has been achieved; but, even in infancy, children appear to show
a preference for gender-appropriate toys. The theory, however, does explain how children
without a same-sex model in the home can acquire ideas about gender-appropriate
behaviour since they are actively searching for information about their gender.
Gender Schema Theory

This theory was developed by Sandra Bem (1993). She suggested that children look at the
world through the lenses of gender. In other words, children make sense of the world
by working out specific roles for females and males (polarising the roles) and then
organising their understanding around these roles. Unless their understanding is
challenged by some event or person, they will continue to construct identities that are
consistent with these roles. This is known as constructing a gender schema.
Bem argued that childrens self-esteem is affected by the extent to which they match up
to their understanding of the gender schema. For example, a boy might determine that
being good at sport is part of the male gender schema, and if that boy is then good at
sport he will have a higher self-esteem.
Bowes and Goodnow (1996) carried out an experiment where they showed 5- and 6year-old boys and girls pictures of actors engaged in either gender consistent or gender
inconsistent activities.
Examples of gender consistent activities would be a woman sewing, or a man playing
football.
Examples of gender inconsistent activities would be a woman playing football or a man
sewing.
A week later children were asked to recall whether a male or a female had engaged in
each activity. Children who had seen gender inconsistent pictures were more likely to get
the answers wrong. It was concluded that this was because they had distorted what they
had seen in the pictures so it fitted with the gender schema which they had developed.
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The Psychoanalytical Approach
This is based on Freuds theory that the child learns gender roles through identification
with the same-sex parent during the ages of 3 to 6. There is no empirical evidence to
support this theory, so for now it is enough to have an overview.
Freud believed that personality is composed of three major parts:
the id
the ego
the superego.
In a healthy personality, all three interact together to produce well-adjusted behaviour.
These parts of the personality are not biological (there is no such structure in the body as
the id). Rather it is a way of explaining personality. Freud believed that personality develops
through a series of stages. Notice Freuds theory is similar to Piagets theory, in that it is
a stage theory, i.e. children develop in specific ways.
a The oral stage which lasts from birth to around 1 year old. At this stage, the infant
obtains pleasure from the mouth, orally by sucking and biting.
b The anal stage from around 1-2 years old when the infant gains pleasure from
expelling and withholding faeces. The child becomes aware of a degree of control
over the parents particularly during toilet training.
c The phallic stage which lasts from the age of around 3-6 years. Freud believed that,
during this stage, pleasure is focused around the sexual feelings the child is
experiencing. It is in this stage that gender-role behaviour is divided and learnt.
Freud suggested that boys go through a stage he called the Oedipus complex. During
this stage the boy fantasises and wishes for sexual intimacy with his mother. He envies his
fathers relationship with his mother, but at the same time feels guilty and fears
punishment (including the ultimate punishment, castration) from his father. In order to
resolve this conflict between desire, guilt and fear the boy identifies with the father and
strives to become the same as him.
The Electra complex was how Freud explained what happens to girls. It is less clear-cut
than the Oedipus complex. The girl, believing herself to be already castrated, suffers from
penis envy. As a result she seeks an attachment to her father (since he has a penis). Over
time she identifies with her mother in order to become like her.
Satisfactory resolution of the oedipal/electra conflicts will result in children identifying
with the same-sex parent. As a result of this identification, children adopt the gender role
which they will assume throughout their life. Further, during this same process children
also acquire their superego, i.e. acquire the moral standards and values of their parents.
Thus for Freud, children acquire appropriate sex-role identity and behaviour through
identification. They identify with the same-sex parent and therefore they are meant to
take on all the qualities of that parent, including sex-role behaviours and attitudes.
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There has been much criticism of this theory. Firstly, research has shown that children are
able to identify their gender at a younger age than the age Freud suggested. Freud
believed children from the age of 3-6 years are in the phallic stage and thus trying to
resolve the Oedipus or Electra conflict. However, Bem showed that half of the children in
her research were able to demonstrate gender constancy. Furthermore, it could be
assumed from this theory that, in order to develop an understanding of gender, two
parents, one male and one female, must be present in every family. In society today clearly
this is not the case. There is no evidence that children raised with a single parent of the
sex opposite to themselves have any less well developed gender roles than children raised
in develop his concept of gender as he has no male model. Obviously this is not accurate.
Furthermore, this theory presumes that the boy of 4 years has some idea of the genital
differences between boys and girls. Presumably, fear of castration derives from boys seeing
that girls and women do not have penises; therefore he thinks they have been castrated.
However, data suggests that knowledge and understanding of genital differences are not
present until much later than Freud implies. For instance, children begin to prefer toys
and activities associated with their own sex before they realise there are anatomical
differences.
Moreover, a girl may notice that she does not have a penis. But why does that necessarily
mean that she would want one? (penis envy)
There are many other criticisms that could be rendered, but nevertheless, there does seem
to be some process of identification which occurs at about the same time as Freud
suggested. Children do seem to imitate adults of the same sex at about 4-5 years.
However, we do not have to use Freuds theory to explain this. Social learning theorists
argue that gender-role identity is learned through reinforcement and modelling.
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Progress Check 11
1
Describe the key aspects of the gender schema theory.
What is meant by the terms gender stability and gender constancy?
Describe the Oedipus complex.
Describe the Electra complex.
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Research Methods
Reading
Read chapter 4 of the text
From the work that we have studied so far, you will have already seen reference to a
range of research carried out by psychologists. Research is a key part of the role of the
psychologist and it is important that you understand the different approaches, the ways
to represent data and how to interpret what that data tells you. Psychologists also need
to be sure that their research is not going to damage people involved in it physically or
psychologically. All these aspects of research are going to be looked at in this final section
of this unit.
The aims of this section are to:
Promote a critical understanding of quantitative and qualitative methods employed
in psychological research
Promote an understanding of the use of descriptive statistics
Demonstrate how data can be represented
Develop an awareness of ethical issues in psychological research
Develop an appreciation of how science works in psychological research.
Planning Research
A crucial first step in planning any research is to think about the purpose of the research.
Hence, before we think about the different approaches that can be used we need to think
about the way that we will collect data, the questions we want to investigate and who
could answer those questions. This is the stage known as planning research.
Qualitative and Quantitative Research

Data that is gathered by psychologists is, broadly speaking, of two types:
Qualitative data is based on experience. Hence it is likely to be descriptive maybe
people explaining how they felt after a particular experience, or comments made by a
psychologist when describing behaviour that s/he has observed.
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The strengths of qualitative data are:

It results in a lot of detailed information
It allows for a reason for behaviour to be considered, rather than just focusing on
how often a behaviour occurs
There is no constraint on the types of responses that can be given.
The weaknesses of qualitative data are:
It is difficult to analyse think about the situation where you have pages and pages
of notes after speaking to someone. It is difficult to summarise those notes
effectively.
It takes a long time to analyse
It is likely to be rather unstructured.
Quantitative data is numerically based. For example, it could be a count of the frequency
with which a particular type of behaviour has occurred.
The strengths of quantitative data are:
It is much easier to analyse
Statistical tests can be applied to determine the significance of the data
It can be presented and explained relatively easily.
The weaknesses of quantitative data are:
It concentrates on how often something happened, rather than why something
happened.
A lot of the detail of the situation can be lost
The design of the experiment often constrains the range of responses which can be
given.
As we look at different approaches to research later in this section you will note that
different approaches are more likely to result in different types of data being gathered.
Remember this brief analysis of strengths and weaknesses as you learn about different
approaches to carrying out research.
Formulating Research Questions

When planning a piece of research it is very important to identify exactly what the research
is aiming to address. For example, saying that you want to research childrens behaviour
is far too vague. Which children? What aspect of their behaviour? Do you want to know
why they exhibit certain behaviour, or whether they exhibit certain behaviour?
When planning research the psychologist starts by setting out the aims. The aims tell us
why the psychologist is deciding to answer some question.
So an aim could be to:
Investigate the amount of aggressive behaviour in children aged 4-7 years.
Once the psychologist has identified the aim s/he then develops a hypothesis this is
more specific than the aim, and poses a guess as to what might be found. This guess or
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hypothesis will have certain predictions, so it is possible to define a hypothesis as:

..a testable statement that may be proved correct or incorrect by carrying
out objective tests.
So our hypothesis could be:
Boys in the age range of 4-7 years will be more aggressive than girls in the
age range of 4-7 years.
This is a prediction and we can now design research to investigate whether it is correct.
There are two different types of hypothesis:
The null hypothesis states that there will be no significant relationship between the
variables being examined.
For example:
There will be no difference in aggression levels between boys and girls in
the age range of 4-7 years.
The experimental/research/alternative (this hypothesis can be known by any of these
three names) hypothesis predicts that there will be a significant difference or relationship
between the variables being examined.
For example:
Boys in the age range of 4-7 years will be significantly more aggressive than
girls in the age range of 4-7 years.
(Note that the word significant is used here. This is an important word for psychologists.
There are often differences in behaviour, but the psychologist wants to know if the
difference is great enough to be significant. This can be tested using a range of statistical
tests.)
Why is it useful to have both a null hypothesis and an experimental hypothesis? Because
it helps us to be more precise in our experimentation.
A null hypothesis is very precise. In our example there is no difference in aggression.
However, the experimental hypothesis is less precise there will be more aggression, but
it does not say how much.
If the null hypothesis is rejected (in our example this means that there is some difference
in aggression) then it follows that the experimental hypothesis can be accepted.
Populations and Sampling

When planning a piece of research it is often impossible to include every eligible person.
Let us carry on with the same research question that we were looking at. If we were
investigating the aggression in boys and girls aged 4-7 years it would not be feasible to
include every boy and girl in that age range in the world! Hence, we have to take a sample
of those people.
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Sampling
Not only does your research have to be valid and reliable but the people you pick to involve
in your research must be chosen carefully and systematically. When conducting research,
the participants used in an experiment are known as a sample. Before starting research it
is necessary to decide what the target population is. The nature of the target population
depends on the type of research being designed. If the researcher is interested in looking
at attitudes towards racism in a particular college, then the target population will be all
the students in that college. If, however, the researcher is interested in behaviour in fifteenyear-olds, then the target population will be all fifteen- year-olds. The target population
will be the total group with which the research is concerned.
Researchers aim to select from the target group an unbiased or representative sample.
There are several ways of choosing a sample from a target population. These include:
a Random sampling this is the ideal method, but difficult to do. In random
sampling every member of the target population has an equal chance of being
selected to be in the sample. This is sometimes done by putting all names in a hat
and pulling out a certain amount of names from the hat. But a more efficient way
might be to allocate numbers to participants and get a computer to generate
random numbers. However, this is a time-consuming and very expensive way of
selecting participants. If your target population was fifteen-year-olds, then every
fifteen-year-old must have an equal chance of being selected.
b Systematic sampling every 4th or 10th (or other number) is selected from the
target population. Systematic sampling means the researcher cannot influence the
selection; if every 4th child in the class is selected the researcher cannot select a
child because they are attractive.
c Stratified sampling here a list is made of each variable that might affect the
research and the relative percentage of each group is worked out. If for example you
were looking at child care in Europe, you would need to know the percentages of
children in each country and each age group. Then the sample must contain all
these groups in the same proportion as in the target population. This method is
time-consuming and expensive and therefore rarely used in psychological research.
d Quota sampling is a variation on stratified sampling. Participants are selected so
the proportions of each group in the total population are correct, but the market
researcher uses opportunity sampling to obtain the required participants. However,
bias can result since, if the sample called for middle class professionals, then the
market researcher may end up interviewing middle class professionals from the same
profession.
e Opportunity sampling the researcher uses participants who are available and
have agreed to take part in an experiment. This is the type of sample you will almost
certainly be using when carrying out your coursework. It is not a good method
because the sample is inevitably biased. However, much psychological research is
carried out using this type of sampling some estimate over 70%. An opportunity
sample cannot be truly representative, making it difficult to generalise from the
results of an experiment using an opportunity sample.
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f Self-selecting sample the participants in this case choose themselves, often by

volunteering or by answering an advertisement or filling in a postal questionnaire.
However, volunteers are not representative of the general population, or the
participants may be in a particular place because of their beliefs or attitudes e.g. if
carrying out a questionnaire on prostitution in an area, the sample of people who
are questioned may have chosen to be in that area for their own purpose.
Having decided the type of sample method to be used, sample size has to be considered.
This can be very difficult and will depend on the size of the target population. The size
must be enough to make the sample representative of the target population and the size
selected will also depend upon the resources of the researcher.
The size of any sample used in research is always a compromise between cost, availability
and the size of the population. It is important not to have too small a sample so that the
research is too small to be of any use. However, research takes a lot of time, and can be
very costly and hence this can restrain the size of any sample.
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Progress Check 12
1
What is the difference between qualitative and quantitative data?
What is the null hypothesis?
What is the experimental hypothesis?
Suggest two approaches which can be used in sampling.
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Experimental Methods
An experiment sets out to be a study looking at cause and effect (a very clear one-way
relationship). If our hypothesis is supported by the results of the experiment then we can
say that a variable, being manipulated, caused the stated effect.
Example
A group of participants is asked to try to learn some material early in the morning, and
another group is asked to learn the same material late in the evening. Our hypothesis is that
more learning will occur when material is learnt early in the morning. If we find that the
participants did learn more in the morning, then we are able to support our hypothesis.
An experiment involves the deliberate manipulation of one variable, while trying to keep
other variables constant. In the above example, the manipulated variable is the time of
learning, i.e. morning or evening.
A variable can be defined as something which changes. In an experiment a variable will
be deliberately changed or manipulated.
There are three main kinds of experiments:
1 Experiments in the laboratory one of the commonest ways of gathering evidence.
2 Field experiment the same methods of manipulation of one variable while keeping
other variables constant, but applied in a more natural setting.
3 Natural experiment an experiment (or strictly speaking a quasi experiment) which
involves a variable being altered whilst other variables are kept constant. The
difference is that the variable being manipulated has not been done so deliberately
by the researcher.
For example, when carrying out an experiment to investigate whether first-born children
speak earlier than second and subsequent siblings, clearly the experimenter is unable to
choose the age difference between siblings, or their sex, so this is more accurately called
a quasi experiment.
The aspect or variable that is being manipulated or played about with by the researcher
is called the Independent Variable (IV).
The factor being measured (the effect of the variable), i.e. the possible effects of the
treatment, is called the Dependent Variable (DV).
Example
We want to find out which fertiliser is best for tomatoes. We plant tomato seeds in plots
of land and then assign a different fertiliser to each plot. The type of fertiliser (the treatment)
is the independent variable. However, the effects of this treatment (the outcomes) are the
dependent variable. The dependent variable in this case could be the amount of tomatoes
growing in each plot.
Dont worry if you didnt quite understand this. Keep rereading the example and try to
think of other examples of independent and dependent variables. In all likelihood, you
may come across questions in your examination that ask you to identify these types of
variables. You will need to use this in your own coursework experiment.
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Dont forget that you can always contact your tutor if you are having any problems or
want to discuss any aspect of the course.
Tip
A way to keep this clear in your head is to remember that the dependent variable
(DV) depends on the changes that the researcher makes to something. You might
find it useful to identify what is measured first. For example, if you were given the
hypothesis Adrenaline Increases Heart Rate, then the rate of the heart beating is
being measured (the dependent variable), while the drug, adrenaline, is being
manipulated by the researcher (the independent variable).
All other variables that may affect the results are called confounding variables, that is any
variable that is uncontrolled and may obscure any experimental effect being researched.
For example, when trying to study age of drivers and driving behaviour, if all participants
were female, then we could not be sure if age was the crucial factor or if sex influenced
the results. It is very important that any confounding variables are controlled or what is
being measured may be due to the confounding variable rather than the IV.
Extraneous variables are anything other than the independent variable which may be
affecting the dependent variable, i.e. these variables are affecting the one you are trying
to control and balance. For example, heating in the room, bad lighting, noise etc. are
extraneous variables that may affect a participants behaviour, and these are effects that
you havent controlled.
By changing one variable (IV) while measuring another (DV) and controlling all others, it is possible
to say that the IV has caused the changes in the DV.
The most common way to design an experiment is to use two groups:

an experimental group or condition (using the IV), e.g. think back to the example of
fertiliser and tomato plots one plot with a particular fertiliser is a condition.
a control group as identical as possible except no use of IV, e.g. in the fertiliser
example, a plot of land with tomato seeds but NO fertiliser at all is the control
group. A control group is necessary in order to compare the variable you have
manipulated with a group that did not have the variable at all.
Remember
The independent variable is the variable that is being manipulated
The dependent variable is the variable that is being measured.
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Example
Researchers want to see if a new reading scheme is making 6-year-olds more able to read.
They choose to give the new reading scheme to half of a class and continue to use the usual
reading scheme with the other half. In this instance the researchers are manipulating the
new scheme (the IV) and measure reading ages (the DV) by comparing the two groups in
terms of reading ability. Remember that the children who get the new reading scheme are
the experimental group, and the others are the control group.
A Good Experiment?
So now you have the basic idea about what an experiment is, lets look at what makes it
good.
A good experiment will uphold three main standards:
1 It should be possible to generalise from the study. This means that the findings
should be true and apply to all people, or all animals, or all objects, not just the
small sample used in the experiment.
2 The study must be replicable and reliable. This means that another person could
repeat (replicate) the experiment and get the same results. Also, if the same people
were tested again at a different time, the results would be the same (reliable).
3 The measure used in the experiment must be valid. Validity is a term used to mean
that what is being measured is what the researcher really wanted to measure.
When carrying out an experiment it is important that all confounding variables are
controlled as far as possible. Therefore, to make an experiment as accurate and as
controlled as possible it is necessary to use:
Standardised procedures all of the experiment is described and worked out
beforehand. This means that all participants should receive identical experiences,
instructions etc. which means no one gets any more help or is at an advantage
when participating in an experiment; therefore any effects/changes cannot be said
to be due to some receiving better/worse instructions.
Standardised instructions every participant hears the same instructions. We can
control variables and therefore be assured of a cause-effect relationship, i.e.
manipulation of something caused the change we observe. However, there are
advantages and disadvantages in using this method of investigation.
Laboratory Experiments
Advantages
a Experiments are the only means by which cause and effect can be established, and
very accurate measurements can be made
b Experiments allow for precise control of variables
c Research conducted in a laboratory is easy to replicate.
Disadvantages
a Behaviour that it is possible to study in the laboratory is very narrow in range. Many
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types of behaviour are impossible to study in the laboratory with any degree of
validity
b It may be difficult to generalise from the laboratory setting to real life, i.e. the
behavioural change that we observe in the laboratory might not necessarily reflect
what happens in the real world
c People may behave differently in the artificial conditions of a laboratory.
Naturalistic Experiments/Quasi Experiments

Are there other ways we can use an experiment which may make it more valid in the real
world? In a natural experiment a variable has been altered (in this case this will be the
independent variable) and the effect of altering this variable can be measured or observed
on another variable (the dependent variable).
The difference between a natural experiment and a laboratory experiment is that the
variable which has changed has not been manipulated by the researcher; the variable
would change anyway.
It is also important to consider ecological validity. This is ensuring that the way that the
experiment is structured replicates real life as much as possible. If the experiment does not
represent real life then it will have lower validity.
Example
A psychologist wishes to check childrens reading ability to see if there is any effect when
a child moves from primary to senior school. The variable (changing school) would have
occurred whether anyone was studying the effects of this change or not.
Advantages
a The effect on the dependent variable caused by changing the independent variable
can be studied so as to illuminate the cause and effect relationship
b The setting is natural, the change would occur normally so ecological validity (how
close the experiment is to a real-life situation) is high.
Disadvantages
a Many variables, which a researcher might wish to investigate, may not change in a
natural setting, therefore the study will not arise
b Frequently, more than one variable will change (in the example given above, the
natural experiment may lack validity since when changing from primary to senior
school many other factors may change too, like the length of a journey, or a
complete change in peer group). When there are other variables that are changing it
may be difficult to isolate the effects of one variable.
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Design of Experiments
Once we have looked at the hypothesis i.e. what we are going to study, we have to think
about how we are going to investigate in an experiment setting. This is known as the
experimental design. There are three designs we can use in an experiment:
Independent Measures
The groups involved in the study consist of different individuals. For example, studies
involving differences between the sexes will always be independent measures as one
group will be males and the other group will be females. Participants allocated to groups
on a random basis will also be independent measures.
Advantages
a No order effects, i.e. we dont give the same group several tasks; therefore results
should not be influenced by a group having practised the task or got bored with it
from repetition.
b Exactly the same material can be used for each group.
c Both groups can be tested at the same time.
Both b and c can save time and money and also help to strictly control extraneous
variables such as results being affected by the timing of the experiment or different
material affecting results.
Disadvantages
a Variables between participants are not controlled (the males may be a happier group
than the females anyway confounding variable.)
b You may need higher numbers (to study 15 males and females you need 30
participants). Otherwise when you come to use statistical analysis to analyse your
results you wont have enough participants to really see whether the results were
just by chance.
Matched Pairs Design

This occurs where different participants are used in the experiment but they are carefully
matched on important variables such as gender, age, IQ, etc. Each member in a group is
paired with a member who is placed in the other group. People are paired on the basis
of relevant variables what is relevant can depend on the nature of the research.
Advantages
a No order effects.
b You can use the same material for both groups
c There is no need to wait between testing groups
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Disadvantages
a It is very difficult to find well-matched pairs.
b The loss of one person means having to discount the results from two participants.
c It is impossible to match so closely that there are no variables between participants.
Repeated Measures
This design is used when the same participants are tested on two or more occasions for
each condition. For example, one group is given a test on attention in the morning and
then again in the afternoon.
Advantages
a You need not be concerned about variables between participants because it is the
same participants in both conditions; therefore if the group perform better in the
morning as opposed to in the afternoon, then more than likely we can suggest that
the improvement (change in behaviour) is due to the manipulation of the variable.
b You need fewer subjects again cost and time advantage.
Disadvantages
a Order effects if each person carries out one task followed by a second they may
get better or worse due to order effects, i.e. they are being affected by practice or
fatigue. However, you can control for this by counterbalancing, i.e. getting one
half of the participants to do task 1 first followed by task 2, the other half to do task
2 first followed by task 1.
b You will need to produce different materials for each condition each time you test
the participants. In a memory test you need to have words to remember which are
similar in terms of frequency of use, but are not exactly the same as the first
condition.
c Participants may guess what the researcher is trying to test and either try to help or
hinder deliberately.
Now that we have looked at experiments, we need to be aware and highlight issues that
can influence results.
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Experimenter Expectations
An experiment is a social situation, whether it takes place inside a laboratory or in a more
natural setting. Confounding variables may occur because neither the experimentors or
the participants are passive; both are active, thinking human beings. Both the
experimenters and the participants have expectations about an experiment. Experimenters
may be expecting to see the effect they wish, and the participants may be actively trying
to work out exactly what the experimenters are trying to discover.
Experimenters can affect the results of research in several ways:
1 Failure to follow standardised procedures or failure to use standardised instructions.
2 Misrecording results. (All too often we tend to see what we expect or want to see
rather than what is actually happening.)
3 Making up or altering results.
4 Personal attributes effects the experimenters gender, race, culture, age,
appearance or manner. A participant may behave differently depending on whether
the experimenter is large and loud or small and quietly spoken. Research has also
shown that the sex of the experimenter can influence how the participant
responds/behaves.
5 Expectancy effects cues the experimenter may unconsciously give participants in
terms of how they should answer/behave/respond.
Rosenthal (1966) demonstrated this using his students as experimenters. The
students were given rats and had to time the rats running round a maze. Half the
students were told they were using maze-bright rats; the other half were told they
were using maze-dull rats. There was in fact no difference between the rats.
However, the students watching the maze-bright rats did think that the rats ran the
maze more quickly than the maze-dull rats. Later experiments have not (always)
supported Rosenthals experiment.
Participant Expectations
People try to find meaning/interpret the situations that they are in. Participants may
actively try to work out the purpose of an experiment. They are trying to guess what the
experiment is about, what the experimenter expects them to do and whether they will try
to help or hinder the experimenter. Orne (1962) called these effects demand
characteristics. These are the cues which help a participant to decide what is the true
purpose of the experiment. They include:
The actual communication during the experiment this may be the verbal
instructions and also the implicit cues from non-verbal communication, the
experimenters body language.
What the participant has already heard about the experiment (prior knowledge).
The way the participant was approached initially.
The type of person the experimenter appears to be.
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The surroundings where the experiment will take place (one experiment by Milgram
took place in a laboratory, but when he moved the location to a seedy office
downtown the results were different as peoples behaviour was affected by the
location).
Orne (1962) actually became interested in this area when he was studying hypnosis. He
tried to get his participants to carry out a very boring task because he believed the
participants would only do the task for a long period if they were actually hypnotised.
However, to his astonishment, the participants were prepared to carry on with very boring
tasks because they thought the tasks were part of an experiment. Therefore, they were
interpreting/trying to work out and give meaning to the situation and this influenced their
behaviour, i.e. they carried on doing very boring tasks.
In order to design an experiment well, it is necessary to try to think about how to minimise
these factors. For these reasons many experimenters will make the surroundings as natural
as possible. Great care will be taken when giving instructions to make sure the expected
answer will not be implied by the question.
Many experiments have been and are conducted using white, male American
undergraduates as participants (older experiments refer to people taking part as subjects).
This is because the students can be easily persuaded to take part. For some students it is
a requirement of their course that they take part in a certain number of experiments. It
has been observed that in a ten-year period between 1969 and 1979, 70% of social
psychology experiments used college students as participants. It can be argued that
students are not always typical of the general population; indeed at this period of their
lives they may be less typical than at any other time! Students may also volunteer to take
part in an experiment and as volunteers they are not typical of the population at large.
Volunteers tend to be more easily influenced, moody, anxious for approval than nonvolunteers.
Reducing Bias
The two most commonly used methods to reduce confounding variables from
participant or experimenter expectation are:
single blind condition
double blind condition.
Single blind conditions do not let the participant know which group they are in. This
means that the participants do not know which treatment they are receiving. This is
commonly used in drug trials where half the participants are given the drug being tested
and the other half are given a placebo.
Double blind conditions do not let either the experimenter or the participant know the
conditions, i.e. neither the participants nor the experimenter/assistants know which
treatment participants have received. This method is also used frequently in drug trials,
especially where doctors may give the real tablets to those they believe will benefit the
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most, or who are most suitable. In a double blind condition the experimenter will not
know who has been given real drugs and who has been given placebos, until after the
experiment has been conducted and finished.
Controlling Variables
In any experiment it is important to eliminate variables that are not part of the experiment
since the only variables the experimenter is really interested in are the independent and
dependent variables. If it is impossible to eliminate extraneous variables, it is necessary
to try to control them in some way.
One variable, which may therefore influence results, is the sequence in which events occur
in an experiment. If a repeated measures design is being used and a series of tasks are
done the effects may be that the participants will:
get bored or tired performing the same tasks over and over again.
or
learn how to perform the task better (practice effect).
To control for order effects, the experimenter may decide to counterbalance the order
in which the material is presented. In this case the participants would be divided into two
groups, half doing task A first followed by task B, the others doing task B first followed
by task A. This should counterbalance for any order effects.
An alternative method is to use randomisation. In this case the conditions are randomly
presented. Chance determines the order in which the tests are carried out, either by
pulling the conditions out of a hat or by using a table of random numbers. It is chance
alone which dictates the order in which the tests are carried out.
Standardised procedures should be used in every experiment. This means that in every part
of the experiment, all participants are treated in the same way and have the same
experience. This helps to control for the effects of experimenter bias since all the
participants must be treated the same way. As part of this attempt to standardise
procedures, standardised instructions are used for participants. This means all the
participants will hear the same instructions (and they should be told in the same way, i.e.
order, tone of voice, layout of room etc.).
Confounding variables refer to all the things that can unintentionally vary in an
experiment and which may affect the results. Confounding variables may act in either a
random or a constant way. A random variable would occur when in an experiment, say,
the fire alarm went off and everyone had to leave the building. Random variables tend to
occur in any experiment but need not adversely affect the result. Constant errors,
however, can be very serious. A constant error can occur when not all the variables have
been controlled. Early experiments into causes of schizophrenia thought a link between
iodine levels and schizophrenia may exist since a group of schizophrenics all had low levels
of iodine. However, the schizophrenics all lived at one hospital which had a diet low in
iodine. The diet was the constant error which was not controlled for, rather than some
inner physiological abnormality.
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Progress Check 13
For the following hypotheses try to identify IV and DV.
1
Adrenaline will cause the heart rate to rise.

IV =
DV =
Women are slower drivers than men.

IV =
DV =
People will conform if there are more than three confederate participants.
IV =
DV =
Men will react to a visual stimulus more quickly than women.

IV =
DV =
Students perform mathematical tasks more correctly on a Monday morning than a

Friday afternoon.
IV =
DV =
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Non-Experimental Methods
Surveys
There are ways of gathering information other than experiments. Survey methods is one
of these. The main survey methods used by psychologists are questionnaires and
interviews. Both of these approaches involve asking questions. There are two types of
questions open which require the person answering the question to give a full answer,
and closed which can be answered with just one word.
For example, the question:
Explain how you felt when you repeated that task for the tenth time
is an open question.
Whereas, the question:
Were you bored when you repeated that task for the tenth time?
is a closed question it can simply be answered yes or no.
Questionnaires
A questionnaire is simply a list of written questions, especially useful if you wish to gather
information from large numbers of people. The questionnaires are constructed and used
with a specific research topic in mind, and usually test opinions or behaviours. However,
it is essential to make sure that the questions being asked are relevant to the topic being
researched and will not produce biased answers. A questionnaire can be difficult to
construct since even a slight change of wording can distort the results.
One useful way of using a questionnaire is as a pilot study before doing more detailed
research. A pilot study is simply a process whereby you test out the questionnaire on a
small sample of people to help you discover mistakes/errors in the design, in the language
or questions used, e.g. leading questions or ambiguous questions. Further, from a pilot
study you can develop a workable measuring instrument.
Advantages
a Large numbers of people can be tested quickly; therefore a lot of information can be
gathered.
b A relatively cheap method of acquiring information.
c The results can be generalised if large numbers are tested.
d Often people are asked about their behaviour in real situations.
Disadvantages
a People may not be truthful, especially if the questionnaire is on an emotive or
personal subject. Since many questionnaires are completed by individuals on their
own, it can be difficult for the experimenter to know that a person has lied. Socially
acceptable answers may be given rather than the truth.
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b The questionnaire may not be returned by everyone, resulting in a biased sample.

c It is difficult to establish cause and effect relationships.
d The questions give only a limited choice of answers (meaning the participant is
forced to choose but may not really agree with any of the answers).
Interviews
Other than using questionnaires, interviews can be a good way of collecting information
and data.
The interview is a method based on asking people questions, or getting them to respond
and then recording responses. There are numerous types of interviews formal or
informal, structured or unstructured, clinical or non-clinical. Some interviews are known
as unstructured interviews because participants can talk about anything they like; but
interviews can also be structured to give quantitative or qualitative data. Within this field
there are two major types of interviews, i.e. ones that have a fixed sequence of closed
questions (structured), and at the other extreme there are free-range interviews that
have a fluid agenda and open-ended questions (unstructured). However, in the middle,
there are semi-structured interviews, where the interviewer has a defined purpose but
tries to do this through flexible wording and order of presentation.
Advantages
a A rich source of information about a person, a way of finding out what the person
really feels is important to them (qualitative data).
b The participant will be relaxed, feeling in control of the situation.
c The interviewer can prompt for more information giving richer depth of data.
Disadvantages
a Different information will be gathered from each person being interviewed which
will make the data very unsystematic, and therefore it may be hard to use or draw
conclusions.
b Since different data is gathered, it is very difficult to analyse the data.
c This type of interview can be very unreliable.
d Interviewing is time-consuming.
e Flexibility may allow a lack of standardisation which could result in concerns about
reliability could introduce bias.
Clinical Interviews
Interviews can also be carried out with an overall aim, for example to find out what a
person thinks about a moral issue. However, the aim can be approached in a different way
with each participant. The clinical interview could be a type of informal interview
(depending on how it is conducted). For example, the initial questions may be laid down,
but the interviewer can follow up an individuals response to clarify why they have
answered the question in this way. The clinical interview was used frequently by Piaget and
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also by Freud. Piaget used this method whilst looking at moral development, telling
children two stories and asking them about possible solutions to a moral dilemma.
Advantages
a The interviewer still has some flexibility to follow how an individual has arrived at an
answer.
b Data analysis will be a little easier since the interviewer may have answers to the
same set of initial questions.
Disadvantages
a The interviewer may word questions differently, causing different interpretations and
emphases. Lack of standardisation may cause problems.
b The interviewer may impose their own biases on the interview situation, influencing
the type of question asked and how answers are interpreted.
c It can be difficult to compare one interview with another.
Formal Interviews
However, in another type of interview, the formal interview, the questions asked are fixed
and the same standardised procedures are followed with each person interviewed.
Questions can be open ended or require the interviewee to select a specific answer from
a list of answers.
Advantages
a The interview is easily replicated. Several interviewers can all ask the same questions.
b The data can be easily analysed (more easily in questions with specific answers than
in open questions).
c The interviewer gets less opportunity to influence the results.
d This type of interview is more reliable.
Disadvantages
a The information is necessarily narrow.
b The answers may be more inclined to be socially desirable answers, i.e. people will
give responses that they think are more socially acceptable.
c People will be less relaxed and not feel able to answer freely, because they are
forced to select only one answer.
d Questions need to be very carefully worded to make sure they are not ambiguous.
In any form of interview it is often good practice to conduct a pilot study first, in order to
reveal ambiguous questions, or questions which include too much jargon. Psychologists
are often particularly guilty of asking questions which include jargon. The questions are
given to a smaller group of people who are not used in the final analysis. If their answers
reveal any ambiguity then the questions can be reworded or discarded. This avoids having
to waste an expensive and time-consuming piece of research simply because the
participants could not understand what they were being asked.
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Correlational Studies
A correlation is a way of discovering how closely two or more variables are related to one
another. For example, is there a relationship between the amount of time spent studying
and exam results? What about the relationship between the temperature in a room and
the amount of clothes worn?
A correlation differs from an experiment since no variables are manipulated. There is not
an independent variable or a dependent variable in a correlational study. All we can find
out is whether there is an association between variables. Correlation does not prove
whether there is a cause and effect relationship between the variables. It is a common
mistake to assume that when there is a strong correlation between two variables, one
must cause the other to occur. Sometimes this may be so, but a strong correlation cannot
prove cause and effect. There is a strong correlation that your left arm will be the same
length as your right arm, but the length of your left arm does not cause the length of your
right arm.
Correlations are frequently mistreated by press and politicians. For example, if there is a
high correlation between the level of unemployment and crime, a politician may suggest
that unemployment causes crime. There may be an association between unemployment
and crime, but this research alone does not prove unemployment causes crime.
A positive correlation means that high values of one variable are linked to high values of
the other variable. There is a positive correlation between the amount of time spent
studying and the examination result, or another example would be the sales of ice cream
rising when the temperature rises.
exam result
D
10
20
30
40
50
hours spent studying
Graph A Positive Correlation

Note that as one variable goes up (e.g. hours) the other variable does too (e.g. grade)
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A negative correlation means that high values of one variable are associated with low
values of the other variable. The more time spent watching television, the lower the
examination result, or the lower the temperature the higher the amount of sales of hot
drinks.
exam result
D
10
20
30
40
50
hours spent watching TV
Graph B Negative Correlation

Note the high value of one variable ( grade) is associated with low value (hours watching TV)
If there is no relationship, the variables are said to be uncorrelated.

Advantages
a Useful for detecting relationships and identifying the strength of those relationships.
b It allows a researcher to investigate relationships between variables without
manipulating or controlling the variables.
c It is possible to make predictions from correlations.
d Correlational studies can be very useful for checking inter-rater reliability.
Disadvantages
a Correlation does not imply cause.
b It can be tempting to extrapolate from a correlation, for example that there is a high
positive correlation between the amount of time spent studying and the number of
examination passes. This could be extrapolated to mean that if the amount of time
spent studying was doubled, the number of examination passes would double too.
However , this could be incorrect.
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Observational Studies
This method of study involves careful observation and precise measurement of what is
being observed/looked at. Everyone observes generally what is going on around them;
however, psychologists attempt to carry out observations in a controlled manner. They
try to make unbiased or objective observations precisely and exactly. It is often assumed
that observation is an easy study to carry out, but actually observation is very difficult.
Firstly a psychologist decides what area to research and may have a hypothesis that is to
be tested. For example, you may wish to observe children in a playground to test if your
hypothesis Boys are More Aggressive than Girls is correct. You must then decide the
variables to be observed and how you are going to operationalise them (i.e. make the
variables measurable). In a study on aggression:
You must decide which acts will be defined as aggressive.
Are you going to include verbal aggression or only physical aggression?
Do you need to define physical aggression? What if children are playing tag, will you
define a touch of that sort as aggressive?
You will need to devise a way of recording acts of aggression on a data sheet and
will have to pilot the sheet to see if the behaviour occurring will fit in with your
sheet, i.e. the behaviours you have already defined as aggressive.
You will also need to consider issues to do with the reliability and validity of your
measures.
Observation as a technique can be divided into three main types:
Naturalistic
Participant
Controlled.
Naturalistic Observation
This is where spontaneous behaviour is observed in the natural surroundings of the
participants. An example of naturalistic observation would be the study of childrens play
carried out by Sylva et al (1980). The researchers were interested in finding out how play
can contribute to cognitive development.
A further example of naturalistic observation is the one I mentioned, i.e. watching children
playing in the playground. It is essential, however, to carry out observations ethically.
People may only be studied, without their prior consent, where they might reasonably
expect to be observed. For example, children may reasonably expect to be observed when
playing in a public park.
Advantages
a It can be argued that natural behaviour will only truly occur in natural settings.
b It is possible to collect information about situations that would be unethical to
deliberately set up. Robertson found out a great deal about parent/child separation
by observing and filming childrens behaviour when admitted to hospital. It would
clearly be unethical to deliberately separate children from their parents to see what
distress would result.
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Disadvantages
a It is very difficult to be an objective observer. To control for this, it is usual to use two
observers and to check for inter-rater reliability, i.e. making sure the observers are
each rating the same behaviours in the same way.
b If people are aware that they are being observed then they may not behave
naturally. One way of controlling for this effect is to observe over a long period of
time when people may become used to and unaffected by being filmed. This can be
seen in some of the documentaries on television, e.g. what are often called fly-onthe-wall programmes.
c It is difficult to control for confounding variables. For example, when studying
children at play you may not be aware that the head teacher has banned certain
forms of play (copying aggressive role models from books or television for example).
d It is difficult to replicate an observational study.
Participant Observation
This is where a researcher is, to some extent, part of the group of people being studied.
The extent of the participation can vary. The researcher may decide to completely hide his
or her role and pretend to be a legitimate new member of the group. This is known as
covert observation. (Ethical problems to do with deceit arise, however). Overt
observation is where the researcher does not hide his or her research interest but still joins
in fully with the groups activities. Thirdly, there is the observer as participant. S/he in this
case, is accepted into the group as an observer but may not join in with group activities.
The ethical issues here are complicated; not declaring your own research interests to the
group is clearly linked to deception but if you do tell the group you may alter their
behaviour.
Advantages
a Participation in the group may increase the observers understanding of what is
happening within the group. This may be important if the observer remains as part
of the group for a long period and thus gains insights which are normally
unavailable.
Disadvantages
a The presence of an observer may alter the group in some way.
b When carrying out full participant observation the observer relies on memory as they
are unable to make notes memory may be inaccurate.
c It isnt easy to become emotionally involved with the group and still remain an
objective observer.
d Participant observation is not very flexible since what is being studied may be
determined by the group rather than the researcher.
Controlled Observation
This can be used when the behaviour is observed but in a situation that has been
controlled and possibly manipulated by the researcher, for example, in the stranger
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situation experiments carried out by Mary Ainsworth and others (1978). In these
experiments Ainsworth asked mothers to bring children, around a year old, to a specially
designed room in a laboratory. She then observed what happened when the child was left
alone, when a stranger came in, when the mother returned etc. She observed these
different situations through a two-way mirror a tool often used by psychologists who
want to observe behaviour where the observer could see the participants through the
mirror but they were unable to see her.
Advantages
a When the participants being studied are young children or animals who are not
suspicious about the controlled environment, this method can produce results similar
to those of naturalistic observation.
b There can be some control of possible confounding variables.
Disadvantages
a Depending on the participant, the behaviour being observed may not be natural.
b Controlled observations in the laboratory may be criticised for lack of ecological
validity.
The main strength of pure observational research is its ability to study spontaneous
behaviour, making the research high in ecological validity. The weakness of observations
is the inability to establish cause and effect relationships. Observations may be used at the
start of research to generate testable hypotheses which can then be tested out in an
experimental context.
Case Studies
A case study involves detailed investigation of an individual or a small group. Case studies
are an example of idiographic research, that is research which may not be generalisable
to the whole population, since it is based on an individual or small group. Idiographic first
means, dealing with the individual, the unique. This research, though, tends to produce
rich qualitative data, which is more descriptive than numerical in terms of measurements.
Case studies are frequently exploratory and have no hypothesis, unless the study is looking
at the relationship between two variables. For instance, case studies are often used with
brain-damaged patients who have obvious brain dysfunctions, but whose dysfunctions
dont occur often, in the wider population. In this case, because only a few people are
affected, we cannot look at a whole lot of people to understand the brain but a detailed
case study may help us understand not just the dysfunction but also how the brain works.
Advantages
1 A case study can highlight extraordinary behaviour which stimulates new research,
for example Shallice and Warringtons study of KF. This is a clinical case study of how
memory was affected following a serious motorbike accident.
2 A case study may contradict the predictions of a well-established theory. (In the case
study mentioned above, KF, the results of the case study partly caused a new theory
of memory to be developed.)
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3 Qualitative research often leads to richness of data, and insights that would not be
available any other way.
4 A case study can investigate the effects that could not ethically be studied otherwise
(for example the Koluchova twins and their reaction to severe deprivation).
Disadvantages
1 It is virtually impossible to replicate a case study.
2 Interviewers may impose their subjective feelings, for example Freuds case histories.
Freud carried out a famous study known as Little Hans involving a child, Hans, who
had a phobia about being bitten by a horse. Despite publishing this case study,
Freud himself only met Hans on one or two occasions. Freud saw the Little Hans
study as confirming his Oedipal theory.
(The Oedipus complex is a collection or group of unconscious wishes, feelings and
ideas focusing on the wish to eliminate the same-sexed parent and possess the
opposite-sexed parent.)
3 The researcher may be selective about what appears in the final report.
4 It is not possible to generalise from a case study since the individual observed may
be atypical.
5 When trying to study an individual it may be necessary to obtain retrospective data
such as what the individual was like before an accident. This may mean relying on
possibly inaccurate memories.
Pilot Studies
Whichever approach you decide to take to your experiment it is important to consider the
use of a pilot study. This is a smaller version of the full experiment that is run before the
full experiment to test out whether the approach will work satisfactorily. It is useful to
use a pilot study to check that all the instructions in an experiment are understood
correctly, or to check that questions in a questionnaire are interpreted correctly. This saves
time and money being wasted in a full study that has an error in the experiment design.
Qualitative and Quantitative Data

The result of an experiment is that you have a range of data to interpret. Another
important point to consider before starting an experiment is how you will interpret that
data. If you collect a lot of data that cannot be interpreted for some reason you have
wasted a lot of time and money.
Data can be qualitative and quantitative. Quantitative data is that which can be
represented numerically. Qualitative data cannot be represented numerically typically it
is opinions.
So, for example, your research could have recorded the number of times that participants
completed a task. This could be represented numerically and hence would be quantitative
data.
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You might also ask how participants felt when they had completed the task. Here they
would be giving their opinions which could not easily be represented numerically. This
would be qualitative data.
Content Analysis
Data that is gathered through the methods we have looked at in this section will include
a lot, if not all, of qualitative data. The process of identifying the actions and behaviours
that occur is known as content analysis.
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Progress Check 14
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What is a pilot study?
What is the difference between a structured and unstructured interview?
What is the difference between a closed and open question? Give an example of
each.
What is meant by the term negative correlation?
Describe the differences between covert and overt observation.
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What is content analysis?
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Representing Data and Descriptive

Statistics
Introduction
According to Disraeli:
There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.
and many people would agree statistics can be manipulated frequently to support an
argument. So why do we use statistics in psychology? Psychologists aim to base their
theories on empirical data gathered during research. The data gathered is often known
as raw data, that is data that has not yet been worked upon to summarise and assess
results, but we need to use this raw data to make some sort of conclusion about the data
and this is where statistics come in. There are two types of statistics:
Descriptive statistics the purpose is to describe the main features of a set of
data, such as the most typical score (expressed in a variety of ways) and the extent
to which the scores obtained are close together or spread out.
Basically, a descriptive statistic is a number that represents some part of a sample of
data, e.g. measures of central tendency, correlation and variability are all descriptive
statistics.
Inferential statistics these are statistics used to help us to decide whether our
results could have been due to chance factors, or whether they have been caused by
the manipulation of the independent variable. We wish to draw inferences from the
data obtained, seeing what probability our results are due to chance.
In this section we will be looking at the descriptive statistics only.
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Representing Data
It can be
Data can be represented in a number of ways. The only purpose of representing data in
somee form of pictorial representation is to make the data clearer. It can be easier to
interpret a graph than a table of scores.
e
x
a
m
r
e
s
u
l
t
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
hours studied
Line graphs are used to show trends in an aspect of behaviour that occurs over time, or
as a participants experience changes. This line graph looks at the effect of revision on the
eventual examination mark, showing a positive trend whereby increasing time spent
revising has resulted in better performance at the time of the examination.
Lines drawn on a graph are called data curves (even if the line is straight). It is very
important to label the axes and give an explanatory title. It is customary to put the
dependent variable on the vertical axis. However, be careful, as line graphs are often used
It is very
where they are inappropriate and even misleading. Only use a line graph
if you are
showing
changes over time, over several trials or other continuous data.
i
m
i
100
l
l
80
i
o 60
n
40
u
n
i
t
s
20
0
1st
coca cola
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2nd
3rd
year quarter
coffee
4th
herbal tea
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Histograms (or bar charts) are used to show the frequency with which a particular score
occurs. The scores are always placed on the horizontal axis and frequency on the vertical
axis. This chart shows different values in four quarters of the year, where the first value
shows the sales of coca cola, the second value shows the sales of coffee, and the third
value shows the sales of herbal tea.
A bar chart should have the axes labelled and the colour key filled in. The main difference
between a histogram and a bar chart is that in histograms the bars are touching, whilst
in bar charts they are separated. Bar charts can also be used to good effect when the
data is nominal, i.e. did the participants do something or not, the number of males who
used a pedestrian crossing to cross the road compared with those who did not.
Pie charts are a sectioned pie that shows the relative contribution of the parts that make
up the whole. This can only be constructed if you know the total amount of any variable.
Pie charts are useful because they give a generalised impression and are even more
informative if the exact percentage is put onto each section.
This could be an example of a pie chart to show the percentage of time spent studying
by A level students in different times of the academic year. First quarter is September to
December, second quarter is January to March, third quarter is April to June, fourth
quarter is July to September. You can see by this pie chart that students spend the most
time studying in the third quarter, which seems quite reasonable.
Scattergrams are a way of graphically depicting correlation. Pairs of measurements, for
example crime figures and unemployment figures, are plotted on a graph and the pattern
which emerges shows the relationship between the two measures.
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Tables
The graphs that we have looked at display data in a visual way, so that the person reading
the material can quickly see the trends. However, there are times when people also want
to see the precise data that has been gathered. If this is required then it is best displayed
in a table.
A table must always have a clear title, and all columns must also be clearly labelled.
A table to show the facial expressions in participants observed during a discussion on
climate change:
Participant
Smiles
Frowns
12
42
65
31
13
24
25
53
Tables can also be used to show raw data. For example, a table to show how often an
even and odd number was rolled on a dice might look like:
118
Name
Even numbers
Odd numbers
Fred
11
Mary
Raj
Chrissie
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Progress Check 15
1
You are given a list showing the number of cooperative acts recorded for two
children over a six-month period. During the six-month period, one child is
reinforced for cooperative behaviour, the other is ignored. What is the most
appropriate form in which to display this data?
A group of twenty participants carry out a memory recall test. In one condition
there is a delay before recall; in the second there is no delay. How could this best
be displayed?
A psychologist is interested in careers chosen by students with a degree in

psychology. Each of 100 students attending the local university give their career
choice. Suggest how such an experiment might be carried out, including how you
might best display your results.
A psychologist wants to see if there is a correlation between the amount of

television watched and the number of aggressive acts performed by children. How
can this best be displayed?
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Descriptive Data
Measures of Central Tendency
Central tendency is another way of talking about averages (remember these are
descriptive statistics). In psychology we often talk about three different types of average:
1 The mean this is the score we usually refer to as an average. It is obtained by
adding all the scores together and dividing by the number of scores. It is useful
because it takes all the data into account and it can be used in further statistical
analysis. However, if the numbers in the scores are very widespread, or cluster
around two values, the mean can be misleading. The mean is useful if the scores
cluster around a central value. If the scores are widely distributed or there is one
extreme score in the list, it would be better to use some other method of finding the
central tendency.
Example
a If your scores are 2, 3, 4, 4, 3, 2 then the mean would be good to use. But if your scores are
2, 3, 4, 20, 3 then it is not good because the average will look a lot higher.
b Often the government says the average wage in Britain is something like 170 but this
figure is higher because there are a few people who earn very high wages. When they are
included in working out the average by using the mean, then it looks like most people earn
a higher amount of money, thus if we took those select few out of the equation, we could
work out the average earnings for the majority of people.
2 The median this is the halfway point that separates the lower 50% of the
scores from the upper 50%. The median is the best measure to use when there are
a few extremely high or low scores that can give a misleading result. However, if
there are lots of scores it can be very tedious to work out since it is necessary firstly
to arrange the scores in ascending order.
Example
Six scores in a test out of 100 are 70, 72, 74, 76, 76, 100. The mean = 78, but the median
score will be the mid point, in this case lying between 74 and 76; therefore the median =
75, closer to expressing the central tendency.
3 The mode this is the most commonly occuring score, the most representative
score. It is useful in cases where other measures of central tendency are rather
useless. For example, the modal figure for children in an average family is 2 makes
rather more sense than the average or mean of 2.113.
If there are two most commonly occurring scores this is known as a bimodal
distribution.
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Measures of Dispersion or Variability

One other descriptive statistic that is useful to use is a measure of dispersion. This will tell
us whether scores are clustered closely or widely around the mean, i.e. how widely the
numbers are scattered. Consider these two scores:
Example
Group A
10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100
Mean = 55
Group B
Median = 55
35, 40, 45, 50, 50, 60, 60, 65, 70, 75

Mean = 55
Median = 55
Although the mean and the median are the same for both groups, the dispersion of the
scores is very different. If you use only the mean and median when discussing the scores,
you are missing out on a vital point, that group B scores are clustered much more closely
around the mean. Without knowing the spread of scores, a mean cannot be relied on to
give an accurate picture/reflection. This can be discovered by looking at the range of the
scores. This is a rather crude way of describing variability and is obtained by taking the
lowest score away from the highest score.
Example
Group A
Range = 100 10 = 90
Group B
Range = 75 35 = 40
The range has the advantage that it is easy to calculate. It is a useful indication as to
whether scores in a given set of data are similar to or very different from each other.
However, like the mean it is distorted by extreme values. It also gives little indication of
whether the scores are clustered closely around the mean or are widely spread, for
example:
Example
Group A
20, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 75

Mean = 47.5
Group B
Median = 47.5
Range = 75 20 = 55
20, 21, 22, 23, 72, 73, 74, 75

Mean = 47.5
Median = 47.5
Range = 75 20 = 55
However, as well as knowing how spread out our scores are, we also need to know the
pattern of their distribution. It is useful to plot this on a graph which shows how frequently
particular scores occur in your results. When researchers make large enough numbers of
observations, they get a distribution called a normal distribution. When this data is put on
a frequency curve it is symmetrical and bell shaped.
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Characteristics of Distribution Curves

If the scores are normally distributed, knowing the standard deviation tells us what
proportion of the scores falls within certain limits.
34% of all scores lie between the mean and a point one standard deviation above
the mean
13.6% of scores lie between one standard deviation and two standard deviations
above the mean
2.4% of scores lie between two standard deviations and three standard deviations
above the mean.
The same applies to scores below the mean.
When a frequency curve has a normal distribution, the curve has a number of
characteristics:
the mean, mode and median are all in the same place, i.e. the three measures of
central tendency all lie at the same place on the curve
the curve is bell shaped and symmetrical about the mean
the tails never touch the x axis (horizontal axis).
However, normal distributions are not always found when frequency graphs are plotted.
Sometimes the distributions are skewed. Skewed distribution refers to a frequency
distribution that is not normal. It may be positively skewed where the scores are
misleadingly low, or negatively skewed where the scores are too high. Skewed
distributions occur when:
a a small number of scores are taken
b a biased sample is taken of a normally distributed population
c one end of the scale has an attainable cut-off point, for example a person cannot
move slower than not moving at all.
A positive skew occurs where in increasing order of size there is the mode, median and
finally mean. A negative skew occurs when the mean is the smallest value, followed by
the median and then the mode.
Since this shows that the range is not a very sensitive measure, a better measure will be
to calculate the standard deviation which summarises an average distance of all the scores
from the mean of a particular set. Standard deviation is a very sensitive description, taking
into account all scores (the central point). It gives an indication how much, on average,
the scores in the distribution differ from the mean.
If a set of scores has a large standard deviation, it means the scores have been widely
distributed around the mean; if the standard deviation is small the scores are closer
together.
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There are two formulae for calculating standard deviation, but the most commonly used
is:
The mathematical equation looks like this:
Let me explain what each part means in this equation.
Signs
( 1)
s.d.
d2
This means the square root of everything inside it.

This means the sum total of: therefore in this instance it is the
sum total of all/each score added together once you have worked
out each deviation squared.
This means divided by.
This means the number of scores/people minus 1.
This means the standard deviation.
d means that you work out each deviation, i.e. take each score
and find its deviation (difference) from the mean. If you were to
add all these deviations from the mean together, the sum would
always equal 0. (Can you work out why?)
Therefore, you square each deviation, d2 then add all these
together for the d2 but you have to remember to square root
the whole equation at the end in order to correct the squaring.
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Example (See Group A and Group B mentioned previously)

Group A
20, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 75

The mean = 47.5
Score
Mean
d2
20
47.5
- 27.5
756.25
45
47.5
- 2.5
6.25
46
47.5
- 1.5
2.25
47
47.5
- 0.5
0.25
48
47.5
0.5
0.25
49
47.5
1.5
2.25
50
47.5
2.5
6.25
75
47.5
27.5
756.25
=0
= 1530
The sum of d2 squared =

756.25 + 6.25 + 2.25 + 0.25 + 0.25 + 2.25 + 6.25 + 756.25 = 1530
The number of scores N = 8. Therefore N-1 = 7
Standard deviation is the square root of 1530 divided by 7 = 14.78 (to 2 decimal places).
For Group B the standard deviation is 27. 82 showing the scores are much more widely
distributed. You can work it out using the same format as above.
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Ethics
Ethics is a vitally important area in psychology. Much research is carried out using human
participants; without human participants there would be no psychology and no advances
in knowledge. Above all else, psychologists have a duty to respect the rights and dignity
of research participants. Illustrating this respect is the change in how researchers refer to
people taking part in experiments. Early researchers referred to those taking part as
subjects. This implied a power relationship between the subjects and the researchers.
More recently, those taking part have been referred to as participants, implying a more
equal relationship.
BPS Guidelines
In 1993 the British Psychological Society (BPS) published revised general ethical guidelines
concerning the use of human participants in research. You can review these guidelines at
www.bps.org.uk.These guidelines have, as their general principle, the idea that
investigators must at all times consider the ethical implications and psychological
consequences for participants. The essential principle is that any foreseeable threats to the
psychological well-being, health, values or dignity of the participants should be eliminated.
The BPS suggest that in our multicultural and multi-ethnic society, the best judge of
whether an investigation may cause offence may be members of the population from
which the participants in the research are to be drawn.
1 The issue of consent is an important one. In most cases this will mean informed
consent. This means that researchers have a duty to ensure that the persons giving
the consent have the capacity to give informed consent, i.e. really understand what
they are agreeing to do or participate in. If it is not possible due to, for example, the
age of a child (up to 16 yrs) or the degree of mental impairment an adult has, then
consent should be given by a person able to act for the child or adult, such as a
member of their family and consent must be obtained from independent advisers.
For example, an ethics committee at a university may act as independent advisers.
Research involving children will normally involve gaining consent from either the
parents or those in loco parentis (those acting as responsible for the child).
An investigator has a duty to inform the participants of research procedures that
may involve discomfort or some other risks which they would not normally face. If
the participants are not fully aware of any risks involved in the research, then they
are not able to give informed consent. It is also unethical to pay participants to make
them take risks that they would not normally take. However, it is reasonable to ask
them to take risks that they would normally take anyway. For example, Godden and
Baddeley (1975) carried out a study on memory which involved deep sea divers
trying to remember material, while they were on a beach or while they were diving.
This experiment was ethical because the divers were taking the same dangers they
faced in everyday life i.e. they dive all the time. It would not have been ethical with
participants who were not divers to ask them to go under water and then try to
remember something.
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2 A second major guideline concerns the use of deception. Participants should not be
deceived about the true purpose of an experiment. However, there are times when to
reveal all would negate the purpose of the research, for example when wishing to
carry out a surprise recall test after a memory task. One way of trying to ensure
minimum distress for participants is to consult others from the population from which
the participants were drawn. If, after consulting these individuals, they feel they would
not be stressed by the deception it may be possible for the research to go ahead. At
other times it will be necessary to consult with colleagues and various ethical
committees. For example, today, the research by Milgram (1963) would require
permission from an ethical committee, and in all likelihood would not be passed.
3 Participants must be debriefed after taking part in any research. This implies more
than simply informing participants about the research. Debriefing involves both
discussion with participants about their experience of research and giving them
information to help them understand the research. However, it must ensure that
participants leave the research in the same state in which they entered. Debriefing
may also involve active intervention rather than merely verbal debriefing.
4 At the beginning of the research, investigators must make clear to participants that
they have the absolute right to withdraw from the investigation, at any stage,
whether or not payment has been made. A participant can also withdraw their
consent retrospectively and/or demand that their own data, including any
recordings, be destroyed.
5 Participants also have the right to confidentiality and privacy. This right is enshrined
in law (The Data Protection Act 1984) and participants have the right to expect that
any information provided by them will be treated confidentially and that their
identities will not be revealed, if any research is published. If this cannot be
guaranteed participants must be warned before they agree to participate.
6 Protection of participants is another important right. Participants have the right to
be protected from mental or physical harm, and should not face risks greater than
those likely in everyday life. Participants should be asked to reveal any medical
conditions which might put them at special risk. Personal or private behaviour need
not be revealed. When debriefing, results should be discussed with great care, and
participants should be aware of being able to contact the investigator for a
reasonable time following the investigation, should stress, potential harm or related
questions arise.
7 Observational research may involve participants being unable to give informed
consent. People should only be observed in situations where they might reasonably
be expected to be observed, i.e. where people are aware they are in public view.
Local cultural values should also be observed, and investigators should be aware of
the possibility of intruding upon the privacy of individuals who, even while in a
normally public space, may believe they are unobserved.
8 During research, an investigator may become aware of a psychological or physical
problem of which a participant is apparently unaware. There is then an obligation on
the investigator to reveal this to the participant and to help them to obtain
appropriate professional advice. However with A level students there is also a related
issue. Students should not and must not claim a competence that they do not possess.
It would be completely unethical to offer advice, about, say an anxiety disorder, when
as an A level student you are neither qualified nor competent to do so.
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If you feel a participant has a problem that needs help, all you can do is very
sensitively suggest they speak to an appropriate person.
9 Psychologists have a responsibility to monitor colleagues, and a duty to inform
colleagues to re-evaluate research if they believe it has not being conducted in
accordance with the principles proposed by the British Psychological Society.
Animal Research
In recent years there has been a growth in opposition, by members of the public, to the
use of animals in research. The reaction of the scientific world to these new opinions has
been rather mixed. Some scientists suggest that opposition to animal research is rather a
contradiction in a society where there is abuse of family pets and some dubious intensive
farming methods. Others have welcomed the new concern for animals and have offered
ideas as to how animal research can be carried out in a way that minimises stress and
suffering. It does appear that, over time, the overall numbers of animals used in research
seem to be decreasing and fewer species are being used. Further, there is a decrease in
the number of different procedures used on these animals. The only increase, in any
category of animal research, is in non-experimental projects such as observation of
animals.
Animals are used by psychologists in research for several reasons:
40510A
Animals are interesting to study. Ethology (the biological study of behaviour) has
been based on the goal of learning more about animals.
Animals mean that experiments can sometimes be carried out with a greater degree
of control and objectivity. Much behaviourist research was carried out using animals
such as rats and pigeons for this reason.
Animals can be used when it would not be possible to use humans (e.g. Harlows
deprivation studies using rhesus monkeys). However, there are ethical issues in
exposing animals to something we would not expose human participants to.
It can be argued that humans and animals have sufficient physiology in common to
allow conclusions drawn from one to be applied to the other. It is on this premise
that much of the research carried out by behaviourists was applied to the
understanding of learning.
The arguments against using animals in research can be divided into two main areas,
an argument based on practical grounds, and ones based on ethical or moral
grounds. These objections are respectively:
Animal research will tell us little that is applicable to humans because of the
differences between humans and animals. However, others argue that the basic
physiology of the brain and nervous system of mammals is very similar to
humans. It has been suggested that animals such as monkeys have about 98%
similar genetic material to humans.
It can be argued that pain or distress is never acceptable in animal research no
matter what the potential benefit to humans. Speciesism or discrimination
against one species for the benefits of another can be seen by some to be
morally indefensible.
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A Level Psychology
Bateson (1986) produced a decision cube to assess animal research using three criteria:
1 the quality of the research
2 the degree of animal suffering
3 the certainty of benefit.
There are guidelines published for the use of animals in psychological research. The use
of animals for research is also covered in law in the UK by the Animals (Scientific
Procedures) Act 1986. There are also some specific laws protecting the rights of animals.
Failure to comply with these laws will result in prosecution.
Ethical Considerations
Whether the animals are to be confined, constrained, harmed or stressed in any way, the
investigator must consider whether the knowledge to be gained justifies the procedure.
Alternatives to animal experiments must also be considered and experiments should not
be done simply because it is possible to do them.
Whenever research involves confining animals or the use of procedures likely to cause
pain or discomfort, the investigator should bear in mind that members of some species
may be less likely to suffer than members of others. Choosing an appropriate subject
usually requires knowledge of the species natural history as well as its special needs.
Laboratory studies should use the smallest number of animals necessary. The number of
animals used can often be greatly reduced through good experimental design and the
careful use of statistical techniques. However, members of an endangered species should
not be collected or manipulated in the wild except as part of a serious attempt at
conservation.
Animals should only be obtained from reputable animal suppliers and full records must
be kept of their provenance and laboratory history. The investigators should confirm that
those responsible for handling the animals, en route to the laboratory, provide adequate
food, water, ventilation and space, and that they do not impose undue stress. The
investigators should also confirm that if animals are trapped in the wild this should be
done in as painless and humane a manner as possible.
The caging and social environment needs to be carefully assessed. Caging conditions
should take into account the social behaviour of the particular species being used as an
acceptable density of animals of one species may constitute overcrowding for a different
species.
Fieldwork should disturb the animals being studied as little as possible. Even simple
observations on wild animals can have marked effects on their breeding and survival. If
animals are marked for identification or radio transmitters are attached, the animals may
be intolerant of the marks or transmitter and may also be stressed by the capture and
recapture. The stress involved varies greatly with the type of technique used and the
species studied.
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Aggression and predation including infanticide may occur in the wild. However, the fact
that pain and injury may come to animals in the wild is not a defence for allowing it to
occur in the laboratory. Huntingford (1984) has discussed the ethical issues involved and
recommends that, wherever possible, field studies of natural encounters should be used
in preference to staged encounters. Where staged encounters are thought to be necessary
the use of models or animals should be considered thoroughly. The numbers of subjects
should be kept to a minimum and the experiments should be as short as possible.
Motivation when arranging schedules of deprivation if this is involved in the research,
the experimenter should consider the animals normal eating and drinking habits and its
metabolic requirements. Schedules of deprivation are used to monitor different effects in
animals, for example feeding an animal every other day to see the effects of starvation.
However, differences between species should be borne in mind: a short period of
deprivation for one species may be unacceptably long for another.
Aversive stimuli and stressful procedures that cause pain or distress to animals are illegal
in the UK unless the experimenter holds a Home Office Licence and the relevant
certificates. The investigator should be satisfied that there are no alternative ways of
conducting the experiment without the use of aversive stimuli. If alternatives are not
available, the experimenter has the responsibility of ensuring that any suffering is kept to
the minimum and that it is justified by the expected scientific contribution of the
experiment.
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Progress Check 16
1
Why does research psychology require ethical guidelines?
List the major issues covered by the BPS ethical guidelines for human participants.
Identify three reasons why non-human animals are used in psychological research.
Describe the main areas of concern included in the Guidelines for the use of
animals in research.
What three criteria were proposed by Bateson (1986) when deciding whether or
not to approve a research proposal involving the use of non-human animals?
40510A
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A Level Psychology
134
40510A
Test Paper 1
40510/01
Its very straightforward to submit this test paper online by logging on to the ICS
Student Community at www.icslearn.co.uk.
For guidance on submitting test papers online please see the Help>Assessment section
of the Student Community.
Section A: Key Approaches in Psychology

1
40510A
What do behavioural psychologists mean by reinforcement?

Give an example of a positive reinforcement.
(2 marks)
When you enter the exam room to sit an exam your heart starts to beat faster,
and your palms become sweaty. Explain, using physiological psychology, what
is happening to you.
(4 marks)
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A Level Psychology
Joey was always a very placid child. At the age of 2 years his mother returned
to work and he was placed in a nursery. His mother has noticed that he is now
much more aggressive. How might the work of Bandura help to explain this?
(2 marks)
Describe and evaluate the humanistic approach to psychology.

(6 marks)
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40510A
Section B: Gender Development

2
Identify two ways in which Turners syndrome might affect an individual.

(2 marks)
Explain androgynous behaviour.

(2 marks)
Describe and evaluate the psychoanalytical explanation of gender

development.
(6 marks)
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A Level Psychology
Explain how twin studies help to investigate the nature-nurture debate.

(4 marks)
Section C: Research Methods

3
A psychologist has designed an experiment to investigate whether boys and girls

have a preference for particular toys before the age of 5 years. The university
where the psychologist works runs a crche for children of university lecturers and
she has chosen 5 boys and 5 girls from this crche all are aged 3 years.
She has brought them to the psychology department and asked them to play in a
room which has been set up with a number of different toys in it. All the toys are
stereotypically linked to one gender (eg cars and trains linked to boys and dolls and
tea set linked to girls). She sits in the room with the children and observes the
number of times that each child plays with a male or a female toy. Her results
are as follows:
Played with male toy
Played with female toy
Girls
15 times
68 times
Boys
92 times
3 times
Played with male toy Played with female toy
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40510A
Answer the following questions:

a
What conclusions can be drawn from the results?

(3 marks)
Draw a graphical display of the data that has been given.

(3 marks)
State an appropriate hypothesis for this study.

(2 marks)
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A Level Psychology
What sampling technique has been used?

(1 mark)
Give one limitation of the sampling technique.

(2 marks)
How might the experiment design have affected the results?

(4 marks)
Identify one ethical issue raised by the study.

(1 mark)
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How could the ethical issue you have raised have been addressed?
(2 marks)
The psychologist carries out some follow-up questions with the childrens parents.
Give one closed question she could have asked.
(1 mark)
Give one open question that she could have asked.

(1 mark)
Now send your answers to ICS.
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Answers to Progress Checks

Progress Check 1
1
The id the pleasure-seeking part of the personality.

The ego considers the consequences of an action.
The superego the conscience.
Repression this is keeping thoughts out of the consciousness, deliberately

trying to bury memories or thoughts
Displacement transferring reactions from one threatening object to a less
threatening object
Projection putting ones own negative characteristics on another
Denial refusing to accept the existence or reality of a threatening event
Intellectualisation taking the emotion away from an event when thinking
about it.
The consciousness of the mind is the only part that is really visible and the preconscious and unconsciousness contain thoughts and memories that are buried
under the surface.
a
b
c
d
e
Oral stage this occurs during the first 18 months of life. In this stage the child
gains satisfaction from activities using the mouth, such as eating and sucking.
Anal stage this occurs between about 18 and 36 months. During this period
toilet training occurs, and hence there is attention on the anal region.
Illic stage this occurs between about 3 and 6 years. Freud argued that the
genitals become a key source of satisfaction at this stage.
Latency stage this occurs from 6-years until the onset of puberty. During this
stage boys and girls tend not to interact much.
Genital stage from the onset of puberty until adult life the main source of
pleasure is in the genitals.
Progress Check 2
1
An unconditioned response is a natural response, whereas a conditioned response

is one which has been learned.
Through trial and error.
Positive reinforcement receiving a reward for behaviour.

Negative reinforcement avoiding an unpleasant result of the behaviour.
Positive punishment receiving a punishment for behaviour.
Negative punishment removing a reward as a result of behaviour.
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The approach has been developed systematically with proper research.

It does appear to explain some aspects of behaviour but not all.
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A Level Psychology
Progress Check 3
1
Individuals have conscious experience of themselves, and their role in directing their
own lives. People have the capacity to be self-aware and are guided by purpose
and meaning.
It only really works with those who are motivated and are articulate.
Too much emphasis on the individual

Selfishness is denied
Research is primarily through case studies and interviews.
Progress Check 4
1
Mental processes can be studied scientifically.

Humans are autonomous beings.
The mind can be viewed as a system.
The min is a limited capacity processor.
Models can be proposed and tested experimentally.
It is going through a series of stages to select, organise and interpret incoming

information.
It uses more scientific methods that most other approaches

The ability of the human to process information is given more priority than in
other approaches.
Progress Check 5
1
Those who saw the aggressor being rewarded were more aggressive, as were those
who saw no punishment or reward. Those who saw the aggressor being punished
were less aggressive.
a
b
c
144
The experiments Bandura carried out did not distinguish clearly between actual
aggression and playfighting.
Some argue that the nature of the Bobo doll suggested aggressive play.
It presumes that behaviour is based only on observed learning.
This develops a pure learning approach and adds in the social aspect of
behaviour.
There is evidence that the approach has some truth as people do model their
behaviour on those that they see as role models.
40510A
Progress Check 6
1
A species develops through a process of natural selection where those individuals

within a species who are best fitted for survival go on to breed successfully and
hence perpetuate their characteristics.
The genetic constitution of an individual organism, the particular set of genes

carried.
a
b
c
It is very focused on fact.

It has a strong scientific basis.
Twin studies (as we will see in the next section) have helped to give some
important insights into behaviour.
Progress Check 7
1
A neuron is a nerve cell which processes and transmits information around the
body it can be thought of as the basic building block of the nervous system.
The central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system.
The sympathetic division is most active during emotional responses, such as fear
and anxiety. This division spends the bodys reserves of energy when making an
emotional response.
The parasympathetic division is most active during processes such as digestion
which restore the bodys reserves of energy.
Neurosurgery, post-mortems, EEGs, CAT scans, PET scans and MRI scans.
Adrenaline.
Progress Check 8
1
Phenotype the physical, observable structure, function or behaviour of an

organism.
Monozygotic twins (MZ) are identical twins. They occur when an egg splits into
two after fertilisation. The twins are genetically identical (and hence always of the
same sex).
Dizygotic twins (DZ) occur when two eggs are released and fertilised at the same
time. The twins are only as genetically similar as siblings, and can be of different
sex.
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Because they are likely to have been raised in the same environment.
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A Level Psychology
Progress Check 9
1
Aggressive behaviour.
Mathematical ability.
Spatial ability.
Verbal ability.
Mixing characteristics from both sexes leaving an individual the freedom to adapt
to a situation.
Sex and gender roles are a result of the way people are brought up and not as a
result of their genetic inheritance since gender roles and expectations of
appropriate behaviour were different in each tribe she studied.
Whether behaviour is determined by our biology or the environment in which we

live.
Progress Check 10
1
Chromosomal females have two X chromosomes and men have one X and one Y
chromosome.
Hormonal men produce androgens and women produce oestrogens.
Chromosomes.
In Klinefelters there are at least two X chromosomes and at least one Y
chromosome.
In Turners part of the chromosomes are missing.
Reinforcement is reward for displaying a certain behaviour.

Modelling is the process by which children imitate a person chosen as a model.
Imitation is copying someone else.

Identification is incorporating the qualities of the individual that is identified with.
Progress Check 11
146
Developing an understanding of the world by assigning certain roles to different

genders.
Gender stability when a child realises that gender is fixed and will not change
with age.
Gender constancy once a child realises that s/he is male/female identifying with
members of their own sex.
The stage where a boy wishes sexual intimacy with his mother, and sees the father
as a rival.
The girl suffers from penis envy and seeks an attachment to her father.
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Progress Check 12
1
Qualitative data is based on experience and quantitative is numerically based.
The null hypothesis states that there will be no significant relationship between the
It predicts that there will be a significant difference or relationship between the

Random, systematic, stratified, quota, opportunity, self-selecting.
Progress Check 13
40510A
Adrenaline will cause the heart rate to rise.

IV = Drug adrenaline
DV = rate of heartbeat
Women are slower drivers than men.

IV = gender
DV = speed of driving
People will conform if there are more than three confederate participants.
IV = number of confederate participants
DV = conforming or not
Men will react to a visual stimulus more quickly than women.

IV = gender
DV = of reaction to a visual stimulus
Students perform mathematical tasks more correctly on a Monday morning than a

Friday afternoon.
IV = time of week (Monday am or Friday pm)
DV = correct answer of mathematical tasks
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A Level Psychology
Progress Check 14
1
A process of testing out something such as a questionnaire on a small sample of

people to discover any mistakes/errors in the design.
An unstructured interview allows the participant to talk about whatever s/he likes.
A structured interview has a fixed set of questions that have to be answered.
A closed question only allows for a limited number of answers typically yes or no
An open question allows for a wide range of answers.
When the high value of one variable is associated with the low value of the other
variable.
Covert is when the observer pretends to be a member of the group

Overt is when the researcher does not hide the research interest.
The process of identifying the actions and behaviours that occur is known as
content analysis.
Progress Check 15
1
A line graph will show if the child being reinforced increases the number of cooperative tasks over time, whilst showing if the child being ignored decreases cooperative acts.
A histogram or bar chart will best show the scores by participants on each of the
two conditions.
A pie chart will show the destinations of the students.
To see if there is a correlation a scattergram can be plotted.
Progress Check 16
1
Ethical guidelines are necessary to ensure the conditions for carrying out research
are clearly understood.
The main issues are: consent, deception, debriefing, withdrawal, confidentiality,

protection of participants, giving advice, colleagues, observational research, and
also the issue of competence.
a
b
c
148
Animals are interesting to study, the use of ethnology has contributed to our
knowledge of behaviour (especially in comparative studies).
It is possible to achieve greater control and objectivity.
It is possible to carry out experiments that could not be carried out using
human participants.
The main issues are: the law, ethical considerations, species, number of animals,
endangered species, animal suppliers, caging and social environment, fieldwork,
aggression and predation, motivation and aversive stimulation and stress.
The three criteria are firstly the quality of the research, secondly the degree of
animal suffering and thirdly the certainty of benefit.
40510A
For Your Notes
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149
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All rights reserved.
No part of this work may be reproduced in any form, by photocopying or any other means without the permission of ICS.

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A Level Psychology

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5 Representing Data and Descriptive Statistics

Test Paper 1 - 40510/01

Answers to Progress Checks

Key Approaches in Psychology

Introduce students to the key approaches in psychology.

Limitations of the Freudian Approach

What are the id, the ego and the superego?

What are the five defence mechanisms?

Why did Freud compare the mind to an iceberg?

Describe the five stages of development identified by Freud.

Positive reinforcement receiving a reward for behaviour

Assumptions of the Behaviourist Approach

The stimulus and response are all that matter

Limitations of the S-R Approach

Strengths of the Approach

The approach has been developed systematically with proper research

It does appear to explain some aspects of behaviour but not all.

What is the difference between an unconditioned response and a conditioned

How did Thorndike suggest that learning occurred?

Explain the following terms:

Identify two strengths of the behaviourist approach.

People should be encouraged to reach their maximum potential in terms of

Limitations of the Humanistic Approach

Strengths of the Humanistic Approach

It mixes some of the strengths of the behaviourist and psychoanalytical approaches

Describe the humanistic approach.

What are the other limitations of the approach?

Assumptions of the Cognitive Approach

The mind is assumed to be a limited-capacity processor. This assumption has been

Limitations of the Cognitive Approach

Strengths of the Cognitive Approach

It uses more scientific methods that most other approaches

What are the assumptions of the cognitive approach?

Define the term information processing.

What are the strengths of the cognitive approach?

Social Learning Theory

The results showed that:

Limitations of the Approach

Strengths of the Approach

What did Bandura find in his second set of experiments?

What are the limitations of the approach?

What are the strengths of the approach?

Limitations of the Approach

It is very focused on fact

It has a strong scientific basis

Describe the theory of evolution.

What are the strengths of the evolutionary approach?

the telencephalon, or cerebral hemispheres, consists of:

Methods used to Identify Areas of Cortical Specialisation

The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)

Adrenaline and Adrenal Glands

What are the two systems within the nervous system?

What methods can be used to explore the specialisations of the brain?

What hormone is secreted in a frightening situation?

The Genetic Basis of Behaviour

What is the difference between MZ and DZ twins?

Influences on Gender Identity

Survey and Questionnaire

It is certainly interesting to look at cultural variations in gender-related behaviour. In the

This is a behaviour than was once restricted to men.

Define the term androgynous behaviour.