Paper 1 Mocks

To anyone retaking Paper 1:
I will be setting a mock on Thursday lunchtime; if you obtained a C or below last time around you should aim to be in 3014 from 1 o'clock to take this paper. The questions will be taken from the idea below. If you really cannot make it, you must come and get the paper from me and sit during a free period. I will also have a set of questions available if you would like to take a developmental (attachment) mock during a free period. Please come and ask for the papers and I will be happy to mark them for you.

For those taking Paper 1 resit in January

Please read the health warning; THESE ARE MY MUSINGS ONLY! Just some ideas to help kick start and prioritise your revision: Possible questions for January include:

Essays for Memory:
1. Eye witness testimony (was not covered last season as essay) possible focus on reconstructive memory which has not featured in a while
2. The nature of either STM or LTM is quite possible since models were featured quite heavily last season across both essays and a and bs); can't be sure on whether STM or LTM
2. One alternative to multistore (multistore came up in May)
3. Emotional factors in remembering and forgetting (did not come up as essay though forgetting theories did)

Essays for Attachment:
1. Day Care
2. individual differences in attachment more likely and cross cultural possibly
3. Maternal deprivation hypothesis

A and Bs for memory:
1. Short term memory research (focus Petersons): quite possibly aims, conclusions, criticisms none of which featured in May.
2. Reconstructive memory study - Bartlett (1932) not featured in May 2007 but did in January.
3. Describe multistore model (not featured in short question since Jan 06)
4. Forgetting in LTM theories (cue dependent, interference, repression): not featured since Jan 06

Definitions have not been asked for explicitly for a while either so expect possibilities such as explain what is mean by leading questions, also comparison questions like differences between STM and LTM.

Prioritising Paper 2 Revision

For those of you taking Paper 2 in January here are my thoughts re possible questions but be wary examiners have chosen exactly the same essay questions two cycles running several times in the past; there is not a lot of rhyme or reason, I am simply spotting what has not appeared in recent cycles.

Individual differences was conspicuous by its absence in May 2007; this section of syllabus was not covered in any way, shape or form and therefore it will almost definitely appear, e.g. as an essay. Incidentally it is a hot favourite with examiners which has come up as an essay 3 cycles in a row in the past though not at all in 2007. Expect possibly

Outline and evaluate research (theories and/or studies) into the way in which personality
and/or gender modify the effects of stressors. (18 marks)

an if not featured as essay, almost undoubtedly as an a or b:

Outline the role of personality in modifying the effects of stressors.
Outline the role of gender in modifying the effects of stressors.

Other potential essays include (in most likely order)
1. Stress as a bodily response: general adaptation syndrome: not come up for at least 7 cycles; no record on internet back papers and so very likely
2. Work place stressors: has not come up in last 7 cycles and so very likely
3. Stress and immune system (not since May 2006)

A and bs
1. Individual differences: personality and gender
2. Aims, conclusions, criticisms not featured recently: likely areas of research would include: stress and life changes, stress and cardiovascular (neither featured in May 07 or Jan 07; the other two cardiovascular and workplace came up in both and in both cases findings and findings and procedures were featured)
3. Ways the body responds to stress: SAM, HPA, general adaptation syndrome
4. The criticisms of GAS

Be very much aware that examiners seem very happy about publishing the exact same questions in this topic several seasons running so expect anything but be mindful of my predictions!

Paper 3 Mocks

To all Year 12 and 13 pupils taking Paper 3 in January: Mocks will be held next week; there will be an opportunity to take a 1 hour paper comprising social influence and research methods questions. Social questions will comprise those that I feel may be likely questions for January.

Year 12 classes
Pink Group: 5 December (Mrs Pakes' lesson)
Blue Group Mock exam: 6 December (Miss Wood's lesson)

Year 13 classes
If any A2 or AS pupil wishes to attend and take the mock during either of these lessons then please just come along. If you are unavailable to attend at this time , then please come and pick up the paper at a convenient time and take during a free period and we will mark for you before xmas break.

Prioritising revision for Paper 3

Paper 3 Possibilities
For all of you tking Paper 3 in January, here as promised are Mystic Miss Wood's predictions. Be assured that I am not psychic, despite my unprecedented success in the past, this is a guide of possible questions only. However, ignore at your potential peril! Here are a selection which have not come up in most recent cycle:

Potential essays include...
1. An essay on obedience: could be focused on reasearch in general (studies and theories) or they may make theories explicit - this has appeared for some time!
2. A general question on ethics, e.g. somethign along the lines of how successful psycholiogists have been in overcoming ethical issues in social psychological research.
3. An essay on minority influence; be prepared for somethign potentially slightly more tricky than a simplemoutlien and evaluate as this was the last question on this topci seen in Janaury 2007. Focus could be on explaining minoorty influence rather than studies of...

Potential a and bs
1. Criticisms have not featured for a while: you should knwo all your criticsms really well to this end but I think there may be a focus on Asch this time around.
2. Aims have also not featrued lately; again know them all really well but be aware Asch may be on the horizon.
3. I predict a 6 marker on either findings or conclusions; again this could be on majority influence research and you therefore need to know more than just basic Asch and include for example, Asch variations, Bond and Smith, Perrin and Spencer, Williams and Sogon, Larsen etc.
4. I also predict that resisting conformity and obedience could appear
5. As could explanations of obedience, e.g. agency theory, authoritarian personality theory
6. With regard to ethics I would not be surprised to see something like Identify three ethical issues and select one say how psychologists have dealt with this issue.

Hope this has given you some food for thought....as said previously this is only my reflections no more valid than what you could have done for yourself by looking back at past papers to see what has come up in the past, baring in mind the most recent paper is not yet up on the website (May, 2007) although I have copies of this that you can see.

Ladies and gents, with the revision period just around the corner; you should be reviewing past papers, examiners reports and mark schemes in order to focus your answers exactly as the examiners would like to see them. Within all of this don't forget that just because the mark scheme does not lay in out in words of one syllable much of the wholly relevant information that you have covered in lesson this certainly does not mean it can be left out!
http://www.aqa.org.uk/qual/gceasa/psya_assess.php this link takes you to the AQA page where you can find everything you need. For examiners reports see the list on the left hand side and click the link. Good luck!

Oranges/Year 13 AS: Stress resources

Hi All

I am adding all my stress resources to the google group page including my smartboard presentations. You will probably need to access these from a school computer with smart notebook software as I have figured out yet how to save these as pdfs. Hope this helpful to you. It is completely imperative that you stay up to date with absolutely everything in the remainder of the time we have left together, (boo hoo...will miss you whwen you are gone!)

Miss Wood :)

Paper 1 Retake in January?

We will be looking at the nature of Long term memory in our Thursday revision clinic; make sure you have revised this area. I have added a little document to the Google group page for memory where you can download and start writing some model answers. We will focus on AO2 this week. If you haven't already subscribed get moving!

Congratulations A2s!

Well done Greenies; Mrs Pakes and I are delighted with some really promising grades from your recent mock exams!

Yr 13 AS: Eating disorders

Attendance has contniued to beerratic throughout this topic and therefore it is essential that anyone who has not watched the eating disorders DVD in its entirety comes up to 3014 one lunchtime this week to complete the set of questions which accompany the film. Visit our google group pages to see more information about the eating disorders topic including model answers. Don't forget your homeworks for this topic were to make detailed star study notes on Holland et al (1988) a study of bioligical causes and Behar et al (2001) a study of psycholigcal causes. We have now finished this topic.

Yipee, another shared area for PGS Psychology students!

At last! I have managed to find simple way to create some shared web space for us all where I can upload various resources etc for you. I will keep this blog going as a daily posting board and some where to add favourite websites as they arise. But, now we also have a Google Group. This means that I, as the manager, can invite you, the members to join my group (I assume this is a bit like facebook/myspace etc but not wanting to be like everyone else I haven't gone that route!). Having joined you can access all my pages and leave comments for me and each other relating to the different areas. Once I have truly got in touch with how it all works I will allow you to upload your own revision notes, essays and sample answers so that you can all make best use of each other's efforts and practise marking other peoples work. Fabulous.

So what is the address: http://groups.google.co.uk/group/afta4

Hope it works :)

Year 13 AS: What did we cover today 13 Nov

Hi Oranges: There were three of you away today, (Kat, Hannah and Tom) and it is imperative that you find some time as a group to come and watch the portion of the DVD which you missed. I gave out spare sets of today's additional sheets to some of your friends so you should have copies of smartboard activities on clinical characteristics which we used the other day to differentiate between anorexia and bulimia and a model essay on biological explanations of eating disorders. We completed the implications of Collier, Cnattinguis (?!) and Hook from your topic booklet, completed the cloze activity to summarise key points from the video and then we read through a model essay which used the new information in context. People picked out key words and themes, then added them to a brainframe with some little sketches. We didn't take long on this as it was more of a demonstration of revision techniques, short ways to consolidate new information. Following this focus on bio causes we then watched a relatively long section of the video taking notes using the questions in your pink booklet on learning theory/Behaviourist model ( I did some board work on classical and operant conditioning and social leanring theory (copy up from a friend), family factors/Psychoanalytic model and cognitive model. We still have a little more to watch.

A2s: What did I miss today? 13 November

Hi Greenies; There were quite a few of you away today what with Choir, Prefect duties and various other things so here's what we did. We were studying Ecological Theories of Sleep. I showed a couple of smartboard screens which I can either print off for you or you could simply copy up the activities from a friend. I then gave the class all sorts of chopped up bits from an essay which they sorted into AO1 and AO2 relating to the 2 main theories. We had lots of discussion about implications of Meddis' rather oversimplified idea that the main function of sleep is to keep you still so you can't be spotted by predators and started to look at animals which do and don't support this idea, i.e prey animals which spend lots of time asleep. Logically it might also make sense for prey animals to remain vigilant as much of the time as possible to avoid predation. We discussed that this fact makes the theory unfalsifiable and therefore not great as a scientific theory! As far as the evidence goes it appears that prey animals are more likely to sleep for short amounts of time and that predators sleep for longer periods, primarily because they can! This is evidence against Meddis' theory.

We will continue with this discussion on Friday but don't forget you have you mock during period 3 (see previous post). If you were away I advise you to read over Meddis and Webb's evolutionary theories of sleep in your textbooks and make notes in order to catch up. I have also started a nice wall display of this information in 3014.

The Nature of Short Term Memory

Here are some model answers in response to some possible questions from this area of the spec. Please feel free to use the comments area to share your own efforts for other students to read. Don't worry if someone else has already answered a specific question, its great to have as many examples as possible so you can see different ways of picking up the marks. It would be good for you to try and award marks to each others efforts, but if you are going to comment on someone work on this blog, remember to always be supportive and positive.

Give a feedback sandwich, pick out the strengths, highlight the limitations and how the person could improve and then give another slice of positive to make that person feel that really can improve and nail it next time! You can be teachers too you know!

Star Study: Peterson and Peterson (1959)

Describe aims and procedures of one study of the nature of short term memory (3+3)

Aims: Peterson and Peterson (1959) aimed to explore the duration of short term memory. They believed that short term memory is very fragile and that without rehearsal items would be forgotten rapidly. They aimed to see the rate at which the memory trace decays. They wanted to discover the maximum length of time that items could be recalled without rehearsal and they wanted to design a new paradigm for short term memory research.

Procedure: The Petersons used a laboratory experiment with repeated measures to investigate duration of STM. They invented a new testing procedure which became known as the Brown-Peterson technique as another researcher called Brown was also using a siialr technique around the same time. They asked their Pps to recall trigrams (sets of 3 consonants which had to be recalled with 100% accuracy and in the correct order known as serial recall). They prevented their participants from rehearsing the trigrams by asking them to count backward out loud in 3s, from a three digit number. The DV was the percentage of trigrams correctly recalled. Their IV was the length of time that they were asked to count backwards. There 6 levels, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18 secs.

Describe findings and conclusions of one study of the nature of short term memory (3+3)
Findings: The Peterson’s discovered that there was a rapid rate of forgetting from STM as the duration without rehearsal increased. They found that with 3 seconds of interference 80% of trigrams were accurately recalled in the correct order. At 6 secs as many as 50% were recalled with accuracy but with 18 seconds of interference only 10% of trigrams remained in tact within the STM. After this point, very little would remain.

A2s Revision for Paper 1 resits

A2s: hello girls. This term we are starting our revision sessions on memory beginning with the nature of short term memory on Thursday, 15 November. Yuo msu make sure you have read through the appropriate section. Here is a great little revision strategy which you can use while working with a friend in a quiet space but where you can talk to each other.

1. Make notes on a brain frame relating to the specific bit of work to be revised.
2. Why not work on 3 mark chunks of the syllabus at a time.
3. From your notes, pick out key words; write them down separately and make them into a silly picutre or pattern using inital letters or if it is findings which are in numbers try to make the numbers into a meaningful chunk of some kind (like an improtant date).
4. Memorise the information.
5. Cover it up and write down the key words.
6. Give yourselves three minutes to write an answer incorporating all the keywords.
7. Now swap and mark each others and come up with a best version incorporating all the best bits of both.
8. Keep going like this until you have completed a full brain frame with no more than 7 chunks (ideal for Aim Procedure Findings, Conclusions, and 2 Criticims) and rememebr to share your efforts with your friends. You could do this using posts and comments on this blog.

Cheerio!

Blue Group: Were you away today? 12 November

Session 1 and 2: Don't despair, if you were away today here's what you missed. We re-enacted Milgram's study with real life sound effects and captured lots of great evalaution points from class discussion on the board. We recorded some of these into the commentary column on the Milgram worksheet in your topic booklet. Some pupils wrote a lot and used lined paper too. We went through the main findigns at the end of the lesson and should now be at a point where you can write a detailed aim, procedure and findings (each for 3 marks). We will start next lesson by going through findings in detail and looking at some of the factors which affected the obedience rate. Yuo should also be in a great place to actually start evalauitng mIlgram but we haven't officially addressed how we would do that in the exam yet. Looking forward to our next lesson on Thursday. Well done everyone! :) Please rememeber to ask me to give back your ethics work!

Pink Group: Milgram's study of obedience

Don't forget pinkies, I asked you to make sure you have read the Milgram procedure from the original article reproduced in your new topic booklet, you must have completed this by our lesson on Friday as I won't see you for a whole week now as ou have your quantum study skills morning on Tuesday.

Sleep mini essay: A2 hw set 9 November

Hi A2s

I set you a mini essay today entitled "Evaluate restoration accounts of sleep" (12 marks). This is the AO2 section of a potential exm question only. Thus you should start by looking at implications of the theories of Oswald and Horne and then evaluate the evidence for and against each implication (hypothesis), consistently remarking on what this suggests fo the valdity of the theories. If they have explanatory power, i.e. they can explain the findings of a study this is a strength; if they are unable to account for certain research findings, this is a limitation of the theory which may need to revised. Remember to push every evalaution point as far as you can, depth of analysis is what we are interested in, not an ingredients list, recipe book style. Look forward to seeing what you produce: Due Date: Friday 16 November. PS Yes I know girls I couldn't resist the db photo again...

Brain training

Todays hot tip is to sign up for Lumosity.com. This a fantastic site where you can have a daily brain workout; great fun, totally addictive. If you are remotely competitve and love self improvement, you'll be sure to enjoy. See link on your right.

Pink Group Homework set 6 November

Hi Pinks
Your homework this week is to write one essay on minority influence. There are two possible questions in your green booklet, choose the one whch is best for you. This essay is due in on Tuesday 13 November, good luck, detention policy starst next week for late work so plan ahead! :)

Yr 13 AS Group: Models of Abnormality essay

Your homework this week is to write an essay:
'Describe and evaluate two models of abnormality' (18 marks)
You should use psychodynamic model and behaviourist model.
Your essay is due in on Tuesday, 13 November.
Many thanks, don't forget detention policy starts next week.

Sleepless in Penzance!

Stop press! I have just discovered that the world sleep deprivation record set by Randy Gardener in 1964 has been broken by a man called Tony Wright in Penzance in May 2007! Read more about it by clicking the link in the list to your right. You will find a Radio Cornwall interview here with Jim Horne (sleep expert of Restoration theory fame) commenting too.

A Level First Years: Ethics Questions due this week!

Pink and Blue groups: your half term holiday homework is due in Thursday (blues) and Friday (pinks). This was a booklet of questions about 'Ethics'. Imperatvie that you hand in otherwise you face our new detetnion policy.

Majority and Minority Influence Workshop: 9 November

Following the completion of Paper 3: 'Majority and Minoorty Influence', I will be running a workshop session in 3014 at lunchtime on Friday 9 November.

This will be invaluable for first year A level pupils who joined the course late and need to ensure they have all the material in order. It will also provide a scheduled slot for any first years who received refers on hw or essays during this unit. I will be running through as much of the material as I can and all handouts will be available.

Yr 13 AS pupils are also very welcome as this may be a good time to recap this module which we covered some time agio but you will be examiend on in January. Finally any Yr 13 A level students who are resitting this paper in Janaury should aslo attend.