psychology over time

• Multistore model of memory

  Proposed that there were three stores involved: a sensory register, short term memory and long term memory, with each one being a unitary store and having its own capacity, encoding and duration
• Short term memory

  • Duration of 0-18 seconds and a capacity of 7+/- 2 items
• Working memory model

  Highlighted the complexity of short term memory, separating it into several different components such as the phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad and episodic buffer which are all under control from the central executive
• The working memory model is an improvement as it shows that short term memory is not a unitary store
• The working memory model allows for more useful applications such as for revision strategies as it showed that you can't use different components at the same time
• The working memory model is still a reductionist method because it doesn't focus on long term memory and it is still simplistic as an explanation
• PET scans


  Use radiation to produce images which can be analysed for differences and similarities between brain structure and functioning
• CAT scans

  Use radiation to produce images which can be analysed for differences and similarities between brain structure and functioning
• fMRI scans

  Gather information on brain activity without the use of radiation and instead uses powerful electromagnets, creating an image showing changing levels of neural activity when tasks are being completed
• fMRI scans are non invasive and don't involve injections of radioactive substances like PET scans
• Anyone who is claustrophobic or unnerved by confined spaces or loud noises may become stressed during the fMRI procedure and if you have a cardiac pacemaker or recent metal surgical implants then you are unable to have this scan
• Leading questions


  Commonly used in police interviews, before there was research into how easily memory can be manipulated to remember certain details that may not be from the witness themselves but instead from outside information
• Cognitive interview


  A better method as it allows people to recall events from their own memory without leading questions from researchers
• The stage of reinstate context is used in the cognitive interview to help the interviewee to recall how they felt, time of day etc. to help the person get back into the time of the event which may improve memory recall and accuracy
• The cognitive interview is still a flawed technique as its effectiveness is weakened if used a long time after the event has occurred
• Physical castration

  Highly invasive procedure and is irreversible as a treatment for criminals
• Chemical castration

  A much less invasive treatment that is used where drugs are taken to lower testosterone levels, for example MPA which can be taken orally or via injection
• Chemical castration still has issues such as side effects like weight gain, leg cramps etc. this can affect the likelihood of people taking the drug, furthermore this treatment is only effective as long as the person is taking the drug so not a very effective long term treatment
• Twin studies

  Used to investigate whether behaviour is due to nature or nurture, twins can either be monozygotic (100% of DNA shared) or dizygotic (50% of DNA shared)
• Adoption studies

  Used to investigate whether behaviour is due to nature or nurture, both types of studies are naturalistic because the independent variable is naturally occurring
• Identification of zygosity is not perfect and often unreliable, for example even in modern studies like Brendgen et al (2005) only used DNA testing on half the twins studied and the rest were allocated based on physical resemblance
• Testosterone


  Increased levels can lead to aggressive behaviour, this can explain crime in early teens as this, alongside a spike in the womb, is the time when there is a spike in testosterone
• Testosterone explains why 90% of the prison population is male and why females show more social aggression as they are not affected by levels of testosterone as much as males
• The explanation of aggression based on testosterone may be limited as it doesn't account for other factors or theories of aggression such as social learning theory which accounts for learned behaviours not just biological factors
• First generation antipsychotics

  Used in the 50s, worked by inhibiting dopamine transmission by blocking the D2 receptors, had many side effects which include weight gain, lethargy and tardive dyskinesia
• Second generation antipsychotics

  Used in the 90's, had much fewer side effects than first generation, but were equally effective in treatment
• There are issues with social control with antipsychotics, for example if in prison, then taking this medication may be a condition of release and so the consent and right to withdraw is compromised
• Classical conditioning

  Pavlov used dogs to investigate how behaviours (in this case salivation) can be learnt from pairing a NS with an UCS
• There have been many reforms in animal research due to the scientific procedures act and the animal act introduced in 1986, this is beneficial to society because it reduces ethical issues associated with animal research previously
• Due to evolutionary discontinuity the utility of animal research can be questioned, as humans have much more complex and developed prefrontal cortex than animals so conclusions may not be fully valid
• Operant conditioning


  The behaviour that is desired is positively reinforced and any behaviour that is not desired is punished, meaning that the desired behaviour is more likely to occur
• Operant conditioning has led to the creation of treatment programmes such as token economy programmes which can be used to treat disorders such as anorexia
• Operant conditioning doesn't explain the acquisition of behaviour for example phobias only the maintenance of them so it may be limited in usefulness for creating treatments as the root cause isn't understood
• Social learning theory


  Suggests that behaviour is learnt from the environment through observations, reinforcement and modelling
• Social learning theory is an improvement from conditioning theories as it is useful to explain cultural differences in aggression for example aggression being rare in the Kung san clan of the Kalahan desert due to absence of direct reinforcement of aggressive behaviours
• There is research to support social learning theory as an explanation of behaviour, for example Phillips found that daily homicide rates in the US almost always doubled
• The side effects of antipsychotics could be severely damaging and others such as weight gain could cause issues with drop out rates for disorders such as anorexia
• DSM


  First published in 1952 and was developed in response to the need for a census of mental health disorders, there has been 6 revisions of the DSM since then
• Revisions to the DSM took place after new research by Rosenhan 1973 'being sane in insane places which highlighted the lack of validity even though there was reliability in the DSM, changes were made to reflect this social change for example homosexuality was removed
• The ICD may be a more generalisable diagnostic tool as it is multilingual so can be used across many cultures around the world and will give a more valid diagnosis if there are no language barriers