Just wanted to say that I have had a really good time with Psych classes this year, you were a really interesting and memorable group to teach, and I wish you all well for next year. It's an exciting time for you all.
Maybe see you at yearbook signing,
J Firth
Friday 6 June 2008
The Higher Psychology exam 2008
Well, at least it's over! (For you, anyway!)
I thought the exam paper was pretty reasonable. Section A was pretty good - nice chunky areas of the topics to talk about. Section B was an experiment which was great, especially as we had practice of answering similar Qs in your 2nd Prelim.
The section that stood out as most problematic was Conformity & Obedience. The first Q ('What is meant by conformity and obedience') was ok, but the other two were harder. For (b), 'consider factors which affect conformity...refer to relevant research evidence', I hope you thought to include situational factors such as group size, and individual factors such as age and gender. Certainly not an easy one. (C), on the ethical issues with obedience research, is perhaps more straightforward, but not something that many people would have prioritised in revision. However, bear in mind that pupils throughout the country would have the same problems with these questions!
The essay Q on Intelligence was always going to be a bit tough, but the topic was fairly predictable - theories of intelligence (aspect 1) - this hadn't come up as an essay Q before.
All in all, I thought it was as good as could be expected, and I hope you gave a good account of yourselves!!!!
I thought the exam paper was pretty reasonable. Section A was pretty good - nice chunky areas of the topics to talk about. Section B was an experiment which was great, especially as we had practice of answering similar Qs in your 2nd Prelim.
The section that stood out as most problematic was Conformity & Obedience. The first Q ('What is meant by conformity and obedience') was ok, but the other two were harder. For (b), 'consider factors which affect conformity...refer to relevant research evidence', I hope you thought to include situational factors such as group size, and individual factors such as age and gender. Certainly not an easy one. (C), on the ethical issues with obedience research, is perhaps more straightforward, but not something that many people would have prioritised in revision. However, bear in mind that pupils throughout the country would have the same problems with these questions!
The essay Q on Intelligence was always going to be a bit tough, but the topic was fairly predictable - theories of intelligence (aspect 1) - this hadn't come up as an essay Q before.
All in all, I thought it was as good as could be expected, and I hope you gave a good account of yourselves!!!!
A couple of links
A couple of links that may be useful for your future studies:
For examples of popular note taking formats, see Note taking Systems at http://www.sas.calpoly.edu/asc/ssl/notetaking.systems.html
For additional techniques for study and exam preparation, go to Tips for Effective Study at http://www.cod.edu/people/faculty/fancher/STUDY.HTM
Monday 2 June 2008
Methods mnemonics
Here is a reminder (ironic?) of the some of the mnemonics for RMs. Bear in mind that these are only triggers/cues to the memory, and don't cover all aspects of the course, but will hopefully help a bit in the exam:
Experiment - features: CROC
Observation - PONDS
(Participant observation, naturalistic, disclosed, structured)
Survey - Interview SOD - Questionnaire MOD
(Structured/unstructured, Open/closed Qs, Disguise of aims. Method of admin, Open/close Qs. Design principles)
(Structured/unstructured, Open/closed Qs, Disguise of aims. Method of admin, Open/close Qs. Design principles)
Case study - QILT
(Qualitative, In-depth, Longitundinal, Techniques for data gathering)
(Qualitative, In-depth, Longitundinal, Techniques for data gathering)
Ethics: BITCH
(Briefing, Informed consent, Treatment of children & animals, Confidentiality, Harm)
Multiple intelligences
Multiple intelligences is a popular area of the topic intelligence, but there tend to be a lot of misunderstandings. Hope I can clarify a little:
The theory was proposed as a reaction against the idea of unitary intelligence, and the importance of IQ scores.
Gardiner (1983) felt that IQ was too simply defined and measured - short answers on a test could not accoutn for all types of intelligent behaviour.
If you compare two people, one might be less able in one area than the other, but the other might be stronger in another are of cognition.
Gardiner believes that everyone has a unique pattern of intelligences, a unique 'cognitive profile'.
Gardiner set out eight criteria for whether an ability or capacity should be defined as an intelligence, including:
- There are case studies of individuals exhibiting unusual talents in the capacity
- There is neurological evidence of areas of the brain specialized for the capacity
- The capacity has clear evolutionary relevance
- There exists a symbolic notation (e.g. written language, musical notation, choreography).
Seven intelligences were originally set out. An eigth, naturalistic intelligence, was added in 1999. Discussions are ongoing as to whether a ninth, existential intelligence, should be included in the theory.
Explanation: Reliability v's validity
As promised:
Reliability and validity can be confusing. I will try to clarify.
Any kind of test or measure - IQ tests, exams, langauge tests - should be both reliable and valid.
Being reliable means that it gets consistent results. Two people with the same ability should get the same result. The same person tested on more than one occasion should get the same result.
The problem with making an IQ test reliable is that it is hard to know someone's intelligence level without testing them, and if you then test them again on the same test, they will do better because of practice. Test can be made more reliable by reducing elements of chance or guesswork.
Being valid means that it measures what it aims to measure. Surprisingly often, this is not the case. For example, you might fail a memory test because you ran out of time. However, it was supposed to be a test of memory, not a test of speed. An IQ test is supposed to measure intelligence. You could not give someone a science test and say that it measured their intelligence, because knowledge of science is (in principle) separate from intelligence.
The problem with making an IQ test valid is that nobody seems to agree what exactly intelligence is. This makes it hard to know what kind of questions to include. For example, some people would include verbal questions such as:
What is the odd one out - hat, coat, scarf, shelf
Other people might say that language ability is separate from intelligence. Also, the question above could be accused of being culturally biased, as not all cultures wear hats etc.
Reliability and validity can be confusing. I will try to clarify.
Any kind of test or measure - IQ tests, exams, langauge tests - should be both reliable and valid.
Being reliable means that it gets consistent results. Two people with the same ability should get the same result. The same person tested on more than one occasion should get the same result.
The problem with making an IQ test reliable is that it is hard to know someone's intelligence level without testing them, and if you then test them again on the same test, they will do better because of practice. Test can be made more reliable by reducing elements of chance or guesswork.
Being valid means that it measures what it aims to measure. Surprisingly often, this is not the case. For example, you might fail a memory test because you ran out of time. However, it was supposed to be a test of memory, not a test of speed. An IQ test is supposed to measure intelligence. You could not give someone a science test and say that it measured their intelligence, because knowledge of science is (in principle) separate from intelligence.
The problem with making an IQ test valid is that nobody seems to agree what exactly intelligence is. This makes it hard to know what kind of questions to include. For example, some people would include verbal questions such as:
What is the odd one out - hat, coat, scarf, shelf
Other people might say that language ability is separate from intelligence. Also, the question above could be accused of being culturally biased, as not all cultures wear hats etc.
Culture
'Cultural factors' is a term that appears in many topics, and I thought it could use a bit of explanation.
Most psychological research is done in North America and Europe, and theories are sometimes criticised for this - do the conclusions apply to other cultures around the world?
It used to be the case that in the unit 1 topics, you could get a tricky little 4 or 6-mark question on culture. However, the new format seems to make that less likely - I can't see a ten mark question on this coming up.
However, it would still be useful to know at least one piece of info or research for each topic that will allow you to show an awareness of cross-cultural issues. This will help you pick up extra marks, especially A&E marks, and give that 'WOW' factor to the examiner by knowing things that most candidates don't know!
Here are some possibilities:
Memory: a lot of our long-term memories form culture-based bundles of knowledge called schemas. Bartlett (1932) showed how people tend to distort info from other cultures. Any good theory of LTM must take culture into account.
Early Socialisation: Morelli & Tronick (1992) gave evidence that 'stages of attachment' apply to an African hunter-gatherer tribe, despite differences in child-rearing. A strength of Ainsworth's theory of attachment types (secure, avoidant, resistant) is that she studied Ugandan children as well as American.
Stress: Social support is one of the strategies for reducing stress. Kim & McKenry (1998) studied social support in the USA, and found that ethnic minorities (e.g. black, hispanic) tended to have better support from their parents/children than the white majority.
Intelligence: The main issue to be aware of is cultural bias in IQ testing. Gould (1982) disputed evidence of racial differences in IQ, as cultural background and knowledge of English were confounding variables.
Most psychological research is done in North America and Europe, and theories are sometimes criticised for this - do the conclusions apply to other cultures around the world?
It used to be the case that in the unit 1 topics, you could get a tricky little 4 or 6-mark question on culture. However, the new format seems to make that less likely - I can't see a ten mark question on this coming up.
However, it would still be useful to know at least one piece of info or research for each topic that will allow you to show an awareness of cross-cultural issues. This will help you pick up extra marks, especially A&E marks, and give that 'WOW' factor to the examiner by knowing things that most candidates don't know!
Here are some possibilities:
Memory: a lot of our long-term memories form culture-based bundles of knowledge called schemas. Bartlett (1932) showed how people tend to distort info from other cultures. Any good theory of LTM must take culture into account.
Early Socialisation: Morelli & Tronick (1992) gave evidence that 'stages of attachment' apply to an African hunter-gatherer tribe, despite differences in child-rearing. A strength of Ainsworth's theory of attachment types (secure, avoidant, resistant) is that she studied Ugandan children as well as American.
Stress: Social support is one of the strategies for reducing stress. Kim & McKenry (1998) studied social support in the USA, and found that ethnic minorities (e.g. black, hispanic) tended to have better support from their parents/children than the white majority.
Conf & Obed: There have been various cross-cultural studies based on the Asch and Milgram paradigms. Smith & Bond (1998) looked at 31 studies of conformity, and found that people from 'collectivist' cultures (primarily African and Asian countries) tended to show higher levels of conformity than people from 'individualist' cultures (e.g. North America, Western Europe).
Intelligence: The main issue to be aware of is cultural bias in IQ testing. Gould (1982) disputed evidence of racial differences in IQ, as cultural background and knowledge of English were confounding variables.
Textbooks
Could I please have all texbooks back please (after the exam is fine!).
I don't mind people borrowing them, but there are quite a few missing, and obviously I do need them for next year. Please pass them back when you can, you won't get into trouble.
Thank you!
I don't mind people borrowing them, but there are quite a few missing, and obviously I do need them for next year. Please pass them back when you can, you won't get into trouble.
Thank you!
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