Component 3: Psychology Implications in the Real World
What will you study?
In this component we take an in-depth look at three abnormal behaviours.
The abnormal behaviours we focus on are criminal behaviour, addictive behaviour and schizophrenia.
For each behviour you will learn:
The characteristics of the behaviour
Six different psychological explanations of the behaviour ranging from biological explanations to the role of personality to the influence of the media and our peers.
Two methods of modifying (ways of improving) the behaviour.
You will get 25 marks worth of exam questions on each of the three behaviours.
The other 25 marks in this exam is for writing an essay on one of the Controversies we study .
These controversies are issues which run throughout the whole of psychology and will get you to use what you have learnt throughout the A level to write a debate on the following issues:
Sexism in psychology
Culture bias in psychology
The ethics of using animals in research in psychology
The ethics of conducting psychological research
Have a look and try out a variety of tasks that relate to the content of this exam:
Schizophrenia
As part of this topic you will learn about the characteristics (symptoms/key characters of a disorder) and different explanations (e.g. biological).
Activity: Watch the 1st YouTube clip to find out more about this disorder. You may wish to make notes on the following:
Definition of schizophrenia and what it is.
The 8 different symptoms.
The 3 different categories for these symptoms.
Any possible causes/explanations for this disorder.
Really interested to find out more?
Watch the educational TED video clip and learn about Eleanor and her experiences of being diagnosed with Schizophrenia.
Addiction
You will explore different biological explanations of behaviour in this unit.
For addiction you will learn about the chemical reactions and reward systems in the brain.
Activity: Watch the 2-minute Neuroscience clip to get a taster of what you will learn about in the second year. Then watch the BBC News research into the effects on gambling addiction on the brain to find out more about these biological explanations.
Criminal Behaviour
You will also explore individual differences explanations (e.g. personality) of behaviour in this unit.
What is your personality?
Read about this theory and take Eysenck’s personality test using this link: http://similarminds.co m/eysenck.html
Make sure to hover your cursor over it and scroll up and down to view it in full.
Make sure to write down your % score for the following personality types when you take the test:
Extraversion v introversion
Neuroticism v stable
Psychoticism v normal
Use the second page to read what this means about your personality score.
Criminal's typically score high on all 3 - neuroticism, extraversion and psychoticism.
Controversies
We look at debatable issues in psychology in this unit. Such as: Should animals be used in psychology and in research or not?
Part of this debate centers around whether animals are able to feel the same emotions as humans and whether they are self-aware and can experience pain like us. This is called 'sentience'.
Activities:
Do you think animals are capable of advanced human emotions and feelings such as love? Think about your pet if you have one - dog/cat/rabbit. Do you think they love you? Watch the YouTube clip 'Christian the Lion'.
What do you think now? Should animals be used in research?
'Psychiatric dogs' are currently used in places such as the USA to provide support for people with a range of psychological disorders.
Use the following link to find out more: https://www.servicedogcertifications.org/what-is-a-psychiatric-service-dog/
Has this changed your mind about using animals in Psychology?
