A-Level Psychology Revision Flashcards (Year 1 & AS)

A comprehensive set of question-and-answer flashcards covering key concepts, studies and methods from A-Level Psychology Year 1 & AS, designed for rapid self-testing and revision.

What are the three types of conformity identified by Kelman?

Compliance, identification and internalisation.

According to Deutsch & Gerard’s two-process theory, which two human needs produce conformity?

The need to be right (informational social influence) and the need to be liked (normative social influence).

In Asch’s baseline study, what was the overall conformity rate on the critical trials?

36.8 % of the responses were wrong (i.e. conformed to the majority).

Name the three situational variables Milgram found affected obedience.

Proximity, location and uniform.

What did Zimbardo conclude from the Stanford Prison Experiment?

Social roles have a powerful influence on behaviour; most people readily conform to the expectations of their role.

What is ‘agentic state’ in Milgram’s theory of obedience?

A mental state where people view themselves as agents acting for an authority figure and therefore feel no personal responsibility.

Define ‘legitimacy of authority’.

The explanation that we are more likely to obey people we perceive to have genuine social power because their authority is accepted by society.

What personality factor did Adorno link to obedience and prejudice?

The Authoritarian Personality, characterised by extreme respect for authority and contempt for inferiors.

According to Rotter, people with which locus of control are more likely to resist social influence?

Those with an internal locus of control.

Identify the three consistency types important in minority influence.

Synchronic consistency, diachronic consistency and internal consistency of message.

What are the four key mediational processes in Social Learning Theory (Bandura)?

Attention, retention, motor reproduction and motivation.

State the two principles of classical conditioning shown in Pavlov’s dog study.

Association and stimulus generalisation.

In operant conditioning, what is the difference between positive and negative reinforcement?

Positive reinforcement adds a desirable stimulus after behaviour; negative reinforcement removes an unpleasant stimulus.

Which brain-imaging technique measures changes in blood oxygenation while a task is performed?

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI).

What is the main function of the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system?

To prepare the body for fight or flight by increasing arousal (e.g., raising heart rate, dilating pupils).

Give one behavioural, one emotional and one cognitive characteristic of depression.

Behavioural: low activity levels; Emotional: persistent low mood; Cognitive: negative thinking/poor concentration.

What is Beck’s ‘negative triad’?

Negative views of the self, the world and the future that maintain depression.

Ellis’s ABC model proposes depression results from what three stages?

A = Activating event, B = irrational Belief, C = emotional or behavioural Consequence.

Which two behavioural therapies are used to treat phobias?

Systematic desensitisation and flooding.

Name the three components of the working memory model.

Central executive, phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketchpad (plus the episodic buffer added later).

According to Atkinson & Shiffrin, what are the three separate memory stores?

Sensory register, short-term memory and long-term memory.

Which two types of long-term memory did Tulving propose?

Episodic and semantic (plus procedural as a third type).

What does the cognitive interview technique aim to improve?

The accuracy and amount of eyewitness testimony by using techniques such as context reinstatement and varied recall order.

List Jahoda’s criteria for ideal mental health (any three).

Examples: positive self-attitude, self-actualisation, resistance to stress, autonomy, accurate perception of reality, environmental mastery.

What are the three measures of central tendency?

Mean, median and mode.

When is the sign test an appropriate statistical test?

When analysing a difference between two related conditions with nominal data.

Define ‘extraneous variable’.

Any variable other than the IV that might influence the DV if not controlled.

What is counterbalancing and why is it used?

Presenting experimental conditions in different orders to different participants to control order effects in repeated-measures designs.

Explain the difference between primary and secondary data.

Primary data is collected first-hand by the researcher for the current study; secondary data was collected previously for another purpose.

What does peer review aim to do in psychology?

Assess the quality, validity and ethics of research before publication by independent experts.

Give one advantage of using a stratified sample.

It is more representative because subgroups are proportionally represented.

What ethical guideline requires participants to be fully informed before agreeing to take part?

Informed consent.

What is a ‘double-blind’ procedure?

Neither the participant nor the researcher interacting with them knows the experimental condition, reducing bias.

In statistical testing, what probability level is typically used to decide significance in psychology?

p ≤ 0.05 (5 % level).

Which neurotransmitter is increased by SSRIs to alleviate symptoms of OCD?

Serotonin.

What are the two main explanations for resistance to social influence?

Social support and locus of control.

Define ‘disinhibited attachment’ found in some institutionalised children.

A pattern where the child shows equal friendliness and affection to strangers and caregivers, reflecting lack of selective attachment.

According to Bowlby, what is the ‘critical period’ for forming an attachment?

Around 2½ years (with a sensitive period extending to 5 years).

What behavioural evidence did Ainsworth use to classify attachment in the Strange Situation?

Proximity‐seeking, exploration/secure base behaviour, separation anxiety, stranger anxiety and reunion behaviour.

What does a positive skew in data distribution indicate?

Most scores are low with a long tail of higher scores to the right.

Differentiate between a field experiment and a natural experiment.

Field experiment manipulates IV in a natural setting; natural experiment uses a naturally occurring IV with no manipulation.

What are investigator effects?

Any influence of the researcher’s behaviour or characteristics on participants or on data collection.

State one behavioural characteristic of OCD.

Repetitive compulsive behaviours such as hand-washing.

What is meant by ‘schema’ in cognitive psychology?

A mental framework of beliefs and expectations developed from experience that influences information processing.

Explain qualitative versus quantitative data.

Qualitative data are non-numerical, expressed in words; quantitative data are numerical and can be statistically analysed.

What is the purpose of a pilot study?

To test procedures and materials on a small scale so modifications can be made before the main study.

Identify one defence mechanism described by Freud.

Repression: forcing distressing memories into the unconscious mind.

What is ‘reciprocity’ in caregiver–infant interaction research?

A form of interaction where each person responds to the other and elicits a response in turn.

Which sampling technique gives every member of the population an equal chance of selection?

Random sampling.

What is the main difference between a structured and an unstructured interview?

Structured interviews use pre-set questions in a fixed order; unstructured interviews are open-ended and conversational.

In SD therapy, what does ‘reciprocal inhibition’ mean?

The principle that a person cannot be relaxed and anxious at the same time, so relaxation inhibits anxiety.

Which variable is manipulated in an experiment?

The independent variable (IV).

What are ‘candidate genes’ in the context of OCD?

Specific genes identified by researchers that are thought to create vulnerability to OCD.

Give one limitation of using opportunity sampling.

It is likely to be biased because the sample is drawn from a very specific, available group.