There are many methods of research. Interviews are useful for both quantitative and qualitative research depending on the questions asked. They can also be structured or unstructured or a mixture of both. They are particularly useful if the researcher

The three pieces of literature to be reviewed are a journal called 'Supporting disaffected pupils: perspectives from the pupils, their parents and their teachers' (Vulliamy, G and Webb, R. 2003), a research report 'Absence from school: a study of its causes and effects in seven LEA's (Malcolm, H et al 2003) and a report 'Parents carers' attitudes towards school attendance' (Dalziel, D & Henthorne, K, 2005). The methods used to support the research were field work observations, semi structured interviews, questionnaires, a collection and analysis of statistical data from school, face-to-face interviews, postal questionnaires, telephone interviews, developmental work, telephone survey and depth interviews. To begin with the question needs to be asked, what is research? Green (2000) suggests that research is an investigation of a topic for a purpose. (Green 2000) Quantitative research produces results which can be expressed using numbers or statistics. This type of research is useful if you are exploring the extent to which something happens or if the focus is on how many, how often, how many people think and so on. (Bell, J. 1993) Qualitative research obtains view points and personal feelings from its participants. These are not easily measured. Qualitative researchers wish to gain insight into their topic rather than make an analysis of statistics. They are less concerned

  • Word count: 1816
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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How do children develop a Theory of Mind? You will need to discuss the kinds of knowledge, experiences and understanding that children need in order to acquire this skill.

How do children develop a Theory of Mind? You will need to discuss the kinds of knowledge, experiences and understanding that children need in order to acquire this skill. Theory of mind is defined as the ability of normal children to attribute mental states (e.g. desires, intentions, beliefs, understanding...) to themselves and others, (Homer & Lee, 1999). They must make sense of these attributes, in themselves and others, and this will enable them to predict behaviour of others. From research gathered it has been possible to pin point what a child needs in order to acquire a theory of mind. Clearly, to develop a theory of mind a child needs the experience of social interactions through which they can develop knowledge and understanding of their own thoughts and feelings and those of others. By 18 months children develop self-metarepresentation (Lewis & Brooks-Gunn, 1979). For example, a mother puts a spot of chocolate on the child's nose and place them in front of a mirror. By two years children are able to recognise the image is of themselves and they reach for their own nose. By eight months, children begin to understand that their gestures activate a response from others (Bates, 1976). A theory of mind is seen as a special stream of human reasoning. Study of autistic patients gives researchers an insight into the aspects involved in possessing a theory of

  • Word count: 2106
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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Schizophrenia and related psychosis.

The author of this work is currently employed as a community psychiatric nurse whose remit is to work with those clients with serious and enduring mental illness, the majority of whom have a medical diagnosis of schizophrenia and related psychosis. Over the past 10 years there's been a growing movement towards diverse treatments for schizophrenia other than the acknowledged role of medication as a treatment modality (Birchwood and Tarrier 1993). Developments in psychological theory have led to a number of innovative psychological treatments drawn from human experimental psychology such as behavioural and social psychology and cognitive science. Therapies based on cognitive behavioural theory have been rapidly developing, initially for the so called 'neurotic disorders' but in recent years evidence has accumulated to suggest that these cognitive behavioural approaches can be effective for those people suffering from psychosis ( Williams 1995). The aim of this assignment is to explore the basis of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and review its' therapeutic application to schizophrenia. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is an evolutionary paradigm that came about a from the merging of the established paradigm of behavioural therapy and contemporary cognitive therapy (Clarke and Fairburn 1997). Behavioural therapy historically focused on anxiety, phobic

  • Word count: 6474
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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Skinner's behaviorism and Bandura's cognitive social learning of personality

Running head: SKINNER VERSUS BANDURA Skinner's Behaviorism and Bandura's Cognitive Social Learning of Personality An Assignment Submitted in Partial Fulfilment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Social Sciences in Psychology Apirl 2010 Skinner's Behaviorism and Bandura's Cognitive Social Learning of Personality B. F. Skinner and Albert Bandura are the well-known psychologist. Skinner argued that behavior was caused by forces outside the person. Operant conditioning is the theory of B.F. Skinner and is defined as the type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by reinforcement or diminished if followed by punishment. The theory of B.F. Skinner is based on the idea that learning is a function of change in overy behavior. Changes in behavior are the result of an individual's response to events that occur in the environment. A response produces a outcome. Action on part of the learner is called a response. For an example, purcharsing behaviors is a response occurs in the presence of distinctive stimuli, as people want to buy the cheapest stuffs in supermarket's environment. Supermaket often give us stamps which can be used in exchange for gifts. Stamps is a secondary reinforcer become reinforcing through the association with gift, a primary reinforcer. It encourages purcharsing behaviors through a system of rewards. When a desired

  • Word count: 2071
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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Choose a psychologist, Write a short essay on his/her approach, Include the king of research he/she carried out, Outline the studies he/she did.

Amanda Alderson Access to Health care Oakwood Park Day 25th October 2003 Choose a psychologist. Write a short essay on his/her approach. Include the king of research he/she carried out. Outline the studies he/she did. Elizabeth Loftus was born in Los Angeles, California on 16th October 1944.Although she was planning to become a maths teacher, whilst at UCLA she discovered psychology, it was there that she achieved her BA in both maths and psychology She then went on to Graduate school at Stanford and received her M.A in 1967 and also her PhD in 1970 both in psychology. It was while at Stanford that Elizabeth became interested in long term memory and this led her into research how the mind classifies and remembers information and then recalls it. Elizabeth is known worldwide as a cognitive psychologist who works in the specialized field of memory. Psychologists who use the cognitive approach are mainly interested in the way that we perceive process and store information. The cognitive process can be divided into five different processes, perception, attention, memory, language, and studying the way that we think. Cognitive psychologists see psychology as a science and most studies are done in laboratories under controlled conditions. There is now a method of interviewing based on four main principles that helps to improve eye witness memory recalls. This was devised by

  • Word count: 1084
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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What does current evidence on the performance of normal and brain-damaged readers have to say about these two issues: Do we get from print to meaning via pronunciation? Does the brain use one, two, or three routes from print to pronunciation?

What does current evidence on the performance of normal and brain-damaged readers have to say about these two issues: Do we get from print to meaning via pronunciation? Does the brain use one, two, or three routes from print to pronunciation? Topics on word recognition process in reading were always interesting to cognitive psychologists. Recognition means the approaches to information stored in memory and here, word recognition involves the retrieval of information about the pronunciation (phonology) and meanings (semantics) of words from their printed forms (orthography). There are mainly two issues in the investigation on word recognition: how people get from print to meaning and print to pronunciation. Many studies were carried out and aimed to study the ways we use to recognize words. Case studies, such as the report of patient PS by Richard and Vincent (1997), on brain damaged patients showed that phonological mediation is not necessary. In the other words, we can get meanings of words from prints directly rather than via pronunciation. Jackson and Coltheart (2001) outlined the Dual-Route Cascade (DRC) model of reading aloud and introduced that there are three routes which are believed to involve in word recognition. This paper aims to summarise and review current available literature in order to discuss how we retrieve semantics and phonology

  • Word count: 2132
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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Psychoanalysis.

Psychoanalysis, like psychology, studies mind and behaviour in a very radical yet structural and in depth manner. The difference between the two, however, is that psychology considers the conscious processes as opposed to psychoanalysis, which also concerns itself with the unconscious. The concept of the unconscious arose from Sigmund Freud's creation of the psychodynamic approach to personality. Freud once likened personality to an iceberg with the visible tip above the surface of the water and a large part remaining hidden underneath (Bernstein,1997). From this simplistic introduction to classical psychoanalysis subsequent theories have evolved. Alongside these theories developments in therapeutic technique have arisen, which both coincide with and are a contrast to Freud's original theory. This relationship between classical psychoanalysis and its contemporary variations will be examined, paying particular attention to geo analysis, interpersonal therapy and object relations therapy. Freud opened his extensive career in psychoanalysis with a background in medicine and a period of research at the Institute of Cerebral Anatomy. It was an interest in nervous diseases, which led him to work with a man named Charcot in Paris, who was considering the idea of hysteria (Patterson and Watkins,1996). Hysteria can be described as the root from which psychoanalysis grew and

  • Word count: 2206
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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Is Long Term Memory Functionally Distinct From Short Term Memory?

D.Hook 3/1/00 Is Long Term Memory Functionally Distinct From Short Term Memory? Due to both the ambiguity of the subject and the difficulty of researching it, memory has provided a great deal of controversy in the scientific world. This has been due to issues such as the type of encoding the mind employs in memory tasks, the time limits of storage and other such issues. It was only as recently as the late 1950's however that the question was raised over whether there could exist a separate long term and short term memory system and if so what the various functions of the two are. Peterson and Peterson (1959)1 were the first to come up with this Duplex Hypothesis as the result of an experiment into human memory. In this experiment they gave their participants a three consonant trigram (such as DNP) which was spoken to them to the beat of a metronome. Immediately after this the participant was presented with a three-digit number (in the same way) which they had to count back in threes from, again in time with the metronome. When a set signal was given the participant ceased counting and attempted to recall the original consonant trigram. In this experiment the counting was used as a distracter task which would prevent rehearsal of the original trigram by the participant (numbers were used instead of letters to avoid retroactive interference).

  • Word count: 2283
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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Stress variations in gender

Psychology coursework Hyun-Ju Lee Introduction A fairly conventional definition of stress is given by Robbins (1998) in the following terns: '...A dynamic condition in which an individual is confronted with an opportunity, constraint or demand related to what he or she desires and for which the outcome is perceived to be both uncertain and important.' A definition relation of this type relate stress to the pressures which most-if not all individuals experience at some time of their professional or private lives. Depending on the particular context, these pressures can be either positive (an opportunity) or negative (a threat, constraint or demand)-or quite conceivably both of these at once. The above also highlights the tensions inherent in such situations for it is surely these, which ultimately trigger stress. There can, of course, be little doubt that in some respects pressure (perhaps in the form of a standard or a deadline) can increase the motivation of individuals by 'concentrating the mind'. Pressures of this type are often referred to as 'positive stress'. This notion appears to lie Bailley's (1991) comment that stress, while part of working life. '...Can also be the spice of life'? While stress is notoriously difficult to define accurately, it is possible to identify three broad pressure sources, which might be termed: Self-imposed (arising out of our

  • Word count: 1206
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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Are twins more similar who grow up together than twins raised apart?

Are twins more similar who grow up together than twins raised apart? - Introduction Sigelman & Rider (2003) stated that it is clearly evident that genetic influences are consistent throughout the development of identical twins. However, Matlin (1999) argues that environmental factors encounter for half of these characteristics. Exploring both of these arguments I will investigate the development of identical twins being raised together and raised apart, comparing these results with the development of fraternal twins. Identical twins originate from a single fertilised egg, when the cell divides they are an exact replica of each other. Fraternal twins originate from two different eggs and are fertilised by a different sperm cell (Gleitman, 1999). Sigelman et al (2003) stated that measuring differences of identical and fraternal twins, raised together or raised apart, showed no varying correlation's at birth. Although correlation's between the both were visible in their early teens. Gender is not an issue in this essay, as identical twins are always of the same sex, although fraternal twins may be of the opposite sex. Throughout this essay I will only focus on twins of the same gender. This study can be characterised in two different areas: The Biological Theory, throughout this theory theorists believe that human development is determined by our genes (Matlin, 1999).

  • Word count: 883
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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