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Congratulations to our winners

August 3, 2011 by .

A big well done to Kelly Bristow, Lecturer in Psychology at The Henley College in Oxfordshire – winner of £100 worth of Oxford Psychology resources from our prize draw at ATP. And also to Mrs Hageman, Head of Psychology at Bradfield College in Berkshire – winner of £200 worth of Oxford Psychology resources in the Oxford University Press eNewsletter competition.

Sign up to the Oxford Psychology eNewsletters and keep up to date with their news, special offers, discounts, free resources and future competitions.

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SAD, melatonin and serotonin

July 25, 2011 by .

Juliette Massey-Smith wrote in the following query: I was wondering if you could help… I was re-reading about SAD in your AQA textbook and read on p.4 that in winter melatonin and serotonin are higher and this causes depression, but then also that LACK of serotonin causes it… What am I missing?

This error was corrected in the A2 Mini Companion (page 8): More darkness means more melatonin, and more melatonin means less serotonin (because melatonin is produced from serotonin). Low levels of serotonin are associated with depression.

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Gender – the biosocial approach

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I was a bit uncertain about a comment in the AQA guide to specification changes regarding gender dysphoria. The topic of gender dysphoria has now been moved to be included with the biosocial approach (the new specification says ‘The biosocial approach to gender development including gender dysphoria’). The AQA guide to the specification changes points out that ‘This may require re structuring your delivery to emphasise links to biosocial approach’.

Feeling a bit concerned about the implications I wrote to AQA for clarification. They say that the biosocial approach in general does not refer to any specific theory but simply assumes an interaction between biological (e.g. genetic) and psychosocial factors.

“If a candidate describes genetic and psychosocial contributions to gender development and how they might interact, this would be an ideal approach to the question. Of course, it would be equally acceptable for a candidate to describe a specific theory of biosocial interactions in gender development.”

When it comes to gender dysphoria I think it might be difficult to make biosocial theories relevant (in our A2 book we have discussed two specific theories). Students should simply emphasise the biological + the psychosocial in their answers. In exam questions on the biosocial approach, the theories would provide a good basis for an answer.

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ATP Conference 2011

July 13, 2011 by .

Thanks to everyone who came to see us at ATP this year. Here’s a photo of a few of us on the Oxford stand, cutting our ‘Number 1 for Psychology’ cake.

The Oxford stand at ATP

The Oxford stand at ATP

(L-R: Sarah Flynn, Cara Flanagan, Elizabeth Loftus, Rick Jackman and Matt Jarvis)

Cutting the cake at ATP

Cutting the cake at ATP

(L-R: Cara Flanagan, Matt Jarvis, Sarah Flynn, Julia Russell and Claire Beatt)

 

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AQA and the multi-store model

July 12, 2011 by .

In the January 2011 Unit 1 exam there was a question related to the multistore model (question 4). I was somewhat concerned to find the following comment in the report on the exam

‘A number of answers suggested that the concepts of maintenance and elaborative rehearsal were part of the MSM. Maintenance and elaborative rehearsal were introduced by Craik and Lockhart (1972) as a way of criticising the MSM which had simply relied on ‘rehearsal’ as a means of transferring information to LTM.’

In our Complete Companions we have included elaborative rehearsal in the model because the model was updated in subsequent years. See for example here, I quote from page 3:

What probably confused many people was that Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) presented in their original paper a model that focused on rehearsal but that did assume some storage in LTS as a function of the length of the rehearsal period. As a result, rehearsal came to be viewed as the mechanism for transfer of information from STS to LTS. In later analyses (Shiffrin, 1975), this aspect was clarified by replacing the terms “rehearsal” and “coding” with “maintenance rehearsal” and “elaborative rehearsal”, respectively. Maintenance rehearsal has the primary function of keeping the information in a readily accessible state while elaborative rehearsal has the primary function of storing information in LTS. Hence, according to the two-store model, it is not the amount of rehearsal per se that determines recall, but rather the amount of elaborative rehearsal.

People often seem to forget that academics do respond to criticisms and make changes to their theories/models. This fluidity of theoretical models should not be penalised in exams.




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Looking forward to meeting you at this weekend’s ATP conference!

July 4, 2011 by .

As the new Publisher for Psychology at Oxford University Press I am really looking forward to the ATP conference this weekend at the University of Hertfordshire. We’re busy getting ready for this year’s conference – we’ve got lots to show you and plenty to ask your opinion about, too! We’ll be there from Friday until Sunday, so please pop along and see me, Sarah Flynn, and the rest of the Psychology team on our stand – including some our fabulous authors – Cara Flanagan, Julia Russell and Matt Jarvis.
And, why not join us for a slice of cake on Saturday afternoon to celebrate the Complete Companions for AQA and WJEC, Exploring Psychology and Angles on Psychology joining Oxford University Press.

Do come and see us to find out about all the resources that make us number 1 for Psychology.

We’re looking forward to meeting you.

Sarah Flynn, Humanities Publisher, Oxford University Press

 

 

Claire Beatt, Psychology Campaign Manager, Oxford University Press

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AQA A: New A2 spreads and explanation of changes

June 23, 2011 by .

OUP has published free support materials to help with the changes to the AQA A specification. You can access these here. There are grids which explain the implications of changes to each topic area and nine new spreads for A2 topics that have changed considerably. When on the OUP site you just click on the links to download.

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AQA A specification update

June 16, 2011 by .

We have sent two queries to AQA asking for clarification of two of the specification changes – one related to the Media section in PSYA4 and one related to the relationships section in PSYA3.

1. Query: In the new specification the section on media has a changed entry. Previously it said ‘The effects of video games and computers on young people’. It now says ‘The positive and negative effects of computers and video games on behaviour’. I just want to double check that these are two separate things ‘computers’ and ‘video games’ and that it is not meant to be ‘computer games’ and ‘video games’?

As a further question, the term ‘computers’ has such a potentially wide meaning (e.g. use of word processors, use of chat rooms, Facebook, gaming’). Is all of that acceptable?

From AQA: The response from the Principal Examiner for PSYA4 to your enquiry is as follows:

As the section focuses on media psychology, questions on computers could focus on situations where Read the rest of this entry »

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Thanks for letting us know …

May 19, 2011 by .

The new A2 Mini Companion is out and already a few people have kindly let us know about our mistakes (to err is human)

Page 8   At the top of the page, on the left hand side, it says ‘Ultradian rhythms’ and half way down says ‘Infradian rhythms’. These should be swapped. (Thanks to Jane Cochrane for letting us know).

Page 57   Under the subheading ‘Specification’ (about half way down the page), it says ‘Gender’ and should say ‘Intelligence and learning’. (Thanks to Sara Berman for this).

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A2 Mini Companion is published

May 7, 2011 by .

The book all you A2 students have been waiting for.

A sample spread –>

You can buy online here

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