Psych Out!: Recent Episodes

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In this podcast we will:

1. analyse Bibb Darley and John Latane’s (1968) model of bystander intervention
2. describe social factors that influence prosocial behaviour, with reference to the reciprocity principle and social responsibility
3. describe personal characteristics that influence prosocial behaviour, with reference to empathy, mood, competence and altruism
4. consider factors that influence antisocial behaviour, including groupthink, diffusion of responsibility, audience inhibition, social influence and cost–benefit analysis
5. discuss the general aggression model (GAM)
6. explain how media can influence aggression, with reference to advertising, video games and social media

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In this episode we will:

1. explain the difference between primary (family) and secondary (media, schooling) socialisation
2. describe gender and compare social learning, cognitive developmental and biology-based theories of gender role formation
3. describe group social influence, with reference to compliance, identification and internalisation
4. deduce how status and power operate in groups, with reference to the Stanford Prison experiment (Haney, Banks & Zimbardo 1973)
5. predict how obedience, conformity and social norms (Robert Cialdini et al. 2006) lead to behaviour change

evaluate historical social psychological research, with reference to studies conducted by Stanley Milgram (1963) and Solomon Asch (1951).

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In this podcast we will:

1. compare classical conditioning (Ivan Pavlov 1897/1902), operant conditioning (BF Skinner 1948) and social learning theory (Albert Bandura 1977)
2. for classical conditioning

a. recall the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), unconditioned response (UCR), neutral stimulus (NS), conditioned stimulus (CS) and conditioned response (CR)

b. distinguish between stimulus generalisation and discrimination

c. describe extinction and spontaneous recovery

d. describe learned fear responses (John Watson — the ‘Little Albert’ experiment) (Watson & Rayner 1920)

3. for operant conditioning

a. distinguish between negative and positive reinforcement and punishment

b. describe stimulus generalisation and discrimination

c. describe extinction and spontaneous recovery

4. for social learning theory

a. distinguish between modelling and vicarious conditioning.

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In this episode we will:

1. describe the role of the hippocampus in memory formation and storage
2. consider the role of the cerebellum in forming and storing implicit (procedural) memories
3. distinguish between recall, recognition and relearning
4. describe how information is lost from memory through encoding failure, retrieval failure and interference effects
5. discuss strategies to improve memory, including chunking, rehearsal (maintenance and elaborative) and mnemonics (e.g. the method of loci and SQ4R method — survey, question, read, recite, relate, and review).

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In today's episode we will:

1. recognise the duration and capacity of sensory memory (including iconic and echoic), and short-term and long-term memory
2. evaluate two models of memory, including
   1. the working model of memory (Alan Baddeley and Graham Hitch 1974), including the central executive, phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, and episodic buffer
   2. the levels of processing (LOP) model of memory, including the role of encoding in long-term memory
3. explain how information is stored in long-term memory with reference to implicit (procedural) and explicit (episodic and semantic) memory

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In this episode we will be exploring:

1. the process of visual perception, with reference to reception (visible light spectrum); transduction (photoreceptors, receptive fields); transmission (visual cortex); selection (feature detectors); and organisation and interpretation (visual perception principles)
2. determine biological influences on visual perception, including physiological make-up, ageing and genetics
3. explain psychological influences on visual perception including:
   1. perceptual set (past experience, context, motivation and emotional state)
   2. visual perception principles (Gestalt, depth cues, and visual constancies)
4. evaluate the impact of social influences on visual perception, with reference to cultural skills (Hudson 1960; Deregowski 1972; Deregowski, Muldrow & Muldrow 1972)
5. analyse the fallibility of visual perception, with reference to the Müller-Lyer, Ames room, and Ponzo visual illusions, as well as ambiguous and impossible figures.

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In today's episode we will:

1. recognise that emotion occurs within the limbic system, amygdala and prefrontal cortex
2. explore neurotransmission
3. distinguish between excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters, with reference to glutamate (Glu) and gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA)
4. compare the physical and psychological function of acetylcholine, epinephrine, norepinephrine, dopamine and serotonin

5. discuss the impact of interference in neurotransmitter function, with reference to Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease (symptoms and   treatments).