Textbooks

Please return ALL CHENEY TEXTBOOKS on Tues 15th either before or after the unit 4 exam.

Thanks

Mrs Watson

Tuesday 2nd June

NO LESSON TODAY

Apologies - I am ill at home. All the best for revision. Any problems, please send me an email.

Hoping to be back in tomorrow for a final drop-in lesson.

Mrs Watson

Here is the schedule explaining what we will be doing every lesson this term. We will be covering the research methods section of the unit 4 paper.

Yesterday we spent some time revising our knowledge of the different research methods from AS. The ppt is here and the big table to fill in is here. We also discussed research design - independent groups, matched pairs and repeated measures. The ppt for this material is here, but this is well covered in any AS textbook.

Today (Wednesday) we looked at the Scientific process and peer review (ppt here) . This is all fairly straightforward and easy marks if you know the material.

OOBEs and NDEs

Today we discussed out-of-body experiences (OOBEs) and near-death experiences (NDEs). Unlike some of the paranormal phenomena we have already looked at this term, OOBEs and NDEs have a reasonably sound scientific basis. There are real physiological explanations for both phenomena, however some paranormal link remains.

Today's ppt is here.

Psychic mediumship

Yesterday (Tuesday 17th) we looked at psychic mediumship - some explanations of seemingly positive findings and some reasons why research in this area is tricky. There are also ethical issues to consider - exploitation and fraud are rife. Have a look at the exam questions on this area in your booklet of exam questions.

The ppt is here and this is all well covered in your textbook, pages 266 & 267. 

Psychic healing

Today we looked at some research into psychic healing, specifically therapeutic touch, a therapy which is claimed to promote healing. We looked into the Rosa et al (1998) study (Rosa was a 9 year old girl), which found no evidence of practioner's being able to detect 'energy fields'.

It is important that you are able to describe reasons for positive results in this field - the major one being the placebo effect. You should also think about ethics - is it exploitative?

Today's ppt is here.

Personality factors underlying anomalous experience

Today we looked at how personality factors affect whether someone is more likely to believe in the paranormal. We looked at Locus of Control. Eysenck's personality types and imaginative personalities.

Today's ppt is here. 

Explanations for superstitious behaviour

Yesterday (Tues 24th) we looked at the behavioural explanation for why people believe in superstitions and make errors of causality. We also looked at a few cognitive factors, including dual-processing (using our logical and intuitive brains at the same time).

Today's ppt is here. The fill-in-the-gaps activity is here.

Coincidence and probability judgements

Today and yesterday we looked at explanations for why people believe in psi - they could be poor at dealing with coincidences and making probability judgements. There could be evolutionary (adaptive) reasons for this, or it could be a matter of lower cognitive ability (though this isn't a consistent finding).

Today's ppt is here.

The two-page handout that we spent quite a long time filling in is here. 

Psychokinesis

Yesterday (Tuesday 3rd) we looked at how psychokinesis (the manipulation of objects or events without physical contact) has been studied experimentally. We looked at one study in detail, by Richard Wiseman, that nicely illustrates the power of suggestion and experimenter effects. We also evaluated the results behind psychokinetic studies and some of the implications. Micro-PK (eg predicting a dice rolling or influencing random numbers) has been introduced as a slightly more objective way of studying the phenomena.

Today's ppt is here.

We answered some exam questions - please finish these if you did not do so - these are listed on the last slide of the ppt.

Ganzfeld procedures

Today we carried out our own Ganzfeld procedures, and wrote up the findings in groups. We also answered a past exam question on this topic.

Today's powerpoint is here. We also reflected on our mock performances - if you got a U grade on the Schizophrenia paper then you need to redo it. The deadline is Wednesday 12th February.

AS mock feedback

Here is a powerpoint showing model answers for all the questions (except the essay) on the AS mock that some of you did last week. Please ask if there's anything you don't understand.

The Ganzfeld procedure

Today we looked at the differences between science and pseudoscience (ppt here from last week), and also the Ganzfeld procedure. This is a way to investigate ESP and the procedure itself is designed to be replicable and well controlled. The ppt is here.

Don't forget to bring your booklet of exam questions whilst we are studying the anomalistic topic.

Anomalistic psychology introduction

Today's ppt is here - we started the next unit 4 topic today, Anomalistic Psychology. I introduced a few key terms and we looked at the amazing spoon-bending feats of Uri Geller.
More to come next week.