GAC Psychology · ⁨علم النفس (GAC)⁩

How to use these extra notes

A student remembers five views of psychology but cannot explain how the field changed. A list is only the start. Link each view to a question, a method and a limit.

These notes add detail to the original GAC029 handout. Keep and study both. They address the public module outcomes. Your centre decides its required examples and assessment tasks.

How psychology became a science

Early questions about the mind came from philosophy and the study of the body. Psychology 心理学 became a separate science by using systematic observation and tests.

Functionalism 功能主义 asks what a mental process does. Behaviourism 行为主义 studies observable behaviour and learning. Cognitive psychology 认知心理学 studies processes such as remembering and deciding. These approaches overlap today. One did not simply remove every earlier approach.

Worked comparison. Why does a student check their phone during revision? A behavioural account asks which consequences reward checking. A cognitive account asks how alerts capture attention. A biological account considers brain and body processes. Each gives a different question. Evidence must test the proposed explanation.

What emotions do, and how theories differ

An emotion 情绪 includes a feeling, body changes and ways of expressing it. Fear may prepare someone to respond to danger. Anger may signal an obstacle or unfair treatment. Sadness may follow loss. Joy may encourage repeating a rewarding activity. These are possible functions, not rules that predict every person's action.

Fear and excitement can both raise heart rate. The setting and interpretation may differ. A fast heartbeat alone cannot identify an emotion. Facial expression also needs context; one expression does not reveal a person's whole experience.

Arousal 唤醒 means body and mental activation. The table describes theory predictions, not three proven steps everyone must follow. To compare theories, state the same stimulus, the proposed sequence and the role of interpretation.

How experience can shape personality

Personality 人格 is a relatively lasting pattern of thinking, feeling and behaving. A trait 特质 describes a tendency. It does not explain its cause by itself. Learning accounts examine how past experiences make responses more or less likely.

• Reinforcement 强化 makes a behaviour more likely to happen again.
• A student praised for preparing questions may ask more questions later.
• Observational learning 观察学习 involves learning by watching others.
• A new team member may copy a leader who listens before answering.

Worked explanation. Mei now checks instructions before starting group work. Previously, rushing led to avoidable errors. Careful checking led to helpful feedback. Mei also watched a teammate check the task first. These experiences could help explain the repeated behaviour. They do not prove that experience is its only cause. Biology and the present setting also matter.

Motivation and behaviour

Motivation 动机 directs behaviour towards a goal. Intrinsic motivation 内在动机 comes from interest or satisfaction in the activity itself. Extrinsic motivation 外在动机 involves an outside outcome, such as a prize. Both can operate in the same activity.

Drive reduction 驱力降低 links behaviour to reducing an unmet physical need. An incentive 诱因 is an expected outside outcome that encourages action. Maslow's hierarchy 马斯洛需求层次 is a model of needs, not a universal staircase.

Worked comparison. Jun drinks water, solves a puzzle and revises for a certificate. Drive reduction helps explain drinking. Interest may explain the puzzle. The certificate can act as an incentive. More than one motive may explain revision. Name the account, link it to an observed action, then state its limit.

Sleep, consciousness and brain functions

Consciousness 意识 is awareness of yourself and your surroundings. Awareness changes between waking and sleep. Sleep is not simply the brain switching off. REM sleep 快速眼动睡眠 and non-REM sleep 非快速眼动睡眠 form repeating cycles. Vivid dreams are common in REM sleep, but dreams can also occur outside it. Cycles vary in length; ninety minutes is a rough description, not a fixed timer.

Sleep accounts answer different questions. Restoration accounts emphasise repair and recovery. Memory accounts emphasise how sleep supports learning and remembering. Evolutionary accounts consider energy use and the timing of safe activity. These explanations can overlap. A useful theory makes predictions that evidence can check.

A circadian rhythm 昼夜节律 is a body rhythm lasting about a day. Light helps set this rhythm. Sleep pressure generally builds while you remain awake. Timing and sleep pressure help explain sleepiness; a dream story alone does not test either process.

The hippocampus 海马体 and amygdala 杏仁核 work within wider networks. The cerebellum 小脑 and brainstem 脑干 also have several functions. Avoid saying that one structure controls every part of a complex behaviour.

Plan and report a classroom experiment

Research question. Does quiet background music change the number of words students recall? Agree a safe procedure with the teacher before recruiting anyone. Participation must be voluntary. Do not collect names or sensitive personal information. Explain how a participant can withdraw.

Prediction. The number of words recalled will differ between music and silence conditions. The null hypothesis 零假设 states no population difference for the comparison being tested. Choose the comparison and method before seeing any results.

Operational definition 操作性定义 means stating exactly how you change or measure a variable. Use two matched lists of twenty familiar words. Give two minutes to study each list. After each study period, allow one minute to write remembered words without seeing the list. Count each correctly recalled list word once. Use the same agreed scoring rule for everyone.

Each participant does both conditions. Balance condition order and which list goes with each condition. Otherwise a harder list or a later attempt could explain the difference. Keep instructions, room, timing and the music procedure consistent. Use an agreed rest between attempts. The plan should name what remains uncontrolled, such as earlier music preferences or word familiarity.

The table is fictional practice data. It is not a completed study or evidence about all students.

Music mean: $(8+11+10+9)/4=9.5$ words. Silence mean: $(10+12+11+9)/4=10.5$ words. Mean paired difference: $(-2-1-1+0)/4=-1$ word. The music mean is one word lower in this tiny example. One participant shows no difference. Do not turn a mean difference into proof that music harms memory for every student. No statistical test is shown, so do not claim a statistically significant result.

Report outline.

1. Introduction: explain the question and prediction.
2. Method: describe participants, materials, design, scoring, procedure and ethical safeguards.
3. Results: present the actual scores and a clear summary, including variation.
4. Discussion: explain the pattern, alternatives and limits; connect it cautiously to the prediction.
5. References and supporting materials: identify sources and include the agreed instructions or blank scoring sheet.

For this example, the group is tiny, list difficulty may differ and repeating the task may change performance. A useful improvement is a larger suitable sample with checked matched lists and a pre-agreed procedure. Explain which problem each improvement addresses. Do not promise that it removes every limitation.

Your task. Write a plan and an empty scoring table. Obtain teacher agreement before collecting any data. Afterwards, report what actually happened, including deviations from the plan and unexpected results.

Practice and explained answers

1. Compare a behavioural and cognitive explanation for checking a phone during study.
2. Why can heart rate alone not distinguish fear from excitement?
3. Compare James–Lange with the two-factor account using one situation.
4. Explain one learned tendency without claiming that learning is its only cause.
5. Does completing an interesting puzzle for a prize show only extrinsic motivation?
6. Why does Maslow's model not prove that learning must stop until every lower need is met?
7. Name two sleep accounts and a brain structure involved in forming new memories.

Answers.

1. Behavioural: rewarding consequences may maintain checking. Cognitive: alerts may capture attention and interrupt the task.
2. Both can involve similar arousal. Context and interpretation provide further information.
3. James–Lange links feeling to experienced body change. The two-factor account adds a context-based label to arousal.
4. Praise may help maintain asking questions. Current circumstances and biological factors may also contribute.
5. No. Interest in solving the puzzle and the outside prize can both motivate the action.
6. The hierarchy is a proposed account; people can pursue several needs together and do not follow one fixed order.
7. Restoration and memory accounts are two examples. The hippocampus helps form new memories; it works with other regions.

How to use these extra notes

Two students solve different tasks well. Does one test score describe every ability they have? Compare what each theory calls intelligence before judging the evidence.

These notes add the intelligence and development outcomes to the original GAC030 handout. Study both. The public module outcomes do not name every required theory. Use your centre's current brief to check the required examples and depth.

Comparing theories of intelligence

Intelligence 智力 includes abilities involved in learning, reasoning and solving problems. Theories differ in how these abilities relate to each other.

General intelligence 一般智力 is often written as g. Fluid intelligence 流体智力 concerns reasoning with new problems. Crystallised intelligence 晶体智力 concerns learned knowledge and skills. Multiple intelligences 多元智能 is Gardner's proposed account of several areas of ability. Triarchic theory 三元智力理论 separates analytical, creative and practical aspects. These are competing accounts. A classroom example illustrates a theory; it does not prove it.

Worked comparison. A team must plan an accessible school event. Hui compares the costs, Dan invents a new activity, and Lin organises a workable timetable. Sternberg's account can describe analytical, creative and practical contributions. Spearman's account instead asks whether performance across different tasks reflects a common ability. The same case can raise different questions. It cannot decide which theory is correct by itself.

Do not turn Gardner's theory into fixed learning-style labels. A musical strength does not prove that someone learns all subjects best through music. Offer several useful ways to practise; do not assign a person's future from one label or score. Language, familiarity, opportunity and testing conditions can affect a measured result.

Describing adolescence and adulthood

Development 发展 includes physical, thinking and social changes over a person's life. Adolescence 青春期 connects childhood with adulthood; its boundaries vary across societies. Physical changes, new responsibilities and relationships can develop at different rates.

Erikson's psychosocial theory 心理社会发展理论 describes social tasks across the lifespan. The table focuses on adolescence and adulthood, as the GAC030 outcome asks.

Identity 身份认同 concerns a person's sense of who they are. Intimacy 亲密关系 concerns close and trusting relationships. Generativity 繁衍关怀 includes contributing to the next generation and wider community. These are theory terms, not diagnoses. Age ranges are broad guides, not fixed deadlines. A person may revisit an earlier task. Culture and circumstances affect opportunities and expectations.

Piaget's formal operational thinking 形式运算思维 involves reasoning about abstract and possible situations. For example, a learner asks what would happen if a rule changed. They can consider a hypothesis without seeing every possible event happen. This describes a proposed form of thinking; it is not a guarantee that every adolescent uses it in every task. Knowledge, support, practice and task demands matter.

Worked application. A seventeen-year-old is choosing subjects and trying several club roles. Erikson's account links this exploration to identity. Do not infer role confusion simply because the student has not made one final career choice. Ask what the student is exploring and what support helps them compare options. A forty-year-old mentoring new colleagues illustrates a possible form of generativity. Parenthood is not required for contributing to others.

Applying a theory without turning it into a label

1. Describe the observed action before explaining it.
2. Name a relevant theory and the specific concept it uses.
3. Explain how the concept might fit the case.
4. Give an alternative explanation or a limit in the evidence.

Worked evaluation. A teenager performs poorly on an unfamiliar abstract reasoning task. You cannot conclude that they have no formal operational thinking. The task may be unclear, the language unfamiliar or their relevant knowledge limited. Use several suitable tasks and consider the conditions before making a broad claim. A developmental theory can guide a question. It does not make an individual judgement certain.

Build and justify a research project

Start with a question that your agreed resources can answer safely. For example: does an instruction-checking prompt change how accurately volunteers follow a short task? Define what counts as an accurate response before you see the work. A testable prediction describes the expected comparison. State the relevant null hypothesis when testing a difference.

Worked justification. Independent groups avoids repeating the same kind of task for each participant. But differences between volunteers may affect the scores. Random allocation helps reduce systematic differences. It cannot guarantee identical groups. Repeated measures reduces some differences between people. It can introduce practice and fatigue. Counterbalancing helps with order effects in suitable tasks. Choose one design and explain why its trade-off fits your particular question.

Keep a dated record of the actual procedure. Note changed instructions, missing responses and withdrawals. Use anonymous participant codes in the report. Store data only under the agreed classroom procedure. Do not invent missing observations or quietly remove inconvenient scores.

A research report normally explains the question, method, results, discussion, references and supporting materials. Separate the results you observed from the explanation you propose. Give a summary and enough detail to show variation. A single average can hide different responses.

Worked interpretation

Suppose two fictional groups each contain six people. Their average scores are 8.0 and 8.2 out of ten, but individual scores overlap widely. The means alone do not establish a reliable population difference or its cause. No inferential test is provided here. Do not claim significance, or prove the null hypothesis, from this example. Describe the small observed difference, relevant variation and the limits of the design. A real project must use its actual data and the analysis agreed for its task.

Your task. Prepare a one-page proposal with a question, a measurement, a justified design and ethical safeguards. Add an empty data table and an analysis plan. Ask the teacher to agree the protocol before recruiting volunteers. After the study, report deviations honestly and propose improvements linked to specific limitations.

Practice and explained answers

1. Compare g with Gardner's account using one clear difference.
2. Which ability is emphasised by solving a new pattern, and which by knowing word meanings?
3. Name Sternberg's three aspects and apply each to organising a school event.
4. Why is musical skill not evidence for a fixed musical learning style?
5. What social task does Erikson associate with adolescence? Give a cautious application.
6. Give one example of generativity that does not involve parenthood.
7. Why cannot one failed reasoning task establish a person's whole developmental stage?

Answers.

1. g proposes a common contribution across tasks. Gardner proposes several areas of intelligence; their independence is disputed.
2. New patterns emphasise fluid reasoning. Word meanings emphasise crystallised knowledge. Both tasks can use several abilities.
3. Analytical: compare costs. Creative: design an activity. Practical: organise a workable timetable and resources.
4. A strength in music does not show how someone learns every topic. A teaching claim needs direct evidence.
5. Identity versus role confusion. Exploring clubs or subjects may involve identity, but uncertainty alone does not prove failure.
6. Mentoring, volunteering, teaching or supporting younger colleagues can contribute to other people's development.
7. Language or knowledge may affect one task. Compare wider evidence.