On page 104 of the AS/Year 1 Complete Companion 4th edition there is a diagram of Little Albert’s conditioning. The last row indicates that the white rat is a CR – it is a CS (conditioned stimulus). The fear response is the CR (conditioned response).
Read moreAuthor: Cara Flanagan
An observant reader noticed an error on page 198 of the new AS/Year 1 AQA book. In the key terms box the definitions for covert and obvert observation are the wrong way round, though the text is correct. Overt observation is open – people know they are being observed. Covert observation is closed – people […]
Read moreThe A2 Complete Companion on holiday at Machu Picchu in Peru, picture of Debora D’Auria, Head of Psychology Southend High School for Girls . Send us your photos of the Complete Companion fulfilling its role as a complete companion.
Read moreI am grateful to a teacher who pointed out a small error on page 105. Under the heading of ‘Table of critical values’ point number 2 should say a one-tailed hypothesis. Apologies!
Read moreI asked AQA about this and received the following reply from AQA: Both A2 Principal Examiners have agreed that as DSM5 has only just been released, students will be credited if they do use it effectively but examining will reflect both versions of the manual. At least for this teaching year, examiners in summer 2014 will […]
Read moreOn page 35 of the AS Complete Companion the text concerns the influence of age on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony. A study by Yarmey is discussed under the heading ‘Age differences in accuracy’. The second sentence says that there were no significant differences in the accuracy of recall – but this is wrong. The […]
Read moreJust in case you haven’t heard about the dead fish in the MRI scanner … some scientists amused the world when they put a dead salmon in an fMRI scanner and found evidence of brain activity (see Bennett and Baird’s research here or here ). This has cast some doubt on the validity of brain scanning results. […]
Read moreA newly published American study by Cacioppo and colleagues (2013) looked at the satisfaction in couples who met on-line. They analysed responses from nearly 20,000 people who married between 2005 and 2012. They found that more than one-third of marriages in America now begin on-line! In comparison with more traditional off-line meeting, the on-line couples expressed greater marital satisfaction and […]
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After a query from a student in our forum, I sent the following question to AQA: In the AQA A Psychology specification there are several references to ‘neural mechanisms’. In the mark schemes these are explicitly linked to brain mechanisms (e.g. see question 5, June 2011 PSYA3). However the term ‘neural’ is defined as ‘of, […]
Read moreA German study just published by Moritz and colleagues provides an interesting insight into antipsychotic drugs used in the treatment of schizophrenia and other psychotic illnesses. Data was collected by asking psychiatric patients to complete a questionnaire about their experiences in taking antipsychotic medication for their mental disorder. The conclusion was that such drugs are effective […]
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