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A2 - Organisational Psychology

Quick Lesson # 2 – McClelland’s Achievement Motivation Theory

Please note – This lesson is best viewed in desktop mode – click the three dots on your browser and tick ‘desktop mode’ if viewing on a small screen device

AO1 (Description)

Achievement (nAch)Description: The drive to succeed, excel, and achieve goals in relation to a set of standards.
Example: Seeking out projects with challenging but attainable goals and receiving clear performance feedback.
Achievement ProfileHigh nAch: Prefer personal responsibility, challenging tasks, and concrete feedback.
Low nAch: Prefer routine tasks, avoid risk and personal responsibility, and are less driven by goals.
Affiliation (nAff)Description: The desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships and social acceptance.
Example: Actively participating in team-building activities and prioritising harmonious working relationships.
Affiliation ProfileHigh nAff: Conform to group norms, seek approval, are cooperative, and fear rejection.
Low nAff: Are more task-focused, comfortable working alone, and less concerned with social approval.
Power (nPow)Description: The need to make an impact, influence others, and be in control of one’s environment.
Example: Seeking leadership roles, mentoring junior staff, or leading a major project or presentation.
Power ProfileHigh nPow: Are assertive, persuasive, and enjoy competition and status. They can be inspirational (socialised) or domineering (personal).
Low nPow: Are comfortable being led, dislike conflict or influencing others, and prefer to be a team member.

AO1 (Description) – for Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

TAT TestDescription: The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is a projective psychological test.

Individuals are shown ambiguous pictures and are asked to create a story about what is happening, what led up to it, and what the outcome will be.
Assessing NeedsDescription: Psychologists analyse the themes, thoughts, and actions of the characters in the participant’s stories.

Recurring themes of success and goals indicate nAch, themes of friendships and relationships indicate nAff, and themes of influence and control indicate nPow.
Projective AdvantageDescription: As a projective test, it aims to access unconscious motives that the individual may not be aware of or may hide on a direct questionnaire.

This provides an advantage over self-reports, which can be influenced by social desirability bias (giving socially acceptable answers).

AO3 (Evaluation)

Application to Everyday LifePoint: Strength is high real-world application.
Evidence: Used to tailor rewards like challenges for nAch employees.
Explanation: This provides a practical way to improve workplace motivation.
Link: This gives the theory high application value.
Counterpoint: However, it is reductionist by oversimplifying human motivation to only three needs.
Individual and Situational ExplanationsPoint: Weakness is its focus on individual explanations.
Evidence: Attributes motivation to internal motives, not the situation.
Explanation: Ignores how a poor work environment can demotivate anyone.
Link: This lowers the validity of its explanations.
Counterpoint: However, it shows how personality traits can be consistent.
Cultural DifferencesPoint: Weakness is potential cultural bias.
Evidence: nAch is valued in individualistic cultures but less so in collectivist ones.
Explanation: The theory’s idea of an ‘ideal’ worker (one who is high on nAch) is not universal.
Link: This reduces the generalisability of the theory.
Counterpoint: However, the three needs are likely universal human drives.
Determinism vs. Free WillPoint: Strength is it supports soft determinism.
Evidence: Suggests unconscious motives, measured by the TAT, direct us.
Explanation: Implies we have limited free will over our core drives.
Link: This helps explain behaviour but challenges free will.
Counterpoint: However, employees can choose environments that fit our needs.
ValidityPoint: Weakness is questions over its validity.
Evidence: Relies on the TAT, which is subjective and unreliable.
Explanation: If the measuring tool is flawed, the theory’s evidence is weak.
Link: This challenges the validity of the theory’s claims.
Counterpoint: However, the TAT may access unconscious needs that questionnaires miss.

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Categories
A2 - Organisational Psychology

Quick Lesson # 1 – Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Please note – This lesson is best viewed in desktop mode – click the three dots on your browser and tick ‘desktop mode’ if viewing on a small screen device

AO1 (Description)

Physiological NeedsBasic biological needs.
Example: A salary that allows you to afford food and rest breaks.
Safety NeedsNeed for security and stability.
Example: A safe work environment and a secure job contract.
Belongingness NeedsNeed for social relationships and belonging.
Example: Good relationships with your team and collaborative projects.
Esteem NeedsNeed for recognition and respect.
Example: Receiving praise for good work or a promotion.
Self-Actualisation NeedNeed to achieve your full potential.
Example: Being given challenging, creative tasks that use your unique skills.
Deficiency vs. Growth NeedDeficiency Needs: The first four levels, driven by a lack.
Growth Needs: The highest level, driven by a desire to grow.
Example: A company must meet basic deficiency needs (e.g., job security) before employees are motivated by growth (e.g., training).

AO1 (Description) – for Saaednia (2011)

AimTo develop a new scale (BNSS – Basic Needs Satisfaction Scale) that measures a child’s satisfaction across all five of Maslow’s needs, which existing scales failed to do.
Procedure1. Qualitative: Interviews with 13 children, their parents, and teachers.
2. Used interview answers to write the questionnaire items.
3. Quantitative: Tested the 68-item BNSS on 300 children aged 9-11.
Results– BNSS was overall reliable (α=.84). Esteem needs were most linked to life satisfaction.
– Some subscales (Love, Physiological) had low reliability.
Conclusion– BNSS is a valid first attempt but needs refinement. Qualitative methods are better for this research.
– Findings only apply to wealthy urban children.

AO3 (Evaluation)

Application to Everyday LifePoint: A strength is high practical application.
Evidence: Used by managers to motivate staff – e.g., ensuring good pay before teamwork.
Explanation: This makes it a useful, real-world tool for improving motivation.
Link: This strengthens its application to everyday life.
Counterpoint: It can be rigid, ignoring individual differences in motivation.
Individual and Situational ExplanationsPoint: A weakness is its individualistic focus.
Evidence: It blames a person’s lack of motivation on their own unmet needs, ignoring situational barriers like poverty.
Explanation: This overlooks powerful situational factors that limit a person’s potential.
Link: This reduces its validity for people in restrictive situations.
Counterpoint: The safety need does acknowledge the importance of a secure environment.
Cultural DifferencesPoint: A weakness is cultural bias.
Evidence: Collectivist cultures may prioritise group belongingness over individual self-actualisation.
Explanation: The Western-centric hierarchy is not a universal model of motivation.
Link: This challenges its generalisability across cultures.
Counterpoint: The basic physiological needs are likely universal.
Determinism vs. Free WillPoint: A weakness is its deterministic nature.
Evidence: It assumes that one cannot achieve higher needs until lower ones are satisfied.
Explanation: This leaves little room for free will, where someone might pursue creativity despite poverty.
Link: This determinism reduces validity for exceptional cases.
Counterpoint: Maslow did acknowledge some exceptions like social activists.
ValidityPoint: A weakness is low scientific validity.
Evidence: Based on biased case studies (e.g., Einstein) rather than empirical testing.
Explanation: Concepts like self-actualisation are vague and difficult to test empirically.
Link: This means it has low reliability.
Counterpoint: It has high face validity as it intuitively makes sense.

AO3 (Evaluation) – for Saaednia (2011)

Application to Everyday LifePoint: A strength is practical use in schools.
Evidence: BNSS identifies children with unmet love/esteem needs.
Explanation: Allows targeted support like counselling.
Link:  Increases application to everyday life.
Counterpoint: However, its limited measurement of physiological needs limits this.
Individual and Situational ExplanationsPoint: A weakness is focus on individual over situation.
Evidence: Measures feelings (“I am important”), not context like poverty.
Explanation: Same score can have different causes, needing different solutions.
Link:  Reduces validity of results.
Counterpoint: However, interviews with parents/teachers provided some context.
Cultural DifferencesPoint: A weakness is limited generalisability.
Evidence: Study only on wealthy children in Tehran.
Explanation:  Findings, with esteem most important, may not apply to poorer cultures where safety is key.
Link: Reduces generalisability.
Counterpoint: However, the researchers acknowledge this limitation.
Determinism vs. Free WillPoint: A strength is it supports a mix of determinism and free-will.
Evidence: Behaviour is driven by unmet needs, but we choose how to satisfy them.
Explanation: A child can choose sports or academics to meet esteem needs.
Link: Provides a valid explanation.
Counterpoint: However, the fixed hierarchy is deterministic, limiting progress.
ValidityPoint: A strength is good internal validity from triangulation.
Evidence: Items on the BNSS came from child/parent/teacher interviews.
Explanation: This ensured the scale measured real needs for that group.
Link: Increases validity of findings.
Counterpoint: However, low reliability of some sub-scales weakens overall validity.

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Categories
A2 - Clinical Psychology

Quick Lesson # 3 – Key Study : Freeman et al. (2003)

Please note – This lesson is best viewed in desktop mode – click the three dots on your browser and tick ‘desktop mode’ if viewing on a small screen device

AO1 (Description)

Background– VR used to study reactions in controlled environments.
– Avatars can trigger anxiety; can they trigger paranoia?
– Aim to understand factors behind persecutory ideation.
Aims– To investigate if non-clinical people have persecutory thoughts about VR characters.
– To investigate if anxiety/interpersonal sensitivity predicts these thoughts
Methodology– Pilot study, experiment.
– VR library setting with 5 neutral avatars.
– Questionnaires (for correlation): BSI, Paranoia Scale, VR-Paranoia, State Anxiety, Presence
Participants– 24 non-clinical adults (students/staff).
– 12 male, 12 female.
– Recruited from University College London.
Procedure– Trained on VR equipment.
– Entered neutral VR library for 5 mins.
– Half completed questionnaires before & after; half only after.
– All answered VR-Paranoia questionnaire after exposure to VR.
– Semi-structured interview after.
Results– Some had persecutory thoughts despite neutral avatars.
– VR-Persecution linked to interpersonal sensitivity and anxiety.
– No increase in anxiety after VR.
– Positive views more common than negative.
Conclusion– VR can trigger persecutory thoughts in neutral settings.
– Interpersonal sensitivity is a key predictor.
– VR useful for studying delusions; could be used in therapy.

AO3 (Evaluation)

Individual and Situational ExplanationsPoint: Strength is it uses an interactionist explanation.
Evidence: People with high interpersonal sensitivity (individual) had more paranoid thoughts in the neutral VR library (situation).
Explanation: Shows paranoia isn’t just from the situation or the person alone, but both.
Link: Increases validity as it reflects real-world complexity.
Counterpoint: However, it didn’t strongly manipulate the situation to test its power.
Idiographic vs. NomotheticPoint: Weakness is it’s mostly nomothetic.
Evidence: Used questionnaires (BSI) to find general patterns in the group of 24.
Explanation: Focused on general laws e.g., interpresonalsensitivity leads to paranoia, over unique experiences.
Link: May lower validity of data for each person.
Counterpoint: However, the interview comments added some idiographic detail.
Generalisability from FindingsPoint: Weakness is limited generalisability.
Evidence: Sample was only from a university (students/staff).
Explanation: Not representative of the general public in age or education.
Link: Low population validity.
Counterpoint: However, the sample was suitable for this first-time pilot study.

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A2 - Clinical Psychology

Quick Lesson # 2 – A Case Study of Schizophrenia (Aneja et al.)

Please note – This lesson is best viewed in desktop mode – click the three dots on your browser and tick ‘desktop mode’ if viewing on a small screen device

AO1 (Description)

AimsTo investigate presentation & treatment of Very-Early-Onset Schizophrenia (VEOS).
ProcedureCase history analysis, symptom observation, and trial of sodium valproate.
Results– History: Troubled home with abusive father, divorce between parents, living with maternal grandparents, school refusal, aggression.
– Symptoms: Heard voices, suspicious, social withdrawal, poor self-care.
– Treatment: Valproate failed; aggression increased, needed hospitalisation.
ConclusionHighlights diagnostic complexity of VEOS (initially missed) and need for specific antipsychotics, not mood stabilisers.

AO3 (Evaluation)

Individual and Situational ExplanationsPoint: Weakness: Over-emphasises individual factors.
Evidence: Focus on diagnosis, not “aggressive father”.
Explain: Lowers validity, ignores situational causes.
Link: Reduces validity.
Counterpoint: However, led to practical treatment.
Use of ChildrenPoint: Strength: Direct benefit to participant.
Evidence: Study aimed to diagnose and treat him.
Explain: Ethically justifiable as it helped him.
Link: Addresses ethics.
Counterpoint: However, his distress despite treatment highlights risks.
Idiographic vs. Nomothetic Point: Strength: Detailed idiographic insight.
Evidence: Details unique history and symptoms.
Explain: Allows deep understanding of one case.
Link: High internal validity.
Counterpoint: However, poor generalisability to other schizophrenia patients.
Case StudiesPoint: Strength: High real-world application.
Evidence: Tracked diagnosis over time.
Explain: Crucial for complex real-life disorders.
Link: High ecological validity.
Counterpoint: However, low reliability as other clinicians may interpret same symptoms differently.
Generalisations from FindingsPoint: Weakness: Poor generalisability.
Evidence: Single, rare case (VEOS).
Explain: Unique background not representative.
Link: Low generalisability.
Counterpoint: However, it can generate hypotheses, e.g., on links between early trauma and VEOS.

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Categories
A2 - Clinical Psychology

Quick Lesson # 1 – Diagnostic Criteria (ICD-11) of Schizophrenia

Please note – This lesson is best viewed in desktop mode – click the three dots on your browser and tick ‘desktop mode’ if viewing on a small screen device

AO1 (Description)

DurationSymptoms must last for at least one month.
Positive SymptomsAdded experiences, like hearing voices or having strange beliefs e.g. hallucinations and delusions.
Negative SymptomsA loss of normal functions, like reduced motivation or emotion e.g. avolition and asociality.
HallucinationsHearing, seeing, or sensing things that aren’t real (e.g., hearing critical voices).
DelusionsFixed false beliefs (e.g., grandiosity – “I’m a king”, or persecution – “I’m being spied on”).
AvolitionA severe lack of motivation or drive to do anything.
AsocialityA severe lack of interest in being with other people.

AO3 (Evaluation)

Individual and Situational ExplanationsPoint: A strength is its clear individual focus.
Evidence: It diagnoses based on personal symptoms like avolition.
Explanation: Directly lends to individual treatments like medication.
Link: This improves application to everyday life.
Counterpoint: However, it ignores critical situational factors like higher rates in urban poverty
Idiographic vs NomotheticPoint: A strength is its standardised nomothetic approach.
Evidence: It uses set symptom checklists for all patients.
Explanation: This ensures consistent and fair assessment.
Link: High reliability.
Counterpoint: However, it overlooks the patient’s unique experience of symptoms e.g. delusion types not specified on the ICD-11.
GeneralisationsPoint: A weakness is poor cross-cultural generalisability.
Evidence: e.g. Hearing voices may be a symptom or a spiritual experience.
Explanation: This can lead to misdiagnosis in different cultures.
Link: This reduces validity.
Counterpoint: However, the ICD-11 does recommend considering cultural context.

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AS - Core Studies AS - Exam Practice

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A2 - Consumer Psychology

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A-Level Psychology Skills

Using the GRAVE Analysis to Evaluate Studies

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A2 - Consumer Psychology

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A2 - Consumer Psychology

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