Cognitive explanations Forensic psychology Homework 1 Forensic practical

Cognitive explanations Forensic psychology

Homework 1. Forensic practical: Thursday/Friday lesson 2. Biological explanations • Atavistic approach • Genetics and neural explanations 3. Essay plan on offender behaviour: 5 th March (Thursday/Friday lesson)

Check homework • Bring your checklist in • Revision schedule Whilst I check your revision schedule, plan an answer to design a study on the whiteboards

Starter: Design a study: post it note A psychologist was interested in testing a new treatment for people with eating disorders. The psychologist noticed that female and male participants seemed to have responded rather differently to the treatment. She decided to test the following hypothesis: Female patients with an eating disorder will show greater improvement in their symptoms after treatment with the new therapy than male patients. She used a new set of participants and, this time, used self-report questionnaires instead of interviews with a therapist. Imagine that you are the psychologist and are writing up the report of the study. Write an appropriate methods section which includes reasonable detail of design, participants, materials and procedure. Make sure that there is enough detail to allow another researcher to carry out this study in the future. (10)

Starter: Design a study: post it note A psychologist noticed that some students on her course commented that they were better able to recall information if they could read the information rather than listen to it in lectures. Design an experiment to test the following hypothesis: ‘People who are given written information will recall more than people who hear information in spoken form. ’ In your answer, you should refer to the following and justify your design decisions: • the variables to be considered • the experimental design to be used • the sampling method • considerations of control • an outline of the proposed procedure. (12)

Starter: Design a study: post it note A psychologist asks some of his students to conduct a separate observational study at the same time on the same group of children. The aim of this observational study is to test the idea that eating a healthy breakfast affects playground behaviour. Design an observational study to investigate the effects of a healthy breakfast on playground behaviour. Include in your answer sufficient detail to allow for reasonable replication of the study. You should state the hypothesis you are setting out to test. In your answer, refer to: • an appropriate method of investigation • behavioural categories for the observation • materials/apparatus • procedure for the study • Justify your design decisions. (12)

Level of moral reasoning and cognitive distortions (hostile attribution bias/minimalisation)

Keywords: Moral development refers to the set of values that we learn and internalise during our development. These values become internalised or inbuilt and we develop our own sense of right and wrong Cognitive Distortions: faulty, biased and irrational ways of thinking that mean we perceive ourselves, the world or others negatively.

Task: A 01 Get yourself into pairs. Number yourself A or B A. Kohlberg’s level of moral reasoning B. Hostile attribution bias and minimalisation Pick out 5 key words from your notes. Draw pictures to represent the words 1. 2. 3. Using the pictures explain to a different person either Kohlberg or MINI Match up task Individually, bullet point the A 01 to the following essay plan… Discuss one or more cognitive explanation for offending. Refer to evidence in your answer. (16 marks)

A 03: Research Task: Add the ‘explain’ and the ‘link’ section to create detailed PEEL paragraphs (link it back to the exam question…. )

A 02: apply it! – paper and pen at the ready…. When questioned by police, Max claimed he punched the man in the bar because “he looked at me funny. ” In court, defending his actions – Max told the judge that the man he punched “wasn’t even hurt that bad” and “what was I supposed to do? I was just taking care of business. ” With reference to the above, explain what is meant by cognitive distortions (4 marks)

Exam focus: Improve the answer. Max is displaying faulty, biased and irrational ways of thinking about the incident in the bar. He is using cognitive distortions to justify his actions. Max is downplaying the severity of his actions. Max has also misinterpreted the situation as he justifies his actions are due to the man who “looked at me funny”. These distortions view the world and the situation at the bar in a different way.

Specify the cog distortion Max is displaying faulty, biased and irrational ways of thinking about the incident in the bar. He is using the Use cognitive distortion of minimalisation to justify his egs actions. By stating that the man “wasn’t even hurt that bad” Max is downplaying the severity of his actions. Max is also displaying hostile attribution bias as he has misinterpreted the situation as he justifies his actions are due to the man who “looked at me funny”. These distortions view the world and the situation at the bar in a negative way. Be specific