Synopticity paragraphs for PSYA4

1. Synopticity paragraphs for PSYA4 How do I access the effective mark band? State, Explain and Apply every point! For Stretch and Challenge (A/A*) explain how this could be improved

2. PSYA4: Media PsychologyTopic 1 - Anti-social behaviour • Debate: • State –– Much research into anti-social behaviour in the media is reductionist. • Explain – Often the researchers are merely counting the number of violent acts that occur during the experimental set-up. • Apply – This means that the researchers are ignoring all of the other factors (cognitive and so on) that may be driving the behaviour. • Stretch & Challenge – Researchers should use a multi-disciplinary approach to studying anti-social behaviour to uncover the reasons behind the violent acts.

3. PSYA4: Media PsychologyTopic 2 - Pro-social behaviour • Debate: • State – The research into pro-social behaviour does not investigate whether the behaviour is due to nature or nurture. • Explain – Much like research into anti-social behaviour, the focus has been on when participants display the behaviour and not why they display the behaviour. • Apply – By not investigating the basis of the behaviour, researchers do not know whether pro-social behaviour is displayed because of nurture (people are reinforced or imitate others around them) or because of nature (people are born more likely to behave in a pro-social way. • Stretch and Challenge – Psychologists should begin to investigate the reasons why people display pro-social behaviour (using an idiographic approach).

4. PSYA4: Media PsychologyTopic 3 – Computer Games • Issue • State – Much of the research into the effects of computer game use have been androcentric. Because of this they will also display a beta bias. • Explain – The majority of the research into computer game use have only used male participants to investigate the positive and negative effects. They have also generalised these findings to females as well, thus minimising or ignoring any differences in computer game use and effects on each gender. • Apply – By ignoring 50% of the population of computer game players, it could be argued that the results of the research are not generalisable and therefore not helpful to the development of the topic area. • Stretch and Challenge – Researchers should re-focus their efforts on trying to recruit female participants to investigate the positive and negative effects of computer game use.

5. PSYA4: Media PsychologyTopic 4 –Persuasion & Attitude Change • Approach • State – The Elaboration-Likelihood model (ELM) is based upon the assumptions of the cognitive approach. • Explain – The ELM argues that there are 2 routes to persuasion. It focuses on internal processors (thought patterns). • Apply – By having more than one route it is perhaps more representative of what actually happens when we are persuaded. However, we must remember that internal processing (e.g. thoughts) are not directly measurable and therefore not easily operationalised.

6. PSYA4: Media PsychologyTopic 5 – Decision Making • Issue • State – The theories of decision making (but mainly cognitive dissonance theory) could be said to be ethnocentric. • Explain – All of the research into the way people make decisions has been based in Western societies. • Apply – There may be other pressures that may lead people in different cultures to make the decisions that they do. • Stretch and Challenge – Psychologists should aim to investigate the theories of decision making in non-Western cultures, however they should be mindful of the fact that lying is universally frowned upon in all cultures and may be too socially sensitive to research.

7. PSYA4: Media PsychologyTopic 6 – Effectiveness of TV • Issue • State – Some of the research into the effectiveness of adverts suggests that the findings may be socially sensitive. • Explain – Some of the findings of the effectiveness of adverts promote stereotypes. Many of the adverts promoting cleaning products promote the stereotype of only women using them. • Apply – By promoting this stereotype, psychologists are validating it. Advertisers will then continue to use women (or men dressed as women in the Plenty advert) to promote their cleaning products. • Stretch and Challenge – Researchers should perhaps only investigate adverts that promote products or services that are used by all e.g. toilet roll/travel agents

8. PSYA4: Media PsychologyTopic 7 – Psychology of Celebrity • Debate • State – Many of the theories that aim to explain the psychology of celebrity are not scientific. • Explain – Evolutionary theories of celebrity are speculative, in that they do not have evidence to back up their claims. • Apply – By not having evidence to support your theory, you cannot claim that the approach is scientific. As we cannot define what a celebrity would have been in our evolutionary past, how can we use evolution to measure the behaviour now? • Stretch and Challenge – Researchers should attempt to access celebrity to understand why they became a celebrity. However, there would be obvious methodological difficulties to obtaining consent and confidentiality of data.

9. PSYA4: Media PsychologyTopic 8 – Celebrity worship/Fandom/Stalking • Debate • State – Kienlen’s theory of stalking being due to childhood disruption of attachment implies environmental determinism. • Explain – Kienlen argues that stalking as an adult is a consequence of attachment disruption in childhood. • Apply – This theory lacks face validity as the vast majority of people who have disruptions in attachment do not go on to develop stalking behaviour. They can display the free will to choose not to stalk. • Stretch and Challenge – Kienlen could investigate the specific events surrounding the disruption of their attachment in childhood to research the implications for later stalking behaviour.