Intelligence
What does IQ stand for
Intelligence Quotient
Which approach to normality says behaviour is abnormal if it falls far from the average, e.g. more than 2 standard deviations from the mean?
Statistical Approach
The biopsychosocial approach explains psychological disorder using which THREE types of factors?
Biological, psychological and social factors, which interact with each other.
Which limbic system structure is most strongly linked to detecting threats and producing fear?
The amygdala
A participant is told she can leave the study at any time without penalty. Which ethical principle is this?
Withdrawal rights.
Using the original ratio IQ formula, calculate the IQ of a 10-year-old with a mental age of 12
IQ = (mental age ÷ chronological age) × 100 = (12 ÷ 10) × 100 = 120
Which diagnostic manual is published by the World Health Organization and covers ALL health conditions, not just mental disorders?
The ICD-11 (International Classification of Diseases, 11th revision). The DSM-5-TR is published by the American Psychiatric Association and covers mental disorders only.
Classify each risk factor as biological, psychological or social: (a) rumination, (b) disorganised attachment, (c) substance use.
(a) Psychological, (b) social, (c) biological.
According to Schachter and Singer's two-factor theory, which TWO factors combine to produce an emotion?
Physiological arousal and a cognitive label for that arousal, based on cues in the environment.
A researcher surveys whichever students happen to be in the library at lunchtime. Name the sampling method AND one limitation.
Convenience sampling. The sample is unlikely to represent the whole population, so the results are harder to generalise (lower external validity).
What is the difference between the WAIS-IV and the WISC-V
WAIS-IV - 16 +
WISC-V - for children
They use different types of subtests to measure intelligence
Wearing swimmers is normal at the beach but would seem abnormal at a funeral. Which approach to normality does this show?
The situational approach: whether behaviour is normal depends on the setting or context.
What is the key difference between a specific phobia and generalised anxiety disorder (GAD)?
A specific phobia is an intense, irrational fear of a particular object or situation (e.g. spiders, heights), usually with avoidance. GAD is persistent, excessive worry about many different areas of life, lasting 6 months or more, and is not tied to one trigger.
Fredrickson's theory of positive emotions has two parts in its name. What do positive emotions BROADEN, and what do they BUILD?
They broaden a person's momentary thoughts and actions (more open, creative thinking). Over time this builds lasting personal resources, such as social, intellectual, physical and psychological resources.
Participants' heart rates are recorded while they watch a scary movie clip and again while they watch a toothpaste ad. Identify the IV, the DV and the experimental design.
IV: type of stimulus (emotive vs informative). DV: change in heart rate (beats per minute). Design: repeated measures, because the same participants experience both conditions.
Jas struggles with written exams but can quickly work out how to fix any broken machine on the farm. Which type of intelligence in Sternberg's triarchic theory does Jas show most?
Practical (contextual) intelligence: adapting to and solving everyday problems in the real world. The other two types are analytical and creative.
Since age 15, Lee has repeatedly lied, ignored other people's rights and shown no remorse after hurting others. Name the likely disorder AND the main category it belongs to.
Antisocial personality disorder, which belongs to the personality disorders category.
Order these treatments from LEAST to MOST invasive: psychosurgery, psychotherapy, ECT, pharmacotherapy. When is psychosurgery used?
Psychotherapy → pharmacotherapy → ECT → psychosurgery. Psychosurgery is a last resort for severe disorders that have not responded to other treatments (e.g. some severe OCD or depression).
Mia loved drawing. Her parents started paying her $5 per drawing, then stopped paying. Now she rarely draws. Use cognitive evaluation theory to explain why
The payment was an extrinsic reward that Mia saw as controlling. It shifted her reason for drawing from enjoyment to the reward and lowered her sense of autonomy. This undermined her intrinsic motivation, so when the reward stopped, so did the drawing.
Participants' heart rates are recorded while they watch a scary movie clip and again while they watch a toothpaste ad. In the same heart-rate study, everyone watched the scary clip FIRST. Identify the problem this creates and how to fix it.
Order effects (e.g. heart rate stays raised after the scary clip, or fatigue or practice effects) could confound the results. Fix this with counterbalancing: half the participants watch the scary clip first, and half watch the ad first.
Why were identical twins reared apart so useful in the Minnesota study (Bouchard et al. 1990)? What did the study suggest about IQ?
Identical twins share 100% of their genes but were raised in different environments. Their IQs were still highly similar, which suggests a substantial genetic influence on intelligence (about 70% of IQ variance was linked to genes). The environment still plays a role.
Distinguish between the reliability and the validity of a diagnosis, and give ONE factor that can reduce either.
Reliability means different clinicians (or the same clinician at different times) reach the same diagnosis. Validity means the diagnosis accurately reflects the disorder the person actually has. Factors that reduce either include overlapping symptoms or comorbidity, clinician bias, cultural differences in how symptoms are expressed, and relying on self-report.
A survey reports that depression is far less common in Country A than in Country B. Give TWO reasons, other than a true difference, that could explain the data.
stigma reduces help-seeking and reporting; symptoms are expressed differently across cultures (e.g. as physical complaints); diagnostic criteria are based on Western norms; differences in access to mental health services; different survey or sampling methods.
Distinguish Diener's subjective wellbeing from Ryff's psychological wellbeing.
Subjective wellbeing (Diener) means feeling good: high life satisfaction, frequent positive emotions and few negative emotions. Psychological wellbeing (Ryff) means functioning well across six areas: autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relationships, purpose in life and self-acceptance.
A study finds r = −0.62, p = 0.03 between daily hours on social media and wellbeing score. Interpret this result fully.
This is a moderate–strong negative correlation: more social media use goes with lower wellbeing. Because p < 0.05, the result is statistically significant, so the null hypothesis is rejected (with a small chance of a Type I error). Correlation does not prove causation.