Core Studies

Question 0

What are the assumptions of the social approach?

Answer 0

The situation influences behaviour, thought processes and emotions.

Question 1

What is social psychology?

Answer 1

Social psychology looks at how other people influence us and our behaviour.

Question 2

What is physiological psychology? (2)

Answer 2

Physiological psychology focuses on how our behaviour, thought patterns and emotional responses are affected by our biology.

It also examines how our experience affects our biology.

Question 3

What are the assumptions of the physiological approach?

Answer 3

• All behaviour has a biological cause (genetics, hormones, neurotransmitters, nervous system and brain structure)
• Behaviour can be looked at in terms of electrical and chemical activity in the brain and body.

Question 4

What is Individual Differences Approach?

Answer 4

It looks at how individual people differ in their behaviour and personal qualities rather than looking for generalisations.

Question 5

What are the assumptions of the individual differences approach?

Answer 5

• People are unique and differ from each other in many ways.
• We learn a lot about human behaviour by considering all behaviours, even unusual ones.
• Focusing on the differences within each group as regards behaviour and personality can be as useful as looking at the average.
• Generalisations about behaviour only tell us so much.