Health and well-being, human development, human relationships, learning and cognition. 4 subtopics, 16 key terms.
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A response to demands that exceed perceived coping resources.
Depression
A mood disorder with persistent low mood and loss of interest or pleasure.
Etiology
The causes or origins of a disorder.
Health promotion
Strategies to improve the health of individuals or communities.
Stress: the HPA axis releases cortisol; chronic stress weakens the immune system. Kiecolt-Glaser et al. (1995) found that wounds healed more slowly in stressed carers of relatives with dementia than in controls.
The full notes, worked example and check questions for this subtopic are in the app.
Exam tip: In health questions, combine at least two approaches (e.g. biological and cognitive) to show a balanced explanation.
X.2Human development
Key terms
Attachment
A strong, lasting emotional bond between an infant and a caregiver.
Strange Situation
Ainsworth's procedure to classify infant attachment as secure, insecure-avoidant or insecure-resistant.
Cognitive development
Changes in thinking across childhood; Piaget proposed four stages.
Theory of mind
Understanding that others have beliefs, desires and knowledge different from one's own.
Bowlby: attachment is innate and adaptive, forming an internal working model for later relationships.
The full notes, worked example and check questions for this subtopic are in the app.
Exam tip: When using the Strange Situation, mention it was developed in the USA, which affects how it can be applied elsewhere.
X.3Human relationships
Key terms
Bystander effect
People are less likely to help when others are present.
Diffusion of responsibility
The sense of personal responsibility falls as the number of bystanders rises.
Empathy–altruism hypothesis
Batson: feeling empathy for someone leads to genuinely selfless helping.
Attraction
Factors that draw people together, including similarity, proximity and biology.
Darley and Latané (1968): participants heard someone apparently having a seizure over an intercom. Alone, 85% helped before the end of the seizure; when they believed four others were listening, only 31% did.
The full notes, worked example, interactive diagram and check questions for this subtopic are in the app.
Exam tip: Use the cost–reward or empathy–altruism models to explain why people help, and situational factors to explain why they do not.
X.4Learning and cognition
Key terms
Classical conditioning
Learning by association: a neutral stimulus paired with an unconditioned stimulus comes to trigger a response.
Operant conditioning
Learning through consequences: reinforcement increases a behaviour, punishment decreases it.
Observational learning
Learning by watching models (Bandura).
Metacognition
Thinking about one's own thinking and learning.
Pavlov: dogs learned to salivate to a bell after it was repeatedly paired with food. Skinner: rats and pigeons learned behaviours through reinforcement schedules.
The full notes, worked example and check questions for this subtopic are in the app.
Exam tip: Link learning theories to real applications (teaching, therapy, technology) to show application marks.