Welcome to the Psychology area of the site, here you can browse the different sections we have and have a look at the different topics covered.

Amnesia

Amnesia is a specific medical condition resulting in memory loss because of brain damage. It isn't just forgetting things. There are two types of amnesia.

The first type of amnesia is retrograde amnesia; this is memory loss for events before brain damage.

Then there is anterograde amnesia, which is the other way around: it is loss of memory for events after brain damage.

We will now look at some of the causes of amnesia, the reasons for these and research into them. Be aware that there are other factors that cause amnesia as well.

causes of amnesia

Methods of Research in Psychology

[Lab Experiments]

In Psychology this is one of many methods that we can use to investigate something. The key things that make it an experiment are that it is usually carried out in a controlled environment which will probably be a laboratory; and key variables are manipulated. The experimental approach is the sort of approach that is used almost exclusively in other sciences like Chemistry.

Variables are a key feature and there are two types that we have. The independent variable is the condition that is manipulated. For example, in the levels of processing experiment this was the depth of processing.

And then there is the dependent variable that is what you are measuring. In the levels of processing experiment this was recall of words. In the experiment everything except the independent variable is kept the same; but factors that you haven't controlled that could affect your results are called extraneous variables.

Team Cohesion

Home ground advantage: why do home teams do better? Championship choke. Team cohesion and the factors that can improve this. Comparison of studies into cohesion.


Social Learning Theory

The Social Learning Theory was proposed by Bandura as a way of explaining how children acquire their gender identitiy based on the influence of other people (particularly their parents). Studies to support.


Ethics

Ethics are a set of moral principles and values that are used in Psychological research to make sure participants are treated fairly. Some things to think about are discussed and other places to look given.


Forgetting

Theories for why we forget: displacement, trace decay, interference, retrival failure; and evidence to support them. Forgetting in short term memory and forgetting in long term memory. Comparisons of the various theories.