Psychological models and behavioural science account for approximately 17% of Paper A marks (roughly 25 of 150 questions), making it the third-largest section after neurosciences and psychopharmacology. The content covers learning theories, cognitive and behavioural models of mental disorder, social psychology, and the psychological underpinnings of psychiatric treatment. This material is conceptually straightforward but requires precise knowledge of theorists, terminology, and experimental paradigms.
Learning Theories
Classical (Pavlovian) Conditioning
Ivan Pavlov demonstrated that a neutral stimulus (bell) paired with an unconditioned stimulus (food) that elicits an unconditioned response (salivation) can come to elicit a conditioned response (salivation to bell alone). Key concepts: acquisition (initial learning), extinction (decline in conditioned response when CS presented without UCS), spontaneous recovery (reappearance after a pause), generalisation (similar stimuli elicit the response), discrimination (learning to respond only to the specific CS). Higher-order conditioning occurs when a new CS is paired with the established CS. Clinical relevance: development of phobias (Watson and Rayner’s Little Albert), aversion therapy, and exposure-based treatments.
Operant (Instrumental) Conditioning
B.F. Skinner demonstrated that behaviour is shaped by its consequences. Reinforcement increases behaviour; punishment decreases it. Positive reinforcement adds a desirable stimulus (praise), negative reinforcement removes an aversive stimulus (stopping a loud noise). Positive punishment adds an aversive stimulus (scolding), negative punishment removes a desirable stimulus (loss of privileges). Schedules of reinforcement: continuous (every response reinforced, fastest acquisition but fastest extinction), fixed ratio (after every nth response, high response rate), variable ratio (after unpredictable number, most resistant to extinction, highest response rate), fixed interval (after a fixed time, scalloped response pattern), variable interval (after unpredictable time, moderate steady rate). Shaping involves reinforcing successive approximations to the target behaviour. Clinical relevance: token economies in inpatient settings, behavioural activation for depression, contingency management in substance misuse.
Social Learning Theory
Albert Bandura emphasised observational learning (learning by watching others). The Bobo doll experiment (1961) showed that children who observed an adult behaving aggressively toward a Bobo doll were more likely to imitate that behaviour. Key concepts: vicarious reinforcement (learning from observing others being reinforced or punished), self-efficacy (belief in one’s ability to succeed), reciprocal determinism (behaviour, cognition, and environment influence each other). The four stages of observational learning: attention, retention, reproduction, motivation. Clinical relevance: modelling in CBT, social skills training, understanding the role of media violence.
Learned Helplessness
Martin Seligman’s experiments with dogs showed that repeated exposure to inescapable shock led to passivity and failure to escape even when escape became possible (Seligman and Maier, 1967). This became the animal model of depression. Abramson, Seligman, and Teasdale (1978) reformulated this as attributional style: people who attribute negative events to internal, stable, and global causes are at higher risk for depression. Clinical relevance: cognitive model of depression, attributional retraining in CBT.
Cognitive Models of Mental Disorder
Aaron Beck’s cognitive model of depression: The cognitive triad (negative view of self, world, and future) arises from dysfunctional schemas (core beliefs) formed by early experience. These schemas are activated by life events that match them, leading to automatic negative thoughts. The cognitive specificity hypothesis states that each emotional disorder has a characteristic cognitive profile: depression = themes of loss and worthlessness; anxiety = themes of threat and danger; anger = themes of unfairness and violation. Beck’s cognitive therapy aims to identify, challenge, and modify these distorted cognitions.
Albert Ellis’s Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT): The ABC model: Activating event → Belief (irrational) → Consequence (emotional/behavioural). The goal is to identify and dispute irrational beliefs (musturbation, awfulising, low frustration tolerance) and replace them with rational beliefs.
Locus of control (Rotter, 1966): The extent to which individuals believe they have control over events affecting them. Internal locus = outcomes depend on own actions; external locus = outcomes depend on luck, fate, or others. External locus of control is associated with higher rates of depression and anxiety.
Defence Mechanisms
Defence mechanisms are unconscious psychological strategies used to cope with anxiety and maintain self-esteem. The exam tests both the definition and clinical examples of each. Mature defences (adaptive): sublimation (channelling unacceptable impulses into socially valued activities), humour, altruism, suppression (conscious deferral). Neurotic defences: repression (unconscious forgetting� the foundation of all defences), rationalisation (logical explanation for irrational behaviour), intellectualisation (detached analytical thinking), displacement (redirecting impulse to safer target), reaction formation (adopting opposite attitude). Immature defences: projection (attributing own feelings to others), projective identification (projecting then inducing the feeling in others), splitting (all-good/all-bad), acting out (impulse expressed through action not words), denial, regression (reverting to earlier developmental stage), idealisation/devaluation. Freud’s original list included repression as the primary defence, with others as variations. Anna Freud expanded the list in The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defence (1936).
Social Psychology
Attribution theory (Heider, 1958; Kelley, 1967): How people explain the causes of behaviour. Internal/dispositional attributions (the person’s character) vs external/situational attributions (the environment). The fundamental attribution error (overestimating dispositional factors, underestimating situational factors in others’ behaviour) and the actor-observer effect (attributing own behaviour to situation, others’ behaviour to disposition).
Cognitive dissonance theory (Festinger, 1957): When attitudes and behaviours are inconsistent, people experience psychological discomfort and are motivated to reduce it by changing attitudes, behaviours, or by rationalising. The classic experiment: participants paid $1 to lie about a boring task showed greater attitude change than those paid $20 (insufficient justification leads to stronger dissonance). Clinical relevance: motivational interviewing uses cognitive dissonance amplification to promote behaviour change.
Conformity and obedience: Asch’s line judgement studies (1951) showed that 37% of participants conformed to an obviously incorrect group judgement (line length comparison) when alone against a unanimous majority. Milgram’s obedience studies (1963) showed that 65% of participants administered what they believed to be dangerous electric shocks to a learner under the instruction of an authority figure. Factors that increase obedience: proximity of authority, legitimacy of setting, distance from victim, gradual escalation of demands.
Group processes: Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment (1971) demonstrated how social roles shape behaviour (guards became abusive, prisoners became passive within days). Social loafing (Ringelmann effect: individuals exert less effort in groups than alone), group polarisation (group discussion leads to more extreme positions), groupthink (conformity in decision-making groups leading to flawed decisions, Janis, 1972).
Helping behaviour: Latane and Darley’s bystander intervention model: the more people present, the less likely any individual is to help (bystander effect). Diffusion of responsibility, pluralistic ignorance (looking to others to define the situation, interpreting inaction as evidence that help is not needed). The Genovese murder (1964) in which 38 witnesses did not intervene or call police, was the impetus for this research.
Prejudice and stereotypes: The realistic conflict theory (Sherif’s Robbers Cave experiment, 1954) showed that intergroup conflict arises from competition for scarce resources and can be reduced by superordinate goals that require cooperation. Social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979): people derive part of their identity from group membership and favour their own group (in-group bias) even in minimal group situations.
High-Yield Exam Patterns
- Bobo doll experiment: Bandura, observational learning / social learning theory
- Learned helplessness: Seligman, inescapable shock, animal model of depression
- Little Albert: Watson and Rayner, classical conditioning of phobia (11-month-old, white rat, loud noise)
- Variable ratio schedule: Most resistant to extinction (slot machines)
- Asch study: Conformity, line judgement, 37% conformed to incorrect majority
- Milgram study: Obedience to authority, 65% delivered maximum shock, gradual escalation
- Stanford Prison Experiment: Zimbardo, social roles and deindividuation
- Bystander effect: Latane and Darley, diffusion of responsibility, more people = less help
- Cognitive dissonance: Festinger, $1/$20 experiment, insufficient justification
- Rotter locus of control: External = higher depression/anxiety
- Fundamental attribution error: Overestimate disposition, underestimate situation for others
- Sherif Robbers Cave: Superordinate goals reduce intergroup conflict
- Tajfel minimal groups: In-group bias even without history of conflict
- Defence mechanisms most examined: Splitting (BPD), projection, projective identification, acting out, sublimation
PsychStar’s Paper A question bank covers psychological models with questions calibrated to the SPMM depth expected in the exam. Start with 5 free questions at psychstar.io/try.