Elena received an unexpectedly low grade on her coursework despite spending weeks preparing. She felt intense frustration and anger towards her teacher, but was unable to safely express these feelings at school.
Upon returning home, she went to her room and spent 15 minutes playing an action-heavy, combat-based video game, aggressively defeating virtual opponents. Afterwards, she felt significantly calmer and her anger had dissipated.
Using your knowledge of the psychodynamic explanation of aggression, explain how catharsis accounts for Elena's change in state.
Practise Edexcel A Level Psychology Content with exam-style questions for A Level Psychology. 100 questions covering Main features of classical conditioning, Pavlov (1927) salivation in dogs, Main features of operant conditioning, Properties of reinforcement, Behaviour modification and shaping, Main features of social learning theory, Social learning stages, Bandura (1961, 1963) Bobo doll experiments, Bandura (1965) vicarious reinforcement, Learning theories and phobias, Treatments for phobias, Individual differences, and Developmental psychology, matched to the Edexcel A Level Psychology (9PS0) specification and written in Paper 1, Paper 2 and Paper 3 style. Every question includes a full worked solution and mark scheme, so you can see where marks are awarded rather than just whether you got the answer right.