Psychology Studies

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BIOLOGICAL APPROACH

Scoville and Milner (1975)

Aim: To determine the extent of HM's amnesia and also to understand what this meant for his daily life.

Method: Case study, using interviews, cognitive testing, observation and eventually brain imaging technology to piece together the picture. It was a breakthrough in understanding the damage to HM’s brain when researchers could use the MRI scanner in the 1990s (Corkin, 1997). This showed that the damage was pervasive and included the hippocampus, the amygdala, and other areas close to the hippocampus. Using the scanner, Corkin (1997) was able to test which areas of the brain are related to which areas of memory and skill learning - something they could only speculate about beforehand.

Results: There was a link between hippocampal damage and HM's loss of memory. The transfer of memory from the short-term store to the long-term store seems to involve the hippocampus.

Conclusion: This case study supports the theory of localisation of brain function.

Strengths:

Case study with an extreme condition allowed for great insight into the localisation of certain elements of memory creation.

Many tests conducted triangulated each other.

Limitations:

It is a case study, therefore confounding variables inherent to the individual could affect results.

Methodological considerations:

As HM is such a specific case, there are issues of generalisability of the findings based on his damaged brains to humans with intact brains. However, the findings based around localisation of function can be generalised as almost all humans have a hippocampus and the ability to form memory processes.

Ethical considerations:

HM could not remember giving his consent to participate, due to his condition. However, his caretakers did provide consent. It just raises issues with consent, and how to handle it for individuals who won't remember it, or who are incapable of providing it.

HM's anonymity was preserved and his identity was protected until his death.

All researchers conducting studies within the field of psychological research are expected to consider ethical guidelines

MAGUIRE ET AL. ( 2000 )

AIm:

To investigate whether changes could be detected in the brains of London taxi drivers and to further investigate the functions of the hippocampus in spatial memory

Method:

-natural experiment

- 16 healthy, right-handed male London taxi drivers

- taxi drivers' MRI brain scans were compared with the scans of 50 healthy right-handed males who did not drive taxis

- amount of years the drivers had been driving taxis for was also recorded

Results:

-posterior regions (back parts) of the taxi drivers' hippocampi were significantly larger than those of control subjects

-the anterior (front) hippocampal region was larger in control subjects than in taxi drivers

- hippocampal volume of the right hippocampus in each taxi driver correlated with the amount of time spent as a taxi driver - positively in the right posterior

- negatively in the right anterior hippocampus. (So the back part of the right hippocampus grew larger and the front part shrank).

-The larger posterior hippocampi made the taxi drivers more proficient at spatial memory and navigation

Conclusion: This study demonstrates the plasticity of the hippocampus in response to environmental demands, suggesting that the changes in hippocampal grey matter, at least on the right, are acquired. The environmental demands of being able to navigate a complex structure of streets led the taxi drivers to develop more pronounced posterior hippocampi than the control subjects

Strengths:

Natural experiment, therefore high in ecological validity.

Control group present (non taxi drivers).

Clear variables.

Limitations:

Confounding variables present due to the fact design was natural experiment.

Small sample size of only 16 participants in experimental condition .

Methodological considerations:

Due to no manipulation of the independent variable, cause and effect cannot be established.

Ethical considerations:

There were no real ethical considerations with this study.

All researchers conducting studies within the field of psychological research are expected to consider ethical guideline

EUGENE PAULY

MARTINEZ AND KESNER

Aim:

determine the role of acetylcholine in memory formation amount of acetylcholine receptors in

Method:

CAHILL AND MCGAUGH (1995)

Aim:

investigate role of adrenaline + amygdala on motional memory

McCLINTOCK

ZHOU ET AL. (2014)

DOUCET ET AL. (2009)

CASPI ET AL. (2003)

WILHELM ET AL. (2009)

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COGNITIVE APPROACH

BARTLETT (1932)

BREWER AND TYRENS (1981)

MULLER AND OPPENHEIMER (2014)

KRAMER ET AL.

LANDRY AND BARTLING

STANOVICH AND WEST

WASON

LOFTUS AND PICKERELL

LOFTUS AND PALMER (1974) - I

Aim:

investigate whether the use of leading questions would affect an eyewitnesses’s estimation of speed

Method:

LOFTUS AND PALMER (1974) - II

YUILLE AND CUTSHALL

BAHRICK ET AL.

BROWN AND KULIK

SHAROT ET AL.

STRACK AND MUSSWEILER

KAHNEMAN ET AL.

TVERSKY AND KAHNEMAN

CARERRE AND GOTTMAN

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SOCIO-CULTURAL APPROACH

ASCH (1956) {The Individual and The Group}

AIm

-study conformity

Method:

-Male students in the USA

Strengths:

• Easily replicated (highly standardized procedure)

– Control group was used (not ambiguous) à the average person

would be able to tell which two lines were the same length

– Participants were debriefed

– Limitations:

• Ecological validity?

– Figuring out the length of a line lacks personal meaning for the

particiapnts

– The participants do not know the other people in the experiment

à in real life conformity is very personal and involves people we

know

BANDURA ET AL. (1961) {Social Cognitive Theory}

HAMILTON AND GRIFFORD (1976) {Stereotyping}

– Aim: To investigate the formation of stereotypes through illusory

correlation

– Method:

• Participants listened to statements about individuals from one of two

groups (Group A: 26 people, Group B: 13 people).

– The statements were either positive or negative comments.

» About Group A: 18 positive statements + 8 negative statements

» About Group B: 9 positive statements + 4 negative statements

• Participants were asked questions about the members of each group.

– Participants were asked how many of the people in each group had positive vs

negative traits.

– Results: Participants judged that Group B had more undesirable

qualitites than Group A.

– Conclusion: Illusory correlation was made by the participants à the

negative behaviors of Group B were magnified because the group

was smaller.

SNYDER AND SWANN (1978) {Stereotyping}

Aim: Study if confirmation bias makes stereotypical thinking resistant

to change

– Method:

• Told female college students that they would meet a person who was either

introverted or extroverted

• Asked the participants to prepare a series of questions for the person they

were going to meet

– Results: In general, the participants came up with questions that

confirmed their perceptions of introverts and extroverts

• Example:

– Questions that were directed to the introvert – “What do you dislike about paries?”

– Questions that were directed to the extrovert – “What do you do to liven up parties?”

– Conclusion: Questions asked confirmed participants’ stereotypes of

each personality type so that it became a self-fulfilling prophecy

ROGERS AND FRANTZ (1961) {Stereotyping}

– Aim: See if people new to Zimbabwe (then called Rhodesia) would adopt the

stereotypes and feelings of prejudice about the local African population

– Method:

• 500 white Europeans that were aged 20 and over, living in Rhodesia for a period of less

than 5 years to over 40 years

– 8 other variables taken into account (occupation, income...) to ensure a representative

demographic sample

• 66 question survey with examples of laws and customs in which white Europeans and

Africans were treated differently

– Likert Scale used: 0 (maintain current system), 2, 4, 6 (discontinue current system)

– Results:

• 348 of 500 participants fell below a mean score of 3.00 (in favor of current system to

some sort of extent)

• Correlation was found between length of residence in Rhodesia with scores

• The Europeans who support the status quo least strongly were those who had been living

in the country for less than 5 years

– Conclusion: Beliefs and attitudes of newcomers were changed in the direction

of the norm of the European population living in Rhodesia as time went by.

Stereotypes and feelings of prejudice were adopted over time.

STEELE AND ARONSON I (1995) {Stereotyping}

– Aim: Understand the effect of stereotype threat on

performance

– Method:

• 30 minute verbal test with difficult multiple choice questions

– Group 1: told that it was a “genuine test of their verbal abilities”

– Group 2: told that it was ”not a diagnostic of their ability”

– Results:

• Group 1: African American participants scored significantly

lower than European American participants

• Group 2: African American participants scored higher than in

Group 1 and their performance was not significantly

different from the European Americans

STEELE AND ARONSON II (1995) {Stereotyping}

– Because it is not possible to argue that awareness of

racial stereotyping was the actual cause of the

different results, they did one more version of the

experiment

• Method:

– Participants had to fill in a personal information questionnaire

» Group A: Had to identify race in the questionnaire

» Group B: Did not have to identify their race in the

questionnaire

• Results:

– Group A: African Americans did poorly / worse than European

Americans

– Group B: African Americans and European Americans performed

equally

SPENCER ET AL. (1999) {Stereotyping}

– Aim: Test the stereotype threat on intellectual

performance

• Specifically: Stereotype threat regarding women being “less able”

than men in mathematics

– Method:

• Gave a difficult math test to men and women who were strong in

mathematics

– Results:

• Women significantly underperformed compared to equally

qualified men on the test

• When the study was repeated with literature skills (women are not

“threatened” in this area), both men and women performed

equally well

– Conclusion: Stereotype threats can cause the threatened

group to underperform

MARTIN AND HALVERSON (1983) {Stereotyping}

Aim: Understand if gender stereotyping influences recall in 5 and 6- year-old children

– Method:

• Each child was shown 16 pictures

– 8 pictures depicted a child performing a gender-consistent activity (ex: boy playing with a

truck)

– 8 pictures depicted a child playing a gender-inconsistent activity (ex: a girl chopping

wood)

• A week later the children were asked how many pictures they could recall

accurately

– Results:

• Children easily recalled the sex of the actor when the picture showed gender- consistent activities

• When the activity was gender-inconsistent, the children often distorted the

scene by saying the actor’s sex was consistent with the activity they recalled

– Conclusion: Stereotypes can distort memory recall

ALLPORT AND POSTMAN (1947) {Stereotyping}

Aim: Understand the effect stereotyping can have on recall

– Method: Researchers showed a picture to participants of a

white man holding a razor and threatening a black man on

the subway. Participants were asked to describe what they

had seen to another participant. This serial reproduction

was done up to 7 times.

– Results: Over half of the times, the participants at some

stage in the story, retold it as if the black man had threated

the white man.

– Conclusion: Stereotyping affected the retelling of the

story.

PAYNE (2001) {Stereotyping}

– Aim: Understand if stereotyping affects perception, which has

implications on memory

– Method:

1. Participants were given a test on racial prejudice to eliminate participants

with strong racial prejudice as a confounding variable à 32 non-black

university students were chosen

2. Participants were asked to sit in front of a computer screen and were

shown a face of a person (either white or black). The image of a face would

be followed by an image of a tool or a gun.

3. The participants had to identify if the second images were tools or guns.

– Results: Priming the participants with black faces led to more errors in

identifying the image as a weapon rather than a tool.

– Conclusion: Stereotyping affected perception, which then led to

implications for memory

BERRY (1967) {Cultural DImensions}

Aim: Understand what role the individualism vs collectivism dimension plays on the level of conformity

• Method:

– Participants: 120 in each group

• Group 1: Temne from Sierra Leone (society based on rice farming)

– Participants who had never had a Western education or had any contact with western lifestyle +

participants who were in transition (either had a Western education or Western employment)

• Group 2: Inuit from Baffin Island in Canada (survive off of hunting and fishing)

– Participants who had never had a Western education or had any contact with western lifestyle +

participants who were in transition (either had a Western education or Western employment)

• Group 3: Scottish – Reference group

– Participants from rural and urban areas

– Each participant was brought into a room by him or herself and given a set of nine lines. They were asked to math

the line below that most clearly matched the line above. This was done twice – to make sure that participants

understood the directions. Instructions were read in the native language of the speaker.

• Four trials (3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th) were done after these two trials.

– On the 3rd trial, participants heard the following directions: “Here is another sheet with the nine

lines on it, one here on the top and eight beneath it. This time I am going to give you a hint. Most

Temne (or Inuit or Scottish) people say this line (experimenter pointed to a designated line) is equal

to the one at the top. Which one do you say?” – Here the correct answer was being given by the

experimenter.

– On the 4th, 5th and 6th trials, participants heard the following directions: “Here is another sheet with

the nine lines on it, one here on the top and eight beneath it. This time I am going to give you a hint.

Most Temne (or Inuit or Scottish) people say this line (experimenter pointed to a designated line) is

equal to the one at the top. Which one do you say?” – Here the wrong answer was being given by the

experimenter.

Results:

– Group 1 - Temne: higher rate of conformity than the Scots when told

what the other Temne believed (even if it was incorrect)

– Group 2 - Intuits: lower rate of conformity than the Scots when told

what the other Intuits believed (even if the answer as incorrect)

– No significant differences within the groups (no difference if they had a

Western influence or not)

• Conclusion: When participants were reminded of their cultural

identity by being told that the other members of the culture had

already given a response, the cultural dimension played a more

significant role in a participant’s level of conformity than their

current relationship with that cultural identity

Evaluation:

– Ecological fallacy: when one looks at two different cultures, it should not be

assumed that two members from two different cultures must be different from

one another, or that a single member of a culture will always demonstrate the

dimensions which are the norm of the culture

• Studies allow psychologists to generalize about cultures to discuss the role culture plays

in behavior but we have to be careful not to stereotype (which could lead to a

stereotype threat on the participants)

– Hofstede studied work environments à work attitudes may not transfer to all

areas of daily lives

– Researcher bias à danger that researchers see what confirms their own

biases

– The research is correlational – it is not possible to argue that culture causes

the behaviors

WATERS AND HANS (2009) {The Individual and The Group}

Examined data from 3500 jurors in the U.S.A. and

asked the jurors “If it were entirely up to you as a

one-person jury, what would your veridict have

been in the case?”

• 1/3 of the jurors disagreed with the jury’s dicision in

the case

– Conformity may have played a significatn role in their

decisión to vote against their own beliefs in the case

SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY

SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY