AS Psychology Unit 1 & 2 (Edexcel)

Nota:

• The 4 areas of the Ethical Guidelines. Remember these for Ethical Discussion.

1. Respect
2. Competence
3. Integrity
4. Responsibilty

1. Interviews

   Nota:

   • Know the difference between types of interviews. Difference between Question Types.
   1. Structured Interview

      Nota:

      • Pre-set Order of Questions Quantitative Data
   2. Unstructured Interview

      Nota:

      • Questions are open Interview Structure is flexible Qualitative data
   3. Semi-Structured Interview

      Nota:

      • Schedule of questions Researcher has freedom to follow up on some responses.
   4. Open Question

      Nota:

      • Qualitative data Consists of words Opinion-based
   5. Closed Question

      Nota:

      • Limits possible responses Quantitative Data Reduced to numbers/quantities
2. Sampling
   1. Random

      Nota:

      • Equal chance to be selected Unbiased Difficult in large numbers
   2. Stratified

      Nota:

      • Break population into groups Very representative Time consuming Difficult
   3. Opportunity

      Nota:

      • Whoever is available. Easy & Quick Not very representative
   4. Volunteer/Self Selecting

      Nota:

      • Participants select themselves Access a wide variety of people Motivation may make behaviour different. May have 'special' qualities.
3. Evaluation
   1. Reliability
   2. Subjectivity
   3. Validity

Nota:

• Following an order given by a person with RECOGNISED AUTHORITY over you.

1. Milgram (Shock Test) 1963

   Nota:

   • Behavioural Study of Obedience to Malevolent Authority. The aim was to measure how obedient 'naive' participants would be when ordered to give intense electric shocks. 40 Volunteers Selected by advertising Not in College/High School Rigged draw made sure participant was always given the role of 'teacher' 'Teacher' gives shocks for every incorrect answer to the 'actor' 'Actor' goes silent after '315v' after complaining about pain/heart problems Measured by how far they went up the generator before refusing to go further.
   • Every participant went to at least 300v. 26 went all the way to 450v. Variations conducted include: Learner in the same room (40% went to the end) When teacher had to hold learners hand (30%)
2. Meeus and Raaijmakers (Interview Sabotage) 1985

   Nota:

   • Administrative Obedience : Carrying Out Orders to use Psychological-Administrative Violence To test obedience where harm would be done Participants ordered to harass a job applicant to make him nervous while sitting a test. 92% of Participants obeyed Variatons involved removing researcher presence and having two rebellious peers. Obedience dropped HUGELY in both.
3. Agency Theory

   Nota:

   • Human behaviour evolved to include the tendency to obey because rule-based behaviour enables stability in a complex human society.
   1. Autonomous

      Nota:

      • Using our free will and take responsibility for our actions.
   2. Agentic

      Nota:

      • Where we act on behalf on another
   3. Moral Strain

      Nota:

      • Doing something that goes against our principles but seems to be for the greater good.
   4. Prejudice

      Nota:

      • An attitude towards another person based on little or no knowledge.
      1. Discrimination

         Nota:

         • Behaviour towards another person based on prejudice.
4. Social Identity Theory (Tajfel, 1970)
   1. Social Categorisation

      Nota:

      • The automatic act of putting yourself and others into groups along with stereotypical beliefs. In group - Groups you belong to Out group - Outside your in group
   2. Social Identification

      Nota:

      • Absorbing the culture of your group Associate with your group's values and norms Differentiate between out groups
   3. Social Comparison

      Nota:

      • To boost your own self-esteem, you need your group to appear 'better' by making other groups look bad in comparison.

1. Hofling et al. (Nurse Study) 1966

   Nota:

   • Investigate aspects of the nurse-physician relationship. 3 hospitals. One as control. 12 nurses and 21 students nurses asked to fill a questionnaire.  Nurse is asked to give an overdose of a drug to a patient. Medication order given by phone. Drug is unauthorised. Unfamiliar voice.
   • Questionnaire: 10/12 nurses and 21/21 students said they would have given the medication. Experiment: 21/22 nurses started to give the medication. Nearly all said they shouldn't have.
2. Tajfel et al. (Fake Art) 1971

   Nota:

   • Aim was to test whether grouping was enough to produce prejudice. Schoolboys split into two groups Klee & Kandinsky Asked to award poins to two other boys (one from each group) at a time. Boys typically awarded more points to members of their in group.
3. Sherif et al. (Robber's Cave) 1961

   Nota:

   • 2 groups of Boys. Field study. Unaware of each others existence. When introduced, strong in group prejudice was shown. 

1. Lab Experiment
   1. Advantages

      Nota:

      • Extraneous Variables can be controlled Can be certain the independent variable did have an effect on the measured dependent variable
   2. Disadvantages

      Nota:

      • Artificial Environment May not apply to real situations Often aware of being part of research Experimenter Effects
2. Field Experiment
   1. Advantages

      Nota:

      • Participants may not be aware of research Ecological Validity
   2. Disadvantages

      Nota:

      • No control over setting More time-consuming Ethical Problems
3. Natural Experiment

   Nota:

   • Field experiment but the independent variable is not manipulated by the researcher.
   1. Advantages

      Nota:

      • Ecological Validity More ethical
   2. Disadvantages

      Nota:

      • Lack of control over participants Extraneous Variables affecting results
4. Terminology
   1. Experimental Hypothesis

      Nota:

      • Prediction of study outcome.
      1. One Tailed/Directional

         Nota:

         • Direction of results can be predicted
      2. Two Tailed/Non - Directional

         Nota:

         • A change or difference can be predicted, but not the direction.
   2. Null Hypothesis

      Nota:

      • Statement that the results will be due to chance not to what was predicted.
   3. Variables
      1. Independent

         Nota:

         • Manipulated or changed in order to demonstrate a difference between the experimental conditions.
      2. Dependent

         Nota:

         • Variable that is measured or the result of the experiment.
      3. Extraneous

         Nota:

         • Any variable, except the IV that can influence findings.
      4. Confounding

         Nota:

         • A factor that has not been controlled and that has a direct impact on findings.
      5. Situational

         Nota:

         • Things such as environment.
      6. Participants

         Nota:

         • For example in a driving test one's driving skills gives them an advantage.
   4. Operationalisation

      Nota:

      • Defining how you intend to measure the DV and alter conditions for the IV.
   5. Participant Design

      Nota:

      • Describes how the participants are distributed.
      1. Independent Measures Design

         Nota:

         • When one of the conditions is tested on a group
      2. Repeated Measures Design

         Nota:

         • The same participants used in all experimental conditions
      3. Matched Pairs Design

         Nota:

         • Same as IM design, but  all participants matched on a quality.
   6. Order Effects

      Nota:

      • Occur when they're in all conditions of experiment. Become practiced at the test or becoming tired from the test.
      1. Counterbalancing

         Nota:

         • Participants divided equally between conditions to experience them in different order.
      2. Randomising

         Nota:

         • Purely random counterbalancing.
   7. Ecological Validity

      Nota:

      • How well a study represents a natural situation
   8. Experimenter Effects

      Nota:

      • Things that may influence the way a participant responds because of the experimenter.
   9. Demand Characteristics

      Nota:

      • Changing behaviour due to knowledge of experiment

1. Craik and Lockhart (Processing) 1972

   Nota:

   • Investigating how deep and shallow processing affects memory recall. Participants presented with 60 words answering 1 of  3 questions. 1 of each type of processing. They recalled more words that were semantically processed.
   1. Shallow Processing
      1. Structural Processing

         Nota:

         • Using the physical qualities of something to encode it.
      2. Phonetic Processing

         Nota:

         • Using sound to encode something
   2. Deep Processing
      1. Semantic Processing

         Nota:

         • Encoding the meaning of a word relating to similar words.
      2. Elaboration Rehearsal

         Nota:

         • Having a more meaningful analysis of information
   3. Rehearsal Types
2. Atknison and Shiffrin (Multi-Store Model) 1968
   1. Sensory Register

      Nota:

      • Information enters, lasting around 2 seconds. If not attended to, lost immediately.
   2. Short Term Memory

      Nota:

      • Lost if not rehearsed e.g Phone Number
   3. Long Term Memory

      Nota:

      • Information is stored from STM. Lasts for years Infinite Storage
3. Baddeley and Hitch (Working Memory) 1974
   1. Phonological Loop

      Nota:

      • Deals with verbal information. 'Inner voice'
   2. Primary Acoustic Store

      Nota:

      • Holds acoustic information
   3. Visuo-spatial Scratchpad

      Nota:

      • Deals with visual and spatial information
   4. Central Executive

      Nota:

      • Directs the flow of information
4. Reconstructive Memory

   Nota:

   • Using imagination and best guesses to complete the memory.

1. Cue Dependent Forgetting

   Nota:

   • Failure to remember as an accessibility problem. If we don't remember it's because we're not in a similar situation.
   1. Tip of the Tongue Phenomenom

      Nota:

      • Knowing the memory exists but being temporarily unable to recall it.
   2. Tulving's Specificity Principle

      Nota:

      • The greater the similarity between the encoding event and retrieval event, the greater the likelihood of recalling the original memory.
2. Context Dependent Forgetting

   Nota:

   • Being in the same environment as a memory can aid recall of the memory
   1. Godden & Baddeley (Diver Study) 1975

      Nota:

      • Were asked to recall words in a different environment (under water and on land). Without the same conditions, divers forgot the words.
   2. Grant and Bredahl et al. (Word Recall) 1998

      Nota:

      • Memory for unrelated words where low when learned in noisy conditions and testing in quiet conditions. Opposite for quiet learning and quiet testing.

1. Collins and Loftus (Spreading Activation Model) 1975
2. Loftus et al (Weapon Focus) 1987