Bennett-Levy

Question 1

What were the 3 things Bennett-Levy aimed to do?

Answer 1

• Why people fear certain things
• Whether these fears are innate
• Whether its the movement and looks which makes us fear them

Question 2

How can Bennett-Levy’s study be placed in a social and historical context?

Answer 2

Since Darwin interest in evolutionary psychology and the nature Vs nurture debate. How much fear is due to nature rather than learning has been an important question. Survival of society depends on avoiding harmful things. People who aren’t fearful didn’t survive to pass their genes on. Some fears are adaptive. Bennett-Levy wanted to find out if why we feared snakes was due to their looks and how they felt.

Question 3

How can Bennett-Levy’s study be placed in an academic context?

Answer 3

Seligman - looked at how many shocks it took for people to have a fear of spiders and snakes. 2-4 shocks for spider, but much larger shocks for a flower phobia. People innately prepared to fear harmful things

Question 4

What was Bennett-Levy’s research method?

Answer 4

Questionnaire

Question 5

What type of sampling method did Bennett-Levy use?

Answer 5

Opportunist

Question 6

How many pps were there altogether?

Answer 6

113

Question 7

How many pps were there in group 1?

Answer 7

64

• 30 males
• 34 females

Question 8

How many pps were there in group 2?

Answer 8

49

• 24 males
• 25 females

Question 9

What was the mean age of the pps?

Answer 9

35

Question 10

What did group 1’s questionnaire designed to do?

Answer 10

Measure fear and avoidance

• fear on a 3 point scale
• avoidance on a 5 point scale

Question 11

How many animals were used in the questionnaires?

Answer 11

29

Question 12

What were the pps told about the animals?

Answer 12

They are harmless

Question 13

What were the 4 questions in the questionnaire group 2 had to answer?

Answer 13

How ugly they are
How slimy are they
How speedy are they
How suddenly do they move

Question 14

What was the scale group 2 had to use?

Answer 14

3 point scale

Question 15

Why did they talk to the pps?

Answer 15

So they knew what they meant by ugly

Question 16

How did Bennett-Levy address some ethical issues?

Answer 16

He rejected using people with a fear

Question 17

What did Bennett-Levy find between the fear and the characteristics?

Answer 17

Positive correlation

Question 18

What was the most feared, ugly and speedy animal?

Answer 18

Rat

Question 19

What 2 animals were the least feared?

Answer 19

Rabbit

Tortoise

Question 20

What was the mean fear score for the rat and cat?

Answer 20

2.1 & 1.0

Question 21

What was the mean score for avoidance for the rat and cat?

Answer 21

3.9 & 1.1

Question 22

What was the mean score for ugliness for the rat and cat?

Answer 22

2.2 & 1.0

Question 23

What was the mean score for sliminess for the rat and cat?

Answer 23

1.1 & 1.0

Question 24

What was the mean score for speediness for the rat and cat?

Answer 24

2.4 & 2.2

Question 25

Were there any sex differences in question 1?

Answer 25

Yes - females less willing to pick up 10 animals & were more fearful than males, in question 1

Question 26

Were there any sex differences in question 2?

Answer 26

No

Question 27

What did pps describe ugly as?

Answer 27

Hairy
Dirty
Lots of legs

Question 28

What did one pp say?

Answer 28

Spiders are very fast and I couldn’t stand one of them running up my legs

Question 29

What did Bennett-Levy conclude about the most feared animals?

Answer 29

They’re likely to be avoided and are the most ugly, slimy and speedy

Question 30

What did Bennett-Levy conclude about humans?

Answer 30

We are prepared to fear certain animals through evolution

Question 31

What did Bennett-Levy say needs to be treated?

Answer 31

A phobics’s perception

Question 32

Was reliability a strength for Bennett-Levy?

Answer 32

Yes - used scientific methods, so would be possible to repeat i.e. same rating scales

Question 33

Was validity a strength for Bennett-Levy?

Answer 33

No - used an independent measures design. Differences between group 1 and 2 could’ve meant comparisons couldn’t have been made

Question 34

Was sampling a strength for Bennett-Levy?

Answer 34

Yes - 113 pps is large sample, used males and females. However all pps were from 1 town and visited same health centre - biased

Question 35

What data was collected from Bennett-Levy’s study?

Answer 35

Both - quantitative-enables comparisons & qualitative-gives depth and detail

Question 36

Why was ethics a problem for Bennett-Levy?

Answer 36

Avoided using phobic people, but how did he know whether any of the pps had a ‘hidden’ fear? he failed to protect pps from harm if they did have a ‘hidden’ fear

Question 37

Whose evidence supports Bennett-Levy and how?

Answer 37

Seligman - 2-4 small shocks needed for a spider phobia, but lots for a flower phobia. This supports because both suggest we are innately prepared, however could Seligman’s be stronger because he used an experiment under controlled conditions, but B-L used a questionnaire

Question 38

Whose evidence challenges Bennett-Levy and how?

Answer 38

Watson - Little Albert’s fear of white rats was learnt by association - after pairing a loud sound (UCS) with a white rat (CS) produced the fear (CR). This challenges B-L because little Alber wasn’t scared of the rat before the conditioning began suggesting no genetically preparedness, however could B-L be stronger as he used more pps.

Question 39

Whose evidence challenges Watson, but supports Bennett-Levy?

Answer 39

Ohman - found conditioned fear (houses) disappeared when shocks no longer applied, however fear response still persisted when the stimuli were snakes. This supports because both suggest innately prepared.