Cognitive Psychology

Question 1

What is the definition of the Cognitive Area in Psychology?

Answer 1

The cognitive area assumes that internal mental processes determine our behaviour. Cognitive psychologists view the mind as working like a computer with inputs (information revealed through the senses) and the output is the behavioural response.

Question 2

What is an eyewitness testimony?

Answer 2

When a witness to a crime is asked to recall details of the crime to police and later in court.

Question 3

What is a leading question?

Answer 3

Certain questions or statements that are phrased in a way that leads a person to give a particular answer.

Question 4

What was the aim of Loftus and Palmer’s study?

Answer 4

Aim of the first experiment was to investigate the accuracy of memory and leading questions on what people remember.
Aim of experiment to was to see if the leading questions changed a person’s subsequent memory of the event they witnessed.

Question 5

What research design did Loftus and Palmer use?

Answer 5

Laboratory experiment using independent measures design.
The first experiment was a snapshot study, the second experiment was a longitudinal study.

Question 6

How many participants took part in experiment one?

Loftus and Palmer

Answer 6

45 American students divided into five groups.

Question 7

How many participants took part in experiment two?

Loftus and Palmer

Answer 7

150 American students divided into three groups.

Question 8

What sampling method did Loftus and Palmer use?

Answer 8

Opportunity sampling.

Question 9

What materials were used in Loftus and Palmer’s study?

Answer 9

Experiment one: seven brief film clips of car accidents and a questionnaire.
Experiment two: One-minute film which contained a four-second multiple car accidents.

Question 10

What is a positive of Loftus and Palmer’s sample?

Answer 10

Opportunity sample means participants were easy to obtain.

Question 11

What is a negative of Loftus and Palmer’s sample?

Answer 11

Participants are all active students and so have better memory than the average person, furthermore their all young as it’s well know older people have a worse memory. This makes its hard to generalise to the general population.

Question 12

What were the 5 verbs used in experiment one?

Loftus and Palmer

Answer 12

‘hit’, ‘contacted’, ‘smashed’, ‘bumped’ and ‘collided’

Question 13

What were the three verbs used in experiment two?

Loftus and Palmer

Answer 13

‘smashed’, ‘hit’ and a control group with no question.

Question 14

In experiment one what was the mean speed for the verb ‘smashed’?

Loftus and Palmer

Answer 14

40.8mph

Question 15

In experiment one what was the mean speed for the verb ‘contacted’?

Loftus and Palmer

Answer 15

31.8mph

Question 16

In experiment two how many participants, who had the verb ‘smashed’ reported seeing broken glass?

Loftus and Palmer

Answer 16

16 out of 50 participants

Question 17

In experiment two how many participants, who had the verb ‘hit’, reported seeing broken glass?

Loftus and Palmer

Answer 17

7 out of 50

Question 18

In experiment two how many participants, who were in the control group, reported seeing broken glass?

Loftus and Palmer

Answer 18

6 out of 50

Question 19

What type of data was collected in loftus and Palmer’s study?

Answer 19

Quantitative.

Question 20

What two controls were used in experiment one?

Loftus and Palmer

Answer 20

The video clips were shown in a different order and all participants were given the same questionnaire.

Question 21

What ethical issues did Loftus and Palmer run into?

Answer 21

No fully informed consent.
Deception.

Question 22

Where does Loftus and Palmer fall on the situational/dispositional debate?

Answer 22

Situational, leading questions affecting memory

Question 23

Where does Loftus and Palmer fall on the nature/nurture debate?

Answer 23

Nurture

Question 24

Is Loftus and Palmer’s study useful?

Answer 24

Is useful, influenced development of the cognitive interview technique and application in regard to convictions based largely on unsound eye witness testimonies

Question 25

Is Loftus and Palmer's study scientific?

Answer 25

Is scientific, lab experiment with high levels of control and reliability. Produced objective quantitative data.

Question 26

What is the aim of Grant's study?

Answer 26

To test the effect of noise as a source of context on the studying and retrieval of meaningful material in academic context.

Question 27

What previous research inspired Grant's study?

Answer 27

Tulving and 'context-dependency effects' Godden and Badderly and deep sea divers

Question 28

What research design did Grant use?

Answer 28

Laboratory experiment with independent measures design.

Question 29

How many participants took part in Grant's study?

Answer 29

39 participants, 17 females and 23 males.

Question 30

What was the age range of the participants Grant used in his study?

Answer 30

17-56 years old.

Question 31

What sampling method did Grant use?

Answer 31

Opportunity sample.

Question 32

What is a positive of Grant's sample?

Answer 32

An appropriate sample when studying context-dependency effects as its relevant to students the most.

Question 33

What is a negative of Grant's sample?

Answer 33

Students are an unrepresentative sample as they're used to receiving complex materials and are compliant. Also students are unmotivated in research studies (DeRight & Randall)

Question 34

What were the two independent variables in Grant's study?

Answer 34

Reading condition and testing condition.

Question 35

What were the three dependent variables in Grant's study?

Answer 35

Reading time, performance on multiple-choice test and performance on short answer test.

Question 36

How did the reading time differ between experimental conditions? ## Footnote *Grant*

Answer 36

No difference, participants spent roughly an equal amount of time reading the article.

Question 37

What was the mean score on the short-answer test in the silent-silent condition? ## Footnote *Grant*

Answer 37

6.7/10

Question 38

What was the mean score on the short-answer test in the silent-noisy condition? ## Footnote *Grant*

Answer 38

4.6/10

Question 39

What was the mean score on the multiple-choice test in the silent-silent condition? ## Footnote *Grant*

Answer 39

14.3/16

Question 40

What was the mean score on the multiple-choice test in the silent-noisy condition? ## Footnote *Grant*

Answer 40

12.7/10

Question 41

What type of data did Grant collect?

Answer 41

Quantitative and primary

Question 42

What ethical issues did Grant run into?

Answer 42

Protection from harm.

Question 43

Where does Grant fall on the situational/dispositional debate?

Answer 43

Situational, cues within the situation can improve memory.

Question 44

Is Grant's study scientific?

Answer 44

Is scientific, laboratory experiment with standardised and controlled procedures.