Evaluation Flashcards
(100 cards)
1
Q
Positives: Types of conformity (2)
A
- Asch (1951) places participants in a group of confederates who purposefully gave the same wrong answer, despite a 1% chance of getting the incorrect answer. In 33% of trails, participants conformed and also gave the wrong answer due to normative social influence.
- Jenness (1932) asked participants to individually guess how many beans were in the jar. He then put them in a group and found that their answers changed to match those around them. This is more likely to be informational social influence.
2
Q
Negatives: Types of conformity (2)
A
- A third explanation (ingratiational conformity) has been suggested, and is similar to normative social influence, but group influence does not enter into the decision to conform. It is motivated by the need to impress or gain favour, rather than rejection).
- Dispositional factors such as personality traits may also impact if a person conforms e.g people with an internal locus of control are less likely to conform.
3
Q
Negatives: Asch’s study (5)
A
- The study was conducted post-war, meaning people would have been more conformist than they are now, meaning the study lacks temporal validity
- The task given is unlikely to occur in real life (lacks mundane realism) and therefore cannot be generalised (ecological validity). In addition, conformity usually takes place in a social context.
- The study only included white American males, meaning it has gender and cultural bias. However, the study has been repeated with different samples, and results were similar.
- Participants volunteered to take part, meaning the study does not have population validity, and cannot be generalised
- Several ethical issues:
- Deception (however, this was necessary to avoid demand characteristics)
- Lack of informed consent
- Psychological harm
4
Q
Negatives: Zimbardo (5)
A
- Highly unethical as prisoners were subjected to psychological harm (Prisoners showed extreme reactions such as crying, rage and acute anxiety. Zimbardo did not expect this.
- Zimbardo took role of prison warden. and became very involved and lost objectivity. Validity can be questioned
- Unrepresentative sample, cannot be generalised.
- Guards may have acted due to demand characteristics, meaning the study is not valid
- Some guards did not conform and were reluctant to resort to violence suggesting individuality plays a big role in conforming to social roles.
5
Q
Positives: Milgram (1)
A
Cost benefit analysis shows it was worthwhile. 84% of participants said they were happy to have taken part and they had learned something important from the experiment
6
Q
Negatives: Milgram (4)
A
- Deception, and therefore lack of informed consent. It was necessary to avoid demand characteristics and increase validity.
- Psychological harm (Milgram did not expect people to obey so this wasn’t predicted)
- Several participants who wished to withdraw were told they were not allowed, violating their right to withdraw.
- Unrepresentative sample (gender, culture bias)
7
Q
Positives: Agentic State (1)
A
Participants in Milgram’s experiment were less likely to shock Mr Wallace if they were in the same room as him and can therefore see the consequences of their actions (no buffers). This supports the idea of agentic state, as being in close proximity to Mr Wallace and seeing him in pain would’ve prevented some participants from going into an agentic state.
8
Q
Negatives: Agentic State (1)
A
Without buffers, people should not go into an agentic state and obey an order to harm someone. However, Mandel reported the case of Major, who was given orders to take a large group of Jewish people to the edge of the village and have them shot. Although the members of his battalion were given the chance to say no, many did not, and the massacre went ahead. This occurred despite the victims being in close proximity.
9
Q
Positives: Legitimate Authority (2)
A
- Hofling (1966) found that nurses would obey a dangerous order from a doctor due to the hospital location. Nurses received a phone call from an unknown doctor (who was really an actor). He asked her to administer double the suggested dosage of a medicine to a patient. This broke hospital rules, and despite visual warnings on the bottle, and their own hospital knowledge, 95% of nurses carried out these instructions as doctors have legitimate authority.
- Bickman asked confederates to order passersby to pick some litter off the street or move away from a bus stop. The confederates were dressed as either a guard, milkman or just smart clothes . 90% of people obeyed the guard, but only 50% of people obeyed the person dressed in smart clothes. A person in a guard uniform is more likely to be perceived as a legitimate authority figure.
10
Q
Positives: Authoritarian Personalities (2)
A
+ Miller (1975) found that people who scored high on the F Scale were more likely to obey an order to hold onto some electric wiring while working on an
arithmetic problem, compared to people who scored low it.
+ Altemeyer (1981) ordered participants to give themselves increasing levels of electric shocks when they made a mistake on a learning task. There was a
significant correlation between those willing to shock themselves and high scores on the F Scale.
11
Q
Negatives: Authoritarian Personalities (3)
A
- Situational variables may be more important than dispositional ones. Milgram has conducted several variations of his original experiments with vastly
different results. Obedience was 100% when Mr Wallace made no noise (e.g. no screams or requests to leave). However, the obedience rate was 0% when there
were two authority figures who disagreed with each other (one wanted the teacher to continue, the other wanted them to stop). - Dispositional explanations cannot explain obedience in entire societies, because authoritarian personalities are not common. Far fewer than 65% of people have authoritarian personalities, so it cannot be the only explanation for the level of obedience found in the original Milgram (1963) study.
- It is possible that rather than authoritarian personality causing obedience, a lack of education causes an authoritarian personality AND obedience. Middendorp and Meleon (1990) have found that less educated people are more likely to have an authoritarian personality and Milgram (1974) found that participants with lower levels of education were more obedient.
12
Q
Positives: Social Support theory (2)
A
- When the disobedient role model refused to shock Mr Wallace in Milgram’s experiment, only 10% of participants to deliver electric shocks up to 450V
- When a confederate acted like an ally in Asch’s study, conformity dropped from 33% to 5%
13
Q
Negatives: Social Support Theory (1)
A
- In the original experiments on conformity and obedience, some participants were still able to resist social influence with no social support, so it is not a full explanation for resistance to social influence.
14
Q
Positives: Internal locus of control (2)
A
- Oliner and Oliner found Germans who sheltered Jewish people in nazi germany were more likely to have an internal locus of control.
- Milgram got his participants to measure their locus of control with a questionnaire and found that the 35% of people who disobeyed were far more likely to have an internal locus of control than those who had obeyed.
15
Q
Negatives: Internal locus of control (1)
A
Williams and Warchal found that conformers were less assertive than non-conformers, and the two groups did not score differently on a test to determine their locus of control, suggesting that assertiveness is more important than locus of control.
16
Q
Positives: Moscovici’s Minority Influence
A
Moscovici told 172 female participants they were taking part in a colour perception task. They were placed in groups of 6 with other participants, 2 of which were confederates. They were shown 36 slides that were varying shades of blue and had to state out loud what colour the slides were. In the consistent condition, confederates said the slide was green in all 36 slides and swayed the minority 8.2% of the time. In the inconsistent condition, confederates said 24 of the slides were green and 12 were blue and participants only went along 1.25% of the time
17
Q
Negatives: Moscovici’s Minority Influence (4)
A
- Gender bias: Only used women
- Cultural bias: All the participants were from America, and as a result the findings cannot be generalised to the rest of the population
- Most of the studies on minority influence are done in a lab setting. Participants in a lab are in an unknown environment with people they do not know, which would not happen in real life
- Ethical Issues: They deceived participants into the true nature of their experiment, therefore not getting their informed consent. Although, it was crucial to avoid demand characteristics and increase the validity.
18
Q
Positive: Baddeley’s coding experiments (1)
A
This study is a lab experiment and reliability is high meaning it can easily be replicated.
19
Q
Negatives: Baddeley’s coding experiments (1)
A
The experiment has low ecological validity, as the list of words participants needed to recall was artificial as was the lab setting.
20
Q
Positives: Jacob’s capacity experiment (1)
A
Jacobs research was first to acknowledge that STM capacity gradually improves with age.
21
Q
Negatives: Jacob’s STM capacity experiment (1)
A
This study was conducted a long time ago, so may not have been done to the same scientifically rigorous standard as research today, and therefore the validity can be questioned.
22
Q
Positives: Peterson & Peterson STM duration experiment (1)
A
The research is said to have high control, using standardised procedures to make sure all participants experienced the same process. This included fixed timings, eliminating noise etc.
23
Q
Negatives: Peterson & Peterson STM duration experiment (1)
A
The findings may have been caused by interference rather than STM having short duration. It is possible that earlier learn trigrams became confused with later ones.
24
Q
Positives: Bahrick’s LTM duration experiment (1)
A
High ecological validity as material was more meaningful and relevant to everyday life
25
Negative: Bahrick's LTM duration experiment (1)
It’s problematic to control extraneous variables such as people staying in touch after they left school or how many participants looked in their yearbook since leaving school.
26
Positives: MSM Neurobiological Evidence (2)
- Scoville attempted to treat HM's epilepsy by removing several brain areas, including his hippocampus where LTM is stored. This resulted in HM being unable to code new long term memories, while his short term memory is unaffected. This supports the idea of separate LTM and STM.
- Shallice and Warrington reported the case of KF who was in a motorcycle accident, and had reduced STM capacity of only one or two digits, but his LTM was unaffected. This supports the idea of separate LTM and STM. However, KF had poor STM for verbal tasks, not visual tasks and this suggests there is different types of STM, unlike the multi store model of memory suggests. In addition, according to MSM, LTM are retrieved by STM, so if ST, is damaged, it should be difficult to retrieve LTM. However, KF was able to access LTM without any difficulty.
27
Positives: MSM Lab experiments (1)
Murdock presented participants with a long list of words to be recalled in any order, this was referred to as the free recall experiment. Words at the beginning and the end of the lists were recalled better than those in the middle. This is called serial position effect. Words at the beginning of the list are recalled because they have been constantly rehearsed and transferred to LTM (the primacy effect) while words at the end of the list are recalled because they are still in STM (the recency effect). This supports the idea of separate STM and LTM.
28
Negatives: MSM (2)
- The MSM is over simplified in assuming that there is only one type of STM and one type of LTM. Research studies indicate that there are several types of STM, such as one for verbal information (phonological loop) and another for non-verbal information (visuo-spatial sketchpad). Research also suggests that there are several types of LTM (episodic, semantic, procedural).
- Baddeley and Hitch claimed the MSM could not explain the ability to multi task, if there is only one type of STM, then multitasking would not be possible. However, people multitask all the time.
29
Positive: WMM Neurobiological evidence (1)
Shallice and Warrington reported the case of KF, who was in a motorbike accident, had poor STM for verbal words, but not visual words. This suggests there was more than one type of STM, as the WMM suggests. It shows we have a type of STM for verbal and visual tasks.
30
Positive: WMM Lab Experiments (2)
- Baddeley and hitch gave participants a dual task. they were asked to complete a reasoning task which uses the central executive, at the same time as a reading aloud task, which uses the phonological loop. Participants could do both tasks simultaneously very well, supporting the idea of separate STM compartments.
- Baddeley et al gave participants brief visual presentations of lists of words. These words were made up either of short words or long words. They were asked to recall the list immediately in the correct order. It was found that participants could recall more short words than long ones. Baddeley called this the word length affect and concluded that it supports the idea that the phonological loop can hold as many iteams as can be said in 1.5 to 2 seconds rather than being limited by 7 (+/-2) items as MSM argues.
31
Positive: WMM General (1)
The WMM has practical applications. It has improved understanding of how people learn to read and so helped psychologists to assist those with Dyslexia who struggle with reading.
32
Negative: WMM (1)
Several psychologists have criticised the WMM because they think the idea of a central executive is vague and untestable. Damasio presented the case of EVR who had a cerebral brain tumour removed. He had good reasoning skills which suggested his central executive was intact, but he could not make decisions, suggesting it was damaged. This case study strongly indicates that the central executive is more complicated than WMM claims.
33
Positive: Types of long term memory (3)
- Evidence has come from patients with amnesia. Typically, they are unable to store new episodic or semantic memories, but their procedural memory appears to be largely unaffected
- Scientific evidence captured from brain scans supports the view that there are different types of LTM. When asking patients to recall different types of information, different parts of the brain can be seen being used on the fMRI.
- Case studies offer support of different types of LTM e.g Cliver wearing damaged his hippocampus, so he has no episodic memory and cannot form new semantic memories, while his procedural memory is intact.
34
Negative: Types of long term memory (1)
- Research into different types of LTM have typically been conducted on individual patients. While case studies are highly detailed and provide a lot of information, they are isolated cases of the individual. It would be inaccurate and inappropriate to assume that everyones LTM is formed int the same way. Findings cannot be generalised.
35
Positives: Interference Theory (3)
- Underwood (1957) investigated proactive interference. He found that participants who learned ten lists of words could only recall 20% of the words from the first list the next day. Participants who learned one list of words recalled over 70% of the words the next day
- McGeoch and McDonald (1931) demonstrated retroactive interference. They gave participants lists of words that they had to learn until they could recall them with 100% accuracy. Participants then learned a new list. This list was either synonyms or antonyms of the original list. Participants given the list of synonyms had the worst recall. Learning two lists of words that have the same meaning would cause interference.
- This theory has practical applications. Students should be made aware of this theory so that they do not attempt to revise similar content/subjects at the same time, as this will make interference more likely to occur.
36
Negatives: Interference Theory (2)
- When interference occurs, the loss of information may only be temporary, therefore interference is not a true explanation for forgetting because the information is not actually over written and is still in LTM.
- Some psychologists argue that retrieval failure is a much better explanation of forgetting in everyday life than interference. This theory states that we forget when there are not enough retrieval cues to help us remember. Godden and Baddely (1975) got divers to learn and recall word lists on either dry land or underwater. Results showed that words learn and recalled in the same context were better remembered as there were retrieval cues in the environment to help them remember the words.
37
Positives: Retrieval Failure (4)
- Abernethy tested participants recall using a mixture of familiar instructors and teaching rooms. Participants were tested by a familiar instructor in a familiar room, performed the best because the instructor and room acted as retrieval cues.
- Gooden and Baddeley (1975) also demonstrated the importance of context-dependent cues. They asked divers to learn and recall work lists on dry land and underwater. Results showed that words learnt and recalled in the same context were better remembered as there were retrieval cues to help them remember the words.
- Darley et al (1973) showed the importance of state-dependent cues.They found that participants who hid money in a large warehouse while under the influence of cannabis were more likely to recall the hiding place when in a similar drugged state.
- Retrieval Failure has practical applications. Whenever possible students should learn/revise in the room, in which they will take their final exams.
38
Negatives: Retrieval Failure (1)
Baddeley (1997) argues that the influence of retrieval cues is not actually very strong. In real life, we often recall something in a different context to where we learnt it. For instance, students do not often take their GCSE examinations in the classroom where they learned the information they need for that exam.
39
Positives: Leading questions (1)
It is a lab experiment and therefore highly controlled. Reduced extraneous variables, increasing validity. It is also more reliable as it can be easily replicated.
40
Negatives: Leading questions (2)
- Questionable ecological validity. People who actually witness a car crash might have a stronger emotional connection to the event, and may not be as susceptible to leading questions
- Lacks population validity (45 American students). Students are less experienced drivers. Unable to generalise results. Older and more experienced drivers may be more accurate in their judgements of speeds and therefore less susceptible to leading questions.
41
Positive: Post event discussion (1)
Has population validity. Students and older adults were compared and there were no significant differences between these two groups. This allows us to conclude that post-event discussion affects younger and older adults in a similar way.
42
Negative: Post event discussion (1)
This study lacks ecological validity. The participants knew they were taking part in an experiment and they therefore are more likely to have paid close attention to the details of the video clip. The results do not reflect real life where witnesses may be exposed to less information.
43
Positive: Loftus' Anxiety Study (1)
This study is supported by Loftus and Burns (1982) other research. They had two groups. One group watched a violent short film where a boy was shot in the head. The other group watched a non-violent short film of a crime. Participants were less accurate in recall when they saw the short film with a gun than those who watched the non-violent movie.
44
Negative: Loftus' Anxiety Study (3)
- This study lacks ecological validity. Although they were waiting in the reception area outside the lab, they may have anticipated that something was going to happen, which could have affected the accuracy of their judgements and the validity of the study.
- This study violated numerous ethical guidelines. The participants were deceived about the nature of the experiment and were not protected from psychological harm. The participants were exposed to a man who they were lead to believe had just killed someone, holding a bloodied knife, which could have caused them extreme distress. Participants may have left the experiment feeling exceptionally stressed, especially if they, or someone they knew had been involved in knife crime.
- There are individual differences in how anxiety affects memory. Some people actually have better recall when they are anxious. Cristianson and Hubinette (1983) conducted a research study using 110 real life eyewitnesses who had witnessed 1 of 22 bank robberies. Someone were onlookers and some were bank clerks who had been directly threatened by the robber. It was found that victims were more accurate than onlookers in their description of the bank robbers.
45
Positive: Cognitive Interview (2)
- Geiselman et al showed participants a video of a simulated crime and tested recall using the cognitive interview, standard interview or hypnosis. The cognitive interview led to the most information being recalled by the eyewitness
- Fisher et al trained real police officers in Miami to use the cognitive interview. They found a 46% increase in the amount of information witnesses gave. 90% of the information that could be verified was accurate
46
Negative: Cognitive Interview (3)
- Koehnken et al found witnesses recalled more incorrect information when interviewed with the cognitive interview compared to the standard interview technique, perhaps because more detailed recall increases the chance of making a mistake
- The cognitive interview is time consuming to implement and police officers do not often have the time, training and resources to use it
- Memon et al reported that police officers believed that Recall from changed perspective stage of the cognitive interview misleads witnesses into speculating about the event they witnessed rather than reporting what they actually saw.
47
Positive: Caregiver infant interactions (3)
- Interactional Synchrony has been demonstrated in several studies. Meltzoff and Moore found infants as young as 3 days old were displaying this behaviour, which seems to suggest that imitation behaviours are not learnt, but they are innate.
- Murray and Trevarthen got mothers to interact with their babies over a video monitor. They then played a video of the mother, so they were not interacting with the baby. The babies tried to get their mothers attention, but when that failed, they stopped trying, showing infants want mothers to reciprocate.
- Abravanal and DeYong observed infant behaviour when interacting with a puppet that looked like a human mouth opening and closing. Infants made little response to this showing they aren’t imitating what they see, but interactional synchrony is a specific social response.
48
Negative: Caregiver infant interactions (6)
- Babies cannot communicate so psychologsts are relying on their inferences. They cannot be sure that infants are actually trying to communicate
- The expressions that were tested were ones that infants frequently make so they may not have been deliberately imitating what they saw (sticking out tongue, yawning, smiling)
- Babies attachment behaviours are stronger in lab settings than at home, so studies should take place at home to increase validity
- Most studies are observational so there may be a bias in the interpretation of what they see (observer bias) (more than one observer?)
- Practical issues. Infants are often asleep or feeding so researchers need to use fewer but shorter observation periods because of babies limited waking periods.
- Extra care needs to be taken in relation to ethics when investigating caregiver-infant interactions so as not to affect the child or parent in any way.
49
Negative: Stages of Attachment (5)
- The data collected may be unreliable because it was based on the mothers' reports of their infants. Some mothers might have been less sensitive to their infants protests and therefore less likely to report them.
- The sample was biased because it was only included infants from a working-class population and thus the findings might not apply to other social groups
- The sample was also biased because it only included infants from individualist cultures, infants from collectivist cultures could form attachments differently.
- The study does not have temporal validity as parental care has changed considerably since 1960s. More women go to work and more men stay at home
- Stage theories such as this one are inflexible and do not take account of individual differences, some infants might form multiple attachment first, rather than starting with a single attachment.
50
Positive: Strange Situation (1)
The strange situation has been replicated many times over the years. It is easy to replicate this study because it had a high level of control and standardised procedures. It has been carried out successfully in many different cultures.
51
Negative: Strange Situation (4)
- This study was done in the USA, and may be culturally biased. Healthy USA attachment styles may been seen differently in other cultures. In Germany, very few mothers worked, but children were encouraged to be independent and self-reliant. German parents would not reward crying when they left the room.
- The validity of some measures has been questioned for instance, it could be argued that proximity seeking could be a measure of insecurity rather than security.
- The strange situation is gender biased as it has only ever been carried out using mothers as the caregiver. Children might be insecurely attached to their mothers, but securely attached to their fathers. The strange situation is therefore not measuring a child’s overall attachment style but their attachment to one individual. Main and Weston found that children behave differently depending on which parent they are with.
- The strange situation being artificial is that it may not reflect the infants real world behaviour (lacks ecological validity). Students have found that babies’ attachment behaviours are much stronger in lab settings than at home.
52
Positive: Cross Cultural Variations (1)
a Meta-Analysis is a very large sample, increasing the validity.
53
Negative: Cross Cultural Variations (4)
- Methodology was developed in the US and may not be valid by other cultures, meaning it may be culturally biased
- The infants from Israel lived in a closed community and did not come into contact with strangers. This could be the reason why these infants showed extreme stranger anxiety, and were classed as resistant.
- This study wasn’t comparing cultures, but countries. Many countries have different subcultures and have different child rearing practices. One study found Tokyo had similar attachment styles to USA, compared to the more rural areas of Japan.
- All of the studies looked at infants attachments to their mothers, but children might be securely attached to their fathers. The strange situation is therefore not measuring a child’s attachment style but their attachment to one individual. Main and Weston found that children behave differently depending on which parent they are with.
54
Positive: Learning theory of attachment (1)
Learning theory is plausible and scientific as it is founded in established theory. It is likely that association between the provision of needs and the person providing those needs can lead to strong attachments.
55
Negative: Learning theory of attachment (4)
- Harlow separated infant Rhesus monkeys from their mothers and put them in cages. Milk was provided either by a wire mesh surrogate mother or one made of comfortable soft cloth. The monkeys clung to the soft cloth mother, especially when scared by an aversive stimulus even if it did not provide milk. This suggests that comfort is more important that food in determining whom a baby will attach to.
- Schaffer and Emerson (1964) also found that food is not necessary for attachment to form. They discovered that babies are often attached to people who play with them, rather than people who feed them. In 29% of cases even though the mother was the one who fed the baby, the baby was more attached to someone else.
- This theory explains how attachments form but not why they form. According to Bowlby’s theory of attachment, infants form an attachment to their caregiver to ensure they are protected.
- Learning theory is environmentally reductionist as it explains a complex human behaviour in an overly simplistic way. The infant and caregiver relationship is a very varied, sophisticated and complicated behaviour, and there are many different types of infant and caregiver attachment. Therefore it is very unlikely that attachment is merely the result of the caregiver providing the infant with food. Learning theory is environmentally deterministic because it states that early learning determines later attachment behaviours.
56
Negative: Bowlby's Monotropic Theory (5)
- Schaffer and Emerson suggest multiple attachments are more common in babies rather than monotropy. They found that by 18 months only 13% of infants had only 1 person they were attached to
- Feminists pointed out the idea of monotropy is socially sensitive, as it places a lot of burden and responsibility on mothers, setting them up for the blame if anything goes wrong in their infant life. It also puts pressure on mothers to stay at home and give up their careers. Bowlby also underestimated the role of the father as he saw it as primarily economic. This is an outdated sexist view and many families view both parents as equal.
- Tizard and Hodges found that children who had never formed any attachments by the age of four and were then adopted, could still form attachments to their new adopted parents, going against the idea of the critical period.
- it is impossible to test Bowlby’s arguement that attachment has persisted in the same form throughout evolutionary history, making it unscientific.
- Kegan disagreed with Bowlby about the quality of an infants attachment being determined by the caregivers sensitivity. He explained infants attachments to their caregivers in terms of their innate temperament. According to his theory, some infants are better suited to forming attachments due to their innate characteristics. Rovine found that infants who had been judged to have signs of behavioural instability between 1 and 3 days old were more likely to develop an insecure attachment.
57
Positive: Maternal Deprivation (3)
- Before Bowlby’s theory hospitals would not allow parents to visit their children during stays in hospital or would only allow short infrequent visits. This often had a profound and damaging effect on the child. Nowadays parents are actively encouraged to stay in hospital with their children.
- Spitz examined children raised in a poor quality orphanage in South America. Members of staff were over worked, under trained and rarely gave the children any attention or affection. The children displayed anaclitic depression (loss of appetite, sleeplessness and sadness)
- Skodak and Skeels found that children placed in insitutions that only looked after them physically scored poorly on intelligence tests. However, when the same children were transferred to a different institution which gave the children emotional care, their IQ improved by almost 30 points.
58
Negative: Maternal Deprivation (2)
- The effects of maternal deprivation have been shown to be reversible. Children who had never formed attachments and were adopted at the age of four were still able to form attachments to their new parents
- Bowlby did not really distinguish between deprivation (when the attachment figure is lost) and privation (when the child has never formed an attachment). It could be the latter that causes the extreme negative effects observed in some studies.
59
Positives: Institutionalisation (2)
- Studies into institutionalisation have enhanced our understanding of the potential negative consequences of institutional care and has led to the establishment of key workers in institutions to provide emotional care for children.
- Studies into institutionalisation have also lead to changes in the adoption process. In the past, mothers were encouraged to nurse their children for as long as possible before giving them up for adoption. Today, most babies are adopted within their first week of life.
60
Negatives: Institutionalisation (3)
- There are problems when generalising findings of studies of Romanian orphans as standards of care were particularly poor in Romanian orphanages. They were faced with much more than emotional deprivation. The physical conditions were appalling and there was a lack of cognitive stimulation. It is likely that long-term damage from institutional care only occurs when there are multiple risk factors.
- It is possible that the negative effects of institutional care can be reduced by sensitive parenting. Le Mare and Audet conducted a longitudinal study of 36 Romanian orphans adopted to families in Canada. They were physically smaller than a matched control group at age 4 but this disappeared at age 10. Same was try for psychological health.
- Adoption and control groups were not randomly allocated to conditions in studies of Romanian orphans. This means that participant variables between the children could influence the findings in unanticipated ways. The adopted children might have been adopted because of personal characteristics such as being more social. These characteristics might explain why they were less affected by institutional care, lowering the validity of the research.
61
Positive: Harlow (1)
Schaffer and Emerson also found that food was not necessary for an attachment to form. They discovered that babies are often attached to people who play with them, rather than people who feed them. In 39% of cases even though the mother was the one who fed the baby, the baby was more attached to someone else
62
Negative: Harlow (3)
- This study could be considered unethical. The monkeys were removed from their mothers, which would have been very traumatic, and they were deliberately scared to see how they would react. This led to long term emotional harm, when these monkeys were older and encountered other monkeys. They either froze or fled, and had difficultly caring for their own young as they had not been cared for themselves.
- It is problematic to generalise the findings from this study to attachment in human infants. What applied to a non human species does not necessarily apply to human infants. Humans are physiologically very different from monkeys as well as having various other influences that monkeys do not have such as culture, society, peers, upbringing etc
- The attachment bond between human infants and their attachment figures is far more complex than it is in monkeys, For instance, there are several different types of attachment styles that human infants can have (secure, avoidant, resistant)
63
Positive: Lorenz (1)
Other studies support the idea that animals are born with an instinct to attach to the first moving object. Gutton demonstrated the chickens exposed to yellow rubber gloves during feeding in their first few weeks of life imprinted on the gloves.
64
Negative: Lorenz (1)
Imprinting is more reversible than Lorenz thought. Gutton found that he could reverse the imprinting in chicken that had initially tried to mate with the yellow rubber gloves. After spending time with their own species they were able to engage in normal sexual behaviour with other chickens.
65
Positive: Sroufe et al (1)
This study is reliable. Simpson et al found similar results. They assessed infant attachment styles at one year of age. Several studies found that children who were securely attached as infants were rated as having higher social competence as children and were closer to their friends aged 16
66
Negative: Sroufe et al (2)
- This study claims that early experiences have a fixed effect on later childhood relationships and therefore children who are insecurely attached as infants are doomed to experience emotional unsatisfactory relationships as children. It is therefore deterministic (does not take account of peoples free will to make conscious decisions about their behaviour).
- There are lots of studies which contradict the claim that early attachment affects later childhood relationships. Tizard and Hodges found that children raised in care who had never formed any attachments by the age of 4 and then were adopted could still form attachments to their new adopted parents.
67
Negative: Hazan and Shaver (3)
- This study is unreliable, several other studies have failed to find the strong correlation between infant attachment style and adult attachment style. Fraley (2002) conducted a review of 27 samples where infants were assessed in infancy and later reassessed (Ranging from one month to 20 years later). He found correlations ranging from 0.5 too as low as 1.
- This study is correlational rather than experimental and therefore we cannot determine cause and effect. It is impossible to say that infant attachment styles determine adult attachment styles. It could be that there is a third variable that affects both such as a persons innate temperament.
- This study relies on participants memories about their early lives in order to assess their infant attachment style. Such recollections are likely to be flawed because our memories of the past are not always accurate, making the study not valid
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Positive: Deviation from social norms (1)
It distinguishes a difference between desirable and non desirable behaviour in society. The model aims to protect members of society form the affects of abnormal behaviour.
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Negative: Deviation from social norms (2)
- Abnormality does not always clearly indicate a person has a psychological abnormality. Psychologists must be cautious when making judgements about whether someone is abnormal or just odd/eccentric.
- Context must be taken into account when judging if a behaviour is deviant e.g wearing no clothes in a public place in contrast to a nudist beach.
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Positive: Failure to function adequately (1)
It allows psychologists to accurately assess the degree of abnormality and how well the patient is or is not coping with their daily life. If the patient is functioning well in everyday life, it can be concluded that they do not have an abnormality
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Negative: Failure to function adequately (2)
- The 7 criteria can be very difficult to measure and analyse. The model is subjective and lacks scientific and objective insight, meaning psychologists need to be cautious when assessing. There may also be occasions when the model should be altered due to context.
- Abnormality is not always accompanied by dysfunction. Some people may have a psychological abnormality and still appear to lead a normal life and not possess any of the 7 criteria. On the other hand, some people may not have an abnormality and perhaps just having a bad day. Failure to function adequately may be an inaccurate definition of abnormality.
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Positive: Statistical Infrequency (2)
- Having an IQ score above 130 is not negative behaviour, but actually quite positive and desirable. Statistical infrequency can be a good thing.
- Judgements are based on objective, scientific and unbiased data that can help indicate abnormality.
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Negative: Statistical Infrequency (2)
- It involves labelling people as abnormal, and in a negative manner by other members of society, having a negative impact on how they view themselves. It could affect self esteem and self confidence, leading to other problems.
- The cut off point is subjective between normality and abnormality, e.g abnormal is 70, but normal is 71. The cut off point can be questioned
74
Positive: Deviation from ideal mental health (2)
- It is positive and productive. It focuses on ideal or optimal criteria that we should aim and strive for. It can be seen as a therapeutic goal that humans should strive for and aim to achieve. Self actualisation is a positive trait that every human should try to accomplish if possible.
- It highlights and targets areas of dysfunction that the patient can improve on. This can be useful when treating different types of disorders (e.g lacking in self-attitudes might cause a lack of positive thinking, putting them at risk of depression).
75
Negative: Deviation from ideal mental health (2)
- It can viewed as problematic as the criteria are hard to measure, and based off abstract concepts. It is hard to pin point a specific time to say the criteria have not been met and the person is therefore abnormal. It is not scientific or objective.
- Problematic as very few people can achieve all 6 criteria at once. Many of us would be abnormal, making it 'normal' to be 'abnormal'. The ideal is very hard to meet.
76
Positive: Classical conditioning and Little Albert (1)
King (1998) supports the ideas proposed by classical conditioning. He found that children acquire phobias by encountering traumatic experiences with the phobic object.
77
Negative: Classical conditioning and Little Albert (3)
- Little Alberts study was only conducted once and they were not repeated. It cannot be repeated nowadays due to ethical concerns, and it can be questioned if the same results would be produced.
- Some people have phobias without a traumatic experience, and some people go through a traumatic experience and not develop a phobia, so classical conditioning does not explain how all phobias develop
- Menzies studies people will a phobia of water, and only 2% of his sample had a traumatic experience with water due to classical conditioning.
78
Positives: Two process model to learning attachment (2)
- Bandura got an audience to witness a man in pain whenever he heard a buzzer noise. Later on, when the participants heard the noise, they acted as if they were in pain and gave the same reaction.
- It is two clear steps that highlight how phobias are learnt and maintained. The process seems to be an accurate way in explaining how phobias can be learnt overall.
79
Negative: Two process model to learning attachment (2)
- It is limited as it ignores other factors that could cause phobias. It doesn't take biological or evolutionary factors into account.
- Social learning does not explain how adults develop phobias, as the model is only limited to animals and children.
80
Positives: SD (3)
- Jones supports the use of SD, as he helped Little Peter get over a phobia of white rabbits
- Kllosko et al found 87% of patients were panic free after SD, compared to 50% from meditation, 36% receiving a placebo and 33% receiving no treatment at all.
- SD is less traumatic than flooding, and therefore less ethical implications, and less upsetting for the patient
81
Negatives: SD (2)
- Real life step-by-step scenarios are hard to arrange and control. SD may be very hard to apply to real life situations and can question the effectiveness of the therapy
- Symptom substitution may occur, where other abnormal behaviours replace the ones that have been removed. Some people believe underlying causes of the phobia may remain.
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Positives: Flooding (2)
- Cost effective, compared to SD which takes months or years to work. Phobia is over as soon as possible, making it cheaper and cost effective.
- The results from flooding can be applied to everyday life outside of the therapy session, as it delivers immediate improvements for phobic patients.
83
Negative: Flooding (2)
- Less effective for some phobias such as social phobia, which are better cured with cognitive methods
- Highly traumatic experience and patients may be unwilling to continue with the therapy till the end. Time, money and resources may be wasted.
84
Positives: Cognitive Triad (3)
- Very influential through out psychology, as it is sound, experimental research
- Mix behavioural and cognitive together for the CB approach.
- Lots of experiments to prove this theory. Terry assessed 65 pregnant women for depression after birth and women who had high cognitive vulnerability were more likely to think negatively.
85
Negative: Cognitive Triad (3)
- Cause and effect is not clear e.g does irrational thoughts cause depression, or does irrational thoughts come from depression.
- Behavioural approach would disagree and argue with this
- It fails to mention how some symptoms of depression may develop e.g bizarre beliefs
86
Negative: Cognitive Triad (3)
- Cause and effect is not clear e.g does irrational thoughts cause depression, or does irrational thoughts come from depression.
- Behavioural approach would disagree and argue with this
- It fails to mention how some symptoms of depression may develop e.g bizarre beliefs
87
Positive: Ellis ABC model (3)
- Bates found that negative thoughts and statements given to depressed patients made them more depressed, supporting the view that negative thinking causes depression. This helps provide effective treatments for curing depression
- Based on scientific evidence that permits objective testing. Allows for updates and improvements on the model.
- Evidence supports that adults with depression experienced insecure attachments in childhood
88
Negative: Ellis ABC model (3)
- Cause and effect is not clear e.g does irrational thoughts cause depression, or does irrational thoughts come from depression.
- The model blames the client when looking at the causes of depression. Psychologists would examine negative, irrational thoughts alone as a cause for depression and not external factors
- The biological approach suggests genes and neurotransmitters cause depression, and found there is a gene related to depression, making it 10x more likely that person will develop the illness.
89
Positive: CBT (4)
- It is a long term cure of depression. Less likely to suffer a relapse than other treatments such as meditation. Cost effective for NHS.
- It tends to get to the root of the depressive problem. Other treatments do not do this, and act as a plaster to temporarily cover symptoms.
- Widely respected and supported. Economical compared to other treatments.
- Stops mild depression from getting worse
90
Negative: CBT (2)
- The most popular treatment for depression is anti-depressents, as they are less effort than CBT.
- CBT cannot help with very severe depression, and drugs/medication may be more appropriate.
91
Positive: Ellis REBT (2)
- Flannaghan supports REBT for treating depressive stroke victims. This suggests that REBT is suitable for specific groups of people with depression and help them become more positive.
- Research evidence. David compared 170 depressed patients after 14 weeks of REBT with depressive patients being treated with drugs. REBT was proven to be more successful over 6 months than drugs
92
Negative: Ellis REBT (3)
- Cause and effect is hard to establish. It is unclear to see if negative thinking is the cause of depression or merely a symptom. If it is only a symptom, then REBT is not tackling the root cause of depression, meaning it hasn't been cured properly.
- It depends on the patient being able to articulate and talk about their thought processes coherently, and therefore wouldn't work with people who are unable to talk properly or fell uncomfortable talking about it.
- Success of treatment depends on the skill of the therapist. The more skilled the therapist, the more positive the outcome. Psychologists need to be highly skilled and develop a good rapport with their client in order to be successful
93
Positive: Genetic Explanations of OCD (2)
- Nestadt found people who had a first degree relative who already had OCD were 5x more likely to get it, supporting genetic explanations.
- Billett found from a meta analysis of 14 twin studies that OCD is 2x as likely to be concordant in MZ twins compared to DZ twins, supporting genetic transmissions.
94
Negative: Genetic Explanations of OCD (1)
The concordance rate for OCD in MZ twins is not 100%, so genetic explanations cannot be a full cause of OCD
95
Positive: Neural Explanations of OCD (1)
Anti-depressant drugs increase serotonin levels in OCD patients and this leads to a reduction in OCD symptoms, so it is good evidence to suggest that low levels of serotonin could be a cause for OCD
96
Negative: Neural Explanations of OCD (1)
Cause and effect problem: Does OCD cause high dopamine and low serotonin or does high dopamine and low serotonin cause OCD?
97
Positive: SSRI's (2)
- Soomro reviewed 17 studies that compared SSRIs to placebos and found all the studies showed SSRIs were more effective, especially when combines with CBT
- 70% of OCD patients experienced a decline in symptoms after SSRIs. The remaining 30% opted for psychological therapies or a mix of biological and cognitive therapies
98
Negative: SSRIs (1)
SSRIs have severe side effects that might make the patient stop taking them e.g indigestion, blurred vision and loss of sex drive
99
Positive: BZs (1)
BZ drugs can reduce anxiety and OCD symptoms in a short period of time, compared to CBT, so the patient has immediate relief
100
Negative: BZs (3)
- If BZ drugs are used long term then side effects can occur such as: drowsiness, depression, unpredictable interactions with alcohol.
- Ashton found that long term users of BZ became very dependent on BZ, and withdrawal of the drug leads to a return of high levels of anxiety and OCD symptoms, so it is just a temporary solution
- Tolerance is also a problem, whereby patients need to take larger and larger doses of the drug to reduce symptoms, as their body gets used to the drug
