introductory topics questions

Question 1

give one strengths and one weakness of schema?

Answer 1

• allows us to take in vast amounts of info by filling in gaps eg more information for EWT
• however causes us to exclude specific information which could lead to a building of stereotypes

Question 2

covert

Answer 2

a research method where the researcher observes participants without their knowledge

Question 3

overt

Answer 3

a research method where the participants being observed are aware that they are being watched

Question 4

participant observation

Answer 4

a research method where the researcher immerses themselves in a social setting or group, actively participating in the activities while also observing and documenting the behaviors, interactions, and practices of the participants.

Question 5

low internal validity

Answer 5

means a lack of control

Question 6

low external validity

Answer 6

lacks generalisability to everyday life

Question 7

give three evaluation points for research into minority influence

Answer 7

• Martin et al said people less likely to change their opinion if they had listened to a minority group vs majority showing deeper processing is involved - unrealistic, majorities have more power in real life
• methodology of moscovici research, artificial tasks lack mundane realism and therefore study has low internal validity.
• minority influence has low power, moscovici study the figure was only 8% conformity fully so rare but when participants right down their answer it they were most likely to agree with minority view

Question 8

what is standardisation

Answer 8

the process of establishing and implementing uniform guidelines, criteria, or specifications for participants in a study

Question 9

what is randomisation

Answer 9

assigning ppts to random groups

Question 10

describe zimbardo’s study through research method terminology

Answer 10

• controlled observation
• participant observation

Question 11

discuss research into affects of anxiety on EWT

Answer 11

A01 - negative effect
- Describe Johnson & Scott study
- 2 conditions, 49% chose correct picture with no-weapon, 33% chose correct picture with weapon

positive affect
- Yuille & Cutshall investigated gun shooting in canada, four to five months after interviews
ppts with more stress recalled 88% whereas less stress recalled 75%

A03 - Johnson & Scott may not have tested anxiety instead they were surprised - Pickel EWT was less in unusualness (chicken&handgun)

A03 - support for negative effect
- a study divided ppts into high and low anxiety groups
- anxiety affected recall of the actor in the dungeon’s labyrinth

A03 - support for positive affects
- witnesses to bank robberies in sweden were interviewed some directly some indirectly involved.
- researchers assumed directly involved have most anxiety and it was found they had higher recall.

Question 12

evaluate biological approach

Answer 12

A01
- views humans as biological organisms
- genotype & phenotype
Gottesman found higher concordance rate for schizophrenia in MZ twins vs DZ twins and other relatives

A03
- Scientific methods + high control + repliclicability eg empirical data and scientific key words used, lots of detailed research

A03
- Lots of practical application e.g effective drug treatments for mental illnesses , fMRI scans and PET scans help people

A03
- Deterministic approach - behaviours governed by biological structures eg neurochemistry/brain structure.
- could lead to removing blame for criminals so should account for some free will

Question 13

Discuss consistency and flexibility as processes involved in minority influence.

Answer 13

A01
- consistency, 2 types
- flexibility

A03
- Nemeth - importance of consistency
2 conditions

A03
- 8% responses identified blue slide as green when consistent much higher than inconsistent which was 1.25%

A03
- Lab studies lack ecological validity

Question 14

explain retrieval failure as an explanation of forgetting. Outline one limitation of this

Answer 14

• lack of cues information cant be accessed from LTM
• tulvings encoding specificity principle
• limitation: Godden & Baddeley’s deep sea diver study lacks internal validity and control

Question 15

Describe effect of post-event discussion in accuracy of EWT

Answer 15

• witnesses discuss experience
• leads to memory contamination or memory conformity - social approval
• loses source monitoring

A03
- Gabbert (71%) ppts mistakenly recalled informaition from the discussion

• memory conformity and memory contamination are both to do with cognitivity which is difficult to distinguish
• lots of the research lacks ecological validity and unrealistic to real life where witnesses wouldn’t have experienced that much info