Moray (1959)

Question 1

describe the background for morays research

Answer 1

• (1950s) aviation becoming popular, air traffic controllers found it difficult to listen to one pilot and ignore incoming messages from others. likelihood of catastrophes increased.
• (1955) Cherry interested in how people put up an international barrier at a party with multiple conversations going on
  ‘cocktail party effect’ theorised, this barrier is only broken by the sound of your name

Question 2

define the cocktail party effect

Answer 2

we would hear a conversation outside our ‘barrier’ only when our name is said within a crowded room

Question 3

define Dichotic listening

Answer 3

headphones are worn by a participant and a different message is played to each ear

Question 4

define shadowing

Answer 4

when a participant is told to focus on a piece of text and repeat it out loud as they hear it

Question 5

define affective instructions

Answer 5

when a person is asked to do something, proceeded by their name being said

Question 6

define non-affective instructions

Answer 6

when a person is asked to do something but their name is not being used

Question 7

what is the aim of Morays study ——–

Answer 7

to provide a vigorous empirical test of Cherrys findings

Question 8

name the apparatus used in all experiments

Answer 8

Brenell mark IV stereophonic tape recorder, headphones

Question 9

describe the sample used in experiment one

Answer 9

• undergraduate students + research workers
• both genders
• from oxford university

Question 10

describe the procedure of experiment one

Answer 10

• short list of simple words spoken 35 times as the ‘rejected’ or ‘blocked’ message
• at end of shadowing task, participants asked to remember what they remember of the ‘rejected’ message
• 30 seconds after the activity participants given 21 words (7 from rejected, 7 from blocked and 7 similar words from neither passage) and were tested to see whether or not they recognised the words

Question 10

describe the procedure of experiment one

Answer 10

• short list of simple words spoken 35 times as the ‘rejected’ or ‘blocked’ message
• at end of shadowing task, participants asked to remember what they remember of the ‘rejected’ message
• 30 seconds after the activity participants given 21 words (7 from rejected, 7 from blocked and 7 similar words from neither passage) and were tested to see whether or not they recognised the words

Question 11

what was the mean number of recognised words in the shadowed passage

Answer 11

4.9

Question 12

what was the mean number of recognised words in the rejected passage

Answer 12

1.9

Question 13

what was the mean number of recognised words in the neither passage

Answer 13

2.6

Question 14

what quote concluded experiment one

Answer 14

‘in a situation where a subject divides his attention to the reception of a message from one ear and rejects a message from the other ear, almost none of the verbal content of the rejected message is able to penetrate the block set up’

Question 15

describe the aim of experiment 2

Answer 15

to test whether an affective cue (one with strong meaning to the participant) can penetrate the ‘block’ and be attended to

Question 16

describe the sample used in experiment two

Answer 16

• 12 participants
• students or research workers

Question 17

describe the IV of experiment two

Answer 17

whether an instruction within a rejected passage…
- was proceeded by the participants name (affective)
- was not preceded by the participants name (non-affective)

Question 18

describe the DV of experiment two

Answer 18

whether participants were more likely to hear an instruction in a message they weren’t paying attention to if it is proceeded by their name

(operationalised by whether they reported hearing the instruction or actually followed the instruction)

Question 19

describe the procedure of experiment two

Answer 19

• two passages of light fiction were played into either ear of a participant
• both passages participants heard contained an instruction at the start of the passages and another instruction within the passages
• both passages read in a steady, single male, monotone voice at around 130 words per minute

Question 20

what experimental design was experiment two and why

Answer 20

repeated measures. all participants experienced the same 10 passages in the same order

Question 21

what were the participants told the aim of the study was in experiment 2

Answer 21

to make as few mistakes as possible when shadowing the passages of light fiction

Question 22

when given affective instructions how many times did participants hear the instructions in the rejected passage

Answer 22

20/39 (39 instructions presented in rejected passage)

Question 23

when given non-affective instructions how many times was the instruction in the rejected message heard

Answer 23

4/36 (36 instructions presented in rejected passage’

Question 24

what were the conclusions of experiment two

Answer 24

a person will hear instructions if they are presented with their own name. affective messages (like names) can break the 'inattentional' barrier

Question 25

what effect did giving participants a warning to expect instructions to change ears do to the results

Answer 25

a participant was more likely to hear material in the rejected message

Question 26

describe the aim of experiment three

Answer 26

to test the theory that being given a pre-warning means participants are more likely to hear material in the rejected message

Question 27

describe the sample of experiment three

Answer 27

- 14 participants - male and female - undergraduate students - oxford university

Question 28

what was experiment 3 experimental design

Answer 28

independent measures

Question 29

independent variables of experiment 3

Answer 29

(warning) group told to remember as many of the digits as possible (no warning) group told they would be asked about the shadowed message at the end of the passage

Question 30

dependent variable of experiment 3

Answer 30

how many digits the participants were able to recall from the rejected message

Question 31

describe the procedure of experiment 3

Answer 31

- participants asked to shadow one message - message sometimes contained digits towards the end - digits sometimes only in shadowed passage, rejected message, both or in neither (control)

Question 32

describe the results of experiment 3

Answer 32

there was no difference in the mean score of digits recalled correctly between the two set conditions

Question 33

describe the conclusions from experiment 3

Answer 33

because the digits were, unlike the persons own name, neutral information, warmings didn't help to break the inattentional barrier. the information had to be meaningful to break this.

Question 34

name the 4 overall conclusions from all of the experiments

Answer 34

1- almost none of the verbal content from the rejected message penetrates a block when attending to another message 2- a short list of simple words cannot be remembered even when repeated several times 3- subjectively 'important' messages such as names can penetrate the barrier 4- it is difficult to make neutral material (eg digits) important enough to break the inattentional barrier

Question 35

which ethical guidelines did moray uphold and how

Answer 35

- confidentiality (names not presented on the study) - protection from harm (questions and tasks not very stressful, for example shadowing a message of simple words) - informed consent ( all participants aware of objective, experiment one all told to shadow a passage and answer questions at the end)

Question 36

which ethical guideline did moray break and how

Answer 36

deception (experiment 3, control group not told about instructions)

Question 37

how could morays study be described as ethnocentric

Answer 37

- only conducted in Oxford, England, middle class area, may not be diverse culturally (results on inattentional barriers cannot be generalised to other cultures and countries)

Question 38

in what ways is morays study not ethnocentric

Answer 38

- the ability to concentrate on one demanding task at a time is not cultural but a universal idea of attention and human nature.

Question 39

in what way does morays study have a high internal reliability

Answer 39

- same equipment used in all three experiments (headphones, Bredell mark IV stereophonic tape recorder) - same shadowed and rejected message given to participants. same timing, volume, voice in experiments 1 and 2 (consistent across participants)

Question 40

in what way does morays study have a low external reliability

Answer 40

exp 2 - 12 participants exp 3 - 14 participants not large enough to establish consistent effects

Question 41

in what way did morays study have a high internal validity

Answer 41

- lab experiment (controlled environment) - same voice, passages, place ( no influence on results)

Question 42

in what ways did morays study have a low internal validity

Answer 42

hearing ability of participants not checked, understanding of words being spoken not checked (extraneous variables not all accounted for)

Question 43

argue the population validity for morays study

Answer 43

high- both genders (diverse) low- only students/undergaduates from the same oxford university ( low diversity )

Question 44

argue the ecological validity of morays study

Answer 44

-(lab experiment) repeating messages out loud in a controlled environment not similar to real life - wearing headphones and answering questions after not similar to real life - listening to multiple conversations at the same time similar to real life (cocktail party effect)