paper 1

Question 1

harris and fiske

Answer 1

aim: wanted to observe the role of the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala in reacting to what they called “extreme out-groups” - that is, homeless and addicts

• fMRI shows blood flow and brain activity unlike MRI which only shows structure
• the group was randomly allocated to two conditions
• 10 participants seeing images of people and 12 seeing images of objects
• participants were shown six sets of ten photographs while they were in the fMRI. These photos included people with disabilities, rich businessmen, older people, American Olympic athletes, and homeless people.
• the participants were shown a response screen after each image and then, using a joystick, were asked to choose which of the four emotions that they felt toward the image that was just displayed

findings: found that there was a clear difference in brain activity when participants rated pictures of addicts or homeless people; in addition to activation of the amygdala, their brains set off a series of reactions associated with disgust. The researchers found that regardless of the emotion that was chosen, the participants in the “objects” group did not show any activity in the medial prefrontal cortex. However, in the images of people, this part of the brain was active.

Question 2

newcomer

Answer 2

aim: to investigate how levels of cortisol interfere with declarative memory
research method: double-blind experiment
procedure: participants split into 3 groups
- Group 1: high level of cortisol (similar level of cortisol as a consequence of a major stressful event)
- Group 2: low level of cortisol (similar level of cortisol as a consequence of a minor stressful event)
- Group 3: placebo group
- All participants were asked to listen to and recall a prose paragraph. Each day they were given a different piece of prose with the same level of difficulty. They were tested three times.

findings: Group 1 performed worse on the declarative memory test than group 2. Group 1 performed below group 3 after day one. Group 2 showed no memory decrease

Question 3

clive wearing

Answer 3

aim: to see the effects of damage to the hippocampus on memory and how it produces anesthesia like anterograde or retrograde

• he suffered from a brain infection which led to the worst case of amnesia
• he could not convert new information from short-term memory into long-term memory
• he could still play the piano
• this study supports the idea that memory is located in multiple areas of the brain and not only one section

Question 4

cahill and mcgaugh

Answer 4

aim: to assess the role of adrenaline and the amygdala on emotional memory formation

research method: experimental, repeated measures

procedure: participants split into 2 groups shown 12 stories
- group 1: a story about a woman and her son visiting the father in the hospital where they witnessed the staff in disaster perpetration still of a simulated accident victim
- group 2: a story about a boy in a car accident where his feet were cut off and then reattached at the hospital where he stayed for 2 weeks

• 2 weeks after the storytelling, participants were asked multiple-choice questions to test their memory retention

findings: group 2 remembered more details, participants who heard more emotionally arousing story demonstrated better recall of specific details meaning adrenaline and amygdala play a significant role in the creation of memories

Question 5

rogers and kesner

Answer 5

aim: to determine the role of acetylcholine in the formation of spatial memories

procedure: rats were randomly allocated to 2 conditions
- injected with scopolamine (antagonist) into the hippocampus
- injected saline placebo into the hippocampus
- rats ran in a maze

agonists bind to synaptic receptors and increase the effect of the neurotransmitter

findings: the groups with scopolamine injected into the hippocampus took much longer and made more mistakes in the maze however scopolamine did not appear to have an effect n the retrieval of memories. acetylcholine plans an important role in the consolidation of spatial memory

Question 6

maguire

Answer 6

aim: to see whether the brains of london taxi drivers would be different as a result of their exceptional knowledge of the city and the many hours they spend behind the wheel navigating the streets of london

procedure: 16 right-handed male drivers
- compared with the MRI scans of 50 right-handed males who did not drive taxis
- to take part participants completed a test and had their license for at lest 1.5 years
- correlational study in nature as IV is not manipulated
- looking to see if there is a relationship between the number of years driving a taxi and the anatomy of the brain
- single-blind study, the researcher did not know which group the scans belonged to
- the data was compared using voxel-based morphometry and pixel counting
- VBM was used to measure the density of grey matter in the brain. Pixel counting consists of counting the pixels in the images provided by the MRI scans to calculate the hippocampus area

findings: pixel counting revealed that the posterior hippocampi of taxi drivers were significantly larger relative to those of control subjects and the anterior hippocampi was significantly smaller. VBM showed that the volume of the right posterior hippocampi correlated with the amount of time spent as a taxi driver. No differences were observed in other parts of the brain. Maguire argues that this demonstrates that the hippocampus may change in response to environmental demands.

Question 7

draganski

Answer 7

aim: to see whether learning a new skill (juggling) would have an effect on the brains of participants

procedure:
- 24 volunteers between ages 20-24, there were 21 females and 3 males. all participants were non-jugglers at the start of the study
- each had an MRI scan at the start of the study to serve as a base rate of grey matter and brain structure in the brain
- allocated to 2 groups: jugglers and non-jugglers (control group)
- used VBM to determine significant differences in neural density (grey matter) in the brains of the 2 groups

findings: at the second scan the juggler group had significantly more grey matter in some areas of the cortex, significantly the mid-temporal area in both hemispheres. these areas are known to be implicated in visual memory and perception.
Three months after the participants stopped juggling - when many were no longer able to carry out the routine - the amount of grey matter in these parts of the brain had decreased. however, it was still greater than at the time of the first scan.
there was a correlation between juggling performance and the amount of change: brain changes in participants who trained better were more pronounced.

Question 8

prevot

Answer 8

aim: to investigate whether using an agonist which activates GABA receptor sites in the hippocampus would increase the inhibition of neural activity which would then lead to improved memory function

procedure: animal testing, double-blind experiment
- mice suffered from memory impairment as a result of chronic stress and age
- mice split into 3 groups; unstressed, placebo, and drug treatment group
- placed into a y-shaped maze
- mice with healthy working memory are able to go between all 3 pathways without going to the same pathway repeatedly
- mice with impaired memory are more likely to go to the same “arm” of the y that had previously just explored

findings: older mice treated with the drug showed significantly higher levels of performance. improvement in spatial working memory in the mice that were given the GABA agonist

Question 9

cutler et al

Answer 9

aim: to investigate whether synthesized male pheromones increase sociosexual behavior

procedure: field experiment with males
- participants randomly divided
each male brought their own aftershave and was asked to use it 3x a week
- had to fill in daily reports on a series of sociosexual behaviors (affection, sleeping nect to someone, sex, formal dates, informal dates, masturbation)
- after 2 weeks participants had their aftershave randomly altered. one group had an addition of ethanol and the other group had ethanol + male synthesized pheromone created in a lab to represent a natural one
- they continued with the altered aftershave for 6 more weeks

findings: the pheromone group had an increase in the first 4 behaviors on the daily reports while there was no difference in the last 2 behavior

Question 10

caspi et al

Answer 10

aim: to examine the role of 5-HTT gene which plays a role in serotonin pathways in depression

procedure: Caspi hypothesized that individuals who inherit 2 short alleles of the 5-HTT gene are more likely to develop depression after a stressful life event
- correlational study no cause and effect relationship
- participants were divided into 2 groups; normal 5-HTT gene and mutation of gene
- asked to fill stressful life events questionnaire which asked them the frequency of 14 different events
- they were assessed for depression
- the effect of the gene was stronger for those with 3 or more stressful life events

findings: people who have one or more short alleles demonstrated more symptoms of depression. inheriting genes is not enough for depression. participants who have the genetic code are more likely to suffer from depression

Question 11

kendler

Answer 11

aim: to investigate the heritability of depression

procedure:
- swedish twins
- interviewed over phone, the interviewers assessed lifetime major depression by using modified DSM-IV
- asked about the twins shared environment and individual specific environment

findings:
- the estimated heritability of major depression was 0.38, in line with previous research.
- study suggests both that the heritability of major depression is higher in women than in men and that some genetic risk factors for major depression are sex-specific.

Question 12

wedekind

Answer 12

aim: whether females would be able to identify males who had a genetic make-up which, in combination with her own, would boost the immune system of potential children

procedure:
- group of 94 students (half male and half female)
- the men were asked to sleep with a T-Shirt for two nights and keep it in a plastic bag
- after two days the women were asked to rate how agreeable they found the smell of the T-shirts. The women had to smell seven different T-shirts. One was a control. Three of them contained T-shirts from men with an immune system similar to their own. Three contained T-shirts from men with an immune system that was dissimilar to the women’s own - this should be the best match in terms of genes.

findings: women preferred the odors of men with an immune system dissimilar to their own

Question 13

HM

Answer 13

aim: to determine the extent of HM’s memory deficiency

procedure: longitudinal case study
- Neurosurgeon, Dr. Scoville, performed a experimental surgery taking out most of the hippocampus and tissue from the medial temporal lobes

findings: concluded that different parts of the brain have different functions. hippocampus wasn’t the cite of memory storage but the site where short term memory turns into long tern memory

Question 14

loftus and palmer

Answer 14

aim: To investigate the effect of leading questions on memory recall

procedure: lab experiment
- the participants sat in a lecture theatre and watched a clip of a car crash
The participants were split into 5 groups so there were 9 participants in each group.
Participants then answered a series of questions about the car crash
Some were filler questions
One question was the critical question. The critical question was “About how fast were the cars going when they…into each other?”
The … could have been smashed, hit, collided, bumped or contacted
Participants only experienced one of the verbs in the question.

findings: Leading questions do effect memory recall. In this case changing the verb in the question to smashed gave a higher estimation of speed by the participants.

Question 15

brown and kulik

Answer 15

aim: to investigate if flashbulb memories are a distinct form of memory: more vivid, distinct, and highly detailed, as opposed to everyday memories

procedure:
- 80 participants
- participants were asked to answer questionnaires about how vividly they recalled, how they felt, and where they were when they found out about important public events, such as the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy. they were asked to remember if they had any flashbulb memories of personal events such as the birth or death of a family member. answers were submitted in the form of free recall of unlimited length.

findings: participants had very clear memories of where they were, what they did, and what they felt when they first learned about an important public occurrence such as the assassination of JFK or Martin Luther King Jr.
they also reported surprise and consequentiality.
the structural forms of these memories were very similar (reception context).
personal relevance influenced whether the participants had memories of public events

Question 16

brewer and treyens

Answer 16

aim: to investigate the role of schema in the encoding and retrieval of episodic memory. The basic assumption of schema theory is that individuals’ prior experience will influence how they remember new information.

procedure:
- 30 uni students, repeated measures
- Participants arrived individually to the laboratory and were asked to wait in an office containing objects (e.g.. desk, typewriter, coffee-pot, calendar). There were also objects that did not conform to the office schema (a skull, a piece of bark, a pair of pliers).
- After waiting for some time, participants were taken out of the office and asked to write down everything they could remember from the room.

findings: Most participants recalled the schematic objects (e.g. desk, typewriter). Some participants reported things that would be expected in a typical office but were not present in this one (e.g. telephone, books). Many participants also recalled the skull (unexpected object). The very unusual object resulted in better recall than predicted by schema theory.

Question 17

warrington and shallice (KF)

Answer 17

aim: To investigate the relationship between long term memory and short term memory, when the STM is impaired, especially on memory trace formation and memory retrieval

procedure:
- Case study on K.F (28yr old male) who had a motorcycle accident where he fractured his parieto-occipital lobe, which led to epilepsy.
- He had a defect to his STM even though his LTM was intact
- K.F was asked to repeat number, letters and word strings aloud
- K.F was only able to repeat one item reliable
- Memory of visual-presented material was better than auditory-presented material

findings: Supports multi-store model that there are separate memory stored STM and LTM as K.F STM was impaired but LTM was intact. Identification of auditory and visual memory suggests two separate stores in MSM

Question 18

stroop et al

Answer 18

aim: To investigate whether the automatic process of reading words interferes with naming a color, dual processing model

procedure:
- participants got several list of colors, some color words on the lists had the color-word congruent to the color of the word
Others had color-words that were incongruent to the color of the word.
- the participants were asked to, as fast as they could with as few errors as they could, say the color of the word (not the color-word).
If they made errors=> they were asked to correct them.

findings: When the color and word were incongruent, the participant took more time and made more errors. this is because system 2 is interrupted by cognitive interference

Question 19

wason

Answer 19

aim: the aim of this study was to investigate the heuristic of confirmation bias and the errors people make in logical tasks based on heuristics.

procedure: Lab Experiment
- participants were asked to complete a test of logical reasoning now called the Wason Selection Task. In this task they are shown cards and asked the following question: “Which card(s) must be turned over to test the idea that if a card shows an even number on one face, then its opposite face is red?”. The cards shown were 3, 8, red, and brown.

findings: Wason argues that participants made the incorrect choice based on heuristics, such as matching bias (in an abstract problem, we tend to be overly influenced by the wording (or context) of the question; in this case, the words “even number” and “red”. These quick, effortless, and intuitive choices based on heuristics can be identified as System 1 type thinking.

Question 20

strack and mussweiler

Answer 20

aim: to test the influence of anchoring bias on decision making

procedure:
- participants were split into 2 groups and were asked about what age Gandhi was when he passed away. One group was asked if he died before or after the age of 9 (low anchor) and one group was asked if he died before or after the age of 140 (high anchor). After the initial question, the participants in each group were asked to guess the age that Gandhi was when he passed.

findings: found that the group of participants that were given a low anchor guessed a lower age for his death, in comparison to the group that was given a high anchor

Question 21

chui et al

Answer 21

aim: to investigate influence of local/global identity on perception of another culture

procedure: quasi experiment
- In the single condition, participants were shown a nike sports advertisement with a male Caucasian model
- In the joint presentation condition participants saw the same advertisement placed next to a chinese sports shoe advertisement
- Participants were asked to rate the likeability of the nike ad, although this was not the goal of the experiment
- Participants then took a test to measure attitudes towards dimensions associated with american and chinese culture

findings: Participants in the joint presentation condition rated the Americans as much more individualistic than having control over their lives, and less likely to be collectivistic, believe in the duty to family or the need to conform to societal norms. Being exposed to 2 cultures at the same time made their American identity and its values much more salient than for the group that only saw the American advertisement. Results were strongest in individuals with high identification with their local identity

Question 22

newhagen and reeves

Answer 22

aim: to see if images that led to negative emotional responses affect one’s ability to recall information about news events

procedure:
- researchers created two versions of eight news stories: one version with emotion-provoking negative images of the event and one version with non-emotive images.
topics included plane crashes, wars, revolutions, riots, famine, sports violence, natural disasters, and reported crimes
- a pilot group was used to measure the intensity of each story. The stories with the greatest difference between the two versions were chosen for the study
- each news story was a 2.5 - 3.5 minute video, each video was altered to have 20 - 30 seconds of compelling (emotion-provoking) or non-compelling (non-emotive) images.

findings: emotional images seemed to impair recall of information in the reports that was presented before the images were shown, but strengthened recall of the information that was presented after the images were shown
appears that there were retroactive effects - that is, the emotional images seem to impair recall of memory before the images, but actually strengthened recall after the image.

Question 23

hamilton and gifford

Answer 23

aim: To investigate the illusory correlation of group size and negative behavior

procedure:
- researchers asked participants to read descriptions about two made-up groups (Group A) and (Group B).
- descriptions were based on a number of positive and negative behaviors.
- group A (majority group) - twice as many members than B; performed 18 positives and 8 negative behaviors.
- group B (minority) - performed 9 positive and 4 negative behaviors.
- both were asked to attribute behaviors to the group.

findings: Although there was no correlation between group membership and the types of behaviors exhibited by the groups, in that the proportion of negative and positive was the same for both groups, the participants did seem to have an illusory correlation.
- More of the undesirable behaviors were attributed to the minority Group B, than the majority of Group A.

Question 24

berry et al

Answer 24

aim: to measure the difference of conformity between individualistic and agricultural communities

procedure: lab experiment
- Inuit and Temne people
- Each individual was brought to a room by themselves and shown 9 lines. They were first asked to match the line at the top with one of the 9 lines that they think it matches best with. On the third trial the researcher said that they would provide a “hint”, the hint was that “most of (participants group) say this line. The correct answer was given on trial 3 and for trial 4-6 the wrong answers were given. The DV was the number of lines that they were away from the correct line. The total score could range from 0 to 15.

findings: There was no significant difference within the group but there was a difference between the groups. Temne, which is the collectivistic culture, had a much higher rate of conformity when told what other Temne believed, even though it was incorrect.

Question 25

festinger

Answer 25

aim: The aim of the observation was to see how the members of the religious cult behave and what their beliefs are.

procedure:
- Leon Festinger and his colleagues wanted to observe the cult members, however their beliefs stated that they needed to stay isolated from non-believers
- They joined the cult in order to be able to observe them
- On December 21, when the world was supposed to end, they observed how the people reacted when it didn’t
- They monitored the group members doubt, debate, and rationalization of what had taken place

findings: The members still remained in their cult’s beliefs even when the world did not end, making up a theory that God saved them through their prayers so that they could maintain their self-esteem
Cognitive dissonance
The members blindly followed what they heard

Question 26

levine et al

Answer 26

aim: to investigate the importance of social group membership and the inclusiveness of social category boundaries for helping behavior.

procedure:
the participants were invited to come to the psychology department of the university.
they were met by an experimenter who accompanied them to a research cubicle.
participants were informed that the study was about research on football teams and their fans and they were asked to fill in two questionnaires.
the first questionnaire asked them to identify the team they supported and to answer questions about why.
The second questionnaire was about identification with other group supporters of their team.
The participants were asked to walk to another building where he was to be met with another researcher.

As the participants approached the other building, a confederate appeared, jogging across the grass and preparing to run down a grass ball a short distance in front of the participant. The confederate was wearing either a Manchester United team shirt (in-group member), a Liverpool FC team shirt (out-group member), or an ordinary unbranded sports shirt.
As the confederate ran down the gras bank, he slipped and fell over, holding onto his ankle and shouting out in pain. The confederate did not make eye contact with the participant or ask for help.

findings: The participants were significantly more likely to help the stranger (92%) when he was wearing the Manchester United shirt than either the Liverpool shirt or the ordinary sports shirt. This provides behavioral confirmation of the tendency to help in-group members over others.

Question 27

ogihara et al

Answer 27

aim: to investigate the relationship between collectivism, well being and friends in Japanese students and US students

procedure:
- 114 students from a university in Japan and 62 students from a university in the US
- Questionnaires were given related to:1. Individualistic and collectivistic orientation2. Subjective well-being3. Nature of their relationships

findings: participants who were achievement-oriented scored lower on well-being and had fewer friends who they were close with, cultural identity (collectivism) challenged

Question 28

bandura et al

Answer 28

aim: to investigate if children would imitate the aggression of an adult model and whether they would imitate same-sex models more than opposite-sex models

procedure: 36 buy and 36 girls from nursery school
- The children were split into 8 experimental groups with 6 children in each and a control group of 24 children (who were not exposed to a model and were just observed. Half of the experimental group saw an aggressive role model and half saw a non-aggressive role model. The groups were also split so that half saw a same sex role model and half saw an opposite sex role model.
Stage 1: Modelling - In the experimental conditions children were individually shown into a room containing toys and played with some potato prints and pictures in a corner for 10 minutes while either:
- 24 children (12 boys and 12 girls) watched a male or female model behaving aggressively towards a toy called a ‘Bobo doll’. The adults attacked the Bobo doll in a distinctive manner - they used a hammer in some cases, and in others threw the doll in the air and shouted “Pow, Boom”.
- Another 24 children (12 boys and 12 girls) were exposed to a non-aggressive model who played in a quiet and subdued manner for 10 minutes (playing with a tinker toy set and ignoring the bobo-doll).
- The final 24 children (12 boys and 12 girls) were used as a control group and not exposed to any model at all.

findings:
- The children who observed an aggressive role model showed a lot of verbal and physical aggression that resembled the scripted routine the model had acted out.
- A male role model had a bigger influence than a female role model: the aggressive male model produced more aggression; the non-aggressive male model produced more calm.

Question 29

schneider

Answer 29

aim:

procedure:

findings:

Question 30

lueck and wilson

Answer 30

aim: To investigate which aspects of language and social contexts can predict acculturative stress in Asian immigrants who have settled in the USA

procedure: semi-structured interview
- The participants responded to a questionnaire which focused on issues such as how proficient they were in their native language and in English; if they felt guilty about leaving family behind to move to the USA; prejudicial or discriminatory treatment they had experienced from others; fear about being deported; their socio-economic status; relationships within their family; their social networks and how ‘at home’ they felt in the USA

findings:
reported feelings of acculturation stress
- Participants who were fully bilingual had the lowest rates of acculturation stress. Being fully bilingual helped participants maintain strong ties to their Asian culture while also being able to integrate in American society.
- Experiences of discrimination, prejudice or stereotyping significantly increased acculturation stress
- Participants who shared similar values with their family had lower acculturation stress, perhaps because of less family conflict over different cultural values
- Participants who were very satisfied with their economic opportunities in American also had lower acculturation stress

Question 31

odden and rochet

Answer 31

aim: Enculturation - The processes by which particular cultural values, ideas, beliefs, and behavioral patterns are adopted by the members of society.

to study the role of social cognitive learning or observational learning on the development of cultural norms in Samoa

procedure: This study was an observational, longitudinal study (lasting 25 months) of 28 children in one Samoan village
- In Samoan culture, adults have a non-interventionist approach to their children. Parents do not spend much time with their children, believing that children can learn important skills and values on their own. Thus, this culture provided a unique opportunity to assess the role of observational learning
- Observations were made of the children’s behaviour over 25 months, and at the end of the study, children completed a multiple choice test that tested their knowledge of the values of Samoan society, including the Chief system

findings: Observational learning plays a significant role in enculturation. It is possible for children to learn the values, norms and behaviours of their culture simply by observation and imitation

• Children were not taught how to fish, as the supply of fishing equipment was limited. However, children spent a great deal of time observing how adults fished. By the time the children were 10, they began borrowing fishing equipment (without any adult supervision), and by 12 most were capable fishermen (despite never being taught how to fish)
  ​
• The multiple choice test demonstrated that most children had a basic understanding of the concepts, rites and rituals of their society, including the Chief system, despite not having been explicitly taught these by teachers or parents. Children were able to learn the norms of their culture simply by observing and overhearing the conversations of others

Question 32

steele and aronson

Answer 32

aim: to investigate how stereotype threat affects the test performance in African Americans

procedure:
- in the experimental condition (stereotype threat), participants were told that the test diagnosed intellectual ability: “a genuine test of your verbal abilities and limitations”
in the control condition, participants were told that the purpose of the research had nothing to do with intellectual ability: “to better understand the psychological factors involved in solving verbal problems”
- participants were randomly assigned to one of the conditions; however, they made sure that there were equal numbers of participants in each condition.
- the assumption was that linking the test to ability would activate the existing racial stereotypes, so black participants face the threat of fulfilling the stereotype

findings: African-American participants performed worse than their white counterparts in the stereotype threat condition while their performance equaled that of their white counterparts in the control condition meaning stereotype threat decreases performance

Question 33

cole and scribner

Answer 33

aim: to investigate free recall strategies in two different cultures (USA and Kpelle people in Liberia)

procedure: field experiment
- reviewed common items in Liberia that children could recognize
- they then recited a list of items to children from the states and Liberia
- participants were then asked to recall as many items as they could

findings:
- Liberian (KPELLE) children that did not attend school did not use chunking as their method of memorization, thus repetition of list did not help them
- The number of words they were able to recall stopped increasing until the age of 10
- In the first round, about 10 words were remembered, and after the 15th rehearsal and average of 2 words were added
- Liberian school children and children from US excelled as they used the chunking method
- Strategies for remembering are not universal
- People learn to remember in ways that are relevant for their everyday lives
- Kpelle children performed as well as US children in a culturally-familiar task, but not a free recall task