Psychology 16 Markers Flashcards

Question

A peel paragraph about how he exaggerated the roles

Answer 1

P: Exaggerated the power of roles E: He associated the results of a couple of gaurds to all of them E: 2/3 of the guards were nice to the prisoners L: This is a weakness because he ignored some human behaviours which decreased validity

Answer 2

P: The cognitive approach uses scientific + objective methods E: A lot of the experiments are controlled lab experiments E: Cog neuro science uses a lot of high accuracy measuring equipment to demonstrate brain activity L: This is a strength P

Answer 3

P: The cognitive approach does have application E: Has been applied to a wide range of practical and theoretical context E: Cognitive psychology has made an important contribution in the field of AI and developing thinking machines L: This is a strength

Answer 4

P: Cognitive approach is less deterministic than other approaches E: Recognises that our cognitive system can only operate within the limits we know E: We are free to think before responding to stimulus leaving space for humans emotions L: This is a strength

Answer 5

P: The cognitive approach uses machine reductionism E: Machine reductionism ignores the influences of human emotions + motivation E: Research has found that human memory may be affected by emotional factors such as the influence of anxiety on eye witness L: This is a weakness

Answer 6

P: The cognitive approach doesn’t apply to everyday life E: We are only able to infer As a consequence the cognitive approach sometimes suffered from being too abstract + theoretical in nature E: Mental process are often carried out using artificial stimulus such as tert memory inolving(words + lists) may not represent everyday memory experiences L: This lacks external validity (weakness)

Answer 7

P: Milgrams findings were replicated in reality TV documentary E: That was made about behaviours there was a french game show called game of death E: 80% of the participants delivered a maximum 460 V to an unconscious man L: This is a strength because it shows people listen to obedience no matter the situation

Answer 8

P: Milgrams study was repeated by Sheridan + king E: All students gave real shocks to puppy E: 54% of men and 100% of women gave fatal shocks L: This supports the claims that the shock was genuine because people were obedient with it

Answer 9

P: Milgrams producers may not have been testing what he intended E: 75% of them believed it was real E: Orne + Holland said the PPs were play acting and dint believe the set up L: This shows it might have been due to demand characteristics

Answer 10

P: There are ethical issues with milgrams study E: Diana Baumrind (1964) criticised milgram E: She believed deception in psychology study’s can cause serious consequences for people involved L: This is a weakness

Answer 11

P: There are danger of situational perspective E: Milgram is suggesting the Natiz were simply obeying orders E: Mandel argues it leaves an excuse or alibi for evil behaviour L: This is a weakness because it ignores individual differences

Answer 12

P: A limitation of the agentic shift is that it is a limited explanation E: Rank + jacobsons found that 16 out of the 18 nurses disobeyed orders to give excessive drugs E: The doctor was an obvious authority figure but the nurses stayed autonomous so did not support milgrams study L: This shows agentic shift only accounts for certain situations

Answer 13

P: Another limitation of the agentic shift is obedience alibi E: Mandel says ww2 reserve police battalion 101 E: The men shot many civilians despite not having direct orders to L: They behaved autonomously

Answer 14

P: A limitation of legitimacy of authority is that it cannot explain all disobedience E: Ranks + jacobsons a lot of them were disobedient dispite working in a hierarchical authority structure the same happed in milgrams study E: Some people are more or less likely to obey then others innate tendencies have a greater effect on obedience then legitimacy L: This is a weakness

Answer 15

P: A strength of legitimacy explanation is that it can explain cultural differences E: Killian + Mann found 16% of Australian women gave the 450v shock in milgrams study E: Mantell found German participants 85% gave 450v in some cultures authority is more likely to be accepted as a reason for obedience L: This reflects how different societies have different structured and the level of obedience

Answer 16

P: Another strength of legitimate authority is that it can explain real world crimes E: Kilmen + kemlton argue real world crimes of obedience can be understood in terms of power of hierarchy E: Us army and commanding officers operate within clear legitimate hierarchy the hospital doctors have greater power to punish L: This is a strength

Answer 17

P: Obedient participants had a number of characteristics that were unusual for authoritarianism E: Unlike Milgrams participants E: They generally didn’t glorify there fathers didn’t experience unusual levels of punishment during childhood also didn’t show hostile attitudes towards there mother L: The link between obedience and authority is complex

Answer 18

P: Limited explanation cannot explain obedient behaviour in other countries E: Pre war Germany millions of individuals displayed obedient and anti semantic behaviour E: There are differences in their personal;ties it seems unlikely they all possessed an authoritarian personality L: This is a weakness because it doesn’t rake into account alternative interpretations

Answer 19

P: A limitation of the f-scale is it only measures tendencies towards extreme right wing ideologies E: Christie + jaheda argued that the f-scale is politically biased of authoritarian personalities E: There is left wing authoritarianism in Russian + china but they both take into account complete obedience L: This is a weakness as it doesn’t take into account for other ideas on the political spectrum on dispositional factors

Answer 20

P: The California f-scale has a problem E: Greenstein said the f-scale had a comedy of methodological errors E: It is possible to get a high score by just agreeing (anyone with response bias) L: This is a weakness because the way it is measured is unreliable

Answer 21

P: One strength is research evidence for positive effect of social influence E: Albrecht evaluated a 8 week programme to help pregnant adolescent teens aged 14-19 resist peer pressure to smoking E: Social support was provided by someone slightly older or a ‘buddy’ At the end of the programme those who had a ‘buddy’ were significantly less likely to smoke than a control group who didn’t have a ‘buddy’ L: This shows that social support can help young people resist social influence as part of an intervention in the real world

Answer 22

P: A study by Allen and Levine showed that social support can help individuals to resist the influence of a group E: In as asch-type task when dissenter was some with apparently good eyesight 64% of genuine participants refused to conform E: When there was no support at all only 3% of participants resisted L: However the study also showed social support does not always help this because when the dissenter had obviously poor eyesight (thick glasses) resistance was only 36%

Answer 23

P: There is contradictory research one limitation is evidence that challenges the link between LOC and resistance E: Twinge analysed data from American locusts studies conducted over 40 year period The data showed that over this time span people became more resistant to obedience but also more external E: This is a surprising outcome if resistance is linked to an internal LOC we should expect people to become more internal L: This suggests that Locus of control is not a valid explanation of how people resist social influence

Answer 24

P: There are limited roles of LOC many studies show that having man internal LOC is linked with being able to resist social influences E: Rotter points out that LOC is not necessarily the most important factor wether someone resists social influence E: Locks depend on the situation a persons LOC is only significantly affects there behaviour in new situations If you have conformed or obeyed in a specific situation in the past the chances are you will do so again in the same situation regardless of weather you have a high internal LOC or high external LOC L: LOC is not a valid explanation of how people resist social influences

Answer 25

P: Freud theories have good explanatory power E: Despite being bizarre Freuds theories do give good explanations for a wide range of behaviours E: Especially in relation to how events in childhood influence behaviours in later life’s L: This is a strength

Answer 26

P: Psychodynamic approach has practical application E: Employed a range of techniques designed to access the unconscious such as hypnosis + dream analysis E: Psychoanalysis is the fore runner to many modern day psychotherapies that have since been established L: This is a strength

Answer 27

P: Freud theories was based on intensive study of single individuals who were of in therapy(little Hans) E: Although Freud observations were detailed + carefully recorded Critics have suggested that it is not possible to make unusual claims about humans Nature based on studies of such small numbers of individuals who were psychologically abnormal E: Freud interpretations were highly subjective it is unlikely in the case of little hans That any other researcher would have drawn the same conclusion L: Freud method lacks scientific rigour

Answer 28

P: The psychodynamic approach does not meet scientific criterion of falsification E: Not open to empirical testing (and possibility of being disproved) Freud concepts (such as id + Oedipus complex) are said to occur at an unconscious level E: Making them difficult if not impossible to test L: Psychodynamic theory has a status of pseudoscience rather than real science

Answer 29

P: Psychodynamic approach has practical application E: Although Freudian therapists have claimed success with patients suffering from mild neuroses E: Psychoanalysis has been criticised as inappropriate even harmful for people suffering more serious mental disorders L: This is a weakness

Answer 30

P: Physical determinism(no such thing as a accident) E: Something as random as a ‘slip of the tongue’ is driven by unconscious forces + has deep symbolic meaning E: The psychodynamic approach explains all behaviour even accidents as determined by unconscious conflicts that are rooted in childhood such that any free will we think we have is an illusion L: This is a weakness

Answer 31

P: There is further research for flexibility E: Nemeth + brillimayer they did a mock jury study where a group had to decide on compensation to be paid to someone in a ski lift accident E: Found the confederate who was flexible was able to influence the minority L: Supports the role of flexibility in minority influence

Answer 32

P: Another strength is evidence showing that a change in the majority does involve deeper process of minority ideas E: Martian presented a message supporting a particular view point + measures participants agreement One group of PPs heard a minority group agree with initial view with another group heard a majority agree with initial view E: The PPs were exposed to a conflicting view + attitude View + attitude were measured again people were less willing to change their opinions if they had listened to the minority group than if they had listened to a majority group L: This suggest that a minority’s message is more deeply processed + had a more enduring effect this supports the argument about minority influences work

Answer 33

P: There is limited real world application E: Makes a clear distraction between minorities + how majorities by doing it in a controlled environment Real world social influence is more complicated Majorities usually have more power + status than minorities E: Minorities are very committed to their cause they have been because they often face very hostile opposition These features are usually absent from minority influence research the minority is simply the smallest group L: Very limited in what they can tell us about min orbits influence in real world situations

Answer 34

P: One limitation of minority influence is that they are done in artificial settings like asch line judgment task E: Moscovis is task of identify colour slides Researchers therefore far removed from how minorities attempt to change the behaviour if majorities in real life E: In cases such as jury decisions making + political campaigning the outcomes are vastly more important sometimes life or death L: This means finding of minority influence studies re lacking external validity and are limited in what they can tell us about minority influence in real world situations

Answer 35

P: Minority influence is quite rare + not very useful concept E: When PPs wrote down there answers privately they were more likely to agree with minority view E: This suggests that the view expressed by the people in public was just the tip of the iceberg L: This is a weakness

Answer 36

P: Humanistic approach is holistic E: Other approaches attempt to explain behaviour in more basic ways Stimulus - response / ID, Ego , super ego / neurotransmitters For science E: Humanistic instead considers the human as a whole making it a More ecological valid approach L: This is a strength

Answer 37

P: Humanistic psychology has been praised for ‘brining the person back into the psychology’ + promotes a positive image of the human condition E: Freud Sam human beings as slaves to their past + claimed all of us existed between ‘Comman unhappiness + absolute despair’ E: Humanistic psychology offers a refreshing + optimistic alternative it sees all people as basically good free to work towards the achievement of their potential + in control of their lives L: This is a strength

Answer 38

P: There is limited application in real world E: Rogerion therapy has revolutionised counselling techniques + Maslow heirchy of needs has been used to explain motivations particularly in the workplace E: It remains the case that the approach has had limited impact within the discipline of psychology as a whole This may in part be due to humanistic psychology lacking a sound evidence L: Also due to the fact that the approach has been described not as comprehensive theory As a loose set of rather abstract theories

Answer 39

P: Unstable concepts (abstract + difficult to test) E: Concepts such as ‘self actualisation’ + ‘congruence’ may be useful therapeutic tools But would prove problematic to asses under experimental conditions E: Roger did attempt to introduce ,ore rigour into his work by developing the Q-sort am objective measures of progress in therapy L: As it is an anti-scientific approach humanistic psychology is short on empirical evidence to support its claims

Answer 40

P: Humanistic psychology such as freedom autonomy + personally growth + associated with individual cultures E: Collectivist cultures such as India which emphasise the needs of the group community + interdependence E: May not identify so easily with the ideals + values of humanistic psychology L: It is possible that this approach would not travel well + is a product of the cultural context within which it was developed

Answer 41

P: There is research support for NSI leading to social change E: Nolan et al investigated whether social influence processes led to a reduction in energy consumption by hanging messages on the front doors of houses saying residents were trying to reduce renege usage E: Found significantly decrease in energy usage ( compared to control group which was just asked to save energy ) L: This supports the role of NSI in social change increases the validity of the theory

Answer 42

P: A strength is that psychologists can explain how minority influence can bring about socail change E: Nemeth claims social change is due to the type of thinking that minorities inspire when people consider minority argumentes they engage in divergent thinking E: This type of thinking is broad rather than narrow in which thinker actively search for information + weights up more options Nemeth argues this leads to better decisions + more creative soluciona to social issues L: This shows why dissenting minorities are valuable they stimulate new ideas + open ones in a way that majorities cannot

Answer 43

P: Some studies show peoples behaviours is not Always changed through social norms E: Foxcorft reviewed social norms interventions as part of Cochran collaboration E: There were 70 studies where the social norms approach was used to reduce student alcohol use There was only a small reduction in drinking quantity + no effect on drinking frequency L: It seems that using normative social influence does not always produce long term social change

Answer 44

P: One limitation is that deeper processing may not play a role in how minorities bring about social change E: Some people’s behaviours are supposedly converted because they think more deeply about minority views Mackie disagrees with + presents evidence that it is majority influence that may create deeper processing if we don’t share their views E: This is because we like to believe other people share our views + think the same way as us When we find that a majority believes something different then we are forced to think long + hard about it L: This means that a central element of minority influence has been challenged showing lower validity

Answer 45

P: There are barriers to social change E: Bashier the fact is that people still resist to socail change Found that participants were less likely to behave in environmentally friendly ways Because they didn’t want to be associated with stereotypic + minority environmental E: Minority environmental activities in negative ways Despite resistance the researchers were still able to suggests ways in which a minority can overcome barriers to socail change L: This is a weakness because it s very hard to cause and it happens slowly

Answer 46

P: One Strength is that observations are often filmed E: Activities that would distract a baby can be controlled Using film means that observations can be recorded + analysed later More then one researcher can observe can record data E: This gives inter-rather reliability of observation Babies don’t know they are being observed so their behaviour doesn’t change in response to observation L: Therefore the data collected in such research should have good reliability + validity

Answer 47

P: There is evidence from other lines of research that suggest early interactions are important E: Isabella found that achievement of interactional synchrony E: Predicted development of a good quality attachment L: This means that balance caregiver infant interaction is probably important in development

Answer 48

P: There is further research that suggests intentionality E: Abravanel + deyong observed infant behaviour when interacting with objects stimulating movements E: They found infants made little response to the object suggesting infants don’t imitate everything they see L: This increasing the theories validity that caregiver - infant interactions are important/special

Answer 49

P: One limitation is that there are problems observing babies E: Young babies lack co-ordination + much of their body is immobile The movements being observed are just small hand movements or subtle changes in expression It is difficult to be sure E: Weather a baby is smiling or just passing wind It is difficult to determine what is taking place from the baby’s perspective We cannot know weather a movement such as hand twitch is random or triggered by something the caregiver does L: This means that we cannot be certain from observational research alone that reciprocity + synchrony are imprint at for a child’s development

Answer 50

P: One further limitation is simply observing a behaviour does not tell us its development importance E: Feldman points out ideas like synchrony simply giving names to patterns of observable caregiver + baby behaviours E: Robust phenomena in the sense that they can be reliably observed Still many not be particularly useful in understanding child development as it does not tell us the purpose of these behaviours L: This means that we cannot be certain from observational research alone that reciprocity + synchrony aré important for a child’s development

Answer 51

P: One strength of Schaffer + Emerson’s research is that it has good external validity E: Most of the observations (though not stranger anxiety) were made by the parents during ordinary activities + reported to researchers E: The alternative would have been to have researchers present to record observations This might have distracted the babies or made them feel more anxious L: This means it is highly likely that the participants behaved naturally while being observed

Answer 52

P: Another strength of Schaffer + Emerson’s stages is that they have practical application in day care E: Asocial + indescribable attachment stages day care is likely to be straight forward as babies can be comforted by any skilled adult E: Schaffer + Emerson research’s tell us that day care especially starting day care with an unfamiliar adult may be problematic during specific attachment stages L: This means parents use of day care can be planned using Schaffer + Emerson’s stages

Answer 53

P: One limitation of Emerson + schaffers study is there are issues asking the mother to be observers E: It was unlikely to be objective observers They may have been biased in terms of what they noticed + was reported E: They might not have noticed their baby was showing signs of anxiety or may have misremembered it L: This means that even babies behaved naturally their behaviour may not have been accurately recorded

Answer 54

P: One limitation of Schaffer + Emerson’s stages is that validity of the measure they are used to asses attachment in asocial stage E: Young babies have poor co-ordination and are fairly immobile If babies less than two months old felt anxiety in everyday situations they might have displayed in quite subtle hard to observe ways E: This made it difficult for mothers to observe + report back to researchers on signs of anxiety + attachment in these age groups L: It means that babies may avctually quite socail but because of flawed methods they appear asocial

Answer 55

P: One limitation of Schaffer + Emerson’s study is that there are generalisability issues E: Only studies one sample from working class area of Glasgow in 1960 E: Van ijzendoorn suggests multiple attachments from much earlier in collectivist cultures L: This means that Schaffer + Emerson’s finding may not generalised to other population/today

Answer 56

P: A further limitation of researchers into the role o farther is that findings vary according to methodology E: Longitudinal studies such as gross man’s suggests that farther as a secondary attachment figure have an important + distinct role in children’s development involving play + stimulation E: If farthers have distinctive + important roles we would expect that children growing in a single mother or lesbian-parents families would turn out in some way different from those in two parent families Studies by mccallum + golombok consistently show that these children do not develop differently from children in two parent heterosexual families L: This means that the question of weather farther have a distinctive role remains unanswered

Answer 57

P: These lines or research may not be conflict E: It could be that farthers typically take on distinctive roles in two parent heterosexual families E: But parents in single mother + lesbian parents simply adapt to accomadate the role played by farthers This means that the questions of a distinctive role for farthers is clear after all L: When present farther tend to adopt distinctive roles but families adapt to not having a farther

Answer 58

P: One strength of research into the role of the farther is that it can be used to offer advice to parents E: Parents + prospective parents sometimes agonise over decisions like who should take on the primary caregiver role Some this can even mean worrying about weather to have children at all E: Mothers may feel pressured to stay at home because of stereotypical views of mothers + farthers roles Farther may be pressured to focus on work rather than parenting Some families this may be pressured to focus on work rather than parenting some families this may not be economically the best solution Research into role of the farther offers resuming advice to parents A farther can be the primary attachment figure Not having a farther does not cause children to come out differently L: This means that parental anxiety about role of farther can be reduced

Answer 59

P: One strength of lorenz research is the existence of support for the concept of imprinting E: Regolin + vallortigara supports lorens idea of imprinting Chickens were exposed to simple shape combinations that moved such as triangle with a rectangle in front of it E: A range of shape combinations were then moved in front of them and they followed the original most closely L: This supports the view that young animals are born with an innate mechanism to imprint on a moving object present in the critical window of development

Answer 60

P: One strength of Harlows research is its important real world application E: It has helped social workers + clinical psychologists understand that a lack of bonding experience may be a risk factor in a child development allowing them to intervene to prevent poor outcomes E: We also now understand understand the importance of attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos + breeding programmes in the wild L: This means that the value of Harlows research is not just theoretical but also practical

Answer 61

P: One limitation of Harlow + Lorenz study/reserach is the ability to generalise finding + conclusions from monkeys + birds to humans E: The mammal attachment system is quite different + more complex than that in birds The mammal attachment is a two way process so it is not just young who become attached to their young E: Rhesus monkeys monkeys are much similar to humans than Lorene’s birds + all mammals hare some common attachment behaviours Human brains + human behaviour is still more complex than that of monkeys L: This means that it may not be appropriate to generalise Harlows + Lorentz ideas/findings to humans

Answer 62

P: Supporting/contradictory research E: Guiton (1966) found chicks imprinted on a rubber gloves even tried to mate with them E: However they found it can be reversed chicks engaged in normal sexual behaviour when exposed to other chickens L: Therefore original theory is limited

Answer 63

P: Learning theory is a plausible theory E: Provides adequate explanation how attachment from reinforcement + associations E: Although food may not be central to attachment it is likely conditioning plays a part in L: Therefore learning theory may still be useful to understanding formation of attachment

Answer 64

P: The theory is overly reductionist E: Overemphasis on food E: Doesn’t take into account other factors - reciprocity L: Alternative - bowlbys monotonic theory

Answer 65

P: There are alternative explanations for attachment E: Hay + respo suggests that parents teach children to love them by demonstrating(modelling) attachment behaviours E: Parents reinforce love behaviour by showing approval when babies display own attachment behaviour L: Slt has further advantage that it is based around two - way interaction between baby and+ adult fit better with respect to important acne of reciprocity

Answer 66

P: A strength is the real life applications E: Bowlbys theory has had a profound influence E: Parenting programmes + adoption practices where they use a key worker L: This increases validity

Answer 67

P: A weakness is that some of the concepts are overly deterministic E: The consequences of not forming attachment during critical period E: Koluchova reported a case study of the Czech twins who suffered abuse until the age of 7 but recovered fully L: Sensitive period may be a more appropriate idea/term

Answer 68

P: A weakness is that it’s socially sensitive controversial E: Idea of monotropy puts a burden on parents (especially mother) E: Sets mother up to take blame if anything goes wrong in a child’s life L: This reduces the validity of the theory

Answer 69

P: The two process model was a definite step forward when it was proposed in 1960 as it went beyond Watson and Rayners concept of classical conditioning E: It explained how phobias could be maintain over time and this has important implications for therapies because it explains why patients need to be exposed to the feared stimulus E: Once a patient is prevented from practising their avoidance behaviour the behaviour ceases to be reinforced and so it declines L: The application to therapy is a strength of the two process model

Answer 70

P: Not all avoidance behaviour is associated with phobias seems to be the result of anxiety reduction at least in more complex phobias like agoraphobia E: Evidence suggest that at least some avoidance behaviour appears to motivated more by positive feelings of safety E: In other words the motivating factor in choosing an action like not leaving the house is not so much to avoid phobic stimulus but to stick safety factor It explains why some patients with agoraphobia are able to leave their house with a trusted person with relatively little anxiety but not alone L: This is a problem for the two process model The model suggests that avoidance is motivated by anxiety reduction

Answer 71

P: Phobias that don’t follow a trauma E: Sometimes phobias appear following a bad experience and it is easy to see how they could be the result of conditioning E: However sometimes people develop a phobia and are not aware of having had a related bad experience L: Some people might have a fear of snakes although never actually meeting one this shows all phobias aren’t learned

Answer 72

P: The two - process model doesn’t take into account cognitive process E: We know behavioural explanations in general are oriented towards explaining behaviour rather than cognition E: This is why the two process model explains maintenance of phobias in terms of avoidance L: This is a weakness because the two process model doesn’t take into account cognitive process

Answer 73

P: The two process model is an incomplete explanation of phobias E: If we accept that classical and operant conditioning are involved in the development of maintenance of phobias some aspects of phobic behaviour require further explaining Bounton points out that evolutionary factors probably;y have an important role in phobias but two factor theory does not mention in E: We can easily acquire phobias of things that have been a source of danger in our evolutionary past such as fear of snakes or of the dark It is adaptive acquire such fears Seligman called this biological preparedness It is quite rare to develop a fear of guns or cars which are actually much more dangerous to most of us today then. Spiders or snakes Presumably this is because they have only existed very recently and so we are not biologically prepared to learn fear response towards them L: This phenomenon of preparedness is a serious oprobvelm for the two -factor theory because it shows there is more to acquiring phobias that simple conditioning

Answer 74

P: It has partial explanation E: There is no doubt that some cases of depression follow activating events E: Psychologists call this reactive depression and see it as different from the kind of depression that arises without obvious causes L: This means Ellis explanation only applies to some kind of depression and is therefore only a partial explanation for depression This is a strength/weakness

Answer 75

P: Practical application in CBT E: A strength of Ellis explanation is that like becks explanation it has led to successful therapy E: Idea that challenging negative beliefs a person can reduce their depression is supported by research by lipsky therapies based on Ellis theories have been shown to be better then nothing and other similar therapies L: This in turn supports the basic theory because it suggests that the irrational beliefs had some role in the depression this is a strength

Answer 76

P: It has good supporting evidence E: A range of evidence supports the idea that depression is associated with faulty information processing Negative self-schema and the cognitive vulnerability and depression before and after birth Grazioli and terry assessed 65 pregnant women for cognitive vulnerability and depression before and after birth Found women judged to have been high in cognitive vulnerability were more likely to suffer post-natal depression E: Clark an beck reviewed research on topic and concluded that there was solid support for all these cognitive vulnerability factors L: Critically these cognitions can be seen before depression develops suggesting that beck may be right about cognition causing depression in some cases this is a strength

Answer 77

P: It has practical application E: A further strength of becks cognitive explanation is that it forms the basis of cognitive behavioural therapy All cognitive aspects of depression can be identified and challenged in CBT E: A therapist can challenge them and encourage the patient to test whether they are true L: This is a strength of the explanation because it translates well into a successful therapy

Answer 78

P: Not all emotions have a cognitive origin E: These explanations assume emotions are influenced by cognition (cognitive primacy) E: Psychodynamic. - emotions are stored as physical energy and emerge after an event Biological - neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine have a big influence one emotions L: This is a weakness of the cognitive approach to explaining depression

Answer 79

P: It doesn’t explain all aspects of depression E: Although Ellis explains why some people appear to be more vulnerable to depression than others as a result of their cognitions His approach has very much the same limitations as becks E: It doesn’t easily plain the anger associated with depression or the fact that some patients suffer hallucinations and delusions L: This is a weakness because it doesn’t explain every aspect of depression which means it is an incomplete explanation

Answer 80

P: A strength of the strange situation is that it has support for validity E: A large body of research has shown that babies and toddlers assessed as type B secure tend to have better outcomes than others both in later childhood and adulthood Childhood this includes better achievement in school and less involvement in bullying (McCormick et al Kokkinos) E: Securely attached babies also tend to go on to have a better mental health in adulthood (Ward et al 2006) Those babies assessed as having insecure-resistant attachment and those not falling into types A,B or C tend to have worst outcomes L: This suggests that the strange situation measures something real and meaningful in a a baby’s development

Answer 81

P: A further strength of the strange situation is that it has good reliability E: Bick et al tested inter-rater reliability for the strange situation for a team of trained observes and found agreement on attachment type in 94% of cases E: High level of reliability may be because the procedure takes place under controlled conditions also because behaviours (such as proximity seeking and stranger anxiety) involve large movements and are therefore easy to observe Example anxious babies cry and crawl away from stranger L: This means that we can be confident that attachment type as assessed by the strange situation does not depend on subjective judejment

Answer 82

P: A further weakness of the strange situation is that it may be culture - bound (imposed etic) E: The strange situation was developed in Britain and the US may be culture bound ( not valid for use in certain cultures Europe and us) One reason for this is that babies have different experiences in different cultures and these experience may affect their response to the strange situation E: One Japanese’s study Takahashi babies displayed very high levels of separation

Answer 83

P: A further weakness of the strange situation is that it may be culture - bound (imposed etic) E: The strange situation was developed in Britain and the US may be culture bound ( not valid for use in certain cultures Europe and us) One reason for this is that babies have different experiences in different cultures and these experience may affect their response to the strange situation E: One Japanese’s study Takahashi babies displayed very high levels of separation anxiety and so a disproportionate number were classified as insecure resistant Takashi suggests that this anxiety response was not due to high rates of attachment Insecurity but to the unusual nature of the experience in japan where mother-baby separation is very rare L: This means that it is very difficult to know what the strange situation is actually measuring when used outside Europe and US

Answer 84

P: A final weakness of the theory is that there may be more attachment types E: Main and Solomon identified a fourth category of attachment - a disorganised or type D attachment a mix of resistant and avoidant behaviour E: However type D babies are unusual and have generally experienced some form of severe neglect or abuse Most will develop psychological disorders by adulthood L: This is a weakness because it doesn’t account for all attachment so cannot be generalised to everyone

Answer 85

P: CBT is effective at treating depression E: March et al shows CBT is as effective as drug therapies 81% effective (86% in combination) E: This suggests CBT is a good first choice treatment in public health care system L: Strength of CBT as treatment for depression

Answer 86

P: CBT may not work for the most severe cases of depression E: Depression can be so severe that patients cannot be motivate themselves to engage with the hard cognitive work of CBT This may not even be able to pay attention to what is happening in a session E: Where this is the case it is possible to treat patients with antidepressants medication and commence CBT when they are more alert and motivated Although it is possible to work around this by using medication L: This is a limitation of CBT because it means CBT cannot be used as the sole treatment for all cases of depression

Answer 87

P: Success may be due to therapist-patient relationship E: Rosenzweig suggests that the difference between different methods of psychotherapy such as between CBT and systematic desensitisation might actually might actually be quite small all psychotherapies share one essential ingredient - the therapist patient relationship E: It may be the quality of this relationship that determines success rather than any particular technique that is used Many comparative reviews (luborsky et al) find very small differences which support the view that simply having g opportunity to talk to someone who will listen could be what matters most L: This is a weakness of CBT that bit may not be doing anything it may just be having someone to talk to

Answer 88

P: Some patients really want to explore their past E: One of the basic principles of CBT is that the focus in therapy is on the present and future not the patients past This is in contrast to some other forms of psychological therapy E: Some patients are aware of the link between their childhood experiences and current depression Want to talk about it They can find this present focus frustrating L: This is a weakness of CBT because it focuses on changing beliefs instead of why they have these beliefs

Answer 89

P: Overemphasis on cognition E: There is a risk because of its emphasis on what is happening in the mind of the individual patient CBT may end up minimising the importance of the circumstances in which a patient is living (McCusker) E: A patient living in poverty or suffering abuse needs ton change their circumstances and any approach to therapy that emphasis what is happening in the patients mind rather than their environment can prevent this L: CBT techniques used inappropriately can demotivate people to change

Answer 90

P: There is good supporting evidence E: There is evidence from a variety of sources for the idea that some people are vulnerable to OCD as a result of their genetic make up One of the best sources of evidence for the importance of genes in twin studies E: Nestadt et al reviewed previous twin studies and found that 68% of identical twins shared OCD as opposed to 31% of non-identical twins L: This is a strength as it strongly suggests a genetic influence on OCD

Answer 91

P: There is some supporting evidence E: There is evidence supporting the role of some neural mechanisms for OCD Some antidepressants work purely on the serotonin system increasing levels of this neurotransmitter Such drugs are effective in reducing OCD symptoms and this suggests that the serotonin system Is involved in OCD E: OCD symptoms from part of a number of other conditions that are biological in origin Parkinson’s disease Nestadt et al L: This is a strength as it suggests that the biological processes that cause the symptoms in those conditions may also be responsible for OCD

Answer 92

P: Too many candidate genes E: Although twin studies strongly suggests that OCD is largely under genetic control psychologists have been much less successful at pinning down all the genes involved E: One reason for this is because it appears that several genes involved and that each genetic variation only increases the risk of OCD by a faction L: The consequence is that a genetic explanation is unlikely to ever be very useful because it provides little predictive value Making it a weakness

Answer 93

P: Environmental risk factors E: It seems that environmental factors can also trigger or increase the risk of developing OCD ( the diathesis-stress model) E: Cromer et al found that over half the OCD patients in their sample had a traumatic event in their past and that OCD was more severe in those with more than one trauma L: This is a weakness because it suggests OCD is not entirely genetic origin at least not in all cases It may be more productive to focus on the environmental causes because we are more able to do something about these

Answer 94

P: It is not clear exactly what neural mechanisms are involved E: Studies of decision making have shown that these neural systems are the same systems that function abnormally in OCD (cavedini et al) E: However research has also identified other brain systems that may be involved sometimes but no system has ben found that always play a role in OCD L: This is a weakness as we cannot therefore really claim to understand the neural mechanisms involved in OCD

Answer 95

P: We should not assume the neural mechanisms cause OCD E: There is evidence to suggest that various neurotransmitters and structure of the brain do not function normally in patients with OCD E: However this is not the same as saying that this a abnormal moral function causes the OCD L: This is a weakness as these biological abnormalities could be caused by OCD rather than cause OCD

Answer 96

P: The serotonin OCD link may be simply co-morbidity with depression E: Many people who suffer OCD become depressed This depression probably involves (though is not necessarily caused by) disruption to the serotonin system E: This leaves us with a logical problem when it comes to the serotonin system as a possible basis for OCD L: This is a weakness as it could simply be that the serotonin system is disrupted in many patients with OCD because they are depressed as well

Answer 97

P: Twin studies are flawed as genetic evidence E: Twin studies are a standard source of evidence for genetic influence E: However they make the assumption that identical twins are only more similar than non-identical twins in terms of their genes but overlook the fact that identical twins may also be more similar in terms of shared environments L: This is a weakness due to non identical twins may have quite different experiences one being a boy and one being a girl

Answer 98

P: One strength is that most studies were carried out by indigenous researchers E: Ijzendoorn and kroonenberg included research by a German team( Grossman et al) + Takahashi who is Japanese E: This kind of research means that many of the potential problems in cross-cultural research can avoided such as research misunderstanding of the language used by participants or having difficulty communicating instructions to them Difficulties can also include bias because of one nations steryotypes of another L: This means there is an excellent chance that resertachers and participants communicated successful - enhancing the validity

Answer 99

P: A finals point is that there are competing explanations E: Cross-cultural research has found very similar attachment types in different countries Bowlbys theory explains this similarity by identifying attachment as innate and universal Ijzendoorn and kroonenberg suggest an alternative explanation E: Namely that global media represents a particular view of how parents and babies are meant to behave This may override traditional cultural differences in the way children are brought up L: There are a number of different factors that play a part in attachment types

Answer 100

P: However this isn’t the case for all cross-cultural research E: Morelli and Tronick were outsiders from America when they studied child rearing and patterns of attachment in the Efe of Zaire E: Their data might have been affected by difficulties in gathering data from participants outside their own culture L: This means that the data from some countries might have been effected by bias and difficulty in cross cultural communication

Answer 101

P: A weakness is that there are confounding variables E: Studies conducted in different countries are not usually matched for methodology when they are compared in reviews or meta analyses Sample characteristics such as poverty ,social class and urban/rural make up can confound results as can the age of participants studied in different countries E: Environmental variables might also differ between studies and confound results For example the size of the room and the availability of interesting toys there babies might appear to explore more in studies conducted in small rooms with attractive toys compared to large bare rooms Less visible proximity seeking because of room size might make a child more likely to be classified as avoidant L: This means that looking at attachment behaviour is different non-matched studies conducted in different countries may not tell us about cross cultural patterns of attachment

Answer 102

P: Another weakness is that the method may be an imposed etic E: Cross-cultural psychology includes the ideas of emic (cultural uniqueness) and etic(cross-cultural universality) Imposed etic occurs when we assume an idea or technique that works in one culturally context will work in another For example of this in attachment id in the use of babies response to reunion with the caregiver in the strange situation E: In Britain and the US lack of affection on reunion may indicate avoidant attachment But in Germany such behaviour would be more likely interpreted as independence rather than insecurity Therefore that part of the strange situation may not work in Germany L: This means that the behaviours measured by the strange situation may not have the same meanings in different cultural contexts and comparing them across cultures is meaningless

Answer 103

P: Drug therapy is effective at tackling OCD symptoms E: Clear evidence for the effectiveness of SSRIs in reducing the severity of OCD symptoms and so improving quality of life for OCD patients Soomro et al reviewed studies comparing SSRIs to placebo in the treatment of OCD and concluded that all 17 studies reviewed showed significantly better result for the SSRIs are combined with a psychological treatment usually CBT E: Typically symptoms decline significantly for around 70% patients tracking SSRIs The remaining 30 alternative drug treatments or combinations of the drugs and psychological treatments will be effective for some L: This is a strength so drugs can help people

Answer 104

P: Drugs are cost-effective and non-disruptive E: An advantage of drug treatments in general is that they are cheap compared to psychological treatments Using drugs to treat OCD is therefore good value for a public health system like the national healths service E: As compared to psychological therapies SRRIs are also non-disruptive to patients lives If you wish you can simply take drugs until your symptoms decline and not engage with the hard work of psychological therapy L: This strength as the cost of taking SSRIs is less than the benefit

Answer 105

P: Drugs have side effects E: Although drugs like SSRIs are often helpful t sufferers of OCD a significant minority will get no benefit Some patients also suffer side-effects such as indigestion blurred vision and loss of sex drive These side effects are usually temporary E: Those taking Clomipramine side effects are more comman and can be more serious More than one in ten patients suffer erection problems tremors and weight gain More than one in a hundred become aggressive and suffer disruptions to blood pressure and heart rhythm L: This is a weakness as such factors reduce effectiveness because people stop taking the medication

Answer 106

P: Unreliable evidence for drug treatments E: Although SSRIs are fairly effective and any side effects will probably be short term like all drug treatments they have some controversy attached E: Example some psychologists believe the evidence favouring drug treatments in biased because the research is sponsored by drug companies who do not report all the evidence goldcare L: This is a weakness as the evidence could be biased meaning evidence is unreliable making the drug more dangerous

Answer 107

P: Some cases of OCD follow trauma E: OCD is widely believed to be biological in origin It makes sense therefore that the standard treatment should be biological E: However it is acknowledged that OCD can have a range of other causes and that in some cases it is a response to a traumatic life event L: This is a weakness as we cannot generalise our finds to treat OCD

Answer 108

P: There are ethical and practical issues E: The animals in the experiment were exposed to stressful or adverse conditions E: Skinners shocking the rats L: This is a weakness

Answer 109

P: However there is some research support E: The idea that maternal deprivation can have long-term effects E: Levy showed that separating baby rats from their mother for a little as a day had a permanent effect on their social development through not other aspects of development L: This means that although bowlby relied on flawed evidence to support the theory of maternal deprivation there are other sources of evidence for his ideas

Answer 110

P: Another strength is there is supporting research E: On the other hand more recent research ( for example GAO et al) E: Has partially supported bowlbys theory by showing poor maternal care was associated with high rates of psychopathy in adults L: This is a strength as it supports bowlby theory of maternal deprivation

Answer 111

P: One limitation is that the evidence is flawed E: Bowlbys 44 thieves study(facing page) is flawed because it was bowlby himself who carried out both the family interviews and the assessments for affection-less psychopathy This left him open to bias because he knew in advance which teenagers he expected to show signs of psychopathy E: For example bowlby was also influenced by the findings of goldfarbs research on development of deprived children in goldfarbs (1943) research on the development of deprived children in war time orphans This study had problems of confounding variables because the children in Goldfarbs study had experienced early trauma and institutional care as well as prolonged separation from primary caregiver L: This means that bowlbys original sources of evidence for maternal deprivation had serious flaws and would not be taken seriously now days

Answer 112

P: Another limitation is the failure to distinguish between deprivation and privation E: Ritter drew important distinction between two types of early negative experience Deprivation strictly refers to the loss of the primary attachment figure after attachment has developed On the other hand privation is the failure to from any attachment in the first place this may take place when children ate brought up in institutional care E: Ritter pointed out that severe long term damage bowlby associated itch deportation is actually more likely the result of privation So the children studied by goldfarbs may actually have been prived rather than deprived Similarity many of the children in the 44 thieves study had disrupted early lives(e.g spells in hospital) and may never have formed strong attachments L: This means that bowlby May have overestimated the seriousness of the effects of deprivation in children’s development

Answer 113

P: Another limitation is that the critical period is overly deterministic E: Bowlby damage was inevitable if a child had not formed an attachment in the first two and a half years Hence this critical period However there is evidence to suggest that in many cases good quality aftercare can prevent most or all this damage E: Koluchova reported the case of the Czech twins The twins experienced very severe physical and emotional abuse from the age of 18 moths up until 7 years old Although they were severely damaged emotionally by their experience they received excellent care and by their teens they had recovered fully L: This means that lasting harm is not inevitable even in cases of severe privation the critical period is therefore better seen as a sensitive period

Answer 114

P: Another limitation is that there is contradictory research E: Most attempts to replicate the 44 thieves study failed to produce similar results E: Lewis looked at 500 young people and found no association between early separation and later psychopathy ( criminality or relationship difficulties) L: This means that the theory lacks validity

Answer 115

P: A strength of MSM is therefore is supporting evince E: That shows STM and LTM are qualitatively different Baddeley found that we tend to mix up words that have similar sound when we use our STM But we mix up words that have similar meaning when we use our LTM E: The strength of this study is that it clearly shows that coding in STM is acoustic and in LTM it is semantic They are different and this supports the MSM view that these twin memory stores are separate and independent L: Further support is given by all the studies of coding capacity and duration this is a strength as it has reliability through many studies

Answer 116

P: MSM states that STM is a unitary store and there is only one type of short term memory E: Evidence from people suffering from a clinical condition called amnesia shows that this cannot be true Shallice and Warrington studied a attention with amnesia known as KF They found that KFs short term memory for digits was very poor when they read out loud to him E: But his recall was much better when he was able to reads the digits himself Further studies of KF and other people with amnesia showed that there could could even be another short term store for non-verbal sounds(noise) L: The unitary STM is a limitation of the MSM because reach shows that at the very least there must be one short term store to process visual information and another one to process auditory information

Answer 117

P: There is more than one type of rehearsal E: According to the MSM what matters in rehearsal is the amount of it you do The more you rehearse some information the more likely you are to transfer it to the LTM and remember it for a long time E: Craik and Watkins found that this prediction was wrong What really matters about rehearsal is the type of rehearsal They discovered two types of rehearsal Maintenance is the type described in the MSM but this does not transfer information into LTM it just maintains it in the STM Elaborative rehearsal is needed for long term storage This happens when you link the information to your existing knowledge or you think about what it means L: This is very serious limitation of the MSM because it is another reserach finding that cannot be explained by the model

Answer 118

P: Artificial materials E: In everyday life we form memories related to all sorts of useful things peoples faces names facts places and so on E: But a lot of research studies that provide support for the MSM used none of these materials instead digits letters and sometimes words They even used what is known as constant syllables that have no meaning (such as ZLG) L: Therefore it is not completely applicable to real life as we aren’t always asked to do tasks with this artificial material

Answer 119

P: There is more than one type of LTM E: There is a lot of research evidence that LTM like STM is not unitary memory store E: We have one long term memory store for our memories of facts about the world and we have different one for our memories of how to ride a bicycle L: This is a limitation of the MSM because there are research findings that cannot be supported by the model

Answer 120

P: A strength is that there are real life applications E: Studying Romanian orphans has improved psychologists understanding of the effects of early institutional care and how to prevent the worst of these effects(Langton) This has led to improvement in the conditions experienced by looked after children (children growing up in the care system) Children’s homes now avoid having a large number of caregivers for each child E: Instead children tend to have one or two ‘key workers’ who play a central role in their emotional care Also institutional care is now seen as an undesirable option for looking after children considerable effort is made to accommodate such children in foster care to have them adopted instead L: This means that children in institutional care have a chance to develop normal attachment and Disinhibited attachment is avoided

Answer 121

P: Anther strength is that there are fewer confounding variables E: There were many orphans studies before Romanian Rohan’s because available to study (orphans studied during Second World War) Many children studied in orphanages had experienced varying degrees of trauma and its difficulty to disentangle the effects of neglect physical abuse amid bereavement from those in institutional care E: However the children from Romanian orphanages had in the main been handed over by loving parents who could not afford to keep them L: This means that results were much less likely to be confounded by other negative early experiences (high internal validity

Answer 122

P: However there is still one confounding variable E: The quality of care in these institutions was remarkably poor with children receiving very little intellectual stimulation or comfort L: This means that the harmful effects seen in studies of Romanian orphans may represents the effects of poor institutional care

Answer 123

P: A limitation is that the long term consequences are unclear E: The latest data from the ERA study looked at children in their early to mid 20s this means that we do not currently have data to answer some of the most interesting research questions about the long term effects of institutional care E: These research questions include the lifetime prevalence of metal health problems and participants success in forming and maintaining adult romantic and parental relationships It will take a long time to gather this data because of the longitudinal design of the study ( the same participants over a long period of time) L: This means it will be some time before we know more completely what the long term effects are for the Romanian orphans it is possible that late adopted children catch up

Answer 124

P: Another limitation is that the research is socially sensitivity E: The results show that late adopted children typically have poor development Results have been published while children have been growing up meaning everyone knew about them may have lowered there expectations So may lead to self fulfilling prophecies E: However research findings may benefit institutional children L: The usefulness of the research is therefore debatable

Answer 125

P: One strength is the research support E: Studies linking to attachment to later development Reviews of such evidence (fearon and roisman) have concluded that early attachment Consistently predicts later attachment emotional well being and attachment ti own children E: How strong the relationship is between early attachment type and later development depends both on the attachment type and aspects of later development So whilst insecure avoidant seems to convey fairly mild disadvantages for any aspects of development Disorganised attachemnt is strongly associated with later mental disorders L: This means secure attachment as a baby appears to convey advantages for future development while disorganised attachment appears to serious disadvantage children

Answer 126

P: However not all research supports the link E: The regensburg longitudinal study followed 43 individuals from on year of age E: At age 16 attachment was assessed using adult attachment interview and there was no evidence of continuity L: This means that it is not cleat to what extent the quality of early attachment really predicts later development There may be other important factors

Answer 127

P: One limitation is that research lacks validity E: Most research on the link between early attachment and later development are not longitudinal (ashes attachment in early life and then revisit the same person in later life) Instead researcher usually ask adolescent or adult participants questions about their relationships and identify attachemnt types from this E: This causes tow validity problems First asking questions relies on honesty and accurate perception of the participants Second it means it is very hard to know wether what is being assessed is early attachment or in fact adult attachment L: This means that the measure of early attachment used in most studies may be confounded with other factors making them meaningless

Answer 128

P: Another limitation is the existence of confounding variables E: Some studies do assess attachment in infancy(McCarthy) which means that the assessment of early attachment is valid However even these studies have validity problems because associations between attachment quality and later development may be affected by confounding variables E: Example parenting style may influence both attachment quality and later development Alternatively genetically influence personality may be an influence on both factors L: This means that we can never be entirely sure that it is early attachemnt and not some other factor that is influencing later development

Answer 129

P: The influence of early attachment is probabilistic/overly deterministic E: This means that an insecure attachment does not invariably cause increased risk of later development problems No one is inevitably going to have unsuccessful romantic relationship because of their early attachment experiences E: By knowing someone’s attachemnt status we have opportunity to intervene and help their development However we may also become too pessimistic and create self-fulfilling prophecy L: This is a weakness because they wont always become the way research says

Answer 130

P: Case studies support multiple types of long term memory E: HM and cliff wearing both suffered severe amnesia(go into detail) E: Episodic was hindered but procedural was intact and semantic memories relatively unaffected L: These support multiple types of LTM

Answer 131

P: Neuro imaging evidence E: There is evidence from brain scan studies that different types of memory are stored in different parts of the brain Tulving got their participants to perform various memory tasks while their brains were scanned using a PET scanner E: Found that episodic and semantic memories were both recalled from an area of the brain known as prefrontal cortex The area is divided in two One on each side(or hemisphere) of the brain The left prefrontal cortex was involved in recalling semantic memories Episodic memories were recalled from the right prefrontal cortex L: The strength of this finding is that it supports the view that there is a physical reality to the different types of LTM within the brain It has been confirmed many times in later research studies further supporting the validity of this finding

Answer 132

P: Real life applications E: Being able to identify different aspects of LTM allows psychologist’s to target certain kinds of memory in order to better peoples lives Belleville et al demonstrated that episodic memories could be improved in older people who had mild cognitive impairment E: The trained participants performed better on a test of episodic memory after training than a control group Episodic memory is the type of memory most often affected by mild cognitive impairment which highlights benefits of being able to distinguish between types of LTM L: This is a strength because it allows specific treatments to be developed

Answer 133

P: Problems with clinical evidence E: Psychologists are very interested in studying pole with brain injuries People like HM and CW have provided a lot of useful information about what happens when a brain is damaged E: This has even helped researchers to understand how memory is supposed to work normally But such clinical studies are not perfect There is serious lack of control of all sorts of different variables in clinical studies L: This decreases the validity of this reserach

Answer 134

P: Three types of LTM or two E: Cohen and squire disagree with tulving division of LTM into three types They accept that procedural memories represent one type of LTM E: But they argue that episodic and semantic memories are stored together in one LTM store that they call declarative memory (memories that can be consciously recalled In contrast procedural memories are non-declarative L: This is a weakness as Tulving didn’t make this clear distinction

Answer 135

P: Clinical evidence E: Support for the WMM comes from Shallice and Warrington case study of patient KF who had suffered brain damage After this damage happened KF had poor STM for verbal information but could process visual information normally presented visually (he had difficulty with sounds but could recall letter and digits) E: This suggests that just his phonological loop had been damaged leaving other areas of memory intact L: This supports the existence of a separate visual and acoustic store

Answer 136

P: Further supporting research E: Dual task performance support the seperate existence of the Visuo-spatial sketchpad Baddeley et al showed that participants had more difficulty doing two visual (tracking a light and describing the letter F) Than doing visual and verbal tasks at the same time E: Increase difficulty is because both visual task compete for the same slave system where’s when doing a verbal and visual tasks simultaneously there is no competition L: This means there must be a separate slave system (the VSS) that process visual input

Answer 137

P: Studies of the word length effect support the phonological loop E: Baddeley et al demonstrated that people find it more difficult to remember a list of long words (such as association) rather than short words This is called the word length effect E: This is because there is a finite space for rehearsal in the articulatory process(probably about two seconds worth) The word length effect disappears if a person is given an articulacy suppression task this is repetitive task that ties up the articulatory process L: This is a strength because it supports the different parts of the WMM

Answer 138

P: Brain scanning studies support the WMM E: Braver et al gave their participants tasks that involved the central executive while they were having a brain scan The researcher found greater activity in area know as the left prefrontal cortex E: What was especially interesting was that the activity in this area increased as the task became harder This makes a lot of sense in terms of the WMM as demands on the CE increase it has to work harder to fulfil its function L: This is a strength as it shows that the WMM exists

Answer 139

P: Lack of clarity over the central executive E: Cognitive psychologists suggests that this component of the WMM is unsatisfactory and doesn’t really explain anything Baddeley himself recognised this when he said “the central executive is the most implant but the least understood component of the working memory E: The central executive needs to be more clearly specified than just being simply ‘attention’ for example some psychologists believe it may consist of separate components L: This means that the WMM hasn’t been fully explained

Answer 140

P: One strength of free will is its practical value E: The comman sense view is that we exercise free choice in our everyday lives on a daily basis however even if this is not the case think we do exercise free choice can improve our mental health Robert’s looked at adolescent who had a strong belief in fatalism (there lives were decided by events outside our control) E: The study found that these adolescent were at significantly greater risk of developing depression It seems that people who exhibit an external rather than internal LOC are less likely to be optimistic L: This suggests that even if we do not have free will the fact we believe we do may have a positive impact on mind and behaviour

Answer 141

P: However these findings don’t necessarily mean we don’t have free will E: However liberty findings showing that the brain is involved in decision making is not surprising and is in fact just as we would expect Justice because the action comes before the conscious awareness of the decision to act took time to reach consciousness E: Our conscious awareness of the decision is simply a read-out of our unconscious decision making L: This suggests this evidence is not appropriate as a challenge to free will

Answer 142

P: One strength of free will is that it fits with the legal system E: The hard determinist stance is that individual choice is not the cause of behaviour This not consistent with the way in which the legal system operates E: In a court of law offenders are held responsible for their actions indeed the main principle of our legal system is that a defendant exercised their free will in committing the crime L: This suggests that in the real world determinist arguments don’t work

Answer 143

P: Both determinism and free will have strengths for psychology E: In addition hard determinsim (such as the biological and behaviourist approaches) has produced many effective real world applications These include therapies and behavioural interventions E: Free will have intuitive appeal Most of us see ourselves as making our own choices rather than being pushed by forces we cannot control Free will may also be liberating some some people in terms of not accepting fate - if they come from criminal background or there is mental disorder in their family for instance L: Therefore determinsims and free will both have unique strengths for psychology and allows us to improve peoples life’s

Answer 144

P: One strength of determinism is that there is research evidence E: Libel instructed participants to choose a random moment to flick their wrist while he measured activity in their brain (readiness potential) E: Libel found that the unconscious brain activity leading up to the conscious decision to move came around half a second before the participants consciously felt they had decided to move L: This may be interpreted as meaning that even our moist basic experience of free will are actually determined by our brain before we are aware of them

Answer 145

P: Evidence from lab studies E: Interference in memory is probably one of the most consistently demonstrated findings in the whole psychology Literary thousands of lab experiments have been carried out into this explanation for forgetting such as McDonald’s and mcgeoch E: Most of these studies show that both types of interference are very likely to be common ways we forget information from LTM L: This is a strength because lab experiments control effects of irrelevant influences and thus give us confidence that interference is a valid explanation for at least forgetting

Answer 146

P: Real life studies E: Some research studies have considered interference effect in more everyday situations Baddeley and hitchhikers wanted to find out if interference was a better explanation for forgetting than the passage of time They asked rugby players to try remember the names of the teams they had played so far in that season week by week Because most of the players had missed games foe some the last game they played might have been two weeks ago or more E: The results very clearly showed that accurate recall did not depend on how’s long ago long ago the matches took place Much more important was the number of games they played in the meantime So a players recall of a team from three weeks ago was better if they had played no matches since then L: This study shows that interference explanations can apply to at least some everyday situations Study by Burke and skrull demonstrate interference in more everday situations

Answer 147

P: Interference effects may be overcome using cues E: Tulving and psotka gave participants five lists of 24 words each list organised into six categories The categories were not explicit but presumed that they would be obvious to participants E: Recall was about 70% for the first word list but this fell as participants were given each additional list to learn presumably due to interference However at the end they were given cued recall test they were told the names of the categories as a clue recall rose again to about 70% L: This is a strength as the interference model states that the memory is not forgotten we just can’t get it because information gets in the way of

Answer 148

P: Artificial materials E: There is much greater chance that interference will be demonstrated in the lab than in real life situations for one good reason The stimulus material used in most studies are lists of words The task facing participants is to learn these lists E: Learning a lists of words is definitely more realistic than learning lists of constant syllables (such as TZK) But this is still quite some distance from the things we learn and try to remember in everyday life peoples faces their birthdays the ingredients of our favourite pizza details of pscyhological research studies that kind of thing L: This is a limitation because the use of artificial tasks makes interference much more likely in a lab study.interference may not be as likely an explanation for forgetting in everday life as it is in the lab

Answer 149

P: Time between learning E: There is no doubt that the majority of lab experiments are designed so that the possibility of interference is maximised One example of how this occurs is in the time period between Learning lists of words and recalling them E: For good practical reasons these time periods are relatively short and may in some cases be very short indeed So a participant math have to lean one list of words and then lean a second one 20 minutes later and then recall one of them a few minutes after that L: This is a weakness as the whole experience of learning something and recalling it could be over within an hour

Answer 150

P: One limitation of the holism approach is that it lacks practical value E: Holistic accounts of human behaviour tend to become hard to use as they become more complex This fan present researchers with a practical dilemma E: If we accept from a humanistic perspective that there are many different factors that contribute to depression then it becomes difficult to know which is most influential It is then difficult to know which to prioritise as the basis of therapy for instance L: This suggests that holistic accounts may lack practical value

Answer 151

P: One strength of reductionism is that it is scientific E: In order to conduct well-controlled research we need to operationalise the variables to be studied (break target behaviour into constituent parts) E: This makes it possible to to conduct experiments or record observations in a way that is objective and reliable Research on attachment operationalised component behaviours such as separation anxiety L: The scientific approach gives psychology greater credibility placing it on equal terms with natural science

Answer 152

P: However the reductionist approaches can oversimplify complex behaviours E: Explanations that operate at the level of gene of neurotransmitter do not include an analysis of the social context within which behaviour may derive its meaning E: For instance the psychological processes involved in pointing ones finger will b the same regardless of the context An analysis of these will not tell us why the finger is pointed out might be to draw attention to one object of person as an act of aggression L: This suggests that reductionist explanations can only ever form part of an explanation

Answer 153

P: One limitation of reductionism is that some behaviours can only be understood at a higher level E: Often there are aspects of socail behaviour that only emerge within a group context and cannot understood in terms of the individual group members For instance the effects of conformity to social roles in the prisoners and guards in the Stanford prison study could not be understood by observing the participants as individuals E: It was the interaction between people and th behaviour of the group that was important there is no conformity gene (that we know of) so social process like conformity can only be explained at the level a which they occur L: This suggests that for some behaviours higher level explanations (or even holistic ones) provide a more valid account

Answer 154

P: Brian and mind E: A reductionist account of consciousness would ague this is the case that we are thinking machines Indeed this is the basis of cognitive neuroscience that cognitive processes including all that we think and feel are associated with physical process in the brain However what neuroscientist struggle to explain is the subjective experience of the same neural process E: For instance thinking about blue in olives exactly the same region and activity in the brain as thinking about the colour red yet the though we experience is different This isn’t referred to as the explanatory gap in brain science (Levine 1983) Suggests that thinking is at least one step beyond what is happening in the brain L: This shows that holism and reductionism have there own strengths in helping in the real world

Answer 155

P: A strength of research is support from adoption studies E: Adoption studies are useful because they separate the competing influences of nature and nurture If adopted children are found to be more similar to their adoptive parents this suggests the environment is the bigger influence If adopted children are similar too their biological parents (no influence on environment) Then genetic factors are presumed to dominate E: A meta analysis of adoption spouses by rhee and Waltham found that genetic influences account for 41% of the variance in aggression L: This shows how research can Separate the influences of nature and nurture

Answer 156

P: However nature and nurture may not be able to separated E: According to plomin people create their own ‘nurture’ by actively selecting environments that are appropriate for their ‘nature’ E: Thus a naturally aggressive child is likely to feel more comfortable with children who show similar behaviour and will choose their environment Then their chosen companions further influence their development (niche-picking) L: This suggests that it does not make sense to look at evidence of either nature or nurture

Answer 157

P: Another strength are the real world applications ] E: Research suggests that OCD is a highly heritable mental disorder Nestadt put the heritability rate .76 This understanding can inform genetic counselling because it is important to understand that high heritability does not mean it is inevitable that the individual will go on to develop the disorder E: This means that people who have genetic risk of OCD because of their family background can receive advice about the likehood of developing disorder and how they might prevent (learn to manage stress) L: This shows that the debate is not just a theoretical one but that it is importantly a practical level to understand the interaction between nature and nurture

Answer 158

P: Another strength is the support for epigenetic E: One example of how environmental effects can span generations presumably through epigenetic effects comes from events of the Second World War In 1944 the nazis blocked the distribution of food to the Dutch people are 22000 died of starvation in what became called the Dutch hunger winter E: Sussex and lin report that women who became pregnant during the famine went on to have low eight babies Whilst this may be unsurprising what is more interesting is these babies were twice as likely to develop schizophrenia when they grew up compared to more typical rates L: This supports the view that the life experiences of previous generations can leave epigenetic markers that influence the health of offspring

Answer 159

P: Both sides of the debate can’t have negative consequences E: Nativists suggest that ‘anatomy is destiny’ in that our genetic make-up determines,Ines our characteristics and behaviour with little environmental input The extreme determinist stance has lead to controversy Such as linking ethnicity, genetics and intelligence and the application of eugenic policies E: In contrast but also controversially - empiricist suggest that any behaviour can be changed by alterning environmental conitions Behaviour shaping (behaviour concept has practical application) Desirable behaviours are selectively reinforced and undesirable behaviours are punished or ignored L: Carried to an extreme this could lead to complete social control by the state. For the good of everyone

Answer 160

P: Supporting evidence a lot of research support retrieval failure explanation for forgetting E: Godden and baddeley and carter and cassadat are some examples E: One prominent memory research Eysenck goes so far as to argue that retrieval failure perhaps the main reason for forgetting from LTM L: This is a strength because supporting evidence increases the validity of an explanation this is especially true when the evidence shows that retrieval failure occurs in real life situations as well as in the highly controlled conditions of the lab

Answer 161

P: Real life application E: Although context related cues appear not to have a very strong effect on forgetting Baddeley still suggests they are worth paying attention to For instance we have probably all had the following experience You are upstairs in your bedroom and you think ‘I must go downstairs and grab and so and such item E: You go downstairs only to forget what it was you came down for But the moment you go back upstairs you remember again When we are having trouble remembering something It is probably worth making the effort to try and recall the environment in which you learned it first L: This is a strength as it has real wold application this is a basic principle of the cognitive interview a third eyewitness to crimes to recall more information

Answer 162

P: Questioning context effects E: Baddeley argues that context effects are actually very strong especially in real life Different contexts have to be very different indeed before an effect is seen E: It would be hard to find an enviomrent as different from land as underwater In contrast learning something in one room and recalling it in another is unlikely to result in much forgetting because these environments are generally not different enough L: This is a limitation because it means that the real-life applications of retrieval failure due to contetxual cues don’t actually explain much forgetting

Answer 163

P: Recall versus recognition may be related to the kind of memory being tested E: Godden an baddeley replicated underwater experiment but used a recognition test instead of recall participants had to say whether they recognised a word read to them from the list instead of retrieving it for themselves E: When recognition was tested there was no context dependent effect performance was the same in all fours conditions L: This is a further limitation of context effects because it means that the prentice or absence of cues only affects memory when you test it in certain way

Answer 164

P: Problems with the encoding specific principle E: It cannot be tested and leads to a circular reasoning It experiments where a cue produces the successful recall of a word we assume that the cue mist have been encoded at the time of learning E: If a cutie does not result in successful recall of a word then we assume that the cue was not encoded at the time of learning But these are just assumptions there is no way to independently establish weathe for note the cue has really been encoded L: This is a weakness as it can’t be falsified so we don’t know of the concept is true so doesn’t help the validity of the theory

Answer 165

P: Useful real life application E: A great strength is misleading information is that it has hugely important practical uses in real world where the consequences of inaccurate EWT can be very serious indeed E: Loftus believes that leading questions can have such distorting Effect on memory that police officers need to be very careful about how they phrase their when interviewing eyewitness L: Research into EWT in one area in which psychologist believe they can make an important positive difference to the lives of real people for instance by improving the way the legal system works and by appearing in court trails as expert witness

Answer 166

P: The tasks are artifice E: A real limitation of loftus and palmers study is that their participants watched film clips of car accidents E: Mainly different experience from witnessing a real accident There is some evidence that emotions can have an influence on memory L: This is a limitation because studies that use such artificial tasks may tell us very little about how leading questions affect EWT in cases of real accidents or crimes It could even be that researchers such as loftus are too pessimistic about the accuracy of EWT it may be more

Answer 167

P: Individual differences E: There is evidence that older people are less accurate than younger people when giving eyewitness reports E: Anastasia and Rhodes found that people in age 18-25 and 35-45 were more accurate than people in the group 55-78 years However all age groups were more accurate when identifying people of their own age group ( own age bias) L: This is a weakness as research studies often use younger people as the target to identify and this may mean that some age groups appear less accurate but this is not true

Answer 168

P: Demand characteristics E: Zaragoza and mccloskey argue that many answers participants give in lab studies of EWT are the result of demand characteristics Participants usually do not want to let researcher down and want to appear helpful and attentive So when they are asked a question they don’t answer to they guess esp easily yes or no questions E: Imagine you are a participants in a study You have seen a film of a street robbery and now you are answering a yes/no questions One is did you see the blue car There was no blue car There was no blue car in the clip but you still answer yes to this question that seems more helpful answer L: This is a weakness as it makes the results less accurate therefore theory is less accurate

Answer 169

P: Consequences of EWT E: Foster et al point out that what you remember as an eyewitness can have some very important consequences in the real world buy the same is not true in research studies L: This is a weakness as theory lacks ecological validity

Answer 170

P: One limitation is that gender differences are often presented as fixed E: Maccoby and Jacklin presented the findings of several gender studies which concluded that girls have superior verbal ability whereas boys have better spatial ability Maccoboy and Jacklin suggests that these differences are hardwired into the brain before birth Such findings become widely reported and seen as fact E: Joel used brain scanning and found no such sex differences In the brain structure or processing It is possible that the data from Maccoboy and Jacklin was popularised because it fitted existing stereotypes of girls as speakers and boys as doers L: This suggests that we should be wary of accepting reserach findings as biological facts when they might be explained better as social stereotypes

Answer 171

P: However this doesn’t mean that psychologists should avoid studying gender differences E: Ingaliker suggest that the popular social stereotype that women have better mutitasking sway have some biological truth to it E: Seems that a women’s brain may benefit form better connections between the right and the left hemisphere than in a mans brain L: This suggests that there may be biological differences but we still should be wary of exaggerating the effects they may have on behaviour

Answer 172

P: Another limitation is that gender bias promotes sexism E: Women remain unrepresentative in university department particularly in science Although psychology undergraduate intake is mainly of women lectures in psychology departments are more likely to be men(Murphy) E: This means research is more likely to conducted by men than this my disadvantage participants who are women Nicholson and such expectations are likely to mean tyhat women underperform in research studies L: This means that the institutional structures and methods of psychology may produce findings that are gender biased

Answer 173

P: Another limitation is that research challenging gender bias may not be published E: Formanowicz analysed more than 100 articles relating to gender bias published over eight years They found that researcher on gender bias is funded less often and is published by less prestigious journals E: The consequences of this is that fewer scholars become aware of it or apply within their own work The researchers argued that this still held true when gender bias was compared with other forms of bias such as ethnic bias and when other factors were controlled such as gender of the author and the methodology used L: This suggests that gender bias in psychological research may not be taken as seriously as other forms of bias

Answer 174

P: Gender bias may not necessarily be a bad thing E: Any domain in which men set the standards of normalcy as tavris puts it ‘it becomes normal for women to feel abnormal’ Thus gender bias in research is not just a methodological problem but may have damaging consequences which affect the lives and prospects of real women E: Modern researchers recognise the effect theories own values and assumptions have on the nature of their work (reflectivity) Rather than seeing such bias as a problem that may threaten the objective status of their work they embrace it as crucial aspects of the reserach process In Their study of the lack of women in executive positions in accountancy firms Cambrian and lambert including reflection on how their gender related experiences influence their reading of events L: This suggests that gender bias may add an extra dimension to research

Answer 175

P: Weapon effect may not be relevant E: Studies by Johnson and Scott on the weapon focus may test surprise rather than anxiety The reason participants focus on the weapon may be because they are surprised at what they see rather than because they are scared E: Pickle conducted an experiment using scissors a handgun a wallet and a chicken as the hand held item in a hairdressing salon videos (where scissors would be low anxiety, low unusualness) Eyewitness accuracy was significantly poorer in the high unusualness conditions (chicken and handgun) L: This suggests that the weapon focus effect is due to uneassines rather than anxiety threat and thefore tells us nothing specifically about the effects of anxiety on EWT

Answer 176

P: Field studies sometimes lack control E: Researcher usually interview real life eyewitness sometime after the event E: all sorts of things will have happened to the participants in the meantime that the researchers have no control over discussion with other people about the events accounts they may have read or seen in the media the effects of being interviewed by the police and so on L: A limitation of field research because it is possible that these extraneous variables may be responsible for the accuracy of recall The effects of anxiety may be overwhelmed by these other factors and impossible to assess by the time the particpants are interviewed

Answer 177

P: There are ethical issues E: Creating anxiety in participants is very risky It is potentially unethical because it may subject people to psychological harm purely for the purpose of reserach This is why real-life studies are so beneficial psychologists interview people who have a;ready witnessed a real life event so there is no need to create E: This issue doesn’t challenge the findings from the studies such as Johnson and Scott but it does question the need for such research One reason is to compare findings with the less controlled field studies and the ben fits of this reserach may outweigh the issues L: This is a limitation of using lab studies to test anxiety because the cost weight out the benefits

Answer 178

P: The inverted U explanation is too simplistic E: Anxiety is very difficulty to define and measure accurately One reason for this is that it has many elements cognitive behaviours emotional and physical E: But the inverted U explanation assumes only one of these is linked to poor performance - physiological (physical) arousal L: This is a weakness as it reduces a very complex idea to just a few part

Answer 179

P: Demand characteristic operates in lab studies of anxiety E: Most lab studies show particpants a filmed (and usually staged) crime Most of these particpants will be aware they are watching a filmed crime for a reason to do with the study E: Chances are most of them will work out for themselves that they are going to be asked questions about what they have seen L: This is a weakness as it reduces the validity of the study because results aren’t as accurate so theory is less accurate

Answer 180

P: Some elements may be more valuable than others E: Milne and bull found that each individual element was equally valuable Each technique used singly produced more information than the standard police interview E: However Milne and bull found that using a combination of report everything and context reinstatement produced better recall than any other conditions Confirmed police officers suspicions that some aspects of the CI are more useful then others L: This finding is a strenght because it suggests that at least these two elements should be used to improve police interviewing eyewitnesses even if the full CI isn’t used This in turn increases the credibility of the CI amongst those who use it

Answer 181

P: Support for the effectiveness of the ECI E: Research suggests that the enhanced cognitive interviews(ECI) may offer special benefits meta analysis by kohnken et al combined 50 studies E: The enhanced CI consistently provided more correct information than the standard interview used by police L: This is a strength because studies such as this one indicate that there are real practical benefits of the police of using the enhanced version of the CI The research shows that it gives the police greater chance of catching and charging criminals which is beneficial to society as a whole

Answer 182

P: The CI is time-consuming E: Police may be reluctant to use the CI because it takes up more time than the standard police interview More time is needed to establish rapport with the witness and allow them to relax E: The CI also requires special training and many forces have not been able to provide more than a few hours (kebbell and wagstaff) L: This means it is unlikely that the proper version of the cI is actually used which may explain why police have not been that impressed

Answer 183

P: Variations of the CI are used E: Studies of the effectiveness of the CI inevitably use slightly different CI techniques or use the enhanced CI E: The same is true in real life police forces evolve their own methods L: The usefulness of this information is debatable

Answer 184

P: CI creates an increase in inaccurate information E: The techniques of the CI aim to increase the amount of information remembered but the recall of incorrect information may also be increased E: Kohnken et al found an 81% increase of correct information but also 61% increases of incorrect information (false positive) when the enhanced CI was compared to standard interview L: This is a weakness as the trade off isn’t that great at only 20% increase in accuracy

Answer 185

P: However in an age of increased media and globalisation it is argued that the individualist-collectivist distinction no longer applies E: The traditional argument is that individualist countries (such as US) value individuals and independent whilst collectivist cultures/countries such as India and china value society and the needs of the group E: However takao and Osaka found that 14 out of 15 studies that compared the US and japan found no evidence of individualism or collectivism describing the dictions as simplistic and lazy L: This suggests that cultural bias in research may be less of an issue in more recent psychological research

Answer 186

P: One strength is the emergence of cultural psychology E: Cultural (sometimes multicultural) psychology is according to cohen the study of how people shape and are shaped by their cultural experience This is emerging field and incorporates work form researchers in other disciplines including anthropology sociology and political science E: Cultural psychologist strive to avoid ethnocentric assumptions by taking an emic approach and conducting research from inside a culture often alongside local researchers using culturally - based techniques Cross cultural reserach tends to focus on just two cultures instead of leader scale studies with maybe eight or more countries/cultures L: This suggests that modern psychologists are mindful of the danger of cultural taking steps to avoid it

Answer 187

P: One limitation is that many of the most influential studies in psychology are culturally biased E: Cultural bias is a feature of many classic studies of social influence For instance both asch and milgrams original studies were conducted with US participant’s (most of whom were white middle class students) E: Replications of these studies in different countries produced rather different results Asch type experiment in collectivist cultures found significantly higher rates of conformity,its than the original studies in the US and individualist culture (bond and smith) L: This suggests our understanding of topics such as social influence should only be applied to individualist cultures

Answer 188

P: One limitation of culture bias in psychology is it has led to prejudice against groups of people E: Gould explained how the first intelligence tests led to eugenic social politics in the US Psychologists used the opportunity of WW1 to pilot their first IQ test on 1.75 million army recruits Many of thee items on the test were ethnocentric for example assuming everyone would know the names of American presidents E: The results was that recruits from south-eastern Europe and African Americans received the lowest scores The poor performance of these groups was not taken as a sign of the tests inadequacy but was instead used to inform racist discourse about the genetic inferiority of particular cultural and ethnic groups Ethnic minorities were deemed mentally unfit and feeble-minded in comparisonto the white majority and were denied educational and professional opportunities as a result L: This illustrates how cultural bias can be used to justify prejudice and discrimination towards certain cultural ethnic groups

Answer 189

P: Relativism versus universality E: One of the great benefits of conducting cross cultural research is that it may challlenge dominant individualist ways of thinking and viewing the world Being able to see that some of the knowldege and concepts we take for grated are not hardwired may provide a better understanding of human nature E: However it should not be assumed that all psychology is culturally relative and there is no such thing as universal human behaviour EKman suggests that basic facial expressions for emotions are the same all over human and animal world Criticism of attachment research should not obscure the fact that some features of human attachment imitation and international synchrony are universal L: This shows that both concocts have there weakness and strengths

Answer 190

P: One strength of the idiographic approach is that it contributes to the nomothetic E: It uses qualities methods E: Case studies of HM generated hypothesis about LTM L: Can still help produce scientific laws

Answer 191

P: However the idiographic approach is narrow and restricted E: Meaningful generalisations cannot be made without further examples as this means there is no adequate baseline with which to compare behaviour E: In addition methods associated with the idiographic approach such as case studies tend to be the least scientific in that conclusions often rely on subjective interpretation of the researchers and as such are open to bias L: This suggests that it is difficult to build effective general theories of human behaviour in the complete absence of nomothetic research

Answer 192

P: A limitation of the nomothetic approach is the loss of understanding of an individual E: The fact that the nomothetic approach is preoccupied with general laws prediction and control means it has been accused of losing the whole person within psychology Knowing that there is a 1% lifetime risk of developing schizophrenia tells us little about what life for someone who has been disorganised with the disorder E: Understanding the subjective experience of schizophrenia might well prove useful when it comes to devising the appropriate treatment options L: This means in its search for generalities the nomothetic approach may sometimes fail to relate to experience

Answer 193

P: A strength of both is that they fit with science E: The process involved in nomothetic research are similar to those used in the natural science established objectively through standardisation control and statistical testing However researchers using the idiographic approach also seek to objectify their methods E: Triangulation is used wherby findings from a range of studies using different qualitative methods are compared as a way of increasing their validity Modern qualitative researchers are careful to reflect upon their own biases and preconceptions as part of the researche proves L: This suggests that both the nomothetic and idiographic approaches raise psychology status as a science

Answer 194

P: The two approaches can be used together E: It is importnat to identify the two approaches because they are distinct Each is appropriate in different situations for different reserach aims For instance in attachment research Schaffer’s stages describe vernal stages of development(nomothetic) Whereas case studies of extreme neglect highlight the subjective experience of never having formed an attachment (idiographic) E: However there is also a sense in which the approaches are just two ends of a continuum and it is better tor to use them in this way Million explains that when diagnosing personality disorders for example clinics begin with general nomothetic criteria then use this to focus on the individual and their unique needs L: It is useful to use both of the approaches when studying an idea

Answer 195

P: One strength of socially sensitive research is that it can have benefits for those studied E: Homosexuality was removed as a disorder in 1973 E: This change was credited to Kinsey report (interviews) L: This illustrates the importance of socially sensitive research

Answer 196

P: A strength is that certain groups rely on socially sensitive reserach E: Government looks at research when devolving important social policies decision related to child care education mental health provision crime and so on It is clearly preferable to base such policies on scientific research rather than politically motivated views E: For this reason in the UK there are indecent groups such as the ONS (office for national statistics) who describe themselves as being responsible for collecting analysing and disseminating objective statistics about the UK economy society and population such as data is used in psychology research L: This means that psychologists have an important role to play in providing high quality research on socially sensitive topics

Answer 197

P: Most social sensitive reserach is avoided E: The American psychologists association (APA 2001) reported that ethical committees approved 95% of non sensitive proposals that didn’t include ethical problems whereas sensitive proposals were only approved about 50% of the time E: Sieber and Stanley advised that ignoring such topics is not a responsible approach One possibility is to follow qualitative researchers who are more up front about their own biases and are reflexive in their approch (reflect on how personal beliefs felt the research process L: This suggests that socially sensitive research can be ethical

Answer 198

P: However there can be negative consequences E: Research investigating the genetic basis of criminality has found that there is a criminal gene (Mobley defence) E: If this is true does it mean that someone could be convicted on the basis that they have such gene or should they be excused because they cannot be held responsible for any wrong doings L: This suggests that when reserach king socially sensitive topics there is a need for very careful consideration of the possible outcomes and their consequences

Answer 199

P: A limitation is that poor research may have an important in public E: This was certainly the case in relation to burt research because even after the fraud was exposed the 11+ continued to be used Indeed the 11+ is still used as selection tool is part of the UK today (Kent and Belfast) E: Similarly access to many independent schools is based on a child’s performance is an entrance exam taken in year 6 (age 11) and is likely based on the same reasoning that genetic potential has revealed itself by this age L: Therefore any reserach on socially sensitive topics needs to be planned with the greatest care to ensure the findings are valid because of the enduring effects on particular groups of people

Psychology 16 Markers Flashcards

(225 cards)