PSYA1 Complete Revision Notes

February 11

2014Memory, attachment and revision methods

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Memory

Capacity in STM (Miller 1956): 7±2Jacobs (1887)Participants were read lists of either words or numbers that they had to recall immediately after presentation. Jacobs gradually increased the length of these digits etc until the participant could only accurately recall the information, in the correct order, on 50% of occasions. Recall has to be in the correct order (serial recall). X N J P T C B D L Y Q H FindingsJacobs found a difference between capacity for numbers and for letters. On average participants could recall 9 numbers but only 7 letters.He also noticed that recall seemed to increase with age. Eight year olds being able to recall an average of 7 digits whereas by the age of 19 recall had increased to 9 digits. (NB later studies have suggested that capacity does eventually start to decrease in much older participants).ConclusionSTM has a capacity of between 5 and 9 items of information and as age increases we appear to develop better strategies of recall.A02Later studies (Miller 1956) have supported Jacobs’ findings and conclusions. Miller published his findings in an article entitled “The magic number seven, plus or minus two.”Miller and others have also discovered that chunking can increase capacity (BBC or 01858 becomes one chunk of information rather than 3 or 5 distinct chunks).Like most memory research this lacks ecological validity. You’re using your memory for an artificial task. Does this tell us anything about how memory works in everyday life

Peterson and Peterson (1959) – Duration in Short Term MemoryAIMS:

They aimed to study how long information remains in short term memory, using simple stimuli and not allowing the participants to rehearse the material presented to them

They wanted to test the hypothesis that information not rehearsed is lost rapidly from short-term memory. PROCEDURES:

They used the ‘Brown-Peterson’ technique. On each trial participants were presented with a trigram consisting of 3 consonants e.g. BVM, CTG which they knew

they would have to recall in the correct order. Recall was required after a delay of 3, 6, 6, 12, 15, or 18 seconds. Between the initial presentation of the trigram and the time participants were asked to recall, they were told to count

back in threes from a random 3 digit number e.g. 866, 863, 860… this INTERFERENCE TASK was done to prevent rehearsal.

Participants were tested repeatedly with the various time delays and the effect of the time delay on memory was assessed in terms of the number of trigrams recalled.

FINDINGS: There was a rapid increase in forgetting from the STM s the time delay increased. After 3 seconds 80% of the trigrams were recalled. After 6 seconds 50% were recalled After 18 seconds fewer than 10% of the trigrams were recalled. Therefore very little information remained in the STM for more than 18 seconds.

CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest strongly that information held in the STM is rapidly lost when there is little or no opportunity for

rehearsal. Thus information in the STM is fragile and easily forgotten

EVALUATION:- They used artificial stimuli (i.e. trigrams), which have very little meaning and therefore the experiment lacks mundane realism and external validity. - The participants were given many trails with different trigrams so may have become confused. - Peterson and Peterson only considered STM duration for one type of stimulus, and did not provide information about duration of STM in other kinds of stimuli e.g. pictures, smells, melodies. + It was a well controlled lab experiment, which allows a cause and effect relationship to be established. + Repeated measures design

Bahrick et al. (1975) – Duration in Long Term Memory

Method : experimental lab

Method : experimental lab

AIMS: Bahrick et al aimed to investigate the duration of very long term memory (VLTM), to see if they could last over

several decades and thus support the assumption that the duration of long term memory can last a life time. They aimed to test VLTM in a way that showed external validity by testing memory for real-life information.

PROCEDURES: 329 American ex-high-school students aged from 17 – 74 were used – It was an opportunity sample. They were tested in a number of ways:

1. Free recall of the names of as many former class mates as possible 2. A photo recognition test, where they were asked to identify former classmates in a set of 50 photographs,

only some of which were classmates.3. A name recognition test 4. A name and photo matching test

Participants accuracy (and thus duration of memory) was assessed by comparing their responses with high-school year books containing pictures and names of all the students in that year.

FINDINGS: 90% accuracy in face and name recognition (even with participants that had left high school 34 years ago) After 48 years of leaving this accuracy of name recognition declined to 80% and for face recognition it was 40% Free recall was considerable less accurate; 60% accurate after 15 years and only 30% accurate after 48 years.

CONCLUSIONS: The findings show that classmates were rarely forgotten once participants were given recognition clues. Thus the

aim of very long term memory was supported. The research demonstrates VLTM for a particular type of information, it cannot be concluded that VLTM exists for

all types of information. The finding that free recall was only 30% after 48 years indicates that memories were fairly weak.

EVALUATION: + This study provides evidence for the assumption that information can remain in the LTM for very long periods of

time. - Classmates faces and names are a very particular type of information. They might have emotional significance,

and there was a great deal of opportunity for rehearsal, given the daily contact they would have experienced. The same is not true for other types of information and therefore the findings cannot be generalised to other types of information.

+ Bahrick’s research has high mundane realism as he asked participants to recall real life memories, and therefore the research is more representative of natural behaviour and so has high external validity, and it may be possible to generalise the findings to other settings.

Baddeley (1966) – Encoding of Short Term Memory and Long Term MemoryAIMS:

Baddeley aimed to investigate how short term memory and long term memory is encoded.PROCEDURE:

Participants were given four sets of words to recall in order. For the STM task they had to recall them immediately following presentation. LTM task they had to be recalled following a longer time interval. Set 1 were words that all sounded similar, for example: cat, mat, cap, map… Set 2 were words that sounded differently for example: dog, bin, cup, pen…. Set 3 were words of similar meaning for example: big, large, huge, vast… Set 4 were words of different meaning for example: huge, good, light, blue…. The researchers then recorded the how many mistakes were made in recalling the sets of words.

FINDINGS: In the STM procedure participants made significantly more mistakes on words that sounded alike so for example

would confuse cat and cap etc. Similarly with letters, S and X would be confused as would M and N and P and B etc.

In the LTM procedure participants were far more likely to confuse words of similar meaning replacing huge with vast or night and dark etc.

CONCLUSION: STM information is encoded by its sound (acoustically) so when we recall information from STM similar sounding

words get confused. LTM information is encoded by its meaning (semantically).

EVALUATION:- It is an artificial task therefore it lacks ecological validity since it doesn’t relate to how memory is used everyday.- There were demand characteristics which is when P’s change their behaviour in line with what they think the study is about.+ It was done in a controlled environment, so there were no extraneous variables which could’ve affected the findings of the experiment.

The Multi-store Model of Memory - Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)Atkinson and Shiffrin argued that there are three memory stores:

1. sensory store2. short-term store3. long-term store

According to the theory information from the environment is initially received by the sensory stores. (There is a sensory store for each sense.)

Some information in the sensory stores is attended to and processed further by the short-term store. In turn some information processed in the short-term store is transferred to the long-term store through rehearsal or

verbally repeating it. The more something is rehearsed the stronger the memory trace in the long-term memory.

The main emphasis of this model is on the structure of memory on rehearsal.

EVALUATION:+ Case studies of brain damaged patients lend support to the multi-store model; they support the view that there are two different memory stores.+ Glanzer and Cunitz found that when rehearsal is prevented, the recency effect disappears.+ There is evidence that encoding is different in short term and long-term memory. For example Baddeley found that acoustic or sound encoding was in the short-term memory and semantic or meaning encoding was in the long-term memory. + There are huge differences in the duration of information in the short term and long term memory. Unrehearsed information in the short-term memory had vanished after about 20 seconds (Peterson & Peterson). In contrast some information in the long-term memory is still there 48 years after learning (Bahrick et al.)- The model argues that the transfer of information for short term to long-term memory is through rehearsal. However in daily life people devote little time to active rehearsal, although they are constantly storing new information into the long-term memory. Rehearsal may describe what happens in laboratories but is not true to real life. Craik & Lockhart suggest that it is the level at which we process information that determines how well we remember it. Rehearsal represents a fairly shallow processing level.- This model is oversimplified. It assumes that there is a single short-term store and a single long-term store. These assumptions have been disproved, by evidence such as that from the studies of brain damages patients. KF had a motorcycle accident that left him with a severely impaired STM but he could still make new long-term memories. Also Clive Wearing, another brain damaged patient, could still play the piano, speak and walk. Therefore it makes sense to identify several long-term memory stores; episodic memory, semantic memory, declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge. Atkinson and Shiffrin focus exclusively on declarative knowledge and had practically nothing to say about procedural knowledge e.g. skills and learning.

Working Memory Model - Baddeley and Hitch (1974)

Rehearsal

DataSensory Memory

Short-term Memory

Long-term Memory

Forgetting

Central ExecutiveThe attentional control systemModality free: Limited capacity

PHONOLOGICAL LOOP

ARTICULATORYCONTROL SYSTEM

Verbal rehearsal systemTime-based capacity

‘The inner voice’

PHONOLOGICAL STORESpeech-based storage system

Decay rate: 2 seconds‘The inner ear’

VISUOSPATIAL SKETCHPADSpatial and visual

Information-storage systemLimited capacity‘The inner eye’

Info enters through senses

Episodic buffer was added by Baddeley in 2000. The central executive has no storage of its own and the other two stores hold either visual or auditory data. Baddeley realised that there needed to be a store that could hold and coordinate information from all three other stores as well as from LTM.

EVALUATION: + Active process: It sees memory as an active process and not merely a passive store. - Rehearsal: It only considers rehearsal to be important in the phonological loop. It is widely considered that the

multi-store model does place too great an emphasis on rehearsal in transferring information to STM. + PET scans (Positron Emission Tomography), show that different parts of the brain are active when different parts

of the system are in use. This provides further evidence for distinct components. The central executive seems to reside in the frontal cortex and the scratch pad in the right side of the occipital lobe, known to be associated with vision.

+ Amnesiac case studies: A single component STM is unable to explain the case of KF, who, following a motorbike accident suffered impairment of his STM. Shallice & Warrington (1974) showed that although his memory for verbal material was poor his memory for visual information was unaffected. The working memory model can explain that it was damage to the articulatory loop with the sketchpad remaining intact.

+ Baddeley (1986) found that patients with damage to their frontal lobe had problems concentrating suggesting damage to the central executive (researcher biased)

Flashbulb Memories – Brown and Kulik (1977)A flashbulb memory is a long lasting, detailed and vivid memory of a specific event and the context in which it occurred. The event is important and emotionally significant e.g. a national or personal event. It is as if a flash photograph was taken at the very moment of the event with every detail indelibly printed in memory. Flashbulb events don’t have to be negative or to concern international events. However nearly all studies of flashbulb memories have focused on dramatic world events. Brown and Kulik suggested that flashbulb memories were distinctive because they were both enduring and accurate

Evaluation of Flashbulb Memories- Brown and Kulik had no way of knowing if the participants Flashbulb memories were accurate / reliable.McCloskey , Wible, and Cohen wanted to test the reliability of flashbulb memories, they interviewed people shortly after the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger and then re-interviewed the same people 9 months later.They found that participants did forget elements of the event, and showed some inaccuracies in their recall. This suggests that flashbulb memories are subject to forgetting in the same way that other memories are. Conway et al disagreed with McCloskey et al, they stated that the Challenger explosion was not a very good example of flashbulb memory as it did not have important consequences in the lives of those who were interviewed, and therefore lacked one of the central criteria for flashbulb memory.

Loftus (1975) The aim of this study was to discover the influence of misleading information on eye-witness testimony.

150 participants were shown a film of a car accident. Group 1: asked 10 questions which were consistent with the original film. Group 2: asked the same questions apart from 1 question which was ‘How fast was the white sports car going when

it passed the barn?’. This was a misleading question as it suggested that there was a barn in the film, even though there wasn’t one.

A week later both groups were asked ‘did you see the barn?’. 17.3% of the group that were provided with the misleading question, gave the incorrect answer of ‘yes’. Only

2.7% of the other group said ‘yes’. For the group provided with the misleading question, it is likely that they formed an image of a barn, which over time

became integrated with their mental representation of what they had actually seen in the film. This shows that misleading information can alter the mental representation a witness has of an event,

consequentially reducing their accuracy. Eyewitness Testimony (Loftus and Palmer) (1975):AIMS:

To test their hypothesis that eyewitness testimony is fragile and can easily be distorted. Loftus and Palmer aimed to show that leading questions could distort eyewitness testimony accounts via the cues

provided in the question. To test their hypothesis, Loftus and Palmer asked people to estimate the speed of motor vehicles using different

forms of questions after they observed a car accident. The estimation of vehicle speed is something people are generally quite bad at, so they may be more open to suggestion by leading questions.

PROCEDURES: 45 American students formed an opportunity sample This was a laboratory experiment with 5 conditions. Each participant only experienced one condition (an

independent measures design) P’s were shown a brief film of a car accident involving a number of cars. They were then asked to describe what

happened as if they were eyewitnesses. After they had watched the film, the P’s were asked specific questions including the question ‘about how fast were

the cars going when they (hit/smashed/collided/bumped/contacted –the five conditions) each other?’ Therefore, the IV was the wording of the question and the DV was the speed reported by the P’s. A week after the P’s were shown the film, they were asked ‘Did you see any broken glass?’ when there actually was

no broken glass in the film

FINDINGS: Loftus and Palmer found that estimated speed was influence by the verb used. The verb implied information about

the speed, which affected the P’s memory of the accident. Those who were asked the question where the verb used was ‘smashed’ though the cars were going faster than

those who were asked the question with the verb ‘hit’ as the verb. The mean estimate when ‘smashed’ was used was 41mph. compared to 34mph when ‘hit’ was used. Therefore, the P’s in the ‘smashed’ condition reported the highest speeds, followed by ‘collided’, ‘bumped’, ‘hit’, and

‘contacted’ in descending order. In answering the follow up question, a higher percentage of P’s who heard ‘smashed’ said that they had seen

broken glass than those who heard ‘hit’. These percentages were 32% compared with 14%.

CONCLUSIONS: The questions asked can be termed ‘leading’ questions because they affected the P’s memory of the event. The answer to a leading question is in the question – the question contains information about what the answer

should be. Therefore, language can have a distorting affect on Eyewitness testimony, which can lead to inaccurate accounts of

witnessed events. It is possible that the memory had been reconstructed. However, it is also possible that the original memory may

have been replaced or experienced interference. This has important implications for the questions used in police interviews of eyewitnesses.

EVALUATION: - The research lacks mundane realism, as what the observers saw in the laboratory would not have had the same

emotional impact as witnessing a real life accident. It also differs from real life in that the P’s knew that something interesting was going to be shown to them, and were paying full attention to it. In real life, eyewitnesses are typically taken by surprise and often fail to pay close attention to the event or incident.

- This research by Loftus and Palmer is important in showing that the memories of eyewitnesses can easily be distorted. However, the main distortion produced in this study was for an unimportant piece of information (the presence of broken glass), and it has proved harder to produce distortions for information of central importance (e.g. the weapon used by a criminal).

- The P’s witnessed a brief film, which may have contained much less information than would be available when observing an incident or crime in real life.

Loftus et al. (1978)

This was another study to demonstrate the effects of misleading questions on accuracy of event recall.

All participants watched a set of photo slides showing the events leading up to a car accident. Group 1: saw a red car stopping at a junction with a ‘Yield’ sign. Group 2: saw the same red car stopping at a junction with a ‘Stop’ sign. After viewing the slides participants were given a questionnaire. ½ the participants in each group were asked a question about whether they saw another car pass by, when the red

car was stopped at the ‘Stop’ sign The other ½ of the participants in each group were asked if another car passed the red car while it was stopped at

the ‘Yield’ sign. This meant that half the participants in each group were asked a misleading question and the other half of each

group were asked a question that was not misleading, as it was consistent with what they had seen. After 20 minutes they were all shown 15 pairs of random slides and had to select one slide from each pair, what

they had seen earlier. There was a critical pair of slides, where one slide showed the red car stopped at ‘Yield’ sign. The other critical slide showed the red car stopped at a ‘Stop’ sign.

Only 41% of the participants that were provided with the misleading question selected the correct slide, compared to 75% of those who had received the non-misleading question.

Loftus suggested that the misleading question replaced the true information from memory. The original memory was no longer stored and only the misleading information could be accessed. However, participants were only shown photo slides which are not representative of real-life conditions.

The misinformation may not have replaced the original information as suggested by Loftus. It is possible that instead, the original information is covered by the misleading information so it may still be uncovered to be retrieved again.

Bekerian and Bowers (1983) Replication of study by Loftus et al. (1978) where car is shown as stopping at a Stop or Yield sign. The Bekerian and Bowers study was different in the recognition phase. The Loftus study involved the participants being shown the slides in random order. The participants in the Bekerian and Bowers study were presented with the pairs of slides in chronological order,

(in the same order of time as the slides were presented at the start of the study). It was found in this study that the memory of the P’s who were provided with the misleading information was

nearly as accurate as that of those provided with the consistent non-misleading information. Bekerian and Bowers concluded that the original memory representation wasn’t lost for the participants. The display

of the slides in the correct order provided sufficient cues for the original memory to be retrieved, despite the misinformation provided. This opposes Loftus’ conclusion that the information is destroyed, where instead the information is just covered but can still be uncovered again.

Eyewitness Testimony – Unreliability: Eyewitness testimony tends to be unreliable yet many jurors find it highly persuasive. This unreliability maybe explained in terms of the reconstructive nature of memory (schema theory) and the effects

of language on memory. The schema theory offers a different perspective on memory that describes memory retrieval as a process of active

reconstruction relying on, and being biased by, schemas and stereotypes. Schemas affect recall because they affect both initial learning and subsequent retrieval. However, it cannot account

for occasions when memory is accurate. Unreliability may also be due to the emotional state of the witness at the time of the crime. The concept of flashbulb memory suggests that recall may be improved because of high emotion. Alternatively, emotion may create repressed memories. Enhanced memories may bring out inaccessible memories but such recall tends to be influenced by leading

questions. Leading questions are a third explanation for lack of reliability of eyewitness testimony. When eyewitnesses are

questioned after an event the language used may affect the way information is stored and thus affect later recall. There is general evidence that language effects recall. The research on leading questions, however, is based on

laboratory studies and may not apply to real life. Face recognition is an important and often unreliable element of eyewitness testimony. Identikit pictures may not

be effective because they are based more on feature detection than configuration and they are motionless. A final factor that may affect the reliability of eyewitness testimony is weapon focus. This is where the eyewitness

may not properly see the criminal as they are focused on the weapon rather than their face. This will make it difficult to identify them.

Cognitive Interview Technique

Findings concerning the unreliability of eye-witness accounts have led researchers to attempt to devise methods for improving retrieval.  One of these methods is the cognitive interview (Fisher and Geiselman, 1992).

The Cognitive Interview technique is a questioning technique used by the police to enhance retrieval of information from the witnesses memory.

The cognitive interview involves a number of techniques:

o The interviewer tries to mentally reinstate the environmental and personal context of the crime for the witnesses, perhaps by asking them about their general activities and feelings on the day.  This could include sights, sounds, feelings and emotions, the weather etc..

o Witnesses are asked to report the incident from different perspective, describing what they think other witnesses (or even the criminals themselves) might have seen.

o Recounting the incident in a different narrative order.  Geiselman & Fisher proposed that due to the recency effect, people tend to recall more recent events more clearly than others. Witnesses should be encouraged to work backwards from the end to the beginning.

o Witnesses are asked to report every detail, even if they think that detail is trivial. In this way, apparently unimportant detail might act as a trigger for key information about the event.

It is believed that the change of narrative order and change of perceptive techniques aid recall because they reduce witness’ use of prior knowledge, expectations or schema. A psychology laboratory experiment conducted by Geiselman et al. (1985) compared the cognitive interview with a standard police interview and hypnosis.

Geiselman et al. (1985)Aim: Geiselman (1985) set out to investigate the effectiveness of the cognitive interview.Method: Participants viewed a film of a violent crime and, after 48 hours, were interviewed by a policeman using one of three methods: the cognitive interview; a standard interview used by the Los Angeles Police; or an interview using hypnosis. The number of facts accurately recalled and the number of errors made were recorded.Results: The average number of correctly recalled facts for the cognitive interview was 41.2, for hypnosis it was 38.0 and for the standard interview it was 29.4. There was no significant difference in the number of errors in each condition.Conclusion: The cognitive interview leads to better memory for events, with witnesses able to recall more relevant information compared with a traditional interview method.Ao2Geiselman (1985) compared recall of some witnesses who had normal cop interview with those who had done a CI. Means:Normal Cop Interview: 29 correct statements Cognitive Interview: 41 correct statements. Supports the idea that the CI improves recall, perhaps by using cues and context to tease out more detail from witnessesHard to assess effectiveness as CI is composed of several techniques, and different police forces have tended to use different versions of it, making comparisons difficultCI can be time consuming, often requiring more time to do fully than police officers haveGeiselman and Fisher (1997) found that CI works best when used within a short time following a crime rather than a long time afterwards, Could limit their usefulness if it takes too long to find / interview witnesses

Memory Improvement strategies

A mnemonic is any structured technique that is used to help people remember and recall information. 

Verbal mnemonicsThere are 4 types of memory improvement verbally. 

Acronym: A word or sentence is formed from the initial letters of other words. For example, Roy G. Biv is used to remember the colours of the rainbow. (Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet)

Acrostic: Poem or sentence where the first ltter in each line or word forms the item to be remembered.

Rhymes: groups of words with an identity and rhythm.

Chunking: Dividing a long string of information into memorable chunks.

Visual mnemonics - Some mnemonic techniques use visual images.  

Method of Loci:This is a mnemonic device or technique in which a person visualizes the items they're trying to learn in different spatial locations. To do this, the person associates the items with landmarks in some familiar place, which helps them recall the items later.

Spider diagrams and mind maps:These involve making notes of information in the form of a drawing usually a branching pattern, with the main topic in the centre and compinent elements/ideas radiating outwards. Small skecthes/doodles can be added, as well as colours. Each page of notes there for has a unique, distinctive visual appearance whereas pages of ordinary/linear notes all look very similar. This process, which adds a range of visual cues to the verbal material, has also been called 'mind mapping'.

Explain how mnemonics technique workThe role of organisation

By organising data we establish links that help recall. Word associations and visual images create links or associations. Mnemonic techniques accelerate the process by actively linking the new information with 'memory hooks'. Organisation also refers to literally purring items in order, such as writing notes in a clear hierachy. 

The role of elaborative rehearsal

Memory research has shown that enduring memories are created through the process of elaboration. Mnemonic techniques make us elaborate the information to be remembered, for example when creating a mindmap ir devoloping the method of loci. 

The amount of rehearsal is important but the nature of rehearsal is more important. 

Attachment : Learning Theory The main assumption behind the learning theory explanation of attachment is

that children learn to become attached to their caregiver because they give them food.

Learning can be due to associations being made between different stimuli (classical conditioning) or behaviour can be altered by patterns of reinforcement (reward) and punishment (operant conditioning). 

Classical conditioning – learning by association (Pavlov) Food is an unconditioned stimulus that produces an unconditioned response

(pleasure). At the outset, the caregiver is a neutral stimulus who produces no response. However, because she is continually paired with the unconditioned stimulus

(food) she slowly becomes associated with it until eventually mother alone can produce pleasure.

Mother has now become a conditioned stimulus and the pleasure she brings is a conditioned response.

Operant conditioning – learning by reinforcement (Skinner)Dollard and Miller (1950) suggested that a hungry infant feels uncomfortable and this creates a drive (urge) to reduce the discomfort.

Any behaviour resulting in rewards (pleasant consequences) is ‘stamped in’ or REINFORCED.

Any behaviour that results in punishments (unpleasant consequences) is ‘stamped out’.

Hungry infant feels uncomfortable & is driven to reduce discomfort. When fed it feels pleasure (reward).

The food is a PRIMARY reinforcer as it directly satisfies hunger.

The caregiver is a SECONDARY reinforcer as he/she is associated with the primary reinforce (food).

So, attachment occurs because the child seeks the person who can supply the reward (food)

Ao2 Methods : Both methods have high validity as they were highly controlled lab experiments. Making them very easy to replicateFox – Kibbutz babies still attached to parents In the Glasgow babies study (Schaffer and Emerson): 39% of the babies formed their first attachment with someone other than the person who fed them (e.g. grandparentHarlow’s monkeys (1959) The evidence suggested that warmth and comfort rather than food were more important in nurturing an attachment and provided scientific evidence limitations Learning theory of attachment. 

Method : experimental lab

Attachment : Bowlby’s Theory Bowlby argues that attachment is based on survival and has evolved because it allows infants to survive. By attaching to a caregiver a child ensures survival as a result attachment is an adaptive behaviour. Bowlby was very much influenced by ethological theory in general, but especially by Lorenz’s (1935) study of imprinting. Bowlby’s theory of attachment

Adaptive – attachments are adaptive (aid survival) and a product of evolution Sensitive period- Bowlby said critical period of 0-21/2 years Rutter modified to babies are most likely to be

attached during a sensitive period (4-6 months) Social releasers – the child has built in mechanisms for encouraging care-giving behaviour from

parents.  Safe base- the attachment keeps mother and child close to each other.  Separation results in

feelings of anxiety. Monotropy – a child must have one main primary attachment. Internal working model- This was based on Freud’s idea of the mother-child relationship acting as a

prototype for all future attachments Continuity Hypothesis- The internal working model ensures that early attachments are reflected in

later relationship types. 

The long term consequences of maternal deprivation might include the following: 

• delinquency, • reduced intelligence, • increased aggression, • depression, • affectionless psychopathy

Affectionless psychopathy is an inability show affection or concern for others. Such of individuals act on impulse

with little regard for the consequences of their actions. For example, showing no guilt for antisocial behaviour.

A02

Michael Rutter (1981) has strongly criticised Bowlby’s concept of ‘monotropy’. He claims that infants often show multiple attachments and often the primary attachment is to someone other than the mother and this person can be male. Bowlby did, however, agree that infants can form multiple attachments; nevertheless, Bowlby was adamant that the most important attachment is with the mother

Lorenz on ducklings which began to attach themselves to the experimenter soon after birth.

Minnessota longitudinal study, Longitudinal is when a study lasts over a period of time usually years. In this study they looked at children from birth to adolescence. They found children classed as secure were more popular and emphatic and teens. Showed a relationship between early emotional attachment and later emotional behaviour.

44 Thieves Study (Bowlby, 1944) Supporting his theory He also found several of the young thieves (32%) showed 'affectionless psychopathy' (they were not able to care about or feel affection for others). None of the control group were affectionless psychopaths.

Use of the “Strange Situation” in attachment research : Ainsworth

She worked with Bowlby after visiting Uganda. There she conducted a two year longitudinal naturalistic observation of mother child interactions. Found that women who were responsive and sensitive to their child, their child tended to have a secure attachment and their child was more confident and independent. A finding that learning theory can not explain Back in USA She assessed 26 mothers and their children from birth, then assessed them a year later using the strange situation method. She found children that were secure at 1 years old, their mothers were more responsive and sensitive in the first three months of life. This supports the notion of a sensitive periodStrange situation Procedure OBSERVATIONAL RESEARCH IN LABParent and child playChild plays aloneStranger entersParent leaves child and stranger aloneParent returns

Key behaviours 1. Reunion behaviour2.separation behaviour3. stranger anxiety4. parent as a Safe base

Types of attachment: secure attachment, insecure-avoidant and insecure resistantResults Based on the strange situation which was a lab experiment which had a sample of middle class women and children, Ainsworth categorised attachment styles into:

Secure- tendency to seek and maintain proximity to a specific person, particularly when under stress. are easily soothed by caregiver when distressed. They are responsive to stranger Use parent as a secure base from which they can explore the environment leading to independence

Avoidant – These tend to avoid social interactions with others. Show little response to separation do not seek proximity when re united. Child does not cling on to mum or resist being put down. These children can explore their environment.

Resistant – Seek and reject social relationships they seem insecure around carer, they respond to separation with intense distress are not comforted when caregiver returns. Seem very weary of strangers.

A02

Method : controlled observation

Construct validity. There has been considerable evidence that there are different attachment styles. This suggests that the study has construct validity. Therefore, the experiment can conclude that mothers’ behaviour does cause attachment type

The strange situation classification has been found to have good reliability. Reliability of the 'Strange Situation' was demonstrated by Main, Kaplan and Cassidy (1985): They tested babies at 18 months and then retested them at 6 years of age.  They found that 100% of the secure babies were still classified as secure and 75% of the avoidant babies were still under the same classification.  This is called test-retest reliability and checks for consistency over time. 

Ainsworth herself also tested inter-rater reliability (the extent to which different observers score a behaviour in a similar way).  This was also found to be very high.

The sample is biased -100 middle class American families. Therefore, it is difficult to generalize the findings outside of America and to working class families. Low population validity

The observational study has been criticized for having low ecological validity because the

The temperament hypothesis (Kagan) says that the inbuilt temperament of the child effects the behaviour of the infant in the strange situation. Therefore the behaviour in the strange situation is the baby’s inbuilt temperament not because of the mother.

Cultural variations in attachmentCulture – a way of life of a group of people. It includes their language, food, music, religion, customs and traditions, arts, clothes, ideas on right and wrong, skills.VAN IJZENDOORN and KROONENBERG (1988)– Meta Analysis of cultural variations in attachment

AIM: To investigate the cultural differences in attachment types

Method : meta analysis

METHODOLOGY and PROCEDURE:Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) conducted a large scale meta analysis in which they analysed the results of 32 separate studies in eight countries which used Ainsworth’s ‘Strange Situation’. In total over 2000 babies were studies. Percentages of children who fell into each attachment type were analysed and compared.-

RESULTS: A summary of the main results are given in the table below...% of Each Attachment Type

Country No. of Studies B - Secure A - Avoidant C - Resistant

Germany 3 56.6 35.3 8.1

Israel 2 64.4 6.8 28.8

Japan 2 67.7 5.2 27.1

China 1 50 25 25

USA 18 64.8 21.1 14.1

Great Britain 1 75 22.2 2.8

- They found secure attachment was the most common in most cultures,- There tended to be more differences between cultures than within cultures and that

Secure attachment tends to be the norm. This supports the idea that attachment is an innate biological process.

A02 Fox et al – kibbutz Looked at children living in Israeli kibbutz who are raised by mother and a care nurse. They used the strange situation technique to assess the children. Found greater separation from mother even though they spend more time with carerA meta analysis is a valid method to compare cultures Because there was no new data collection involved in the study (only analysis of secondary data), no more children had to be put through the potentially traumatic ‘strange situation’ procedure

Strange situation original research was culturally biased done in USA by Ainsworth it is culturally embedded in Western individualistic cultures. Strange situational culturally biased - criticised the technique used in the strange situation They found that German children tended to be classed as insecure. However German culture encourages independence and interpersonal distance Takahashi Looked at 60 mother child relationships in Japan using the strange situation. They found a similar amount of secure children to that in US but no evidence of avoidant children and many more resistant children. Children would become extremely distressed when separated from mother. This may be because in Japan children are rarely separated from mother. Over 90% of strange situations could not be completed.

The SHORT TERM effects of disruption of attachment

Disruption of attachment refers to breaking an existing attachment for a period of time. Bowlby believed that any separation from the mother figure (maternal deprivation hypothesis) during the critical period could disrupt (damage) the attachment bond. This could then have irreversible social, cognitive and emotional consequences on the child for the rest of its life. The short term effectsThe short term effects of disruption were studied by Robertson and Robertson. They looked at children aged between 1-4 who were taken into hospital using a naturalistic observation. In particular they focused on a child named John and from his reaction they developed the PDD model.- Protest- the child initially cries hysterically and is hard to soothe- Despair – the child shows helplessness and apathy- Detachment- child detaches from parent figure and adapts to their environment.

However they found that detachment is not permanent. Instead children can reform their close relationships with their mother if they spend enough time together.

HOWEVER Research on other observations – Jane, Kate etc. showed that these effects could be stopped with:

Same routines one caregiver

A02

Barrett (1997) looked at Robertson & Bowlby’s original study and found the situation to be more complex than they had suggested.

a.       If the child is securely attached it copes better than the model predicts

b.       If the child is avoidant then it gets the full blown PDD effects.

The effects are not inevitable as was initially predicted.  The study by Robertson and Robertson shows that if steps are taken to minimise the separation, for example discussing their real mother and keeping to familiar routines, the effects can be small.  

As a result of research by psychologists, the care of children in hospitals is very different to how it was 30 years ago.  It is recognised that good psychological care is vital for physical rehabilitation so steps are taken to minimise bond disruption.  More regular, even around the clock, visiting hours are now available.

The LONG TERM effects of disruption of attachmentThe long term effects of disruption were studied by Bowlby. Bowlby’s 44 Thieves and MDH

Bowlby interviewed the children, and their families, who attended a clinic where he worked. He compared the backgrounds of 44 juvenile thieves with the background of 44 other non-delinquent children.Findings: 32% of the thieves were diagnosed by Bowlby as having affectionless psychopathy, the main symptom of which is lack of moral conscience. Most of these had experienced separation for at least one week before the age of 5.Conclusion: Separation in early life led to long term ill effects, particularly adversely affecting emotional development.Evaluation: The data collection is retrospective (i.e. the children and their parents had to think back many years to the child’s younger days). This can produce inaccuracies (as you will appreciate being experts on the memory process!).

Some of the children were only separated for short periods, so it is difficult to believe this could have caused such emotional disturbances.

The results are correlational, so we cannot prove cause and effect. Bowlby assumed that the early separation had caused the later disturbance, but many other factors could be responsible. For example children from poor backgrounds are more likely to be hospitalised. Children from poor families are also more likely to become delinquent. Attachments may not be the cause but poverty may be.

From this study Bowlby developed his Maternal deprivation hypothesis:

Method : naturalistic observation

Method : longitudinal (questionnaires)

Breaking of bonds in early life leads to intellectual, social and emotional problems in later life. Note, by ‘maternal’ it is usually assumed that Bowlby meant mother figure. Bowlby originally believed the effects to be permanent and irreversible.ADDIDDAS (a mnemonic for the characteristics of Maternal deprivation):Aggression, Delinquency, Dwarfism , Intellectual retardation, Depression, Dependency, Affectionless, Social maladjustment.

There are several problems with the above studies. Bowlby used self report techniques (interviews) these rely on retrospective data as the juveniles are being asked to report their past. Memory can fade or be unreliable which reduces the validity of the findings. Also interviews are subject to interpreter bias. Bowlby developed the maternal deprivation hypothesis therefore his interpretation of the self reports may be bias as he may have interpreted the results in a way to support his theory. In addition the juveniles may have given responses they felt Bowlby was looking for. Finally the data is a simple correlation between early disruption and later problems. With correlations cause and effect can not be established as intervening variables may be responsible for the relationship.

The effects of failure to form attachment : Extreme PrivationDefinition of privation The inabilities to form any types of attachment as children were never exposed to an attachment figure. The two main cases of extreme privation were Genie and the Czech twins

Curtiss studied the case of Genie. She was locked in her room by her parents from birth till the age of thirteen. When she was discovered she was unable to stand, her speech was limited and suffered severe emotional and cognitive difficulties. After intensive care Genie was still unable to form attachments or reach average levels of cognitive abilities.

Koluchova looked at the case of two Czech twins were locked up by their step mother up until the age of 7. They were given significant care and support and by 14 they reached average levels of achievement. By 20 they were beyond average on academic skills and emotional development. This study challenges Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis as the girls formed relationships. However this may be because unlike genie they had one another to form an attachment with which may explain why they recovered

This seems to support Bowlby’s maternal deprivation and internal working model.

Case studies provide rich qualitative data to give us insight into extreme privation

However with case studies we an not generalise to wider population as the sample is far too small.

In addition we do not have earlier information it may be the case she had emotional difficulties from birth which explains her lack of attachments

The effects of failure to form attachment : Privation: institutionalisationA further method of assessing the effects of privation (failure to form an attachment) has been studies of children who have spent their early years in institutions. Most children living in institutions suffer privation as they cannot form attachment with one primary caregiver. Key studiesRutter et al (2007)This is an on-going longitudinal study which began in 1998. Aim: To investigate whether good quality care after adoption can make up for very poor early institutional experiences. Procedure: 111 Romanian orphans were adopted into British families.   This has been run as a natural experiment with age of adoption being the naturally occurring independent variable (IV).   Rutter is studying three groups: Adopted before the age of 6 months Adopted between 6 months and 2 years Adopted after the age of two (late adoptees).Results: Rutter found evidence of disinhibited attachment behaviours in the Romanian adoptees, most commonly in the children who were adopted at an older age. This evidence shows that children who have spent longer in institutions are more likely to display signs of disinhibited attachment.Conclusions: The effects of early privation do not seem to be completely irreversible (as suggested by Bowlby), but children exposed to institutional privation are more likely to make a fuller recovery if adopted into a caring environment at an earlier age. As a result of this research, Rutter suggested that Bowlby’s ‘critical period’ could be better described as a ‘sensitive period’; meaning that, although there is an optimal period for forming attachments, it is not impossible to form them after the age of 2 and a half if the child is adopted into a warm and loving environment.Hodges and Tizard (1989)Aim: To investigate the effects of long term institutional care.Procedure: This was a natural experiment, studying 65 children bought up in a children's home in America until the age of 4 (all had been placed in care before the age of 6 months). During this time the children were unable to form an attachment to any of the adults as staff were discouraged from doing so to prevent upsetting the children when they left the job. By age 4, 24 had been adopted, 15 restored to their birth parents, and the rest stayed in the institution. All three groups were compared to a control group of ‘normal’ children raised in their own homes.

Method : case studies

Method : longitudinal + naturalistic

Data was collected using questionnaires, and by interviewing children, parents and teachers at age 4, 8 and 16 . However, it should be noted that only 39 (out of 65) participants were left in the study at age 16, due to attrition.Results: At the age of 4, the children hadn’t formed attachments. At age 8 and 16, most of the adopted children had formed close attachments, as strong as those in the control group, with their adopted parents. The children who returned to their own homes had formed poorer attachments than the adopted group. At 8 and 16, both the adopted and restored groups had difficulties at school; they more attention seeking and had problems forming relationships with other children. More than two thirds of the children who remained in the institutions were described at four and a half years old as ‘not caring deeply about anyone’, and many were attention seeking. At 8 years old, many had serious problems at school. Conclusions: The attachments that the adopted children formed with their adoptive parents suggest that, contrary to Bowlby’s claim, the effects of privation can be reversed to some extent. A02Being a natural experiment this is very high in ecological validity. Longitudinal children are compared to themselves over time However, being a natural experiment the researchers would have had little control over confounding variablesLongitudinal studies can suffer from attrition.  Not all participants starting the procedure see it through to the end.  Families move to other areas, no longer want to take part or simply can’t be traced.  It is unlikely that this would have been a random process!  It is most likely that the more personable children with the better social skills would have been fostered.  it is difficult to be certain that the resulting behaviours at the age of sixteen were down to type of care.  They could have been due to temperament of the child.

Effects of privation on a person1. ATTACHMENT DISORDER: This is a disorder that has been classified in the DSMIV. When children

experience disruptions if early attachments this affects their social and emotional development No attachment figure, Unable to interact and relate to others from before the age of 5 Experience neglect and frequent change of caregivers. This can lead to; Inhibited- shy and withdrawn in social situations Disinhibited – attention seeking and over friendly

2. POOR PARENTING - Quinton et al looked at 50 women who had been reared in institutions with a control group Found institutionalised women were less affectionate and less responsive mothers Which suggests that children reared in institutions tend to be smaller in size and frame than controls

3. PHYSICAL DEFORMITY - Some have suggested that lack of emotional care may be the cause rather than physical malnutrition. Gardner et al looked at a girl who had a condition by which she could only be fed via a tube fearing of cutting off her supply, her mother refrained from hugging or kissing her. At 8 months the child was severely withdrawn, physically stunted and admitted to hospital. Gardner argued that lack of emotional care inhibited growth hormones leading to dwarfism

The impact of different forms of day care on children’s social development : peer relationsDay care helps children form good peer relations

Day care harms peer relations

Shea (nursery playground) DiLalla (correlation – day care and pro-social behaviour

EPPE project (UK longitudinal study) Campbell (Swedish longitudinal study – age, time, quality, early childhood to teenage)

Shea (1981) What was done: Shea video-taped 3- and 4-year old children at playtime during their first 10 weeks at nursery school.What was found: Children became more sociable the longer they were in day care. They stood closer together and engaged in more rough-and-tumble play, and moved further away from teachers. Conclusion: Being in day care helps social development and improves peer relations.Evaluation: A well-structured observation, looking at measurable behaviour (distance, frequency of interaction…). Findings supported by other studies, such as Clarke-Stewart (1994), Andersson (1989, 1992), and the EPPE project EPPE project What was done: Studied over 3000 children in UK, between 3 and 7 years old.What was found: Children who attended day care showed increased independence and peer sociability at 5 years. This study also found that an early start in day care (between 2 and 3 years) was also linked with being more sociable with other children. Conclusion: Being in day care helps social development and improves peer relations.Evaluation:A large sample size means that findings can be generalised with relative confidence, at least to other UK children. DiLalla (1988) What was done: Carried out a correlational study into time spent in day care and pro-social behaviour.What was found: DiLalla found a negative correlation between the amount of time spent in day care and pro-social behaviour: children who spent more time in day care were less cooperative and helpful in their dealings with other children. Conclusion: Day care can harm peer relations.Evaluation:Useful evaluative point for contrasting with studies which found a more positive outcome.

Campbell et al (2000) - Findings: Campbell’s findings suggest that the impact of day care can be positive or negative depending on the child’s age, on how long they spend in day care, and on the quality of day care. They also show how important the first 3½ years of life are to later social competence.1. The effect of time spent in day care:

• Children who spent long days in day care (e.g. from 8am to 6pm) under age 3½ were less socially competent.Children who spent more days in day care, but shorter days, were more socially competent.

Method : naturalistic observation

2. The effect of quality of day care: Children who attended high quality day care before age 3½ developed better social abilities.3. The impact of day care in early years on later social abilities:

• Social competence is stable between ages 3½ and 15.COMMENT: This implies that children’s social skills have largely developed by around age 3½, then remain constant through childhood and into adolescence. Therefore good quality day care up to age 3½ is essential for development of socially skilled children and teenagers.

The impact of different forms of day care on children’s social development : aggression

Day care may cause aggressive behaviour Day care doesn’t cause aggressive behaviour

NHCID (1000 American children) Shea (nursery playground)Baker et al (day care in Quebec) ALSPAC (14,000 UK children)

NICHD Study (1991) What was done: Over 1000 American children from families with very different backgrounds were screened in a longitudinal study.What was found: At age 5, the study found that the more time a child spent in day care – no matter what kind or quality of day care – the more they were rated as disobedient and aggressive.Children in full time day care were almost 3 times more likely to show behavioural problems than those cared for at home – behaviour problems included arguing, temper tantrums, lying, and hitting. Evaluation: A correlation doesn’t necessarily show that day care caused aggression – there may be an unknown factor which affected both these sets of data. Also, results may have been reported in a way that makes the outcome seem magnified. There was a slight negative correlation, but 83% of children spending between 10 and 30 hrs per week in day care showed no increase in aggression. – he still found a link between day care and increased aggressiveness.

Baker et al (2005) What was done: Following introduction of day care for all in Quebec, the proportion of 0 to 4 year olds in day care rose by 14%, and the number of married women returning to work also increased.What was found: In the period after day care became widely available, aggression among 2 to 4 year olds increased by 24% in Quebec, compared to 1% in the rest of Canada. The wellbeing of parents also declined, with a greater incidence of hostile parenting and dissatisfaction with spouses.Conclusion: Day care can increase aggressive behaviour. Evaluation: Relations between parents, and parents’ attitudes, also changed. This means that it is difficult to know whether the day care itself directly caused aggressiveness in the children, or whether this was at least partly caused by the different adult behaviours at home.

Shea et al (1981) What was done: Shea video-taped 3- and 4-year old children at playtime during their first 10 weeks at nursery school.What was found: Children became more sociable the longer they were at nursery. The amount of aggressive behaviour towards one another decreased. These changes were greater in children attending for 5 days a week, compared to those attending for just 2 days a weekConclusion: Day care can increase sociability and decrease aggressive behaviour. Evaluation:The fact that aggression reduced more in children attending for 5 days a week rather than 2 days a week, suggests that it was the day care that caused this effect rather than just the children maturing.

ALSPAC (1991-1992) What was done: The progress of 14,000 children born in the UK between 1991 and 1992 was followed.What was found: No negative effects of day care, including no evidence of increased anti-social behaviour or aggression.Conclusion: Day care may not increase aggressive behaviour between children.Evaluation:This was a large-scale study, and therefore the findings can be generalised with caution to other children, at least in the UK.

Method : naturalistic observation

How research into attachment and day care has influenced child care practices

Research into attachment Research by the Robertsons found that the negative effects of day care can be avoided if substitute emotional care is provided as well as links with existing attachment figures. This research has led to major changes in the visiting arrangements for parents with children in hospital and in foster care; visiting is now more facilitated and encouraged.

Adoption processes have been changed due to research into attachment. In the past mothers who were giving their baby up for adoption were encouraged to nurse their baby for a significant amount of time and the sensitive period for attachment formation may have passed. Bowlbys research which identified ‘sensitive periods’ (before 6 months) for attachment has led to changes; today most babies are adopted within the first week of birth and research shows that adoptive mothers and children are just as securely attached as non adoptive families.

Research into daycare

Low child to staff ratios: the NICHD study found that its day care staff could provide sensitive care to small children with child/ staff ratio of 3:1. This recommendation has been adopted by day care providers.

Minimal staff turnover: Schaffer argued that consistency of care is the most important factor in day care as failing to form a bond or breaking that bond can be detrimental. The implications of this is that day care providers will now identify a key worker to children and aim to limit staff movement.

Quality of care: Sylva found that the higher qualifications of staff in day care is directly associated with improvements in the social development of children. As a result day care nurseries are aiming to put their staff through these qualifications and this is having positive implications for day care.

Childminders• A childminder cares for a maximum of 6 children, with no more than 3 of these being under age

3 years. The childminder’s own children count as part of this figure • They usually look after children in a home environment• They must be registered and inspected by Ofsted • Not all childminders are qualified in childcare

Day-care or childminder ?It depends partly on the age of the child (Bowlby)It also depends on the type of existing attachment bond (secure, insecure, internal working model)It could also depend on the child’s temperament

Research Methods

Psychological theories are tested to see if they are true. As behaviour is so variable, psychologists need to use a wide variety of methods.

Quantitative Research – This is when the data measuring behaviour is numerical. Qualitative Research – This method involves extracting from the participants experience i.e. through interviews etc.

The Experimental Method

Psychologists use this method most often.The independent variable is manipulated by the experimenter in order to determine the effect it has on the dependent variable. The dependent variable is the aspect that will be measured.

1. The experimenter acts on the IV2. The IV leads to a change in the DV3. Changes in the DV are measured.

The main way to ensure that changes in the DV are caused by the IV is to keep everything else / all the confounding variables controlled.

Advantages of a Lab Experiment Disadvantages of a Lab ExperimentCan be easily replicated It is artificial Supports theories / provides evidence It is difficult to control all confounding variablesA cause and effect relationship can be established.

Investigator effects and demand characteristics are involved

It is an original source of knowledge There are ethical issues

Field Experiments These experiments are carried out in a natural environment / setting. Ie a school, train, office etc.

An Example of a Field Experiment Shotland and Straw (1976) set up a scene in which a couple have an argument close to bystanders to see if they intervened.In condition 1: Woman shouts “I don’t know you!”In condition 2: Woman shouts “I don’t know why I ever married you!”

65% of the bystanders intervened in condition 119% of the bystanders intervened in condition 2

Advantages of a Field Experiment Disadvantages of a Field ExperimentBehaviour of participants is often more natural. Similar to their normal behaviour

Experimenter may have difficulty controlling every aspect of the situation

Can be replicated There are ethical issues. As informed consent cannot be obtained as they don’t know they are taking part.

High external validity – can relate results to real life situations.

Natural Experiments In natural experiments changes on a variable can be measured but the IV is not manipulated by the experimenter and participants have not been randomly selected / allocated to groups.

Advantages of a Natural Experiment Disadvantages of a Natural ExperimentParticipants behaviour will be more natural Replication is usually not possible Data gathered is full and rich A cause and effect relationship is difficult to

establish Can be used whenever other methods are unethical or impractical

The experimenter does not have total control over the situation.

Correlation Analysis Method This method simply looks at the relationship between two variables. However even if a relationship between variables is discovered, it cannot be concluded that one caused the other because there could be other possible explanations. Correlations yield no cause and effect relationship.

Correlation coefficient is a mathematical way to shoe how closely related two variables are. The closer the relationship to +1.0 the greater the positive correlation and the closer the relationship to –1.0 the greater the negative correlation.

Advantages of Correlation AnalysisDisadvantages of Correlation Analysis

Allows study of hypotheses that cannot be studied directly

Cannot draw cause and effect conclusions

Can obtain a large amount of data Interpretation of results can be difficultCorrelation studies can indicate trends which may lead to further experimental research

Ethically – Researchers must be aware that their findings are not misinterpreted and become socially sensitive. (Intelligence and genetics)

Problems of interpretation are reduced when no association is found.

Naturalistic Observation This method is designed to examine behaviour without experimenter interference. It is a research method that looks at how people or animals behave in a natural situation. The observer may be disclosed or undisclosed to those taking part.

Two types of observation are: Participant observation – the observer actually gets involved and joins in with the group being studied. Non-participant observation – the observer remains external to those being studied.

Advantages of Naturalistic Observation Disadvantages of Naturalistic ObservationBehaviour will be natural / realistic The researcher has no controlUseful if other methods aren’t appropriate. There are problems with reliability and replicationHas high external validity Some participants might change their behaviour if

the know they are being observedResults are full and rich with information It can be hard to record information.

Some procedures for carrying out an Observational Study are: How to record the data How the data is going to be analysed How will the behaviour be sampled? Where will the observation take place? Will it involve participant or non-participant observation? Consideration of ethics / ethical guidelines I.e. confidentiality, right to withdraw etc

Questionnaire Survey’sThis involves asking participants about their attitudes, behaviour or intentions. The aim is to obtain information of a specific population of interest by administering the questionnaire to a sample of that population. They can be conducted by post, phone, Internet or even in the street.

The questions can be open or closed. Closed questions are when the researcher provides possible answers. This is usually used when factual

information is required. Makes data easy to analyse but may lack realism due to forced choice of answers. Open-ended questions are when the researcher does not restrict the range of available answers. This

provides greater depth of qualitative information but answers are harder to analyse.

Advantages of Questionnaire Survey’s Disadvantages of Questionnaire Survey’sCheap Lack of qualityEasy and simple to create and carry out Distorted dataQuick Easy to write leading questionsVaried sample Researcher effects – influence from researcher Can gain qualitative and quantitative information

Ambiguous / unclear questions

Versatile – it can be used in a range of different situations Closed questions are easy to analyse

Interviews This can be a face-to-face situation where one person (interviewer) asks questions to another (the respondent). There are four different types of interviews; structure, semi structured, clinical and unstructured.

Structured InterviewsThese contain fixed pre-determined questions and ways of replying ie yes, no, don’t know. E.g. A market research interview.

Advantages of a Structured Interview Disadvantages of a Structured InterviewThere is less chance of deviating from the topic Less validity- The researcher cannot follow up

on new / interesting lines of enquiry It is easy to analyse There is less risk of interviewer bias Interviewees can be comparedAre reliable and replicable Semi Structured Interviews This may be the most successful approach as there are some prepared questions and the interviewee can expand their answers.

Advantages of Semi Structured Interviews Disadvantages of Semi Structured Interviews

Flexible and Reliable Particular phrasing of questions could lead to low reliability

Sometimes easy to analyse and compare Very open ended questions / answer’s are difficult to analyse

Clinical InterviewsThese are used to assess peoples mental state., it is structured but open ended.

Advantages of Clinical Interviews Disadvantages of Clinical InterviewsFlexible Flexibility can lead to difficulty in replication Reliable

Unstructured InterviewsThese may contain a topic area for discussion but there are no fixed questions or ways to answer.

Advantages of Unstructured Interviews Disadvantages of Unstructured InterviewsGood validity – Interviewees will say what they think

Not always reliable

Complex issues can be explored It is difficult to analyse data

Research DesignWhen designing an experimental study, the researcher must have an aim and a hypothesis.

The aim is a general statement explaining why the study is being conducted.

The hypothesis explains what the study is designed to test. It is a proposition made so that it can be tested to see if it’s true. A Directional / One Tailed Hypothesis – Predicts a particular direction e.g. Higher.A Non Directional / Two Tailed Hypothesis – States there will be a difference.A Null Hypothesis – States that there will be no effect / change.

Once the aim and hypothesis has been decided the next step is to identify an appropriate design. To compare two groups with regards to the IV it is vital that the participants in each group do not differ in any significant ways. Therefore the way in which participants are selected for experiments has to be carried out carefully. There are three research designs that are available to use; Independent Groups design, Matched Pairs design, or Repeated Measures design.

Independent Group Design Each participant is selected for one group / condition. Participants are selected at random, i.e. names out of a hat, tossing a coin etc.

Advantages of the Independent Group Design

Disadvantages of the Independent Group Design

There are no problems with order effects There may be significant individual differences to start with.

No participants are lost between trials More participants are needed than within a repeated measures design

Matched Pairs DesignThe design uses two separate groups of people matched on a one to one basis on variables such as age, gender etc. this controls some individual differences.

Advantages of the Matched pairs Design Disadvantages of the matched Pairs DesignIt controls some of the individual differences Can be difficult to accurately match pairs.

More participants are needed than with Repeated measures.

Repeated Measures DesignThis design uses the same participants in both conditions. The advantage of this is there is less concern for individual differences affecting the results because the same participants are being used. But there may be problems with order effects i.e. they may perform better in the second condition as they have had practise or they may perform worse as they are bored or tired.

This could be counter balanced by having half of the group do condition 1 and the other half do condition 2 and then they swap. Therefore order effects will be balanced out.

Advantages of the Repeated Measures Design

Disadvantages of the Repeated Measures Design.

Controls all individual differences Participants are likely to guess the aim / purpose of the study.

Requires fewer participants than the other designs

S electing Participants Random Sampling – This is a sample in which every member of the target population has a chance of being selected. Tossing a coin, picking names out of a hat etc, could do this. BUT it is almost impossible to have a truly random sample, as a total list of the target population cannot truly be identified.

Systematic Sampling - This is a modified version of random sampling that may involve selecting every 10th person from a phone book or selecting every 5th house in a street. BUT there may be participants that refuse to take part.

Opportunity Sampling – This involves using who ever is available and willing to take part. BUT this is not a representative sample and is usually bias, i.e. all one gender, friend’s / colleagues of the researcher.

Important Factors Associated with Research DesignIn order for research to be properly conducted there are certain guidelines that should be followed. These are:

Standardised instructions – Every participant must be given the same instructions. Standardised Procedures – All participants should be treated the same way, e.g. given the same amount

of time to complete the task etc. Control of Variables – as far as possible confounding variables must be controlled. Operationalisation – How the DV is being measured, it needs to be clearly defined i.e. to measure

performance in Short Term memory we could look at the number of words recalled. Pilot Study – This is a small scale study carried out before the main one to check procedures, design etc.

it will also highlight any problems so adjustments can be made before the real experiment.

Relationships between Researchers and Participants With the experimental method there is interaction between the researcher and the participants, which could pose problems to the study.

Such as Participant Reactivity – This refers to a situation in which knowing that you are being studied affects behaviour. Regardless of the IV behaviour may change because they are being analysed.One example of this is demand characteristics. This is when:

Participants do their best to be good and try to guess what’s expected of them. Participants try to do the opposite of what’s expected. Participants may look out for ‘tricks’ so they can avoid being caught.

Ways of Reducing Demand Characteristics: A double blind technique – Which is when participants do not know what condition they are in. they are

given a false account of the experiment to prevent them seeking clues.

Investigator EffectsThe researcher can also affect the results of their experiment. Their expectations, personal attributes etc can have an effect on participants behaviour. One effect is called experimenter expectancy in which the experiments expectations have an effect on the participant’s performance.

Ethical Issues in Psychological Research

Informed Consent – Before deciding to take part in research participants should be told the details of the study so they can make an informed decision. Parental consent is needed before studying anyone under the age of 16.

Deception – Participants should not be deceived. However if deception is used then participants must be debriefed afterwards. I.e. the real purpose of the study is explained.

Protection of Participants from Mental or Physical Harm – Participants should not suffer psychological harm during the study.

Right to Withdraw – Participants should be aware that they could leave during the study or withdraw their data at the end.

Privacy – Data collected should be treated confidentially.

Validity and Reliability

Internal ValidityThis refers to whether the results are valid and can be linked to the manipulation of the IV. Results are internally valid if they have not been affected by confounding variables. Also there should be;

No investigator effects No demand characteristics Use of standardised instructions Use of a random sample

External ValidityThis refers to whether the results can be generalised beyond the experimental setting. Can the results be generalised to;

Wider populations (i.e. women) Locations (i.e. outside the lab) Current climate / time

Reliability This refers to the extent to which the results are consistent. E.g. a persons IQ should be similar if not the same when tested again.

How Can we Ensure Reliability?The test-re-test method is when the same test is given to the participants on another occasion to check that scores are similar.

Descriptive Statistics Once an experiment is completed there is a set of raw data. Two things can be done with this data, there are measures of Central Tendency and Measures of Dispersion.

Measures of Central Tendency: The Mean, Median and Mode.

The Mean is when all the results are added up and divided by how many there are.

Advantage of the Mean Disadvantage of the MeanIt takes all scores into account It can be misleading if there are extreme

scores.

The Median is the middle score when the data is arranged in order.

Advantage of the Median Disadvantage of the MedianIt is unaffected by a few extreme scores It ignores most of the scores

The Mode is the most common score

Advantage of the Mode Disadvantage of the ModeIt is unaffected by one or two extreme scores Less sensitive

Measures of DispersionThis indicates the extent to which scores cluster around the mid point. The way to measure it is working out the range. Which is the highest score take away the lowest which is simply the difference between the two.

Advantage of the Range Disadvantage of the RangeIt is easy to calculate and takes into account extreme scores

Can be influenced by one score that is very different from all the others.