Attitudes and Stereotypes + Science Inquiry Response

Validity in Psychology

When an assessment tool measure what’s is designed to measure

(are we really measuring what we think we’re measuring?)

Internal Validity

The extent to which a study establishes cause-and-effect relationship between the independent and dependence variables – how confident is the researcher that the observed effects are due to the manipulation of the IV and not some other extraneous variable

example question: Did the therapy reduce anxiety, or was it just the placebo effect?

External Validity

The extent to which the results of the study can be generalised to other situations, people, settings and measures. Researchers aim for high validity so that their findings are relevant and useful in real-world situations.

example question: Does the study of anxiety only show a benefit in the lab setting? If so then the findings might not generalise to real life anxiety management

Types of External Validity

• Population Validity

• Ecological Validity

Population Validity

concerns the extent to which the results can be generalized to different groups of people (population)

Ecological Validity

concerns the extent to which the results can be generalised to different settings and situations (setting)

Independant Variable

An IV is purposefully manipulated by the experimenter to see if it has an effect on the dependant variable. The IV is the condition that is given to the experimental group, and the placebo (fake treatment) is given to the control condition

Dependant Variable

o   This is the variable that is measured

o   The experimenter manipulates the IV to see if it has a cause-effect on the DV

Control Variable

o   Is any variable that is constant in research conditions

(e.g. the researcher may control that each participant gets 50g of coffee or control the types of food consumed, and the amount of time before one goes to sleep)

o   they do this to make the conditions as similar as they can be

(e.g. WACE Exam, NAPLAN)

Extraneous Variables

o   is a variable other than the IV that may cause a change in the DV, and therefore have an unwanted effect on the results of the experiment

o   it is not intentionally studied by the experimenter, but they can make it difficult to conclude with confidence that any change in the DV was caused solely by the presence of the IV

o   So the experimenter will try and identify all relevant extraneous variables when designing their experiment, and will try to monitor and control their influence by using procedures that will minimize the extraneous variable
(e.g. random allocation of participants, single-blind and double-blind procedures, and standardization of procedures and instructions)

Types of Extraneous Variables

1. Participant Variables

2. Environmental Variables

3. Research Variables

4. Confounding Variables

Participant Variables

These are the personal characteristics that individuals participants bring to an experiment, and which influence their responses

These may be biological, psychological and/or social in nature. The experimenter will try to ensure that these minimized or controlled before the experiment commences

 These all affect how participants behave in an experiment and therefore the results including generalisations that may be made

e.g. being more anxious, mental abilities, intelligence, learning, memory, reading comprehension, problem-solving skills, physical strength, hearing, sight, age, diet, medication, education, ethnicity, religious beliefs, mood etc ect

Environmental Variables

Environmental variables occur outside the individual and they are external factors (other than the IV) associated with the experimental setting which may influence the participant responses and therefore the results

e.g. background noise, lighting conditions, temperature, time of the day, presence of other participants, room etc.

Research Variables

These are the variables that relate the experimenter and how they affect the participants and therefore the results (experimenter effect)

• Personal characteristics of the experimenter may contribute to the experimenter effect including their age, sex, ethnicity, cultural background, accent, attitudes, biases and expectations

The way the experimenter treats participants differently depending on whether they are in a control or experimental group which will influence the behaviour of the participants

if the experimenter is tired, or in a bad mood....same thing

• Experimenter expectancy these are the cues the experimenter provides about the responses a participant should make e.g. body language (facial expression, mannerisms and tone of voice)

 

unintentional errors, when they make mistakes in analysing and interpreting results.

Confounding Variables

A confounding variable is any variable other than the IV and HAS HAD AN EFFECT ON THE DV. It can NOT be separated from that of the IV. It is not controlled or manipulated by the researcher. It has an effect of the SAME time or together with the IV, so the experimenter cannot tell which of the variable produced the change in the DV

 

It is like a second unwanted IV that effect the DV and therefore the results

It’s called a confounding variable because its effects are “CONFUSED” with those of the IV

An experiment with one or more confounding variables compromises the interpretation of the results and the validity - specifically internal validity

Demand Characteristics

When people know they are in an experiment, they may behave in ways that they think the experimenter wants them to. Demand characteristics are cues in an experiment that may influence or bias a participant’s response, thereby distorting the results.

 

Demand characteristics are NOT their true responses – these may be intentionally or subconsciously

Experimenter Effects

The experimenter effect refers to any influence the experimenter (or any other researcher) may have on the results of their investigation. This influence may have occurred through interaction with the participants or unintentional errors when making observations, measuring responses or when analyzing/interpreting results

 

also known as experimenter bias or research bias

3 features of Experimenter Effect

Personal characteristics of the experimenter may contribute to the experimenter effect including their age, sex, ethnicity, cultural background, accent, attitudes, biases and expectations

The way the experimenter treats participants differently depending on whether they are in a control or experimental group which will influence the behavior of the participants

If the experimenter is tired, or in a bad mood … same thing

 

Experimenter expectancy – these are the cues the experimenter provides about the responses a participant should make e.g body language (facial expressions, mannerisms and tone of voice)

 

Unintentional errors - when they make mistakes in analyzing and interpreting results

Placebo Effect

refers to a change in behaviour, symptoms, or physiological responses that occurs because a participant believes they are receiving an active treatment, even though they are actually receiving a placebo (an inactive substance or procedure that has no therapeutic effect).

Why does the placebo effect happen, what are the 4 main ideas?

1.        Expectancy effects

2.        Classical conditioning

3.        Demand characteristics

4.        Cognitive reinterpretation

Expectancy Effect in Placebo Effect

Participants expect improvement, so they unconsciously change their behaviour or perception.

Classical Conditioning in Placebo Effect

Past experience with real treatments leads the body to produce a similar response when given a placebo.

Demand Characteristics

Participants act in ways they think the researcher wants.

Cognitive Reinterpretation

Participants reinterpret symptoms (“I think my pain is better”) because they believe treatment is helping.

What are the steps to minimise extraneous and confounding variables?

1. Random Allocation

2. Single-Blind Procedures

3. Double-Blind Procedures

4. Use of Placebo

Random Allocation (minimising extraneous variables)

Random allocation is a crucial feature of any controlled experiment so that any differences found between groups or conditions can confidently be attributed to the effects of the IV. With a sufficiently large number of participants, it is reasonable to assume that each group will end up the same kind of spread of participant characteristics that may affect the DV and therefore the results.

Single-Blind Procedures (minimising extraneous variables)

When the participant does not know whether they have been exposed to the experimental (given the IV) or control group (not given the IV), but the experimenter does know. Placebos are used in this instance

advantage of single-blind procedures (minimising extraneous variables)

reduces the impact of participant expectations (demand characteristics)

disadvantage of single-blind procedures (minimising extraneous variables)

because the experimenter knows who is in each group they may behave differently towards the different groups (body language, verbal cues, and preferential treatment). Remember Demand characteristics? When the experimenter’s behavior causes a demand for participants to perform as the experiment predicts they will.

Double-Blind Procedure (minimising extraneous variables)

Neither the participants nor the experimenter knows who has been assigned to the experimental and control conditions. It involves a third party knowing which group has been assigned to each of the above groups, but this person is not directly involved with the study.

Advantages of Double-Blind Procedures

eliminates the experimenter effect and demand characteristics

How does use of Placebo minimise the effects of extraneous and confounding variables

1. Both groups experience the same expectations of receiving a treatment.

◦       If both the experimental group (real drug) and control group (placebo) take what appears to be an identical pill, then their expectations about improvement are similar.

◦       This means any expectancy-based changes affect both groups equally.

 

2. Equal expectations reduce unwanted variability.

◦       Expectancy effects no longer influence the DV differently across groups.

◦       This minimises the impact of the placebo effect as an extraneous variable.

 

Standardisation of procedures and instructions + example

The use of standardised instructions means that the instructions given to all participants for each condition should be predetermined and identical in terms of what they state and how they are administered(given). Standardisation means keeping everything the same for all participants so that the investigation is fair.

 

For example, consider the instructions that are given to the participants. In order to ensure that all of the participants get precisely the same instructions. He or she should then either read them to the participants or ask the participants to read them to themselves. This makes sure that the experiment is fair, and we can be sure that the IV is the variable that has affected the DV (and not a confounding variable). 

(Standardisation of procedures and instructions) To ensure that all participants have the same experience, researchers should ensure that they are all tested:

• In the same place, with the same equipment and materials placed in the same way.

 

 • Under the same conditions, so the level of lighting, noise and heat remains the same for all participants.

 

• At roughly the same time of day, as people may behave differently if tested at nine o'clock in the morning rather than five o'clock at night.

 

• Given identical standardised instructions in exactly the same way.

e.g WACE and NAPLAN instructions

Social Categorisation

process of identifying a person as a member of a certain group because of features they share.

These features may be simple things like gender and ethnicity, uniforms, name tags or tools of trade. Sometimes they may be more subtle like accents, style of dress

Stereotypes as a form of categorisation

based on what others think of as shared features. These are used to put people in boxes – making them seem more similar than they actually are.

Why do we not like being stereotyped?

While stereotypes may be positive or negative, we usually do not like to be stereotyped because it means that we are not seen to be individuals

What happens if we encounter a person from an unidentifiable group for the first time?

our first impressions can form the basis of stereotypes and these first impressions about the behaviour of others from those countries or professions.

Prejudice

holding a negative attitude towards the members of a group based soley on their membership of that group

discrimination

the positive or negative behaviour that is directed towards a social group and its members e.g. ignoring behaviour, excluding behaviour, bullying, put downs.

An example of this is Genocide – the extermination of an entire group as seen in Hitler’s attempt to kill all Jewish people in WWII

what is the difference between prejudice and discrimination

The basic difference between prejudice and discrimination is that prejudice is an attitude and discrimination is a behaviour arising from prejudice.

What is racism

When prejudice and discrimination are directed at people who are members of a particular racial or ethnic group, e.g. Aborigines, Somalians or Muslims, it is called racism

what is ageism

discrimination and prejudice directed at people because of their age

what is sexism

When discrimination and prejudice is directed at women or men

what are other forms of prejudice and discrimination

Other forms of prejudice and discrimination occur to people who are disabled and who have mental illness

Why does discrimination and prejudice behaviour happen?

these result because a person or group feel superior to an individual or group in terms of age, race and gender, and regard them as being inferior or less able in one or more ways

direct discrimination

occurs when someone is treated unfairly and is disadvantaged because a personal characteristic protected by the law

e.g. not getting a job on the basis of your gender

Indirect discrimination

occurs when treating everybody the same way disadvantages someone because of a personal characteristic

e.g. an employer refuse to allow employees to wear any head coverings in the workplace, this might be indirect discrimination against employees who have cultural/religious rules that require them to wear this

What is social influence?

is the way in which individuals adjust their behaviour to meet the demands of a social environment

In all cases, positive, negative or neutral, social influence involves a degree of pressure from others, which can be real or imagined

what are the different types of social influence

can be seen in conformity, socialization, peer pressure, obedience. leadership, persuasion, sales and marketing

What is an attitude?

an attitude is a learnt, stable and relatively enduring evaluation of a person, object,

event or idea that can affect an individual’s behaviour (positive or negative)

Functions of attitudes?

Attitudes can function in different forms it includes Explicit Attitudes and Implicit Attitudes.

Explicit Attitudes?

are where people openly state their attitude and behave in a way

that reflects this attitude. e.g:

Attitude: Exercise is good for my health

Action: Visit the gym often

Implicit Attitudes

are involuntary, uncontrollable and sometimes unconscious. It is

possible for individuals to be unaware that they hold a particular attitude until their

actions reveal it. e.g:

Attitude: Moths are harmless

Action: A person freaks out and runs away from the moth

Your behaviour goes against your attitudes involuntarily and unconsciously unaware of

their particular attitude until an actions reveal it.

Tripartite model of attitude structure

Psychologists have proposed various theories and models explain/describe

what attitudes are, how often they are formed and the circumstances under

which they may change. The most influential model is the tripartite model – this model proposes that any attitude has three related components – the effective, behavioural and cognitive, referred to as the ABC’s of attitudes

The Affective Component

refers to the emotional reactions or feelings an individual has towards an object, person, group, event or issue. This can be positive (I love rap music), negative (I hate rap music) or neutral (I don’t really mind rap music either way)

The Behavioural Component

refers to the way in which an attitude is expressed through our actions

The Cognitive Component

refers to the beliefs we have about an object, person, group, event or issue. Our beliefs are linked to what we know about the world, and they develop with our experiences throughout our lives. Some beliefs may be factual, some may be based on superstitions, some may not be proven (e.g. do aliens exist?)

Consistency between components

The tripartite model of attitude proposes that all three components must be present

before it can be said that an attitude exists.

e.g. you avoid spiders (behavioural), because you are terrified of spiders (affective)

because you believe that spiders can harm you (cognitive).

Inconsistency between the components

Some psychologists believe that sometimes a person’s behaviour does not always

reflect the attitude they hold – that is inconsistent with the affective and cognitive

components

e.g. you hate watching cricket (affective) because you believe it takes FAR too long

(cognitive), but you go watch a match because your friends are going (behavioural)

Theory of Cognitive Dissonance definition

def- cognitive dissonance is the unpleasant feeling of psychological tension that comes when we perceive that out attitudes are inconsistent with our behaviour.

The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance extra stuff that is still important (2 paragraphs)

People experience cognitive dissonance when they behave in a way that is contradictory to their attitude. Cognitive dissonance happens when there is inconsistencies between the three components.

Cognitive dissonance leads to the motivation to reduce the dissonance, the stronger

the discrepancy (difference) between thoughts, the greater the motivation to reduce it.

Depends on how important it is to you.

Ways that cognitive dissonance is reduced?

1. Rationalisation can reduce such discomfort by explaining away the discrepancy

in question, as when people who take up smoking after previously quitting

decide that the evidence for it being harmful is less than they previously thought.

2. Reduction – where the person stops or reduces doing the thing that causes them

dissonance.

3. Avoidance – where a person avoids the things that causes them dissonance

completely.

Magnitude as a factor of Affecting Cognitive Dissonance (how strong an attitude is and the strength of the inconsistencies)

• A strong attitude is an attitude that is usually thought about, well-known and

easily accessible. It tends to be personally relevant and have a strong underlying

emotional component

• The stronger the attitude, the more likely it is that it will be stable and consistent

over time, be resistant to change, and influence behaviour

• Stronger attitudes are more likely to predict behaviour than weaker attitudes.

Responses to cognitive dissonance

a) Changing existing beliefs

b) Change behaviour

c) Reducing the importance of the beliefs

Example of Cognitive dissonance

Imagine confronting a sunbather with the information that excessive sun exposure is

the leading cause of skin cancer. The two thoughts – ‘sunbathing can cause cancer’

and ‘I am sunbathing’ – will cause the discomfort of cognitive dissonance.

Consequently, they will be motivated to reduce it.

Criticisms/Limitations/Strengths of Cognitive Dissonance Theory

• It has advantage of being testable by scientific means (experiments)

• We cannot physically observe cognitive dissonance, and therefore we cannot objectively measure it (re: behaviourism). Consequently, the term cognitive dissonance is somewhat subjective.

• There is also some ambiguity (vagueness) about the term ‘dissonance’ itself.

Study: Cognitive Consequences of Forced Compliance, what is the experimenter’s name and date this study was published?

Festinger and Carlsmith, 1959

Study: Cognitive Consequences of Forced Compliance Aim of experiment?

Aim: Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) investigated if making people perform a dull task

would create cognitive dissonance through forced compliance behaviour.

Study: Cognitive Consequences of Forced Compliance method of experiment?

In their laboratory experiment, they used 71 male students as participants to

perform series of dull tasks (such as turning pegs in peg board for an hour)

They were the paid either $1 or $20 to tell a waiting participant (a confederate) that the

tasks were really interesting. Almost all of the participants agreed to walk into the

waiting room and persuade the confederate that the boring experiment would be fun.

What is a laboratory experiment include?

Laboratory experiment is a experimental method that involves having a controlled space where researchers change one factor to see how it affects another. It has low ecological validity and therefore cannot relate to real life setting

What is a confederate?

an actor that already knows the true intentions of experiment

Study: Cognitive Consequences of Forced Compliance result of experiment?

Results: When the participant were asked to evaluate the experiments, the participants

who were paid only $1 rated the tedious task as more fun and enjoyable than the

participants who were paid $20 to lie.

Study: Cognitive Consequences of Forced Compliance conclusion of experiment?

Being paid $1 is not sufficient incentive for lying and so those who were

paid $1 experienced dissonance. They could only overcome that dissonance by coming

to believe that the tasks really were interesting and enjoyable. Being paid $20 provides a

reason for turning pegs, and there is therefore no dissonance.

What was the name of the researcher who published the Attribution Theory and the date?

They were first described in 1958 by researchers Fritz Heider

Attribution Theory definition?

Attributions are inferences that we make about the causes of events, the behaviour of

others or our own behaviour

What else did researcher Fritz Heider mention on this theory?

• He said that people tend to see the cause of a behaviour or action as being either located within the person (internal) or outside the person (external)

• The attribution theory formed from the idea that people have an innate need to try and understand why things happen the way they do

• When we observe another’s actions, we make decisions about the intention of the action and the responsibility

• The attribution we use tends to be determined by whether we are performing an action, or if we are observing someone else. This is known as the actor-observer bias.

Types of attributions in the attribution theory?

Dispositional (internal) attributions and Situational (external) attributions

Dispositional (internal) attributions

Things like an individual’s traits, ability, motivation, attitude, mood and effort

When we think about the behaviour of others we tend to consider internal factors of their

personality. This is called dispositional attributions.

Situational (external) attributions

When we think about our own behaviour, we tend to consider the environment and external factors.

We buy a pair of shoes, impulsively, but when we are questioned, we blame the pushy shoe

lady. We want to protect our egos and so we blame someone else.

What was the researchers name who developed the Social Identity Theory and the date it was published?

In 1970, Henry Tajfel developed the social identity theory

What is the Social Identity Theory?

In 1970, Henry Tajfel developed the social identity theory, which states that we use groups to

form our social identity. Groups are an important source of pride and self-esteem.

When we belong to a group, we experience a sense of belonging -> this provides us with an

identity in the world that we may not have otherwise had.

what do we do to maintain self-esteem and increase our image in our social group? + example

• To maintain self-esteem, we increase the status of the group.

• We can also increase our image by comparing it against other groups and being

discriminatory towards them

e.g. living in Perth is the best! Melbourne and Sydney are awful. Who would want to live there?

What did Tajfel propose, what are the 3 main processes of the Social Identity Theory?

Tajfel (1979) proposed that there were 3 mental processes that we use to determine and

maintain who is part of our in-group and out-group

1. Social categorization

2. Social identification

3. Social comparison

Social Categorization + example

Social categorization is where we sort people and objects so that we are able to understand ad

identify them. We extend this to ourselves as well, so that we are able to understand our

environment and act appropriately

e.g. if you meet someone from Melbourne, you may assign them to a group ‘Victorian’. When

you do this, you are also assigning ideas to them, such as ‘they must enjoy cold weather’.

Social Identification + example

Social identification is where we adopt the behaviour, attitudes and beliefs of the group we

belong to

e.g. if you identify as being a student you will probably study more, attend school and complain

about homework. If you are an athlete, you will most likely go to gym, attend training sessions, eat a good diet, and care about your weight and muscle gain.

Social Comparison

Social comparison is where we compare our in-group with other groups to affirm our identity.

Tajfel states that we maintain self-esteem when our groups can be compared positively with

other groups. This helps in our understanding of prejudice as once two groups have identified as being different, it is important for them to maintain this difference, so that the members of each group can maintain their self-esteem. Groups can compete for resources, as much as they are competing to maintain identity.