Psych EOY exam

Sociocultural approach: acculturation, enculturation, stereotypes Cognitive approach: Schema, memory Biological approach: Hormones, Pheromones, genetics Health psychology: obesity, health promotion

Acculturation

Acculturation

the process of adopting the cultural traits or social patterns of another group, typically the dominant one in society.

Assimilation

Adjusting to the norms of the dominant culture, without caring about the loss of the original culture

Integration

Preserving original culture while also exploring others.

Separation

Value original culture and do not want to lose it so avoid other cultures

Marginalization

Individuals do not preserve original culture, nor seek others

Shah et al (2015) Aim

study association between acculturation and obesity

Shah et al (2015) Method

• random sample of 1400 Asian migrant workers in UAE

• correlational analysis

• comparison group of men from the same country of origin of the same age

Shah et al (2015) results

• Migrant workers had a higher BMI than comparison group

• The longer they stayed in UAE the higher their BMI became

• Obesity was more prevalent in migrants

Shah et al (2015) conclusion

Acculturation may contribute to unhealthy eating habits, resulting in obesity and being overweight.

Shah et al (2015) Evaluation

+ random sampling → possibly representative

- not a true experiment → no cause-effect

- only male sample → probably not generalizable to women

Ishizawa and Jones (2016) aim

Compare obesity rates among 2nd and 3rd generation Asian migrants in the US, and identify possible protective factors

Ishizawa and Jones (2016) method

• Asian migrants in the US

• Correlational analysis

Ishizawa and Jones (2016) results

• 2nd and 3rd generation migrants had higher obesity rates

• Moderating factors: living in a neighbourhood with many migrants, household retains original language

Ishizawa and Jones (2016) conclusion

Retaining some ties with original culture may buffer against obesity

Ishizawa and Jones (2016) evaluation

+ took into consideration protective factors which may be useful

- Correlational → no cause-effect

Da Costa, Dias, Martins (2017) aim

compare prevalence of obesity among migrants and natives in Portugal

Da Costa, Dias, Martins (2017) method

• 31000 people from Portugal, 4.6% migrants

• Correlational study

Da Costa, Dias, Martins (2017) results

• Native Portuguese were more overweight than new migrants

• length of residence correlated positively with prevalence of being overweight

Da Costa, Dias, Martins (2017) conclusion

Acculturation gradually changes dietary habits, causing migrants to slowly have similar eating behaviours to natives.

Da Costa, Dias, Martins (2017) evaluation

+ Large sample → more representative

- Correlational → no cause-effect

Limitations of Acculturation research

• Usually self-reported → correlational and response bias (social-desirability bias, demand characteristics)

• Usually looks at migrants who move from poorer countries to richer countries. Not generalizable to all migrants

Limitations of Obesity research

• BMI is not always accurate

Limitations of Acculturation on Obesity

• Rely on a uni-dimensional understanding of acculturation (accultured vs. non-accultured) and do not look at ties to original culture

• It my not be the process of acculturation that causes being overweight, instead it could be the country migrants have moved to. Many studies did not find a correlation

Cultural norms

attitudes, beliefs and behaviours that are specific to a culture.

Cultural transmission

Passing of cultural norms from one generation to the next

Enculturation

The process by which people learn the norms of their culture. (This is the learning side of cultural transmission which is the teaching)

Trainor et al (2012) aim

Test the idea that musical enculturation occurs through active learning

Trainor et al (2012) method

• 38 western infants were allocated to 2 conditions:

• 6 months of active participatory music class

• or 6 months of a class where they listened to music passively while playing with toys

• infants’ preference to a tonal and atonal version a sonatina was measured through a head-turn preference procedure

• Additionally, infants’ social development was measured. This was done through questionnaires.

Trainor et al (2012) results

• Infants in active class preferred the tonal version, while in passive class there was no preference

• Questionnaires showed that infants in active class showed less distress to new stimuli and limitations and other positive social developments by 12 months

Trainor et al (2012) conclusion

Active music making in a social context promotes musical enculturation of infants and social development.

Trainor et al (2012) evaluation

- Questionnaires may have had response bias

Odden and Rochat (2004) aim

Investigate role of observational learning in enculturation in a non-western context

Odden and Rochat (2004) method

• Longitudinal, naturalistic observation of 28 children in Samoan village life (a hierarchal and socially stratified society) ; Semi-structured interviews with caretakers, teachers, pastors and chiefs ; Parental belief questionnaires

• Researcher lived in village for 20 months

Odden and Rochat (2004) results

• Samoan culture has a high distance to authority, therefore observational learning is used to teach children.

• Children used observational learning to learn how to fish by the age of 12, by observing their father’s fishing

Odden and Rochat (2004) conclusion

Each culture may emphasise different ways to enculturate, in Samoan culture, observational learning plays a central role in children’s enculturation.

Odden and Rochat (2004) evaluation

+ The use of a non-western culture is useful in a very wide range of studies on solely western cultures.

- There may have been researcher bias when observing the children

Demorest et al (2008) aim

investigate the influence of enculturation on musical memory

Demorest et al (2008) method

• 150 untrained participants from the USA and Türkiye

• Participants listened to several musical excerpts from familiar and unfamiliar cultures (western, Turkish and Chinese)

• Then they completed a recognition memory task

Demorest et al (2008) results

• Participants were more likely to remember music from their own culture

• Musical expertise did not correlate with this result

Demorest et al (2008) conclusion

Enculturation influences musical memory on a deep level through schemas

Demorest et al (2008) evaluation

+ used two different cultures, more representative sample
- Levels of musical expertise may have affected the memory of participants

Illusory correlation

cognitive mechanism that leads to a person perceiving a relationship between two variables when in reality they are not related

Self-fulfilling prophecy

a change in an individuals behaviour as a result of other’s expectations of that individual

Stereotype

A preconceived notion about a group of people (it is a belief). (prejudice is the attitude and discrimination is the behaviour)

Stereotype threat

The anticipation of a situation that can potentially confirm one’s stereotype

Ideas used to explain the origin of stereotypes

Illusory correlation, social categorization

Hamilton and Gifford (1976) aim

Investigate illusory correlations based on the co-occurrence of infrequent events

Hamilton and Gifford (1976) method

• 104 undergraduates read positive and negative behaviours of group A and B one after another. There were less overall statements of group B and negative behaviour statements were less frequent in both groups and the ratio was the same in both groups.

• Participants then had to evaluate the amount of positive and negative behaviours of each group.

Hamilton and Gifford (1976) results

Participants over-estimated the amount of times the minority group B, performed negative behaviours

Hamilton and Gifford (1976) conclusion

Event distinctiveness may have caused illusory correlation. Co-occurrence of two distinct events may be over-estimated

Hamilton and Gifford (1976) evaluation

- Illusory correlation effects disappear when judgements about a group are made simultaneously. It is purely memory-based

Steele and Aronson (1995) aim

Investigate test performance as a function of stereotype threat in white and black participants

Steele and Aronson (1995) method

• 114 lack and white Stanford undergraduates were given a verbal test.

• In the experimental condition, participants were told that the test diagnosed intellectual ability while in the control, they were told the test had nothing to do with intellectual ability. This was done to activate the existing racial stereotype so black participants had a threat of fulfilling the stereotype.

Steele and Aronson (1995) Results

• White participants performed equally in experimental and control condition

• Black participants performed as well as white participants in control condition however they performed worse in the experimental condition

Steele and Aronson (1995) conclusion

The possibility of confirming a stereotype through stereotype threat causes anxiety, worsening test scores.

Steele and Aronson (1995) Evaluation

- This may not be generalizable to all economic, cultural or age groups as participants were all Stanford students

Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) aim

Investigate whether students of whom greater intellectual growth is expected, will show more intellectual growth in a year or less

Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) method

• 320 participants from a public school

• Teachers were told that a random selection of students were “growth spurters” based on a fictious IQ test

Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) results

• Students that were said to be “growth spurters” improved by 12.2 IQ points while those who weren’t improved by 8.4 IQ points

• This was more obvious in younger participants

Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) conclusion

teachers’ expectations produce changes in students’ achievements, being a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) evaluation

+ ecological validity, was done in a school

- Ethical considerations of using children, and deception

Articulatory suppression

A research technique in which participants are required to repeat a sequence of sounds while at the same time performing the experimental task.

Capacity

The number of units of information that can be held in a memory store

Dual task technique

A research technique in which participants are exposed to two sets of stimuli simultaneously.

Duration

The amount of time in which information can be held in a memory store

Parsimonious model

A model that can explain a lot of observations with a limited number of components

Phonological similarity effect

A memory phenomenon where stimuli which have a similar pattern of articulation are confused in memory, even when presented visually.

Primacy effect

A memory phenomenon where the first words are remembered better than those in the middle

Recency effect

A memory phenomenon where words at the end of the list are remembered better than those in the middle.

Word length effect

A memory phenomenon where the estimated capacity of STM depends on the length of the words presented.

Memory

A cognitive process used to encode, store and retrieve information.

Claim of the multi store memory (MSM) model (Atkinson and Shiffrin 1968)

- Memory consists of three separate components: sensory memory store, short-term memory (STM) store and long-term memory (LTM) store
- Information flows from sensory memory to long-term memory if certain conditions are met, namely; attention and rehearsal
- The process is a one directional flow of information from one store to another

Process of MSM model

- Information travels from sensory memory through STM to LTM
- Rehearsal is the main means of transferring information into LTM in which it can be stored indefinitely
- Information stored in LTM is not always easily retrievable

Strengths of MSM model

- Seen as parsimonious; explains a lot of observed data with only a few components
- Seen as heuristic; inspired many insightful research studies

Criticism of MSM model

- Emphasizes structure over process and fails to consider how information flows between the components
- Rote rehearsal is the only mechanism included that enables information to trabel between STM and LTM and this is an oversimplification
- Only explains the flow of information in one direction although it can be argued to flow in the opposite direction as well
- STM and LTM should be further subdivided as these are argued to not be unitary stores

Sensory memory

- Duration; 1 sec for visual stimuli and 2-5 sec for auditory stimuli
- Capacity; everything in the perceptual field
- Required conditions; attention

Short-term memory (STM)

- Duration; >30 but can be increased by rehearsal
- Capacity; 7±2 chunks of information
- Required conditions; Rehearsal

Long-term memory (LTM)

- Duration; unlimited
- Capacity; unlimited
- Required conditions; N/A

Glanzer and Cunitz (1966) Aim

Investigate the serial position effect (primacy and recency effect) with and without interference from a filler activity

Glanzer and Cunitz (1966) method

• Experiment with repeated measures design

• Lists with 15 words were read to participants who the had to do a free-recall task

• There were 3 conditions: Free-recall immediately after, a filler activity (Counting backwards for 10 seconds), or the same filler activity for 30 seconds.

Glanzer and Cunitz (1966) results

• In the condition without the filler task, both primacy and recency effect was seen

• With the filler task, primacy effect stayed but recency effect disappeared, and in the 30 second condition the difference was even more major.

Glanzer and Cunitz (1966) conclusion

Supports the MSM model:

• STM and LTM are separate

• Info moves from STM to LTM if rehearsed and decays if not

• duration of STM is around 30 seconds

Primacy effect is still shown in the filler conditions, as participants rehearse the first words while hearing the rest of the words, transferring them to their LTM.

Recency effect is shown in the non-filler condition as they just entered the STM.

Claim of the Working memory model (WMM) (Baddley and Hitch 1974)

- Challenged the view that STM is one store and that information processing is passive
- Memory consists of four components: the visuospatial sketchpad, the phonological loop, the central executive and the episodic buffer

Strengths of WMM

- Explains what cannot be explained by the multi-store model (phonological similarity effect, word length effect and disappearance of both these under articulatory suppression)

Limitations of WMM

- Complex: makes it difficult to empirically test the model in its entirety
- Not properly explaining the role of LTM in memory and ignores key factors in the ways that STM and LTM combine to produce working memory

Slave system

The Phonological loop, Visuospatial sketchpad and episodic buffer

Central executive

- Responsible for the allocation of resources between the visuospatial sketchpad and the phonological loop

- It has limited capacity but can process any type of info

- Although the CE is probably the most important element it is very difficult to test

Episodic Buffer

- acts as a messenger that communicates between LTM and the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad

Phonological Loop

Holds auditory information and is subdivided into two parts:

- The phonological store (inner ear); holds sound in a passive manner
- The articulatory control system (the inner voice); holds information in a verbal form

Visuospatial sketchpad

Holds visual and spatial information and is subdivided into two parts:

- Visual cache (inner eye): stores information about form and colour

- Inner scribe: movement-related information

Effects of articulatory supression

A technique that requires participants to simultaneously repeat a sequence of sounds and perform a experimental task:
- It supresses the inner voice and results in the disappearance of the phonological similarity effect and the word length effect
- A visual representation prevents information to enter the phonological loop and enters the visuospatial sketchpad instead but the length of a word has no impact when it is visually presented
- This indicates that visual and auditory information is processed in separate stores

Encoding

A process of memory where info is transferred from sensory organs to internal mental structures like the LTM

Retrieval

The process in memory where information is extracted from the LTM when it’s needed

Mental representation

A reflection of an object or even in the mind

Schema

A deeply rooted mental representation that organise our knowledge, beliefs and expectations.

They can influence memory both in encoding and retrieval.

Scripts

Schemas about events or sequences of actions

Bransford and Johnson (1972) aim

investigate the effect of context on comprehension and memory of text

Bransford and Johnson (1972) method

• Experiment, Independent measures design

• Sample: 50 M and F student volunteers

• Participants heard a tape-recorded passage and had to recall it, while writing down as many ideas as possible.

• There were 5 conditions:

• No context 1: heard passage once

• No context 2: heard passage twice

• Context before: Participants were given a drawing for context

• Context after: Drawing was given after hearing

• Partial context: Drawing was given before hearing, but only contained partial context

Bransford and Johnson (1972) Results

Only the context before condition clearly improved comprehension and recall of text

Bransford and Johnson (1972) Conclusion

The drawing shown before the text creates a mental representation which influences how information is encoded: Schema Theory