PSYCHOLOGY - LANGUAGE, THOUGHT AND COMMUNICATION

Toby is learning how to speak. At the age of one and a half he uses the word ‘sharp’ when referring to anything that is dangerous. By the age of two and a half he now only uses it in relation to objects that are sharp such as knives.

Use your knowledge of Piaget’s theory to explain Toby’s language development. [3 marks]

At age one and a half, Toby is old enough to be using language. However, his ability to understand a range of specialised concepts has not developed. Therefore, he uses ‘sharp’ as a rather general word.

By age of two and a half, his schema of the world has developed further and he is able to discriminate more finely between concepts and now can apply the word ‘sharp’ to more specific concepts such as knives.

Outline Piaget’s view that language depends on thought. [3 marks]

Children develop language by matching the correct words to their existing knowledge of the world. The child’s understanding of a concept comes first (the schema), and then they learn how to express their understanding of it. So, for Piaget, thought and understanding comes first, and only then can a child use the language for the concept.

Explain one evaluation of Piaget’s theory of language. [3 marks]

One strength of Piaget’s theory is that it is supported by the fact that early language development is not random. When children start talking they will often use two-word phrases such as ‘Mummy sock’ – as in a sock that is owned by Mummy. This suggests that children already have some understanding of the relationship between objects and people in the real world before they start to talk. This means that children start to use language only when they have developed the right schema – which supports Piaget’s theory.

Describe and evaluate Piaget’s theory of language development. [9 marks]

Piaget’s theory concerns how our thinking changes as we develop and refine our schemas about the world. Children develop their language by knowing the schema first and then matching the correct word to their knowledge. For example, a child develops a concept of furry animals and later learns to describe this as a ‘dog’. Thought and understanding comes first, language develops after. Children only understand words when they have reached the correct stage of development and are ready. They can have language without understanding but will not be able to use it effectively. Children learn to understand language considerably before they produce it. Children start producing language towards the end of the first year, in the sensorimotor stage.

A strength is that Piaget’s theory it is supported by the fact that early language is not random. When children start talking they use two-word phrases like ‘Mummy sock’, which shows they can see how objects relate to each other. This suggests that children already have some understanding of the relationship between objects and people in the real world before they start to talk. This means that children only start to use language when they have some understanding of it.

A weakness is the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis challenges Piaget’s theory. It states that language comes before thought as people need a word or phrase for an object to think about it. This suggests that Piaget may have been wrong.

Another weakness is that schemas cannot be scientifically measured. It is very difficult to know if schemas exist as we cannot measure them directly. This shows that Piaget’s theory of language and thought is not based on solid scientific evidence.

A researcher investigated the relationship between language and intelligence (as a measure of thought) with a group of students. The students took a language test and an intelligence test.

Produce a scatter diagram of the results in the table above. [4 marks]

Describe the relationship between the two co-variables. [2 marks]

There is a positive correlation between the co-variables as each co-variable is increasing jointly. This suggests there is a relationship between language and intelligence – the more competent you are with language, the greater your intelligence.

Explain one weakness of using correlational analysis in this study. [2 marks]

Correlations do not tell us whether one co-variable causes the other so we can’t be sure that the reason that people were more intelligent was because they had better vocabularies/use of language (or vice versa).

Explain what is meant by the phrase ‘thinking depends on language’. [2 marks]

The phrase means that language comes first, then thought comes after. Words influence our thoughts, memories and perceptions, not the other way round. The language you learn determines what you can think about.

Explain two versions of the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis. [4 marks]

This theory has two versions. The strong form argues that language determines thought, so if a particular language has no words for a certain thought, object or idea, then people who speak that language will have no way of thinking about it. The language you learn, determines what you can think about.

The weak version says that language influences the way in which people think about things, but it does not completely determine what they think about. For example, it is possible for native English speakers to think about the different types of snow that were identified in the Inuit language even though they have not experienced the different types.

Describe and evaluate the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis. [9 marks]

The Sapir–Whorf hypothesis suggests it is not possible to think about something you don’t have words for. Language comes first and thought afterwards. There are two versions: the strong version suggests words determine our thoughts. If there are no words for a thought, object or idea then you can’t think about it. Therefore, it is difficult to translate ideas from one language to another. In the weak version, words just influence thoughts. Words help to ‘carve up’ the world. However, you can still imagine something with no words for it. The weaker version is preferred. If the words we have for a concept or idea are limited, our ability to notice or recall that idea will be limited.

A weakness of this theory is that differences between cultures may have been exaggerated by researchers such as Boas. There are actually only two words for snow in Inuit culture and English probably has more words for different types of snow. This shows that the differences aren’t that great, and challenges the conclusion that language may determine thought.

In addition to this, having more words for snow doesn’t mean that the words came first. The Inuit language may have more words for snow because there is always lots of snow. This suggests that language develops because of the way we perceive our environment, which supports Piaget’s view that thinking influences language.

In contrast to this, a strength is that the hypothesis explains the link between language and intelligence. Bernstein suggested that working-class children will always fall behind in school because their use of the restricted code will have a negative effect on their ability to think. This shows that language influences a particular type of thinking (intelligence).

A group of psychology students were given a task where they had to read a personality profile of a man. Half of the students were also told he was a father whereas the others were not. An hour later, the students were asked to recall the man’s details. Students who had been told that the man was a father were more likely to recall characteristics relating to him being caring and responsible than those who were not told he was a father.

Use your knowledge of the effect of language and thought on our view of the world to explain these results. [3 marks]

Carmichael et al. found that participants who were given different descriptions of the same picture later drew a picture consistent with the label they were given. A similar thing happened in the above item as the descriptions of the man’s characteristics were affected by whether he had been given the label of father or not. This shows that what we are told about somebody (language) affects how we remember them (thought).

Psychologists have studied the recall of events in different cultures. Describe one finding from such research. [2 marks]

Carmichael et al.’s study found that the memory of pictures was influenced by the verbal label that people are given. For example, people who saw two circles with a connecting line and read ‘eyeglasses’ drew the picture differently than those who had the description ‘dumbbell’.

Explain one criticism of research into the variation in recall of events. [3 marks]

One weakness is that Whorf’s conclusions about the Hopi language were almost entirely based on just one individual, Naquayouma. Other people have argued that the way Hopi Indians recall events, and their understanding of past, present and future is not that much different from English speakers. This suggests that Whorf’s conclusions lacked a firm basis in fact.

Describe and evaluate research into the recognition of colours in Native American cultures. [9 marks]

Brown and Lenneberg found that the Zuni people have only one word for shades of yellow and orange and had difficulty recognising and recalling these colours compared to English speakers. Their lack of words for those two colours affected their ability to distinguish between them. This suggests that the difficulty distinguishing between yellow and orange could be because of a lack of words for those two colours in Zuni language. Roberson et al. found that the Berinmo people of New Guinea had only have five words for different colours and had difficulty recalling and distinguishing between a variety of colours.

One weakness with research involving other cultures is that the participants may not have fully understood the task or researchers may have misunderstood the answers. For example, the Berinmo people may have been able to distinguish between the colours but didn’t communicate this ability to the researcher because of a language barrier. This means that such research may lack validity.

Furthermore, another issue with this research is that some researchers have found the opposite – that people with different colour words were still equally good at recalling colour. Heider and Oliver tested the Dani of New Guinea who have only two words for colour: ‘mola’ and ‘mili’ (which basically correspond to light and dark). This suggests that their lack of colour words did not affect their ability to think about colour.

A strength of this research on the recognition of colours is it provides support for the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis. It shows that at least the weak version is correct.

A researcher studied the distance 50 bees flew from their hive, giving distances to the nearest 10 metres: 60, 40, 30, 70, 50, 40, 80, 70, 30, 60, 60, 80, 30, 50, 90, 20, 40, 20, 70,10, 90, 50, 40, 50, 70, 50, 40, 40, 60, 20, 30, 70, 20, 80, 40, 50, 60, 50, 80, 50, 70, 60, 30, 50, 40, 60, 30, 40, 40, 60.

1. Construct a frequency table from the above data. Use appropriate headings. [4 marks]

A table to show the frequency of bees that flew different distances from the hive.

Draw a histogram for the data. Include a title and label the axes. [4 marks]

The researcher was interested in doing the study on a larger scale but did not have the resources to do it as there were approximately 4,150,000,000 bees in the UK which were too many to study. Express the total number of bees in the UK:

• To one significant figure (1 mark)

• In standard form (1 mark)

• 4,000,000,000

• 4.15 × 10^9

What is meant by the term ‘animal communication’? [2 marks]

Animal communication is the exchange of information between animals within the same species using a variety of signals. Some of these signals are vocal (involve sound) – but some are visual or involve smell.

Describe the method von Frisch used in his bee study. [3 marks]

von Frisch observed bees as they went about their daily business. However, he would sometimes change aspects of the bees’ environment to study how this changed their behaviour. For example, von Frisch would put a food source close to the hive (within about 10–20 metres), as well as one further away (up to 300 metres).

Describe and evaluate the study into bees by Von Frisch. [9 marks]

von Frisch put a food source close to the hive (within about 10–20 metres), as well as one further away (up to 300 metres). Over 20 years he made over 6000 observations. He found that worker bees tell the others where pollen is located by using two types of dance. One dance is the round dance which involves moving in a circle to indicate that food is less than 100 metres away. The other dance is the waggle dance – the bee moves in a figure of eight, waggling its abdomen on the straight line in the ‘middle’ of the eight. This line points at the source of pollen. Speed indicates distance. von Frisch also found that 60% of other bees went to food sources at the distance indicated by the dances.

A strength of this study is that von Frisch’s work made an important contribution to science. People always knew that bees danced but had no understanding of the meaning of these movements. This shows how valuable his research was as it has improved our understanding of how these animals communicate.

A weakness of this research is the importance of sound was overlooked. Esch found that when bees performed dances in silence, other bees would not then go on and investigate food sources. This shows that sound-based signals also play a part in directing other bees.

Another weakness is that bees do not always respond to the waggle dance. Gould found that bees did not use the information from the waggle dance to fly to nectar if it was placed in a boat in the middle of a lake. This shows von Frisch’s account was incomplete.

Donny prefers the company of his dog Max to that of people as he finds it easier to understand the dog’s behaviour. For example, when Max is happy he wags his tail whereas some people will smile even when they are talking about how unhappy they are.

Explain one difference between animal and human communication. Refer to Donny’s experience in your answer. [3 marks]

Animal communication uses single channels whereas human communication uses multiple channels. Donny prefers his dog Max because he uses just a single channel to show his emotion as in this case, he wags his tail to show that he is happy. In the above item Donny finds human communication confusing because the information people give from one channel (smiling) contradicts information from another channel (what they say).

With reference to a specific type of animal, explain how communication is related to survival. [2 marks]

Vervet monkeys produce specific sounds that warn other vervet monkeys of dangers – known as alarm calls. Such alarm calls may be a risk for the monkey making the sound but are important for the survival of members of the species.

Outline how animals communicate their territory to other animals. [2 marks]

Many animals mark their territory using the signal of scent marking. They do this by spreading their urine, faeces or other naturally produced scents to discourage other animals from invading their territory. White rhinos lay their dung in piles to mark their territory.

Describe two or more properties of human communication not present in animal communication. [6 marks]

Animals are much more restricted in how they use signals. Animal communication is a closed system whereas human language is an open system. In human language, words can be combined in completely new ways.

Human language can be expressed using a whole range of different methods or channels, like sign language or Braille, sending a text or an e-mail, or using social media to get a message across. This is not a feature of animal communication as animals tend to use single channels.

Humans can use their language to plan ahead and discuss future events (displacement). In contrast, animal communication tends to focus on things that are physically present in the environment, such as food sources or predators. Therefore, displacement is not a part of animal communication in the same way as it is part of human communication.

In a study on the role of eye contact in conversation, two people have a conversation. In one condition the listener looks at the floor, whilst in the other condition they maintain eye contact with the speaker. Two independent observers judge how many speech errors the speaker makes.

1. Identify two categories of behaviour that could be used to represent speech errors. [2 marks]

Examples of some common speech errors could be: pauses, stuttering, mispronouncing words, using the wrong word or using ‘fillers’ like ‘erm’.

In a study on the role of eye contact in conversation, two people have a conversation. In one condition the listener looks at the floor, whilst in the other condition they maintain eye contact with the speaker. Two independent observers judge how many speech errors the speaker makes.

Explain how the researcher could check interobserver reliability in the study. [2 marks]

They could compare the responses of two separate observers by doing a correlation to see how similar the scores were in each category of behaviour observed.

In a study on the role of eye contact in conversation, two people have a conversation. In one condition the listener looks at the floor, whilst in the other condition they maintain eye contact with the speaker. Two independent observers judge how many speech errors the speaker makes.

Explain one way that the researcher could standardise the procedure in this study. [2 marks]

They could have made sure that the participants are always talking about the same topic area when they are having a conversation with each other.

What is meant by ‘eye contact’? [2 marks]

When two people look at each other’s eyes at the same time. Eye contact has a number of roles in communication: regulating the flow of conversation, signalling attraction and expressing emotion.

Using an example, explain what is meant by ‘non-verbal communication’. [3 marks]

NVC means exchanging information without words. For example, communicating by using eye contact and facial expressions as well as more general body language. Such aspects of communication have an important role in relaying meaning to other people, such as hunched shoulders to show sadness.

Describe and evaluate the function of eye contact. [9 marks]

The first function of eye contact is regulating the flow of conversation, as Kendon found that speakers looked away when they were about to speak and gave prolonged eye contact when about to finish. This shows eye contact encourages turn-taking in conversation. Another function is it is used to signal attraction. Conway found that people who use eye contact are judged as more attractive even with a negative facial expression. Eye contact is also used for signalling emotions, Adams and Kleck found participants judged emotions of joy and anger as more intense when shown a picture of someone gazing straight at them as opposed to gazing away.

A strength of this research is that studies can explain an important feature of autism. People with autism may have difficulty communicating with others because they do not use eye contact. Therefore, knowing the importance of eye contact means that people with autism could be taught these skills.

In contrast to this, an issue with this research relates to the use of rating scales to make judgements. Studies in this area rely on people rating their views of ‘attractiveness’ and ‘intensity of emotion’, and these are open to bias and interpretation. This suggests that studies of eye contact may produce subjective evidence.

Another weakness is that studies of eye contact also involve quite artificial tasks. In Kendon’s study, participants were asked to get to know someone as part of the experiment. This means the findings may lack validity as they do not reflect what would happen in everyday life.

Identify and briefly describe one feature of body language shown by the people in the picture which might indicate that they like each other. Refer to the method and results of one psychological investigation to support your answer. [5 marks]

One feature of body language that reveals liking for another person is touch. Fisher et al. found that a librarian who touched a student’s hand when returning a book to the student was later rated by the student more positively than if the librarian didn’t touch a student’s hand. This relates to the above item as the older woman has her arm around the younger woman and they are both leaning towards each other. Such body contact would suggest that they like each other.

What is meant by the term ‘postural echo’? [2 marks]

A similarity or mirroring of body positions by people in a social interaction

Use your knowledge of psychology to explain how people use open posture in an everyday situation. [2 marks]

Having an open posture means you are standing or sitting without your arms or legs being crossed. You can use an open posture in an interview to show you are listening and in agreement with what is being said.

Describe and evaluate research into body language. Refer to ‘touch’ in your answer. [9 marks]

Fisher arranged for a librarian to hand books to female students in a library. Half of the students were touched lightly on the hand and half were not. When asked afterwards, those students who were touched spoke more positively about the librarian/library than those who were not. This shows that touch can affect our attitudes towards other people. McGinley got an experimenter to go up to people and have conversations with them using an open or closed posture. When questioned later, those people who saw an open posture described them as warm and friendly whilst those who saw a closed one viewed them as unfriendly and hostile. This suggests that posture influences our impression of people.

A strength of this research is that it can be applied to real-world situations. For example, people who are trying to create a good relationship with others should use an open posture, postural echo and touch. This shows the research is useful in everyday life.

A weakness is that the studies are not always well controlled. For example, in the library study there may have been other reasons why the participants liked or disliked the librarian aside from the presence or absence of touch. This is a problem for the validity of the results.

Another weakness is that research in this area raises ethical issues. For example, field experiments on postural echo and touch involved a lack of informed consent. It is also unclear if participants were debriefed. This could therefore affect the trust people have in psychologists.

A study looked at gender and personal space in a local park. A female confederate sat on a park bench next to 10 participants who were female and 9 who were male. The researcher timed (in seconds) how long it took the person (participant) to move away from the bench:

Same gender: 59, 75, 60, 45, 70, 49, 52, 62, 75, 40.

Different gender: 20, 15, 28, 32, 12, 25, 38, 15, 19.

Identify the experimental design used in this study. Explain your answer. [2 mark]

It was an independent groups design because there were separate participants in each condition of the study.

A study looked at gender and personal space in a local park. A female confederate sat on a park bench next to 10 participants who were female and 9 who were male. The researcher timed (in seconds) how long it took the person (participant) to move away from the bench:

Same gender: 59, 75, 60, 45, 70, 49, 52, 62, 75, 40.

Different gender: 20, 15, 28, 32, 12, 25, 38, 15, 19.

Explain one strength of the design you have identified in question 1. [2 marks]

Order effects are not an issue as the participants only do one condition, so participants are less likely to be affected by things like practice.

A study looked at gender and personal space in a local park. A female confederate sat on a park bench next to 10 participants who were female and 9 who were male. The researcher timed (in seconds) how long it took the person (participant) to move away from the bench:

Same gender: 59, 75, 60, 45, 70, 49, 52, 62, 75, 40.

Different gender: 20, 15, 28, 32, 12, 25, 38, 15, 19.

Calculate the mean for each condition. Show your workings. [4 marks]

Mean for same gender condition

59 + 75 + 60 + 45 + 70 + 49 + 52 + 62 + 75 + 40 / 10 = 58. 7

Mean for different gender condition

20 + 15 + 28 + 32 + 12 + 25 + 38 + 15 + 19 / 9 = 22.67

A study looked at gender and personal space in a local park. A female confederate sat on a park bench next to 10 participants who were female and 9 who were male. The researcher timed (in seconds) how long it took the person (participant) to move away from the bench:

Same gender: 59, 75, 60, 45, 70, 49, 52, 62, 75, 40.

Different gender: 20, 15, 28, 32, 12, 25, 38, 15, 19.

Draw a conclusion about the role that gender plays in personal space. Refer to the results of the above study in your answer. [2 marks]

People feel less comfortable when somebody of the opposite sex sits next to them as the mean time taken for someone to leave the bench in this condition is less than half the mean it took for someone to leave when a member of the same sex sat next to them.

What is meant by the term ‘personal space’? [2 marks]

Personal space is the distance we keep between ourselves and others in everyday life. It is like a bubble that we carry around with us. We feel uncomfortable when it is invaded.

Outline the way status affects personal space. [3 marks]

Status might be defined as someone’s rank or position within society or a workplace. For instance, two geography teachers in a secondary school would have similar status, whereas a student and the head teacher will have different status. Zahn found that people who have equal or similar status tend to maintain a closer personal space than those with unequal status.

Describe and evaluate how cultural differences and gender affect personal space. [9 marks]

There are different cultural norms for personal space. Sommer observed groups of white English people and groups of Arab people in conversation. The English people were comfortable with a personal space of between 1 and 1.5 metres whereas for the Arab people it was much less. Men and women use their personal space differently as well. Men generally prefer a larger social distance when interacting with other men than women interacting with other women. There are also other gender differences. Byrne et al. found that when talking to friends, men prefer to sit opposite one another whilst women prefer to sit side-by-side.

A strength of this research is that it has proved useful in everyday life as if we know that particular groups of people prefer to maintain a larger personal space, we know to ‘keep our distance’. Furthermore, doctors could use knowledge about cultural differences by using personal space to make their patients feel more at ease. Therefore, these studies have had a positive impact on the real world.

A weakness is that research into personal space only looks at one factor at a time. Several factors may be affecting personal space distances at the same time such as culture, gender and status. This makes research in this area too simplistic.

Another weakness is studies may use unrepresentative samples. It is difficult to use a sample of people in a personal space experiment that reflects all people within a culture, or all males and all females. This means we should be cautious in generalising the findings to everyone.

Past research has suggested that people with dilated pupils are seen as more attractive. A lab experiment was carried out to investigate this. Participants were shown two pictures of the same woman. In one condition, the woman’s pupils were of normal size whilst in the second condition, they were dilated. Each participant had to rate the attractiveness of each picture.

1. Write a suitable hypothesis for this investigation. [2 marks]

The picture of the woman with dilated pupils is rated as more attractive than the picture of the woman with normal sized pupils. (a possible directional hypothesis)

The picture of the woman with dilated pupils is rated as different in terms of attractiveness than the picture of the woman with normal sized pupils. (a possible non-directional hypothesis)

Past research has suggested that people with dilated pupils are seen as more attractive. A lab experiment was carried out to investigate this. Participants were shown two pictures of the same woman. In one condition, the woman’s pupils were of normal size whilst in the second condition, they were dilated. Each participant had to rate the attractiveness of each picture.

Explain one strength of using a repeated measures design in this study. [2 marks]

There are no participant variables as each participant is compared against themselves so we can be sure that any differences in terms of how attractive the picture is rated are due to pupil dilation rather than any individual differences in what counts as attractive.

Past research has suggested that people with dilated pupils are seen as more attractive. A lab experiment was carried out to investigate this. Participants were shown two pictures of the same woman. In one condition, the woman’s pupils were of normal size whilst in the second condition, they were dilated. Each participant had to rate the attractiveness of each picture.

Order effects are an issue with studies like the one above. Explain how counterbalancing could have been carried out to reduce the impact of order effects in the above study. [3 marks]

The group of participants could have been split into two separate groups. Both groups would still look at both pictures of the woman but one group would do the conditions in reverse order so in this condition, they would look at the picture with dilated pupils first and then the one with normal sized pupils afterwards. This would have reduced the impact that factors like practice and boredom can have on performance in the second condition.

What is meant by the term ‘adaptive’? [2 marks]

Adaptive means any physical or psychological characteristic that enhances an individual’s survival and reproduction, and so is likely to be naturally selected. Such characteristics are passed on to future generations.

Explain what is meant by the phrase ‘non-verbal communication has evolved’. [2 marks]

Non-verbal communication refers to signals that are used without words. The way that animals use such signals has changed over time because signals that are not adaptive are not naturally selected, and therefore disappear. Those that are adaptive (benefit the animals) remain in the gene pool.

Describe and evaluate Darwin’s evolutionary theory. [9 marks]

Darwin proposed the theory of natural selection, which is that genes for any behaviour that improve an animal’s chances of survival and reproduction are naturally selected and more likely to be passed to the next generation. He believed that non-verbal behaviour has evolved in animals as a way to express emotion because it enhances survival (and thus reproduction). Baring teeth in a fight causes an animal to get scared and leave, and therefore both animals in the fight are more likely to survive. Therefore, the behaviour is adaptive as it helps protect survival of species. Behaviours that were adaptive to our distant ancestors like baring teeth are still used to show how we feel but may not serve the original adaptive purpose.

A strength is the theory is supported by research. Ekman et al. identified six primary emotions: surprise, fear, disgust, anger, happiness and sadness that are found in all people. If a behaviour is universal this suggests it is in our genes, supporting Darwin’s evolutionary theory.

Another strength is that there is support from newborn baby studies. Babies are born with the ability to smile or maintain eye contact, which suggests that, because these behaviours are innate. This supports the idea that they have been selected by evolution to help the child’s survival.

A weakness is that Darwin’s theory can’t explain cultural differences in non-verbal communication. Personal space and gestures differ from culture to culture. This suggests the theory doesn’t explain all non-verbal communication.

Kim: I think non-verbal behaviour is instinctive as neonates can show different facial expressions which they couldn’t have learned.

Karen: I am not so sure as I have friends from Italy who have different mannerisms from me and my friends. For example, they stand much closer when talking to us.

Identify evidence from the above item that non-verbal behaviour is innate and/or learned. Use research to support your answer. [4 marks]

Rosenstein and Oster found that young babies’ faces showed disgust with new foods like citric acid, which supports the innate view because babies could not have learned this emotion as it would have been the first time they tasted lemons. This relates to what Kim says about facial expressions not being learned.

Karen says her friends from Italy have different mannerisms from her, which suggests that they have been learned. Social learning theory can explain this cultural difference as people observe what other people in their culture are doing (e.g. mannerisms) and copy those behaviours.

What is meant by the term ‘neonate’? [1 mark]

It means newborn babies.

Outline evidence that non-verbal behaviour is learned. (4 marks)

According to Hall, people from contact cultures are comfortable with a smaller personal space whereas people from non-contact cultures maintain a larger distance between themselves and others. This is evidence of cultural differences, which must be learned rather than innate as, if they were innate behaviours, then people all over the world would behave the same.

Black has described how pointing one’s finger can mean different things depending where you are in the world. Black said that pointing one’s index finger is acceptable in Western culture to emphasise what is being said. However, in Hindu culture this is regarded as offensive, so Hindus tend to point with their thumbs. This shows that non-verbal behaviour may not be innate but is learned as it is the product of cultural norms.

Outline evidence that non-verbal behaviour is innate. [4 marks]

Bowlby suggested that neonates (babies) are born with social releasers. These include nonverbal behaviours such as smiling and giving eye contact. Social releasers influence others – they ‘make’ others want to look after the baby, releasing a desire to offer care which will aid the baby’s survival. This suggests that the behaviour is likely to be innate because it is adaptive and thus naturally selected.

Rosenstein and Oster gave babies who were a few weeks old tastes they had not experienced before. The babies showed a disgust reaction, particularly to very sour foods such as lemons. This suggests that facial expressions as a way of communicating emotions are likely to be innate because babies could not have learned this emotion as it would have been the first time they tasted lemons.

A researcher wanted to investigate whether students preferred teachers that smiled more than those that didn’t. Twenty A level students were approached in the sixth form common room and asked to take part. They were each given 30 pictures to look at, 15 of which had teachers smiling, whilst the other 15 had teachers not smiling. For each picture students had to state how much they liked the teacher on a scale of 1 to 10.

Explain how randomisation could have been used to reduce bias in this study. [2 marks]

The pictures could have all been given a number and then all 30 numbers could be placed in a hat. Each number would then be selected to determine the order in which each picture would be seen by the participants. This is an example of using a random method to reduce any bias.

A researcher wanted to investigate whether students preferred teachers that smiled more than those that didn’t. Twenty A level students were approached in the sixth form common room and asked to take part. They were each given 30 pictures to look at, 15 of which had teachers smiling, whilst the other 15 had teachers not smiling. For each picture students had to state how much they liked the teacher on a scale of 1 to 10.

Identify the sampling method used and explain a weakness of this sampling method in relation to this study. [3 marks]

Opportunity sampling. The sample is not representative of all students in the school but rather just those who happened to be around and might be the least studious ones! This makes it difficult to generalise the findings of the study.

A researcher wanted to investigate whether students preferred teachers that smiled more than those that didn’t. Twenty A level students were approached in the sixth form common room and asked to take part. They were each given 30 pictures to look at, 15 of which had teachers smiling, whilst the other 15 had teachers not smiling. For each picture students had to state how much they liked the teacher on a scale of 1 to 10.

Write a null hypothesis for this investigation. [2 marks]

There is no difference in the liking ratings for pictures of teachers that smile and don’t smile

A researcher wanted to investigate whether students preferred teachers that smiled more than those that didn’t. Twenty A level students were approached in the sixth form common room and asked to take part. They were each given 30 pictures to look at, 15 of which had teachers smiling, whilst the other 15 had teachers not smiling. For each picture students had to state how much they liked the teacher on a scale of 1 to 10.

Identify one extraneous variable that could have been a problem in this study and explain how it could have been controlled. [3 marks]

The students could have been influenced by the ratings that other students gave the teachers. This might have been controlled by having the students rate the pictures in separate rooms on their own.

What is meant by an ‘emoticon’? [2 marks]

The word ‘emoticon’ is a combination of the words emotion and icon. It is a non-verbal way of expressing mood or emotion within a written communication, such as a text or email.

Outline the method used in Yuki’s study into emoticons. [3 marks]

This was a cross-cultural study that involved students from Japan and America using an independent groups design. All participants were presented with a set of six emoticons. The emoticons featured different combinations of eyes and mouths. Some of the mouths were ‘happy’, some ‘sad’ and some ‘neutral’ (neither happy nor sad). This was the same for the eyes. The participants had to rate each emoticon for how happy they thought it was. This was done on a 9-point scale and the average ratings for each emoticon were worked out.

Describe and evaluate Yuki’s study of emoticons. [9 marks]

Yuki investigated whether there was a difference in how emoticons are understood by people in the East (Japan) and the West (America). He carried out a cross-cultural study with an independent groups design using students from Japan and from America. Six emoticons were shown with different combinations of eyes and mouths (sad, happy or neutral). Participants rated them for happiness using a 9-point scale. It was found that the Japanese gave higher ratings to faces with happy eyes than the Americans, even when the mouth was sad. Americans gave higher ratings when mouths were happy even when the eyes were sad. This suggests that cultural groups interpret facial expressions differently, which may be due to cultural norms and expectations.

A weakness of this study is that emoticons may not represent human faces. Emoticons do not include those tell-tale lines on people’s faces which give us further information on how to interpret their eyes and mouth. This means that the results may lack relevance to everyday life.

Another weakness is the study only investigated two types of emotion. In everyday life, faces express a whole range of emotions – fear, surprise, disgust, etc. Therefore, the study does not give us insight into how the full range of emotional expressions are interpreted by people of different cultures.

A final weakness is that rating scales may not be the best method of measurement. Emotions are very complex and rating scales reduce emotion to a single score. Therefore Yuki et al. may have measured the interpretation of emotions in too simple a way