Year 12 ATAR Psychology

The 3 R’s in Animal Ethics (In Order)

Replacement, Reduction, Refinement

Animal Ethics: Replacement

The development of a method which does not require the use of animals.

Animal Ethics: Reduction

Keeping the amount of animals in a study to the minimum amount necessary required to achieve the proposed aim / satisfy good experimental design.

Animal Ethics: Refinement

Improving the techniques and method of the study to minimise potential harm in animal subjects.

All 7 Ethical Requirements

1. Protection from physical / psychological harm

2. Informed consent

3. Withdrawal rights

4. Limited deception with debreifing

5. Confidentiality post-research

6. Privacy during research

7. Voluntary participation

Ethical Guidelines: Protection from Harm

Psychologists take steps to avoid harming their participants when avoidable and to minimise it as much as possible when unavoidable.

Ethical Guidelines: Informed Consent

A participant must provide written consent in order to partake in a study after being provided with potential risks and benefits, as well as their participant rights in the study. Information about the procedure should also be given if it will not impact the outcome of the study.

Ethical Guidelines: Withdrawal Rights

The right of the participant to cease their participation in a study at any point, whether before, during, or after, without any consequences or pressure to continue.

Ethical Guidelines: Deception

Psychologists must not intentionally mislead participants in regards to the study unless the results would be confounded if the participants had much information before taking part in the study. Debriefing is required when deception is used.

Process of Debriefing

The element of deception must be described, reasons for the deception must be given, participants must be given the opportunity to ask questions and withdraw their data, and in case of potential harm the researchers must provide participants with avenues for counselling.

Ethical Guidelines: Confidentiality

The obligation of the researcher not to disclose or use private information of participants for any reasons aside from why it was given to them.

Ethical Guidelines: Privacy

The obligation of the researcher to collect only the information which is relevant to the study from participants.

Ethical Guidelines: Voluntary Participation

Participants must not be coerced / pressured into partaking in a study. There must also be no consequences for lack of participation.

Role of Ethics Committees

An Ethics Committee controls funding to experiments and ensures that ethical guidelines are adhered to before and during the conduct of a study.

Convenience sampling

Gathering a sample group of people that are readily available to the experimenter.

1 Strength and 1 Weakness of Convenience Sampling

• Easy and cheap to set up

• Can cause bias and create an unrepresentative sample

Random sampling

Equal chance of every available member of the population being selected for the sample group

1 Strength and 1 Weakness of Random Sampling

• Ensures a highly representative sample without any potential for bias

• Can be logistically challenging and not all members of the sample will agree to participate / continue to participate

Stratified sampling

People are broken into groups based off of relevant characteristics (i.e. age) and then an equal amount of people from each group is selected.

1 Strength and 1 Weakness of Stratified Sampling

• Ensures the sample is very representative

• Is logistically challenging and time consuming to set up

Snowball Sampling (Description + Advantages)

Participants recruit more participants and those participants recruit even more.

1 Strength and 1 Weakness of Snowball Sampling

• Useful when the population is very small and difficult to contact

• May involve bias and not be representative of the entire population

Experimental Design: Independent-Groups

Refers to the random allocation of members of the sample group to the control or experimental group. Is cost and time effective, but due to its random nature there is a chance that there could be differences between the members of both groups (an extraneous variable).

Experimental Design: Matched-Participants

Participants are paired with one another based off of shared characteristics, with each member of the pair being assigned randomly to the control or experimental group. This helps to elimenate differences between participants as an extraneous variable, however it is quite cost and time inefficient seeing as a pre-test needs to occur to gague the participants abilities before matching them. Also, if a participant drops out, their pair also needs to be removed.

Experimental Design: Repeated-Measures

A single group is exposed to both the control and experimental conditions. This completely elimenates differences between participants as an extraneous variable and is time effective, however it can lead to the ‘order effect’. This refers to how results might change due to the sequence of the controlled and experimental tests - after completing the same test twice, motivation might decrease or skill might increase which could skew the results.

Research Design: Experimental

An experiment which employs a systematic / scientific process to test the impact of the independent variable on the dependent variable. Involves a high degree of control over extraneous variables.

Research Design: Non-Experimental

Research where the variable for the investiagation is unable to be manipulated but may be measured.

Research Design: Observational

Behaviour is systematically recorded and observed in a real life / natural setting. Difficult to remove extraneous variables.

Research Design: Case Study

An in depth investigation of a single individual, event, community, etc. Limited participants, so hard to generalise, but can be very useful for incredibly small populations.

Research Design: Correlational

Observing the strength in relationships between variables. Measurable, but not manipulatable. Correlation does not equal causation, making this less reliable.

Research Design: Longitudinal

Studying the changes seen in the sample over time, participants usually being surveyed once a year. Suffers from being time-consuming, expensive, and having guaranteed dropouts. Very representative data.

Research Design: Cross-Sectional

Cross-sectional studies are once-off studies in which people of differing areas of a population are all experimented on at once.

Reliability

The consistency of a test - does a test produce the same / similar results every time? Tests with low sample sizes are less reliable.

Tests must be reliable across…

• Time (test-retest reliability)

• Materials (internal consistency)

• Researchers (interrater reliability)

Validity

The degree to which a test or measure adequately addresses the research question and what it intends to measure

Qualitative data

Any form of open-ended question that measures non-numerical data or data that cannot be mapped to a numerical value.

Quantitative data

Data that is numerical and can be plotted onto a graph or table

Subjective data

Anecdotal information that comes from opinions, perceptions, or experiences. For example, a description of symptoms or pain level.

Objective data

Information that is considered factual and unable to be disputed regardless of the person interpreting or presenting it.

Independent Variable

The variable which is manipulated

Dependent Variable

The variable which is measured as a result of manipulations to the independent variable

Control Variable

A variable which stays unchanging in the study as it could influence results

Confounding variable

Types of extraneous variables which influence both the dependent and independent variable, distorting the relationship between both.

Extraneous Variables

Variables which are not being investigated that could affect the outcome of the study

Participant-related extraneous variables + example

Extraneous variables that appear as a result of the participant and any potential differences they may have to other participants. Perhaps they are more skilled at the task or had more training.

Researcher-related extraneous variables

Extraneous variables that develop as a result of the potential biasses of the researcher. These can also include demand characteristics and the experimenter effect. For example, maybe the researcher has racial biasses and marks a POC participant more harshly, skewing the results.

Environment-related extraneous variables

Environment extraneous variables are variables related to the environment that skew the results of the test. Maybe the environment is too noisy, distracting participants.

Subjective Data: 3 Examples

Pain level, levels of happiness, opinions towards subjects

Objective Measures: 3 Examples

Heart rate, galvanic skin response (GSR - measuring the change in electrical current in the skin to test stress or arousal), breath rate

Subjective Measures: 3 Examples

Checklists and rating scales, including likert scales

Experimenter Effect

The potential bias in the experimenter to interpret data or influence participants to come to the conclusion they desire.

Demand Characteristics

Where participants subconsciously form an assumpton of the experimenters aim based off of the experimenter effect and change their behaviours

Random Allocation of Participants

Randomly allocates certain participants to either the control or the experimental group of a study to reduce risk of researcher bias

Single-Blind Procedures

When the participant is unaware of the group they are in, but the experimenter is. Limits likelihood of demand characteristics.

Standardisation of Procedures

The procedures participants undertake must be identical to ensure data is valid and reliable.

Scatterplot

• Used to depict data from a correlational study

• Shows the values of two different variables on each axis

• If the value increases along both the X and Y axes, it is a positive correlation

• The level of clustering in the dots corresponds to how strong the relationship is

Bar / Collumn Chart (Description, Axes)

• Made up of a series of bars that do not touch

• They show categorical data - the difference in a particular value between various different categories

• The bars don’t touch to show that the data is NOT continuous

• Sometimes bar charts can represent two different cats within one bar (e.g. male vs female performance in a single category). In this case values are stacked atop one another and colour coded

Line Graph (Description, Axes)

• Depicts how one variable continuously changes (e.g. temp) as another changes (e.g. time)

• In an experiment, the IV is plotted on the x / horizontal axis, and the DV is plotted on the y axis

• The variable on the x axis needs to be continuous (progressively increasing)

Histogram (Description, Axes, Example)

• A graph which plots the frequency of a numeric variable

• The y axis depicts frequency, and the x axis depicts the numeric variable

• Histograms are represented with bars without gaps between them

• The data cannot be categorical - must be continuous and numerical, sometimes grouped into classes / bins (i.e. age ranges 1-10, 11-20)

Frequency Table

Used to show the frequency of a specific data point. One collumn for the categories and one collumn for the frequency of that category.

Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient

A numerical value between 1 and -1 which measures the direction and strength of the relationship between two variables.

Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient: Meaning of Values

The closer to 1 / -1, the stronger the correlation. The closer to 0, the weaker the correlation.

• 1: Very strong positive correlation

• 0 - 1: Positive correlation

• 0: No correlation

• 0 - -1 Negative correlation

• -1: Very srong negative correlation

Directional Hypothesis + Mark Division

A hypothesis in which the relationship between two variables can be predicted directionally (e.g. people with caffeine will score higher)

• State sample / populatioin

• State direction

• IV

• DV

Non-Directional Hypothesis + Mark Division

A hypothesis in which the relationship between two variables can be predicted, but a direction is not given (e.g. caffeine will have an impact on score - not specifying whether it will be pos. or neg.)

• Sample / population

• Difference or no difference

• IV

• DV

Inquiry Question

A question which aims to explore an aspect of a psychological topic without making claims or assumptions. Answered by the hypothesis.

Memory

The process of encoding, storing, and retrieving information over an extended period of time.

Sensation

The physical detection of raw sensory information from the environment

Perception

The psychological interpretation / understanding of raw sensory information

Three Stages of Sesnation

1. Reception: physical stimuli is detected by receptors in sensory organs

2. Transduction: environmental stimuli is converted into an electrochemical nerve impulse / action potential

3. Transmission: nerve impulses are relayed along sensory neurons to relevant areas of the brain

Three Stages of Perception

1. Selection: attention is focussed on specific sensory information

2. Organisation: sensory information is organised / categorised based on innate / learned cognitive patterns to allow us to make sense of it

3. Interpretation: sensory information is compared to previous experiences or information to draw meaning from it

Attention

The process of attending to specific stimuli / aspects of our environment whether consciously or unconsciously.

Selective Attention

Choosing and attending to a singular specific stimuli whilst excluding / filtering other distracting stimuli. Can apply to important stimuli or stimuli you’re searching for, for example hearing your name may draw your selective attention away from your conversation to the other one

5 Changes in Stimulus that can Attract our Attention + Examples

• Movement: moving stimuli is more attention-grabbing than stationary stimuli - blinking light vs flickering one

• Contrast: a stimuli which is noticeably different from its surroundings will grab attention - black stain on white shirt vs white stain on white shirt

• Intensity: the same stimulus as surroundings but intensified will be more likely to grab our attention - loud noise vs quiet noise

• Size: a stimulus that is larger (and sometimes smaller) than average will be more likely to catch our attention - 6”10 man vs 5”10 man

• Duration / Repetition: A brief stimulus is less noticeable than one that persists - however those which persist too long might cause people to get used to them - one beep vs 10 in a row vs 1,000 in a row

Divided Attention + 2 Examples

The distribution of attention among two or more stimulus so that two or more activities may be completed at once (listening to a teacher and taking notes). Two complex tasks cannot be done at once, and two tasks relying on the same areas of the brain are also difficult (can’t read a book and an email at once).

Cocktail Party Effect - Theorist and Date

Cherry, 1953

Cocktail Party Effect - Theory

Accounts for the human ability to understand a conversation despite distracting stimuli surrounding

Cocktail Party Effect - 6 Factors that Influence it

• Transition probabilities - ability to interpret what words might have been said from surrounding context

• Spatial continuity - easier to understand when speaker remains stationary

• Bodily language - allows us to interpret intent and meaning easier

• Volume - easier to understand when speaker is louder than surroundings

• Visual channel effects - our brain can associate sounds with the speakers they originate from

• Continuity - when speaking with someone things such as their frequency, pitch, and accent tend to stay constant

Cocktail Party Effect - 2 Strengths

Heightens our understanding of communication in crowded environments, supporting learning in challenging auditory contexts

Cocktail Party Effect - 2 Limitations

Becomes no longer applicable when in extremely loud environments, does not account for individual differences in auditory focus or perception

Cocktail Party Effect - 2 Applications

Group discussions in which you need to focus only on your group, loud environments such as parties, clubs, or concerts

Three Stages of Memory Processing

Encoding: Conversion of sensory information into a form which can be understood by the brain

Storage: The maintainence of encoded information within a memory store in an organised fashion so that we can retrieve it easily

Retrieval: The process of temporarily transferring a memory from long-term to short-term memory in order to display it wiithin our mind and bring it to conscious attention

Multi-Store Model of Memory (Theorist and Date)

Atkinson and Schiffrin, 1968

Multi-Store Model of Memory (Model)

Sensory input stored in sensory memory, information attended to enters short-term memory (whereas information not attended to is lost rapidly), unrehearsed information in short term memory is lost, with maintainence and elaborative rehearsal bringing the information into long-term memory

Sensory Memory (Iconic and Echoic, Duration, Capacity, Encoding)

Holds a sensory register for each sense represented as an exacy copy of the original sensation.

Iconic memory: Around 0.3 seconds, keeps the world from being a blur of constant images whilst also allowing us to see movement rather than individual frames

Echoic memory: 3-4 seconds, allows us to understand sentences in full rather than a series of distinct sounds - sounds remain in echoic memory until the full context of the sentence is gained before being encoded

Theoretically infinite in size, though very temporary. Raw sensory information is encoded into short-term memory if the stimulus is paid attention to.

Overall duration is up to 4 seconds.

Short-Term Memory (Duration, Capacity, Encoding)

Holds all thoughts, infomration, and experiences that we are aware of at any given time. Can hold 5-9 pieces of information for up to 30 seconds. Any information in short-term that is not rehearsed will not enter long-term memory and will drop out of the model. Information within short-term memory is encoded through maintenance rehearsal.

Long-Term Memory (Duration, Capacity, Encoding)

Long term memories are encoded through elaborative rehearsal or repeated uninterrupted maintenance rehearsal over an extended period of time. Information is more strongly encoded when it has connections to prior knowledge, or when we have utilised it many times. 

Information in long-term memory can theoretically last forever, however over time information not attended to may decay or become inaccessible. The capacity is also theoretically infinite.

Procedural Memory

The long-term memory store that stores our knowledge on how to complete tasks or actions with little to no conscious effort. Procedural memories are very resistent to forgetting.

Declarative Memory

The long-term memory store for explicit, specific, or factual information (i.e. names, faces, words, dates, rules) and events. They require conscious effort for retrieval, and are generally more complex.

Semantic Memory

A subsect of declarative memory dfocussed on the storage and inrerpretation of facts and information

Episodic Memory

Our long-term declarative memory store responsible for the storage, maintenance, and interpretation of events and the feelings associated with them.

Multi-Store Memory Model - 2 Strengths

Provided the groundwork that inspired much more in-depth research into memory, as well as being the basis of more complex theories.

Multi-Store Memory Model - 2 Limitations

Displays a rather oversimplified view on memory, with modern research suggesting that memory is far more complex.
Does not account for factors such as strategic learning and motivation when considering transfer of information between STM and LTM.

Multi-Store Memory Model - 2 Applications

Allows us to understand how to improve our memory in certain situations, such as remembering a scene of a crime in order to assist investigators through rehearsal.

May also have appplication in helping dementia patients - if they have trouble rehearsing information they could write it down or label things to reinforce connections in memory.

Working Memory Model (Theorists, Date)

Baddeley and Hitch, 1974

Working Memory Model - Key Features, Active or Passive?

A hypothetical construct which attempts to describe the process of memory and how visual and verbal material is processed and stored. The theory emphasises the active nature of short-term memory as opposed to previous theories stating it was passively maintained

Central Executive: 3 Main Functions (SUIIIII)

• Switching: Changing our attention from one thing to another

• Updating: Modifying items from LTM before re-committing them

• Inhibition: Screening out of unwanted stimulus (selection in the MSM)

Phonological Loop + Subsections

Auditory working memory, allows us to understand sentences that are longer than a few words - it retains the information from the beginning of a sentence until we have heard the words from the end.

The phonological store processes speech perception, and stores auditory information for 1-2 seconds, acting as an inner ear.

The articulatory control process acts as this structures maintenance rehearsal, keeping information in the phonological store by repeating it. It also converts written material into auditory information that the phonological store can interpret.

Visuospatial Sketchpad

Visual working memory store responsible for storing and encoding visual language, as well as imagining what things might look like (our imaginatiion)

Episodic Bufffer

Takes information out of long-term memory and sends it to the central executive, and trsnsfers information back into long-term memory, bridges the two stores. It also unifies information from the visuospatial sketchpad and phonological loop to create a single unified memory, or ‘episode’, for episodic long-term memory.

Working Memory Model - 2 Strengths

It expands on the simple theory of the multi-store model of memory.

It explains individual processes such as verbal reasoning, comprehension, reading, problem solving, and visual / spatial processing.