2024 Sem 2 Psychology Exam
Topic 1: Is Psychology a Science?
Berezow’s Argument
Berezow’s argument states the psychology is not a science, and includes the following premises:
Psychology doesn’t have clearly defined terminology
Psychology doesn’t have quantifiability
Therefore, he concludes that psychology cannot have controlled experiments, reproducibility or have testable predictions, so it must not and cannot be considered a science.
To explain this further:
Controlled experiments: in order for a experiment to be controlled, there must be quantifiability so it can be measured, and therefore be accurate. For example, happiness is almost impossible to quantify as not only is it not clearly defined (premise 1), it also is reliant on qualitative data (interviews, anecdotes), which cannot be quantified (premise 2).
Reproducibility: if an experiment cannot have a controlled experiment and be measured once, it cannot be measured twice. Therefore, due to this lack of quantifiability, experiments cannot be reproduced in psychology. Additionally, the replication rate of experiments in psychology is around 35%, much lower than other science subjects, therefore is evidence of its inability to reproduce.
Testable predictions: Popper highlights the difference between a pseudo-science and a science in their predictions. Simply, a science must seek to disprove the theory, while a pseudo-science seeks to confirm theory. For example, while Einstein had a theory which he then proved by future findings, Freud used past events to determine a theory, and would resolve any objections by introducing new factors so his theory would remain true. This creates a distinction between the predictions in science and pseudo-science, which psychology is the latter.
Markers/Features of Science
Science can be defined in multiple ways.
The first, most obvious way, is simply anything that follows the scientific method. (Identify, develop, choose, collect, examine, interpret, communicate)
It can also be defined as the general approach to the natural world, providing that it is:
Empirical - learning should be based on observation, it should be systematic, planned, careful and operationalised
Empirical questions - answered by observations
Public knowledge - able to contested, built on, replicated and collaborated on
However, its key cause is to understand why things happen, but should be based in objectivity rather than subjectivity.
Examples of Scientific Studies in Psychology
Scientific studies in psychology have indeed been undertaken, and can clearly follow the scientific method (IDCCEIC), for example the littering study (+font, cheating)
Quantifiability can be done, for example the taxi driver study (+prenatal testosterone)
Even traditionally “subjective” topics such as happiness can in fact, be measured.
It can be broken down into 2 components, the affective (pleasure vs. pain - happiness) component and the cognitive (comparing perceived status against our own standards - life satisfaction) component. (Example - study where money was left before interview, changing outcome of interview) In doing this, there is a clearer definition and experiments are able to be run on it.
These experiments can be further broken down into biological, behavioural, implicit measures, other reports, and self reports, therefore it is a legitimate subject for study
For example, a gratitude study was undertaken where 219 participants were examined over 3 weeks, and some had to write gratitude letters. The findings overall were that happiness (positive affect) and life satisfaction (cognitive evaluation) increased. Multiple studies support the association between gratitude and happiness, so we can begin to understand factors that affect happiness in this way.
Predictions can also be made on happiness, as trends have been found that richer countries generally are happier, which can be explained by the cognitive component of happiness, as comparison against others (cognitive evaluation) can result in a change in life satisfaction, a key element to a person’s wellbeing and happiness.
Topic 2: Social Psychology
Stanford Prison Experiment (& Zimbardo)
It was a study of the psychological effect of becoming a prisoner or prisoner guard, lead by Zimbardo and researchers from Stanford University
Aim/purpose
To test the effects of power over depersonalised others, and to test the question of how much personality effects behaviour over situation
Method
An ad in a newspaper called for volunteers in a prison simulation, and 24 males who were “psychologically stable and healthy” were chosen
Participants were randomly divided into 2 groups - guards and inmates
Guards were informed not to physically harm prisoners, but could dehumanise them and make them feel powerless through other psychological methods. They were also given military uniforms.
The prisoners were arrested by the police and transported to a fake prison, and forced to wear uniforms with numbers on them and were only called by those numbers.
Findings
Over 6 days of experiment, various events occurred, including:
a rebellion
the assignment of “bad” cells and “privilege” cells
mental break down of prisoners
escape plot
excessive control, punishment and abuse
The findings support the idea that an individuals behaviour can be caused by situation rather than an individuals personality
It showed how impressionable and obedient people can be when provided with dehumanising ideology and institutional support
3 key factors: Anonymity, power, dehumanisation
Criticisms
The study faced many criticisms, regarding its ethics, bias and unscientific processes.
Ethics: Breached informed consent, right to withdraw, harm caused to participants
Bias: Ad biased sample, Zimbardo was too involved (confounding variable), guard’s behaviour was influenced by stereotypes and through demand characteristics
Science: Limited scientific control, conclusions and observation highly subjective
Milgram’s Obedience Study
Method
An actor for a student was put in a separate room, linked up to an electric shock machine and a participant was a teacher. When the student got a question wrong, then a shock was given, and every time the voltage would increase. Additionally, there was an experimenter as an authority figure in the same room as the teacher who would forcefully encourage the participant to continue up to the full 450 volts.
Findings
Out of the 40 participants, 68% of them delivered the full 450 volt treatment, which many becoming temporarily stressed or having manic fits.
There were many variations made of this experiment manipulating various variables.
The standard interpretation of the experiment is that people will obey authority figures even if it involves harming someone else to the point of potentially killing them.
However, Haslam’s interpretation emphasised the banality of evil (evil is not always done by monsters). Rather than people being mindlessly obedient, he argued that people were rather engaged followers who would do become evil for the benefit of science (or a common goal).
Ethics
The experiment was highly controversial and argued to be distressing and deceptive to participants. (For example, one participant was forever traumatised and had difficulty going on with life)
It breached many of the regulations:
informed consent
debriefing
safety
deception
right to withdraw
However, arguably, this experiment can be ethically justified as the experiment was significant to humanity and a lot could be learned from it.
Group Think
A process by which the desire for consensus in a group can lead to poor decisions.
Features
Illusions of invulnerability (excessive optimism)
Collective rationalisation (discount warning)
Stereotypical view of out-groups
Self-censorship
Illusion of unanimity
Self-appointed mind-guards
Direct pressure on dissenters (pressured not to oppose group views)
Ingredients
Group cohesion
Isolation
Poor leadership
Time pressure
Stress involved in making decision
Examples
The Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster
Abilene Paradox
Group Polarisation
When groups of likeminded people discuss/spend time with each other, they tend to move to a more extreme position than the individual’s personal position.
Ingredients
People have a shared perspective
Talk/discussion with one another
No moderating influences
Examples
Myers & Bishop: Found that when students who were low in racial prejudice talked to each other, overall everyone became more accepting. However, when highly prejudiced students talked about the same issues, they became even more prejudiced.
Real life example: Terrorism
Explanations
There are 2 main theories to explain this:
Social comparison theory (individuals have a desire to gain acceptance and be perceived favourably by their groups)
International influence theory (individuals will become more convinced by arguments in support of their position)
Deindividuation
Losing a sense of personal identity/responsibility, associated with being in a group, being anonymous and being aware of group norms.
Ingredients
Anonymity
Lowered sense of responsibility
Being focused on the present
Sensory input overload
Being in a new situation
Under the influence of drugs
Having high levels of physiological action
Examples
Halloween Study: When going trick or treating, children were left alone and told to only take one piece of candy, but there were 2 bowls of candy and money. There were 2 variables involved: children who came in groups and children who were alone, and children who gave identity and children who didn’t. The results were drastic, as compared to the 7.5% of children who broke the rules when alone and identifiable, 57% of children who were in groups and identified broke the rules.
Real life example: Riots, sporting crowds
Explanation
Social identity theory: you take on the traits of the group you’re in.
Conformity
A change in behaviour due to group pressure or perceived group pressure.
Explanation
There are 2 reasons why this may occur:
Normative Social Influence: conforming to a group standard to be included in the group. This is due to the desire to be liked and fear of rejection.
Informational Social Influence: in an unfamiliar domain, we take cues from others on how to behave. This is due to the desire to be right therefore, we look to others who are “correct” and follow them.
Examples
Normative Social Influence:
Salem Witch Trials: This can be explained by conformity.
People in Salem believed that everyone else believed in witchcraft, even if they didn’t necessarily believe it either (spiral of silence)
But in order to fit in and not face rejection (death) from society, they each added to the lies by falsely confessing and accusing other (normative social influences)
Informational Social Influence:
Studies: Monkey study (coloured maize), Infant study (conform when 3 other repeat an action 1 time , but not when 1 repeat an action 3 times)
Topic 3: Computational Theory of Mind
Main Idea & Concepts
The theory is that intelligence is possible in a material object/thing through computation
Key concepts:
Mental representation: computation is built on representations, and it is a brain state that stands for or is caused by a state of affairs or an object. Information is stored in the brain using mental representation.
Information: anything that reduces uncertainty, and is a correlation between a brain state and a state of affairs or an object.
Computation: one representational/informational state causing another one to happen in the right order. A sensory input would cause a series of representations that the causes a logical, truth preserving or useful output.
Algorithm: A procedure/series of steps for reaching a goal state or solving a problem (like a program)
Thinking: Information processing, moving from one representational state to another in a way that is useful
Chinese Room Argument
An argument based on a thought experiment. If given detailed instructions, one can manipulate and follow the rules and come up with a real answer. Therefore, manipulating symbols according to an algorithm is not the same as understanding.
Counter arguments: (counter-counter arguments by Searle)
The “whole room”, including the man and rule sheet understands Chinese
even if the man memorises the rules, does calculations in his head and moves outside, the symbol manipulator does not understand Chinese
The man lacks any sensory-motor connection to the real world
if you gave him a TV camera and robot arm, he has the connection but he doesn’t understand the language
His program does not mirror what the brain does
in the Chinese gym, where millions of people in a huge gym act as neurons and shout signals to one another, replicating a neural network, the gym does not understand Chinese anymore than the original man did
Opposition to Searle: He is applying human intuition to convince us that in the original case he doesn’t understand, so when it is faster we also believe he doesn’t understand. He also is exploring the meaning of the word “understanding” as we know it
Machine Learning & Turing Machines
There are 2 main types of computation:
Turing computation:
Uses pattern matching, a goal state, a long term memory (symbol representation) and a short term memory (used to do computation)
then an algorithm is set up, which can be coded into a binary code tape.
Machine learning (/artificial neural network):
Uses logic gates (e.g. and, or, not)
Consists of an input later and an output layer, and may have many more layers in between these.
Each path is given a weight, and each neuron is given a threshold.
Topic 4: Theory of Mind
What it is
It refers to an ability to form “second order mental representations”.
It can be thought of as the cognitive system that humans typically use to engage in social interactions and with other people.
Link to Autism
Autism can be seen as the lack of Theory of Mind, which leads to struggles in social interactions.
Some features of extreme autism can be explained by Theory of Mind:
They disregard people and go for objects, or may even regard people as objects (don’t see people as having a mind)
Don’t pay attention to people and/or don’t respond to them when called (don’t understand someone else wanting them)
Some studies were taken looking at the early development of Theory of Mind in children, such as the Sally-Ann task/Smarties test, where child predicted what someone might do based off their own knowledge, however if they have Theory of Mind, then they will realise that another person has a separate mind and hasn’t seen something themselves.
Most autistic children are likely to fail this test, however in a similar test where instead of a person it is a camera, they passed it.
Baron Cohen’s Studies - Links between Autism and Science
His hypothesis was that autism is linked to minds wired for science. (A “dash of autism” is needed for scientific talent)
Evidence to support this:
Looking at prominent scientists in the past, such as Einstein, Newton and Curie, they all are suspected of being autistic
Autism is more common in students studying maths/science subjects then students in humanities
Scientists score higher in autistic traits then the general population
Teenagers with autism scored higher on mechanical reasoning tests (related to systems) and showed a higher interest in systems
He also suspected that there was a genetic component to autism, which was supported by the following evidence:
Fathers of people with autism are more likely to be working in the field of engineering
Therefore, the prediction was made that autism should be more common in places like Silicon valley and Eindhoven, which have a larger proportion of “system focused” jobs, and this was found to be true
Autism is also typically more common in males, and a study got newborn babies, both male and females to look at 2 images, one being a toy and another a human face. Generally, males looked longer at the toy and more females looked at the face
Another study measured the amount of prenatal testosterone a baby was exposed to, and a higher level of this was correlated to more autistic traits in the child and a stronger interest in systems
Topic 5: The Brain
Main Parts and their Functions
Hindbrain
The “lower brain”, links the spinal cord and the brain
Medulla: Continuation of the spine, controls breathing, heartbeat, digestion
Pons: Above the medulla and receives information sent from visual areas to control eye and body action
Cerebellum: Receives information from pons, role is to coordinate the sequence of body movement
Brain Stem: Regulates survival functions such as heartbeat, blood pressure, breathing rates
Midbrain
Above the hindbrain, below the forebrain
Reticular Formation: A network of neurons, and connects the hindbrain and forebrain, however is mostly situated in the midbrain. It is important in the control of arousal and “sleeping and waking” cycle
Substantia Nigra: Plays a role in regulating movement, It also produces dopamine, a neurotransmitter
Forebrain
The largest region of the brain
The Cerebrum:
The biggest part of the forebrain, covered by a thin layer, the cerebral cortex
It also can be divided into the left and right cerebral hemispheres, which is separated by a longitudinal fissure. These 2 hemispheres are almost symmetrical in appearance and joined by the corpus callosum
It can be divided into 4 lobes:
Frontal Lobe - human activities
(Primary Motor Cortex) - voluntary movements
(Broca’s Area) - production of speech
Temporal Lobe - hearing, understanding speech
(Primary Auditory Cortex) - hearing
(Wernicke’s Area) - speech comprehension
Parietal Lobe - sensations from external environment (touch) and position and movement of body parts
(Primary Somatosensory Cortex) - bodily sensations
Occipital lobe: visual information
(Primary Visual Cortex) - vision
Amygdala: Works with the hippocampus for long term memory, it is a major processing centre for emotions and links these to people/places
Hippocampus: responsible for long term memory and spatial memory.
Hypothalamus: controls basic survival actions (sleep, body temperature regulation and the 4 F’s - Feeding, Fighting, Fleeing and Fornification)
Thalamus: the “communication centre” of the brain and receives information from sensory organs (except the nose) and regulates overall activity in the cortex. It has 2 roles:
Enables an organism to process sensory stimuli in the environment, receiving information and relaying this to relevant parts of the cortex to be processed
Determines which of the incoming sensory information is the most important to pay attention to
Topic 6: Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive psychology is the study of processes underlying attention, decision making, language, memory and problem solving
Kahnemen - Thinking Fast and Thinking Slow
System 1:
System 1 thinking is:
Quick
Instinctive
Little/no effort
Not deliberate
Predictable
Can be wrong
Involuntary
Automatic
Emotional
Some examples are:
Orient to the source of a hidden sound
Detect hostility in a voice
Answer 2 + 2
Say “here” when name is called
*point 1 & 2 are innate, while point 3 & 4 are learnt
System 2:
System 2 thinking is:
Slower
Conscious
Effortful
More deliberate
More logical & orderly
Requires high attention span/focus
Includes sequence of steps
Causes changes in body (e.g. increased heart rate, rising blood pressure, blood vessels dilate)
Some examples are:
Tell someone your phone number
Maintain a faster walking speed than natural
Compare 2 washing machines for overall value
Turning off house alarm
How they work together:
System 1 can suggest ideas and system 2 checks them
System 2 uses system 1’s capabilities and filter them down (e.g. look for a tall woman with white hair)
Cognitive Reflection Test
The cognitive reflection test tests this “2 systems of thinking” theory, as an intuitive, quick answer may not be the correct answer as our brain replaces the original question with a simpler (and incorrect) version
The original test by Dr Frederic contained 3 questions:
A bat and ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost? 5 cents (S1 thinking - 10 cents)
If it takes 5 machines 5 minutes to make 5 widgets, how long would it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets? 5 minutes (S1 thinking - 100 minutes)
In a lake there is a patch of lily pads. Everyday the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half the lake? 47 days (24 days)
A study was done with Ferraris and Fords replacing bats and balls in the first questions, however because the answer ($90 000 for a Ford) sounds unreasonable so they would answer the question correctly this can be explained because when intuitive answers conflict with other intuitions (such as those based on past knowledge), people are more likely to engage in system 2 thinking, leading to a correct answer.
(The Wason Selection test also tests cognitive reflection and when applying prior knowledge to that question engaged system 2)