L6 mock revision - Paper 1

Social influence

Types on conformity

Compliance - superficial and temporary type of conformity, whereby we agree with the group publicly, but privately our opinions remain unchanged.
Identification - A moderate type of conformity whereby we behave in the same way as the group because we value them in some way, but privately, we do not agree with all that they say and do.
Internalisation - a deep type of conformity whereby we internalise the view of the majority as we accept this view as correct and so continue to hold this view even when the group is not present.

Explanations of conformity

Normative social influence - this explains conformity as agreeing with the group out of the desire to fit in with the group and be accepted. Normative social influence is likely to lead to compliance or identification.
Informational social influence - this explains conformity as agreeing with the group because of the desire to be correct and we perceive the group as having superior knowledge to us. Informational social influence is likely tot lead to internalisation.

Zimbardo’s research into conformity to group norms

Aim - To see the level of conformity to social roles
What was Zimbardo’s procedure? - Zimbardo had set up a mock prison in Stanford university. He had advertised for students who were willing to volunteer and selected those who were deemed emotionally stable after psychological testing. Students were randomly assigned to roles of guards or prisoners. Prisoners were arrested from their homes by the local police and were taken to the ‘prison’. They were blindfoled, strip-searched and issued a uniform and number. The roles of the prisoners and the guards were strictly divided. The prisoners daily routines were regulated by the students who werw assigned to the role of guards. The prisoners names were never used from this point onward, they were only referred to by the numbers they were given. The guards were given complete control over the prisoners.
Results - The study was stopped after 6 days instead of the intended 14 days. Prisoners were treated harshly by the guards, and within 2 days, the prisoners rebelled. After theb rebellion, prisoners became depressed and anxious. The guards behaviour became a legitimate threat to the prisoners’ psychological and physical health. One prisoner on the first day was released, as he had shown signs of psychological disturbance. 2 more prisoners were released on the 4th day. The guards behaviour became more brutal and aggressive, some appeared to enjoy the power they had over the prisoners.
Conclusions - Guards, prisoners and researchers all conformed to their roles within the prison. They had found themselves behaving as if they were in an actual prison rather than in a psychological study.

Evaluation * Ethical issues - issues such as the limits in the way that the guards could treat the prisoners were not present as the guards were given full control over the prisoners. There was also a lack of consentr as the participants that were the prisoners did not consent to being treated that way. There was also harm to participants as a ‘prisoner’ had to leave after the 1st day due to showing signs of psychological disturbance. * Sample bias - The sample was an all male group (androcentric bias) and the results may have been differenut if ir was an all women group (gynocentric) or if the sample was a mix of men and women. This therefore means that the study lacks representativeness as it doesn’t represent the whole of the target population. * Researcher bias - Loss of objectivity as Zimbardo himself was physically a part of the study. * Influence of personality - Different personalities would cause different people to behave in different ways and so therefore the study did not account for the participants personalities.

Milgrams Research into obedience

What was MILGRAMS PROCEDURE? * Milgram selected participants by advertising for male participants at Yale University. The participant would be paired with another person (a confederate). Lots were drawn to see who would be the learner and who would be the teacher. The lots were fixed so that the participant was always the teacher. The ‘learner’ was taken to a room were electrodes were attached to his arm. The ’teacher’ (participant) was taken to the room next door where there was a fake electric shock generator and a row of switches that ranged from 15 volts (light shock) to 375 volts (dangerous shock) to 450volts (XXX). The participant didnt know that the electric shock generator was fake. The participant was told that they were to read out pairs of words to learner and that the learner had to remember these words and if the learner had gotten them wrong or had said nothing, the participant was to administer and ‘electric shock’. The ‘intensity’ of the shock had to increase each time they were to administer a shock. After 315volts, the learner (confederate) was silent. If the teacher (participant) asked whether they should keep going or to stop, the experimenter would use 4 prods to get the participant to continue. If the participants continued to disobey after the 4th prod, then they were able to leave.
What were the RESULTS from MILGRAMS STUDY? * 100% of the participants had gone to 300volts. 65% of participants had gone to 450volts.
What are some EVALUATIVE POINTS of MILGRAMS STUDY? * Low Internal Validity - Holland argued that the participants had behaved in the way that they did because they themselves did not believe that the shocks were real. Because of this, it would have meant that Milgram was not testing what he had intended to and so lacks internal validity * Adrocentric Bias - Milgrams sample consisted of all males and so this would not explain women’s behaviour in terms of obedience. The results of the study may have been different if the sample was gynocentric or if the sample was a mix of men and women. Because of this, the results lack generalisability. * Good external validity - The central feature of Milgrams original study was the relationship between the participant and the authority figure. Milgram himself argued that the lab experiment actually refelcted wider authority relationships in real life. Hoffling studied 22 nurses on a ward and found that obedience to to unjust orders were high. 21 out of the 22 nurses that Hoffling studied obeyed commands to unjust orders. This shows that the process of obedience to authority in Milgrams study could be generalised.

Milgrams Situational Variables

What happened in the PROXIMITY VARIATION? * In the proximity variation, when the learner (confederate) and teacher (participant) were in the same room, the obedience rate had dropped from the original 65% to 40% * In another variation where the teacher (participant) had to force the learners hand onto an electric shock plate, the obediene rate dropped to a further 30%
What happened in the LOCATION VARIATION? * The location variation was where Milgram had conducted his study in a run-down building instead of at the prestigious Yale University. The obedience levels had dropped from 65% to 47.5%
What was the LIKELY REASON for the OBEDIENCE RATE DROPPING in the LOCATION VARIATION? * The likely reason for the obedience rate dropping in the location variation is because the run down building does not carry the same prestige that Yale University does. people are more likely to think that the research done at Yale University is important and serious and so carries more authority with its name.
What happened in the UNIFORM VARIATION? * In Milgrams original study, the experimenter wore a lab coat, as a symbol of his authority. In the uniform variation, the researcher is called away and is replaced by a ‘ordinary member of the public’ who is wearing normal, casual clothes. The obedience rate dropped from 65% to 20%.
What are some EVALUATIVE POINTS on MILGRAMS SITUATIONAL VARIABLES? * Lack of internal validity - Holland said that many of the participants worked out that the procedures were fake. In the uniform variation, even Milgram had known that the situation was too unrealistic and that some may have realised that it was fake. * Cross-cultural replication- Cross-cultural replication is a strength because his findings have been replicated in different countries. Miranda (1981) had found an obedience rate of 90% amongst Spanish students. This shows Milgrams findings aren’t limited to just American males.

Minority Influence

What is MINORITY INFLUENCE? * Minority influence is situations where one person or a small group of people (the minority) influence the beliefs and behaviours of other people (the majority)
What TYPE OF CONFORMITY does MINORITY INFLUENCE LEAD TO? * Minority influence is most likely to lead to internalisation
What was the PROCEDURE for MOSCOVICI’S STUDY? * The procedure for Moscovici’s study was an all female group (gynocentric group) of participants were placed in a group of four participants and two confederates. They were shown 36 slides that were all different shades of blue ad were asked to state what the colour was. In the first group, the confederates were consistent and answered green for every slide. In the second group, the confederates were inconsistent and answered green 24 times and blue 12 times.
What were the RESULTS of MOSCOVICI’S STUDY? * The results of Moscovici’s study were that in the consistent group, 8.42% of trials resulted in participants answering green and agreeing with the minority. In the inconsistent group 1.25% of trials resulted in participants answering green and agreeing with the minority.
What was the CONCLUSION MADE from MOSCOVICI’S STUDY? * The conclusion from Moscovici’s study was that minorities can change the opinoion of the majority group if they are consistent.

What is SYNCHRONIC CONSISTENCY? * Synchronic consistency is the agreement between people in the minority group, they are all saying the same thing.
What is DIACHRONIC CONSISTENCY? * Diachronic consistency is consistency over time, people in the minority have been saying the same thing for a long time.
What is COMMITMENT? * Commitment is shown by minorities engaging in extreme activities to draw attention to their view. These extreme activities should be at some risk to the minority group to show the commitment that they have to their view.
What is the AUGMENTATION PRINCIPLE? * The augmentation principle is when the majority group pays more attention to the views of the minority group due to the minority group showing their commitment to their view.
What is FLEXIBILITY? * Flexibility is when members of the minority group adapt their arguments and accept valid counterarguements as being repetitve with the same arguemnt will seem dogmatic to the majority.
What is the SNOWBALL EFFECT? * The snowball effect is that, overtime, the numbrs of people switching from the majority to the minority view increases. The more this happens, the faster the conversion rate. Gradually, the minority become the majority and change has occured.
What are some EVALUATIVE POINTS for MINORITY INFLUENCE? * Artificial tasks - The tasks involved in Moscovici’s study such as identifying the colour of a slide are artificial. This means that the research is removed from how minorities attempt to change the behaviour of the majority in real life. This means that Moscovici’s study therefore lacks external validity. * Lacking representativeness - Moscovici’s study has methodological issues such as sample bias as all the participants in Moscovici’s study are female and so it is a gynocentric group. Because of this, it lacks representativeness as it does not account for other people such as men.

Social Influence processes and social change

Social influence in African American Civil Rights

Drawing Attention -Civil Rights marches were held to draw attention to the segregation of black people in all parts of America in the 1950’s
Consistency - There were many marches and many people were taking part each time there was a march. The civil rights activists were the minority group of the American population, but still showed consistency
Commitment - many Civil Rights activists risked their lives. The ‘freedom riders’, for example, were beaten by racist mobs for conveying their commitment to their view and to the Civil Rights movement.
The Augmentation Principle - The attention that was drawn to the matter meant that the many people who just accepted the status quo (the majority population and the majority view) began to think about the unjustness of it.
The snowball effect - The Civil Rights movement continues and in 1964, the US Civil Rights Act was passed. This represents change from the people moving from the majority view, to the minority view, and the minority view thus becomes the majority view.
Social Cryptoamnesia - Social cryptoamnesia is when people have a memory of change occurring, but cannot remember how it happened and the steps that led to the change.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Social Influence and Social Change?

A disadvantage to social influence and social change is that it does not take into account reasons why people may still shoose to resist social change. Bashir investigated why people still chose to resist social change, even when they agreed that social change is needed. it was found that people were less likely to behave environmentally friendly as they did not want to be stereotyped. Bashir advised minorities to avoid behaving in ways that reinforce any stereotype, as this is off-putting to the majority.
Another disadvantage of social influence and social change is that there are methodological issues. This is because explanations on social influence draw heavily from the studies of Moscovici, Milgram and Asch and so any of the methodological criticisms of those studies will apply to social influence and social change.

What are the Lessons from Conformity?

The lesson from conformity is that Asch’s research highlighted the importance of ‘dissent’ in one of his variations, in which there was one confederate that gave the correct answer throughout the whole procedure, and so going against the majority (the majority were confederates also) that was giving the incorrect answer. Because one confederate was dissenting from the rest of the majority, this then broke the power that the majority had on the participant and so encouraged the participant to dissent also. Dissent such as this where on person going against the majority view and so influencing others to dissent also has the power to ultimately lead to social change. * Environment and health companies exploit confomity by appealing to and using normative social influence. This is done by providing information about other people recycling and trying to influence other people to recycle because other people are doing it

What are the Lessons from Obedience

The lesson from Obedience is that Milgrams research shows the importance of disobedient role models. In the variation where a confederate teacher refuses to give shocks to the learner, obedience rates in actual participants drop.
Zimbardo suggested how obedience could be used to bring out social change through the process of gradual commitment. Once a small instruction is obeyed, it becomes much harder to resist bigger instructions. People will then often ‘drift’ into a new behaviour.

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ATTACHMENT

Animal studies of attachment

What was Lorenz’s animal study of attachment?

Lornez had conducted a study on attachment with goose. He had a batch of goose eggs and had separated them into two groups. One group of eggs would have been naturally hatched by the mother, and the second group of eggs would have been hatched by an incubator by Lorenz. Lorenz had discovered that the goslings that were hatched by the mother would follow the mother, where as the goslings that were hatched by the incubator, followed Lorenz. Lorenz then explained that the goslings were imprinted onto Lorenz and this imprinting process would happen in the critical period in the first few seconds after the goslings had hatched from the egg. Lorenz had then added that goslings that were imprinted onto humans would then, as adults, attempt to mate with humans. However, Lorenz’s study can be criticised by Guiton’s study who had concluded that chickens that were imprinted onto rubber gloves would try to mate with the object, just as Lorenz had expected, however with experience, the chickens would revert back to attempting to mate with other chickens. This shows that the effect of imprinting on mating behaviour may not have been as permanent as Lorenz had thought. Lorenz’s study can again be criticised as there is anthropomorphic bias in the study as the study attemots to apply human attributes to animals and believing that what can be learned from animals can be applied to humans and this is a criticism because of the differences between the species of the animals and humans and that humans have different complexities comapred to goslings and so it is very difficult to generalise what is learnt from animals to humans.

What was Harlow’s animal study of attachment?

Harlow had conducted a study with rhesus monkeys. Harlow had separated the monkeys from their mother and raised them in cages. In the cages were constructed surrogate mothers where one was a wire mother that produced milk, and the other was a soft, cloth mother that did not produce milk. There was also a blanket in each of the cages with the monkeys. When the blanket was removed from their cages, the monkeys had shown signs of distress. The amount of time spent with each mother was recorded. The monkeys had shown signs of attachment towards the cloth mother that did not produce milk compared to the wire mother that did produce milk and the monkeys would only go to the wire mother when they needed food. This shows that monkeys form attachments based on the comfort provided over the provision of food. When Harlow attempted to frighten it, the monkeys would return back to the cloth mother for comfort. This again shows that monkeys form attachments based on the provision of comfort over the provision of food. However, Harlow’s study can be criticised as there are many ethical issues on the study. The monkeys had suffered greatly from the study, and because the specied was deemed to be similar enough to humans to the point where the results could be generalised to humans, the suffering of the monkeys would likely have been human like. Harlow was also aware of the suffering caused, however, it can be argued that Harlow’s research was sufficiently important enough to justify the effects it caused on the monkeys.

Ainsworth’s Strange Situation

What was Ainsworths Strange Situation?

The strange situation was a controlled observation developed by Mary Ainsworth in 1969

What was the procedure of the Strange Situation?

A mother and her infant enter the room and settle, and then a stranger walks in and sits quietly in the room.
After some time, the stranger (a confederate) starts talking with the mother and starts playing with the infant.
After some time, the mother will leave the room
Once the mother is gone, the stranger stays in the room and tries to interact with the child.
After some time, the mother returns to the room and the stranger leaves
After further time passes, the mother leaves the room again and the child is left alone
After some time passes with the child being a lone, the stranger returns, offers comfort to the child if necessary, and then tries to play with the child.
The mother then returns to the room and the stranher leaves, the mother and infant will remain in the room for a few more minutes before leaving.

What are the three types of attachment in the Strange Situation?

The first type of attachment in the strange situation is the ’Secure Attachment’ - If a child is securely attached then the child feels confident that the attachment figure (the mother) will be available to meet their needs. A securely attached child will use the attachment figure as a safe base to explore the environment and seek the attachment figure in times of distress. Securely attached infants are easily soothed by the attachment figure when upset. Infants develop a secure attachment when the care giver is sensitive to their signals, and responds appropriately to their needs. 70% of the infants in Ainsworth’s Strange Situation were securely attached.
The second type of attachment in Ainsworths Strange Situation is ’Insecure Avoidant attachment’. - Insecure avoidant children do not orientate around their attachment figure while investigating a new environment. Insecure avoidant children are very independent of the attachment figure both physically and emotionally. Insecure avoidant children do not seek contact with the attachment figure when distressed. Children that have an insecure avoidant attachment are likely to have a caregiver that is insensitive to their needs.
The third and final type of attachment in Ainsworh’s Strange Situation is ‘Insecure Resistant attachment’ - Children that are insecure resistant will adopt an indecisive style towards the attachment figure. The child will commonly show clingy and dependant behaviour, but will then be rejecting of the attachment figure when they engage in interaction. Children that have an insecure resistant attachment style will fail to develop any feelings of security from the attachment figure. When an insecure resistant child is distressed, they are difficult to soothe and are not comforted by interaction with the attachment figure.

What were the findings of Ainsworth’s Stranhge Situation?

The findings of the Strange Situation is that for securely attached children, they regularly returned to the mother (who is the attachment figure), securely attached children also explored freely and had stranger anxiety and avoided strangers but where friendly to strangers when the mother was present. Securely attached children also had separation anxiety and were distressed when their mother left and were happy upon the mothers return. 70% of the children in the Strange Situation were securely attached.
For insecure avoidant children, they did not seek proximity with their mothers, insecure resistant children explored freely but did not have the mother as the base, insecure avoidant children had shown little or no signs of stranger anxiety and played normally when the stranger was present. Insecure avoidant children would also show no signs of separation anxiety and they are not stressed when the mother leaves, and when the mother returns the infant shows little or no interest. 15% of the children in Ainsworrth Strange Situation were insecure avoidant attachment.
For insecure resistant children, they will seek greater proximity to their mothers, instead of exploring the room more, the infant had spent more time crying. For insecure resistant children, they had shown signs of stranger anxiety and fear of strangers and insecure resistant children would also show signs of separatiion anxiety anf upon the mothers return the insecure resistant child will approach the mother but then will resist contact and may even push the mother away.

What are some advantages and disadvantages of the ‘Strange Situation’?

One disadvantage of the Strange Situation is that the test is culturally bound. The strange situation that does not take into consideration cultural differences in childhood. There is research to show that caregivers from different cultures will behave differently in the Strange Situation.
Another disadvantage of the Strange Situation is that the situations in the Strange Situation are quite anxiety enducing events for the child and measuring a childs repsonse to these situations is actually difficult.
A third and final disadvantage is there is at least one more type of attachment. Solomon (1996) pointed out that a minority of the children displayed typicals were

Bowlby’s Maternal Deprivation hypothesis

What is the difference between Separation and Deprivation? * Spearation is when a child is not in the presence of the attachment figure. Brief separations, particularly, where the child is with a substitute caregiver, do not have any significant affects on development. Deprivation however, is when separations have become an issue as they are now more long term which can be more damaging for a childs development both intellectualy and in the relationships that they may form in the future.

What are the Effects of Maternal Deprivation on Intellectual Development? * Bowlby had stated that the effects of deprivation during the childs critical period on intellectual development would be that the child would suffer delayed intellectual development. For example, Goldfarb (1947) had found lower IQ’s in children who remained in institutions compared to those who were fostered. * William Goldfarb (1955) then followed up 30 orphaned children up to age 12. Of the original sample, half had been fostered by 4 months of age, whilst the rest remained in the orphanage. When all children had reached age 12, they had taken an IQ test. The results from the IQ test had shown that those that were fostered at age 4 months scored an average of 96 on the IQ test, whereas those that had stayed in the orphanage until age 12 had scored an average of 68 on the IQ test. This can be explained with Bowlby’s Maternal Deprivation theory as the children that had been fostered at 4 months of age were more likely to form an attachment with a mother figure and therefore have an attachment with this figure who would care for them, which gave them knowledge about how relationships work. However, for the 15 that did not get fostered and had stayed in the orphanage until age 12, they would have never gotten the opportunity to form an attachment to a mother figure, and as a result, they do not have any knowledge about how relationships work and as they have not had this attachment for long periods of time, their intellectuaal development is lacking as a result. The 15 that were fostered were likely to have formed an attachment with the mother during the critical period (which is from birth - 30months old) and, as a result, would have developed in a psychologically healthy way, whereas those that stayed in the orphanage until age 12, did not form an attachment during the 30 month critical period, and as a result, had lacked healthy intellectual development.

What are the Effects of Maternal Deprivation on Emotional Development? * Bowlby had suggested that the effects of deprivation on emotional development was something called ‘affection less psychopathy’ which is the inability to feel guilt or strong emotion towards others. Emotionless psyhopathy can then hinder a person from forming relationships. This idea was supported in Bowlby’s 44 thieves study.

What was the Procedure of Bowlby’s 44 Thieves Study? * The procedure of Bowlby’s 44 Thieves Study was that 44 teenagers were accused of stealing. All thieves were interviewd for signs of affectionless psychopathy. Their families were also interviewd to see if the teenagers had any prolonged separations from their mothers. A control group of non-criminal but emotionally disturbed you people was also set up.

What were the Results of Bowlby’s 44 Thieves Study? * The results of Bowlby’s 44 Thieves Study were that Bowlby had found that 14 out of the 44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths. Of the 14, 12 of them had prolonged separations from their mother (maternal deprivation) in the first 2 years of their lives (which is during the critical period.) In contrast, only 5 of the remaining thieves had experienced prolonged separations from their mother. This shows that prolonged early separations and maternal deprivation causes affectionless psychopathy.

What are some criticisms of Bowlby’s 44 Thieves Study? * One critcism of Bowlby’s 44 Thieves study is that because Bowlby used sources of evidence during WW2, orphans during the war were often traumatozed and had poor after care, and so this may have caused developmental issues later in life rather than just separation from a mother figure. * Another criticism of the Bowlby’s 44 Thieves study is that the children had grown up in poor quality orphanages and were deprived of many aspects of care, not just maternal care. This therefore means that it could be argued that the poor quality orphanges and the amount of deprivation in those orphanages was what caused the developmental issues in later life, rather than maternal deprivation as the sole cause of the developmental issues that the children had shown later in life.

What was an Extra Evaluation Point for Bowlby’s Maternal Deprivation Thesis? * Another criticism of Bowlby’s maternal deprivation thesis was that Michael Rutter (1981) had claimed that when Bowlby had spoke about deprivation, he was mixing two concpets together. Rutter drew a distinction between ‘deprivation’, which really meant the loss of the primary attachment figure after the attachment had already developed, and ‘privation’, which is the failure to form any primary attachment in the first place. Rutter added that the severe long term damage Bowlby associated with deprivation were actually more likely to be a result of privation.

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Theories of Attachment

Learning theory \n

How is Attachment Learnt through Classical Conditioning? * Attachment is learnt through classical conditioning as food is used as the unconditioned stimulus, and when presented to the baby, it will produce the unconditioned response from the baby, which is the baby being satisfied. The mother is the neutral stimulus and so does not produce a response from the baby. When the mother (the neutral stimulus) and food (the unconditioned stimulus) are paired together, they will produce the unconditioned response, which is the baby being satisfied. The mother (the neutral stimulus) and the food (the unconditioned stimulus) are then paired together on multiple occasions. Now, when the mother is presented to the baby without the food present, the mother will produce the unconditioned response from the baby, which is the baby being satisfied. The mother is now the conditioned stimulus, and the baby being satisfied is the conditioned response.

How is Attachment Learnt Through Operant Conditioning? * Attachment is learnt through opernat conditioning as the baby cries for comfort which then leads to the primary caregiver/attachment figure satisfying the baby and giving the baby what it wants. This is positive reinforcement where something is added or given after an action has been done. Positive reinforcement then makes crying more likely as the child now knows that if they cry then they will receive something they want which strengthens the attachment. When the baby cries, the caregiver may remove something that may be unpleasant to the baby to make the child stop crying. This is known as negative reinforcement where something is taken away or removed after an action has been done. This then makes crying more likely as again the baby knows that the caregiver will be sensitive to its need when it is distressed, and again strengthens the attachment.

What is Dollard and Miller’s Secondary Drive Hypothesis? * Dollard and Miller sued the secondary drive hypothesis to descrobe the process of learning an attachment through operant and classical conditioning (SLT). The secondary drive hypothesis explains how primary drives which are essential for survival, like eating when hungruy, become associated with secondary drives such as comfort and emotional closeness. This is a two way process that the caregiver should also learn, as in negative reinforcemnet the caregiver feels satisfied when the infant is no longer distressed.

What are some Criticisms of the Learning Theory in Attachment?

1. One disadvantage of Learning Theory in Attachment is that it ignores other factors. Classical and operant conditioning in attachment ignore other factors that contribute towards attachment such as interactional synchrony and reciprocity. Studies show that the best quality attachments are with sensitive caregivers who pick up on infant signals quickly and respond appropriately. This is a weakness of classical and operant conditioning. 2. Another disadvantage of Learning Theory in Attachment is that there is counter evidence with animal studies. Harlow’s study with Monkeys had shiwn that even if there is provision of food, a child is still likely to form an attachment where comfort is provided. The child may only go to the food source because they need food, and then when satisfied, the child will return to the comfort giver.

Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory of Attachment

What did Bowlby mean by Social Releasers? * Bowlby suggested that babies are born woth innate ‘cute’ behaviours, such as smiling ansd gripping, which entices adults to engage in nurturing behaviours towards the infat. These ‘cute’ innate behaviours are what Bowlby called ’social releasers, and their purpose is to activate adult attachment systems to make the adult engage in nurtuting behaviour towards the infant.

What did Bowlby mean by the Critical Period? * Bowlby had stated that the ‘critical period had started at birth and lasted until age two years old where the attachment system is active. Bowlby had stated that if an attachment is not formed within this two year period, then it will be very hard for a child to form an attachment later in life.

What did Bowlby mean by the Internal Working Model? * What Bowlby meant by the Internal Working Model was that Bowlby suggested that children form a mental representation of their relationship with their primary caregiver. This mental framework will then serve as a model for what relationships are like. It is suggested that the Internal Working Model will impact on friendships as well as the childs ability to parent their own children, as they will base their parenting behaviours on their own experience.

What is Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory? * Monotropy is the idea that a child forms an attachment one main caregiver, which is usually their mother. * Bowlby believes that the more time that an infant spends with the primary attachment figure, the better.

What does the Law of Continuity state? * The Law of Continuity states that the more consistent and predictable a childs care is, the better the quality of attachment.

What does the Law of Accumulated Separations state? * The law of Accumulated Separations states that the effects of every separation from the mother will add up, which will have a negative effect on the quality of the childs attachment. And so the best dose is a zero dose.

What are some Evaluatuve Points of Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory? * One disadvantage of Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory of Attachment is that Schaffer and Emerson had found evidence that although infants formed one attachment initially, some of the infants that Schaffer and Emerson studied had formed multiple attachments at the same time. This therefore questions monotropy. * An advantage of Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory of Attachment is that Suess had found that children with a more secure attachment to a mother are more likely to perform better in all kinds of tasks and assessments. This is a strength for the Monotropic Theory of Attachment.

Memory

Multi-Store Model of Memory

What is Encoding? * Encoding is mentally processing information so it can be entered into memory.

What is Storage? * Storage is holding information for a period of time. \n
What is Retrieval? * Retrieval is accessing or recalling stored memories when needed.

What is the Multi-Store Model of Memory? * The Multi-Store Model of Memory first starts of with Sensory Memory. Sensory Memory is when a stimulus from the environment around us, such as the sound of a persons name, will pass into the sensory memory along with other stimuli such as tastes, feelings and sights. Sensory Memory is not one store, but several, there is one store for each of the five senses. The two main stores are called the ‘iconic memory’ (which is visual information that is coded visually) and ‘echoic memory’ (which is auditory information that is coded acoustically). Material in the Sensory Memory only have a duration of upto half a second. Sensory Memory has a very high capacity however, with 100 million cells in each eye, all storing data. Very little of what passes into sensory memory passes further into memory unless attention is paid to it. Information in the Sensory Memory is lost through decay. * Short Term Memory has a limited capacity store because it can only contain 5-9 pieces of information before forgetting takes place. Information in the Short Term Memory is coded acoustically and the duration of the Short Term Memory last for 18 to 30 seconds unless the information is rehearsed. Maintenance rehearsal occurs when we repeat to ourselves over and over again and we keep information in the Short Term Memory as long as it is rehearsed. Information in the Short Term Memory is lost through decay or displacement. * Long Term Memory is the potentially permanent store. For information that has been rehearsed for a prolonged period of time, the rehearsal passes the information from the Short Term Memory store to the Long Term Memory. Psychologists believe that the capacity of the Long Term Memory is unlimited and the duration of the Long Term Memory can last a lifetime. The coding of the Long Term Memory is mainly semantic (the information in the Long Term Memory is coded by meaning). An example of the LTM’s duration is Bahricks study in 1975 who had found that many of their participants were able to recognise the names and faces of their school classmates almost 50 years after graduating. We also see that the long term memory is coded semantically, which means in terms of meaning. Although the information in the Long Term Memory is stored in the Long Term Memory, to recall that information, it must be transferred back to the Short Term Memory by a process called retrieval. No memories can be directly recalled from the Long Term Memory. Information that is stored in the Long Term Memory is lost (forgotten) through decay, interference or retrieval failure.

What are some Evaluative points of the Multi-Store Model of Memory? * An advantage of the Multi-Store Model of memory is that there is research to support it. The peice of research is HM that was done by Milner in 1965. During this time, memory was thought to be monolithic and being stored throughout the brain. HM had his hippocampus removed, which was vital in forming long term memories. However, after some research, it was found that although HM had lost his ability to form long term memories, he could still retain information long enough to recall things like numbers and recalling them when he had repeated them to himself over and over again, which is maintenance rehearsal. This therefore proves that there is a distinction between long term and short term memory, and is also evidence that maintenance rehearsal helps memory to be stored.

\ * A disadvantage of the Multi-Store model of Memory is that it is too simplistic in the sense that there is mroe than one type of rehearsal. According to the Multi-Store Model, what matters in rehearsal is the amount that you do. So the more rehearsal you do, the higher the chance that this information will be stored in the Long Term Memory. However, Watkins had discovered that there is another type of rehearsal which is called Elaborative rehearsal. Elaborative Reheasal is when you pair a pair a piece of information to your existing knowledge or think about what it means. This is a limitation of the Multi-Store Model of Memory becasue the Multi-Store Model of Memory cannot explain it.

\ * Another disadvantage of the Multi-Store Model of Memory is that it uses artifical stimuli. In normal life, we form memories related to useful things such as peoples names and faces. But research that backs up the Multi-Store Model of memory do not use this type of material. Instead, they use digits, letters and words. This is a disadvantage because these things are arbitrary and do not reflect what people form memories of in real life, and so is not a accurate represenatation of memory.

Theories of Forgetting

Interference - Theory 1

What is Interference? * Interference is when forgetting occurs due to one memory blocking another, causing both memories to be distorted or forgotten.

What is Proactive Interference? * Proactive interference is the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information. * An example of Proactivr Interference is when a password is changed to a new password, and then when going to type the new password, but only remembering the old password, which interferes with yiur ability to recall the new password.

What is Retroactive Interference? * Retroactive inteference is the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old learning. * An example of Retroactive Interference is when an individual has known to speak French for Years, and then takes a course to learn Spanish, the spanish then interferes with the French.

What Piece of Research backs up Retroactive Interference? * McGeoch and McDonald studied retroactive interference by giving participants a list of 10 words that they had to remember with 100% accuracy. They were then given a new list to learn. There were 6 different groups of participants who had to learn different types of lists: * \ 1. Group 1 - Synonyms * \ 2. Group 2 - antonyms * \ 3. Group 3 - Unrelated words * \ 4. Group 4 - Consonant syllables * \ 5. Group 5 - three digit numbers * \ 6. Group 6 - No new list, they just rested. * The results from McGeoch and McDonalds showed a higher mean recall from the first list if the participants just rested, compared to if the participants were given a second list, especially a list of syonyms. This backs up the Retroactive Interference theory as it shows that new learning can interfere with our ability to recall older learning.

What are some Strengths and Weaknesses of the Interference Theory of Forgetting? * A strength of the Interference Theory of Forgetting is that there are many other lab experiments that have been carried out into the interference theory of forgetting. Most of these studies show that the interference theory is a likely way of how we forget information. This is an advantage because lab experiments control the effects of irrelevant influences and also increases the reliability of the theory. * A weakness of the Interference Theory of Forgetting is that the research used to back up the interference theory of forgetting use artificial tasks. This is a disadvantage because the use of artificial tasks makes interference more likely in lab condition and not in real life.

Retrieval Failure due to the Absence of Cues - Theory 2

What is Retrieval Failure due to the Absence of Cues? * Retrieval Failure due to the Absence of Cues is when forgetting occurs due to the absence of the cues that are necessary to recall a memory. The memory is there but you can’t get it. * The reason people forget information is because of insuffiecent cues. When information is placed in memory, there are also associated cues that are stored at the same time. If these cues are not available at the time of recall, then it may appear as if the memory was forgotten, but in fact, it is due to retrieval failure which is not being able to access the memories that are there.

What is the Encoding Specificity Principle? * Tulving (1983) had reviewed research into retrieval failure and discovered a consistent pattern to the findings. The encoding Specificty Principle states that if a cue is to help us recall information, then it has to be present at both encoding and recall. The Encoding Specificity Principle then states that if the cues that were available at encoding are different to the ones at recall, there will be some forgetting.

What is Context Dependent Forgetting? * Context Dependent Forgetting was discovered by Godden (1975). Godden carried out a study on divers working underwater. In the study, the divers learned a lsit of words either underwater or on land, and then had to recall the list of words either under water or on land. This then creates 4 conditions. * Learn on land - recall on land * Learn on land - Recall under water * Learn underwater - recall on land * Learn under water - recall under water * The results of Godden’s study were that there was less forgetting when learning and recall happened in the same conditions e.g. learn on land, recall on land. * This is therefore evidence of retrieval failure due to the absence of cues because when recalling and learning in the same conditions, there will be the same cues present, therefore allowing for less forgetting when teh same cues are present.

What are some Evaluative Points of Retrieval Failure due to the Absence of Cues? * One advantage of Retrieval Failure due to the Absence of Cues is that Michael argues that retrieval failure due to the absence of cues is likely to be the main reason for forgetting from the Long Term Memory. This is an advantage because it increase the validity of the explanation * A disadvantage of Retrieval Failure due to the Absence of Cues is that Baddeley argues that contexts have to be very different from one another for their to be visible effects on recall ability. Therefore, when applying this to real life, the only other environemtn that is different to land is underwater. This means that in real life application, learning something in one room and recalling it in another will likely not have a visible affect on recall as the environments are likely to not be that different. This is a disadvantage because it means that the real life applications of retrieval failure due to context dont actually explain much about forgetting.

Accuracy of Eyewitness Testimony

What are the two types of Misleading Information that can affect the accuracy of Eyewitness Testimonies?

Leading questions
Post event discussion

What was Loftus and Palmers’ study into Leading Questions? * Loftus and Plsmer (1974) had arranged for student (who were participant ) to watch film clips of a car accident and then gave them questions about the accident. In the critical question (which was a leading question), participants were asked how fast the car was going. “About how fast were the cars going when they hit eachother?” This question was a leading question because the verb ‘hit’ suggests the speed that the cars were going. There were five groups of participants, and each group was given a different verb in the critical question. One group had ‘hit’, others had ‘contacted’, ‘bumped’, ‘collided’, ’smashed’.

What were the Results from Loftus and Palmer’s study into Leading Questions? * The results from Loftus and Palmers study in leading questions were that the mean estimate speed was calculated for each participant group. The verb ‘contacted’ had the lowest mean estimate speed of 32mph, where as the verb ’smashed’, had the highest mean estimate speed of 41mph. The leading question biased the eyewitnesses recall of the event.

What are the two Explanations for why Leading Questions affect the accuracy of Eyewitness Testimonies? * The first explanation for why leading questions affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimonies is the response bias. The ‘response bias’ argues that the wording of the question has no real effect on the participants memory of the event, but instead just influences how the participant chooses to answer. * The second explanation of why leading questions affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimonies is the ’substitution explanation’. The substitution explanation suggests that the wording of the leading question actually does change the particpants memory of the event. This was shown as the participants who originally heard ’smashed’ were more likely to report seeing broken glass when there wasn’t any.

What are some Evaluative Points of the theory that Leading Questions affecting the Accuracy of Eyewitness Testimonies? * One disadvantage of Loftus and Palmers’ study into leading questions affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimonies is that they used artificial tasks. In the study, the participants were asked to watch a clip of the accident. This is very different from witnessing a real accident, mainly because such clips lack the stress of a real accident as there is research that shows that emotions can affect memory. This is a disadvantage because it does not reflect how leading questions affect eyewitness testimonies in real life incidents. * One advantage of the theory that leading questions affects the accuracy of eyewitness testimonies is that it has practical uses in the real world, where the consequences of innacurate eyewitness testimonies are serious. This is an advantage as it shows that leading questions can actually have an affect on eyewitness testimonies in the real world and not just in lab studies.

What was Gobberts research into Post-Event Discussion? * Gobbert (2003) had participants watch a short firm where a girl went to borrow a book. However, there were two clips of the event (which is similar to two eyewitnesses watching the same event from different perspectives) and so twoclips showed different pieces of evidence from the event. After watching the clip, the partiicpants then completed a questionnaire about the clips they had watched. One group of participants had watched both clips of the event and when completing the questionnaire, they were not allowed to talk about the clips that they had just seen. The second group of participants had also watched both clips of the event, and when completing the questionnaire, they were able to engage in post-event discussion about the clip before completing the questionnaire.

What were the Results of Gobberts research into Post-Event Discussion? * The results of Gobberts research into Post-Event discussion is that 71% of the participants who discussed the event that they had seen in the clip had went on to mistakenly recall evidence in the clip compared to 0% of the control group that did not discuss what they had seen. * Gobberts research shows that Post-Event discussion affects the recall ability and what an individual will recall about an event.

What are the Two Explanations for why Post-Event Discussion affects the accuracy of Eyewitness testimonies? * The first explanation for why Post-Event Discussion affects the accuracy of eyewitness testimonies is the ‘Memory Conformity’ explanation.The Memory Conformity Explanation is when the individual has spoekn about the event to someone else who had also witnessed the event and then goes a long with what the other person said happened. This is because the individual may think that they are wrong and that the other person is right. However, the individual has no change to their memory. * The second explanation for why Post-Event Discussion affects the accuracy of eyewitness testimonies is the ‘Memory Contamination’ Explanation. The Memory Contamination Explanation is when the individuals who have witnessed an event enagage in post event discussion which then forms what the individual will recall if or when they are asked to recall what they witnessed at the event. In the memory contamination explanation, there has been a change to the individuals memory.

What are some Evaluative Points on the theory that Post Event discussion affects the accuracy of eyewitness testimony? * One disadvantage of Gobberts research into post event discussion is that it uses artificial tasks. Watching a clip of an event is in no way comparable to witnessing an event such as a serious crash or crime in real life. This is a disadvantage because it does not truly represent how Post Event discussion can affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimonies in real life.

What are the Two Factors that affect Eyewitness Testimonies?

Misleading information

1. leading questions 2. Post Event discussion

Anxiety

What was Johnson and Scott’s research into Anxiety affecting Memory in eyewitnesses? * Johnson and Scott had set up an experiemnt where the partipants were separated into tow conditions. There was the high anxiety condition and the low anxiety condition. In the low anxiety condition, the participants heard a conversation happening in a different room which ended with a man walking out of the room with a greasy pen. In the high anxiety condition, the participants head an argument that was heated with lots of shouting and once the argument was finished, a man had left the room with a bloodstained knife.

What were the reults of Johnson and Scotts research? * The results of Johnson and Scotts research was the idea that the participants were later asked to identify the man from a set of 50 photographs. 49% of the low anixety group could identify him where as only 33% could identify the man holding the bloodstaineed knife. Anxiety had reduced the accuracy of eyewitnesses.

What is the explanation for why Anxiety reduced the Accuracy of Eyewitnesses? * The explanation for why anxiety reduced the accuracy of eyewitness testimony is ‘weapon focus’. The Weapon Focus explanation suggests that the participants were less able to recall the man with the bloodstained knife because they had their attention fixed onto the knife and so were distracted from the appearance of the individual holding the weapon.

What are some Evaluative points of Johnson and Scotts research into anxiety affecting the memory of eyewitnesses? * A disadvantage of Johnson and Scotts research is that it may have been testing for surprise rather than anxiety. Kerri Pickel conducted an experiment using scissors, a handgun, a wallet and a raw chicken as hand held items in different conditions of the experiment. The scissors were the low anxiety and low surprise condition, the gun was the high anxiety and high surprise condition, where as the raw chicken was low anxiety and high surprise. Eyewitness accuracy was significantly poorer in the low anxiety but high surprise condition. This is a limitation because it suggests that the weapon focus effect is due to surprise rather than anxiety or threat.

What was Yuille and Cutshall’a research on anxiety affecting memory in eyewitnesses? * Yuille and Cutshall’s research was that a thief had entered a gun shop, tied up the owner, stole money and guns and left, the owner frees himself and goes outside, the owner is then shot by the thief, the owner fires six shots back and kills the thief. * There were 21 witnesses that were interviewed by the police. 20 of those witnesses were contacted four to five months after the event. 13 of the 20 contacted agreed to take part. The 13 eyewitnesses that agreed to take part were aged between 15 and 32. Three of the participants were female. The participants were split into two groups. The first half of the group were asked a leading question, the second half of the group were asked a non-leading question. The participants were then asked to rate their stress that they had felt when they witnessed the shooting on a seven point scale.

What were the results of Yuille and Cutshalls research on anxiety affecting memory in eyewitnesses? * The results of Yuille and Cutshalls research on anxiety affecting the accuracy of eyewitnesses was that those who reported the highest amount of stress were actually the most accurate when they were interviewed with 88% accuracy compared to the group that reported the lowest levels of anxiety at 75%.

What is the explanation for anxiety increasing the accuracy of eyewitnesses memories in Yuille and Cutshalls research? * The explanation for why anxiety increases the accuracy of eyewitnesses memories is that the anxiety triggers the fight or flight response which increases the individuals memory of the event.

How can the two contradictory pieces of information of the effects of anxiety on the accuracy of eyewitnesses be explained? * The two contradictory explanations of the effects that anxiety can have on the accuracy of eyewitnesses memories can be explained by Yerkes and Dodson’s Law. * Yerkes and Dodson’s law suggests that memory performance in relation to anxiety follows an inverted U shape pattern, some anxiety is good, but too much will negatively impact memory. The optimal point of the curve is where the individual will have the most accurate recall, where as on either side, accuracy of recall will decrease as their is too much or too little anxiety.

What are some Advantages and Disadvantages on anxiety having an effect on the accuracy of eyewitnesses? * One disadvantage of anxiety having an effect on the accuracy of eyewitnesses is that there are ethical issues. Creating anxiety in participants can be very risky. It is potentially unethical because it may subject them to psychological harm - this is why real-life studies are so beneficial as psychologists interview participants who have already witnessed an event. * Another disadvantage of the theory that anxiety has an affect on the accuracy of eyewitnesses is that the researcher usually interview eyewitnesses at some point after the event. Anything could have happened to the participants during that time that the researcher has no control over such as PED. This is a limitation as it is possible that these extraneous variables may be responsible for any changes in the accuracy of recall, not anxiety.