2018 paper 1 Flashcards
Outline what is meant by ‘agentic state’ as an explanation for obedience.
[2 marks]
- when a person acts on behalf of an authority figure of higher status and feels no personal. responsibility
- Whereas the opposite of an autonomous state in which people act according to their own principles
Jenny is a psychology teacher who works with six other teachers in the department.
Jenny believes strongly that homework should not be graded as it distracts students from
reading verbal feedback on their work. She would like her colleagues to stop grading
work. The other members of the department do not agree but have told Jenny they are
willing to have a meeting about it.
Using your knowledge of minority influence, explain how Jenny might be able to persuade
the rest of the department to accept her view.
[6 marks]
Jenny should demonstrate consistency by not deviating from her view that not grading work is a good idea despite social pressure – she could point out that this is a view that she has held throughout her teaching career
Jenny should demonstrate commitment by placing herself at some risk/inconvenience – she may volunteer to field criticisms from students, parents, other departments, etc. This will draw more attention to her ‘cause’ (augmentation principle)
Jenny should demonstrate flexibility by adapting her view/accepting other valid
counterarguments. Perhaps some pieces of work could be ungraded but not all – for instance, grading mock exams but not homework
over time, the rest of the department may become ‘converted’ (snowball effect) – for example, if Jenny’s students start to perform particularly well
Psychologists investigating social influence have discovered several reasons why people
conform.
Discuss what psychological research has told us about why people conform.
[16 marks]
There are 2 key explanations about why people conform
- Normative social influence (NSI) is when a person conforms to be accepted and to feel like they belong to a group. Here a person conforms because it is socially rewarding, or to avoid social rejection; for example, feeling like they don’t ‘fit in’.
- Informational Social Influence (ISI) is when a person conforms to gain knowledge, or because they believe that someone else is ‘right’. Informational social influence is usually associated with internalisation, where a person changes both their public behaviour and their private beliefs, on a long-term basis.
- Asch’s (1956) study into conformity provides research support for normative social influence. He found that many of the participants went along with the majority and provided an obviously incorrect answer on a line judgement task. When questioned by Asch in post-experimental interviews, participants said that they changed their answer to avoid disapproval from the rest of the group which clearly shows that NSI had occurred, as the participants conformed to fit in.
- Furthermore, Asch demonstrated that when the pressure to publicly conform is removed, by asking participants to write down their answers on a piece of paper rather than say them aloud, the conformity rates fell to 12.5%. This provides further evidence for NSI because the reduction in public pressure reduced the rate of conformity.
- While the Asch study provides support for the notion of NSI, more recent research has yielded different results. For example, Perrin and Spencer (1980) conducted an Asch-style experiment and found a conformity level of 0.25%. Therefore, it could be argued that the results of Asch are the results of a different era and do not represent conformity and the idea of NSI in 2017.
- However, it must be noted that Perrin and Spencer used a very different sample to Asch, consisting of engineering and mathematic students. Therefore, it can be that the lower levels of conformity were also influenced by the participant’s expertise in problem-solving tasks.
In Condition A, 20 students performed the following two tasks at the same time:
* mentally counting backwards from 100
* tracking coloured shapes on a computer screen.
In Condition B, 20 different students performed the following two tasks at the same time:
* mentally counting backwards from 100
* reading a poem out loud.
The researcher predicted that the performance of students in Condition A would be better than the performance of students in Condition B.
Name the two components of working memory that would be involved in the performance
of the tasks in Condition A.
[2 marks]
Mentally counting backwards from 100
- Phonological loop
tracking coloured shapes on a computer screen - Visuo -spatial sketchpad
Briefly explain two ways in which the working memory experiment described above could
be improved.
[4 marks]
One way in which this memory experiment could have been improved is by using a more diverse sample. The current sample consists of students and therefore lacks population validity, as it may not apply to a wider non-student population. Therefore, the researcher could have recruited participants from other locations (e.g. places of work) to include a greater range of ages/occupations, to help improve the generalisability of the results.
A second way in which this memory experiment could have been improved is by using a repeated measures design, rather than an independent measures design. The individual differences of the participants in conditions 1 and 2 may bias the results, as some of the participants might have naturally better working memories. By using a repeated measures design (where all of the participants take part in condition 1 and 2), the researcher could eliminate individual differences, thereby increasing the internal validity of the experiment.
Discuss one strength of the working memory model.
[4 marks]
One strength of the working memory model is that it is supported by research from case studies, for example, the case study of Patient KF who was injured in a motorcycle accident. Following his accident, KF was able to recall stored information from his long-term memory; however, he had issues with his short-term memory. He was able to remember visual images, including faces, but was unable to remember sounds (acoustic information).
This suggests that there are at least two components within short-term memory, one component for visual information and one for acoustic information. The research into KF supports the working memory model and the idea of two slave systems, the phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad, therefore providing support to the working memory model and the idea of a multi-component short-term memory system.
Describe the cognitive interview.
[6 marks]
Context reinstatement is when a person mentally recalls he context of the event. For example, a person might recall the time of day, the weather, who they were with, or even their feelings. These details can then act as a trigger, to help the person recall more information.
Report everything is when a person recalls every detail they can remember, even those that may seem trivial. The idea is that these small details might act as a trigger to help the person recall more important information
changed perspective - person considers the event from someone else’s point of view. For example, they might consider what the other witnesses saw,
Reverse order is where person recalls the events in reverse chronological order. Reduces the possibility that recall may be influenced by schema or expectations
Features of advanced cognitive interview
The interviewer not distracting the witness with unnecessary interruptions/questions.
-The witness controlling the flow of questions.
-Asking open-ended questions
-Getting the witness to speak slowly
-Participants being reminded not to guess and to use the ‘don’t know’ option when necessary, in order to reduce confabulations (false memories)
-Reducing anxiety in witnesses
Aaron was upset as he left the Spanish exam. In the unfamiliar room and full of nerves,
his mind had gone completely blank. He was regretting studying both French and Spanish
because he was sure he had mixed up lots of the words.
0 8 Outline one explanation of forgetting. How might this explanation account for Aaron’s poor
performance in the Spanish exam?
[4 marks
One explanation of forgetting is retrieval failure due to the absence of cues, which can include physical cues (e.g. the room) and psychological cues (e.g. a person’s emotional state).
Memory is most effective when information that was present at the time of coding is also present at the time of retrieval. Aaron was sitting his Spanish exam in an unfamiliar room rather than the classroom where he had been taught. This is context-dependent failure will have occurred, as he was unable to use the cues in the room to trigger his memory of the language.
Furthermore, Aaron’s emotional state will have also affected his recall. In the exam, Aaron was ‘full of nerves’ which means that he was in a different emotional state to when the learning took place, and so state-dependent forgetting is likely to have occurred.
Briefly evaluate the explanation of forgetting you have outlined in your answer to
Question 08.
[4 marks]
There is supporting evidence for the effect of state-dependent retrieval failure, which occurs when an individual’s emotional state at the time of learning is different from their emotional state at the time of recall. For example, Goodwin et al. (1969), asked male volunteers to remember lists of words when they were either drunk or sober. The participants were then asked to recall the words 24 hours later, in either a drunk or sober state. The results show that words learned when drunk were better recalled when drunk, and words learnt when sober were better recalled when sober. These results support the idea of state-dependent forgetting and demonstrate the power of ‘state’ on recalling information.
State two effects of institutionalisation.
[2 marks]
mental retardation/low IQ
delayed language development
quasi-autism
disinhibited attachment
disorganised attachment
delayed physical development, eg restricted growth
impaired adult relationships
Outline how Lorenz and Harlow studied attachment using animals.
[6 marks
Lorenz
goose eggs were randomly divided
Half were hatched with the mother present (in a natural environment)
half were hatched in an incubator with Lorenz present
The behaviour of all goslings was recorded
Harlow
In a controlled environment, infant monkeys are reared with two mother surrogates
plain wire mother dispensing food, a cloth-covered mother with no food
time spent with each mother was recorded
details of fear conditions
Long-term effects recorded: sociability, relationship to offspring, etc
Two mothers at the toddler and parent group are chatting. “I always felt sorry for my husband when Millie was a baby. He used to say his bond with Millie was not as strong as mine because I was breastfeeding.” “I’m not sure”, replies the other mother. “I think there’s something about a mother’s love
that makes it more special anyway – and so important for future development.”
Discuss the learning theory of attachment and Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment. Refer to the conversation above in your answer.
[16 marks] - OUTLINE
OUTLINE - Learning theory explains how infants learn to become attached through the processes of classical or operant conditioning. It is sometimes called the ‘cupboard love’ theory because of the focus on food and in this case, breast milk from Millie’s mother.
Classical conditioning is learning by association. Before conditioning, food (breast milk) is an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) which produces an unconditioned response (UCR) of pleasure as a relief from hunger in Millie. The mother is a neutral stimulus (NS), who produces no conditioned response. During conditioning, the child associates the mother (NS) who feeds them with the food (UCS). Through repeated pairing, by regular breastfeeding, the mother becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS) that is associated with the pleasure from feeding. This results in the mother eliciting a conditioned response from the child and the formation of an attachment. The husband did not form this association with the infant, as he didn’t feed Millie.
- Attachment is innate- a biological drive to form an attachment
- Attachment is first formed with mother/mother substitutes - 1 primary attachment figure
- This attachment needs to happen within the critical period from 6 months to 2 years.
- Social releasers from infant encourages this emotional bond when you respond to their signals. - crying, smiling
- Once this attachment is formed then multiple attachments can develop - an attachment must form when the time frame or it will be harder to form it after.
- This Monotropic attachment is a predictor for adult relationships.
Discuss the learning theory of attachment and Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment. Refer to the conversation above in your answer.
[16 marks] - Body
There is counter-evidence for the learning theory of attachment from animal and human research into attachment. Lorenz found that geese imprinted before they were fed; Harlow found that monkeys attached to the soft surrogate; Schaffer and Emerson found that infants formed a primary attachment with mothers, even if they did not feed them. These studies are a problem for the learning theory as they show that feeding is not a key element to attachment; the learning theory cannot explain why attachments formed in these cases with the absence of food. This invalidates the learning theory of attachment and highlights that it may not be a reliable theory. Therefore we cannot confidently rely on its claims and must acknowledge there is an alternative explanation for this.
Bowlby’s theory is support for the internal working model and Social releasers and critical period. Brazelton et al instructed primary caregivers to ignore the babies’ signals and social releasers. Bailey et al assessed and found that mothers with poor attachment to their primary attachment figures were more likely to have poorly attached babies. Brazelton experiment made babies distressed and some eventually curled up and lay motionless. This illustrates the role of social releasers in emotional development and suggests that they are important in the process of attachmnet. Moreover, Bowlby’s idea that mothers ability to form attachments to their babies is influenced by their internal working model which is linked to their own early attachment experiences. This explains why children from functional families tend to have similar families themselves. These studies validate and make Bowlby’s predictions about attachment credible.
- Bowlby’s monotropic theory is controversial and has implications for the choices mothers make when their children are young.
- The law of accumulated separation and the theory of monotropy may worry some working mothers and could affect whether or not they can return to work; it places a burden on mothers and blames them if anything goes wrong in the child’s life.
- Whilst this may not have been Bowlby’s intention, the sensitive nature of his research has had implications on social policy, including the government at the time not funding childcare for working mothers and has reinforced discriminatory social attitudes towards working mothers
There is opposing evidence that challenges Bowlby’s monotropic attachment which claims that babies can only form one attachment to a primary caregiver, only after this has formed could they form multiple attachments. Schaffer and Emerson 1964 found that babies did not attach to one person first, this was developed around 10 months. This contradictory evidence invalidates Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment and makes his theory unreliable. It is difficult to ignore the evidence that babies can form multiple attachments during the critical period. Therefore our understanding of when we form attachments is limited.
Is negative schema score best described as measuring a cognitive, emotional or
behavioural characteristic of depression? Shade one box only
A Cognitive
Draw a suitable graphical display to represent the data in Table 1. Label your graph
appropriately.
[4 marks]
Title - The relationship between self-esteem score and negative schema score
x-axis - self-esteem score
y-axis - negative schema score
Accurately polted points + line of best fit
