AS Lessons 11 - 15 Flashcards
Psychology and the Economy
Social Change
By correcting misperceptions in adverts…
People are made aware of the actual social norm and they moderate their behaviour to fit in with what the majority are doing
Example: by correcting campaigns about smoking, or about drink driving
This would bring about changes that will have a positive impact on the economy (it would alleviate the burden on the emergency and health services)
Psychology and the Economy
Improving memory
The cognitive interview has improved the amount of accurate information collected from eyewitnesses, reducing the wasted police time and the possibility and costs of wrongful arrests
Psychology and the Economy
Attachment
More modern research has questioned Bowlby’s monotropic theory - now it is normal for both parents to provide the emotional support necessary for healthy psychological development, and to have flexible working arrangements
Modern parents are better equipped to maximise their income and contribute more effectively to the economy
Psychology and the Economy
Mental Health
The McCrone Report estimated that the direct cost of mental health issues on the economy in England is £22.5 billion a year.
Absences from work costs the economy £15 billion a year
Evidence based research on effective drug therapies has been essential in reducing the cost of mental illness on the economy
Research may lead to improvements into psychological health/treatments which will mean that people manage their health better and take less time off work
‘Cutting-edge’ scientific research findings into treatments carried out in the UK may encourage investment from overseas companies, boosting the economy
Providing effective treatments may be a financial burden on the NHS service, which is already under huge financial strain.
New therapies that may be discovered might be more effective but could be more expensive
3 Types of Data
Nominal (Discrete) Data
Ordinal Data (Continuous Data)
Interval Data (Continuous Data)
Nominal (Discrete Data)
Data are in separate categories (e.g. people are separated according to their favourite TV show, or eye colour)
A person can only be placed in one category
Ordinal Data (Continuous Data)
Data is ordered in some way, or placed in rank order
Example: ranking music genres in order of liking, who scored the highest to the lowest in an IQ test
Interval Data (Continuous Data)
Data is measured using units of equal intervals (e.g. miles or cm). Many psychological studies use their own interval scales (measure something on a scale of 1-10), where the intervals are arbitrarily determined and we cannot know if the intervals are equal.
Quantitative Data
Data that represents how much, how long or how many.
Measured in numbers of quantities
Includes closed questions, and tallies
Evaluation of Quantitative Data
+ Easier to analyse, so comparisons, trends and patterns can be easily drawn
+ Data is more objective and less open to bias that qualitative data
- Lacks validity and means we might not be measuring the key variables identified in the aim
- Lacks meaning and just consists of yes/no answers. It does not explain the ‘why’
- May oversimplify matters
Qualitative Data
Data that cannot be counted or quantified, it is lengthy and in detail
Interviews, observations and open ended questions all generate qualitative data
Is normally collected on the basis of how people think or feel
Includes open questions, and researchers describing what they see
Evaluation of Qualitative Data
+ Can gain lots of very detailed data that will help you to appreciate the complexity of human behaviour
+ Data is high in validity and usually measures the ideas stated in the aim (and whether the IV is affecting the DV)
- Data is usually unreliable, so if the study was repeated, it would be unlikely to find the same results
- You may be subjective when you analyse the detail and it may be difficult to generalise and make conclusions
Primary Data
Information observed or collected directly from first-hand experience.
It is data collected by the researcher for the study currently being undertaken
Provided the exact type of data the researcher wants, but takes a long time and effort to collect
Secondary Data
Information that was collected for another purpose (possibly by another psychologist for a different study). There is no need to conduct more research
There may be substantial variation in the quality and accuracy of secondary data and it may be hard for researchers to know how reliable secondary data is
Meta-Analysis
The process of combining results from a number of studies in a particular topic to provide an overall view, which allows the data to be viewed with a lot more confidence. Results can be generalised across much larger populations.
Meta-analysis may be prone to publication bias - the researcher may choose to leave out studies with negative or non-significant results
Example: the Strange Situation has been conducted many times and some researchers have taken data from all the studies, put it together and analysed it.
