Cognitive Approach

Question 1

social cognition

Answer 1

the study of how people process social
information and how this processing might affect how a person behaves towards or around other people.

Question 2

the assumptions of cognitive approach

Answer 2

Cognitive psychologists focus on our mental
processes or cognitions.
Behaviour and emotions can be explained in
terms of the role of cognitive processes such
as attention, language, thinking and memory

Similarities and differences between people
can be understood in terms of individual
patterns of cognitions

Question 3

main concern of cognitive
psychology

Answer 3

how information received from our senses is
processed by the brain

how this processing directs how we behave.

Question 4

Cognitive theories

adv and dis

Answer 4

advantages:
🡪simplify cognitive processes and allow us to
understand mental processes that are not
directly observable;
🡪scientific procedures to develop and test
hypotheses using experimental techniques.

disadvantage
🡪 tend to ignore biology and genetic
influences
🡪provides a mechanistic view of human
behaviour

Question 5

the aim of the andrade study

Answer 5

To investigate whether doodling affects
concentration by enabling people to attend
more effectively/by enhancing their memory

To investigate whether performing a
concurrent task (doodling) would help
memory recall (primary task)

Question 6

Participants-Sample ANDRADE

Answer 6

40 members of an Applied Psychology Unit
participant panel at the University of Plymouth (UK)

Recruited via opportunity sampling, after they had
volunteered for another study

From general population age 18-55

Paid for participating

Randomly assigned:
to control group (n=20, 18F and 2M)
to doodling group (n=20, 17F and 3M)

Question 7

Research method and Design in andrade

Answer 7

Laboratory experiment

Environment –not a normal place in which
people would respond to telephone messages

The situation controlled

Independent measures design- participants
were either in the control or in the doodling
group

Question 8

IV and DV in Andrade

Answer 8

IV: doodle vs control

DV: recall of names

Question 9

uncontrolled variables in ANDRADE…

Answer 9

how likely each participant
was to daydream, whether
the participants had friends with the same
names as the people in the mock telephone
call.

Question 10

procedure ANDRADE

Answer 10

All participants listened to a dull (mock) phone call
about a party

The mock phone was 2.5 min and was recorded
in a monotonous voice at an average speed of 227
words per minute

8 names of people attending the party

3 names of people and one cat that cannot go

8 place names

During this task they either doodled or not

Question 11

doodling and control groups conditions ANDREADE

Answer 11

Doodling condition

A4 sheet with alternating rows of squares and circles,
ten per row
A wide margin on the left for recording the target
information
Given a pencil and asked to shade in the squares and
circles while listening

Control condition
A sheet of lined paper to write their answers on

Question 12

ethical issues ANDRADE

Answer 12

The participants were unable to give fully
informed consent as they were given an
unexpected test on place names

This had the potential to make them
distressed if they were unable to remember
the names, so could expose them to risk of
psychological harm.

There was some deception in the study as the
participants were told they would not be
expected to remember any of the information on
the tape recorded message.
However, when it was over they were given a
surprise memory test

Question 13

Results for both tasks ANDRADE

Answer 13

the doodling participants recalled 29% more than
the control group.

the doodling condition recalled a mean of 7.8 compared to the controlled group that recalled 7.1

Question 14

conclusion and explanation ANDRADE

Answer 14

Doodling helps concentration on a primary
task as the doodling participants performed
better than participants just listening to the
primary task with no concurrent task.

two possible explanations:

1. The doodlers noticed more of the target
   words, an effect on attention
2. Doodling improved memory directly, for
   example by encouraging deeper information
   processing.

Question 15

BARON COHEN theory of mind

Answer 15

psychology behind - theory of mind
This refers to our ability to attribute mental states to ourselves and others, as desires, emotions etc.
It is linked to empathy which is the ability to understand how other people are feeling/thinking
This can be done by imagining what the other person is feeling/thinking/putting ourselves in the shoes of others
It is also about how we use this knowledge to explain/predict the actions of other people
We use this knowledge to understand that people may have different ideas and hold different emotions to us
It can be tested using Eyes Test where people have to judge the emotions of others by looking at eyes only

Question 16

backGround BARON COHEN

Answer 16

Autism is a failure to develop particular cognitive processes linked to social interaction that occurs in approximately 1% of the population.
Individuals with autism share difficulties in social functioning, communication and coping with change
Baron-Cohen suggests that people with autism lack or have an underdeveloped cognitive process called a ‘theory of mind’.
A theory of mind is often linked to empathy (the ability to understand the world as another person does)

Question 17

original test an its issues- BARON COHEN

Answer 17

• 25c pics led to many in the ‘normal’ group scoring 24 or 25, causing a ceiling effect.
• The emotion in some of the photos used in the original task could be solved by checking the direction to which the person was gazing (e.g. ignoring).
• 2 words to describe the feeling/thinking (forced choice)
• Sample from general population
• Sample with Tourette
• One group with AS/HFA
• There was an imbalance of male and female faces.
• Participants might not have understood the words in the ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes’ task.
• ‘ceiling effect’. It limits the variance/spread, it becomes hard to distinguish between scores
  It wouldn’t be possible to distinguish the controls between the autistics even if there was a difference

Question 18

aim of the study BARON COHEN

Answer 18

• To test whether a group of adults with Asperger Syndrome (AS) or High-functioning Autism (HFA) would be impaired on the revised version of the ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes’ task.
• To see if females would score higher on the Eyes Test compared to males
• To see if people with AS/HFA lack/have a Theory of Mind
• To investigate whether the Eyes Test can differentiate between a person with AS/HFA and a person without AS/HFA
• To test people on a revised Eyes Test to see if some of the original deficits were no longer seen

Question 19

real world applications BARON COHEN

Answer 19

Help diagnose autism
If someone scores low in the eyes test it shows that they lack Theory of Mind so the person can receive help
The test can help autistic adults by teaching them how to read emotions with the help of a therapist
As the results show that AS/HFA adults appear to lack a theory of mind psychologists could now create therapies (or training) to help these people improve their social communication and social emotional skills to help them integrate better into society

Question 20

No of people diagnosed BARON

Answer 20

15

Question 21

how words and foils were chosen BARON COHEN

Answer 21

Initially, the ‘correct’ word and the ‘foils’ were chosen by the first two authors of this study: Simon Baron-Cohen and Sally Wheelwright. For each of the 36 sets of eyes, the target and foil words were developed using groups of 8: 4 male and 4 female.
36 sets of eyes (18 male, 18 female) each with four choices of emotion on the face of the target (e.g. reflective, aghast, irritated,impatient).
At least five of the judges had to agree that the target word was the most appropriate for the eyes
No more than two of the judges could select any of the foil words.

Question 22

PROCEDURE BARON

Answer 22

participants in the AS/HFA group were also asked to judge the sex of the target in each photo.
Participants in all conditions except the ‘normal’ adult comparison were also asked to complete the AQ test
Each participant read through a glossary of terms that were to be used throughout the experiment to ensure they knew each word’s meaning
Each participant was given a practice item and then presented with the 36 sets of eyes and four possible target words for the emotion shown.
Participants were allowed as long as they needed on each set of eyes.

Question 23

design BARON

Answer 23

Independent Variable/Matched Pairs?:

There were three control groups in this study (Groups 2, 3, 4) and the experimental group containing participants with AS or HFA (Group 1).

Dependent variable

1) a score on the revised ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task’ (Eyes Task).
2) the measure of their scores on an AQ test AND Baron-Cohen et al. also measured the IQ scores of participants in the AS/HFA condition and the IQ matched comparison group.

Question 24

SAMPLE BARON COHEN

Answer 24

Group 1: AS/HFA
15 adult males
with AS or HFA
mean IQ score of 115
mean age of 29.7 years.

self-selecting through adverts in the Autistic Society magazine and support groups and all had been diagnosed

Group 2: Adult comparison group
122 ‘normal’ adults
Not AS/HFA.
opportunity/volunteer sampling
They were selected from adult community and education classes in Exeter and public library users in Cambridge
mean age of 46.5 years.

Group 3: Student comparison group
Average age of 20.8 years
103
Nearly equal no of males and females
opportunity/volunteer sampling
Undergraduates/students at Cambridge
Predominantly science degrees
Assumed to have high IQ/A grade A-Levels
Not AS/HFA

Group 4: IQ-matched group
Random sample
General population
N=14
Not diagnosed with AS/HFA
IQ matched with group 1/mean IQ=116
All male
Same age distribution as group 1/mean age=28 years

Question 25

RESULTS BARON COHEN

Answer 25

On the Eyes Test, participants with AS/HFA (Group 1) correctly identified significantly fewer target words than participants in the three comparison groups.
There was a significant negative correlation between the AQ and Eyes Task scores (–0.53), but no correlation between the IQ and Revised Eyes Test scores.
This suggests that as a participant’s AQ score increases (illustrating higher autistic traits) their ability to correctly identify the correct target word on the Eyes Test decreases.

Question 26

conclusions BARON COHEN

Answer 26

The results suggest that the participants with AS or HFA have a deficit in a cognitive process that allows a person to identify emotions in other individuals.
This lack of a theory of mind, or ability to attribute emotions to another person, is strongly linked to autism spectrum disorders.
There was evidence of a sex difference between males and females in the comparison groups; with males showing more autistic traits and performing worse on the Eyes Test than females.

Question 27

backround AND psychology LANEY

Answer 27

Memory is not always a factual recording of an event and can become distorted by other information both during encoding and after the event.
There have been many experiments within memory research that have demonstrated that memories can be distorted by information provided following an event.
This has even resulted in people believing that an impossible event has taken place.

People may have memories for events that never actually happened
Testing if positive false memories could be created as previous studies focused on negative ones
People can reconstruct memories of events that have real and false memories in them

Question 28

RQ LANEY

Answer 28

Restaurant Questionnaire (RQ)
Assessed the respondents’ desire to eat each of 32 separate dishes (e.g. sautéed asparagus spears). How likely they would be to order each food on a scale of 1 (definitely no) to 8 (definitely yes).
May not accurately measure this because what people say in a questionnaire does not mirror their behaviour, there before just because they said they would be more likely to order asparagus doesn’t mean they actually would

Question 29

FHI LANEY

Answer 29

Food History Inventory (FHI)
Respondents rated 24 items on a scale of 1 (definitely did not happen) to 8 (definitely did happen) as to their food experiences before the age of 10 (e.g. ‘Loved asparagus the first time you tried it’).

Question 30

FPQ

Answer 30

Food Preferences Questionnaire (FPQ)
A 62 item inventory of items of food (e.g. asparagus) that respondents had to rate on a 1 (definitely don’t like to eat, for whatever reason) to 8 (definitely like to eat).

Question 31

FCQ LANEY

Answer 31

Food Costs Questionnaire (FCQ)
A list of 21 different food items (e.g. a pound of asparagus) with multiple choice answers where respondents had to circle the price they would be willing to pay for each, including a ‘would never buy’ option. For asparagus, the price options were $1.90, $2.50, $3.20, $3.80,
$4.40, $5.00 and $5.70.
May not accurately measure the most they are willing to pay because what people say in a questionnaire does not mirror their behaviour, there before just because they said they woul spend a certain amount on asparagus doesn’t mean they will…

Question 32

MBQ LANEY

Answer 32

Memory or Belief? Questionnaire (MBQ)
Respondents were asked to indicate whether they had a memory of an experience with three items from the FHI, including, for the ‘love’ condition, the critical item of asparagus. The choices were that they had specific memory of the event occurring, a belief that the event had occurred (but lacked specific memory), or were positive that the event had not occurred.

Question 33

aim LANEY

Answer 33

EX1: To investigate whether giving false feedback suggesting that a participant had loved to eat asparagus as a child, would generate a false belief or memory of experiences linked to eating and enjoying asparagus.

EX2:
To examine the underlying mechanisms of the false memory consequence effect by exploring if, after the false love of asparagus manipulation, the very sight of asparagus was more appealing to participants.
To replicate and extend the results of the first experiment to check the reliability of the findings.

Question 34

research method and design, iv/dv LANEY

Answer 34

The experiment was a laboratory experiment as the environment the participants were tested in was very artificial and unlike an everyday event
Participants were tested in laboratory settings in groups of up to eight people.

IV/DV
IV: whether a participant had the false belief that they had enjoyed asparagus as a child embedded during the second part of the experiment. These participants were compared with a (control group) of participants who received no false belief.
DV: effect of the false belief - measured through the use of five questionnaires.

Question 35

sample LANEY

Answer 35

ex 1: 128 participants
Undergraduate students at the University of California who received course credit for their time.
99 females and 29 males
Mean age of 20.8 years old.
The participants were randomly assigned to either the ‘love’ condition (63) or the control group (65)

ex 2:
103 undergraduate students at the University of Washington who received course credit for their time.
64 females and 39 males (19.9 y)
randomly assigned to either the ‘love condition (58) or the control group (45).

Question 36

Procedure LANEY 1 si 2

Answer 36

1: FHI, RQ, 3 distractor qs –>FHI, RQ, FPQ, FCQ, MBQ
2: FHI, RQ, FPQ 2 distractor questionnaires.
After one week –> FHI, RQ, FPQ, common foods slideshow, MBQ

Question 37

Common foods slideshow LANEY

Answer 37

A slideshow of 20 colour photographs of common foods were displayed for 30 seconds each to all participants.
3 questions about each slide:
On a scale of 1 (not at all) to 8 (very much):
how appetising they found the food depicted in the photo
the artistic quality of the photo
whether the photo was taken by a novice, amateur or expert photographer.

Question 38

Believers vs nonbelievers
LANEY

Answer 38

To be classified as a believer, participants had to meet the following three criteria:
* a low rating on the FHI when initially asked if they loved asparagus (week one), lower than 5
* increased their rating on the FHI when asked if they loved asparagus on week two
* given positive ‘memory’ or ‘belief’ response on the MBQ.

Question 39

Results LANEY 1 si 2

Answer 39

1: When asked a second time as part of the FHI if a participant loved asparagus the first time they tried it, participants in the ‘love’ condition’s average (mean) response rose by 2.6 points following the false feedback from the researchers, in the control condition only increased by 0.2 points in comparison.
31 participants were excluded from this analysis as they initially believed they loved asparagus the first time, or scored greater than 5 on the FHI on the first occasion.
This left 97 participants to be included in the analysis.
More participants in the Love group reported having a memory/belief of loving asparagus compared to the control group.
2:
RQ: neither the believers nor the control group reported an increased desire to eat the critical asparagus item when comparing the two weeks.
FPQ: in comparison to the control group, believers reported a significantly greater desire to eat asparagus.
On the photograph ratings, believers rated the asparagus photo as more appetising than those in the control group (5.10 versus 4.00), and as less disgusting (1.81 versus 3.24).

Question 40

conclusions LANEY

Answer 40

Participants can be led to develop positively framed false beliefs
These false beliefs can have a consequence on behaviour and food preferences.
Participants who had the false belief implanted increased their rating of their love of asparagus
These beliefs had further impacts: on how much they would be willing to spend on asparagus greater intention to eat asparagus in the future, a greater preference for it.
Those participants who believed the false feedback were more likely than those in the control group to rate a photograph of asparagus as more appetising and less disgusting.