COGNITIVE APPROACH- Andrade (DOODLING)

Question 1

describe the background of the study

Answer 1

• daydreaming is linked to boredom
• arousal levels need to be maintained to be able to concentrate
• boredom plays a role in paying attention to info
• it has been assumed that concurrent tasks disrupt our concentration

Question 2

What was the psychology being investigated

Answer 2

prior to the study it was unknown whether the act of doodling impair attention processes by taking resources from the primary task or aiding concentration
- multitasking can act as a distractor
- dual tasks may compete for the same levels of performance

Question 3

What was the aim

Answer 3

Test whether doodling while listening aids in concentration in a boring task

Question 4

Describe the 4 features of the. sample

Answer 4

-40 participants
-all from the applied psychology unit panel
-18-55 years
-paid

Question 5

What sampling method was used here

Answer 5

Opportunity sampling- she took advantage of the fact that they were already available and decided to use that to also instigate boredom or fatigue

Question 6

Describe the recording of the telephone in the experiment

Answer 6

• monotonous tone
• was played at a comfortable volume
• Mentioned 8 people who will attend the party plus 3 people and one cat who will not be attending as well as 8 locations in the UK
• played for 2.5 mins
• 227 words per minute

Question 7

what were the IVs of the study

Answer 7

-doodling and control group

Question 8

how were the materials standardised for the doodling group

Answer 8

-10 shapes per row
-alternated between squares and circles
-shapes were 1 cm in diameter on an A4 piece of paper

Question 9

how was counterbalancing used

Answer 9

-Half of the participants recalled the names and then the locations
-the other half recalled the places first then the names

Question 10

Why was counterbalancing used

Answer 10

This is in order to minimise extraneous variables e.g fatigue to reduce order effects.

Question 11

what is a concurrent task

Answer 11

an additional activity with a cognitive demand that we can perform at the same time as a primary task

Question 12

mention the 2 of the overall results found for all groups

Answer 12

-Recalled names were performed better than recalling locations
- few false alarms occurred (average- 0.3)

Question 13

what was the conclusion of the study

Answer 13

• Doodling aids in concentration during boring tasks as well as memory for information we have not intentionally tried to store

Question 14

what was the DV of the study

Answer 14

-The mean correct recall, memory scores and the false alarm

Question 15

what were the strengths of the study

Answer 15

-Standardised procedure could be replicated to test for reliability
-the controls were strict for a cause and effect
-counterbalancing
- those that were aware of the surprise tasks (18%) their scores were excluded however results were the same
- quantiative data collection
- validity (took part in previous study)

Question 16

how was validity shown in the study

Answer 16

-The monotonous tone of the call as well as all participants being kept in a dull room. this was valid as any differences between the two conditions was doodling or not.
-the paper for the doodling group was not the same for the control
- they were required to write down a list of names of their friends so that it wouldn’t appear in the mock telephone
- counterbalancing took place

Question 17

what were the weaknesses of the study

Answer 17

-Lacked mundane realism to have an unexpected recall task
-lacked generalisability (more motivated to perform better than others)
-use of IMD: some may be able to concentrate better than others or better memory

Question 18

What was the ethic issue in the study and how was it justified

Answer 18

Deception
-it was justifiable as it was necessary for the study to be completed successfully and would not have affected the participants in the study.
Therefore NO informed consent

Question 19

applications to everyday life could be

Answer 19

> Listening to a class
therapists
attending meetings

Question 20

give an individual explanation to the study

Answer 20

-personality type that requires extra simulation when processing info
-some may be used to doodling to concentrate
- The shapes they doodled differed between individuals in the doodling group, people may have doodled in a particular way to help them concentrate better

Question 21

Give a situational explanation to the study

Answer 21

-the situation they were placed in or the conditions taken for them to be bored so that the ACT of doodling is what helped.
- It depended which group they belonged to that determined how they performed or not

Question 22

give examples of false alarms when recalling the names of the party go-ers

Answer 22

• Greg for Craig
• any new name
• names mentioned as lures

Question 23

Describe what occurred after listening to the tape

Answer 23

• One minute later, participants were surprised with a recall test where they had to write down names of the:
• party goers (8)
• Locations (8)

Question 24

Describe the results for the doodling group for monitored task (recording names)

Answer 24

• mean number of names recorded :7.8
• Number of people scoring full 8/8:
  15/20
• Number of people made false alarms: 1

Question 25

Describe the results for the control group for monitored task

Answer 25

• mean number of names: 7.1
• number of people scoring full: 9/20
• number of people made false alarms: 5

Question 26

Describe the results for the doodling group for the monitored info (recall names)

Answer 26

• mean number of names recalled: 5.1
• False alarms: 0.4

Question 27

Describe the results for the doodling group for the incidental info (recall places)

Answer 27

• mean number of places recalled: 2.4
• false alarms: 0.3

Question 28

Describe the results for the control group for the monitored info (recall names)

Answer 28

• mean number of names recalled:4.0
• false alarms:0.3

Question 29

Describe the results for the control group for the incidental info (recall places)

Answer 29

• mean number of places recalled: 1.8
• false alarms: 0.3

Question 30

What did the researchers tell the participants

Answer 30

“The tape is rather dull and they are not required to remember anything.”

(DOODLING CONDITION: “The shapes were there for you to shade into if you got bored while listening to the tape.” )