Cognitive Psychology

Question 1

What is the assumption for cognitive psychology?

Answer 1

Assumes behaviour is influenced by inner mental processes (our thoughts and perceptions)

Question 2

What are the 2 studies in Cognitive Psychology?

Answer 2

Grant = contemporary

Loftus and Palmer = Classic

Question 3

What are the 3 stages of memory?

Answer 3

Encoding
Storage
Retrieval

Question 4

What is context dependent memory?

Answer 4

When we remember better if the context is the same at encoding and retrieval

Question 5

What was the aim of Grant’s study?

Answer 5

To investigate if performance on a memory test is improved when the environment is the same at encoding and retrieval compared to different environment at encoding and retrieval

Question 6

How many participants were in grant’s study?

Answer 6

39 (1 participants result taken out of experiment)

Question 7

What was the age range of Grant’s study?

Answer 7

17-56

Question 8

How many conditions were there and how many participants in each?

Answer 8

4 conditions with 10 participants in each

Question 9

Give an example of one of grants matching and mismatching conditions

Answer 9

Studied text in silent and tested in silent = matching

Studied text in silent and tested in noisy conditions = mismatching

Question 10

how did grant’s procedure start?

Answer 10

Standardised instructions read aloud to each participant.

P’s all read same article on psychoimmunology and either studied it in silent or noisy conditions

Question 11

What happened second in the procedure in grants study?

Answer 11

All wore headphones and were given 2 minute break before being tested with short answer questions and then mcq

Question 12

What was the background noise used in the noisy condition in grants study?

Answer 12

Noise recorded during lunch time at a university cafeteria e.g general hum of chatter but couldn’t hear complete sentences

Question 13

Give 2 findings from grants study

Answer 13

In SAQ’s matching condition silent study silennt test = 6.7 / 10

Mismatching condition silent study noisy test = 4.6 / 10

Question 14

What can you conclude about Grant’s study?

Answer 14

Memory is improved by the environment when the context is the same at encoding and retrieval.

Question 15

What was the independent variable in grant’s study?

Answer 15

Whether they studied in silence or noise and whether they were tested in silence or noise

Question 16

What were the dependent variables in grants study?

Answer 16

What the p’s scored on the SAQ’s out of 10 and MCQ’s out of 16

Question 17

What research design was grant’s study?

Answer 17

Independent measures

Question 18

What was the aim of loftus and palmers first experiment?

Answer 18

To investigate whether leading questions given after witnessing an event, influences memory for that event

Question 19

What was the aim of loftus and palmers second experiment?

Answer 19

To investigate whether memory of the accidents can actually be changed by the verbs

Question 20

Describe the participants from experiment 1 of loftus and palmer

Answer 20

45 american students from the university of washington

Question 21

In the first experiment how many film clips did the p’s watch?

Answer 21

7

Question 22

what were p’s given after watching the 7 film clips in the first experiment?

Answer 22

a questionnaire which included the critical question of ‘About how fast were the cars going when they … into eachother?’

Question 23

What were the 5 verbs used in the critical question in experiment 1?

Answer 23

Smashed
Bumped
Collided
Hit
Contacted

Question 24

Give 2 findings from experiment 1’s results

Answer 24

Smashed mean estimate = 40.8mph

Contacted mean estimate = 31.8mph

Question 25

What can you conclude from experiment 1’s data?

Answer 25

Memory is affected by leading questions.

The intensity of the verb changed the memories of the estimated speed of the accidents

Question 26

Describe the participants in experiment 2

Answer 26

150 different American students from University of Washington

Question 27

What did participants watch in experiment 2?

Answer 27

A 1 minute film clip which included multiple car accidents lasting 4 seconds each

Question 28

How many conditions were there in experiment 2?

Answer 28

3 =

Smashed (50)

Hit (50)

Control (50)

Question 29

What were participants asked in experiment 2?

Answer 29

‘about how fast were the cars going when they …. into eachother’

Question 30

How long did P’s go away for in experiment 2?

Answer 30

1 week

Question 31

When coming back what was the closed question participants were asked in experiment 2?

Answer 31

Did you see any broken glass?

Question 32

Give 2 findings from experiment 2

Answer 32

The smashed condition had 16 people say they saw broken glass and the hit condition had 7 say they saw broken glass

Question 33

What can you conclude from experiment 2?

Answer 33

Leading questions used after an event can reconstruct a persons memory

Question 34

What was the independent variable in both experiments?

Answer 34

The verbs used

Question 35

What was the dependent variable of each experiment?

Answer 35

1= estimate of speed when cars crash (mph)

2= whether there was broken glass

Question 36

give 2 similarities between grant and loftus and palmer

Answer 36

Ethical

Quantitative Data

Question 37

Give 2 differences between loftus and palmer and grant’s study

Answer 37

L+P= low EV whereas G= high EV

L+P= used uni students whereas G used= age range of 17-56

Question 38

Give a strength of loftus and palmer and a strength of grant

Answer 38

Ethical

Quantitative data= easy to analyse

Question 39

Give 2 weaknesses of loftus and palmer and grant

Answer 39

L+P = p’s could feel distressed watching the clips

G= could be individual differences

L+P = low EV

G= young mean age meaning most Ps young meaning lacks population validity