component 2 Flashcards
kohlbergs methodology and procedure
75 american boys aged 10-16 and again between 22&28
a longitudinal study using interviews, reassessed every 3 years over a 12 year period
qualitative data collected
cross-cultural comparison: UK, Canada, turkey, Mexico, Taiwan
open ended questions in the form of a semi structured interview
should Heinz steal the drug? why and why not
kohlbergs findings
moral development can be split into three levels: preconventional, conventional and post conventional
each of these stages can be split into two substages, giving a total of 6 stages:
1. punishment and obedience orientation
2. instrumental-relativist orientation
3. good boy- good girl orientation
4. law and order orientation
5. social contract orientation
6. universal principles orientation
limitations of kohlbergs methodology
gave the boys hypothetical moral dilemmas, so lacks ecological validity
potential social desirability bias
kohlbergs conclusions
each stage of moral development comes one at a time and always in the same order
differences in speed of progression, perhaps due to external social factors. middle class and working class children move faster and further
this six stage theory of moral dvelopment isnt significantly impacted by widely ranging social, cultural and religious conditions, the only thing affected is the rate at which individuals progress through the sequence
milgram methodology and procedure
40 male self-selected volunteers aged between 20 and 50 including a variety of occupations such as factory workers, high school teachers, and businessmen
these people were also of different educational levels such as someone who hadnt finished elementary and someone who had professional degree
they were paid $4.50 regardless of whether they quit the study or not
there were 2 confederates: an experimenter and the learner
the participants drew lots with the confederate and always ended up as the teacher
he was told that he must administer electric shocks (fake) per wrong answer
maximum voltage of 450
milgram aims
testing the ‘germans are different’ hypothesis which suggested that the holocaust couldnt happen anywhere else in the world because germans are more likely to commit such activities.
wanted to discover whether ordinary people will obey legitimate authority even if it means they’re required to injure another person
milgram findings
before the study, milgram aksed psychology students how far they thought the participants would go. they estimated 4% would go to the maximum level
the main finding is that 65% of the participants continued to maximum level. far beyond what was marked as dangerous
only 5 participants (12.5%) stopped at 300 volts when the learner first objected
100% of participants went up to 300 volts
milgram conclusions
ordinary people are astonishingly obedient to authority when asked to behave in an inhumane manner. this suggests that it is not evil people who commit evil crimes, but just ordinary people obeying orders.
in other words, crimes against humanity may be the outcome of situational rather than dispositional factors
Pascal Gino found himself thinking “good god hes dead” whilst others were sweating, trembling and stuttering.
independent groups design
2 separate groups, takes part in one condition
ideal for bigger groups
randomly allocated to the conditions
advantages of independent groups design
avoids order effects
less demand characteristics
disadvantages of independent groups design
more participants are needed for it than repeated measures design
differences between ppts in the groups may affect results
repeated measures design
one group of participants, take part in both conditions of the experiment
should be used when theres only a small number of participants
advantages of repeated measures design
avoids problem of participant variables
fewer people are needed
cheap and quick
disadvantages of repeated measures design
order effects are more likely to occur
demand characteristics more likely
matched pairs design
participants are matched in each condition for characteristics that may have an effect on their performance
lots of time needed
identical twins are useful
advantages of matched pairs design
reduces participants variables
avoids order effects
disadvantages of matched pairs design
very time consuming to find closely matched pairs
requires more particpants
field experiments
where an experiment takes place in the relevant field of research, natural, iv is still manipulated
advantages of field experiments
high ecological validity, behaviour more likely to reflect real life
less likelihood of demand characteristics affecting the results as participants may not know they’re being studied
disadvantages of field experiments
less control over extraneous variables
hard to replicate
likely to cause psychological harm
lab research
a room equipped to allow scientific research to take place, where extraneous variables can be controlled, the IV is also manipulated
advantages of lab research
easier to replicate as standardised procedure is used
allows precise control of extraneous variables
allows cause and effect relationship to be established
disadvantages of lab research
artificial setting may cause unnatural behaviour that doesnt reflect real life, low ecological validity
hard to generalise
demand characteristics may bias results
natural and quasi experiments
an “almost” experiment where theres an iv and a dv but the iv isnt manipulated by the researcher
advantages of quasi experiments
behaviour more likely to reflect real life and less likely for demand characteristics to affect the results as participants may not know they’re being studied
disadvantages of quasi experiments
expensive and time consuming
no control over extraneous variables
online studies
more recent, gives the researcher more sampling options. mostly questionnaires but can be experimental
advantages of online studies
access to large group of participants, diverse sample, easy to generalise and less culturally biased. cost effective too
disadvantages of online studies
people often lie, social desirability bias
ethical issues such as consent and risk of harm
process of peer review
- researcher submits article
- article assessed by the editor of a journal
- if accepted, the article is sent to reviewers
- reviewers kept anonymous from author
- reviewers submit comments to editor
- editor may reject the article or return it to the author to make revisions
- revised article is re-submitted to editor to publish
advantages of observations
can capture spontaneous and natural behaviour
non-participant observers are likely to be more objective
participant observers are more likely to get special insights
disadvantages of observations
issue of observer bias, reduces validity
cant ask people how they feel
participant observations can lead to social desirability bias
ethical issues can arise due to lack of consent
time sampling has issues because behaviours might not occur in the time sampled
advantages of correlations
allows psychologists to identify relationships between things, knowing variables are relating can lead to useful applications in everyday life
allows researchers to investigate topics that would not be available otherwise due to it being unethical
little manipulation of behaviour is required, high ecological validity
disadvantages of correlations
doesnt show which variable is the cause and which is affected by it, psychologists try to isolate causes of behaviour
- allows the relationship to be explained by a third intervening variable, which is open to misinterpretation
correlations may lack internal/external validity, lacks generalisability
internal reliability
refers to the consistency of a measure within itself
external validity
refers to the consistency of a procedure from one occasion to another
inter-rater reliability
test of reliability for observers/interviewers
is measured by correlating the observations of two more observers
test-retest reliability
a test of external reliability
can identify individual items that generate inconsistent results or other factors that cause variation
mri scans
measures which part of the brain are using energy most quickly, by measuring blood flow in the brain using radio waves and a magnetic field. radio waves excite atoms and molecules in their brain and the magnets detect these changes
computer produces 3D image
strengths of Sri
pictures from different angles, can detect very small tumours, safe and painless, detailed, can be used more than once
limitations of mri
doesnt show brain function, noisy, claustrophobic, expensive
EEG scans
measures electrical activity in the brain, electrodes are placed on scalp which detects small changes in the electrical activity in their brain and is recorded by a pen moving on paper, used to study sleep
strengths of EEG
non invasive, doesnt alter brain activity, ecologically valid. useful in detecting tumours and epilepsy
limitations of EEG
doesnt show structure, indirect measure, the bone weakens the electrical signal
chi squared
independent groups, at least ordinal and nominal data, predicting a difference
mann whitney u
independent groups, testing a difference and at leats ordinal data
spearmans rank
at least ordinal, predicting relationship between two co variables, at least ordinal
wilcoxon
repeated measures or matched pairs, at least ordinal, hypothesis is predicting a difference
