Hancock (2011): Evaluation

Question 1

Strengths of research method

Answer 1

Semi-structured: p’s could reveal unconscious thoughts/feelings. Rich data

Question 2

Weaknesses of research methods

Answer 2

Some p’s may have forgotten some details- may have recalled if questioned

The differences between psychopaths and non might have been different if recalling a less emotional event

Hancock- better to ask p’s to recall the same event eg from video so descriptions were more compatible

Question 3

Strengths of validity

Answer 3

Blind procedure removed any researcher bias

Question 4

Weaknesses of validity

Answer 4

Low population validity- No females

Were they really psychopaths is PCL-R capped at 25 instead of 30?

Question 5

Strengths of reliability

Answer 5

• Inter-rater reliability in coding of PCL-R
• same step interview technique
• data analysed constantly

Question 6

Weaknesses of reliability

Answer 6

The interview was open ended so the parts of their crime described would have been detailed

Question 7

Weaknesses of sampling bias

Answer 7

Small number of psychopaths (14), all male, all from Canada, all criminals, same crime

Question 8

Weaknesses of ethnocentrism

Answer 8

People in other countries, may use language in different ways- nature of language/culture (individualistic)

Question 9

Strengths of data

Answer 9

Rich details of thoughts and feelings and attitudes (over 100,000 words collected)

Question 10

Weaknesses of data

Answer 10

Time consuming to analyse. The data had to be reduced to categories of speech

Question 11

Strengths of ethical cosniderations

Answer 11

Consent gained

Confidentiality/anonymity maintained

Question 12

Weaknesses of ethical considerations

Answer 12

Not fully informed consent (as they were in jail)

Unclear whether they were told they could withdraw

Question 13

Psychology as a science

Answer 13

Objective- DAL and Wmatrix (technology) however self-report so they could have lied

Reliable- Use of the PCL-R tests

Question 14

Nature/Nurture

Answer 14

Nurture- Looks at the type of language used by psychopaths

Question 15

Usefulness

Answer 15

The study rekindled interests in the role of the broader communication eg. non verbal communication in psychopaths

Hancock claims findings suggest a new way of detecting psychopaths

Question 16

Free will/ Determinism

Answer 16

Diminished capacity for moral sensibility may be biologically determined

Question 17

Reductionism/ Holism

Answer 17

Reductionist- Hancock focused purely n the language used by the murderer rather than the innate biological factors and hormones may have contributed

Question 18

Socially sensitive

Answer 18

People who have a tendency to use the past tense when describing their actions and who use a lot of subordinating conjunctions could be wrongly labelled as psychopaths.

Question 19

Link to area/perspectives

Answer 19

ID-Investigating a way in which it might be possible to measure differences between people, in this case their use of language.

Question 20

Links to key theme

Answer 20

Measuring differences- Suggests that it is possible to carry out a quantitative analysis of how people use language and that, if doing this, psychopaths use language in measurably distinctive ways.

Question 21

Similarities between Gould and Hancock

Answer 21

All male samples

Research carried out in institutional settings (army camps/prisons)

Both trying to capture the psychological construct in numerical form

Quasi experiments

Self reported methods

Question 22

Differences between Gould and Hancock

Answer 22

Generalisability (Yerkes/Gould-different backgrounds Hancock- same crime)

Sample size (1.75 million vs 52)

Technology (Wmatrix and DAL)

Hancock had more controlled conditions that were the same for all participants