Individual Differences Studies

Question 1

Freud (1962)

Theme

Answer 1

Understanding disorders- The case of a phobia in a 5-year-old boy

Question 2

Hancock (2011)

Theme

Answer 2

Measuring individual differences – Language of Psychopaths

Question 3

YERKES/GOULD (1982)

Theme

Answer 3

Measuring individual differences- IQ Testing

Question 4

Baron-Cohen et al (1997)

Theme

Answer 4

Understanding disorders- Autism in adults

Question 5

Freud (1962)

Background Theories

Answer 5

ID- the biological part, motivated by the pleasure principle
Ego- the ‘self’ which is motivated by the reality principle
Superego-the moral part, motivated by the anxiety principle

The Oedipus complex (phallic stage)- castration anxiety. Wants to be with mum, resents dad, resolves by identifying wit dad, introjects dad’s attributes where the gender role is formed as well as gender identity and superego.

Question 6

Baron-Cohen et al (1997)

ToM
Established test
Aims
Hypothesis

Answer 6

Triad impairment- difficulties with social communication, interaction and imagination.
Theory of the mind-someone has a separate mind to yours.

Sally-Anne test was used of children with Autism and demonstrated that autistic children lack ToM.

• To test further and extend research on impaired ToM with high functioning autism/AS.
• Develop a test which asses the mind reading of adults who are more able than children.
• Only group 1 would be significantly impaired on the Eye Task.
• Normal females would perform better than normal males.

Question 7

YERKES/GOULD (1982)

Intelligence definition
History of IQ
Aims
Gould

Answer 7

Steinberg’s definition of intelligence (1985): Possession of knowledge. Ability to efficiently use knowledge to reason about the world. Ability to employ reasoning adoptively in different environments.

History of IQ tests:
Developed 1905 by Alfred Binet. The Stanford Binet. Word definitions, comprehension tests, tests for reasoning and knowledge of numbers.

Yerkes wanted to make Psychology ore scientific and used WW1 to promote the use of mental testing. The score obtained would be reflected in rank position within the army. His aims were:
• To set out a large-scale intelligence test
• He was a hereditarian and believed that intelligence was inherited through genetics- race and gender.

Gould’s review however set out to:
Highlight the issues including the nature of the testing, theoretical bias, political and ethical implications of research.

Question 8

Hancock (2011)

Hare
Raine
Aim

Answer 8

Hare (2003)- psychopaths exhibit a wholly selfish orientation and profound emotional deficit.

Raine (2003/4)- psychopaths’ diminished capability for moral sensibility appears to have biological under pinning.
Neuroimaging- anomalies in prefrontal cortex, corpus callosum and hippocampus (Raine.)

Language is thought to be more cohesive.

Use statistical tests to analyse language on:
• Instrumental/ predatory worldview- motivated by external goals and so use clauses such as ‘because’ and ‘so that’.
• Unique socioemotional needs- focus on Maslow’s basic/ survival needs (ID).
• Poverty of affect- lack emotional intelligence so less likely to use emotional words, more disfluencies ‘um’ and psychological distancing (more past tense.)

Question 9

Freud (1962)

Sample

Answer 9

Little Hans 5years old boy
Austria
Self-selected/ father was a fan of Freud.

Question 10

Baron-Cohen et al (1997)

Sample
3 groups

Answer 10

1. 4 with Autism 12 with AS, self-selected and opportunity sample from magazines and doctors.
2. 50 people without any disorder selected at random from Cambridge area.
3. 10 individuals with TS, self-selected from a Clinic in London.

Question 11

YERKES/GOULD (1982)

Sample

Answer 11

1.75 million American Army recruits
They were young men who did not volunteer but
were already a group of recruits.
Opportunity sample.

Question 12

Hancock (2011)

Sample

Answer 12

Self-selected
52 male murders in Canadian correctional facilities. 14-50 yrs old.
14 psychopaths, 38 non-psychopaths
No significant difference in types of murder.

Question 13

Freud (1962)

Method

Answer 13

This was a longitudinal case study (from age 3-5) into a 5-year-old boy to analyse his phobia, investigating the Oedipus complex and how it could be resolved by psycho analysis.
Used self-report method that the father conducted in conversations with Hans as well as observations made about the boy which was recorded in a factual diary over a number of years. It produced qualitative, secondary data.

Question 14

Baron-Cohen et al (1997)

Method
Design
IVs 
DVs 
Controls

Answer 14

Quasi experiment Snapshot study 
Matched pairs (on age and intelligence)

IV: 
1.Autism or AS
2.No history or psychiatric disorder
3.Tourette Syndrome (also due to an abnormality in the frontal lobe of the brain)
DV: Score on eye task out of 25 

Controls: tasks were done in a random order, pictures standardised all for 3 seconds and matched pairs reduced other individual differences.

Question 15

Hancock (2011)

Method
IV

Answer 15

Quasi experiment

IV: Psychopath or not
DV: measures of language

Semi structured- stepwise interview technique.

Question 16

Freud (1962)

Procedure

Answer 16

A factual record was kept in the form of a diary over a number of years.
Observation of Hans and conversations with Hans were carried out by his father.
Analysis of the horse phobia was carried out by Hans’ father and Freud.

Question 17

Baron-Cohen et al (1997)

Procedure
The Eye Task

What
Who
Where
Why

Answer 17

-images of eyes from the magazines
-pick the emotion from a choice of two.
-Individuals completed this separately in a quiet room at home, in a clinic or a lab at Cambridge.
This was carried out for group 1, 2 and 3.
-This measured ToM in adults as intelligence grew naturally with age as other people and so needed to be more complex than the Sally Anne task.

Question 18

Baron-Cohen et al (1997)

Procedure
Happe’s strange stories task

What
Who
Why

Answer 18

• an already established and reliable test and so used as a control to test the validity of the Eyes Task. If it did, there would be a significant correlation between results. -This was based on characters and events.
• Only group 1 and 2 took part in this.

Question 19

Baron-Cohen et al (1997)

Procedure
Gender recognition eye task

Why
Who
What

Answer 19

CONTROL
Group 1 only.
Had to identify gender of eyes and tested facial perception to ensure the difference was only in the emotion reading rather than the actual visual processing.

Question 20

Baron-Cohen et al (1997)

Procedure
Basic emotion recognition test

Why
Who
What

Answer 20

CONTROL
Group 1 only.
Judged photos which best displayed 6 basic emotions and assessed emotional recognition-this ensured the basic skills a child could do where established and that the ‘complex’ ToM was being tested.

Question 21

Baron-Cohen et al (1997)

Materials

Answer 21

Pictures in B+W from magazine of the same part of face, same size and for 3 seconds.
Participants had to identify mental state expressed by eyes from two terms (basic/complex). One was correct, the other a fail.
These correct answers were agreed to by a group of people to ensure a form of inter-rater reliability. The maximum score was 25.

Question 22

YERKES/GOULD (1982)

Procedure
Alpha test

Who
Structure
Question

Answer 22

• literate recruits (those who read/write).
• 8 parts and measured numeracy and literacy. One of the questions was ‘Silk comes from a type of… with multiple choice answers. The majority of questions were largely based on American knowledge.
• Mostly native-born white recruits.

Question 23

YERKES/GOULD (1982)

Procedure
Beta test

Who
Structure
Question
Problem

Answer 23

• illiterate recruits (those who could not read/write). -7 parts involved pictures, maze tasks and symbols. One of the questions was to draw and complete a picture of a ball in a bowling game.
• The highest percent were southern and northern black people.
• The test still required pen and pencil to be used but many of these individuals hadn’t done so.

Question 24

Hancock (2011)

Materials
Psychopathy test
Criteria
Factors

Answer 24

Psychopathy Checklist Revised- to determine psychopathy.

20 criteria scored 0-2. This test was highly reliable and valid. There was a max score of 40 but a clinical diagnosis required scores to be 30 or above.

Factor 1: affective interpersonal traits (manipulation and lying)

Factor 2: impulsive and antisocial traits (lack responsibility)

Question 25

Hancock (2011)

Procedure
Taking the PCL-R

Who
Reliability

Answer 25

• Completed by extensively trained prison psychologists for 39 cases and 13 times by a researcher.
• Inter-rater reliability conducted on score by having a trained graduate student recode 10 randomly selected case files- results said scores positively correlated significantly.

Question 26

Hancock (2011)

Procedure
Interviews

Details
What
Who
Technique

Answer 26

-audiotaped and transcribed
- lasted approx. 25 minutes each
-Step-wise technique
Examined the manner in which homicide offenders recalled their homicide offence.
2 senior psychology graduate students and one research assistant, all blind to the psychopathology score.
Step wise interview technique: 1st-free recall-may prompt ‘what happened next?’ 2nd-folow up questions-open ended and not leading ‘do you remember anything else that happened at the shop?’3rd-specific questions asked to clarify information.

Question 27

Hancock (2011)

Procedure
Linguistic analysis

Tools

Answer 27

WMatrix- compares and classifies part of speech, classifies semantic categories and 21 major discourse fields.
-It extracts language information and differences in sentence construction.

Dictionary of affect in language- examine the affective tone of words.

• Assesses emotional properties of language along with affection dimensions of evaluation, activation and imagery.
• Assigns a score for the pleasantness and intensity of emotional language which is key in relation to psychopathology.

Question 28

Freud (1962)

Results
Sexual desire for mother

Answer 28

Big giraffe (father) and crumpled giraffe (mum). Hans took away crumpled from big which called out and then Hans sat on crumpled.

Question 29

Freud (1962)

Results
Fear of father

Answer 29

Fear of horses from moustache and glasses. Hans wishes death of him in the same way he saw horse fall and kick out in the street.

Question 30

Freud (1962)

Results
Castration anxiety

Answer 30

Lose penis (as mother had) when the horse bites it off (finger was bitten off). Mother threatened it would be cut off if he played with it too much by the doctor.

Question 31

Freud (1962)

Results
Identification with father

Answer 31

Dream of plumber taking away behind and replacing with a bigger ‘widdler’ like his father had.

Question 32

Baron-Cohen et al (1997)

Results
Eye task
Strange stories
Controls

Answer 32

Eyes task- Autistic/AS=16.3. Normal=20.3. TS=20.4

Strange stories- 0 mistakes in those with TS. Autistic and AS group performed significantly worse.

Group 1 performed normally to what the other groups would on control. Gender recognition- people with AS scored the highest.

Question 33

YERKES/GOULD (1982)

Results
Yerkes 3 facts

Answer 33

Facts based on 160000 of 1.75 million results.

1. Average mental age of white American stood at 13… just above moronity.
2. Eastern/ Southern European immigrants were deemed ‘morons’ even though they had results that were more than a mental age of 13.
3. Black people scored the lowest of all at age 10.41 average. The lighter the skin colour, the higher the IQ= IQ is genetic.

Question 34

YERKES/GOULD (1982)

Results
Goulds summary

Answer 34

• Illiterate given Alpha on some occasions when they shouldn’t have done it.
• Because of the ques those lining up for the Beta were told to take the Alpha,
• Illiterates and immigrants who wrongly did the Alpha weren’t allowed to them sit the Beta due to discrimination from the administrators.

Question 35

Hancock (2011)

Results
Subordinating junctions
Maslow
Words
Fluency
Emotion

Answer 35

• Psychopaths has more subordinating junctions e.g. because (1.82%) than non (1.54%)
• X2 as many words relating to physiological needs
• Used more past tense verbs and concrete nouns.
• Less fluent language (significantly).
• Initially no different in emotional content regarding pleasantness, intensity and imagery.
• But further analysis showed less positively valanced (‘goodness’) and less emotionally intense language.

Question 36

Freud (1962)

Conclusions
How it supported:

Answer 36

• psychosexual development
• Boys in the phallic stage experience the Oedipus complex.
• The nature of the phobias and his theory- product of unconscious anxiety displaced onto harmless external objects.
• Concept of unconscious determinism-people are not consciously aware of the cause for their behaviour.
• His use of psychoanalytic therapy to treat disturbed thoughts, by firstly identifying, so that they can be discussed and resolved.

Question 37

Baron-Cohen et al (1997)

Conclusions

Answer 37

• Those with Autism/AS have impaired ToM.
• The ToM test showed that adults with Autism/AS were not impaired because they were neuropsychiatric (frontal lobe disorder) and ‘weak central coherence’ (e.g. context with context).
• No support for a link between ToM and frontal lobe processes. TS had no greater difficulty than normal group.
• Low scored for participants with Autism and AS was not related to IQ.

Question 38

YERKES/GOULD (1982)

Conclusions
4 points

Answer 38

Logistical difficulties- all had to use the pen and paper- some may not have.

Protocols not followed- most did Alpha, illiterate not allowed to even take Beta.

Inconsistent measuring- systematic bias- lowered standards for who was assigned to Alpha and Beta.

Culturally biased- not measuring native intelligence as only asked about American culture.

Question 39

Hancock (2011)

Conclusions
Structure of language
Psychodynamic

Answer 39

Primitive but rational manner- predicted that psychopaths will frame the crime in the past, be psychologically more distant, lack emotion and not care about impact on others.

Stylistic differences of language likely to be beyond conscious control and therefore unconscious-psychodynamic.