Psychological Knowledge Flashcards
Psychological Knowledge Debate
The Application of psychological knowledge to society but also the wider applications of psychological knowledge.
Areas of Social Psychology that can Apply its Psychological Knowledge to Society
- Theories of Obedience and Prejudice
- Key Question
- Milgram
- Sherif
Social: Agency Theory
=The idea of the Agentic Shift may help reduce prejudice and discrimination because authority figures could tell people to be tolerant and understanding of outsiders. Celebrities visiting schools to encourage tolerance and equality. As an authority figure, they may be encouraging their fans to do as they do if they do negative things. Agentic state gives up free will and obey.
=Ways to reduce blind obedience. Blind obedience to AF is dangerous. To counter this, society tries to hold authority figures to account through democratic processes and “checks and balances” in government, so that no authority figure has too much power. Holocaust Memorial Day is celebrated each year because Agency Theory tells us that the Holocaust could happen again
+Hofling’s study supports in a real-life setting. 95% nursed obeyed overdose from doc over the phone. Gave up autonomy and went into AS.
-Deterministic. Agentic state and giving up free will ignores cognitive factors as the process if more complex.
Social: Realistic Conflict Theory
=Prejudice arrises from competition for limited resources and conflict of interest.T he idea of superordinate goals has a clear application for reducing prejudice and discrimination. The ingroup and outgroup need to work together towards something that is valued by both of them; then they see each other as members of the one group, with a shared goal of achieving resources through cooperation.
=Contact Hypothesis applies as P will be reduced if group members get to mingle freely with the outgroup and question their own stereotypes. important that leaders support this mingling. The base of multicultural education that brings children into contact with other children of different ethnicity. Schools often have days where they celebrate culture.
+Suggest competition can be a perception and not true. Not actually lack resources. Newspapers and lack of jobs due to immigrants fuels P. Should be consequences.
-Reductionist. Situational factors only ignoring the environment and individuals and complex histories.
Social: Key Question (Why do Ordinary People Commit Genocide)
=Theories offer an explanation as to why it occurs
=Agency: AF instruction puts in agentic state and could commit genocide as give up Free Will
=SIT: Us and Them/social competition/comparison to maintaining self-esteem causing prejudice that may get extreme
=RCT: Competition and conflict of interest cause prejudice
=Authoritariasm: Strict Upbringing and displacing inward conflict onto minority groups over parents cause P.
+Sherif Supports as can be resolved through superordinate goals to a common goal. Proving a solution so it is credible in its understanding
-Wetherall: Rejects SIT causing genocide. Found that Polynesian children were more generous in giving points to the out-group white Americans suggesting a difference in cultures that the theory doesn’t address.
Social: Milgram
=The participants were obedient up until 300V; this is the point where the Learner kicked the wall and stopped answering questions. Between 300V and 375V, 14 participants dropped out of the study (by exhausting all 4 “prods” with their questions and arguments). The remaining 26 (65%) carried on to 450V shock at the end.
=Blind Obedience and not just Germans. My Lai Massacre (killed the 800 inhabitants of a Vietnamese village. They were obeying the orders of Lt William Calley. Who was following orders when superiors)
+Replicable. SP. and Variables operationalised
-Low EV. Artificial Environments. Not real life obedience
Social: Sherif
=Outgroup Friendships at end of Friction Phase (r=6% and 7.7%=E) and Outgroup at the end of Integration Phase (36=r and 23%=e)
=Superordinate Goals
+High EV. normal environment and actual summer camp without DCs
-Low V. Only two weeks lacks mundane realism of the complexity of supreme prejudice.
Areas of Cognitive Psychology that can apply Psychological Knowledge to Society
- Memory Models
- Key Q (Dementia)
- Baddeley
Cognitive: Memory Models
1.)MSM: Rehearsal strengthens the memory so it won’t decay and transfers to LTM. Advise can be used by students or anyone who needs to remember large amounts of information as it suggests that if they keep revisiting the information it will be learned and less likely to decay in the LTM.
+Clive Wearing Supports the real-life app of MSM. Retrograde amnesia and being unable to form new LTM shows there is a separation between short and long
-Too simplistic. Reduces to three components (memory). With little detail to the complex functions and process they have. Doesn’t account for when rehearsal is not needed to form LTM, Not a sufficient explanation of memory
2.) Schematic Theory: States that people schemas reconstruct the original memory through rationalisation and confabulation of information. Offers implications for EWT in that people’s schemas will change parts of information they remember to make it make sense to them. So people should not be convicted solely in EWT.
+Can be scientifically tested due to operationalising reconstruction in the form of remembering details of a story accurately that can be countered each time. Reductionist equals scientific
-Flashbulb is an alternative theory. Details are less susceptible change due to their significance in their distinctive nature making it more vivid rejecting reconstruction
Cognitive: Key Question
=How can psychologist understand of memory help dementia patients?
=Memory models offer an explanation for D and methods that can help them remember
=MSM: Separate stores can lead to no new memories being formed if STM impaired or decayed due to retrieval failure
=WMM: Impairment in central executive makes dual task hard to coordinate. Suggests limiting distractions when talking.
=Tulving: Cue retrieval failure of E memories due to their higher susceptibility of transformation. Suggests using cues that are familiar like their favourite music.
+Baddeleys research into a dual task for dementia supports at they performed the same as the control on different encoding tasks (visual and auditory) but did significantly worse when they were the same like two visual tasks.
-Drugs that reduce symptoms of D by decreasing the breakdown of acetylcholine suggests that cause of D is more biological than cognitive and can only be helped as such
Cognitive: Baddeley
=Found that the STM encodes acoustically and the LTM encodes semantically
=Main application of this study has been for other Cognitive Psychologists, who have built on Baddeley’s research and investigated LTM in greater depth. Baddeley’s use of interference tasks to control STM has been particularly influential. Baddeley & Hitch built on this research and developed a brand new memory model – Working Memory.
=If LTM encodes semantically, it makes sense to revise using mind maps that use semantic links. However, reading passages out loud over and over (rote learning) is acoustic coding, but LTM doesn’t seem to work this way, so it won’t be as effective.
+High internal validity due to high controls over EVs and the manipulation of the IV ( A or S similar or dissimilar) and the DV (How many words recalled accurately from the list) allowing for a causal relationship to be established.
-Low task validity. Operationalising memory as accurately recalling a correct order of words from a list of words lacks mundane realism and doesn’t reflect memory in real life.
Areas of Biological Psychology that can apply Psychological Knowledge to Society
- Explanations of Aggression
- Psychodynamic Theory
- Twin and Adoption Studies
- Raine
Biological Psychology: Explanations of Agg
1.) Brain Structure: States that areas of the brain have certain functions and so damage to them can cause certain behaviours. PFC damage may lead to impulsive and violent behaviour as it is responsible for our self-control. Suggests that when convicting criminals in that if they have brain abnormalities they may not be fully accountable and this should be taken into consideration when they are being sentenced.
+Raine supports as he found ngris brains were different from non-murders inactivity using a PET scan
-Reductionist. Ignore the environment and its role in agg behaviour. Learnt through RMs and observation being agg instead of biology.
2.)NT: Increased Dopamine (pleasure) causes agg and low levels of serotonin (mood and cog) lead to being unable to inhibit urges of amygdala leading to increased agg. Drugs treatments is a solution such an antipsychotic and SSRIs to reduce the risk of individuals agg in society.
+Popova: found selectively bread dogs had high levels of S showing a link between it and agg
-Brendgen: Found social agg is due to environmental and how it shapes predisposition to agg behaviour suggest that it isn’t purely down to genes that define agg
3.) Hormones: High levels of T (male hormone, responsible for reproduction and muscle maintenance) high levels of cortisol (stress) cause high levels of agg. The solution is hormone therapy to regulate high levels of ones that cause risk of agg. reducing the risk to society.
+Wagner found that castrated rats showed little aggression compared to when they were injected with T and the agg levels rose
-Majority of Research is only correlational. High levels could be found as a result of agg. So casual relationship cannot be established reducing credibility.
Biological: Psychodynamic Theory
=Identifies that behaviours and reasons for behaviours are buried in the unconsciousness and cannot be accessed themselves. Agg is caused by the Oedipus and Electra complex.
=Offers mental health treatment in hypnotherapy to access the unconscious mind which has benefited society due to gearing mental health therapies away from barbaric approaches like electrotherapy or lobotomies
=Psychoanalysis can help treat emotional problems by exploring their unconscious causes. The psychoanalyst helps the client explore their own dreams and childhood memories and work out what they mean. Hopefully, the client will learn about the defence mechanisms they are using and the unresolved conflicts going on in their unconscious. They may come to self-knowledge. Requires trust and intimacy. Very expensive. Shedler (2010) concluded that, despite its lack of scientific support, psychoanalysis has about the same outcomes as other therapies like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) which are more scientifically-based.
+High V. Freud used case studies which gather rich in-depth data detailing the individual to develop an understanding id the topic being researched
-Concepts like the id, ego and superego are not measurable so his theories cant be falsified reducing their scientific status.
Biological: Twin and Adoption
=Aids nature-nurture debate by using comparisons between MZ and DZ twins for nature and adoption for nurture
=Understanding as to where genes or environment are responsible. Has an implication for treatments of undesirable behaviours depending on which.
+High R. Scientific methods such as DNA sequencing and brains scanning provide quantitative, objective which is scientific
-Low V. Never 100% concordance between MZ twins. No C and E relationship between behaviour being purely biological cannot be established.
