psychology as a science - classic studies Flashcards
psychology as a science in social classic study
sherif’s study is reliable because he controls extraneous variables e.g. pp’s were matched based on IQ and sporting ability therefore increasing validity.
However it is possible other extraneous variables were present because it was a field experiment, which reduces internal validity and harder to replicate.
pp’s are not generalisable because it was a small sample size of twenty-two 11 year old boys from protestant, white, middle class backgrounds.
psychology as a science in cognitive classic study
baddeley had high internal validity as recall of words in order eliminates the fact that some words were harder to recall than others.
His data was objective because it was a number of words recalled from a standardised list of words.
Baddeley was reliable because he had standardised procedure - controlled lab experiment and all the pp’s were split into 4 groups and made to recall a list of 10 words, this enables replication to improve confidence in findings.
psychology as a science in biological classic study
Raine had high replicability due to the standardised procedure e.g. every pp did a 10 minute brain stimulating task before PET scan.
However, Raine had low ecological validity because the PET scans were carried out in lab conditions which is an artificial environment not representable of real life human behaviour.
Nonetheless, PET scans are objective and has scientific credibility so can be measured scientifically and so low researcher bias.
Raine used control group which was matched to the murderers pleading NGRI (e.g. SZ, Epilepsy, brain damage) and all told to come off medication two weeks prior.
psychology as a science in learning classic study
Watson and Rayner used a lab experiment to control extraneous variables so it was very controlled and therefore was not influenced greatly by other stimuli.
However, little Albert is not a representative sample as one individual was chosen for their resilient nature.
The study was filmed so that inter-rater reliability of the observation could be assessed.
The study lacks ecological and task validity as the banging of a metal pole is an unusual stimuli to condition a fear. (artificial)
psychology as a science in clinical classic study
Rosenhan used good controls as pseudo-patients all recited the three same words “empty, hollow, and thud” when reporting their symptoms to hospital staff.
However, there was bias because all pseudo-patients were supporters of Rosenhan and so less inclined to report the positive findings.
Rosenhan used a field experiment so had high ecological validity and was representable of real life human behaviour of hospital staff.
He collected empirical data as he gained both qualitative and quantitative data. However , the qualitative data he gained from pseudo-patients could arguably be subjective.
