Psychology Being Investigated (AS) Flashcards
Andrade (doodling)
- Looking at whether doodling aids concentration/attention/memory
- Boredom plays a role in paying attention to information
- Cognitive processing of dual tasks compete for the same levels of performance
- This may slow down our overall cognitive processing speed
Baron-Cohen (eyes test)
- Theory of mind is the ability to attribute mental states to ourselves and others
- These can be desires, emotions, etc
- It’s also about how we use this knowledge to explain and predict the actions of other people
- We use this knowledge to understand that people may have different ideas and hold different emotions to us
Bandura et al. (aggression)
- Social learning theory was investigated
- People pay attention to a role model
- They retain this information in their memory
- They must feel capable of imitating the behaviour
- They must feel motivated to want to imitate the behaviour
- Aggression can be physical (hitting) and verbal (shouting)
Fagen et al. (elephant learning)
- operant conditioning is a type of learning where behaviour is acquired and maintained, based on its consequences
- Reinforcement increases likelihood of the behavior being repeated
- Primary reinforcer: stimulus that satisfies a basic need (chopped banana satisfies hunger)
- Secondary reinforcer: stimulus that doesn’t satisfy a basic need but **becomes a reward through association **with primary reinforcer (whistle)
Two types of reinforcement:
- positive (occurs when we carry out behaviour to receive a reward)
- negative (occurs when we carry out behaviour to avoid negative consequences)
Saavedra and Silverman (button phobia)
Evaluative learning:
* A person comes to perceive a previously neutral object/event negatively without anticipating fear
* It’s more likely to elicit disgust rather than fear of an object/event
Differs from classical conditioning as the person is being cognitively active by thinking about disgust and consequences rather than being a passive organism
Milgram (obedience)
- Obedience: how much we follow the orders of an authority figure
- Agentic state: when we give up our free will for the good of the authority figure
- Autonomous state: when we follow our own morals and aren’t swayed by others (e.g. effect of prods was looked at to see if people would give an electric shock to a stranger)
- Moral strain is experienced when we follow an authority figure but don’t agree with it
- This study investigated if obedience is socialised
Piliavin et al. (subway samaritans)
* Bystander: a person who is present but not directly involved in the situation
- Bystander apathy: when a bystander doesn’t show concern for a person in need
- Diffusion of responsibility: when there are other people available to help in an emergency, a person may be less likely to help due to a reduced sense of responsibility
Modelling: when we watch a person (model) perform a desired behavior (e.g. helping behavior)
Dement & Kleitman (sleep and dreams)
REM sleep: a phase of sleep where a person is paralysed
* Their eyes flicker and they can breathe, but all other muscles are paralysed
* nREM sleep: all the other stages of sleep, & they differ in brain activity
- Dreaming is a subjective experience of imagery while we are asleep
- EEGs measure brain wave activity
- They are used to measure the amplitude & frequency of brain waves
Hassett et al. (monkey toy preferences)
- socialisation: process of learning to behave in socially acceptable ways
- gender stereotypes: a bias exhibited in society which may be held by people and represented (e.g. in toys that assign particular traits, occupations, etc) to males and females
* play: pleasure gained in self-expression
- sex differences: ways that males and females differ caused directly by sex, and include both physical and behavioral differences
- The research considers the impact of hormones on play preferences, suggesting a biological component to these behaviours.
Pozzulo et al. (eyewitness testimony)
- Eyewitness testimony: someone who witnesses a crime/event. Eyewitness’ recall tends to be inaccurate
- Confabulation: when someone generates a false memory without intention of deceit
- False positive response: a person who is incorrectly classified as positive (the person commiting the crime)
- False memories: recollection of an event that didn’t occur
Holzel et al. (mindfulness)
- **localisation of function: ** refers to the way particular brain areas are responsible for different activities
- mindfulness: state achieved through meditation that aims to increase awareness of the present-moment experience and enable a person to look at themselves in a compassionate, non-judgemental way
- gray matter: tissue found in brain and spinal cord that enables the control of movement, emotions and memory
Perry et al. (personal space)
- interpersonal distance: there are 4 interpersonal distances: intimate distance (family or close relationships), personal distance (everyday interactions with others), social distance (formal), public distance (public figures e.g. lecturers)
- Social salience hypothesis: suggests oxytocin increases the noticeability (salience) of social cues, making individuals more sensitive to social information and enhancing social perception and behaviour.
- Oxytocin: a social hormone that plays a role in social bonding, childbirth and breastfeeding, and has been seen to promote prosocial and approach behaviours.
- Empathy: refers to a person’s ability to understand the thoughts, feelings and experiences of another.
Two types:
- Cognitive empathy: a person’s ability to determine another person’s emotional state.
- Affective empathy: a person’s ability to ‘feel’ that same emotional state.
