Psychology Unit 2 Flashcards
Definitions of Abnormality
- Deviation from social norms
- Deviation from Ideal Mental Health
- Failure to function adequately
Deviation from Ideal Mental Health
- Personal Growth
- Reality Perception
- Autonomy
- Integration
- Self Attitudes
- Environmental Mastery
Conformity
Type of social influence involving a change in belief or behavior in order to fit in with a group.
Asch’s study (Conformity)
- 123 male students were divided into groups of 7
- There were 18 trials in total and the confederates gave the wrong answer on 12 trials
- 32% of the participants conformed with the clearly incorrect majority and 25% never conformed
Evaluation:
- Limited sample lacking population validity (male students)
- Temporal Validity ( Results differ back then compared to present times)
- Protection from Harm, Deception
- Lab experiment, lacks ecological validity
- Controlled extraneous variables
- Replicable/ Reliable
Milgrim’s Experiment (Obedience)
- Electric shocks
- 1000 volunteers became the teacher and a confederate will be the student
- Increasing the shocks in steps of 15V until they reached 450V (fatal)
- Predicted that 1 % would go to 450V, however 65% people did
- Authority Figure ( Made P’s feel monitored so obedience levels were high)
- Culture ( Different cultures, different obedience levels)
- Responsibility ( Experimenter assured that they would take the blame if learner is harmed)
Evaluation of Milgrim
Weakness:
- Deception, Lack of Informed Consent, Confidentiality (study was filmed)
- Lab experiment, replicable, lacks ecological validity
- Lacks of population validity
Agentic State/ Autonomous State
Agentic State: - Being under the control of someone else and you will obey their orders even ifthey cause you distress Autonomous State - Being under ones own control and having the power
Rotter ( Locus Of Control)
High External:
- No control over events that occurred (Luck)
High Internal:
- Complete control over things and only you can change them (Independent)
Research on Locus of Control
Linz and Semykina:
- 2600 Russian employees
- No relationship between earning and LoC for men
- High internal women were high earners
Who would obey? H or I
Most likely to obey:
- External locus of control
- Low self esteem
- Less intelligence
- Higher need for social approval
Less likely to obey:
- Internal locus of control
- Self confidence
- Leadership quality
- Social responsibility
- Independent thinking
Resisting Conformity
Role of Allies:
- Asch showed how introducing another person who went against the majority caused conformity rates to drop
Individual Differences:
Griskevicus et al suggests that women conformed more than men due to evolutionary reasons
Conditions for Social Change through Minority
ACC
Allies:
- If someone sees another change their mind, cause the snowball effect
- May influence you to change your opinion
Consistency:
- Minority winning over the majority
- They need to be consistent and confident in what they are saying
Commitment:
- Convince people step by step by small actions
- Stick to their ideas
- E.g. Nazi party, supported by Milgrim’s experiment
Zimabardo
Conformity:
- Participants were given the roles of being a guard and prisoner
- Participants were arrested and blindfolded
- Guards humiliated and harassed the prisoners
- Study was stopped after 6 days instead of two weeks
Reciprocal Inhibition
- Two things aren’t compatible
- We can’t feel fear and relax at the same time
Systematic Desensitisation
- Designed to reduce distressing levels of anxiety
- Treats phobias
- Anxiety Hierarchy
Ellis’s A-B-C (Cognitive, REBT)
Activating Event (sight of the large spider)
Belief (e.g. ‘the spider is harmless’ - rational, ‘spider will kill me’ - irrational)
Consequence (rational beliefs lead to healthy emotions, irrational beliefs lead to unhealthy emotions)
Beck’s Cognitive Triad (Cognitive, REBT)
Themselves - ‘I am helpless and inadequate’
World - ‘The world is full of obstacles’
Future - ‘There’s no future for me’
CBT
- Changes both the faulty thinking and maladaptive behaviour
- Helps people became better adjusted and less anxious about life
Empirical Disputing:
- Challenged to provide proof that their belief is accurate
Pragmatic Disputing:
- Challenged to explain how having a particular irrational belief is likely to help them
Defence Mechanisms
- Denial (Completely reject the thought or feeling)
- Displacement (Redirect your feelings to another target)
- Sublimation (Redirect the feeling into socially productive activity)
- Regression (Revert to an old, usually immature behaviour)
Awareness of the mind
- Conscious
- Preconscious
- Unconscious
Personality Factors
- ID (Pleasure, Born)
- Ego (Reality, Age 1)
- Superego (Ideal Behaviour, Age 5)
Psychosexual Stages
- Oral
- Anal (Leads to OCD; Potty Training)
- Phallic
- Latency
Superego and ID
ID:
- Result in childlike behaviour that is pleasure seeking and irrational
Superego:
- Result in having excessive guilt, being good
Strength of Freud’s theory
- Influential because it led to the importance of early childhood and later behaviour
- Influenced further research into the dynamics of the human mind
Weakness of Freud’s Theory
- Theory such as ID, Ego and Superego, cannot be scientifically tested. Therefore, his theories cannot be proven or disproved
S.A.M (Acute response to stress)
- Higher brain centers detects the stressor and triggers the Hypothalamus, which then activates the SNS, stimulating the Adrenal Medulla.
- This produces two hormones, adrenaline and noradrenaline (Fight or Flight)
- Increases heart rate and blood pressure; dilates pupils
H.P.A (Chronic response to stress)
- Higher brain centers detects the stressor and triggers the Hypothalamus, which releases the hormone CRF.
- Activates the Pituitary Gland in the brain, releasing ACTH which activates the Adrenal Cortex - releases corticosteroids (cortisols)
Keicolt - Glaser et al (medical student study)
Stress Related Illness and the Immune System
- 75 first year medical student, volunteer sample, repeated measures design, natural experiment
- Month before their exams (low stress period), First day of their exams (high stress period)
- High white blood cells, strong immune system
- High stress period (white blood cells were low), Low stress period (white blood cells were high)
Strengths of Keicolt - Glaser
- Natural experiment, high ecological validity, situation was real and was not manipulated by the experimenter
- Low demand characteristics
- No ethical issues, no variables were manipulated, just measured
Weakness of Keicolt - Glaser
- First year medical students, cannot be generalised (lacks temporal and population validity)
- Volunteers, biased
- Impossible to replicate; not reliable
- Correlations cannot prove the cause and effect
Diathesis - Stress
Stress may not have a direct impact on illness but may trigger an illness such as depression
SRRS
Holmes and Rahe
- 43 life events which all have a score
- If above 150, 30% increase of a stress related illness
- If above 300, 50% increase
Evaluation of the SRRS
- Individual Differences are not taken into account
- Some events may not be stressful
- Scale is vague, doesn’t state whether events are positive or negative
- Lacks temporal validity
- Andocentric, focuses on male
- Eurocentric, specific to Western cultures
Rahe et al (SRRS)
Naval Study
- Relationship between stressful life events and increased rick of illness
- Opportunity sample of 2664 American naval about to go away for 6 months, questionnaire
- They had to note down any life events in the past 6 months and were given illness scores
- Weak, positive correlation between LCU and illness scores
- No relationship
Evaluation of Rahe et al
- Opportunity Sample
- Lacks population validity, cannot generalise
- Individual Differences
- Questionnaire, socially desirable responses
- Weak correlation
