Studies to Use for Essay Tests Flashcards
Aim of Loftus (1979)
To test if leading questions can influence accuracy if recall
Procedure of Loftus
- Showed participants a film of an accident
- Changed one word in certain critical questions to see if it influenced speed estimates
- About how fast were the cars going when they XXX each other
Evaluation and Results of Loftus
Use of the different word activated different schemas in memory
Mean Speed Estimates:
Smashed - 40.8 mph
Contacted - 31.8
little ecological validity
accuracy of eyewitness testimonials can be influenced by question phrasing
possible to creat false memories
Key Words Loftus
cognitive, memory, schema
Aim of Maguire (2000)
to see if aquiring new knowledge causes structural changes to the human brain
Procedure of Maguire
This was based on the knowledge that London taxi drivers must do a two-year training course where they end up being ableto find their way around the city without a map.
MRI scans were used to scan the structure of the Hippocampus, which were compared to the scans of healthy males who did not drive taxis
Evaluation and Results of Maguire
Results: left and right hippocampus of taxi drivers had a larger volume than non-taxi drivers.
Conclusion: there was a redistribution of grey matter in hippocampus of driver due to regular use of spatial memory skills required to remember roads; neurons are stronger in areas of the brain which are used most.
quasi-experiment so no cause and effect relationship
single-blind to avoid researcher bias
Key Words Maguire
biological, localization, experimental, physiology, brain imaging
Aim of Rosenzwig (1984)
To see if the brain changes with experience
Procedure of Rosenzwig
researchers placed rats into 2 environments to measure the enrichment or deprivation on development of neurons in cerebral cortex.
One environment had interesting toys.
The other had no toys.
rats spent 30-60 days in the environment then they were killed.
Evaluation and Results of Rosenzwig
- dendrites in solitary rat had less growth
- social cage had longer, spiky dendrites
- brain changes with experience
- trying new things changes brain
- abilities in life are not fixed
Key Words Rosenzwig
biological, physiology
Aim of Newcomer et al (1999)
To see whether high levles of the stress hormone cortisol interfere with verbal declaritve memory
Procedure of Newcomer et al
There was a double-blind procedure and students were matched by gender and age
- three conditions: high levels of cortisol, low levels of cortisol, cortisol placebo
- participants listened to and recalled a prose paragraph each day a new one with the same difficulty
- all were tested before and after taking cortisol
- tested 1,4, and 6 days after taking the pill
Evaluation and Results of Newcomer et al
- high cortisol group had worst performance in verbal declaritive memory so high cortisol links to remembering, effects not permanaent
- no significant difference between low levels and placebo group
- baseline eliminated confounding variables
- participants’ outside lives could affect results
Key Words Newcomer et al
biological, hormones, environment
Aim of Bouchard (1979)
To see if genetics affect intelligence
Procedure of Bouchard
- compares MZA to MZT, largest cross cultural study started in 1979
- twins given different types of tests
Evaluation and Results Bouchard
- MZT 88% got same score
- MZA 76% got same score
- fraternal twins got 56% same score
- 70% of intelligence could be genetic
- supports biological roots of disordrs
- could share the same experience if raised together
Key Words Bouchard
biological, observational, genetics
Aim of Wesskind (1995)
To see if MHC (Major Histocompatibility Complax) would affect mate choice
Procedure of Wesskind
- 49 female and 44 male participants typed by MHC
- Chose from different departments at the University of Bern Switzerland
- The men were asked to weat T-shirts for two nights and keep in open plastic bag during the day
- Two days later, the women were asked to rank the smell of 7 t-shirts, each in a cardboard box with a “smelling hole”
- Three of the seven boxes contained T-shirts from men harboring MHC similar to the women’s own, three contained T-shirts from MHC dissimilar men, and one contained an unworn T-shirt as the control
- Alone in a room, every woman scored the odors of the T-shirts for intensity and pleasantness and sexiness (0-10)
Evaluation and Results of Wesskind
- Women scored male body odors as more pleasant when they differed from the men in MHC than when they were more similar
- difference in odor assessment was opposite iwht women taking oral contraceptives
- MHC or linked genes influence human mate choice
- possible confiramtion bias
Key Words of Wesskind
biological, genetics, ethics
Aim of Bartlett (1932)
To see how the memory of a story is affected by previous knowledge and how cultural background and unfamilarity with a text would lead to distortion of memory when the story is recalled.
Procedure of Bartlett
- used serial reproduction
- Bartlett told particpants a Native American legend called The War of Ghosts
- participants in the study were British so the story was filled with unknown names and concepts, and the developing of the story was foreign to them
- the story was ideal to study how memory was reconstructed based on schema processing
Evaluation and Results of Bartlett
- participants changed the story as they tried to remember it (distortion)
- Assimilation, leveling, sharpening: participants overall remembered the main themes in the story but changed unfamiliar elements to match their own cultural expectations so the story remained coherent whole although changed
Key Words of Bartlett
cognitive, reconstructive memory, culture, schema
Aim of Schachter and Singer (1962)
to determine if there is a relationship between cognitive and biological factors when it comes to emotion
Procedure of Schachter and Singer
male volunteers were injected with epinephrine, which causes rapid heartbeat, breathing, and trembling. The volunteers were split into two groups. Group one was informed that these symptoms were caused by the injection, while group two was not informed of this. Then, participants were put one at a time into situations that were irritating or humorous.
Evaluation and Results of Schachter and Singer
Group two labeled their symptoms as an emotion caused by the situation and reported more intense feelings than group one. The implications of this experiment are that physiological factors play a large role in emotion; the group that wasn’t told their symptoms were caused by epinephrine labeled those symptoms as coming from emotion even though they were merely physiological.
Key Words Schachter and Singer
cognitive, emotion
Aim of McGaugh and Cahill (1995)
to study the role of emotional arousal on memory
Procedure of McGaugh and Cahill
- In the first experiment, participants were split into two groups. The first group heard a neutral story accompanied by slides, and the second group heard an emotional story about a boy whose mom was in a car accident.
- In the second experiment, the two groups were told the same emotional story. Condition one was injected with propranolol, a beta-blocker, to prevent activation of the amygdala. Condition two had no injection.
Evaluation and Results of McGaugh and Cahill
- The second group had better recall and remembered more specific details of the story.
- Condition one did not have a stronger memory, showing that the amygdala plays an important role in emotional memory.
- The amygdala could possibly be affected by stress hormones, skewing the results. However, Pitman et al had similar results when the study was replicated. This study also establishes a cause-and-effect relationship.
Key Words McGaugh and Cahill
cognitive, emotion
Aim of Sharot et al (2007)
to determine the potential role of biological factors on flashbulb memories
Procedure of Sharot et al
- quasi-experiment after 9/11 by 3 years with 24 participants who were in NYC
- put in fMRI and presetned word cues while inside (summer of September) and brain activity was observed
- baseline was memories from past summer
- asked to rate memories in vividness
Evaluation and Results of Sharot et al
- those closer to the WTC reported more specefic details but not flashblub memories
- higher activation of amygdala in 9/11 than summer
- distance from WTC didn’t affect amygdala
- strength of amygdala correltates with flashblub memories
- correlational
- low ecological validity
- sample size small and culturally biased
Key Words Sharot et al
cognitive, technology
Aim of Neissar and Harsch (1992)
to investiagte the affect and accuracy in recall
Procedure of Neissar and Harsch
- morning of challenger disaster 106 Emory students filled out a questionnaire that was a description of how they heard news and had “cononical categories” questions
- asked how much time they spent watching
- 2.25 years later, 44 of the original students were given original questionnaire, and rate (1 to 5) confidence of their memory
- 25% remembered taking original questionnaire
- semi-strucuted interviews to see if they would repeat memory
- shown original responses
Results and Evaluation of Neissar and Harsch
- discrepancies between original and later responses
- mean accuracy score was 2.95/7
- high levels of confidence
- high ecological validity
- supports reconstructive memory
- difficult to replicate
Key Words Neissar and Harsch
cognitive, reconstructive memory, flashblub memories, emotion
Aim of Festinger
to determine the degree to which each member was convinced of the truth of the belief system
Procedure of Festinger
- covert participant observation, researchers undercover
- to gain entrance they told a story of how an old Mexican peasant woman told them of the coming flood
- got invited to Seekers meeting
- measuring foot-in-the-door
- November 19 and January 7, female observers lived in house for short time
Results and Evaluation of Festinger
- cognitive dissonance: members had already sacrificed too much
- danger that researchers influenced behavior
- observer fatigue
- no standarized tool of measurement
Key Words Festinger
sociocultural
Aim of Rogers & Frantz (1961)
to see if people new to Zimbabwe would adopt the stereotypes and feelings of prejudice about local African population
Procedure of Rogers & Frantz
- sample of 500 white Europeans aged 20 and over
- stratified sample
- survey had 66 examples of laws and customs that had whites and Africans treated differently
- Likert 0-6, 0 is maintain system and 6 is very important to discontinue law
Results and Evaluation of Rogers & Frantz
- mean score was 2.45 (SD 1.12), 348/500 fell below mean score of 3, p < 0.01
- significant statistical correlation between country of birth
