Topic 6 - Zajonc et al Flashcards
What was the aim?
To provide evidence for drive theory
What was the sample?
72 adult female cockroaches
Why were cockroaches studied?
They were studied because they are photophobic (afraid of light), meaning they run away from a floodlight - giving a predictable and specific ‘performance’ to measure
What were the two different tasks?
Simple (runway) (going in a straight line) and complex (maze) (going round the corner)
What were the audience boxes?
Triangular see-through Perspex boxes were arranged around the runway and the maze
What was the purpose of the audience boxes?
The purpose was to hold cockroaches to provide an audience
What was the co-action conditions?
Testing in pairs
What was predicted in the co-action condition?
Increase performance in simple task but impede performance in complex task
What was the audience condition?
4 cockroaches were placed in the audience boxes
What was the prediction for the audience condition?
Any difference in performance would be due to the presence of others and not their behaviour
How were this all measured?
How quickly they were able to reach the ‘goal’ box - median time across 10 trials
What were the three conditions?
Alone, audience, co-action
What were the results in the simple task?
Co-action performed the quickest, then audience and then alone performed the slowest.
What were the results in the complex task?
Alone ran the fastest, then it was with an audience and then the co-acting cockroaches ran the slowest.
What were the conclusions in the co-action and the audience condition?
Arousal was increased - facilitated their performance in the easy task and it inhibited their performance in the complex task
