unit 1 evaluation

Question 1

evaluation of conformity types and explanations

Answer 1

1. research support: students maths problems more conformity to incorrect when problems were difficult. especially in those who rated their ability poor
2. individual differences: engineering students were less conformist as they were more confident in their abilities
3. oversimplified: conformity reduced with dissenter reduces NSI and ISI. Don’t know which one is working
4. NSI support: Asch interviewed self conscious when asked to write 12.5%
5. n affilators need greater social approval and are more likely to conform

Question 2

evaluation of Asch research

Answer 2

1. temporal validity: using engineering students conformity was lower. more conformity in 1950. not consistent
2. situation and task artificial: demand characteristics task trivial no reason to conform. can’t generalise
3. can’t generalise: only tested on white male students. some evidence suggest women are more conformist. individualist culture less conformist
4. apply to certain situations: when with strangers they wanted to impress conformity increased as well as with friends. Asch effect varies on circumstances
5. ethical issues. deceived the participant

Question 3

conformity to social roles: Zimbardo research evaluation

Answer 3

1. control over variables: emotionally stable and randomly assigned due to pressures of situation not personality. increases the internal validity
2. lacked realism: participants were playacting reflecting stereotypes. although 90% of prisoners conversations were about prison
3. disposition influences: 1/3 of guards behaved brutal 1/3 applied rules fairly and 1/3 actively supported prisoners. overstated exaggerations shows they could exercise right and wrong choices.
4. contradicted: replication where prisoners took control social identity theory. guards failed to develop and a shared social identity.
5. ethics. protection from harm

Question 4

evaluation of Milgram’s research

Answer 4

• lacked internal validity: participants guessed shocks were fake. with participants real shocks given to puppy 54% of males and 100% of females delivered what they believed to be a fatal shock
• good external validity: relationship reflected real life authority. nurses in hospital. generalised
• replication support: french documentary 80& gave max 450 v to an unconscious man. anxiety. support
• social identity theory: participants identified with experimenter with the first 3 prods as they appealed to help of science but after prod 4 demanding complete obedience all quit.
• ethical issues: deception and protection from harm

Question 5

obedience situational variables evaluation

Answer 5

• research support: confederates ask passerby to provide coin more likely to obey the security guard
• lack internal validity: participants more likely to realise fake because of the extra manipulation
• replicated in other culture: over 90% in Spain. replications in western society premature to conclude
• control of variables: systematically alternated variables but kept constant. replication. cause and effect
• obedience alibi: provide excuse offensive to Holocaust survivors. As it ignores the roles of discrimination, racism and prejudice

Question 6

evaluation of the agentic state as an social psychological explanation of obedience

Answer 6

• research support: showed film of milgrams study and ask to identify who was responsible. blamed the experimenter rather than participant. due to legitimate expert authority. students recognised legitimate authority as cause of obedience
• doesn’t explain many research findings
  some participants did not obey, nurses showed no anxiety as they gave responsibility over to the doctor even thought they understood their role was destructive. only account for some situations
• cannot account for behaviour of Nazis. German reserve police battalion 101 shot civilians dead in a small town in Poland did this even though not directly ordered to. challenges were not powerless to obey.

Question 7

evaluation of legitimacy of authority as an social psychological explanation of obedience

Answer 7

• useful account for cultural differences: countries differ in obedience to authority: 16% Australians went to highest voltage. 85% of Germans did. authority more likely to be accepted as legitimate in some cultures. reflective on how different societies are structures and how they raise children. supportive findings from cross cultural increase validity
• can explain real life obedience. suggested the My Lai Massacre is explained by power hierarchy in US army. Army has authority recognised by government and law. soldiers assume order given to be legal. gives explanation to why destructive obedience is committed.

Question 8

evaluation of the authoritarian personality

Answer 8

• support for link: interviewed fully obedient participants all scored highly on F scale. link is correlation. 3rd factor may be involved lower levels of education.
• explanation limited. millions of individuals in Germany displayed obedient and anti semitic behaviour but don’t posses the same personality. social identify theory identified with Nazi state.
• F scale politically based: F scale measure tendency toward extreme right wing. but right wing and left wing authoritarianism exist. Not comprehensive dis-positional explanation of obedience.
• based on flawed methodology: F scale items are worded in same direction measures tendency to agree. knew test scores when interviewed. biased. lack validity.
• correlations: not matter how strong a correlation it does not mean cause and effect. claim that harsh parenting style caused development may be incorrect

Question 9

evaluation of social support as an explanation of resistance to social influence

Answer 9

• research support: found independence increased with one dissenter in Asch tpe study. occurred even when he wore thick glasses and said he had problems with vision. not motivated by following but enables someone to be free from group pressure.
• research support: higher levels of rebellion than Milgram did. as participants were in groups to produce evidence that oil company would use to run a smear campaign. 29 out of 33 groups of participants rebelled. peer support linked to resistance

Question 10

evaluation of Locus of control LOC as an explanation of resistance to social influence

Answer 10

• research support: repeated Mlgram study measured LOC. 37% internals did not continue only 23% externals did not continue. internals showed greater resistance. increases the validity
• not all research support: analysed data from American LOC studies over 40 years showing that people had become more independent but also more external. we would expect people to become more internal. challenges link. results due to changing society were many things are increasing out of our control.
• exaggerated: found LOC only important in new situation. it has little influence in familiar situations where previous experiences are more important. this is overlooked. people who conform or obey a situation in the past are likely to do it again whatever LOC. Limitation only helpful in explaining a narrow range of new situations

Question 11

evaluation of minority influence

Answer 11

• research support importance of consistency: consistent minority opinion had a greater effect on other people. meta analysis of 100 similar studies found that minorities being consistence was most influential.
• research involves deeper thought: gave participants message supporting particular viewpoint and attitudes measured. endorsement either from minority or majority and heard conflicting view. people were less willing to change opinions to the new conflicting view if they had listened to the minority group. minority message processed deeply and had more enduring effect.
• involve artificial tasks: identifying colour far removed. jury decision, political campaigning more important. lack external validity. can’t be generalised
• application limited: studies make clear the distinction but in real life it is more complicated. majorities have power and status. minorities a tight knit groups with support. rarely reflects the dynamics in real life. cant generalise

Question 12

evaluation of social influence and social change

Answer 12

• research support role of NSI, Nolan et al hung messages on doors that told them other residents are trying to reduce energy usage. significant decreases in energy use compared to control group. so conformity can lead to social change through NSI
• minority influence indirectly effective: Nemeth suggests the effects of minority influence are indirect (the majority is influence only on matters related to the central issue not the actual issue) and delayed. limited explanation shows effect are fragile and role is narrow.
• deeper processing questioned: Moscovici suggested minority influence causes individuals to think deeply different cognitive process to majority influence. Mackie argues that majority influence creates deeper processing. so central element is challenged casting doubt on validity
• identification is important variable overlooked: Bashir et al suggested people less likely to behave in environmentally friendly way because they wanted to avoid stereotype. minorities wanting social change should avoid behaving in stereotypical ways.
• methodological issues: rely on studies by Moscovici, Asch and Milgram. these can be evaluated in terms of methodology, mainly over the artificial nature of the tasks. cant generalise findings to social change.

Question 13

evaluation of coding capacity and duration

Answer 13

• Braddeley study didn’t use meaningful material. word lists have no personal meaning may use semantic with more meaningful.. can be generalised.
• Jacobs temporal validity. early research lacked control of EVs. may be distracted while tested. Confounding variables. supported by other research.
• Miller overestimated capacity of STM. review of research concluded capacity was 4 chunks. lower end of the estimate.
• Peterson and Peterson artificial stimulus. constant syllables do not reflect real life activities not meaningful lacked external validity. there is a place in real life such as phone numbers.
• Bahrick et al high external validity. real life meaningful memories. with meaningless photos recall was lower. confounding variables not control rehearsal.

Question 14

evaluation of multi store memory model

Answer 14

• support research: Baddeley mix up similar sounding words in STM and mixing up similar meaning words in LTM. STM - acoustic and LTM semantic. support stores as separate and independent
• more than 1 type of STM: amnesia suffers. STM memory of digits poor but improved when he read it himself. non verbal sounds. more than one type of STM
• artificial materials: research uses meaningless info and lacks external validity and can’t be generalised to every day life.
• oversimplifies LTM: LTM not unitary store, semantic, episodic. limitation
• MSM 1 type of rehearsal: maintenance and elaboration which is needed for long term link info to existing knowledge.

Question 15

evaluation of types of long term memory

Answer 15

clinical / case studies: amnesia (HW) difficulty recalling events bit semantic and procedural memory worked fine. supports.
neuroimaging : memory tasks while in PET scanners episodic in left and semantic in right prefrontal. physical reality. supporting validity
real life application: target kinds pf memories. episodic can be improved with mild cognitive therapy in patients.
problems with clinical case studies lack control and are hard to generalise
2 types of LTM : episodic and semantic are stored together and both are consciously controlled.

Question 16

evaluation of working memory model WMM

Answer 16

• case of KF: poor STm ability for verbal info but could process visual. so only the phonological loop was damaged
• dual task performance: it is more difficult doing 2 visual tasks than visual and verbal. because the 2 visual tasks compete for space
• lack of clarity of central executive: CE more clearly defined. consists of many components not fully or clearly explained
• word length: limited space for rehearsal hard to remember longer words
• brain scans: central executive in prefrontal cortex and activity increases with difficulty

Question 17

evaluation of forgetting via interference

Answer 17

1. artifical materials: deomonstrated more in lab. articfical tasks can’t be applied to everyday life
2. evidence from lab studies: consistently demonstrate . lab control. valid explanation.
   3 time between learning. short time periods used in lab studies do not reflect with real life. cannot generalise
3. real life studies: Rugby players. the more games played in the mean time was a bigger influence than time since the game
4. overcome using cues: recall fell as given additional lists. a cued recall rose recall back to 70%

Question 18

evaluation of retrieval failure theory

Answer 18

• support evidence: impressive range. increasing validity evidence in real life as well as lab studies
• questioning context affect: not strong low recall. life application
• recall v recognition: sea divers replication using recognition no context dependent effect cues affect memory only when tested a certain way.
• problems with ESP: cant be tested un-falsifiable
• real life application: recall in learned environment. basic principle of cognitive interview

Question 19

evaluation of misleading information affecting eyewitness testimony

Answer 19

• real life application : +ve difference improving legal systems
• consequences of EWT: very important in real world less so in studies. likely to give different answers
• use clips that lack stress and emotion of real life. so use of artificial tasks with lower application
• individual differences: older people less accurate
• demand characteristics: guess questions they do not know as they want to be helpful.

Question 20

evaluation of factors affecting eyewitness testimony: anxiety

Answer 20

1. weapon focus not relevant: test of surprise accuracy poorer due to surprise
2. demand characteristics: aware watching a staged crime work out being asked questions give useful responses. validity
3. inverted u too simplistic: anxiety difficult to measure as has many elements. assumes cognitive links to poor performance. does not account for others ( behavioural, emotional, psychical)
4. field studies lack control:long time between. extraneous variables occur during this time may be responsible for accuracy fall.
5. ethical issues: creating anxiety in subjects does not protect them from psychological harm. real life studies are better.

Question 21

evaluation of the cognitive interview

Answer 21

1. time consuming: police are reluctant to use. and it requires special training
2. some elements more valuable: combining report everything and context reinstatement produces better recall increasing credibility.
3. support for effectiveness: meta analysis ECI consistently provided more correct information. practical benefit
4. variations of CI: studies of effectiveness use different techniques making it difficult to draw conclusions
5. CI increases inaccurate info: as well as correct 81% increase in info but a 61% increase in incorrect information.

Question 22

evaluation of caregiver interactions (5)

Answer 22

• hard to know what is happening when observing. we cannot get the infants perspective
• well controlled procedures: experiments were filmed. babies don’t know their being observed. better validity
• purpose of synchrony and reciprocity: it is simple a description of the two not how they occur. some evidence that synchrony is helpful in the development of mother infant attachment, stress responses, empathy, language and moral development.
• socially sensitive: child may be at disadvantage because of child rearing practises, mothers who work.
• value to society: international synchrony foundation for high quality attachments lead to valuable methods for improving and developing mother- infant attachments.

Question 23

Evaluation of role of father

Answer 23

• research interested in different questions: some focus on fathers as secondary caregivers other focus them as primary caregiver.
• evidence undermines idea father have distinct role: children growing up in same sex or single are not different
• no clear answers about fathers as primary attachment. related to traditional gender roles or could be female hormones that mean women are more nurturing are more commonly primary attachment figures
• social biases: preconceptions and stereotypes about fathers cause observer bias. hard to disentangle actual role from social biases about their role
• economic implications: mother’s pressurised to stay at home. not to contribute to the economy. research comforts women in making a decision.

Question 24

evaluation of shaffer’s stages of attachment

Answer 24

• external validity: baby behaviour unlikely to effected by observer, observations made by parent. participants behaved naturally whole being observed.
• longitudinality: better validity have less confounding variables due to participant differences in cross sectional
• problems with how multiple attachment assessed: just because they are distressed could be playmate.
• problems with asocial year: young babies are immobile so it is different to make judgements based on observation. babies may be quite social but because of flawed methods seem a social
• timing of multiple attachments: some cultures multiple attachments appear from outset. collectivist

Question 25

evaluation of Lorenz

Answer 25

• hard to generalise to humans- mammalian attachment system is very different to birds. e.g emotional attachment
• concept of imprinting: chicks imprinting to yellow gloves would try to mate with them. animals are born with innate mechanisms to imporint on a moving object in a critical window
• some of observations and conclusions questioned: chicks and rubber gloves after experience they learned to mate with own kind. effects of imprinting are not as long lasting

Question 26

Evaluation of Harlow

Answer 26

• important practical value: helped social works understanding risk of child abuse and the importance of attachment figures
• ethics: monkey similar to humans and suffered greatly.. Harlow was aware of the suffering he caused. however findings might have enough significant important to allow for such procedures.
• generalising: monkeys are not human. human babies develop speech and communication influences formation of attachment. can’t generalise findings

Question 27

evaluation of learning theory of attachment

Answer 27

• animal studies evidence against: comfort more important
• human research against: shaffer and emmerson PAF was the mother even when others did feeding.
• ignores other factors: cannot account for sensitivity and international synchrony, reciprocity studies show importance
• element still involved: many other aspects of development associated by condition. primary caregiver associated with comfort and interaction
• SLT: parent’s teach children to love by modelling rewarding with approval. behaviour learnt as a result of interaction. fits with importance of interactional synchrony

Question 28

evaluation of Bowlby monotropic theory

Answer 28

• mixed evidence for montoropy: shaffer and emerson found a significant minority formed multiple attachments at the same time. mother attachment better predictor due to PA not different quality
• support social releasers: when social releasers ignored babies were distressed and motionless strong response supports
• support internal working model: interview of mothers and assessed attachment. those reported bad attachments with their mother had a bad attachment with their own child
• monotropy social sensitive: feminist blaming the mother and life choices
• overemphasise role of attachment: temperament is more important. temperamental difference rather than quality of attachment explain latter behaviours.

Question 29

evaluation of Ainsworth’s strange situation

Answer 29

• predictive validity: attachment types predict later development validity of the concept explains subsequent outcomes
• good inter-rater reliability: different observers agree same 94% of the time. controlled conditions and categories easy to observe
• culture bond test: attachment behaviour different meaning in different cultures.
• temperament confounding variable: more important influence on behaviour. questions validity
• other attachment types: disorganised attachment mix of avoidant and resistant behaviour

Question 30

evaluation of cultural variation in attachment

Answer 30

• large samples in meta analysis reduces impact of anomalous results. improve internal validity
• samples unrepresentative of culture: countries do not equate to culture. specific methods of child rearing can’t make generalisation
• method assessment is biased: research imposes USA test on other cultures (imposed etic)
• cross cultural differences due to media: creating different parenting norms
• temperament confounding variables

Question 31

Romanian orphan studies evaluation

Answer 31

• important practical application: led to improvements in institutions change key workers develop normal attachments
• fewer confounding variables: studies before children experienced trauma. without these increased internal validity
• generalisability: conditions so bad results can be applied as unusual situation variables cant apply to other situations
• Not randomly assigned: did not interfere with the adoption process likely those adopted were more sociable. Bucharest did randomly assign to remove confounding variables but this raises ethical issues
• long term effect: those who lag behind may still catch up. early adopted may experience problems later in life.

Question 32

evaluation of influence of early attachment on later relationships

Answer 32

• evidence on continuity is mixed: assessed infant and adolescent attachment with very little relationship found.
• validity issues: test attachment using interview ans questions retroactive bias views
• indicates association: temperament may effect. alternative explanations. internal working model may not cause outcome
• exaggerated: probabilistic. does not doom people just increases risk of problems too pessimistic
• theoretical problem: Internal working model is unconscious and un-falsifiable no direct evidence. participants answers depend on conscious understanding.

Question 33

evaluation of Bowbly theory of maternal deprivation

Answer 33

• evidence flawed. studied war orphans who were traumatised and had poor after care. these factors were more important. poor quality institutions deprived of many aspects of care. Bowbly interviewed himself bias.
• counter evidence: Lewis replicated 44 thieves. early prolonged maternal separation did not predict criminality or different relationships. limitation.
• later research sensitive period. Czech twins. after care fully recovered. positive outcomes. sensitive rather than critical as not permanent
• animal studies. separating baby rats from mother even for a day had permanent effect on social development. extent of generalisation
• didn’t distinguish between deprivation and privation. privation is the failure to form any attachment. Bowbly misdiagnosed. many 44 thieves did not form attachments in the first place.

Question 34

evaluation of statistical infrequency

Answer 34

• real life application: all assessments of patients includes a comparison to statistical norms
• unusual characteristics +ve: just because it is infrequent doesn’t mean a disorder. High IQ are rare but not consider to be negative. limitation never should be used alone to diagnose
• not everyone unusual benefits from a label: when someone is living a happy life there is no benefit from labelling them abnormal. If someone has a low IQ but is not distressed or out of work they do not require a label. negative effect on perception

Question 35

evaluation of deviation from social norms

Answer 35

• not sole explanation: APD shows there is a place for the definition but there are often other factors to consider. in practise never sole reason for defining.
• culturally relative: what may be normal to one culture is abnormal to another. creates problem of universality
• leads to human rights abuses: lead to systematic abuse of rights. Nymphomania (women attracted to working class men) are examples of where it was used for social control. some classification abuse rights to be different

Question 36

evaluation of failure to function adequately

Answer 36

• recognises patient’s perspective: difficult to assess distress acknowledges experience of patient
• same as deviation from social norms: hard to say if someone is failing to function or deviation from social norms. live alternative lifestyles extreme sports behaving manipulatively. limiting freedom
• subjective judgement: some patients may feel distressed but judged fine. objective methods such as using checklists - does a psychiatrist have the right to make these judgements.

Question 37

evaluation of deviation from ideal mental health

Answer 37

• comprehensive: covers broad range of criteria and reasons someone would seek help or be referred
• culturally relative: specific to western culture emphasis on self actualisation considered as self indulgence in collectivist cultures
• unrealistically high standards: very few people can meet the high criteria so most people would be abnormal. positive clear ways on how to improve someone but has not value if it is against their will.

Question 38

evaluation of the 2 process model for phobias

Answer 38

• important implications for therapy and explains why patients need to be exposed to stimulus. application strength
• not all avoidance behaviour is associated with phobia is anxiety reduction. agoraphobia is motivated by safety so they will often leave the house with a trusted friend.
• does not explain where all phobias come from. some phobias are acquired without bad experiences. biological factors
• ignores cognitive aspects such as irrational thinking
• not all bad experiences lead to phobias

Question 39

evaluation of systematic desensitisation

Answer 39

• technique proven most effective with specific phobias. 42 patients with spider phobias. less fearful than control long lasting effect
• suitable for diverse range of patients: causes less trauma and involves pleasant experience. suitable for people with learning difficulties who struggle with cognitive which require reflection. acceptable to patients as it does not cause as much trauma as flooding.
  low refusal rates and low attrition rates.

Question 40

evaluation of flooding

Answer 40

• cost effective. studies found it highly effective and much quicker with less sessions needed
• less effective at treating more complex phobias such as social ones. as they experience more cognitive factors e.g irrational thinking and may benefit more from cognitive therapies
• treatment is highly traumatic. although not unethical with informed consent. participants often unwilling to see it through. wasting money and time. treatment not effective.

Question 41

evaluation of Ellis ABC model

Answer 41

• partial explanation: does not explain why some depression has no obvious cause so explanation only applies to certain kinds
• cognition may not cause all aspects: anxiety and distress can store physical energy that energy after an event. cause of doubt on cognition
• does not explain less common symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions or bizarre beliefs
• piratical application to CBT which is successful. irrational beliefs are challenged reducing symptoms

Question 42

evaluation of Beck’s cognitive theory

Answer 42

• research supports. pregnant women tested for cognitive vulnerability due to faulty info processing were more likely to get post natal depression
• makes up the basis of CBT. leads to successful therapy challenging the negative triad. practical application
• cannot explain less common symptoms such as hallucinations, bizarre beliefs, cotord syndrome

Question 43

evaluation of the cognitive approach to treating depression (CBT) strengths

Answer 43

• large body of evidence supporting effectiveness after 36 weeks. 81% effective CBT, 81% effective medication, 86% both. adolescents. as effective as drugs. helpful alongside medication
• success due to therapist patient relationship all psychotherapies are very similar 1 essential ingredient relationship and the quantity of this determine success. all therapies share this basis

Question 44

evaluation of the cognitive approach to treating depression (CBT) limitations

Answer 44

• does not work on severe cases: cannot motivate themselves to take part in hard cognitive work. medication started and the CBT once improved. cant be the sole treatment
• explore their past: CBT focuses on the present and future ignoring aspects of patient experience. limitation
• overemphasis on cognition: CBT minimises importance of living circumstances poverty and abuse. overemphasis on the mind not the environment. CBT used inappropriately more important to change a persons situation.

Question 45

evaluation of genetic explanations of OCD

Answer 45

• supporting evidence twin studies 80% identical twins shared OCD. 31% in nonidentical
• too many candidate genes: each variation only increase risk slightly provides little predictive value
• environmental risk factors. 50% OCD patients experience traumatic events. more severe the OCD the more severe the trauma. not entirely genetic. more productive to focus on environmental causes

Question 46

evaluation of neural explanations of OCD

Answer 46

• drugs that increase serotonin reduce OCD symptoms. suggesting serotonin is involved in OCD symptoms. suggesting serotonin is involved OCD symptoms associated with other biological conditions. biological processes may be responsible
• serotonin- OCD link not unique: many suffers of OCD become depressed. co-morbidity depression caused by serotonin. could be that serotonin system disrupted because the OCD patient is depressed.

Question 47

evaluation of drug treatment of OCD

limitations

Answer 47

• side effects. significant minority will get no improvements, SSRIS ingestion, blurred vision, loss of sex drive. clomiprame more common and serious side effects stop patient from taking it.
• unreliable: some believe favouring drugs treatment is biased because sponsored by drug companies who suppress evidence for economic gain
• OCD following trauma: may not be appropriate to use drugs treating cases that follow trauma to use drugs treating cases that follow trauma when psychological therapies may provide the best option

Question 48

evaluation of drug treatments for OCD strengths

Answer 48

• effective. clear evidence from 17 studies show better results for SSRIs than placebo. symptom decline in 70% of patients
• cost effective and non disruptive: drugs are cheap compared to psych treatment and less disruptive to patients as psych therapy can be hard work.