strengths of data
- quantitative data collected
- standardized and controlled
what is the theory of mind?
the cognitive ability to understand mental states and stages of others.
what were solutions to issues 1-3?
- The number of photos were increased from 25 to 36
- The number of forced- choice responses increased from 2 to 4
Psychology
-People's memories about their own life can be incorrect
- Researchers can implement false memories and made up events
- People can reconstruct memories by filling in gaps using false information that gets implanted as actual information
- Memories are cognitive events, but recalling memories is not
Real life application
- Can be used to help picky eaters gain dietary sustenance
- lessen dietary motivation: cancer, eating disorders, etc.
what were the ethical issues?
- participants not informed of actual purpose of study
- participants debriefed after study
what is the autism spectrum test (AQ)?
a self - questionnaire with scores ranging from 0-50. high score suggests person has more autistic traits.
weaknesses?
- Study lacks ecological validity
- Experimental sample (group 1) is small, so generalizing results to AS/HFA aren't possible
- Could be another variable causing differences between each group
ED/controls
ED: Independent measures
IV: - whether participants has the phrase "you loved asparagus"
- Whether they were in the "love" or control group
DV: Scores given to asparagus
Strengths
- standardization : higher reliability
- Many controls : increases validity
- Quantitative data allows :easier statistical analyses
what was the sampling size?
- 40 participants age 18-55
- 20 in experimental (17 females, 3 men)
- 20 in control ( 18 females, 2 men)
psychology being investigated:
- do people with autism have a deficit of Theory of mind
- to discover if there's a gender difference in theory of mind
What is the aim(s) of this study?
-main aim is to test group with AS/HFA on revised version of RET
- second aim is to test if there's a negative correlation in sample of normal adults between the RET and the AQ
- third aim is to test if there's a gender difference on RET (if females scored better)
Background
Human memory can be distorted
- Braun et al (2002) ( convinced ppl bugs bunny was at disney even though its a warner bros character)
- Bernstein et al (2005) showed that memory alteration can also have consequences
Weaknesses
- Lacks ecological validity and mundane realism
- Low generalizability bc sample only consisted of students
- Self-report measures increases chances of demand characteristics: reducing validity of study
- Ratings are subjective, reducing validity
What is the IV?
doodling while monitoring a telephone message (experimental)
not doodling while monitoring a telephone message (control)
Background:
1997 "Reading the mind in eyes" test
results
- scores range from 17-35 with mode of 24
- adults with AS/HFA preformed slightly worse than other groups on RET
- Adults with AS/HFA preformed higher than control group on AQ test
Ethical Issues
Participants decieved about aim of study
- Informed consent couldn't b obtained cause participants didn't know true aim therefore couldn't give full consent
Conclusion
- It is possible to implant false positive memories in individuals and these will have consequences on their attitude and behavior towards food
-False memories primes an individual to process the image of asparagus as more positive and interpret it as something familiar, misattributing it to childhood memories
individual , situational debate:
- individual: doodling may affect everybody differently based on character traits and habits
- situational: case study showed doodling improved concentration
What were the first 3 issues in 1997 case study?
1) range scores too narrow to produce accurate results
2) issues differentiating ppl with actual autism and "broader phenotype"
3) ceiling effect is likely to occur due to narrow score range
Ethical Issues
- Participants were asked for consent but their ability to fully consent is unknown
- Results deem individuals with AS/HFA to lack certain cognitive/social skills, which may make some participants uncomfortable
Sample Size
103 participants
- 64 female, 39 male undergraduate students at University of Washington with mean of age 20
- Received course credit for participation
Aim
- To investigate whether positive false memories for loving asparagus can be implanted into people and then change their childhood memories about liking asparagus
- To investigate consequences of implanting positive false memories in terms of effect it has on liking of asparagus and choosing asparagus
- to replicate and extend findings of experiment 1
- To examine possible underlying mechanisms of false memories by looking at whether the sight of asparagus is more appealing to people after false manipulation about asparagus