IB SL Psychology Studies Review!!!

Studies from the Biological Level of Analysis

100

What is the case of HM? (Ogden, 2005)

- to examine the role of the hippocampus and the effects of having it removed - HM had brain surgery to remove a brain tumor and the surgery ended up taking out part of his hippocampus on accident. He started to suffer from both long and short term memory loss -The hippocampus plays an extremely vital role in collecting and retaining memory

200

What is the case of Phineas Gage? (Damasio et al.,1994)

- Aim: to study localization in functions of the brain - Method: Damasio studied Gage's behavior before and after he suffered severe damage to his left prefrontal region to determine whether or not certain behaviors/actions are determined in specific areas of the brain - oncluded that the left prefrontal area is responsible for a certain function: higher-level thought, decision-making, planning, & personality

300

What is Roger Sperry's work with Split-brained patients? (Meyers and Sperry, 1953)

- Aim: the effects of severing the corpus callosum in humans - Method: studied 10 ppl who had undergone split brain procedure and tested on their functioning behavior; the patients focused on one visual point; Images were then flashed on either the left or right side, depending on which side was supposed to receive that signal. - Results: Information from the left half of the visual field is sent to the right half of the brain; information from the right half of the visual field is sent to the left half of the brain

400

What is Changes in the brains of experienced London Taxi drivers (Maguire et al., 2000)?

◦Aim: to examine the neuroplasticity of the brain; hippocampus -Method: compared MRI brain scans of men who have driven taxis to men who have never driven taxis -Results: found positive correlation between volume of the hippocampus and years spent as a taxi driver; the increased size of the hippocampus is probably caused by intense development and use of spatial memory skills which then strengthened connections between neurons

500

What is Schacter and Singer (1962)?

◦Aim: adrenaline's effect on emotion ◦Participants ◾184 male volunteers ◦Procedure and Results ◾The volunteers were told they were receiving a vitamin injection for a vision test. None of the participants actually received a vitamin injection; 3 groups received an adrenaline injection and a placebo group received a saline injection. The three groups receiving the adrenaline were given three different types of information regarding possible side effects. The participants later filled out a self-report form about how they felt during two different scenarios - a euphoric one and an angry one. Their behavior was also observed ◾ The participants that were manipulated by the euphoria context that were given adrenaline, without information about effects, appeared to be happy and also reported that they were happier. Those who were aware of effects and given the anger context, however, reported being angry. Their behavior suggested otherwise. Observation showed that those that knew the effects of their injection were much less angry and irritable than those who were not aware of the effects.

Studies from the Cognitive Level of Analysis

100

What is Bartlett (1932)?

◦Aim: to investigate how memory of a story is affected by previous knowledge or schemas that we already have towards things. ◦Procedure and Results: Bartlett had his English participants read a short, Native American story called the war of the ghosts. After reading, he asked them to reproduce the story serially, meaning one subject wrote the story down from memory after a certain time, then another subject read that reproduction and had to reproduce it from memory. This process continued 6 or 7 times. ◾found that in retelling the story, it became much shorter than the original version; participants seemed to change parts of the story to make more sense to them culturally.

200

What is Brown and Kulik (1977)?

◦Aim: to identify what sorts of public events caused more FBMs in Americans and to identify what sorts of events were involved in personal FBMs ◦Participants: 80 American participants (40 black, 40 white) ◦Procedure and Results: Participants were asked a series of questions about 10 different events. Of the 10 events, 9 were well known news stories such as assassinations or attempted assassinations of famous Americans. The last question, however, was a personal event such as the death of a loved one. They were also asked how often they recalled or rehearsed the information. ◾The assassination of JFK was the most recalled event with 90% recalling it with vivid detail. Black participants reported more FBMs for civil rights leaders, such as MLK. Most of the personal flashbulb memories were related to the death of a parent.

300

What is Loftus and Palmer (1974)?

◦Aim: To see if different words in the leading questions can affect answers. ◦Participants: 45 American students ◦Procedure and Results: Participants watched video clips of different car accidents, and after each clip they were asked questions about what they saw. The critical question was asked about the speed at which the car was traveling. They changed the verb used in the question. This was in the form of a leading question. ◾Loftus and Palmer determined that altering a key word or phrase in the leading question does affect our answering. Participants who were asked with the word "contacted" said the car was going 31.8 mph and participants who were asked with the word "smashed into" said the car was going 40.8 mph thus Loftus and Palmer concluded that eyewitness memory is not as accurate and can be manipulated

400

Speisman et al., (1964)

◦Aim: cognitive appraisals affect on the body's response to stressful situations ◦Procedure and Results: Participants were shown a stressful film of boys undergoing circumcisions, while a soundtrack was played in the background. The soundtrack was manipulated to define four experimental conditions, a trauma condition (the pain experienced by the boys and the sharp knife were emphasized), denial (boys entering manhood was emphasized as oppose to the negative aspects), intellectualization (emphasized traditions of the culture), and silent. Arousal state was measured by galvanic skin response or measure of the electrical conductivity of the skin to indicate arousal or heart rate. ◾Highest heart rate was in the trauma condition and the lowest was in the intellectualization and silent conditions. The video affected their physiological reaction.

500

What is Cole (1996)?

◦Aim: to examine the circumstances in which Kpelle people (An illiterate African tribe) encountered something recognizable to us as mathematics ◦Participants: American and Kpelle adults and school children ◦Procedure and Results: Each subject was presented with 4 mixing bowls holding different amounts of rice (1.5, 3, 4.5, 6 kopi), shown the tin to be used as the unit of measurement, and asked to estimate the number of kopi of rice in each bowl. ◾Kpelle adults were very accurate in measuring the amount of rice in kopi. American adults overestimated the amounts of rice. Both American and Kpelle children made estimating mistakes. This led to the conclusion that people from all cultures have skills related to what is relevant to everyday practice.

Studies from the Sociocultural Level of Analysis

100

What is The Bobo doll experiment (Albert Bandura, 1961)?

◦Aim: To demonstrate that learning can occur through observation of role models. ◦36 boys and 36 girls from age 3 to 6 were divided into groups according to their aggression evaluation from their parents and teachers. ◦Group 1 was exposed to adult models who showed aggression by beating up a Bobo Doll. Models were of both genders. -Group 2 observed an adult model who displayed no aggression. Models were of both genders. -Group 3 was a controlled group who did not see any model. (Control) -The children were then placed into the room with a Bobo doll after 10 minutes of watching the model. -Children who observed the aggressive model showed significantly more aggression both physically and verbally. -Boys were more likely to imitate physical aggression; Girls were more likely to imitate verbal aggression. -Social learning theory was demonstrated in the study because the children showed signs of observational learning.

200

What is The Football game observation: Cialdini et al., (1976)

◦Aim: Demonstrate social comparison with college football supporters. ◦Observed what college students wear to school the next day after their football game. ◦Students wore apparel with the representative colour of their school the day after the football game if the school won. ◦Result of positive self-concept results in a bias intergroup comparison. ◦Having a positive representation of your social group (Positive distinctiveness).

300

What is the Asch Paradigm experiment (Asch, 1951)

◦Aim: to investigate the effect of conformity ◦Subject was placed into a room with 6 confederates and the experimenter. ◦Subject was deceived that the 6 confederates were participants just like them. ◦The subject was placed on the second last seat so they will be the second last to give an answer. ◦The group of subject and confederates were asked to select the line on the second card that matched the line on the first card. ◦There were 18 sets of cards in total, some of which had lines that were completely different in length, others are similar in length. ◦Confederates were instructed to answer correctly on some of the cards but answer incorrectly for most. ◦Conformity happened

400

What is the Milgram Shock experiment (Milgram, 1963)?

◦Aim: Investigating the effect of authority on compliance and obedience. ◦Subjects were 40 males, age range from 20 to 50, found through newspaper advert. ◦They were given the role of the “teacher” through a fixed lottery. ◦They saw the learner (which is an actor) in real life, strapped to a chair connected with an electrode. ◦The experimenter took the subject to another room and told them to apply an electric shock by pressing the button whenever the learner gets a question wrong. ◦The “teacher” was given a test shock of 45 volts. ◦At certain voltages, different vocal feedback was given through a recorded system. After 315 volts, no response was given. ◦65% of the subjects continued on to the maximum 450 volts. ◦No one stopped before 300 volts. ◦Subjects were observed to show signs of stress (e.g. sweat, tremble, biting their lips). ◦Subjects displayed compliance because of the authority figure (the experimenter in the grey lab coat). ◦Compliance, not conformity. Because it is evident that the subjects did not internalise the idea of giving shock. ◦When subjects were asked to electrocute a puppy, level of obedience increased.

500

What is the Stanford Prison experiment (Phillip Zimbardo, 1971)?

◦Aim: To prove that situational factors can affect behavior ◦22 male subjects were selected through personality assessment based on their mental stability, maturity and social ability. ◦Randomly assigned the role of either prisoner or warden. ◦Experiment was terminated in 6 days, instead of the intended 14 days due to abnormal reactions shown by both prisoners and wardens. ◦Prisoners displayed passivity and dependence. Half the prisoners showed signs of depression, crying, fits of rage, acute anxiety. (they were released early due to this reason). ◦All but two prisoners would forfeit the money if they could be released early. ◦Experimenters proposed that these behaviours were results of the loss of personal identity, dependency and learned helplessness. ◦Wardens displayed huge enjoyment of power at their disposal, leading towards abusive use of power, dehumanizing the prisoners. ◦Some wardens worked extra time with no extra pay and were disappointed that the experiment was over. ◦They punished the prisoners for no apparent justifications (abusive use of power). ◦Not all wardens displayed aggression, but none opposed other’s use of it. ◦Arguable that the environment of a prison is what causes prisoners to act violently. ◦SIT: displayed the categorisation and development of identity in both groups.

Studies from the Abnormal Level of Analysis

100

What is Ahs et al., (2009)? Phobias, Biological Factors

•Ahs et al 2009 = the amygdala is activated after object recognition areas in the brain indicate that the object is threatening, activates fight or flight response •tested women and their fears and their hormone levels, there was a strong correlation between amygdala in right hemisphere of brain and ratings of distress

200

What is (Iancu, 2007)? Phobias, Sociocultural Factors

•Iancu 2007 = 850 Israeli youth of both genders and recruited into schools for military medicine and mechanics ◦found phobic symptoms were more common in males and in people with fewer than 2 good friends, not in a romantic relationship, or didn’t graduate from high school •could be due to the fact that Israeli youths live in a high stress environment

300

What is Becker et al., (1995 and 1998)? Anorexia, Sociocultural Factors

-Fijian girls -The researchers conducted research first in 1995 when Television was first being introduced to a small town in Fiji, and again three years later when Fijian families had been watching TV for some time. -the EAT-26 test was conducted on Fijian girls in both 1995 and 1998-after television had had a longer lasting effect on the girls. -The EAT-26 scores were much higher in 1998 than in 1995, due to Television having an effect on Fijian girls' perspective on an ideal body image (given by various TV shows and commercials)

400

What is Fairburn et al., (1999)? OCD, cognitive factors

◦Low self esteem and extreme need for self control are core components -The need for control is easily met through mastering in the eating domain -an attentional bias toward negative info about body shape can compel some patients to stop checking body eliminating any chance of seeing how much weight they've lost

500

What is Gabilondo (2010)? Major Depression, Sociocultural Factors

•Gabilondo (2010) ◦Depression occurs less frequently in Spain than northern European countries ◦lower suicide rate ◦higher religiosity (being more religious) and stronger traditional roles of family

Random Studies!!

100

What is Wager et al (2008)? Cognitive Level of Analysis

◦Aim: wanted to see if repraisal benefitted a person's overall emotion ◦Procedure and Results: Participants, while being fMRI scanned, were make to take part in all three conditions - in the look/neutral condition, participants viewed neutral images; in the look/negative condition, they viewed negative images. In the reappraise/negative condition, participants viewed negative images and were asked to generate positive reinterpretations of each image, and rate their emotional reaction. ◾the reappraisial was successful in lowering the emotional impact of the negative image and they found that reappraisal resulted in an increase of activity in the prefrontal cortex and reduced activity in the amygdala, and the reduction of activity in the amygdala seemed to be associated with increased activity in the nucleus accumbens. Thus, the researchers concluded that the prefrontal cortex affects emotional regulation by slowing the communication between itself and the amygdala and increasing the communication between itself and the nucleus accumbens

200

What is the Intergroup Discrimination Experiment (Henri Tajfel 1970) Sociocultural Level of Analysis

◦Aim: To test the Social Identity Theory. ◦48 boys were assigned at random to 2 groups based on their preference between Klee or Kandinsky’s art work. ◦Asked to rate in-group and outgroup based on traits e.g. like-ability. ◦Tajfel found that the out-group was rated less likeable, but never actually disliked. ◦There seems to be a preference of the in-group over out-group, however it is not clear that they make social comparisons to enhance either self-esteem. ◦Later research – Social identity does not account for intergroup conflict. In the absence of competition, social comparison can be positive.

300

What is Cole (1971)?

◦Aim ◾Test Bartlett's idea that non literate African tribal people would use rote recall in doing memory tasks for which they had no emotional connection. ◦Participants ◾Kpelle Farmers ◦Procedure and Results ◾Two groups of Kpelle farmers were told two different narratives relevant to their culture. The participants were to listen to the stories and recall specific items mentioned in the stories. In one of the stories the items were listed out in a specific order by category, in the other they were listed randomly. ◾Cole found that the manner in which the items were presented in the story affected the way they were recalled. The participants in the first group recalled the information in clusters by category while participants in the second group recalled the items in the order they were presented in the story.

400

What is Chapman (2008)? Phobias, cultural variations and prevalence

•Chapman 2008 = Africans have more fears than Caucasians, Africans tend to have phobias based on natural environments, and Caucasians have more situational phobias, level of anxiety in african americans was because of racism but the researcher claims phobias are due to social environment and passed down from generation to generation.

500

What is Zandian et al., (2007)? Anorexia, Biological factors

◦An expression of an underlying OCD which frequently proceeds anorexia ◦In males OCD is not usually form into anorexia but in females OCD usually transforms into an eating disorder