Science Inquiry Skills
A sample of 40 students participated in an investigation examining the impact of sleep on memory. Random assignment was used to determine which 20 students (control group) would get 8 hours of sleep per night. The other 20 students (experimental group) only got 2 hours of sleep per night. After two weeks, a psychologist assessed the memory performance of students using a cognitive test.
Write a hypothesis that could be used in this investigation.
It is hypothesized that participants who slept for 8 hours will have greater performance on a cognitive memory test compared to those who slept for 2 hours.
State each of the different stimuli and responses that are part of Classical Conditioning.
Unconditioned Stimulus
Unconditioned Response
Neutral Stimulus
Conditioned Stimulus
Conditioned Response
What intervention can be used to help a person overcome phone addiction?
Behaviour modification
State the structure of all attitudes.
Emotions/Affective
Behavioural
Beliefs/Cognitive
Describe one persuasion tactic and give an example.
Any of the 3 tactics (foot in the door, door in the face, norm of reciprocity) and one example of how it's used in society (e.g. agreeing to do a small donation is followed up with a larger request of committing to a monthly donation)
What are two ways to run a non-quantitative research design?
Focus group discussions and delphi technique
One day, Gerry’s mother brought home some leftover satay chicken from work, but the chicken was contaminated with bacteria. After Gerry ate the chicken, he vomited. Now, whenever anyone serves satay chicken, Gerry feels sick, even though he is assured it is safe to eat. From this example, identify the 3 "stimuli" and the 2 "responses" as relevant to the classical conditioning process.
UCS - bacteria
CS & NS – chicken
UCR & CR – sick/nausea
Noraida is using the following operant conditioning process to train her dog. State the name of the operant conditioning process and schedule: Every once in a while, Noraida gives her dog a puff of a hated smell to stop him from barking.
Aversive punishment - variable interval
Zachary was attacked and bitten by a brown dog. Now when Zachary sees a dog he feels anxious. Zachary fears dogs. He believes that those who do own a dog should keep the animal confined. He writes letters to the city authorities asking for better dog controls.
Using Zachary’s attitude towards dogs, describe one model that explains the structure of attitudes.
Emotions/Affective – Zachary feels anxious towards dogs.
Behavioural – writes letters to city authorities asking for better dog controls
Beliefs/Cognitive – Believes dog owners should keep animals confined.
What are the 3 elements of the Yale Attitude Change Approach?
Source, Message & Audience
Describe the delphi technique process.
The delphi technique is a process used to arrive at an agreed group opinion or decision by surveying a panel of experts. Experts respond to several rounds of questionnaires, and the responses are aggregated and shared with the group after each round. The rounds continue until the panel of experts agree to one answer.
Zachary was attacked and bitten by a brown dog. Now when Zachary sees a dog he feels anxious. Zachary fears dogs. He believes that those who do own a dog should keep the animal confined. He writes letters to the city authorities asking for better dog controls.
Using the principles of classical conditioning, explain how the sight of dogs becomes the conditioned stimulus.
Unconditioned stimulus of being bitten leads to the unconditioned response of pain/fear/anxiety.
The neutral stimulus of the dogs is associated with the unconditioned stimulus of being bitten.
This creates the conditioned stimulus of dogs which leads to the conditioned response of pain/fear/anxiety without being bitten.
State each schedule of reinforcement and what it involves.
Fixed Ratio – after a behaviour is repeated a consistent and set number of times, reinforcement occurs.
Fixed Interval – after a behaviour is repeated over a consistent and set period of time, reinforcement occurs.
Variable Ratio – after a random number of times a behaviour is repeated, reinforcement occurs.
Variable Interval – after a random period of time during which a behaviour is repeated, reinforcement occurs.
What happens when our attitudes and behaviour don't match? What are 2 consequences of this?
Cognitive Dissonance. Mental tension/guiltiness and inability to predict behaviour.
What is the difference between the central and peripheral routes of persuasion?
Central Route: based on content and logic of the message. Makes the audience think carefully and evaluate the message/information.
Peripheral Route: based on “peripheral cues” that are not part of the main message, including the attractiveness of the person delivering the message and positive emotion cues (e.g. happy music).
State 3 advantages of experimental research design.
We can observe a cause and effect relationship between variables.
Experiments can be replicated to test reliability.
Greater control over extraneous variables.
Explain the difference between contiguity and contingency in Classical Conditioning. Explain how high contiguity and contingency can be achieved.
Contiguity - The time between when two stimuli are presented - should be as close together as possible
Contingency - The predictability of two stimuli being paired together - requires repeated pairings and consistency of pairings
Explain the difference between Contiguity and Contingency in Operant Conditioning.
Contiguity - The time between when the behaviour is demonstrated and the consequence is given
Contingency - The predictability of the consequence occurring after a behaviour
LaPiere found that people’s attitudes were not always reflected in their behaviour.
Describe one factor that could contribute to this inconsistency.
Attitude Strength
Attitude Specificity
Attitude Accessibility
What is an advantage of the Central and Peripheral Route of Persuasion?
Central:
Likely to have a longer lasting effect upon a person’s attitudes as the person has to process the information carefully
likely to lead to the formation of stronger attitudes
Peripheral:
effective even if the audience has low ability to process information or low motivation/attention span
engages viewers more easily, thus reaching a larger audience
State 3 things that can impact internal validity.
- Extraneous variables
- Poorly designed measurement of DV
- Faulty equipment
- Nature of data types
Explain how systematic desensitisation is an example of classical conditioning.
Before SD:
Deep breathing (unconditioned stimulus) produces relaxation (unconditioned response)
Feared situation (conditioned stimulus) produces fear (conditioned response)
During conditioning:
Deep breathing (unconditioned stimulus), then present feared situation. This will result in fear initially, then relaxation after repeated pairings.
After conditioning:
Conditioned feared situation is re-conditioned to produce a conditioned response of relaxation. The person will continue this until they work through each level of the hierarchy.
Due to past experiences, we often expect reinforcement to come before it does. This belief is so strong it can lead to some sort of biological reinforcement without any biological effect occurring.
In the past, consuming alcohol has made me more social and confident (addition of a positive stimulus)
Since 0% alcohol still looks and tastes like alcohol, I have an expectation that I will receive the same reward
The belief itself is so strong that I feel more social and confident, despite there being no alcohol (placebo effect)
Describe the bidirectional relationship using 'smoking' as an example. Describe multiple reasons why the relationship is not always consistent.
Attitudes influence behaviour
(a person who doesn’t like smoking will not smoke)
Behaviour influences attitude
(a person who does not smoke will develop a negative attitude to smoking)
If people do smoke (even though they have a negative attitude towards smoking) it may be because of peer pressure, being a high self monitor or having a weak attitude.
I want to convince Ms Johnson that there should be no school on Fridays. Describe 3 attitude-change factors I should use to convince her to agree with me.
Any explanation of source, message, audience (older, very experienced, very set in her ways) or central processing route