Psühholoogia bioloogiline-, kognitiivne- ja sotsiaalne vaade (0)

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PSYCHOLOGY PART 1: CORE
Biological level of analysis
Outline principles that define the biological level of analysis.

Behavior can be innate, because it is genetically based . Evolution may play a key role in behavior.

Animals may be studied as a means of understanding human behavior.

There are biological correlates of behavior. Cognitions, emotions and behaviors are products of the anatomy and physiology of our nervous and endocrine system.
Explain how principles of the biological level of analysis may be demonstrated in research.

Correlational studies : Study by Buss, who hypothesized that across cultures , men will prefer to marry younger women because of greater reproductive capacity and women will place greater value on a potential mate’s earning potential to provide survival advantages. This evolutionary hypothesis was tested in 37 cultures by sending out questioners.

Twin studies (type of correlational studies) compare trait similarities in identical and fraternal twins ( Minnesota twin study by Tellegen, Buchard).

Experiment : Split - brain experiments by Gazzaniga & Sperry , brain plasticity experiments by Rosenzweig and Bennett. Neurotransmission experiment by Martinez and Kesner.

Case studies: Phineas Gage studied by Dr John Harlow and Oliver Sack’s study on Dr P.
Discuss how and why particular research methods are used at the biological level of analysis.
Biological researchers often adopt a reductionist approach to the study of human behavior. They work on a micro-level of research, breaking down complex behavior into its smallest parts (e.g. genes , neurotransmitters or proteins). This approach is sometimes criticized for being overly simplistic, but it is important to have detailed information of the components of human behavior in order to understand the interaction of several factors.
Kasamatsu and Hirai studied a group of Buddhist monks who went on a 72- hour pilgrimage to a holy mountain in Japan. During this time the monks did not eat, drink or speak and were exposed to cold , autumn weather . About 48 hours later they started to have hallucinations, often about their ancestors. The researchers took blood samples from the monks before the ceremony and immediately after the monks reported seeing hallucinations. They found that serotonin levels had increased in their brains. Serotonin activated the hypothalamus and the frontal cortex resulting in hallucinations. They concluded from this study that sensory deprivation triggered the release of serotonin, which actually altered the way the monks experienced the world. The application of such research has improved the lives of many people, because drugs have been developed stimulating or blocking certain neurotransmitters. Psychologists however , consider the role of neurotransmitters on behavior, but do not solely rely on it to explain behavior.
Brain technology has developed rapidly during the past century and is now used extensively in neuropsychology because it provides an opportunity to study the active brain. EEG – Prints out brainwaves, registers patterns of voltage change in the brain. PET scan – monitors radioactive glucose metabolism in brain. Produces colored maps of brain activity . Can record ongoing activity. fMRI – provides 3D pictures of the brain structures , using magnetic fields and radio waves. It shows actual brain activity and has a higher resolution that PET scans.
Experiments with animals are still used a lot because this enables psychologists to study specific biological correlates of behavior using invasive techniques (removing or scarring brain tissue).
Prior to the development of modern technology, one of the most common ways to study the brain was case study. Often case studies provide researchers with a situation that they could never ethically reproduce in a laboratory . One of the most famous case studies of how brain damage can affect behavior is the study of Phineas Gage by Dr John Harlow. Gage was in a serious accident, where a metal pole pierced his skull and brain. Luckily he survived, losing vision in his left eye. He had no difficulty with speech or language , but the balance between his intellectual abilities and emotional control had been destroyed. He became highly agitated and irrelevant, often impatient and rude . Study to his frontal lobe provided evidence that the brain affects personality and social behaviors.
Discuss ethical considerations related to research studies at the biological level of analysis.
In case studies for example, the researcher often obtains deeply personal information, which is not usually shared with other people. Any researcher conducting a case study must be very protective of the identities of the participants. The researcher should also have the professional competence to deal with the focus of the case study.
Animal rights!!
Explain one study related to localization of function of the brain.
Gazzaniga & Sperry held experiments with monkeys, whose brains were ‘’split ‘’ by cutting off the connection , the corpus colossum, between the two hemispheres of the brain. The monkey ’s optical chiasm was also sectioned, so what the animal sees through the left eye is mostly projected to the left hemisphere and what is seen through the right eye will be projected to the right hemisphere. They developed a laboratory- testing device and experimented with the sense of vision and touch of the monkey. They concluded that the two halves in the split-brain monkey had separate memories and could perform separate tasks. This was also tested on human participants, whose brains had been spilt to relieve epilepsy. Test results show that speech is localized in only one half of the brain. So when the patient was shown an image that was projected to his or hers left hemisphere of the brain he or she could easily identify the object . But when it was shown so it would be projected in the right hemisphere, the participant could not verbally identify the object, although he or she could point out what it was, if cards with different words were shown. This evidence implicates that the language processing happens mainly in the left hemisphere of the brain. To test what the right hemisphere of the brain might localize in another test with a split-brain patient was carried out. It is known that the right hand is governed by the left hemisphere and the left hand by the right. So the patient was asked to solve a visual constructional task with blocks . He could solve it with his left hand, governed by the right hemisphere, but not with his right hand. This research makes it possible to localize in one half brain basic mental processes like learning and memory . In the future, we can expect deeper insights into the mechanics of how the brain works.
Using one or more examples , explain effects of neurotransmission on human behavior.
Acetylcholine is believed to play a role in memory formation . Martinez and Kesner carried out and experiment with the aim of determining the role of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine on memory. Rats were trained to go through a maze . Once they were able to do this two different groups of rats were injected with chemicals that either increased or decreased the activity of acetylcholine in the brain. There was also a third group, who were not injected anything . The results showed that the rats with more acetylcholine in their brain were faster in finding the food in the maze and the rats with less acetylcholine were slower and took more wrong turns. The researchers concluded that acetylcholine played an important role in creating a memory of the maze.
Major depressive disorder is an affective disorder that is related to low levels of neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain. People with depression are often treated with SSRI-s, that block serotonin reuptake when it is in the synapse, causing it to act for a longer time than normal and increasing the available serotonin that is needed for mood regulation.
Using one or more examples, explain functions of two hormones in human behavior.
Oxytocin is a hormone that is produced by the hypothalamus after being stimulated by the pituitary gland. It is released with touches and hugs. Oxytocin is associated with bonding between a mother and a child and as well as between lovers. If oxytocin is given to healthy individuals, it seems that their brain circuits involved in fear are affected and there is an increase in trust and generosity.
The production of melatonin by the pineal gland is stimulated by darkness and inhibited by light . Melatonin levels peak in the middle of the night and decrease towards the morning . As the days get darker, we become tired more early . The use of artificial light can increase the awake time dramatically. Melatonin release correlates to our circadian cycle – the biological clock based on the 24-hour day/night cycle. It is suggested that taking melatonin in the early evening may improve one’s ability to fall asleep. However, there is evidence that higher levels of melatonin contribute to SAD – a subcategory of depression that is characterized by sleepiness and lethargy.
Discuss two effects of the environment on physiological processes.
Brain plasticity refers to the brain’s ability to rearrange the connections between its neurons (the changes that occur in the structure of the brain as a result of learning or experience ). Plasticity can change the functional qualities of various brain structures depending on the regularity and type of the task.
Rosenzweig and Bennett carried out a series of studies on brain plasticity. The researchers placed rats into either an enriched or a deprived environment to measure the effect of the environment on the development of neurons in the cerebral cortex. The rats spent 30 or 60 days in their environment and were then sacrificed. The results showed that the rats that lived in a stimulating environment had a thicker cortex. The frontal lobe, associated with thinking , planning and decision -making was heavier in these rats as well. Similar studies show that if the rats were put in together with other rats, the thickness increases even more. These findings can be generalized to humans only to some extent because of the difference in genetic make-up. However, if learning always results in the development of the brain then the animal studies that show plasticity in response to environmental factors are important for the human cortex as well.
Environmental changes can disrupt our circadian rhythms, that is, our biological 24-hour clock. Jet lag is a sudden circadian disruption caused by flying across several time zones in one day. Flying east, you lose hours of the day; flying west extends your day. Jet lag often causes insomnia and decreased alertness. The body adjusts about 1 hour or less per day to time zone changes. Typically , people adjust faster when flying west, probably because lengthening the travel day is more in accordance with our natural free- running circadian cycle.
Examine one interaction between cognition and physiology in terms of behavior.
Prosopagnosia, also known, as face -blindness is a condition when a person cannot recognize faces although they are able to see the face and understand that it is a face of a person. However, they are able to recognize and identify faces through other sensory stimuli such as auditory, tactile and even other visual stimuli patterns. Prosopagnosia is associated with the fusiform gyrus. The study of prosopagnosia has been crucial in the development of theories of face perception. Because prosopagnosia is not a unitary disorder (i.e., different people may show different types and levels of impairment), it has been argued that face perception involves a number of stages, each of which can be separately damaged. This sort of evidence has been crucial in supporting the theory that there may be a specific face perception system in the brain. A classic case of a prosopagnosia is presented by "Dr. P." in Oliver Sacks' 1985 book The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, though this is more properly considered "agnosia." Although Dr. P. could not recognize his wife from her face, he was able to recognize her by her voice . His recognition of pictures of his family and friends appeared to be based on highly specific features , such as his brother 's square jaw and big teeth.
Discuss the use of brain imaging technologies in investigating the relationship between biological factors and behavior.
Though psychologists can learn a lot from brain imaging techniques, the technique is not without limitations. The MRI scanner is not a natural environment for cognition. There is a question in ecological validity . The use of colors in PET scans may exaggerate the different activities of the brain. Brain areas activate for various reasons (just because the amygdala lights up, doesn’t mean that fear is necessarily part of the response being observed ). fMRI scans the oxygen concentration of blood in the brain (active brain tissue uses more oxygen) thus providing a vivid picture of brain activity without the need to inject patients with radioactive substance. Although researcher can now, quite literally , watch real -time presentations as brain regions light up when participants perform various tasks the temporal resolution is still poor (45sec fMRI / 60sec PET) and using these technologies is very expensive .
With reference to relevant research studies, to what extent does genetic inheritance influence behavior?
Psychologists argue that an individual may have a genetic predisposition towards a certain behavior; however, without the appropriate environmental stimuli, this behavior will not be manifested. There is no single cause -and-effect relationship between genes and behavior. It is not provable that a single gene is responsible for such complex behaviors as intelligence, criminal behavior or attachment. Instead, what is inherited may be one of the building blocks for such complex behaviors.
Genetic arguments on behavior are based on the principle of inheritance. Genes and DNA are passed on from parents to their offspring. Genetic research in humans is to a large extent based on correlational studies. One of the most common ways to study the correlation between genetic inheritance and behavior is through twin studies. Also family studies, where the traits of children are compared with relatives and adoption studies, that provide the most direct comparison of genetic and environmental influences on behavior, since adopted children don’t have the same genes with their adoptive parents, but share 50% with their biological mother. Family study is a more representative sample of the general population, whereas adoption studies are criticized of not being representative, plus adoption agencies tend to use selective placement for finding homes for children.
Bouchard and McGue reviewed 111 studies of IQ correlations between siblings from research studies on intelligence from around the world. They found that the closer the kinship, the higher the correlation for IQ. In order to investigate the role of genetics in intelligence, scientists have used identical twins, who have been raised separately (assuming that any similarities are more because of genes than environment). The Minnesota Twin Study is a longitudinal study that has been going on since 1979. In this study they compare identical twins that have been raised together and twins who have been raised separately. Bouchard determined a heritability estimate of 70% (that is, that 70% of intelligence can be attributed to genetic inheritance). Much research has supported this study, and it one of the most impressive studies among correlational studies because of its size and nature of the sample, but there are still some limitations like ethical concerns and no adequate control to establish the frequency of contact between the twins or the assumption that the twins raised together experienced the same environment.
Examine one evolutionary explanation of behavior.
The environment presents challenges to each individual and those who adapt best will have a greater chance of surviving and passing on their genes. This is the principle of Charles Darwin ’s theory of evolution. Evolutionary psychology is grounded on the principle that as genes mutate, those that are advantageous are passed down through natural selection .
One example of evolutionary research is the study of emotions. Fessler has carried out research on disgust. He argues that the emotion of disgust allowed our ancestors to survive long enough to produce offspring, who in turn passed the same sensitivities to us. He investigated nausea experienced by women in their first trimester of pregnancy. During this period , certain hormones lower the level of the mother’s immune system, so the body will not fight the new foreign genetic material in her womb. Fessler hypnotized that the nausea response helps to compensate the suppressed immune system. He gathered almost 500 healthy pregnant women and asked them to consider potentially stomach-turning scenarios. He found that women in the early trimester scored much higher across the board in disgust sensitivity than their counterparts in the 2nd and 3rd trimester.
According to Fessler, many of the diseases that are most dangerous are food-borne, but our ancestors could not afford to be picky about what they ate. The natural selection may have helped to decrease the chance of disease by increasing the urge to be picky. The sensitivity seems to diminish as the risk of disease decreases. This is consistent with the view of disgust as a form of protection .
Discuss ethical considerations in research into genetic influences on behavior.
Genetic research aims to identify particular genes involved in hereditary diseases. This kind of research may have risks to participants because of the link between the disease and people’s lives. If the genetic information is misused , it can cause problems for people, like not getting a job or insurance .
The study should always be explained in plain words and participants must sign an informed consent paper.
Confidentiality can be protected by coding information or by anonymizing the sample. This will protect the participant’s anonymity, but it can also limit the scientific value of the study by preventing further investigation.
Unexpected information may be revealed, that can harm the participant (unrevealed adoptions for example or when a person discovers through the study that he or she is carrying a particular gene for a genetic disorder).
Cognitive level of analysis
Outline principles that define the cognitive level of analysis.

Human beings are information processors and mental processes guide behavior.

Human cognition can be revealed by the scientific method, that is individual components of mental processes can be identified and understood .

Cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors.
Explain how principles of cognitive level of analysis may be demonstrated in research.
One goal of cognitive research is to discover possible principles underlying cognitive processes. Cognitive theories and models are applied to real-world scenarios. Health and sports psychologists have demonstrated that there is a subtle relationship between how people think about themselves and how they behave.

Empirical research (direct observation and experience) by Dweck demonstrated that students with a fixed image of intelligence are at risk of underachievement in academics .

The second principle is demonstrated in theories and models of cognition, which are discussed and continuously tested. MRI is used to see what areas in the brain are active when people perform cognitive tasks.

Cultural schemas ( term first coined by Frederic Bartlett ) influence remembering. Bartlett found that people had problems remembering a story from another culture, and that they reconstructed the story to fit their cultural schemas. He demonstrated that people remember in terms of meaning and what makes sense to them.
Discuss how and why particular research methods are used at the cognitive level of analysis.
Cognitive psychologists have to a large extent used the experimental method, because it was assumed to be the most scientific. Karl Lashely made experiments with rats by teaching them to run mazes and then cut off parts of their brains to see that the memory of the maze still remained. However, the experimental tasks did not always resemble what people did in their daily lives. Cognition cannot be isolated from our everyday experiences and experiments suffer from artificiality. That is why scientists now study cognition in the laboratory as well as in a daily context .
Another method widely used is case studies (e.g. a person with an extraordinary memory, people with brain damage). This enables the researchers study conditions that might be impossible or unethical to conduct in laboratory circumstances.
Since cognitive processes are localized in the brain, modern neuroimaging technologies (CAT, fMRI) offer possibilities to look into the ongoing brain processes. Neuroscientists can now study which brain areas are active during cognitive processes, and how they can be disrupted by brain damage. Researchers then use their data to support cognitive models.
Discuss ethical considerations related to research studies at the cognitive level of analysis.
HM and Clive Wearing are famous case studies in cognitive psychology. Patient HM’s hippocampus and amygdala were removed to cure his severe epilepsy, but the surgery , which caused him massive memory deficits that radically changed his life. The scientists could never have produced these kinds of circumstances purposely. In the case of Clive Wearing, it was impossible for him to sign any kind of consent, so his wife took the responsibility for him. His name and personal information have been revealed in many television podcasts and his wife wrote a book about him.
In experiments researcher often deliberately use deception and can put participants in unpleasant situations (e.g. watching an unpleasant film ).
Evaluate schema theory with reference to research studies.
Schema is a network of knowledge , beliefs and expectations about a particular aspect of the world. Schemas can describe how specific knowledge is organized and stored in memory. Schema theory has been used to explain memory processes.
Memory processes are divided into three main stages:

Encoding: transferring sensory information into a meaningful memory.

Storage : retaining information over time / creating a biological trance.

Retrieval : using the stored information.
It is believed that schema processing can affect memory at all three stages. For example in encoding. Acquiring expertise is a process of developing schemas that help encode information into meaningful patterns (like notes for musicians). Chase and Simon demonstrated that point in an intriguing study. Three chess players – an expert , and intermediate player and a beginner – were allowed 5 seconds to look at a chessboard containing 25 pieces. Then they looked away and tried to construct the same placement of the pieces on an empty board. This was tried many times with different arrangements. When the pieces were arranged in meaningful positions that might actually occur in game situations, the expert typically recalled about 16 pieces, intermediate about 8 and the novice only 4. But when the arrangement was random , each player remembered only 2 or 3 pieces. The concepts of schemas and chunking can explain that. When the pieces were arranged logically then the experts could apply well-developed schemas to recognize patterns or group pieces together (e.g. all pieces attacking the king ). The intermediate and novice did not have so well developed schemas. If the pieces were in random order they were no more meaningful for the expert so he/she had to approach the task on a piece -by-piece basis just as other players did.
Anderson and Pichert investigated if schema processing influences both encoding and retrieval. The participants in their experiment were given one schema at the encoding stage and another one in the retrieval stage, to see if they were influenced by the lateral schema when they had to recall the story. The story was based on 72 points , rated by a group of people. Half of the participants were asked to read it from the point of view of a house-buyer and half of a point of view of a burglar. After reading , they performed a distracting task for 12 minutes and then they were asked to recall. Then half of the participants were asked to change their schema and half retained the original one. There was another 5-minute delay . When they recalled the story the second time, the researchers found that the participants who changed their schema recalled 7 per cent more points compared to the first trial . Recall of points that were directly linked to the new schema increased, whereas points linked to the previous schema declined. The researchers also found that the group, which did not change schemas, actually remembered fewer ideas at the second trial. The results indicate that schema processing must have some effect at retrieval as well as encoding. It also showed that people encoded information, which was irrelevant to their prevailing schema. The experiment was highly controlled and conducted in a laboratory, so there might be some issues of ecological validity. The strength of the study was the variable control, which enabled the researchers to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between schemas and different memory processes.
Lots of research has supported the schema theory and it has turned out to be quite useful in explaining interpretation , memory and other things. Schema theory has contributed to an understanding of memory distortions and social cognition. It is used to explain stereotyping and prejudice . Some of the limitations of the theory are that it is not entirely clear how schemas are acquired and how they influence cognition. It has been criticized that it is too vague to be useful, but many scientist still use it explain cognitive processing.
Evaluate two models or theories of one cognitive process with reference to research studies.
Atkinson and Shiffrin were among the first to suggest a basic structure of memory, with their multi - store model that has been one of the most influential models of memory to date . The model is based on two assumptions: memory consists of separate stores and memory processes are sequential. It consists three major components:

Sensory memory: briefly holds incoming sensory information.

Short-term memory: temporarily holds a limited amount of information.

Long-term memory: our vast library of more durable sored memories.
The actions influencing the information’s way to the different memory stores are attention , coding and rehearsal. This model is very simplistic and reflects the knowledge available in the 19060s.
Sperling conducted a classic experiment on how long sensory memory can hold information. He flashed a matrix of 12 letters on a screen for 1/20 of a second and asked to recall as many letters as the participants could (typically 3 to 5 letters). The second condition was a tone , which signaled the participants to report a certain row of letters. In this case they recalled all 4 letters in a row. They did not know ahead which row will be signaled so this implies that they had stored an image of the whole matrix and they had now time to retrieve the information from any one line before it rapidly disappeared. If the tone was delayed, they did poorly again . This shows that it is difficult, perhaps impossible, to retain complete information in purely visual form for more than a fraction of a second.
Case studies of amnesia victims suggest the STM and LTM are distinct . One of the most famous is the study of patient HM. Because of head injury HM suffered from epileptic seizures and the doctors tried to cure that by removing tissue from the temporal lobe, including his hippocampus. After the operation , the patient could not form any new memories. If you told HM your name, he could remember it briefly, but could not form a long-term memory of it.
Experiments in which people with normal memory learn lists also support this distinction. Glanzer and Cunitz showed participants 15 words and asked to recall. Most of these kinds of experiments show that the words in the beginning of the list are easiest to recall. This patter in called the serial position effect (ability to recall is influenced by the position in a series). According to the three-stage model, as the first words that enter the STM, we can quickly rehearse them and they will go to the LTM. When the list gets longer, we no more have time to do that and forget the middle words. The last words, when recalling right after reading/hearing words, are still available in the STM. When the participants are prevented from rehearsing (faster reading rate ) then the primacy effect decreases. When preventing on rehearsing the last words, and delaying the recall so they would disappear from STM, the recency effect decreases.
According to the concept of levels of processing, the more deeply we process information, the better we will remember it. The memory model of levels of processing (Craik and Lockhart) was put forward partly as a result of the criticism leveled at the multi-store model. Instead of concentrating on the stores/structures involved, this theory concentrates on the processes involved in memory. The basic idea is that memory is just what happens as a result of processing information.
There are three ways to process information:

Structural processing: we encode only the physical qualities of something .

Phonemic processing: we encode the sound of something.

Semantic processing: we encode the meaning of something and relate it to some other words that have the same (or a personal) meaning.
Craik and Tulving investigated how the levels of processing influence memory. Participants were presented with a series of 60 words about which they had to answer one of three questions . Some questions required the participants to process the word in a deep way and others in a shallow way. Then they were given a list of 180 words, with the previous 60 included and were asked to pick out the original words. Results showed that the participants recalled more words that were semantically processed compared to phonemically and visually processed words.
The theory is an improvement on Atkinson & Shiffrin’s account of transfer from STM to LTM. The levels of processing model changed the direction of memory research. It showed that encoding was not a simple , straightforward process. This widened the focus from seeing long-term memory as a simple storage unit to seeing it as a complex processing system. Craik and Lockhart's ideas explain why we remember some things much better and for much longer than others. This explanation of memory is useful in everyday life because it highlights the way in which elaboration, which requires deeper processing of information, can aid memory. Despite these strengths, there are a number of criticisms of the levels of processing theory: It does not explain how the deeper processing results in better memories. Deeper processing takes more effort than shallow processing and it could be this, rather than the depth of processing that makes it more likely people will remember something. Also, the concept of depth is vague and cannot be observed. Therefore , it cannot be objectively measured.
Explain how biological factors may affect one cognitive process.
Brain research has shown that learning is a means of formation of memory, that is growing new connections or strengthening existing connections between neurons to form neural networks . Over the years scientists have studied animals to see what parts of the brain are related to memory. Usually rats are taught to run a maze and then a technique of lesioning is used (cutting off parts of brains) to see if the memory has remained. This obviously can’t be done on humans, but researchers can use people already with brain damage as case studies.
Clive Wearing was an accomplished musician, but when Herpes, a virus that usually causes only cold sores, attacked his brain his life changed forever . MRI scanning of his brain shows damage to the hippocampus and some of the frontal regions. His episodic memory (experience) and some of his semantic memory (facts) are lost . He cannot transfer new information into LTM either. He can still play the piano and conduct the music that he knew. These skills area a part of implicit memory, that is linked to a brain structure other than hippocampus. His emotional memory is also intact. There is evidence that the amygdala plays a role in the storage of emotional experience – perhaps because emotions are used to evaluate experience.
Alzheimer ’s is a progressive degenerative disease that ultimately results in death , marked by severe retrograde and anterograde amnesia. It starts with minor forgetfulness and progresses steadily to depression, amnesia, hallucinations and/or delusions. Alzheimer’s causes neurological damage to the brain. The patients often have severe hippocampal damage and brain imaging technologies show widespread atrophy of the cortex with plaques and tangles in the hippocampus.
Discuss how social or cultural factors affect one cognitive process.
Cognitive researchers have traditionally constructed research in western countries. It was assumed that cognitive processes follow universal laws , and that the same cognitive test could apply to everyone, but that is not the case. Cross -cultural psychologists are now aware of the social and cultural factors on cognitive processes.
Culture influences memory. Our cultural upbringing shapes the schemas that we acquire and use to perceive the world and ourselves. People in northern Europe and North America tend to see the world in an individualistic way and people in Asian, African and South American countries see the world in a more collectivistic framework. Qi Wang held a study considering our earliest memories. He asked college students from Harvard University and Beijing University to recall their earliest memories. He predicted and found that the Americans were more likely than Chinese students to recall events that focused on the individual. The Chinese were more likely to recall memories that involved family or neighborhood. He also found that the memories of the Americans were from where they were about 3,5 years old, whereas Chinese had memories from when they were on average 4 years old. The reason for this is not clear, but it might relate to the fact that the Americans’ memories were usually more emotional and Chinese students’ memories were more routinely.
Cole and Scribner investigated memory strategies in different cultures. They compared recall on series of words from among the US and Liberian children in different age groups. The differences in recall were among the schooled and non-schooled children, not the age. Children who had attended school in Liberia learned the lists of words just as rapidly as children in the US. The researchers took in consideration the cultural differences, thus developing lists of world relevant in that culture. When they analyzed the data, they found that illiterate children did not use strategies like chunking and that non-schooled children did not improve significantly in memorizing when they were older, but they did recall better if the words were presented in a narrative way, as a progressing story. It has also been found that Mayan children could easily recall objects if they were related in a meaningful way to the local scenery. Memory studies like these show that even though the ability to remember is universal, strategies for remembering are not. People learn to remember in ways that are relevant for their everyday lives.
With reference to relevant research studies, to what extent is one cognitive process reliable?
The legal system uses eyewitness testimony to decide if a person is guilty or not, but research has demonstrated that memory may not be as reliable as we think. This is due to the reconstructive nature of it. We may literally construct a memory by piecing together bits of stored information in a way that seems accurate and makes sense.
In a famous experiment Roediger III & McDermott examined how often false memories occurred with people performing a simple task: remembering a list of words. 36 college students listened to 16 lists of 15 words. Each list had an idea of a central word, a critical lure. For some lists, recall was measured right after hearing it. They correctly recalled 62% of the real words, but falsely recalled 55% of critical lures. After hearing all lists a recognition task was formed . They were given a list of 96 words, half of which actually were on the lists. Other words were the critical lures and filler items. The students, after selected the words, they thought were on the list, reported the vividness of the memory. On the recognition task they identified 62% of the real words but falsely identified 72% of critical lures and just over half of the cases they had a vivid memory of the critical lure (although they were never presented). The researchers argue that hearing the words activates an associative network (schema). During retrieval people may misinterpret the source of activation and falsely remember the lure as being on the list.
Researchers overwhelmingly agree that misinformation can distort eyewitness reports. One of the leading researchers in this, Loftus , claims that the nature of questions can influence witnesses’ memory. Leading questions that are suggestive in some way and post-event information facilitate schema processing which may influence accuracy of recall. Loftus designed an experimental procedure in which she manipulated questions after showing the participants a film. In one of the experiments, Loftus and Palmer investigated the role of leading questions. The participants saw a film of traffic accidents and then had to estimate the speed of the cars. They used different verbs in the leading question like hit, smash , collide, bump and contract. The researchers found that the mean speed estimate was in fact affected by the words. Smashed and collided increased the estimate speed. The use of different words activates different schemas in memory. The word smash for example provides participants with verbal information that activates schemas for severe accidents. Loftus’s research indicates that it is possible to crate false memories and that memory is not reliable.
These were both controlled laboratory experiments, so the ecological validity suffered. It is argued that performing laboratory experiments on memory do not reflect how and what people remember in real life. The samples were US college students, so the studies were culturally biased . Roediger and McDermott argue that the context of their research is what makes the finding more impressive, since the students knew it was a memory test and inaccurate answers would be spotted. But other research has attempted to take this method to real life, by interviewing people who had witnessed a real robbery. Findings have shown that misleading questions did not seem to distort people’s memory. Instead, they have shown that the memory details in real life situations are quite amazing. Those who were most distressed by the situation had the most accurate memories.
Frederic Bartlett has also conducted an experiment using serial reproduction, where people had to remember a story and then retell it. The next person who heard it had to retell it to someone else and so on until up to 7 people. When people were retelling he noticed how each participant’s memory of the story changed. Some characteristics were that the story became shorter; it remained coherent and became more conventional. According to Bartlett, people reconstruct the past by trying to fit it into existing schemas. This can be explained as people’s efforts after meaning. Bartlett realized that memory is an imaginative reconstruction of experience, which is exactly what modern research supports.
Discuss the use of technology in investigating cognitive processes.
Neuro -imaging techniques allow researchers to obtain images of brain functioning and structures. There are a number of techniques that are continually being developed to perform advanced research.
PET (scanning glucose consumption and blood flow) is used to detect tumors or memory disorders due to Alzheimer’s. This has helped neuroscientists to develop methods to detect the signs of Alzheimer’s in very early stages. A computer program to measure metabolic activity in hippocampus has been developed. With PET and the computer program, the links between Alzheimer’s and reduction of metabolism in hippocampus have been drawn. This is believed to be a useful tool in screening for the disease in people who don’t yet show any signs of it.
MRI and fMRI show 3D images of oxygen changes in the blood. When an area of the brain is active, it uses more oxygen and this is being used to see what areas become active in different cognitive tasks.
To what extent do cognitive and biological factors interact in emotion?
Nowhere are mind-body interactions more obvious that in the emotions, where thinking and feeling are intimately connected. According to Schachter’s two- factor theory, the intensity of physiological arousal tells us how strongly we are feeling something, but situational cues give us the information we need to label the arousal and tell ourselves what we are feeling. This indicates that appraisal and arousal affect one another.
Lazarus and others made an experiment where they manipulated appraisal to influence arousal. They monitored college students’ physiological responses to an anthropology film, where during aboriginal rites boys ’ penises were cut. They created four conditions of appraisal by different soundtracks – trauma , denial, intellectualization and silent . To measure arousal they monitored the changes in electrical skin conductance caused by sweating. The results showed that the trauma soundtrack created the greatest level of arousal, followed by the silent one. Intellectual soundtrack came after that and a denial soundtrack created the lowest level of arousal. This study, as well as many others, indicates that what we tell ourselves about external situations influences the level of arousal that we experience.
To study the possibility of arousal influencing appraisal, we would have to manipulate arousal directly in some way, e.g. with drugs. In a key experiment by Schachter, participants were told they were in a study on effects of a new vitamin on visual perception. They were injected with 3 different arousal-manipulating drugs – increasing arousal, decreasing arousal and the third was a neutral drug with no affects. The experiment was double -blinded. After the injection, the participants were shown a funny black and white movie clip . While they watched the movie, they were observed through a one-way mirror and the number of smiles, grins, slapping legs , laughs and such were counted. The results supported the idea of arousal influencing appraisal. The more aroused participants found the movie to be funnier that the tranquilized ones. Neutral group was in the middle. This shows that arousal cues can affect appraisal.
Evaluate one theory of how emotion may affect one cognitive process.
Arousal (surprise, personal, emotional) causes rehearsal of specific events.
Many experiences in our lives, such as romantic encounters, deaths, graduations, accidents and local or world events may be better remembered not only because they were distinctive, but also because they stirred up our emotions and aroused us. By physiologically monitoring people during recall tasks, on arousing and neutral stimuli, researchers have found that arousing stimuli trigger the release of stress hormones. This causes neurotransmitters to increase activation of the amygdala, a brain structure that helps encode the emotional aspects of experiences into long-term memory. Outside the laboratory researchers have found that emotional arousal enhances autobiographical memories.
The theory of flashbulb memory comes from Brown and Kulik. Flashbulb memories are recollections that seem so vivid, so clear, that we can picture them as if they were snapshots of moments in time and the curve of forgetting is far less affected by time than in the case of other types of memories. Flashbulb memories are most likely to occur for distinctive events that evoke strong emotional reactions and that are repeatedly recalled in conversations with others. Because flashbulb memories seem vivid and are easily recalled, we often feel confident in their accuracy. FB memories start with the appraisal of novelty of the event. The degree of novelty determines the level of surprise and the personal importance of the event determines the emotional arousal, which gives the person a need to rehearse the event by talking or thinking about it constantly. Rehearsal might affect memory in two ways, first, improving by reinforcement of existing memory traces or second, by modifying the content. People start constructing stories and might change them in order to understand and make sense of the situation that personally fits their ideas and values .
Neisser and Harsch asked college students about a shocking public event, the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger . Interviewed again 3 years later, about half of the participants remembered some details correctly but recalled other details inaccurately. ¼ of the students completely misremembered all the major details and were astonished of how inaccurate their memories were comparing to the original descriptions. Neisser has suggested that the memories are so vivid because the event itself is rehearsed and reconstructed after the event. A flashbulb memory may simply be a narrative convention . In addition , current attitudes and emotions may influence or distort people’s memories. Emotion starts with a process of cognitive appraisal to assess whether the situation is relevant for survival, well-being, goals or values. Emotions cause people social exchange and sharing , which serves as rehearsal of the memory.
Memory researchers have studied the relation between confidence and accuracy inside and outside the laboratory, and for many types of events. Overall, confidence and accuracy are weakly related. People often swear by inaccurate memories. In general, distinctive and emotionally arousing events in our lives have a memory advantage. However, even for such events, a memory can feel like it happened just yesterday when, in truth , it is foggy.
Sociocultural level of analysis
Outline principles that define the sociocultural level of analysis.

Human beings are social animals and we have a basic need to belong.

Culture influences behavior.

Humans have a social self (a collective identity ), which develops within social contexts.

People’s views of the world are resistant to change.
Explain how principles that define the sociocultural level of analysis may be demonstrated in research.

Conformity is the tendency to adjust one’s feelings , thoughts, or behavior in ways that are in agreement with those of a particular individual or group, or with accepted standards of how a person should behave in specific situations. People tend to conform because we are social animals and have a need to belong. Some conformity studies are the study with line by Asch, which was improved and replicated by Crutchifield.

Hofstede has conducted a classic study on cultural dimensions, showing that culture influences behavior. Matumoto has tried to define culture.

The collective identity develops inside groups and social contexts. For example the Stanford Prison Study by Zimbardo, where normal people stared acting in cording to the roles that they were given. Tajfel ’s social identity theory assumes that individuals strive to improve their self-image by trying to enhance their self- esteem , based on either personal identity or various social identities.
Discuss how and why particular research methods are used at the sociocultural level of analysis.
Early social psychologists used laboratory experiments, because it was considered most scientific. Deception was often used to prevent the participants acting unnaturally and to create a convincing situation. Majority of research today is qualitative in nature (results and data in text format ) and research is naturalistic (as it really is), for example participant observation, interviews and case studies, attempting to see the world through the eyes of the people being studied. Studies that lack ecological validity are avoided. Data is mostly descriptive and there is often no cause-and-effect relationship.
In order to see the world through the participant’s eyes, observation can be used. Overt observation requires the researcher to gain the participants or group’s trust and blend in, because they will know that they are being observed. With covert observation, the trust is gained through deceit and the participants do not know that they are being observed. This is used to examine for example dangerous or illegal activities and groups. In addition to ethical considerations, researchers doing covert observation must consider the difficulties in taking notes and the reliance on their memory. Finally , no interviews can be carried out in covert observation.
Discuss the ethical considerations related to research studies are the sociocultural level of analysis.
The ethics of Milgrim’s obedience studies have been harshly criticized, since the participants were deceived and put in a distressing situation, they were psychologically harmed. The participants also did not have total freedom to withdraw. To get high ecological validity researchers are often forced to use deception, but this is not accepted so easily nowadays and if it is, subjects must be fully debriefed afterwards.
In addition, ethical questions rise in observational studies, since the researcher might sometimes use deceit and observe people, without them knowing and get into their personal lives.
Describe the role of situational and dispositional factors in explaining behavior.
Human behavior is influenced more by social situations than by dispositional factors such as the individual’s personality. Deindividuation is a state of increased anonymity in which a person, often as a part of a group or crowd, engages in disinhibited behavior. Factors influencing deindividuation are shared responsibility, impulsive action , loss of personal norms, conformity and social roles. Anything that strips us of our personal identity (e.g. uniforms , anonymity) can produce feelings of deindividuation.
A series of studies on obedience by Milgrim were carried out among men and women from 20 to 50 years of age. The participants were told that they are in an experiment about the effects of punishment on memory. The participant became the teacher and another participant, who was actually a confederate, became the learner . The teacher was supposed to give an electrical shock to the learner every time he got an answer wrong. As the errors mounted, the shock level increased (so thought the teacher, no shocks were actually given). Towards the end, the learner started protesting and acted as in pain and the cried became more dramatic each time. When the participant hesitated, the experimenter issued one or more escalading commands . The maximum level of possible shock was 450V. The participants wrestled with a dilemma and most of them became distressed. Surprisingly, 65% obeyed until the end and gave 450V to the learner. It is agreed by many researchers that obedience was so high because much of the responsibility for the learner’s fate was on the experimenter, who was viewed as a legitimate authority figure. It has been also suggested that the prestige of the experiment field (a university) was influencing obedience, but when the experiment was taken to a downtown office building, it was still fairy high. The study has high experimental validity, since the procedure was standardized and the level of obedience was accurately operationalized. Triangulation (many research methods e.g. observation, survey , interview ) was used.
In the Stanford prison study by Zimbardo, 24 college students were put in a simulated prison and observed throughout the period of 6 days. Half of the participants were put in the role of guards and half in the role of prisoners . Already in the morning of the second day of the observation, a rebellion among the prisoners broke out. The guards got angry and frustrated and started to harass and intimidate the prisoners. They developed many strategies to strengthen their power . During the studies, some of the prisoners became so distressed that they had to leave the experiment after a few days. Even the researchers themselves and the participants’ parents started acting fitting to the prison schema. When a rumor about a prison break stroke, the researchers became more concerned about keeping the prisoners in, rather than collecting data and observing the phenomena. The study was supposed to last for 20 days, but because of the fast , unexpected dramatic results by the 6th day, the study was stopped.
Discuss two errors in attributions.
Attribution is defined as how people interpret and explain casual relationships in the social world. Humans have a need to understand why things happen. Events can be attributed to situational or dispositional factors.
When people overestimate the role of dispositional factors in someone’s behavior and underestimate the situational factors, it is called the fundamental attribution error . Psychologists argue that this error is so common because when people observe others’ behavior and do not have enough information about them, they tend to attribute behavior to disposition. In a study by Ross et al., participants were given one of three roles: a game show host , contestant of the game show or member of the audience . The hosts were instructed to design their own questions for the contestants and then the audience watched the game show through the series of questions. After this, the observers were asked to rank the intelligence of the people in the show. They consistently ranked the host as most intelligent, even tough they knew that this person was randomly assigned and made up all the questions. The audience failed to attribute the role to the person’s situation and instead attributed the person’s performance to disposition. There are some concerns about the experiment. For instance , the sample may be biased because university students are very familiar to a situation where an authority is in front and asking questions, so they may just have learned this kind of response. In addition, students do not represent the general population. This study reflects what we see in everyday life. People with social power (experts and professors) usually initiate and control conversations and are thought to have knowledge on large range on topic, based on their knowledge in their area. Their opinions , even those, not in their area of knowledge, are rarely challenged.
Another error in attributions is the self-serving bias . This is seen when people take credit for their success, attributing them to dispositional factors, and dissociate themselves from failures, attributing them to situational factors. This error serves as self-protection. If we succeed and attribute that to dispositional factors, it boosts our self-esteem and when we fail, we protect our self-esteem by attributing failure to factors that we could not have controlled. It can also be argued that cognitive factors play a role in SSB. According to Miller and Ross, we usually expect to succeed at a task. If we then do succeed, we attribute it to our skills and ability. If an unexpected failure occurs, we attribute it to bad luck and external factors. This also happens the other way around. If we expect not to succeed and will not do it, we attribute it to dispositional factors, if we expect to fail, but are successful instead, we attribute it to external factors and luck. This is true mostly in people in the western world.
It also seems that there are cultural differences in SSB. People from Western cultures tend to attribute their success to their ability while people from Eastern cultures tend to explain their failure in terms of lack of ability, when asked to explain their performance. This is called a modesty bias. This could be because of the collective nature of many Asian societies: people who exhibit the modesty bias rather than the SSB were more popular among their friends.
! Evaluate social identity theory, referring to relevant studies.
Henri Tajfel’s social identity theory assumes that individuals strive to improve their self-image by trying to enhance their self-esteem, based on individual or social identities. This means that people can boost their self-esteem through personal achievement or through affiliation with successful groups, and it indicates the importance of social belonging. This theory is based on the cognitive process of social categorization and has been used to explain in-group favoritism, stereotyping and conformity. Tajfel argues that people who belong to a group (or are randomly assigned to one) automatically think that group as their in-group and all others as an out-group. The self-esteem of an individual is maintained by social comparison.
People within groups see themselves as being similar in attitude and behavior, and a bond is formed among group members . Tajfel et al. observed boys who were assigned randomly to a group, based on their preference in art. These boys were more likely to identify with each other and gave higher awards to their group mates when they were asked to rate in-group and out-group boys on their likeability. The out-group members were rated less likeable, when they were in fact not disliked at all. Later research shows that in the absence of competition though, this social comparison does not necessarily produce a negative outcome.
Cialdini et al. demonstrated this with natural experiments held on football fields. Theory tells that we want to be associated with a successful person or a group. Cialdini hypnotized that insignia are shown more after a team ’s victory than a loss. The researchers observed the apparel of about 180 psychology students in seven universities after the university teams had had their games. Results showed that the Mondays following football victories ranked significantly higher in students apparel with insignia than Mondays following losses . With this study, cross-cultural factors should be considered, since in other cultures, such as in Finland , those university teams and competitions do not exist . Another similar study, involving 173 participants, hypothesized that the pronoun of ‘’we’’ would be used more often after the teams’ victory. Experimenters called participants and used campus survey as a cover story. After answering questions, the participants were given feedback, whether good or bad, and this became the IV + the loss or win of the team. Then a critical question about the teams win or loss was asked. The DV was the use of ‘’we’’ pronoun when describing the team’s win or loss. Results showed that ‘’we’’ was used more often in the victory condition, especially when the participant was in the ‘’did poorly in survey’’ condition. However, when participants in the same condition, but after a team’s loss, used ‘’we’’ significantly less than in other conditions. This can be explained by people’s desire to boost their self-esteem and associate themselves to the glory of a winning team. Even though there is no gender bias, a cultural bias lies in the experiment.
The social identity theory however only describes, but does not predict human behavior. It does not explain why personal identity is sometimes stronger than group identity. In addition, using the theory in isolation is reductionist – it fails to address the environment that interacts with the self. Cultural expectations, rewards as motivators and social constraints such as poverty may play a greater role in behavior that one’s sense of in-group identity.
Explain the formation of stereotypes and their effect on behavior.
Moscovici has defined social representations as the shared beliefs and explanations held by the society in which we live or the group in which we belong. Social representations provide a code for social exchange and a code for naming and classifying the various aspects of the community’s world and history.
Stereotyping can be explained as grouping people based on easy characteristics such as sex, age, nationality or race and attributing qualities believed to be belonging to these groups. Stereotyping is a simple and economic way of perceiving the world that would otherwise have too much information to process. There are two key sources of stereotypes: personal experience and gatekeepers – the media, parents and other members of the culture. It is argued that stereotypes thus have a basis in some reality . The grain of truth hypothesis states that experience with an individual from a group will be generalized to the group. This is criticized though because attribution errors are common. These errors result in illusory correlation. This happens when people overestimate a link between to variables such as women’s inferior ability in math . Once illusory correlations are made, people tend to seek out or remember information that supports this relationship. The information that contradicts their beliefs is often overlooked, which causes confirmation bias. This makes stereotypical thinking resistant to change. Stereotypes can also be created by conforming to the beliefs of in-group members on some out-group members.
One effect of stereotyping on an individuals behavior is stereotype threat. A person might feel a threat of being judged or treated as a stereotype and thus has fear of conforming to the stereotype. Steele and Aronson had an experiment where they gave the same test to Afro-Americans and to European Americans, but the two groups were either told it is a verbal ability test or a problem-solving test. The verbal ability test activated a stereotype of Afro-Americans’ poor verbal ability and in that group they scored much lower than the European Americans, but when they were told that it’s a problem-solving test they actually scored higher than the European Americans.
Stereotype threat turns on spotlight anxiety , causing emotional distress, pressure and undermining of performance. Spencer et al. experimented this by giving a difficult math test to equally qualified men and women. Women underperformed significantly, when taking the test with the men. This can be explained by the common negative stereotype of women’s ability in math that may have caused interfering pressure in test situations. In a literature test, the men and women performed equally, since there is no stereotype threatening women here .
Explain social learning theory, referring to two relevant studies.
Humans learn behavior through observational learning. Social learning can be seen as a four- step process.

Attention (perceiving the model’s behavior).

Retention (remembering the model’s behavior).

Reproduction (replicating the model’s behavior).

Motivation ( positive reinforcement and the wanting to demonstrate what has been learned).
Bandura et al. held and experiment among children in 3-6 years. They were shown videos of adults acting aggressively on a Bobo doll and then were left alone in a room with the doll. Observational learning signs were revealed in the results of the study. In addition, a tendency to imitate a same-sex adult occurred. Girls were more verbally aggressive and boys more physically. Bandura has contributed a lot to social learning theory. For example:

Learning is more that just conditioning and people learn by observation and imitation.

People are more likely to imitate models that are reinforced ; models that are liked, admired, respected and models in the same sex and age.

We develop anticipated consequences for our behaviors, even for behaviors we have never engaged in.

New patterns of behavior can be acquired in the absence of external reinforcement.
Huesmann’s longitudinal research has shown the correlational relationship between children’s exposure to violent TV shows and aggressive behavior.
However, media is not always a negative influence. Shows developed to teach academic and social skills can help children learn positive behavior and soap operas have been developed by educators, government officials and other consultants to make use of the social learning theory in order to bring change in society. Vaughan et al. observed the influence of one radio soap opera on awareness in HIV/AIDS risk and self-efficiency in protection against it in different areas in Tanzania. They used the Sabido method, which is a method for designing and producing radio and television drama that aims to change people’s behavior. The basic idea is that we can learn from role models, especially when we can identify ourselves with them. After the show was aired and had been on the radio for some time, surveys were sent out to collect the data. Just over half of the people in the regions listened the show. About 80% said that the program had helped them to learn about protection against sexual disease and raised their awareness. Listeners identified with the positive characters, spoke more often about the risks with their partner and reduced the number of sexual partners .
This shows how a scientific theory can guide the development of a treatment program that addresses a major social problem. Still, the study’s internal validity suffers. It was not possible to control who actually watched the show. Listeners might have been somewhat more intelligent and wealthier, but this information was taken in consideration when analyzing data. In addition, when answering sensitive questions, such as concerning sexual issues, there is social pressure to answer as it would be socially desirable.
Social learning theory helps explain why behaviors may be passed down in a family or within a culture. It also explains why children can acquire some behaviors without direct experience. However, the acquired behavior may not always be demonstrated for some time. This is seen as a criticism to the theory. Because of this gap between, it is not 100% that the behavior is the result of observing the model. A study in St. Helena showed that the introduction of television did not bring about any change in the behavior of children.
Discuss the use of compliance techniques.
Compliance can be defined as the result of direct pressure to respond to a request. Compliance techniques are the corner stones of marketing and advertising . The factors influencing the likelihood of complying are: authority, commitment, liking , reciprocity, scarcity and social proof.
Reciprocity principle is a social norm that we should treat others the way they treat us. It is one of the most widespread and basic norms of human culture. When we are treated nice in a shop , we are more likely to buy something, even if we did not attend to do it, as a return of favor . Arousal of feelings of guilt plays a key role in this. This principle seems to be influenced by culture. For example in Japan, there is a social rule that gifts have to be returned.

Door -in-the-face technique. A request is made that is surely to be turned down and then a second request that asks less is made. People are more likely to accept the second request in a situation like that. Cialdini et al. asked University students to take a group of juvenile young people on a day trip to the zoo. 83% refused, but when the students were first asked to sign up for work as a councilor for a minimum 2 years and then after refusal were asked to volunteer for the zoo trip only 50% refused. This example is seen in daily life when salespersons lower the price of products, because the customer sees it too expensive.

Foot-in-the-door technique. Getting people to make a commitment to something small with the hope of persuading them to agree to something larger afterwards. Dickerson et al. first asked university students to sign a poster saying ‘’Take shorter showers! If I can do it, so can you!’’ and then to fill a survey that would make them think about their own water wastage. Their shower times were then monitored. People who had filled the forms had lower approximate time for showers compared to the other people in the campus. This technique can be seen in daily life by getting people to sign petition against some law or in support of some political party. This might influence the person’s later behavior in upcoming elections for example.

Low-balling. Agreeing to the initial offer and then committing to it and not backing out. Cialdini et al. asked psychology students to be a part of a study on cognition that would meet at 7 in the morning. Only 24% was willing to do that. In a second group, the same favor was asked, but time was not told. 56% agreed to participate. When they were then told they have to meet at 7AM, 95% of the students, who had agreed to take part, showed up for their appointment.
Evaluate research on conformity to group norms.
Conformity is the tendency to adjust one’s thoughts, feelings, or behavior in ways that are in agreement with those of a particular individual or group. It is described as going along with the majority of the group and yielding to group pressure.
Asch carried out a classic study on conformity. Participants were supposed to evaluate different lengths of lines and find a matching one. One group that was observed consisted of one participant and others were confederates. At one point, the confederates made the wrong decision on purpose and then the conformity of the participant was observed. The average rate of conformity was 32% and 75% of participants conformed at least once. 5% conformed on every trial. This study is referred to as the Asch paradigm and it has been replicated successfully many times, but still the methodology could be criticized. First, there is the question of artificiality and ecological validity. In the original experiment, the task and the use of strangers made the situation atypical. Asch however argues that experiments are social situations in which participants feel like an outsider if they dissent. In addition, there is a concern for demand characteristics, that is, the participants may have acted in a way they felt was required by the features of the experiment. Culture could also have limited the validity, since only one culture was studied. Since culture is dynamic , it is possible that the Asch paradigm is no longer valid today. Ethical considerations also need to be addressed, because of deception and the anxiety the participants felt. Finally, the interpretation of the findings is criticized; perhaps it should be striking to us that in the face of unanimity so many people did not conform. Maybe the question should be which factors allow people to dissent, rather than which factors influence conformity.
Another way of looking at the Asch paradigm is minority influence on majority. Moscovici argues that when a minority maintains a consistent view, it is able to influence the majority. It is difficult, but when a minority puts forward a clear position and maintains it constantly, it is possible. In his experiment, there was a group of 4 participants and two confederates, who had to identify the color of blue- green color slides . The two confederates called them green and it was found that the minority was able to influence about 32% of the majority to make an incorrect judgment at least once. In addition, the participants continued to give the wrong answer, when the confederates had left the experiment.
Meta-analyses of studies testing Moscovici’s theory have identified three conformity effects: 1) public influence, in which the individuals behavior is influenced by the views of others, 2) direct private influence, where there is a change in the individual’s private opinions about the issue discussed by the group and 3) indirect private influence, where the individual’s private opinions about related issues change. The influence of minorities is mainly in the form of private agreement rather than public agreement with the opposite pattern in majority influence, but any differences in influence may become from the power or status of the influencer, rather than their position within the group.
Discuss factors influencing conformity.
Asch’s study referred to as the Asch paradigm has been replicated many times. Out of these replications, the factors influencing conformity have been identified.

Group size: Asch found that conformity increased, when the number of confederates increased, but only up to a group of the size of 7 people. After that, the conformity rate leveled out.
Individual differences like motivation to achieve and leadership skills seemed to influence conformity. When individuals are confident and feel that they are more competent to make decisions with regard to a field of expertise, they are less likely to conform. When replicating Asch’s study with engineers and medical students, conformity rates were almost inexistent.
Unanimity: conformity was most likely when all the confederates agreed. If one of the confederates disagreed, the participant was significantly less likely to conform.
Cultural differences: people from collectivistic cultures are more likely to conform, because this kind of behavior is favored more and a person from an individualistic culture, where independence is valued, is more likely to dissent, since conformity is considered as a negative trait.
The complexity of the task/situation: the more complex the task, the more likely people are to conform, because the rate of confidence is then lower.
Privacy seems to decrease conformity, since there is less group pressure.

Define the term culture and cultural norms.
Culture is the norms; values, beliefs, art and tradition shared by a group of people and passed on from generation to generation. Culture as a concept is too vague and broad to use it as an explanation for behavior. Rather we should use cultural factors to understand how people have adapted to survive in their environment, how society is organized and what beliefs, norms and values people have acquired. Culture can be described as mental software, that is, cultural schemas, that influence thinking, emotion and behavior. It is learned through daily interactions and by the feedback from other members of the group.
Culture is dynamic – it changes over time in response to environmental and social changes. It also exists on many levels. The aspects of a certain culture can be explicit – written as rules and regulations or implicit – some norms, that are just simply understood.
Cultural norms are behavior patterns typical to specific groups that are passed on by observational learning (e.g. marriage, alcohol consumption, spanking children).
Examine the role of two cultural dimensions on behavior.
Dimensions are perspectives of a culture, based on values and cultural norms. Many psychologists argue that there is a crucial difference between cultures emphasizing individualism (independence, goals, competition, uniqueness, privacy) and those emphasizing collectivism (relatedness, belonging, duty, harmony , advice, group work). Hofstede was the first who proposed theoretical account of individualism and collectivism. He collected his evidence by surveying IBM’s multi-national workers from 40 different countries. One of his key findings was that individualism correlates to the wealth of the country (people in these countries don’t have such a need to depend on each other). There has been increasing criticism and research on individualism-collectivism. It has been pointed out that his sample was predominantly male, and was drawn only from specific group of people and his data is very old by now. A more devastating attack on him is the findings that individualism and collectivism are essentially independent or uncorrelated with each other. Gelfand et al. have found out from presenting concepts relating to individualism, collectivism and authoritarianism to American students, that individualism and collectivism were not related and that there was a strong negative correlation between individualism and authoritarianism. In general, individuals want to control their own lives, whereas authoritarians want to control other people’s lives.
A second dimension is uncertainty versus avoidance, which deals with a society’s tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity . It indicates on how comfortable the individuals in a society feel in unstructured situations. Uncertainty-avoiding cultures try to minimize the possibility of unknown surprising situations by strict laws and regulations, safety and security measures and on the philosophical and religious level, by a belief in absolute Truth. Bond argues that Chinese culture has replaced the uncertainty-avoidance dimension with work dynamism: instead on focusing on truth, some cultures focus on virtue .
One does have to be careful, however, with applying the idea of dimensions too casually. Hofstede warns against the ecological fallacy – that is, when one looks at two cultures, it should not be assumed that two members from two different cultures must be different from each other, or that a single member of a culture will always demonstrate the dimensions which are the norm of that culture. It is found that about 60% of those living in a collectivistic culture share this trait and 60% of those living in an individual culture are individualistic.
Using examples, explain emic and etic concepts.
Cross-cultural psychology is concerned with similarities and differences among the world’s cultures. There are two distinctive concepts that are used: emic and etic. Emic constructs are specific to a given culture, varying from one culture to another. In contrast , etic constructs refer to universal factors held across all cultures. The notion of family is an example of an etic construct. There are many examples where an emic construct has been mistakenly regarded as etic construct. For example, intelligence in most Western countries is regarded as an individual’s ability to solve complex problems and think effectively. In many non-Western countries, intelligence is defined in social terms, such as social responsibilities, co-operation and interpersonal skills.

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Psühholoogia bioloogiline--kognitiivne- ja sotsiaalne vaade #24

Psühholoogia bioloogiline--kognitiivne- ja sotsiaalne vaade #25

Psühholoogia bioloogiline--kognitiivne- ja sotsiaalne vaade #26

10 punkti Autor soovib selle materjali allalaadimise eest saada 10 punkti.

~ 26 lehte Lehekülgede arv dokumendis

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ingliskeelne tekst psühholoogia kursuse tuumast.

psühholoogia bioloogia kognitsioon sotsiaalpsühholoogia mälu identiteediareng stereotüübid kultuur emotsioonid

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Cialdini raamat

More praise for Influence: Science and Practice! "We've known for years that people buy based on emotions and justify their buying decision based on logic. Dr. Cialdini was able, in a lucid and cogent manner, to tell us why this happens." --MARK BLACKBURN, Sr. Vice President, Director of Insurance Operations, State Auto Insurance Companies "Dr. Cialdini's ability to relate his material directly to the specifics of what we do with our customers and how we do it, enabled us to make significant changes. His work has enabled us to gain significant competitive differentiation and advantage" -LAURENCE HOF, Vice President, Relationship Consulting, Advanta Corporation "This will help executives make better decisions and use their influence wisely ... Robert Cialdini has had a greater impact on my thinking on this topic than any other scientist." -CHARLES T. MUNGER, Vice Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway, Inc.

Psühholoogia

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Üld- ja sotsiaalpsühholoogia kordamisküsimused

1. First social psychology experiment 1897 the first published social psychology experiment: ● by Norman Triplett ● Better results in cycling than when cycling alone Social facilitation effect: presence of others acts as a stimulation to the performer 2. Social identity theory; differences between personal, social and collective identities Stems from in-group/out-group categorization, tires to explain intergroup behaviour based on social identities. People are motivated to have a positive concept of selves. To increase self- esteem we enhancing the status of in-group status. Personal identity - personal ideas are self-designated and self-attributed Social identity - based on social roles, status and groups, always present (ex. culture, i’m a student at TLU) Collective identity - identity action-oriented groups as a whole (going to a song festival, i’m a festival goer) 3. Causal attribution: dispositional vs situational; attribution bias Causal at

Üldpsühholoogia

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Kvalitatiivne uurimustöö Emotsioonide regulatsioon ja stress

Emotion regulation in relation.. 1 Emotion regulation in relation to physiological stress response. University Name Research Project Module Code: xx 2007-2008 Supervised by xxx Word count: 7261 Emotion regulation in relation.. 2 Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate the association between psychological and the biological stress response. It is known that humans, interacting with each other or their environment, have emotional reactions that are individually regulated. These emotional responses are linked to changes in autonomic and neuroendocrine systems, which are essential for metabolic support when preparing the body

Psühholoogia

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Education

Education Education is so multifaceted that it is difficult for me to know where to begin discussing it, or how to prioritize the many factors. Relaying my own experience is easy: I had a standard classroom approach, supplemented by inordinate reading. In only the briefest and least memorable instances did I receive any individual tutoring. Education is commonly thought of as the job of schools. Adults cry "educate our children!" Everyone has opinions about the best way to do the job. It is of urgent importance, and all the numerous factors are much studied, debated, and new (or old) ideas continually tested or retested. Some people say "it's as simple as . . . " and then name their pet peeve or passion. My view is not of an education specialist, but of one who loves sharing what I learn, and owes much to educators. Since I don't have an educational theory neatly worked-out, nor an outline of my perceptions, my intent is to address each educational ingredient that comes to my m

Inglise keel

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Cultural differences of experiencing hallucinations

Cultural differences of experiencing hallucinations Introduction In this literature review I am going to examine the cultural differences of hallucinations. I chose this topic because I had briefly heard that such differences exist but had not researched further so this was a perfect opportunity to satisfy my curiosity. I had heard that in India, hallucinations are mostly experienced as benign or even helpful like the embodiment of a wise ancestor, whereas in western culture hallucinations are mainly experienced as malicious and threatening. This seems interesting because malicious hallucinations seem to me to be one of the worst symptoms of schizophrenia and if there is a possibility of making hallucinations easier to cope with without the use of antipsychotics then that seems like a possibility worth investigating. Antipsychotics are necessary for many patients but they also have many side effects and using them less would be preferable. Most of the literature focuses

Kultuuriti võrdlev psühholoogia

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The Medium Is the Message

1 The Medium Is the Message In a culture like ours, long accustomed to splitting and dividing all things as a means of control, it is sometimes a bit of a shock to be reminded that, in operational and practical fact,, the medium is the message. This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium-that is, of any extension of ourselves-result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology. Thus, with automation, for example, the new patterns of human association tend to eliminate jobs, it is true. That is the negative result. Positively, automation creates roles for people, which is to say depth of involvement in their work and human association that our preceding mechanical technology had destroyed. Many people would be disposed to say that it was not the machine, but what one did with the machine, that was its meaning or message. In terms of the ways in which the machine altered our relations to

Inglise keel

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Differential Psychology

Individual Differences (Differential Psychology) Psychology 1 It is generally assumed that: Differential Psychology · People vary on a range of psychological attributes Ian Deary · It is possible to measure and study these individual differences · Individual differences are useful for explaining and predicting behaviour and performance Differential psychology reading Human Human

Inglise keel

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Vormistamine ülesanne 3

Edith D. de Leeuw, Joop J. Hox, Don A. Dillman INTERNATIONAL HANDBOOK OF SURVEY METHODOLOGY ÜLESANNE Õppeaines: SISSEJUHATUS ERIALASSE Tehnoloogia ja ringmajanduse instituut Õpperühm: Juhendaja: Tallinn 2021 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 1 THE CORNERSTONES OF SURVEY RESEARCH 1.1 Introduction The idea of conducting a survey is deceptively simple. It involves identifying a specific group or category of people and collecting information from some of them in order to gain insight into what the entire group does or thinks; however, undertaking a survey inevitably raises questions that may be difficult to answer. How many people need to be surveyed in order to be able to describe fairly accurately the entire group? How should the people be selected? What questions should be asked and how should they be posed to respondents? In addition, what data collectio

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