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What to know before starting Ethics Tips for answering questions How this guide works Cognitive psychology layout: Definitions Methodology: Lab studies Field Studies Natural Studies 2 Theories of Memory: Multi-Store Model of Memory (Atkinson and Shiffrin 1968) Levels of Processing Theory (Craik and Lockhart 1972) 2 Theories of Forgetting: Cue Dependant Theory of Forgetting (Tulving 1975) Repression (Freud 1894) 2 Studies in Detail: Godden and Baddeley (1975) Craik and Lockhart (1975) Key Issue: Unreliability of Eye Witness Testimony. Prescribed Practical: Replication of Craik and Tulving.
Ethics
Each study has to abide by several BPS guidelines in order to be ethical. In some cases these guidelines can be broken if the results gained outweigh the disadvantages, typically minor deceit. The guidelines include: Revision Guide by WGH (wez.bep@hotmail.co.uk) Deception Ps should not be deceived to the true aim, or any aspect, of the study, unless the study wouldn't work without deception (for example, this may cause demand characteristics.) If ps are deceived then they must be properly debriefed afterwards. Right to Withdraw Ps should be told that they are allowed to withdraw from the study at anytime and are allowed to remove their results from being used. Debrief After the study has been completed the ps should be told the true aim of the study and have as many questions about the study that they want to know answered. The debrief ensures ps leave in the same state in which they started the experiment in. Informed Consent The researchers should get permission from ps that they want to partake in the study before the study starts in either verbal or written form. If children or those with disabilities are used then their parents / carers need to give informed consent for them.
Cognitive Definitions:
Encoding: The process of placing an experience into a form that can be used and stored by the memory system. (Memory cannot necessarily store information as you take it in. For example, if you read a sentence your memory cannot store it as a smell (according to multi store model of memory), it must first be converted to another 'form' e.g. what that sentence means. Forgetting: The inability to retrieve stored information Information Processing: A model used to understand the flow of information of information through the cognitive system, from input, to processing, to output. (This may be the computer analogy which say, like a computer, memory takes in the information (input), processes it and then outputs the consequence of that processing.) Memory: A cognitive function used to retain information and recall it when needed Retrieval: the process of recalling a stored memory Storage: Keeping information for later retrieval.
Laboratory Experiment
A laboratory (or lab) experiment (method) is possibly the most common type of experiment and there are reasons why, as will be covered later. A lab experiment occurs in a carefully controlled, lab environment in which all extraneous variables are controlled. You then carefully manipulate the IV and measure its effect on the DV. For example, if you're looking into whether aspirin lowers blood pressure you would have, for example, 20 ps and give each a dose of aspirin greater than the previous one and then measure their blood pressure. This then allows you to see the effect of aspirin on blood pressure. It is important that extraneous variables are controlled as these are variables which could affect the results, making them less reliable. For example, if, using the aspirin example, some ps have a high salt diet (something that increases blood pressure) but other ps didn't then this would lower the validity of the results. A lab experiment is desirable as it allows you to see cause and effect (a causal relationship) between two IVs and eliminates any extraneous variables which could affect the validity of the results. Another good thing about lab experiments is that they use a standardised procedure and standardised instructions. This means that the instructions every ps get are the same and a standardised procedure means that every ps does the exact same 'thing' (procedure) in the experiment. However, lab experiments do have limitations: They use artificial environments and this means that the behaviour from participants is also likely to be artificial. We call this lacking ecological validity. Lab experiments also get ps to perform unreal tasks which would never be done in the real world. For example, getting someone to smoke marijuana, learn a list of words and then get them to recall them is an unreal task and we call this lacking experimental validity. This is a disadvantage as it is important to measure real behaviour during an experiment otherwise the results may not necessarily apply to the real world. Also, because ps will have likely had to volunteer, they are highly likely to know they're part of an experiment and therefore are likely to display demand characteristics. There may also be experimenter effects, which is the experimenter present influences the responses (or actions) of a ps. For example, having a big male present may result less provocative responses, whereas having a small, old woman would perhaps result in more honest responses.
Notes
A lab experiment is an experiment where an IV is carefully manipulated to see its effect on the DV. They often use standardised instructions / procedure. + Allows you to determine a cause and effect relationship because all other extraneous variables have been controlled - the results are valid + Standardised procedure / instructions are used and because all other extraneous variables are controlled the experiment is exactly replicable to test the results for reliability. - Lacks both ecological and experimental validity due to the artificial nature of the environment and task. - Ps likely to show demand characteristics
Field Experiment
A field experiment (method) also a relatively common type of experiment used and like a lab experiment, involves carefully manipulating an IV to see its effect on the DV, but this occurs in a natural environment. There are many advantages to using a field experiment. The main one is ecological validity: Because the experiment is taking place in a natural environment the results have ecological validity and often, the task given to ps is a more 'real' task that is likely to occur in everyday life. Participants may not necessarily know that they are part of an experiment and this means that they will not (unless they know they're part of an experiment) display demand characteristics which could lower the validity of the results. However, field experiments do have limitations. The main one being that because the experiment is taking place in a natural environment that all extraneous variables cannot be controlled. This means that you cannot (necessarily) determine a cause and effect relationship between the IV and its effect on the DV. Due to a lack of control over extraneous variables it is almost impossible the replicate the experiment exactly to test the results for reliability. If ps are unaware that they are part of an experiment then this infringes on BPS (ethical) guidelines. There may also be experimenter effects.
Notes
An experiment where an IV is carefully manipulated to see its effect on the DV in a natural environments. + High ecological validity. + If ps unaware they're in an experiment then unlikely to be demand characteristics - high validity. - Cannot determine cause and effect relationship due to lack of control over extraneous variables. - Difficult to replicate exactly and test the results for reliability.
Natural Experiment
A natural (or quasi) experiment (method) is an experiment where the IV is naturally occurring in a natural environment, however, this type of experiment is rare. For example, Charleston is a natural experiment which saw the introduction of television to St. Helena's school and Charleston was looking to see whether the introduction of TV cause there to be more anti social behaviour or pro social behaviour. There are great advantages to this type of experiment, mainly being that the IV occurs naturally in a natural environment and therefore there is high ecological and experimental validity. Using the above example, TV was introduced naturally and therefore the anti / pro social that occurred because of it was natural. Also, because the situation is natural the experimenter does not need to gain permission to study the effects of the naturally introduced IV and because ps do not know they're being observed they won't display demand characteristics. This also means that there are no experimenter effects. However, there are also disadvantages: The main one being that it is pretty much impossible to replicate exactly: For example, one TV has naturally been introduced to an area it is unlikely that TV will ever be naturally introduced to that area again. Also, there is a lack of control over extraneous variables to some extent, lowering the validity of the results.
Notes
An experiment where the IV changes naturally in a natural environment. + Ecological and experimental validity. + No demand characteristics. - Impossible to replicate. - No control over extraneous variables.
Notes
A structural model of memory with 3 separate stores; sensory memory (SM), short term memory (STM) and long term memory (LTM). SM encodes information in the way it enters memory for 1/4 - 2 seconds - long enough to decide whether it's worth paying attention to. If it is, the information's transferred to STM. In STM information's stored for 18-30 seconds acoustically and 7+-2 items can be stored here. Information needs to be rehearsed in order to be transferred to LTM. Infinite amount of data can be stored in LTM for unlimited duration. Information's stored semantically. + Clive Wearing, whose hippocampus was destroyed couldn't create new memories, but could remember things previously stored in LTM and hold a conversation showing different memory stores. + Physiological scans show different parts of the brain active when information in LTM is accessed to when information in STM is accessed. +Glazner and Cunitz found that when ps freely recalled words at the beginning and end of the list were recalled well as they were in both LTM and STM respectively, showing different memory stores. - Contradicted by levels of processing which says memory is a consequence of processing and the deeper processing occurs the more durable memory is formed. - MSM is too simplistic. It says information is stored only semantically and doesn't account for episodic or procedural memories.
Notes
The deeper you process information, the more durable memory is formed. Lop explains why information can be stored without rehearsal. Maintenance rehearsal stored information for short periods of time, elaborative rehearsal for long periods. Semantic processing: Deepest form of processing, involves considering meaning of information. Structural processing: Shallowest processing, involves considering what information looks like. Phonetic processing: Less shallow than structural, involved considering what information sounds like. + Craik and Tulving found more semantically processed words were recalled out of the 3 types. + Helps students revise by telling them to do so semantically - Morris found more phonetically processed words were recalled then semantically processed ones. - Craik and Lockhart failed to accurately define what 'deep' processing was. - MSM says information is stored in LTM by rehearsal.
Notes
Repression is a defence mechanism which pushes traumatic memories into the unconscious to protect us from the trauma associated with that memory. Repression occurs as a result of a poor relationship with parents and repressed memories can manifest them self in later life through behaviour or attitudes. + Levinger and Clark - More positive and neutral words were recalled than negative ones. + Walker 1997 gave ps a diary to record events over 3 weeks. After a one week break ps asked to recall events and could only recall positive and neutral ones. + Explains why rape victims cannot remember the event. - Hadley and McKay (2007) found more negative words were recalled than positive ones. - Someone people have flashbulb memories - photographic memories about traumatic events. - Unethical to traumatise people for the sake of research.
Notes
If different cues are present at encoding than were present at recall then forgetting occurs. Cues may be necessary to access information that's available but irretrievable. Cues are additional pieces of information that act like a contents page. 2 types of cue; context which refers to the environment during encoding and retrieval and state which refers to the physical or psychological state you're in during encoding and retrieval. + Godden and Baddeley (1975) found 50% more words recalled when encoding and recall contexts the same. +Eich etal found more words recalled when ps smoked marijuana during encoding and recall - Baddeley said for cue dependant forgetting to occur the contexts must be vastly different. - Repression is another theory of forgetting which says information is pushed into the unconscious as a defence mechanism.
You must learn these numerical results. Conclusion: A natural, open-water environment does act as a natural context cue to aid recall. Evaluation - Strengths: A realistic, open-water environment was used and therefore the results have high ecological validity. The results are supported by Abernathy 1940 who found that children who learned and recalled words in the same environment recalled more words than children who encoded words in one environment and recalled them in another. Application to real life: The police use the cognitive interview where the take the eye witness back to the scene of the crime so that there are the same context cues present during recall as were present during encoding in order to aid recall. Studies show that the cognitive interview yields 35% more information than other methods. Weaknesses: As a field study was used all extraneous variables (marine animals, equipment failure etc.) were not controlled which means that it is almost impossible to replicate the results exactly and text the results for reliability. Ps who encoded and recalled the words in the same context had the 3 minute interval to rehearse the words whereas those changing environments would have had lots of interference and therefore the validity of the results is lowered. The results are not generalisable to the general population as the sample used were 18 university students who were members of its diving club in Scotland and this sample is not representative of the general population.
Yerkes-Dodson (Arousal) Curve 1908 (Sometimes called inverted U) For any task of moderate complexity, performance increases with stress up to a peak after which performance decreases. Strengths: Also supported by Clifford and Scott as described above. Cue Dependant Theory of Forgetting and Repression See above sections.
Repeated measures: Strength: There are no uncontrollable ps variables and therefore individual differences are less likely to affect the results Weakness: Suffers from order effects e.g. fatigue as the same ps are in both groups and therefore the results' validity is questionable. Matched Pairs: Strength: Ps variables are reduced as ps are matched with someone similar and therefore individual differences are less likely to affect the results. Weakness: A high amount of ps are needed and it can be very difficult to match ps which therefore is expensive and time consuming Independent Groups Strength: The results have no order effects (e.g. fatigue) because different ps are used in each condition Weakness: Individual differences may affect the results because ps variables are not controlled.
Procedure Then, after you have planned it, you carry out your practical. You obviously don't have to do the practical as the exam board don't know, but doing it will help you identify flaws with your experiment. The procedure of my experiment is as follows: We got 24 ps to sit separately in silence, in a darkened room and read them standardised instructions. We then flashed up a total of 18 words (6 of each processing type) for 0.5 seconds and then gave them a follow up, yes or no question, as has previously been described, which got them to process the word semantically, phonetically or structurally. After all 18 words had been flashed up, there was an unexpected memory test. Here, a list of 40 words (18 original + 22 new) were shown to ps and they had to identify as many words as they could that were used in the experiment.
Results Then, after you have described your procedure you have to show your results - the measures of central tendency (mean, median and mode) and range). My results were as followed: Semantic Phonetic Structural Mean number of words recalled Median Mode Range 4 3 4 3 2 2 2 3 1 1 1 2
Evaluation After the description of your practical, you have to evaluate it. You could talk about problems you encountered and how this lowered the results' validity, for example, the aforementioned demand characteristics. Strengths: Supported by Craik and Tulving's 1975 experiment, who found that 65, 36 and 17% of semantically, phonetically and structurally processed words were recalled respectively, improving the reliability of our results as we found the same pattern in processing type and words recalled. Learning a list of words in a school is a realistic task for that type of environment, therefore the results have experimental validity. The experiment took place in a lab setting and all extraneous variables such as length of time a word was displayed for were controlled. But, the experiment was in a natural environment (for students - the sample used) and therefore the results have ecological validity. The memory test was unexpected and therefore the words could have only been processed by the follow up question and not through other means (e.g. rehearsal). Disadvantages: Morris etal 1977 found that there were more phonetically processed words recalled, contradicting our results, lowering their validity. The results are only generalisable to 16 and 17 year old psychology students who attend school in England. The sample used were psychology students and therefore would likely know the aim of the experiment and therefore display demand characteristics.