Psychology Questions Ansewered

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The study by Rosenhan on being sane in insane places describes how a hospital rated all admissions over a three-month period on whether they were pseudo-patients.

18926.        (a)

What were the results of this study?

The results of the study were the hospital rated 10% of its regular intake as being pseudo-patients.

[2]

(b)

What conclusions can we draw about psychiatric diagnosis from this study?

The conclusions that can be drawn are hospitals are not thorough enough in their criteria for diagnosis as persons who would otherwise have been admitted were released.

It is difficult to detect the difference between sanity and insanity.

[2]

The study by Rosenhan (sane in insane places) broke a number of ethical guidelines.

18927.        (a)

Outline one way in which the hospital staff were treated unethically.

The hospital staff and administration were not told that they were going to be observed by outsiders.

The patients had their rights violated as they were observed by outsiders.

The pseudo patients gained admission under false pretences.

For the second study, the hospital were deceived as they were told pseudo patients would try to gain admission when they were not planning to do so.

[2]

(b)

If the study had been ethical, suggest what effect this would have on the results.

They would not have seen a true representation of psychiatric hospitals as the staff knowing of their presence would have reacted differently.

For the second study, the study could not have occurred as it was about discovering the hospital’s ability to detect insanity.  

[2]

The study by Freud contains the following extract of a conversation between Hans and his father.

18928.        Father: When the horse fell down did you think of your Daddy?

Hans: Perhaps. Yes, its possible

(a)

What was Hans’ father trying to find out with this questioning?

Hans’ father was trying to find out if the horse had come to symbolise him.

[2]

(b)

Give one problem with this type of questioning.         

This was a leading question and could suggest to Hans’, how he should answer the question.

In the study by Freud, Little Hans is referred to as a “little Oedipus”. Briefly describe the Oedipus complex.

The Oedipus complex occurs when a boy wants to replace his father with his mother and have sexual relations with her.

Outline one piece of evidence from the study that is used to support the claim that Hans is a “little Oedipus”.

One such piece of evidence is Hans’ dream that he had married his mother, and promoted his father to grand-father status.

All studies present some ethical issues to consider. Outline two ethical issues raised by the study by Bandura, Ross and Ross into the imitation of aggressive behaviour.

The children were deliberately aggravated as a part of the study. This occurred when they were told that they could not play with the toys because they were the experimenters very best toys.

 

The children were observed through a one way mirror without the consent of their parents.

In the study by Loftus and Palmer on eyewitness testimony, the subjects gave different estimates of the speed of the cars depending on how the question was asked. Give two explanations for this.

They relied on the question to provide them with information on how fast the cars were going, since they were not actually there to witness the accident.

The questions suggested to them the speed of the car.

In the prison simulation by Haney, Banks and Zimbardo, the authors say that the prisoners were taken over by the role they were acting.

Describe one piece of evidence that suggests that the prisoners were taken over by their role.

 

For this question use the parole board example, their not leaving even though they were free to, their submitting to guards.

Explain why this piece of evidence suggests that the prisoners were taken over by their role.

For each answer you must speak of internalisation. The subjects internalised the role of prison, and prisoners have to go before a parole board when they are seeking early release. Start off each answer like this (mind you this is only a suggested way of starting off the answer it is not the only way).

One way in which psychologists carry out research is by gathering a great deal of data about one individual. This method is known as the case study.

18929.        Choose one of the core studies listed below and answer the following questions.

Freud (Little Hans)

Thigpen and Cleckley (multiple personality disorder)

Gardner and Gardner (Project Washoe) 

Describe how the case study method was used in your chosen study

This question is asking you to describe what was done in the study. The key thing to note here is case study. You need to work with a definition of case study as you answer the question. [ In case you have forgotten, a case study is the detailed study of an individual or group of individuals over a period of time with the intention of making generalisations to the wider population. A case study can be of a single individual.] Once you have this definition in mind you can proceed to answer the question.

The case study was conducted using interviews, indirect observation, self reporting and second person communication.

Freud interviewed Little Hans’ father. He asked him about his son’s experiences, as it related to his phobia. He questioned to determine the possible causes of this phobia. Freud during his therapy session also interviewed little Hans’ so as to gather information from him as to what was really responsible for his phobia. Indirect observation was used as Freud got information about little Hans’ from observations made by his father. His father for instance observed little Hans’ behaviour with his mother. He for example notes little Hans’ desire to get into bed with both he and his mother. Self reporting comes from little Hans’ reporting of his dreams, for example the dream in which he dreamt that he received a new penis and a new bottom. Finally second person communication occurs when his father communicated via correspondence about Hans’.

For Project washoe it would have been once

direct observation

participant observation

You may be asking why both participation and direct observation. Well here is why, participant observation is one because the Gardeners were also a part of the study they as language trainers were participants. Direct observation because they observed Washoe for language acquisition. Examples of particpant observation teaching signs to Washoe.

You can say interview but be careful. You have to qualify it, The Gardner’s spoke to Washoe to see if she had acquired language, this was an oral interview to see how well she used language. If you qualify it like that you will be okay.

Thigpen and Cleckley

 interviews, psychometric testing, self reporting measures, second hand observation.

Interviews the therapy session was an interview.

Psychometric testing remember inkblot, iq test, and memory tests.

Self report for this we again qualify it, hypnosis was used to gather information from eve about herself. She was reporting on herself. Looked at in this way hypnosis is a self reporting measure. You have to look at it in that way for it to be a self reporting measure. Simply put you have to qualify it as a self reporting measure.

Remember her family was spoken to.

Using examples, give two strengths and two weaknesses of the case study as used in your chosen study

Look at strengths and weaknesses of the points that you gave for how a case study was conducted.

Freud-indirect observation weakness, father may have left out information that would otherwise have been valuable please give an example where this could have occurred from the study. For self report you could use it as a strength, little hans’ dreams provided insight into what was going on in his head. [ note if you did not have four points, you could just use the strength and the limitation of the same one.] Only so much can be captured using second hand communication-it is limiting-give an example from the study where this could have occurred, I underlined that to say it may not have been so you are merely saying where it was likely to have occurred.  Interview strength you can get detailed information from an individual about him/herself, in this instance from little Hans’.

The same way in which we referred to the strengths and weaknesses here, do it for the other two studies, using the points we mentioned for how the case study was conducted.

Suggest one alternative way your study could have been investigated and say how you think this might affect the results

For Freud’s studies he could have been compared in comparison to other persons with phobia. This could impact upon the study by making it better suitable for generalisation. Note you will have to elaborate further on it, this is merely the bare bones guide-to the point.

For Washoe you could say by using other persons to sign with Washoe, or by not allowing the Gardners to teach washoe sign language, but to just observe by so doing the likelihood of subjectivity would have been reduced. As I said before elaborate using examples from the study as this is the bare bones of the point.

For thigpen and cleckley have persons other than her therapist observe her for multiple personality, as the therapists because of their relationship to her may have become subjective. The same instruction applies as it did for the previous studies.

Psychological research is often carried out on a limited number of people. The sample chosen will have an effect on the results of the research

18930.        Choose one of the core studies listed below and answer the following questions

Haney, Banks and Zimbardo (prison simulation)

Milgram (obedience)

Tajfel (intergroup discrimination) 

Describe how participants were selected in your chosen study

 

This is straight forward just say how they had been selected, newspaper add e.t.c. This question is designed to see how well you remember the study.

Using examples, give two strengths and two weaknesses of the sample used in your chosen study.

This is a methodology question. Weaknesses such as number of participants trouble making generalisations, age group-naturally competitive(tajfel), milgram and zimbardo self selecting -good because they were more willing to participate-students weakness because they are used to obeying authority not true representation of wider society, none ever went to prison- homogenous grouping e.t.c.

Suggest two other sample for your chosen study and say how you think these might affect the results

A more diverse sample-a more heterogenous sample-from different location, different races, backgrounds, age group- you can use two points from this if you don’t use the terms homogeneous and heterogeneous as they cover everything.

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One of the ethical issues that causes concern in the conduct of psychological investigations is that of deception. It is sometimes argued that the use of deception is an essential part of research, and that, without some form of deception, research would be impossible.

18931.        Choose one of the core studies listed below and answer the following questions.

Rosenhan (sane in insane places)

Milgram (obedience)

Piliavin, Rodin and Piliavin (subway samaritans) 

(a) Describe how deception was used in your chosen study. [6]

scroll up top to see the ethics for Rosenhan, for piliavin,rodin and piliavin 1) They ...

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