whether leading questions can affect a person's memory of a question and insert an object that is not there into the memory.

Introduction Memory is the minds ability to store information and use it. A single process has yet not been defined about it and several theories exist about its nature. It has a huge role on our everyday lives and can be categorised into two main parts: short-term memory and long-term memory. Short-term memory stores a limited amount of information for a period of a few seconds. It can also be referred to as the 'primary', 'working' or 'active' part of the memory. On the other hand, long-term memory is stored as meaning and can last from 30 seconds to time periods as long as decades. The reliability of memory is often questioned. Memory is extremely malleable. Studies have shown that memories are often constructed after the fact has been told, and suggestions from others help fill the gaps. For example, if a police officer shows a witness a picture of an assailant and then shown a line-up of possible assailants, whether the witness is recalling the person they saw or the person in the picture is questionable. Bartlett (1932) investigated the effect of schema on a participant's recall of a story. A schema is a mental structure that represents some aspect of the world. They are used by people to organise current knowledge and is thought to provide a framework for future understanding. His theory of reconstructive memory is crucial to an understanding of eyewitness testimony

  • Word count: 5180
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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Psychological Theories on Crime Prevention and Offender Treatment

Evaluation of Crime Prevention And Offender Treatment Programs. This essay will discuss and critically evaluate methods used by psychologists in environmental crime prevention and offender treatment programs. One theory of how the environment could both prevent or encourage crime came to our understanding through architectural journalist Jane Jacobs (1961) when she identified a relationship between the design of the urban environment and criminal activity believed that these older urban developments had a steady community spirit in place which acted as a form of surveillance against street crime as people knew each other and recognised outsiders more easily but these older urban developments also had unsafe places where criminals could carry out their deviant trades without fear of apprehension. Jacobs further identified that whilst the older urban developments encouraged community spirit the newer urban developments encouraged a fortress spirit and communication between neighbours was more limited. She pointed out that the new forms of urban design broke down many of the traditional controls on criminal behavior, for example, the ability of residents to watch the street and the presence of people using the street both night and day, she suggested that this lack of natural guardianship in the environment promoted crime. Jacobs believed that crime flourishes when people

  • Word count: 1701
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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service operations

Running Head: COMPARATIVE INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT Comparative International Management and cultural Differences [Name of the writer] [Name of the institution] Comparative International Management and cultural Differences This study is a reflection of the relatively recent drive to acknowledge cultural diversity within psychological research and theory (e.g., Pepitone & Triandis, 2005, p85). Along with Betancourt and Lopez (2002, p11), we assert that a main restriction of popular psychological theories has been that they have ignored culture, and, consequently, have lacked universality. We argue that cultural differences may significantly affect judgments made by researchers and managers when making (a) observations for data collection, (b) performance appraisals in a diverse workplace, and (c) decisions within an international business context. A common assumption underlying the previous research is that for a given observation target, a group of observers can be selected to meet the requirements of the observational study, regardless of the context. However, when the purpose of the observation is to collect data for cross-cultural studies or to make decisions in international management, this assumption becomes questionable. A single group of observers, no matter how carefully selected, may not satisfy all demands of an observational study. For example, when observing

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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What are the uses of Psychology to People at Work?

What are the uses of Psychology to People at Work Psychology is the scientific study of behaviour and mental processes (Hilgard, 1996). An understanding of this can be a useful tool for many different groups of people in the work environment, who all have their own interests in what psychology has to offer. Such groups to benefit include managers, employees, Human Resources specialists and Trade Unions. An in depth understanding of human behavioural patterns can be applied positively in order to get the most out of people and increase productivity at work. This is achieved by reducing factors that interfere with the efficiency of peoples' work. This assignment will aim to focus on factors that are ongoing and socially aroused by the interaction between people and their environment, namely: dealing and coping with work stress; lowering the rate of bullying and harassment in the workplace; and maintaining a high level of motivation and effort both in demanding and tedious tasks. Every type of person in an organisation is susceptible to suffering from worry and stress. Stress is a challenge to a person's capacity to adapt to inner and outer demands, which may be physiologically arousing and emotionally taxing and call for cognitive and behavioural responses (Westen, 1999). Stress provokes physical and emotional disturbances, which have the ability to affect both one's

  • Word count: 1518
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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Outline and evaluate two or more studies relating to human altruism and/or Bystander Behaviour

Outline and evaluate two or more studies relating to human altruism and/or Bystander Behaviour Human altruism is the idea of people performing completely selfless acts, for example helping others because they feel only empathy for them and want to assist them. However it is often argued that truly altruistic behaviour doesn't exist and there is always some egoistic motivation to help someone because you will be benefit from it in some way. Batson's Empathy Altruism Model explains altruistic behaviour as simply a consequence of empathy with someone in need. It's suggested that when coming across someone who needs your help it will lead to empathetic concern, but only if the perspective of the other person is taken so that it is understood how they feel. Batson believed that three conditions facilitate perspective taking; the first would be that the observer is attached to the victim in some way, either romantically, through family or that they are similar in a way. The second is that the observer has had a similar experience so can understand the distress the person is going through, and the final condition would be that the observer is instructed to imagine what it must be like in the person's situation by other people around them. To test this theory, Batson used a placebo drug that had no real effects but led all female participants to interpret their reactions as high

  • Word count: 945
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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Minority Group Influence

Minority group influence One of the biggest problems is that the majority group are weary of change so building up credibility within the group will be good as it will mean that the minority will then have the right to hold different ideas in the group after a period of time. This is often referred to as idiosyncrasy credit and is firstly done by conforming to the group norm in order to fit in. Not only will this enable ideas to put across more willingly but will build up confidence levels so the majority of the group will that the minority is right in what the say. Hollander (1958) argues to support this. He said that prior conformity enhances status which allows greater influence and nonconformity. Result of experiments carried out found that nonconformity which accompanies a task contribution often enhances the influence of an external- status equal, but can have liabilities for members with low external- status. This means for the minority group that because you still have the same status (social workers) then you will need to build up credibility for greater influence. The type of power expressed is also a key thing to use when presenting ideas when in the group. Ideally, expert power would increase the amount of influence spread over the group. This type of power requires insider knowledge of the topic/ ideas being presented. A way to do this would be to use correct

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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Describe and evaluate the theories of attraction and relationship formation.

Describe and evaluate the theories of attraction and relationship formation (24 Marks) The matching hypothesis (Walster et al. 1996) states that people are attracted to others of a similar level of attractiveness to their own. We are likely to seek out people similar to ourselves in other attributes such as intelligence etc. There are many possible reasons for our attraction to physically attractive people; there is also the potential cost of rejection from someone who doesn't see us as physically attractive. Self -esteem also affects this process e.g. people feeling low in self- esteem is more likely to target someone who's less likely to reject them. Murstein (72) provides supporting evidence for this, in the study; photos of faces of 'steady or engaged' couples were compared with random couples who were just paired for a photo. The results were that real couples were constantly judged to be more similar to each other in physical attractiveness than random pairs. It was concluded that individuals with equal market value for physical attractiveness are more likely to form intimate relationships. However, no homosexual couples were studied. There are consequences of mismatching with the matching hypothesis; the less attractive partner may feel unattractive to their partner. Mismatching can also place strains on the couple and threaten their long term success of that

  • Word count: 1065
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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Challenges facing Youths

Challenges Facing the Youth in Today's Society Most of the problems facing today's youth are not restricted to any one ethnic or religious group, but affect young people generally. Most discussions on youth have focussed on issues such as drug abuse, crime, violence, sexuality and poverty. In addition to these, today's youth are afflicted by new challenges. These include: . An Identity Crisis: Who am I? 2. Lack of self confidence and low self esteem: I am worthless 3. A sense of hopelessness: Where am I going? 4. Confusion and ambiguity concerning moral issues: What is right and wrong? 5. The negative impact of the electronic media: Entertainment ? 6. Competitiveness in education: the uneven playing field: Excellence by whom? Not Me. Muslim Youth The Quran and life of the Prophet give numerous examples of outstanding youth. Islam praised the efforts of the youth in reviving religion through calling to the worship of God and fighting against disbelief as a form of backwardness and corruption. Indeed the image of Abraham peace be upon him in the Quran is one of extreme inspiration, enlightenment and uniqueness. It is the image of a young man rebelling against his people's decadent traditions, a young man defying the dominant values of his society even in the form of a tyrant king who claims divinity. His son Ismail inherited these qualities of sincerity in

  • Word count: 1532
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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Discuss research into any two typesof understudied relationships (e.g. gay and lesbian; "electronic" friendships).

Discuss research into any two types of understudied relationships (e.g. gay and lesbian; "electronic" friendships). Gay and lesbian and electronic relationships are categorised as understudied because they are a fairly new concept of relationships which have been relatively understudied. Many people around the world are starting to accept this as a form of relationship, despite its newness. Bee (1994) highlighted the fact that there are misconceptions about homosexual relationships, but he concluded that there is in fact a similarity between heterosexual and homosexual relationships. This is supported by evidence from Kurdek and Schmitt (1986) who found that when they measured love for their partner and liking for their partner in married, heterosexual cohabiting, gay and lesbian couples, the mean level of love was high in all four types of couple. Another finding in this investigation was that liking for partners was fairly high in all four but lower in heterosexual cohabiting couples. The idea that heterosexual and homosexual relationships are similar is described by Kitzinger and Coyle (1995) as "liberal humanism". In homosexual relationships equality of status and power are the most important factors of the relationship. Blumstein & Schwartz (1983) found that lack of power equality played a dominant role in the ending of gay and lesbian relationships, but not of

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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Critically Compare the Factors that Affect Interpersonal Attraction and the Development of Relationships

Critically Compare the Factors that Affect Interpersonal Attraction and the Development of Relationships Interpersonal attraction is the attraction between people which often lead to friendships or romantic and sexual relationship between two people. This essay will aim to critically compare and evaluate the factors that affect interpersonal attraction leading to the development of long-term relationships, evaluating key research, which has been conducted in this area of social psychology. There are several reasons or motives underlying interpersonal attraction. The need for affiliation (naff), need for intimacy and avoidance of loneliness. Most humans are social animals who enjoy the company of others, therefore need to establish and maintain relationships with other fellow humans; this contact provides emotional support, a basis for social comparison and attention. The need for intimacy (nint) is a need to form and maintain close affectionate relationships with others and to share information about themselves and show concern for others. Physical closeness or proximity is an important factor in interpersonal attraction. In order to meet two people must share close proximity, this helps in forming a close relationship. Research by Festinger, et al (1950 see PIP P.690) and Sigall (1973, see Gross, p.409) demonstrate this proximity effect. Festinger, et al, found that within

  • Word count: 1389
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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