Psychology Revision Notes - list of major experiments

conditions (bumped, contacted, hit, smashed and collided).  All watched a video then asked to estimate speed.  Smashed the highest (40.8mph) and contacted the lowest (31.8mph).  PPs in second part of experiment then asked a leading question about broken glass.  16/50 of the smashed condition PPs said yes in comparison to 7/50 in the hit condition.Knowledge of the factors which affect the accuracy of EWT anxiety-Christianson and Hubinette (1993)Anxiety and EWT – real incidents involving high levels of stress lead to more accurate, detailed and long lasting memories.Deffenbucher (2004)Carried out a meta-analysis of 18 studies, looking at the effects if heightened anxiety on accuracy of EWR. It was clear that there was considerable support for the hypothesis that high levels of stress negatively impacted on the accuracy of EWM. Age-Parker and Carranza (1989)Compared the ability of primary school children and college students to correctly identify a target individual following a slide sequence of a mock crime. In the photo identification task, child witnesses has higher rate of choosing ‘somebody’ than adults witnesses, although they were also more likely to make errors of identification than college students.Weapon focus effect-Loftus(1987)In violent crimes, arousal may focus attention on central details e.g. a weapon. Loftus et al identified weapons focus effect. 2 conditions, one involving weapon the other not. Condition 1 (less violent) people was 49% accurate in identifying man. Condition 2 (more violent) people were 33% accurate. Suggests weapon may have distracted them.Brief details on other research on EWTFeatures of the cognitive interview plus evaluationFisher et al developed a memory retrieval procedure for eyewitnesses, ‘the cognitive interview’ that consists of four general retrieval mnemonics:-Report everything- The interviewer encourages the reporting of every single detail of the event, even if it appears to be irrelevant.-Mental reinstatement of original context- The interviewer encourages the interviewee to mentally recreate the environment and contacts from the original incident.-Changing the order- The interviewer may try alternative ways through the timeline of the incident.-Changing the perspective- The interviewee is asked to recall the incident from multiple perspectives.Strategies for memory improvementVisual Mnemonic- A memory technique that uses visual images. For example, method of loci and mind maps.Verbal Mnemonics- A variety of memory improvement techniques that focus on words and their sounds. For example, acronyms and rhymes.Learning theoryClassical conditioning-learning through association, food produces pleasureOperant conditioning-leaning by consequences, food is a primary reinforce, feeder becomes secondary reinforce.There have been other studies proving/disproving the learning theory, you will need to know them. Shaffer and Emerson-Studied 60 babies every 4 weeks throughout 1st year of life, then again at 18 months. Assessed separation episodes. found babies were clearly attached to those who were not involved in physical care (disproving)Dollard and Miller -found the mother came associated with the removal of unpleasant feelings of hunger, as a form of negative reinforcement (supports operant conditioning)Harlow-Used rhesus monkeys. Separated them from mothers at birth, raising them in isolation cages. Monkeys became distressed when 'baby blanket' was removed (attachment not based on association with food). Harlow provided a wire mother with food and a soft mother without food. Monkeys preferred soft mother; showing they had an innate, unlearned need for contact. (disproves learning theory)Bowlby- evolutionary theoryBowlby believes:Attachment is a behaviour that has evolved because of its survival and reproductive value.Children have an innate drive to become attached to a caregiver because of long term benefits. (Similar to imprinting.)The caregiver will feed and protect the child and increase survival chances.Sensitive period- Hodges and Tizard- longitudinal study, 65 children put in an institution less than 4 months old. 70% said they didn’t care deeply about anyone. Early privation has a negative effect on the ability to form attachment’sUniversality-Tronik et al- studied an African tribe in Efe, they were from extended family. Infants were looked after and breast fed by different women but slept with their mother at night, after 6 months they still showed one PAFMonotropy – Shaffer and Emerson – also agreed that strongly attached infants had mothers who responded sensitively to their demands and offered them most attention, but weakly attached infants had mothers who didn’t interact with them.Ainsworth and strange situationSecure attachment – upset when mother lefthappy when she returnedwary of strangerinsecure avoidant- unconcerned when mother leftunresponsive when she returnedavoidant of strangerinsecure resistant-deeply distressed when mother leftseeks comfort and rejection when she returnedfear of strangerAinsworth – Uganda study- she conducted a 2 year naturalistic observation of mother – infant interactions. Some mothers were more sensitive to their infants needs and they had securely attached infants who cried little and wanted to explore – led to independence  Main and western – found that children behaved differently depending on which parent they were withHazan and shaver - investigated a hypothesis into whether attachment types had an impact on later relationships. They used the ‘love quiz’ in a newspaper. They asked people about their early and later relationships to find out what attachment type they were when they were infants.Cultural variations Van Ijzendoorn and kroonenberg- Cross cultural research of the strange situation.  Conducted a meta-analysis of 32 studies from 8 different countries (UK, USA, China, Japan, Israel, Sweden, Netherlands and West Germany). Found a high level of secure attachments in all countries but the highest was in the UK and the lowest was in China.  West German children most likely to be insecure avoidant whereas Israeli children very low insecure avoidant but high resistant/ ambivalent.  Disruption When the child – primary caregiver bond is broken- Things like illness, divorce, any kind of separation. Associated with affectionless psychopathy.Robertson and Robertson-substitute emotional careShort term separation from their attachment figure leads the child to go through the stages of protest, despair and detachment (PDD).Privation Failure to make any form of attachment - If child is in institutional care, isolation, parent working.Rutter-Compared UK and Romanian children adopted both before and after 6 months old.  Found that the Romanian children adopted before 6 months did as well socially and emotionally and the UK control group whereas the Romanian children adopted after 6 months old had problems developing attachments and displayed disinhibited attachments and had poor peer relations.Hodges and TizardStudied the long term effects of privation using 65 children who were brought up in a children’s home until the age of 4.  During this time the children were unable to form any attachments with their caregivers as staff were discouraged from forming attachments in order to reduce upset.  After four years old 25 children were restored into their original homes, 33 were adopted and 7 remained in care.  The children were followed up at the age of 8 and 16.  The researchers found that 20/21 of the adopted children and 6/13 of the restored children had close attachments with their parents.  However, the restored children were more likely to be rejecting/ hostile at both 8 and 16.  All three groups had problems forming peer relationships and were rated by teachers as being more likely to seek attention. CurtisStudied Genie who had suffered from privation for the first 13 years of her life. Privation caused numerous bad effects including poor physical development (rickets in her legs), lack of speech, emotional tantrums etc.  Some progress was made with making attachments but Genie suffered further bad care in foster homes and regressed dramatically.Day careIs a form of care for infants and children offered by someone other than close family, taking place outside the home, children spend all, or part of the day in care but return home at night, Includes nurseries, child-minding. Positive effects of day careClarke-Stewart et alFound that children in group based day care wee more sociable and better able to negotiate with peers than children cared for at home or by child-minders. EPPE projectIndicated positive effects of day care on social development including peer relations. Different forms of day care had an impact – forms with education and care combined = a more positive effect on social development.3000 UK children aged 3-4, Cognitive development for all children in pre-school was improved in comparison to those who were home schooled.Children are more likely to have adverse social profiles – this increased the risk of anti-social behaviour and could be reduced by high quality pre-school when aged 3-4.Negative effects of day careNICHDSocial competence and problem behaviours – including being aggressive, but also challenging behaviour – attention seeking.Day care made children more aggressive and disobedient.