Rosenhan Study
The aim of the study was to test the hypothesis that psychiatrists cannot reliably tell the difference between people who are sane and those who are insane. The sample consisted of eight sane people, a psychology graduate student in his 20s, three psychologists, a paediatrician, a psychiatrist, a painter, and a 'housewife' attempting to gain admission to 12 different hospitals, in five different states in the USA. There were three women and five men. A disadvantage of using this sample is that it cannot be generalised, for the reason that there was only 2 women and five men thus not being wholly reliable to generalise results but also that this study was conducted in the United states therefore results may differ to the rest of the world. Quantitative data is data that can be expressed numerically in some way. Quantitative data was obtained from the study by Rosenhan such as the amount of times the hospital staff came on to the ward, The records the pseudo patients had made about the amount of time the nurses stayed in the ward offices was about 90 per cent of the time and the number of times medical staff came onto the ward, and the amount of time spent with psychiatrists, psychologists, registrars and so forth was, on average, under seven minutes per day.. Additionally, the amount of medication given to each patient was another quantitative measure it was estimated that
An Introduction to Learning Styles and Methods
Nicola Johnson An Introduction to Learning Styles and Methods Introduction Throughout the ages learning has always been important. From newborn to elderly learning forms an integral part of everyday life. Learning techniques have changed over the years, early man relied heavily on visual stimulation to learn and this is still the basis of learning today in early childhood. Learning is knowledge acquired through study and visual stimulation. Good teaching, role models and determination are all factors, which influence learning. Models of learning Teachers in the past thought everyone ought to learn the same way. In the Victorian era it was very stern, one sided and involved a lot of humiliation, as poorer pupils where treated as second-class citizens. There was a lot of caning, shouting and being made to stand in a corner to name a few. This went on for years and many of them went to work as servants for the rich. Many thought this was their way of life forever. Today most of this has changed, we (the students/pupils) still sit in a classroom and learn from the teacher, but the teacher can also learn from us, as we all have different experiences of life however long or short. This is all thanks to a new way of learning from psychologist who have become renowned for their work and ideas of what motivated people to learn. Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) was born in Russia
Outline and evaluate the theory of deindividuation
Outline and Evaluate the Theory of Deindividuation Aggression is the intent to harm someone through verbal or physical actions. The Deindividuation theory is used to explain how anonymity can lead to individuals behaving in an antisocial manner, even though they would not act in this way in any normal circumstances. Deindividuation happens when you have an individual who feels anonymous, they act in ways that they would not normally due to social norms, but the fact that they are deindividuated makes them feel fine about not complying to the social norms, for example breaking the law and being aggressive. There are situations that increase Deindividuation, such as being in a group, or wearing a mask. In large groups an individual may act violent due to the responsibility not being completely on them. A strength of the Deindividuation theory is that there are many studies that support it. Zimbardo's prison experiment is a prime example that Deindividuation results in violent/aggressive behaviours. Within the experiment students were randomly allocated to prisoners and guards, the prisoners wore uniforms with sunglasses and treated the prisoners harsh, so harsh that the experiment had to be called off after just 5 days. This experiment is a clear example of how Deindividuation works, due to the guards wearing the uniform and sunglasses they were not acting themselves and
Outline and Evaluate the biological model to Abnormality.
Aleksander Filipczak Outline and Evaluate the biological model to Abnormality. The biological approach sees mental disorders being caused by abnormal physiological processes in the body. Therefore, any abnormality must have specific causes that happen in some bodily malfunction or genetic factors etc. For this model, the cure is to remove such the root cause, thus returning the body's status to "normal". This model is called the biological or medical model, due to the reason that it approaches mental illness diagnosis with a similarity to that of physical illnesses. Due to the model being very scientific in nature of investigation and understanding the psychological illness, it is most widely accepted model to psychological abnormality around the world. The biological model states, that all mental disorders are related to some change in the body, such as brain damage, genes, infection or biochemistry. Many abnormalities with the brain might occur due to genetic inheritance, which means that the abnormality was passed down from parent to child. A way of investigating this is by studying pairs of identical twins. They can be compared to each other (due to identical genetic structure) , and therefore see, that if abnormality is passed down by genetics, if one twin has a disorder, then the second should also have it, which gives us concordance rates. Research suggests that
Biological Explanations for Eating Behaviour
Biological Explanations for Eating Behaviour The first study into eating behaviours was Canon and Wasburn (1912) they conducted a study in which the stomach would contract to indicate hunger and satiety. This research tells us that the strength of the gastric contraction correlated with the hunger and satiety of the participant. The participant was requested to push a button to indicate when they felt hungry. This shows that when we are hungry our brain sends signals to the stomach so that it can contract. A limitation of the study is that it contained one participant so it cannot be generalised. The part of the brain which receives signals of satiety is called the Ventromedial Hypothalamus it is located in the Hypothalamus and controls the amount we eat. A study that provides evidence for the role it plays and explains the significance of this evidence is Hetherington and Ranson, they summarised that rats with lesions to Ventromedial Hypothalamus became overweight. They concluded that destruction of the VH which was responsible for controlling feeding behaviour this then lead to an increase in feeding and body weight. It was then assumed that the rat's satiety centre was not working correcting which usually indicates when we're full. At the time of the study it couldn't be said whether or not the study accurately showed the role of the VN however later studies have had
OCR G543 - Evaluate the use of a longitudinal research design when considering upbringing as an explanation for criminal behaviour.
Forensic Psychology Q) Evaluate the use of a longitudinal research design when considering upbringing as an explanation for criminal behaviour. (15) A) Longitudinal studies are psychological investigations carried out over a long period of time, or at various intervals over a long period of time. They allow psychologists to study changes in behaviour and, for instance, partiality to crime, and how this behaviour and the attitudes of those partaking in such behaviour change over time and why. But there is a flaw in the fact that longitudinal studies like Farrington, et al.’s, have many extraneous variables that can affect the validity of the results. This is not an issue for studies like Wikstrom & Täfel’s Peterborough Youth Study, which was a snapshot study – a study conducted at just one point in time – and consists of a singular analysis of the school reports of 2,000 14/15 year olds and one interview, thus making the practicality of psychological research far easier than the 40 year-long longitudinal study Farrington conducted. On top of this, the most commonly used approach to collecting data from longitudinal research is self report; both Farrington and Wikstrom & Täfel used them. Self report techniques are a good indicator of partiality to criminal behaviour because you can ask personal questions and learn about smaller crimes that unreliable criminal
a)How might the view of the majority influence a jury when reaching a verdict?
Psychology Revision – Reaching A Verdict Q1)a)How might the view of the majority influence a jury when reaching a verdict? (10) Juries consist of twelve people, and often their verdicts of guilt or innocence aren’t unanimous. In this case, the view of the majority can greatly influence the minority in reaching a verdict. In a study conducted by Asch – though not originally a forensic study – he aimed to show how the views of the minority can be altered by the majority, even when presented with an unambiguous task. The task consisted of line X and comparison lines A, B and C and the five participants (all confederates except one) had to identify which of the lines A, B or C was the same length as line X. The confederates were told to deliberately and consistently choose the wrong line. The confederates collectively made the single participant conform on 32% of the tasks. This data drops to just 5% if the majority is not consistent in their beliefs that the wrong line is the right line. This data shows how, if a majority is confident and persistent in their beliefs, they can influence the decisions of the minority. Even though it was not originally a forensic study, Asch’s study on majority influence showed how some members of the jury may sway towards the opinions of the majority in order to avoid alienation from the social majority; they would rather conform
Discuss the nature of sleep, including two explanations of the functions of sleep
Discuss the nature of sleep, including two explanations of the functions of sleep The restoration theory of sleep involves sleeping to recover, repair and to grow. Oswald stated that REM sleep is needed to replenish neurotransmitters in the brain and help the brain recover, while NREM sleep is used to restore bodily processes and functions. Oswald also said that sleep restores energy, removes waste from the body and repairs cells. There is a lot of empirical evidence to support this, for example babies undergo far more REM sleep compared to an adult - this can be explained because of the amount of energy a growing brain requires due to increased protein synthesis for cellular growth; this study has high ecological validity because it is a naturalistic experiment and it can also be generalised to all babies as they all undergo large amounts of REM sleep. Most human growth hormone is released during the first stages of sleep; this supports the restoration theory as growth hormone is necessary for growth and repair, however despite a correlation we cannot imply cause and effect, that the burst of growth hormone is related to restoration functions in sleep. Another source of empirical evidence is that people who have damaged their brain in cases such as drug overdoses, spend longer in REM sleep which supports the theory that REM sleep is when the brain recovers and repairs,
Outline one or more social psychological explanation of aggression
Outline one or more social psychological explanation of aggression Deindividuation is a concept in social psychology regarding the loosening of social norms in groups. Theories of deindividuation propose that it is a psychological state of decreased self-evaluation causing antinormative and disinhibited behaviour. The deindividuation theory seeks to provide an explanation for a variety of antinormative collective behaviour, such as violent crowds, lynch mobs, etc. Deindividuation refers to a diminishing of one's sense of individuality that occurs with behaviour disjointed from personal or social standards of conduct. For example, someone who is an anonymous member of a mob will be more likely to act violently toward a police officer than a known individual. In one sense, a deindividuated state may be considered appealing if someone is affected such that he or she feels free to behave impulsively without mind to potential consequences. However, deindividuation has also been linked to "violent and antisocial behaviour." An example of deindividuation in recent event can be the recent riots, people may have been more prone to riot and loot while hiding their identity if people did not have the means to remain anonymous then they may have been less prone to riot. The psychologist Zimbardo has carried out experiments on deindividuation and the effect of it, in one study,
Describe and evaluate explanations of group displays in humans
Describe and evaluate explanations of group displays in humans There is a belief that people act differently when in groups compared to how they behave as individuals, for example people in groups may sometimes behave more antisocially but become more cooperative and selfless in the presence of other group members. Lynch mobs are a group of people, without legal authority, that kill a person for some assumed offence, history tells us that there were 2000 victims of lynch mobs killed in 10 US states in the years 1882 and 1930. The vast majority of victims were African-American males, among the evolutionary explanations offered for behaviour in lynch mobs. The power threat hypothesis by Blalock (1967) suggests that as minority group membership grows, majority group members will intensify their efforts to remain dominance, for example among the other reasons for Black lynching's are: 'trying to vote' and 'voting for the wrong party', the fear of 'Negro' power meant that white mobs frequently turned lynch laws as a means of social control. However, this hypothesis does not explain any other factors, as it solely believes that lynchings are done to remain dominance. Social learning theory can be an explanation for aggression, this is when members of a species learn how to survive through observation of a high member of the same species, for example, monkeys learn where to get
