Rosenhan, Thigpen and Cleckley - Describe what each of the studies tells us about individual difference.
Psychology Essay. Some of the core studies take an individual approach to human behaviour and experience. This includes individual factors such as intelligence, mental health and race and how these characteristics determine our behaviour and experiences. Using the studies below, answer the questions: Gould Hraba and Grant Rosenhan Thigpen and Cleckley a) Describe what each of the studies tells us about individual difference.(12) b) Using examples, give 2 strengths and 2 weaknesses of the individual differences approach. (12) a) Gould's study looks into the fundamental problems involved in the attempts to measure intelligence. Gould analysed the procedure completed by Yerkes and found that he had ignored individual differences when doing the intelligence tests. Yerkes believed that intelligence was down to genetic differences in races and tested the participants with three tests, the alpha test, the beta test and the individual examination. He thought he was measuring native intellectual ability but there were many problems that he had not taken into consideration which were uncovered by Gould. Gould identified many problems with the research; for example, some races of people would not have been used to using a pencil and would not have been in a test environment before. This would have resulted in them getting a very low score and therefore would not have been a
Outline and evaluate two social psychological explanations for aggression
Outline and evaluate two social psychological explanations for aggression While there are many different approaches in psychology, perhaps the most believable, and ultimately provable approaches to aggression come from the social psychological approach: social learning theory and deindividuation. While the two theories differ in their context, they both assert that the explanations of behaviour, in this case aggression, originate from the situational context emphasising little importance on other factors such as biology, evolution or cognitive processes. The social learning theory (SLT) approach to aggression largely originates from the somewhat infamous work of Bandura. While SLT comes under the large umbrella term of behaviourism, it goes far beyond the simple stimulus response model, explaining in depth more complex and perhaps realistic explanations for behaviour. Aggression is learned either indirectly: through observational learning and only replicated if vicarious reinforcement occurs, or directly. This is where aggressive behaviour is directly reinforced. While both are a form of operant conditioning, the direct approach parallels the ideas much closer. Bandura outlined the following four steps in the modelling process of SLT: Attention, retention, reproduction and motivation. Attention is increased if the model is more prestigious, attractive or similar. This causes
Thigpen and Cleckley
Thigpen and Cleckley (1954) - 'A case of multiple personality' • Case study of a 25-year-old married woman referred to two psychiatrists for severe headaches and blackouts but soon discovered to have a multiple personality. • The first few interviews of the woman, Eve White, only found her to have 'several important emotional difficulties' and 'set of marital conflicts and personal frustrations'. * The first indication of multiple personality came when the psychiatrist received a letter from Eve that she did not remember sending and which contained a note at the end written in a different and childish handwriting. • On her next visit, after a period of unusual agitation, she reported that she occasionally had the impression that she heard a voice in her head-and then suddenly and spontaneously showed a dramatic change in her behaviour, revealing the character (and answering to the name) of Eve Black. • Over a period of 14 months and around 100 hours of interview time, the two psychiatrists investigated the two Eves, first using hypnosis, but later without the need for it. • Eve White was found not to have access to the awareness and memories of Eve Black (experiencing blackouts when Eve Black took over control), although the reverse was true for Eve Black (who often used the ability to disrupt Eve White's life by taking over and getting her into trouble or by
Discuss explanations of the development of gender identity and / or gender roles
Discuss explanations of the development of gender identity and / or gender roles The first explanation into the development of gender identity is the Social Learning Theory or Social Cognitive Theory, developed by Bandura (1991). Bandura suggested that gender identity, or roles, develop through several modes of influence, principally modelling, enactive experience and direct tuition. Bandura demonstrated modelling through the Bobo doll experiment where young children copied aggressive behaviour, particularly when the modeller was the same sex as the child. This suggests children copy same sex models in everyday life and thereby learn what's considered appropriate behaviour from the behaviour of those around them. This may be reinforced or inhibited through enactive experience where the child's actions are 'rewarded' or 'punished' by people's reactions. This is also shown through peers, as a child may see them getting rewarded or punished for something and therefore model their behaviour on that outcome. People can also model their behaviour on gender roles shown in the media, which affects their self-efficacy. Additionally, the principle of self-efficacy suggests that we learn what is possible for our own gender through seeing others succeed or fail. Therefore we are more likely to engage in behaviour that we've seen our own gender succeed in. Perry and Bussey (1979)
Discuss the Freewill Versus Determinism Debate As It Applies To Psychology.
DISCUSS THE FREEWILL VERSUS DETERMINISM DEBATE AS IT APPLIES TO PSYCHOLOGY Do we choose to act as we do or are our actions a result of influences beyond our control? This question has preoccupied philosophers for centuries, thus giving rise to the 'Freewill versus Determinism' debate. By definition, freewill is the notion that we are free to make decisions and thus control all of our actions however determinism takes the opposing view suggesting that all of our actions are totally determined by the external and internal forces operating on them. It is now widely recognised by most psychologists that it is a combination of both freewill and determinism that determine our behaviour however this leads to another question, 'to what extent is our behaviour determined and to what extent are we free to choose?' The idea that our behaviour is controlled by external factors paints a rather depressing picture of life in which we have no control over any of our actions. As a result, the humanistic approach in psychology completely rejected this idea and instead opted for the idea of freewill. Humanists such as Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow strongly believe that people exercise choice in their behaviour and that the idea that we are not in control of our behaviour is 'de-humanising.' Freewill essentially means that we have a choice over what we do and that our behaviour is voluntary
How does Temperament affect attachment?
How does Temperament affect attachment? Temperament is believed to be the infant's behavioural disposition, which is a production of an internal manifestation of events associated with environmental and generational affects (deVries, 1948). There has been considerable debate between attachment and temperament theorists in the roles of temperament in attachment (Dirkin, 1998; Berk, 1997). Factors, which contribute to the attachment relationships strength, have recently been suggested as; behaviour (Notaro and Volling, 1999) and maternal sensitivity (Rosen and Rothbaum, 1993). However transitionally, it is likely that infant-parental relationships are influenced by individual differences (temperament) (Seifer et al, 1996). This essay will therefore present infant and caregiver temperament influences, on attachment relationship. Differences in maternal and paternal attachments formed with infants will also be discussed, concluding by summarising the temperament influence on attachment relationships. Nine dimensions of temperament are proposed in the Infant Temperament Questionnaire (ITQ): activity, rhythmicity, approach/withdrawal, threshold, adaptability, persistence, intensity, mood, and distractibility (deVries, 1984). However, the main characteristics which are generally discussed are; emotionality, distress-anger, fear and activity (Lemery et al 1999). Lengue, West
Reductionism In Psychology
Describe and evaluate reductionist explanations in 2 areas of psychology (30) Reductionism is the belief that the subject matter of psychology can be best explained by breaking it down into simple elements. This is sometimes referred to as Occam's razor, which outlines that unnecessary constructs and levels of explanation can be cut away in order to reveal the simple explanation. This idea is further supported by Morgan's Law Of Parsimony. This law states that we have no need to explain behaviour in terms of complex psychological processes, when it can be done in much simpler ideas. The reductionist line of thinking suggests that whatever it is we are trying to explain, we should look for something basic. The reductionist approach allows for psychology to be seen more scientifically but whether this is the best approach for the investigation of human behaviour is debateable. Rose suggested different levels of explanation for most things. Each level has a valid contribution to offer overall, but a particular topic may be best explained at a particular level. The hierarchical levels Rose suggested were molecular being the most reductionist and the behaviour of groups (sociology) being the least reductionist. Reductionism in psychology lies within the other 3 levels in the hierarchy. The main principle is that complex behaviour can be broken down into their constituent parts
The effect of the Level of Processing on the amount of information recalled
Title: The effect of the Level of Processing on the amount of information recalled Abstract: The investigation is based on the work of Craik and Lockhart who devised the Levels of Processing (LOP) model in 1972. According to their theory it has three levels of processing, semantic, phonological and structural. Structural processing is based purely on appearance and arrangement of the word, phonological processing is how it sounds and semantic processing is what it means. In terms of shallowness, structural is the shallowest and semantic is the deepest. They found that participants processing information semantically recalled words better than those processing them structurally. They suggested that words which require deeper processing are recalled better. The aim of the study was to see if people recall words processed by their meaning more frequently than words associated with their appearance. The research method used a laboratory experiment and the experimental design was independent measures. An opportunity sample of thirty-eight participants of year 11 students at Unity College, Northampton, were asked to carry out a simple task of answering a series of closed questions. They were then asked to recall the words under consideration of the questions being asked. The investigation found that participants recalled an average of 6.18 words using semantic processing and
Describe and Evaluate 2 Models Of Memory
Describe and Evaluate 2 Models Of Memory In this essay 2 models of memory will be described and compared. They are the Atkinson and Sniffrin model of memory, the Multistore model, and Crain and Lockhart model, the Levels of Processing Model. Models of memory are primitive diagrams of human memory to help understand the flow of information and how it is stored. In order to evaluate those 2 models appropriately it is important to understand how old they are. The Multistore Model of Memory by Atkinson and Shiffrin is a very primitive model although it does try to explain how the memory works quite well. It recognises 3 memory stores - the Sensory Memory Store, the short-term memory store and the long-term memory store. The environment makes available a variety of sources of information. The information comes in through the sensory system - through one of the five human senses. For a brief time it gets stored in the sensory memory store; 2 seconds for auditory and 0.5 second for visual information. It is an exact copy of the stimulus, although it lasts for a very short time. The experiment done by Sperling in 1960, where he showed a quick image to the participants and asked them to write the answers down, supports the theory of existence of the Sensory memory store, as participants could only remember 36% of the image on average. According to the model, if attention is paid to
A study into social representations of sexuality
Contents Page Abstract Page 2 Introduction Pages 3-8 Methods Results Discussion References Page 9 Appendix 1 Page 10 Appendix 2 Page 11 Appendix 3 Page 12 Abstract The main aim of this study was to investigate social representations of sexuality through the media of FHM magazine, in terms of body exposure. The hypotheses were that there would be more partially clothed women displayed than partially clothed men, and more fully clothed men displayed than women. This was a content analysis where all people featured in the magazine that were larger than an eighth of an A4 sheet of paper were counted. The men and women were classified separately into two categories: partially clothed or fully clothed. It was found that the greater proportion of those partially clothed were women, and the majority of those fully clothed were men. The results were statistically significant. This study concluded that women are portrayed as sexual objects more than men in FHM magazine. Introduction Social representations are common sense ideas, thoughts, images and knowledge which members of a group share, that help us to interpret and understand our social world. They explain attitudes towards complex concepts such as sexuality, intelligence or education. (However, they differ from culture to culture, for example, the
