Introductory methods

• Coding


  Baddeley- participants given 1 of 4 word lists to learn (semantically/acoustically similar/dissimilar). More confusion with acoustically similar in STM recall, more confusion with semantically similar in LTM recall. STM- coded acoustically, LTM- coded semantically.
• Episodic memory


  Memory of personal events. Memories from this store have to be retrieved consciously.
• Semantic memory


  Knowledge of the world. These memories also have to be retrieved consciously.
• Procedural memory


  Knowledge of how to do things. These memories can be recalled without conscious effort.
• Capacity


  Jacobs- participants given a number of letters/digits and asked to recall. 9.3 digit span, 7.3 letter span. Miller- noticed lots of things come in 7s. Concluded that people can recall 7 chunks of info, plus or minus 2.
• Central Executive


  Attentional process, allocates tasks to slave systems
• Phonological Loop


  Auditory info. Phonological store- words we hear. Articulatory process- keeping words in a loop, so we can speak them.
• Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad


  Visual and spatial info. Logie subdivided into visual cache (visual data) and inner scribe (records current spatial awareness).
• Episodic Buffer


  Integrates visual & auditory info to record an event, which can be stored in LTM.
• Short-Term Memory (STM)


  Peterson & Peterson. 24 students shown trigrams, then asked to count backwards from a 3 digit number for a set amount of time. STM lasts about 18-30 seconds without rehearsal.
• Long-Term Memory (LTM)


  Bahrick et al. High school yearbooks. 15 years after graduation- 90% facial recognition, 60% name recall. 48 years after graduation- 70% faces, 30% names. LTM can last potentially forever.
• Sensory Register


  Split into iconic (visual), echoic (auditory), and other memory stores. Input info from the environment. High capacity, short duration.
• Short-Term Memory (STM)


  Info transferred to STM if we pay attention to it. Maintenance rehearsal keeps info in the STM.
• Long-Term Memory (LTM)


  Prolonged/elaborative rehearsal takes info from STM to LTM. To recall info, it must go back to the STM before we can remember it.
• Proactive Interference


  Old memories interfere with new
• Retroactive Interference


  New memories interfere with old
• Effects of Similarity


  McGeoch and McDonald. Found that there is higher interference when memories are similar.
• Encoding Specificity Principle - Tulving


  Successful recall depends on the same cues being present at encoding and retrieval.
• Context-Dependent Forgetting


  External cues. Baddeley & Hitch- deep sea divers study. Asked to learn & recall lists of words on land/underwater. Best recall when external cues the same.
• State-Dependent Forgetting


  Internal state. Carter & Cassaday- antihistamines. Asked to learn & recall lists of words on/off the drug. Best recall when internal state the same.
• Positive Effect of Anxiety

  Yuille and Cutshall- interviewed witnesses of real life gun shooting. Those who rated themselves as highly anxious at the time recalled more info from the event.
• Negative Effect of Anxiety

  Johnson and Scott- participants in a waiting room and heard an argument. Low anxiety condition- man emerged with a pen and grease on hands, high anxiety- paper knife & blood on his hands. Better identification of man in low anxiety condition.
• Yerkes-Dodson Law


  Adapted by Deffenbacher. Optimal point of anxiety.
• Leading Questions


  Loftus & Palmer- videos of car crash. Critical question- 'about how fast were the cars going when they __ each other?' contacted, bumped, hit, collided, smashed. More severe verb= higher estimated speed. Response bias explanation- changed how participants answered. Then, second experiment tested substitution explanation- whether the participants' memory had been changed. Asked if they'd seen smashed glass. Those asked the question with 'smashed' were more likely to say yes, but there was no glass.
• Recall everything


  Witnesses should recall every detail about the event that they can remember, as 'irrelevant' details may cue more important ones.
• Reinstate the context


  Witnesses should 'revisit' the scene in their mind. Based on context-dependent forgetting.
• Reverse the order


  It is more difficult to lie if you're telling a story backwards. Also stops the interference of schema.
• Change the perspective


  Witnesses should imagine the scene from a different perspective. Prevents interference from schema.
• Post-Event Discussion


  Gabbert et al- showed pairs of participants videos of a crime from different angles. Experimental group- discussed afterwards, control group didn't. 71% in experimental group reported info they hadn't seen. 0% of control group did this.
• The Enhanced Cognitive Interview

  Fisher et al- focus on social dynamics, e.g. eye contact. Reduce witness anxiety.
• Define social influence

  Ways in which people's thoughts, feelings & behaviors are affected by other people
• Define conformity

  Tendency to change behavior & beliefs

  as result of pressures from others
• Name different types of conformity

  Identification

  Internalisation

  Compliance
• Who suggested there are 3 ways people conform?

  Herbert Kelman (1958)
• Define Internalisation

  Genuine change in public behaviour & private beliefs to accept the norm

  that persists w/o presence of group
• What study supports internalisation?

  Jenness
• Define identification


  Temporary change in public behaviour & beliefs

  to accept the norm of a group that is valued

  that persists only in presence of group
• Define compliance

  Temporary change in public behaviour but not in private beliefs

  in order to fit in
• What study supports compliance?

  Asch Line study
• State two explanations for conformity

  Normative SI

  Informative SI