Psychology- Core studies and debates Y12

• Describe the cognitive area.

  The cognitive area involves the way we mentally process information, Behaviour is seen as a consequence of our mental processes- our thoughts affect the way we feel. We are like computers-> we process info through input and output.
• strengths of explaining behaviour with the cognitive area.

  Very scientific and practical applications like cognitive behavioural therapy
• weaknesses of explaining behaviour using cognitive area

  Unlike a computer we are emotional and intuitive, also reductionism.
• loftus and palmer's sample

  45 American students in the first study second was 150 American students.
• Design in loftus and palmer.

  Both studies used a lab experiment and an independent measures design.
• Loftus and Palmer's iv.

  1. Wording in the critical question.
  2. wording of question around the crash
• Loftus and Palmer's dv.

  1.Estimate of speed

  2.whether participants saw any broken glass
• Results of study 1 in L and P.

  smashed- 40.5

  contacted- 31.8
• Results of study 2 in L and P.

  smashed- yes - 16

  hit- yes- 7
• Conclusion of Loftus and Palmers experiment (1st).

  The way a question is worded does in fact distort recall so leading questions do exist. But the question of is it lasting distortion was left.
• Conclusion of Loftus and Palmers experiment (2nd).

  Lasting distortion does exist and there are two types of info that make up a memory- info stored during the actual event and post-event information these both make a complex occurrence.
• What is context dependent memory?

  We can recall things better in the same context we encoded them in.
• What is context dependent memory?

  Context dependent memory is where we can recall information better if it is in the same environment we encoded it in.
• Grant's Design.

  It was a laboratory experiment which was used with an independent measures design.
• Grant et al iv?

  Whether the participants read the article in noisy or silent conditions AND whether participants were tested in conditions that matched or mismatched their previous environment.
• Grant et al dv?

  Participant's performance on short-answer recall test and multiple choice test.
• Grant et al sample?

  39 participants 17-56 years old -> opportunity sampling.
• Grant et al results?

  silent study noisy recall- 12.7

  silent study silent recall- 14.3
• Grant et al conclusion.

  These findings suggest that studying and learning in the same environment that you recall it in can enhance performance on a test- context dependency does occur
• Grant et al conclusion part 2

  The findings suggest that students would benefit from revising in quiet environments as they are more likely to be tested in quiet environments.
• Moray's background.

  Following research aimed to test cherry's work that suggested we can only attend to one audio message at a time. Also was interested in factors that affected this- e.g cocktail party effect.
• Moray design.

  All lab experiments with a repeated measures design except the third which was independent instead.
• Iv and DV of moray NUMBER 1

  IV- whether the message is in the attended or unattended ear

  DV- number of words recognised correctly in the rejected message
• Iv and DV of moray NUMBER 2.

  IV- whether the instructions started with the participants name.

  DV- number of instructions recognised.
• Iv and DV of moray NUMBER 3.

  IV- whether participants were told they would be asked questions about the shadowed message or told they had to recall as many digits as possible AND whether digits were in both messages or one.

  DV-number of digits recalled.
• Moray sample.

  All particpants were undergrad and had both sexes.

  1. not stated in first study
  2. 12 participants
  3. 14 participants

  (all very small samples)
• Moray results number 1.

  4.9 out of 7 on average remembered in shadowed message 1.9 out of 7 in rejected message.
• Moray conclusion 1.

  These results of 4.9 and 1.9 suggest that we can only attend to one message at a time and the message in the other ear is rejected.
• moray results 2.

  20 out of 39 affective instructions (Instructions with names) heard, only 4 out of 36 unaffective instructions heard.
• Moray conclusions 2.

  Messages important to us can penetrate the block (e.g our name).
• Moray results 3.

  No significant differences found between number of digits for participants who had been pre-warned to recall them and those who hadn't.
• Moray conclusion 3.

  These results suggest that neutral material does not break through the attentional block. Only important info can.
• Simon and chabris design

  Lab experiment with an independent measures design.
• Simon and chabris iv and dv.

  iv- whether participants saw transparent or opaque , gorilla or umbrella while counting white or black's, hard or easy passes.

  dv- number of participants who noticed the unexpected event.
• simon and chabris theory/background.

  looked at inattentional blindness- as we can fail to notice something if we are focusing on something else. Also looks at the fovea(at back of eye).
• Simon and chabris sample

  228 all undergraudates
• Simon and chabris results.

  100% noticed opaque umbrella on easy task only 83% noticed opaque umbrella on hard task -> more participants noticed the unexpected event in the easy task than the hard task.
• Simon and Chabris conclusions.

  These findings suggest that the level of inattentional blindness depends on the difficulty of the primary task.
• Cognitive methodological issues- research methods.

  L and p- watching a film clip isn't the same as seeing it

  Grant- demand characterisitics as students don't normal listen to background noise through headphones

  moray-in real life messages don't only go in one ear and not the other

  s and c- videos aren't the same as everyday situations.
• Cognitive methodological issues-sample

  L and p- all participants were students who haven't driven for long.

  Grant- students were psychology students so demand characteristics.

  moray- All English so smarter

  s and c- all under grads so this means students may be ore vigilant than older people.