OCR AS Psychology Notes- 15 Studies

[Ukhti-R]

Quick notes on the 15 studies we need to know for the OCR exam:

MILGRAM

Aim- To investigate the process of obedience, to demonstrate the power of legitimate authority even when the command requires destructive behaviour.

Participants- Advertised in a newspaper, 500 men from New Haven, Everyone paid $4.50 for coming to the lab. Final group consisted of 40 men, aged 20-50 years old, who came from various occupational backgrounds.

Two further participants, the part of the experimenter, who was a biology teacher, and the part of the learner, who was a 47 year old accountant. Both participants were Milgrams confederates.

Procedure- When each participant arrived, they were told the purpose of the experiment was to see how punishment affected learning. The "naiive" participant was introduced to the other participant. Both were asked to draw lots to see who would play the part of the learner, and the part of the teacher, The confederate always got the part of the learner.

The learner was strapped to a chair in the next room with an electrode attached to his wrist. The teacher would call our words, and the learner would have to match the words with other words. With each mistake, the learner would receive and electric shock, which would increase by 15V.

The "teacher" was given a sample shock of 45V in order to demonstrate that the machine was working, though- this was the only time it worked. For the rest of the experiment, the learner only pretended to to be receiving shocks.

At 300V the learner banged on the wall and gave no answer
At 315V the learner punded on the wall again, but after that, there were no further answers.

4 Prods:

- Please continue
-The experiment requires that you continue
- It is absolutely essential that you continue
-You have no other choice, you must go on.

Results:

- 65% of participants went to the full 450V
- 12.5% dropped out at 300V, 4 dropped out at 315V, 5 refused before the end. Thus, 35% did not obey completely.
- Participants showed signs of great tension, they were seen to sweat, tremble, bite their lips, groan, dig their nails into their flesh, some even laughed in a bizarre fashion. Three had full over-blown seizures.

Paritipants were debriefed, 84% were glad they had participated, and 78% said they had learned something new, only one participant said they felt sorry for participating.

Variations- The experiment was conducted at Yale University, it's presitgous setting could add to the authority of the experimenter. Milgram was aware of this, and therefore repeated it in a Downtown Shabby office, the level of obedience dropped by 47.5%

[elemis]

Nice work Roxy. Keep it up   +rep

[Ukhti-R]

REICHER AND HASLAM

Aim- To repeat Zimbardos experiment in an ethical way
     - To analyse conditions that lead to individuals to identify with their group
     - To analyse conditions that lead to individuals to critise roles within their group.
     - To analyse the importance of power in group behaviour.

Participants- 15 males were selected from 332 who had replied to adverts in the press. They were chosen after these screening procedures:
                  a) Full weekend assessments by clinical Psychologists
                  b) Psychometric tests to ensure they were mentally healthy and were well-balanced.
                  c) Medical and character references and police checks
The final 15 were selcted from a short list of 26 to enure diversity, age, class, and ethnicity.

Ethics - Submitted for scrutiny by the BPS ethics committee
          - All had informed consent
          - mointored by clinical psychologists
          - Guards present.
          - Study could be terminated which the ethics committee needed to do so.

Procedure - Mock prison
              -10 days
              - 5 guards, 10 prisoners
              - Guards had the authority to punish uncooperative prisoners however they couldn't use physical violence.
              - They could reward cooperative prisoners with cigarettes and snacks.
              - they had a dress code, and enjoyed better living conditions
              
              - Prisoners had their heads shaved
              - Uniform of loose trousers, skimpy sandals, t-shirt with a 3 digit number.
              - They were told their rules and rights.

Independant vaiables:

-Permeability of roles
-Legitimacy of roles
-Cognitive alternatives.

Dependant Variables:
-Social variables ---- social identification, authoritarian attitues
-Organisational Variables ---- compliance with the rules
-Clinical Variables --- depression, stress
Measured in 3 ways:
-Video and audio survellience
-Daily psychometric tests
-Daily saliva swabs

Results:

GUARDS, DAYS (1-3) - The guards and prisoners were told roles are permeable. The guards did not develop group identity though it was the highest when prisoners were cooperative. The disagreed over how to treat the prisoners, and became more depressed over time.

PRISONERS, DAYS (1-3) They were cooperative, had little social identification.

DAYS (4-6)- When roles became impermeable, the new prisoner was introduced, they became less cooperative, had greater social identification, and began to challenge the guards. The prisoners became more positive and empowered.

[Ukhti-R]

Nice work Roxy. Keep it up   +rep

Thaaankkss!

2 down, 13 to go! LOL. (:

[Ukhti-R]

MAGUIRE - TAXI DRIVERS BRAINS

Aim- Maguire wanted to find out whether taxi drivers had a different brain structure to non taxi dirivers. The hypothesis was that taxi-drivers would have a structurally different hippocampus.

In order to gain their license, the London, black cab taxi drivers must learn "The knowledge", which consists of 320 routes, and over 25,000 streets. They must practice spatial navigation intensively everyday. So Maguire wanted to find out whether the hippocampi of taxi drivers became larger as a result.

Participants- 16 male, licensed black-cab drivers, aged 32-62 (avg. age 44), length of time as a taxi driver 14 years, right handed.
                  Control group consisted of 50 brain scans from the MRI database of healthy, right-handed men, ages 32-62,  none of which
                  were taxi drivers.

Reseach was ethical because all participants applied to be included in the study and gave informed consent.

Procedure - IV- Job (taxi driver or not)
              - DV- Scores on the MRI scans
              - MRI scans- works by obtaining 3D images of the brain and body tissue.
              - Scans analysed by VBM and pixel counting methods. Grey matter can be calculated.
              - Expert conducting analysis didn't know who's MRI scan it was of (taxi driver or not)

Findings:

-Compared to the control group, the taxi drivers had more grey matter in the posterior hippocampus, and less in the anterior hippocampus. But the overall volume was the same.

- The hippocampus got bigger over time. There was a positive correlation between the volume of grey matter in the right posterior hippocampus and the length of time they had been taxi drivers.

Conclusions:

-Posterior hippocampus becomes enlarged due to greater spatial awareness.
-The hippocampus increases the longer they had been driving
-Local plasticity in the structure of a healthy human adult brain as a function of increasing exposure to the environment.
-Taxi drivers have a mental map of London lying in their Posterior hippocampus.


It is not a traditional lab experiment because the IV is not manipulated. The IV is the occupation which is the naturally occurring variable. As such, it is called a Quasi Experiment. This makes it more difficult to establish cause and effect. 

[Monica]

InshAllah you take the ajer for helping students.

Thanks Roxy. =] I will +rep you twice today.

[Ukhti-R]

haha. aww, thank youu!

Karma action ? Spread the love

[Monica]

Okay, it increased from 166 to 171 

I will +rep someone else and then +rep you again for the other notes! 

Now your rep increases by 10 points. You have been blessed 

[Ukhti-R]

Hahahah! Thank youu! <3

[Ukhti-R]

PILIAVIN ET AL- GOOD SAMARITANISM

Aim- The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of helping behaviour of
       a) They type of victim (cane or drunk)
       b) They race of the victim (black or white)
The investigation wanted to know the influences of these variables on the speed, frequency, and race of the helper.
It also wanted to find out the impact of the presence of a model, also to examine the relationship of the size of the group and the frequency of helping.

Participant Observation

Participants:

- It was conducted on a New York subway over a 2 month period
- Participants were all passengers present on the train btween 11 am and 3pm
- Total of 4450 men and women
- Slightly more white than black (55%-45%)
- Approx 43 people in a compartment
- about 8.5 people in the critical area, where the incident was staged.

Procedure:

-Each trial lasted 7 1/2 mins
-Each trial consisted of 4 students (ages 24-29)
-2 girls as the observers, 1 was the confederate, and 1 was the victim.
-4 different teams
-Dressed in an Eisenhower Jacket

----

Two conditions:

The drunk condition- The victim smells of alcohol, and carries a bottle wrapped in a brown paper bag (as they do in NY)
The cane condition- The victim carries a black cane (suggests a limp)

-70 seconds after the train pulls out of the station, the victim collapses.
-If no help is offered the confederate steps in at 70 or 150 secs.
-Observers recorded how long it took for help to be given. Looked at race, gender and location of passenger in compartment.
-Observers noted any over heard converstations and comments from people sitting nearby.

Results:

-The cane recieved help 95% of the time, whereas the drunk only 50%
-Cane victim was helped within approx 5 seconds, whereas the drunk victim, 109 seconds.
-Blacks received slightly less help than the whites esp. in the drunk condition
-Neither race was more helpful, but there was the "same race effect", where blacks were more likely to help blacks, and whites were more likely to help whites.
-The study found that the more passengers who were in the critical area, the more likelu help was given, this is the reverse of the 'diffusion of responsibility'.
-90% of first helpers were male.
-Overheard comments were usually in the drunk condition. Poeple usually felt discomfort.

Conclusions:

- An emergency situation creates a sense of arousal in a bystander.
-The arousal is heightened if one feels a sense of identity with the victim, and becomes increasingly heightened the longer the emergency continues.
- The arousal can be reduced by helping.
-Action is determined by a cost-benefit analysis.

[Ukhti-R]

I will continue the rest in a few hours.

[Freaked12]

this looks hard compared to chemistry notes
Lordy!
not one sentence makes sense

but +rep for the hard work

[Ukhti-R]

this looks hard compared to chemistry notes
Lordy!
not one sentence makes sense

but +rep for the hard work

They're pretty interesting! You should read them! Thanks

[Freaked12]

They're pretty interesting! You should read them! Thanks

Sure mam

but after coming out of the exam hall  1 hour to go

[Ukhti-R]

Sure mam

but after coming out of the exam hall  1 hour to go

Aight mate! Best of Luckk!