Biological Approach

Introduction

 Main assumptions of the biological approach:

o Behaviour, cognition and emotions can be explained in terms

of the working of the brain and the effect of hormones,
genetics and evolution.

o Similarities and differences between people can be

understood regarding biological factors and their interaction
with other factors.

Dement and Kleitman (Sleep and Dreams)

Title: The Relation of Eye Movements During Sleep to Dream Activity: An

Objective Method for the Study of Dreaming

Year: 1957

Psychology being investigated:

 Our body follows two types of sleep: REM (rapid eye movement)
sleep and nREM (non-rapid eye movement) sleep.

 nREM can be divided into 4 sleep stages.

 In REM sleep, our eyes move rapidly under the lids.

 REM sleep is known as paradoxical sleep. It resembles wakefulness

as our eyes move; we often experience vivid (bizarre) thoughts in
dreams, and our brains are active. However, it is different from
wakefulness as it is difficult to wake up; we are relatively insensitive
to stimuli and paralyzed.

 Ultradian rhythms- Basic Rest-Activity cycles that occur almost

every 90 minutes and are responsible for the different stages of
sleep we experience.

 Dreams- Vivid and generally visual sequences of imagery that occur

during sleep in the REM stage.

Background

 Aserinsky and Kleitman’s (1955) study observed periods of rapid,

conjugate eye movements during sleep and found a high incidence
of dream recall in awakening participants and a low incidence when
awakened at other times.
  Sleep and dreaming are hard to investigate because the participant
is necessarily asleep, and so cannot communicate with the
researcher. Even when awake, only self-report data can be obtained
about dream content, which alone may be invalid as it is subjective.

 The electroencephalograph (EEG) monitors the electrical activity of

the brain.

 The electrooculogram (EOG) allowed the electrical recording of eye

movement patterns, their presence or absence, and their size and
direction (vertical or horizontal).

 The EEG detects and records tiny electrical charges associated with
nerve and muscle activity.

 In REM sleep, EEG is relatively low voltage/amplitude and high

frequency.

 In nREM sleep, EEG has either high voltage/amplitude and slow (low
frequency) waves or frequent ‘sleep spindles’, short-lived high
voltage, high-frequency waves.

Aims

 Overall aim: To investigate dreaming objectively by looking for the

relationship between eye movements in sleep and the dreamer’s
recall.

 Specific aims:

o To test whether dream recall differs between REM and nREM

sleep.

o To investigate whether there is a positive correlation between

subjective estimates of dream duration and the length of REM
period.

o To test whether eye movement patterns are related to dream

content. (Whether these patterns represent the visual
experience of dream content or whether they are simply
random movements arising from the activation of the CNS)

Procedure

 Research Method: Laboratory Experiment, Observations, Self-reports

and correlation

 Experimental design: Repeated Measures Design

 Three approaches were used to test the three specific aims. (scroll
above to find the three aims)

 Sample: seven adult males and two adult females. Five of them
were studied intensively, while the data gathered from the other
four were minimal to confirm the results.

 Sampling technique: Opportunity sampling

 Participants studied in detail spent between 6-17 nights with 50-77

awakenings. The four others spent only one or two nights with 4-10
awakenings.
  METHOD DESIGN

Aim Participants were woken either from Natural experiment in a laboratory setting
1 REM or nREM sleep, but were not
told which stage they were in.

They confirmed whether they had a IV: REM or nREM sleep stage
dream and if so, reported the
content into a recorder.

DV: whether the participants reported a

dream, and if so, the details

Aim Participants were woken following 5 The data was used in both experimental and
2 or 15 minutes of REM sleep. correlational designs.

They were asked if they thought Experimental analysis: IV - waking after 5 or

they had been dreaming for 5 or 15 15 minutes of REM sleep. DV - participant’s
minutes. choice

Their dream narrative was recorded, Correlational analysis: two variables were the
and the number of words was participant’s time estimate and number of
counted. words in the dream narrative

Aim Participants were woken after Natural experiment in a laboratory setting.

3 exhibiting a single eye-movement
pattern for longer than a minute.

This was measured using electrodes IV: eye-movement pattern type (mainly
and an EOG. horizontal, mainly vertical, vertical &
horizontal, little or none) This could not be
manipulated.

The dream content was recorded. DV: report of dream content

 Participants were identified by their initials to maintain

confidentiality.

 Participants reported to the lab a little before their usual bedtime.

 They were instructed to eat normally but to abstain from alcoholic or

caffeine-containing beverages on the day of the experiment.

 Participants were fitted with electrodes on their scalps and around

their eyes.
  Once they were in bed in a quiet, dark room, the wires were
gathered into a “ponytail” to allow freedom of movement.

 The EEG ran continuously to monitor the participant's sleep stages

and to inform the researchers when they should be woken up.

 Participants were woken by a doorbell that was loud enough to

rouse them from any sleep stage.

 The doorbell rang at various times during the night, and the
participants indicated whether they had been dreaming and
described their dreams in a voice recorder.

 Analysis of dream narrative: This was only considered a dream if a

coherent, fairly detailed description of the content existed. Vague,
fragmentary impressions were not scored as dreams.

Results

General Results

 Uninterrupted dream stages lasted for a range of 3 to 50 minutes

with an estimate average of 20 minutes.

 Dream Stages are usually longer later in the night.

 Dream stages had irregular bursts of 2-100 rapid eye movements.

Results for Question 1: Does dream recall differ in REM and nREM
stages of sleep?

 Yes, dream recall significantly differs. In 79.6% of the REM

awakenings (152/191) participants could recall a dream, whereas in
only 6.9% of nREM awakenings (11/160), participants could recall
their dreams.

 Therefore, participants are likelier to describe dreams when woken

from REM than nREM frequently.

Results for Question 2: Is there a positive correlation between

subjective dream duration estimate and the length of the REM
period before waking?

 Participants had 88% accuracy in estimating they were woken up

after 5 minutes of dreaming.

 Participants had 78% accuracy in estimating they were woken up

after 15 minutes of dreaming.
  The correlation between the two variables was positive, within the
range of 0.4 to 0.71, as the r values showed a significant
correlation.

Results for Question 3: Are eye movement patterns related to

dream content?

 Eye movements, as recorded on EEG, were related to dreams' visual

content.

 With only vertical (climbing up a ladder and looking down) or only

horizontal (watching two people throwing tomatoes at each other)
eye movements were rare, with only 3 dreams and 1 dream,
respectively.

 10 dreams were reported to have little to no eye movement

(watching something in the distance)

 21 dreams had mixed movements (talking to a group of people)

Conclusions

 Dreams are experienced in REM but not NREM sleep.

 Dreaming is more likely at night's end, as the REM stages are longer.

Strengths

 High internal validity - definition of dream clearly operationalized,

demand characteristics minimized by not telling participants about
their EEG patterns, laboratory experiment with limited effect of
uncontrolled variables.

 High reliability - EEG shows quantitative data and is not affected

by the experimenter’s subjective view; quantitative and qualitative
data are collected.

Weaknesses

 Low generalisability: only 9 participants may not represent the

dream frequency of the general population.

 Low ecological validity: People used to caffeinated drinks could

experience changes in sleep and dream patterns due to lack of
those drinks; sleeping in a laboratory connected to electrodes could
be uncomfortable.

Ethics

Deception: Participant WD was misled about whether he was woken in

the NREM or REM stage.
Issues and Debates

 Application: EEG, which is used to detect dreaming, has useful

applications for assessing people with sleep and dream issues (for
example- insomnia and nightmares)

The EEG can be used to monitor the different stages of sleep individuals
with insomnia (trouble falling asleep or not sleeping enough) face and see
patterns in their dream stages (example- shorted REM sleep stages)- this
helps get a better understanding of the problem they are facing and
according come up with a solution.

Parasomnias is a sleeping disorder involving unusual behavior and

dreams. EEG monitoring can be used to observe REM sleep stages for this
disorder as well to understand how the unusaul dreams are related to
sleep stages and dream sleep.

 Nature versus Nurture: Mainly focuses on nature, making

obtaining evidence through EEG possible.

Hassett et al. (Monkey Toy Preferences)

Title: Sex differences in rhesus monkey toy preferences parallel those of

children

Year: 2008

Psychology being investigated:

 There is a difference in male and female brain structure and

hormones,, resulting in sex differences.

 Socialization is the method of learning behaviours that are socially

accepted. These behaviours differ for the two genders.

 It has been difficult to determine if differences in behaviour between

females and males are more due to biological factors or social
differences due to socialization.

 Gender stereotype- bias of assigning particular traits to a particular

gender, for example- assigning aggression as a male-typed trait.

 Play- Childhood behaviours are usually done for fun, which may or
may not involve social interaction and objects called ‘toys’.

Background

 Infants are exposed to hormones during the prenatal stages of

gestation, which impacts top preferences in children.
  A few females have experienced a genetic condition which increases
male hormones during foetal development- these girls are seen to
prefer more ‘male’ '-type toys in comparison to other girls.

 Primates are similar to humans genetically and, therefore, can be

used as a model to show if gender differences in behaviour are due
to biological or social factors.

 Female and male primates have differences in hormones, just like

humans.

Aims

To investigate whether toy preference in monkeys is similar to those in

children to test for a biological explanation for sex differences in toy
choice.

Procedure

 Research method: A field experiment

 Experimental design: Independent Measures Design

 Independent Variable (IV): Gender, Monkey’s rank on social

hierarchy

 Dependent Variable (DV): Frequency and duration of play with each

toy type

 Sample: 21 males and 61 female rhesus monkeys living in natal

groups at the Yerkes primate research station in the USA.

 Sampling technique: Opportunity sampling

 The natal group was housed in a 25*25-meter outdoor area with

admission into a temperature-controlled indoor area.

 toys were divided into two categories based on their properties:

'wheeled toys', which matched with toys typically for boys, and
'plush toys' to match girl toys.

 Six-wheeled toys- wagon, truck, car, shopping cart

 Seven Plush toys- teddy bear, Koala hand puppet

 For every group formed from the natal group, 7 trials occurred, all
lasting for 25 minutes.

 The rhesus monkeys were observed using two video cameras.

  For each of the 7 trials, all monkeys were initially indoors while one
plush toy and one wheeled toy were placed 10 metres apart in the
outdoor area.

 Each video camera was focused on one of the toys, with the
positions of wheeled and plush toys being counterbalanced between
right and left locations.

 After the 25-minute trial, the toys were removed, and two observers
analyzed the videotape to achieve a consensus that resulted in high
inter-observer reliability.

 Specific behavioural categories were formed after watching the

animal interact with toys.

 The exact time of each activity was also recorded, along with the
frequency of each behaviour.

 A few behavioural categories include extended touch, sitting on the

toy, dragging, carrying in hand, turning the entire toy, and sniffing.

 For data analysis, each monkey's behaviour was converted into an

average frequency and duration.

Results

 Females did not have a preference for plush toys over wheeled toys.

 Females interacted with plush toys more than males did.

 Male monkeys prefer 'masculine' wheeled toys for 'feminine' plush

toys.

 Rank on social hierarchy was positively correlated to the total

frequency of interactions.

 When compared to data from Berenbaum and Hines (1992), it was

seen that rhesus monkeys and children both showed higher
preference marks in males than females.

Strengths

 High internal validity: use of animals to eliminate the effect of

socialization and another confounding variable, behavioural
categories were accurately defined, counterbalancing of wheeled
toy and plush toy position.

 High standardisation: The observation process was the same for

all monkeys, with a standard length of 25-minute sessions.

Weaknesses
  Methodological differences: Differences in the children and
rhesus monkeys were compared; the toys offered were chosen for
object properties rather than female or male-typed toys, and
children were assessed using different toys and only measuring the
duration of play, not frequency.

Issues and Debates

 Application: Help cause awareness regarding gender-neutral

socialization. This would minimize the divide between males and
females early in childhood.

 Individual versus Situational: illustrates a role of biology that

supports the individual side of the debate; however, exposure to
gender stereotyping in society counts for a situational explanation.

 Nature versus Nurture: sex differences due to biological aspects

of brain structure and hormones count for nature, but socialization
in society is mainly due to nurture.

Hölzel et al. (Mindfulness and Brain Scans)

Title: Mindfulness practice to increase regional brain grey matter density

Year: 2011

Psychology being investigated:

Mindfulness- State achieved through meditation that aims to increase

awareness of the present-moment experience.

Localization of function- Particular brain areas are responsible for

different activities.

Background:

 Mindfulness involves cognitive processes and sensory experiences

that impact brain function.

 Early studies used EEG, but now MRI provides more detailed
information by measuring brain structures and changes in grey and
white matter.

 Comparative studies suggest differences in brain grey matter

between individuals practising mindfulness meditation and those
who don’t. However, caution is needed due to potential pre-existing
individual differences that could affect results.

Aims:
  Use the MBSR course to compare grey matter concentration in
specific brain areas and the whole brain before and after the course
(pre and post-stages)

o MBSR = Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction

Procedure:

 Research Method: Laboratory Experient with longitudinal design

 Experimental Design: Independent Measures Design

 Independent Variable: Exposure to an eight-week mindfulness-

based intervention, the MBSR course

 Dependent Variable: Change in the grey matter assessed using

MRI scans and Response on questionnaires to measure five
mindfulness scales (before and after intervention)

Sample:

 Experimental Group

16 participants- 6 Males and 10 Females

Mean age- 38 years

There were 18 participants in the experimental group, but 2 males

withdrew due to discomfort.

 Control Group

17 participants- 7 Males and 10 Females

Mean age- 39 years

The control group participants had the same eligibility criteria as the
experimental group for admission into the mindfulness course.

 Common points for both groups:

o Participants for this study were recruited from individuals

already enrolled in 4 MBSR courses at the University of
Massachusetts

o Overall Age Range- 25 to 55 years

o All participants were physically and psychologically healthy

o All participants were not on any medication

o All participants had limited experience with meditation classes

o They all had the same educational level

 o Incentive of discounted MBRS course fee was given to all

Sampling technique: Opportunity Sampling

 Both groups completed the FFMQ (Five Facet Mindfulness

Questionnaire) with 39 questions and five subscales.

 The 5 subscales had statements that measured observing,

describing, acting with awareness, non-judging of inner experience,
and non-reactivity to inner experience.

 Each statement had to be answered on a five-point Likert-type

scale, and the scores were added.

 Some questions were reverse scored, and from each group, 14

participants gave usable data at both time points.

 MRI brain scans of both group participants were taken at two-time

points.

 For the experimental group: two weeks before MBSR and two weeks
after MBRS course (average gap of 56 days)

 For the control group: The two scans were taken with an average
gap of 66 days between them.

 The data from MRI scans was utilized in two ways:

1. To analyze the regions of interest- Hippocampus and Bilateral

insulae

2. To analyze the whole brain to explore other areas affected by

the mindfulness course.

 Lastly, participants reported the time they spent over 8 weeks’ time
on formal homework and the three assigned exercises (Body scans,
yoga and sitting meditation)

Results

 No significant correlation between time spent on body scans, yoga

and sitting meditation

 Participants in the MBSR group significantly increased mindfulness

scores on the 3 subscales (acting with awareness, observing and
non-judging) between pre and post-testing

Specific areas of interest:

 In the specific area of interest- Left Hippocampus there were

positive changes in grey area concentration for the MBSR group
between the pre and post-stages
  In the specific area of interest- the Left Hippocampus, there were no
changes in a grey area concentration for the control group between
pre and post-stages.

 No correlation between grey matter in specific areas and the

amount of homework or changes in FFMQ scores

Whole-brain analysis:

 Four clusters of the brain showed a significant increase in grey

matter concentration for the MBSR group between the pre and post-
stages

 These four clusters showed a significant increase in grey matter

concentration for the control group relative to other brain area

(The four clusters were Posterior cingulate cortex, left temporoparietal

junction and two parts of the cerebellum)

 No correlation between other parts of the brain and the amount of

homework or changes in FFMQ scores

Conclusions:

 The concentration of grey matter increases in regions in the

hippocampus, posterior cingulate cortex (PPC), left temporoparietal
junction (TJP) and cerebellum in those who practice an 8-week
mindfulness-based stress reduction course (MBSR)

Ethical Issues:

Risk of not protecting participants from harm by not assisting control

group participants until at least eight weeks

Strengths:

 The increased external validity of findings derived from longitudinal

studies stems from the extended duration, which helps stabilize
fluctuating participant variables such as mood, attentiveness, and
health, among others, that could influence mindfulness.

 High amounts of standardisation: for instance, a fixed number

of exercises to be performed and fixed total duration- make the
study highly replicable, raising reliability.

Weaknesses:

 Lack of generalisability of the sample as they were all similar due to

already being enrolled in MBSR courses and having the same level
of education.
  The unknowns regarding the accuracy of the MRI and the lack of
objectivity in the interpretations of the data produced decrease the
internal validity.

 The lack of correlation between grey matter and time spent on

mindfulness exercise homework shows that the exercises did not
directly cause brain changes, which also decreases internal validity.

Issues and Debates:

 Application to everyday life: Provides a method to help people

with temporoparietal junction (TPJ) impairment, and the two areas of
the cerebellum where grey matter changes were observed can be
used for emotion regulation and healthy psychological functioning.

 Nature versus Nurture: The biological aspects are highly

determined by the processes of nature. However, the study showed
that nurture through MBRS can affect those structures and
processes.

Cognitive Approach
Introduction

 Main assumptions of the cognitive approach:

o behaviour and emotions can be explained in terms of the role

of cognitive processes such as attention, language, thinking
and memory

o similarities and differences between people can be understood

in terms of individual patterns of cognition

Andrade (Doodling)

Title: What Does Doodling Do?

Year: 2010

Psychology being investigated:

 People have been known to daydream frequently when presented

with something boring.

Background

 Before this study, it was unknown whether doodling impairs

attention processes by removing resources from the primary
attention task or aids concentration towards the primary task,
additionally maintaining arousal.
  It is common in research on attention to pose the participants with
dual tasks to monitor performance and then see which cognitive
processes are needed to complete these tasks.

Aim

 To test whether doodling aided information processing when

performing a tedious task.

Procedure

 Research Method: Laboratory Experiment

 Experimental Design: Independent Groups

 IV: Doodling or Non-doodling (Control) Group

 DV: Mean correct recall, false alarms and memory scores

 Sample: 40 members of the MRC Applied Psychology Unit

participant panel at the University of Plymouth (UK). They were
aged 18-55 and paid for participating. Participants were assigned
randomly to the control (20 - 18 females and 2 males) or doodling
(20 - 17 females and 3 males) group.

 Sampling Technique: Opportunity Sampling (they had volunteered

for a different study and were then recruited immediately after
participating in that unrelated study)

 The researcher recorded a mock telephone message using a

cassette recorder.

 A somewhat monotonous voice was used.

 It was 2.5 minutes long, with an average speaking rate of 227 words
per minute

 The recording was being played at a comfortable volume for the

participant to listen to.

 The script included the names of 8 people who would be attending a

party alongside the names of 3 people and 1 cat who would not
attend. 8 place names were also mentioned.

 Participants were recruited after finishing an unrelated experiment

for another researcher and asked if they would mind spending
another 5 minutes helping with research.

 The intention was to enhance the boredom of the task by testing

people who were already thinking about going home.
  The participants were randomly assigned to the two conditions
(doodling or control)

 Participants were tested individually in a quiet and visually dull

room.

 They were asked to note down the names of all people attending the
party and nothing else. They were also told they did not need to
remember anything.

 Participants in the control condition were given a piece of lined

paper and a pencil.

 Participants in the doodling group were given a piece of A4 paper

with alternating rows of 10 squares and circles, 1 cm in diameter,
with a 4.5 cm margin on the left-hand side where they could write
any target information.

 The doodling group was asked to shade the shapes

 They were told that “it does not matter how neatly or quickly you do
this - it is just something to help relieve the boredom.”

 Participants listened to the tape for 2.5 minutes and wrote down the
information as directed.

 As soon as the recording finished, the researcher collected the

sheets and talked to the participant for a minute.

 This conversation included a debriefing and an apology for

misleading them about the memory test. The participants were
asked if they suspected a memory test.

 Half the participants recalled the names of people, then places and
the other half the places, then names. (Counterbalancing)

Results

 Participants in the doodling group shaded a mean of 36.3 shapes

(range 3-110). One participant did not doodle and was replaced

 None of the participants in the control group doodled.

 3 participants in the doodling group and 4 in the control group

suspected a memory test. However, none of them claimed they
actively tried to remember the information for the test.

 If a response indicated a plausible mishearing, it was scored as

correct.
  New names not similar to the ones given, names of people who
could not attend, or responses such as “sister”, which are relational
words, were scored as false alarms.

 MONITORING PERFORMANCE SCORE = number of correct names -

number of false alarms

 15 Participants in the doodling group and 9 Participants in the

control group scored the maximum score.

 Monitoring performance was significantly higher in the doodling

condition (mean = 7.7; SD = 0.6) compared with the control
condition (mean = 6.9; SD = 1.3)

 Each participant generated a name score and a place score. The

monitoring and recall phases had to be the same if a plausible
mishearing was presented.

 Those in doodling condition recalled a mean of 7.5 pieces of correct

information compared to the control group (5.8).

 Monitored names were recalled more than places.

 The recall was significantly better for those in doodling condition

 Memory scores were entered into a 2 (doodling, control) and 2

(names, places) mixed measures ANOVA, which confirmed that the
monitored names were recalled better than the incidental places.

 Removing data from participants who had suspected a test were

removed from the analysis, there was still a significant difference
(p=0.01)

Conclusions

 Participants who performed a shape-shading task concentrated

better on a mock telephone message than those who listened with
no concurrent task.

 It is unclear whether doodling led to better recall because doodlers

noticed more of the target information (better attention) or whether
it aided memory recall by encouraging deeper processing of the
message (better memory).

Ethical Issues

 Deception about the memory test

 Debriefing
  Lack of protection from harm- were given an unforeseen test on
place names, which can cause distress if they cannot remember the
places.

 Strengths

o Standardized procedure - easy to replicate for reliability

o Many controls - more confident about the causal relationship

Weaknesses

 Low Generalisability: The sample was from a volunteer

participant panel. Therefore, they may be qualitatively different, and
the results may not reflect the population.

 Participant Variables might have affected the findings

 Low mundane realism

 Low ecological validity

 It lacks any measure of daydreaming. A replication that included

thought probes during the telephone message or retrospective self-
report of daydreaming would test whether the effect of doodling on
memory occurred via effects on daydreaming.

 Future neuroimaging studies could test the hypothesis that doodling

selectively reduces cortical activation associated with daydreaming

Issues and Debates

 Application: Useful for students while revising or in class and

improves learning by simultaneously using visuospatial and auditory
tasks, leading to better information processing.

 Individual and Situational Explanation: This study supports

both. Individual - participants may have used a similar strategy
before or have a personality type that requires stimulation when
processing information.

 Situational: the process of doodling could have caused the

improvement in recall.

Baron-Cohen et al. (Eyes Test)

Title: The “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” Test Revised Version: A Study
with Normal Adults and Adults with Asperger Syndrome or High-
functioning Autism

Year: 2001

Psychology being investigated:

 The main idea of the eye test was to investigate the theory of mind.

 This is the ability to attribute mental states to oneself or another

person, which is how we make sense of or predict another person’s
behaviour.

 The notion is that many autistic individuals do not understand that

other people have their plans, thoughts, and points of view.

 It appears that they have difficulty understanding other people's

beliefs, attitudes, and emotions.

Background

 In 1997, the “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” test was developed
to assess the theory of mind. This appeared to discriminate between
adults with Asperger syndrome (AS) or high-functioning autistic
(HFA) adults and control adults.

 The two former groups scored significantly worse. However, the

researchers were not happy with elements of the original study and
wanted to “upgrade” their measures to make it better.

Aims

 To test a group of adults with AS or HFA on the revised version of the

eyes test. This was to check if the deficits in this group found in the
original study could be replicated.

 To test if, in a sample of normal adults, an inverse (negative)

correlation would be found between performance on the (revised)
Eyes Test and the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ).

 To test whether females scored better on the Eyes Test than males.

Procedure

 Research Method: Natural Experiment (as the IV is naturally

occurring) and Questionnaire

 Experimental Design: Independent Groups

 IV: Four groups of participants (naturally occurring)

 DV: Score on Eyes Test and Autism Spectrum Quotient
Topic Original problems New design elements

Choice Forced choice between two Forced choice remained, but four
responses meant that only a narrow response options remained.
range of 17-25 correct responses out
of 25 would be statistically above
chance.

This meant that the range of scores There were 36 pairs of eyes used,
for which the test could reveal giving a range of 13-36 correct
individual differences is only 9, which responses.
is too narrow.

This meant that individual

differences could be examined
better in terms of statistics.

Example When the first version was given to

parents of children with AS, they
scored below the general population.
However, they scored at a similar
level with the AS or HFA adults even
though they did not have the
condition.

This highlights that the test has a too

narrow range of scores to distinguish
between someone with the “lesser
variant” or the “broader phenotype”
and someone with the condition
itself.

Mental state There were both basic and complex In this version, only complex
mental states, and so contained mental states were used to make
some items that were easy and the task much more challenging,
which therefore risked producing and in this way, increasing the
ceiling effects. likelihood of obtaining a greater
range of performance in a random
sample of adults.

Ease of Some pairs of eyes could be solved They were excluded in the revised
solving easily by looking at the gaze version.
direction of the face.

Gender More female eye pairs than males. An equal number was used.

This allowed a control condition -

judging the gender from the eyes.
  Sample: Group 1: 15 male adults with AS or HFA. Recruited via
adverts in the UK National Autistic Society Magazine or
equivalent support groups. They spanned an equivalent range of
socioeconomic classes and educational levels, as seen in group 2.

Group 2: 122 normal adults drawn from the adult community and
educational classes in Exeter or from public library users in Cambridge.
They had a broad range of occupations and educational levels.

Group 3: 103 normal adult students (53 male; 50 female) studying for
undergraduate degrees at Cambridge University (71 in sciences, 32 in
other subjects). This group is not representative of the general population
and can be considered to have a high IQ.

Group 4: Randomly selected 14 adults from the general population who

were matched for their IQ with group 1.

 Initially, the first two authors of this study chose the “correct” word
and the “foil”.

 They were then piloted on 8 judges (4 m 4 f)

 For the correct word and its foil to be used, 5 out of 8 had to agree
with the choice.

 No more than 2 judges should pick the foil

 Participants tested individually in a quiet room in Cambridge or

Exeter.

 Participants in the AS/HFA group were asked to judge the gender of

each eye pair additionally.

 Groups 1, 3 and 4 completed a questionnaire to measure their AQ.

 Participants were asked to read through the glossary and ask if they
were unsure of any word. They were also reassured that they could
refer to the glossary anytime.

 Sampling Technique: Opportunity and Volunteer Sampling

Results

 Group 1 performed significantly worse on eyes test than the other

groups.

 Females scored higher than males on the eyes test, although this
result wasn’t very significant.

 Group 1 scored higher on AQ test than group 3 and 4 participants.

 No correlation between Eyes Test score and IQ

  Negative correlation between Eyes Test and AQ

 Conclusion

o Revised eyes test was successful in being a more sensitive

test for social intelligence of adults. AQ test and Eyes Test
showed a significant negative correlation as hypothesized
showing that both can be used as tests for severity of autistic
traits.

Strengths

 High internal validity due to changes made to the Eyes test- 4

options, equal female and male eye pairs shown, glossary provided
to all participants.

 Standardized procedure- images all of same size, black and white, 4

options with three foils

Weakness

 Low ecological validity: in real life setting, eyes are not static and
body language hints can help guess the emotional state of people.

 Low generalizability- only 15 males used in ASD group so not

generalizable to females with ASD. In student comparison group, all
students were from a highly selective university (Cambridge
university) which is not representative of intellect of all regular
students.

Ethics: if they could not guess the emotions, it might cause distress or
embarrassment leading to low self-esteem and psychological harm.

Issues and Debates

 Application: Plan support lessons or therapy for students or people

with AS/HFA

 Reductionist: doesn’t take into account the full picture of

understanding emotions

Pozzulo et al. (Line-Ups)

Title: The Culprit in target-absent Lineups: Understanding Young

Children’s False Positive Responding

Year: 2011

Psychology being investigated:

  Memories can be distorted by other information known as ‘Post-
event information’ that we are exposed to during and after the
encoding stage of information processing.

 Post-event information can produce ‘False Memories’, pieces

considered accurate but result from additional untrue details.

 How reliable are children at giving eyewitness testimony as required

by the law?

 False positive response- Giving an affirmative(positive) but incorrect

answer to a question.

Background

 Loftus and Palmer 1974 used a classical experiment to prove that

words used in a question (post-event information) can impact
participants’ speed estimates of a vehicle seen in a video.

 Pozzolu and Lindsay in 1997 concluded that children are less

likely to say

‘I don’t know’ even though they know they were allowed to.

 Child witnesses were more likely to make incorrect decisions when

shown a lineup due to perceived forced choice, perception of
authority figures, and pressure to make a choice.

Aims

 Investigate whether social factors affect child witnesses more than

adult witnesses.

 To explore the impact of social versus cognitive factors in children’s

performance as child witnesses

 Hypothesis

1. Children will be as good as adults at identifying cartoon faces

in a target present line-up

2. Children will be worse than adults in rejecting cartoon faces in a target-

absent line-up

3. Children will be worse than adults in identifying human faces in a target

present line-up

4. Children will be worse than adults at rejecting human faces in a target-

absent line-up

Procedure
  Research Method: Laboratory Experiment

 Experimental Design: Independent measures (children versus

adults), Repeated measures (target present versus target-absent
and cartoon versus human)

 IV: Age (children versus adults), Line-up type (target present versus
target absent), Familiarity of target (cartoon versus human)

 DV: Whether the correct face was selected in the target-present

lineup, whether an empty silhouette was chosen in the target-
absent lineup.

 Sample:

Children group- 59 children (21 females and 38 males) between the ages
of 4-7 recruited from pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classes of three
private schools in Eastern Ontario, Canada. Mean age of 4.98 years

Adult group- 53 adult participants (36 females and 17 males) between the
ages of 17-30 were recruited from the Introductory Psychology Participant
Pool at Eastern Ontario University. Mean age of 20.54 years

 Sampling Technique: Opportunity Sampling

 4 Video Clips, one photo-array per clip

 HUMAN: 2 Video Clips, 6 secs each

1. Man, putting on a coat

2. Woman brushing hair Two human 'targets' were photographed

wearing different clothes. Four foils are made per target,
similar in hair, facial features and colour. Photographs are
cropped until the neck.

CARTOON: 2 Video Clips, 6 secs each

3. Dora interacting with the audience.

4. Go! Diego! Go! Putting on safety gloves Two cartoon 'targets'

and four foils were picked per target from the internet, similar
in hair, facial features and colour. Photographs are cropped
until the neck. Positions of targets were randomized, and all
photos were black and white. In all four lineups, the position of
the target or its matching foil was counterbalanced. Videos
and photo arrays were presented on a 13-inch laptop screen.

 Each child and adult was tested individually and shown the first
video
  Instructed to pay attention because they would be asked some
questions and offered some pictures after watching the video

 Following each of the four videos, all participants were asked their
first free recall filler question, ‘What did the cartoon
character/person look like?’

 For adult participants: The second question asked was, ‘Do you
remember anything about the cartoon character/person?

 For child participants: The second question asked was a non-specific

probing question: ‘Do you remember anything else?’

If children did not respond to the first free recall question, they were
asked, ‘Do you remember anything from the video?’ and the researchers
recorded replies.

 After each filler task, child participants were told to look at a photo
array, point to the cartoon/person photo if they see it, and point to
the black silhouette box if the cartoon/person is not there.

 Similar instructions were given for adults, but they indicated their
responses on a matching sheet.

 This procedure was repeated for all four videos.

Results

 Responses to cartoons were generally more accurate than

responses to human targets.

 Children have similar accuracy as adults in identifying cartoon faces

 Children are significantly less accurate than adults when rejecting

cartoon faces.

 Children are significantly less accurate than adults when identifying

human faces.

 Children are significantly less accurate than adults when rejecting

human faces.

 Conclusions

o Any errors in the target-absent lineup for cartoons result from

social factors, not cognitive factors.

o For children, social factors play a more significant part in

decision-making in target-absent line-ups than in target-
present ones.

Ethical Issues
  Deception regarding aim

 Otherwise, it was a very ethical study as informed consent was

taken, children had the right to withdraw, no psychological or
physical harm was caused, and confidentiality was maintained.

Strengths

 High standardization along with controls

 Use of objective quantitative data enabling the use of statistical

analysis

 High internal validity due to minimal information given to

participants regarding aim- lower demand characteristics

Weaknesses

 Low ecological validity and mundane realism because the line-up

was not accurate and lacked the emotional experience of a genuine
police line-up

 Order effects are due to repeated measures of seeing all four videos
and answering the same questions. This can lead to demand
characteristics.

Issues and Debates

 Application to everyday life: Improve reliability of child witness

information

 Individual versus situational: This study supports a situational

explanation due to the impact of social factors like authority.

 Children as participants: Practical changes were made to the

procedure to ensure children could easily access tasks. Consent was
gained in a child-friendly way.

Learning Approach

Introduction

 Main assumptions of the learning approach:

o conditioning helps to explain changes in behaviour

o social learning helps to explain changes in behaviour.

Bandura et al. (Aggression)

Title: Transmission of Aggression Through Imitation of Aggressive Models.

Year: 1961
Psychology being investigated:

 Social Learning Theory: social behaviour is learned primarily by

observing and imitating others. It is “learning by proxy”. The Four
components to it are:

 Attention: Observers must pay attention to the behaviour of the

model. The model must have some feature that attracts the
observer.

 Retention: Observers must store the behaviour in their long-term

memory so that the information can be used again (when the
observer wants to imitate the behaviour).

 Reproduction: Observers must feel capable of imitating the retained,

observed behaviour.

 Motivation: Observers who experience vicarious reinforcement are

more likely to imitate the behaviour. This is when the model has
been rewarded for performing the observed behaviour. Vicarious
punishment can also happen: the role model is punished for the
observed behaviour, so is less likely to imitate it.

Background

 Learning behaviour by imitating others is called observational

learning.

 Several studies have demonstrated that children are influenced by

witnessing adult behaviour in the same situation and in the
presence of the adult who modelled the behaviour.

 This study is concerned with learning gender-specific behaviours.

Aims

 Overall aim: To investigate observational learning of aggression.

 Specific aims:

 To see whether children would reproduce aggressive behaviour

when the model was absent.

 To look for gender differences in the learning of aggression.

Procedure

 Research Method: Laboratory experiment and Observations

 Experimental Design: Independent groups, Matched pairs design

  IV: (1) behaviour of the model – aggressive or non-aggressive (2) sex
of the model (3) sex of the child

 DV: amount of behaviour observed in 8 categories

 Sample: 72 participants: 36 boys and 36 girls from Stanford

University Nursery School. Their ages ranged from 37 months to 69
months, with a mean age of 52 months. 2 adults, a male and a
female, served as the role models in the experiment. One female
experimenter conducted the study for all 72 participants.

 Sampling Technique: Opportunity Sampling

 Participants were divided into eight experimental groups, six

children each, and one control group of 24 participants who watched
no model.

 Children in each condition were matched for their levels of physical

aggression, verbal aggression, aggression towards inanimate
objects and aggressive inhibition.

 The experimenter and a nursery teacher rated fifty-one participants

independently on a four-five-point scale. A very good agreement of
0.89 was achieved.;

Experimental Groups Sex of Child Sex of Model Type of Behaviour

1 Male Male AGGRESSIVE

2 Female Female AGGRESSIVE

3 Male Female AGGRESSIVE

4 Female Male AGGRESSIVE

5 Male Male NON-AGGRESSIVE

6 Female Female NON-AGGRESSIVE

7 Male Female NON- AGGRESSIVE

8 Female Male NON-AGGRESSIVE

Modelling the Behaviour

 Each child was brought individually to a playroom by the
experimenter. She then invited the model, who was outside the
room.

 The experimenter took the child to one corner of the room, which
was their play area. She demonstrated how the child could design a
picture with potato prints and the stickers provided.

 The experimenter then escorted the model to the room's opposite

corner, which contained a small table and chair, a tinker toy set, a
mallet and a 5-foot inflated Bobo doll. She explained that these were
the materials provided for the model to play with and then left.

 In the non-aggressive condition, the model assembled the tinker

toys quietly, subduedly, ignoring the Bobo doll.

 In the aggressive condition, the model began assembling the tinker

toys, but after a minute, he turned to the Bobo and played with it.

 The model punched the Bobo, sat on it and punched it repeatedly,

hit it with a mallet on the head and aggressively kicked it about in
the room.

 The model also included verbal aggression such as, “sock him in the
nose,” “Pow,” “throw him in the air”, and two non-aggressive
comments: “he keeps coming back for more” and “he sure is a
tough fella”.

 This lasted for about 10 minutes.

 Aggression Arousal

o This was included for two reasons: (1) observation of

aggressive behaviour exhibited by others tends to reduce the
probability of aggression on the part of the observer and (2) to
instigate or annoy the children.

o The participants were taken to a different room with some

very attractive toys.

o The attractive toys included a fire engine, a locomotive, a jet

fighter plane, a cable car, a colourful spinning top, a doll set
complete with a wardrobe, a doll carriage, and a baby crib.

o They were allowed to play with them for 2 minutes before the
experimenter stopped them and said that they were reserved
for other children.

 Testing for Delayed Imitation

 o Children were taken into the experimental room, which
contained a variety of toys, including aggressive and non-
aggressive toys.

o The aggressive toys were a 3-foot tall inflatable Bobo doll, a

mallet and peg board, two dart guns and a tether ball with a
face painted on it, which hung from the ceiling.

o The non-aggressive toys included a tea set, crayons and

colouring paper, a ball, two dolls, three bears, cars, trucks,
and plastic farm animals.

o The toys were placed fixedly.

o Children were observed playing for the next 20 minutes.

o Two more observers (the models) watched the child play and
had an inter-rater reliability of 0.90

o Three types of aggression were recorded: (1) imitative

aggression (physical and verbal), (2) non-imitative aggression,
and (3) partially imitative aggression.

Results

 There was a significant difference in levels of imitative aggression

between the group that witnessed aggressive behaviour and the
other two groups.

 There was a significant difference in levels of imitative physical and

verbal aggression.

 Significantly more non-aggressive play was recorded in the non-

aggressive model condition.

 Children who had witnessed an aggressive model were significantly

more aggressive themselves.

 Overall, very little difference was present between aggression in the

control group and the non-aggressive modelling condition.

 Boys were significantly more likely to imitate male-aggressive

models.

 Boys were significantly more physically aggressive than girls. Girls

were slightly more verbally aggressive.

Conclusions

 Witnessing aggression in a model can be enough to produce

aggression by an observer.
  Children selectively imitate gender-specific behaviours.

 Ethical Issues

o Children were exposed to aggressive behaviour and were not

protected.

o Informed consent was taken from the nursery teacher.

Strengths

 The study has high levels of standardisation and, hence, a higher

reliability.

 The study has many controls, and this increases its validity.

 There was a high inter-observer/ inter-rater reliability.

 Low risk of demand characteristics.

 Using a matched pairs design reduced the effects of the participant

variable.

 The use of quantitative data allows for easier statistical analyses.

Weaknesses

 The study lacks ecological validity and mundane realism.

Issues and Debates

 Application to Everyday Life: can be helpful in advertising

agencies.

 Individual and Situational Explanation: This study supports the

situational side of the debate as the situation that the children found
themselves in caused the imitated aggressive behaviour.

 Nature versus Nurture: this supports the nurture side of the

debate as the environment they found themselves in caused the
imitated aggressive behaviour.

 The use of children who are less susceptible to demand

characteristics could become more aggressive after this study.

Fagen et al. (Elephant Learning)

Title: Positive reinforcement training for a trunk wash in Nepal’s working

elephants: demonstrating alternatives to traditional elephant training
techniques

Year: 2014

Psychology being investigated:

  Operant conditioning- Learning through the consequences of our
actions. Behavior that is rewarded is more likely to be repeated.

 Primary Positive reinforcers- a reward that fulfils basic needs, food,

and shelter.

 Secondary Positive Reinforcement (SPR) training involves using

reinforcers like sound markers and primary positive reinforcers like
food.

 Shaping- Giving rewards only for movements or behaviors closest to

the desired behavior.

 Behavior chaining- When different behaviors learned are chained

together in a sequence and performed.

Background

 Mahouts' traditional method of training elephants relies on

punishment, which uses pain or fear to shape behaviour.

 Therefore, in 2011, the Nepalese government introduced annual

Tuberculosis testing of captive elephants to reduce transmission,
and researchers were encouraged to develop new training methods
based on positive reinforcement (like the one used by Fagen et al.)

 Particularly, research by Desmond and Laule, 1991 showed that

positive reinforcement methods have been shown to improve the
psychological well-being of elephants.

 SPR has been used successfully with several animal species,

including pandas, primates and antelopes.

Aim

To investigate if free-contact traditionally trained elephants can participate

in a trunk wash through training using positive reinforcement.

Method

 Research method- Controlled Observation (Structured Observation)

 Sample: 4 female juvenile elephants aged 5-7 and 1 adult female

elephant estimated to be around 50.

 Common characteristics of the sample: all docile, not currently

pregnant, their mahout was willing to participate, traditionally
trained and no previous experience with SPR training.

Behavioural checklist
Behavio Description
ur

Trunk Distal end of trunk onto trainers outstretched palm.

Here

Trunk Up Trunk held upwards either in a loose curl or dorsal aspect of the tip of the
trunk.

Bucket Trunk gently placed inside a bucket.

Blow Elephant gives strong, distinct exhale through the trunk.

Steady Elephant holds the trunk still with the trunk held in the position previously
requested.

Procedure

 Elephants trained in the morning (7.30 to 10 am) and evening (4 to

7 pm)

 Sessions were never more than two days apart.

 To complete the trunk wash, elephants had to complete the 5

behaviors stated above.

 Elephants were trained using- Capturing, Luring, Shaping and

Secondary Reinforcers

 Capturing- Encouraged to perform usual natural behaviors using a

reward.

 Luring- Encouraging unusual behaviors through careful and strategic

positioning of reward.

 Shaping- Gradually, rewarding elephants only for behaviors which

are the most accurate and closest to the expected behavior.

 Secondary Reinforcers- Teaching elephants to associate the sound of

a whistle (secondary reinforcer) with arrival of chopped banana
(primary reinforcer/reward)

 Trainers introduced one syllabus verbal cues during the training

process to prompt the success of learning of all 5 behaviors.
  Cues had no definition in English or Nepali as researchers didn’t
want the mahouts to think elephants understood human language
(a common local myth).

 Behavioral chaining used to get the elephants to learn all the 5

behaviors in order, following the verbal cue.

 Started by teaching 2 of the behaviors in order and respectively

giving the reward. overtime, more behaviors were added to the
chain to complete all 5 behaviors.

 Syringe introduced once all trunk wash behaviors are learnt as an

aversive stimulus that the elephants might find unpleasant once all
trunk wash behaviors are learnt.

 The elephants were rewarded in step 1(Trunk here) until they

gradually were happy with the syringe touching their trunk., in a
process called desensitization.

 counter conditioning used to teach elephants to associate the

syringe with arrival to chopped banana.

 overtime, syringe went from aversive stimulus to conditioned

stimulus.

 Trainer then encouraged elephant to accept syringe being inside the

trunk so that fluid droplets can be injected inside.

 the fluid was gradually injected from 1 to 15 ml till the complete

60ml.

 The measured variable of- minutes of training, number of cues made

by trainer and success rate of each behavior and sequence.

 Elephants were graded on their ability to complete the sequence of

behaviors, with 80 percent being the passing grade.

 Individual behaviors scored with 90 percent as the passing grade.

 If a sequence failed, they were tested for a shorted sequence.

Results

 4 juvenile elephants learned full trunk wash in 25-35 sessions.

 Session duration ranged from 10-13 minutes with an average of 2

minutes.

 Elephant 5 (the oldest elephant) never tested for the full trunk wash
as she failed to learn the full sequence.
  Success rate of individual behaviors increased from 39% in session
10 to 89.3% in session 35.

Elephant Number of sessions to pass trunk average session time

wash (minutes)

1 25 10.29

2 30 12.42

3 35 13.27

4 35 11.11

Strengths

Use of behavioral checklist with detailed exact descriptions which

increases reliability.

Done is a naturalistic setting causing ecological validity to be high.

Weakness

Small sample size- nor generalizable

Measurement of elephant’s performance was subjective.

Ethics

Low physical or psychological harm

Issues and Debate

 Application to everyday life- Improves captive animal welfare to

improve health of elephants and reduce TB in humans. Fagen’s
technique can be easily replicated to teach behaviors through
positive reinforcement.

 Individual versus Situational- the 5 elephants have individual

differences in the speed at which they learnt the trunk wash.

Saavedra and Silverman (Button Phobia)

Title: Case Study: Disgust and a Specific Phobia of Buttons.

Year: 2002

Psychology being investigated:

  Evaluative learning is a form of classical conditioning in which a
person comes to perceive or “evaluate” a previously neutral object
negatively.

 It does not depend on the individual expecting or being aware of the

association between the neutral object and the negative outcome.

 An individual may negatively evaluate a specific object or event

without anticipating the threat of an objective contaminant.

 This elicits a feeling of disgust rather than fear.

Background

 Phobia: a persistent and unreasonable fear of an object. The fear is

disproportionate to the danger posed and leads to avoidance of the
object.

 Fear: an unpleasant emotion caused by an organism’s defensive

response to an imminent threat

 Disgust: a feeling of revulsion or disapproval aroused by something

unpleasant or offensive.

 The role of disgust within phobias has received very little attention.

 Disgust could interact with the fear of a phobic stimulus produces,

to increase avoidance of that stimulus.

 Disgust has been hypothesized as a concurrent emotion that, in

interaction with fear, may result in increased avoidance behaviour.

Aims

 To investigate the cause of button phobia in a child.

 To attempt to treat a child’s phobia via targeting both disgust and

fear responses.

Procedure

 Research Method: Case Study, Observations and Questionnaires

 Quantitative data: Distress ratings and Severity ratings

 Qualitative data: Questions about why the boy found buttons

disgusting

 Sample: A 9-year-old Hispanic American boy who was part of the

Child Anxiety and Phobia Program at Florida International University.
He came with an avoidance of buttons.

 Sampling Technique: Opportunity Sampling

 The boy and the mother gave informed consent to participate in the
assessment and intervention procedures. Written content was also
provided to publish this study.

 The boy met the DSM-IV criteria for a specific phobia of buttons.

 The phobia began when the boy was 5 years old in kindergarten,
during an art project involving buttons.

 The boy ran out of buttons, so he was asked to come to the front of
the class and take them. His hand slipped when he reached the
bowl, and the buttons fell on him. He described this experience as
distressful.

 The duration of the phobia was 4 years.

 He did not express significant stressors or events that could be

related to the phobia’s onset during this period.

 Behavioural Exposures

o The child was treated with an exposure-based treatment

programme that tackled cognitions and behaviour.

o The treatment involved the use of contingency management.

The mother provided positive reinforcement if the boy
successfully completed the gradual exposure to buttons.

o Treatment sessions lasted about 30 minutes with the boy

alone and 20 minutes with the boy and his mother.

o Before the first session, the boy devised a disgust and fear
hierarchy using distress ratings on a 9-point scale (from 0-8)
via a feelings thermometer, as shown in Table 1.

o The most difficult were small, clear plastic buttons.

o He had 4 sessions of behavioural exposure to buttons using

this hierarchy.
 Disgust Imagery and Cognitions

o After the behavioural exposure, it was planned to have 7

sessions looking into the boy’s disgusted imagery and
cognitions with a view of helping him to change these over
time.

o Further probing revealed that the boy found buttons

disgusting upon contact with his body.

o He also expressed that buttons emitted unpleasant odours.

o These seven sessions involved exploring the vicarious

o things about buttons he found disgusting with the boy and

using specific cognitive strategies.

o He was prompted to imagine buttons falling on him, express

how they looked, felt, and smelled, and elaborate on how
these imagery exposures made him feel.

o Although the boy indicated that buttons were “disgusting and

gross”, even with intense probing, it was difficult for him to
 describe What about buttons rendered them disgusting and
gross.

Results

 By session 4, the boy had successfully completed all in-vivo

exposure tasks up to those with the highest distress ratings.

 Even though he could handle more and more buttons, his distress
rating increased dramatically from sessions 2 to 3 and 3 to 4.

 In session 4, the boy’s subjective ratings that had been 6 or 7 before

the treatment were now higher.

 This phenomenon was consistent with evaluative learning.

 Disgust-related imagery exposures and cognitions appeared to be

successful in reducing the boy’s subjective ratings of distress.

 In the imagery sessions, he had to imagine hundreds of buttons

falling on him; before the cognitive restructuring, he rated the
experience as 8. This decreased to 5 midway through the session
and ended up as 3.

 In a session where he had to imagine hugging his mother while she

was wearing a shirt with many buttons, the distress ratings went
from 7 to 4 to 3.

 He was followed up 6 and 12 months after treatment, and he no

longer met the specific phobia of buttons

Conclusions

 Disgust plays a key role in the development and maintenance of a

phobia but a mixture of behavioural exposure and cognitive
restructuring helped to eliminate the feelings of disgust.

Ethical Issues

 The participant was severely distressed, and protection was

provided.

 Informed consent was taken from the mother and the boy.

Strengths

 Qualitative and quantitative data were both acquired in this study.

 This case study focused on one person only; hence, detailed data
was collected.
  The study was conducted in a therapeutic setting and hence had
ecological validity.

Weaknesses

 The study lacks mundane realism.

 This case study used only one participant; hence, it has a low
generalisability.

 The ratings are subjective, and this lowers reliability.

Issues and Debates

 Application to Everyday Life: For treating other phobias

 Nature versus Nurture: The process of acquiring the phobia

relates to nurture.

Social Approach
Introduction

 Main assumptions of the social approach:

o behaviour, cognitions and emotions can be influenced by

other individuals

o groups can influence behaviour, cognitions and emotions or

social contexts

Milgram (Obedience)

Title: Behavioural Study of Obedience

Year: 1963

Psychology being investigated:

 In this study, Milgram was testing the situational hypothesis.

 Agency theory:

 Agentic state: people see themselves as an agent of another and

blindly accept orders because they are not personally responsible
for their actions. Arises from the fact that obedience is rewarded
and disobedience is punished. We give up our free will.

 Autonomous state: Behaviour is voluntary; people are aware of their

decisions and the consequences of those decisions. We choose to be
obedient.
  Moral strain: we experience this in the agentic stage when we go
along with the demands of the authority, even though we know it is
wrong and do not agree with it.

Background

 Destructive obedience: when people obey orders which cause harm

or distress to another person

 Early psychological research into the Holocaust focused on the idea

that something distinctive about German culture or personality led
to the high levels of conformity for the genocide to take place. This
is known as the dispositional hypothesis.

 Milgram set out to question this dispositional attribution of the

Germans. He believed that the situation had led to the inhumane
behaviour of the Nazis and, therefore that anybody in the same
situation as those committing such atrocities would have done the
same in the same circumstances. Milgram argued that people would
commit atrocities if required to do so by an authority figure. This
argument is an example of a situational attribution as it argues that
the behaviour resulted from a person's situation.

Aims

 Overall aim: To investigate how obedient people would be to orders

from a person in authority that would result in pain and harm to
another person.

 Specific aim: To see how large an electric shock participants would

give to a helpless man when ordered to.

Procedure

 Research Method: Lab Experiment. However, as there is no control

condition (i.e. all of the participants took place in the same
experimental procedures) it is not, strictly speaking, an experiment.
(more accurately, it is a controlled observation)

 Experimental Design: N/A

 IV: ‘Prods’ given

 DV: Degree of obedience (how high voltage did participants go to)

 Sample: 40 males aged 20 - 50 were drawn from the New Haven

district of Connecticut, USA. They were recruited through a
newspaper advertisement, which promised $4.50 for their time if
they participated in the study and that the money was theirs no
matter what happened after they arrived. Participants believed they
 were to participate in a study of memory and learning at Yale
University. Participants were from various backgrounds: 37.5% were
manual labourers, 40% were white-collar workers, and 22.5% were
professionals.

 Sampling Technique: Volunteering

 Milgram created a phoney ‘shock generator’, which in the 1960s

looked very impressive and realistic. The phoney shock generator
had 30 switches marked clearly in 15-volt increments from 15 to
450 volts. It also had buzzers, flashing lights and moving dials.

 When the participants arrived at the psychology laboratory, they

were introduced to the relationship between punishment and
learning.

 They were introduced to the experimenter, played by a 31-year-old

Biology teacher, who introduced himself as Jack Williams. He wore a
grey technician’s coat and appeared stern and emotionless
throughout the experiment.

 They were introduced to Mr Wallace and made to believe he was

another participant. Mr. Wallace was a confederate, a 47-year-old
Irish-American accountant.

 They drew slips of paper to know who play the role of the learner of
victim. This was rigged so that Mr Wallace was always the victim.

 The learner sat in an ‘electric chair’ with straps to “prevent

excessive movement” during electric shocks that would be given
from a shock generator.

 An electrode was attached to the learner’s wrist, and the paste was
applied to “avoid blisters and burns”.

 The learner was told, “Although the shocks can be extremely painful,
they cause no tissue damage”.

 These tricks made the experiment seem much more real to the
participants. The final trick was to give the participant a sample
shock of 45 volts (from an external battery since the shock-
generator wasn’t supposed to work).

 The participant was then seated in an adjacent room and asked to

read word pairs to the learner. The learner had to memorize the
pairs.

 The teacher then tested the learner by pairing one of the words with
four other words. The learner had to choose the previously paired
 word with the first word. The next word on the list was read if his
answer was correct. If it was incorrect, the teacher had to state the
correct answer and administer an electric shock (starting from 15
volts).

 For every wrong answer, the shock level would increase by 15 volts
(15, 30, 45… you do the math). The learner gave a predetermined
set of answers with about three wrong answers for every right
answer.

 At 300 volts, the learner would start hitting the wall and shouting.
He stopped answering questions. Here, the participant usually
looked at the experimenter for guidance. They were told to interpret
no answer as wrong, meaning the learner would have to be shocked
again.

 The learner’s pounding continued after 315 volts, after which the
learner went completely silent.

 If the participant again asked for advice, he would be met with a

sequence of firm standardised ‘prods’:

 “Please continue” or “Please go on” (1)

 “The experiment requires you to continue” (2)

 “You must continue” (3)

 “You have no choice, you must go on” (4)

 If the participant asked about permanent physical injuries, a

different prod was used: “Although the shocks may be painful, there
is no permanent tissue damage, so please go on.” If the participant
said that the learner did not want to continue, another prod was
used: “Whether the learner likes it or not, you must go on until he
has learned all the word pairs correctly, so please go on.”

 The experiment ended if the participant refused to continue after

the four official prods, or if 450 volts were administered.

 A participant who stopped before reaching 450 volts was classed as

a “defiant participant”, while those who went up to 450 volts
were classed as an “obedient participant”. The experiment was
filmed, and observers watched through a one-way mirror.

 Participants were then interviewed, during which they rated how

painful they thought the last few shocks were on a scale from 0 to
14. Projective measures and attitude scales were employed too.
  After the experiment, the participants were debriefed, and an open-
ended questionnaire was given. Some psychometric tests were
taken to make sure there was no emotional harm.

 The teacher and learner were reunited to prove that the learner was
an actor who was not really in danger.

 The participants were told that their reaction was expected, another
measure taken to ensure they left the experiment without mental
discomfort.

 Note: Before the study was conducted, Milgram asked 14 Yale

University psychology students to read a description of the study
and estimate what % of participants would give 450-volt shock. The
students estimated 0-3%.

Results

 26 participants were obedient and administered a complete round of

electric shocks, while only 14 were defiant. So 65% obeyed and 35%
terminated the experiment before reaching 450 volts.

 When the experimenter was the one to end the experiment (at 450
volts), many of the participants sighed in relief or shook their heads
in what seemed like regret.

 Most of the men were sweating, shaking, stuttering or fidgeting

during the study.

 14 participants giggled nervously. The participants who had nervous

laughter fits were keen to point out that they weren’t sadistic and
that their laughter wasn’t a sign that they enjoyed shocking the
learner.

 3 had seizures, and the procedure was stopped for one of them.

 The average rating of how painful the shocks were, was 13.42 out of
a maximum of 14.

Conclusions

 People are much more obedient to destructive orders than we think.

 They find this process highly stressful despite obeying them.

 Results supported the situational hypothesis rather than the

dispositional hypothesis.

Ethical Issues

 Many ethical issues, including:

  Deception in terms of the study and whether the shocks were real.

 Protection of the participant’s state of mind, and they would not

 exit the study in the same mental state they entered.

 Right, to withdraw might not have been there as prods were used.

Strengths

 High levels of control increase the validity

 High levels of standardisation increase the reliability

Weaknesses

 Bad ethics

 Unrepresentative sample because it was only male

 Ethnocentric bias because he used only American men

 Low ecological validity because of the artificial setting.

Issues and Debates

 Application: explain why humans engage in destructive obedience.

 Individual and situational explanations: This study supports

situational explanations.

Perry et al. (Personal Space)

Title: Don’t stand so close to me: A behavioural and ERP study of

preferred interpersonal distance

Year: 2015

Psychology being investigated:

 Interpersonal Distance: It is the distance between two people.

The preferred interpersonal distance varies due to the relationship
with the other person and cultural and personal factors.

 Empathy: A person’s ability to understand another person's

thoughts, feelings, and experiences. It has two dimensions:
cognitive and affective empathy.

 Social Hormones: Oxytocin is a social hormone that acts as a

neurotransmitter and plays a role in social bonding. However,
research conducted shows that in some situations, oxytocin can lead
to envy, risk aversion, and feelings of hostility.

Background
  In 1966, based on the relationship between two people, Hall created
four zones of interpersonal distance: Intimate distance, personal
distance, social distance, and public distance.

 In 2012, Scheele found that administering oxytocin to males in

relationships increased their preferred distance from an attractive
female in the presence of a female researcher.

 The social salience hypothesis predicts that oxytocin increases

attention to social cues and affects how a person processes those
cues and responds differently.

Aims

 To investigate how oxytocin affects preferred interpersonal distance

for those scoring high or low in empathy traits.

Procedure

 Research Method: A laboratory experiment.

 Experimental Design: Repeated measures.

Experim Independent Variables: Dependent Variables:

ent

1. 1. Empathy: High vs. Low The computerised version of the Comfortable

Interpersonal Distance (CID) paradigm measures
the preferred interpersonal distance.

2. Treatment: Oxytocin vs.

placebo

3. Condition: stranger,
authority, friend or ball

2. 1. Empathy: High vs. Low Mean preferred distance between 2 chairs and
angle between the two chairs.

2. Treatment: Oxytocin vs.

Placebo

3. Condition: position of
chairs vs. position of table
Experim Independent Variables: Dependent Variables:
ent

and plant

 Sample: 54 male undergraduate students from the University of

Haifa in Israel. They were ages 19 to 32 and received course credit
or payment for their participation.

 Oxytocin administration and empathy assessment

1. Participants visited the laboratory twice a week- at the same

time.

2. First visit: given either oxytocin or placebo in a double-masked

procedure.

3. Three droplets of the solution were self-administered into each

nostril.

4. Participants completed the IRI-interpersonal reactivity index.

5. Then, I waited 45 minutes alone in a quiet room with nature

magazines.

 Experiment 1: CID

1. The word- Friend, stranger, ball or authority would appear on

screen for 1 second (they were the four protagonists)

2. participant gazes at the fixated point for 0.5 seconds,

3. then a circular room with a stick figure in the centre is seen on

the screen (the stick figure indicated the participant)

4. from one of the eight doors of the circular room, the

protagonists would appear and approach the stick figure.

5. The participant has to press the spacebar for the protagonist

to stop.

6. The percentage of remaining distance was calculated as

interpersonal distance.

 Experiment 2: Choosing rooms

1. Instructed that they would be having a meeting with another

participant.

2. To discuss personal topics

 3. The room would be laid out per their preference and measured
through a computer program.

4. The computer showed participants still colour images of pairs

of rooms with chairs, tables and plants at different angles and
distances.

5. 84 pairs of rooms- shown twice

6. Participants sat 60 cm from the computer screen and were

shown the room pairs for 2 seconds.

7. They had to choose between the two rooms.

8. Experimental condition- distance between chairs and angles

between chairs

9. Control condition- distance and angle between table and

plant.

Results

 CID:

Preferred interpersonal distance. Oxytocin Placebo

High empathy 23.29 26.11

Low empathy 30.20 26.98

Preferred interpersonal distance between chairs (cm) Oxytocin Placebo

High empathy 78.07 80.58

Low empathy 80.14 78.33

*“Choosing rooms:*

Ethical Issues

 Deception- For experiment two, they were told that they needed to
choose a room to discuss "‘personal topics’- this could cause
distress about the future meeting.

Strengths
  High Levels of Standardisation increase its reliability. The
computer allowed control of timings, and the rooms used in
experiment 2 were always shown for 2 seconds.

 High Validity: With a double-masked procedure for oxytocin or

placebo administration, the CID paradigm has high controls
regarding speed visuals.

Weaknesses

 IRI self-report would be biased and subjective- impacted by social

desirability bias as being highly empathetic is seen as a positive
social trait.

 Lacks generalizability beyond sample- only used males, so the

results may not be generalisable to females and their interpersonal
distance preferences.

 Low ecological validity- used a computer stimulus where the

protagonists were animations not representative of everyday
behaviours.

Issues and Debates

 Application: Oxytocin administration may not help people with social

deficits.

 Individual versus situational- interpersonal distance preference is

impacted by an individual’s empathy level, which supports the
individual side, whereas the social situation promotes oxytocin
release.

Pilivan et al. (Subway Samaritans)

Title: Good Samaritanism: An Underground Phenomenon?

Year: 1969

Psychology being investigated:

 Bystander Apathy: the phenomenon of observers of an emergency

not intervening.

 Diffusion of responsibility (Latané and Darley): is a

sociopsychological phenomenon whereby people are less likely to
offer help if other people are present because they feel that the
whole group is equally responsible, thus making themselves less
personally responsible.

Background
  Murder of Kitty Genovese

 Bystander behaviour

Aims

 To study bystander behaviour outside the laboratory in a realistic

setting where participants would have a clear view of the victim.

 To see whether helping behaviour was affected by four variables:

the victim’s responsibility for being in a situation where they need
help, the race of the victim, the effect of modelling helping
behaviour and the size of the group.

Procedure

 Research Method: Field Experiment and Observations

 Experimental Design: Independent groups

 IV: There were four IVs.

1. Victim’s responsibility - operationalised as carrying a cane = ill

(low responsibility) or smelling of alcohol, carrying a bottle wrapped
in a paper bag = drunk (high responsibility)

2. Victim’s race

3. Presence of a model - operationalised as whether a male

confederate either close to or distant from the victim helped after
70 or 150 seconds

4. Number of bystanders -- DV: the number of people who helped;

the speed it took for them to help the victim

 Sample: An estimated total of around 4450 people were unsolicited

participants of this study with a racial mix of 55% white and 45%
black.

 Sampling Technique: Opportunity Sampling

 The experiment was conducted during the period from April 15 to

June 26, 1968.

 Trains A and D of the 8th Avenue IND were selected because they
make no stops between the 59th and 125th street. Thus, the trails
lasted during the 7.5-minute journey between these two stops.

 There was a mean of 43 people in each car and 8.5 in the critical
area.
 On each trial, a team of four students (two males and two females)
boarded the train using different doors. Four teams, whose members
always worked together, collected data for 103 trials.

 Each team varied the location of the experimental compartment

from trial to trial.

 The female confederates sat outside the critical area and recorded
data as unobtrusively as possible during the journey while the male
model and victim remained standing. The victim always stood next
to a pole in the centre of the critical area.

 As the train passed the first station (approximately 70 seconds after

departing), the victim staggered forward and collapsed.

 Until receiving help, he remained motionless on the floor, looking at

the ceiling.

 If he received no help by the time the train slowed to a stop, the

model helped him to his feet.

 At the stop, the team got off and waited separately until the other
passengers had left the station before proceeding to another
platform to board a train going in the opposite direction for the
subsequent trial.

 6-8 trials were run on any given day, and all trials on a given day
were in the same ‘victim condition’.

 The four victims (one from each team) were males aged between 26
and 35, three white, one black, all identically dressed in Eisenhower
jackets, old slacks and no tie.

 In 38 trials, the victims smelled of alcohol and carried a bottle of

alcohol wrapped in a brown bag (drunk condition).

 Sixty-five trials, they appeared sober and carried a black cane (cane
condition).

 In all other aspects, victims behaved identically in the two

conditions, and each victim participated in drunk and cane trials.
(There were more cane than drunk trials because one of the teams
of students ‘didn’t like’ playing the drunk victim).

 The models (white males aged 24 to 29) were dressed casually but

 not identically.

 There were four different model conditions used across both drunk
and cane victim conditions:
 

1. Critical area - early: the model stood in the critical area and
waited until passing the fourth station before helping the
victim (approximately 70 seconds after the collapse).

2. Critical area - late: the model stood in the critical area and
waited until passing the sixth station before helping the victim
(approximately 150 seconds after the collapse).

3. Adjacent area - early: the model stood in the adjoining area

and waited until passing the fourth station before helping the
victim. (approximately 70 seconds after the collapse).

4. Adjacent area - late: the model stood in the adjoining area

and waited until passing the sixth station before helping the
victim. (approximately 150 seconds after the collapse).

 When the model intervened, he helped the victim to a sitting

position and stayed with him for the remainder of the trial.

 Two observers recorded a variety of observations.

o Observer One:

 Race, sex, and location of every rider seated or standing

in the critical area.

 Total number of people in the carriage.

 Total number of people who came to assist the victim.

 Race, sex and location of every helper.

o Observer Two:

 Race, sex and location of every passenger in the

adjacent area.

 The time when help was first offered.

 Both observers noted any comments made by nearby

passengers and also tried to elicit comments from a
passenger sitting next to them.

Results
  Passengers gave 78% of the victims spontaneous help, and in 60%
of the cases, the victim was helped by more than one person.

 The cane victim was helped in 62 out of 65 trials (95%)

 The drunk victim was helped on 19 out of 38 trials (50%)

 90% of passengers who helped the victim were male

 In 60% of the total trials where help was given (i.e. 81 trials), more
than one person offered help.

 Race made no significant difference to the helping behaviour, but

there was a slight tendency for same-race helpers in the drunk
condition

 64% of the helpers were White

 The quickest help came from larger groups. This showed no diffusion
of responsibility.

 In 21 trials, out of the total of 103, a total of 34 people left the

critical area, mostly when the victim was drunk.

 The model intervening at 70 seconds was more likely to lead to help

from other passengers than when the model intervened after 150
seconds.

 The number of bystanders provided no evidence for the diffusion of

responsibility.

 Some passengers moved away from critical areas (21/103)

 More comments were made in Drunk Trail.

Conclusions

 An ill person is more likely to receive help than a drunk person.

 Men are more likely to help another man than women are.

 People are slightly more likely to help someone of their ethnic group,
especially when the victim appears to be drunk.

 No strong relationship was found between the size of the group and
the likelihood of helping.

 Piliavin et al. proposed a Cost-Reward Model to explain people’s

responses to an emergency.

 He suggested that helping is motivated by a selfish desire to rid

oneself of an unpleasant emotional state rather than being a
positive, altruistic model of helping.
  Helping a victim is based on the level of emotional arousal and the
result of a cost/benefit analysis.

Ethical Issues

 Informed consent wasn’t taken as the participants did not know they
were part of a study.

 Participants were deceived and could not be debriefed.

 Their right to withdraw was invalidated as it was a field experiment.

 Emotional harm may have taken place as they must have felt hurt
about the victim’s condition.

Strengths

 This study was a field experiment and hence has a high ecological
validity.

 The sample size was large and hence has a high generalizability.

 Behaviour was not artificial as it is in a natural environment,

increases validity, and has no demand characteristics.

 Both qualitative and quantitative data were acquired.

Weaknesses

 The study lacked controls and hence had a low reliability, making it
hard to replicate.

 For this reason, a causal relationship could not be established.

Issues and Debates

 Application to everyday life: to educate people about bystanders’

intervention

 Individual and situational explanation: This study supports the

situational side of the debate.

 Cultural biased