Individual Differences

Question 1

What was the aim of Freud’s study

Answer 1

To document the case of little Hans a boy who was going through the phallic stages of development and to confirm whether Freud’s theories about the unconscious and Oedipus complex were true

Question 2

What was the procedure in Freud’s study?

Answer 2

Hans’ father recorded detail of Hans behaviour and conversations- made own interpretations and sent to Freud in letter

Freud would reply with his interpretation and gave guidance on what his father should look for and be talking with hans

Question 3

What was the sample in Freud’s study?

Answer 3

One normal boy

3 years old to 5 years old

Question 4

What is the Oedipus complex.

Answer 4

Children develope a desire to have a sexual relationship with their opposite gender parent and are fearful of same gender parent

Question 5

What is the psychosexual development theory

Answer 5

Oral stage - thumb sucking like nipple sucking
Anal stage - holding back stool for pleasure
Phallic stage - contains Oedipus complex
Latency stage - interests go from sexual desire to hobbies
Genital stage - desire directed at others like them not parents

Question 6

Discuss ethics of Freud

Answer 6

“Little hans” protect the identity of child

Consent came from parents

Question 7

Discuss validity of Freud

Answer 7

Is freuds interpretations correct? More obvious explanations
Eg giraffe dream cause he has been to the zoo
Use of leading questions “when horse fell down did you think of daddy”

Question 8

Discuss reliability of Freud

Answer 8

Sample of one is too small to establish consistent effect , in order to say all children progress through these 5 psychosexual stages of development larger sample needed

Question 9

Is Freud ethnocentric

Answer 9

Yes, in terms of middle class child in Vienna different to experiences of child in poorer places
No as phobias are common in children across the world

Question 10

Some case history of Freud - phobias and fantasies

Answer 10

• Letter said Hans aged 3.5 yrs old had lively interest in his widdler, mother told him “if you do that I shall send for Dr to cut off your widdler”
• age 4.5 Hans being powered Hans asked his mother “why don’t you put your finger there” “it’s great fun”
• fear of horses biting Hans
• dream about giraffes and went and told parents next morning
• scared of what horses blinkers and muzzles
• liked lumf
• plumber fantasy widdler cut off and given new one

Question 11

Freud’s interpretations

Answer 11

• fear of castration, anxiety begins
• tries to seduce mum by asking her to touch widdler
• fear of horses biting is to do with fear of having widdler cut off, effect of mother’s threat
• long neck giraffe is dad as big penis, crumpled giraffe is mum, during night seized with longing for mother hence coming into bedroom
• blinkers look like fathers glasses and muzzle looks like his moustache
• lumf -fear of defecation and carts falling over linked to heavily loaded stomach
• fantasy of plumber shows Hans over coming fear of castration

Question 12

Why does Freud link to psychology as science

Answer 12

• case study is unique and impossible to replicate
• freuds interpretations were subjective as his own opinions (qualitative)
• unclear how to prove freuds theory wrong as can’t know what the unconscious is

Question 13

Why does freud support nature nurture

Answer 13

Stated that “both disposition and experience can be expected to play part in anxiety disorders”

Nature- child’s constitution
Nurture - child’s experiences as they grow up

Question 14

Why does Freud link to reductionism and holism

Answer 14

Reductionist- only explained phobias and fantasies in relation to his own theory of psychosexual development
Holistic- in-depth case study over two years meant Hans was not restricted to what experiences he could reveal

Question 15

Why does Freud fall into individual differences

Answer 15

Investigates how people differ by phobias

Comes from psychodynamic perspective due to how Hans behaviour was explained

Question 16

Why does Freud link to key theme of understanding disorders

Answer 16

Freud suggests that understanding disorders sjousl be done by understand the unconscious conflicts

Question 17

Aim of baron-Cohen

Answer 17

Develop advanced test of theory of mind of adults

Question 18

Sample of baron-Cohen

Answer 18

Group 1-16 high functioning autistic or Asperger adults, normal intelligence 13 males and 3females

Group 2-50 normal adults, 25 male, 25 female, no history of psychiatric conditions selected randomly

Group 3-10 adults with Tourette’s, 8 male, 2 female

Question 19

What were the three groups matched on in baron Cohen

Answer 19

Age 18-49

Normal IQ

Question 20

What did baron Cohen hypothesise

Answer 20

• participants with autism or Asperger would show sig impairment on eyes task
• normal female perform better in eye task than normal males

Question 21

What was procedure in baron Cohen

Answer 21

Tested individually either at home or in researcher clinic
Given 4 tasks to do, tasks presented in random order
-eyes task
-strange stores task
-gender recognition task
-basic emotion recognition task

Question 22

What did the tasks in baron Cohen consist of

Answer 22

—Eyes task- shown 25 photos for 3 seconds, all black and white, only showed eyes, had to choose one of two contrasting words which showed emotion of eyes

• Strange stories-24 stories including irony, white lie, lie, truth, joke, figure of speech, participant asked to explain why they character said or did what they did
• gender recognition-looked at same setsof eyes and say if female or male
• basic emotion-photo of whole face, 6 photos had to say which emotion was shown either (happy sad disgust angry afraid surprise)

Question 23

How were the words in eye task chosen

Answer 23

Panel of 8 (4 male and 4 female) blind to hypothesis agreed on words

Question 24

What was the point in the tasks other than eye task

Answer 24

Strange stories should present same results as eye task

Others were controls to check for deficits on eye task due to other factors

Question 25

Results of baron Cohen eye task

Answer 25

Autistic 16.3, SD of 2.9, range of 13-23 Normal 20.3, SD of 2.63, range of 16-25 Tourette’s 20.4, SD of 2.63, range of 16-25

Question 26

Results of second hypothesis baron Cohen

Answer 26

Males 18.8, SD 2.53, range 26-22 | Females 21.8, SD 1.78, range 20-25

Question 27

Discuss ethics of baron Cohen

Answer 27

- assumed consent given but unclear if it was informed fully about eyetask - options reduced harm by enabling them to see an answer, however anxiety over giving wrong one - withdrawal could have stopped answering questions

Question 28

Discuss validity of baron Cohen

Answer 28

- matched on mean age and intelligence levels reduces particpant variables and extraneous variables - concurrent validity due to eye task and strange stories giving same results - hjgh design validity as used words describing cognitive mental sates eg uncertain, more than emotion perception, just eyes so no context - control for order effects by randomising order of tasks - low ecological as normally get to see whole face

Question 29

Discuss reliability of baron Cohen

Answer 29

- panel of 8 ensured not just one persons opinion - normal people, 25 male, 25 female minimum number to establish consistency and a reliable effect - when analysing results can’t compare AS to autism as very small samples (12 and 4) to establish any reliable effects

Question 30

Discuss baron Cohen ethnocentrism

Answer 30

Autistic spectrum and Tourette’s occur in people irrespective of cultural background therefore results to apply to many outside of UK Variation between amount of experience reading emotions from eyes alone eg Muslim women and niqab

Question 31

Why does baron Cohen link to reductionism holistic

Answer 31

Reductionist-focuses on understanding disorder by isolating one variable

Question 32

Why does baron Cohen link to science

Answer 32

- rigorous scientific approach, replicable as repeated for 76 participants - objective as answers were either right or wrong and so either support hypothesis or don’t, can be proven wrong

Question 33

Why does baron Cohen link to socially sensitive

Answer 33

Research into any mental disorder can be sensitive particularly when looking at deficits Baron Cohen focused on trying to achieve complete understanding by being scientific and objective Tried to put his research into positive uses such as with children

Question 34

Why does baron fall into individual differences

Answer 34

It’s investigating a way in which people differ, namely by being diagnosed as being on autistic spectrum

Question 35

How does baron change understanding of understanding disorders

Answer 35

- Suggests that adults experience impairment when comes to theory of mind - changes understanding by showing other conceptual frameworks that can be used to understand disorders other than psychoanalysis - changes individual from phobias to mental disorders - not change cultural as would expect to see people on autism spectrum in Austria and expect to see phobias in UK

Question 36

Similarity between Freud and baron Cohen

Answer 36

Both understanding disorders | Consent from Hans parents and those in baron Cohen

Question 37

Differences between Freud and baron Cohen

Answer 37

Freud phobias, baron mental disorders Freud 1 participant, baron 76 participants Freud case study, baron experiemnt Freud qualitative, baron quantitative

Question 38

Gould sample

Answer 38

1.75 million from first world war in US army camps

Question 39

what were the 3 tests by yerkes

Answer 39

Army alpha-written examination given to literate recruits, 8 parts, less than hour to complete example question 'crisco is...' answer is butter Army beta-illiterates and those who failed alpha, 7 parts, less than hour, example task cube counting Individual examination-failures of beta

Question 40

what happened following completion of the tests in yerkes

Answer 40

army psychologists assigned letters A to E with plus and minus, and offer suggestions for proper military placement, yerkes suggested those with below C- should be rank ordinary private

Question 41

what was wrong with yerkes tests

Answer 41

- yerkes did not anticipate how many recruits had not been to school, therefore queues for beta got longer and to avoid bottleneck the definition of literate was lowered so more could take the alpha test, many of those moved scored 0 on alpha test - yerkes protocols said those who failed beta should be given another go, many camps under pressure so did not follow - requirement for failing beta test and had to get an individual examination was not followed

Question 42

results of yerkes

Answer 42

160,000 cases analysed by Boring, who stated: - average mental age of white american adult was 13, only one above expected of moron - immigrants from Europe eg Russians, Italians were found to be less intelligent with average mental age 11.0 - black people mental age of 10.41

Question 43

effects of Borings conclusions

Answer 43

immigration restriction act of 1924, as racist against those nations that are inferior 6 million barred from entry between 1924 and second world war

Question 44

Gould review of Yerkes

Answer 44

- 'ludicrous yerkes', claimed tests tested for native intellectual ability but only tested american knowledge - tests were culturally biased - beta test components required pencil work but those who was meant to be taking it had never touched a pencil let alone hold one - 'yerkes had overlooked, or consciously bypassed something of importance' - claimed those who most likely to be illiterate were black men or those most recently immigrated, systematic bias substantially lowered mean fro black and immigrants

Question 45

discuss ethics of yerkes/gould

Answer 45

- no consent, recruits not told about its aim or purpose and therefore assumed unable to withdraw - no confidentiality as had to fill out name age and education even those illiterate - heightened anxiety due to chaotic conditions

Question 46

discuss validity of gould/yerkes

Answer 46

- gould shows major issues in claiming accuracy as didn't test intelligence it tested native knowledge eg what crisco is - persons score may reflect their camp as different camps had different definitions of illiterate

Question 47

discuss reliability of gould/yerkes

Answer 47

- tests were standardised as anyone taking alpha test had to do the same tasks and questions - yerkes had clear instructions on hour the tests should have been administered however these were not always followed

Question 48

discuss ethnocentrism of gould/yerkes

Answer 48

- participants came from wide range of backgrounds therefore sample was not ethnocentric - tests were centred around one culture - american

Question 49

discuss nature nurture of gould/yerkes

Answer 49

nature-yerkes believed that intelligence was inherited and unaffected by environment, but gould suggested that those who did better on the tests were because they had lived in the US for longer a d had received more education

Question 50

yerkes/gould and psychology as a science

Answer 50

-yerkes tried to standardise his tests, and he scores the individuals received were objective as answers were right or wrong, however falsifiability as hard to prove that Black people are not as intelligent

Question 51

aim of hancock

Answer 51

- to see if psychopaths view of world for taking reflected in their speech in form of subordinating clause - interested if narratives about their crimes would contain more semantics about food, money, sex etc - deficit in emotions lead to the use of less or fewer emotional words and more disfluencies

Question 52

hancock sample

Answer 52

52 men, in canadian prison for murder, volunteered to take part, mean age at time of murder 28

Question 53

hancock procedure

Answer 53

Psychopathy checklist revised- PCL-R used to determine who was psychopathic and who was not, 39 men assessed by prison psychologists, 13 assessed by trained research in PCL-R, trained graduate student selected 10 random cases found correlation of 0.94 -14 offenders found t be psychopathic with scores above 25 -interviewed by students blind to psychopathy scores, purpose of study explained to each offender -asked to detail their offence, audiotaped after narratives turned into scripts

Question 54

analysis of transcripts hancock

Answer 54

- Wmatrix, speech by all 14 psychopaths brought together and analysed as one comparison to speech produced by all 38 of non-psychopaths - tags on nouns adjectives, analyse of semantic concepts - dictionary of affect in language assessed emotional properties of language, each participants transcript analysed individually

Question 55

results hancock

Answer 55

- language analysis-psychopaths more subordinating conjunctions 1.82% of words - hierarchy of needs-psychopaths used more words connected to food, money, clothing nonpsychopaths more words used in connected with family religion - emotional expression-33% more disfluencies by psychopaths, psychopaths used more past tense, but no significant emotional context difference

Question 56

Hancock conclusion

Answer 56

concluded from idiosyncratic way in which psychopaths describe powerful emotional events that they operate on a primitive but rational level

Question 57

what was research method by hancock

Answer 57

self report and content analysis where they turned qualitative data of the narrative into quantitative data

Question 58

hancock ethics

Answer 58

gave consent to take apart and were debriefed as to what their task was, no mention of being told can withdraw, and did participants know they were being assessed for psychopathy

Question 59

hancock validity

Answer 59

- no demand characteristics as appears not told about the independent or aspects of language researchers were looking for - double blind procedure - the usual 30 score reduced to 25 for this study, therefore not all that were claimed to be psychopaths were psychopaths questioning the results - did not look at general knowledge only their recollection of their crime - extraneous variables such as education or culture they are from may influence the language they use

Question 60

hancock reliability

Answer 60

inter rater reliability of the PCL-R assessments - standardised as each participant followed the same step wise interview procedure - computer programmes ensures each participants data was approached in consistent way - interviews were open ended style therefore narratives by prisoners will have varied in such matters, is sample size of 14 psychopaths large enough for consistent effect

Question 61

ethnocentrism hancock

Answer 61

-from same country therefore same culture therefore use language differently to other countries

Question 62

freewill determinism hancock

Answer 62

deterministic-as diminished capacity for moral sensibility appears to have biological underpinnings, and the claim that psychopaths have unique drives and sociomotional needs -psychopaths are highly manipulative and use their language to lie, charm and use others for materials, therefore they are able to change te way in which they are perceived by others shows control over own behaviour

Question 63

hancock usefulness

Answer 63

-suggests new way of detecting psychopaths through language which would be useful in prison context in order to work out rehabilitation techniques

Question 64

socially sensitive hancock

Answer 64

- potential applications of these findings - those who use disfluencies naturally and use the past tense alot may be labelled as psychopaths when they are not - job applications, some workers may be removed from the running because they display the signs of language of psychopaths, being discriminated against when they may not be psychopaths

Question 65

hancock link to individual differences

Answer 65

investgiating way in which might be possible way of measuring differences in people by the language that they use

Question 66

link to key theme hancock

Answer 66

suggests its possible to carry out quantitative analysis of how people use language and compare them and to see how psychopaths use language in distinctive ways

Question 67

change understanding hancock

Answer 67

- instead of completing tests themselves, professionals can analyse what people do - role of technology - individual diversity-draw attention to psychopathy and the language they use - culture diversity-canada another country

Question 68

differences between yerkes/gould and hancock

Answer 68

1.75 million sample/14 psychopaths | opportunity sample/self selected

Question 69

similarities between yerkes and hancock

Answer 69

all male samples quasi experimental method self report quantitative