Badedley and Hitch (1977)
Baddeley and Hitch studied rugby players to investigate interference in long-term memory. They found that players who played more games (higher interference) forgot more opponents than those who played fewer games due to injury, even if the time passed was the same, proving that interference, not just time, causes forgetting
Demonstrates retroactive interference
Parker et al (2006)
Interviewed people affected by a hurricane and saw if there was a relationship between memory of events and the amount of damage to their homes ( a measure of anxiety)
Moderate levels of anxiety associated with high accuracy in EWT.
Valentine and Mesout (2009)
Visitors to a horror labyrinth were divided into low anxiety and high anxiety on the basis of heart monitor. Were jumpscared by an individual in the labyrinth and were asked to describe the individual.
Low anxiety associated with high accuracy of EWT.
McGuffin et al
Investigated the concordance rates for depression in dizygotic and monozygotic twins
They found that monozygotic twins had a 46% concordance rate, while dizygotic twins had a 20% concordance rate.
Concluded that depression is partially inherited.
Cujpers et al
Meta-analyses by Cuijpers et al. (e.g., 2013) show that CBT is effective for depression, but caution that effects might have been overestimated due to publication bias and lower-quality studies showing higher effect sizes.
Wood et al (1994)
Meta analysis of over 100 studies
Consistent minorities are most influential in shifting majority opinions. The analysis showed that consistency (synchronic and diachronic) is a key factor for success, while also finding that minority effects are often stronger on private/indirect measures than on public ones
Nemeth (1986)
investigated the idea of flexibility in which participants, in groups of four, had to agree on the amount of compensation they would give to a victim of a ski-lift accident.
One of the participants in each group was a confederate and there were two conditions: 1) when the minority argued for a low rate of compensation and refused to change his position (inflexible); 2) when the minority argued for a low rate of compensation but compromised by offering a slightly higher rate of compensation (flexible)
The inflexible condition, the minority had little or no effect on the majority, however in the flexible condition, the majority was much more likely to compromise and change their view.
Outline Learning Theory of Attachment
- emphasises the importance of food in attachment – ‘cupboard love’
- the role of classical conditioning – the caregiver (eg mother) starts as a neutral stimulus (NS), over
time becomes associated with ‘food’ and produces the conditioned response (CR) of pleasure - role of operant conditioning – crying leads to a response from the caregiver (eg feeding), the caregiver
receives negative reinforcement when the crying stops - hunger is a primary drive, attachment is a secondary drive – learned by an association between the
caregiver and satisfaction - credit reference to stimulus generalisation (eg. multiple attachments) if used to help explain learning theory of attachment.
Outline Van Ijzendoorn’s investigation of cultural variations in attachment.
meta-analysis of 32 studies of attachment across 8 countries
* use of Strange Situation data to classify infants as either secure, insecure-avoidant, insecure-resistant
* secure attachment was the most common (50% in China to 75% in the UK)
* in collectivist cultures (China, Japan, Israel) rates of insecure-resistant attachments were higher (over
25%) (than findings in the US)
* in Germany, rates of insecure-avoidant were higher at 35% (than findings in the US)
* variations between results of studies within the same country were (1.5 times/150%) greater than
those between countries.
Evaluate the failure to function adequately definition of abnormality.
- recognises the patient’s perspective/experience is important in defining abnormality
- provides a threshold for professional help for those who need it most
- failure to function may be a normal reaction to a traumatic event, eg a bereavement
- can rely on a subjective assessment (though there have been attempts to make judgements more
objective, eg Global Assessment of Functioning) - can use more objective measures of failing to function adequately eg. poor attendance data at
school/work - some people appear to function perfectly normally despite being seriously ill/disturbed, eg Harold
Shipman; some depressed patients - overlap/comparison with other definitions, eg deviation from social norms.
Explain what is meant by social change
Whole societies adopt new attitudes, beliefs or behaviours through minority influence processes such as snowball effect.
E.g. accepting that the earth is not flat but it is round.
Using an example of an attachment research study, explain what is meant by institutionalisation
Living arrangements outside the family/ family home
Results in child adopting rules and norms of the institution that can impair functioning
Leading to loss of personal identity, deindividuation
Types of institutions relevant to attachment eg children’s homes hostels hospital
Relevant examples of research studies include: Bowlby’s study of 44 juvenile thieves; Goldfarb’s study of children brought up in homes; ERA Romanian orphan studies
