(AQA A) AS Psychology

Unit 1: PSYA1 Cognitive Psychology, Developmental Psychology and Research Methods

Key Study TitleRelates to:

Miller (1956) Capacity of STM

Baddeley (1966)Semantic Encoding in LTM

Conrad (1964)Acoustic Encoding in STM

Peterson & Peterson (1959)Duration of STM

Bahrick (1975)Duration of LTM

Loftus et al (1978)Misleading information

List (1986)Factors affecting accuracy of Eyewitness testimony (EWT)

Poole and Lindsay (2001)Factors affecting accuracy of Eyewitness testimony (EWT) Age of witness

Fisher et al (1989)The use of the cognitive interview

Key study TitleRelates to:

Ainsworth and Bell (1970)Types of attachment

Schaffer and Emerson (1964)Development of attachment

Harlow (1959)Learning theory of attachment

Bowlby (1944)Disruption of attachment

Hodges and Tizard (1989)Failure to form attachment and the effects of institutionalisation.

Rutter et al (2007)Failure to form attachment and the effects of institutionalisation.

Takahashi (1990)Cultural variations in attachment

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988)Cultural variations in attachment

Andersson (1992)Implications of research into attachment and day care for child care practices.

Belsky and Rovine (1988)

Violata and Russell (1994)

NICHD report (2001)The negative impact of day care on childrens social development (including peer relations and aggression).

Schweinhart et al (1993)

Creps and Vernon-Feagans (1999)

Vandell et al (1988)The positive impact of day care on childrens social development (including peer relations and aggression).

Capacity in STM

Miller (1956)

Why are there so many things that come in sevens such as seven wonders of the world, seven deadly sins, seven primary colours, seven notes of the musical scale, and seven days of the week?

Miller (1956) reviewed psychological research to see what had been discovered. Investigations into various cognitive abilities have found that people can easily distinguish three musical tones, but when they asked to distinguish between five or more tones they become progressively more confused. If research participants are shown an arrangement of dots, flashed onto a screen, they can count five or six of them easily. More than that number and accuracy deteriorates. Such findings suggest that our span of absolute judgement (e.g. distinguishing musical tones) and of immediate memory (e.g. counting dots) is for about five or six items. This would lead us to expect that, if you have to remember a string of letters, seven letters might be the maximum that could be held in short-term memory. But what if the letters were C-A-T-W-A-L-L? In this case the seven letters make two chunks of data (CAT and WALL). All words consist of bits of information in the case of catwall there are seven bits altogether, but there are only two chunks of information. If memory was limited by bits of information it could handle, then we can predict that it would be possible to remember twice as many five-letter words as ten-letter ones. Miller found that this wasnt true. Research has demonstrated that people can remember about seven words, no matter how many bits of information are in the word. It is the chunks of data that limit memory. Miller called chunking the very lifeblood of the thought processes. It improves the capacity of memory, although it may reduce accuracy.

Evaluation of Miller (1956)This research has useful applications. For example, phone numbers are chunked to make them easier to remember when making a phone call.

However, later research didnt completely confirm Millers conclusion. For example, Simon (1974) found that the number of bits in a chunk did have an effect on memory. Participants in his study had a shorter span for larger chunks such as eight-word phrases, than for smaller chunks such as one-syllable words. Therefore, immediate memory span is related to chunking but the number of chunks remembered depends how big the chunks are!

Some psychologists, such as Case (1974), have used the idea of chunking to explain how children become capable of more complex mental tasks as they get older. Case suggests that M-space (which is roughly equivalent to STM) is used to hold information required while you are thinking. The restricted size of this space acts as a limit to cognitive processing. As one gets older the space increases a little, but more importantly we also become more efficient at using it. An example of this would be playing chess. Inexperienced players have to hold the rules in M-space while they are playing. As one becomes more experienced these rules become more automatic, having been incorporated in higher-order units a process akin to chunking. This form of chunking leaves more space in M-space for mental activities.

Semantic Encoding in LTM

Baddeley (1966)

The aim of this study was to explore the effects of acoustic and semantic encoding in STM and LTM.

In the STM study, participants were asked, immediately after presentation, to recall, in serial order, a list of five words taken from a pool of words in the following categories:

Acoustically similar words (e.g. man, mad, map)

Acoustically dissimilar words (e.g. pen, day ,few)

Semantically similar words (e.g. great, big, large)

Semantically dissimilar words (e.g. hot, old, late)

In the LTM study, each list of words was extended to ten and recall was tested after an interval of 20 minutes.

The findings were that words with similar sounds were much harder to recall using STM than words with dissimilar sounds. Similarity of meaning had only a very slight detrimental effect on STM. When participants were recalling from LTM, recall was much worse for semantically similar words than for semantically dissimilar words. Recall from LTM was the same for acoustically similar and acoustically dissimilar words.

Baddeley concluded that STM relies heavily on acoustic encoding. LTM primarily makes use of semantic encoding.

Acoustic encoding in STM

Conrad (1964)

If you have to remember something for a short time, such as a phone number, you probably repeat it over and over. You repeat it acoustically. What is interesting is that people do this whether they heard the information (someone told you the number) or saw it (you looked it up in a phonebook). This suggests that short-term memory may encode information acoustically.

Conrad (1964) investigated this by comparing performance with acoustically and visually presented data. He presented participants with six letters at a time, displaying each of them for 0.75 of a second. The participants had to recall the letters in the order that they were presented. When the letters sounded alike, even though they were visually presented, errors were made in terms of sound confusions, for example, S was recalled instead of X.

Evaluation of Conrad (1964)Later research (Posner, 1969) demonstrated that visual codes do in fact exist in STM, at least some of the time. In Posners experiment participants were shown two letters, where the second letter was either identical to the first letter (e.g. AA), or the same but a different form (e.g. Aa), or different (e.g. AB). The letters were displayed one at a time, separated by a 2-second interval. Participants had to say whether the letters were the same or different. Reaction time was longer for Aa than AA which suggests that participants were processing the data visually rather than acoustically (A and a sound the same but look different)

Duration of STM

Peterson and Peterson (1959)

The aim of the experiment was to test how long STM lasts when rehearsal is prevented.

The participants were briefly shown a consonant trigram (i.e. 3 letters such as CPW or NGV). Participants were asked to count backwards in threes from a specified number to stop them thinking about the letters. After intervals of 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 or 18 seconds, participants were asked to recall the original trigram. The procedure was repeated several times using different trigrams.

They found that participants were able to recall 80% of trigrams after a 3-second interval. Progressively fewer trigrams were recalled as the time intervals lengthened. After 18 seconds, fewer than 10% of the trigrams were recalled correctly.

Peterson and Peterson concluded that if rehearsal is prevented, information vanishes rapidly from STM. Therefore, decay is the mechanism for forgetting in STM.

Duration of LTM

Bahrick (1975)

The aim of this study was to establish the existence of a very long-term memory (VLTM), and to see whether there was any difference between recognition and recall.

For the procedures the investigators tracked down the graduates from a particular high school in America over a 50-year period. 392 graduates were shown photographs from their high-school yearbook. For each photo, participants were given a group of names and asked to select the name that matched the person in the photo (recognition group). Another group of participants were simply asked to name the people in the photos without being given a list of possible names (recall group).

Bahrick found that in the name matching condition, participants were 90% correct even 14 years after graduation. After 25 years, these participants were 80% accurate; after 34 years, 75% accurate and, even after 47 years, 60% accurate. The 2nd group who had to identify the photos without any name cues were not quite as successful. They were 60% accurate after 7 years, but the level of accuracy had dropped to less than 20% after 47 years.

Bahrick concluded that people can remember certain types of information for almost a lifetime. The accuracy of VLTM is better when measured by recognition tests than by recall tests.

Leading Questions in Eyewitness Testimony (EWT)

Loftus and Palmer (1974)

The studys general aim was to investigate the accuracy of memory after witnessing a car accident. In particular it was to see if leading questions distort the accuracy of an eyewitnesss immediate recall. People are notoriously poor at estimating speed of moving cars and therefore they might be particularly receptive to any hints (leading questions). This experiment aimed to see if this is true.The procedures involved 45 students being shown 7 films of different traffic accidents. After each film the participants were given a questionnaire which asked them to describe the accident and then answer a series of specific questions about it. There was one critical question: About how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?. One group of participants was given this question. The other four groups were given the verbs smashed, collided, bumped or contacted in place of the word hit.

The mean speed estimate was calculated for each group, as shown in the table. The group given the word smashed estimated a higher speed than the other groups (about 41mph). The group given the word contacted estimated the lowest speed (about 32mph).Loftus and Palmer concluded that the form of question can have a significant effect on a witnesss answer. In other words, leading questions can affect the accuracy of memory. Such leading questions are an example of what psychologists call post-event information information given after the event which may alter memory. It is possible that such post-event information causes the information to be altered before it is stored so that memory is permanently affected. A second possible explanation is that the form of the question actually alters the participants memory representation of the accident, which leads them to produce a higher or lower estimate.

Factors that influence the accuracy of EWTWagstaff (2002) argued that factors that can influence the accuracy of EWT can be remembered using the mnemonic ADVOKATE. Accuracy is improved under the following conditions:

Kebbel and Wagstaff (1999) found that witnesses were normally very accurate when describing a persons sex, racial background, style of clothing and hair colour, but less accurate when describing things like age, height and overall build.Loftus (1979) identified the weapon focus effect. There were two conditions in this experiment. In both conditions participants heard a discussion in an adjoining room. In condition 1 a man emerged holding a pen and with grease on his hands. In condition 2 the discussion was rather more heated and a man emerged holding a paper knife covered in blood. When asked to identify the man from 50 photos, participants in condition 1 were 49% accurate compared with 33% accuracy in condition 2. This suggests that the weapon may have distracted attention from the man and might explain why eyewitnesses sometimes have poor recall for certain details of a crime.

Yuille and Cutshall (1986) interviewed 13 people who had witnessed an armed robbery in Canada. The interviews took place more than 4 months after the crime and included two misleading questions. Despite these questions, the witnesses provided accurate recall that matched their initial detailed reports. This suggests that post-event information may not affect memory in real life. This study also shows that EWT can be very reliable.

Factors affecting accuracy of Eyewitness testimony (EWT)List (1986)List applied the idea of schemas to EWT by drawing up a list of elements that might occur in a typical shoplifting scenario. She asked people to rate these events in terms of how likely they were to occur in a typical shoplifting incident. She then compiled a video showing eight different shoplifting incidents and included some elements that people had rated as high probability and some that people had rated as low probability. She then showed the video to a new set of participants and asked them, a week later, to recall what they had seen. She found that participants were more likely to recall high probability events than low probability events and that they often reported seeing high probability elements that had not actually been included in the video at all.

Methodological issues

This was a laboratory-based experiment, but List took trouble to try to make her video realistic. This is, however, not the same as a real-life incident where witnesses would be expecting anything to happen.

List used a pilot study to find out what elements people most commonly associate with shoplifting.

Ethical issues

As with any study, List needed to obtain the consent of her participants and to debrief them afterwards.Factors affecting accuracy of EWT age of witness

Poole and Lindsay (2001)

Poole and Lindsay engaged children aged 3 to 8 in a science demonstration. The parents of the children then read them a story, which contained some of the elements of the science demonstration but also included novel information. The children were then questioned about the science demonstration and it was found that they had incorporated much of the new information (i.e. from the parents story) into their original memory. In another phase of the experiment, the children were asked to think very carefully about where they had got their information from (this is called source monitoring) and some of the older children then revised their account of the science demonstration and extracted the post-event information. However, the younger children did not seem able to do this. This has important implications for measuring the accuracy of small childrens testimony since they seem very poor at source monitoring.

Methodological issues

This was an experiment but more difficult to eliminate extraneous variables than one using artificial stimuli in a highly controlled laboratory setting.

Investigators have to be particularly careful when using children, particularly those as young as 3 and 4 to make sure they understand instructions and that they are paying attention.

Ethical issues

There are particular factors to be taken into account when using young children who may not be able to give informed consent on their own behalf. Parents must give informed consent but, in this case, it was helpful that the parents were involved as well and so the children were with familiar people and less susceptible to investigator effects.Misleading information and the use of the cognitive interview

Fisher et al (1989)

The aim of this study was to further test the validity of the cognitive interview technique using a field experiment. Precious research had mainly used laboratory experiments and the cognitive interview seemed highly effective in such studies.

16 experienced police inspectors from Miami, Florida, conducted two interviews on 47 witnesses or victims of shoplifting or mugging. Between the two interviews, 7 of the police officers were trained in using the cognitive interview technique. The other 9 officers formed the control group (they received no further training). The researchers measured both the increase in facts elicited in the 2nd interview compared to the 1st, and the number of facts elicited by the police officers in the cognitive interview group compared to the control group. The independent variable was the type of interview the police officers used on the 2nd interview (cognitive or standard) and the dependent variable was the number of accurately recalled facts produced by each of these techniques.

Results provided overwhelming support for the cognitive interviewing technique. The cognitive interviewers obtained 47% more facts relating to matters already examined, whereas there was no gain from the 2nd interview for the control group.

Cognitive interviews are a useful technique for improving EWT when compared to a standard interviewing technique. This seems to occur both in a laboratory and more realistic field experiments.

The officers in the control group were aware that they were not being given any extra interview training and this might have affected their motivation levels. It may have been this factor that led to the difference in recall accuracy between the experimental and control groups

Types of attachment

Ainsworth and Bell (1970)

The aim of this study was to produce a method of assessing quality of attachment by placing an infant in a situation of mild stress (to encourage the infant to seek comfort) and of novelty (to encourage exploration behaviour). Both comfort-seeking and exploration behaviour are indicators of quality of attachment.

The procedures involved about 100 middle-class American infants and their mothers taking part in the study. A method of controlled observation was developed. This involved observing infants with their mothers during a set of predetermined activities (this is known as the Strange Situation). All of the sessions, apart from the first one, lasted three minutes.

Observers recorded the infants and mothers behaviours, especially noting the following:

Separation anxiety: the unease the infant showed when left by the caregiver

The infants willingness to explore Stranger anxiety: the infants response to the presence of a stranger

Reunion behaviour: the way the caregiver was greeted on return

The observational record led Ainsworth and Bell to classify the infants into 3 broad groups:

Type B: Securely Attached (66%) One group of infants tended to explore the unfamiliar room; they were subdued when their mother left and greeted her positively when she returned. The infants showed moderate avoidance of the stranger, although were friendly when mother was present. The mothers were described as sensitive.

Type A: Avoidant-insecure (22%) A second group did not orientate to their mother while investigating the toys and room; they did not seem concerned by her absence and showed little interest in her when she returned. These infants also avoided the stranger, but not as strongly as they avoided their mother on her return. It was observed that these mothers sometimes ignored their infants.

Type C: Resistant-insecure (12%) A third group showed intense distress, particularly when their mother was absent, but they rejected her when she returned. These infants showed ambivalent behaviour towards the stranger, similar to the pattern of resistance and interest shown to their mother on her return. These mothers appeared to behave ambivalently towards their infants.

The researchers concluded that there are significant individual differences between infants. It also shows that most American children are securely attached. There appears to be a distinct association between the mothers behaviour and the infants attachment type, which suggests that mothers behaviour may be important in determining attachment type.

A father with his child someone who is ignored (i.e. not studied) on the Strange Situation

Development of Attachment

Schaffer and Emerson (1964)

The researchers designed a large-scale longitudinal study to find out more information about the development of attachment. Over a period of two years they followed 60 infants from a mainly working class area of Glasgow, keeping a detailed record of their observations. The infants were observed every four weeks until they were 1 year old and then again at 18 months. At the start of the investigation the youngest participant was 5 weeks and the oldest was 23 weeks.

Attachment was measured in two ways:

Using separation protest in 7 everyday situations. The infant was left alone in a room, left with other people, left in his/her pram outside the house, left in his/her pram outside the shops, left in his/her cot at night, put down after being held by an adult, or passed by while sitting in his/her cot or chair.

Using stranger anxiety. Every visit started with the researcher approaching the infant and noting at what point the infant started to whimper, thus displaying anxiety.

Separation protest and stranger anxiety are signs that an attachment has formed. Before this stage of specific attachments infants show neither of these behaviours.

Schaffer and Emerson found that:

Half of the children showed their first specific attachment between 25 and 32 weeks (6-8 months). Fear of strangers occurred about a month later in all the children.

The intensity of attachment peaked in the first month after attachment behaviour first appeared, as measured by the strength of separation protest. However there were large individual differences. Intensely attached infants had mothers who responded quickly to their demands (high responsiveness) and who offered the child the most interaction. Infants who were weakly attached had mothers who failed to interact.

Multiple attachments: soon after one main attachment was formed, the infants also became attached to other people. By 18 months very few (13%) were attached to only one person, 31% had five or more attachments, such as father, grandparent, or older sibling. In 65% of the children the first specific attachment was to the mother, and in a further 30% the mother was the first joint object of attachment.

Time spent with infant: in 39% of the cases the person who usually fed, bathed, and changed the child was not the childs primary attachment object. In other words, many of the mothers were not the person who performed these tasks yet they were the main attachment object.

Learning theory of Attachment

Harlow (1959)

Harry Harlow was initially interested in the psychology of learning, and conducted experiments using rhesus monkeys. In order to reduce mortality rates in the experimental participants, Harlow found it best to separate them from their mothers after birth and raise them in sterile conditions. The monkeys were provided with a nappy on the floor of their cages because it had been observed that the monkeys liked to touch these, especially when feeding from a bottle. In fact, the monkeys appeared to become extremely attached to these nappy pads as indicated by the fact that they became very agitated when the pads were removed daily for cleaning.

This attachment reminded Harlow of a childs fondness for a special blanket or a cuddly toy, and suggested to him an idea for an experiment. Would the monkeys prefer the activity of feeding to that of bodily comfort? To test this Harlow (1959) arranged for very young rhesus monkeys to be taken from their mothers and placed in cages with two surrogate (or substitute) mothers, as shown in the picture. One of the mothers was made of wire and the other was covered in cloth. Milk was provided by the wire mother for some of the monkeys, whereas it was provided by the cloth mothers for the others. The findings were clear cut. The monkeys spent most of their time on their cloth mother even when she did not supply milk.

The cloth mother provided contact comfort which was clearly preferable. If the monkeys were frightened they ran to their cloth mother. However the monkeys did not develop into normal adults. Later in life the monkeys were either indifferent or abusive to other monkeys and had difficulty with mating and parenting. This shows that contact comfort is preferable but not sufficient for healthy development. Presumably infants need a responsive caregiver and an interactive relationship with this individual for healthy development.

Harlow conducted various further studies to investigate the effects of deprivation. Harlow and Harlow (1962) raised monkeys for lengthy periods in total isolation. When they were placed with other monkeys they remained withdrawn and extremely fearful. In comparison, monkeys raised with a cloth mother were much more able to engage in social activity. This shows that the cloth mother was better than nothing.

In another experiment four young monkeys were raised on their own, without any mother. They spent the first few months huddled together but gradually developed more independence and finally appeared to have suffered no ill effects. This suggests that the infant-infant affectional bond can be just as effective as mother-infant.

Disruption of Attachment the effects of deprivation

Bowlby (1944)

In the 1930s John Bowlby worked as a psychiatrist in a Child Guidance Clinic in London, where he treated many emotionally disturbed children. Part of this treatment would involve interviews with parents about the childs early experiences. This work led Bowlby to formulate his belief about the link between early separations and later maladjustment.

The aim of this study was to test the maternal deprivation hypothesis. Bowlby was specifically interested in one group of adolescents attending the clinic the thieves. All the children referred to the clinic were emotionally maladjusted but, Bowlby argued, some of them were unable to understand how other people felt. These children lacked normal signs of affection, shame or a sense of responsibility. Such characteristics enable them to be thieves they could steal from others because it didnt matter to them. So Bowlby decided to compare 44 juvenile thieves (children referred to the clinic because they had been involved in thefts) with another group of emotionally disturbed teenagers who were not thieves. Were thieves more likely to have experienced early separations during which they received little substitute care? This would suggest that early separations could lead to emotional maladjustment, supporting the maternal deprivation hypothesis.

The children interviewed ranged in age from 5 to 16. They all attended the Child Guidance Clinic. The experimental group consisted of 44 children who had been referred to the clinic because they were caught stealing. A further 44 children acted as a control group. This group were not thieves but had experienced emotional problems, for which they had been referred to the clinic. In addition Bowlby diagnosed 14 of the thieves as affectionless psychopaths individuals who particularly lacked emotional sensitivity. The children and their parents were interviewed by Bowlby and his associates. Information was collected about their early life experiences, with particular attention paid to early separations.

It was found that the affectionless thieves had experienced frequent early separations from their mothers. The figures in the table show that 86% of affectionless thieves (12 out of 14) experienced frequent separations compared to 17% (5 out of 30) of the other thieves. Furthermore, almost none of the control participants experienced early separations, whereas 39% of all the thieves had experienced early separations. These early separations often consisted of continual or repeated stays in foster homes or hospitals, when the children were often visited by their families.

These data suggest a link between early separation and becoming a thief (i.e. someone lacking a social conscience). They also suggest that early separations are linked to affectionless psychopathy. In other words, lack of continuous care may well cause emotional maladjustment, especially in the extreme form of affectionless psychopathy.

Failure to form attachment and the effects of institutionalisation

Hodges and Tizard (1989)

The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of early privation on subsequent social and emotional development, and to test the maternal deprivation (or privation) hypothesis. The study aimed to follow the same children over a long period of time (a longitudinal study) to collect reliable information linking early experiences to later outcomes for the same individuals.

This longitudinal study was a natural experiment. The independent variable (attachment experience) varied naturally. The participants were 65 children who had been placed in an institution when they were les than 4 months old. There was an explicit policy in the institution against caregivers forming attachment with the children. This would suggest that the children experiences early privation. By the age of 4, 24 of the institutionalised children had been adopted, 15 had returned to their natural homes, and the rest remained in the institution. Assessment at ages 8 and 16 involved interviewing those children who were adopted and those who had returned to their original homes. Their parents, their teachers and their peers were also interviewed. Data were also obtained about a control group of normal peers.

There were some differences between the adopted and restored children. The adopted children generally had close attachments to their parents and good family relationships, whereas this was much less true for the restored children. However, there were similarities in the behaviour of the adopted and restored children outside the family. For example, both groups were more likely to seek adult attention and approval than control children, and both groups were less successful in peer relationships.

Failure to form attachment and the effects of institutionalisation.Rutter et al (2007)Rutter et al (2007) are carrying out an ongoing longitudinal study, comparing Romanian orphans who were adopted by UK families with UK-born adoptees who were placed with families before they were six months of age. The Romanian adoptees entered the orphanage as small babies between one and two weeks old. Conditions in the institutions were very poor. 58 babies were adopted before they were 6 months old and 59 were adopted between 6 and 24 months of age. 48 babies were classed as late placed adoptees (between two and four years of age). These formed the three conditions of the naturally-occurring independent variable. At the time of adoption, over half of the Romanian children showed evidence of severe malnourishment. They were in the bottom third of the population for weight and head size. Some of these children have been followed up at ages four, six and eleven years, using a range of measures including interviews and observations of the childs behaviour.At age six, Rutter et al found evidence of disinhibited attachment which they defined as a pervasive pattern of attention seeking behaviours with a relative lack of selectivity in social relationships.

No disinhibitionMild disinhibitionMarked disinhibition

UK adoptees21 (40.4%)29 (55.8%)2 (3.8%)

Romanian adopted (before 6 months)24 (53.3%)17 (37.8%)4 (8.9%)

Romanian adopted (6-24 months)26 (29.5%)39 (44.3%)23 (26.1%)

As the table shows, disinhibited behaviour was most common in the late adopted Romanian group with over one-quarter (26.1%) showing marked disinhibited attachment behaviours. The behaviour pattern was extremely rare in UK adoptees (3.8%) and early adopted children (8.9%). This suggests that disinhibited attachments are more likely in children who have experienced longer periods in institutions. In 2007, some of these children were followed up aged 11. Rutter found that the disinhibited behaviour pattern had persisted in many adoptees. Of the 83 Romanian children showing mild or marked disinhibited attachment at age 6, 45 (54%) of these still showed this five years later. While this indicates a drop in the number of children showing this behaviour pattern at age 11, it is still well over half. Even more worryingly, Rutter found that many of the children showing disinhibited attachments were receiving help from either special educational and/or mental health services.

Cultural variations in attachment

Takahashi (1990)

The aim of this study was to consider whether it is appropriate to use the Strange Situation with Japanese children. The key question is whether the Strange Situation is a valid procedure for cultures other than the original one i.e. other than American, middle-class, white, home-reared infants and their mothers. By making comparisons between the American and Japanese group, it may be possible to reveal the cultural assumptions on which the procedure is based. The participants were 60 middle-class Japanese infants, aged 1 year, boys and girls, and their mothers. They were all raised at home. The infants and mothers were observed in the Strange Situation.

68% of the infants were classified as securely attached, almost identical to the original American sample. There were no infants classified as avoidant-insecure. 32% were classified as resistant-insecure. When the observational data were examined in more detail, differences emerged. The Japanese infants were much more disturbed after being left alone. In fact, the infant alone step was stopped for 90% of the participants because the infants were so distressed. If the infants had not become so distressed, many more of them (possibly more than 80%) would have been classified as securely attached (the observation of distress led to an alternative classification).

The findings suggest that there are cross-cultural variations in the way infants respond to separation and being left alone. This difference may be due to the fact that Japanese infants are almost never left alone. This means that, for them, the Strange Situation was more than mildly stressful, and thus the behaviours observed were reactions to extreme stress not the original aim of the Strange Situation. The findings also highlight a second cross-cultural variation the total lack of avoidant behaviour in this sample. This can also be explained in cultural terms. Japanese children are taught that such behaviour is impolite and they would be actively discouraged from displaying it. The final conclusion must be that the Strange Situation does not have the same meaning for the Japanese as it does for American participants and therefore is not a valid form of assessment for that culture.

Cultural variations in attachment

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988)

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg wanted to compare the findings of studies using the Strange Situation conducted in different cultures. They were interested in patterns of attachment type (secure/avoidant/resistant) both between and within cultures.

They reviewed 32 worldwide studies involving 8 countries and over 2,000 children. These studies had been conducted by other researchers, and Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg compared the studies, looking for any general trends.

CountryNo. of studiesSecurely attachedAnxious-AvoidantAnxious-Resistant

West Germany357%35%8%

Great Britain175%22%3%

Netherlands467%26%7%

Sweden174%22%4%

Israel264%7%29%

Japan268%5%27%

China150%25%25%

USA1865%21%14%

The overall worldwide pattern was similar to Ainsworth et als standard pattern. This was also true of the 18 American studies as a whole, although there was considerable variation within these studies. The standard pattern shows Type B to be the most common and Type C the least common. However, Type A is the least common in Israel and Japan, and Type C is relatively more common. But there were marked differences between the two Japanese studies. In one there were no Type A children at all, but a high proportion of Type C; in the other, the pattern was more like that of Ainsworth et al. So, there are marked differences within cultures as well as between some.

Implications of research into attachment and day care for child care practices

Andersson (1992)

Early research into the effects of day care focused on the question of whether it was a good or bad thing. As research progressed psychologist realised that this question was too simplistic. Research should focus on what features of the day care situation lead to positive experiences and what factors lead to negative outcomes. More recent research has also looked at the long-term effects of the day care experience as opposed to more immediate outcomes.

One example of this is a longitudinal study by Andersson (1992) conducted in Sweden. A sample of over 100 children were studied from both lower and middle-class homes as well as one-parent families. The families were first contacted when the children were aged between 3 and 4. At this time their early child-care arrangements were recorded, most importantly the age that they first started in day care. The children were assessed at age 8 and 13. Cognitive and socio-emotional competence was rated by their classroom teachers and IQ test data were collected. Andersson found that school performance was rated highest in those children who entered day care before the age of 1. School performance was lowest for those who did not have any day care. This suggests that day care is not harmful in terms of development and may even be beneficial. There is one important factor. Those children who did enter day care before the age of 1 also came from families with higher socio-economic status. This means that the reason such children did better was possibly related to their socio-economic status (better-off families are better educated and produce more well-adjusted children). Nevertheless the day care experience could have been detrimental, but it was not.

Use this space to draw your scatter graphs:

Task:

With a learning partner, find a strength and a weakness of Millers findings. (Remember he reviewed others work).

Does the research into capacity of STM have ecological validity? Can it be applied to real life?

Evaluation of Baddeley (1966)

The use of the experimental method allows a causal link to be drawn between type of coding used in STM and LTM and the accuracy of recall.

The conclusions of this study may not reflect the complexity of encoding. Evidence from other studies shows that, in certain circumstances, both STM and LTM can use other forms of coding.

Task:

As an evaluation point, how do you think that a gadget like the iphone might affect a persons STM?

How might Conrads memory experiments be considered to be out-of-date?

Evaluation of Peterson and Peterson (1959)

Trigrams are rather artificial things to remember and may not reflect everyday memory.

It is possible, however, that interference from the counting task (not merely decay) caused the poor recall.

The experimental method used in this study allows us to see the (causal) effect of time passing (independent variable) on recall (dependent variable).

Evaluation of Bahrick (1975)

Unlike many memory experiments, this study used meaningful stimulus material (high-school yearbooks) and tested people for memories from their own lives.

It is unclear whether the drop-off in accuracy after 47 years reflects the limits of duration or a more general decline in memory with age.

TASK:

With a learning partner, attempt to assess the methods of this study so that you can find two more evaluation points. Remember to explain and apply each point.

Many studies have been conducted on EWT, a number of them by Elizabeth Loftus. Here she worked with John Palmer to look at some of the ways that memory can be distorted.

Elizabeth Loftus is a prolific researcher in EWT and carrying out some research by yourself may help to improve your skills on your examination.

Current information on Loftus can be found on wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Loftus

Evaluation of Loftus and Palmer (1974)

A laboratory experiment may not represent real life because people dont take the experiment seriously and/or they are not emotionally aroused as they would be in a real accident. Foster et al (1994) found that if participants thought they were watching a real-life robbery and that their responses would influence the trial, their identification of the robber was more accurate.

Emotional arousal may actually enhance the accuracy of memory, as Christianson and Hubinette (1993) found when they interviewed 110 real witnesses to bank robberies. Those witnesses who had been threatened were more accurate in their recall and remembered more details than those who had been onlookers and less emotionally aroused. This continued to be true even 15 months later.

Evaluation of Loftus and Palmer (1974)

In many experiments, the experimental design leads to certain inevitable responses from participants. They might feel uncertain about what to do and how to behave, and would look for cues about what is expected of them. They would be especially receptive to certain features of the experiment, such as leading questions. These features almost demand a particular response and thus these demand characteristics might explain the findings of Loftus and Palmers study.

Loftus and Palmer conducted a second experiment to see if memory was altered by post-event information.

A new set of participants was divided into three groups and shown a film of a car accident.

Group 1 was given the verb smashed, group 2 the verb hit, and group 3 (the control group) was not given any question about the speed of the vehicles.

The participants returned one week later and were asked 10 questions about the accident, including another critical question: Did you see any broken glass? There was no broken glass in the film but, presumably, those who thought the car was travelling faster might expect that there would be broken glass.

The findings are shown in the table on the previous page. 17% of participants in the smashed condition said that they had seen broken glass. This compared to 7% in the hit condition. Participants gave higher speed estimates in the smashed condition, as before. They were also more likely to think they saw broken glass. This shows a significant effect of post-event information on later recall of events.

Amount of time the longer the time for which the event was observed

Distance the close the witness is to the event.

Visibility the clearer the visibility.

Obstructions few obstructions between witness and event

Known the more familiar the person, the better the identification

Any reason to remember the more novel or emotionally important the better.

Time the shorter the time between the event and the recall, the better the memory.

Errors the more inaccurate parts of a witnesss testimony are sown to be, the less reliable is the rest of their testimony.

Evaluation of Fisher et al (1989)

Practical problems involving application of cognitive interviewing: some research has suggested problems with cognitive interviews. Memon et al (1994) failed to find an improvement using a cognitive interview technique when used by police officers. In their study, 38 experienced police officers were trained for 4 hours on general interviewing techniques. Half of the police officers were then trained in cognitive interviewing techniques. Immediately after this, the police officers were asked to interview witnesses of a staged event (a simulated armed robbery in the parking lot of the police training school a few hours earlier). The results showed no benefits of cognitive interviewing over standard interviewing in terms of the number of correct answers or the number of incorrect answers provided by the witnesses. Moreover, it appeared as though the cognitive interviewing training had little effect on the interview procedures used by the police officers, so perhaps the lack of any effect may have been due to either the training or a reluctance on the part of the officers to fully implement the training.

Limited use by the police: there are concerns among the police that the use of the change of perspective mnemonic may mislead witnesses into thinking that they are being asked to speculate on the event they witnessed. After all, no one can be certain what another person saw. Due to worries such as these, this particular mnemonic is less frequently used in practice (Memon et al, 1993).

Evaluation of Ainsworth and Bell (1970)

It would be unreasonable to make generalisations about all infant behaviour on the basis of this sample. The study and its findings are restricted to middle-class American infants i.e. are culturally biased

In another study, Main and Cassidy (1988) identified a further group of children; this classification group is referred to as disorganised (type D). These children show inconsistent behaviour, confusion and indecision. They also tend to freeze or show stereotyped behaviour such as rocking.

Evaluation of Schaffer and Emerson (1964)

This study remains one of the largest longitudinal studies of infant attachment behaviour and a classic, despite the fact that it was conducted more than 40 years ago.

Criticisms can be made about the methodology, perhaps most importantly about some of the data collection. The data were collected either by direct observation or from the record kept by the mothers.

These are both prone to bias and inaccuracy. Mothers were asked to record situations where separation protest was shown, and to whom these protests were directed.

It is quite possible that a busy mother may have had to manufacture these records some days after the events and her memory would have been influenced by expectations.

On the other hand, such data would have been more accurate than the retrospective recollections used in many studies, and would have more ecological validity that data collected in laboratory observations. (e.g. the Strange Situation)

Evaluation of Harlow (1959)

Monkeys are social animals who usually live in quite large groups. This means that Harlows studies could be criticised on two grounds: modern ethical considerations would make this experimental approach hard to justify, but the studies could also be methodologically flawed.

The rhesus monkeys were reared in isolation. These are monkeys who come from a highly social background. After the experiments were completed, the monkeys exhibited severely disturbed behaviour. At the time, the distress caused to the monkeys was seen as acceptable in the light of possible benefits of understanding how attachment develops. However, it is unlikely that such a study would be allowed to proceed today because of stricter ethical guidelines for research using non-human participants.

The baby monkeys were doubly deprived of both maternal care and the company of others. Therefore we cannot be certain whether their maladjustment was due to maternal deprivation or social deprivation, or both.

Evaluation of Bowlby (1944)

Unreliable data the information about early separation was collected retrospectively. Parents were asked to recall events from up to 14 years previously about when they had been separated from their children. It is likely that such recall was not completely accurate. The data collected may also have been unreliable because people dont always answer interviewers answers truthfully parents might be expected to present themselves in a better light (social desirability bias) and report fewer separations.

Correlation, not a cause this study was not an experiment it involved correlational analysis. It is wrong to think that early separations caused later maladjustment in the children just because the two are linked together. Rutter (1981) suggested that there may be a factor which causes both separations and maladjustment and that is why they are linked. A possible factor would be stress in the home due to marital discord or a lack of resources to care for the children. Psychologists have to take great care to avoid confusing a correlation with a cause.

There is evidence that does not support the maternal deprivation hypothesis. The two ex-institution groups, adopted and restored, differed within their family relationships. The restored children often returned to the same difficult circumstances that had precipitated the need for care in the first place, and to parents who may have felt ambivalent about them. In contrast, adopted children went to homes where the parents had very much wanted a child. This shows that recovery is possible under the right circumstances.

There is evidence that does support the maternal deprivation hypothesis. Outside the family environment it would appear that early privation did have an effect on subsequent social development. Clarke and Clarke (1979) put forward a transactional model to explain the findings. It may be that the adopted children in Hodges and Tizards studies got on well within their families because the families made special efforts to love them, whereas they did not experience this outside the home and thus were unable to form relationships as easily or well.

Evaluation of Hodges and Tizard (1989)

Random allocation of participants to experimental groups is used to ensure that the participant groups in an experiment are equivalent. In Hodges and Tizards study, there may have been important differences between the two groups the adopted and the restored group besides the independent variable. It is possible, for example, that the children selected for adoption were the more attractive and socially able children. The childrens temperament thus becomes a confounding variable in this study confounding because it acts as another independent variable. This means that we cannot infer a causal relationship between the effects of early privation on later social and emotional development from this study.

Attrition is a common problem in longitudinal research. Inevitably, some participants are no longer available or willing to take part in the study as the years pass by. It is possible that a certain kind of individual is more likely to drop out from the study for example, those who are less highly motivated or, in the case of Hodges and Tizards study, those who are less well adjusted. This leaves the study with a biased sample. If a study sample is biased, the researchers have to be very careful about what conclusions they can draw and it is not appropriate to generalise the findings.

Methodological issues

This study is using a range of measurements to assess the childrens behaviour including semi-structured interviews and observation to see if the child makes inappropriate physical contact. This makes the research rich and detailed.

As with Tizard and Hodgess study, participant attrition is an issue in this longitudinal research study.

Rutter et al acknowledge that it has been difficult to obtain information about the quality of care in many of the institutions in Romania making it difficult to assess the extent of privation in the early environments of the children in the study.

Ethical issues

As with other longitudinal studies in this area, researchers need to be sensitive to the needs of both the children and their adoptive families in research of this nature. The extent of participant attrition shows that some families may wish to remove themselves from further study and to bring up their children outside the glare of research. Freedom to withdraw from a research study is an important ethical principle.

Task:

With a learning partner, assess the key evaluation points of Takahashis study.

Can you find more strengths and weaknesses?

Remember to state, explain and apply each of your points.

Evaluation of Takahashi (1990)

Research with children, especially with infants, needs to be especially careful in terms of potential psychological harm to participants, which is an important ethical issue.

Takahashis study was carried out on a limited sample of only middle-class, home-reared infants (as was the original study by Ainsworth and Bell). It may therefore not be reasonable to generalise these findings to all Japanese people, although the results do demonstrate that there are important cultural or sub cultural differences in attachment.

Evaluation of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg

The countries included in the review are both Western and non-Western (China and Japan), but only 3 of the 32 studies were carried out in China and Japan. The different patterns of reaction to the Strange Situation seem to reflect cultures values and practices. For example, the greater frequency of Type A (anxious-avoidant) in Germany may reflect cultural emphasis on early independence training. Rogoff (2003) cites a study by True et al (2001) involving the Dogon people of West Africa, which found a complete absence of Type A; this may stem from the communitys infant care practices, which involve responsiveness, constant closeness to mothers, and immediate nursing in response to signs of stress.

The greater frequency of Type C in Japan may result from greater stress during the Strange Situation due to infants unfamiliarity with being left with strangers. Japanese children are rarely separated from their mothers, so the separation episodes are the most upsetting for these children. In contrast, for African-American infants, who are used to being tended by several caregivers and who are encouraged to be friendly to the many strangers they encounter; the Strange Situation may arouse their interest in exploration (Rogoff, 2003). For children raised on Israeli kibbutzim (small, close-knit communities), its the arrival of the stranger thats most distressing. This shows that the Strange Situation has a different meaning in different cultures; we need to know about the child-rearing practices of different cultures if were to interpret findings based on the Strange Situation validly.

Evaluation of Andersson (1992)

It may be significant that this study was conducted in Sweden. A similar study looking at children in Texas (Vandell & Corasaniti, 1990) found that children with extensive child-care experiences from infancy were rated by parents and teachers as having poorer peer relationships and emotional health. The different results may be due to the different infant-care practices in both cultures. In Sweden a substantial part of in the infants first year is spent with one or both parents due to a special parental leave system. This means that infants may be able to form stronger attachments at home. In addition day care in Sweden is given a great deal of financial support from the government and therefore may be of a generally higher quality that in the US.

Andersson stresses this factor, that in Sweden day care has very low staff/child ratios and carers are highly trained. Texas, on the other hand, is a state with very low official requirements for child-care facilities. This emphasises the point that it is quality of care that should concern us, rather than the question of whether or not day care is a good thing.

Research on the positive effects of day care on childrens social development

Vandell et al (1988)

They reported that children in better-quality day care have more friendly and fewer unfriendly interactions than those in lower-quality day care.

Schweinhart et al (1993)

Investigated day-care programs for disadvantaged children. They conducted follow-up studies of 66 children involved in the High/Scope Perry Preschool Project. They found decreased rates of self-reported delinquency at age 14, decreased official chronic delinquency at age 19, and in the most follow-up at age 27, lower adult criminality

Creps and Vernon-Feagans (1999)

They found that infants who started day care before the age of 6 months were more sociable later than those who started later. This suggests that early day care may be better for social development.

Task: Your AS level examination requires you to discuss the impact of different forms of day care on childrens social development (including effects on aggression and peer relations). For each of above research studies, find a strength of the method/finding and a weakness of the method/finding. Remember to explain and apply your point.

Research on the negative effects of day care on childrens social development

Belsky & Rovine (1988)

They assessed attachment (using the Strange Situation) in infants who had been receiving 20 hours or more of day care per week before they were 1 year old. These children were found to be more likely to be insecurely attached compared with children at home.

Violata & Russell (1994)

They did a meta-analysis of the findings of 88 studies, concluding that regular day care for more than 20 hours per week had an unmistakably negative effect on socio-emotional development, behaviour and attachment of young children.

A recent NICHD report (2001) concluded that children who are separated from their mothers for more than 10 hours a week early in life are more aggressive once they reach kindergarten, as rated by their mothers and by their teachers.

Task: Your AS level examination requires you to discuss the impact of different forms of day care on childrens social development (including effects on aggression and peer relations). For each of above research studies, find a strength of the method/finding and a weakness of the method/finding. Remember to explain and apply your point.

Research Methods Methods and Techniques

Experimental Method

Definition of a Laboratory experiment

Example of a Laboratory experiment

Strengths of a Laboratory experiment

Weaknesses of a Laboratory experiment

Experimental Method

Definition of a Field experiment

Example of a Field experiment

Strengths of a Field experiment

Weaknesses of a Field experiment

Experimental Method

Definition of a Natural/Quasi experimentExample of a Natural/Quasi experiment

Strengths of a Natural/Quasi experiment

Weaknesses of a Natural/Quasi experiment

Questionnaires

Opinion Surveys

Definition of an opinion survey

Example of an opinion survey

Strengths of an opinion survey

Weaknesses of an opinion survey

Correlational Analysis

Definition of Correlation

Example of Correlation

Strengths of Correlation

Weaknesses of Correlation

What is a Correlation Coefficient?

For the following coefficients, explain the type (e.g. positive or negative) and strength (e.g. strong or weak) of the correlation.

+0.88

-0.35

-0.99

+0.55

+0.21

-0.65

Illustrate all 6 correlation coefficients using scatter

graphs

Psychological Tests

Definition of a Psychological test

Example of a Psychological test

Strengths of a Psychological test

Weaknesses of a Psychological test

Case Studies

Definition of a Case StudyExample of a Case Study

Strengths of a Case Study

Weaknesses of a Case Study

Interviews

Definition of a Structured Interview

Example of a Structured Interview

Strengths of a Structured Interview

Weaknesses of a Structured Interview

Definition of a Semi-Structured Interview

Example of a Semi-Structured Interview

Strengths of a Semi-Structured Interview

Weaknesses of a Semi-Structured Interview

Definition of a Clinical Interview

Example of a Clinical Interview

Strengths of a Clinical Interview

Weaknesses of a Clinical Interview

Definition of an Unstructured Interview

Example of an Unstructured Interview

Strengths of an Unstructured Interview

Weaknesses of an Unstructured Interview

Observational method

Definition of Controlled Observation

Example of a Controlled Observation

Strengths of a Controlled Observation

Weaknesses of a Controlled Observation

Definition of a Naturalistic Observation (Obs)

Example of a Naturalistic Obs

Strengths of a Naturalistic Obs

Weaknesses of a Naturalistic Obs

Definition of a Participant ObservationStrengths of a Participant Observation

Example of a Participant Observation

Weaknesses of a Participant Observation

Research Methods Investigation Design

Examples of Hypotheses:

What is a Variable?

What is an Operationalised Variable?

What is an Independent Variable?

What is a Dependent Variable?

Task:

Write an example of:

A directional hypothesis

A non-directional hypothesis

A correlational hypothesis

A null hypothesis

Label the IV and DV in each hypothesis.

What is a Hypothesis?

What is a Directional (1-tailed) hypothesis?

What is a Non-Directional (2-tailed) hypothesis?

What is a Correlational hypothesis?

What is a Null hypothesis?

What is an Aim?

Give an example of an Aim

What is an extraneous (confounding) variable?

What is a Repeated Measures design?

What is an Independent Measures design?

What is a Matched Pairs design?

Strengths of Repeated Measures design

Weaknesses of Repeated Measures design

Strengths of Independent Measures design

Weaknesses of Independent Measures design

Strengths of Matched Pairs design

Weaknesses of Matched Pairs design

What is Sampling?

What is Random Sampling?

What is Opportunity Sampling?

What is Self-Selecting Sampling?

What is Stratified Sampling?

Strength of Random Sampling

Weakness of Random Sampling

Strength of Opportunity Sampling

Weakness of Opportunity Sampling

Strength of Self-Selecting Sampling

Weakness of Self-Selecting Sampling

Strength of Stratified Sampling

Weakness of Stratified Sampling

Measures of dispersion

What is the range?

When should it be used?

Strength of the range:

Weakness of the range:

Definition of Face validity

Definition of Concurrent validity

Definition of Predictive validity

What is a situational variable?

How can you control a situational variable?

What is a participant variable?

How can you control a participant variable?

What is reliability?

What is validity?

Definition of internal validity

Definition of external validity

British Psychological Society (BPS) guidelines for research with human participants

HYPERLINK "http://www.bps.org.uk/the-society/code-of-conduct/ethical-principles-for-conducting-research-with-human-participants.cfm#principles" http://www.bps.org.uk/the-society/code-of-conduct/ethical-principles-for-conducting-research-with-human-participants.cfm#principles

Consent

Deception

Debriefing

Withdrawal from investigation

Confidentiality

Protection of participants

Observational research

Giving advice

Colleagues

Colleagues

Dealing with deception

Debriefing:

Retrospective informed consent:

Dealing with protection of participants

Right to withdraw:

Terminating research:

Debriefing:

Dealing with informed consent

Prior general consent:

Presumptive consent:

Children as participants:

Research Methods Data analysis and presentation

What is qualitative data?

Give an example of qualitative data:

What is quantitative data?

Give an example of quantitative data

Measure of central tendency

What is the mean?

What is the median?

What is the mode?

Strength of the mean:

Weakness of the mean:

Strength of the median:

Weakness of the median:

Strength of the mode:

Weakness of the mode:

Measures of dispersion

What is the standard deviation?

When should it be used?

Strength of the standard deviation:

Weakness of the standard deviation:

What is content analysis?

Give an example of content analysis

What is pure qualitative analysis?

Give an example of pure qualitative analysis

What are the features of a histogram?

Draw an example of a histogram:

What are the features of a bar chart?

Draw an example of a bar chart:

What are the features of scattergram?

Draw an example of a scattergram: