Approaches

Cognitive assumptions-1. Cognitive psychologists

focus on an internal stage (stimulus-info processing-response)

2. These mental processes that cognitive psychologists focus on include memory, perception, thinking and language.

3. The main assumption of the cognitive approach is that information received from our senses is processed by the brain and that this processing directs how we behave or at least justifies how we behave the way that we do.

Developmental assumptions-1. A main assumption

therefore of the developmental approach is that cognitive, emotional and behavioural development is an ongoing process and that such changes result from an interaction of nature and nurture.

2. A strength of the developmental approach is that many studies in this area are longitudinal which means that they do get to investigate changes and how these changes are influenced.

Social Psychology-1. All behaviour occurs

within a social context. A major influence on people’s behaviour, thoughts and feelings are other people and society

2. This area of Psychology focuses research on our social behaviours. These areas include helping, obedience, conformity, prejudice, aggression and attraction.

Individual differences-1. The main assumption of

the individual differences perspective is that to understand the complexity of human behaviour and experiences it necessary to study the differences between people rather than those things that we all have in common. For example the individual differences approach largely focuses on things such as personality differences, and abnormality.

…social psychology-1. One of the debates in

psychology is whether an individual's behaviour is a result of their personality or their social context.

2. According to social psychologists our behaviour is influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of others

3. Social Psychology looks at the influence of the individual, the group, the society and the culture on individual’s behaviour.

Biological –1. The main assumption

of the physiological approach is therefore that behaviour and experience can be explained by physiological changes. This approach investigates the brain, the nervous system and other biological factors such as hormones.

2. Furthermore the physiological approach takes a scientific approach using laboratory type experiments

Piaget StagesSensory motor stage• Birth to 18 months• Child learns to match their senses to what they can do

Pre-operational stage• 18 months to 7 years• Child learns to use symbolism and language and developing general

rules about mental operations

Concrete operational stage7 to 12 yearsChild can use sophisticated mental operations but is still limited in ways for example they tend to think of how the world is not how it might be

Formal Operational Stage• 12 years and above• Most sophisticated stage, governed by logical thinking

Piaget said children were

unable to conserve up

until the concrete

operational stage however

Samuel and Bryant found children as young as 5

could conserve.

Piagets test involved two

questions.

Freud Stages

Oral (0-1)Child gets satisfaction

from putting objects in the mouth

Anal (1-3)Pleasure from passing

faeces

Phallic (3-6)Becomes aware of anatomical gender

differences and gets pleasure from genitals

Latency (6-puberty)Libido is dormant and hidden. Childs energy

focused on games

Genital (puberty +)Adult sex and consensual sex

with a partner rather than playing with self like phallic

Pavlov Conditioning (behaviourists)

• Using association to create fear or a certain behaviour

• Little Albert fear of rabbit by banging iron barClassical

• Using reward and punishment to create certain behaviour

• Mouse experimentOperant

Loftus and Palmer

• Cognitive• Eye witness• Effect of leading questions

Aim• Investigate accuracy of memory and the

effect of leading questions.

Method•45 students•5 groups•Shown seven film clips of traffic accidents•Given questionnaire which asked them to describe the accident and answer specific questions•Critical question: “About how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?” One group was given this•Other 4 groups were given other verbs in the place of hit such as “smashed” “collided” “bumped” or “contacted”

ResultsThe group given the word

smashed estimated the speed of the cars was higher than the other

groups, the group given collided estimated lower.

Smashed

Collided

Bumped

Hit

Contacted

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

Series 1

Series 1

The results show that leading questions can affect the accuracy of memory. There are two explanations:Response bias : the critical verb influences the persons responseMemory representation is altered : the verb actually changes the perception of the accident

Experiment 2

AimTo see if leading questions altered the memory or if it is response bias

Method:Part 1

• New group of 150 students•PX shown one minute film with contained a

four second multiple car accident• Three groups of Px asked questions

including the critical question• Group 1 asked “smashed”• Group 2 asked “hit”

• Group 3 asked nothing (control)

Part 2•One week later px were asked “did you see any broken glass” there was no broken glass

but this was to see if the leading question could alter the perception

Results

The results in part 1 were same as in experiment 1.

Part 2 found that px in the “smashed” group 1 were more likely to say they saw

broken glass.Smashed

Hit

Control

0 1 2 3 4 5

NoYes

Memory is determined by:•Ones own perception at the time of the event•External info supplied after (leading questions)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP8kJ5A5xU8

Baron-cohen Eyes Test

StartersTheory of Mind:Theory of mind is the ability to infer or interpret other peoples emotions and state of mind

Autism:Difficulty with social relationshipsNot understanding gestures of facial expressions

Aspergers:Normal intelligence with normal speech but limited social skills

Aim:

To assess if autism and aspergers comes from a lack of theory of mind. To use a test which is completely ToM instead of the sally-anne test.

Sally Anne test:Sally puppet putting her ball in her basketAnne moves the ball to the boxSally returns and the first order question is “Where will sally look for the ball?”The second order question is “Where does Anne think Sally will look for the ball?”

This test had a ceiling effect as it was designed for 6 year olds meaning if used on adults it can only show they have a ToM of a 6 year old.Baron – Cohen set out to develop The Eyes Task.

MethodParticipants:

Group 1 – 16 people with Aspergers with normal intelligence. 13 men and 3 women. Recruited by doctors and a magazine.

Group 2 – 50 age matched controls (25 male 25 female)

Group 3 – 10 Tourette px also age matched with group 1 and 28 men and 2 womenSimilar childhood experiences and same part of brain associated

All px passed 1st and 2nd order test for 6 year olds

Procedure:Eyes task comprises of 25 black and white photos of male and females taken of the eye region.

Each picture shown for 3 seconds and px given forced choice question, choosing between two mental states.

There were basic mental states (happy sad) and complex mental states (arrogant and scheming)

Judgement on what was correct was done by a panel of 4 judges and confirmed by independent 8 more judges

Strange stories and control tasks (gender recognition and basic emotion task)

Results

The Autistic px performed significantly worse than the Tourette and control group.As only two choices available the px could have scored maximum 15 out of 25 by chance, only 8 autistic performed better than chance.

Females performed slightly better.

•Adults with autism have ToM defecit despite have normal intelligence•The test had no context and was pure ToM•Ecological validity – the pictures are still unlike real life people so reading the emotions may not mirror reality•Often autistic people find it difficult to hold eye contact with people•Genetic factors may account for the female tendency to do better

Mean score Range

Autistic/Aspergers 16.3/25 13-23

Normal 20.3/25 16-25

Tourettes 20.4/25 16-25

Savage-Rumbaugh - Kanzi

Washoe – 8 months at start

Taught American sign language and could use

about 250 signsWashoe was

encouraged to imitate.

AimTo study human language capabilities in pygmy chimpanzees. To get true comprehension

rather than just imitation.

MethodSubjects:

• Kanzi aged 30-47 months, research found they are brighter chimps• Mulika, Kanzi’s sister aged 11-21 months

• Common chimps, Austin and Sherman to study as comparisons

Communication system – Lexigram with symbols on an electronic board with a later addition of a speech synthesiser

so words were spoken for the symbol

Early learning – Age 6 months Kanzi watched Mother Matata use lexigram, no intentional teaching for

Kanzi. One and a half years Kanzi showed interest in lexigram. Kanzi developed preference for human company

Mulika observed Kanzi using the lexigram

Outdoors – Food was placed at 17 locations within the 55acre forest. The name of each food

matched the name of each site.Kanzi was shown various food items and asked to Indicate which he wanted, then taken to the right location. Within four months Kanzi could select a photo and guide others to

the right place. Later he used symbols alone and Mulika could too.

Data – Lexigrams indoors automatically recorded a symbol pressed by Kanzi, outdoors symbols

recorded by hand.Each utterance was classified as 1. correct or incorrect

2. Spontaneous or imitated or structured (used to see if chimps could give specific answer)

Vocabulary –To count a word as acquired it had to be a spontaneous utterance. For example if Kanzi

indicated he wanted to go to the tree house and then went there.In order to assess the reliability of observations 4 ½ hours of observations made in real

time and on video tape were compared.

At the end of the project Kanzi and Mulika were formally tested on all the words in their vocab. Tested by being shown photos and asked to click right symbol on lexigram

Results

Untutored gestures:

Kanzi and Mulika used explicit gestures to

communicate

Associative Usage- Kanzi first heard

strawbs at mushroom site and so associated it with there but then he could have context

free situations later on.

Lexigram – Watched by

Matata using them, Mulika

started using them at 12 months,

earlier than Kanzi

Progress- Kanzi acquired 46 words

and Mulika 37. Mulikas rate of acquisition was

slower than Kanzi’s

Combinations – Kanzi had multisymbol

expressions. Over 17 months Kanzi produced

2,540 combinations nonimitative and 265

imitative. 764 were only ever produced once

The proportion of imitated utterances to spontaneous was similar to children 15% imitation 80%

spontaneous

Kanzi didn’t refer to

himself in his phrases and

mostly to games

Kanzi and Mulika did better on formal tests

than Austin&Sherman

K&M could select photos when prompted by

lexigram and by spoken word but had trouble with

synthesiser

Travel-When K was 3 years old, a visitor who had never been in the woods was taken as a blind visitor

by Kanzi to a location he chose. When the visitor

asked to be taken to places Kanzi took them.

General observations K&M made generalisations

for words such as tomato for other red fruits. Kanzi used words in different ways, he

would say juice and go to the juice location but not drink juice meaning he meant the

place name

K&M grasped using words much quicker than Austin and Sherman who needed extensive training

Matata needed extensive training also which may suggest there is a critical age for language acquisition

K&M are the only chimps to have been recorded using language and symbols with no contextual cues

Kanzi could direct someone else to do something for example to request A to do something to B when he was not A or B. This is beginning to use syntax, enabling to structure a story.

Difficult to generalise as such a small sample

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBlDGX95eys

Bandura Experiment

Aim

• To see if learning took place in one situation could be generalised to another situation

• To see if children imitated aggressive behaviour

• To assess the social learning theory

Method

• Participants were children from a university nursery aged between 3-5 years old

• There were two adult ‘models’ male and female and a female experimenter

•There were two groups and one control group•Group one observed an aggressive model•Group two observed a non aggressive model•Control group of 24 children had no model•Each group 1 and 2 were divided into 4 groups-Boys watching male modelsBoys watching female modelsGirls watching female modelsGirls watching male models•Making a total of 8 groups with 6 subjects

This means there are 3 independent

variables in this study –

The behaviour of the model

The sex of the subjectThe sex of the model

To give the same aggression levels in children, each was rated by teachers and assigned at random to each group

What happened?

Each child was taken to a room and sat in the corner and made to settle in with colouring. The model was escorted to the opposite corner where a tinker toy set, chair and table and inflatable Bobo

doll with mallet was.

Non – Aggressive model:The model assembled the tinker toy set calmly and ignored the doll

Aggressive condition:The model turned aggressive towards the Bobo doll. They punched the doll in the nose, stuck the doll with the mallet, kicking it and throwing it whilst saying “hes coming back for more” and “hit him down”

Control group:The children did not have a model

Aggression arousal – The experimenters provoked

the children because observing aggressive

behaviour may reduce imitation due to feeling

intimidated.

The children were taken to another room with attractive toys like a fighter plane and let to play, then the experimenter took away the toys and said she was reserving them for other children to provoke them.

Then the child was taken to another room filled with aggressive toys (dart gun, bobo doll and mallet) and non aggressive toys (tea set, crayons and plastic animals)Each child was observed from behind a blacked out mirror by the male model or another observer every 5 seconds.Giving a total of 240 responses of the childs actions.

They were recorded as:•Imitative aggression responsesPhysicalVerbal aggressionNon- aggressive verbal responses•Partially imitative responsesMallet aggression (uses it on toys other than bobo)Sits on bobo doll not aggressively•Non imitative responsesStrikes bobo dollAggressive acts towards other toysAggressive gun play

Results

Complete imitation-Children in the aggressive model group imitated both verbal and physical aggressive behaviour. In contrast children in the non aggressive model group showed very few imitations of aggressive behaviour. 70% scored zero

Partial imitation was similar results to the complete imitation

Non-imitative behaviour-The aggression model group displayed more non-imitative behaviour than the non aggressive model group

Non aggressive behaviour-Children in the non aggressive model group spent more time playing without any aggression

Overall the aggressive model group, group 1 was more aggressive, more imitative and less calm than group 2.

All children behaved

aggressively in some way

at some stage

Gender-The male models had a greater influence than the female

modelsBoys imitated more physical aggression

Boys were more aggressiveThe closest imitation was when a child observed a model of

the same sex

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zerCK0lRjp8

Samuel and Bryant

Background:Piaget began working on children's ability

to conserve and Rose and Blank conducted a slight variation of Piaget’s

study. In Piagets study the children were asked

2 questions before and after the transformation.

In Rose and Blanks the children were only asked after the transformation took

place. Children often succeeded more in Rose

and Blanks study.

Aim:To investigate

whether children under the age of 8 are

able to understand changes in quantity

(conservation)

252 girls and boys aged 5-8 were divided in four groups: •5 years 3 months•6 years 3 months•7 years 3 months•8 years 3 monthsEach group was divided into task groups

Standard condition:Given tradition Piaget style study, asked two

questions

One judgement:Asked one question

after display was changed

Fixed Array:Saw last display after

change and asked question, control

group, shows whether children

need pre transformation info to

answer second Q

2 1 1

Mass – Pre transformation

Two equal cylinders

Two unequal cylinders

Post transformation

One cylinder squashed

Number – Pre transformation

2 rows of 6 counters arranged

identically

One row of 5One row of 6Same length

Post transformation

One row is spread out so rows are not equal

Volume – Pre transformation

Two identical glasses with same amounts of liquid

Two identical glasses with different amount

Post transformation

Liquid is poured from one to a narrower one

Results:• No differences found in equal and unequal

conditions• Older children made fewer mistakes

•Children made fewest errors when shown the transformation and asked only one question• Children made fewer mistakes on number

task• Children did worse on fixed array which means children use information from pre transformation to answer final question

because the fixed array group didn’t have this info

Age Standard 1 Question Fixed array

5 8 7 9

6 6 4 6

7 3 3 5

8 2 1 3

Results indicate failure on Piaget’s two question test was partly due to being asked two questions and getting confused.Children can use conservation but may get confused or lead by questions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtLEWVu815o

Freud (Background)ID, Ego, Superego

The ID stands for ‘it’ in latin, it is the primitive drives and desires that we are born with. Sexual desires and hunger are in this part. This is entirely unconscious.As we grow older we develop the Ego, this conflicts with the ID as it makes our ID behave, in society we cannot act out or get our desires straight away. The Superego is about what is right and wrong in society, conflicting with the ID once more.

Freud believed our conscious makes up a small part of our personality, the unconscious has our beliefs, emotions and impulses that are pushed down and not available to us in the conscious mind because of the anxiety they could cause, however they do affect our behaviour nonetheless.

Oedipus Complex

Oedipus Greek Myth story -

As a child, an old man told Oedipus that he was adopted, and that he would eventually kill his biological father and sleep with his biological mother

Freud thinks that children are born with desires, they play with their mouth first (oral stage) then they move to gain pleasure from passing poo!! (anal stage) then they focus on their genitals (phallic stage)Their mother is the first

source of affection and erotic feelings, during phallic stage a boy wants to possess his mother and feels competition with the father, he fears he will lose his willy if he thinks this way so takes on the behaviour of his rival his father.

Aim:To Test the oedipus complex on a real child and explain origin of

phobias

Little Hans is the participant, aged between 3 and 5 during the case

study. Hans father recorded events

and conversations with Hans and sent

them to Freud. Hans met Freud and

psychoanalysed him.

Hans and his little widdlerAt 3 Hans started playing with his willy, he

assumed both animals and his parents must have big ones,. He kicked about when

touching his willy or pooing showing he loved it.

His mother found him playing with it and said she would get it cut off, this lead to Hans

being scared of losing his willy and having to repress these desires. He felt sexual desire for

his mother which was also repressed and expressed in wanting to kiss other girls.

Hans felt competition with his father and expressed his conflicting aggression and love by kicking him and then kissing where he hit.When Hans was 3 ½ his little sister was born, he didn’t like sharing his mother and admitted watching his sister in the bath and wishing his mother would let go of her, this unconscious desire to see her drown translated into a fear that his mother could drown him too.

Mother - he had sexual desires for her but she had threatened to cut his willy off so this created anxieties.Father – Rival, conflicting love and aggressionSister- He wished Hanna would drown which led to anxiety over mother drowning him

PHOBIA!When Hans was 4 ½ he developed a fear that a white horse would bite him, Freud said this reflected a fear

he would lose his mother.It was partly based on a real event – hans heard a

man warn his daughter a white horse would bite herIt linked to his mother telling him it was not right if

she touched his willy, the link was if you touch a white horse it will bite you, if someone else touches

your widdler its wrongHans had anxieties that his mother would leave him

because of his requestHis father told him women have no willies so he

thought his mothers had been cut off!

Giraffe Dream – “in the night there was a big giraffe and a crumpled

one, the big one called out when I took the crumpled one, then I sat on the crumpled one” The big giraffe represented Hans father or his fathers penis and the

crumpled one was his mother vagina. Hans would come into their bed in the morning and his father

would warn his mother not to (the giraffe calling out) Hans sits on his mothers lap (sitting on crumpled

one)

The Plumber dream-“I was in the bath and the plumber came and

unscrewed it and stuck a borer in my stomach” interpreted as Hans was in bed with his mum then

Daddy came and pushed me away with his big penis. His fantasy was that the plumber took off his bum

and willy and replaced them with a presumably bigger one like his fathers, this showed he wants to

be like his father.

Babies – Hans was interested in laden carts and lumf (poo) he thought a heavy cart was like a pregnant woman and

babies were lumfs, when Hanna was born he was told babies came from storks but he thought that his

mother had pooed Hanna out. Hans called carts ‘stork box carts’ because his mum said babies came

from storks and he thought they were like a cart with lumf in, this box brought the baby (pregnancy

complex)Finally they explained babies came from inside

mummy.Hans had an ongoing fantasy of having his own

children and being their daddy

If Hans was abnormal then the study is invalid, Freud said that such acts

are common in childhood.The analysis was conducted by his

father and so could have been influenced

However there were benefits of a close relationship with this method

as Hans could open up.Freud concluded that Little Hans

supported his theory of the oedipus complex and fatherly rivalry.

Freud concluded phobias where repressed anxieties, phobias are

triggered by real events but represented unconscious anxieties.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRyGSwEK_Yg

Brain Scanning

PET scanner – positron emission tomography, patients injected with radioactive glucose, when the most active brain tissue uses the glucose the scanner picks up the radioactivity. It is presented as a picture of coloured ‘hot spots’

MRI – magnetic resonance imaging – Strong magnetic field turned on and off, atoms of brain change alignment and the scanner maps the structure of the tissue

CAT- computerised axial tomography – taking a series of x-rays to show areas of damage

Hippocampus - It belongs to the limbic system and plays important roles in long-term memory and spatial navigation. Like the cerebral cortex, with which it is closely associated, it is a paired structure, with mirror-image halves in the left and right sides of the brain

Maguire – spatial memory

Aim

To demonstrate that the hippocampus is the region in the

brain associated with spatial memory and navigation. To look at morphological changes of the hippocampus in taxi drivers who

need navigational skills.

MethodParticipants – •16 London Taxi Drivers•Right-handed•Age range 32-62•Licensed drivers for more than 1.5 years•Healthy •Control group of 16 matched pairs

Procedure – Data was collected using MRI scans analysed by two techniques. Method 1 – VBMVoxel based morphometry, unbiased method. VBM identifies differences in the density of grey matter, grey matter lies on the surface of the brain and also deep inside structures such as the hippocampus it is the most dense part in neural connections suggesting high order thinking.

Method 2 Pixel counting – Hippocampul volume was calculated using a pixel

counting technique. The pixels were counted from the images from the MRI. Each scan was

made of a slice of the hippocampus there were 24 slices lying next to eachother each slice 1.5 mm thick. The professional counting the pixels was blind to which group it came from. They

added up pixels from each slice and multiplied this by the distance between adjacent slices. They altered this to count for bigger brains in

people.

The slices covered were• Anterior hippocapus (6

slices)• Body hippocampus (12

slices)• Poesterior hippocampus

(6 slices)

VBM – Between the controls and the taxi drivers the only part of brain with more grey

matter was the right and left hippocampi.It was mainly increased in the taxi drivers

posterior hippocampi and in the controls the anterior hippocampi had more grey matter.

Pixel counting-There was no significant difference between the taxi drivers and the control in terms of

method 1 (intercranial volume) and method 2 (total hippocampi volume) with pixel

counting.The taxi drivers posterior hippocampus was

larger than the controls.The amount of time spent being a taxi driver increased the right posterior hippocampus

but did not increase the anterior hippocampus.

Left Hippocampus

Right Hippocampus

Anterior Control

Body Control

Posterior Taxi Drivers Taxi Drivers

What results show…

The results indicate there is a relationship between navigational skills and the distribution of grey matter, i.e

increased grey matter in the posterior hippocampus in taxi drivers with better navigational skills.

Nature or Nurture? – Whether the distribution is an effect of training navigational

skills or whether it is present in some individuals which predisposes them to take a job like taxi driving. This was

tested by looking at the correlation between time spent as a taxi driver and hippocampus increase, this showed it increased with more training so this was acquired.

The right and left hippocampus were different, the left not correlating with taxi driving experience which suggests it is of

use for other spatial memoryThe posterior could basically borrow grey matter from the

anterior when navigational skills are in demand.

Determinism

Determinism is the idea that every event is casually determined by an unbroken chain of prior events. According

to this idea there are no mysterious miracles and no random events.

Freud argued our behaviour is caused by unconscious processes, we might think we are acting freely but in fact

our behaviour is predictable and forced.Everything happens for a reason etc as the chaos theory

explains little events lead to major events.Biological psychologists have recently backed up

determinism as brain scans show brain changes alter our behaviour such as Raine’s experiment on murderers having

frontal lobe damage.

Ways to measure sleep-Brain wave activity measured by

EEG Electric activity of muscle by EMG

Eye movement by EOG

REM- rapid eye movement is when you dream.

The stages of sleep go throw waves of brain activity first

• Beta• Alpha• Theta• Delta

Normal night of sleep-Sleeper progress through 4

stages ending up in REM this is followed by returning through stages 4 to 2 and then back to

REM. This cycle is repeated throughout the night taking

approx 90 minutes.

Awake – Beta waves in brain as you become relaxed they become slower, more regular and are alpha waves, same as

meditation

1&2-Brain waves slow down called theta

waves. Greater amplitude and

frequency. Gradual transition from

relaxed to asleep

3&4-Delta waves which are

slowest and highest amplitude. This is when

sleepwalking occurs

REM- dream sleep.Lack of muscle tone creates temporary paralysis with EEG activity similar to

awake stage.

Dement and Kleitman – Dream activityThe relationship between eye movements and dreaming demonstrates that

REM sleep and dreaming are the same thing

IV – REM/NREM sleep (not controlled)DV – Whether they could recall their dream

Variables – Time awoken

Method

On day of experiment participants were told to eat and drink normally but abstain from alcohol

or caffeine drinks. Electrodes were attached around the px eyes to measure EOG and attached to px head to record

brain waves EEG the px then went to sleep at their normal sleep time in a dark room.

At various times during the night the px were awoken by a bell during REM sleep or just before or after. They were awoken 5.7 times a night and

slept for 6 hours.

Participants- Nine adults: 7 male 2

female

The investigators used various different patterns for awakening the five most intensively studied participants. They used a table of random

numbers, one px was awoken three times during REM sleep and NREM and one was told he would be awoken during REM sleep but was

awoken randomly during REM and NREM. None of the px were told if they had just been in REM when they were awoken.

The px were told to speak into recording device near their bed stating a) whether they had been dreaming b) describe the dream c) whether they

were dreaming for 5-15 minutes.Recording done without an investigator present made sure there was less investigator effect , however the investigator was listening from outside and occasionally came into the room to clarify and question. After this the participants usually fell back to sleep within 5 minutes.

ResultsOccurrence of REM activity-

• All participants had REM every night• REM correlated with fast EEG

• When no REM present there were periods of deeper sleep shown by slow wave activity• No REM occurred during onset of sleep

• REM periods lasted 3-5o minutes, mean 20 minutes.

• REM tended to get longer the later in the night.• Eye movement was not constant in REM but

bursts of 2-100 movements•Recall was better when PX were awoken within 8 minutes of an REM period•When px were awoken in NREM sleep they were disorientated and couldn’t remember specific content of a dream•Most instances of dreams unable to recall in REM sleep occurred in the early part of the night

• REM periods occurred at regular intervals, individual for each px

• Despite being awoken REM was still frequent the same as undisturbed

• If px was awakened during an REM period during the final hours of sleep they usually went back into REM as if the brain

activity had not finished

Method 1- Eye movements period and dream recallPX were considered to be dreaming only if they had a detailed description of dream content.The five most intensely studied px were labelled DN, IR, KC, WD, PM. The table shows the percentage of the amount of dreams recalled out of the amount of times Px were awoken, for example DN recalled 17 dreams out of the 24 times he was awoken so 7 times he was awoken in REM sleep he couldn’t recall his dreams, a percentage of 65%. There was a high incidence of recall in REM sleep and low in NREM sleep. In REM sleep there was only 20% no recall in total and in NREM there was 93% no recall in total.

Px REM sleep %

NREM sleep %

DN 65% 12.5%

IR 76% 6%

KC 90% 9%

WD 88% 3%

PM 80% 8%

Method 2- Length of REM periods To see if REM and dreams are correlated further REM period length and the estimated duration of a dream was examined.This was done by awakening px 5-15 minutes after the onset of REM sleep and asking them to decide which duration they thought it was.

PX Right Wrong Right Wrong

DN 8 2 5 5

IR 11 1 7 3

KC 7 0 12 1

WD 13 1 15 1

PM 6 2 8 3

Total 45 6 47 13

5 minutes 15 minutes

Participants were mainly correct in their judgement of how long they thought their dream had been

Method 3-Eye movement patterns and visual imagery of the dream.It was propose the variation in eye movements may correspond to where and what the dreamer was looking at in their dream.To investigate this px were awoken when their eye movements were mainly vertical or horizontal, both or neither.

Type of eye movement Content

Vertical – 3 dreams reported •Standing at bottom of cliff and looking at climbers•Climbing ladders •Shooting at basketball net looking up

Horizontal – 1 dream reported Two people throwing tomatoes at eachother

Both- 10 dreams Looking at things close to them

Neither -21 dreams Watching something in the distance

Sperry

Starters-Cerebral cortex- •Largest part•Cortex is specific to mammals•Divided into 4 lobes-•Frontal lobe – reasoning, planning, problem solving,emotions•Parietal lobe (top) – movement, orientation•Occipital lobe (back) – visual processing•Temporal lobe (sides)- memory and speech

Corpus Callosum – Connects left and right hemispheres.

Thalamus – Relay station for signals from senses (skin, stomach, eyes) It analyses signals and sends them on

Hypothalamus – Controls body temperature, hunger and thirst. Involved in emotions and sexual activity.

Cerebellum- has two hemispheres. Coordination, movement, posture and balance

Brain stem – major route of communication between spinal cord and brain. Controls heart rhythms.

The left side of the body is controlled by the right hemisphere and vice versa.

Aim

To study the psychological effects of hemispheric disconnection in split brain patients and to show how the right and left hemispheres work in normal patients. Previous split-brain studies with humans showed no important behavioural effects.

The participants had all undergone hemisphere disconnection because they had a history of advanced epilepsy which could not be controlled by medication.

Participants – The participants were 11 ‘split-brain’ patients who

had suffered severe epilepsy.

The study also makes use of the case study method. The case studies were in-

depth investigations of the 11 participants.

Method

Procedure- The method used was a natural (also called quasi) experiment. The quasi-experiments involved comparing the performance of the 11 participants on various tasks with the performance of people with no inter-hemisphere disconnection. The independent variable was therefore the whether a person had hemisphere disconnection or not and the dependent variable was the participants performance on the tasks.The tasks were carried out in laboratory conditions, using specialised equipment and were highly standardised. The tasks all involved setting tasks separately to the two hemispheres.

The task involved blindfolding one of the participant’s eyes and then asking them to fixate with the seeing eye on a point in the middle of a screen. The researchers would then project a stimulus on either the left or right hand side of the fixation point for less than 1/10 of a second. The presentation time is so small to ensure that the participant does not have time for eye movement as this would ‘spread’ the information across both sides of the visual field and therefore across both sides of the brain.

Results• If a picture is projected in one visual field

it is only recognised in that visual field.• If visual material appeared on the right

visual field (left hemisphere) the patient could describe it in speech and words

• If the same visual material was projected to the left field (right hemisphere) the participant said they could see nothing

but a flash(lang is on the left hemisphere)• This showed the right hemisphere

cannot speak or write.

$ and ? Signs – If a $ is flashed to the left

visual field (right hemisphere) and ? Is flashed to the right visual field (left

hemisphere) the patient will write the $ and say the ?

Using touch- Objects placed in the right hand (left hem) can

be named in speech and writing. Objects in left hand

(right hem) can only be guessed at.

Dual Processing task – No cooporation between hemispheres, if two objects are placed in each hand and then hidden in pile of objects both hands select their own object and ignore the other hands object.

Everyday effects – Split brain patients often don’t experience the

deconnection found in everyday life as it is only apparent when visual material is displayed quickly.

In everyday life they can say an answer or move their eyes to share info between the hemispheres.

Their IQ and personalities do not change from deconnection but in complex activities and have limited attention spans and problems with short

term memory.

Closing notes – Patients seem to have two minds in one body. Each side of the brain has different functions.

Video Linkshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w36S84huZyw&list=PL1AECFA54C777980C

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crmDSDeCEp4

Milgram – ObedienceDV- the level of shock at which PX

stopped

AimThe issue of obedience is relevant to WWII when the Germans systematically slaughtered millions of innocent people. Obedience may be deeply ingrained in the human character.The aim was to investigate the process of obedience and to demonstrate the power of authority.

Participants:Milgram advertised for 500 new Haven men to come to Yale uni for “learning” tests.Everyone was to be paid $4.50 simply for coming and would be paid whether they stayed in the study or not.•40 men •Aged between 20-50•Various occupations•Part of experiementer was played by a biology teacher dressed in lab coat.•The learner or victim was played by a 47 year old accountant •Both were Milgrams confederates

Method

Each px was told the experimenter wanted to see how punishment would affect learning. Each study would involved 1 teacher and 1 learner.

The learner and teacher were taken to a room where the learner was strapped into an electric chair. The learner was advised “although shocks are extremely painful they will not leave permanent tissue damage”

The teacher was asked to read a series of word pairs to the learner and then read the first word of the pair along with four terms. The learner had to indicate which of the four terms was originally paired with the first word.

The shock machine had 30 switches labelled with a number from 15 to 450 volts.To convince the teacher the shocks were real they were given a 45 volt shock.Teacher was told to give a shock for the wrong asnwer and to move a level higher each time.

A pilot study showed it takes a while for the subjects to get it right. The teacher was given 10 words and the learner made 7 errors so reached a shock of 105 volts

The learner had a predetermined set of responses, giving approx 3 wrong answers to every correct

answer.The learner made no sign of protest

until 300 volts, at this point he pounded on the wall but then

ceased to make any further response to questions.

The subject usually turned to the experimenter and asked

what to do, he was told wait 5-10 seconds before treating the lack of response as wrong and increasing the shock. At 315

the learner pounded again but then nothing more

If the subject turned back to the experimenter and asked the

experimenter was trained to give a set response of “prods” made

in sequence. If the subject refused to obey prod 4 the experiment was terminated

Prod 1 Please continueProd 2 The experiment requires

that you continue

Prod 3 It is absolutely essential you continue

Prod 4 You have no other choice you must go on

Extra prods Although shocks are painful they will not leave permanent damage

“” Whether the learner likes it or not you must go on

Each subject was scored between 0 and 30 depending on when they terminated the experiment.

Most sessions were taped and some photographs taken through one way mirrors.Observers wrote descriptions of subjects behaviour.

All subjects were interviewed after and asked open questions. They were given some psychological tests.De briefing and a friendly reconciliation was offered.

Results-

With few exceptions subjects believed the experiment and when asked about the shocks the modal answer was they must have been “extremely painful”

Many subjects showed nervousness and tension “subjects sweat, tremble, bite their lips, groan and dig fingernails into flesh”Some had full blown uncontrollable seizures!

Key Findings:•Over half of the subjects (26/40) went all the way with the shocks•Only 9 stopped at intense shock 300volts

The sheer strength of obedient tendency even though we are taught as children not to hurt another person, the experimenter never used physical force, and they wouldn’t lose the money.The intense tension and physical conditions such as sweating of the subject.

Why did they obey?

•The location at a prestigious uni provided sense of authority•Subjects assume experimenter know what he is doing•Subjects assume the learner has volunteered•Subject feels under obligation and doesn’t want to disrupt study•The sense of obligation is reinforced as he is being paid•It is a novel situation so subject doesn’t know how to behave•Subject assumes the pain is temporary•Since the learner has participated up to level 20 they assume they can carry on•The subject is torn between meeting demands of subject and expriementer•The subject has little time to resolve this conflict•The conflict is between two deeply ingrained tendencies: Do not harm another human and obey those who are authority figures

Situational vs DispositionalCircumstance changes behaviour vs Personality affects behaviour

Tyranny and Terror

Hitler is an infamous tyrant causing mass genocide. The September 11th 2001 attacks on the USA was the biggest terror attack in media history, in one day it took away the safety from the USA and created a one day war.

Social Identity theory - Henri Tajfel states that the social groups and categories we belong to are an important part of our self-concept. This means people will often interact with other people as a representative of their social group.Sometimes acting as an individual and sometimes as a group member.

Social groups do not exist in isolation, but in a social context some groups have more power or prestige. Once a social categorisation of a group has been made, next is social comparison to attach a status.

Stanford PrisonZimbardo used 24 subjects of normal mental health and ability who were mainly white middle class.He recruited an ex convict for advice and took on the role of a warden. The subjects were randomly assigned guards or prisoners. They were given no expectations or instructions on how to behave. The guards were told to keep control of the prisoners but warned not to use physical aggression.Both sets of subjects were given uniforms to promote feelings of anonymity. The guards uniform was classic khaki trousers, shades and shirt to convey a sense of power whilst the prisoners had to wear a smock with a number on and a cap made from stockings to make them feel uncomfortable and inferior.

The role play soon took an ugly turn and following a revolt by prisoners the guards became more extreme in their behaviour. The prisoners were subjected to humiliation and things deteriorated quickly. Zimbardo brought the study to a close after 6 days instead of 14.The main ethical implications and the results show that the role we are asked to play affects our behaviour.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZwfNs1pqG0

Reicher and Haslam BBC Prison study

Aim

Introduction

The impacts of Zimardo’s study was the ethical issues meaning many post experiments have been limited to a lab. Social Identity theory can be predicted to have “Permeability” – group members believe that it is possible to move out of a group they will not categorise themselves as a member.

The aim was to create an institution that resembled a hierarchical structure such as school or prison. A study which would enable the evaluation of group inequalities in terms of power and status. It was not a replica of Zimbardo’s but set up to investigate the issues raised.

The main predictions were •Dominant group members will identify with their group•Surbordinate group members will only identify with their group and will challenge inequalities if groups are seen as impermeable and insecure.

Method• Study conducted in December 2001

• The bbc’s role was to create a prison environment, film and prepare the study for broadcast• Designed for 10 days

• Not reality TV as not for entertainment • Experimental design as interventions were introduced and it is

a case study as the behaviour of only one group was assessed

Ethics:Study was monitored throughout by ethics committee

Px signed consent form

Participants:• Male

• Recruited through national newspapers• 15 px underwent psychometric tests

• Diversity of age, ethnicity and social class• 15 divided into 5 groups of 3 people matched as close as poss

• From each group 1 was randomly assigned “guard”• 1 prisoner was not involved at the beginning of study

Procedure•Prisoners were allocated to 3 person cells, seperated from guards by a lockable mesh fence•Video and audio recording were throughout prison•Dependent Variables were measured however not every day such as clinical (depression) Social (social identification) and Organisational (compliance with rules)•Guards were briefed before study told they were in charge for smooth running of prison and respect the rights of prisoners•Guards were allowed to lock cells, and use punishments or rewards•Guards had better living conditions

•There were 3 planned interventions•Permeability – expectation of movement between groups, prisoners were told guards were selected by reliability and that if they could show this they could get promoted. One prisoner was promoted•Legitimacy – After 3 days px were told there actually no differences between guards and prisoners but it would be impractical to re-asign. This meant the group division was not legitimate•Cognitive alternatives – on day 4 prisoner 10 was to be introduced. Chosen because of background as trade union official and therefore was thought he could negotiate and organise action or revolt.

Results

Phase 1 – Rejecting inequality

Social Identification – Measured every day on a rating such as (I feel strong ties with prisoners/guards)Observation used to assessPrisoners showed little group identification until the groups became impermeable after the promotionThey started to discuss how they could work together to improve conditions.Guards did not identify with their group

Security of intergroup relations – Low group identification between guards led to ineffective leadership. This meant the prisoners did not regard them as legitimate. This meant there was no need for the second intervention of Legitimacy. Prisoner 10 joined on day 5 and established a negotiating structure.

Further measures of prisoners – 1. Willingness to comply with authority2. Willingness to engage in actions to make the

prison system work (measures of 1 and 2 declined when prisoner 10 started work against the guards regime)

3. Self-efficacy (persons belief in own ability)4. Depression, the unity of prisoners lead to

decline in depression scores

Combined Impact- On the evening of day 6 prisoners broke out of cells and occupied the guards quarters

Phase 2 – Embracing inequality

The participants met with experimenters to draw up terms of a new commune. Within a day this new social structure was in crisis because two ex prisoners violated rules. A new group of one ex guard and 3 ex prisoners created a plan for a harsher hierarchy. The supporters of the new commune were passive because they may have not wanted to show their support on tv.However after debriefing they said they liked the idea of a stronger social order.

Over the course of the study prisoners and guards showed increase right wing authoritarianism. A new plan meant a re-assignment of px roles. Prisoners and guards scores were similar near the end.

The new regime was not implemented due to ethical issues and the existing regime was not working so the experiment was closed on day 8.

Revelations

Role of television-The px could have been play acting because of the

camera’s or reluctant to be

controlling guards

Personality-Because of a change in

authoritarianism personality cant explain the

events.Dominance only occurred

in group identity not personality.

This shows the emphasis on support and

interdependence between individuals and groups.

The study points at

situational behaviour

Social identification shifts with context. Also

extreme behaviours can be restrained. One business man was

reluctant to be a brutal guard meaning behaviur

can be caused by past and future contexts.

Shared social identity lead to

support and positive metality

Conclusions

1. The results support Zimbardo that tyranny can only be understood by looking at group

processes2. The results contradict that group processes

are toxic i.e anti-social behaviour but rather can be positive

3. The results show it is the breakdown of groups that can cause tyranny

4. The study shows it is possible to run ethical studies into social processes

Bystander Effect

Kitty Genovese drove home from her job at 3:15am when she got out Winston Moseley followed her and stabbed her. Her neighbours heard her cries and one shouted at Winston who drove away. Kitty went to her home and five minutes later Winston came to her house robbed, raped and murdered her. 38 individuals observed or heard the attack but only a few called the police.

The bystander effect is a phenomenon where

people are less likely to help someone when there are others present. There

are two theories:

Pluralistic ignorance:In an emergency you may

look for other peoples responses, if they look calm

you think it is not an emergency. They do the

same so you all do nothing because none of you are

doing anything

Diffusion of responsibility:

You think someone else will take care of

it, however they think you or

someone else will. No one does

anything

Piliavin Subway Samaritan

Aim

The aims were:1. Type of victim –

People who seem to have inflicted their affliction on themselves are less likely to receive help. Piliavin wanted to see if people were less likely to help a drunk man or an ill man.

2. Race of VictimPiliavin wanted to see if the race affected the level of help they received. The study was conducted in a time when racial disputes were not entirely solved in america.

3. Impact of modelling (model behaviour)People are more likely to help if they have seen someone else help, would a model

4. Group sizeTo see if increased group size led to decreased helping

MethodParticipants:4,500 men and womenUnaware of their involvementTravelling the 8th Avenue subway in New YorkSlightly more whites than blacksApprox 43 people in a carriage8.5 people in “critical area”

Took place between 11am and 3pm over a two month period.

The four victims were aged 26-35, one was black 3 white. All were male and dressed identically

On each trial a team of four General studies students boarded the train sepately. •There were 4 different teams•2 girls acted as observers and took seats outside the critical area•The male model and the Victim remained standing•After 70 seconds the victim staggered forwards and collapsed, he remained on his back staring at the ceiling•The start point 59th street and the end point 125th street had 7 ½ minutes in between•If no one helped when they reached the end point the model would help the victim up

On 38 trials the victim was drunk and 65 trials the

victim was sober. 1. The drunk

condition the victim smelled of

alcohol and carried a bottle wrapped in a

paper bag2. The cane

condition the victim appeared sober and had a

black cane

The white models were aged between 24-29. There were three possibilites:• No model: the model didn’t help• Early model: helped after 70

seconds•Late model: helped

after 150 seconds• The point was to

see if the model affected the behaviour of passengers

Measures-On each trial one observer noted • Race, sex, location of every

person in the critical area• Total number of persons in the

carriage• Total number who helped

• Race, sex location of those who helped

The second observer noted• Race, sex and location of

everyone in adjacent area• Time when first help was offered

Both observers noted any comments made by passengers

and tried to elicit comments from the passenger next to them

Results

Amount of help offered:Piliavin reported that the cane victim received spontaneous help 95% of the time whilst the drunk victim received 50%1. On 49/81 trials the victim

was helped by two or more

2. On 21 out of 103 trials 34 people left the critical area when the victim collapsed

Time taken to help:Help was slower in the drunk conditionOnly 17% of drunk victims were helped before the model stepped in whereas 83% of the cane were helped with no interventionThe mean time for cane was 5 seconds and the mean for drunk was 109 seconds

90% of the helpers were males

Black victims received less help less quickly and in the drunk condition there was a slight same race effect.

Some comments were “you feel so bad when you don’t know what to do” and “its for men to help him”

Group size:The more passengers in the proximity the more likely help was to be given. Contradicting earlier studies by Darley and Latanes “diffusion of responsibility theory”

Conclusions

Piliavins response to peoples reasons for behavious in emergency situations:

1. Observation of an emergency creates a sense of arousal

2. Arousal is interpreted differently in different situations e.g fear

3. Arousal is heightened by a) the more one empathises with the victim b) the closer one

is to the emergency c)the longer the emergency continues

4. The arousal can be reduced by a)helping directly b)getting help c) leaving the scene d)

rejecting the victim as underserving

Helping Not helping

Reward Praise Continuation of other activities

Cost EffortEmbarrassment Harm

Self blamedisapproval of others

•People who are drunk are less likely to receive help•Men are more likely to help•Tendency for same race effect•Group size did not mean less help

EthicsEthical Guidelines for psychology:1. Consent2. Deception3. Debriefing4. Withdrawal from the study5. Confidentiality6. Protection of participants7. Observational research,

without consent is unethical8. Giving advice , the psychologist

must be qualified to give that advice

9. Colleagues, they must take action if another psychologist breaches these

Many studies involve some ethical problems however these are often deemed okay because of the consequence and outcome of the study being revolutionary or improving someone's life despite for example deception.

The social approach:It looks for explanations of behaviour in a social community. There are things such as “mob psychology” which when people are in a crowd they lose their individual morals and will do aggressive or unusual things due to being in that mass situation.

Individual Differences

This approach tries to see the differences between people and looks as abnormalities rather than conformed behaviour.They are concerned with personality and how it can change depending on situation. Measuring personality can be done with psychometric tests however all personality tests have to be interpreted and carried out by someone whose own personality will effect the way they perceive the results.

Many people have multiple identities depending on situation and how they feel about something. We all have many traits.Online personalities are interesting as people often feel immortal and indespensdible behind a computer, acting and saying things they could never in real life. You have the ability to control who you are and what you’re like

Rosenhan Starters

Schizophrenia has positive symptoms (those that are additional to normal behaviour) and negative symptoms (those that are a reduction in normal behaviour). Diagnosis is often done with self reports and observations. There is no biological test for it so it is a difficult disease to diagnose.

Hallucinations:Drugs – people have hallucinations when they take LSD, often these are described as illuminating and widening your iagination however they can give feelings of anxiety and fear.The danger of these drugs is what you can do on them and if you get Hallucinogen persisting perception disorder (HPPD) where even when the drug is gone you still hallucinate.Hearing voices – most people experience this at some point however sometimes it can be disconcerting and last all day. Hearing voices is often associated with religion and the voice of god as well as the voice of satan.

Rosenhan – Sane in Insane places

Aim

Conceptions of normal and abnormality are not universal. If a psuedopatient was categorized as insane then the diagnosis points at being determined by situation and environment rather than the patient.

Study 1-To see if sane individuals who presented themselves to a psychiatric hospital could be diagnosed as insane.

Study 2 –To see if the tendency towards diagnosing the sane as insane could be reversed

Study 3-To investigate patient – staff contact

Ethnocentrism is the bias to which we see things from our point of view and those who think like us.

Study 1

Method:Pseudopatients were 5 men and 3 women of various occupations and ages. Rosenhan was one of the pseudopatients himself.

Setting12 different hospitals were used, located in 5 states across America, they represented old, modern, poorly staffed, well staffed and one was private.

Procedure – Each patient called a hospital and got an appointment, on arrival they said they had been hearing voices which had the words “hollow” “empty” and “thud”. These were used as they provided an existential crisis (who am i?) not associated with scizophrenia.

Each patient desrcibed their own lives and none were abnormal, however names were changed because of the label of schizophrenia can effect later life.The patients were admitted to wards where they acted no abnormal behaviour, although they were slightly nervous for being found out, for being on a ward with insane people and for being admitted so quickly.

The patients scretly didn’t take their medication, however they followed ward routine, nurses said they were co-operative, friendly and showed no abnormalities. The patients did not know when they would get out and it was up to them to get out by their own devices.

ResultsAll were admitted and bar one were diagnosed with schizophrenia. Each was eventually discharged with a label of “schizophrenia in remission”. This diagnosis shows the stickiness of the label once you’re diagnosed with schizophrenia it doesn’t leave you.

Hospitalisation varied from 7 to 52 days with an average of 19 days.

Explanation:The failure to detect sanity could not be

due to 1. The quality of hospitals

2. The time available to observe them (they were in for a reasonable time)

3. Their behaviour (many real patients detected their sanity and said

“You’re not crazy, you’re a journalist”

Doctors may have diagnosed them because they are more inclined towards a “type 2 “ error as it is

clearly more dangerous to diagnose an insane person as sane.

Type 1 error – diagnosing a sick person as healthyType 2 error – diagnosing a healthy person as sick

Study 2

Method:The staff in one psychiatric hospital were informed of the results of the first study and told that at some time during the next three months one of more pseudopatients would try to be admitted. Each member of staff were asked to rate patients who sought admission on a scale of 1 (high confidence the patient was a pseudopatient) to 10.

Results:Over three months 193 patients were admitted none of them were actually psuedopatients.•41 were judged to be pseudopatients•23 were suspected by at least one psychiatrist•19 were suspected by a psychiatrist and one other staff member

The hospital were now making more type 1 errors to avoid making type 2 errors “one thing is certain, any diagnosis process that lends itself so readily to massive errors is not very reliable”

The actual participants were the doctors and nurses, the psuedopatients were confederates.

Study 3

Method – In 4 of the hospitals pseudopatients approached staff and asked “Pardon Me, could you tell me when I will be elifible for grounds privileges?” basically when am I going to be discharged. The psuedopatient did this very normally.

Results – The most common response was a brief reply and made no eye contact. Only 4% of psychiatrists stopped and only 0.5% of staff stopped. 2% in each group actually chatted.

In contrast as a control, a young lady approached staff on the Stanford Uni campus and asked them 6 questions. All of the staff membered stopped and answered all questions. The avoidance of contact between staff and patient is to depersonalise the patients.

DiscussionThe results show the effect of a label on someone and our perception of them. Once a person is labelled as abnormal all data is interpreted in that light.Labels are self-fulfilling for psychiatrists and patients, there is an overlap of insane and sane.

Experience inside the ward:People think you cannot recover from a mental illness, for example the remission label. There was very limited contact between staff and patients.

Powerlessness and depersonalisation:the staff treated patients with little respect by beating and swearing at them. The treatment is depersonalising and creates a sense of powerlessness. Conditions were personal privacy was minimal, no doors on toilets, patients are seen as invisible.

Our perception and fear of the mentally ill causes ambivalence which leads to avoidance. The use of drugs convinces staff treatment is being conducted so they keep away. The hierarchichal structure of the hospital means those in charge have little to do with patients.

It asks the question how many are misdiagnosed? And can the environment lead to socialisation and mortification.

Thigpen and Cleckley StartersMultiple Personality DisorderCondition characterised by having at least one alter personality which is usually involuntary and independent. It is different to schizophrenia as schizophrenics often can’t test reality whereas MPD patients have no difficulty testing reality. MPD is commonly thought to be a response to extremely traumatic situations which there is no escape, if the px goes away In their own head then they can remove themselves from the pain.

Symptoms•PX has at least two distinct personalities with own ways of thinking•At least two of these personalities assume control of the px behaviour•Px extensive inability to remember personal information•Not caused by substance abuse

DissociationAlmost as if you go into automatic pilot mode, you almost watch yourself do something even though you are doing it. We can use dissociation to deal with stressful events and use It as a coping strategy.Types of dissociation:•Amnesia – a loss of memory or personal info•Depersonalisation – out of body experiences, feeling your body isn’t real•Drealisation – things around you appear unreal •Identity confusion – a sense of confusion as to who you are•Identity alteration – refers to dramatic shift in your identity that changes your behaviour

HypnotismHypnotism includes –1. Intense concentration2. Extreme relaxation3. High suggestibilityIt can be used for entertainment, therapy

or personal development.Some therapists use hypnotism to uncover

repressed memories such as child abuse. Repressed memory theory is the theory that many disorders are the consequence of repressed memories, these cannot be recalled without hypnotism or a therapist. This can be controversial as is the therapist helping them uncover or create memories.

Hypnosis could be argued is an extreme example of social conformity as the person responds to what they think if expected of them.

Demonic possessions – The px has “demons” inside them causing their strange behaviour and the only way to rid them of this is an exorcism This is commonly carried out at American mass religious ceremonies.

Thigpen and Cleckley – Multiple Personality Disorder 1954Aim – To record the case history of a patient with multiple

personalities

Patient(s)Eve White –

25 year old married woman. Described as “matter-of-fact,

truthful and consistently sober” She was referred to Dr Thigpen due to blinding headaches and

blackouts. The case was relatively normal until White couldn’t recall a recent trip. So hypnotism was

used to clear this up.The letter –

The letter from Eve was recognised by her handwriting however the last

paragraph had different handwriting and was playful. She denied ever sending the letter yet she remembered starting it. She became agitated and then a strange look came over her face, she then looked up

and said “Hi there, Doc!”

Eve Black –EW had transformed from a

conventional figure to an attractive woman. She was

childish, care free, playful and egocentric.

Eve Blacks HistoryWhen EB was out EW was completely oblivious and had no recollection of what she did. She had had two separate identities since childhood. However EB could recall some of what EW did and EB regarded EW stress over her marriage as trivial. EB often lied and said she used to come out when they were children to play pranks however EW provided indirect evidence as she could remember being punished for things she couldn’t remember doing. EW parents and husband also supported this.At age 6, EB wandered into the woods to play with some other children and said she enjoyed playing and being able to leave or detach and leave EW to be punished for her actions. EW husband said he had found she had bought lots of new clothes and hidden them away and shouted at her however EB confessed to being the culprit.EB denied any association with EW husband and child who she despised and had never made herself known to her parents or husband so they had no idea however they were aware of subtle changes in her which they called her strange habits as EB could imitate EW voice and gestures to disguise.EB confessed to marrying another man whilst EW was working away from home and EB had come out and gone to a bar and married a man she had just met whom she lived with unbeknownst to EW. EW’s hostility towards her marriage and roles made her feel guilty and activated repression which meant she could remove the conflict from her conscious awareness. EB allows a discharge of hostility, EB role is to embody all EW angry feelings allowing EW to continue a loving and happy persona

MethodThigpen and Cleckley spent approx 100 hours over 14 months interviewing both Eves and collecting material about their behaviour. Initially in order to interview EB, EW had to be hypnotised but it soon became possible to just ask to speak to EB and she came out. This could be an ethical issue as it complicated Eve Whites life as Eve Black could pop out more easily.

Therapy – It was difficult to proceed with therapy as EB

refused so they struck a deal to allow her more time out if she particiapted.

EB said she had created the imaginary voices EW heard and could cause the blackouts and wipe

EW’s memory if she tried hard. The aim of the therapy was to try to reintergrate

the personalities, they tried to call out both personalities at once but EW suffered a bad

headache. During the course of therapy EW left her hsuband

and her daughter went to live with her parents. EW’s headaches desisted and she was able to achieve some stability, EB seldom came out

although still went on dates with bad company again unbeknownst to EW.

Psychological tests such as psychometrics and personality tests and IQ tests were conducted on both Eves. EW showed signs of repression whilst EB showed signs of regression and wanting to return to an earlier stage in life

After 8 months of therapy EW headaches came back, EB denied any

role in this and said she was experiencing blackouts too. During hypnosis EW dropped her head and

when she returned she looked confused and asked who are you. This new personality was called Jane and

was more bold than EW but not difficult like EB, a somewhat

compromise of the two.EEG test –

A study was done on all three personalities brain waves,

tenseness was most prominent in EB then EW then Jane. EW and

Jane has similar alpha rhythm yet EB was on the borderline

between normal and abnormally fast. Abnormally fast is

sometimes associated with psychopathic personality.

Thigpen and Cleckley realised their role in the creation of

Jane, they faced a dilemma of how much to encourage her to

take over the two Eves, they believed that ultimately the choice lay with the patient.

The three Personalities

Jane was aware of everything the other two did but could not fully access their memories. Jane could report when EB was lying. She felt free from EW’s role as mother although she felt compassion for the child. Jane gradually took over more and more from EW although could not displace EB and could only come through EW.

EW admitted the best solution was for Jane to take over her role as mother as she had been unsuccessful although Jane was reluctant to come between a distressed mother and her child.

Jane’s Letter about EW – She felt great awe for EW as EW saved the life of a little boy, she had darted in front of a car

to save him and he became her baby, she continued to walk down the street with him

and Jane had to come out to prevent a possible kidnap arrest and find the mother.

ConclusionsPossible explanations – •She was a skilled actress though this is unlikely as it was a longitudinal study•She could have been schizophrenic although other symptoms were not apparent

Jane seemed to be a fusion of the two personalities however different from both.Thigpen and Cleckley thought it appropriate to state each Eve and Jane were separate personalities although the physical evidence such as the EEG was not impressive and a handwriting professional determined although the letters had different styles they had been written by the same person

Psychological tests – EW scored 110 on IQ testEB scored 104 on IQEW on drawings of human figures scored repressive whilst EB scored regressive.On Rorschach ink blot test EW was rigid and hostile whilst EB had a hysterical tendency.

Explanations of addiction1. Neurotransmitters 2. Genetics – some genes have been

shown to appear more in addictive persons

3. Behaviours

Griffiths components of addictive behaviours – 1. Salience - how important the behaviour or addiction becomes to a

person, even when they’re not doing it they are thinking about it2. Euphoria – the rush or buzz from it3. Tolerance – increasing amount of activity to achieve the same effect4. Withdrawal symptoms – the amount of unwanted symptoms when

the addiction is reduced5. Conflict – addictive people often develop conflicts with people

around them due to their addiction and this causes internal conflicts and social msiery

6. Relapse – the chance of a relapse after being clean is very high

Components to gambling1. The stake – how much is put on2. The predictability of the event – how

predictable the outcome is3. The odds – ratio of two possible

outcomes

Griffiths – the role of cognitive bias and skill in fruit machine gamblingIV – RGS and NRGS

Dv – The win/play etc rate and type of verbalisations

IntroductionNormative decision theory – The theory claims it can predict the decisions a gambler will make however this is unsupported as often the decisions are irrational.

Heuristics and Biases – Heuristic is a strategy to work something out or set of rules. The problems for gamblers is that the heuristics they choose produce distortions as they are selected on the wrong occasion. The 6 distortions are..

All of these heuristics > lead to bias cognitive processing i.e distortions in a persons thinking

1. Illusion of control – behaviours which give the illusion you are in control such as choosing the fruit machine makes you think there is an element of control

2. Flexible attributions – self-esteem is given by attributing winning to their own skill and losing to some external factor they can spin losing into a “near win” to keep going

3. Representativeness – the belief that random events have a pattern and that you must be more likely to win if you have lost a lot

4. Availability bias – you hear people have won so you think it is common

5. Illusory correlations – people believe that some events are correlated with success such as rolling a dice softly for low numbers

6. Fixation on absolute frequency – measuring success in terms of absolute rather than how often

AimAim – to consider whether gamblers are actually more skilful or whether their behaviour is characterised by cognitive distortions.To compare the behaviour or non-regular and regular fruit machine gamblers.

Hypothesis – 1. There would be no difference

between regs and non-regs on the 7 behavioural dependent measures used to asses skill

2. Regs would produce more irrational verbalisations assessed by the thinking aloud method

3. Regs would be more skill orientated

Dependent Variable (outcome)

Definition

Total Plays Total number of plays during play session

Total time Total time of play in minutes during one play session

Play rate Total number of plays per minute during play session

End stake Total winnings in number of 10p’s after play session over

Wins Total number of wins in a play session

Win rate (time) Total number of minutes between each win

Win rate (play) Total number of plays between each win

MethodParticipants – 60 px with a mean age of 23.4Half were regs (29 males and 1 female) and half were non-regs (15 males and 15 females)RGS gambled at least once a week and NRGS gambled at the most once a month.

Participants were recruited through poster ads and a snowball sample. The gender imbalance couldn’t be rectified as fruit machine gambling is dominated by males.

Design – Each px was given £3 and asked to play on “fruitskill” and play 60 gambles to hopefully win back the £3. Ecological validity was considered:•Setting – the experiment was a field experiment because behaviour could have been altered if in lab conditions•Money – using someone elses money may reduce the excitement and risk which is part of gambling however allowing px to keep their winnings tried to compensate for this lack of ecological validity.

Thinking aloud

Half the px in each group were randomly assigned to the thinking aloud condition. It is probably the best method of assessing cognitive processes and what a person is thinking. An additional hypothesis was - thinking aloud px would take longer to complete task than non thinking aloud pxThe following instructions were given to the thinking aloud group – •Say everything that goes through your mind•Keep talking as continuously as poss•Speak in complete sentences unless unavoidable•Do not try to justify your thoughtsThese were tape recorded and later transcribed

Significant findings – • RGS made more percentage verbalisations in cat 1 and 21

• NRGS made significantly more percentage verbalisations in cat 14, 15,

31• RGS referred to frustration and mind

going blank• RGS produced more irrational

verbalisations• Many verbalisations involved personification of the machine

ResultsBehavioural data –

RGS had a significantly higher play rate (8

gambles per minute opposed to 6 per

minute)RGS who thought aloud had a significantly lower win rate, the number of gambles between each

win was lower than NRGS

Verbalisations – To analyse this quantitative data content analysis was used. A coding system of 31 utterance categorisations such as irrational (the fruit machine likes me) and rational (reference to luck, it’s my day today)Then each statement made by px was categorised into the coding system . Totals for RGS and NRGS were calculated.

Cat Irrational verbalisations NRGS RGS1 Personification of machine 1.14 7.542 Explaining loses 0.41 3.124 Swearing at machine 0.08 0.60

Rational Verbalisations7 Reference to winning 6.77 9.7914 Questions relating to confusion 13.24 1.5615 Statements of confusion 4.81 1.7216 Reference to skill 1.47 5.3417 Humour 0.89 0.4121 Reference to number system 1.45 9.4925 Hoping and needing a symbol 0.77 3.2828 Reference to luck 0.69 0.5231 Other utterances unrelated 25.53 11.73

Skill resultsPost-experimental semi-structured interviews asked:•Is there any skill involved? Most NRGS said mostly chance whereas most RGS said equal chance and skill•How skilful do you are compared to the average person? NRGS viewed themselves as below av but RGS said above average•What skill is involved in playing fruit machines? RGS said knowledge of not playing when it had just paid out, and knowing when it will pay out

It is interesting to note that of the 14 RGS who broke even after 60 gambles, 10 continued to play and then lost everything whereas only 2 out of the 7 NRGS continued after breaking even.

ConclusionBehavioural data showed that there was no difference between RGS and NRGS supporting hypothesis 1 and the verbalisations showed more irrational by the RGS.RGS were more skill orientated.

Many RGS exclaimed their mind had gone blank and stopped speaking for 30 seconds whereas NRGS rarely did. It is thought the RGS go into auto pilot mode when playing or that they go into escape mode and use gambling to escape a troubled present so are not thinking constantly.

The main differences were RGS being skill orientated and making irrational verbalisations and personifications, this study can be used to rehabilitate gamblers using the thinking aloud method by confronting them with their cognitive bias and irrational thoughts.