PSYA1

EVIDENCE FOR SENSORY MEMORY

• used a chart containing 3 rows of letters, showing ppt's for brief exposures (50 milliseconds)
• ppt's asked to recall immediately
• usually could only recall 4/5 but were aware of more
• proves SM as pieces of information only lasted in the store for a very short time

ENCODING IN STM

• rapidly projected a random sequence of 6 consonants onto a screen
• condition 1 - letters acoustically similar
• condition 2 - letters acoustically dissimilar 
• asked to write down letters immediately after presentation in serial order
• found that ppt's found it harder to recall the acoustically similar words
• STM codes acoustically

EVIDENCE FOR DISTINCTION BETWEEN STM AND LTM

• gave ppt's a list of words, presented one at a time, then tested free recall
• condition 1 - recall immediately
• condition 2 - distractor task, counting backwards in 3's for 30seconds then recall
• in condition 1, found the expected serial position curve
• in condition 2, found that the distractor task disrupted the recency effect, last part of list not well recalled

DURATION IN STM

• presented ppt's with a consonant trigram 
• ppt's had to count backwards in 3's to stop rehearsal
• after intervals of 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 or 18 they were asked to recall
• this was repeated several times
• after 3 seconds - 80% recall
• after 18 seconds - less than 10% recall

DURATION OF LTM

• used 392 American graduates, testing their memory of former classmates
• used various memory tests 
• ppt's performed well up to 34 years
• dip in performance after 47 years 
• difficult to say whether its down to LTM duration, or just the effect of ageing 

Strengths:

• made an important contribution to memory research
• neuropsychological evidence

Weaknesses:

• too simplistic
• doesn't take into account the different types of things we have to remember

Developed by Atkinson & Shiffrin 1968

Sensory Memory:
inputs information from the environment
made up of 3 seperate sensory stores:
1) iconic - visual
2) echoic - auditory
3) haptic - touch

Short-term Memory:
capacity - 7(+/-2) items, Miller 
duration - 30 seconds
encoding - acoustic

Long-term Memory:
capacity - unlimited
duration - unlimited (unless damage to the hippocampus)
encoding - semantic 

Strengths: 

• explains memory better than MSM
• accounts for individual differences

Weaknesses: 

• role of central executive not well rehearsed
• failure to account for all sensory modalities 

Developed by Baddeley & Hitch 1974

Central Executive: 
supervises the memory
controls the flow of information to and from the slave systems
no capacity apart from that needed to allocate information

Episodic Buffer: (added in 2000)
temporary store, limited capacity
allows transfer of information to and from the LTM

Phonological Loop:
1) phonological store 'inner ear' - limited capacity, holds spoken information
2) articulatory loop 'inner voice' - repeats info from phonological store, recodes written info into articulatoty code

Visuo-spatial sketchpad:
1) visual cache 'inner eye' - limited capacity, holds visual/spatial information
2) inner scribe - acts as rehearsal mechanism  

STM:

• rehearsal 
• intention to recall
• amount of information to be recalled

LTM:

• experimental techniques
• depth of learning
• pattern of learning
• nature of material to be learned

ENCODING IN LTM

• used 4 categories of words
• each list was 10 words long, and he interupted pp's after each presentation to stop rehearsal
• 1) acoustically similar
• 2) acoustically dissimilar
• 3) semantically similar
• 4) semantically dissimilar
• each list presented 4 times then recall tested after 20 minutes
• ppt's found it harder to recall semantically similar words
• LTM codes semantically 

WEAPON EFFECT/ ANXIETY ON EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY

• group 1 - ppt's sat outside a lab with people having a discussion, and a man leaving the lab with greasy hands and holding a pen
• group 2 - ppt's sat outside a lab with people having a heated argument, and a man leaving the lab with a bloodstained knife
• ppt's shown 50 photos and asked to identify the man who left the lab
• ppt's who saw the man leave with the bloodstained knife were less likely to identify him correctly
• the weapon distracted the ppt's and caused anxiety, paying less attention to what the man looked like

EFFECT OF MISLEADING INFORMATION ON ACCURACY OF EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY

• 45 students were split into 5 groups and shown a clip of a traffic accident, and asked how fast the cars were travelling when...
• group 1 'smashed'
• group 2 'collided'
• group 3 'bumped'
• group 4 'hit'
• group 5 'made contact'
• the ppt's who were asked the question using the word 'smashed' gave the highest speed estimates

EFFECT OF AGE ON EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY

• engaged children ages 3-8 years in a science demonstration
• children's parents read them a story with some untrue information in, as well as some information from the real demonstration
• children were asked questions about the demonstration
• most children incorporated many of the untrue facts from the story into their answers about the demonstration
• young children are unreliable at giving EWT

Developed the cognitive interview technique:

Context Reinstatement (CR):
recall the scene, the weather, thoughts, feelings, emotions

Report Everything (RE):
report every detail you can remember from the event

Recall from Changed Perspective (CP):
try to describe the event from different viewpoints other than your own

Recall in Reverse Order (RO):
report the event in several different orders 

• Mnemonics
  'peg word system'
  associating things with the words you need to remember
•  Method of Loci
  thinking of a familiar route, and placing pieces of information at key locations
• Chunking
  splitting larger pieces of information up into smaller, more memorable chunks
• Active Processing
  giving pieces of information meaning in order to remember it better 

HOW ATTACHMENTS CAN BE NOTICED

1) Seeking Proximity
the two people want to be near and spend time together

2) Distress on Separation
the baby will show distress when the parent/caregiver leaves

3) Joy on Reunion
the baby will welcome back the parent/caregiver

4) General orienation of behaviour
they will direct their attention to each other 

HOW ATTACHMENTS ARE DEVELOPED

• split geese eggs into 2 groups
• group 1 - stayed with mother
• group 2 - hatched in an incubator, being nursed by Lorenz
• found that goslings formed a rapid attachment to him
• put all geese back into cage with real mother
• group 1 returned straight to mother, group 2 were confused and returned to Lorenz
• Lorenz called this rapid formation of attachment 'imprinting'
• 'imprinting' had to happen in the critical period or it wouldnt happen at all

FORMATION OF BONDS BETWEEN PARENTS AND BABIES

• tested hypothesis about skin-to-skin contact between new mothers and their babies
• control group had routine contact - sawbaby after delivery and times of feeding
• experimental group had extended contact - had an extra hour of 'skin-to-skin' contact after birth and an extra 5 hours of contact over the next 3 days
• re-visited mothers and babies after one month, then again after a year
• mothers which had extended contact showed more soothing behaviours towards their babies

DEVELOPMENT OF ATTACHMENTS

• studied 60 Glasgow babies, visiting them monthly for first year, then again at 18 months
• collected data on attachment by considering; separation anxiety and stranger distress
• used a variety of methods including observation and interviewing
• asked mothers about baby's behaviours in certain situations and used a point scale 
• most babies started to show separation anxiety around 6-8months
• most babies started to show stranger distress around 9months

Asocial Stage (0-6weeks)

Indiscriminate Attachments (6weeks-6months)

Specific Attachments (7months+)

Multiple Attachments (10/11months+) 

The Learning Theory based on Classical and Operant Conditioning as proposed by Dollard & Miller 1950

Operant Conditioning:
baby cries due to feeling of loneliness/discomfort/hunger
caregiver comforting/feeding relieves negative emotions

Classical Conditioning:
baby associates person who feeds them with food
soon learns that that person = feeding time

Social Learning Explanations:
1) Role Modelling
child immitates parents behaviours 

2) Direct instruction
parents tell children what to replicate 

3) Social Facilitation 
parents help children socialise with friends/siblings 

EVOLUTIONARY EXPLANATION

• argued that attachment was an evolved mechanis that ensured the survival of the child
• attachment behaviours in both babies and caregivers evolved through natural selection to ensure the baby survives to reach matuirty and to reproduce
• babies instincts (crying, smiling) encourage the cargiver to look after them
• Bowlby said that babies form a single attachment with one primary caregiver - MONOTROPY
• Bowlby thought the process of attachment took place within the sensitive period, during the baby's forst 3 years 

TYPES OF ATTACHMENTS - 'STRANGE SITUATION'

• infants aged 12-18 months were observed through cameras in a play-room style lab 
• they used the same procedure with 8stages lasting 3minutes each, observing the babies:
  1) mother & infant enter room
  2) stranger enters the room
  3) stranger approaches baby
  4) mother leaves the room
  5) mother returns & stranger leaves
  6) mother leaves the room, leaving baby alone
  7) stranger re-enters and tries to comfort the baby
  8) mother returns & stranger leaves
• idenitified 3 types of attachments
  Type A, avoidant - 70% of babies
  Type B, secure - 15% of babies
  Type C, resistant - 15% of babies 

CULTURE VARIATIONS IN ATTACHMENTS

• carried out meta-analysis on 32 'strange situation' studies, carried out in 8 different countries with over 2,000 babies studied
• babies were classified using Ainsworth's attachment types
• Type A, avoidant - Germany 35%
• Type B, secure - Great Britain 75%
• Type C, resistant - Israel 29% 

Short-term effect of separation:
1) Protest - child cries and screams
2) Despair - anger starts to subside, but still upset
3) Detachment - starts to engage with other people, may reject caregiver when they return

Robertson's study - John 17month old child put in residential nursery for 9 days whilst his mother gave birth

Long-term effect of separation:
1) Extreme clinginess - child may cling to parent when they leave
2) Detachment - child may refuse to be cuddled by caregiver

Factors affecting child's response to separation:

• age of child
• type of attachment
• the gender of child (boys seem to act more strongly to separation) 

PRIVATION 'the lack of ability to form an attachment'

• twin boys, born in Czech, were brought up in care after their mother died
• at age of 18month they returned to live with father and stepmother and suffered serious privation until the age of 7
• they were locked in an unheated cellar, away from human company, starved and beaten 
• when discovered they couldn't speak and had severe health problems due to malnutrition

INSTITUTIONALISATION 'the behaviour patterns shown by children who have been brought up in an institution'

• examined disinhibited attachment behaviour in a longitudinal study of Romanian orphans, adopted by UK families
• Romanian orphans entered the  institution between 1-2weeks old and conditions were very poor
• condition 1 - 58 babies were adopted before they were 6months old
• condition 2 - 59 babies were adopted between 6-24months old
• condition 3 - 48 babies 'late adoptees' between the age of 2-4years
• marked disinhibitation attachment behvaiour was most common in the Romanian orphans who had spent longer in the institution

• quality of care at the institution
  
  
• the age of the child when removed from the institutionalisation/privation
  
  
• the quality of care after institutionalisation/privation
  
  
• the follow-on experiences in later life 

1) nursery based day care
parents are entitled to free nursery places for all children aged 3years+

2) family based day care

• registered childminders 
  care in the childminder's home, contact with other children 
• nanny
  looks after child in their own home, contact with siblings rather than other children 
• informal arrangements 
  childcare from family/relatives 

EFFECTS OF DAY CARE ON SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

• group of Swedish kids who attended childcare continuously between 18months and 3.5years
• 9 children - family based care
• 30 children - nursery based day care
• 9 children - switching between nursery and family based day care
• compared to a group of children who were unsuccessful in gaining them places at day care
• children visited in day care setting and observed playing with other children for 30 minutes
• the 2 assessments of the child in family and day care settings was repeated when the child was 2.5years and 3.5years
• age 6.5 - social comptenence was assessed by asking the caregiver to describe social skills
• at age 8.5, class teachers were asked about childs social behaviour
• at 15 years each child was visited at home and completed self-report measures
• children who spent longer days in day care under the age of 3.5 were less social
• children who attended more days at day care but had shorter days were more social 

NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF DAYCARE

• longitudinal study, following over 1,000 children from birth
• suggests that children who have had day care tend to show advanced cognitive and language development 
• day care also causes higher levels of problem behaviours (e.g aggression) and less obedient to authority figures as they grow older

Layed out by Campbell et al 2000

• Low adult to child ratio
• Small sized groups
• Mixed age group of children
• Well trained staff and low staff turnover

Directional Hypothesis - more precise and stated the direction in which the results will go 

Non-directional Hypothesis - the direction of the results is not predicted

Null Hypothesis - states that there will be no difference relationship between the variables being investigated

Experimental Hypothesis - a hypothesis used in the context of an experiment

Alternative Hypothesis - any hypothesis that is not the null hypothesis 

Internal validity - an experiment has internal validity if the outcome is the result of the variables that are manipulated in the study

External validity - the extent to which findings can be generalised to settings other than the research setting

Measuring Validity:

Face validity - most basic method, involves observation

Concurrent validity - comparing the results with another test that was known to have good validity

Predictive validity - ability to predict the performance on future tests

Independant variable - CAUSE, VARIABLE THAT IS MANIPULATED

Dependant variable - EFFECT, VARIABLE AFFECTED BY THE INDEPENDANT VARIABLE

Extraneous variables - general term for any variables other than the independant variable that might have an effect on the dependant variable 

Situational variables - variables connected wuth the research situation

Participant variables - variables that are connected with the research participants 

demand characteristics: single blind technique (ppt's dont know hypothesis)

investigator effects: double blind techniques (ppt's and assistant don't know the hypothesis)

RANDOM

'sample where every member of target population has an equal chance of being selected'
representative sample, high population validity

OPPORTUNITY

'a sample that consists of those people available to the researcher'
high chance of biased sample, low population validity

VOLUNTEER

'a sample where the participants volunteer to take part'
high chance of bias (similar types of people volunteer), can't generalise to target population, low validity 

BRITISH PSYCHOLOGICAL SOCIETY (BPS) CODE OF ETHICS

• consent 
• deception
• debriefing
• withdrawl from investigation
• confidentiality
• protection of participants
• observational research 
• giving advice
• protection of colleagues

Pilot studies - practise run of the experiment on a smaller scale before carrying out the experiment

Laboratory experiment:
the independant variable is directly manipulated 
advantages: high levels of control, easy to replicate, can conclude cause and effect
disadvantages: lacks ecologucal validity, lacks mundane realism

 Field experiment: 
the independant variable is controlled but other variables can't be controlled
advantages: can conclude cause and effect, high levels of ecological validity
disadvantages: less control over extraneous variables, time consuming

Natural experiment: 
researcher does not manipulate independant variables 
advantages: high levels of ecological validity
disadvantages: can't conclude cause and effect, lack of internal validity  

Repeated Measures Design:
same participants are used in both conditions
used when a small number of ppt's
advantages: ppt variables are eliminated
disadvantages: order effects can occur, increased chance of demand characteristics

Independant Groups Design:
participants randomly allocated to either one or the other conditions
advantages: no order effects, reduced chance of demand characteristics
disadvantages: least effective design for controlling ppt variables, needs more ppt's 

Matched Pairs Design: 
participants matched as closely as possible with another participant, then pair allocated to condition
used when theres a lot of time and money
advantages: no order effects, good at controlling ppt variables
disadvantages: difficult to match ppt's exactly, more ppt's required 

Naturalistic
Advantages: high ecological validity, ppt's unaware so may act more naturally
Disadvantages: no control over extraneous variables, lack of informed consent
Controlled
Advantages: high levels of control over extraneous variables 
Disadvantages: behaviour may not be natural as ppt's aware they're being observed
Participant
Advantages: high ecological validity
Disadvantages: presence of observer may change group dynamics, unreliable
Non-participant
Advantages: natural behaviour as may not know they're being observed
Disadvantages: actual meaning of behaviour may be unclear
Disclosed
Advantages: reduction of ethical issues
Disadvantages: increase in demand characteristics
Undisclosed
Advantages: less demand characteristics
Disadvantages: ethical issues