GCSE Psychology 9-1

Psychology 9-1 GCSE -  7.2.2 - Van Houtte and Jarvis (1995) The Role of Pets in Preadolescent Psychosocial Development: Aims - To investigate the impact of pet ownership on adolescent personality provided evidence in terms of self-esteem and a more positive self-concept. Procedures -  130 pupils aged 8-13 white american, divided into two groups, pet owners and non pet owners and then matched on marital status, wealth and siblings. Results - 1. Higher self esteem was reported in pet owners than non pet owners. 2. 11 years old with pets had more positive self concept. 3. Higher autonomy was reported by pet owners of all ages. Conclusions -  Pet owning adolescents would report higher levels of autonomy and self esteem than non pet owners. Pets provide unconditional positive regard for pet owners.  Strengths - The results of the experiment were content with the hypothesis. Well known scales were used which is a reliable way of measuri...

Psychology 9-1 GCSE -  7.2.1 - Vohs and Schooler (2008) The Value of Believing in Free Will: Encouraging a Belief in Determinism Increases Cheating - Aims -  To investigate whether inducing participants to believe that human behaviour is predetermined would encourage treating. Procedures -  In experiment 1: Participants read either text that encouraged a belief in determinism (i.e that behaviour is the result of environmental and genetic factors) or neutral test. Results - In experiment 2: Participants who read determinism text cheated by overpaying themselves for performance on a cognitive task, participants who read free will did not. Participants in the anti-free will condition reported weaker free will beliefs than the other participants in the control condition. Conclusions -  The more participants endorsed statements of free will, the less they paid themselves.

Psychology 9-1 GCSE -  6.2.2 - Charlton et al (2000) Children’s Playground Behaviour Across Five Years of Broadcast Television: A Naturalistic Study in a Remote Community: Aims -  To investigate the effect of the introduction of satellite TV on the aggressive behaviour of children. Procedures -  Conducted on 3-8 year olds who had not yet seen TV. aggressive behaviour was analysed before the study and then after. A schedule of pro-social and anti-social behaviour was kept. Results -  There were no significant differences in the results. The levels of anti-social behaviour were very low on first observation and remained this way throughout various viewings. The children displayed almost twice as much pro-social behaviour than anti-social behaviour both before and after the introduction of TV. Conclusion -  Exposure to more violent TV does not necessarily result in an increase in aggressive behaviour. Strengths -  ...

Psychology 9-1 GCSE - 6.2.1 - Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961) Transmission of Aggression through Imitation of Aggressive Models: Aims -  To investigate if social behaviour can be acquired by observation and imitation. Procedures -  There was a control group with no model shown, a group with an aggressive model, and one with a non-aggressive model. Each group had 24 children in it. 12 boys and 12 girls. Results -  Children who observed in the aggressive model were a lot more likely to imitate aggressive responses. Boys were more likely to imitate same sex models than girls. Boys were more physically aggressive than girls. Girls showed more physical aggression if the model was male, but more verbal if they were female. Conclusions -  The findings support Bandura's social learning theory. Children learn social behaviour such as aggression through the process of observational learning. Strengths -  It all...

Psychology 9-1 GCSE -  5.2.2 - Haney, Banks, and Zimbardo (1973) A Study of Prisoners and Guards in a Simulated Prison: Aims -  To find out whether the brutality reported in prisons was due to the sadistic personalities of the guards or the situation.  Procedure -  Randomly assigned people who applied to guard or prisoner set up in a prison environment, prisoners were treated like real prisoners. Referred to not by their name but by their number. Guards were dressed identically.  Results -  Within a very short time, both guards and prisoners were settling into their roles. Within hours of the experiment the guards began to harass prisoners. Guards found it easy to dehumanize the prisoners.  Conclusions -  People will readily conform to the social roles they are expected to play. Especially if the roles are strongly stereotyped. The prison environment was an important factor in creating the guards brutal behav...

Psychology 9-1 GCSE -  5.2.1 - Piliavin et al (1969) Good Samaritanism: An Underground Phenomenon?: Aims -  To investigate factors affecting helping behavior. Procedures -   They investigated helping behavior with: 1. The type of victim (drunk or ill). 2. The race of the victim (black or white). 3. The speed of helping. 4. The frequency of helping. 5. The race of the helper. It investigated this on a train on a 5-7 minute journey. Results -  Helping behavior was a lot higher than previous laboratory studies. They did not investigate the effects of the models helping as people stepped in before the model could. Race had no effects on the results. But there was a slight tendency for some race helping. Diffusion of responsibility was not present the more bystanders there were. Conclusions - Observation of an emergency situation creates an emotional arousal in bystanders. State of arousal can be effected by factors like; if you see you...

Psychology 9-1 GCSE -  4.2.2 - Sperry (1968) Hemisphere Deconnection and Unity in Conscious Awareness: Aims -  To show the independent streams of conscious awareness possessed by each hemisphere and to show how each hemisphere has its own memories.  Procedures -  It had two visual fields. Left is what we can see on our right, right is what we can see on our right. Information from the left visual field goes to the right hemisphere. Information from the right visual field goes to the left hemisphere. They were given visual tasks and stimuli and tactile tasks.  Results -  Participants would recognize the stimuli if it was presented again to the same visual field, but if it was presented to a different one from before, they would claim to never have seen it. Objects placed in the right hand could be described in speech or writing, if the same objects were placed in the left hand participants couldn't recognize them.  C...

Psychology 9-1 GCSE -  4.2.1 - Damasio et al (1994) The Return of Phineas Gage: Clues About the Brain from the Skull of a Famous Patient: Aims -  To investigate if areas other than the frontal lobe were damaged.  Procedures -  1. They took pictures and measurements of the skull and built a 3D replica of Gage's skull. 2. They measured the iron rod. 3. They measured the possible exit and entry points for the iron rod.  4. Found 5 most likely paths and mapped out damaged areas in each case. Results -  Found that it was likely to have been damage in both hemispheres of the frontal lobe. Confidently assumed that the frontal lobe was only damaged. Found that the white matter in the left hemisphere had more damage caused to it.  Conclusion -  The ventromedial area of the frontal lobe seems to be important for making sensible decisions and for controlling our impulses. Gage found these things difficult after his injury, ...

Psychology 9-1 GCSE -  3.2.2 - Young (2007) Cognitive Behaviour Therapy with Internet Addicts: Treatment Outcomes and Implications: Aim -  To investigate the efficiency of CBT therapy with internet addicts. Procedures -  The study investigated 114 clients who suffered from internet addiction and they received CBT at the centre for online addiction. This employed a survey research design and outcome variables such as client motivation, online time management, improved social relationships, improved sexual functioning, engagement in offline activity and ability to abstain from problematic applications were evaluated on the 3rd, 8th and 12th sessions over a 6 month follow up. Results - The results suggested that Caucasian, middle aged males with at least a 4 year degree were most likely to suffer from some form of internet addiction. Conclusions -  Preliminary analysis indicated that most clients were able to manage their pres...

Psychology 9-1 GCSE -  2.2.2 - Peterson and Peterson (1959) Short-term retention of individual verbal items: Aims - To investigate the duration of short term memory. To test if information that is not rehearsed is lost quickly from short term memory. Procedure -  A lab experiment in which 24 participants had to recall meaningless three consonant syllables. They were presented one at a time and had to be recalled after intervals of 3,6,9,12 or 18 seconds. They were also asked to count backwards in three or fours to prevent rehearsal.  Results -  There was a rapid increase in forgetting as the time delay increased. Conclusions -  Short-term memory has a limited duration of about 18 seconds when rehersal is prevented. If a person is not allowed to rehearse the information will not transfer to their long term memory store. Strengths -  It supports the multistore model of memory ( Atkinson and Shiffrin 1969 ). Results are easily proven t...

Pychology 9-1 GCSE -  2.2.1 - Barlett (1932) war of the ghosts: Aims -  To test the theory of reconstructive memory . Procedures -  To do this Bartlett played a game of “Chinese whispers” and asked students to pass on a story they are told to the next student. The story they were told was a Native American story which was culturally very different to what western students would be use to. It involved Native Americans travelling in canoes and fighting another group which turned out to be ghosts. Findings -  That the war of the ghosts story had dramatically changed by the time it reached the final student. Students were found to have altered the story so it fit into their own experiences and culture. For example instead of canoes, students recalled the mode of transport being cars and weapons as guns instead of bow and arrows. Conclusions -  That memory was not accurate recordings of events but constructed and reconstructed to fit in with the i...

Psychology 9-1 GCSE -  1.2.2 - Gunderson et al. (2013) Parent Praise to 1-to 3-Year-Olds Predicts Children's Motivational Frameworks 5 Years Later: Aims -  Researchers wanted to know if children are effected by different types of parent praise given in a natural setting. If parents give girls less process praise and more person praise than boys. Parents use of process or person praise in early childhood influences the childs view later on. Procedures -  29 boys and 24 girls were visited at home every 4 months from when the child was 14 months old. The researchers looked at parents use of praise at home. 5 years later the children's ideas about the behavior was measured and related to the type of praise they had received. Results -  Process praise was 18% of all praise and person praise was 16%. 24% of praise for boys was process praise compared to 10% for girls. The more process praise received in early childhood, the more likely the children...

Psychology 9-1 GCSE -  1.2.1 -  Piaget and Inhelder (1956) Three mountains task: Aims -  To see at what age children are no longer egocentric. Procedures -  A child sits at a table with a model of three mountains - one big, two smaller ones. The child can sit either in front of the model or at another angle. The researcher then places a doll in different positions in the model. Then, the child is shown 10 pictures of the mountains taken at different positions and asked to pick the picture that shows what the doll would see. If the child chose the correct picture Piaget would assume they were not egocentric. Findings -  Found that 4 year olds always chose the picture that showed what they could see. But at 7 children pointed out the dolls point of view. Conclusion -  At around 7 years old, the child is no longer egocentric in where they can see more than their own perspectives. Strengths -  This test was revolutiona...