Action Research

Adrenaline

A method whereby part of the purpose of the researcher is to influence or change the participants behaviour. Examples include the Freud, Thigpen and Cleckley, and Gardner and Gardner core studies. A hormone which is produced by the adrenal glands. Adrenaline increases physiological arousal and causes increase in blood pressure, release of sugar by the liver and other physiological responses related to threat. In the US the term epinephrine is used instead of adrenaline Negative or hostile behaviour directed towards others or objects.

Aggression

Altruism Helping others without expecting a reward. For example, helping a collapsed person. subw Ameslan This is an abbreviation of American Sign Language which is the sign language Gardner and Gardner taught Washoe.

Anecdotal evidence Evidence which is not based on research. Anthropomorphism Attributing human characteristics to animals. There is a danger when psychologists (e.g. Gardner and Gardner 1969) study animals as they may falsely see and describe human characteristics in their animal subjects. Application of psychology to everyday life This is one of the themes of the course. The examiners may ask you to demonstrate how the findings of a particular core study can be used to explain or describe behaviour and experience in an everyday situation. For example, we could explain the behaviour of a football referee in terms of their uniform and the role they adopt using the Zimbardo study. There are five main approaches in the course. Cognitive Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Physiological Psychology, Social Psychology and Individual Differences. This is a physiological state whereby the body is ready for action. The sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system is activated and can involve increasing in blood pressure, heart rate, blood sugar level, respiration rate, and blood flow to the muscles and brain, with an accompanying decrease in blood flow to the skin. Piliavin et al. developed this model to explain why people do and do not help in emergency situations. They argue that the observation of an emergency situation creates an emotional arousal in bystanders. This arousal may be perceived as fear, disgust or sympathy, depending on aspects of the situation. Piliavin et al. go on to argue that the chosen response depends on a cost-reward analysis by the individual. These include: Costs of helping, such as effort, embarrassment and possible physical harm. Cost of not helping, such as self-blame and perceived censure from others; Rewards of helping, such as praise from self, onlookers and the victim; Rewards of not helping, such as getting on with ones own business and not

Approaches in psychology

Arousal

Arousal: Cost Reward Model

incurring the possible costs of helping. Therefore according to this model we are motivated to help people not by altruism (acting in the interest of others) but as a way of reducing unpleasant feelings of arousal.

Attachment

An emotional bond between an infant and its primary care giver. Bowlby developed the idea of monotropy: the idea that a human infant would develop only one special attachment to its mother, which was completely different from the other relationships which it developed, and that it would cause the child great distress and lasting damage if it was broken. The Hodges and Tizard (1989) study questions this idea. The process of giving reasons for why things happen or why people behave as they do. See also dispositional attribution and situational attribution. The loss of participants from a longitudinal study. Reasons for attrition might include participants no longer wanting to take part in the study, moving away or losing contact. When attrition occurs psychologists have to question the representativeness of the remaining sample. This syndrome is characterised by a triad of impairments. (i) difficulties with social interaction, (ii) difficulties with verbal and non-verbal communication (iii) a lack of imaginative play. Autistic children also often display a restricted range of activities and interests and obsessive tendencies.

Attribution

Attrition

Autism

B Behaviour Behaviourism An activity that can be directly observed and measured. Unlike thoughts and feelings which cannot be directly observed and measured. An approach in psychology which attempts to explain all behaviour in terms of learning. This reductionist approach largely focuses on overt behaviour and ignores internal mechanisms such as cognitions (e.g. thoughts). A page here where you can read more about behaviourism An inflatable doll used in the Bandura core study. A three and five foot doll were used. Grey thing which weighs about 1.4kg (3lbs) and contains about 100 billion nerve cells (neurones). Taking images of the living brain. See PET scan. A detailed study of an individual or small group of people.

Bobo doll

Brain

Brain scan Case study

Classical Conditioning A form of learning through association. Ivan Pavlov, whilst experimenting on dogs noticed that if a bell was rung at the same time as the dogs were fed, they would salivate merely at the sound of a bell. This idea has been applied to humans to explain how certain behaviours are learned. For example, it is

Categorisation

argued that phobias can be explained using classical conditioning. A person may have a phobia of horses because they once had a frightening experience with a horse and now they associate horses with this frightening experience. Therefore another explanation for Hans' phobia of horses is that he was classically conditioned to fear horses. Or in other words, Hans witnessed a horse fall and collapse in the street. Hans then generalised this fear to all horses. See also behaviourism Grouping people into social categories or sets. According to Tajfel (1970) categorisation is the minimum condition necessary to create discrimination. This refers to mental processes such as perception, memory, thinking and reasoning. A surgical procedure to sever the corpus callosum. A confounding variable is a variable which has an unintentional effect on the dependent variable. When carrying out experiments we attempt to control extraneous variables, however there is always the possibility that one of these variables is not controlled and if this effects the dependent variable in a systematic way we call this a confounding variable. The ability to recognise that volume, number or mass do not change when the physical appearance changes. This refers to the extent to which variables are held constant or regulated. See also extraneous variables, confounding variables and experimental designs. Often used in experiments. This is a group which does not receive the manipulation of the independent variable and can be used for comparison with the experimental group or groups. This refers to a measure of how strongly two or more variables are related to each other. A positive correlation means that high values of one variable are associated with high values of the other. Or if you like, the variables increase together. A negative correlation means that high values of one variable are associated with low values of the other. Or if you like, as one variable increases the other decreases. Note that like a positive correlation, a negative correlation still indicates that some kind of relationship exists. If there is no correlation between two variables they are said to be uncorrelated. Don't let yourself fall into the trap of believing that when there is a strong correlation between two variables that one of the variables causes the other. Association does not mean causation. For example, there is almost certainly a very high positive correlation between the length of peoples right arm and the length of their left arm. But the length of a persons left arm did not determine the length of their right arm. They are both determined by other factors i.e. genetics, diet etc.

Cognition

Commisurotomy Confounding variable

Conservation

Controls

Control group

Correlation

A correlation coefficient refers to a number between -1 and +1 and states how strong a correlation is. If the number is close to +1 then there is a positive correlation. If the number is close to -1 then there is a negative correlation. If the number is close to 0 then the variables are uncorrelated. Correlation coefficient can be calculated in a number of ways such as with a Spearman Rho. Correlations are very good for showing possible relationships between variables and some times are the only practical or ethical way of carrying out an investigation. However, they cannot demonstrate a cause and effect. The outer most layer of nerve tissue in the cerebral cortex. D Decentre Jean Piaget argued that to decentre is to be able to take into account more than one aspect of a situation at a time. According to Piaget, this type of thinking was typical of a child in the pre-operational stage. The ability to conserve is an example of the ability to decentre. A strategy used by the mind to defend itself from anxiety provoking thoughts. In Freud's study of Little Hans he identified the defence mechanism known as identification with the aggressor. Whereby Little Hans stresses all the ways that he is similar to his father, adopting his father's attitudes, mannerisms and actions, feeling that if his father sees him as similar, he will not feel hostile towards him. Any aspect of a study which has an influence on participants to do or answer what is expected of them. A dissociative disorder where an individual loses their sense of identity. See the studies by Zimbardo and Rosenhan. Statistics are a method of summarising and analysing data for the purpose of drawing conclusions about the data. Carrying out psychological research often involves collecting a lot of data. As psychologists therefore we need to have knowledge of statistics so that we can make conclusions about our data. We can make a distinction between descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics simply offer us a way to describe a summary of our data. Inferential statistics go a step further and allow us to make a conclusion related to our hypothesis. Descriptive statistics give us a way to summarise and describe our data but do not allow us to make a conclusion related to our hypothesis. When carrying out a test of difference (activity C) there are two main ways of summarising the data using descriptive statistics. The first way is to carry out of measure of central tendency (mean, median or mode) for each of the two conditions.

Cortex

Defence mechanism

Demand characteristics Depersonalisation

Descriptive Statistics

The mean is calculated by adding all the scores together in each condition and then dividing by the number of scores. This is a useful statistic as it takes all of the scores into account but can be misleading if there are extreme values. For example if the scores on a memory test were 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 42, the mean would be 10 which is not typical or representative of the data. The median is calculated by finding the mid point in on ordered list. The median is calculated by placing all the values of one condition in order and finding the mid- point. This is a more useful measure than the mean when there are extreme values. The mode is the most common value in a set of values. The second way of summarising and describing data is to calculate a measure of dispersion. This simply shows us the spread of a set of data. A simple way of calculating the measure of dispersion is to calculate the range. The range is the difference between the smallest and largest value in a set of scores. Although it is a fairly crude measure of dispersion as any one high or low scale can distort the data. A more sophisticated measure of dispersion is the standard deviation which tells us how much on average scores differ from the mean. When carrying out correlational analysis the data is summarised by presenting the data in a scattergram. It is important that the scattergram has a title and both axes are labelled. From the scattergram we may be able to say whether there is a strong positive correlation, a weak positive correlation, no correlation, a weak negative correlation or a strong negative correlation but we can not make a conclusion about the hypothesis. Depth Cue A depth cue is something which gives us an indication of how far away an object or image is. Pictorial depth cues include relative size and linear perspective. This is the argument that we do not have much control over our actions but are controlled by factors such as our biology or genes, or by the way we are brought up. A consequence of this is that determinists believe that we are mainly passive responders to our past or biology and that we have no free will. Determinists therefore believe that is possible to predict behaviour by identifying the cause of behaviour. Although most psychologists believe in some form of determinism, many argue that hard determinism is too extreme. They argue that humans do not always act involuntary and have some control over their behaviour. This argument is known as soft determinism. A further argument is that humans have free will. The argument is that we have the freedom to act as we want at all times. Psychologists who support the idea of free will, believe that the determinist argument is de-humanising as it treats people as if they were machines.

Determinism

However, much of the research you will come across whilst studying psychology does not support the view that behaviour is unpredictable. It is possible to identify behaviour patterns which, to some extent, do seem predictable.

Diffusion of responsibility

Diffusion of responsibility is the idea that people are less likely to intervene to help someone who seems to need it if there are others present, because they perceive responsibility as being shared between all present, and therefore see themselves as being less responsible personally. The behaviour that results from prejudice.

Discrimination

Dispositional attribution This is believing that a person's behaviour is caused by an individual's personality or disposition rather than the situation they are in. See also situational attribution. Down's syndrome E Ecological Validity A syndrome which is caused by having 47 chromosomes rather than 46 (23 pairs).

This term refers to how well a study can be related to or reflects everyday, real life. Studies with high ecological validity can be generalised beyond the setting they were carried out in, whereas studies low in ecological validity cannot. (more on ecological validity) Electroencephalogram A method of recording activity in a living brain. Electrodes are attached to a (EEG) person's scalp to record general levels of electrical activity. Epilepsy A neurological disorder which causes occasional storms of electrical activity in the brain. This can lead to convulsions and loss of consciousness. See adrenaline. These are a set of guidelines which psychologists carrying out research should follow. This is the tendency to perceive the world from your own cultural group, such as your ethnic group, national group and so on. A consequence of this is that there can also be a tendency to view your own group as superior to other groups.

Epinephrine Ethics Ethnocentric bias

Ethnocentric sampling Most of the well known psychological research reported from before the 1980s bias was carried out in American universities using White, middle-class undergraduate students who are hardly representative of anybody other than American, White, middle-class undergraduate students. Therefore we have to question the findings of studies which attempt to generalise their findings to the population as a whole. Eugenics A political idea which argues that the human race should be improved by preventing 'undesirables' from breeding so they cannot pass on their

supposedly inferior genes. This argument has culminated in compulsory sterilisation, mass murder and genocide. Experiment A research method used by psychologists which involves the manipulation of variables in order to discover cause and effect. It differs from nonexperimental methods in that it involves the deliberate manipulation of one variable, while trying to keep all other variables constant. There are three main types of experiment - laboratory experiments, field experiments and quasi (natural) experiments. Experimental Designs There are three basic experimental designs - independent measures design, repeated measures design and matched pairs design. An experimental design is a set of procedures used to control the influence of participant variables so that we can investigate the possible effects of the independent variable on the dependent variable.

Experimenter

A person doing an experiment. This might just be my problem but I do get annoyed when students write 'the experimenters did a case study'. I think experimenters carry out experimenters. Why not write 'the researchers did a case study'? Go on - just for me. An extraneous variable is a variable which could effect the dependent variable but which is controlled so that it does not become a confounding variable.

Extraneous variable

Eye witness testimony Descriptions of events given by observers of an event. These are generally used in criminal cases whereby individuals have to give an account of a crime to the police or a court. Elizabeth Loftus has demonstrated that memory is reconstructive and that eye witness testimonies are unreliable. F Field Experiment An experiment which is carried out in the field . That is, in a real world situation. In field experiments the participants are not usually aware that that they are participating in an experiment. The independent variable is still manipulated unlike in natural experiments. Field experiments are usually high in ecological validity and may avoid demand characteristics as the participants are unaware of the experiment. However in field experiments it is much harder to control confounding variables and they are usually more time consuming and expensive. In field experiments it is not possible to gain informed consent from the participants and it is difficult to debrief the participants. G Gender Gene Generalisation Your sense of being either male of female. A unit of inheritance which forms part of a chromosome. The extent to which results from one sample of participants can be applied to wider groups. The generalisability of the results of a study is partly dependent on the success of the sampling technique (e.g. was the sample representative of the population) and the representativeness of the population chosen (for

example if the sample was taken from students then it is not reasonable to generalise the results to all types of people). H Hull City Promoted to the Championship. Which way is the Premiership? Unique in that it is the only club in the football league whose letters can't be coloured in. A trance like state which is induced by a hypnotist. It may involve heightened suggestibility and attention on the hypnotist. Some psychologists argue that hypnosis is a matter of suggestible people role-playing a trance state and other psychologists argue that it is an altered state of consciousness as demonstrated by different brain activity from EEG records. Hull City supporters would argue that the same trance like affect can be gained by visiting the KC stadium. Plural of hypothesis A testable, predictive statement. This statement is tested by researchers to see if it is true. The hypothesis either states a predicted difference between an independent and dependent variable (an experimental hypothesis), or it states a predicted relationship between variables (in the case of a correlational analysis). See also null hypothesis

Hypnosis

Hypotheses Hypothesis

I Identification with the See defence mechanism. aggressor Independent Measures An independent measures design is a type of experimental design. An Design experimental design is a set of procedures used to control the influence of participant variables so that we can investigate the possible effects of the independent variable on the dependent variable. An independent measures design consists of using different participants for each condition of the experiment. If two groups in an experiment consist of different individuals then this is an independent measures design . This type of design has an advantage resulting from the different participants used in each condition - there is no problem with order effects The most serious disadvantage of independent measures designs is the potential for error resulting from individual differences between the groups of participants taking part in the different conditions. Also an independent groups design may represent an uneconomic use of those participants, since twice as many participants are needed to obtain the same amount of data as would be required in a two-condition repeated measures design.

Imitation

Copying somebody else's behaviour such as aggression in the Bandura experiment and signs in Gardner and Gardner's case study. See also Social learning Theory.

Individual and These arguments refer to where we look for the cause of behaviour. Some of situational explanations the core studies look for the explanation of behaviour being within the

Inferential Statistics

individual. For example, behaviour could be described as resulting from the individual's personality or dispositions. Other core studies look for the explanation of behaviour as a result of the situation a person is in. For example, behaviour could be described as resulting from group pressure, the environment and so on. Statistics are a method of summarising and analysing data for the purpose of drawing conclusions about the data. Carrying out psychological research often involves collecting a lot of data. As psychologists therefore we need to have knowledge of statistics so that we can make conclusions about our data. We can make a distinction between descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics simply offer us a way to describe a summary of our data. Inferential statistics go a step further and allow us to make a conclusion related to our hypothesis. As the name suggests inferential statistics attempt to make an inference about our data. That is, which hypothesis offers the best explanation for our results? When we carry out a test of difference (activity C) we have two hypotheses. A null hypothesis which states that the results will be due to chance, and the experimental (alternate) hypothesis, which predicts that the results are due to the manipulation of the independent variable. To assess the probability that the results are due to chance an inferential statistical test is used. Inferential statistics tell us whether the difference between two sets of scores is significant or due to chance. It is an academic convention that in psychology we accept the null hypothesis as the best explanation for out results unless there is a 5% probability (or less) of the results being due to chance. 5% probability is expressed as p<0.05 and if we find that the null hypothesis can be rejected we can be 95% confident of the conclusions. When carrying out a test of difference (activity C) if the design is an independent measures design the appropriate inferential statistical test to use is the Mann Whitney U test. When carrying out a test of difference (activity C) if the design is a repeated measures design the appropriate inferential statistical test to use is the Wilcoxon signed ranks test. Whichever test is used a value is calculated which is called the observed value. The value then has to be compared with the critical value to determine whether the null hypothesis can be rejected and at what value When we carry out a test of correlation we have two hypotheses. A null hypothesis which states that the results will be due to chance, and the correlational hypothesis, which predicts that there is a correlation or

relationship between the two variables To assess the probability that the results are due to chance an inferential statistical test is used. Inferential statistics tell us whether the relationship between two sets of scores is significant or due to chance. It is an academic convention that in psychology we accept the null hypothesis as the best explanation for out results unless there is a 5% probability (or less) of the results being due to chance. 5% probability is expressed as p<0.05 and if we find that the null hypothesis can be rejected it we can be 95% confident of the conclusions. When carrying out a test of correlation a Spearman Rho is used. Using a Spearmans Rho a value is calculated which is called the observed value. The value then has to be compared with the critical value to determine whether the null hypothesis can be rejected and at what value. A group to which a person belongs, or thinks he or she belongs. This is a measure of intelligence. An IQ test produces a score which represents a persons mental age (MA). This is usually divided by the persons chronological age (CA) because children of the same intelligence but different ages will not achieve the same score on the test. The quotient is divided by 100 to remove any fractions. The average IQ is 100 and the scores are standardised so that about 64% of the population have a score between 85 and 115. This is the extent to which two raters provide consistent or similar responses. The ratings for each observer are correlated to check for agreement. It is a method of assessing the reliability of a set of measurements or ratings such as in an observation. Work by psychologists such as Tajfel has stimulated work into reducing prejudice. Aronson et al. (1978) developed the jigsaw classroom technique whereby all the children have to cooperate with others in order to complete tasks. This technique even has its own web site. www.jigsaw.org

In-group Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

Inter-rater reliability

J Jigsaw Technique

K L Laboratory Any environment where variables can be well controlled. Such environments are usually artificial but do not have to resemble a science lab at school.

Laboratory experiment An experiment which is conducted under highly controlled conditions. The variable which is being manipulated by the researcher is called the independent variable and the dependent variable is the change in behaviour measured by the researcher. All other variables which might affect the results and therefore give us a false set of results are called confounding variables (also referred to as random variables).

By changing one variable (the IV) while measuring another (the DV) while we control all others, as far as possible, then the experimental method allows us to draw conclusions with far more certainty than any non-experimental method. If the IV is the only thing that is changed then it must be responsible for any change in the dependent variable. Laboratory experiments allow for precise control of variables. The purpose of control is to enable the experimenter to isolate the one key variable which has been selected (the IV), in order to observe its effect on some other variable (the DV); control is intended to allow us to conclude that it is the IV, and nothing else, which is influencing the DV. However it must also be noted that it is not possible to completely control all variables. There may be other variables at work which the experimenter is unaware of. It is argued that laboratory experiments allow us to make statements about cause and effect, because unlike non-experimental methods they involve the deliberate manipulation of one variable, while trying to keep all other variables constant. Sometimes the independent variable (IV) is thought of as the cause and the dependent variable (DV) as the effect. Furthermore experiments can be replicated. The experimental method consists of standardised procedures and measures which allow it to be easily repeated. However such experiments are not typical of real life situations. These types of experiments are conducted in laboratories - strange and contrived environments in which people are asked to perform unusual or even bizarre tasks. The artificiality of the lab, together with the 'unnatural' things that the subjects may be asked to do, jointly produces a distortion of behaviour. Therefore it should be difficult to generalise findings from experiments because they are not ecologically valid (true to real life). A further difficulty with the experimental method is demand characteristics. Demand characteristics are all the cues which convey to the participant the purpose of the experiment. A psychology experiment is a social situation in which neither the participants or the experimenters are passive, inanimate objects but are active, thinking human beings. Another major problem with the experimental method concerns ethics. For example, experiments nearly always involve deceiving participants to some extent and it is important to recognise that there are very many areas of human life which cannot be studied using the experimental method because it would be simply too unethical to do so. This refers to the uneven distribution of tasks carried out by the hemispheres. Lateral means side. Any function, e.g. language, which is found on one side of the brain is called a lateralised function.

Lateralisation of brain function

Leading question Likert Scale

A question that suggests what answer is desired or leads to the desired answer. A type of closed question which is often used a way of measuring attitudes. Respondents are asked to state on a scale (usually it is 1 -5 or 1 -7) how strongly they agree with a statement. For example 1 could be strongly disagree and 5 could be strongly agree. Named after its inventor Rensis Likert.

Longitudinal approach A longitudinal approach is where a group of participants are followed up after a period of time. Longitudinal studies are usually found in the area of developmental psychology because they are ways of studying change over time. It is important to recognise that longitudinal studies represent an approach and not an actual method of collecting data. M Mann-Whitney U test A really fun inferential statistical test of the the difference between two independent groups, which you may come across for your psychological investigations paper. Matched pairs design A matched pairs design is a type of experimental design. An experimental design is a set of procedures used to control the influence of participant variables so that we can investigate the possible effects of the independent variable on the dependent variable. A matched pairs design consists of using different participants for each condition of the experiment but participant variables are controlled by matching pairs of variables on a key variable. In order to get the pairing precise enough, it is common to get one group of participants together and then look round for partners for everyone. Participants can be matched on variables which are considered to be relevant to the experiment in question. For example, pairs of participants might be matched for their scores from intelligence or personality tests. Although this design combines the key benefits of both an independent and repeated measures design, achieving matched pairs of participants is a difficult and time consuming task which may be too costly to undertake. Successful use of a matched pairs design is heavily dependent on the use of reliable and valid procedures for pre-testing participants to obtain matched the pairs. This is a term used to describe development which occurs as a result of genes, but which emerges as we grow older. Puberty is a good example of this. Jean Piaget believed that cognitive development was also maturational in that a child is only able to complete certain tasks until the individual is biologically ready. The capacity to retain and store information. This term has been used to describe studies like those of Tajfel's whereby artificial groups are created on the basis of almost meaningless (hence

Maturation

Memory Minimal groups

Monotropy Multiple Personality Disorder N Native intellectual ability

minimal) categories (e.g. under and over estimators) and then studying the effects which result. See attachment Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) is a dissociative disorder in which two or more distinct personalities coexist within the same individual. MPD is nowadays referred to as Dissociative Identity Disorder. Yerkes argued that his intelligence tests measured native intellectual ability, that is, innate intelligence which was unaffected by culture and educational opportunities. Gould demonstrated that the tests actually measured cultural and educational background. See quasi experiment

Natural experiment

Nature-nurture debate This is a long running debate which is interested in whether we are like the way we are because of nature (inherited and genetic) or nurture (experiences and influences after conception). Non-participant observation Null Hypothesis A type of observational study whereby the researcher does not join in with the activity being observed. The statement of either no difference between the independent and dependent variable in the case of an experimental hypothesis, or no relationship between the independent variables in the case of a correlational analysis.

O Obedience Obligation effect Following out the order of others. Usually the orders of those in authority. This is a problem often found with questionnaires. When participants are asked to answer a large number of questions they often feel obliged to fill in the questionnaire even if they may not have any views on the topic being asked. This often happens in psychology coursework. Observational learning Observational learning is learning through imitation. See also Social Learning Theory. Observation All types of research involve some element of observation. It is not just observational studies that use observation. For example, when we use self report measures we observe the responses of the participants, when we carry out experiments we observe the behaviour of our participants and so on. Observation studies are those where the researcher observes a situation and records what happens but does not manipulate an independent variable. Observational studies therefore tend to be high in ecological validity as there is no intervention and if the observer remains undetected the method avoids problems with experimenter effects. On the other hand observational studies are difficult to replicate. There are a number of different types of observational studies including nonparticipant and participant observations, undisclosed observations and

Observational study

structured and unstructured observations.

Oedipus complex

Freud thought that, during the phallic stage, the young boy develops an intense sexual love for his mother. and because of this, he sees his father as a rival, and wants to get rid of him. The father, however, is far bigger and more powerful than the young boy, and so the child develops a fear that, seeing him as a rival, his father will castrate him. Because it is impossible to live with the continual castration-threat anxiety provided by this conflict, the young boy develops a mechanism for coping with it, using a defence mechanism known as 'identification with the aggressor'. He stresses all the ways that he is similar to his father, adopting his father's attitudes, mannerisms and actions, feeling that if his father sees him as similar, he will not feel hostile towards him. A form of learning due to the consequences of behaviour, through reinforcement and punishment. Operant conditioning was used in the Gardner and Gardner study as the researchers rewarded Washoe's signing with praises and tickles. Opportunity sampling is the sampling technique most used by psychology students. It consists of taking the sample from people who are available at the time the study is carried out and fit the criteria your are looking for. This may simple consist of choosing the first 20 students in your college canteen to fill in your questionnaire. It is a popular sampling technique as it is easy in terms of time and therefore money. For example the researcher may use friends, family or colleagues. It can also be seen as adequate when investigating processes which are thought to work in similar ways for most individuals such as memory processes. Sometimes, particularly with natural experiments opportunity sampling has to be used as the researcher has no control over who is studied. However, there are many weaknesses of opportunity sampling. Opportunity sampling can produce a biased sample as it is easy for the researcher to choose people from their own social and cultural group. This sample would therefore not be representative of your target population as you friends may have different qualities to people in general. A further problem with opportunity sampling is that participants may decline to take part and your sampling technique may turn into a self selected sample.

Operant conditioning

Opportunity sampling

P Participant observation A type of observational study where the observer is also a participant in the activity being studied.

Pathology of power

In the Zimbardo study this was the oppressive behaviour often displayed by the guards when they seemed to enjoy and abuse the extreme control and power they had over the prisoners. This term was used by Zimbardo to explain the social deterioration of the prisoners. At the beginning of the study, the prisoners rebelled against their conditions but eventually became passive, dependent and had flattened emotions. The way we analyse and make sense of the information we receive from our senses. An individuals distinctive and relatively stable pattern of thoughts, behaviours and emotions. Perspective drawings are those which give just one perspective of an object, with features that cannot be viewed from that perspective not represented in the picture. Perspective drawings often include pictorial depth cues which give an illusion of depth. PET stands for Positron Emission Tomography. PET scans can be used to examine the relationship between the metabolic activity in the brain and mental processes. A small amount of harmless radioactive material is injected into the participant which bonds to a substance such as glucose. This is called a tracer. As the brain uses glucose as energy, the areas of the brain which are most active absorb it. The glucose is broken down but the radioactive material remains and it emits positively charged particles called positrons which are picked up by the scan. This information can be read by a computer which produces coloured images of the level of activity occurring throughout the brain. PET scanning is the most established of brain-imaging techniques, but requires massive investment.

Pathological prisoner syndrome

Perception

Personality

Perspective drawings

PET scan

Phallic stage

Freud argued that during the phallic stage (from three to five years old) a child would focus its sexual energy on its genitals. This was when a child's sexual identification was established. During this stage Freud argued that a young boy would experience what he called the Oedipus complex. This would provide the child with highly disturbing conflicts, which had to be resolved by the child identifying with the same-sexed parent. A penis. Things that are perceived to resemble a penis are said to be phallic symbols. An irrational fear that interferes with day-to-day life. Relating to the functioning of the nervous system including the brain. The population is the group of people from whom the sample is drawn. For example if the sample of participants is taken from sixth form colleges in Hull,

Phallus

Phobia Physiological Population

the findings of the study can only be applied to that group of people and not all sixth form students in the UK and certainly not all people in the world. Obviously it is not usually possible to test everyone in the target population so therefore psychologists use sampling techniques to choose people who are representative (typical) of the population as a whole. A sense of having little control over what happens to you. As demonstrated in the study by Rosenthal. An attitude (usually negative) toward the member of some group solely on their membership in that group. Literally 'pre-judgement'. Tests which involve asking respondents to interpret a picture. It is thought that such tests reveal aspects of the unconscious mind. An example of a projective test is the Rorschach test used by Thigpen and Cleckley. In the Rosenhan study this refers to a researcher who is pretending to be a patient. A person who is medically qualified and then specialises in treating psychological disorders. Theories developed from Freud's explanations about personality and how behaviour is influenced by unconscious thoughts and feelings. The systematic study of experience and behaviour. These are instruments or test developed for measuring mental characteristics. These psychometric tests have been designed to measure a wide range of mental characteristics, including personality, intelligence, mental health, brain damage and so on. Data that describes meaning and experiences are known as qualitative data. Data that focuses on numbers and frequencies are known as quantitative data. An experiment where the independent variable is not manipulated by the experimenter but occurs naturally. These experiments are often called natural experiments. In some circumstances, psychologists can take advantage of a natural situation in order to carry out an investigation in circumstances which they cannot themselves manipulate. For example, an all boys schools grades may be compared with a mixed schools grades. The effects on the participants of being in single sex or mixed sex schools could be compared. This is not a true experiment because the psychologist is unable to manipulate or control all variables. For this reason it is referred to as a quasi-experiment. It is possible, though to compare two groups, the equivalent of an experimental and a control group. It has the advantage that the participants are unaware that they are taking part in an investigation and it is certainly not as artificial as a laboratory setting.

Powerlessness

Prejudice

Projective tests

Pseudo-patient Psychiatrist Psychoanalysis Q Psychology Psychometrics

Q Qualitative data Quantitative data Quasi experiment

Questionnaires R Random sampling

Questionnaires are a type of self report method which consist of a set of questions usually in a highly structured written form. This is a sampling technique which is defined as a sample in which every member of the population has an equal chance of being chosen. This involves identifying everyone in the target population and then selecting the number of participants you need in a way that gives everyone in the population an equal chance of being picked. For example, you could put all of the names of the students at your college in a hat and pick out however many you need. Random sampling is the best technique for providing an unbiased representative sample of a target population. However random sampling does have limitations. Random sampling can be very time consuming and is often impossible to carry out, particularly when you have a large target population, of say all students. For example if you do not have the names of all the people in your target population you would struggle to conduct a random sample. If you ask people to volunteer for a study the sample is already not random as some people may be more or less likely to volunteer for things. Similarly if you decided to put out an advert for participants it would be almost impossible to guarantee that every member of your target population has an equal chance of viewing the advert.

Reconstructive memory hypothesis

Reductionism

This is the argument that two kinds of information go into a person's memory of an event. The first is the information obtained from perceiving an event, and the second is the other information supplied to us after the event. Over time, the information from these two sources may be integrated in such a way that we are unable to tell from which source some specific detail is recalled. All we have is one 'memory'. Reductionism is the argument that we can explain behaviour and experiences by reference to only one factor, such as physiology or learning. There are many different types of reductionism. Physiological reductionism, for example, argues that all behaviour and experiences can be explained (or reduced to) by biological factors such as hormones or the nervous system Whereas genetic reductionism reduces all causes of behaviour to genetic inheritance. Social reductionism argues that all behaviour and experiences can be explained simply by the affect of groups on the individual. The criticism of reductionist arguments is that they are too simplistic because they ignore the complexities of human behaviour and experience. Behaviour often has a number of different causes and to reduce the possible explanations to one level can only provide a limited understanding. However, an advantage of the reductionist views is that by breaking down a

Regression

phenomena to its constituent parts it may be possible to understand the whole. This type of single mindedness has lead to some great discoveries in psychology as it has in the 'natural' sciences. Returning to an earlier, usually childlike, state. Believed by many psychologists to be a way of coping with anxieties. Rapid eye movements which occur during the stage of sleep when it is thought we are dreaming. During this stage the body is in a state of paralysis. A repeated measures design is a type of experimental design. An experimental design is a set of procedures used to control the influence of participant variables so that we can investigate the possible effects of the independent variable on the dependent variable. A repeated measures design consists of testing the same individuals on two or more conditions. The key advantage of the repeated measures design is that individual differences between participants are removed as a potential confounding variable. Also the repeated measures design requires fewer participants, since data for all conditions derive from the same group of participants. The design also has its disadvantages. The range of potential uses is smaller than for the independent groups design. For example, it is not always possible to test the same participants twice. There is also a potential disadvantage resulting from order effects, although these order effects can be minimised. Order effects occur when people behave differently because of the order in which the conditions are performed. For example, the participants performance may be enhanced because of a practice effect, or performance may be reduced because of a boredom or fatigue effect. Order effects act as a confounding variable but can be reduced by using counterbalancing. If there are two conditions in an experiment the first participant can do the first condition first and the second condition second. The second participant can do the second condition first and the first condition second and so on. Therefore any order effects should be randomised.

REM

Repeated Measures Design

Repression

When an individual keeps anxiety proving thoughts out of their conscious awareness possibly as of way of coping. A reinforcement is anything which will increase the probability that a behaviour or action will be repeated again in a similar circumstance. That is, if we receive something we perceive as rewarding (e.g. a smile) after we have performed a particular action (e.g. told a joke) we will be more likely to carry out that behaviour again. If we do not receive a reinforcement we will be less likely to perform that behaviour again.

Reinforcement

Reliability

This refers to how consistent a measuring device is. A measurement is said to be reliable or consistent if the measurement can produce similar results if used again in similar circumstances. For example, if a speedometer gave the same readings at the same speed it would be reliable. If it didn't it would be pretty useless and unreliable A report which either brings together other researchers evidence (e.g. Deregowski 1972) or evaluates the research carried out by another psychologist (e.g. Gould 1982). A type of projective test which consists of asking respondents what they see in symmetrical inkblot pictures. It is thought that such tests reveal aspects of the unconscious mind. The procedure used by Baron-Cohen to test for theory of mind. The procedure is designed to find out if a child can recognise that a doll has a false belief about the whereabouts of a marble because she did not see it being moved from its original place. A method used to choose a sample of a population. Examples include, random sampling, opportunity sampling, stratified sampling, snow ball sampling and self selected sampling. A mental disorder where contact with reality and insight are impaired. Other symptoms can include hallucinations and delusions. This label was used in the Rosenhan study to diagnose all but one of the the pseudo-patients after they were discharged. However this label is rarely used by psychiatrists. Any method which involves asking a participant about their feelings attitudes and so on. Examples of self reports are questionnaires, interviews and psychometric tests but note that self reports are often used as a way of gaining participants responses in observational studies and experiments.

Review article

Rorschach test

S Sally-Anne test

Sampling technique

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia in remission Self report method

Self selected sampling Self selected sampling (or volunteer sampling) consists of participants becoming part of a study because they volunteer when asked or in response to an advert. This sampling technique is used in a number of the core studies, for example Milgram (1963). This technique, like opportunity sampling, is useful as it is quick and relatively easy to do. It can also reach a wide variety of participants. However, the type of participants who volunteer may not be representative of the target population for a number of reasons. For example, they be more obedient, more motivated to take part in studies and so on. One of the training methods used with Washoe whereby successive approximations of behaviour is rewarded gradually until the correct sign is made. This explains behaviour in terms of aspects of the situation that a person is in

Shaping

Situational attribution

rather than the person's internal characteristics such as personality. See also dispositional attribution Snap shot study A snap shot study is a study carried out over a very short period of time such as hours and days. In comparison a longitudinal study is carried out over a longer period of time such as weeks, months or years. Snap shot studies are obviously quicker and cheaper to carry out than longitudinal approaches and rarely suffer from attrition. However they only provide us with a snapshot of human behaviour and experience and therefore are not so useful when investigating development.

Snow ball sampling

Snowball sampling can be used if your population is not easy to contact. For example if you were interested in studying students who take illegal drugs you may ask a participant who fits your target population to tell their friends about the study and ask them to get in touch with the researcher and so on. The issue of social control refers to the attempt to influence behaviour and how people perceive their world. Psychological research can help us understand how processes of social control operate. For example, Milgram's study shows us how people in authority can abuse their power, and Rosenhan's study demonstrates the powerful impact that labelling can have on people. Also of interest is how psychological research has been used by others to aid social control. For example, it could be argued that Milgram's work could be used by those in positions of authority to further the social control of others. Gould demonstrates how the work of psychologists such as Yerkes have been used as a form of political and 'racial' oppression.

Social control

Social learning theory Social learning theory emphasises the role of observation and imitation of role models during learning. In general, social development is seen as a continuous learning process, rather than as happening in stages. Split-brain patients Patients who have undergone disconnection of the cerebral hemispheres. This is normally done in only extreme circumstances such as to prevent a seizure from spreading from one hemisphere to the other. Sperry's participants had all undergone hemisphere deconnection because they had a history of advanced epilepsy which could not be controlled by medication. Split drawings are drawings that depict the essential characteristics of an object even if all those characteristics cannot be seen from one perspective - if you like, unfolded. Statistics are a method of summarising and analysing data for the purpose of drawing conclusions about the data. Carrying out psychological research often involves collecting a lot of data. As psychologists therefore we need to have knowledge of statistics so that we can make conclusions about our data.

Split-style drawings

Statistics

We can make a distinction between descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics simply offer us a way to describe a summary of our data. Inferential statistics go a step further and allow us to make a conclusion related to our hypothesis.

Stratified sampling

Stratified sampling involves classifying the population into categories and then choosing a sample which consists of participants from each category in the same proportions as they are in the population. For example, if you wanted to carry out a stratified sample of students from a sixth form college you might decide that important variables are sex, 1st or 2nd years, age, have a part-time job and so on. You could then identify how many participants there are in each of these categories and choose the same proportion of participants in these categories for your study. The strength of stratified sampling is therefore that your sample should be representative of the population. However, stratified sampling can be very time consuming as the categories have to be identified and calculated. As with random sampling, if you do not have details of all the people in your target population you would struggle to conduct a stratified sample. If the sample is not randomly selected from the categories it is then called a quota sample.

Structured observation A structured observation is where the researchers design a type of coding scheme to record their behaviour. Structured observations generally provide quantitative data. See also unstructured observation. T Theory of mind The ability to understand that other people have independent minds of their own. Developing a theory of mind allows a child to begin to understand other people, and to predict what other people are likely to do and believe. It is the ability to think about other peoples, or one's own thoughts. Simon Baron-Cohen argues that autistic people do not seem to develop a theory of mind. Schachter and Singer developed the two-factor theory of emotion. The twofactor theory suggests that emotion comes from a combination of a state of arousal and a cognition that makes best sense of the situation the person is in. For example, the two-factor theory of emotion argues that when people become aroused they look for cues as to why they feel the way they do. The two-factor theory of emotion has been an influential theory of emotions. However subsequent work has shown that the relationship is more complex than the two-factor theory predicts.

Two-factor theory of emotion

For example many psychologists now argue that peoples efforts to understand an unexplained state of arousal is more extensive than a quick examination of cues in the surrounding environment. When we seek to explain a state of arousal, we do not merely use others behaviour but call on many other sources of information as well, particularly our own past history - we search for prior occasions on which we felt this arousal state to explain its occurrence now. U Unconscious Undisclosed observation Unstructured observation According to Freud, this is the part of your mind which contains information that is very hard to get at and difficult to bring into our conscious awareness. A type of observational study whereby the participants are not fully aware that they are being studied.

An unstructured observation simply involves the researchers recording the behaviour they can see. This can be difficult without the use of recording equipment (such as a video camera), can be difficult to analyse but does provide rich qualitative data. See also structured observation. Usefulness of Whether psychological research is useful or not depends on our definition of psychological research useful. Research can be useful in a number of different ways. It may be useful for psychologists in further understanding psychological phenomena. Research may be useful for practitioners, for example, in areas such as, clinical psychology, health psychology, educational psychology and so on. Research may also be useful for the general public in terms of helping them to understand themselves and their world differently. And finally research might be useful for policy makers and politicians in helping them make decisions and formulate policy. V Validity This refers to whether a study measures or examines what it claims to measure or examine Things which can vary or change. Experiments attempt to manipulate one variable, the independent variable, and measure the changes to the dependent variable. The experimenter attempts to control for extraneous variables (noise or time of day) which could effect the dependent variable. If an extraneous variable does have an effect on the dependent variable we call this a confounding variable. Correlational analysis attempts to measure the relationship between two independent variables (or co-variables). If you look straight ahead and stare at an object directly in front of you, everything to the left of your nose is your left visual field and everything to your right is your right visual field. This is an inferential statistical test which can be used if you are carrying out a test of difference, the design is repeated measures and the data is at least at

Variables

Visual field

W Wilcoxon signed rank test

the ordinal level of measurement. X X-axis Y Y-axis Z Zero correlation The y-axis is the vertical axis on a scattergram. A zero correlation means that there is no consistent relationship between two variables. On a scattergram the x-axis is the one that is horizontal.