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Psychology - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Duration - a lifetime
      - Capacity - unlimited
      - Encoding - semantic, procédural and episodic
      - Evaluation
        
        Specific locations in the brain
        
        A strength of this research is that brain scans show that different types of LTM relate to different brain locations.
        
        For example, episodic memory is found in the right prefrontal cortex.
        
        This shows that there are different types of LTM.
        
        Amnesiac patients
        
        This research is supported by case studies of amnesic patients.
        
        For example, Clive Wearing lost most of his episodic memory but not his procedural memory as he could still play the piano.
        
        This again shows that there are different types of LTM.
        
        It’s not that simple
        
        A weakness is that distinctive types of LTM are difficult to separate.
        
        There isn’t a clear difference between episodic and semantic memories because memories are usually a mixture of types.
        
        Therefore having separate types of LTM may be an oversimplification.
    - - Duration - half a second
      - Capacity - 7+/-2
      - Encoding - generally acoustic e.g music
  - - - Aim
        
        If you learn a list of words and then do a second activity, and then try to recall of the original words - does the second activity interfere with recall of the original words
      - Method
        
        Twelve participants had to learn a list of ten words until they could remember them with 100% accuracy. They then were shown a new list. There were five different kinds of lists that were shown a new list. List 1 - synonyms. List 2 - antonyms. List 3 - words unrelated to the original ones. List 4 - constant syllables. List 5 - three digit numbers
      - Results
        
        When the participants were then asked to recall the original list of words, their performance depended on the nature of the second list. The most similar material (synonyms) produced the least accurate recall.
      - Conclusion
        
        The results show that interference is strongest when an intervening activity is similar. In other words forgetting is more likely to happen if you try to do something else quite similar afterwards
  - - - Words at the beginning of a list are remembered more as they have been rehearsed and have become long-term memories.
        Words at the end of a list are remembered more as they have been heard recently so are in short-term memory.
    - - Murdock set out to see if memory of words was affected by where words are located in the list.
    - - Words from the 4,000 most common words in English were chosen randomly.
      - Participants listened to 20 word lists with 10 to 40 words on them.
      - They recalled the words after each list.
    - - Recall was related to the position of the word in the list.
        Murdock found higher recall for the first few words (primacy effect) and the last words (recency effect) in the list, compared to recall of the words in the middle of the list.
- - - - CBT focuses on what a client thinks.
      - Negative, irrational or faulty thinking causes depression because people tend to catastrophise and think in all-or-nothing terms.
      - Aim of therapist is to change this to rational thinking to reduce depression.
    - - CBT also aims to change behaviour indirectly through changing thinking.
      - Direct change to behaviour, e.g. behavioural activation where a pleasant activity is planned each day, creates more positive emotions and mood.
    - - ‘Disputing’ is used to deal with the negative and irrational thoughts.
      - The client’s irrational thoughts are challenged. More rational thinking leads to greater self-belief and self-liking.
    - - Any negative emotions experienced are recorded in a ‘thought diary’, where the client also records the ‘automatic’ thoughts created by these emotions. The client rates how much they believe in these thoughts.
      - A rational response to the automatic thoughts is then recorded and rated.
    - - Lasting effectiveness
        
        One strength of using CBT to treat depression is that it has lasting effectiveness.
        
        The ‘tools’ learned in CBT to help challenge irrational thoughts can help the client deal with future episodes of depression.
        
        Therefore this therapy offers a long-term solution where they can draw on the skills they learned in the future.
      - It’s not for everyone
        
        One weakness is that it takes a long time and thought for CBT to be successful.
        
        Therapy takes months, homework is expected so a lot of effort is needed in comparison to just taking a pill.
        
        This means that many people drop out or fail to engage enough for it to work.
      - Holistic approach
        
        A strength of CBT is that it is holistic.
        
        CBT focuses on treating the whole person and what they think/feel.
        
        This may be preferable because it deals with the core symptoms of depression (e.g. feeling sad).
  - - - Wiles’ study Only 30% of patients with depression respond fully to antidepressants. The remaining 70% are ‘treatment resistant’ and need an alternative therapy.
        There is evidence that treatment-resistant patients do improve when receiving a combination of antidepressant medication plus cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT).
    - - Wiles et al. set up the CoBalT trial to test the benefit of a holistic approach (CBT plus antidepressants) for treating people with treatment-resistant depression, compared to antidepressants alone.
    - - 469 patients with treatment-resistant depression were randomly assigned to one of two groups:
      - Usual care (just antidepressants).
      - Usual care and CBT.
      - Improvement was assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) before and after.
    - - After six months 21.6% of usual care group and 46.1% of usual care + CBT had more than a 50% reduction in symptoms.
        After 12 months those having usual care + CBT continued to show greater levels of recovery.
    - - CBT plus antidepressant medication is more effective in reducing depressive symptoms than antidepressant medication alone.
    - - Well designed study
        
        One strength of the study is that extraneous variables were carefully controlled.
        
        The two groups had the same average depression score at the start and participants were randomly assigned to groups.
        
        This means that we can conclude that changes in the dependent variable (reduction in symptoms) were not affected by extraneous variables.
      - Assessment of depression
        
        One weakness is the use of self-report methods to determine levels of depression. This means that participants have to make subjective judgements about how they felt.
        
        Some people might have underestimated how sad they feel and others might have overestimated.
        
        This questions the validity of the information collected about depression.
      - Real world application
        
        One strength of the study is that it is focused on developing a useful therapy.
        
        The study shows that a more holistic approach to treating depression is more successful than antidepressant medication alone and was relatively cheap.
        
        Such real-world usefulness is one of the main reasons for conducting research.
  - - - Griffiths suggests that salience, dependence and substance abuse are key characteristics.
        Salience means the substance/activity becomes the most important thing in a person’s life.
    - - Dependence is a characteristic of addiction but is not the same as addiction.
      - Dependence is doing something (e.g. drug taking) because of psychological reliance and to prevent withdrawal symptoms.
      - Addiction is where a person is dependent on the substance/activity but also does it because of the buzz or sense of escape.
    - - The difference between substance misuse and abuse lies in the person’s intentions.
      - Misuse is not following the ‘rules’ for usage like taking a substance more often than recommended or using it for something else.
      - Abuse is using the substance to ‘get high’ or to escape because a person’s intentions are about the outcome of taking the drug.
    - - International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) has a category called ‘Mental and behavioural disorders due to psychoactive substance abuse disorders’.
        A diagnosis of addiction should usually be made only if three or more characteristics have been present together at some time during the previous year.
    - - A strong desire to use the substance.
      - Persisting despite known harm.
      - Difficulty in controlling use.
      - A higher priority given to the substance.
      - Withdrawal symptoms if substance/activity is stopped.
      - Evidence of tolerance, i.e. needing more to achieve the same effect.
  - - - Research suggests that addictions are moderately to highly inherited. Genetic information passed down from parents may determine whether a person is likely to become addicted or not.
    - - Multiple genes – not one single gene – are involved which create a vulnerability.
        Diathesis-stress explanation proposes a genetic vulnerability (nature) is only expressed if a person’s life stresses and experiences (nurture) act as a trigger.
    - - Aim
        
        To see whether alcoholism could be explained in terms of heredity, using twin studies.
        Twin studies can assess the contributions of nature and nurture to behaviour: genes and environment.
      - Method
        
        Male twins from Sweden were identified, where at least one twin was registered with the temperance board as having alcohol abuse problems.
        
        They were interviewed and close relatives were interviewed, to collect information about drinking habits.
        
        48 were identified as identical (MZ) and 126 as non-identical (DZ).
      - Results
        
        61% of the MZ twins were both alcoholic whereas only 39% of the DZ twins were.
        Twins with social problems were overrepresented among temperance board registrants.
      - Conclusion
        
        If it was entirely genetic we would expect all MZ twins to be the same. If it was entirely due to environment we would expect no difference between MZ and DZ twins.
      - Evaluation
        
        Flawed study
        
        One weakness of Kaij’s twin study is that there were flaws in the design of the study.
        
        Temperance board data only includes drinkers who made a public display of their alcohol abuse, e.g. committing an alcohol-related crime or drink driving.
        
        This means that the results lack validity.
        
        Supported by later studies
        
        One strength is that the results have been supported by later research.
        
        Kendler et al. conducted a well-controlled study using a similar but larger sample and found that MZ twins are more likely to both be alcoholics than DZ twins.
        
        Research generally supports the view that hereditary factors have a major influence on alcoholism in both males and females (Prescott et al.).
        
        Misunderstanding genetic vulnerability
        
        One weakness with biological explanations of addiction is that they may be misleading.
        
        People assume that, if you inherit certain genes, then addiction is inevitable. But both nature and nurture are important.
        
        It is very important to fully understand the implications of genetic research.
  - - - ‘Nurture’ refers to the influence of experience from the physical and/or social environment.
        Peers are people who are equal in terms of, for example, age or education.
    - - Bandura states we learn how to behave and think by observing what others do.
      - We imitate them especially if they are seen to be rewarded.
      - We especially imitate those we identify with, e.g. peers.
    - - We don’t always know what behaviour is ‘right’.
      - We look to the behaviour of others to know what is ‘normal’ or acceptable (social norms).
      - Social norms may be over-estimated.
    - - You identify with your social groups (e.g. supporters of a football team, a group of students in your class).
      - You want to be accepted by them, therefore you behave and think like them.
      - Adolescents in particular may feel ‘pressure’ to conform to the social norms of their peer group.
    - - Peers also influence addictive behaviour because they provide opportunities for an individual to smoke or use alcohol.
        Peers may provide direct instruction about what to do.
    - - Supporting Research
        
        One strength of peer influence as an explanation of addiction is that there is research support.
        
        Simons-Morton and Farhat reviewed 40 studies into the relationship between peers and smoking and found that all but one showed a positive correlation between the two factors.
        
        This shows a strong relationship between peers and addiction.
      - It may be peer selection
        
        One weakness is that peers may not be doing any influencing.
        
        Individuals may just be actively selecting others who are like them rather than conforming to the social norm of the group.
        
        This means addictive behaviour is a consequence of addiction rather than the group causing the addiction.
      - Real World application
        
        One strength of the peer influence explanation is its real-world application.
        
        Programmes using normative education have had more success than just resistance skills (Hansen and Graham).
        
        This shows the positive value in peer influence explanations.
  - - - A drug like Antabuse is taken which causes nausea.
      - Just before vomiting, the addict has an alcoholic drink several times.
      - Antabuse (UCS) leads to vomiting (UCR)
      - Alcohol (NS) is associated with Antabuse (UCS).
      - Alcohol becomes a learned/conditioned stimulus (CS) producing nausea (CR).
      - Alcohol is no longer associated with pleasure but vomiting.
    - - An addicted gambler writes phrases related or unrelated to gambling on cards.
      - The gambler reads out each card and gets an electric shock for gambling-related phrases.
      - Electric shock (UCS) leads to pain (UCR)
      - Gambling-related phrase (NS) is associated with electric shock (UCS).
      - Gambling-related phrase becomes a learned/conditioned stimulus (CS) associated with pain (CR).
      - Gambling-related behaviours now associated with pain.
    - - Addicted smoker rapidly smokes in closed room.
        Disgust/nausea from smoking is associated with smoking.
    - - Treatment Adherence Issuses
        
        Addicts may abandon the therapy as it uses stimuli that are unpleasant.
        
        Many addicts drop out before the treatment is completed. It wouldn’t work unless the aversive stimulus was negative.
        
        This means it is difficult to assess the effectiveness of the treatment.
      - Poor long-term effectiveness
        
        A weakness is that benefits of aversion therapy seem to be short-term rather than long-term.
        
        In a long-term follow-up of up to nine years McConaghy et al. found that aversion therapy was no more effective than a placebo, and covert sensitisation was more effective.
        
        This suggests that aversion therapy lacks overall effectiveness.
      - A holistic approach
        
        One strength is that aversion therapy can be combined with CBT in a holistic way.
        
        Aversion therapy gets rid of the immediate urge to use the addictive substance and CBT provides longer lasting support where a person’s thoughts and feelings are worked on.
        
        This provides a longer-term solution to the addiction.
- - - - IV - What are you are changing
      - DV - What you are measuring
- - - - Milgram recruited 40 male volunteers and told them it was for a study on memory. Participants were aged between 20-50 years old and from a range of jobs.
      - Participants were paid $4.50 on arrival and drew lots for their role. A confederate (Mr Wallace) always ended up as the ‘learner’ while the true participant was always the ‘teacher’. An ‘experimenter’ (another confederate) directed the study. Participants were told they could leave at any time.
      - The learner was strapped to a chair in another room. He was wired with electrodes so he could be given an increasingly sever electric shock each time he made a mistake on the memory task (he had to remember word pairs). The shocks were not real but the teacher did not know this.
      - The electric shock started at 15 volts (labelled ‘slight shock’) and rose through 30 levels to 450 voltss (‘danger – severe shock’) at 300 volts (‘intense shock’) the learner pounded on the wall and gave no response to the next question.
      - If the teacher asked the experimenter for guidance, he was told to continue.
    - - Milgram found that no participant stooped below 300 volts. Five of them (12.5%) stopped at 300 volts when the learner pounded on the wall.
      - In total 65% went to the full 450 volts.
      - Observations (qualitative data) indicated that participants showed signs of extreme tension; many were seen to ‘sweat, tremble, stutter, bite their lips, groan and dig their fingernails into their flesh’. Three had ‘full-blown uncontrollable seizures’.
  - - - Where a person behaves according to their own principles and feel responsible for their own actions. ‘Autonomy’ means to be independent and free.
    - - This shift occurs when a person perceives someone else as a figure of authority. We are taught to enter an agentic state. As children because we are trained from a young age to respect and follow the orders of authority figures in society.
    - - Where a person acts on behalf of someone else and would, for example, follow orders blindly. The person feels no responsibility for their actions.
  - - - Asch (1955) set out to investigate how people respond to group pressure. He chose to test this in a situation where the answer was clearly wrong (unambiguous) to see if even then people are influenced by what others think.
    - - Method
        
        The participants were 123 American male students. They are often referred to as ‘naïve’ participants because they did not know the aims of the study. There were other students involved in the study, described as confederates as they were employed by the researcher to0 play a particular role.
        
        Each ‘naïve’ participant was tested with a group of between six and eight confederates. The naïve participants thought the other participants were real. All the men sat around a table in a semi-circle and the naïve participant was always near the end.
        
        The men were shown two large cards, one with a single black ‘standard’ line and another card with three comparison lines.
        
        On each trial each man, starting from the left, was asked to say whether line A, B or C matches the standard line X.
        
        In total there were 18 trials. On the first few trials the confederates gave correct answers but then on 12 ‘critical’ trials confederates selected the same wrong answers.
    - - On the 12 ‘critical’ trials the naïve participants gave a wrong answer 36.8% of the time. In other words they agreed with the wrong answer of the confederates.
      - There were considerable individual differences: 25% of the participants never gave the wrong answer, which means that 75% conformed at least once. A few participants conformed most of the time.
    - - These results show that people are influenced by group pressure even when involved in a task that has a clear-cut answer. These results have been called the Asch effect – the extent to which people conform even in an unambiguous situation, when the answer is clearly wrong.
      - However, Asch also concluded that the results show a very high level of independence. Group pressure is very strong but nevertheless the majority of the participants went against the group opinion. He concluded that this is clear evidence of how people can resist the pressure to conform.