The independent variable is the variable that is changed in an experiment, for example, studying with music, or without music.

The control variables are the things that need to be kept the same. These are to ensure we have an obvious correlation.

These are a variable that is out of our control, that can affect the experiment, e.g the environment of an experiment.

The dependent variable is the item that we measure, that depends on the independent variable.

A non-directional hypothesis states that the independent variable will have an unspecified effect on the dependent variable

To do this, we need to operationalize the hypothesis. To do this, we need to specify what will change, and how we will measure it. For example, listening to music while revising will increase the number of questions that are correctly answered in the test by the student.

This is unbiased, and has ecological validity, however it is difficult to perform

This is unbiased, however lacks ecological validity, and is relatively easy to do

This is unbiased, however lacks ecological validity, and is easy to perform

This is biased, as the experimenter could look for certain people. This means that it lacks ecological validity, as there is always a degree of bias. This is also easy to perform

Lacks ecological validity, as only a specific type of people will volunteer, e.g extroverts. Despite this, it is the easiest to do as the experimenter has to do little work.

The target population is the overall population that the experiment is directed at, for example students aged 10-12

This allows order effects, which can affect your results. However, you need less people, and dispositional factors do not affect this design.

Dispositional factors do affect the results, order effects are not there, and more people are needed, therefore more effort.

No order effects, no dispositional factors, however people are hard to find, more effort for experimenter

This uses randomization to allocate each person to each condition. This creates order effects, but makes the study less biased.

Half of each group does condition a first, then the other half does condition b. This does not remove order effects, but it does share the effects evenly between conditions

A correlation is a direct relationships between two factors. This is what psychologists look for. An example of this would be when something increases, then the other decreases in the same amount.

Qualitative Data can be represented on a bar graph. Ensure to leave a space between bars.

Scatter diagrams are used to find correlations. These work for continuous data. The shape it takes often represents a correlation, e.g negative gradient, negative correlation, or a positive gradient being a positive correlation.

They can be operationalized by counting the types of behavior that is exhibited. They have the highest ecological validity of all studies, as there are no demand characteristics. However, it has some ethical issues, and also, the result can be altered by the observer, so it can be unreliable.

These have a lot of detailed information on one person, and they record behavior over time, so changes can be observed. However, the data collected is the only secondary source, so any errors cannot be corrected.

Questionnaires can get large amounts of specific information from a population with little effort.

The main strength is that a lot of data can be gathered quickly. Closed questions are easy to score, and open ones can get lots of detailed information. They are ethical because everyone consents and they know what the questions they are asking. However, they cannot be checked so false information is common.

Interviews can take 2 types. Structured and Unstructured. Structured is just the same questions, but unstructured allows you to change them.

James-Lange believed that physical stimuli comes before emotional response.

The brain interprets these physical changes that result in emotion.

A sensory stimulus activates your amygdala and hypothalamus. These instruct your sympathetic system. This causes adrenaline release, causing increased heart rate and blood pressure

There are real life examples of emotion following physical responses, such as phobias

The theory might be too simple, as some emotions are different, but can have the same response, for example excitement and anxiety

The 2 Factor theory of emotion disagrees with James-Lange. It suggests that we need social cues to distinguish between emotions.

Lange does not specify how we distinguish between emotions.

Hebb believes that the brain does not have a fixed structure, and that it can show plasticity.

Hebb suggests that no matter what the person is learning, the brain can always change structure and make new connections

Hebb suggests that if a neuron repeatedly excites another neuron, they grow and the synaptic knob grows larger.

This means that when certain neurons act together, they become more established and form neural pathways leading to more efficient transfer,

It is incredibly scientific. It provides a specific objective viewpoint

It also has many uses in the real world, such as in education, as Hebb was a headmaster

Hebb's theory has been criticised for being reductionist, meaning that it is not a complete theory of learning, as it focuses solely on the biological aspect

Penfield aimed to investigate the workings of the conscious mind in patients undergoing open brain surgery

During surgery, Penfield prodded each persons brain areas with an electrode and asked what they experienced

Stimulation in the temporal area made one patient hear a piano, whilst another area made them experience a clear memory. As a control, he said he stimulated the area, but did not, and this showed nothing.

He used a very precise scientific method to explain this. All his research was used to create a map of the brain.

Participants formed an atypical sample. This means that findings cannot be applied to the general populations, as they all had epilepsy

Big strength is that it worked on open brains, compared to dead ones like other studies.

Injected 6 volunteers including him and his wife with liquid gold, and once it reached the brain he used a PET scan. Each participant performed 8 trials, 4 semantic, 4 episodic in random order

Clear differences in blood flow indicated that episodic used the frontal and temporal, whereas semantic went to the parietal and occipital

He aimed to investigate the connections between different types of memory and brain activity

It produced scientific and objective evidence. It is impossible to be 'faked'

Very limited sample. This is as there are only 3 sets of consistent results, meaning that we cannot generalize accurately

Height in plane - objects closer to you appear lower in your visual plane, while those further away appear to be higher up.

Relative Size, where objects are closer appear larger, and further away appear smaller.

Linear perspective - Straight lines appear to be pointing to a vanishing point in the middle of the horizon.

Convergence - The brain detects how the eye muscle focuses, and uses this to gauge distance.

Retinal disparity - this is when the brain compares 2 images, 1 from each eye and uses them to form 1 image.

Misinterpreted depth cues, where we wrongly apply the rules of depth cues. An example is the Ponzo Illusion

Ambiguity, where an image can be one or another. This is shown in the necker cube.

Fiction, where we make something up to see something new, like the kanizsa triangle

The constructive theory of perception believes that our past knowledge and experience affects how we perceive the world around us.

Perceptual Set - We develop a state of readiness, which can be affected by numerous things, such as expectations, or emotions.

The way we are raised can affect how we see, for example children who watch cartoons can see an elephant one way, whereas those who don't will draw the elephant top down,.

Motivation can affect how we perceive, for example in an ambiguous picture, people will perceive the black man to be comfiting a crime

This store codes things modality specific, which means that each sense is stored as it is percieved, such as a smell being remembered as a smell.

The multi-store memory believes that the method of transfer is rehearsal, so that if we repeat an action, it will be stored forever.

If we rehearse, things do not transfer into our long term memory, for example, when we say something over and over doesn't make us remember it.

This is also credited by Murdock's study. The primacy/recency effect he found supports the existence of multiple terms.

The theory of reconstructive memory suggests that we change our memories to fit in with what we already know.

This suggests that memory is an active process with effort after meaning, which means that we make everything match our past memories.

As a result of this, we change memories to understand them bettter

This theory is important because it emphasises people's past memories.

This means that we can understand that there is some effect of this when giving or listening to eyewitness reports of crimes.

Aim: To see if people, when given an unfamiliar story to remember, would alter information so it makes more sense to them

Each Participant was asked to read a story called the War of the Ghosts. They were told to read it twice, then Read it to another person. This was repeated 10 times

Bartlett's study was a lab experiment, meaning that it has a low ecological validit

Some people disagree, as war of the ghosts is a strange story, that is deliberately confusing,

Lab study, using standardised procedure, with male and female psychological research

16 particpants were presented with a list of 20 words, at 1 word/minute. Once they had heart all words, they were asked to recall as many as possible in any order.

Words at the start and end were remembered more than words in the middle (primacy/recency effect)

Remembering words is not a normal task, meaning that this study might be hard to apply

Aimed to investigate if people would conform to the opinions of others if they knew they were wrong

He used a lab experiment, with male American college students

Groups of 7-9 people were shown a collection of lines. A standard line, and 3 other lines. They were asked to match which other line matched the standard. The answer was always clear

Participants conformed giving the incorrect answer 36.8% of the time. 76% conformed to the incorrect majority at least once, and 24% didn't conform at all.

This shows that people will conform to fit in, even when they are wrong

Lab experiment, meaning has high control over extraneous variables, but lacks ecological validity.

Aimed to investigate whether the appearance of the victim would affect whether we help them or not

Field experiment, people who travelled on the 8th avenue subway train.

Actor pretended to collapse in the middle of the subway. In some of the trials, he appeared to be drunk, and in others,

When the victim was the old man, he received help within 70secs, 90% of the time and the drunkard received help within 70secs 50% of the time

Piliavin's study was conducted in America, where there is an individualistic culture. Despite this, there was less bystander effect.

For example, in the US anorexia is common, despite having some of the lost food in the world.

Loneliness and isolation are more common, which can lead to problems like depression and anxiety.

Technology has also impacted the way people socially interact with each other, which can make isolation worse as it replaces social interaction

People with mental health issues find relationships more difficult to maintain. This is as those around them have to take on positions as caretakers, and can increase stress and conflict. These people also find higher rates of alcohol and drug abuse.

15% of the healthcare cost is due to mental health problems. Despite this, people with mental health issues are more dangerous to themselves than they are to
others

Serotonin is used to control biological functions, and a lack of serotonin can cause depression. This causes the lack of sleep

A lower level in serotonin can lower norepinephrine levels. This links in to the lack of energy/

Genetics also play a part. This can mean that people inherit a poor ability to make serotonin

There is supporting evidence - McGuffin found high concordance rates in MZ twins, suggesting strong genetic influence

Evidence is flawed, as it is very difficult to untangle environmental influences.

Alternative explanations, like diathesis stress model suggest 2 factors

Cognitive explanations attempt to explain depression in terms of negative thoughts that lead to maladaptive behaviour

People with negative schemas can make errors in their thinking, where they think they are worthless, and thing nothing is going to change.

People can have attributions, for example, internal or external, blaming dispositional factors, or situational factors. They can also be stable or unstable, where they blame things on things that cannot change, or factors that are temporary

Seligman's learned helplessness found that dogs no longer tried to escape electric shocks that they couldn't control

Leads to real world applications, for example CBT can be used to treat depression by challenging the faulty thinking.

Despite this, it is oversimplified, as it reduces complex behaviours to thoughts, meaning it is difficult to establish cause and effect

We can use SSRIs which block the reuptake sites on the presynaptic knob, meaning more serotonin is available, compensating for lower levels. The prevention of reuptake means that the neuron is stimulated more.

These drugs have side effects, which include nausea, insomnia, weight gain, etc. This means they may be less effective./

The effectiveness is also questionable, as it usually takes 3-4 months, and also may just be because of the placebo effect.

These drugs are also reductionist, which means that they only believe that the depression is biological

This means that the patient tests their own thoughts and beliefs

Patients are often encouraged to engage in pleasurable activities, acting as a solution to depression.

Lots of evidence, where March found that CBT with antidepressants meant that 86% of people saw an improvement.

This means that it is as effective as the medicine, without any side effects

Despite this, it is not suitable for all patients as some cannot motivate themselves to do hard work.

This theory is a reductionist theory, meaning that it only focuses on "the here and now", and does not focus on biological and dispositional factors

Wiles aimed to investigate the effectiveness of CBT in treating people with depression who don't improve after taking medication

234 participants were randomly allocated to have CBT alongside their antidepressants, and a control of 235 continued to take their normal medicine. Participants in CBT group had 12 1:1 1hr sessions.

After 6 months, 46% of the CBT group showed noticeable improvements, compared to 22% in the control group. At 12 months, the CBT group said the quality of their lives improved

Proves CBT is an effective way of reducing symptoms of depression.

High control over extraneous variables, meaning that cause and effect can be found. This is because participants were randomly allocated to minimise individual differences

Used self report, meaning that people may have succumbed to demand characteristics

Supporting evidence for CBT, as March also found that there was a 81% improvement in teenagers, showing that CBT is as effective as medication/

Aims to associate the addiction with something unpleasant, and make them avoid the substance in the future

For example, alcohol and an emetic drug, leads to someone feeling nauseous, eventually reaches the point where alcohol leads to nausea

High attrition rate, as people leave because of unpleasant stimuli

People only seem to be affected by short term, as they return to the poor habits afterwards/

Lifelong process, all members have a book, to call someone if they need help

Lack of evidence, Cochrane review showed no significant difference between AA and other treatments.

Might only help some individuals, as it requires high motivation and ability to help others

48 Mz Twins and 126 DZ twins completed questionnares and interviews about alcohol use. They were categorised into 5 categories from no drinking to chronic.

Kaij found that 58% of MZ twins were in the same category, but only 28% of the DZ twins were.

Other supporting research *Kendler showes that genetic factors have influence

Does not focus on alcoholism, and the 5 categories may not have been accurate