Alternative Methodology:

THIGPEN AND CLECKLEY (Snapshot, greater sample, field)

5 Thigpen and Cleckley used the longitudinal method to investigate the multiple personality disorder of Eve. An alternative way to investigate multiple personality disorder would be to do a snapshot study on a number of patients.

(b) Design an alternative study using the snapshot method and describe how it could be conducted. [10]

(c) Evaluate this alternative way of studying multiple personality disorder in methodological and practical terms. [10]

Aim: The aim of this study is to prove the existence of multiple personality disorder and to investigate it.

Sample: The sample will consist of 6 patients diagnosed with multiple personality disorder. There will be an attempt to have an equal gender mix. They will be recruited through the hospital and consent will be taken. Therefore, voluntary sampling will be used. The participants will have a varied age range and will all be from one psychiatric hospital.

Procedure: The study will last for 5 days and informed consent will be taken for the study. The experimenters will work with the psychologist to bring out the different personalities of the participant’s through hypnosis or other methods. The personality will then be interviewed to see any changes in the different personalities. Anecdotal evidence will be collected by the psychologist to prove the existence of different personalities in the subjects.

The experimenters will also conduct a number on tests on the personalities. These will include self report measures, psychometric test, projective tests and psychological tests. The subject will be paid for taking part in the study and will be given the option to withdraw. Confidentiality of the participants will be maintained.

Data: Data collected will be both quantitative and qualitative. The quantitative data will be collected by psychometric tests such as the IQ test and memory test. Physiological tests such as EEG will check for changes in muscle tension and heart rate between the different personalities. Qualitative data will also be collected through observation in interviews, by talking to the psychologist and through the projective tests (Rosarch and Drawings Test) where the participant can project their unconscious thoughts.

b)

The study is high is ecological validity as it is a quasi experiment. It takes a pre-existing variable such as multiple personality disorder and studies them without manipulating them. Real multiple personality disorder patients diagnosed by a psychiatric hospital were interviewed and tested and this increases the ecological validity (i.e how generalizable the study is to real life situations).

Another strength of the study is high validity. This is because the study is high in concurrent validity that means it uses more than one test measuring the same thing. It uses two different projective tests to understand the unconscious thoughts of personalities. It also uses two different tests (IQ and memory test) to check brain activity. Moreover, content validity of the study is high as it uses a range of different tests to understand behaviour of MPD patients- projective tests, psychometric tests, self report measures and physiological tests.

The study is also holistic as it collects both quantitative and qualitative data. This helps to prove the existence of multiple personality disorder. The IQ test and physiological test help compare quantitatively the differences in the personalities while qualitative data through projective tests, interviews and anecdotal evidence ensure no critical information is missed out and the experimenters are better able to understand the causes of the disease.

However, the study is low in generalization due to low population validity. Since, all patients are from one psychiatric hospital, it may not be generalized to other hospitals. The sample is also very low (6 participants) and that means the results may not necessarily generalize to other patients who may experience MPD differently.

Another issue with the study is demand characteristics. This is because the study uses a snapshot method where it is not easy to ascertain whether someone is faking their personalities or genuinely suffer from the disease. This lowers the validity of the study.

The snapshot method also meant that the experimenters weren’t able to track the changes and development of personalities that could have made the study more useful and valid.

(c) Evaluate this alternative way of studying multiple personality disorder in methodological and ethical terms.

The study is high is ecological validity as it is a quasi experiment. It takes a pre-existing variable such as multiple personality disorder and studies them without manipulating them. Real multiple personality disorder patients diagnosed by a psychiatric hospital were interviewed and tested and this increases the ecological validity (i.e how generalizable the study is to real life situations).

Another strength of the study is high validity. This is because the study is high in concurrent validity that means it uses more than one test measuring the same thing. It uses two different projective tests to understand the unconscious thoughts of personalities. It also uses two different tests (IQ and memory test) to check brain activity. Moreover, content validity of the study is high as it uses a range of different tests to understand behaviour of MPD patients- projective tests, psychometric tests, self report measures and physiological tests.

However, the study is low in generalization due to low population validity. Since, all patients are from one psychiatric hospital, it may not be generalized to other hospitals. The sample is also very low (6 participants) and that means the results may not necessarily generalize to other patients who may experience MPD differently.

Another issue with the study is demand characteristics. This is because the study uses a snapshot method where it is not easy to ascertain whether someone is faking their personalities or genuinely suffer from the disease. This lowers the validity of the study. The snapshot method also meant that the experimenters weren’t able to track the changes and development of personalities that could have made the study more useful and valid.

In ethical terms, the study is high because it takes informed consent from the subjects. Their confidentiality is maintained and they are even given the chance to withdraw. However, the privacy of the study can be questioned because ……

SCHATHER AND SINGER (Field)

Aim: The aim of the study will be to test the two-factor theory and see whether physiological and cognitive factors are equally important to feel emotions.

Sample: The sample will consist of 30 participants with an equal gender mix. The sample will be selected through volunteer sampling where the patients at a hospital will be asked to try a vitamin supplement. The sample will consist of different races but will all be taken from one hospital. The subjects will be paid for their participation.

Procedure: The study will take place over a day and consent will be taken from the participants. However, the patient’s who agree to take part in the study will be deceived into thinking that they are receiving vitamin supplements. The participants will be randomly assigned to three different groups that will be epinephrine informed, epinephrine misinformed and epinephrine ignorant. These three conditions will be further divided into euphoria and anger conditions so that there will be six different groups with 5 in each group.

Each participant will be injected with an adrenalin shot. The participant’s in informed condition will be told the true side effects of the injection such as palpitations and tremors. The misinformed condition will be told untrue side effects such as numbness in the feet. The ignorant condition will be told nothing of the side effects of the injection. They will be told to wait for 20 minutes inside a room till they examine them again. During this time, they will be introduced to a stooge who will claim to be a participant.

The stooge will perform standardized actions in the euphoria conditions including hulahopping, playing basketball with waste paper balls, flying a plane and doodling. There will also be standard icebreaker comments. In the angry condition, the stooge will express anger at a questionnaire that will start off with normal questions such as “How long do you sleep” and become increasingly offensive such as, “ How many extramarital relations does your mother have?” At the end of the study, subjects will be debriefed about the study.

Data: During the euphoria and angry condition, the participant’s behaviour will be recorded by a video camera. This will then be coded to find out the different scores in each condition. The coding will include

behaviour such as intiated agreement/ activity , intiated disagreement or ignored. The coding will gather quantitative data whereas the video clips will gather qualitative data in terms of the participant’s reactions.

The participant’s will also be given self report measures at the end to see if they check their euphoria and anger through rating scales gather quantitative measures and open ended questions. Questions will also be formulated to test to physiological changes such as , “Did you feel tremors or palpitations?”. These will have to be marked on a 5 point rating scale that will gather quantitative data.

B) The study is high is ecological validity. This is because participants are deceived about the aim of the study and it is a field experiment taking place in their natural setting. They are told that they are being injected with a vitamin supplement when in fact, they are being injected with adrenalin. This ensures that there behaviour is not influenced but demand characteristics by becoming aware of the real aim of the study and so makes the behaviour more representative to real life situations.

The study is also high in reliability as it uses a number of controls. The stooge’s actions are standardized such as hulahopping, flying a plane, doddling, playing basketball. Even in the angry condition, the stooge’s comment on the standardized questionnaire are the same for each participant. The time for each participant was 20 minutes and that was also standardized.

The data gathered is also holistic. Both quantitative and qualitative data is collected. Quantitative data through coding and rating scales help in comparing behaviour in the different conditions whereas the qualitative data through observation of the subject’s observation helped in ensuring no critical reactions were missed out on.

However, the study is low in generalizibility. This is because each group has a low sample (only 5 conditions) and this reduces population validity. In other words, the findings of this study cannot be applied to other populations. Moreover, all participants are from hospital and therefore may have gathered certain type of people from one specific locality that reduces the population validity of the study as it cannot be applied to other populations.

The study also has extraneous variables. This is because the injection itself may have caused arousal meaning that even the placebo subjects would have experienced physiological arousal such as fear as a result of the study. This reduces the validity of the study as the placebo subjects were not supposed to feel any physiological arousal. It also meant that in the epinephrine ignorant and misinformed conditions, subjects did in fact, have a explanation for their behaviour (the injection) even if they were misled.

Another problem is that the study is a snapshot study lasting for 20 minutes. The behaviour of the participant’s is solely based on those 20 minutes. It is possible that the participants may have come to the lab in a bad mood so may remain angry even if in the euphoria condition. The mood of the participants was not checked before the study and this could become a confounding variable reducing the validity of the study.

B) With ethics- Take out holism and snapshot

The study is high in ethics as there is a voluntary sample and consent is taken to inject them. Also, subjects are debriefed at the end of the study. However, the study does not take informed consent and it also uses deception as the participants are told they are being injected with a vitamin supplement when they are being injected with an adrenalin shot.

MAGUIRE (greater generalization)

Aim: The study will aim to investigate brain activity in taxi drivers with established topographical knowledge.

Sample: The study will use 50 male, healthy participants. There will be a mix of subjects ranging from recently employed taxi drivers to experienced taxi drivers. Their ages will vary from 20 years to 40 year old subjects. A voluntary sample will be used. 25 taxi drivers will be recruited from London while 25 taxi drivers will be recruited from New York. The subjects will be both right handed and left handed.

Procedure: Informed consent will be taken before the study and subjects’ confidentiality and privacy will be maintained. Before the experiment, the experimenters will ensure that subjects don’t have any neurological illness. They will also be asked to highlight routes and landmarks from a list of 20 films, film plots from a list of 150 colour films and film frames that they are most familiar with. The study will be a lab experiment.

Subjects will be injected with a tracer so that when the harmless radioactive substance bonds with glucose, it indicates areas where brain activity is taking place on MRI and PET scans. All subjects will be blindfolded and will have to conduct each task for 90 seconds and will be required to do 4 tasks . These tasks are the independent variable of the study and include the topographical and sequential task ( routes recall), topographical and non sequential task (landmarks), non topographical and sequential (film plot) and non topographical and non sequential task ( film frame). These tasks are compared to a baseline task (recalling 2 four digit numbers).

Data: The study will mainly collect qualitative data through the pictures of brain activity of the different tasks during the PET and MRI scans.

B) PRACTICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL

The study is high in generalizability as it is high in population validity. It uses a large sample (50 participants). The participant’s are not restricted to a certain area but consist of taxi drivers from two different areas (London and New York). The age range, experience level and handedness of the participants are also varied to ensure the study can be applied to other populations.

Another strength of the study is reliability due to a number of controls. The controls include a questionnaire given to each participant before the experiment. All participants also go through the baseline task and each participant goes through the 4 independent variables of the study. The

participants will all be blindfolded and the time for each participant will be the same (each task will last for 90 seconds).

The study is also high in validity due to the use of equipment. The MRI and PET scans ensure objective and accurate findings of brain activity. Moreover, the study is also high in concurrent validity as it uses MRI and PET scans to find out the same thing – the brain activity of the subjects.

However, the study is low in ecological validity. The lab experiment will be conducted in a highly controlled environment and in real life, brain activity will be affected by other factors such as noise. This means the study may not be generalizable to real life settings.

Another problem with the study is reductionism. The study focuses mainly on the individual and nature side of the debate as it observes the brain activity of taxi drivers but does not see how their environment or training as taxi drivers may have changed their functioning of the hippocampus. The study also gathers qualitative data and does not gather quantitative data making the study reductionist.

The study uses a snapshot method and is unable to see the changes and development in the hippocampus of taxi drivers but rather focuses on brain activity at a certain point. It is, therefore, unable to explore brain plasticity that may affect the areas of the brain that light up in taxi drivers compared to normal participants.

B) PRATICAL AND ETHICAL:

Same but leave validity and leave snapshot.

The study is high in ethics as it takes informed consent from subjects. It also ensures the protection of participants by ensuring that the radioactive substance injected does not affect people suffering from a neurological disease. The subject’s privacy and confidentiality will also be maintained.

MAGUIRE (longitudinal)

Aim: The study will aim to investigate brain activity in taxi drivers with established topographical knowledge.

Sample: The study will use 11 male, healthy subjects that will currently have no experience of taxi driving but will be training as taxi drivers. They will be from London with a mean age of 30 years. All subjects will be right handed and voluntary sampling will be used to recruit the subjects through a newspapers advert.

Procedure: Informed consent will be taken before the study and subjects’ confidentiality and privacy will be maintained. Before the experiment, the experimenters will ensure that subjects don’t have any neurological illness. They will also be asked to highlight routes and landmarks from a list of 20 films, film plots from a list of 150 colour films and film frames that they are most familiar with. The study will be a lab experiment lasting for one year (longitudinal method). MRI and PET scans of participants before training as taxi drivers will be compared with the scans taken after one year of training.

Subjects will be injected with a tracer so that when the harmless radioactive substance bonds with glucose, it indicates areas where brain activity is taking place on MRI and PET scans. All subjects will be blindfolded and will have to conduct each task for 90 seconds and will be required to do 4 tasks . These tasks are the independent variable of the study and include the topographical and sequential task ( routes recall), topographical and non sequential task (landmarks), non topographical and sequential (film plot) and non topographical and non sequential task ( film frame). These tasks are compared to a baseline task (recalling 2 four digit numbers).

Data: The study will mainly collect qualitative data through the pictures of brain activity of the different tasks during the PET and MRI scans. The two scans before and after training will be compared with each other to highlight differences in brain activity.

B)

One strength of the study is that it is holistic. This is because it is able to analyse the nature-nurture side of the debate when it checks if the training of taxi drivers has an effect on the hippocampus functioning or is it innate. It is also able to track changes in the brain activity of subjects as it as a longitudinal study and this adds to the usefulness of the study.

Another strength of the study is reliability due to a number of controls. The controls include a questionnaire given to each participant before the experiment. All participants also go through the baseline task and each participant goes through the 4 independent variables of the study. The participants will all be blindfolded and the time for each participant will be the same (each task will last for 90 seconds).

The study is also high in validity due to the use of equipment. The MRI and PET scans ensure objective and accurate findings of brain activity. Moreover, the study is also high in concurrent validity as it uses MRI and PET scans to find out the same thing – the brain activity of the subjects.

However, the study is low in ecological validity. The lab experiment will be conducted in a highly controlled environment and in real life, brain activity will be affected by other factors such as noise. This means the study may not be generalizable to real life settings.

The study is also low in generalizability as it is high in population validity. It uses a small sample (11 participants). The participant’s are restricted to a certain area (London) and the study uses an andocentric sample. The age range, experience level and handedness of the participants are also restricted that means the study will not be applicable to females, left handed subjects or subjects with varying levels of experience.

The validity of the study can also be questioned due to the longitudinal method. This is because in one year, attrition is possible as subjects withdraw from the study. Since, the sample is already really small (11 subjects), a further reduction in the sample could make results insignificant and reduce the validity of the study.

B) PRATICAL AND ETHICAL:

Same but leave validity and leave

The study is high in ethics as it takes informed consent from subjects. It also ensures the protection of participants by ensuring that the radioactive substance injected does not affect people suffering from a neurological disease. The subject’s privacy and confidentiality will also be maintained.

HELD AND HEIN (generaliziblity)

Aim: The aim of the study will be to investigate if self-actuated movements and concurrent visual feedback affect depth perception.

Sample: The study will select 5 pairs of kittens each from different litters, 5 pairs of monkeys from the two different local zoos and 5 pairs of mice.

Procedure: The lab experiment will use the longitudinal that will depend on the age at which animals acquire movement. The pairs will be divided into the independent variables of the study- active animal and passive animal. The active and passive animals will be restrained in a carousel for 3 hours after they start attaining movement. The active animal will be allowed to move in the carousel but the passive kitten will be restricted by a carousel. The active animal will move in the same direction and the same distance as the active kitten.

When they will not be in the carousel, the animals will be kept in the dark with their mothers. The animals will go through three tests to check visual spatial- paw placement test, visual cliff and blinking to an approaching object. Each animal will complete the visual cliff test 12 times in a day. Before the study, the animals will go through the visual receptors test including visual pursuit of a moving object, tactual placing response, pupillary reflex to light. The passive kitten will then be allowed to move freely for 48 hours or more and will be tested on the paw placement test.

Data: The times that the active and passive kittens stayed on the shallow or deep side and the time it took different animals to pass the tests will be gathered quantitatively. However, depth perception will be checked through observation of the animals on the various tests. This means data will also be gathered qualitatively.

B) PRACTICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL

This study’s strength is its high generalizibility. The study uses different pairs of animals- kitten, monkeys and mice so that the depth perception can be applied to different animals. The pairs of monkeys are from two different zoos and the pairs of kitten are each from different litters to increase the population validity of the study.

The study is high in reliability as it uses a number of controls. This includes each animal being placed in the carousel for 3 hours. Each active animal can move about while the passive animal is restricted in a holder. All animals are also left in the dark with their mothers. They must all complete the same tests. The visual cliff test has to be completed 12 times. Each passive animal is let free for 48 hours or more depending on the type of animal.

The study is also high in validity. It is high in concurrent validity as it uses a number of tests to measure the visual spatial abilities of the animals- paw placement, visual cliff, blinking to an approaching object. Similarly, the visual receptors of the animals are also checked through different tests- visual pursuit of a moving object, tactual placing response and papillary reflex to light. As the study looks at different visual abilities, it is also high in content validity.

However, the study is low in ecological validity as it observes animals in a lab setting. It takes place in a very controlled environment, whereas, in real life there are other things that may affect depth perception that the experimenters may not account for such as hearing or other senses. The study is , therefore, not generalizable to real life.

PRATICAL AND ETHICAL

The study is low in ethics as it can cause long term harm (atrophy) to the animals. Being exposed to an unfamiliar surrounding can make the animals fearful and by restricting movement of animals, the experimenters can affect other abilities. The study will also be using a greater number of animals making the study more unethical.

DEMENT AND KLIETMAN (field, snapshot)

Aim: The aim is to prove a correlation between dreams and periods of REM, between estimate of dream length and time in REM and dream content and eye movements.

Sample: 10 adult males and 10 adult females will be selected at random through adverts in newspapers. They will be aged between 20-30 years old. Informed consent will be taken from the subjects and therefore this is a voluntary sample.

Procedure: The study will last for a week (snapshot study) and experimenters would reach the subjects homes half an hour before their usual sleeping time. Since it will take place in their homes, it is a field experiment. The subject’s confidentiality will be maintained and they will be given a right to withdraw.

They would attach 2 electrodes on the subjects temples to record electrical changes and hence movement of the eyes. 4 electrodes on the scalp to record brain activity will be attached. Electrodes would be attached to an EEG to record the signals. The subjects when in REM sleep would be woken up and would report if they had been dreaming, and what the content was and describe details. Subjects would also be woken up in NREM sleep and asked the same questions. Subjects would be woken up by a 10 second beep.

Data: Qualitative data will be collected as the experimenter will make note of the dream content and the number of times a person recalls dreams in REM or estimate of their dream length will be measured quantitatively.

B) PRATICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL

One of the strength of the study is that it is high in ecological validity. This is because instead of taking place in a lab, it takes place in the natural setting of the participants. The experimenters come to the subject’s home before their normal sleeping time. This means the subjects will sleep more comfortably and so may be generalizable to real life situations.

Another strength of the study is validity. Since, the experimenters make use of EEG, it can accurately predict when the subject’s are in REM and NREM sleep so that they can gather valid data about dream recall, content of the dream and the duration of the dream.

The study’s generalizibility is also high since it uses a snapshot method. This means it is possible to use a greater sample (20 subjects). Moreover, there is an equal gender mix and the age range is also varied. This means the findings of the study will be more applicable to other populations.

However, the study is still prone to demand characteristics that can lower the validity of the study. This is because the subjects know the true purpose of the study and so may make up dreams so that they can go back to sleep.

The study is also reductionist because it only looks at the nature and individual aspect of the debate as it looks at dreaming and it’s correlation to eye movements. It does not even look at the nurture and situational aspect that may affect sleep and dreaming patterns such as having more caffeine or alcohol.

The study is also reductionist because it doesn’t analyze whether the subjects were already dreamers or dreamed less. Goodenough et al found in his study that there were differences in the results of these subjects so individual differences in this study can confound the results.

ETHICS:

The study takes informed consent from the subjects and maintains their confidentiality. However, the subject’s privacy can be questioned as it takes place in their houses and the protection may also be low as continuous awakenings over a week could disrupt the routine of the individuals.

LANGLIOS (field)

Aim: The aim of the study will be to check infant preferences for attractive and unattractive faces and whether it generalizes to other genders, races and ages.

Sample: The study will consist of 60 infants from two different daycares in Malaysia. The infants will have a racial mix ranging from Malay, Chinese, Pakistan and Americans and an average age of 6 months. Informed consent will be taken from be from the parents of the infants. Confidentiality and protection of the child will be maintained.

Procedure: The study will be a field experiment since it will take place in their natural setting. It will last for 20 minutes. The babies will be divided into four groups- Group A, B ,C and D (20 infants in each group). Group A will be shown 5 pictures of white attractive men and then 5 pictures of white unattractive men. This will be counterbalanced so that each picture appears twice. Group B will go through pictures of 5 attractive women and 5 unattractive women. Group C will go through pictures of 5

attractive black women and 5 unattractive black women. Group D will be further sub divided into two groups. One group of ten infants will go through pictures of 5 attractive male infants and 5 unattractive male infant and the other group of ten infants will go through 5 attractive female infants and 5 unattractive female infants.

Each infant will be seated with their baby sitter who would go through all the pictures together. These pictures will be collected in a standardized booklet. The baby sitter will open each page for 15 seconds.

Data: Infant preferences will be evaluated by observation; two observers will be sitting in the next room watching through a one-way mirror increasing inter-rater reliability. Also, a camera will be put up recording the side infant looks at (visual preference paradigm). The time period and direction will also be noted and this will yield quantitative data.

Evaluation:

One strength of the study is ecological validity. This is because the study takes place in the natural setting of the children (day care) where they are comfortable. The children are shown pictures in the baby sitter’s lap and so the natural behaviour of infants is observed and can be generalized to real life settings.

The study is high in generalizibilty as there are a high number of infants (60) that are taken from four different types of cultures- Malay, Chinese, Pakistan and America. This means that the results of the study can be applied to different populations from different cultures.

Another strength of the study is high reliability due to the controls used. Each page is shown to the infant for 15 seconds and infants in each group are shown the same standardized booklets and the same number of attractive and unattractive faces. The whole experiment lasts 20 minutes for each infant and infants are all seated in the baby sitter’s lap.

However, since the study takes place in a natural setting, it is prone to extraneous variables. The baby sitter’s preferences could bias the babies preference for the faces. Moreover, it may not be possible to check gaze direction as babies will be looking down in the booklets whereas they will be observed through a one way mirror across the room. The study is also reductionist as it is unable to gather qualitative data from the infants and has to rely on gaze direction of the infants. Moreover, it focuses on the nature aspect of the nature-nurture side as it focuses on how infants have an innate cognitive scheme (cognitive abstraction) to recognize unfamiliar stimuli. It does not look at how nurture may affect the attractiveness of the infants. For eg, by looking at maternal attractiveness or exposure to faces.

Ethics:The study takes informed consent for the parents and the confidentiality of the infants is preserved. They are also protected as they are in a comfortable environment. However, looking at pictures for long could make infant’s tired and irritable, therefore violating protection. Moreover, infants have no right to withdraw from the experiment.

PILLIAVIN (lab)

Aim: The aim of the study will be to check helping behaviour in emergency situation.

Sample: The sample will consist of 50 participants out of which 25 will be females and 25 will be males. Voluntary sampling will be used to gather participants through a newspaper advertisement. They will include a varied age range including 20-50 year old individual. The race of the subjects will also be varied.

Procedure: The study will take place over a day and so will use a snapshot method. Participants will be deceived about the purpose of the study and will be told the study aims to understand if participants are empathizers or systemizers. The participant’s will be taken to a room where they will fill in these tests and will be told they can tell the experimenter once they’re done.

During the questionnaire, 10 minutes after the participant starts solving the questions, the stooge in the room gets up, staggers, falls down and stares at the ceiling. The model, who will be another experimenter in the room will act to be busy in something important and will help the victim 70 seconds after the stooge falls.

The participant’s behaviour will be recorded through a video camera and the dependent variables will include the time it takes for the participant to help , the number of helpers, the gender and the race of helpers. 25 participants will be in the room at one time so that the experimenters can check diffusion of responsibility. At the end of the study, subject’s will be debriefed about the true aim of the study.

Data: The data of the study will be collected through the videotape. The number of helpers and their race, gender and time of helping will all be gathered quantitatively while their comments and reactions will be observed and collected by the video qualitatively.

Pillivian (self report)

Everything the same but self report measures like rating scale, questionnaires and interviews at the end

EVALUATION

The strength of the study is high reliability. As it takes place in a lab, a number of extraneous variables can be controlled to help replication and to ensure validity of the study. The stooge falls after 10 minutes of the questionnaire and acts the same way (staggering forward and staring at the ceiling) for both groups of participants. The model helps after 70 seconds. The experimenter acts busy after the stooge falls. Test- retest reliability is also ensured as the participants will be divided into two groups to compare whether the results are same for both trials.

The study is also high in generalizibility. This is because the study is able to gather a range of ages (20-50), an equal gender mix, different races. This means the findings of the study can be generalized to people of different age groups, different genders and different races. The number of participants (50) is also high and will yield significant, valid findings.

The data is also holistic as both quantitative and qualitative data is gathered through the video tape. The time, race, frequency and number of helpers are gather quantitatively that ensures data is comparable. Qualitative data gives insight into the participant’s reactions (for eg, feeling comfortable) or reasons for helping or not helping.

However, the study uses the snapshot method. This means it reduces the participant’s behaviour to their actions on one day. They don’t account for their mood that may have been good/ bad and may have influenced their reactions to the emergency situation.

Another weakness of the study is ecological validity. Since the study takes place in a controlled situation, it does not account for other factors that may influence helping behaviour. For eg, subjects getting late or the type of victim (race/gender) were not analysed to see the impact on helping behaviour.

ETHICS:

- Take out holistic and snapshot

The study takes consent from the participant’s to take part in the study. They are also debriefed at the end of the study. However, the subjects have no way to withdraw the emergency situation and they are deceived about the real aim of the study. They are also covertly observed without informed consent. Protection of participants can also be questioned as the emergency situation may have made them uncomfortable.

TAJFEL (field) –RABIA’S Ans

ZIMBARDO ( self report)

Aim: The aim of the study is to

MANN AND VRIJJ (self report), increased generalizibility

Aim: The study by Mann and Vrijj aims to find out systematic behavioural indicators to distinguish between high stake liars and truth tellers.

Sample: The sample will be 50 police suspects from two police stations. Their crimes will range from arson, rape, murder and theft. The suspects will be equally male and female and there will be an attempt to have a racial mix. The subjects will include high stake truth tellers and high stake liars and low stake truth tellers and low stake liars. Voluntary sampling will be used as suspects will give consent to take part in the study.

Procedure:

MANN AND VRIJJ ( field exp) , participant obs (CHECK FROM COPY)

Aim: The study by Mann and Vrijj aims to find out systematic behavioural indicators to distinguish between high stake liars and truth tellers.

Sample: The sample will be 15 police suspects from one police station crimes will range from arson, rape, murder and theft. The suspects will be male and female and there will be an attempt to have a racial mix. Voluntary sampling will be used as consent and informed consent will be taken by the suspects.

Procedure: The experiment will be a field experiment as it will take place in the participant’s natural setting. The study will last for a day and therefore use the snapshot method. The experimenters will sit inside the interrogation room along with the policemen and will observe the behaviour of the lair. They will make notes and pretend to be a police investigator. Forensic evidence would make sure that those questions are asked about which the police is sure. (CHECK REST FROM COPY)

Data:

DEMATTE

11 Demattè et al (smells and facial attractiveness) conducted a laboratory experiment on female college students. An alternative method to investigate this would be to conduct a field experiment, for example, at a social event.

(a) Describe the field experiment as a research method. [5]

(b) Design an alternative study to the Demattè et al study using a field experiment and describe how it could be conducted. [10]

(c) Evaluate this alternative way of studying smells and facial attractiveness in practical terms rather than ethical terms. [10]

NELSON

-Subject-

- races , newspaper

BANDURA

FREUD

MILGRIM

6 Milgram (obedience) conducted a controlled observation in a laboratory to investigate obedience to an authority figure. An alternative way to investigate this would be to conduct an observation in the natural environment.

(a) Describe different types of experiments in psychology. [5]

(b) Design an alternative study to the Milgram study using an observation in the natural

environment and describe how it could be conducted.[10]

(c) Evaluate this alternative way of studying obedience to authority in ethical and methodological terms. [10]

AIM: The study will aim to investigate obedience to an authority figure.

SAMPLE: The sample will consist of 12 female subjects. They will be nurses working at a hospital. There mean age will be 25 years and they may come from a range of ethnic backgrounds. The study will use involuntary sampling as subjects will be unaware of a study taking place.

PROCEDURE: The study will last for a day (snapshot method). Doctors known to the nurses will call them through the telephone and nurses will be given the same standardized instructions- “Please administer Drug 703 to patient in Room 7.” The drug and its dangerous side effects will be clearly labeled on the medicine.

Each nurse will be given the instructions and sent to different rooms. A male stooge (aged 30 years old and of a mild nature) will express reluctance, frown and say, “What is this for? I don’t think I want this. This is not good for me!”

In case, nurses call the doctor back or express disapproval, the following prods will be used.

PROD 1: Please continue or Please go on.

PROD 2: Your job require that you do this.

PROD 3: It is absolutely essential for you to give the patient the drug.

PROD 4: You have no other choice. You must give him the dosage.

If the nurses asked questions about harm to the patient, specialized prods were used, “Although the drug is lethal, it is for his own good.” Nurses will be debriefed after the study.

DATA:

Nurses will be observed through a camera in the room. The obedience will be rated quantitatively based on the number of participants willing to administer the drug. The comments and reactions of the participants such as signs of tension and nervousness will be collected qualitatively through observation of the video clips.

-RELIABILITY

-EV

-SNAPSHOT

But:

-GENERALIZABILTY

-SNAPSHOT

-C.V

Ethics: Met- conf and debriefing but no consent, deception and protection

ROSENHAN

BILLINGTON

LOFTUS AND PICKRELL

VEALE AND RILEY

BARON COHEN