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Summary AS and A level Psychology Case studies
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Compiled and Summarised notes all based on the 4 main approaches of AS and A level Psychology with aim, procedure and much more included!
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Psychology of Consumer Behavior- As and A level summary notes
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Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) Psychology Extremely Detailed Study Notes for the Biological Approach (Canli et al. ; Dement and Kleitman ; Schachter and Singer)
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Summary notes for Satisfaction at work ( Psychology and organisations 9990)
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Psych AS case studies RaidaBiological:
Canli et al.
> Aims:
1. To find whether emotive images will be better remembered than pictures
with little emotion
2. To find whether the amygdala is sensitive to different levels of emotional
intensity enhances the memory of their stimuli, and whether the level of
emotional intensity enhances the memory of that stimuli
> Background:
-> there are 2 types of medical scans:
1. Functional scans show activity levels in different areas of the brain
2. Structural scans take detailed pictures of the brain structure
The study used an fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) which
detects blood flow in the brain to show how the brain works during different
tasks
Amygdala: part of the limbic structure; responsible for the processing of
emotion and storing of memory
> Research method, design, and variables:
Laboratory experiment
Repeated measures design (participants were unexpectedly asked to repeat
the procedure after 3 weeks)
Independent variable: level of arousal of each picture shown
i) not emotionally intense at all: level 1 & 2
ii) extremely emotionally intense: level 3 & 4
Dependent variable:
fMRI measure of amygdala activation, for each of the 96 scenes, 11 frames
were captured
Memory of the scene after 3 weeks pass
> Sample:
10 right-handed healthy female volunteers
Females were chosen as they would be more likely to report emotional experiences
and show psychological reactions to stimuli
Sampling technique: self-selecting sampling
> Procedure:
fMRI
96 images on overhead projector
From IAPS (international affective picture system)
2.88 seconds each
12.96 seconds fixation cross
, Participants had to indicate their emotional arousal by pressing a button with
their right hand
PPS choose from 4 buttons on a scale of 0 (not emotionally intense at all) - 3
(extremely emotionally intense)
3 weeks later, PPS were tested in an unexpected recognition test. They viewed
the 96 scenes and 48 foils (newly added) [foils were selected to match
previous scenes’ valence ratings]
Participants were asked to judge whether they’d remembered it, felt it was
familiar, or forgotten it
> Results:
The correlation between participant’s intensity rating and valence was -0.66
The correlation between participant’s intensity rating and arousal was 0.68
Therefore, participant’s ratings of emotional intensity reflected well the
valence and arousal characteristics of the stimuli
Amygdala activation was significantly correlated with higher ratings of
individually experienced emotional intensity
Follow up memory task indicated that memory performance was better for
scenes rated as highly emotionally intense than for scenes rated as less
emotionally intense
> Conclusions:
1. Canli managed to find an association between individual experiences of
emotional intensity for stimuli with amygdala activation and memory [the
more emotionally intense an image is, the more likely it will be remembered]
This provides evidence to explain why people remember emotionally intense
experiences well
2. The amygdala is sensitive to individuals’ experienced emotional intensity of
visual stimuli (the activity in the left amygdala during encoding is predictive of
subsequent memory)
> Strengths and Weaknesses:
(STRENGTHS)
Lab experiment: standardised procedures -> PPS rated the SAME scenes,
SAME time interval and time for each scene projected
This creates internal validity, there are fewer chances of confounding variables
attending the study
Quantitative data
Related to amygdala activation and statistical analysis such as correlational
analysis collected
Makes data reliable (objective analysis) and easy to compare
(WEAKNESSES)
Not ecologically valid, however, participants didn’t respond to demand
characteristics which increases validity
Objective results; fMRI measures biological responses where researchers don't
have to interpret any results, however, we don’t know much about the
locations of specific behaviours in the brain
, Gynocentric/non-generalisable; sample consisted only of right-handed
females, this creates participant variables that can distort results and reduce
validity
We can’t really generalise results to males and left-handed individuals as they
may respond differently
> Nature. VS. Nurture
Machines such as fMRI have been used to measure biological responses
Biological processes underlying emotions are a product of the brain and
hormones
However, there are differences between individuals’ emotional responses this
can be due to differences in hormonal levels or experiences
> Individual and Situational experiences
Ex. Our tendency to cry at sad films indicates that situational factors matter in
our expression of emotions. Although individual factors are present here too -
not everyone cries at the same film
Dement and Kleitman (1957)
Key terms:
REM: random eye movement: when eyes move rapidly under the eyelids and
is associated with dreaming
nREM: non-random eye movement: when eyes are still and isn’t associated
with dreaming
EEG (Electroencephalogram): detects and records electrical activity in nerve
and muscle cells
EOG(Electrooculogram): detects eye movement
> Aim:
[General]: to investigate the relationship between eye movements and dreaming
[Specific]:
1. Does dream recall differ between (REM) and (nREM) stage of sleep?
2. Is there a positive correlation between subjective (personal) estimates of
dream duration and the length of REM period before waking?
3. Are eye movement patterns related to dream content?
> Background:
Aserinsky (student of Kleitman) revealed that participants woken from REM
sleep were more likely to report a vivid/visual dream than participants woken
from nREM (1955).
They also showed that we have several sleep stages alternating between REM
and nREM
> Research method, design and variables:
AIM 1:
Research method: natural experiment
IV: stage of sleep
, DV: dream recall
AIM 2:
Research method: correlational study
IV: length of sleep
DV: estimated length
AIM 3:
Research method: interview
IV: eye movement
DV: dream content
-> EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Repeated measures
> Sample:
7 males, 2 females (5 studied in detail, 4 studied to confirm results)
Sampling technique: opportunity
> Procedure:
[general]
Participants were asked to refrain from caffeinated drinks and alcohol on the
day of the study
Participants were asked to arrive to the laboratory just before their normal
bedtimes
Participants slept in a dark quiet room, with electrodes attached onto their
heads and the wires gathered into a ponytail
All were woken up by the same loud doorbell
Dream report only counted if the participants can remember the dream and
its content vividly
[aim specific]
AIM 1: (participants woken from REM or nREM either by):
A random number-table
Groups of 3 REM and 3 nREM
Told they were woken only in REM, but it was random
No specific order
They weren’t aware which stage they were awaken from to avoid demand
characteristics
They were asked if they had dreamt. If yes, they recorded the content on a
tape recorder
The experimenter came in a few times (after recording) to ask further
questions related to their dreams
AIM 2:
Woken up after 5 or 15 minutes of REM sleep
Told to guess the duration of their dream
Recorded dream; the number of words they used to narrate the dream were
also recorded
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