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Lecture Notes: PS1810: Psychology in Contemporary Society
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Semester 1 notes for PS1810. Written in 2020/21
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PS1810 – WEEK 1 – Psychology in contemporary societyPopular psychology
Certain topics (some more than others) in psychology are of popular interest
Universal desire to understand human behaviour
Misconception of what psychology is about?
Psychological research can impact many aspects of our lives:
- Education
- Health care
- Forensic investigation
- Work
- Marketing / advertising
- Politics
Psychological research needs to be disseminated – links to the real world are important
Reporting complicated or subtle findings in a way that lay people can understand them can
be difficult
Journalism may exaggerate claims, or fails to report accurately
How can we detect such inaccuracies?
People’s popular beliefs are often embedded in our culture
This even affects psychological research at times
Inaccurate reporting: Little Albert
“Little Albert” (Watson & Rayner 1920)
No previous fear of rats
Rat and loud noise fear response in child
After several pairings, child fears rat in absence of noise
Demonstration of classical condition
As Jarrett points out, the story is often told with several inaccuracies, including that the fear
conditioning generalised to other white objects
Developmental textbooks are inconsistent in the information provided
Inaccurate reporting: Kitty Genovese murder
“38 who saw murder didn’t call the police” By Martin Gansberg (New York Times, 27 th March
1964)
Kitty Genovese was attacked and eventually fatally stabbed near her apartment in New York
There were several witnesses to the attack, but no significant effort to help
The case initiated great interest in the factors that contribute to people’s helping behaviours
Latane and Darley (1968,1970) undertook a programme of research to study why people are
less likely to help or act in the presence of others
3 kay claims that have persisted in accounts of the story:
- 38 witnesses
- They watched from their windows for the duration of the attack
- There was no intervention
Bystander intervention
Why people do not help or act in the presence of others (Latane and Darley, 1968, 1970)
Kitty Genovese Murder
Historical evidence researched by Manning et al. (2007) suggests that these claims are
inaccurate
The “crowd” of bystanders were neighbours who were withing their apartments
The actual murder happened in a stairwell, out of view of most of the supposed witnesses
One person did intervene (scared perpetrator off, but he later returned)
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