IB Psychology HL List of Studies (May 2021)

Darley and Latane (1968)

2 experiments aimed to investigate the bystander effect. 1st experiment-smoke coming out of the room, when a person was alone, almost everyone responded. When there were two strangers in the room with an individual, if the strangers didn't respond, it was likely the individual wouldn't respond either. 2nd experiment-students were communicating with another "student" who told them there was an emergency and they needed help. When the person was alone communicating with the other student, they immediately seeked out help, but when there were 3 or 4 other students, the individual was less likely to help (diffusion of responsibility)

Sprafkin (1975)

30 5-year-olds from a predominantly white neighborhood watched an episode of "Lassie". The episode either showed a neutral interaction or Lassie saving a puppy. When given the opportunity, those who had seen the prosocial episode were more likely to help a dog.

McCoy and Pitino (2002)

36 regularly menstruating young women of around 20-30 years old were given perfume that either contained a synthesized pheromone or a placebo solution mixed into it. Seven socio-sexual behaviors were observed/recorded over the course of the study: - petting, affection and/or kissing - sleeping next to a romantic partner -sexual intercourse - informal dates (dates that were not planned ahead of time) - formal dates (dates that were planned ahead of time) - masturbation - approaching a male Pheromone group reported significantly engaging in more petting/physical affection, formal dates, sex, and sleeping next to partners. Suggests that human pheromones might be thing??

Diab (1963)

A replication of Sherif's study on Muslim and Christian boys in Beirut, a region in Lebanon with conflict between those two personal identites. But the study found that new artificial group identities were more impactful in the group, causing more inter-group conflict than the pre-existing divide of religion.

Delafosse, Fouraste & Ghobouo (1993)

A study in the Ivory Coast found that globalization may lead to negative behaviours in young adults. The researchers studied a group of young Ivorians age 16 to 20 from 1980 to 1991. They wanted to see if identity confusion as a result of the rapid Westernization of the country would play a role in behaviour. Through both clinical interviews and data from police and social workers, they found an increase in suicide attempts, drug use, prostitution and interpersonal aggression.The researchers attributed the increase in problems and changes in their behaviour to the conflict they experienced between the values of their traditional culture and the values of the West.

Regan, Lakhanpal, and Anguiano (2012)

AIM: Determine if there is a difference in happiness between arranged vs love marriages. PROCEDURE: Sampled 58 Indian couples living in the USA (28 arranged marriages and 30 love marriages). Participants completed measures on marital satisfaction, commitment, companionate love, and passionate love. RESULTS: No differences were found between participants in arranged and love marriages.

Dion and Dion (1993)

AIM: Determine role cultural factors (individualism vs collectivism) play in formation of romantic relationships PROCEDURE: Experimenters examined the research from various studies comparing two individualistic cultures to three collectivist cultures (India, China, and Japan.) RESULTS: Romantic love is more likely to be the basis for marriage in individualistic cultures. Intimacy in marriage is more about satisfaction with marriage and personal wellness in individualistic cultures.

Buss (1989)

AIM: Determine what traits people from different demographics are attracted to PROCEDURE: Researchers obtained questionnaire responses from 37 samples, representing over 10,000 individuals, from 33 countries located on 6 continents and 5 islands. RESULTS: 1) 37/37 samples-males valued physical attractiveness and relative youth in potential mates more than did females. 2) 23/37 samples Males value chastity in potential mates more than women 3) 36/37 samples Females value the financial capacity of potential mates more than did males. 4) 29/37 samples Females valued the characteristics of ambition and industriousness in a potential mate to a greater extent than males CONCLUSION: Gendered preferences listed above were widely generalizable across cultures, suggesting that there is an underlying, biological component to these preferences.

Berry (1967)

AIM: Measure levels of conformity in collectivist societies and individualistic societies. PROCEDURE: Involved 3 distinct cultures: the Temne people (who were collectivist rice farmers), the Inuit people (who were individualistic hunters/fishers), and the Scots (who served as a control group). Each group was composed of around 120 participants. Individually, each participant was given 9 lines, and they were tasked with matching the top line with one of the other 8 lines below. Participants began with two practice trials, then performed four more trials. One trial three, participants were given a "hint" that told the participants what other people in their culture picked. In the third trial, the correct response was given in the "hint," but in trials four through six, the wrong response was given and was always 5 lines away. Researchers measured the level of conformity by seeing how many lines away participants were from the correct line (resulting in a score from 0-15). RESULTS: The average total differences from the correct response were 9.04 for the Temne, 2.75 for the Inuit, and 4.00 for the Scots. The conclusion drawn was that the collectivist culture had significantly higher conformity than the individualistic culture.

Atri et al. (2004)

AIM: Test the role of acetylcholine in memory formation (preventing proactive interference). PARTICIPANTS: 28 English speakers from a university RESEARCH METHOD: Quantitative, lab experiment PROCEDURE: This experiment has two distinct "phases," and the same participants were used for both phases. In the 1st phase, the participants were read a list of 18 related pairs of words intermixed with 18 pairs of unrelated words. They were then instructed to recall the first word in various pairs. (This was their "recall" task.) 6 words at the beginning and end were not counted to account for the primary & recency effects. In the 2nd phase, participants were asked to repeat the same task but randomly allocated to 1 of 3 groups: "no injection," "glycoprotein injection," or "scopolamine." RESULTS: Those who were injected with scopolamine did worse than the groups with no injection or glycoprotein injection (excites ACh) as they couldn't recall pairs.

Hillard and Liben (2010)

AIM: To determine how social categories influence the development of stereotypes. PROCEDURE: Using a pre-test/post-test design, 57 preschool students age 3-5 took a test to measure their gender flexibility. There were then shown pictures of activities and jobs, asking if boys or girls should perform them. The pictures included culturally masculine, culturally feminine, and neutral tasks. Then the students were subjected to two weeks where the teacher either made the kids aware of their gender (saying "boys and girls", seperating the kids by sex, or requesting specific tasks be performed by boys or girls) or were not made aware of their gender in school (controlg group). In the studies these were called the high and low salience conditions. RESULTS: After two weeks of exposure to high gender salience, children were less likely to play with members of the opposite sex and had more gender stereotypes. (Children were put through a debriefing program after the study.)

Chen et al (2005)

AIM: To investigate the role of Social Identity Theory on an individual's buying habits. PARTICIPANTS: 149 bi-cultural participants from a Singaporean University. PROCEDURE: The study was conducted online. Participants were first primed in order to make either their Singaporean or American identity more salient. They were shown a collage of 12 photos that were emblematic of the culture. They were then asked to write down as many of the items as they could remember. Then, they were asked to buy a novel online and told that standard delivery was $2.99 Singaporean dollars. They were then told shipping would take 5 days but they could pay extra to get the book in 1 day. They were asked how much they were willing to pay for 1 day shipping. Finally, they were asked to list the first 3 politicians that came to mind. Results: People whose Western Culture values were made more salient through priming placed a higher value on immediate consumption than the people whose eastern cultural values were made more salient. In both cases, the participants listed politicians that were relevant to the culture they had been primed for. Conclusion: Priming remained through the study. Social identity theory does play a role in buying habits.

Zajonc (1968)

AIM: To investigate whether people report greater linking of things to which they have been exposed to numerous times. PARTICIPANTS: University Students from the same Uni across the three different experiments PROCEDURE: Three different experiments were involved showing a presentation of images to participants- the three different experiments involved Chinese characters, nonsense words and year book photos. Some of the images in each presentation were shown more often than others. The participants were then asked to verbally share their attitude about the images. RESULTS: Images that had been shown more frequently than others were found to be more liked than the images that had been shown rarely. This was consistent across all three of the image types. CONCLUSION: Zajonc concluded that the fact that the participants had been exposed to images more frequently made them more favourable. He called this the "Mere Exposure Effect" due to the participants favour being determined by the 'mere' fact that they had been exposed to some images more often than others. CRITIQUE: The study does not directly measure the effect of proximity on real life relationships thus the confidence in the validity of the findings in relation to relationships is lessened.

Fein and Spencer (1997)

AIM: see if prejudice would increase in men after they had their self-image challenged on an intelligence test PROCEDURE: 61 male participants who were given false feedback on an intelligence test. Some participants were randomly allocated to a group that was told they scored in the top 10% while others were randomly allocated to a group that was told they scored below average. Following this, the participants read a story about a struggling actor in which half received a story about a straight male while the other half received a story that implied he was gay. They were then told to rate the personality of the struggling actor on a questionnaire. RESULTS: if the struggling actor was gay and the participant was told they were below average, then the participants described the actor in more negative and stereotypical ways for a gay man. However, if the struggling actor was heterosexual, then there was no significant difference in feedback quality. The conclusion was that lower self-esteem can make people more likely to discriminate.

Hart et al (2000)

AIM: to investigate the amygdala responses of participants presented with faces of people in their in-group compared to an out-group. PARTICIPANTS: There were 8 white and 8 black participants with gender mixed in PROCEDURE: each participant was shown 10 different faces for each group (in-group and out-group) a total of 3 times each; resulting in seeing 30 faces of each group. They were shown these faces inside an fMRI machine as they attempted to discern whether the face was male or female. This task was used simply to have participants do something in the scanner. After the scan, participants were asked how they felt about the faces they saw. RESULTS: participants had more activation in their amygdala when looking at faces of the out-group compared to faces of their in-group; however, the participants did not report any noticeable emotional difference between seeing the two faces. The conclusion is that the amygdala response may be a natural reaction to seeing the out-group.

Wood (2002)

Aim of study was to examine gender role enculturation as a result of parenting and toy selection. (modern version of Fagot's 1978 and Smith & Loyd's 1978 sutdies). 48 children (24 boys, 24 girls) ages 24-72 months, played with either his or her own mother or father, a mother or father of another child, and a man or woman who was not a parent. The adults were matched for age, educational level, and occupation. Children had a one-on-one play session with an adult at the child's preschool or at their own home. There were 3 play sessions (15 mins each) total per child. Half of girls played with their mom, other mom, or non-mother; the other half played with their father, other father, or non-father (same for boys). 15 toys were arranged in a straight line in the room--5 toys were stereotypically boy toys, 5 stereotypical girl toys, and 5 gender neutral toys (blocks, PlayDoh, and a teddy bear). Amount of time spent playing with gender-specific toys was recorded. Adults were then asked to sotr the toys based on masculinity, femininity, or neutrality. Results: Gender-sorting task showed that adults did not agree with the traditional "expert" categorization of some toys, which suggests a shift in perceived function of some traditionally stereotyped toys. When playing with boys, most time was spent with masculine toys. With girls, there was greater flexibility in the categories of toys with which they played.

Ronay & von Hippel (2010)

Aim of the study was to determine if men would take greater risks in the presence of an attractive female than in the presence of a male. They also wanted to see what role testosterone played in this behavior. 96 young adult males (recruited at a skatepark) were asked to do one "easy trick" and one difficult trick which they could successfully complete approximately 50% of the time. They were asked to do each trick 10 times. After a break, the participants were asked to make 10 more attempts of each trick. 43 of the participants (control group) were asked to attempt the tricks in front of the same male researcher, while 53 of the participants (experimental group) were asked to attempt the tricks in front of an attractive 18-year-old female researcher who was blind to the hypothesis. Measurements of the participants' saliva and heart rate were taken before and after the experiment. The results of the experiment indicated that participants took greater risks on the difficult tricks in the presence of the female researcher, and that the testosterone levels in their saliva were higher when asked to perform in front of said female researcher.

Sparrow et al (2011)

Aimed to test if technology had an effect on memory retention and recollection. Study 1: 60 undergrad students were asked to type 40 trivia facts on a computer. They were then presented with the trivia statements (one by one) and asked to read & type what they read into a digital bar below the statement. ½ of the participants were told to press the spacebar to save what they typed, while the other ½ was told to press the spacebar to erase what they typed. Additionally, ½ were told to remember the statements while the other ½ was told nothing. They were then given 10 mins to recall as many of the statements as possible and then given a recognition task where 40 statements were given and they were asked to identify (y/n) whether they were exactly the same as the ones on the computer. Results showed that being asked to remember information made no significant difference to participant's ability to recall the trivia facts but was significantly different if participants believed info would be saved into the computer. Asked to remember & told computer would save info: 19 Not asked to remember & told computer would save info: 22 Asked to remember & told computer would erase info: 29 Not asked to remember & told computer would erase info: 31

Englich and Mussweiler (2001)

An experiment testing the effects of anchoring bias, specifically in courtroom decision making. 19 young trial judges, with roughly 9 months experience, were asked to provide a sentence to a hypothetical rapist. The new-to-their-profession judges were divided into two groups each given the same scenario about a rape and a guilty verdict. One group was told the prosecutor suggested a 2 month sentence while the second group was told that a 34 month sentence was suggested. 2 & 34 being the anchors. After reviewing the facts the 2 month group, on average, were suggesting sentences around 18.78 months, while the 34 month group's average sentence for the criminal was 28.7 months in jail. With the initial suggestion the participants kept their sentences lower or higher respectively. After giving their sentence they were asked about their certainty of a good ruling. The participants gave themselves low certainty ratings.

Jane Elliott (1977)

Assigned her 3rd-grade students to do a simulation: "the Blue eyes-Brown eyes" exercise. She told the blue-eyed students they were "superior" to the brown-eyed children and even gave the blue-eyed students privileges (also told the blue-eyed students not to play with the brown-eyed students). Elliot found that her brown-eyed children resisted in the beginning but eventually began to accept that they were inferior. The blue-eyed children saw themselves as superior and acted negatively towards the brown-eyed children (bossed them, called them names, and even demonstrated aggression on the playground). When she had the children switch roles, she observed that the brown-eyed children were not as aggressive as the blue-eyed children had been.

Discuss Theories of Bystanderism

Bystanderism/Bystander Effect: theory which states that bystanders to a bad situation are less likely to help when there are others around Factors affecting bystanderism: - Diffusion of responsibility/amount of people there: Less people, better chance of helping - Level of religiosity (Darley and Batson 1973): Time pressure rather than one's level of religiosity may be responsible for one's choice to help; social context may be more important than personal traits - Cultural differences: collectivism versus individualism may influence likeliness to help - Social identity: in-group bias does exist - Duclos and Barasch argue that social identity is more important than cultural dimensions when deciding whether to help or not - Law of social impact: strength of situation, immediacy of situation, number of people present (SIN, proposed by Latane in 1981)

Broca (1861)

Case study on "Tan", whose brain was autopsied after death, he could understand speech but not produce it; found major damage to the left frontal lobe (now known as "________'s Area") Suggests that brain function is localized.

Schemas

Cognitive schemas are mental representations that organize our knowledge, beliefs, and expectations. The concept of schemas is broad in that it can be tied to any mental representation, however cognitive schemas specifically deal with organizing knowledge, beliefs, and expectations. Schemas are created from experience and can influence expectations. Schemas can be divided into the following types: Social schemas - mental representations about various groups of people (for example, a stereotype) Scripts - schemas about sequences of events (for example, going to a restaurant or making coffee) Self-schemas - Mental representations about ourselves

Multi-store model of memory (Atkinson and Shiffrin)

Composed of 3 separate components: Sensory Memory Does not process information, detects information and holds it until it's transferred to STM or lost. Very short duration. Short Term Memory (STM) Capacity of STM is 7 units of information give or take 2 Duration of short term memory is generally no longer than 30 seconds. Rehearsal of the STM content it stays in the STM and is eventually consolidated into LTM Long Term Memory (LTM) Exact capacity of LTM is unknown but is believed to be unlimited Duration is also believed to be unlimited However some of it lies buried until contextual clues brings the memory to the consciousness

Squeglia et al. (2013)

Correlational study involving MRIs in which 185 adolescents had the grey matter in their brains measured in an MRI, combined with tests to test children's other cognitive abilities. Results indicated that as children got older they had less grey matter, and also that children with less grey matter (aka more synaptic pruning) performed better on tests of learning, memory, and cognitive function. Basically, neural pruning helps support and improve cognitive functions since it eliminates unnecessary synaptic connections. Important to note that Squeglia excluded unhealthy children, children who did not speak English as a first language, and children with psychological disabilities, and therefore was restrictive in nature.

Discuss why relationships change or end

Differing Values or Priorities - when those involved in a relationship prioritize different values from one another. For example, couples with differing political beliefs, ideas about finances and savings, or even different religious values. Boredom: - Boredom is another reason why people leave a relationship. Harasymchuk and Fehr (2013) define boredom as a negative emotional state characterized by lack of excitement and stimulation called a "relationship maintenance challenge." Boredom is a perception about the relationship which can be changed Change: A relationship might end due to personal changes in lifestyle or in the workplace, etc. Some examples of changes which put stress on a relationship include moving away from family, having a child or losing a child, a health diagnosis, empty nest syndrome, a change in work or loss of job, etc. Any amount of change puts stress on a relationship and could indicate that a fragile relationship might collapse if enough stressors are added. Communication (Gottman)- "Four Horseman" stuff Rule Breaking and Trust- This happens when one member of the relationship does something that the other partner would not approve of or breaks their trust, this includes telling someone else a secret that a partner shared or cheating and being dishonest, Jealousy- The jealousy that one partner receives from anticipating that the other partner will betray them can end a relationship. This usually appears when someone starts to worry about if they can trust their partner or not.

Discuss a cognitive approach to understanding social responsibility

Empathy-altruism Model: Humans experience two emotions when we see someone suffering: personal distress or empathetic concern. Personal distress will lead people to egoistic helping, while empathetic concern will lead people to altruistic behavior. Negative-state relief model - This model of prosocial behavior argues that egoistic motives lead people to help others rather than empathy. Prosocial behavior is essentially motivated by the desire to reduce one's own discomfort caused by another's negative situation. This model explains why people may walk away from a situation, which is that it reduces their own distress.

Weaver et al (2004)

Epigenetic research on how the type of nurturing rats receive from their mothers in early life affects the way their brain responds to stress in later life. Found that less nurturing was linked to the suppression of the glucocorticoid receptor gene but that the genetic sequences themselves did not differ.

Working memory model (Baddeley and Hitch)

Focused on the structure of STM. Consists of: Central Executive Allocates resources between the visuospatial sketchpad and the phonological loop Visuospatial Sketchpad Holds visual and spatial information "Inner Eye" Phonological Loop Holds sound information and is further divided into two subsystems Phonological Store "Inner Ear" Holds sound in a passive manner Ex. Holding someone's speech as we hear them Articulatory Rehearsal Component "Inner Voice" Turns visual stimuli into sounds Allows rehearsal of information held in the inner ear. By constantly repeating the words, we are increasing the duration of working memory and increasing the chances of transferring the information further into LTM storage. Episodic Buffer A component that integrates information from the other components and also links this information to LTM structures

Contact Hypothesis

Groups need equal status, common goals, intergroup cooperation, and personal interaction, to obtain beneficial effects.

Tversky and Kahnehman (1974)

High school participants were separated into two conditions randomly, the ascending and descending condition. Both groups had to guess the value of 8! in five seconds, but the ascending equation was presented as 1x2x3x4x5x6x7x8 whereas the descending equation was presented as 8x7x6x5x4x3x2x1. Participants in the ascending group estimated a median of 512, descending group estimated 2250 (the actual value is 40320). This experiment shows the anchoring bias and cognitive heuristics in action.

Lashley (1890-1958)

Induced brain damage in the cortex of rats. Researcher would train a rat to run through a maze without errors in search of food. After learning occurred, the researcher would remove an area of the cortex and place the rat back in the maze to see if learning/memory persisted. These experiments failed. Concluded that memory/learning/function was distributed rather than localized.

Discuss a biological approach to understanding social responsibility

Kin Selection Theory (one prioritizes the wellbeing of their kin over others/themselves in dire situations. May be an evolutionary adaptation to ensure one's genes survive)

Bandura et al (1961)

PARTICIPANTS: 36 boys and 36 girls PROCEDURE: Participants were divided into groups based on aggression evaluation from school teachers. Those groups were then brought into a room where one group observed a model acting aggressive towards a "Bobo" doll. One group observed a model acting non aggressive towards the doll, and the last group had no model present in the room. Some of the children observed same sex models while some observed opposite sex models. Afterwards the children were put into a room with toys they were told they could not play with. Then the children were taken to another room with a "bobo" doll present. This situation was meant to frustrate the children. Inside the last room any aggression was observed. RESULTS: The group that observed the aggressive model showed significantly more aggression. Male children were more likely to be physically aggressive while girls were more likely to be verbally aggressive. Participants were also more likely to imitate aggressive behavior of the model was the same sex as them.

Discuss a cognitive approach to understanding personal relationships

Reciprocity - based on the social exchange within a relationship; we like those who like us. People who like us validate the choices we make and reaffirm our self-concept. They are also likely to want to interact with us and help us in the future. Mere Exposer Effect - Simply being exposed to something increases our liking of it.

Social Exchange Theory (Thibaut and Kelley)

Relationships are maintained through a cost-benefit analysis. For a relationship to continue, the benefits must be greater than the costs in the long run to be "profitable."

Steele and Aronson (1995)

Steele and Aronson (1995) AIM: Analyze if stereotype threat affected the performance of African American students on a test. PROCEDURE: In the first version of this study, undergraduate students from Cornell University, both black and white students, were given a test. In one group, they were told it was to test their academic achievement, and in the other group was not told it was this kind of academic test. RESULTS: When the students were under the impression that it was an academic achievement test, the white students averaged a score of 12 problems solved but black students only averaged 8.5 problems solved. However, in the other group, both black and white students averaged 12 problems solved. This showed that the black students were susceptible to stereotype threat when they thought the test showed academic achievement, but not in the equal condition.

Kendler et al (2015)

Study in Sweden observing over 400 male-male sibling pairs (one sib is adopted and the other is home-reared). IQ scores of pairs were recorded and compared. Educational attainment of parents recorded as well.Mean educational level of adoptive parents was higher than biological parents for this particular experiment (bc people who want to adopt are screened in Sweden). Found modest correlation between educational level of parents and IQ of child, suggesting that genes AND environment likely influence intelligence.

Rogers and Kesner (2003)

The aim of the study was to determine the role of acetylcholine in the formation of spatial memories. The procedure involved 30 rats running through a maze where half were assigned to an experimental group where they received an injection of scopolamine that blocked acetylcholine receptor sites. The two groups were compared on the number errors they made each day in the maze. The results of the experiment were that the experimental group took longer and made more mistakes in the learning of the maze. The conclusion of this study was that ACh may play a role in the consolidation of spatial memories.

Rogers and Kesner (2003)

The aim of this study was to determine the role of acetylcholine in the formation of spatial memories. The basic procedure involved injecting some rats with scopolamine (a drug that blocks ACh receptor sites) and injecting others with a placebo as the rats were learning a maze. The results showed that the rats injected with scopolamine took longer and made more mistakes in the learning of the maze. This study showed the importance of ACh in memory consolidation.

Brewer and Tregens (1981)

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of schemas in encoding and retrieval of episodic memory. The participant sample was made up of 86 psychology students. They sat in a room that looked like an office, but with a few random items around the room. Students were then taken to another room and asked to remember items from the office. 30 participants carried out written recall and then verbal recall. 29 students carried out drawing recall, and 27 students carried out verbal recognition only. The recall condition means students wrote down a description of as many objects as they could remember from the office. The drawing condition was when participants were given an outline of the room and asked to draw in the objects. Finally, the verbal recognition condition wsa when participants were read a list of objects and simply asked whether they were in the room or not. When participants were asked to recall either by writing a paragraph or by drawing, they were more likely to remember items that were congruent with their schema of an office. In conclusion, this shows schemas play a role in both encoding and the recall of the objects in the office.

Shah et al (2015)

The aim of this study was to see how acculturation affects health and rates of obesity. The procedure involved participants completing a health and lifestyle questionnaire over a 6-month time span. Participants were mainly South Asian (Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi) male migrant workers in the United Arab Emirates, with over half the participants having been in the UAE for 6 or more years. The results of the study were that migrant workers had significantly higher BMI than men of the same age in their culture of origin. For example, the mean BMI for working men aged 20-59 in India is 23.1 kg/m^2, but it was 31.5 kg/m^2 in the UAE. Another example is the mean BMI in Bangladesh being 19.7 kg/m^2, but it was 26.2 kg/m^2 among the migrant workers in the UAE. The conclusion was that acculturation may contribute to obesity and being overweight.

Kraeh et al (2016)

The aim of this study was to see if a relationship existed between a refugee's level of acculturation and their mental + physical health. To test this relationship, a medical examination of 440 refugees from North Korea that had lived in Seoul, South Korea for at least 3 years was conducted alongside a survey that assessed their level of acculturation. It was found that there was a positive correlation between level of acculturation and psychological health, and a negative correlation between level of acculturation and resting heart rate.

Rosser et al (2007)

The aim of this study was to see if digital technology can improve cognitive skills. The procedure involved correlating laparoscopic surgeons' mastery of video games and performance during surgery drills. The surgeons' mastery of video games was deduced through a self-report questionnaire and through observations of them playing three different games). The surgeons were then observed during routine surgery drills to see how long they took and how many errors they made. The results were that surgeons who played video games for more than 3 hours a week performed the surgery drills 27% faster and made 37% fewer errors, compared to their non-playing counterparts. The conclusion was that overall video game skill was highly correlated to performance in surgery drills.

Mueller and Oppenheimer (2014)

The aim of this study was to see if taking notes by hand would be more effective than taking notes on a computer. The procedure involved 109 UCLA undergraduate students taking notes on a series of 4 lectures. Some participants were given a laptop to take notes on, while others were given a pen and paper. They were all told that they would be tested on the material 1 week later, but they wouldn't have their notes to look at while home. When participants returned to take a 40-question test, they were further divided into a "study" group that could look at their notes again before the test and a "no study" group that immediately took the test. The results were that participants in the "no study" group had no significant difference in test scores based on their method of note-taking (19.4/40 average for pen and paper compared to 20.6/40 average for laptop). However, participants in the "study" group did have a significant difference in mean test scores based on their method of note-taking (25.6/40 average for pen and paper compared to 18.3/40 average for laptop). The conclusion was that taking notes by hand may help students remember more information than when taking notes digitally.

Anderson and Pichert (1978)

The aim of this study was to show that schemas not only influence the encoding of memories, but also the retrieval of them. The procedure involved participants being assigned a specific perspective (either a homebuyer or a burglar) and then reading a passage about two boys at home who skipped school. The passage had 73 total ideas, with some being more specific to each perspective. Participants read the passage, completed a filler task, and were then asked to recall as much of the story as they could. Participants then completed another filler task and were told afterwards to recall the story for a second time without reading it again. However, participants were told to either keep their initial perspective or change their perspective when recalling the passage a second time. The results of the study show that on the first recall, participants recalled more information from their perspective, and on the second recall, participants who switched perspectives recalled an additional 7.1% of the information now important to their perspective while those who retained the same perspective recalled 2.9% less of the information not important to their perspective. The conclusion was that schemas influence the retrieval of information from memory because they act as a lens through which information is processed when it is first registered.

Neisser and Harsch (1992)

The aim was to determine whether flashbulb memories are susceptible to deception. 106 university psych students were given a questionnaire at the end of their class. This was conducted after the challenger disaster. Participants were asked to write a description of how they had heard the news and asked questions such as "what time is it?" "how did you hear about it?" etc. 2 ½ years later, 44 of the original participants were given the questionnaire again but this time they were asked to rate each response on how confident they were of the accuracy of their memory (1-5 scale, 1 being just a guess, 5 being absolutely certain). Results: the researchers came up with a "score". The mean score was 2.9/7 (questions answered correctly/matching the response given 2 ½ years before). 11 participants scored 0/7. 22 scored 2 or less out of 7. And only 3 scored 7/7. But what is interesting, is that participants demonstrated a high level of confidence as the avg level of confidence was 4.17.

Ronnay and von Hippel (2010)

The aim was to find if the presence of an attractive female would increase the likelihood that young men would do risky skateboard tricks, and if testosterone played a role in attraction. In the experiment 96 young men (average age of 21) who were skaters were asked to perform risky tricks and not risky tricks. They were required to perform one risky trick that they could complete 50% of the time and one easy trick 10 times. All of the participants in this study were recruited at a skateboard park (opportunity sample.) One group would be videotaped by a male observer and another group would be filmed by an attractive woman observer (the level of attractiveness was found out by young men rating pictures) the findings in the experiment were the young men were more likely to try a risky trick when the woman was present versus when the man was present. Both heart rate and testosterone level increased when the participants were around the attractive woman.

Fisher et al (2005)

The aim was to investigate specific neural mechanisms associated with romantic love. Fisher studied 17 participants who were intensely in love by scanning their brain in an fMRI machine while first looking at a photo of their loved one and then looking at a neutral photo. This process was repeated 6 times. The results were that the brain's reward system was active when lovers looked at pictures of their loved one. Specifically, the ventral tegmental area was active, which is associated with high levels of dopamine. The conclusion was that there are specific regions in the brain associated with romantic love.

Sherif et al. (1956)

The participants in this experiment (22 white, middle-class boys between the ages of 11 and 12) were divided into two groups: the Eagles and the Rattlers. Both of these groups participated in various team-building exercises in order to encourage the formation of social hierarchies and "cultures" within the teams. Once these "cultures" had formed, the researchers had the teams compete against one another in a series of games. After each game, members of the winning team would be given a trophy, medal, pocket knife, or some other prize. Members of the losing team would receive nothing. Shortly after the games started, hostility began to grow between the two teams. The boys consistently expressed negative opinions about members of the opposing team, and there were several instances of bullying. As hostility between the two teams grew, however, solidarity amongst teammates also steadily increased. In order to end the conflict between the two teams, the researchers created various situations forcing the boys to work together to achieve a common goal (for example, when the researchers made the camp's truck break down during an outing and made the boys work together to pull the truck back to camp.) The introduction of these shared, superordinate goals, eased tensions between the two teams.

Norasakkunkit & Uchida (2014)

The researchers' aim was to explain the origins of hikikomori. The procedure involved a sample of 195 Japanese university students, since people who suffer from hikikomori are difficult to get in touch with. Participants were given a standardized test to see whether they were at high risk or low risk for hikikomori, and then to test to measure their attitudes about social harmony and social conformity. Participants also took a test to measure their sense of local identity and global identity. The results of the study showed that both groups thought social harmony and conformity were highly valued in Japanese society. One difference between those at high-risk for hikikomori and those at low-risk is that high-risk students ranked social harmony values much lower. This means that high-risk students would prefer to lower in harmony and conformity than what is already present in Japan. Additionally, high-risk students scored lower on local and global identity. The conclusion was Japanese youth may be alienated by local culture, and this leads them to not conform. However, those who also don't identify with the globalized culture withdraw from society and can suffer from hikikomori.

Maguire (2000)

The taxi driver study, in which London taxicab drivers who had passed a knowledge test and possessed a taxi license for a year and a half were given MRI scans, which were analyzed alongside average men's MRI scans from a pre-existing database. The posterior hippocampus, related to spatial memory, in taxicab drivers was significantly larger than the posterior hippocampus of the average men's MRI, and the volume of the right posterior hippocampus was larger in a typical association with how long each man had spent as a taxi driver. Maguire argued that these results indicated that the hippocampus may change in response to its environmental demands and factors.

Fatal Attraction Theory (Felmlee)

The theory that what initially attracted us to a partner may be the reason that ends up splitting the relationship. Three common fatal attractions are "fun to foolish" where the partner is initially seen as funny and entertaining but then seen as lacking maturity, "strong to domineering" where the partner is initially seen as self-confident but then seen as uncompromising and authoritarian, and "spontaneous to unpredictable" where the partner is initially seen as living in the moment bu then seen as lacking seriousness and planning.

Reconstructive Memory

Theory that proposes that memory is an active process that involves active retrieval of information from long-term memory storage and reconstruction of information Based on the idea that memories are not saved as complete, coherent wholes. Retrieval of memory is influenced by our perception, our beliefs, past experience, cultural factors, and the context in which we are recalling the information. Schemas influence what we encode and what we retrieve from memory.

Markey and Markey (2007)

They wanted to see if similarity was a factor in attraction. They used questionnaires that pertained to describing ideal romantic partners. First they had participants that were college students, then when they conducted a follow up study they used 106 young couples. They found out that people desire similar characteristics in their ideal romantic partners. (Results seem to support "Similarity-Attraction Model")

Piliavin et al (1969)

This is not a true bystander experiment but does discuss diffusion of responsibility in a social situation, wherein New York City subway riders were observed to see how quickly they would assist a man who had fallen either appearing to be drunk or disabled. Piliavin et al found that 78% of the time, assistance occurred, with a significant difference between people's willingness to help disabled or drunk individuals. Additionally, people who believed they were assisting a disabled person had a median response time of 5 seconds, whereas people who believed they were assisting a drunk person had a median response time of 109 seconds, further indicating that situational factors do influence willingness to engage in prosocial behavior.

Yuille and Cutshall (1986)

This study aimed to test the reliability of eyewitness testimony in a naturalistic setting. On the heels of an actual break-in and robbery in Vancouver, Canada, thirteen of the original 24 eyewitnesses agreed to participate in psychological research four months after the event. Using interviews, about half of the participants were asked leading questions intended to get participants to misremember the crime, while the other half were not asked leading questions. Researchers found that the leading questions had little effect on recall, and that participants on average correctly recalled a large number of accurate details when compared to police records from the investigation 4 months prior (79%-84%), showing that memory reconstruction is not, in fact, affected by leading questions.

Glanzer and Cunitz (1966)

This was a study on the serial position effect that supports the STM and LTM model. Participants memorized lists of words and then were tested using a free recall task. In the first condition participants heard recordings of 20-word lists (one-syllable nouns). Participants were better at remembering the words at the start and end of the list. The second trial included a delay between the end of the list and the start of the recall (participants engaged in a filler task. This resulted in the primacy effect prevailing but the recency effect disappeared. This means that rehearsal plays a role in memory, since words in the beginning appear to be rehearsed more.

Sharot et al. (2007)

Three years after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001, participants were put into an fMRI and presented with word cues intended to link the participant's memory with either summer holidays or the events of 9/11. After the brain scan, participants were asked to rate memories and write a description of their personal events. Researchers found that participants who reported flashbulb memories of 9/11 also reported they were closer to the WTC and often included more details in the written version of the memories. Amygdala activation for participants who were closer to the WTC was much higher than the amygdala activation of the summer holidays when presented to the same participants, whereas participants who had not been as close to the WTC had about the same average amounts of amygdala stimulation from summer holidays and 9/11. Through brain imaging technology, amygdala activation and emotional involvement was potentially found to be important in the creation of flashbulb memories.

Google Effect

When people expect to have information available to them later, they tend not to remember that information. Instead, the brain uses that space to help the individual remember how to find that information.

Four Horseman of the Apocalypse (Gottman)

criticism, defensiveness, contempt, stonewalling

dual processing model

the notion that two networks exist within the human brain, one for immediate emotional thinking (system 1) and one for analytical processing of stimuli (system 2)