Psychology P2: Human relationships and developmental psychology
Banyard et al (2005) Participants
389 undergraduates.
Bandura (1961) Participants
72 children (36 of each gender), ages 3-6, US.
Piliavin et al (1964) Findings and Implications
78% of the time someone helped spontaneously. This occurred in 62 of the 65 trials where the victim had a cane and 19 of the 38 trials where the victim was drunk. The median response time for helping the man with the cane was 5 seconds. For the drunk victim, there was a median response time of 109 seconds. It was found that 90% of helpers were male. Although there were more men present, this % was statistically significant. The larger the group, the quicker the help.
Giedd (2004) Findings
95% of the brain structure is formed when the child is around five or six years old, but the PFC is the last part of the brain to mature. It is responsible for cognitive processes such as planning, impulse control, the direction of attention, and decision-making. He also found that the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex, which is important for controlling impulses, does not mature until the early 20s.
Giedd (2004) Method and Procedure
A repeated measures design. The same children had MRI scans every 2 years. Longitudinal.
Oostermeijer et al (2014) Method and Procedure
A short self-report questionnaire was forwarded to parents or caregivers. They were asked to indicate on a 4-point Likert scale (1=never, 4=often) to what extent their child engaged in constructive play activities. The researchers then measured mathematical word problem-solving performance using the Mathematical Processing Instrument (MPI), which was translated to Dutch. Children were allowed to solve each word problem in a maximum of three minutes and during this time the researcher did not speak to the child. The number of mathematical word problems solved correctly was used as the DV in the analysis.
Buss (1989) Method and Procedure
A survey. Participants answered two questionnaires.
Repacholi and Gopnik (1997) Method and Procedure
A very simple experiment based on what people like to eat. Two conditions: The matched condition: this involved the experimenter showing pleasure when they tasted a sweet cracker and disgust when they tasted raw broccoli. The mismatch condition: this involved the experimenter showing pleasure when they tasted raw broccoli and disgust when they tasted a sweet cracker. The experimenter then placed one hand with the palm upwards, between two bowls of food and requested of the participant 'Can you give me some?' so that it was not clear to which food the experimenter was referring - the child had to make that decision on the basis of how they had seen the experimenter react to the food.
Baron-Cohen et al (1985) Findings and Implications
ASD: 4 out of 20 got correct answers. Down syndrome: 12 out of 14 got correct answers. Normal: 23 out of 27 got correct answers. Children with ASD may lack theory of mind, meaning that they do not have the cognitive capacity to understand that other people may have different thoughts, ideas and information from their own.
Festinger et al (1950) Aim and Participants
Aimed to examine if proximity increases likelihood of friendship. Residents of a large apartment complex.
Regan et al (2012) Aim and Participants
Aimed to study the happiness of individuals in arranged vs love marriages. Indian couples living in the united states.
Ainsworth (1978) Findings and Implications
Ainsworth observed that children were much more active in the exploration of the environment when their mother was around, as compared to when she left or when there was a stranger in the room. This behaviour was common for all the infants. The main differences were the behaviour patterns that the infant exhibited on key stages of the "strange situation" procedure, especially separation anxiety, stranger anxiety and reunion behaviours. Analysis of these behaviour patterns resulted in the identication of three attachment styles: Type A - Insecurely attached - avoidant. The child shows apparent indifference when the mother leaves the room, and avoids contact with her when she returns. The child is apparently not afraid of strangers. The mothers of type A children tend to be insensitive and do not seem interested in their child's play. Type B - Securely attached. The child is upset when the mother leaves and is happy to see her again. The child is easily comforted by the mother. The mothers of type B children are very interested in their child's play and actively communicate with their children during play. Type C - Insecurely attached - ambivalent. The child is very upset when the mother leaves the room, and she has difficulty soothing the child when she returns. The child seeks comfort, but at the same time rejects it. The mothers of type C children tend to be inconsistent in their reactions to the children.
Markey and Markey (2007) Findings and Implications
All participants wanted a romantic partner similar to themselves. People believe that similarity in a potential partner is important.
Harlow (1958) Method and Procedure
An artificial surrogate monkey mother was built from a block of wood and cotton cloth. A light bulb that radiated heat was placed behind her, and a milk-dispensing mechanism was installed in the breast area. This meant that this surrogate mother provided food, warmth, and comfort whenever the baby needed it, a mother with limitless patience that never scolded her infant. The second type of surrogate mother that he constructed was much less comforting. She had the same milk-dispensing device and a heat radiator, but she was made of wire—in other words, similar to the first condition in every way except for "contact comfort". She could satisfy all the basic needs, but an infant monkey could not cling to her. Harlow conducted a number of experiments with eight infant rhesus monkeys and these two surrogate mothers. Infant rhesus monkeys were placed in a cage adjacent to both the cloth and the wire mother. They could freely choose who they wanted to "spend time with".
Chugani (1999) Method and Procedure
An independent samples design. Cross-sectional: Children were only observed once. Change in individual children was not observed over time.
Lorenz (1935) Method and Procedure
An obvious example of imprinting is that of birds that imprint on their parents and follow them around, instinctively copying the behaviour of the adult. Lorenz experimented with a moving stimulus that incubator-hatched geese saw in the critical period shortly (13-16 hours) after hatching.
Walster et al (1996) Findings and Implications
Attractive individuals were harsher in their standards and rated their dates as less attractive. They also expressed less desire to date their partner again. On the other hand, participants own attractiveness did not influence their desire to date more attractive partners.Participants sought relationships with the most attractive dates, not the ones that were similar to them in the level of attractiveness.
Promoting Prosocial Behavior
Banyard et al (2005) Training about sexual assault increases likelihood of helping. Flook et al (2015) Mindfulness-based kindness curriculum. Ferguson et al (2007) Meta analysis on effectiveness of anti-bullying programs.
Borke (1975) Method and Procedure
Borke (1975) replicated the same procedure, but with a few modifications. -the content of the task was changed to make it more relatable to children. Grover (a character from Sesame Street) was used instead of the doll; the "boring" three mountains were replaced by a farm area with details such as people, trees, animals, a lake and a house. -instead of picking one from a series of pictures, children were given two identical displays: one to look at and one on a turntable to provide their response. They were asked to turn the table to select the angle that they believed was seen by Grover.
Luby et al (2013) Findings and Implications
Both the hippocampus and the amygdala showed less white and grey matter in the MRI scans of the children in this study. While both the hippocampus and amygdala showed less development in poverty-affected children the researchers found that in cases where the child experienced positive care there was less negative effect on the hippocampus. Difficult and stressful life events only affected the left hippocampus. Poverty does appear to have a negative effect on brain development in childhood. The quality of caregiving, however, can mediate against some of these harmful effects.
Biolgical factors: Evolutionary psychology
Buss (1989) Attraction
Childhood trauma and resilience
Childhood trauma: Curtis et al (1974): Genies case Case of Anna Case of Isabelle Resilience: Koluchova (1972) Betancourt et al (2013): Sierra Leone affected youth
Borke (1975) Findings and Implications
Children as young as 3-4 years were able to use the turntable to match Grover's viewpoint. Results of the original experiment (Piaget & Inhelder (1956) might have been biased because the nature of the task was cognitively complex and not engaging for children. The study by Borke (1975) does not dispute cognitive egocentrism itself - children are indeed egocentric, and they overcome cognitive egocentrism at a certain age - but according to Borke, this happens earlier than was originally thought.
Flook et al (2015) Findings and Implications
Children in the control group kept significantly more stickers for themselves over time compared to children from the KC group. Researchers concluded that implementing a mindfulness-based prosocial skills training curriculum in real-life settings is beneficial in terms of fostering values of helping, sharing and compassion.
Brain development
Chugani (1999): PETs on development of brain Giedd (2004): Longitdinal study using MRI on PFC Luby et al (2013): The effects of poverty on childhood brain development
Chugani (1999) Findings and Implications
Chugani was able to see the development of the brain from back to front by using a PET scan to measure the amount of glucose metabolism in different regions of the brain. There was more activity in the brain from age 3-10 than in adults. This may indicate that this is the time of the most neuroplasticity and brain development.
Piaget and Inhelder (1956) Essential understanding
Cognitive egocentrism is a function of age: most four-year-old children are egocentric while most seven-year-olds are not.
Prejudice and discrimination
Columb and Plant (2011) Obama effect and implicit prejudice.
Pettigrew and Tropp (2006) Method and Procedure
Conducted a meta-analytic review of research studies that tested the contact hypothesis (over 500 studies).
Vygotskys sociocultural theory on cognitive development
Conner and cross (2003)
Role of peers and play
Damon and Killen (1982) Oostermeijer et al (2014)
Gender identity and social values
David Ramer case study Bandura (1961): Bobo doll study Smith and Lloyd (1978)
Ainsworth (1978) Method and Procedure
Developed a method for assessing attachment in infants known as the "Strange situation paradigm" and used it in her research first in Uganda and later in the USA. In this laboratory procedure the mother and the infant are placed in an unfamiliar playroom with toys. What follows is a scripted interaction of the infant with the mother as well as a stranger. This interaction is observed by the researchers through a one-way mirror. The script usually includes eight steps lasting three minutes each. 1. Mother, baby and the experimenter. The experimenter gives all necessary instructions. 2. Experimenter leaves. Mother with baby. 3. Mother, baby and a stranger. The stranger enters the room, talks to the mother and approaches the baby.attachment 4. Mother leaves. Stranger and baby. 5. Stranger leaves. Mother and baby. 6. Mother leaves. Baby alone. 7. Stranger enters. Stranger and baby. 8. Stranger leaves. Mother enters.
David Ramer case study
Due to a medical condition, he had to undergo circumcision at the age of 7 months. The routine operation involved using heat but it did not go as planned because his penis was burnt off. In 1967 the parents consulted John Money who believed that gender identity could be changed depending on how the child is brought up. He then suggested that Bruce should be raised as a girl. Physicians at that time could not replace a penis but could construct a functional vagina. Another factor was that two identical twins, one whom is raised as a boy and the other as a girl presented themselves as a unique case study to test Moneys theories. At 22 months old Bruce underwent sex reassignment surgery and was given the name Brenda. Money saw the Reimers annually for a decade. Money reported that the procedure had been successful and Brenda was growing up with the identity and behavior of a girl. When Reimer went public with this story it became clear that the follow up visits to Money had been experienced by the family as traumatic rather than supporting. Reports revealed that Reimer had not developed a female gender identity. Reimer eventually decided to switch back and he underwent reverse surgery and testosterone treatment. This case seems to contradict the theory that sex can be reassigned and gender identity can be socially instructed.
Damon and Killen (1982) Method and Procedure
Experiment and independent measures design. The dependent variable was measured through a structured interview. Researchers viewed moral reasoning as a cognitive process and measured it through an interview in which the child was offered a moral dilemma and asked to solve it. Some children discussed ethical dilemmas with peers. Some discussed these dilemmas with adults.
Social factors in relationship formation
Festinger et al (1950) Aimed to examine if proximity increases likelihood of friendship. Dion and dion (1993) To examine the influence of individualism/collectivism on romantic love and intimacy in marriage. Regan et al (2012) Aimed to study the happiness of individuals in arranged vs love marriages.
Piliavin et al (1964) Method and Procedure
Field experiment. The travelers would witness one of two scenarios: Either a man with a cane who appeared ill or a man who appeared drunk would fall to the floor of the subway car. They collapsed to the floor 70 seconds after the train left the station and remained on the floor until they were helped. A model helper was instructed to help after 70 seconds in case no one else offered assistance. IV: The type of the victim and the size of the group. DV: Frequency of the help, the speed of help, and the sex of the helper. There were 103 trials and of these 38 involved a drunk victim who smelled of alcohol and carried a bottle bag while the remaining 65 trials involved a sober victim with a cane.
Mani et al (2013) Method and Procedure
Field study. This is a natural experiment, as the farmers experience cycles of poverty. The Raven's Progressive Matrices test was administered both before and after the harvest. In addition, the Stroop Test was administered. The Raven's Progressive Matrices test is a common component of IQ tests. Participants must choose which of several alternatives best fits a space in a sequence of shapes.
Biolgical factors: Neurochemical reactions
Fisher et al (2003) fMRI study on neurobiological mechanisms of attraction.
Communication in predicting divorce
Gottmans six signs predicting divorce Gottman's (2003) Communication study on couples. To test whether older married couples and younger married couples have different approaches to managing conflict, and to test if these different approaches can be correlated with unhappiness in the marriage. Rollie and Duck (2006): Five-stage model of relationship breakdown
Lorenz (1935) Aim
He conducted extensive research of imprinting—rapid instinctive learning that occurs at a particular critical life period.
Harlow (1958) Aim and Participants
He explored the effects of early childhood experiences with one's mother on later development. In his research, he used rhesus monkeys. Compared to human babies, they are more mature at birth and grow more rapidly, but the basic behaviors such as nursing and clinging, as well as basic cognitive phenomena such as perception, memory, and learning capability, are very similar in rhesus monkeys and human children.
Lorenz (1935) Findings and Implications
He proved that the goslings would imprint on multiple moving stimuli, for example, Lorenz himself—they imprinted on his wading boots and followed him around. This suggests that attachment is based on a genetic programme: at a certain critical period the organism perceives a certain environmental cue, and this triggers a complex instinctive behaviour. In this case the environmental cue was Lorenz's boots and the instinctive behaviour was to follow Lorenz around. Lorenz believed that the effects of imprinting are irreversible; that is, the organism cannot imprint on anything else, and that the short critical period within which imprinting occurs is highly important. If this period is missed, imprinting as a genetically pre-programmed behavioural sequence will not occur. However, imprinting only explains attachment as a form of learning. It does not explain all the other complexities of attachment, such as the emotional bond between the caregiver and the child, separation distress, sense of security, and so on. Attachment is certainly more complex than just a chain of instinctive behaviours triggered by a specific environmental cue.
Piliavin et al (1964) Aim
How various situational factors may influence prosocial behavior.
Gottman (2003) Method and Procedure
In a highly controlled setting, 156 married couples came to a laboratory after not talking to each other for eight hours. In the laboratory, they were observed discussing three topics, and physiological measurements such as heart rate were also taken. The couples discussed what events had happened that day and agreed on one pleasant topic and another topic that they knew they would disagree about. The discussions were recorded and different emotions were observed.
Smith and Lloyd (1978) Participants
In this study were mothers of 5-10-monthold infants.
Pettigrew and Tropp (2006) Findings
Intergroup contact that met Allport's four conditions was shown to produce significantly reduced intergroup bias. At the same time, these conditions are not necessary for the reduction of intergroup conflict: a small result is produced even when they are not met. They reported a significant negative correlation between contact and prejudice. A correlation of this size is comparable to the relationship between condom use and sexually transmitted HIV, and between passive smoking and the incidence of lung cancer. Effects of intergroup contact generalize across situations. For example, contact wih out-group members at work is associated with reduced prejudice towards members of the same out-group in one's neighbourhood. Contact with one outgroup is associated with reduced prejudice towards secondary out-groups.
Damon and Killen (1982) Findings
It was found that children who discussed dilemmas with peers reached higher levels of moral reasoning faster
Smith and Lloyd (1978) Findings
It was shown that in playing with the infants the adults preferred gender-stereotyped toys.
Baron-Cohen et al (1985) Method and Procedure
Lab experiment. Each child participated in the Sally-Anne task (with the assumption that if the child does not have a theory of mind, they will say that Sally will look for the marble in the box where Anne has hidden it --> unable to see the situation from Sally's point of view).
Madsen et al (2007) Method and Procedure
Lab experiment. Participants were asked to perform a physical exercise that becomes increasingly painful. Each participant had supplied a list of biological relatives, but the list could not include relatives who shared a home with the participant. Before each trial participants were told that one specific relative randomly selected from their list would receive payment according to the length of time they could stay in the seated position against the wall. The experiment was revised and run at a higher rate of pay. Two separate groups of Zulu males in South Africa were then tested but with food items substituted for money.
Byrne (1961) Method and Procedure
Lab experiment. Participants were asked to rank a number of issues on their importance.Two weeks later they were shown an anonymous questionnaire from another student. The questionnaire was faked. Participants were asked to indicate their feelings towards the stranger and rate this person on intelligence and morality.
Bandura (1961) Method and Procedure
Lab experiment. The children were first split up into three groups. One group was exposed to an adult aggressively playing with a bobo doll, the second group was exposed to an adult engaged in non-aggressive play and the third group was not given a model to observe.The children were rated on their aggressiveness by their nursery school teachers prior to the experiment to control for equal amounts of pre-exposure aggressiveness in each group. In both the aggressive and the non-aggressive conditions, a child was seated in one corner of a room while a model was escorted by the experimenter to another corner. The child was given prints and stickers to play with. The model's corner contained a Tinkertoy set, a mallet and a bobo doll. Once the model and the child were seated and playing, the experimenter left the room. In the non-aggressive condition, the model ignored the doll and played quietly with the toys. In the aggressive condition, the model played briefy with the toys before turning to the bobo doll and "aggressing toward it" both verbally and physically for the rest of the time. After 10 minutes, the child was taken by the experimenter to another room. At this point each of the children underwent an "instigation to aggression" stage where the child was given time to engage with attractive toys but separated from these toys once he or she became interested and began playing with them. At this point the child was told that he or she could play with toys in the adjoining room. This was the experimental room containing several toys similar to the first room, including a bobo doll. The experimenter at this point remained in the room but worked quietly at a desk in the corner for the 20-minute session.
Marsh et al (2014) Method and Procedure
Lab experiment. The study had three stages. The first stage was an emotion recognition task in an fMRI. Participants were shown images of faces showing one of six basic emotions. Each emotion was shown at either high or moderate intensity. There were five male and five female images shown for each emotion, for a total of 120 images. When shown the image, they had to press a button to indicate which emotion was shown. The time taken to decide was measured. The second stage was an MRI scan to determine the structure of their brains. In the final stage, the participants took tests to measure their level of psychopathy and empathy.
Columb and Plant (2011) Method and Procedure
Laboratory experiment. Independent measures design. Participants performed a task where they had to decide whether a string of letters was a word or a non-word. They performed 2 sets of 24 trials. Before each trial, they were primed with a name or a string of Xs. Primed means that the name was flashed on the screen for 55ms. The names were either negative exemplars of black people, that is, people who were perceived negatively by the majority of participants at the time of the study, or the positive exemplar. Participants were randomly assigned into one of three conditions: 1) Negative: participants in this control were primed with negative exemplars on the first set of trials and Xs on the second set of trials. 2) Negative then Obama: participants were primed with negative exemplars on the first set of trials and "Obama" on the second set of trials. 3) Control: participants were primed with Xs on both sets of trials. After completing this procedure, all participants were given the Black/White implicit association test (IAT). This measured their implicit anti-black prejudice. A measure of explicit prejudice (a questionnaire) was also administered.
Chugani (1999) Evaluation
Large sample size. Looked at children over a large age span. PET scans could be interpreted blindly by a range of researchers to establish inter-rater reliability. The participants may differ in unknown ways as a result of their personal history and environment. Participant variability may affect the reliability of the results. As it was not a longitudinal study change over time was not observed in any one individual. Although PET scans demonstrated activity in the brain, the actual cause of this activity is not established by the study.
Harlow (1958) Evaluation
Limitations: Not applicable to humans. Infant monkeys were intentionally raised in conditions that deprived them of appropriate mother-infant contact and potentially disrupted their cognitive development. Strengths: Provided understanding of the nature of attachment, adoption, and institutionalized care.
Luby et al (2013) Method and Procedure
Longitudinal study. Prior to being scanned via MRI the children had undergone regular testing: once a year (for a duration of 3-6 years) the children had taken part in a series of tests aimed to measure their cognitive, social and emotion aptitudes. The involvement of significant adults in their lives was also recorded as well as the occurrence of any negative and stressful events in their lives. Once this collection of information had been amassed per child, each one underwent two MRI scans. The whole brain was scanned on one of the MRI sessions and the other MRI session looked only at the hippocampus and the amygdala.
Attachment
Lorenz (1935): Attachment and Geese Harlow (1958): Attachment and monkeys Ainsworth (1978): Strange situation paradigm and theory on attachment styles
Poverty and childs development
Luby et al (2013): The effects of poverty on childhood brain development Mani et al (2013): Cognitive load Dickerson and Popli (2016)
Social responsibility (Prosocial behavior) and kin selection theory.
Madsen et al (2007) Test the kin selection hypothesis experimentally using participants from two different cultures.
Cognitive factors: Similarity attraction model: Perceived similarity leads to attraction.
Markey and markey (2007) To investigate the extent to which similarity is a factor in the way people choose a partner. Byrne (1961) To investigate the relationship between interpersonal attraction and attitude similarity.
Social responsibility: Reciprocal altruism theory and prosocial behavior
Marsh et al (2014) Prosocial behavior and kidney donations.
Mason (1942): Case of Isabelle
Mason (1942) describes a girl called Isabelle, who was conned to a room with a deaf and mute mother. Isabelle spent six and a half years in silence. When she was discovered and sent to a hospital, she began language training and developed a rich vocabulary as well as the ability to produce complex sentence structures. Mason believes that the crucial success factor might have been the fact that Isabelle had communicated with her deaf mother through hand gestures.
Buss (1989) Findings and Implications
Men tended to prefer young women. Women tended to prefer older, wealthy, and ambitious men. These findings showed wide generalizability across cultures suggesting something shared by all cultures and societies, common biological determinants. Support for evolutionary theory of mate selection.
Pettigrew and Tropp (2006) Aim
Meta analysis on contact hypothesis studies. The meta-analysis supports contact theory and highlights several additional effects of contact on intergroup attitudes.
Dion and dion (1993) Method and Procedure
Meta-analysis
Ferguson et al (2007) Method and Procedure
Meta-analysis of 42 studies (sample size in total 34,700 students, from elementary school, middle school and high school).
Flook et al (2015) Method and Procedure
Mindfulness training involves enhancing awareness of a particular attentional object, be it breath, external stimuli, thoughts or emotions. Such training usually results in improved sustained attention and emotion regulation. In this particular training young children engage in age-appropriate practices to extend care and well wishes to a mental image of a person. Children were randomly assigned to either a mindfulness-based kindness curriculum (KC) or a wait-list control group. The KC was a 12-week intervention (two 30-minute lessons a week) using literature, music, and movement to teach and reinforce concepts related to kindness and compassion. A variety of variables were measured both before and after the intervention. They included a special experimental sharing task in which a child was given an envelope labelled "me", an envelope with a picture of another child and 10 stickers. The other child was either a most liked peer from the participant's class, a least liked peer from their class, an unfamiliar child, or a child who the participants was told was sick. Children were told that they could keep as many stickers as they would like themselves and give as many as they would like to the other person.
Regan et al (2012) Findings
No differences in between the participants in either type of marriages.
Mani et al (2013) Findings and Implications
On the Raven's Progressive Matrices test, the farmers scored an average of 5.45 items correct post-harvest, but only 4.35 items correct pre-harvest. On the Stroop test, they took an average of 131 seconds to respond in the "interference condition" post-harvest, as compared to 146 seconds pre-harvest. In addition, the average number of errors the farmers made was higher before the harvest than after - 5.93 versus 5.16. The results of this experiment are significant at p < 0.001. It is clear that poverty has an effect on the farmers' ability to manage the cognitive load demanded by these tasks. This means that the poor are less capable not because of problems in their cognitive or biological development, but because of the context of poverty.
Betancourt et al (2013) Evaluation
One of the limitations of the study is that no information was available on pre-war levels of internalizing problems or life difficulties.The study was conducted with a highly specific sample of participants. This means that the generalization of results should be treated with caution and findings should be corroborated by other research. Another limitation of the study is its reliance on self-report data. However, the study does lend support to the idea that, given appropriate care, many children can overcome the negative effects of even the most severe traumatic experiences.
Madsen et al (2007) Findings and Implications
Participants did on average spend more time in the uncomfortable position when the money was going to more closely related family members, although females were slightly more equitable than males. In the Zulu male testing, the participants also made more effort to stay in the uncomfortable position for relatives who were biologically closer to them. There were some differences, in that Zulu participants did not seem to distinguish between cousins and biologically closer relatives such as siblings, aunts, and nephews. It appears that kin selection is a powerful motivator to perform altruistic (=Selfless) deeds.
Columb and Plant (2011) Findings and Implications
Participants in the Obama condition demonstrated significantly less implicit prejudice than participants in the negative condition. There was no difference between the Obama condition and the control condition. This experimental manipulation did not affect explicit prejudice. Exposure to Obama "undid" the harmful effect of negative exemplars on implicit racial prejudice. Positive counter-stereotypic exemplars can decrease implicit anti-black prejudice.
Byrne (1961) Findings and Implications
Participants provided more positive ratings towards the stranger when their attitudes were similar. Similarity in important attitudes was more closely associated with positive ratings than similarity in less important attitudes. Similarity of attitudes increases interpersonal attraction.
Walster et al (1996) Method and Procedure
Participants were randomly paired with one another at a computer dance. They were told that if they provided some information about their interests and personalities the computer would match them with a date. As they were purchasing tickets for the dance, four confederates secretly rated their physical attractiveness. After that the participants filled out a set of questionnaires. Two days after completing questionnaires, participants were randomly assigned to a date. When they got to know their dates name, they were told to meet their date at the dance. Participants attitudes toward their dates were assessed during the intermission. Several weeks after the dance participants were also contacted to find out if they actually started to date their partner in real life.
Latane and Darley (1968) Method and Procedure
Participants were told they would be asked questions and have a discussion over an intercom about the personal problems of being a university student under stress. Participants were kept in separate rooms and communicated by intercom supposedly to allow anonymity but in reality, it allowed for the necessary deception to take place. At a designated point in the discussion, a confederate posing as a participant faked a seizure over the intercom so the real participant could hear it. IV: Number of people that the participant thought were listening to the seizure on the intercom. DV: The time it took for the participants to react from the start of the confederate's seizure until the participant contacted the experimenter.
Origins of conflict and conflict resolution
Pettigrew and Tropp (2006) Meta analysis on contact hypothesis studies. The meta-analysis supports contact theory and highlights several additional effects of contact on intergroup attitudes.
Piaget and Inhelder (1956) Findings and Implications
Piaget & Inhelder (1956) observed that the ability to choose the picture corresponding to the doll's viewpoint is a function of age. In their studies four-year-old children almost always chose the picture that corresponded to their own (not the doll's) viewpoint. Cognitive egocentrism is overcome by 7-8 years of age.
Piagets theory on cognitive development
Piaget and Inhelder (1956): Cognitive egocentrism is a function of age Borke (1975)
Bystanderism
Piliavin et al (1964) Subway samaritans. Latane and Darley (1968) Intercom discussion study.
Ferguson et al (2007) Evaluation
Publication bias. Rich data -> credibility, reliability. Individual differences fade out.
Wedekind (1995) Method and Procedure
Quasi experiment. 1) Each man was given a shirt to wear for two nights. They were given perfume-free detergent to wash clothes and bedclothes and perfume free soap for showering. They were asked not to use any deodorants or perfumes, to refrain from smoking tobacco or drinking alcohol, to avoid all spicy food and to not engage in any sexual activity. 2) Women smelled 7 shirts and scored them according to pleasantness. Three shirts from men with MHC similar to their own. Three shirts from MHC dissimilar men. One unworn shirt as a control.
Festinger et al (1950) Method and Procedure
Questionnaire and correlational study. All residents were asked to indicate which people from the same apartment complex they were friends with.
Regan et al (2012) Method and Procedure
Questionnaire.
Markey and Markey (2007) Method and Procedure
Questionnaires. Participants first completed a questionnaire where they rated their own personality and then described the personality of their romantic ideal. They also completed filler questionnaires to disguise the true purpose of the study.
Empathy and theory of mind
Repacholi and Gopnik (1997): Early reasoniing about desires Baron-Cohen et al (1985): Does the autistic child have a theory of mind?
Betancourt et al (2013) Findings and Implications
Researchers identified four groups of participants, grouped by how they developed symptoms of depression and anxiety over time. The four categories were: Maintaining a low level of internalizing problems (depression and anxiety) over time: 41%. Significantly improving over time despite very limited access to care: 48%. Stable reporting of severe difficulties: 5%. Experiencing worsening symptoms: 6%. A closer investigation into factors that triggered continued internalizing problems revealed the following major causes: loss of a caregiver, family abuse and neglect, and community stigma related to the person's previous association with fighting forces. All these causes are linked to lack of support from the surrounding people after the trauma. Even after the most traumatic experiences, it was possible for many children to recover from trauma, at least partially. However, a lack of social support depletes resilience. Therefore, it is important to give appropriate care and social support to children who have suffered traumatic experiences.
Bandura (1961) Findings
Results for this experiment supported the hypothesis that exposure of children to aggressive models would increase aggressiveness among the children. The researchers discovered that boys were more likely to imitate physical aggression while girls were more likely to imitate verbal aggression.
Harlow (1958) Findings and Implications
Results showed that baby monkeys preferred to spend time with the cloth mother. Even in the condition where the wire mother was the one providing food, by the age of 20 days monkeys learned to use the wire mother only to get milk and spent increasing amounts of time with the cloth mother. This was completely contrary to the traditional belief that attachment was contingent on hunger and thirst reduction.
Dickerson and Popli (2016) Findings and Implications
Results showed that children who experienced poverty in early years had lower cognitive development test scores. The timing of poverty episodes was also demonstrated to be important. The rule was that the most recent episode of poverty had the least impact. Being born into poverty had the biggest impact on the child's subsequent cognitive development. Even a single episode of poverty was shown to inuence test scores signicantly. This still doesn't imply the inuence of poverty by itself. Maybe the real inuence was exerted by other characteristics associated with poverty, such as parental investment, parental style or such background characteristics as parents' education or level of distress. To separate these effects from poverty as such Dickerson and Popli made use of statistical techniques that analyse patterns of correlations among multiple variables at once. This makes it possible to separate the effects statistically. Application of these techniques showed that poverty does have a negative effect on cognitive test scores over and above what is explained by other associated variables. However, parental investment was also particularly important. It was concluded that poverty has both direct and indirect effects on cognitive development. The indirect effect of poverty is through parental investment: poverty leads to lower parental investment, which in turn leads to lower scores on cognitive tests. All this evidence combined suggests that any policy aimed at reduction of negative developmental consequences of poverty should particularly target poverty at the child's very early years
Festinger et al (1950) Findings and Implications
Results showed that proximity was related to establishing friendship.
Dion and dion (1993) Findings and Implications
Romantic love is more likely to be basis for marriage in individualistic cultures than in collectivistic cultures. Intimacy in marriage is more about satisfaction with marriage and personal wellness in individualistic cultures. Culture has a major role in determining how interpersonal romantic relationships unfold.
Koluchova (1972)
She undertook a longitudinal study of a pair of Czech twin boys who had been discovered at the age of 7 in terrible living conditions. The boys' mother had died when they were born; they were raised by their father and then later, after the father remarried, their step-mother. The step-mother kept them in conditions of severe deprivation. They had been kept locked in isolation in a cellar; they had been mistreated and beaten. They did not have adequate food, so they were suffering from vitamin deficiency when they were found. They had no access to exercise or stimulation of any kind, apart from the contact they had with each other. Apparently, nobody knew of their existence; but by the time they reached age seven, their situation came to the attention of the authorities. At that time, the boys could hardly walk, play, or speak. They were initially placed in foster care and then later adopted by two sisters. When they were found, the twins' prognosis seemed very poor. The boys' IQ scores were estimated to be around 40 at the time they were found, but by the age of 14, these had risen to around 100 for one, and 90 for the other. Their school performance was generally good and they were highly motivated. By the age of fourteen they had caught up academically to other 14-year-olds, and as adults, they were able to attend university and develop good relationships with others.
Curtis et al (1974): Genies case
Since her birth Genie was severely abused, neglected and isolated. Her father believed that she was mentally retarded. He decided to keep her as socially isolated as possible, and until the age of 13 years and 7 months she was locked alone in her room. He barely gave her enough food and at all times kept her immobilized. She was not exposed to any interpersonal interaction and so she did not acquire language in the critical period. Her abuse was discovered by child welfare authorities and then she was extensively studied by scientists. After being discovered and given proper care, Genie started to make considerable progress in her mental development. She developed good non-verbal communication skills, but she was never able to fully acquire a language. While doctors and researchers were working with her, they noted her curiosity, but it was mainly directed at objects and sounds, and to a much lesser extent focused on people. Sounds interested her especially and she was keen on finding out their source. It was later established that her father had been extremely intolerant to noise so he kept the whole house as quiet as possible, even making his wife always ask permission before she could say anything. Socially, Genie did not show any signs of attachment and could approach and walk with complete strangers. Her behaviour was highly antisocial and difficult to control, for example she constantly salivated and spat everywhere. When upset, she would attack herself without changing her facial expression or vocalizing. Initially being placed in a children's hospital, she was later placed with the family of the scientist who studied her. However, when she was 18 years old Genie returned to live with her mother. After several months her mother decided that she could not take proper care of her, and authorities placed Genie in an institution for disabled adults, where she was abused again, and many of the skills she had acquired were lost. In 1978 Genie's mother discontinued her consent for scientic research, and Genie's track was lost
Betancourt et al (2013) Method and Procedure
Six-year longitudinal study. The study included three interviews at three different points in time.
Conner and Cross (2013) Evaluation
Strengths: The longitudinal design of this research means that the researchers were able to check their findings against each sampled session, increasing the validity of the results. The use of mother-child pairs and the young age of the children at the commencement of the research gives the study some ecological validity as the participants were engaging in the type of behavior that is frequent and natural when mothers help their children learn. Limitations: The small sample size and the fact that the participants were all from the USA makes the findings difficult to generalize to those outside of this demographic. The observational method can produce a type of demand characteristic which would affect the validity of the findings if the participants felt self-conscious or produced artificial behavior when being observed. Observational data can also be subject to researcher bias as it can be prone to interpretation rather than objective analysis.
Luby et al (2013) Evaluation
Strengths: A lot of background data, contributes to internal validity. Findings highlight the importance of good quality care in childhood. Can help children by implementing early intervention strategies for children at risk of not receiving proper caregiving. Limitations: Attempting to measure complex variables is difficult as these variables are not exact and may be prone to researchers interpreting them in subjective ways. The sample only represents pre-school children who exhibit symptoms of depression so it cannot be explained how poverty may affect non-depressed children.
Madsen et al (2007) Aim and Participants
Test the kin selection hypothesis experimentally using participants from two different cultures. UK students and South African students.
Repacholi and Gopnik (1997) Findings and Implications
The 18-month-old children offered the experimenter the food that they had shown pleasure tasting. In a baseline test the 18-month-olds had shown a preference for the sweet crackers but did not appear to influence their choice of food in the mismatched condition; they still offered broccoli. The researchers state that this is evidence of the 18-month-olds using earlier emotional cues to infer which food the experimenter desired. In contrast, the 14-month-olds offered the sweet crackers (i.e. the food that they preferred), regardless of the experimenter's prior behavior showing preference for the broccoli. The children not only inferred that another person held a desire but also recognized how desires are related to emotions. This study shows that perhaps children develop the belief-desire stage of theory of mind earlier than previously thought; children as young as 18 months old may have the ability to infer another person's desires based on their prior behavior.
Latane and Darley (1968) Findings and Implications
The ambiguity of the situation and the belief that others would do something prevented participants from reacting. Participants' reactions revealed that they believed the seizure to be genuine and those who intervened or asked the experimenter at the termination of the study if the person was all right relived to find out all was well. Inaction in the face of an emergency or recognition that others need help is the result of two factors: diffusion of responsibility and fear of possibly misreading a situation.
Case of Anna
The case of Anna is a study of an illegitimate child born in 1932. Anna's mother tried giving her up for several months, all attempts being unsuccessful due to the financial problems in the USA at the time of the Great Depression. The child was then kept in a store room for five and a half years, tied to a broken chair that was too small for her to sit on. She suffered from malnutrition, she was never bathed and never attended to. When Anna was taken away and placed in a foster home, she gradually became "more human" and was said to be similar to a 1 year old in mentality. However, there were over 300 inmates in the foster home and only one nurse; Anna was often taken care of by other inmates. At the age of 9 she started to conform to social norms and to develop some speech, for example, she had a comprehension for instructions, but she never developed speech properly. She died in 1942
Piaget and Inhelder (1956) Method and Procedure
The child is shown a three-dimensional model of three mountains. The model includes some features (like snow, a tree, a cross) that are visible from some angles and not visible from others. The child spends some time looking at the model from where he or she sits, and then the researcher introduces a doll. The doll is positioned at he same table facing the mountains from a different viewpoint. The child is then asked to describe what the doll can see. To do this, the child is given a series of pictures showing the three mountains from various angles, and asked to pick the picture that corresponds to what the doll can see. If the child picks a picture that corresponds to his or her own viewpoint, and not the doll's, that is a sign of cognitive egocentrism.
Banyard et al (2005) Findings
The findings showed that both treatment groups had a significant improvement as a result of the course and they were much more informed and likely to help.
Conner and Cross (2013) Method and Procedure
The mother and child pairs were observed more than one researcher as they took part together in a series of informal problem-solving tasks. The observations took place over a period of three years, with four observational sessions carried out during this period. The mothers were observed in terms of how they used scaffolding: Which strategies were most successful, the consistency of the strategies employed and their outcomes, how much direct help was offered and the independence displayed by the children.
Conner and Cross (2013) Findings and Implications
The mothers were seen to increase the level of support and guidance to their children in the initial early stages of the study, when the children were less sure of what to do, being younger and not as capable as in the later stages of the study. The researchers observed that the use of contingent instruction e.g. providing more help when needed but holding back when the child appeared confident, increased as the child became more adept and skilled at a task. Scaffolding when used appropriately, can enable a child to develop expertise at a task and a degree of independence.
Gottman (2003) Findings and Implications
The older couples, with longer marriages, communicated more affection to their partner during the discussions, but middle-ages married couples displayed more negative emotion. Couples in unhappy marriages expressed more negative emotions. Couples in happy marriages were better able to manage their emotional displays to show more positive emotions while withholding negative emotions. Therefore, in successful relationships, people communicate with their partner in a way that avoids negative results.
Fisher et al (2003) Method and Procedure
The participants first filled out a questionnaire (The passionate love scale) to investigate how they felt about their relationship. Then they were placed in an fMRI scanner. They first looked at a photograph of their beloved, then performed a distraction task of counting backwards, and finally looked at a photograph of a neutral acquaintance. This was repeated six times.
Dickerson and Popli (2016) Method and Procedure
The researchers especially stress the difference between episodic poverty (temporary periods of poverty) versus persistent poverty, and analyse the effects of these types of poverty separately. All participants are tested periodically all at the same time. They used four such sweeps: data from when participants were 9 months old, 3 years old, 5 years old and 7 years old. Information in all the sweeps was gathered in face-to-face interviews and included a wide range of characteristics about the child, the family, parenting activities and cognitive assessments.
Giedd (2004) Evaluation
The researchers used a longitudinal repeated measures design. This means that change in brain structure was measured over time in specific individuals. This rules out the problems of participant variability. It is not possible to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between these changes and specific aspects of cognitive development. MRIs only measure structure, so actual brain activity is not measured.
Oostermeijer et al (2014) Findings
The results of this study showed children who frequently engaged in constructive play had better spatial skills and showed a higher performance on mathematical word problems.
Mani et al (2013) Partcipants
The study examined 464 sugarcane farmers living in 54 villages in Tamil Nadu, India. Each of the farmers earned at least 60% of his income from the sugarcane harvest. This means that prior to the sugarcane harvest, the farmers are poor. After the harvest, they are significantly richer.
Marsh et al (2014) Findings and Implications
The study showed that extraordinary altruists had a greater average volume in the right amygdala than in the controls. The right hemisphere is associated with negative emotion. It plays a role in the expression of fear and in the processing of fear-inducing stimuli. In addition, there was a faster response time in the right amygdala to fearful facial expression than in the control group. These findings are the opposite of what has been shown in research studying psychopaths. This means that there may be a biological basis for altruistic behaviour.
Borke (1975) Essential understanding
The three mountains task has been criticized for its complexity. Critics have said that young children do not perform as well on the task because they do not understand the instructions, not because they are actually more egocentric.
Fisher et al (2003) Findings and Implications
There was increased activity in the dopamine rich brain areas associated with reward, motivation, and goal orientation when participants looked at their lover. The results indicate that the possibility of brain circuits dedicated to addiction, which would support the hypothesis that romantic love is like addiction. Fisher argues that romantic love is universal and based on neurobiological factors.
Ferguson et al (2007) Findings and Implications
They found minimal discernible effect on reducing bullying in schools. School-based anti-bullying programs are not effective.
Dickerson and Popli (2016) Participants
They used data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study, a sample of 19,000 children born in the UK in 2000-2001, and traced their cognitive development up until the age of 7 years.
Smith and Lloyd (1978) Method and Procedure
They were invited to play with a 6-monthold baby who was dressed as either a girl or a boy (depending on the experimental condition). The only variable that was manipulated was the colour of the baby's snowsuit (either blue or pink). The actual sex of the child was also varied, so that in some cases it was a boy in a pink snowsuit and in some cases it was a girl in a pink snowsuit (and the same for the blue snowsuit). The room where participants were playing had an abundance of toys traditionally viewed as appropriate for one or the other sex.
Banyard et al (2005) Method and Procedure
They were randomly allocated to one of two treatment groups or a control: The first treatment group had three sessions on how to help someone in danger of sexual assault or who needed help after being a victim of sexual assault. The second treatment group had only one session. The control group had no training. After four months, surveys were given to determine their likelihood of intervening and their understanding of myths and realities of sexual assault.
Damon and Killen (1982) Aim and Participants
To compare rates of development of moral reasoning in children engaging in discussions with peers and adults. Children aged 6 to 9 who discussed ethical decision-making scenarios either in groups of three or with an adult.
Chugani (1999) Aim and Participants
To compare the brains of infants from newborns to the age of 18. From newborns to the age 18.
Ferguson et al (2007) Aim
To examine the effectiveness of anti-bullying programs.
Dion and dion (1993) Aim and Participants
To examine the influence of individualism/collectivism on romantic love and intimacy in marriage. People from individualistic cultures and collectivistic cultures.
Repacholi and Gopnik (1997) Aim and Participants
To get a better understanding of when children are able to understand that other people may have a belief or desire that is different from their own. 81 children aged 14 months (41 male; 40 female) and 78 children aged 18 months (37 male; 41 female) from middle class families where both parents were together. 72% of the sample were white.
Flook et al (2015) Aim and Participants
To investigate a mindfulness-based kindness curriculum as a means of promoting prosocial behavior in pre-school children. 68 pre-school children.
Columb and Plant (2011) Aim
To investigate if exposure to Obama can cause a decrease in implicit anti-black prejudice.
Betancourt et al (2013) Aim and Participants
To investigate resilience among children who have been exposed to severely traumatizing experiences. Sierra Leone war-affected youth (ages 10-17 years as the baseline). For the most part, the sample consisted of former child soldiers, so the participants had been all exposed to severely traumatizing experiences.
Conner and Cross (2013) Aim and Participants
To investigate the effect of using scaffolding from the perspective of mother-child interactions when engaged in problem-solving tasks. 45 mother and child pairs from USA.
Markey and Markey (2007) Aim
To investigate the extent to which similarity is a factor in the way people choose a partner.
Fisher et al (2003) Aim and Participants
To investigate the neural mechanisms associated with the attraction system. Participants were 10 women and 7 men who reported being deeply in love.
Byrne (1961) Aim
To investigate the relationship between interpersonal attraction and attitude similarity.
Baron-Cohen et al (1985) Aim and Participants
To investigate whether children with ASD/ children with Down syndrome have a theory of mind. 20 children with ASD (mean age 11 years); 14 children with Down syndrome (mean age 10,5 years) and 27 "normal" children (who had not been diagnosed with disorders) (mean age 4,5 years).
Walster et al (1996) Aim
To investigate whether people are more likely to date someone of similar leve of physical attractiveness.
Luby et al (2013) Aim and Participants
To investigate whether poverty experienced in childhood is shown in delayed brain development and to investigate the extent to which mediating factors may influence early deprivation. Children who were already enrolled in a 10-year longitudinal study of Preschool Depression comprised the target population for this study: a sample of 145 children (right-handed) was drawn from this population. The children were from the USA.
Oostermeijer et al (2014) Aim and Participants
To measure how free time in construction play influences test scores on mathematical word problems. Parents or caregivers of 128 sixth-grade students (64 boys and 64 girls) from eight elementary schools in the Netherlands provided written informed consent based on printed information about the purpose of the study.
Giedd (2004) Aim and Participants
To measure the development of grey matter in the frontal lobe in children. 95 males and 66 females ages 6 to 20.
Marsh et al (2014) Aim and Participants
To study "extraordinary altruism", the researchers obtained a sample of people who had donated a kidney to a stranger. Donating a kidney to a stranger is a conscious decision to do something that significantly increases the risk to their own health. In this case, the donations were not made to a member of their own family. The sample was made up of altruistic kidney donors recruited nationally using mailings and electronic advertisements through local and national transplant organizations. In addition, there were controls who were matched for IQ, income, education, psychological history, and medication use.
Buss (1989) Aim and participants
To test for gender differences in mate selection. More than 10000 respondents in 33 countries.
Wedekind (1995) Aim
To test whether body odor plays a role in attraction.
Gottman (2003) Aim
To test whether older married couples and younger married couples have different approaches to managing conflict, and to test if these different approaches can be correlated with unhappiness in the marriage.
Cognitive factors: Matching hypothesis: Individuals assess their own atractiviness or social desirability and select partners who match their levels in these areas.
Walster et al (1996) To investigate whether people are more likely to date someone of similar leve of physical attractiveness.
Biological factors: Genetics
Wedekind (1995) The dirty t-shirt study.
Wedekind (1995) Findings and Implications
Women were more likely to prefer the scent of men with dissimilar MHC genes but if they were taking oral contraceptives, they preferred MHC similar males. The ability to detect MHC could play a key role in a woman's search for the best mate. Link to evolutionary theory is that mate selection done so that offspring would have greater chances of survival.
