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Hannah Collins 2012/2013 Psychology Unit One and Research Methods This e-book contains information based on the AQA A Specification. The units include Attachment, Memory and Research Methods.

Psychology Research Methods by Hannah Collins

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AS Psychology notes made on Research Methods and displayed as an eBook by Hannah Collins for the eAmbassadors project

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Page 1: Psychology Research Methods by Hannah Collins

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This e-book contains information based on the AQA A Specification. The units include Attachment, Memory and Research Methods.

Page 2: Psychology Research Methods by Hannah Collins

Experimental Method Advantages Disadvantages

Eliminates confounding variables as it’s controlled.

Can progress quickly/at researchers own pace, unlike natural events.

Demand characteristics Some studies cannot be

experiment on, eg. Discipline on children. So therefore observational study would be better.

Laboratory Experiments; The psychologist will change one variable to see the effect on another. The two variables are the independent and dependant variables The setting is usually highly controlled and the effects of confounding variables are limited. Advantages

Disadvantages

It easy to standardise procedures – increases reliability and accuracy

Sophisticated measuring equipment can be used compared to natural settings.

Control over confounding variables so that it doesn’t affect the dependant variable.

Can be too controlled so lacks ecological validity

Demand characteristics can affect the results – can decrease validity

Field Experiments Takes place in the participant’s own natural situation or surrounding. The experimenter will change one variable to see the effect on the dependent variable. Advantages

Disadvantages

Improved ecological validity as in a natural setting

Reduction of demand characteristics as people are more likely to relax in a natural setting.

Less control over confounding variables

Find it hard to generalise to other situations as its very specific.

Page 3: Psychology Research Methods by Hannah Collins

Natural Experiments They resemble true experiments. They are not actually true experiments as the experimenter does not manipulate the IV. The Psychologist will use naturally occurring phenomena as their ‘quasi’ IV and will see the effects of this on their measure. Advantages

Disadvantages

Reduction of demand characteristics

Lack of direct intervention

Loss of control Desired behaviour not likely to

be displayed Lack of ecological validity as it’s

a very unique situation.

Observational Method In a naturalistic observation the psychologist will simply observe naturally occurring behaviour in a natural setting. In a controlled Observation one part of a general situation is changed to see the effect of the manipulation on the participants involved. In a participant observation the researcher will often join in with a group to see how they really act and to gain insight into the motivations for their actions. Advantages

Disadvantages

Standardised procedures – all researchers will be testing the same thing which ensures reliability.

May not be a behavioural category of an observed behaviour.

May miss examples of behaviour when coding

Presence of researcher may alter behaviour

Page 4: Psychology Research Methods by Hannah Collins

Closed or open questions; Advantages Disadvantages Closed; eg. Multiple choice or tick boxes

They’re more specific and easy to analyse

Its less time consuming and quicker to administer

They lack detail and doesn’t allow elaboration so cant seek further clarification.

Open; eg. Questions which allow elaboration

Collects rich and detailed data – room for exploration

Can seek clarification

They’re difficult to analyse – time consuming and costly

Social desirability effect

Relies on written skills – participants need to be lliterate

Interviews – Interviews are face-to-face conversations. They are useful when there is lots of time available with each respondent and there is a need to gain lots of rich and personal data. Interviews can be unstructured, apparently informal chats, or they can be formal, structured interviews with pre-determined questions, for example, clinical tests used in psychiatry. Interviews are recorded for later, in-depth analysis. Sources of bias:

Age – relevant to age? Culture – will people from all cultures be able to answer Complexity – are questions long, easy to read? Gender – applicable to males and females? Sample – are they literate? Biased questions – are they leading/misleading? Social Desirability

Page 5: Psychology Research Methods by Hannah Collins

Correlation; When a change in one variable is associated with change in another they

are said to co-vary. Psychologists measure this using a statistical procedure called correlation.

The result of a test of correlation is called a correlation co-efficient. This figure varies between –1 and +1

Advantages

Disadvantages

Measures the strength of relationships – provides quantitative data for specific variables

Add value to exploratory research – allows for measurement of many variables and the relationships between them

Issue of causality –cannot establish cause and effect

Hard to measure non-linear relationships

Curvilinear Relationships; Advantages;

Disadvantages;

A curvilinear relationship is still a correlation but it does not follow a straight line.

Performance is deteriorated if stress is too high.

Can be used to measure the

strength of relationships between two factors

Is valued in terms of exploratory research

Causality Measurement of non-linear

relationships is limited. Cannot show third factor

involvement

Page 6: Psychology Research Methods by Hannah Collins

Qualitative data; it’s based on verbal accounts Advantages;

Disadvantages;

Represents the true complexities of human behaviour

Gains access to thoughts and feelings that may not be addressed using quantitative methods

Provides rich details into behaviour as participants areallwed to freely express themselves.

More difficult to detect correlations and draw conclusions

Subjective analysis can be affected by personal expectations and beliefs.

Quantitative; based on numerical data Advantages;

Disadvantages

Easier to analyse because data is in numbers that can be summarised using measures of central tendency and dispersion

Can produce neat conclusions because reduces the variety of possibilities

Doesn’t allow for elaboration

Content analysis; A content analysis is like an observation but instead of observing people we observe the naturally occurring “artefacts” they produce. Observational Techniques; Advantages Disadvantages;

Value as a preliminary research tool – can be used in other experimental types

Validity – can be transferred to other real life scenarios.

Can’t control confounding variables very easily

Replication may be difficult Observer effects may change the

participants behaviour Ecological validity decreases Costs are likely to be high

Page 7: Psychology Research Methods by Hannah Collins

Questionnaires; Advantages;

Disadvantages;

Simplicity – can be used with limited training and can obtain quantitative data.

Speed and cost – you can obtain a large amount of data in a short space of time with limited costs to the researcher.

Less chance for observer effects

Questions can be interpreted incorrectly as tone of voice cannot be conveyed

Poor questionnaires provide poor results

Response rates are usually quite low

If questionnaire is done personally then it may cause observer bias

Interviews Advantages;

Disadvantages;

Flexibility – can explore, clarify and expand on points better than a questionnaire

Can provide a more personal service. Eg tackling topics that can only be tackled face to face as opposed to a questionnaire

Data can misinterpreted Takes time, effort and can be

costly Puts participant on the spot so

they don’t have as much time to think about the response compared to questionnaires

Case studies Advantages;

Disadvantages;

Can provide rich and interesting data in very specific circumstances

Can challenge existing theories (eg, in the multi store model and Milner’s study)

Low reliability as can’t be repeated easily due to specific circumstances

Findings may be subjective Not generalizable (eg, research

into brain damage)

Page 8: Psychology Research Methods by Hannah Collins

Evidence for Multi-store model:

1. Primacy-Recency Effect - Atkinson (1970). When presented with lists to remember we recall first and last items best. First items rehearsed into LTM and last items recalled from STM. Ones in middle less likely to be recalled. This is evidence for existence of several stores.

2. Brown-Peterson Technique suggests that if rehearsal of items is prevented then information does not enter LTM.

3. Amnesiacs caused by Korsakoffs Syndrome brought on by chronic alcoholism display sound STM functioning but impaired LTM. This suggests separate and distinct memory stores.

4. Shallice and Warrington (1970). Case study of K.F. who suffered brain damage because of motorbike accident. STM impaired but LTM intact.

Evidence against Multi-store Model:

1. De Groot (1966) showed how expert chess players had phenomenal STM for chess positions as long as they fitted in with known rules. When pieces were randomly arranged their recall was no better than non chess players therefore STM and LTM may not be so separate and distinct.

Multi-store model is basic and limited in explaining such a complex phenomena as memory.

Working Memory - Baddeley & Hitch (1974)

An alternative to the Multi-store Model. Emphasises workings of STM. It is a far more complex explanation of STM.

Rather than the STM being a single inflexible store, Baddeley and Hitch suggested that the STM was made up of several subsystems, each having a specialised function.

They suggested that these subsystems were involved in complex cognitions/thought processes, including analysis and judgements about information input.

Baddeley and Hitch (1974) provide evidence for this by people being able to carry out more than one task at once where both tasks involve STM functions.

Page 9: Psychology Research Methods by Hannah Collins

According to Baddeley & Hitch your willing subjects should have done both tasks successfully.

However according to Miller and his 7 +/- 2 theory and Atkinson and Shiffrin the STM reached full capacity by attending to the letters only.

Therefore the STM is more complex and may have several subsystems that can operate simultaneously.

Baddeley & Hitch suggested the existence of several subsystems in STM but they studied the possibility of two in particular which were governed by a central controlling mechanism which they termed the Central Executive .

This fat controller is the boss and supervises and coordinates the other subsidiary systems. The central executive decides which information is attended to and which parts of the working memory to send that information to be dealt with.

The two subsystems studied were named the Visuo-spatial Sketchpad and the Phonological/Articulatory Loop.

The Visuo-spatial Sketchpad deals with what information looks like and how it is laid out - it deals with visual and spatial information.

The Phonological Loop holds spoken information for about 1.5 to 2 seconds. Written words must be converted to spoken words to enter phonological loop. The Articulatory loop rehearses the spoken/acoustic information from the phonological store and also converts written material to acoustic material so that the phonological loop can deal with it.

There is little empirical evidence to support the Working memory Model but the recognition of the complexity of the STM makes sound theoretical sense. However some brain damaged patients appear to suffer impairment to some functions of STM and not others (Shallice & Warrington '1974) therefore suggesting existence of several specialised systems within STM.

Page 10: Psychology Research Methods by Hannah Collins

Loftus drew on the ideas of Bartlett and conducted research illustrating factors which lead to inaccurate recall of eye-witness testimony. Loftus & Palmer (1974) conducted two laboratory experiments to illustrate this reconstructive memory and how this is influenced by questioning techniques used by the police.

Experiment One.

45 participants involved using an independent measures design.

Participants were shown films of traffic accidents.

They were then given a general account of what they had just seen and asked a series of questions about it.

The critical question asked was 'About how fast were the cars going when they HIT each other?'

OR the word 'HIT' was replaced by either 'SMASHED', 'COLLIDED', 'BUMPED' or 'CONTACTED'

The experiment above could be explained by response bias - pressure from interrogator or a change in participant’s recall of the event because of word used in question.

Experiment two;

Loftus & Palmer conducted this experiment in order to test which explanation was accurate.

150 students were tested using independent measures design.

They were then given a general account of what they had seen. They were then divided into groups of 50.

The first group was asked 'How fast were the cars going when they hit each other?'

The second group were asked 'How fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?'

The third group were not asked the question at all and acted as a control group.

Page 11: Psychology Research Methods by Hannah Collins

One week later they were asked a series of questions about the road traffic accident, one of which was the critical question, 'Did you see any broken glass? Yes or No?'

There was no broken glass in the film itself. The results suggested that the word 'SMASHED' not only led to estimates of faster speeds but also increased the likelihood of the participants recalling seeing broken glass when none was in the film.

This research suggests that memory is easily distorted by questioning technique and information acquired after the event can merge with original memory causing inaccurate recall or reconstructive memory. The addition of false details to a memory of an event is referred to as confabulation.

The Loftus & Palmer experiment can be criticized for lacking ecological validity. It employed independent measures design and therefore may be explained by individual differences/subject variables. The controlled conditions make for sound reliability the ethics of this design may be questioned, as the participants were deceived but this was necessary in order to validate findings and minimize demand characteristics. The participants may have been distressed/traumatized by the film and this emotional reaction may have influenced their interpretation of the event. See Research Methods. This kind of research has led to recommendations concerning police interview techniques and can be used by lawyers in court to question the accuracy of EWT.

Page 12: Psychology Research Methods by Hannah Collins

The different types of attachment were investigated by placing 12-18 month-old infants in an increasingly stressful environment or 'Strange Situation' (Ainsworth et al., 1978).

Ainsworth identified three types of attachment in American infants;

Name of attachment:

% Of infants: Characteristics of attachment:

Type A Insecure-avoidant 20% Indifferent to caregiver - unconcerned if present or absent. Signs of distress when left alone but could be comforted by caregiver or stranger.

Type B Securely attached 70% Stay close to caregiver and are distressed by their departure but easily comforted on return. Stranger could give limited comfort.

Type C Insecure-resistant 10% Ambivalent to caregiver - both close and resistant at times. Anxious of environment and resistant to stranger.

Page 13: Psychology Research Methods by Hannah Collins

The 'Strange Situation' has been criticized for a number of reasons:

Relationships rather than attachments may be under investigation. The scenario is unrealistic and may lack ecological validity. The ethics of inducing anxiety in the caregivers and infants may be

questioned. The results cannot be generalized to cultures other than that of USA.

Cross-cultural variations in attachment

Different cultures have different social norms and accepted ways of doing things. Cross-culturing variations occur in many aspects of behavior including child rearing. This difference may result in differences in attachments.

One study surveyed the results of the 'Strange Situation' in many countries. Whilst all countries had secure attachments coming out top, there were marked differences between the countries (Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg, 1988).

Bowlby's theory of attachment has been particularly influential and generated much further research. He was influenced by the psychodynamic approach and findings from non-human animal studies. He suggested that there was a critical period for the formation of attachments between infants and caregivers.

Theory: Description: Evaluation: Learning theory Conditioning and social

learning theory explain attachment by infants learning to associate food with the person feeding them.

Evidence suggests that interaction is more important than food in the formation of attachments (Harlow, 1959).

Psychodynamic theory Food provides the infant with the pleasure it seeks at the oral stage of its development leading to emotional attachment to the mother.

This explanation has the same limitations as learning theory because it assumes food is most important in attachments.

Ethological theory Attachment is an adaptive behaviour, which forms during a sensitive period in development as a result of interactions between infant and caregiver (Bowlby, 1958).

Support comes from non-human animal studies on imprinting (Lorenz, 1937) but it may not be possible to generalise these principles to humans.

Page 14: Psychology Research Methods by Hannah Collins

Bowlby's notion of monotropy suggests that infants have an innate tendency to become attached to one individual. According to Bowlby, the infant may make a number of attachments but this single attachment has qualitative differences from any others.

Bowlby also thought that these attachments form a template for the development of future relationships. However, the research evidence to support this is rather weak.

The effects of deprivation

Short-term effects of deprivation are highlighted above but what are the long-term consequences of a lost attachment?

Again, Bowlby has been very influential in this area. His maternal deprivation hypothesis states that long-term intellectual, social and emotional damage follows the deprivation of an attachment during a critical period in the child's development.

This view is supported by Bowlby's research into the case histories of 44 juvenile thieves (Bowlby, 1946). He found that 86% of thieves exhibiting affectionless psychopathy had spent considerable time in hospitals or foster homes as infants. Only 17% of non-affectionless thieves had the same experiences. Bowlby concluded that disruption during attachment formation was responsible for the poor emotional development.

Although this research had massive influence, it relied on retrospective evidence and the degree of separation varied greatly between the infants. Also, Bowlby had not considered the differences between deprivation and privation and their different consequences (Rutter, 1981).

More support for Bowlby came from research showing that children raised in institutions have reduced intelligence (Goldfarb, 1943) and some evidence of depression (Spitz and Wolf, 1946). However, these problems may have occurred as a result of poor environmental stimulation in the institutions rather than a lack of attachment.

Page 15: Psychology Research Methods by Hannah Collins

The effects of privation

Research into privation tends to involve carefully studying individuals who have experienced a private infancy. These include case studies of tragically neglected children and longitudinal studies of institutionalized children, such as orphans.

The table below summarizes two of the more important case studies:

Study: Description: Evaluation: Czech twins(Koluchova, 1972, 1991)

Aged 2 - Identical twin boys locked in cellar and abused for 6 years leading to physical and linguistic problems.

Aged 9 - adopted into a loving family.

Aged 14 - normal behaviour.

Aged 20 - emotionally and socially stable with above average intelligence.

- Cannot generalise findings to the whole population.

- Retrospective evidence.

- Were able to bond emotionally with each other.

- Were able to recover once put into a loving home.

Genie (Curtiss, 1989), Girl locked in a room for most of early life with little outside contact.

Aged 13 - physical problems, poor social skills and no language abilities.

Education led to the recovery of much ability but language and social skills remained poor.

- Cannot generalise findings.

- Retrospective evidence.

- Genie may have had innate psychological problems.

- A series of carers meant that Genie continued to lack a stable, loving home.

Page 16: Psychology Research Methods by Hannah Collins

Day care and social development

Social development refers to the growth of the child's ability to form relationships with others and to acquire a level of independence.

The effect of day care would be to separate the infant from the mother. This would result in maternal deprivation and, according to Bowlby, a harmful effect on social development. The evidence, however, suggests that the attachment between a mother and child is not damaged by day care. Using the 'Strange Situation' as a way of measuring attachment, Clarke-Stewart et al. (1994) demonstrated that there was no difference in the amount of distress shown between high-level day care children (over 30 hours per week) and low-level day care children (under 10 hours per week) when the mother departed.

Later on in life, children who have experienced day care become less aggressive and more sociable (Shea, 1981) and cope better with the new social interactions when they start attending school (Clarke-Stewart et al., 1994). However, other studies suggest that children in day care centers tend to be more aggressive (Cole and Cole, 1996).

On balance, the effect of day care on social development is seen to be positive. Children gain greater independence and become more competent at dealing with social interactions. However, this is only the case if the day care is of high quality, providing children with stimulating and well-organized experience

A particularly important piece of research involved a longitudinal study of children who had spent their early childhood in institutional care and, consequently, had been unable to form attachments (Hodges and Tizard, 1989):

Aim...

To investigate the long-term effects of early institutional care.

Method...

Longitudinal study and natural experiment. Children aged younger than 4 months at start. Received good physical care but formation of attachments was discouraged. Some children stayed in the institution, others were adopted and some returned (restored) to their families.

Results...

Aged 16, relationships between adopted children and parents did not differ much from a control group of non-adopted families but were considerably better bonded than restored children and parents. Unlike non-adopted children, adopted and restored children had similar problems in forming relationships outside the family.

Page 17: Psychology Research Methods by Hannah Collins

Conclusions...

Adopted children form better relationships with their families than restored children (possibly owing to the greater desire of the adopting parents to make those relationships work).

Adopted and restored children experience problems forming relationships outside the home (possibly owing to low self-esteem or poor emotional development caused by early experiences).

Evaluation...

A wide variation in relationship formation meant that some adopted children did badly and some restored children did well. This means that individual differences are important factors.

A biased sample was left at the end of the study because greater numbers of well-adjusted restored children and maladjusted adopted children dropped out.

The evidence suggests that early childhood experiences (including privation) can be overcome later in life, provided the conditions are right. This contradicts Bowlby's view of a critical period during which time children develop attachments that provide a model for future relationships and ensure healthy emotional and social development.

Much research focuses on the negative effects of early childhood experiences. It is the factors that allow healthy development to occur in some people, despite early deprivation or privation, which need to be investigated.

Page 18: Psychology Research Methods by Hannah Collins

PAST PAPER QUESTIONS

1. Cognitive interviews have been developed to improve witness recall.

Identify and two explain techniques used in the cognitive interview.

Technique 1

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Technique 2

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(3 marks + 3 marks)

2. A brain scan shows that one area of the brain is more active when a person is

doing a verbal task. However, when this person is doing a visual task, a

different area of the brain is more active.

2 (a) Explain how this could relate to the working memory model. Refer to different

parts of the working memory model in your answer.

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(4 marks)

2 (b) Give an example of an appropriate verbal task and an appropriate visual task

which could be used during the brain scan.

Verbal task …………………………………………………………………………………………

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Visual task …………………………………………………………………………………………

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(1 mark + 1 mark)

Page 19: Psychology Research Methods by Hannah Collins

Total for this question: 12 marks

3. Some psychology students read about an experiment which suggested that

organisation is a useful strategy for improving memory. The students carried out an

experiment to investigate the effects of organisation on word recall. They made up a

list of 50 items that could be bought in a supermarket. The participants were teachers

at their school. One group of participants saw the words organised into categories

such as fruit, vegetables, dairy products and cleaning materials. The other group saw

the same words presented randomly.

The results are given in Table 1 below.

Unordered

Numbers

Ordered

Numbers

20 6

15 10

18 13

45 14

24 15

23 19

28 20

21

21

25 22

30 25

Page 20: Psychology Research Methods by Hannah Collins

The number of words correctly recalled by participants who saw the organised

list and participants who saw the random list

Organised List Random List

Measure of central tendency

Measure of dispersion

3 (a) Identify a suitable measure of central tendency that could be used with these

data.

Justify your answer.

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3 (b) The psychology students decided to use a volunteer sample. Suggest one way in

which this sample could be obtained.

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(2 marks)

3 (c) Suggest one possible extraneous variable in this study.

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(1 mark)

3 (d) Suggest one way in which the students could control for this extraneous

variable.

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(2 marks)

3 (e) The psychology students wanted to carry out an experiment to investigate the

effectiveness of a different strategy for memory improvement.

For this further experiment, suggest the following:

3 (e) (i) an appropriate strategy for memory improvement;

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(2 marks)

3 (e) (ii) an appropriate experimental design;

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(1 mark)

3 (e) (iii) operationalized independent and dependent variables.

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4 Outline and evaluate research into the effects of anxiety on the accuracy of

eyewitness

testimony. (12 marks)

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Page 22: Psychology Research Methods by Hannah Collins

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.5 A recent study recorded the amount of time that children spent in day care from

birth to four years, and asked each child’s mother to rate her child for aggression and

disobedience. The study found that, as the time spent in day care went up, the

mothers’ rating of aggression and disobedience also went up.

5 (a) What kind of correlation is this research showing?

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(1 mark)

5 (b) Outline one strength and one weakness of using correlational research to

investigate

the effects of day care.

Strength

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Weakness ..................................................................................................................................

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The researchers also found that children who experienced better quality day care had

fewer

behavioural problems than children who experienced lower quality day care.

5 (c) Outline two characteristics of high quality day care.

Characteristic 1

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Characteristic 2

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(2 marks + 2 marks)

5 (d) What have studies shown us about the effects of day care on peer relations?

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Page 23: Psychology Research Methods by Hannah Collins

6 (a) What is meant by the term attachment?

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(2 marks)

Research has suggested that institutionalisation can have negative effects on children.

In the

1990s, many children were found living in poor quality orphanages in Romania. Luca

had

lived in one of these orphanages from birth. When he was four years old, he was

adopted

and he left the orphanage to live in Canada. His development was then studied for a

number

of years.

7 (a) Outline possible negative effects of institutionalisation on Luca.

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(4 marks)

7 (b) The scenario above is an example of a case study. Outline one strength and one

limitation of this research method.

Strength

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Limitation

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(2 marks + 2 marks)

Page 24: Psychology Research Methods by Hannah Collins

7 (c) Disruption of attachment can occur when children experience separation from

their

attachment figure during their early childhood.

Outline one study of the effects of disruption of attachment.

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Page 25: Psychology Research Methods by Hannah Collins

8 By observing interactions between the infants and their mothers in a Strange

Situation, Mary

Ainsworth was able to identify different types of attachment.

8 (a) Describe possible demand characteristics in this research.

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(3 marks)

8 (b) How does the behaviour of securely attached infants differ from that of

insecurely

attached infants?

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