TOPIC 1 INTRODUCTION Worksheet 1 Research in Psychology

Stage 2 Psychology Workbook

TOPIC 1 INTRODUCTION

Worksheet 1 Research in Psychology

Topic 1 Answers

INVESTIGATION

DESIGNS

1. Experimental

2. Quantitative

Observational

3. Qualitative link with

Ó arrows

Ô

Descriptions

A Observe and measure the result of natural variations in a variable: eg, whether our level of concentration varies at different times of the day at school

B Usually in the form of a discussion, where pre-determined issues and criteria are considered: eg, when do you think you do your best work at school?

C One variable is manipulated, and the effect of this is measured: eg, whether we would work better in class if required to sit alone rather than with friends

METHODS OF

ASSESSING

RESPONSES

1. Objective quantitative

2. Subjective quantitative

3. Qualitative link with

Ó arrows

Ô

Descriptions

A Numerical measurement that is based on opinion or personal input – such as self-reports

(questionnaire on moods, for example), rating scales, checklists

B Numerical measurement that does not involve opinion – such as reaction time, blood pressure, score on a test, count from a discussion group, behaviour count

C Verbal data (non-numerical) – such as selfreports (questionnaires, checklists), interviews, focus group records, Delphi technique records

© Chris Wilson 2004. All right reserved. These sheets may be used in schools using the Workbook. 1

Stage 2 Psychology Workbook Topic 1 Answers

In the table below it may seem that the ideas could be arranged in more than one way.

For example, it would appear to be possible for either of the two ‘effects of sleep deprivation’ studies to be done as an experimental or as a quantitative observational investigation. However, for ethical reasons we could not do the major road accidents study as an experiment as we would be harming people, but we could set up an experiment to investigate the skill levels of trainee pilots since this involves the use of a training machine and not real planes.

DESIGNS Î Experimental Quantitative observational

DATA Ð

Objective quantitative

Effects of sleep deprivation on skill levels of trainee pilots.

Deprive of sleep for various times – record skill levels on training machine.

Effects of sleep deprivation in major road accidents.

Record the number of hours of sleep in the

24/48 hours before the accident.

Subjective quantitative

Qualitative

Rate alertness and other factors as compared to normal.

Describe performance on skill test – skills, control, feelings, etc.

Rate alertness or tiredness in the moments before the accident.

Describe the recollection of events leading up to the accident.

Qualitative

The importance of sleep

(Delphi technique)

Count number of different reasons listed, and identify the % referring to sleep.

Vote to rate the different identified reasons why sleep matters.

Analysis of common themes from different groups.



The answers below illustrate one way this question could be answered. Many others are possible, and a very good way to check this question would be to compare your answers with those from one or two others and each justify your answers.

DESIGNS Î

DATA Ð

Objective quantitative

Subjective quantitative

Qualitative

Experimental Quantitative observational

Qualitative

Two classes (same school, same teacher): one class uses workbook, the other does not.

Survey students from both classes on aspects such as how well they felt they understood the work, how confident they were about the exam, etc.

Compare students who choose to use workbook with students who choose not to.

Record final mark for psychology for all students involved, and compare groups.

Discussion among students of the value of using the workbook.

Lists of students’ perceptions of the value of using the workbook, grouped into positives and negatives.



Worksheet 2 Investigation Designs

Experimental Investigation

(These answers refer to the three designs set out in the previous table. Your answers will depend on the ideas you put in your table.)

Participants: Who will be the participants? How many?

This depends on how many students in the classes involved. To obtain reliable results, this investigation would be conducted across several schools in which two such classes could be set up (one with the workbook, one without).

Groups: How will you allocate participants to the experimental and control groups?

The school or teacher would make this decision, and students in the two classes would be told whether they were using the workbook or not.

Pre-Testing: Will you need to pre-test the participants (necessary sometimes to determine how much change occurs during the ‘treatment’ phase)?

Ideally the students should be pre-tested (see ‘data’ below), however if large numbers are involved and the allocation to groups is random the students’ abilities can be assumed to be similar in the two groups.

Treatment: What happens during the experiment? What is the ‘treatment’ you are trying to measure the effect of? How is it to be done? For how long?

The ‘treatment’ is the use or non-use of the workbook. This would continue for the full school year, the teacher using it as part of their teaching of the psychology course.

Controls : Which variables will you need to control? How will you do this?

Students in the two groups need to have identical conditions except for the workbook

– same teacher, same number in the class, same classroom, same learning experiences apart from the workbook (the teacher could not, for example, substitute for the workbook in the control group with extra videos or discussions that the experimental group did not have).

Data: What data do you plan to collect?

The data type selected for this investigation was subjective quantitative . Students in each group (experimental, control) will be surveyed at four times through the year: start of term 1, end of terms 1, 2 and 3. At each time they will be asked to report on their understanding of the work they have done, their confidence in handling assessment tasks such as assignments and exams, and how well they believe they will do in the final assessment for this subject.

Other comments

There are serious ethical issues here. Are we disadvantaging either group of students?

Should they have been given a choice? Would the experiment still be valid if we did?

These issues will be addressed in worksheet 5.



Quantitative Observational Investigation

Participants: Who will you include as the participants for the investigation? How many?

All stage 2 Psychology students in any school can be involved, and it is important to include enough schools to have reasonable numbers who are using the workbook and who are not.

Pre-Testing: Will you need to pre-test the participants?

Ideally the students should be pre-tested, however if large numbers are involved the students’ abilities can be assumed to be similar.

Method: What will you do during the investigation? What will you be observing?

What would be the length of observation period?

All that needs to be monitored during the year is the extent to which each student uses the workbook. As they are not in different groups (such as classes or schools), we do not need to monitor whether other variables are kept constant.

Data: What data do you plan to collect? (Again this will depend on what you indicated in Worksheet 1.) Remember you need to measure both variables.

Objective quantitative data: The simplest way to do this would be to record two things for each student: how extensively he/she used the workbook through the year (as a

%), and the final SSABSA mark for psychology (the mark out of 20).

Qualitative Investigation

Participants: Who will your participants be? How many?

Stage 2 psychology students from a range of schools where the workbook is used. All students at those schools who used the workbook are involved (if participation is optional it produces a biased sample and unreliable results).

Method: What will you do during the investigation? What will you be observing?

What would be the length of the investigation?

At the start, middle and end of the school year participants will be involved in a group discussion of what they see as the values of using the workbook.

Data: What data do you plan to collect? How? Again, you need information about both variables (use of book, performance).

A list of ideas expressed during the discussion sessions will be collected by an observer. These will include perceptions about how using the book is or is not useful, and about how each student believes he/she is performing in the subject. Data could be collated as lists of positive and negative comments.



Worksheet 3 Measurement in Psychology

(These answers refer to the three designs set out in the previous worksheet. Your answers will depend on the ideas you put in your table.)

Experiment

The type of data to be collected is subjective quantitative .

What data will you collect from each participant?

Each subject will report three pieces of data: how well they believe they understand the work they have done (scale of 0 to 10), how confident they are in approaching assessment tasks (scale of 0 to 10), and the mark they believe they will receive at the end of the year for Psychology (scale of 0 to 20). This data will be collected four times through the school year.

How will this data be presented when all participants’ data is collated together?

The raw data from this investigation will be presented as a table listing all of the participants’ identification numbers, then with twelve columns to record the three pieces of information four times each (see above).

Quantitative observational investigation

The type of data to be collected is objective quantitative .


Since it is unlikely that participants will fall neatly into two groups ‘used book’ and

‘did not use book’, we could instead record the extent to which each student in the study used the workbook. Therefore, two pieces of information will be collected for each participant: the extent to which he/she used the workbook (as a %, calculated by observing their books at the end of the year), and the final SSABSA score for

Psychology for each participant. Note that the participants will not be aware of this during the year, as this may influence their use of the book.


The raw data will be presented in a table, listing all of the participants’ identification numbers, then with two columns to record the extent of book use and the final

Psychology score for each one.

Qualitative investigation

The type of data to be collected is qualitative .


A list of ideas expressed during the discussion sessions will be collected by an observer. These will include perceptions about how using the book is or is not useful, and about how each student believes he/she is performing in the subject. Data could be collated as lists of positive and negative comments.


The data will be in the form of lists of ideas – perhaps as a series of dot points written down by the observers/recorders during the discussions.



Worksheet 4 Analysis of data

Experimental Investigation

The easiest way to show how the data will be summarised is in the form of a blank table and/or graph. In this investigation, the data could be summarised in a table as follows:

Time of data collection

Understanding of work

(mean of all scores)

Confidence in assessment tasks


Predicted final mark


Experimental Start T1

Group End T1

(used book) End T2

End T3

Control

Group

(no use of book)

Start T1

End T1

End T2

End T3

Quantitative observational investigation

Two possible ways to summarise this data are: group the participants according to extent of book use and calculate the mean final score for each group (see blank table below), or do a scatterplot graph to reveal any correlation between book use and performance in the subject.

EXTENT OF WORKBOOK USE

LOW (0 – 20%)

MEDIUM-LOW (21 – 40 % used)

MEDIUM (41 – 60% used)

MEDIUM-HIGH (61 – 80% used)

HIGH (81 – 100% used)

MEAN PSYCHOLOGY SCORE

Qualitative investigation

The ideas recorded from the discussion groups could be summarised into two lists, those considered positive comments and those considered negative. (It might be necessary to have a third column, as not all ideas are clearly positive or negative.)



Sample Data Analysis

(Note: All calculations are done to one decimal place.)

Performance data

Workbook usage group

1 = low usage

(9 participants)

2 = high usage)

(19 participants)

611

1557

÷

÷

9

= 67.9

19

= 81.9

67

85

11.5

12.6

What do you think you can conclude from the data?

The means and medians indicate that the students who had a high usage of the workbook performed significantly better on assessment tasks through the year than those who had a low usage.

The standard deviations indicate that the performance scores of the low usage group were slightly less spread than those of the high performance group.



Worksheet 5 Research Ethics

Again, these answers refer to the experimental investigation detailed in worksheet 2.

Your answers will depend on your design in worksheet 2.

Informed consent

In your planned experiment would you be able to:

* give the participants a full explanation of what would be involved?

* explain the costs and benefits involved in participating?

* gain the participants’ consent to participate?

* assure the participants they would not be deceived in any way?

It would be difficult to give the participants a full explanation of what was to be involved, as this would change their approach to their study of the subject, and invalidate the investigation. It would be possible to give the explanation at the end, though it is likely the students would question why one class was using the book and the other was not. It is similarly unlikely that the students would consent to participating in such an ‘experiment’ in such an important year of their education.

Confidentiality


* ensure the participants’ identities would be kept confidential (using ID numbers only)?

* avoid invading their privacy in any way?

* seek the participants’ consent if you need to get information from other parties, such as their teacher?

All of these should be possible in the proposed investigation. You will experience this when you do your two investigations this year.

Voluntary participation


* ensure the participants’ participation was voluntary?

* avoid any form of coercion to participate?

* make it clear that they are free to withdraw from the experiment at any time without any penalties or loss?

This would be difficult. It is likely that most students would prefer to be in the class using the workbook, so being assigned to the control group would not be voluntary. It would be difficult to allow anyone to withdraw from the investigation, unless they were able to change classes. This presents its own problems.



Debriefing


* explain to the participants the outcomes after it was completed?

* provide a chance for them to ask questions about the experiment or the outcomes?

* clarify any concealment or deception that occurred?

This should be able to be done quite easily.

Possible harm


* ensure that the participants would suffer no lasting physical or psychological harm?

* avoid them experiencing embarrassment, guilt or other discomfort?

* respect their dignity at all times?

There are problems here. You would not be able to assure the participants in either group that they would suffer no disadvantage through being assigned to one group or the other. All teachers make judgements about what resources and approaches to use in class (videos, books, discussions, etc), but denying a group of students access to a resource such as a workbook is likely to be seen as disadvantaging them.



TOPIC 2 SOCIAL COGNITION

Worksheet 6 Attitudes, Behaviour and Impressions

Let’s imagine that a federal election has been called for next month, and that you will have to vote. Decide right now which party you think you will vote for. Don’t write down your choice, but list below all of the factors you can identify that have influenced your decision. List as many as you can:

Your answers could include such factors as: what your parents say about politics and how they vote, what your friends say and think, election advertising , issues you feel strongly about, what you think of the leaders of the parties, newspaper and television reporting of the election, televised election debates , what happened last election , the sort of society you want Australia to be, what you think of politics and politicians in general, your local member , or how you think the different policies might affect things like the economy and your chances of getting a job after you leave school.

Rewrite the list of ten issues (politics, sport, television, etc), arranging them in order from the one you feel most strongly about as an important issue in your life, down to the one you feel least strongly about, the one you care least about:

This list depends of course on personal feelings. It could, for example, look like this:

1.

Food +++

2.

Environment ++

3.

Sport ++

4.

Music ++

5.

Television

6.

Marriage -

7.

Sex ++

8.

Cars +

9.

Economy -

10.

Politics -

Taking the example of FOOD as an issue, the components of your attitude could look like this:

ISSUE: FOOD

COGNITIVE

COMPONENT

AFFECTIVE

COMPONENT

BEHAVIOURAL

COMPONENT

My beliefs My feelings My actions

It is important to eat healthy food

Food is for enjoyment as well as for nutrition

It is good to grow your own food if possible

Cooking is a worthwhile and enjoyable activity

Feel good about it when I eat healthy food.

Sense of achievement when I cook a good dinner.

Eat mainly healthy food, and little junk food.

Often invite people round and cook for them.

Very pleased to be able to cook using things from the garden.

Grow lots of vegetables and herbs to use in cooking.

Feel very satisfied to put Cook most of my own food, together a good dish or meal. and eat little take-away.

This attitude towards food serves these functions:

1


UTILITARIAN FUNCTION

Does it guide you to

‘useful’ behaviour?

Topic 2 Answers

This attitude directs me to grow fresh food and to cook and eat healthy food.

It also leads to frequent socialising over dinner.

SELF-EXPRESSIVE

FUNCTION

Does it inform others about who you are?

My family and friends know I value gardening, cooking and healthy eating.

I am seen as a ‘healthy’ person.

The truth is that I am not entirely healthy in all

EGO-DEFENSIVE

FUNCTION of my habits (I should exercise more!), but I feel

Does it help protect your self-esteem? good about myself because I do eat well.

KNOWLEDGE FUNCTION

Though I love food and cooking, I think it helps me understand others who might have different

Does it help you to understand your world? priorities in their lives – we are not all the same.

(Refer Page 25)

Your examples relating to exposure to issues might include things like these:

I like the Bundy ads with the polar bear. I think they

I am being exposed to it frequently and I have developed a positive attitude towards it. are amusing and find I smile as soon as one comes on.

I am being exposed to it frequently, and I liked it at the start but now I am feeling negative towards it because it has been overdone.

The ads for some of the ‘reality TV’ shows are interesting at first but get really annoying when they show them so often.

I am being exposed to it frequently, but I didn’t like it at the start and now I am feeling even more negative about it.

I really dislike very loud and aggressive advertising, and the more they show the ads the more negative I feel towards the company being advertised.

Your ratings might not be exactly the same as those below, but in general the more direct the experience is the more impact it can have on us:

•

•

1 I nearly ran off the road when I hit the gravel while speeding

5 I read the statistics showing that most serious accidents involve speed

•

4 I have seen young drivers speeding on the road at the front of our school

•

2 A friend of mine was killed in an accident with a speeding driver

•

3 I received a fine and demerit points for speeding

2


Compare your list with that of another person. Are your rankings the same? Can you explain any differences? Can either of you convince the other to change their rankings?

Any differences here are possibly due to how ‘direct’ we consider these events to be – or perhaps whether any of these things have in fact happened to us. If you were fined for speeding last week, you probably put a 1 next to the last one.

Type of

Learning

Classical

Conditioning

Explanation

Learning by association :

Associating the object

(ie.

‘living in this town’) with a negative or positive experience

How could this type of learning be involved here?

Often in town with friends and cannot find anything to do, so come to associate the town with boredom and frustration.

When you complain about having nothing

Operant

Conditioning

Modelling

Learning by reward or punishment :

Holding an attitude for which we receive praise or approval

(eg, from family or friends)

Learning by imitation : Learning an attitude by observing the behaviour of important people in our lives ( parents, friends, etc) to do, friends agree.

This reinforces this attitude.

If your parents regularly complain about facilities in the town, you are likely to develop a similar attitude.

3


CRITERIA

Topic 2 Answers

An example of an issue here could be beginning an exercise program at the local gym . Your answers could look like this:

Yes – I want very much to get fitter, and I feel very

ATTITUDE STRENGTH:

Is your attitude towards this idea a strong one? determined to do something about it.

I feel unfit and think I would look and feel better if I was.

INFORMATION: Are you well informed about the idea?

Yes – I have read books and learned through PE at school about the value of fitness and how it can be developed, and I know exactly what I need to do.

PERSONAL

EXPERIENCE: Have you had personal experience with this idea?

Some, but not much – I have been to the gym with friends a couple of times, but it is still a bit of an unknown to me.

ACCESSIBILITY: Is this attitude readily accessible

– do you think about it often?

Yes – I talk to my friends and family about it a lot, and the idea seems to be on my mind all of the time now.

SPECIFICITY: Does you attitude relate specifically to the behaviour (plan) in question?

Yes and no – my main focus is to get fitter, so taking up a sport would also do the job.

But for the moment joining a gym seems the simplest way to do it.

In summary: How likely do you think you are to follow through with your plan?

The answers above suggest that I am fairly likely to follow through on my plan.

Three of the five criteria point to that, although two of them (personal experience and specificity) suggest that I am less likely to.

What attitude is this advertising campaign trying to change?

It is trying to change our attitude towards advertising by financial institutions in general, and towards banking with Savings and Loans in particular.

4


Component

Beliefs

Before persuasion After persuasion

Ads for financial institutions are This ad is interesting.

not interesting.

Feelings

Feel apathetic towards ads for financial institutions.

Feel interested in what this ad has to say.

Behaviour

Don’t bother to watch the ads, Change to banking with Savings & so my banking habits are not Loans.

likely to change.

Does this advertisement use the central or the peripheral route? Explain.

Peripheral route: the focus is on image rather than factual information.

What types of people are most likely to be persuaded by this advertisement?

People who do not see the issue as being very relevant to them, who are image conscious, and who are unlikely to think deeply about the message in the ad.

If a person was persuaded by the advertisement to become a customer of Savings and

Loans, yet felt that this was contradictory to a long family history of banking with another institution, they could experience cognitive dissonance. This is one case in which a person’s behaviour can bring about a change in their attitude. Explain how this person could resolve the dissonance by changing their attitude.

If the person changed their attitude from ‘it is important to remain with the family bank’ to ‘it is important to bank with the institution where I get the best deal’, then they would no longer feel dissonance in changing to Savings and Loans.

If this idea is accurate, what advice would you offer to the people at Savings and Loans about their proposed advertisement? What slogan would you propose?

The people at Savings and Loans might be better advised to concentrate on their existing customers, and give them a good feeling about banking there. A slogan like

‘Because you know you’re welcome here’ might make them feel good.

Select ten words that you think describe what sort of person she is:

While the information is limited, we can see enough of the person to get the impression that she is cheerful, positive, fun, confident, helpful, relaxed, sensible, and so on.

5


Factors involved in impression formation

Basic communication: Who forms an impression of whom in the first few seconds of the meeting?

Verbal communication: Is their impression of you likely to be based on what you say, or how you say it, or both?

Which people in this group are engaging in impression management during this meeting?

As you go through the process of self-presentation, what impression of you are you hoping they will form? (Is the answer the same for the supervisor as it is for the other workers?)

The supervisor asks one of the other workers to show you how to use the coffee machine, and she explains that she is

‘not very good at helping others’. What is this process called, and why do people do it?

Who is likely to engage in social comparison during this brief meeting? What purpose does it serve?

Do you think you would be more likely to engage in upward or downward social comparison in this meeting?

Explain.

Could stereotypes be a factor in the impression the other people form of you? Explain.

How each of these factors operates in this first meeting

They form an impression of you, and you form an impression of them.

(Your impression of each of them will be less clear since there are more of them.)

Both – the semantic and expressive levels of verbal communication both help in forming impressions.

All are – you and they are both conscious of the impression you are giving the others of what sort of person you are.

Probably want to give the supervisor the impression of being keen, capable, friendly (etc), and give the others the impression that you will be good to work with (friendly, cooperative, etc).

This is called self ‐ handicapping.

People do it so they have a ready ‐ made excuse in case they do make a mistake.

Everyone will.

We do it so we have a standard by which we can judge ourselves, especially if we feel some uncertainty about some aspect of ourselves.

Either.

It could be downward so we could feel better than someone in the group, or it could be upward so we have a standard to aim for.

Yes.

Someone could form an impression based on a stereotype they hold about someone of your sex, hair colour, height, race, speech pattern, etc.

If you mess up and make a bad impression – ‘incompetent’,

‘clumsy’, ‘nervous’ – on the first day, is this likely to be forgotten or to stay with you?

Explain.

Unfortunately it is likely to stay with you.

The first impression that someone makes of you will form the basis for their subsequent impressions and judgements of you.

6


Worksheet 7 Experiences, Events and Interventions

Christmas charity ad

Attitude towards …

Likely audience? …

Issue relevant to them?

Actively thinking about ad?

Central or peripheral?

Intended beliefs?

Intended feelings?

Intended behaviour?

Donating to charities

Adults in the household (they probably collect the mail and manage the money)

Probably not for most adults in an affluent society

Probably not – many other things to think about at

Christmas time (presents, aunties, holidays, money, etc)

Peripheral

That it is a good thing to support charities

Empathetic towards the underprivileged

Donate money to the charity

Watch ad






Intended beliefs?

Intended feelings?

Intended behaviour?

Owning an elegant watch

Adults - especially wealthy, image conscious

Yes, if they are image conscious

Maybe not before reading it, but possibly yes after seeing it

Peripheral

Owning such a watch would enhance my image

Excited about looking as elegant as the ad shows

Buy the watch (and get a date with a famous actress!)

7


Sunglasses






Intended beliefs?

Intended feelings?

Intended behaviour?

Topic 2 Answers

Wearing trendy sunglasses, that brand in particular

Young, image conscious males

Yes – very important for the image to be right

Yes – both before and after seeing it

Peripheral

A pair of those would be great for my image

Excited about looking as cool as the guy in the photo

Buy a pair (and probably work on the hair too)

Internet package






Intended beliefs?

Intended feelings?

Intended behaviour?

Having a phone & net package, with Optus in particular

Diverse, as a wide range use phones and the net

Yes – both in regular use, as is their cost

Yes – frequently discussed and advertised, so often thought about

Both – ad contains image and information

That this package would be convenient and save money

Enthusiastic about getting a good/better deal

Sign up to the package

Hugh Grant






Intended beliefs?

Intended feelings?

Intended behaviour?

Hugh Grant (and the movies he is in)

Diverse, but particularly young to middle age women

Yes – attractiveness of people is seldom irrelevant

Probably not consciously, but part of the secret of such a promotional campaign is to keep the person’s face in front of the public so they are thinking about him

Peripheral – all image, no information

Hugh Grant is an attractive person

Excited about seeing him in a movie

Go to see Hugh Grant movies

8


(Refer Page 39) There are many ideas you can put on this diagram – a few more have been added for you, but the importance of this as a learning tool for you is the thinking you do in finding your own ideas.

ATTITUDES PERSON PERCEPTION

* have three components

* advertising aims to change these

* based on little information

* can be changed

* can be deliberately manipulated

* information from our interactions with other people

* we are conscious of the impressions we give others

Fundamental Attribution Error

SCENARIO

1.

‘Extension please?’

2.

‘Late again’

3.

‘Little sister’

F.A.E. Explanation

She is always late with her work – she

Alternative Explanation

I am sure there is a good reason why she is late ‐ seems very disorganised, and I don’t I will ask her what the problem is, and how we really think she cares about this subject.

can get it done properly.

You are late home again – you know we What happened to make you late home?

– I wanted you home early, but as usual you hope you are OK.

don’t seem to care about our feelings.

She only thinks about herself.

She does honest more

have she time

in

more probably there

to than do

than doesn’t me

–

me.

spend she

To that just

be much seems

to.

How might a girl’s parents make the Fundamental Attribution Error in their assessment of their daughter’s new boyfriend?

They could, for example, assume that when he wants her to spend time with him he is being selfish, but when they want her to spend time with the family they only want

‘what’s best for her’.

9


Mr Johnson and the neighbour:

Topic 2 Answers

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3

What happens?

Mr Johnson’s cognition

(thoughts)

Mr Johnson politely asks The neighbour disagrees, so Neighbour still disagrees, the neighbour to keep Mr Johnson becomes more so Mr Johnson threatens to the dog out of his yard.

forceful and insistent.

Balanced – trying to see Begins to see only his own take

Sees

matters only his

into own his

hands.

side, and

both sides.

side of things.

Losing His concern is solely with empathy for his neighbour.

getting his own way.

Mr Johnson’s affect

Fairly low, though some Moderately aroused.

(excitation) arousal due to his wife’s

Mr Johnson’s behaviour

insistence.

Calm, trying to be as assertive as possible.

Becoming hostile, and much About to explode, angry, less willing to see the other threatening violence, point of view.

Highly aroused.

openly aggressive.

Mr Johnson and the neighbour (again!):

Prepare

Mr J plans where he will stand, how he will address the neighbour, and what he will do if things start to get out of hand again.

Rehearse

Relax

Reflect

Mr J thinks through some ways he might state his case: ‘I’d like to talk to you about your son’s drums’, or ‘Is it OK if we have a talk about something that has been bothering my wife and I?’.

The neighbour did start to get agitated again like the last time they spoke, so

Mr J just stopped talking and let him say everything he needed to, then began again with ‘I understand that, but from our side it looks like….’

When he got back home Mr J and his wife discussed what had happened, and agreed that it had gone better this time.

The drum issue was still unresolved, but they knew things had been handled much better this time.

10


Self-Perception – two different explanatory styles

(Refer Page 43)

SCENARIO

My teacher seemed to frown when I answered that question in class

Event attributed to internal causes

It must have been a stupid answer.

I must have really looked like a loser to my friends.

What an idiot!

Event attributed to external causes

I know the answer was OK.

I think the teacher just didn’t hear or understand me properly.

I’m too fat Probably the wrong style of dress

The new dress I tried on today seemed a bit tight.

for me – that style was cut much slimmer than the ad showed.

I guess she doesn’t want me at The invitations musn’t be out yet ‐

I haven’t got an invitation to Mia’s party yet the party.

no ‐ one else has mentioned having

got one yet either.

Had a bad game today – I haven’t played like that for ages.

I think my hair looks a bit funny this morning.

I’m hopeless – I’m just not as I know I’ve been tired lately, and good a player as I used to think the conditions really didn’t suit my

I was.

game.

My hair is hopeless – it always Just a bad hair day – something is

looks stupid.

not quite right, but it will be better tomorrow.

11


Worksheet 8 Social Issues and Personal Growth

These answers relate to the current and recent advertising campaign to promote safe driving practices :

Principle

The route most effective depends on whether the issue is relevant to the target audience and whether they are likely to think carefully about the message.

The route chosen also depends on whether the audience is likely to be self-conscious, and therefore concerned about the correct image.

The persuasive message is more likely to be successful if is presented by someone who has credibility in the field, and who is seen as being attractive.

Persuasive messages are best delivered in a style of speech that is moderately fast without hesitation – this style sounds more knowledgeable.

A successful message will evoke strong emotions in the viewers.

How it can be seen in these ads

The target audience – all drivers, but specifically young adults – will certainly see the issue as relevant since the ads show the health and other consequences of poor driving. They are likely to think carefully about the message.

The young adult audience is likely to be self-conscious and therefore concerned about the correct image. The difficult question here, however, is whether they see the

‘correct image’ as sensible driver or cool driver.

Safe driving ads have been presented by doctors, policemen and other ‘authorities’. These are likely to be seen as having credibility, although ‘attractive’ is a more subjective judgement.

The style of speech in these ads is not generally fast, but it is delivered in a deliberate style with no hesitation

Repeated exposure has been shown to increase viewer’s liking for people and events (unless overexposure occurs, leading to negative feelings).

We are more likely to be persuaded by someone we see as being similar to us in one or more ways.

All of these ads evoke strong emotions, such as fear.

(How you respond to this question depends on how you find you have reacted to the repeated exposure which is a feature of these advertising campaigns.)

These ads tend to use ‘normal people’ – even the authorities (doctors, etc) in the ads usually dress and act as fairly ‘normal people’.

Who would be most convincing?

Considering all the criteria – credible, attractive, speak knowledgably, similar to you

– it is a difficult choice. Your answers depend on your opinion about some of these things, but this might be an estimate of what you might say:

Best friend 7 Popular TV personality 9

Parent 4 Health teacher 3

Doctor 1

Maths teacher 6

Principal 5

Nurse from local hospital 2

Popular music star 10

Well known sporting identity 8

12


Is there someone you can think of who meets the criteria for being convincing better than all of these? Who?

Your opinion – but it must be someone who meets all the criteria. No point choosing the TV news reader because he is attractive and speaks well if he has no credibility in

the field and is not similar to you.

Reducing Prejudice

Reaction to dreadlocks : How will the two stages of activation happen?

Firstly , how will the automatic processing occur? What will be your first thought when you see her?

Since you have a stereotype towards people with dreadlocks, you will automatically assume that she is unclean.

Secondly , when you have a chance to think about her, what will you decide? What will your controlled processing do? Will you activate (and behave according to) your stereotype, or will you decide to agree to her sitting next to you? What do you really think you would do?

There are two possible answers here. You can either ignore and reject her, or you can make a decision to accept and befriend her because she seems like an interesting person. The answer you give is purely a matter of opinion.

Challenging and changing a friend’s stereotype:

Bookkeeping Model:

What pieces of information can you offer your friend to disconfirm the various parts of her stereotype?

Conversion Model:

What one piece of information do you think might be sufficient to radically change your friend’s stereotype?

Subtyping Model:

What information could you tell your friend that would enable her to create a subcategory within her existing stereotype?

‘There are no statistics to confirm that they are terrorists’

‘Their religion requires them to wash many times a day’

‘They want to be friendly – if we give them a chance’ etc etc

‘Of course she seems a bit aloof, because she is scared and lonely and has no friends here. If you can be strong enough to befriend her it might be a very rewarding and maturing experience for you.’

‘Sure, some people from that country are involved in acts of terrorism, but only the members of certain groups. This girl is not even from the part of the country where those groups exist.’

13


Impression Management

Topic 2 Answers

Your answers are to some extent a matter of opinion, and might look something like this:

COMMUNICATION

Scenario 1

Interview with an employer for a job you are seeking.

Scenario 2

Interview on television asking your opinions on some ‘youth issues’

Scenario 3

Meeting the new boy/girlfriend’s father for the first time

Friendly

Relaxed

Confident

What impression do you want to create? List three adjectives (eg, sensible, trendy, reliable, fun)

Physical Appearance : How will you present yourself

(clothes, hair, jewellery, etc)

Facial emotions :

What emotions do you want your face to express?

Eye Contact :

Will you attempt to make and/or maintain eye contact?

Posture & Movement :

How will you stand or sit or walk?

Open or Closed Posture :

Will you adopt an open or closed posture?

Gestures :

What types of gestures do you think would be most appropriate?

Proxemics :

How close do you think you should sit or stand?

Semantic level of verbal communication :

What types of things will you say?

Expressive level of verbal communication :

What expression will you try to have in your voice?

Self-handicapping :

How could you self ‐ handicap?

What could you say if don’t ‘perform’ well?

Sensible

Capable

Friendly

Neat dress

Tidy hair

Modest jewellery

Happiness

Acceptance

Anticipation

Yes

Depends on the situation created by the other person

Open is more relaxed and friendly

Gestures to indicate strength and friendliness – avoid rudeness

Not very –this also depends on the situation created for you

Mainly factual – information about you, and asking questions

Enthusiasm

Friendliness

Calmness

Etc

‘I don’t handle interviews well’

‘I have been under a lot of stress this week’

Sensible

Thoughtful

Intelligent

Typical teenage dress – want to look like a fairly typical youth

Optimism

Acceptance

Happiness

Yes – both with the interviewer and with the camera

Probably will be seated, relaxed, facing interviewer

Open

Relaxed, strong, friendly

Not very – this is a fairly formal situation

Information – giving your opinions on the issues

Enthusiasm

Sensible

Thoughtful

Etc

‘I am not very used to this’

‘I was really nervous today’

Whatever is suitable for where you are going – just your normal appearance

Acceptance

Happiness

Anticipation

Yes

Relaxed

Confortable

Open

Relaxed, friendly

Not very – comfortable distance

– also depends on other person

Information about you – ask questions to appear interested

Interested

Friendly

Thoughtful

Etc

‘I’m a bit uneasy with people the first time’

‘I’ve been stressing about this all week’

14


Worksheet 9 Methods of Investigation

Topic 2 Answers

Thurstone Scale Issue: BABIES

Very

Unfavourable

Ð

Ð

Ð

Ð

Ð

Ð

Ð

Ð

Very

Favourable

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Statements

Babies are smelly, snotty, dirty, demanding little pests.

Babies are a constant hassle – always crying and demanding your time.

Having a baby around full time would be very difficult to stand.

Babies are more work than they are worth.

Some babies are OK, but most of the babies I have seen are not.

Some babies are nice, especially when you get to know them a bit.

Babies are hard work, but it is worth it in the end.

Feeling needed by a baby would be a very good feeling.

Babies are lovely – all warm and cuddly and loving.

If I had a baby I would love it and it would become my whole world.

Likert Scale

Issue: BABIES

A or D

Caring for a baby can be a lot of work.

Babies are very demanding.

A baby can be very happy.

Developing a relationship with your baby would enhance your life.

Babies are smelly.

Babies give as much as they take emotionally.

Single-parent babies are not as happy as two-parent babies.

A baby’s mother is more important to it than its father.

Raising a baby is expensive.

Babies express their emotions – both positive and negative – very clearly.

15


Semantic Differential Scales

Issue: BABIES

Babies are:

HAPPY

LOVING

POSITIVE

FUN

UGLY

TENSE

INTERESTING

UNHAPPY

DEMANDING

NEGATIVE

WORK

BEAUTIFUL

RELAXED

BORING

Observation of Behaviour

Behaviour

Person on the next seat gets up, moves away, and sits on another seat.

Person comes in, sits next to him/her, makes no acknowledgement or gesture at all.

Sits next to him/her, asks some questions about his/her culture and background.

Makes a negative, mocking remark from the other side of the carriage.

Sits next to him/her, but body language seems tense.

Presumed attitude

Very negative towards the person – thinks he/she is unclean or untrustworthy, feels uncomfortable, so moves away.

Ambivalent – neither negative nor positive

Positive attitude – thinks he/she is interesting, feel comfortable, wants to learn from him/her

Negative attitude.

Slightly negative.

16


Physiological Measurement

Emotional situation

Nearly stand on a snake while bushwalking.

Open the door and see a friend from years ago.

Winner of ‘Idol’ is about to be announced.

See someone mistreating a baby.

Someone you really like asks you out.

Topic 2 Answers

Emotion experienced

Fear

Surprise

Anticipation

Anger

Joy

(Or is it Love??

♥♥♥

)

17


Worksheet 10 Ethical Issues

Topic 2 Answers

NOTE: Brief answers are given here for both studies. Your answers should be more detailed, but make sure they are consistent with these answers.

Fairness

What could the researchers have done to make the study fair to the participants?

Could they have informed them about what they could expect to experience? Or would this have compromised the study? Would it have been necessary to wait till the end of the study to inform them? Would this still have been fair to them?

Milgram: Not possible to inform the participants prior to the study – this would have compromised the study.

But it was not fair to the participants.

Zimbardo: It was fair in that the participants were informed ‐ but no ‐ one anticipated how things would develop.

Informed Consent

Was it possible to gain informed consent ? Were the subjects free to withdraw from the experiment if they wanted to? Were they coerced into, or rewarded for, participating?

Milgram: Consent was not informed – participants did not know the full details of the study.

They were not free to withdraw, and were coerced to continue when they expressed concern and distress at what was happening.

Zimbardo: They were not free to withdraw (they were locked up), and were rewarded for participating (payment).

Deception

Was any deception used? Was an unreasonable level of deception used? Was deception necessary for the purposes of the study? What would have happened if the researchers had told the subjects everything about the procedure to be used?

Milgram: Deception was used, probably unreasonable, though it was necessary for the purposes of the study.

Zimbardo: Deception was not used – they simply did not anticipate what was to happen.

Debriefing

If you were in charge of this study, set out how you would have addressed these four issues in the debriefing session after the experiment:

How would you provide the opportunity for the subjects to raise questions or concerns about the research? What approach would you use - questionnaire? discussion group? one-on-one interview? other?

Milgram: Participants would have to be debriefed immediately after the experiment, because of the distress experienced by some.

This should take place in a one ‐ on ‐ one counselling session with a trained psychologist.

Zimbardo: Participants would have to be debriefed immediately the study was called off.

This could be done in a group session where reasons for the behaviour could be explored, and where participants could resume their normal personalities.

18

STAGE 2 PSYCHOLOGY WORKBOOKTOPIC 3 ANSWERS

TOPIC 3 LEARNING

Worksheet 11 Basic Concepts

1. You enter a competition in which the challenge is to develop through practice a simple but completely new skill – something you have never seen or done before, such as dropping an egg onto a piece of carpet without breaking it, or rolling a table tennis ball off a table to make it bounce twice and end up in a cup placed on the floor. You will have 100 practice tries, then have ten chances to demonstrate your ability to do it.

The catch is that you will be blindfolded and have your ears covered while

you practice so you have no idea how successful your tries are. How well do you think you will go? Explain.

Not very well. If you don’t know whether a try has been successful or not, it will not be possible for you to refine your technique and improve. Your attempts will continue to be random.

2 Why would this person feel such emotion walking onto a grassed surface in an empty arena where nothing much was happening?

Because he has made an association between the venue and the excitement he has experienced there on several occasions in the past.

3. Imagine if you began your Year 12 English course by writing several essays. Your teacher offers to write on your essays simply some comments as to how you could improve, or a mark out of 100, or both. Which option would you choose, and why?

Probably the third one. The more feedback you can get about how you have performed, the more likely you are to improve your technique.

4. Many years ago an ice-cream vendor drove the streets in pink-andwhite vans playing the tune ‘Greensleeves’. Kids would plead with parents for money and run out into the street to buy a soft-serve in a cone. A whole generation of children got immediately excited – and probably also salivated – at the very sound of Greensleeves, even if it was a different version played on the radio at a time when no icecreams were on offer.

Why should kids get so excited about a tune they didn’t even really like?

Because they came to associate the tune with the expectation of getting an icecream. It caused a feeling of excitement in them.

1


Cases

1 and 3

What do they have in common?

The learning in these two scenarios involves receiving feedback so you know how successful your attempts have been and can adjust your behaviour accordingly.

2 and 4

In each of these two scenarios the person had formed an association between a certain place or event and the emotional response caused.

Answers here depend on personal experience. Here are some possible examples:

Type of case Example of your own

An example where your ability to learn a new physical skill has depended Learning how to hit a tennis ball depends on being whether your attempts are successful by seeing or adjusting the stroke where necessary. hearing or in some other way knowing the outcome.

An example where you have felt a strong emotion – happiness, elation, love, Feeling sad when you enter a church where the anger, etc – just by being at funeral of a close friend was held. the same place as where you had earlier felt that emotion because of what was happening there.

An example in which you have improved at something at school as a Writing a better report for an investigation after direct result of the feedback writing a draft and having the teacher offer you have received from comments about where it can be improved. earlier attempts to do it.

An example in which a piece of music has elicited a response in you as a result of what was happening at

If you heard a Christmas carol in the middle of the year it would still evoke the same feelings you get at an earlier time when you had heard it.

Christmas time.

Learning is any relatively enduring change in either our potential to perform particular behaviours or our knowledge that results from experience .

2


Examples depend on your experience. Here are some possible examples:

Active learning Passive learning

Intentional learning

Example 1: Learning to throw a dart accurately by practising many hundreds of times.

Example 2:

Example 1: Learning a new language by listening to many conversations and audio-tapes in that language.

Example 2:

Unintentional learning

Learning to play the piano by practising the scales for many hours.

Example 1 : Learning some basic wrestling techniques while having play fights with your younger brother.

Example 2:

Learning to play chess by reading a book that explains how it is played.

Example 1: Learning some (very) basic social skills while watching soapies and movies on television.

Example 2:

Learning to walk as a baby.

Learning about relationships while observing how your parents react to each other at home.

Learning to play chess – some possible ‘basic process’ questions:

1. Do you learn best by watching people play, by reading about it, or by playing?

2. When you are playing chess for the first time, how can you tell if you are playing well?

3. Would you learn more quickly if you had a discussion about your play after each game?

4. Do you learn most quickly when you are winning or when you are losing?

5. What exactly are you thinking while you are playing chess?

6. Do you learn quickest if you are feeling emotional or unemotional?

3


Example of

Learning

When Julie bought a new pair of jeans, her friends told her she looked great in them. She now wears them more often than anything else she owns.

Type of learning

Operant

Conditioning

Studies have shown that young people are more likely to drink alcohol if their friends and parents are regular drinkers.

Learning by

Observation

Many advertisers show their product in association with a pleasant image such as a happy person so we will feel good when we see their product.

Classical

Conditioning

Second example of this type of learning

Alan’s mother thanks him every time he cleans his room, so he keeps doing it.

Children learn the manners they see their parents exhibit at the dinner table.

Video clips shown with hit songs on TV get us to associate the happy or energetic or sexy image with the song, and we remember this when we hear the song on radio later.

4


(Refer Page 68)

Classical Conditioning:

Features of classical conditioning

Before conditioning happens, one stimulus causes or elicits a natural response .

MCG example

An exciting game of any sport at any venue will cause an emotional reaction in a keen sport fan

This stimulus is called the

Unconditioned

Stimulus (UCS)

Before conditioning, this stimulus causes an involuntary response.

The exciting sport is the

Unconditioned Stimulus

The reaction of the sport fan to the game excitement

is the feeling of

The

Baby example feel of the nipple causes an involuntary response in the baby. in its mouth sucking

The nipple in the mouth is the

Unconditioned Stimulus.

The response of the baby to the in its mouth is to suck . nipple

This response is called the

Unconditioned

Response (UCR)

The feeling of excitement is the Unconditioned

Response

A second stimulus causes no response before conditioning, but does after conditioning.

The MCG does not initially cause any excitement, but after several occasions when exciting sport there has caused a response, the MCG itself becomes associated with the excitement and will itself cause a response

The sucking is the

Unconditioned Response.

The smell of the breast does not cause any response at first, but after several times when that smell occurs at the same time as the feeling of the nipple in the mouth, the smell itself comes to cause the sucking response.

This stimulus is called the

Conditioned

Stimulus (CS)

The response that was previously caused only by the first stimulus, is now caused by the second stimulus .

This response is called the

Conditioned

Response (CR)

The MCG is the

Conditioned Stimulus

The the feeling of excitement was originally caused only by the sport, but is now caused by the MCG itself

The feeling of excitement is

Conditioned Response

The smell of the breast is the

Conditioned Stimulus.

The sucking was originally caused only by the feel of the nipple in the mouth, but is now caused by the smell of the breast itself.

The sucking is the

Conditioned Response.

5


(Refer Page 69)

Alex and the food poisoning:

In this example of Classical Conditioning, identify: the UCS (Unconditioned Stimulus) = food poisoning the UCR (Unconditioned Response) = nausea the CS (Conditioned Stimulus) the CR (Conditioned Response)

=

=

smell of nausea

fish

Explain how the CS, which originally caused no response at all in Alex, is now able to cause the CR:

The smell of fish originally caused no feeling of nausea for Alex, but after he smelled the fish at the same time as getting food poisoning he now associates the two and the smell of fish alone is enough to cause the nausea.

The cat/pain/crying example:

UCS = pain UCR = crying CS = sight of a cat CR = crying

Create a scenario that these could be describing:

If a young child cries in response to pain, and if she is scratched by a cat (causing pain), she may come to associate the cat with the pain and cry in response to just being near a cat.

Jeremy and Shaun’s near accident:

They were recently driving on a rural road when a truck coming in the opposite direction veered onto their side of the road. In avoiding the truck, they spun off the road, through trees and came luckily to a safe stop. They both recalled vividly that the song on the radio at that moment was ‘Alive’, and that the video clip that accompanies that song on television shows a truck crashing into a car.

Suggest what reaction they both have when they hear that song now. Use the proper psychological terms to explain why.

The Unconditioned Stimulus was the near-crash, causing the Unconditioned Response of fear. Because the song was playing at this time, they now associate the two, and the song itself – the Conditioned Stimulus – is enough to cause the Conditioned Response of fear.

6


Operant Conditioning:

Antecedent Response

What led you to do what you did?

What did you do?

An assignment to Worked hard.

Example 1

(good mark in

Psych)

be done.

Things to talk Ring boyfriend

Example 2

(ringing boyfriend)

about

Consequence Learning

What happened as a result?

Good mark.

How did your behaviour change?

Spend even more time

on next assignment.

Pleased to hear from Ring him more often you

Example 3

Have a good idea Tell the boss

(boss not interested)

Three examples:

Seems disinterested

Describe the

SCENARIO example

Catches the

Antecedent Response

Sees a mouse Chases it

Your cat is hunting for mice. mouse first try

Your parents want help in the garden

Offer you a reward if you be done will help

Gardening to You do some

Lend a friend Friend asks to You lend it

A friend damages the new CD you lent him. a CD, it comes borrow a CD back scratched

Consequence Learning

Catches it, eats it, Chases next gets a feed

Comes back scratched

Don’t bother to tell him next time

mouse it sees

Get money for it Do it again next time

Don’t lend it next time he asks

7


(Refer Page 72)

The four ways consequences can change our behaviour:

NAME

Positive

Reinforcement

Definition

Response increased by a positive stimulus

(reward)

Example 1

You keep telling a joke because friends keep laughing at it.

Example 2

You keep asking because your parents keep giving you money when you ask

Negative

Reinforcement

Punishment

Operant

Extinction

Response increased by removing a negative stimulus

Response decreased by giving a negative stimulus

Response decreased by removing a positive stimulus

You clean up your room to stop your parents complaining about its untidy state

You get up and give your baby sister her dummy to stop her crying

Cats can be trained not to jump on chairs by squirting them with a water pistol when they do

You let your boyfriend see you are forgets

cross when

Valentine’s

he

Day

Mother no longer puts as much effort into cooking because her family no longer thanks her for the meals

You soon stop pressing the buttons on the TV remote when the batteries run out

8


Examples that might be used by a parent:

Positive

Example

Giving a young child a hug when he says ‘thank you’

Reinforcement

Picking up a baby when it is crying

Negative

Reinforcement

Punishment

Operant

Extinction

Time ‐ out for the child in its bedroom for being naughty

Temper tantrums will usually stop more quickly if the parents do

not respond to them

Types of reinforcers in parenting:

REINFORCER Three examples used in parenting

1.

Food

Primary

2.

Warmth

3.

Hug (* this is widely regarded as a primary reinforcer now)

Tokens

1.

Pocket money

2.

Presents

Social

3.

Time (as in time on the computer or watching TV)

1.

Praise

2.

Use of the mobile phone to message friends

3.

Permission to have friends sleep over

9


Operant Conditioning in the classroom:

Your examples will differ from these – they depend on how your teachers work.

Example

Good marks for good work

Positive Reinforcement used by the teacher

Offers to cancel your detention if you work well in class

Negative Reinforcement used by the teacher

Detention for poor behaviour

Punishment used by the teacher

Ignores students who interrupt the lesson by arriving late

Operant Extinction used by the teacher

Gives chocolate as a reward

Primary Reinforcer used by the teacher

Marks

Token (Reinforcer) used by the teacher

Praise for good work or behaviour

Social Reinforcer used by the teacher

Marks (if the work is returned soon after being handed in)

Reinforcer consistently given soon after the behaviour

Reinforcer that is given only after the behaviour

Marks (if you really do have to do good work to get good marks)

10


Page 76

How operant conditioning can also work on your teacher:

Example

Teacher receives

Positive

Reinforcement

Student says thank you for the help given by the teacher

Teacher receives

Negative

Reinforcement

Teacher turns on the heater when the room is cold

Teacher receives

‘Punishment’ , making response less likely

Students get noisy and restless if the work is monotonous

Teacher receives

Operant Extinction

Teacher receives

Primary Reinforcer

Teacher receives

Token as reinforcer

Teacher receives

Social Reinforcer

Stops running after ‐ school help classes if students don’t turn up

Pushes button on remote control and heater warms classroom

Pay day!

Students say thank you at end of school year

Reinforcement of disruptive classroom behaviour:

Are the reinforcers Primary, Token or Social reinforcers?

In most cases the reinforcers would be social . Poor behaviour often gains attention, laughter or other forms of recognition from friends in the room.

Here is a difficult question. Imagine you are the teacher into whose classroom a student has been sent. Or imagine this student has come into your Psychology class for the time-out. If he or she sits quietly the whole lesson and works very well, would it be appropriate for that teacher to offer a reward – including praise

– for them having worked well, or is this just rewarding the bad behaviour that put them into the ‘buddy room’ in the first place? Set out your reasoning.

Both arguments make sense. However, since the behaviour that happened most immediately before the reward was the good work in the ‘buddy room’, the reward is more likely to reinforce that behaviour than the poor behaviour that happened at an earlier time and another place.

11


(Refer page 78)

Rewards for working well in class:

The ‘Prediction 1’ column has been left blank – this is your opinion only.

The ‘Prediction 2’ column is based on the research:

SCHEDULE OF REINFORCEMENT

How I will deliver the rewards

I will give you a reward every time you show the behaviour I am encouraging (ie 90% use of class time)

Effectiveness

Prediction 1

Effectiveness

Prediction 2

1

(while it continues)

2 I will reward you every third time you show the behaviour I am encouraging

I will reward you after a variable number of times you show the behaviour I am encouraging

(sometimes every second time, sometimes every fifth – but averaging every third time overall)

I will reward you the first time you show the behaviour I am encouraging after a variable interval (sometimes after 3 days, sometimes after

10 – but averaging every 7 days overall)

I will reward you the first time you show the response I am encouraging after a fixed interval

(such as after each seven days - say after the start of every week)

Schedule of reinforcement

Example 1

Continuous

Fixed ratio

Variable ratio

A dog being taught to sit will learn most quickly if given a reward after each time it sits.

Some workers are paid on piecework schedules, such as for each 100 items they produce or pack.

Poker machines are programmed to pay out after a variable number of plays

4

5

3

Example 2

A child will toilet train quickly if its parents praise it every time it has a dry nappy

A real estate agent receives a bonus each time she has sold ten properties

Some ‘lucky number’ games at the show pay a prize on average once every 3 tries

Fixed interval

Teachers in government schools are paid every second Thursday.

At school you get a two day break after five days of work

Variable

Interval

When fishing the rewards (catches) are irregular ‐ but you keep trying because ‘you never know when the big one is coming’.

You play three great games of football in a season, an average of one each seven weeks

12


Describe another situation in which your response to a certain stimulus or antecedent is reinforced, but after generalising this to other similar stimuli

(situations) you learn that they don’t all reinforce your behaviour the same way.

So you begin to show Stimulus Discrimination:

When you go out with your friends (antecedent) you like to dress well (behaviour), and they always compliment you on your looks (continuous reinforcement). When you are with other people you also like to dress well (stimulus generalisation), but you soon realise that no-one in your family ever says anything nice to you (no reinforcement) so you don’t bother to dress so well at home (stimulus discrimination).

( Refer page 80)

Observational Learning:

Scenario

A ten year old child helps her mother cook the evening meal for the family.

What could you learn by observation of the model?

Skills such as how to cut up vegetables; rules such as being hygienic while preparing food; attitudes such as a love of food and cooking

A teenager enjoys going to the car races and admires greatly the winning driver.

A young football fan sees his AFL hero trip another player and get suspended for doing it.

Skills

Defeat,

Could learn

of

race and learn from

driving; the the the wise practice

importance skills

attitudes

of involved consequences safety

such in that

as in

how racing tripping, breaking

to

but the

accept is

victory more rules is

likely not a

or to

A teenager watches lots of soapies, and sees all the young love relationships end in pain.

Learns how people interact (in the artificial scenario), and may learn that all love is destined to fail; may learn to view life in an excessively dramatic way

A child’s father chastises him for hitting his little brother, and smacks him for being naughty.

May that

learn not to hit his smacking/hitting is

little the

brother, correct

but way

to is

more resolve likely

to conflict

learn

13


Examples of observational learning:

Example 1:

Observational learning involves these four steps:

1.

You must pay attention to the model

Example 2 :

A child watches her father show her how to tie a shoe lace

A driving instructor shows a teenager how to reverse park

Watches the steps in making Watches the instructor do the the tie park (or listens to him/her)

2.

You must remember what you have observed

Remembers the steps in order Remembers the steps in

3.

You must be able to reproduce what you saw the model do

Replicates order

the steps in correct

order

Replicates order

the steps in correct

4.

You must be motivated to repeat what the model did, perhaps because their behaviour was successful or rewarded

Wants to tie her own laces, and Wants to be able to drive and sees the attempt

result of her father’s park of

the well,

and sees instructor’s

the result attempt

Examples of Observational Learning:

Two examples are shown here – you will have others of your own:

Examples

1.

Learning to play tennis

Who was the model you paid attention to?

Coach and other players

How well did you remember what the model had done?

Well – could visualise the actions clearly

How well did you reproduce the model’s behaviour?

Not well at first, but better with practice

What motivated you to do what you had learned?

Wanted to play well and win games.

2.

Learning to teach

Uni lecturers, and other teachers

Remembered the ‘good’ role models well

To some extent, but developed my own style

14


Worksheet 12 Experiences, events and interventions

Classical Conditioning in Advertising

Your answers here will depend on the advertisement you have chosen, so the comments below will enable you to check whether you have answered correctly:

What is the UCS?

This should be the thing in the ad – music, people having fun, a sad or happy scene, for example – that causes the viewer to have an involuntary emotional reaction.

What is the UCR?

This is the viewer’s emotional response – happiness, sadness, anger, fear, for example.

What is the CS?

This is the product being advertised, the thing that the advertisers want the viewers to have an emotional reaction to. It might, for example, be a brand of soft drink, and they want us to respond to seeing it by feeling happy.

What is the CR?

This is the same as the UCR – the emotional reaction we originally had to the UCS, but which we now have to the product (if the ad works).

What happened during the Conditioning Phase to form the association between the UCS and the CS?

In the conditioning phase we saw or heard the product and the UCS paired together in the ad, probably many times, and formed an association between them.

By the way – do you think it is working? Do you have any emotional reaction when you see this product out there for sale? Do you buy it?

Your response here depends on how you feel you react to the product being advertised. But beware – remember the conditioned response is usually involuntary, so you may be having a conditioned response without being aware of it!

Classical Conditioning in Overcoming Phobias:

A sample is done here – your answers will vary depending on the phobia you chose, but should still be consistent with the way classical conditioning works.

Selected phobia is FEAR OF BLOOD .

Here is how this phobia might have developed in a person who experiences it:

What is the UCS?

The UCS could have been pain.

What is the UCR?

The UCR could have been fear (in response to the pain, which is a threatening or frightening experience).

What is the CS?

The CS is the sight of blood.

What is the CR?

The CR is fear.

15


What happened during the Conditioning Phase to form the association between the UCS and the CS?

The simplest explanation for this example is that the person experienced pain when he cut himself, and had a fear response. (This might have been accentuated by the responses of others at the time, such as if his parents showed a fear response at seeing their child injured.) Because the pain and the blood happened at the same time, maybe more than once, an association between pain and blood developed. The blood was then enough to cause the fear response on its own.

In the systematic desensitisation for a fear of spiders , as an example, the list of fear situations could look like this:

30

40

50

60

0

10

20

Living in a country where no spiders at all exist.

Think of a picture of a small spider in a book.

Touch the web of a harmless garden spider.

Look at a painting of a spider on its web.

Watch a documentary about spiders on television.

Sit at a table with a spider in a jar in front of you.

Watch a person on television handling a large spider.

70

80

Sit next to a person handling a large spider.

Have a small spider on your hand.

90

100

Have a large spider crawl up your arm.

Allow a large spider to crawl across the back of your neck.

What is the original CS (the subject of the fear)?

Spiders

What is the original CR (the response the CS)?

Fear

What is the new CS (the new response to the CS)?

Relaxation

16


Examples of Operant Conditioning: Customer Loyalty Programs

(Refer page 89)

Analyse this example of Operant Conditioning by answering the nine questions identified above:

What is the antecedent (the situation in which the behaviour might occur)?

A time when money is to be spent.

What is the response (behaviour) the bank wants to encourage?

Use of the Altitude Card.

What is the consequence if the customer shows the desired response?

Points awarded.

What type of reinforcement is provided as a consequence (positive, negative,

punishment, extinction)?

Positive reinforcement

What type of reinforcer is involved here (primary, secondary, token, social)?

Token

Is the reinforcer provided immediately after the desired response?

Yes they are credited to the person’s account immediately, BUT the person does not become aware of them until the statement arrives some time later.

Is it provided only after the desired response?

Yes – no points if you do not use the card.

Is the reinforcement continuous or partial?

Continuous – one point for every dollar spent

What is the Schedule of Reinforcement in use here (fixed or variable, based on a ratio or an interval)?

None of these – they refer only to partial reinforcement.

Do you think Stimulus Generalisation or Stimulus Discrimination could be working here?

Either could: If the customer has more than one credit card and uses any card for a purchase, stimulus generalisation could be working. But if he uses only the Altitude card, then generalisation is working. (This may be one reason why financial institutions use distinctively coloured cards.)

17


Use your knowledge of Operant Conditioning, and the factors that affect its effectiveness, to make three recommendations to the bank as to how this program could be made more effective. (Ignore for the moment the fact that some of your recommendations might involve additional costs to the bank.)

HINT: Think about the last four questions above.

1. The bank could consider using a fixed ratio reward system, perhaps in addition to the existing reward system. This could involve, for example, bonus points, such as

100 bonus points every time the customer accrues 1000 points.

2. The bank should give more immediate reinforcement. If the customer received the points statement every month, the reinforcement would be more effective.

3. To more actively promote stimulus discrimination – to prevent the customer using just any card – the bank could make the card even more distinctive. This could include a distinctive shape as well as colour, plus other features.

Operant Conditioning in Behaviour Modification:

A contract could look like this:

BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION CONTRACT

In this behaviour modification program I will aim to message my friends less.

My baseline data shows that my current average is 27 messages per day, and I will aim to decrease this to 20 messages per day.

My daily reward will be $1 (from my parents) towards the new phone I have been wanting , and my weekly reward will be $10 towards my end-of-year trip .

Signature

What is the antecedent (the situation in which the behaviour might occur)?

Any time I want to message a friend.

What is the response (behaviour) you want to develop?

Resist the urge.

What is the consequence if you show the desired response?

Daily $1, weekly $10 more.

What type of reinforcement is provided as a consequence (positive, negative, punishment, extinction)?

Positive reinforcement.

18


What type of reinforcer is involved here (primary, secondary, token, social)?

Token (money).


Not immediately, but soon after (daily).


Yes – rewarded only if I meet the daily target.


Partial – not rewarded every time I resist the urge to message, but after a fixed period of time (each day).

What is the Schedule of Reinforcement in use here (fixed or variable, based on a ratio or an interval)?

Fixed interval – reward is given daily.

Do you think Stimulus Generalisation or Stimulus Discrimination could be working here?

Unlikely that generalisation would occur – the response follows a thought to message a friend, and it is unlikely that the person would also resist the urge to eat chocolate, or any other urge. Likely that discrimination will occur.

19


(Refer page 93)

Example of Observational Learning: Aggression and Television

In this set of questions, many answers are possible. Some examples are given – yours will depend on your own experiences of televised violence.

In the violence that children watch on television:

Who are the models displaying this violence? (List all the examples you can identify.)

These include cartoon characters, sportspersons, movie characters, and many others.

Do you think it is likely that children will remember the violence they see? (You will need to give more than one answer here – you might consider, for example, that they will remember violence from one source such as murders in movies, but not others such as fighting in cartoons. What do you think?)

It is likely that children will remember the violence they see, even if they do not consider it to be violence as such.

Do you think it is likely that children will be able to reproduce the acts of violence they see on television? (This is a complex question. Children who see people shot in movies might act this out with play guns later. But is this reproducing it? Then what happens if they have access to real guns later in life?

And what other types of violence might they be able or unable to reproduce?)

Children will probably have a greater tendency to act it out because they have ween it, maybe many times, but wether they have the opportunity to do so is a different matter.

Do you think children would be motivated to act out the violence they have seen on television? (What are the consequences for the models on television? What types of things would children consider to be ‘rewards’ or ‘punishment’ for the models on TV?)

There are many factors that will affect whether the child is motivated to act out violence – their personality, the attitudes and values developed at home, friends’ actions, and so on. An important issue here is whether there are many examples where they see the model punished for the act of violence, or whether it is more likely to be rewarded.

Is a child who watches violence on television likely to learn a new behaviour, whether to do things already learned, or a general rule? (Give some examples to illustrate which you think might happen. It could of course be more than one of these.)

Probably all three. The child could see and copy a new behaviour, or could learn from the observed consequences (or lack of consequences) that something he already knows is OK to do, or could form a general rule such as ‘it is OK to hit boys but not girls’.

20


Are the models likely to be seen by the children as likeable, competent, trustworthy and as having high status or social power? (Give examples to illustrate your answer.)

This depends on who you identified as the models. Certainly sport heroes meet most or all of these criteria, and many cartoon and movie heroes meet many also.

Although it is an oversimplification, and based on your own perceptions rather than comprehensive data, what do you think your answers above say about this issue? Do you think children are more likely to act aggressively or violently if they are exposed to violence on television?

This depends on your earlier answers. The sample answers given here would suggest that it is more likely.

Examples involving more than one type of learning:

(Refer page 95)

Example 1: The Toilet Flush

What types of learning can you see in this example?

This example demonstrates classical conditioning , and also has elements of operant conditioning .

Rewrite the example using our learning terminology. You should be able to weave into your description at least 15 of the terms in the list above.

“The hot water acts as an UCS, and causes an UCR of avoidance by moving quickly out away from it. Because this happens at the same time as the sound of the toilet flush, an association between the two is formed, and soon the toilet flush alone (the

CS) is enough to cause the response (CR). The consequence of the response of moving away from the hot water (the antecedent) is to reduce the pain – negative reinforcement – so it reinforces the behaviour. This is a primary reinforcer since the hot water is a survival threat, and, since we step aside every time, the reinforcement is continuous. It is an effective reinforcer since it is provided immediately after, and only after, the hot water is felt. A person in this situation would probably show stimulus discrimination and not step aside when other similar noises are heard, rather than stimulus generalisation. After having the plumbing fixed it would take a while until extinction occurred, but it eventually would.”

21


Example 2: Training your dog to sit

What types of learning can you see in this example?

This technique is based on operant conditioning , ad also illustrates some aspects of classical conditioning .

Rewrite the example using our learning terminology. You should be able to weave into your description at least 15 of the terms in the list above.

“The antecedent for the behaviour is the dog approaching you. If its response is to sit in front of you, then the consequence is being given a treat and praise. This acts as a positive reinforcer, making the response more likely the next time it approaches you.

The treat is a primary reinforcer, and is effective since it is given immediately after, and only after, it sits in front of you. The dog shows stimulus generalisation, sitting for others too, but soon learns that no reinforcer is given there so comes to exhibit stimulus discrimination, sitting only for you. The food at first acts as an UCS, causing the excitement and tail-wagging response, the UCR. Since this happens at the same time as your praise, the dog soon forms and association between the two, until eventually the praise alone – the CS – is sufficient to cause the tail-wagging – the

CR.”

22



A social issue: Learning to drive legally

Demerit Points

Aspects of Operant conditioning

Operant Reinforcement: What things act as reinforcers here? Are they positive reinforcers , negative reinforcers or punishment ? Explain your reasoning.

How these apply to the demerit point system

The demerit points act as reinforcers.

They are a punishment.

Types of Reinforcers: Are the They are token reinforcers (maybe social too reinforcers primary reinforcers , since losing points can be embarrassing) secondary reinforcers , tokens or social reinforcers ? Explain.

Immediate Reinforcement: Is the reinforcer applied immediately (or at least very soon) after the behaviour

Yes – as soon as you receive your infringement notice you are aware of the demerit points occurs? Explain.

Contingent Reinforcement: Is the reinforcer applied only after the

Yes – no demerit points if no road laws broken behaviour occurs? Explain.

Schedule of Reinforcement: Is the

Partial – you do not get demerit points every reinforcement continuous or partial ?

Is the schedule fixed or variable , and based on ratio or interval ? Explain.

time you break the road laws, since you do not always get caught.

It is on a variable ratio – you get caught on average about once every ???

times you break a road law while driving (you guess the number!)

Stimulus Generalisation: Is the Yes – if you get caught speeding at one place you driver likely to generalise so as to display the learned behaviour in situations similar to where the are likely to avoid speeding at other places too reinforcement happened? Explain.

Stimulus Discrimination: Is the Unlikely – but possible if that place is known to driver likely to discriminate and be somewhere police often check speeds show the learned behaviour only in the situation where the reinforcement occurred? Explain.

What do you think? Is this program likely to be effective? Explain your reasoning.

Several aspects suggest it is likely to be effective (immediacy and contingency of reinforcement), but because the reinforcement is not continuous people will assume they are likely to ‘get away with it’ on most occasions. It also does not reward good driving behaviour.

23


A different program

Aspects of operant conditioning How these apply to the Drive Right system

Operant Reinforcement: What things act as reinforcers here? Are they positive reinforcers , negative reinforcers or punishment ? Explain

Prizes – positive reinforcers.

your reasoning.

Types of Reinforcers: Are the Tokens.

reinforcers primary reinforcers , secondary reinforcers , tokens or social reinforcers ? Explain.

Immediate Reinforcement: Is the reinforcer applied immediately (or at

No – it may take some time before the reward is received.

least very soon) after the behaviour occurs? Explain.

Contingent Reinforcement: Is the Yes and no – you will only receive a ‘thank you reinforcer applied only after the pack’ if you are spotted driving courteously (the behaviour occurs? Explain.

desired behaviour), but all participants are in the other draws whether they drive well or not

Schedule of Reinforcement: Is the reinforcement continuous or partial ?

Is the schedule fixed or variable , and based on ratio or interval ? Explain.

Partial – you do not receive a reward every time you enter the promotion, or every time you drive well.

It is on a variable ratio schedule.

Stimulus Generalisation: Is the Yes – being rewarded makes it more likely for driver likely to generalise so as to a driver to drive well anywhere (especially since display the learned behaviour in she may not even know where or when she was situations similar to where the spotted).

reinforcement happened? Explain.

Stimulus Discrimination: Is the No (see above) driver likely to discriminate and show the learned behaviour only in the situation where the reinforcement occurred? Explain.

What do you think? Is this program likely to be effective? Explain your reasoning.

Yes, because it rewards and promotes good driving, however the lack of immediacy in the reward system makes the reinforcer less effective.

24


A personal issue: Shyness

Classical Conditioning for Shyness

Describe the first step in the desensitisation program for a shy person. Learn a relaxation technique.

Hierarchy of fear situations for a shy person. Here are some sample answers – yours will vary from this.

20

50

60

30

40

0

10

70

80

Sitting quietly in my bedroom listening to my music.

Watching a DVD movie with a friend.

Walking alone in the forest.

Walking to school with friends

Asking the teacher for an extension on an assignment

Having a discussion over dinner with a friend’s family

Meeting workmates the first day on a new job.

Doing an interview for a job.

Doing an oral presentation in class.

90 Making a planned thank you speech at my wedding.

100 Being called on to make an impromptu speech to a large group of people, including television cameras.

Finally, explain how the shy person could be taken through a desensitisation process using what has been established in steps 1 and 2 above:

Place himself in fear situation 1 (0% fear), and do the relaxation. When this is mastered, move to situation 2. Continue until it is possible to face situation 10 (100% fear) while still being able to have a relaxation response.

In this example:

What is the original CS (the subject of the fear)?

Social situations

What is the original CR (the response the CS)?

Fear

What is the new CR (the new response to the CS)?

Relaxation

25


(Refer page 103)

Operant conditioning for shyness?

Review the Behaviour Modification approach in Worksheet 12 if necessary, then answer the following questions to see how we might use the approach for a shy person:

What would this person be recording in the first week of Baseline Data?

The number of times per day (on average) he initiated conversations with others.

Describe what the person would do in weeks 2, 3 ad 4 of the program.

Attempt to initiate conversations more often, recording how often they did this and whether they reached their daily and weekly targets. When they did, they would give themselves the daily and/or weekly rewards.

What would they do in week 5?

Continue to attempt to initiate conversations more often – aiming for their targets – but without daily or weekly rewards.

Review this example by answering these questions:

What is the antecedent (the situation in which the desired behaviour might occur)?

Meeting another person.

What is the response (behaviour) the shy person wants to develop?

Initiating a conversation.

What is the consequence if they show the desired response?

Recording the event on the daily total, and a reward if the daily or weekly target is reached.

What type of reinforcement is provided as a consequence (positive, negative,

punishment, extinction)?

Positive reinforcement.

What type of reinforcer is most likely to be involved here - primary, secondary,

token, social? (It could be any of these, but think about what a shy person might choose.)

Probably token (money, gift, etc) – probably not social!


Yes – simply recording the conversation in the daily tally sheet is an immediate reinforcement, even if the reward itself does not come till later.


Yes – as long as the person is honest.


Continuous (every conversation is recorded)

What is the Schedule of Reinforcement in use here ( fixed or variable , based on a ratio or an interval )?

26


Recording the conversations is continuous, but the reward itself only comes after several conversations have been initiated so it based on a fixed ratio (also fixed interval – every day).

Do you think Stimulus Generalisation or Stimulus Discrimination could be working here?

Stimulus generalisation could work here as the person could apply the same behaviour to all people, not just those who ‘counted’ in the tally sheet. For example, the person might decide not to include talking to family members as ‘initiated conversations’, but might find herself doing this more readily anyway.

27



Animal research: where can we observe them?

Answers here will be based partly on personal opinion. Some examples are shown:

Zoos and sanctuaries Laboratory Research

Locations Î

Field

Advantages

Can study the animal’s natural behaviour

Able to observe interactions with other animals

Can study a wide range of animal behaviours

Disadvantages

Physical difficulties

Animals may move over large distances

Findings may not apply to other areas

Conditions can be controlled

Many types of animals can be studied

Findings can be used as the basis for study in the wild

Artificial conditions

Cannot control all variables Behaviour is not natural

Seldom able to interact with other species

Animal’s history is known

Variables can be controlled

Hypotheses can be tested

Artificial conditions

Ethical issues of keeping animals in captivity

28


Review of forms of psychological research:

Examples are shown. Many others are possible.

Investigation

Designs Î

Experimental Quantitative

Methods of assessing responses

Ð

Numerical measurement that is based on opinion or personal input (selfreports, rating scales, check-lists, questionnaires, polls, etc)

Quantitative

Verbal, non-numerical data (focus group records, Delphi technique records, questionnaires, checklists, interviews, etc)

Qualitative

Manipulate the independent variable

– measure the results

Objective

Quantitative

Numerical measurement that does not involve opinion (reaction time, blood pressure, scores on a test, counts from a focus group, etc)

Measure how long it takes a pigeon to learn to peck a bar 100 times to get a pellet of food.

Subjective

Involve two groups of people in safe driving programs, one using demerit points and one in ‘Drive Right’.

Collect ratings as to their effectiveness.

Discussion among groups above of why they did or did not change their driving.

Observational

Observe outcome of natural variation in the independent variable

Measure whether males or females commit more driving offences.

Ask people of different age groups to rate the effectiveness of different anti ‐ smoking advertisements.

Survey different people as to the reasons why they react s they do in potential

‘road rage’ situations.

Qualitative

Collecting information to answer a particular question

Count the number of times students list optimistic and pessimistic explanations for failure in an exam.

Ask people to rate the level of violence in different TV programs.

Ask people to discuss the effects on children of violence in computer games.

29



Some rules of ethics for classroom research

Fairness

What could the researchers do to make the study fair to the participants? Could they inform them about what they could expect to experience?

Little Albert experiments

Not fair, and a baby cannot be informed.

Bobo doll experiments

Difficult to fully inform the children.

This would compromise the experiment.

Fear conditioning in dogs

Cannot informanimals.

Can inform their owners

(But these dogs were probably owned by the research institution.)

Informed Consent

Is it possible to gain informed consent ? Are the subjects free to withdraw from the experiment if they want to? Are they being coerced into, or rewarded for, participating?

Informed consent was not gained from

Albert’s parents, and could not be gained from him.

He was not free to withdraw

Deception

Is any an deception unreasonable level of deception

being used? Is

being used? Is deception necessary for the purposes of this study?

Deception was used, since Albert was led to believe he was playing with friendly animals.

Presumably the parents gave consent (but fully informed?)

Subjects were not free to wothdraw.

Presumable the

‘owners’ gave consent.

They were not free to withdraw.

Coerced (forced?) to participate.

Some deception seemed to be used.

Children did not know what to expect.

In a sense it is deception, since the dogs would probably have entered the facility trustingly.

Debriefing

How will they provide the opportunity for the participants to raise concerns about the research? How will they explain why deception was necessary?

How will they explain the purpose of the study? How will they tell if there were any negative effects from their participation?

Debriefing not possible with a baby.

Researchers were aware of negative

effects, and apparently did not correct them.

Could have removed

Albert’s fear later.

Difficult with children.

Could debrief parents.

Children could be given counselling.

Cannot debrief dogs, but can remove fear.

Conclusion

If it was your pet dog or your son or daughter in this experiment, are you satisfied that ethical issues have been addressed? Would you consent to him or her participating?

No

No

Possibly, if sessions provided later to help desensitise children.

No

No

30


These examples are based on the principles above:

1.

Any activity in which you are involved must be fair to you

2.

You must be informed about exactly what to expect in the activity.

3.

You must give your consent to participating.

4.

You have the right to withdraw at any time from the activity.

5.

You must not be coerced into participating nor penalised for withdrawing.

6.

Only reasonable and necessary deception may be used.

7.

You must have the opportunity to raise question or concerns about what has occurred.

8.

It must be explained to you why any deception was used.

9.

The purpose of the study must be clearly explained.

10.

You must be protected from any harm, including physical and psychological, and your anonymity must be protected at all times.

31


TOPIC 4 PERSONALITY

Worksheet 16 Conceptions of personality

Begin here by describing – in any terms you want – the sort of person you think you are.

The way you choose to describe yourself is a matter of personal choice. Any way is acceptable, simply because this question is designed to start you thinking about what the idea of personality is about. You might describe yourself by a series of adjectives

( outgoing, confident, sociable, intelligent, helpful, etc ), or you might describe some aspects of your behaviour ( “When I am with friends I …”, or “I always try to …”, etc ). Any approach will have some relevance when we look at the theories of intelligence later in this worksheet.

In thirty years from now, do you expect to be more similar to, or more different from, how you are now?

You may give either answer. Many people think that in thirty years a person would change a lot, and probably be more different than similar to how they are now. But studies show that personality is very resistant to change. We will discuss this more later.

Ways of explaining personality

What I do is due to my own unique and individual characteristics

– it is just the sort of person I am.

My life has made me the way I am – I just react according to this, and it is beyond my control

I make decisions about what to do with my life – I choose to be who I am, and to become what I can

SCENARIO 1

Teenage Burglar

I guess I’m inconsiderate.

I think I am too easily led.

I don’t know.

I don’t know what made me do it.

I was feeling bored.

We decided to do it just for the kicks.

SCENARIO 2

Volunteer Workers

I have always been a caring and empathetic person.

It is just something I have always wanted to do.

It is important to me, and

I know I am a better person for it.

SCENARIO 3

Hermit Lifestyle

I am just a self ‐ sufficient, reserved and detached sort of person.

Something inside just tells me this is the way to live.

I am secure in myself, and have a strong desire to be independent.

1


Psychodynamic Theories

The structure of the human mind:

Many examples are possible here. One more example for each category is given below:

Types of thoughts at this level

Examples of different types of thoughts

Our level of awareness of our thoughts

CONSCIOUS

LEVEL

Thoughts in our mind right now – things we are aware of right now.

Current thoughts

Current sensations

Current feelings eg This activity is hard

1.

Is this example OK?

2.

eg I feel hot and tired

1.

My head is aching

2.

eg I feel embarrassed

1.

I feel pleased with this answer

2.

eg I love psychology

Current attitudes

1.

It is important to get this work done

2.

Current ideas eg Think I’ll get a pizza

1.

I’ll finish this page then get a drink

2.

PRECONSCIOUS

LEVEL

Thoughts ‘in the back of your mind’ – things we are not immediately aware of, but can bring to mind easily

Things that happened yesterday

Things that happened this morning eg Got psych homework

1.

It was good talking to Darren

2.

3.

eg Forgot breakfast

1.

Tried on the new shoes

2.

3.

eg Had my hair cut

Things I did last week

1.

It was good to style my hair a new way

2.

3.

2


SUBCONSCIOUS

LEVEL

Hidden thoughts – things we are not aware of and cannot easily bring to mind.

Childhood dreams

Harmful thoughts

Embarrassing ideas

Hidden fears

Traumatic events

Unacceptable feelings eg Want to be a princess

1.

I’ll be a footy hero one day

2.

3.

eg I hate and despise Alf

1.

I wish she was never born

2.

3.

eg Dye my hair purple!

1.

I’ll go to Jacki’s party dressed in drag

2.

3.

eg I can’t talk to girls

1.

I’ll never be any good at anything

2.

3.

eg Car accident when six

1.

Mum & Dad’s big fight

2.

3.

eg Grade 3 teacher is sexy

1.

Jealous when Mum kisses Dad

2.

3.

3


The structure of the human personality

( Refer page 118)

You will have expressed these differently, but the ideas should be similar:

EGO

Pleasure Principle Moral Principle Reality Principle

You want to ask a girl out, but you think she might be going out with a friend.

You have a lot of homework tonight but a friend wants to go to the basketball game.

The boss has overpaid you this week. You need the money, but you didn’t really earn it.

And what if he realises the mistake later?

You are trying to give up chocolate, but that vending machine is really calling out to you!

Maybe just one?

Your assignment is late, and your friend has offered you her results and references if you want to use them.

“Go for it – she’s great – you’ll have a great time”

Go to the game – you can always do the homework tomorrow.

Keep it.

If he finds out, just say you didn’t realise.

He makes more than you anyway – he can afford it.

Get one.

One chocolate never hurt anyone.

Take them, but change the wording a bit so the teacher doesn’t realise.

“Don’t you dare – you can’t do that when she is going out with someone else”

Get the homework done – you know it is more important.

Why not get most of the homework done, then go for the second half of the game.

Give it back, it’s not yours.

“Why don’t you ask around and check whether she is still going out with someone else before you ask her”

If you do give it back, the boss will think highly of you and might even give you some extra anyway.

Don’t do it.

You have to be strong.

Set a realistic limit, sat two a week.

If you have this one, you can’t have one for the next three days.

Your choice.

Don’t take them – it is wrong, and you won’t learn anything from doing it that way.

It really won’t help in the long run.

Maybe ask your friend to help you work out your own results to save time.

That way it is still your own work.

4


The stages we go through in our development:

STAGE APPROX. FOCUS OF

AGE PLEASURE

Oral 0 ‐ 1

mouth

FEATURES OF

THIS STAGE

Child enjoys sucking (breast, thumb), biting, chewing.

If unresolved can lead to : nail biting, smoking, chewing gum, overeating, alcoholism, kissing.

Anal 1 ‐ 3 process of elimination

Attention focuses on the process of elimination, and during toilet training the child learns to either ‘hold on’ or to ‘let go’.

Phallic

Latency

Genital

4 ‐ 6

6 ‐ 12

12 – rest of life sex organs

(none) sexual relationships

If unresolved can lead to : hoarding and being excessively clean, orderly and stingy (‘holding on’), or being disorderly, cruel and destructive (‘letting go’).

Focus of attention on the sex organs, and also a suggested attraction to the opposite ‐ sex parent.

If unresolved can lead to : Psychological development is unlikely to be healthy if conflicts are unresolved in this stage – child may not develop a conscience, for example

Sexuality becomes dormant for about six years.

Freud believed psychosexual development ceases for this time.

During puberty, the genitals are the focus of energies and mature sexual relationships develop.

Freud saw the emotional fluctuations and conflicts of puberty as an indication that earlier unresolved conflicts are re ‐ appearing.

5


The answers here are entirely your opinion. Many are considered controversial, meaning that there is no general agreement about their status. The important thing is to be aware of these ideas and to think about them as a way of coming to terms with

Freud’s theory.

Freud’s propositions

The first years of life help shape adult personality.

Your opinion

There is some deep reason why we all have different personalities.

Much of our behaviour is controlled by our unconscious mind.

The years from 6 to 12 years old are free from sexuality and not important in our development.

Males need a strong or dominant father in order to develop a conscience.

Personality develops in a series of stages.

Feeding, toilet training and early sexual experiences are important in the formation of personality.

Young children develop a sexual attraction to their opposite sex parents.

His ideas are difficult to accept because they are based mainly on his observations in his clinic and have not been tested scientifically.

Poor toilet training can have a significant influence on adult personality, leading to characteristics referred to as ‘anal retentive’, for example.

Humanistic theories

(Refer page 121)

These questions are to introduce you to some of the ideas you will meet as we explore this area of the personality topic. Your answers are personal and are not right or wrong.

Think about Dan, Soo-Lin and Bob. Do you think each of them seems welladjusted? Do you think each receives or received unconditional positive regard from important people in their lives? Explain your reasoning.

Dan: Seems popular and well accepted by family and friends. He probably receives unconditional positive regard from his parents, and is probably well adjusted.

Soo-Lin: Probably receives unconditional positive regard from her family, because she does exactly what is required of her for their well-being despite their difficult living conditions.

Bob: Probably receives unconditional positive regard from his wife and other family members (including Chloe), and is probably highly regarded in the community for his work at the yacht club and Rotary. He seems well adjusted.

6


In reviewing the case studies, what is your perception of how each would describe themselves? Identify whether they have congruence – is their selfconcept consistent with reality? Justify your reasoning.

All three seem to have congruence. Despite their different lives and situations, each seems to be fairly realistic about him or herself as a person, and none of them seems to be portraying a self-image that is out of step with reality.

Explain the level of needs you believe each of our three cases is spending most of their time fulfilling in their lives at the moment, and whether each is likely to reach the highest level of self-actualisation at some stage in their life. Explain the reasoning behind your answers.

Dan: Most of his time is spent on meeting his ‘belonging and love’ and ‘esteem’ needs. He is safe and secure in his life, and – as with most teenagers – the need to belong to the group (and be accepted by the new girlfriend) is of great importance.

Soo-Lin: A very different story. Most of her time is spent meeting her ‘physiological’ and ‘safety’ needs, and those of her family – providing food, water and shelter, and protecting her family from rebel raids.

Bob: Most of the lower order needs are met – except during the heart surgery – so his focus is on needs such as ‘cognitive’ (learning the finer points of sailing), and ‘selfactualisation’ (through his work with Rotary, for example). Bob is probably approaching self-actualisation, Dan possibly will later in his life, but Soo-Lin is unlikely to.

Trait theories

These questions are to introduce you to some of the ideas related to trait theories of personality. The answers are based on personal opinion:

….Write those five words (Refer top page 126)

The answer to this question reveals some of the traits you believe you have.

In the table below, the ‘well known person’ done as an example is Australia’s current cricket captain, Ricky Ponting. The answers given indicate some of the traits he appears to have, though we might not see the real him:

LEVEL OF TRAITS ‘John’

(not his real name)

Well known person

(Ricky Ponting)

Common Traits

(list up to 5) laid back, friendly, laconic, laughs at relaxed sense of humour self, cheeky friendly laconic enjoys fun with friends

Cardinal trait NONE NONE

You

Central Traits

(list about 5)

Sensitive, optimistic, determined hard working generous, independent, artistic competitive happy

Individual Traits

(list at least 5) votes liberal, dresses well, loves to party, disorganised, loves classical music chatty enjoys a bet casual supports his mates

7


Summarise your new dog’s traits:

These sample answers illustrate how you might answer this question if you chose, for example, a golden retriever as your pet:

Common Traits intelligent gentle friendly

Central Traits quiet individual friendly

Individual Traits inquisitive mischievous lazy

(you have to have a guess at this one because you don’t know yet)

(refer page 128)

Everyone will answer this one differently. Compare your answers with at least one other person, and see if you both agree with each other’s opinions of themselves. A sample profile is shown below:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 reserved X outgoing

X concrete thinker affected by feelings

X submissive serious expedient shy X

X

X

X abstract thinker emotionally stable dominant happy-go-lucky conscientious bold tough minded trusting practical forthright self-assured conservative group dependent undisciplined relaxed

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X sensitive suspicious imaginative shrewd apprehensive experimenting self-sufficient self-controlled tense

8



Personality is a person ’s unique and stable behaviour patterns.

It describes and explains how we act, feel and think in response to life’s situations.

In the sample answers below, examples have been included of all three types of responses – thoughts, feelings and actions. Did you include all three in your answers?

POSSIBLE

PERSONALITY

TRAITS generous shy tense intelligent

Response to missing out on an important promotion at work

Feels disappointed, but accepts it well. He congratulates the successful applicant.

Response to winning a large amount of money

Donates some to charity, and buys his mother the new car she needs.

Feels pleased at seeing his mother’s obvious joy.

Response to a friend asking to borrow his car for a day

Feels he would like to, but thinks he might not because the friend is very careless. Asks for a day or two to think it over.

Accepts it quietly.

Feels quietly excited.

Feels apprehensive.

Feels disappointed, but Thinks he might tell friends.

Wants to say no.

says or does nothing.

Feels very upset.

Decides

Worries

not to.

about

people asking

Lends

Says

it no,

to her then

anyway.

feels

really

Gets really upset inside.

for money, or being robbed.

bad about it.

Clenches fists.

Thinks of investing it all.

Worries for days.

Works out how he can Develops an investment plan Doesn’t want to, but makes turn it to his advantage.

Thinks of the future.

a win ‐ win deal with him.

Feels clever.

Feels good about this idea.

9


Personality as presented in the popular media

Three sample are done here to illustrate how your answers might look:

Character Theory used for analysis

1

Joey

(from

‘Friends’)

Freud’s psychodynamic theory

Question 1

What might be one hidden or subconscious thought from his/her past?

Always felt picked ‐ on at school

2

Indiana

Jones

3

Superman

Roger’s humanistic theory

Allport’s trait theory

Question 2 Question 3

Do you think this person’s id or superego is the dominant force?

Do you think things remained unresolved from any particular stage of his/her development?

Id – seems to do Phallic stage maybe ‐ what feels good relationship issues, & underdeveloped

Does this person have a positive view of self?

Is he/she selfactualised?

Yes

Probably not

What are some common traits he/she has within his/her culture?

Does this person get unconditional positive regard from important others?

Seems to, but are Yes – what you see is these others the real thing

‘important’??

Name four of his/her central individual traits.

Cannot say ‐ his honest reliable culture (Krypton) determined no longer exists serious conscience

Does this person have congruence between his/her selfconcept and his/her real self?

Name four of his/her secondary traits. hard working serious focused disciplined

10


What types of people work in the media industry?

This table will be answered in a similar way to the one above. Answers will depend on who you choose. One example has been done here:

Actor Theory used for analysis

1

Steve

Irwin

Freud’s psycho-dynamic theory

2

3

Maslow’s humanistic theory

Cattell’s trait theory

(16PF)

Question 1

What might be one hidden or subconscious thought from his/her past?

Question 2

Do you think this

I put that snake in my Id

Mum’s bed

Are this person’s survival and safety needs being met most of the time?

Of Cattell’s 16 pairs of traits, list four in which this person is clearly near one of the extremes. person’s id or superego is the dominant force?

Is this person’s behaviour often motivated by love and belonging and self-esteem needs?

From the 16, list four where this person is clearly not at one of the extremes.

Question 3

Do you think things remained unresolved from any particular stage of his/her development?

Possibly anal stage

(anally expulsive??)

Does this person’s behaviour show motivation to meet selfactualisation needs?

Can you find one pair of traits in which his/her public image is clearly different to his/her real self?

11


Modifying our personality

One more example has been done here. Your third example should be similar to this:

1.

you often get angry when people make you wait .

You want to be able to handle these situations more assertively.

2.

You know

Your teacher returns an assignment with a mark that seems unfair. You think you should question the mark. assertive matters here

You have a right to ask for help, so being assertive will help you be able to do this effectively.

You have a right to know how the mark was worked out, and whether it is fair for the work you submitted.

Step 1: Rehearse

Before you get into the situation, practice some lines and gestures that will help make your point clearly without anger.

‘Excuse me, I wonder would you be able to help me here?’ or

‘Could you help me with this please?’

‘I’m not sure I understand why I got this mark.

Could you explain it please?’ or

‘Can you please show me where I could have done better here?’

Step 2:Overlearn

Keep practising your responses even when you think you have it ready. When you overlearn , you will be able to do it well even under stress.

This will help you avoid getting angry at the assistant.

This will help you to insist on a clear explanation if the teacher declines to explain, or tells you that ‘that is just the mark it deserves’.

Step 3: Repeat

If you do not receive the response you think you should, keep repeating your request , changing the wording each time.

“May I have some help with this please?”

‘In a moment’

“I need some help with this account”

‘One minute please’

‘There seems to be an error in the total here’

‘I’ll see if Ann is free’ etc etc

‘Can you explain this mark please?’

‘It is a fair mark’

‘I need to know where

I lost marks’

‘The mark scheme will show you where’

‘It is not clear to me’

‘I marked it the same as everyone else’s’

‘I am unable to see exactly where I could have done better’ etc etc

And something similar for scenario 3

12


Worksheet 18 Social Issues and personal growth

List six personality traits that you believe would be associated with the success

Sarah has had so far. What six qualities would you expect to find if you met her?

Being successful, Sarah might be expected to have these sorts of qualities:

Here are some possible responses from Sarah. Are they similar to your answers?

Situation

She failed a Maths test in

Year 8 after being absent with the flu for a week and missing a lot of the work

In Year 11 she applied for school captain however was not selected – a close friend of hers won the vote

Her parents separated while she was completing Year 10.

Sarah’s probable response

“Just bad luck getting the flu the week before the test – I know I’ll do better on the next one”

(This is the more likely one)

‘She deserved it, and she will do a great job. I will enjoy working with her and helping her.’

‘I know they had some serious issues. It is probably the best thing for them. I will maintain a good relationship with both of them.’

She achieved straight A’s in

Year 11 and received the award for highest marks in

Psychology

‘I am pleased worked work is

really

with hard, rewarded.’ the

award.

and it is

I know good

Explanations for breaking up with boyfriends:

Is it Personal?

It is not my fault. We just

Is it Pervasive?

It will not affect other parts

Sarah drifted apart. of my life.

that

I

hard

Is it Permanent?

Life goes on. I will keep on achieving in other areas.

Alana

Typical. I always turn people off. No wonder he doesn’t want to go out with me any more.

My whole life is a mess. I will probably lose my job next.

I bet the next boy I go out with dumps me too. I just keep on messing things up.

13


After

FAILURES

After

SUCCESSES

Responses of

OPTIMISTIC children

* Problem solving skills remained

* Acknowledged they were making mistakes – remained on task

* Expressed confidence they would soon be finding success

* Said ‘I love a challenge’

* Predicted they would solve 90% of similar problems in the future

Responses of

PESSIMISTIC children

* Problem solving skills deteriorated

* Began to hate the task

* Stopped trying

* Discounted success when they achieved it

* Predicted they would solve 50% of similar problems in the future

14



Theorist Letter

Freud B

Rogers F

Allport A

Theorist Letter

Jung E

Maslow D

Cattell C

Everyday example Most similar to which method?

Your father wants to have a ‘little chat’ with your new boyfriend.

Your teacher keeps a checklist of the number of times you disturb others in the class.

You get a two-week trial period on the new job before being employed.

A friend passes you a note in class asking how you feel about people using drugs.

You ask your friend what she thinks about the war in Iraq.

Your hockey coach wants a discussion with you before accepting you in the squad this season.

Your boss asks you to answer some written questions about how to treat customers.

You keep an eye on the new boyfriend at the party to see how he behaves around others.

An agent asks your previous landlord to complete a series of questions about your behaviour.

Interview

Behavioural Observation


Projective Test

Projective Test

Interview

Personal Inventory


Rating Scales

In English you write a series of short poems expressing your thoughts about depression.

Projective Test

Each situation has more than one possible answer. The important thing is that you are able to justify your choice.

15


A sample answer is given for each one. Others are possible:

Situation Most suitable

To determine your suitability as a driver before getting a licence

To determine whether you are emotionally fit to join the police or army

To decide between a range of applicants for a job with a large accountancy firm

To determine the mental state of a person who has committed a serious crime

To determine whether you are suitable for a job working with young children method

Rating scales

Projective tests

Personal

Inventories

Interviews

Behavioural

Observation

Reason

Gathers information from people who have known you for a length of time.

Overcomes the possibility of you lying in a test.

At this level the use of trained psychologists is possible.

This method allows them to test your responses in various situations.

A practical way to gather data from a large number of applicants.

Depending on numbers, interviews and behavioural observation would also be useful.

Enables the psychologist to explore the person’s responses in detail.

Projective tests and behavioural observation (likely in an interview anyway) would also be useful.

This method allows the employer to observe you working with the children.

Also, rating scales would enable them to explore aspects of your prior work.

16


Religious beliefs

Are you tense or relaxed?

Are you a moody person?

Are you conscientious

?

Your mental health

Are you a happy person?

Are you outgoing?


The answers here are, to some extent, a matter of opinion. How do your answers compare with these?

Entitled to ask about ?

ØØØ

Are you selfconfident?

Join the arm y

9

To be a teache r

9

To be a child care worke r

9

To join the local counci l

9

To join the polic e

9

To be a docto r

9

To join a lega l firm

9

If guilty of a seriou s crime

9

To get a gun licenc e

9

Are you intelligent?

9 9 9 x

9 9 9 x

9

To get a drivers licenc e

9 x

Your sexuality x x x x x x x x x x

9 x

9 x x

9 9 9 9 x x

9

9

9 x x x x

9

9 x x

9

9

9

9

9

9 x x x

9 x x

9

9

9

9 x x x x

9

9 x x x x

9

9 x x x

9

9

9 x x

9

9

9

9 x x x x x

9 x x

17


TOPIC 5 STATES OF AWARENESS

Worksheet 21 Sleep, stress and arousal

Many answers are possible for these first three questions – they are intended simply to see what your understanding of these three terms is. You might have given these sorts of answers:

Five situations where SLEEP is likely for you

When I’m tired……watching a boring movie……at 3am……every night……on a bus

Five situations where STRESS is likely for you

Exams……assignments due……arguments……driving test……asking someone out

Five situations where AROUSAL is likely for you

Sport……horror movie……arguing with parents……driving a new car……seeing a snake

Create and describe a scenario in which you could experience all three of these within a one-hour period of time:

Here is one possibility: You are asleep, and wake in fright as you see a shadowy figure standing beside your bed. You realise it is your brother, who has come to tell you that he borrowed your car and has stacked it.

Your stream of consciousness might look like this:

This might look stupid...oh well, here goes...was I meant to include that first one, or does it start now...too bad...is this right...i can’t not think of my thoughts...what does this mean anyway...funny looking brain...hope mine looks better than that...must have a big thought to put in here…ummmmm...here it is…is my brain bigger than a baby’s or just more complex...yay, well done...good thought...now for a little thought...this is silly...ummmmm, here goes – little thought...mice are dumb...thank heavens I’m nearly finished..i think I’m losing it!!

1


Your levels of awareness through a typical school day might look like this:

Higher levels of awareness favourite TV show

in class

homework

M/N 6AM 12 6PM M\N

asleep lunch dinner

wake up

to sleep

Lower levels of awareness

Levels of awareness on a typical Saturday might look like this:

Higher levels of awareness

party time!

playing netball up late Friday night dinner

crash to bed 3am

M/N 6AM 12 6PM M\N

stir at 11.10

asleep snooze before going out

Lower levels of awareness

Your numbers might be something like those below – make sure you have put high numbers for higher levels of arousal (excited, concentrating hard, angry, scared, etc), lower numbers for lower levels of arousal (asleep, bored, daydreaming, meditating, etc), and numbers close to zero for what you might consider to be a ‘normal waking level of arousal’ (perhaps close to where you are right now?):

2


Working on this worksheet 4

Watching a movie on TV 2

Playing chess 5

Talking to a friend on the phone 1

In a coma ‐ 8

Meditation ‐ 4

Sleep ‐ 6

Driving on the open road 2

Under an anaesthetic ‐ 8

Spider crawling on your neck 10

Completing your drivers licence test 8

Daydreaming in class ‐ 1

Circadian rhythms

Do you think you would remain on a 24-hour sleep-wake cycle, or do you think it would get shorter or longer? Explain your reasoning:

This is a matter of personal perception. Some people think they would sleep for longer, so assume they would go onto a longer cycle. But this is not necessarily true – your body might be perfectly happy with a 24 hour cycle, but would just like you to let it have a little more sleep during that time.

Some people might feel they do not need a lot of sleep, so might think they would go onto a shorter cycle. This might be true.

They only way to tell for sure, of course, is to try the experiment. (Would you do it if invited to?)

Control of our circadian rhythm:

LIGHT 1

(principal ZEITGEBER)

RETINA

2

S.C.N.

3

PINEAL GLAND

4

MELATONIN 5 SLEEP-WAKE CYCLE

6

SYNCHRONICITY ( by ENTRAINMENT)

Suitable labels for the arrows would be:

1: ‘is detected by’

2: ‘sends nerve messages to’

3


Sleep

These first three questions show that our own experiences of sleep and tiredness are very individual. Try to compare your answers with others’.

Describe tiredness, as if to someone who had never experienced it. Explain the sensations you feel when you are tired through lack of sleep – identify at least six:

Think of the longest you have ever gone without sleep. Describe how long it was,

and again list the sensations you felt.

Write your own personal observations and recollections here: What aspects about your own sleep are you aware of?

Stages of sleep:

Body activity

(eyes, heart, breathing, muscles)

Relaxed wakefulness and

‘normal’ bodily activities

Brain activity

- wave types

Light or deep sleep?

Alpha waves.

‐‐‐

Dreams?

‐‐‐

(NREM) sleep

Breathing, heart and muscle activity slow.

Jerks.

Reduced brain activity.

Theta waves

Very light

– drifting, but not true sleep

Dream ‐ like thoughts, but no dreams

Stage 2

(NREM) sleep

Slower

K ‐ complexes, and sleep spindles

(bursts of activity)

Deeper

No

Stage 3

(NREM) sleep

Slower

Delta waves

Deeper

No

Stage 4

(NREM) sleep

Slowest

Delta waves

REM sleep

State of physiological arousal, but no vol.

muscle movement.

Rapid eye movement.

Similar to beta waves (as produced when fully awake and alert)

Deepest

No

Light

Yes

4


A typical night’s sleep:

Wakefulness

Stage 1 sleep

(REM sleep)

Stage 2 sleep

Stage 3 sleep

Stage 4 sleep

Time Î

10pm 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8am

(Refer page 151)

A sleep experiment:

Describe two tasks that would measure cognitive ability (Refer to Chapter 24)

Any thinking task will measure cognitive functioning. This could be, for example, a memory test (listen to a list of words and see how many you can remember), a concentration task (in which you have to concentrate on the task over a period of time, such as looking for errors in a series of mathematical problems and solutions), or a series of mathematical questions or spelling tests.

What do you think the results would indicate?

It is likely that the sleep-deprived students would perform less well than the control group, however there are many variables here that would be difficult to control – such as the sleep deprived students trying harder on the tasks because they knew they were at a disadvantage, or through feeling more committed to the task because they had spent the night awake for the sake of the study.

Explain why.

Lack of sleep impairs cognitive functioning.

Do you think that if you were in the sleep-deprived group you would be able to overcome any disadvantages due to the tiredness by concentrating harder?

Explain.

It might help, but it is not the whole answer. In a sleep deprived state the brain simply cannot function as well, no matter how hard you try.

Discuss any ethical implications involved in the investigation.

There should be no long-term harm to the subjects, however it would be important that they not be allowed to drive or do other potentially dangerous things in a sleep deprived state. They must be fully informed and give consent, and must be free to withdraw at any time.

Sleep disorders:

5


Working out how to get past the neighbours’ rottweiler who has got you bailed up in the corner of the yard.

Topic 5 Answers

Billy is 74. He always used to sleep well, but now finds that he will often wake during the night and not get back to sleep for hours. He is on heart tablets.

Billy is suffering from insomnia. Older sufferers, like Billy, typically have their sleep interrupted during the night, and it can be related to medical problems or medication such as Billy’s heart tablets.

Alisha recently got her first job as an airline flight attendant. She does a round trip to Europe each week, with a two-day break between. She is constantly tired.

Alisha has a circadian-related sleep disorder. In her work she is constantly travelling to different time zones, and her circadian rhythm does not have a chance to readjust itself. It could be thought of as having permanent jet-lag.

Mia’s parents tell her she often had night terrors as a child, though she can’t remember it. She has recently begun having nightmares, and often wakes in a panic.

Mia is probably suffering nightmares. They typically reappear after periods of stress, so she might consider whether or where the stress is in her life at the moment.

George is 67. He is not aware of any sleep problems, but is always tired. His wife

Betty does most of the driving now because of a few near accidents recently.

George is in good health.

George is probably suffering sleep apnea, in which he stops breathing during his sleep. This will be interrupting his sleep without him knowing it, and causing his sleepiness. He may have snoring accompanying this, in which case Betty would probably be aware of the condition. George appears to be a little overweight, a condition related to apnea.

Arousal

Two more examples are given for each column. Make sure your examples are occasions where you deliberately alter your level of arousal to enable you to perform as well as possible on the task before you:

List 1

Situations in which you elevate your level of arousal to maximise performance

Listening to loud music at a party to get myself pumped up to have a good time with my friends

Rousing pre-game address from the coach to get the team committed and focussed before the game

Confronting the local bully who has been giving your little brother a hard time.

List 2

Situations in which you reduce your level of arousal to maximise performance

Sitting and taking quiet deep breaths before going in to see the dentist

Quietly rehearsing the procedure in my mind before doing the reverse park during my driving licence test

Reading a relaxing book before going to sleep.

Relaxing and rehearsing your lines before explaining to your father precisely how you managed to reverse his car into the corner of the house.

6


The last example on each list above is used below.

Your example

Example from List 1 e.g. Playing football

The rottweiler

Consequence if level of arousal too high e.g, nervous, shaking, can’t handle the ball or kick

Your example

Dog senses my aggression, and is more likely to attack.

I am in a fluster and cannot concentrate

– more likely to panic and run

Example from list 2 e.g. Seeing the dentist

Dad’s car

e.g, tense, might jump or bite the drill or scream

Your example

Can’t concentrate or remember what I wanted to say.

Dad will sense my arousal and might take it as anger or fear, and react badly.

Consequence if level of arousal too low e.g, not concentrating, forget to follow game plan

Your example

Not concentrating, might not be ready to react if he comes at me.

I will move too slowly.

e.g, might not hear or follow his instructions

Your example

Dad will think I don’t care if I look too casual.

I won’t remember what

I wanted to say if I’m not alert.

The graph will look like this – yours might be a little different, but the pattern should be the same:

1 2 3

HIGH

LOW

LOW MODERATE HIGH

LEVEL OF AROUSAL

7


Arousal and exam performance:

Is the exam a simple or a complex task?

Complex

Will you be a more skilled or a less skilled ‘performer’?

This is not a simple question. In terms of the amount of experience you have had with exams, you will be a ‘less skilled’ performer. However, the more ‘skill’ you develop through your year – subject knowledge, practice in exam situations, knowledge of how to construct a good answer – the ‘more skilled’ you will be. If you compare yourself to a grade 4 student and to your teacher, your skill level could best be described as ‘moderate’.

Will you need to be at a high level or a low level of arousal to perform at your best?

According to the research, a person with moderate skill doing a complex task needs a moderate to low level of arousal for optimum performance. You clearly don’t want to go into the exam pumped up and punching the air, but nor do you want to be in a semi-trance. Maybe best to describe it as ‘focused and relaxed’. (Good luck.)

Finally, back to the chess player and the bungee jumper. Knowing what you now do about arousal and performance, who needs to be the most aroused to perform at their peak? (Assume equal levels of experience.) Explain your reasoning.

The main difference here is that the bungee jump is a relatively simple task that can be rehearsed (even if only in your mind the first time), while the chess game is much more complex and unpredictable, and cannot be rehearsed (though some moves and strategies can be practised). So the bungee jumper needs a higher level of arousal to perform well, while the chess player needs a lower level.

Stress and health

These first six questions are to introduce you to some of the ideas in this area of the course. Your answers depend on you life and your opinion. Compare your answers with others if you can.

Q 1 : If you could take a fairly objective look at your life this year, what would you rate as the five greatest sources of stress for you?

These can be home-related events or situations, or things related directly to school, or other experiences such as illness, work, money or relationships with friends. They can be single events or on-going situations.

Q 2: List the five most stressful jobs (careers) you can think of, and the five least stressful.

Q 3: On a scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high), how stressful was last weekend for you?

Explain the factors that contributed to it being high or low in stress.

Q 4: Six life events are depicted below. Write the numbers 1 – 6 next to these pictures, rating these events as you think you would find them personally from the lowest in stress (1) to the highest in stress (6).

8


Q 5: When you feel really stressed, what symptoms do you show or feel? Include what you feel, what you do, and any physical symptoms.

Q6: Return to the answers you gave to the five questions on the previous couple of pages. From these answers identify up to ten factors – events, situations, jobs, aspects of school – that cause you (or could cause you) to remain in a state of arousal for extended periods of time.

If they can be shown to do this, they are probably genuinely stressful to you.

The Demand-Support-Control Model

How did you rate each of these? The answers you gave are personal, but do serve to illustrate to you three important aspects of the stressful things at school. Everyone will encounter stress in year 12, but it is possible to minimise the impact of it on you.

Think about the changes you can make.

Is your work at school low (1) or high (10) demand ? ?

Do you have much (1) or little (10) support from teachers and friends?

Do you have much (1) or little (10) control over your work at school?

?

?

9



Jet lag

Events

Î

Plane arrives

(see times above)

Eat dinner

7pm local time

Meet reps

9pm local time

Go to bed

11pm local time

Wake

7am local time

Conf. begins

9am local time

Lunch

1pm local time

Go to bed

1am local time

Wake

6am local time

According to Jim’s body clock the time is

Î

9

pm

12 m/n

2

am

4

am

12 noon

2

pm

6

pm

6

am

11 am

According to Ann’s body clock the time is

Î

3

am

2

pm

4

pm

6

pm

2

am

4

am

8

am

8

pm

1

am

1. They can begin to adjust their circadian rhythms before they leave. To do this they should go to bed an hour earlier or an hour later each night until they are going to sleep at the same time as it is at their destination.

Who would be going to bed later – Ann or Jim – and who would be going to bed earlier?

Jim would be going to bed an hour later each night, Ann an hour earlier each night. (This answer may seem incorrect to you at first – you might think that

Jim needs to go to bed earlier because the clocks in Delhi are earlier than in

Adelaide. But think of it like this: If he starts going to bed earlier each night, and adjusts his body clock by 5 hours, then when he gets to Delhi he will feel like going to bed at about 6pm by his body clock, but in Delhi it will be 1pm.

Not a good time to be going to bed, right in the middle of the conference lunch break!)

2.

While at the conference, they can speed up the readjustment by getting plenty of exposure to bright light – spending time outside in daylight is the simplest, though some hotels now have ‘phototherapy rooms’ so visitors can get bright light indoors.

What is the term used for an environmental agent such as light that acts to set or reset the biological clock?

Zeitgeber

Outline briefly the process by which the body detects and responds to this bright light:

10


(Refer to the concept map on page 148 of the Workbook.)

When Ann and Jim plan their outside walks or time in the phototherapy rooms, the timing is important. The general rule is that if you need to stay awake later than your body wants to, you need bright light in the afternoon or evening. If you need to get up earlier than your body wants to (like most of us during the school week!), you need bright light in the morning.

Identify the times when Jim and Ann need light to assist in adjusting their circadian rhythms

Jim needs bright light in the afternoon, Ann needs it in the morning.

3.

Research has been conducted into the use of melatonin to assist regulate circadian rhythms.

Where and when is melatonin produced in our bodies?

Produced in the pineal gland during the night (from about 8pm to about 9am).

Explain the effect melatonin appears to have.

It appears to regulate the circadian rhythm by promoting sleep.

Insomnia

Your answers to these questions are your opinion, and not necessarily very accurate.

They are not meant to be a precise summary of your sleep habits, but simply to make you aware of the many ways insomnia can affect your life.

Compare your answers with others if you can, especially if you know someone who does suffer from insomnia.

In any thirty-day period, on how many days do you think you would experience each of these?

1.

Had enough sleep ‐ felt alert and good the next day.

Number of days

(/30)

?

2.

Had good quality sleep – restful, relaxed, refreshing.

?

3.

Fell asleep soon after attempting to – within 30 minutes at the longest ?

4.

Stayed asleep through the night – awake for no longer than 30 minutes ?

5.

Woke up when you intended – at the alarm, or when you had slept enough ?

6.

Felt refreshed during the next day – slept well enough to feel good ?

7.

Were not worried about sleep – felt OK about the sleep you were getting ?

8.

Got up when you woke – did not have to stay in bed trying to get more sleep ?

11


Some therapies for insomnia:

Therapy based on learning principles (conditioning your sleep response)

Go to bed only when sleepy, use your bedroom only for sleep (and sex), and get up and go out of the bedroom if you can’t get to sleep or when you wake up in the morning. This method aims to condition your body to respond to being in the bedroom by going to sleep. It has been shown to be effective for many people, almost halving the time it takes them to get to sleep.

Dietary Factors (managing what you should and should not eat/drink)

Restrict intake of caffeine, alcohol and tobacco. If hungry at night snack on starchy, low fat foods – these promote the release of serotonin, which promotes relaxation and sleepiness.

Behavioural Approaches (what you do to improve your sleep patterns)

Insomniacs are instructed to adopt a strict routine for going to bed and getting up.

This helps to develop a firmer body rhythm, and improves sleep.

Cognitive Approaches (changing how you think about your sleep)

Many insomniacs have thought patterns such as unrealistic sleep expectations, and false ideas about what causes their lack of sleep. The emotional distress arising from these contributes to the insomnia. Treatment involves replacing these thoughts with more realistic and positive ones.

Relaxation Approaches (ways of being relaxed when you go to bed)

There are many ways to become more relaxed before attempting to go to sleep. These range from reading, relaxation training, and meditation, and help the person to enter sleep. They also reduce the stress associated with insomnia.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.)

If you woke and went to school in the dark, how could this explain you remaining sleepy into the morning?

(Hint: It is not due to a lack of sleep – it is the lack of light.)

If you had no exposure to light in the morning, melatonin production would continue and you would remain tired. Your brain would still be ‘thinking’ it wanted to be asleep.

As with jet lag, melatonin is associated with S.A.D., and phototherapy (light therapy) appears to be effective in treating it. Would a person produce more or less melatonin in winter than in summer? How would the light therapy assist?

More melatonin (exposure to light inhibits its production). Light therapy would assist by inhibiting the melatonin production.

12


Coping with stress

Stress is chronic arousal. (Note that chronic means ‘over an extended period of time’

– it does not mean ‘severe’.)

The remainder of this worksheet is done, just as you have been asked to do, by identifying sources of stress in your life, and exploring ways to reduce them. It has been done, as an example of how it could be answered, from a teacher’s point of view . It will serve as an interesting comparison for you – and it never hurts to try to see things from someone else’s point of view now and again.

Note that the answers here are hypothetical, and not (necessarily) present in the author’s teaching at the moment, or at all. But they are issues that many teachers will identify with.

As an interesting aside, ask your teacher what reaction he/she feels as he/she reads this list. Ask two questions: Is there any emotional reaction? What does this have to do with classical conditioning?

Area identified: Teaching

Sources of chronic arousal

1.

Difficulty in dealing with unmotivated Year 10 students.

2.

Pressure to learn new technologies all the time.

3.

Constant stream of paperwork (policies, reviews, planning documents)

4.

Pressure to keep lessons interesting, challenging, varied.

5.

Noise.

6.

Poor working relationship with another staff member.

7.

Cramped and poorly organised workspace in the staff room.

8.

Unreliable computer system.

9.

A certain student in year 12 who constantly diverts the class’ attention.

10.

My desk is always a mess and I can’t work there!

Recall the ‘Demand-Control-Support’ model we reviewed in Worksheet 21.

Apply the model to the area of your life you have identified as stressful, and answer these three questions:

Describe how demanding on you this area of your life is:

Very demanding. It seems to consume a huge amount of my personal time (including at home and on weekends) and my physical and emotional energy.

Describe how much control you feel you have over what happens in this area of your life:

Probably more than I realise. If I stood back from it and looked hard at the list of things above, I probably could deal with or at least minimise several of them. But we don’t take the time to do this – we seem to get so caught up in the day-to-day that we let these things keep stressing us without dealing with them properly. I think I’m glad

I wrote the list.

13


Describe how much support you feel you receive from others in this area of your life:

A lot. It is a very supportive school, and I can get support any time. But I tend not to because I feel I should deal with these things myself, and besides others are very busy too and I don’t want to bother them with my issues. So I can get support, but generally don’t .

Technique

One way you could apply this technique to your identified area

Demand,

Control, or Support?

Social support

Talk some of these issues through with understanding friends, or with colleagues.

Support

Personality

Try not to be so serious about it – learn to have a bit more fun.

Control

Food substances

Humour

Relaxation or meditation

Physical activity

Environmental planning

Relabelling

Thought stopping

Cognitive appraisal

I already eat very well, and cooking is a form of relaxation.

Maybe I should drink more water.

I think we need a bit more fun at school.

Let’s do an all ‐ night sleep deprivation study.

I have thought about meditation – I think I will try it.

Maybe we can do it in class?

A school I used to be at had a lunchtime walking group.

I think I’ll get that going again.

Time to tidy up that desk.

And I’ll put flowers on it as a reward to myself.

(Op conditioning!)

I need to also write out a list of the ten things I really love about my job.

It isn’t all bad.

I will not let myself think negatively about that year 12 student.

In fact I’ll turn it into fun.

My physical and psychological resources won’t change much, but I can gather social resources.

Control

Control

Control

Support

Control

Control

Control

Support

14



Managing sleep and fatigue problems

Explain the similarities and differences between sleepiness and fatigue.

Both refer to conditions caused by a lack of sleep.

Fatigue describes the condition of our body and mind that is caused by the lack of sleep, while sleepiness is what we feel as a result of being in a state of fatigue.

Identify the likely sources of Alan’s tiredness and depression. How do you explain the near accidents?

There are several reasons for Alan’s tiredness, depression and near accidents: he is working shiftwork, and daytime sleep is generally shorter and of poorer quality than night-time sleep since he is awake during the day on weekends but at night during the week, he is not able to fully synchronise his circadian rhythm with either cycle, so he is suffering a circadian-related sleep disorder fatigue levels are highest around 3 – 5am, explaining his near accidents at 3am he is working a long shift (10 hours), and this also contributes to his fatigue shiftwork has been linked to both physical and psychological health issues, including depression from which Alan appears to be suffering

Explain the likely cause of Georgie’s car accident. Is it possible she did fall asleep while driving?

Georgie is suffering fatigue related to her long working hours and lack of sleep. Her accident at 3am is explained by both her fatigue in general and her driving at the time when fatigue levels are highest. It is quite possible that she did fall asleep without knowing it – a sleepy person is poor at judging whether they are about to fall asleep.

Is it likely that Kim’s feeling unwell is related to the shift work? Is there any cause for concern about her baby?

Shiftwork has been linked to physical health issues, including gastrointestinal illness.

It is likely that this is the cause of Kim’s feeling unwell with an upset stomach. She is right to be concerned about her unborn baby, as shift-workers are more likely to miscarry, and have babies with generally lower birth weights.

What do you think could be a likely cause of Gerry’s tiredness?

It is likely that Gerry has a sleep disorder, and if he is unaware of it he could be suffering from sleep apnea. People are generally aware of having conditions such as insomnia, but not always with sleep apnea.

15


The following suggest some solutions for these four people. Other solutions are also possible – compare your answers with others’ if you can.

Alan

Strategy 1

Stop shift work, or at last reduce the length of shifts.

Strategy 2

Take naps during shifts.

Georgie

Kim

Gerry

Reduce work hours, and get more sleep.

Stop shift work – this is something she must discuss with her employer urgently

Seek help for the sleep apnea.

Ensure she has a proper diet, and maintain

hydration during her time at work.

Seek advice about an appropriate diet to help alleviate the stomach problems.

Nap during the day if possible to manage the fatigue.

16


Managing stress problems

Your list might look like this – it is of course possible to state the factors in other ways:

Stress risk factors

1 Highly demanding work physically

Rating

(1-10)

School

2 Highly demanding work mentally

3 Highly demanding work emotionally

4 Lack of variety in work

5 Short work cycles

6 Fragmented work

7 Meaningless work

8 Underutilisation of your skills

9 High level of uncertainty in work

10 Continuous exposure to people

11 Work overload

12 Work underload

13 Inflexible work schedules

14 Deadlines

15 Unpredictable hours

16 Long or unsocial hours

17 Lack of control over workloads

18 Poor environmental conditions

19 Poor communication

20 Poor relationships with teachers/administrators

Rating

(1-10)

Home

17


Here is a sample of how this table might look:

Top five sources of stress

One possible strategy for each stress factor

Deadlines Set your own deadlines, rather than feeling that they are being imposed on you all of the time.

Talk to friends about how they manage deadlines.

Lack of control Be realistic – do you really have that little control over workloads, or is more an over workloads issue of being organised?

Make sure you can talk to friends or family about this.

Long and unsocial hours

Plan of

more carefully.

socialising) it will

If you free

up make

some the

most time at

productive home and

use on

of time weekends

at school (instead

Work overload

Make sure you are being realistic – is there really that much work, or does it just seem like there is.

Social support is very important – talk to people about this.

Continuous If this is stressful to you, make sure you give yourself some personal time.

It might exposure to people be really helpful to try something like meditation to distress when you are alone.

18



Research into sleep

Type Of

Research

What is it called?

Polysomno ‐ graphy

Activity monitors

Time ‐ free

Studies

Details

Describe how this research is done.

EEG is used to record aspects of sleep

Wrist monitors are used to monitor sleep ‐ wake cycle

Individuals are studied in environments that are free of time ‐ giving cues.

Investigation

Design

What type of investigation is it?

Experimental

Quantitative observational

Sleep ‐ wake

Diary

Experimental

and

Quantitative

Observational

Experimental

Data Type

What type(s) of data are collected?

Objective

Quantitative

Objective

Quantitative

Subjective

Quantitative

Objective

Quantitative

Findings

Describe one finding from this type of research.

That brain wave patterns change through the various stages of sleep.

Train drivers are likely to get more sleep at night (2 ‐ 4 hours more) than during the day.

Without external cues we still follow a circadian rhythm, but this varies between individuals.

Forced

De ‐ synchrony

Studies

Subjects are placed in an artificial day that is more or less than 24 hours.

Objective

Quantitative

The onset of sleep is closely linked to the body’s temperature rhythm.

Research into stress

Some sample research questions are shown in the table. Many others are possible

Category 1

1. Is it the people or the physical environment at school that is the greatest cause of stress for year 12 students?

(associated with the environment and the organisation)

Category 2

2.

Is any particular subject in year 12 associated with higher or lower levels of student stress than the others?

3.

Is the number of hours a student works in paid employment outside school related to the level of stress reported at school?

1.

How important is social support in reducing or managing stress?

(associated with the students themselves)

2.

How important is the issue of feeling in control in keeping stress levels manageable?

3.

Is any particular personality type associated with higher or lower levels of stress?

19


Some sample answers are shown below. Many others are possible. Discuss your answers with friends if possible.

These could be used to collect data for any of the six questions above.

Questionnaires

What types?

Who will do them?

How many people?

How selected?

What issues covered?

Ideally all year 12 students would be asked to complete a questionnaire.

These would cover personal data (hours of employment worked, subjects done, etc), and information related to stress at school.

Reference Group

Which groups represented?

How many people?

How selected?

Issues to discuss?

Who collects data?

Focus Group

Which groups represented?

How many people?

How selected?

Issues to discuss?

Who collects data?

This could include representatives from both students and staff at school – at least 10% of each group would be needed, selected at random.

They would be required to discuss and answer questions about a range of issues related to stress, but focusing on the two categories in the table above.

Researchers would collect data during the discussion.

This group could also include representatives from students and staff, and would be involved in the process of reviewing the data from other sources to advise on the implementation of strategies to reduce stress levels of year 12 students at school.

Researchers would be involved here also, collecting data to form the basis of recommendations to the school.

20



* In each of these tables, one more example is provided in each section. Again, many answers are possible, and you are encouraged to compare your answers with other students.

Managing fatigue

At school

Responsibilities of the school and teachers

1. To provide adequate notice of work to be completed to enable you to manage your time effectively

2.

To provide a restful area to enable students to take a break from work between lessons.

Responsibilities of yourself

1. To manage your work so that it is not left to the last minute requiring late nights and causing sleep deprivation

2.

To use the facilities to have a rest where needed, so you are not too fatigued by afternoon lessons.

At Work

Responsibilities of your employer Responsibilities of yourself

1. To ensure that you are not required to work unreasonably long shifts or to change shifts too frequently

2.

To provide facilities for proper nutrition and hydration during the work day.

1. To ensure that you manage your time to allow for adequate sleep

2.

To take advantage of these facilities and manage your food and water intake to reduce fatigue.

Managing stress

At School

Responsibilities of the school and teachers

1. To provide good environmental conditions for you to work in, including space, light, temperature and air quality

2.

To negotiate deadlines and other requirements with you so you feel you have some control over your workload at school.

At Work

Responsibilities of your employer


1. To help maintain the facilities in good condition, and not damage or deplete them for other students and teachers

2.

To manage your work so you are able to meet negotiated deadlines.


1. To take an active role in making decisions about your work

1. To allow you to participate in decision making, especially in regard to your workloads

2.

To provide for workers to balance their work and family commitments, such as leave for workers with ill children or partners.

2.

To use these provisions properly and not take advantage of them by taking days off work for non ‐ legitimate reasons.

21


Topic 6 Healthy minds

Worksheet 26 What is a healthy mind?

These ten questions introduce you to some of the important ideas in this chapter. You are encouraged to discuss your answers with others in your class.

1. Has the widespread use of mobile phones made us more connected with people or less connected?

2. Why are eating disorders most common in societies where food is most readily available?

3. How would you describe the mental health of people in detention centres?

4. Would you expect people living in families or people living alone to have the best mental health?

5. Are males or females the most mentally healthy in Australia, in general?

6. At what ages are we most likely to have a mental disorder?

7. At what age in your life do you expect to be the most mentally healthy?

8. Is it possible to inherit a mental disorder?

9. What are the most common mental disorders in Australia?

10. Is it possible to learn to be mentally unwell?

In the three tables below, some further examples have been provided. Many more ideas can be added, and the information you include depends on where you are drawing your information from – reading, websites, videos, discussions. As we have said before, the value in this exercise is not in finding out what are ‘the answers’, but in what you learn in your own search for the information. Discussions in class will be invaluable here.

Summary of information about MENTAL DISORDERS

Biological Level Of Explanation Basic Process Level Of Explanation

* Some mental disorders appear to have a genetic component.

* Some psychologists believe that mental disorders are related to the ways we perceive events in our lives

Person Level Of Explanation

* Age has an important effect on mental disorders.

Socio ‐ Cultural Level Of Explanation

* Access to support services helps reduce mental health problems


Summary of information about ANXIETY DISORDERS

Biological Level Of Explanation Basic Process Level Of Explanation

* Genetic factors are believed to contribute to anxiety disorders by creating an over ‐ reactive autonomic nervous system

* In some anxiety disorders the person catastrophises events, expecting the very worse outcomes even when they are very unlikely to happen


* More women than men develop anxiety disorders

Socio ‐ cultural level of explanation

* Childhood experiences can lead to phobias

* Social support is important in managing anxiety disorders

Summary of information about DEPRESSION

Biological Level Of Explanation Basic process level of explanation

* There seems to be a strong genetic component in depression

* Antidepressant drugs work by altering brain chemistry

* Fear of the unknown appears to be involved in depression

* Negative thought processes are often involved

(self ‐ hate, helplessness, etc)


* Pessimistic people are more prone to depression

* A lack of self ‐ confidence is often associated with depression

Socio ‐ Cultural Level Of Explanation

* Research indicates that poor parenting can contribute to depression

* Social changes and a lack of social support can contribute to depression

Resilience

Clearly the process by which a person becomes resilient is a complex one. These factors seem to be involved:

Heredity : We appear to inherit (at least in part) such traits as being optimistic and positive. These not only give us a measure of resilience themselves, but also draw care from others which in turn makes us feel better about ourselves, further developing our positive outlook.

Learning : Observing and learning the social skills from a caregiver can have positive results, such as becoming popular.

Social support: This is important in contributing to resilience in children.

Thinking style : The way we think about both the situation itself and our ability to deal with it can affect our resilience.

Success : This can lead to optimism, which in turn promotes resilience.

(Because many of these factors affect each other – success leads to optimistic thinking, for example – you might consider constructing a concept map to show how the factors are interrelated.)

2



Case Study 1

COLIN

Case Study 2

GEORGE

Describe to each of these people the condition he is experiencing .

What are the usual symptoms?

What can each of them expect to experience while they have this condition?

Are these common conditions?

Explain to each of them where the condition stems from.

Why did each of them develop a mental disorder after years of being mentally healthy?

And why at this time of their life?

Each of them wonders why close friends, in exactly the same position as them, have not experienced the same condition.

How can you explain why they have the condition and not others?

Colin is suffering from panic attacks, a form of anxiety disorder.

His symptoms are typical, including the episodes of sudden, intense anxiety, with physiological symptoms, feeling a

loss of control, and a fear that something serious is happening to them.

He will probably continue to experience these unexpected attacks, though some people experience just one event.

Anxiety disorders are common – at any given time as many as one in fifteen adults is suffering from some type, about half of these involve panic attacks.

Anxiety disorders seem to have a genetic basis, the person being more vulnerable to them perhaps through the development of an over ‐ reactive autonomic nervous system.

Panic attacks generally develop in late adolescence or early adulthood, so the timing for Colin is typical.

George is suffering from depression, a form of mood disorder.

While he has this condition, he can expect to experience symptoms affecting his mood (sadness, hopelessness), his thinking (helplessness, worthlessness), his motivation (loss of interest and drive), and his physical condition (loss of appetite and energy, sleep problems).

This is a common condition – about one in six people can expect to suffer major depression in their lifetime, and it affects all age groups.

Many factors are involved in the development of depression.

These include genetics, brain chemistry, personality types, thinking styles, learning, environmental factors such as loss and stress, and social factors such as support.

It is likely that for George his wife’s death and his loneliness since has been a major contributing factor.

The reason is partly genetic, and the person’s thinking style is also involved.

For example, people who tend to magnify or exaggerate events might be more vulnerable.

Social support is also important.

Stress in the month or two before the panic attack has been shown to be an important factor.

It is a complex situation, and cannot be explained simply by one or two factors.

If George has friends his age who have lost partners recently but who have not developed depression, the most likely explanation is that those people are genetically different to him, they have different personality traits and thinking styles to him, and may have more or different social support to him.

3


Each of them is keen to know whether this is something they will have to endure for the rest of their life, or whether it can be treated.

What information can you give them about this?

Each of them wants to know whether he could have prevented this condition .

Is there anything he could do, or could have done, to cope with life’s events better and avoid this condition?

Panic attacks do not typically last for life.

They may last for a year or more, but usually subside and disappear.

Because there is an aspect of unrealistic thinking involved – ‘I’m going to die’ – cognitive therapy can be useful in their treatment.

This can help because for a sufferer simply the fear of having another panic attack in a certain situation can be enough to bring one on.

He cannot change his inherited qualities or his age, but some aspects of his life – such as stress and social support – could be modified to make a panic attack less likely.

It would be possible to have cognitive therapy earlier to correct inappropriate thinking patterns (such as magnifying events), but these are unlikely to be seen as significant until the attacks begin.

Depression, if not treated, will generally dissipate over a year or less, but can last for extended periods of time.

George should consult a doctor and/or clinical psychologist.

Several forms of treatment are available including counselling, antidepressant drugs, and

(for extreme cases) electroconvulsive therapy.

As with Colin, there are some things

George cannot and could not have changed – his genetics, his wife’s death, and (to some extent) his personality.

It is possible for him to change things such as his thinking style and his social support, and these are the factors that a psychologist would probably focus on in a course of therapy for him.

4


How mental illness has been viewed in history and in the media

* This section has been answered in general terms that can be applied to either of

Colin or George. Check that your answers are consistent with these comments.

Select either Colin or George. Describe how his behaviour might have been regarded at another time in history (you nominate the era you wish to refer to), and then how his behaviour might be portrayed to create a successful book or movie.

Person selected: These comments can be applied to either Colin or George.

How might his behaviour have been regarded at another time in history? How would they have explained it? How would he have been treated as a person? Would they have treated his condition? How?

Your answer, in relation to either Colin or George, should refer to at least some of these ideas:

•

Mental illness has been considered, at different times, as being caused by external forces – revenge of God, the work of the devil, and so on.

•

People suffering mental illness have been locked away in ‘mad houses’ and/or punished for their behaviours rather than being treated.

•

Early treatments included putting poisons into the body to rid it of evil, or rituals such as exorcism.

•

Mentally ill people were not considered as normal people with abnormal behaviour, but rather as abnormal people.

•

Institutions for the mentally ill promoted and rewarded passive behaviour.

•

For a long time little was done to investigate the causes and nature of the various conditions, or to develop suitable treatment.

•

It has only been in fairly recent times that mental illness has been viewed compassionately, and treated in ways that promote recovery.

How might an author or movie director create a story out of this person’s case that is interesting enough to market? How might the person be portrayed?

Your answer, for either Colin or George, should refer to some of these ideas:

•

Mental illness is often portrayed in the popular media – many films have used it as a central theme.

•

Some of the conditions that have been illustrated in movies have been schizophrenia,

multiple personalities, and obsessive compulsive disorder.

These can be used to illustrate some fairly spectacular examples of abnormal behaviour.

•

It is more difficult to find examples of the conditions we are referring to here – anxiety disorders and depression.

This may be because they are more common, or less sensational.

•

To make either of these into an interesting and successful movie the behaviour would need to be enhanced or dramatised by the producer.

This might not reflect the true details of an ‘everyday’ story like Colin’s or George’s.

5


Worksheet 28 Social issues and personal growth

These are some of the important factors associated with the development of resilience:

Resilience

•

Heredity – the personality traits we inherit

•

Learning – through observation of others

•

Social support

•

Thinking style

•

Success

The factors that make us more resilient and less likely to experience any mental disorder

Some of the factors associated with mental health disorders are shown here – you will probably have identified others as well.

Mental health disorders (in general)

Anxiety disorders Depression

Risk Factors

Factors that increase the likelihood of experiencing a disorder

Protective Factors

Factors that decrease the likelihood of experiencing a disorder

* child factors – premature birth, low birth weight, birth injury, etc

* family factors – teenage mothers, substance abuse, family violence, etc

* school factors – school failure, bullying, etc

* life events – divorce, death of a family member, etc

* community events – neighbourhood violence, social disadvantage, etc

* child factors – attachment to family, optimism, social skills, etc

* family factors – supportive parents, small family size, stable family, etc

* school factors – sense of belonging, positive environment

* life events – good physical health, opportunities, etc

* heredity

* maladaptive thought processes

* misinterpretation of normal anxiety symptoms

* observation of others with anxiety symptoms

* stress

* negative childhood and life experiences

* gender – more common in females

* lack of social power and control

(see ‘resilience’ above, and list for ‘mental health disorders)

* heredity

* stress

* negative thinking style, including self ‐ thoughts

* parenting style of parents

* neglect/abuse in childhood

* social changes

* lack of social support

* previous history of depression

* lack of self ‐ confidence

(see ‘resilience’ above’, and list for ‘mental health disorders)

Coping Strategies

Strategies or techniques we can use to assist us to cope with stresses and be less likely to experience a disorder

* change your thinking about the problem

* get physical exercise

* eat well

* plan structured daily activities

* education and learning

* be socially involved

(see list for ‘mental health disorders’)

(see list for ‘mental health disorders’)

6


Some risk and protective factors illustrated in the articles:

Risk factors Protective factors

Traumatic experiences such as war, siege, tsunami, or imprisonment in detention centres.

Sexual abuse of children.

Placement of mentally ill in prison.

Support groups (social support), for sufferers and for their partners.

Efforts to make sufferers’ lives happier.

Friendship.

Treatment through strict, impersonal routines.

Thinking badly of yourself.

Use of drugs to alleviate or help deal with problems.

Inappropriate responses from health care system.

Care of a trusted person (parent, friend, mentor).

(Refer page 202)

‘The depression debate’ ‘A bitter pill’

How does each person explain her attempt to suicide?

(Case of Ingrid Ozols)

‘It wasn’t a cry for help.

That night I wanted to die.’

(Case of Merrillee Bentley)

‘I was thinking, No ‐ one cares.

No ‐ one’s there.

I’d be better off dead.’’

When did the depression begin for her?

Has had it for most of her life.

As a child.

What seemed to cause or trigger her depression?

Family crises, trauma and loss.

Her mother left home on

Christmas day, resulting in a fear of rejection in Merrilee.

Now it recurs after stress, health problems, rejection or relationship problems.

Did her depression affect her thinking, or her feelings, or her behaviour?

Or all 3?

All three – for example, wants to die, feels suicidal, cries, can’t see any beauty.

All three.

Most of her life – in bouts.

How long did her depression last?

How did she feel when depressed?

Sad – self emotional

‐

destructive – empty ‐

Most of her life since it began in childhood.

Lethargic, suicidal and ‘that I was nothing’.

How common depression?

is One in 5 Australians will have it at least once in their life.

4% will be clinically depressed in any one year.

Financial.

Social.

Personal.

What are the costs (or effects) of depression to our society?

Does depression finish or can it recur?

Tends to recur.

7


What are the general causes of depression?

Which people are most likely to experience depression?

Is there a genetic component in the cause of depression?

What are the risk factors (the things that make you more likely to experience it)?

Is the cause mainly biological, or mainly psychological?

What things help young people, in particular, cope with it?

Is the incidence of depression increasing or decreasing in our society?

What treatments are available for depression?

Is it possible depression is being over ‐ diagnosed?

Interaction between

Some believe it is.

physical, psychological and social

Psychological therapy.

Drugs.

Interactions with others.

Exercise.

factors.

60% of cases are female.

In general terms, those with poor coping skills and a lack of social support.

People who have experienced depression before are more likely to suffer it again.

Yes – it runs in families.

Both – closely linked.

For example, moods and hormones and immune system affect each other.

Adult role models.

Social support.

Exercise.

Good health.

Not abusing drugs.

Has been increasing since the 1940s.

Rates are down in the elderly, but up in the young.

Self ‐ destructive tendencies.

Poor coping skills.

Smoking.

High blood pressure or cholesterol.

Poor general health.

Alcohol and drug abuse.

Social disconnection.

8


(Refer page 204)

What negatives or concerns are there associated with drug treatment for depression?

They don’t provide social support or coping skills.

Clinical trials show that they have negative effects on some people, including one that appears to increase the risk of suicidal behaviour in minors.

They can have side ‐ effects such as nausea.

They do for most, but 5 – 10% become more anxious.

Do anti ‐ depressant drugs work well for everyone?

Is there a role for governments in addressing the issue of depression?

Raise awareness and availability of other therapies beside drugs ‐ such as counselling and CBT.

Provide financial support for therapies such as exercise.

How are neurotransmitters involved in depression and its treatment?

The levels of some neurotransmitters are reduced in depression, affecting moods, and antidepressants work on these.

How is depression related to general health?

Can depression be

‘cured’?

How common is the use of antidepressant drugs now?

Depression is more likely if general health is poor.

Not completely – the risk of an episode always remains.

Very.

9


Some examples of Seligman’s concepts can be identified – those below refer to the case of Merrilee Bentley. You might be able to find other examples also:

Learned helplessness : learning from experience that ‘nothing I do will help anyway’

Merrilee Bentley had tried several things – drugs, counselling, suicide – and nothing had resolved her depression.

She probably learned to feel helpless.

The last two paragraphs of the article suggest she might be feeling it again now.

Pessimism : viewing life’s events in a negative way

There were certainly aspects of pessimism in her thinking style – such as the thought that it would be better for her children to die (with her) than to have to be with another mother.

It is not clear whether she saw things as ‘her fault’, but she seemed to think that they were likely to keep happening and to affect other areas of her life.

Explanatory style : viewing negative events as ‘my fault, likely to keep happening, and likely to affect other areas of my life’

Optimism : learning to view life’s events more optimistically

Cognitive therapy : deliberately working on learning to think about life’s events differently

Her thinking is more positive at the end of the article, despite not having her children and the challenges ahead of her.

It is not clear that she has set out to deliberately change her thinking – the article suggests that it has been getting off the antidepressants that has cleared her thinking.

She has longed for a ‘psychiatrist to work with me on the issues I was dealing with’, and it is likely that CBT would be part of such a treatment.

10


How can we use this information for social and personal good?

In answering these three questions, general comments are made which are applicable to whichever of the three scenarios you chose. Make sure your answers are consistent with these comments, and again, compare your answers with those of others if you can.

What are the most important things that a person (your friend, your child, teenagers in general) can do to maintain a healthy mind and avoid developing a mental disorder?

The mental wellbeing of young people is affected y many things.

Some or most of these factors will be relevant to your answer – others are possible too:

•

Learning through observation of positive models (parents, friends, mentors)

•

Social support – including attachment within the family, having a stable family and positive environment, and being socially involved.

•

Thinking style – having an optimistic view of the world and things that happen

•

Experiencing success

•

Having a sense of belonging – family, friends, school, clubs.

•

Good physical health, including good diet

•

Exercise

How you put these into practice in the scenario you chose can involve ideas such as belonging to a sport club – which would achieve learning through observation, social support, a sense of belonging, a positive environment, good physical health, exercise and being socially involved.

What attitude should we take towards people who do develop mental disorders, so as to reduce prejudice against them (and maybe even assist in their recovery)?

Mental disorders can be viewed as:

• having a cause ‐ they don’t just happen, and they can happen to anyone

• able to be treatable – many approaches to their treatment are possible

• abnormal behaviour, not abnormal people

• dependant on social support for their resolution

If mental health does ever become an issue for a person (your friend, your child, teenagers in general) how can they access community services that might help?

Access to services is via:

• doctor

• psychologist/counselor

• websites

• local council

• student counselor at school

• phone services such as Lifeline

Support can also be gained from friends and family, but it is important to distinguish between support and professional help.

11



It is not possible here to give very much direction to indicate whether your answer to this worksheet is an accurate/good/comprehensive one or not.

A few comments will provide some guidance though:

1.

Refer back to the introduction to this task in the workbook, and read point 1.

Have you considered at least some of these areas in your answer (risk and protective factors, coping strategies, etc)? Remember that the point of this task is to direct you to re-examine some of the important ideas in this part of our course, and not simply to come up with some general thoughts of your own.

2.

You will probably need a range of tasks in what you propose to do with the 8 hours. It is not possible to explore a person’s mental health in one simple task.

3.

There are many ideas in Chapter 29 of the Essentials textbook.

4.

Remember that you will learn a lot more from this task if you share it – either work in a group to develop your plan, and/or share your ideas with others after it is ready. You might be able to arrange for each group to present their ideas to the class for discussion. Remember to challenge other people’s ideas, and be prepared to defend your own.

5.

One further reminder: This task is not meant to suggest to you that you are now capable of exploring another person’s state of mental health. We have learnt some important information about mental wellbeing in this section of the course, but it is still a job for the trained professionals to make accurate analyses of people’s mental health. (You might consider whether this is something you might like to do as a career though.)

12



Again here it is not possible to give details of exactly how you should have answered each of these five sets of questions. This depends on what you set out in worksheet

29.

The same comments are relevant here:

1.

Follow the suggestions in the questions in the workbook.

2.

Read the relevant sections in the textbook, chapter 30.

3.

Discuss and share your ideas if possible.

The questions are repeated here with key ideas highlighted . Make sure you have referred to at least most of these in your answers.

Informed consent

•

Did you plan to give the subject a full explanation of what you planned to do?

•

Would you explain the costs and benefits to them if they participated?

•

Would the participant be asked to consent to participate?

•

Would any details be concealed from the subject ? If so, is this unavoidable ?

•

Did you plan to deceive or deliberately misinform the subject in any way?

•

If deception or concealment was necessary, did you plan to give the subject a full explanation as soon as possible?

Confidentiality

•

Did you take steps to ensure that the subject’s identity would be kept confidential during the study and in data analysis after? How?

•

Is it clear that you will not invade their privacy ?

•

Did you plan to seek the subject’s consent if you sought information from other sources , including family and friends?

•

Did you plan to respect the privacy of other family members if family history was explored?

Voluntary participation

•

Would you ensure that the subject’s participation was voluntary ?

•

Was any coercion to be used to get them to participate?

•

Would it be made clear to the subject that they would be free to withdraw their consent and discontinue their participation at any time?

•

Would there be any implications, penalties or loss for the subject if they withdrew?

13


Debriefing

•

Did you plan to explain to the subject the outcome of the study after completion?

•

Would there be a chance for them to ask questions about what happened or what the outcomes were?

•

Did any concealment or deception need to be explained after completion?

•

Did you plan to advise the subject about appropriate course of action if you found evidence of a mental illness ?

Possible harm

•

Have you ensured that the subject will suffer no lasting harm (physical or psychological)?

•

Will you avoid them feeling embarrassment, guilt or other unreasonable discomfort ?

•

Does your approach respect their dignity ?

14

TOPIC 1 INTRODUCTION Worksheet 1 Research in Psychology

TOPIC 1 INTRODUCTION

Worksheet 1 Research in Psychology

Worksheet 2 Investigation Designs

Experimental Investigation

Quantitative Observational Investigation

Qualitative Investigation

Worksheet 3 Measurement in Psychology

Experiment

Quantitative observational investigation

Qualitative investigation

Worksheet 4 Analysis of data

Experimental Investigation

Quantitative observational investigation

Qualitative investigation

÷

÷

Worksheet 5 Research Ethics

Informed consent

Confidentiality

Voluntary participation

Debriefing

Possible harm

TOPIC 2 SOCIAL COGNITION

Worksheet 6 Attitudes, Behaviour and Impressions

Worksheet 7 Experiences, Events and Interventions

Christmas charity ad

Watch ad

Sunglasses

Internet package

Hugh Grant

Fundamental Attribution Error

Self-Perception – two different explanatory styles

Worksheet 8 Social Issues and Personal Growth

Reducing Prejudice

Impression Management

Worksheet 9 Methods of Investigation

Thurstone Scale Issue: BABIES

Statements

Likert Scale

Semantic Differential Scales

Observation of Behaviour

Physiological Measurement

Worksheet 10 Ethical Issues

Fairness

Informed Consent

Deception

Debriefing

TOPIC 3 LEARNING

Worksheet 11 Basic Concepts

Classical Conditioning:

Operant Conditioning:

Reinforcement of disruptive classroom behaviour:

Observational Learning:

Worksheet 12 Experiences, events and interventions

Classical Conditioning in Advertising

Classical Conditioning in Overcoming Phobias:

Examples of Operant Conditioning: Customer Loyalty Programs

Operant Conditioning in Behaviour Modification:

Example of Observational Learning: Aggression and Television

Examples involving more than one type of learning:

Worksheet 13 Social Issues and Personal Growth

A social issue: Learning to drive legally

A personal issue: Shyness

Worksheet 14 Methods of Investigation

Animal research: where can we observe them?

Worksheet 15 Ethical Issues

Some rules of ethics for classroom research

TOPIC 4 PERSONALITY

Worksheet 16 Conceptions of personality

Psychodynamic Theories

Humanistic theories

Trait theories

Worksheet 17 Experiences, events and interventions

Worksheet 18 Social Issues and personal growth

Worksheet 19 Methods of Investigation

Worksheet 20 Ethical Issues

TOPIC 5 STATES OF AWARENESS

Worksheet 21 Sleep, stress and arousal

Circadian rhythms