Contents

Inferential statistics...........................................................................4
Types of data...............................................................................4
Tests................................................................................................4
To find the critical value:.................................................................4
Spearmans rank correlation:..........................................................4
Wilcoxon T Test:..............................................................................4
Mann-Whitney U Test:.....................................................................5
Comparisons...................................................................................5
Significance....................................................................................6
Reliability and Validity........................................................................7
Reliability = consistency.................................................................7
External Reliability..........................................................................7
Internal Reliability...........................................................................7
Validity = Truthfulness....................................................................7
Internal Validity...............................................................................7
Threats............................................................................................7
External Validity..............................................................................8
Peer Review.......................................................................................8
Peer Review is essential because;..................................................8
Criticisms of peer review;...............................................................8
Clinical symptoms and the issues with diagnosis and classification. .9
Types of Depression........................................................................9
Main Domains.................................................................................9
Symptoms;......................................................................................9
Diagnosis......................................................................................10
Reliability of diagnosis;.................................................................10
Evaluation;.................................................................................10
Validity of classifications;..............................................................10
Evaluation;.................................................................................10
Duration and Frequency............................................................10
Causes..........................................................................................11
Evaluation;.................................................................................11
Gender..........................................................................................11
Evaluation;.................................................................................11
Cultural Biases..............................................................................11

Evaluation;.................................................................................12
Ethically correct;........................................................................12
Evaluation;.................................................................................12
Biological Explanations for depression: Biochemistry......................12
Evaluation;.................................................................................12
Social Learning Theory.....................................................................13
Social Cognitive Learning Theory.................................................13
Overview...................................................................................13
Banduras 4 stages of the Social Learning Theory........................13
Types of Consequences for Operant Conditioning........................14
Statistics....................................................................................14
Anti-social and Pro-social Behaviours..............................................14
Media............................................................................................14
Learnt From:..............................................................................14
Social Cognitive Structure;...........................................................14
Pro-social Behaviour........................................................................15
Anti-social Behaviours..................................................................15
Exposure;...................................................................................15
Acquisition;................................................................................15
Key Pro-social Behaviours;.........................................................16
Huesman DJ POP........................................................................16
Desensitisation;.........................................................................16
Justification;...............................................................................16
Video/Computer Games...................................................................17
Helping Behaviour.....................................................................17
Social commitment in multiplayer games.................................17
Facebook; good or bad?.............................................................17
Theory..............................................................................................18
Support......................................................................................18
Disproves...................................................................................18
Lower physiological arousal.......................................................18
Media violence equals aggressive behaviour............................18
Are babies really taking in what is in TV?..................................18
Desensitisation..........................................................................18
Justification................................................................................18
Reliability of diagnosis...............................................................18

Validity of diagnosis...................................................................19
Causes of Depression................................................................19
Gender; Depression...................................................................19
Cultural biases; Depression.......................................................20

Research Methods
Inferential statistics
LEVELS OF MEASUREMENT;

Types of data

Interval; equal intervals on a measurement scale e.g. 1-10 or

the time.
Ordinal; information or scores where only the order in which
the participants ranked are provided e.g. 1st 2nd 3rd.
Nominal; when the information collected is just ordered into
categories e.g. colours, jobs, gender

Tests
Inferential statistics tests tell us if our results are statistically
significant enough to support the hypothesis.
To do this, calcualtions are performed on the collected results to
work out the observed value. The observed value needs to be
comparede to the critical value which is found in the critical values
table. This comparison allows us to decide whether to reject or
accept the null hypothesis.
There are four diff erent tests, but they all work in the same way:

A calculation is completed on the data collected which

produces a single number the observed value/test
statistic/rho. To see if this value is significant it must be
compared to another number the critical value, this is the
number that the test value must reach in order to reject the
null hypothesis.

To find the critical value:

-

Look at the number of participants (N) but if the study uses

independent groups design there are two values.
One-tailed test = directional hypothesis, two-tailed test = nondirectional hypothesis.
Significance level = p<0.05

Spearmans rank correlation:

-

This looks for a relationship between two independent sets of

data.
Not used for experimental data
It looks for significant positive or negative correlations
It cannot establish cause and effect, so is used as the basis for
further research.

Wilcoxon T Test:
-

A test of difference.
Can be used for repeated measures designed experiment.
The data must be least ordinal.

Cannot be used for nominal data.

Calculates the difference between participants scores in two
conditions.
It shows us whether the result was due to chance or not.

How?

At the end of the test we are left with an observed value which
we call T.
We then compare this number to the critical value on the
table.
Was it directional/non-directional one tailed or two tailed?
How many participants were there? This is N.
If the observed value is equal to or less than the critical value,
we reject the null hypothesis and accept the alternative
hypothesis.

Mann-Whitney U Test:
-

A test of difference.
Can only be used for independent groups design experiment.
The data must be least ordinal
Cannot be used for nominal data

How?

Assigning a point score to each result based on how many

other results are greater than or equal to that score.
As it is used for independent groups, the two sets of data may
be of different sizes.
The points for each set of data are added up, the lower of the
scores is the U.
At the end of the test we are left with an observed value, U.
Was it directional/non-directional one tailed or two tailed?
How many participants in each group? N1 and N2.
We then compare the observed value with the critical value on
the table.
If the observed value is equal to or less than the critical value
we reject our null hypothesis and accept the alternative one.

Comparisons
To compare the observed value and the critical value use R. The
tests that have R in the name then the observed value needs to be
gReateR than the critical value for it to be significant e.g.
SpeaRmans rank, chi-squaRe. If an R is not present the observed
value must be less than the critical value for it to be significant e.g.
Mann-Whitney U test, Wilcoxon test.

Significance
Percentage certainty that results are due to the influence of the
variables.

1%

25%

All results
leading to
rejecting
the null
hypothesi
s

50%

100%

All results leading to accepting the null

hypothesis.

All results leading to

accepting the null
hypothesis

75%

All results leading to

rejecting the null
hypothesis

We work at P>0.05 5% chance.

P= statistical probability that the results were formed
through chance.
0.05 = the percentage probability.
It is the most common amount of assurance we look for
95%, hence a level of significance of 5% (0.05) is applied to
many scientific tests.

Reliability and Validity

Reliability = consistency
Can we measure or observe something time after time and get the
same or similar results?

External Reliability

The ability to replicate the results of a study.

The most important type of reliability to most studies.

Usually assessed using the test-retest method, replicating the
same test several times and seeing if the results are similar.
Can also use a correlation to determine how highly correlated
different sets of scores are.

Internal Reliability

The consistency of a measure within a test .

Usually involved with methods such as questionnaires that

attempt to measure a personality characteristic (psychometric
tests).
Simply requires the participant to score consistently
throughout the test.
Assessed by the split-half methods.

Validity = Truthfulness
Are the conclusions drawn valid and can we trust the data to
represent what we intended it to?

Internal Validity
The ability of the study to test the hypothesis that it was designed
to test.
Does the dependent variable measure what we want it to and
in an experiment are we measuring the effects of the
independent variable on the dependent variable?
Problems with validity are often related to the
operationalization of variables.
To test this:

Face validity does it look valid?

By checking other measures of the same variable we can see
if we have chosen an appropriate method of measuring it.
Predictive validity: can we use it to measure future
performance?

Threats
-

Participant variables;
o Demand characteristics

o Screw you effect

o Hawthorne effect
Experimenter bias
Experimental design issue
Situational variables

External Validity
How well the results of a study can be generalised beyond the study
itself.
Population validity: can we generalise from the sample to the
population?
Ecological validity: can we generalise from the population to
other situations, places and conditions?
Validity is therefore linked to reliability. Measures must be reliable to
be valid but do not need to be valid to be reliable.
To test this:

Complete the study in a different setting with a different

sample etc.
Be aware of issues with sampling, as these can often lead to
problems with external validity.

Peer Review
The process of subjecting a piece of research to independent
scrutiny by other psychologists working in a similar field who
consider the research in terms of its validity (truthfulness),
significance (whether we accept or reject the null hypothesis) and
originality (if its been done before).

Peer Review is essential because;

It is difficult for authors and researchers to spot every mistake

in a piece of work. Showing the work to others increases the
probability that weaknesses will be identified and addressed.
It helps to prevent the dissemination of irrelevant findings,
unwarranted claims, unacceptable interpretations, personal
views and deliberate fraud.
Peer reviewers also judge the quality and the significance of
the research in a wider context.
This process ensures that published research can be taken
seriously because it has been independently scrutinised by
fellow researchers.

Criticisms of peer review;

It is difficult to find people to judge the work It isnt always

possible to find an appropriate expert.
A lack of objectivity reviewers should be unbiased but rivalry
or friendships may influence this.
Publication bias positive results are favoured as editors want
research with important implications to appear in their journal

Preserving the status quo peer review often results in a

preference for work that goes with existing theory

Depression
Clinical symptoms and the issues with diagnosis
and classification
Depression; an example of a mental illness.

It is a mood or affective disorder.

It involves a prolonged and fundamental disturbance or mood
and emotion.
Depressive disorders are the most common of all
psychopathological disorders.
In Britain it is estimated that 1 in 10 adults (10%) can suffer
from depression/depressive illnesses at any one time.
There are no laboratory tests to diagnose depression as
doctors diagnose from behaviour and what patients tell them.
It is difficult for doctors to distinguish between the least
severe cases of depression and a bad attack of the blues

Types of Depression

Clinical depression when everyday functioning is impaired.

Unipolar/MDD regular depression
Dysthymia not as severe but long lasting
Post-natal after giving birth
Bipolar Manic depression/spurts of each emotion
SAD seasonal affected depression

Main Domains
-

Physical Changes in bodily states e.g. sleep, appetite.

Behavioural Social withdrawal, restlessness.
Cognitive feeling guilty, thinking of self as worthless.
Affective depressed mood, sadness, feeling low

Symptoms;

Difficulties in sleeping
Shift in activity level, becoming lethargic/agitated
Loss of energy and great fatigue
Poor appetite and weight loss or increased appetite and
weight gain.
o Loss of interest and pleasure in usual activities.
- Negative self-concept, feeling worthless of
guilty.
Cognitive
- Difficulty in concentrating
- Recurrent thoughts of death or suicide.

Physical

Behavioura
l

Affective

Sad, depressed mood.

Diagnosis

Look for the core symptoms;

Sad, depressed mood for most of the day.
Loss of interest in usual activities.
5 out of the 9 symptoms must be present
These symptoms must also be causing distress or impairment
in functioning and have lasted longer than 2 weeks.
Diagnosis shouldnt be made if the persons depression is a
secondary symptom of a bigger medical problem or is the side
effect of the other medications, drugs or alcohol.

Reliability of diagnosis;

To ensure each diagnosis uses a consistent procedure for every

patient.

Interrater reliability consistent results from a variety of GPs.

Test retest consistency in results from the same GP over a
period of time.

Evaluation;
- Keller et al
Inter-rater = fair to good
Test retest = fair at best
- Zanarrini
Interrater reliability = 0.8/1
Test retest = 0.61/1

Similar
results

This could be explained by

the 5 out of 9
rule causing one symptom to
swing a
diagnosis.
Symptoms between the
classification
systems are generally agreed upon the ICD (International
Classification Disorders) but requires only 4 out of 10
compared to DSMs 5 out of 9.

Validity of classifications;
The accuracy of each diagnosis.

There are lots of different types of depression that could lead to

invalid diagnosis, each with specific combinations of symptoms and
features. Misdiagnosis could lead to issues with treatment e.g.
Bipolar disorder would not be treated with anti-depressants.
Evaluation;
- Coryel et al 10% diagnosed with MDD go on to suffer from
Bipolar.
- Keller 25% of individuals with dysthymia go onto to suffer
from MDD.

Duration and Frequency

SAD could be a valid disorder in its own right.

Causes
There are many different factors that could cause the symptoms of
depression other than depression itself.
Endogenous (melancholic, more biological symptoms with
higher responses to some forms of treatment such as ECT).
This is where the depressive personality is inborn into the
patient genetic with no
real cause.
Drugs
Addictive
Alcohol
misuse
Physical illness
Anaemia
Anxiety disorders
Anorexia
Traumatic events
Grief
Life changes
Evaluation;
- Psychoactive drugs e.g.
alcohol. Difficult
to separate the two as
depressives
often drink to selfmeditate.
- Anxiety overlap
between the
symptoms of some anxiety disorders e.g. anorexia, dementia.
- Illness which could be causing the same psychological
symptoms as depression e.g. dysfunctions of the brain,
chemical or hormone imbalances.
o Anaemia is an example of an illness that is often
mistaken for depression.
Comorbidity: when an individual is experiencing a combination of
different mental disorders at the same time. Therefore it is hard to
diagnose and hence treat.

Gender

Men are under diagnosed and women are over diagnosed with
depression.

Evaluation;
o Women are statistically twice as likely to be diagnosed with
depression as men.
o Studies found physicians inquire more about depressive
symptoms in females.
o Women have also found to be more likely to express their
emotions than males and seek professional advice.

Cultural Biases
Western vs non-western cultures.

Some cultures are more willing to seek help for depression than
others with mental disorders being seen as a stigma.
Evaluation;
Kua et al a study of Chinese individuals found that 50% of
those individuals diagnosed with depression present physical
symptoms to their doctor.
Karatz 2004 vignette describing depressive symptoms given
to south Asian or European Americans. Latter group saw
problem as being biological and needing professional help.
Ethically correct;
Having a range of moods is normal and natural, therefore it is not
right to label individuals with more extreme moods as being ill.

Evaluation;
- Labelling patients with depression may affect practitioners
perception of them.
- Patients may act the label they have been given (self-fulfilling
prophesy).
- It simplifies a problem that is in fact highly complex.
- The opposing medical view says that there are extreme
biological manifestations that can cause severe impairments
of functioning.

Biological Explanations for depression:

Biochemistry
Chemicals in the brain:

The limbic system is responsible for the transfer of emotional

messages. It does this by passing electrical messages down
neurones and across the synapse.
Neurotransmitters; chemicals that are transmitted from the
synapse, they produce short lived responses and stimulate the
receiving neurone to ensure the message can be carried across.
They
-

are also known as amines (monoamine hypothesis)

Serotonin
Noradrenaline
Dopamine

Monoamine activity is significantly less in a depressed individual

compared to a non-depressed individual.
Evaluation;
Depressed people having abnormal levels of monoamines.

Evidence that lowering an individuals neurotransmitter

activity level brings on depressive symptoms.
Effectiveness of antidepressants.
Cause and effect; depression causes low levels of
monoamines or low levels of monoamines lead to depression?

Medias Influence
Social Learning Theory

The process of reinforcing certain behaviours through the use

of rewards and punishments. The aim is for the participant to
imitate the model behaviour and eventually learn that it is an
acceptable behaviour.
However, as we grow older we develop the capability to go
against the modelled behaviour is goal orientated we still
witness behaviour from models but we choose to imitate it if
we believe it will help achieve our goals.

Social Cognitive Learning Theory

A development of the Social Learning Theory

o It takes into account criticisms of the Social Learning
Theory and acknowledges the role of cognitive factors.
o It believes that children develop ways of thinking and
beliefs about behaviour from the programmes they see.

Overview
Children are inbuilt to learn through observation as opposed to
experience because they dont know how to do anything unless they
are shown.
A model

A similar age
Same gender
Be loving/caring
Be in apposition of authority
Either;
o Live model someone in front of you
o Symbolic model someone through the media e.g. on
TV

Vicarious experience

The model receives a reward for a particular behaviour whilst the

subject watches. They will then imitate the behaviour assuming they
will receive a reward. Vice versa for punishments.

Banduras 4 stages of the Social Learning Theory

1. Attention; paying attention to the model to observe their
behaviours.
2. Retention; remembering the behaviour and whether they were
rewarded or punished.
3. Motor reproduction; imitating the observed behaviour.
4. Motivation; receiving a punishment or a reward for it.

Types of Consequences for Operant Conditioning

Reinforceme
nt
Punishment

Positive
Giving a physical
reward.
Giving an actual
punishment.

Negative
Taking away a
punishment.
Taking away a reward

Statistics
Violent TV/Media infl uence

2006 - Time spent watching TV averaged around 160 minutes

a day for men and 145 minutes a day for women Office for
National Statistics.
1989 Research found that children watch on average 3.5
hours of television a day Heymann.
Evening television showed 5 violent acts per hour and cartoon
showed 20 violent acts per hour.
2006 Content analysis of 2227 US television shows on 18
channels. 73% showed some form of helping with 2.92 acts of
helping per hour which rose to 4.02 acts in childrens
television Smith et al.

Anti-social and Pro-social Behaviours

Media

Childrens cartoons
News broadcasts
Films
Soap operas
Daytime reality TV shows
Fundraising events comic relief

AntiSocial
Behaviou
rs

Learnt From:
Friends
Family
Role models
Television

Social Cognitive Structure;

Children develop 3 types which influence their future behaviour.
- Schemas; those who view violent television often hold the
view that the world is a dangerous and hostile place.
- Normative beliefs; people who watch violence often see
aggressive and violent behaviour as normal and part of
everyday life.

Pro-Social
Behaviou
rs

Scripts; watchers of violence may develop aggressive scripts

in which aggression is used as a way of solving interpersonal
problems and conflicts.

Pro-social Behaviour
These are behaviours that have good consequences e.g. deemed
acceptable.
- Sharing
- Helping someone out
- Exercise
Social
- Being polite/manners
Norms
- Complimenting

Anti-social Behaviours
These are behaviours that are not
society and have bad
e.g. deviant behaviour.
- Aggression fighting/arguing
- Smoking
- Crime
Negative impacts on other
- Vandalism
people.
- Ling

accepted by
consequences

Some prosocial
behaviours
can be seen as
anti-social
behaviour. An
example of
this is
compliments. They are seen as a positive act, but can be seen
as harassment. Drinking is another example.
To designate behaviours, majority influence, laws, social
norms, all help us perceive which behaviours go into which
category.
The context of the behaviours also help us to designate
behaviours.

Exposure;
- Childrens programmes have a lot more pro-social behaviour
than anti-social behaviour acts.
- Most aggressive or argumentative scenes are worked out by
talking and discussing feelings, with characters becoming
friends in the end.
- Parental influence it is their choice as to what their children
are exposed to, the media can only do so much.

Acquisition;
- Most pro-social behaviours are closer to social norms than the
anti-social behaviour seen in the media.
- Behaviours like helping/sharing and being kind are normally
shown to children through models, children will learn these
behaviours quicker than anti-social ones as they see them
through both live acts and the media.
- Children see these behaviours outside of the media too, they
are reinforced as behaviours are likely to get a good
consequence.
- Parental mediation.
- Not all pro-social behaviours are relevant to all children.
- Very, very young children will not yet understand empathy or
moral reasoning however things like sharing are accessible.
- Different childrens programmes need to match their prosocial behaviours shown to the relevant age of the audience.
- Younger children (3-4 years) will be less affected by the prosocial behaviours aimed at children of 6-7 years old.
Key

Pro-social Behaviours;
Resisting temptation
Forgiveness
Cooperation and confrontation
Anti-stereotyping (gender)

Huesman DJ POP

The ways media can cause anti-social behaviour.

Desensitisation
Justification
Priming (Cognitive)
Observational learning
Physiological arousal
Desensitisation;
Viewing anti-social behaviour as normal, therefore not seeing the
extent of the consequences.
Example: Seeing it as an everyday act. Whereas if youre not
accustomed to it, itll be seen as a last resort. If violence is seen as a
scary thing, youre less likely to do it.
Justification;
If children think they will be punished for being violent they will not
do it.

Example: if violence it on TV or video games goes un-punished or

even rewarded, it justifies the act, the actors or players become
examples of vicarious reinforcement.
Example: If children are aggressive or angry and feel guilty about
their actions or thoughts but watch violent acts performed by
others, they will feel less guilty as it seems normal. Children will
begin to think that being aggressive and violent is okay and not
something to be ashamed of.

Video/Computer Games
Positive eff ects

Helping Behaviour
- Oswald et al participants split into three groups.
- Group A played a pro-social game where you had to ensure
your animals stayed alive.
- Group B played a violent shooting game.
- Group C played a neutral game; Tetris.
- Afterwards they were interviewed and during the interview
they psychologist dropped a pot onto the floor. 67% of group A
helped. 33% of group C and only 28% of group B.
- Suggesting pro-social games teach pro-social behaviour.
Social commitment in multiplayer games.
Kahne found those who names Sims as their favourite
game said they learnt about societal issues and social skills
whilst playing.
Lenhart Meta analysis investigating multiplayer games and
social commitment found 64% of people who reported playing
multiplayer games regularly were committed to civic
participation and 26% had persuaded others how to vote in an
election much more than those who only played single player
games.
Facebook; good or bad?
Charles interviewed 200 undergraduates in Scotland. 12%
had experienced anxiety over their social media accounts,
these people had significantly more friends on Facebook than
those not reporting anxiety. They reported stressing over
deleting unwanted contacts, pressure to be funny and
worrying about wording statuss correctly.
32% said rejecting a request made them feel guilty even if
they did not know the person. 10% reported disliking receiving
friend requests.
Hancock suggests that Facebook is a good thing as feedback
on statuses seems to be overwhelmingly positive and gives an
ego boost.
Cornell University did a study where they gave people a
choice of activity for three minutes. 1.) Go on Facebook. 2.)
Look in the mirror. 3.) Do nothing. They were then interviewed
about how they felt about themselves. Those who had been
on Facebook gave much more positive accounts.
Karpinkski found that the majority of university students who
look at Facebook everyday underachieved in their grades
compared to those that did not use the site.

Eating behaviour
Research for attitudes to eating
Category Researcher
Social Learning Brown and Ogden
Theory
Social learning
theory

Birch and Fisher

Social learning
theory

Ogden

Peer
Peer

Birch et al

Peer

Lowe Dowey and

Horne
Meyer and Gast

Peer

Feunekes et al

Cultural
differences

Wardle et al

Cultural
differences

Goode et al

Mood

Garg et al

Mood

Parker et al

Mood

Wenger et al

Mood

Gibson

Study
Positive correlation for parents and
children snack food intake,
eating motivation and body
dissatisfaction
Daughters eating behaviour was
the dietary restraint and
overweight fears of mother.
Despite success of operant
conditioning, only causes short
term liking of reward foods and
decreased liking of punishment
foods.
Increased liking in foods when
associated with positive adult
attention.
Modelling using admiring peers
can increase vegetable intake
Positive correlation between peer
influence and disordered eating
Peer influence continued to
adolescence. 19% food similarities
to peers e.g. milk in coffee,
alcoholic drinks and snacks).
Cultural differences in European
countries. Despite globalisation of
food. Variation of fruit, fibre and
salt.
Social class. 2003 Scottish health
survey. Positive association
between healthy eating and
income.
Food choices dependent on mood.
Sad movie and comical movie.
Grapes or popcorn.
Chocolate has a slight
antidepressant effect. Can prolong
negative mood rather than
alleviate it.
Students binge days categorised
by sad mood states.
Serotonin hypothesis.
Carbohydrates produces amino
acids tryptophan - which are

Mood

Benton

Mood

Birch and Marlin

used to manufacture serotonin.

(chocolate = happy)
Sweet foods can reduce an infants
distress.
Takes 8-10 times to change a
dislike into a preference.
Contradicts innate theory,
reinforces parental role theory.

The boundary model evaluation

Herman and Mack

45 female participants (students). They were told it was a study

about the taste experience.
Method
Group 1 = no preload
Group 2 = 1 milkshake
Group 3 = 2 milkshake
Groups 2 And 3 were asked to rate the taste qualities of the
milkshake.
All participants were then given 3 tubs of different flavoured
ice cream.
They were given 10 minutes to rate them.
They were told they could eat as much as they liked.
All pps were given a questionnaire o assess their degree of
dietary restraint.
Results
For each group, pps were divided into high restraint and low
restraint.
They found that low restraint pps ate less than 1 tub ice cream in
the 2 preload condition than in the 1.
High restraint pps ate significantly more in the 1 and 2 preload
conditions. Herman and Mack found significant positive correlation
across all pps between their score on the eating restraint
questionnaire and the amount they ate. E.g. the higher the restraint
score, the more they ate after 2 milkshakes.
Conclusion
The results support the boundary module of dietary restraint.
Restrained eaters have cognitive dieting boundary for food intake.
Once this was overcome by the milkshake preload, they took the
what the hell effect on. The opposite pattern happened to the low
restraint pps.
Methodological issues
The restraint questionnaire was given after the feeding test, so the
division of each group was a post hoc after the study has been
designed and carried out. This should have been done before the

study. But they felt this might have alerted them to the real aim of
the test. Here was therefore an uneven pattern across the groups
which meant the reliability of the findings was reduced.
The correlation they found was only suggestive, they cannot show
cause and effect, other variables may have been involved.
No account was taken of individual differences. The group sizes
were quite small.
Ethical issues
Pps received course credit for taking part, this could be considered
coercion. The stuff did not involve any unethical procedures. There
was an element of deception but they were given a full debrief
afterwards.

Theory

Support

Watching violence leads

Lower physiological to increased arousal thus
arousal more aggression. The
excitation-transfer model
suggests arousal creates
readiness to aggress if
there are appropriate
circumstances
Zilmann 1988
Meta-analysis suggests
Media violence children exposed to
equals aggressive media violence behave
behaviour more aggressively
afterwards. Examined
217 studies of the
relationship in 1957
1990 on participants
aged 3-70. Highly
significant relationship
was found. Greatest
effect was on preschool
children Paik and
Comstock 1994

Many TV programmes
Are babies really aimed at very young
taking in what is in children.
TV?

Are all children who

Desensitisation watch violence on TV
going to be aggressive?
Huesman

Disproves
Watching some violence
has beneficial, cathartic
effects arousal allows
one to release pent-up
aggressive energies.

Anti-affects lobby.
Evidence for violent
media = aggression does
not universally support
the hypothesis.
Interviewed 1500
adolescent boys, those
who watched least TV
when younger were least
aggressive in teenager
years. Boys who watched
most TV were less
aggressive by 50% than
those who watched a
moderate amount.
Unpredictable link
Belson 1978
The opposite effect
happened, those babies
who watch the DVDs
(Disney produced a baby
Einstein that was meant
to develop language
ability in babies) for an
hour a day had less
language development
than those who didnt
watch it at all. Parents
attitudes towards it?
Zimmermann
Not all children are the
same, their personality
and home life will also
have an influence on how
they will react to seeing
violent images.
Some children will
always remain frightened

of violence, they do not

always become
frightening

If children think they will

Justification be punished for being
violent they will not do it
Huesman

Inter-rater = fair to
Reliability of good
diagnosis Test retest = fair at best
- Keller et al
Inter-rater reliability =
0.8/1
Test retest = 0.61/1
Zanarrini

10% diagnosed with MDD

Validity of diagnosis go on to suffer from
Bipolar - Coryel et al
25% of individuals with
dysthymia go onto to
suffer from MDD Keller

There are many different

Causes of factors that could cause
Depression the symptoms of
depression other than
depression itself.

There are lots of

incidences on TV where
violence is performed by
the good guy. Superhero
films and TV
programmes, cartoons
and comic books all show
the good guy winning
against the bad guys
through the use of
violence Reinhardt
This could be explained
by the 5 out of 9 rule
causing one symptom to
swing a diagnosis.
Symptoms between the
classification systems are
generally agreed upon
the ICD (International
Classification Disorders)
but requires only 4 out of
10 compared to DSMs 5
out of 9.
There are lots of different
types of depression that
could lead to invalid
diagnosis, each with
specific combinations of
symptoms and features.
Misdiagnosis could lead to
issues with treatment e.g.
Bipolar disorder would not
be treated with antidepressants.
Psychoactive drugs e.g.
alcohol. Difficult to
separate the two as
depressives often drink to
self-meditate.
Anxiety overlap between
the symptoms of some
anxiety disorders e.g.
anorexia, dementia.
Illness which could be
causing the same
psychological symptoms
as depression e.g.
dysfunctions of the brain,

chemical or hormone
imbalances.
Anaemia is an example of
an illness that is often
mistaken for depression.
Men are under diagnosed
Gender; Depression and women are over
diagnosed with
depression.
Women are statistically
twice as likely to be
diagnosed with
depression as men.
Studies found physicians
inquire more about
depressive symptoms in
females.
Women have also found
to be more likely to
express their emotions
than males and seek
professional advice.
Some cultures are more
Cultural biases; willing to seek help for
Depression depression than others
with mental disorders
being seen as a stigma.
A study of Chinese
individuals found that
50% of those individuals
diagnosed with
depression present
physical symptoms to
their doctor - Kua et al

Vignette describing
depressive symptoms
given to south Asian or
European Americans.
Latter group saw problem
as being biological and
needing professional help
- Karatz 2004