Psychology Notes P2 and P1

Chapter 2: The Biological Approach

Canli et al

Aim:
● To show that emotive images are remembered better than images which have little to no
emotional impact on an individual

Key terms (miscellaneous information):

● Two types of medical scans
1. Structural scans​-take detailed pictures of the structure of the brain (MRI)
2. Functional scans​-show activity levels in different areas of the brain (fMRI)
● The amygdala is the part of the brain responsible for processing emotions

Research Method and Design:

● Laboratory experiment, fMRI’s used, lacked realism
● Repeated measures design, participants took part in each of the 4 conditions depending
on their rating of the scene
● IV​: ​the intensity of emotional arousal to each of the 96 presented scenes,
operationalised as their rating on the four button emotional scale
● DV​:​ two measures of the DV
1. Level of activation of the amygdala measured by the fMRI during the first stage of
the experiment when the participants were exposed to each of the 96 scene. 11
frames captured per trial, 11 fMRI measures of neural activity for each scene
2. The measure of memory when participants had to recognise the images 3 weeks
after the initial experiment
Sample:
● Ten right handed female volunteers
● Female-only sample because it was thought that they are more likely to report intense
emotional experiences and show more physiological reaction to the stimuli
Procedure (part 1):
● Patients scanned, to check activity in amygdala
● During scanning shown 96 scenes, projected via an overhead monitor so they could see
it from the fMRI
● Participants gave informed consent, were aware of the nature of the study
● Operators well-versed in the use of medical scans
● 96 scenes from the ‘International Affective Picture System’ stimuli set
 ● Average ratings for valence of scenes ranged from 1.17 (highly negative) to 5.44
(neutral)
● Order of scenes randomised
● Each picture shown for 2.88 seconds
● Interval of 12.96 seconds, participants made to focus on a fixation cross during this
interval
● Made to indicate perceived emotional arousal during interval by pressing a button with
their right hand
● Buttons on a scale of 0 to 3 to indicate emotional arousal, 0 being the lowest emotional
arousal and 3 being the highest

Procedure (Part 2):

● Follow-up experiment, held three weeks later
● Unexpected recognition test, participants were not aware of it
● They viewed all 96 scenes, along with 48 new foil scenes
● Foils were selected to match valence and arousal characteristics of previous scenes
● Participants were asked if they had scene each image before
● For images judged as previously seen, participants reported whether they remembered
with certainty (“remember”) or had a less certain feeling of familiarity (“know”)

Research questions:
1. Is the amygdala sensitive to varying degrees of individually experienced emotional
intensity?
2. What degree of emotional intensity affects the role of the amygdala in enhancing
memory for emotional stimuli?
Results:

● Participant emotional intensity correlated well with average ratings of emotional valence
and arousal
● The average correlation coefficients between participant’s intensity ratings and
normative valence and arousal were -0.66 and 0.68 respectively
● Thus, participant’s range of emotional intensity reflected equally well with valence and
arousal characteristics of the stimuli
● Amygdala activation correlated with higher ratings of individually experienced emotional
intensity. This shows that amygdala activation is related to the subjective sense of
emotional intensity and that the participant’s perceived arousal is associated with
amygdala activation
● The follow up memory task indicated that memory was stronger for scenes that were
rated as highly emotionally intense than for scenes rated less emotionally intense
● Scenes rated as emotionally salient were recalled better
● For scenes that were rated highly emotional, the degree of left amygdala activation
predicted whether individual stimuli would be forgotten, appear familiar or be
remembered in a later memory test
Conclusions:
● Found an association between individual experiences of emotional intensity for stimuli
with amygdala activation and subsequent memory for these stimuli, suggesting that the
more emotionally intense an image is the more likely it is that it will be remembered
● Amygdala activation is sensitive to an individual’s experienced emotional intensity of
visual stimuli with activity in the left amygdala during encoding being predictive of the
subsequent memory
Strengths and weaknesses:
● Laboratory experiment, so highly standardised environment, given the same items to
rate in each condition, all time frames, including intervals were the exact same. Thus,
high reliability and internal validity, as fewer confounding variables
● Use of fMRI leads to collection of quantitative data. Enables statistical correlational
analysis about the level of activation and subsequent memory of the scene. While not
ecologically valid, demand characteristics are unlikely, ensuring validity of the data
● Must be careful when using fMRI results and must avoid inferring too much from said
results, as much of the inner workings of the brain are as yet unknown to us
● Sample not generalisable; only female, only right handed, may not relate to males or left
handed individuals.
Dement and Kleitman:
Aims:
● The aim of the study was to find out more about dreaming
● This included 3 research specific questions
1. Does dream recall differ between eye movement (REM) and quiescent
(nREM) stages of sleep?
2. Is there a positive correlation between subjective estimates of dream
duration and the length of the REM period before waking?
3. Are eye movement patterns related to dream content?
Key terms (miscellaneous information)
● Electroencephalograph (EEG)- a machine used to detect and record electrical
activity in nerve and muscle cells when many are active at the same time. Allows
it to record brain activity
● Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep- a stage of sleep in which our eyes move
rapidly under the lids, which is associated with vivid, visual dreams
● Non-rapid eye movement (nREM) sleep- the stages of sleep in which our eyes
are still. Also called quiescent or quiet sleep. Not associated with dreaming
Research method and design:
● Laboratory experiment
● Tests and methods divided to deal with the different questions
● Question 1 (difference in dream recall between REM and NREM sleep:
1. Repeated measures design experiment
2. IV​: whether they were woken from REM or nREM sleep
3. DV​: whether they recalled a dream or not
● Question 2 (the relationship between dream duration and the length of REM
period)
1. Correlation between results
● Question (the relationship between eye movement patterns and dream content)
1. Self reports were compared to the direction of eye movements observed
Sample:
● Seven males
● Two females
● 5 studied in detail
● Remaining 4 used to confirm the results of the first 5
Procedure
 ● On the day of the study the participants had to refrain from drinking coffee and
alcohol
● Arrived at lab just before their normal bedtime
● Brought to a dark, quiet room
● Electrodes from the EEG were attached to their scalp and beside their eye, and
the wires were gathered into a ponytail (single chord) behind their heads so they
could move easily in bed
● Participants were woken by a doorbell at various times during the night
● Asked to recall any dreams they may have had
● They then returned to sleep
● Not told about their EEG pattern or whether their eyes were moving
● The procedure for the three questions differed:
1. Participants were either woken from REM or nREM sleep but were not told
which. The choice of REM or nREM waking was decided in different ways for
different participants;
● Using a random number table
● In groups of 3 REM then 3 nREM
● By telling the participant that they would only be woken in REM but
actually waking them in REM or nREM randomly
● In no specific order, the experimenter just chose

● Immediately after being woken, participants were asked whether they had a
dream or not
● If yes, they were asked to describe the content of the dream into a recorder
● The experimenter occasionally entered the room to ask further questions about
the dream, with no other communication occurring beyond this
2. Participants were woken after either 5 or 15 minutes of REM sleep. The participant
guessed which duration they had been sleeping for. Longer REM periods were also
allowed. The number of words in each dream narrative were counted
3. EEG was used to detect the direction of eye movements. Participants were woken
after a single eye movement pattern had lasted for more than one minute and asked to
report their dream. The detected eye movements were horizontal, vertical, both vertical
and horizontal, and little or no movement. Comparison EEG records were taken from
awake participants, 20 naive ones and 5 of the experimental sample, who were asked
to watch distant and up close activity
There were a series of controls implemented
● The doorbell used to wake participants was loud enough to rouse them
immediately from any sleep stage
 ● All questions by the experimenter were asked after the participant was
completely done recording
● Reports were not counted as dreams if;
1. The participant could only recall having dreamt (no memory of the content)
2. Remembrance of the dream was vague or fragmented
Results:
● General findings such as the participants dreamt every night
● Found that uninterrupted dream stages:
1. Lasted 3-50 minutes, with a mean average of 20
2. Were typically longer later in the night
3. Showed intermittent bursts of around 2-100 rapid eye movements
● They also observed that:
1. No rapid eye movements were seen during the onset of sleep even
though the EEG passed through a stage of brain waves similar to those
produced in REM sleep
2. The cycle length between REM stages varied between participants but
was consistent between individuals eg between 70 minutes at the shortest
and 104 minutes at the longest, with an overall mean of 92 minutes
3. When woken from nREM sleep, participants returned to nREM sleep.
When woken from REM sleep, they typically did not dream again till the
next REM phase (except sometimes in the final REM phase of the night).
Thus, the patterns ir REM and nREM periods was very similar in
experimental participants whose sleep was disturbed to those who had an
uninterrupted night’s sleep
Does dream recall differ between REM and nREM stages of dreaming?
● Participants frequently described dreams when woken from REM, but rarely
when woken from nREM
● Of awakenings from REM, 79.7 percent (152/191) of awakenings produced
dream recall
● Of awakenings from nREM, 93 percent (149/160) did NOT produce dream recall
● There was a noticeable difference at the end of the nREM period
● In 17 nREM awakenings soon after the end of the REM stage, five dreams were
recalled (29 percent on occasions)
● However, from 132 awakenings following periods longer than 8 minutes after a
REM stage, only six dreams were recalled (less than 5 percent on occasions)
● In nREM awakenings, participants would generally describe feelings, but not
specific dream content
● They were also least likely to remember a dream if they were woken at the stage
of sleep in which the EEG had ‘spindles’
 ● Tended to be bewildered and report feelings such as anxiety, pleasantness and
detachment
● Awakenings from REM did not always produce dream recall
● Absence of dreaming was more common early in the night
● Of 39 REM awakenings when dreams were not reported, 19 occurred in the first
2 hours of sleep, 11 from the second 2 hours, 5 from the third 2 hours and 5 from
the last 2 hours
● Awakenings from nREMs always produced a low incidence of dream recall
Is there a positive correlation between subjective estimates of dream duration
and the length of the REM period before waking?
● The accuracy of estimation of 5 or 15 minutes of REM was very high (88 percent
and 78 percent respectively)
● REM duration and the number of words in the narrative were significantly
positively correlated
● One participant often underestimated the dream duration, perhaps because he
could only remember the end of the dream
● Narratives from REM periods of recalled after 30-50 minutes of REM were not
much longer than those after 15 minutes even though the participants felt they’d
been dreaming for a long time,probably because they could not remember the
details from very long dreams
Are eye movement patterns related to dream content?
● Eye movement patterns were found to be related to dream content
● This part of the study was based on 35 awakenings from 9 participants
● Periods of only vertical or only horizontal movements were rare
● 3 dreams with mainly vertical movements:
1. Dreamer was standing at the bottom of a cliff operating a lifting machine,
and looking up at climbers on various levels then down at the machine
2. A man was climbing up a series of ladders, looking up and down as he
climbed
3. Dreamer was throwing basketballs at a net, shooting, looking up at the
net, then looking down to pick up another ball
● Only one instance of horizontal only movement
1. Dreamer was watching two people throwing tomatoes at each other
● Ten dreams had little or no eye movement and the dreamer reported watching
something in the distance or staring at an object
● Two of these awakenings had several large eye movements to the left just a
second or two before the awakening
 1. In one, the participant was driving a car and staring at the road ahead. He
approached a road junction and was startled by a speeding car suddenly
appearing to this left just as the bell rang
2. The other dreamer also reported driving and staring at the road ahead.
Before the bell rang he saw a man standing on the left of the road and
acknowledged him as he drove by
● 21 of the awakenings had mixed eye movements
● These participants reported looking at objects or people close to them
● No recall of distant or vertical activity
Conclusions:
● Dreaming is reported from REM but not nREM sleep
● Participants can judge the length of their dream duration and REM patterns
related to dream content
● Dreaming is more likely at the end of the night as the REM stages are longer
● Occasional dream recall in nREM is likely to happen because dreams are being
recalled from the previous REM phase
● The finding that REM sleep occurs in phases during the night helps to explain
why participants in other studies who were awoken randomly may not have
reported dreaming
Strengths and Weaknesses:
● Laboratory experiment, controls to account for extraneous variables eg loud
doorbell woke participants instantly so they wouldn’t wake slowly and forget their
dream. Not told about the stage they would be woken in, their EEG pattern or
whether their eyes were moving in order to avoid demand characteristics (eg if
they expected to remember more detailed dreams in REM sleep they might have
made more effort to do so)
● Correlation. Helped to show positive correlation between REM duration and
number of words in the dream narrative. However, correlations only demonstrate
the possibility of a link between variables. In order to explore the link in a more
controlled way, additional experiment comparing 5 and 15 minute REM sleep
periods was conducted
● Validity was high as the definition of ‘dream’ was clearly operationalised as a
recollection that included an even, rather than having had the impression of
dreaming. This meant that they could make sure the details recorded were that of
dreams. Another reason for raised validity was due to the reduction of participant
variables such as the differences in the ability to recall dreams. This was done
by, at the beginning of the study, asking participants to estimate how long they
had been dreaming, with a choice between 5 or 15 minutes
● EEG’s are an objective way to investigate dreaming as it is a biological measure,
bringing in quantitative data from measurements of brain waves, eye movement
patterns and REM sleep duration
● Differences in narrative length depended not only on the length of the REM
phases but also but also how expressive the the participant was, making these
reports more subjective. These help bring in qualitative data which helps to
provide insight into the reasons for the detected eye movements
● EEG also provided a reliable measure because it is unaffected by the
experimenter’s personal view. Consistent placing of electrodes ensured that
recordings taken from each participant would give the same information
● Sample had men and women, generalisable to both genders
● However small sample size may hurt generalisability
● Ethical issue of deception for patients who had been misled as to what stage of
sleep they had been woken in, issue of informed consent
● Low ecological validity.
Schachter and Singer:
Aim:
● To test the Two Factor Theory of Emotion
● To test if, given a state of physiological arousal for which the individual has no
adequate explanation, cognitive factors can lead the individual to describe their
feelings with any number of emotional labels
Key terms (miscellaneous information):
● Two-Factor Theory of emotion; emotional experience comes from a combination
of a physical state of arousal and a cognition that makes best sense of the
situation that the person is in. for example, the two factor theory of emotion
argues that when people become aroused they look for cues as to why they feel
the way they do from the environment, and interpret their arousal in relation to
this. Therefore, any emotional experience is a combination of physiological
arousal and cognitive interpretation
Research method and design:
● Laboratory experiment
● Highly standardised procedure, all participants exposed to the same environment
with a scripted set of responses from the stooge
● Two IV’s, resulted in 7 conditions
● IV 1: ​concerned the knowledge about the injections;
1. Informed
2. Misinformed
3. ignorant
● IV 2: ​the emotional situation in which the participant was placed post-injection;
1. Euphoria condition
2. Anger condition
● Control Group: ​injected with a saline solution rather than epinephrine
● Independent Groups Design, participants only took part in one of seven groups
● DV 1: ​observational data recorded by two observers through a one-way mirror
during the emotional arousal element of the experiment
● Observer had to measure ​to what extent the participant acted in a euphoric
or angry way
● During each stage of the stooge’s routine the observer kept a record of how the
participant reacted and what was said
 ● In the euphoric condition, the categories into which behavior was coded were
that of the participant;
1. Joins in the activity
2. Watches stooge
3. Ignores stooge
● In the anger condition, the observers coded behavior into six categories
depending on the participant’s response. These categories were that the
participant;
1. Agreed with a comment
2. Disagreed with a comment
3. Was neutral to a comment
4. Initiates agreement or disagreement
5. Watches the stooge
6. Ignores the stooge
● To test the reliability of these measures two observers coded their observations
independently, agreed on the coding of 88 percent of the behavior they saw
● DV 2: ​self report that the participants completed following the emotional arousal
element of the research
Sample:
● 185 male college students
● From university of Minnesota
● Were taking classes in introductory psychology
● Received course credit for taking part in the study
● University health records checked prior to experiment to ensure no harmful effect
of injection
Procedure:
● Participants were told the aim of the experiment was to test the effects of a vision
enhancing drug named Suproxin
● A doctor injects the patient with Suproxin (actually adrenaline) or with a placebo
saline solution
● The dosage injected should cause side effects within 3 to 5 minutes, lasting up to
an hour
● The participants who were injected with adrenaline were then put into one of
three experimental conditions:
1. Informed
2. Ignorant
3. Misinformed
4. The 4th condition consisted of those participants who had received the
placebo injection
 ● Participants in the informed condition were told that they could expect some side
effects of the injection and these were:
1. Shaking hands
2. Faster heart-rate
3. Warm and flushed face
● These are the side effects of an injection of adrenaline, thus the participants
would have an explanation for any feelings
● In the misinformed condition the participants were told that they could expect
some side effects;
1. Numb feet
2. Itching sensation
3. Slight headache
● Not actual side effects-participant would not have an explanation for the actual
side effects they would experience
● This was a control condition
● Ignorant condition-told they would experience no side effects
● Would have no explanation for the actual side effects they would feel due to the
adrenaline
● Immediately after the injection, the doctor would leave and experimenter would
return with a stooge
● Stooge introduced as a participant who had also been injected
● Told it would take 10 mins for suproxin to be absorbed into the bloodstream
● At this point they were put in one of two conditions-euphoric or angry
Euphoric Condition:
● When the experimenter departed, he apologetically added that if they need any
rough paper, pencils or rubber bands they should help themselves
● Waiting room arranged to look like it is in a state of disarray
● Experimenter leaves, stooge introduces himself again
● Makes ice breaker comments
● Begins a routine consisting of playing with items left in the room
● Suggests that the participant join in while he used the items
● Routine was standardised as far as possible
● Stooge unaware of the condition the participant was placed in
Anger Condition:
● After the injection the experimenter introduces the stooge
● Explains that the Suproxin will take 20 minutes to be absorbed into the
bloodstream
● Participants would have to complete a questionnaire during this time
● Stooge instructed to create a feeling of anger in the room
 ● Made a variety of angry questions over 20 minutes
● Increased with intensity over time and were linked to questionnaire qs
● Questions in the questionnaire became more and more personal as the stooge
became more irate and angry in his behavior
● After the session with the stooge was complete (in both conditions), experimenter
returned to the room, took their pulses and told them they had to fill one final
questionnaire that considered their physical responses to the suproxin
● This was a self-report measure for the DV
● After completion of the questionnaire the experiment concluded and the
researcher explained the deception and its necessity in detail, answered any
questions and swore the participants to secrecy to protect future runs of the
experiment
● All participants had given consent to take part in study (debatable)
● Researchers checked medical records beforehand to ensure no harmful side
effects of injection
● Injection given by trained doctor, who was present the entire time to monitor
patient condition
● Deception occured, but necessary in order to prevent demand characteristics
and improve validity
Hypotheses:
1. If a person experiences a state of arousal for which they have no immediate
explanation, they will label this state and describe their feelings in terms of the
cognitions available to them at the time
2. If a person experiences a state of arousal for which they have an appropriate
explanation, then they will be unlikely to label their their feelings in terms of the
alternative cognitions available
3. If a person is put in a situation, which in the past could have made them feel an
emotion, they will react emotionally or experience emotion only if they are in a
state of physiological arousal
Results:
● Sample reduced to 169 due to withdrawal, no physiological arousal or suspicion
● Participants who received adrenaline injection showed more sympathetic arousal
(measured by pulse rate and self-ratings) than placebo patients
● Misinformed was only run in the euphoria condition as it was a control condition
and just needed to be in one category to examine results
● Participants in adrenaline condition show more physiological arousal compared
to control groups
 ● On self-report measures, those participants in the adrenaline condition reported
higher scores for palpitations and tremors suggesting a behavioral response to
the increased level of arousal
● In the adrenaline conditions pulse rate increased significantly when compared
with the decreased characteristic of the placebo conditions
● The differences between the adrenaline conditions and the placebo conditions
are all significant at the 0.001 level of significance, making it clear that those
participants in the adrenaline conditions were physiologically aroused during the
experiment
● From the self-report measures, in the euphoria condition, the misinformed
participants were feeling happier than all the others
● Second happiest was the ignorant group
● This shows that participants were more susceptible to the stooge because they
had no way of explaining why they felt the way they did
● The informed group also felt the least positive because they were aware why
they felt the way they did
● In the anger condition, ignorant group felt the angriest
● Second was the placebo group
● Least angry was informed group
● Shows that participants were more susceptible to the stooge because they had
no way of explaining why their body felt the way it did
● Behavior was observed through a one-way mirror and self-reports were matched
Conclusions:
● S and S argue that their finders support the Two Factor Theory, which state s
that physiological arousal in different emotions is entirely the same and we label
our arousal according to the cognitions we have available
● Argue that all 3 hypotheses were supported
● Concluded that if a person experiences a state of arousal for which they have no
immediate explanation, they will label this state and describe their feelings in
terms of the cognitions available to them at the time
● People use environmental cues to help them interpret their physiological state
● Useful for treating people who suffer from anxiety and panic attacks as it will
allow them to identify environmental triggers that may cause them to become
physiologically aroused and fearful
Chapter 3: The cognitive approach

Andrade (Doodling)
Aim:
● To know whether doodling can assist in information processing by enabling
people to attend more effectively or by enhancing their memory

Key terms (Miscellaneous information):

● Working memory model​: suggests that two different types of current or ‘working’
memory can be used at the same time, one being spatial and the other auditory.
Governed by the central executive system

Research method and design:

● Laboratory experiment
● Independent measures design, either in control group or doodling group
● IV: ​whether they were in the doodling or control group
● DV: ​their ability to recall names of partygoers and places in the memory recall
tasks
● DV operationalised by counting plausible mishearings as correct (eg Greg for
Craig)
● Names that were on the tape but not partygoers were false alarms
● Final score for monitoring (​measure of the DV)​ was ​number of correct names
minus false alarms

Sample:
● 40 members of a participant panel at the Medical Research Council
● From general population, aged 18-55 years
● Paid a small sum for their participation
● 20 participants in each group
● Mainly females, 2 males in control group and 3 in doodling group
● One participant did not doodle and was replaced
Procedure:
● All participants had to listen to a dull mock telephone call about a party
● During the test, one group doodled while the other didn not (control group)
● Were told beforehand that they would be tested on the names of people who
were attending the party (monitoring task)
● Unexpected test on the names of places mentioned
● Order of tests was counterbalanced
● Half the participants were asked to recall names of partygoers, then the places
mentioned
● The other half did the reverse
● Telephone call was highly standardised:
1. Lasted 2.5 minutes
2. Recorded in a monotonous voice
3. Speed of voice 227 words per minute (on average)
4. 8 names of people attending the party
5. 3 people and a cat who could not attend
6. 8 places were mentioned
7. Irrelevant details also mentioned
● Participants were given standardised instructions before the tape was played
● Doodling condition:
1. Given A4 sheets with alternating rows of squares and circles (10 per row)
2. Wide margin on the left for recording the target information
3. Given a pencil, asked to shade
● Control condition:
1. Given a sheet of lined paper to write their answers on (could have used
this for doodling)
● Each participant listened to the tape at a comfortable volume and wrote down the
names as instructed
● Response sheets collected
● Experimenter then spoke to them for one minute and apologised for misleading
them about the memory test
● They then completed the test of recalling names of places and people or
vise-versa

Results:
● Doodling condition, mean number if shaded shapes on the printed sheet was
36.3, with a range of 3-110
● No participants in the control condition doodled spontaneously
 ● Participants in the control group correctly recalled a mean of 7.1 of the 8
partygoers names
● 5 people made a false alarm
● Doodling participants recalled a mean of 7.8 partygoer names
● One person made a false alarm
● Doodling participants recalled a mean of 7.5 names and places, 29 percent more
than the mean of 5.8 of the control group
● Recall for both monitored and incidental information was better for doodlers,
even when the participant who suspected a test was excluded (to eliminate the
effects of demand characteristics)

Conclusions:
● Doodling helps concentrate on a primary task as the doodling participants
performed better participants just listening to the primary task with no concurrent
task (control group)
● Doodling was better on both monitored and incidental information. There are two
explanations for this:
1. The doodlers noticed more of the target words (an effect on attention)
2. Doodling improved memory directly eg by encouraging deeper information
processing
● Without any measure of daydreaming (which would have blocked attention) it is
difficult to distinguish between these two explanations
● This could have been done by asking participants about daydreaming
retrospectively by self-report
● Alternatively, a simultaneous brain scan could have indicated whether doodling
reduced activation of the cortex, which is associated with daydreaming

Strengths and weaknesses:

Baren-Cohen (Eyes test)
Aim
● To test whether a group of adults with with Asperger Syndrome (AS) or High
Functioning Autism (HFA) would be impaired on the revised version of the
Reading the Mind in the Eyes (RTMITE) task
● To test if there was an association between performance on the revised RTMITE
test and measures of autistic traits
● To investigate if there were sex differences in those without autism on this task
● Five hypotheses:
1. Participants with HFA will score significantly lower on the RTMITE task
than the control group
2. Participants with HFA will score significantly higher on the Autism
Spectrum Quotient Test (AQ) measure
3. Females in the ‘normal’ groups (Groups 2 and 3) will score higher on the
RTMITE test than males in those groups
4. Makes in the ‘normal’ group (Group 3) would score higher on the AQ
measure than females
5. Sores on the AQ test and RTMITE test would be negatively correlated
Key terms (Miscellaneous information):
● Theory of mind: ​a cognitive ability which enables us to realise that others have
different beliefs, feelings, knowledge and desire from our own. Individuals with
autism are said to have an underdeveloped theory of mind, and find it difficult to
understand that others have their own plans, thoughts or points of view. The
theory of mind is also linked to empathy, which is the ability to understand the
world as another person does, to appreciate their feelings and emotional state
separately from their own
● Reading the mind in the eyes test: ​tests the ability of adults to attribute emotional
labels to others. Baron-Cohen suggests that this task tests the first stage of the
theory of mind: assigning an appropriate mental state to another

Original mind in the eyes test:

● Used to determine whether adults with HFA or AS had problems employing the
Theory of Mind
 ● Compared a group of individuals who had HFA or AS to some who did not
● Participants were shown photographs of eyes
● Asked to identify the emotions shown in the photographs
● Had to choose from 2 options
● Baron-Cohen believed that the test demands similar cognitive processes as
having a theory of mind as it requires an individual to empathise with the person
in the photograph to infer their emotional state
● Concluded that adults with AS or HFA could identify significantly fewer emotions
in the task than people in the ‘normal’ control group
● However, there were several issues with the test:
1. Forced choice question with only two options, which were always
opposites
2. Small number of examples in the test (25) led to many in the ‘normal’
group scoring 24 or 25, causing a ceiling effect
3. The 25 sets of eyes illustrated both basic and complex emotions, and the
former were too easy
4. The emotion in some of the photos used in the original task could be
solved by checking the direction to which the person was gazing (eg
ignoring)
5. There was an imbalance of male and female faces
6. Participants might not have understood the words in the ‘RTMITE’ task
● Thus the study here was an attempt to revise the task as a measure of the theory
of mind and aims to check the reliability of the results from the original study

Method:
● Laboratory experiment
● Participants asked to identify emotions from photographs (not a regularly
performed task)
● Highly standardised procedure, all participants exposed to the same
photographs, chosen using a pilot study
● Quasi-experiment, participants assigned to a condition based on a given
characteristic (eg if they have autism)
● IV​: ​the type of participant in each condition. Three control or comparison groups
(2-4) and an experimental group containing participants with HFA or AS
● Independant groups design, participants only took part in one of four groups
● DV​: ​two measures of the DV:
1. The score on the revised RTMITE task
 2. For those in the AS/HFA and IQ matched control condition, there was also
the measure of the score on the AQ test. Also measured the IQ scores of
participants in the AS/HFA and the IQ matched comparison groups
● There were 4 groups in total:
1. Group 1 (AS/HFA):​ consisted of 15 adult males with AS or HFA with a
mean IQ score of 115 and a mean age of 29.7 years. Sample was self
selecting through adverts in the Autistic Society Magazine and support
groups and had all been diagnosed in specialist centers using the DSM or
ICD criteria
2. Group 2 (adult comparison group)​:​ comprised of adults who did not
have AS/HFA. Selected from adult community and education classes in
Exeter and public library users in Cambridge with a mean age of 46.5
years
3. Group 3 (Student comparison group)​:​ comprised of ‘normal’ students
from Cambridge University with a mean age of 20.8 years, highly selective
uni so not representative of general population
4. Group 4 (IQ matched group)​:​ comprised of 14 IQ matched participants
with those in the AS/HFA group with a mean age of 28 years and mean IQ
of 116. Random selected from general population

Procedure:
● Revised Eyes task used as a measure of the theory of mind
● Consisted of 36 sets of eyes (18 male, 18 female), each with 4 choices of
emotions on the face of the target
● For each set of eyes, target and foil words were developed using groups of 8
judges
● At least 5 of the judges had to agree that the target word was the most
appropriate for the eyes and no more than two of the judges could select any of
the foil words
● Participants in all groups were tested on the revised Eyes test
● Participants in the HFA/AS group were also asked to determine the sex of the
target in each photo
● Pilot tests had shown that ‘normal’ adults often achieved 100 percent on the sex
question, so was not necessary to ask them
● Participants in all conditions except ‘normal’ adult comparison were also asked to
complete the AQ test
● Each participant read through a glossary of terms that were to be used
throughout the experiment to ensure they knew each word’s meaning. Were
made to refer to the glossary
 ● Each participant was given a practice item and then presented with the 36 sets of
eyes and 4 possible target words
● Allowed as long as they needed to answer
● All participants consented and were aware of the nature of the study
● All data was anonymised so that it was not possible to identify any individual from
their score
Results:
● Participants with AS/HFA (Group 1) correctly identified significantly fewer target
words that participants in the other 3 groups
● No participant in any group checked the glossary for more than 2 definitions
● In Group 2 and Group 3, sex differences were apparent but not significant
● All participants in the AS/HFA condition scored 33 or more out of 36 on the sex
recognition test on the AQ task, participants with AF/HFA scored significantly
higher than groups 3 and 4
● Significant difference between male and female scores in AQ test in group 3
(students)
● Significant negative correlation between the AQ scores and Eyes scores (-0.53)
● No correlation between IQ and Eyes scores
● As a participants AQ score increases (higher autistic traits), Eyes score
decreases (harder to identify target words for emotions)

Conclusions:
● Participants with AS or HFA have a deficit in cognitive processes that allow a
person to identify emotions in other individuals
● Lack theory of mind
● There was evidence of sex differences between males and females in
comparison groups
● Males showed more autistic traits and performed worse on the Eyes test than
females
● However, unknown if there are differences between sexes and their AQ ability to
attribute emotions to others
● Revised test used in the study is a more sensitive measure of adult social
intelligence than the old one. Shaba boys
Laney et al (False memory)​:
Key terms:
● False memory:​ memories of events we think have happened but have actually
never occurred or have been implanted in us

Experiment 1 Aim:
● To investigate whether giving false feedback suggesting that a participant loved
to eat asparagus as a child would generate a false belief or memory of
experiences linked to eating and enjoying asparagus

Research method and design:

● Laboratory experiment, unnatural environment (although some attempts were
made to make one questionnaire look like a menu)
● Participants participated in groups of 8
● IV​:​ whether or not a participant had a false belief that they enjoyed asparagus as
a child imbedded during the second part of the experiment. Were compared to
control group with the implanted false belief
● DV​:​ measured through the use of 5 self-report questionnaires;
1. Food History Inventory (FHI)
2. Restaurant Questionnaire (RQ)
3. Food Preferences Inventory (FPI)
4. Food Costs Questionnaire (FCQ)
5. Memory or Belief Questionnaire (MBQ)
● Independent groups design, participants only took part in one of two conditions
(love group, control group)

Sample:
● 128 participants from University of California
● Given course credit
● 99 females 29 males
● Mean age 20.8
 ● Randomly assigned to love condition (63) or control condition (65)

Procedure:
● Participants arrived in groups of up to 8
● Deceived, told study was on food preferences and personality to limit demand
characteristics
● First session (week 1), all participants treated identically
● First completed the FHI and RQ
● Completed 3 filler questionnaires to distract from aim of the study
● Asked to come back one week later
● Randomly allocated to ‘love asparagus’ condition or control group
● All were told that responses from first week had been processed, and a profile of
their childhood eating habits had be0en generated
● For everyone, the profile said that they:
1. Disliked spinach
2. Enjoyed fried foods
3. Felt happy when a classmate brough sweets to school
● For the ‘love’ condition, an extra item, ‘you loved to eat cooked asparagus’, was
also included
● Control group had 3 filler items
● Participants were asked questions about this fake profile to ensure they had
processed the feedback
● Questions included
1. Imagine the setting in which this experience might have happened. Where
were you? Who was with you?
2. On a scale of 1 (not at all) to 9 (very much), to what extent did this
experience affect your adult personality?
● Participants then completed the FHI a second time to measure changes in
responses before the implanting of the false beliefs
● Participants also completed FPQ, FCQ and MBQ
● When they completed these questionnaires, they were fully debriefed by the and
told the true nature of the experiment

Experiment 1 Results:
● Two key issues were to be investigated
1. Whether the subjects formed false, asparagus-related beliefs
2. Whether these beliefs have consequences
 ● When asked a second time as part of the FHI if a participant loved asparagus the
first time they tried it, ‘love condition’ participants mean average responses rose
by 2.6 points following the false feedback
● Responses by those in the control condition only rose by 0.2 points
● 31 participants excluded from this analysis as they already had an initial love for
asparagus, or scored greater than 5 on the FHI on the first occasion

Memories or Beliefs?:
● Memories can be seen as the ability to recall specific structured events with
some details; the participant ‘remembers’ an experience
● Beliefs are less detailed and not tied to a specific time or place; the participant
‘knows’ it happened but cannot go into specific detail
● When asked if they had specific memories or beliefs that they loved asparagus
the first time they tried it, there was a difference between the love condition and
control group
● Difference not statistically significant
● This suggests that participants who were told that they loved asparagus when
they first tried it had a greater chance of generating a false memory or belief to
substantiate this false memory

Believers vs non-believers:
● To be classified as believers, participants had to meet the following 3 criteria:
1. Given a low rating on the FHI when initially asked if they loved asparagus
in week one
2. Increased their rating on the FHI when asked if they love asparagus on
week two
3. Given positive ‘memory’ or ‘belief’ response on the MBQ
● 48 percent (22) of the participants in the love condition met the criteria to be
labelled believers
● Their scores were compared with ‘non-believers’ where the impact of the
implanted memory had a lesser effect
● The ratings of these 22 believers increased an average of 4.5 points from week
one to week two on their FHI
● Non-believers increased an average of just 0.9 points
● Of the 22 participants classified as believers, 10 had a memory, 12 a belief on
the MBQ
● To assess consequences of false beliefs, believers were compared to those in
the control group
 ● RQ​:​ believers reported to have more desire to eat the asparagus item than those
in the control group
● FPQ​:​ in comparison to the control group (mean 3.84), believers (mean 6.14)
reported liking asparagus significantly more
● FCQ​:​ believers were willing to pay significantly more for asparagus than those in
the control group, with over a quarter (14) of those in the control group stating
that they would never buy asparagus. None of the believers selected the never
buy response
Experiment 1 Conclusions:
● Participants can be led to develop positively framed false beliefs
● These beliefs can have a consequence on behavior and food preferences
● Those with false belief implanted increased their rating of their love of asparagus
● These beliefs had a further impact on how much they were willing to spend on
asparagus, greater intentions to eat it in the future, and a greater preference for it
overall

Experiment 2 Aim:
● To examine the possible underlying mechanisms of the false memory
consequence by exploring if, after the false love of asparagus manipulation, the
very sight of asparagus was more appealing to participants
● Secondary aim was to replicate and extend the results of the first experiment to
check the reliability of the findings

Research method and design:

● IV​: whether the participant had a false belief, ‘you loved asparagus’, imbedded
● These participants, were compared to a control group of participants who
received no false belief
● DV​: ​measured through the 4 questionnaires and the participant’s feedback to a
slideshow of 20 pictures of common foods

Sample:
● Independent groups design, participated in one of two conditions, love or control
● 103 participants, 64F 39M, mean age of 19.9 years, undergraduates from U of
Washington
● Randomly assigned to love (58) or control (45) groups

Procedure:
 ● Participants arrived at the laboratory, were told they would be completing several
questionnaires to generate a personal profile on their eating based on their
responses
● No deception or cover up story for this experiment
● Completed FHI, RQ and FPQ
● Completed two distractor questionnaires: a personality measure and a social
desirability scale
● Invited back one week later
● Randomly allocated to love or control
● Told a profile of their early childhood food experiences had been generated
● Love condition were given profile that contained ‘you loved asparagus the first
time you ate it’ in the third position
● Were then required to complete an elaboration exercise in which they were
required to give details about memories of eating asparagus
● If they had no memory of it, had to discuss what might have happened
● Control group were not given asparagus detail so had no elaboration exercise
● All participants were then asked “what is the most important childhood, food
related event in your life that your food profile did not report?”
● A slideshow of 20 colour photographs of common foods were displayed for 30
seconds each to all participants
● They were then asked 4 questions about each slide
● On a scale of 1 (not at all) to 8 (very much):
1. How appetising they found the food depicted in the photo
2. How disgusting they found the food depicted in the photo
3. The artistic quality of the photo
4. Whether the photo was taken by a novice, amateur or expert
photographer
● Participants then had to complete the RQ, FPQ and FHI again, and the same
MBQ as experiment 1
● Debriefed after

Experiment 2 Results:

Food History Inventory:

● Love and control groups rated their liking of asparagus similarly before the
manipulation, but differently after
● Statistically significant difference between the conditions
● 30 people excluded because they loved asparagus before the manipulation
Memories or Beliefs?:
● Results from MBQ show that participants who were told that they loved
asparagus had a greater chance of generating a false memory or belief to
substantiate this false memory
● Not a statistically significant difference

Believers vs Non-believers
● Participants were separated into believers and non-believers based on the same
criteria as the first experiment
● 40 participants in the love condition met the criteria to be labelled believers
● They were then compared to the control group
● RQ​: ​neither the believers nor the control group reported an increased desire to
eat the critical asparagus item when comparing the two weeks
● ​FPQ​: ​compared to control, believers had a significantly greater desire to eat
asparagus
● On photograph ratings, believers rated asparagus photos as more appetising
than those in control (5.10 vs 4.00) and as less disgusting (1.81 vs 3.24)

Experiment 2 Conclusions:
● Participants can be given positive false food beliefs amd these beliefs can have
consequences on behaviors and attitudes towards foods
● Those participants who believed the false feedback were more likely than those
in the control group to rate a photograph of asparagus as more appetising and
less disgusting
● Photograph measure provides a step towards understanding the cognitive
mechanisms associated with false memories as the memory primed the
participant to see the asparagus photos more positively
● This positive response is interpreted as familiarity and the participants
misattribute it to childhood experiences, and thus adult preferences
● Across the two experiments it was shown that participants could have false
beliefs implanted about about whether they had previously had a specific positive
experience with asparagus and that this belief had consequences on their
attitudes and memory towards food

Strengths and weaknesses:

Chapter 4: The Learning Approach

Saavedra and Silverman (Button Phobia)

Aim:
● To examine the role of classical conditioning in relation to fear and avoidance of
a particular stimulus
● In the context of the specific phobia (buttons), researchers wanted to see if using
a type of exposure therapy could reduce the disgust and distress associated with
buttons

Key terms (Miscellaneous)

● Classical conditioning:​ a form of learning in which an unconditioned response
becomes linked to a previously neutral stimulus to create a learned association
● Expectancy learning;​ in which a previously neutral or non-threatening object or
event becomes associated with a potentially threatening outcome. The individual
begins to expect the outcome, so experiences fear in the presence of previously
non-threatening situation
● Evaluative learning:​ a form of classical conditioning wherein attitudes towards
stimuli are considered to be the product of complex thought processes and
emotions which lead an individual perceive or evaluate a previously neutral
stimulus negatively
● Positive reinforcement therapy:​ a form of operant conditioning. Involves
rewarding desirable behavior to encourage it to be repeated.

Research method and design:

● Clinical case study, just one participant studied in depth
 ● Data collected through self-report measures
● Boy and mother both interviewed about onset of phobia and subsequent
behavior
● Results of the treatment were measured by a nine-point scale of disgust known
as the ‘Feelings Thermometer;

Sample:
● 9 year old Hispanic-American boy
● Sought support from the Child Anxiety and Phobia Program at Florida
International University, Miami
● Met the criteria for a specific phobia of buttons, had been experiencing symptoms
for 4 years before start of the study
Procedure:
● Boy and mother both gave informed consent
● Interviewed about the phobia. Had begun at the age of 5 when child had knocked
over a bowl of buttons in front of his class and teacher
● He found the incident distressing and it lead to an increased aversion towards
buttons, to the point that it was significantly hampering his normal functioning
● He could no longer dress himself and was constantly preoccupied with avoiding
buttons or clothing that had come into contact with buttons
● Had to identify his feelings towards buttons prior to start of treatment
● Created a hierarchy of feared stimuli
● Distress rating scale of 0 (lowest) to 8 (highest)
● Least distressing were large, denim jeans buttons (2) and most distressing were
small, clear plastic buttons (8)
● The boy was treated with two interventions, one after the other
● The first was ​positive reinforcement therapy​, in which the boy was rewarded
for showing less fear and actually handling buttons. Positive reinforcement was
given to him by his mother only after he had completed a gradual exposure to
buttons. This treatment lasted 20 to 30 minutes per session
● Second was ​imagery exposure​. Interviews with the boy had revealed he had
found touching buttons with his body to be disgusting, and thought they smelled
unpleasant. These ideas formed the basis of the imagery exposure exercises
● Imagery exposure uses visualisation techniques
● Disgust-related imagery exposure were incorporated with cognitive self-control
strategies. The boy was asked to imagine buttons falling on him, and to consider
how they looked, felt and smelled
● He was then asked to talk about how this imagery exposure made him feel
 ● The exposures progressed from images of larger to smaller buttons, in line with
the boy’s fear hierarchy

Results (Positive Reinforcement Therapy)

● All exposure tasks on the hierarchy of fear were successfully completed
● The boy was observed approaching buttons more positively eg he started
handling a large number of buttons during later sessions
● HOWEVER​ his ratings of distress increased significantly between sessions two
and three, and continued to rise
● By session 4, a number of items on the hierarchy had actually increased in terms
of his disgust and fear towards them
● Despite his behavior to the fearful stimuli improving, his feeling of fear, disgust
and anxiety had actually increased
● Despite apparent behavioral change, evaluative reactions remain unchanged or
even increase

Results (Imagery Exposure Therapy):

● Successful in reducing the boy’s ratings of distress
● Example; one part of the imagery therapy was to imagine hundreds of buttons
falling all over his body. Prior to the therapy, this experience was rated as the
most fearful and disgusting on the Feelings Thermometer (8). This reduced to 5
midway through the exposure, and 3 just after the exposure was complete
● Following this treatment, 6 and 12 month follow ups were conducted
● At these assessment sessions, the boy reported feeling minimal distress about
buttons
● No longer met the diagnostic criteria for a phobia of buttons
● His feelings towards buttons no longer hampered his everyday functionality, and
he was able to wear small, clear buttons on his school uniform on a daily basis

Conclusions:
● The researchers concluded that the treatment was successful. They argue that:
1. Emotions and cognitions relating to disgust are important when learning
new responses to phobic stimuli
2. Imagery exposure can have a long-term effect on reducing the distress
associated with specific phobias as it tackles negative evaluations
Pepperberg (Parrot learning):
Aim:
● To see whether a parrot could use vocal labels to demonstrate a symbolic
understanding of the concepts ‘same’ and ‘different’

Key terms (Miscellaneous)

● Model/Rival (MR) approach:​ in the context of the study, one human acts as a
trainer of the second human by presenting the second with objects, and then
asking questions about the objects and offering reward or praise to desirable
responses. Thus, the second (learner) human acts as a model for the parrot to
follow, and also as a ‘rival’ for the trainer’s attention, as if the parrot offers the
right vocalisation when the question is asked, they receive the reward or praise
rather than the model human. The roles of model and trainer are then reversed
● Continuous reinforcement:​ when a learner receives a reward each time they
perform a desirable behavior

Research method and design:

● Animal case study
● Involved on subjected who was trained and tested over a couple of years

Sample:
● African Grey Parrot named Alex
● Had been involved in prior research on communications and cognitions for
around 10 years
 ● During the day, had free access to all areas of the lab and at night was confined
to a wire cage
● Fed a diet suitable for his species and given toys to play with

Procedure:
● Alex already had considerable vocabulary prior to training
● Could name the colors red, yellow, green, blue and grey, several shapes such as
triangle and square and different kinds of materials such as wood
● Also had experience with replying to verbal prompts, and could even combine
responses to describe items such as ‘green wood’
● Purpose of training was to teach Alex to respond to questions with a categorical
label, a complex task which requires abstract thinking
● Engaged in training sessions 2-4 times a week
● Training method used is the M/R approach (refer to key terms section for full
information)
● At the beginning of the training, a system of continuous reinforcement was used
in order to create the closest possible association between the object or category
and label to be learned
● During the training on same/different the trainer would ask the model ‘what’s the
same?’ or ‘what’s different?’
● The model would either respond with the correct category label and be rewarded
or the incorrect one and be scolded and have the object taken away

Task:
● At the start of the study, Alex could already say the labels ‘color’ and ‘shape’
● Took some time to master the vocals for matter (mah-mah) so the testing phase
was delayed for reasons of accuracy
● Tested by secondary trainers who had not worked with him on learning
same/different
● Materials were paired from a selection given to a student who had nothing to do
with a study, so unbiased set of stimuli
● Randomly ordered the set of questions during each trial
● Questions were also used to prevent boredom effects such as:
1. What color?
2. What shape?
3. How many?
● In each trial, Alex was presented with two objects that could differ in one of three
categories:
1. Shape
 2. Color
3. Material
● In some trials, Alex was asked by a trainer ‘what’s the same?’ and ‘What’s
different?’
● Correct response would be to name the categories that were the same and
those that were different
● The correct response would be for Alex to name the categories that were same
and the ones that were different
● The task would involve either pairs of familiar items (familiar trial) or one or both
items which he had not yet encountered in training (novel trial)
● Principal trainer was present in each trial, but sat facing away from Alex and was
unable to see the objects being presented
● After each of Alex’s responses, the trainer would repeat the vocalisation aloud
● If Alex’s response had been correct, he was rewarded with praise and given the
items
● First time correct answer counted towards the ‘first trial’ response rate
● If he gave an incorrect or indistinct vocalisation, the object was taken away, he
was told ‘No!’ and the trainer turned his head away from him (time out)
● This procedure was repeated until the correct response was given, and the
number of errors was recorded

Results:
● In the test involving familiar objects, Alex correctly responded to 99/129 trials
(76.6 percent)
● For first trials only, he answered correctly in 69/99 instances (69.7 percent)
● These findings may not be fully conclusive. Responses were only counted as
correct if they were the first response Alex gave. Rather than giving the ‘wrong’
answer in the remaining trials, Alex might not respond with an answer at all, but
instead make requests for items that weren’t related to the trial
● For the novel trials, they wanted to see if he could generalise the concepts of
‘same’ and ‘different’
● Scored 96/113 (85 percent) on all trials
● 79/96 (82.3 percent) on first-trial performance only
● He was more accurate in judging objects he had never seen before
● One reason for this could be that Alex received the items involved in each trial as
a reward. As such, he might be better motivated to do well in novel trials because
he was curious to investigate newer reward items

Conclusions:
 ● Two conclusions:
1. Parrots have the potential to demonstrate comprehension of the symbolic
concepts of same and different
2. They may learn to respond to verbal questions to vocalise categorical
labels

Bandura (aggression):

Aim:
● To investigate whether a child could learn aggression by observing a model, and
to see if they would imitate this behavior in the absence of a model (also whether
the sex of the model is important)
● Four hypotheses
1. Observed aggressive behavior will be imitated, so children seeing
aggressive models will be more aggressive than those seeing a
non-aggressive model or no model
2. Observed non-aggressive behavior will be imitated, so children seeing
non-aggressive models will be less aggressive than those seeing no
model
3. Children are more likely to copy a same-sex model
4. Boys will be more likely to copy aggression than girls

Key terms (miscellaneous)

● Imitative learning:​ the learning of a new behavior which is observed in a role
model and imitated later in the absence of that model

Research method and design:

● Laboratory experiment, situation unnatural and controlled
● Independent measures design, different children used in each of the levels of the
IV (though these children were matched for aggression in threes)
● IV:​ there were 3 IV’s
 1. Model type: ​whether the child saw an aggressive model, non-aggressive
model or no model
2. Model gender:​ same gender as child or different gender
3. Learner gender:​ whether the child was a boy or a girl
● DV:​ the learning the child displayed, measured through a controlled observation
of the children. Measures of aggressive behavior recorded

Sample:
● 72 children
● 36 boys, 36 girls
● Aged 3-6
● Obtained from Stanford University nursery school

Procedure:
● Prior to the experiment itself, the children were observed in their nursery school
by the experimenter and a teacher who knew them well
● Rated on four 5-point scales measuring:
1. Physical aggression
2. Verbal aggression
3. Aggression to inanimate objects
4. Aggression inhibition (anxiety)
● Assigned to 3 groups to ensure that the aggression levels of children in each
group were matched
● Of the 51 children rated by both observers, similar ratings were generally
produced
● Ratings compared to check for inter-rater reliability, high correlation of r equals
0.89
● 12 boys and 12 girls were allocated to control groups who saw no model
● Remaining children equally divided by sex between aggressive and
non-aggressive groups, and within those, between same and different sex
models
● Experiment began with all participants being deliberately mildly annoyed, done
for two reasons:
1. Because watching aggression may reduce the production of aggression
by the observer (even if it has been learned) and it was necessary to see
evidence of learning
2. To ensure that even non-aggressive condition and control participants
would be likely to express aggression, so that any reduction in that
tendency could be measured
● Each individual child was shown to a room with attractive toys such as a fire
engine and a baby crib
● Played for 2 minutes
● Toys then taken away, told they were the best toys and only for other children
● Moved to observation room
● New play area, taught to make potato prints and sticker pictures. Room also
contained a Tinkertoy set and a 5 foot Bobo doll
● Model sat near these (when there was one)
● Experimenter remained in the room so that child could not refuse to be alone or
try to leave early. Pretended to be working quietly at desk
● The three groups were then treated differently
● Non-aggressive condition;​ model assembled the Tinkertoys for ten minutes
● Aggressive condition;​ assembling only lasted one minute after which the model
attacked the Bobo doll. The doll was laid on its side, sat on and punched in the
nose, picked up and hit on the head with a mallet, tossed up in the air and kicked
again. This sequence was performed 3 times over 90 minutes, accompanied by
aggressive comments such as ‘Kick him’ and two non-aggressive comments
such as ‘He sure is a tough fella’
● Of the children in the model groups, half saw a same-sex model, the others saw
a model of the opposite sex
● Control condition;​ did not see any model, saw no aggression
● A test of the children’s aggression then followed
● The child was observed for 20 minutes using a one-way mirror
● Aggressive group had a test of delayed imitation
● The experimental room contained a 3 foot bobo doll, a mallet, a peg board, two
dart guns and a tether ball with a face on it hanging from the ceiling
● Also non-aggressive toys such as a tea set, crayons, two dolls, three bears, cars,
a truck and some plastic farm animals
● The toys were always presented in the same order
● The children’s behaviors were observed in 5 second intervals
● There were 3 possible response measures of the children’s imitation, with a
range of possible activities in each:
1. Imitation of physical aggression:​ striking the Bobo Doll with the mallet,
sitting on the doll, punching it in the nose, kicking it, tossing in the air
2. Imitative verbal aggression:​ repetition of the phrases, ‘Sock him’, ‘Hit him
down’, ‘Kick him’, ‘Throw him in the air’, or ‘Pow’
3. Imitative non-aggressive verbal responses:​ repetition of ‘He keeps coming
back for more’ or ‘He sure is a tough fella’
● Partially imitative aggression was scored if the child imitated these behaviors
incompletely. The two behaviors here were:
1. Mallet aggression:​ striking objects other than the Bobo doll aggressively
with the mallet
2. Sits on Bobo doll:​ laying the Bobo doll on its side and sitting on it, without
attacking it
● Two further categories were:
1. Aggressive gun play:​ shooting darts or aiming a gun and firing imaginary
shots at objects in the room
2. Non-imitative physical and verbal aggression:​ physically aggressive acts
directed towards objects other than the Bobo doll and any hostile remarks
except for those in the verbal imitation category
● Behavior units were also counted for non-aggressive play and sitting quietly and
not playing at all
● Records were kept of the children’s remarks towards the situation
● One male scored all the children’s behaviors, and, except for those conditions in
which he was the model, was unaware of the specific condition the child was in
● To test reliability, a second score independently rated the behavior of half of the
children, and the reliability was high, around r equals 0.9 for different categories
of behavior