Page 2: Perception and Cognitive Development Studies

Bruner & Minturn "Perceptual Set Study" (1955)

This study investigated how expectations can affect direct perception. It involved 24 students shown a series of letters, numbers, or mixed characters, followed by a test image.

Results showed that participants interpreted the ambiguous test image as "13" when primed with numbers and "B" when primed with letters.

Highlight: This study challenges Gibson's theory of direct perception and supports Gregory's theory of constructivist perception.

The study concluded that expectations directly affect how stimuli are interpreted. It was well-controlled and counterbalanced, enhancing its reliability.

Hughes "Policeman Doll Study" (1978)

This study aimed to see if children can take another person's perspective earlier than Piaget suggested. It involved 30 children aged 3.5-5 years old who were asked to hide a doll from a model policeman.

Results showed that 90% of children could successfully hide the doll, indicating they were not egocentric.

Definition: Egocentrism in psychology refers to the inability to differentiate between self and other, or to see things from another's point of view.

The study concluded that children as young as 3.5-5 years can see things from another's perspective if the task makes sense to them. This challenges Piaget's findings that children were egocentric until age 7.

McGarrigle & Donaldson "Naughty Teddy" (1974)

This study investigated whether children can conserve at an earlier age than Piaget found if the change to the material appears accidental. It involved 80 children aged 4-6 years old who were shown two rows of counters, with one row accidentally spread out by a puppet.

Results showed that 62% of 4-6 year olds could conserve, compared to 16% in Piaget's study.

Vocabulary: Conservation in cognitive development refers to the ability to understand that certain properties of an object remain the same despite changes in its appearance.

The study concluded that children under 7 can conserve if the change appears accidental. This challenges Piaget's conclusions, although over 30% of children still failed to conserve.

Highlight: These studies on cognitive development provide important insights for the AQA GCSE Psychology key studies and are crucial for GCSE Psychology revision.

Page 1: Memory and Perception Studies

Murdock's "Serial Position Curve" (1962)

This study aimed to provide evidence for separate short-term and long-term memory stores in the multi-store model of memory.

The method involved a laboratory experiment with 16 participants who were psychology students. They were presented with 20 words at a rate of one per minute and asked to recall them over 90 seconds. This was repeated 80 times over several days with different words.

Results showed a primacy effect for the first words and a recency effect for the last words, with poorer recall for words in the middle of the list. This led to the drawing of the serial position curve.

Highlight: The study supports the multi-store model of memory, suggesting separate stores for short-term and long-term memory.

Vocabulary: Primacy effect refers to better recall of items at the beginning of a list, while recency effect refers to better recall of items at the end of a list.

Evaluation points include the study's lack of ecological validity and potential bias due to the use of psychology students as participants.

Bartlett's "War of the Ghosts" (1932)

This study investigated how unfamiliar information is altered in memory to make more sense, testing Bartlett's theory of reconstructive memory.

The method was a laboratory study using Cambridge students. Participants read a Native American folk tale twice, then retold it to another person after 15 minutes. Changes to the story were recorded.

Results showed that the story became shorter, with omissions (e.g., ghosts) and changes to details and the order of events.

Definition: Reconstructive memory is the theory that memory recall involves the active reconstruction of past events based on existing knowledge and beliefs.

The study concluded that memory is not an exact copy of what we hear and is influenced by beliefs and stereotypes. It has high ecological validity but may lack representativeness due to the use of Cambridge University students.

Gilchrist & Nesberg's "Need & Perceptual Change" (1952)

This study examined how motivation affects perception. It involved 26 university student volunteers who went without food for 20 hours. Participants were randomly allocated to control and hungry groups, then shown pictures of food and asked to adjust the brightness.

Results showed that the hungry group perceived the food images as brighter over time, while the control group showed little difference.

Example: This study demonstrates how our physiological needs (in this case, hunger) can influence our perception of stimuli related to those needs.

The study concluded that motivation affects perception. It had high ecological validity but a small sample size, potentially limiting its representativeness.