PSYCHOLOGY

BIOLOGICAL

 Brain Localization
 Brain Plasticity
 Neurotransmitter
 Hormones
 Genetics
 Evolution
 Technology

COGNITIVE

 Working Memory
 Multi store Memory.
 Schema
 Reconstructive memory
 Bias in Thinking & decision making
 Emotion + Cognition
 Cognitive processing in digital world

SOCIAL CULTURAL

 Social identity theory

 Social Cognitive theory
 Cultural dimension
 Biological

Brain Localization
Theory:
 Specific part of the brain has specific function
 Hippocampus = store explicit memory (facts and events)
 Amnesia = Inability to learn new information or retrieve that has already
been stored
 Anterograde = failure to store memory after trauma
 Retrograde = Failure to recall memory before trauma

Research:
Case study of HM (Henry Molaison)
 7 years old = fell of bike and head injury (brain damage)
 10 years old = Epileptic seizure
 27 years old = extreme epileptic attacks

Result:
Research found that hippocampus damage and need to be cut, therefore he
has anterograde which mean failure to store memory after trauma

Conclusion:

In conclusion the result supported the theory, that specific part of the brain
has specific function. In this term the hippocampus stored the explicit memory
facts and events. The case study of HM stated that his hippocampus is
damaged and need to be cut, therefore he will experience anterograde which
mean he can’t recall any memory after the trauma.

Brain Plasticity
Theory:
 Ability to rearrange connections between neurons due to environmental
stimuli
 Neurons have axon terminal and dendrites
 Neurons = when neurons are connected it develop new things. The more
neuron connection, the more you’re able to do things.
 Inside a neuron there is a dendritic branching = process by which
dendrites to connect to axon terminal
 High stimulation = higher density of neural connection
Research:
Rosenzweig & Bennet
 Aim: to see the effect of environment on frontal lobe development
 Frontal lobe = is a part of the brain which help a person to think,
organize, planning, gives personality, problem solving, emotions and
behavior control.
 Participant: 2 rats
Method: Condition 1 = rich environment (toys) EXPERIMENTAL
Condition 2 = poor environment (no toys) CONTROL
 Cut and open the head (take the brain)
 Weigh and record the brains

Result:
Rich environment = heavier frontal lobe
Poor environment= lighter frontal lobe

Conclusion:
In the theory it was stated that higher stimulation = higher density of neural
connection, in the experiment the richer environment the heavier the frontal
lobe this means that richer environment more stimuli which make the rats
active.

Neurotransmitter
Theory:
 Neurotransmission = process by which neurons send electrochemical
messages in the brain
 Neurotransmitter = chemicals released by neurons that transmit
information to other neurons.
 Example of neurotransmitter: Acetylcholine (for muscle contraction and
memory development/memory formation)

Research:
Martinez & Kessner
 Aim: to see the role of acetylcholine in memory formation
 Participant: Rats
Method: Condition 1 = Scopolamine (inhibit acetylcholine)
Condition 2 = Physotigmine (exhibit acetylcholine)
Condition 3 = control group (no-injection)
 Rat place in T-maze to find the cheese (before injection)
 After injection they are put back in T-maze

Result:
 Scopolamine group: longer time to find cheese and have more mistake
than pgysotigmine
 Physotigmine = faster and less mistake
 Control group = Saline (Faster than physcotigmine but slower than
scopalimine)

Conclusion:
In conclusion, it it true that the injection effect memory. From the theory
above it was stated that one of the example of neurotransmitter which is
acetylcholine is used for muscle contraction and memory development. In the
experiment the mouse that was inhibit by acetylcholine have longer time to
find cheese and have more mistake compare to the rats that is exhibit or
injected by the acetylcholine.

Hormones:
Theory:
 Responsible on how we think, feel and behave
 Chemical secreted by glands of ENDOCRINE SYSTEM that affect behavior
 Produced by organ such as pancreas:
o Cortisol = response to stress, restore to homeostasis and it is produce
in adrenal cortex
o (chronic stress effect cortisol secretion)
Damage immune system
Impair memory and learning
Shrink hippocampus
Research:
Newcomer ETAL
 Aim: to see the effect of cortisol on verbal declarable memory.
 Participant: 31 normal and healthy individual
Age: 10-30 years’ old
Duration: 4 days
Method: the participant is being tested to see how well they are in
memorizing something.
 Group 1 High Cortisol (160mg/day)
 Group 2 Low Cortisol (40mg/day)
 Group 3 Control (no inject)
 Spatial memory = memory use to store information about the
environment

Result:
Group 1 and 2 = not have much different
= Quite similar
At the end they also have a follow- up experiment: to test on how many words
recall.

Genetics:
 Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation and heredity in living
organism.
 Genetic and environment and can influence behavior
 Genetic = nature (biological factor)
 Environment = nurture (social factor)
 Case study = twin’s studies, family studies, adoption studies
1. Monozygotic (identical)
2. Dizygotic (non- identical)
 Concordance rate = probability that the same trait will be present in
both members of a pair of twins

Research:
Bouchard ET AL (1990)
 Aim: twin study investigating genetic inheritance of intelligence.
 Participant: Monozygotic twins (reared together)
Monozygotic twins (non – identical)
 Method: IQ test
 Result:
 Monozygotic twins reared together = 88 % concordance rate

Conclusion:
Genetic and environment always play role together

Evolution:

 Adaptation = ability to adjust to change and new experience and to

accept new information
 Therefore = species develop characteristic that make it more
competitive in its environment
 It was stated that = only the species that can adapt that can survive
 As human keep adapting, advantageous gene is passed down which will
lead to evolution
 Evolution = changing inherited traits of a species overtime.
 Behavior and genetic can be inherited.

Research:
Testuro Matsuzawa (2007)
 Aim: comparison of spatial memory between chimpanzees and humans.
Method:
1. Train chimpanzees and human, chimpanzees train to recognize number
1-9.
2. In monitor = they show number 1-9 that they have to memorize the
order. The number will be covered. (this applied to both human and
chimpanzees).
3. Both need to recall the order of the number 1-9 in the monitor, and
when ever the chimpanzees answer it right they will get a reward.

Result:
 human made many errors
 accuracy will decrease when numbers replaced by blank squares more
quickly
 chimpanzee = remarkable, no difference when numbers shown for
shorter duration.
Technology:
Theory
Brain imaging technology:
“MRI” scan = magnetic resonance imaging (it can give detailed picture of
internal structures in the body.

Strength:
 safe to use (no radioactive material)
 Show how blood flow in the brain & identity problem with blood
circulation.
 Early detection of Alzheimer’s disease

Weakness:
 Expensive, movement affects the picture, no cause- and effect
relationship.

Research:
Ashtari ET AL:
 Aim: to investigate whether substance abuse (marijuana) can damage
the developing in brain of adolescents & young adults.
Method:
 14 young men of heavy marijuana over long periods.
 14 young men who don’t use marijuana.
 Brain scanning.

Result:
 Marijuana =brain abnormalities in frontal lobe, parietal and temporal
regions of brain
 Shows white matter so parts of brain are not functioning.
 MRI scan gave correlational data that marijuana can effect brain
development negatively.

Cognitive
Model of memory
(Working- memory model)

Theory:
 A development of the multi-store model of memory
 STM (short term memory) is not a single store but rather consist of a
number of different store
 Central executive = monitor and coordinates the operations of the other
subordinate components, which are called slave system.

Working- memory model memory are divided into 3 parts:

1. Visuospatial sketchpad: temporary store for visual and spatial
information from either sensory memory or Long term memory and it is
the component of Short term memory.
2. Episodic Buffer: several sources of information active at the same time,
auditory and visual information together, as well as information from
Long term memory. It is to organize/ slow down things a bit so it is not
overloaded
3. Phonological loop articulatory control system: auditory memory traces.

Research:
Queen and Mcconnel
 Aim: to give evidence of working model
Method:
 Participant were to learn a list of words by using either imagery or
rehearsal
 The task was performed on either the verbal noise or visual noise (ex.
Clock ticking or verbal noise, ex. People talking.)
 They were asked to recall the words.

Result:
 The result showed that participants who memorized in visual way did
not affected by verbal noise, but disturbed by visual noise.
 Using the same system for different task will int
1. 2 task use the same system = low performance
2. 2 task use the different system = high performance

Model of memory
(Multi- store memory)

Theory:
 memory refers to the process by which information is encoded, stored
and retrieved.
 Consists of a number of separate locations in which memory is stored
 Memory process are sequential
 Each memory store operates in a single, uniform way.

Multi-store memory model are divided into 3 parts:

1. Short-term memory: a gate way by which information can gain access to
long- term memory (LTM), capacity: limited to (7+/-2) 6-12 seconds
2. Long-term memory: memory stores operate with the LTM through
process: attention, coding, rehearsal
3. Rehearsal: keeping material active in (STM) by repeating it until it can be
stored in (LMT)

There are 4 types of memory:

1. Semantic- facts
2. Episodic – Events
3. Procedural – “how to”
4. Emotional

Research:
Glanzer and Cunitz
 Aim: to see the regency effect in free call
 Method:
1. Showed a list of 20 words
2. Conditions: Recall with no delay
With 10 seconds delay
30 seconds delay

Result:
 No delay: recalled best
 10/30 seconds: little effect at the beginning of the list but poor at the
later words.
 Earlier words were stored in the long- term storage. (primary effect)
 Later words were stored in the short- term memory. (regency effect)
Schema:
Schema is a mental representation base on prior experience and knowledge.
It is in the human mind that derived from the experience you encounter before. There
are two types of schema which are: self-schema and social schema. Self-schema is
‘what do you think about yourself’, while social schema is ‘what do you think about
others’. It can help someone to have a picture about a situation, something or places
before seeing or experience it. Another type is the cultural schema, which is only
applicable in certain countries. Schema also help someone in order to know how to
behave and response to a particular situation. Schema theory is related to the theory
of the human minds and what they think of (predictions) about something.

To support the theory, a research had been conducted by “Barlett (1932)”

which aimed to see how previous knowledge (schema) have the effect on memory.
In the research, the participants are British and they heard a story titled “The War of
Ghosts”. Then, they are tested in two conditions. In the first condition, the
participants were asked to repeat the story after a period of time in days, weeks,
months and years and this are called (repeated reproduction). In the second
conditions, the participants were asked to retell the story to others (serial
reproduction).

As a result, the story become shorter because some people tends to eliminate
the points which they think are not important. They also tend to remember the main
points but the rest of the story they mention mostly base on their cultures. Some
tends to change some of the words in the story like “hunting seals” becoming
“hunting bears” and change the order of the story. In conclusion, base on the
research it is proven that our perception and schema have affect on the reliability of
our memory.

Reconstructive Memory:

Loftus wrote an article about how reconstructive memory effect the

interpretation of colour of the car in the accident. The eye witnesses reported that the
car is a white van which in fact was a blue Chevrolet caprice. The information was
from a bystander who had mentioned a white van in an interview. What the
bystander said is called leading question which lead to misinformation effect.

To support this statement, a research had been done by “Loftus and

Palmer (1974)” which aimed is to find out the effect of leading questions on
eyewitness estimation of speed. The participants were 45 students and they were
divided into five groups of seven. Seven short films of traffic accident from driver’s
education films were shown. After watching, they were asked to give an account of
the accident they had seen and answered a questionnaire with different questions.
There is one critical question which is to estimate the speed of the cars. All questions
were the same except the critical question which have different verbs. Nine
participants were asked about “how fast were the cars going when they hit each
other?”. The critical word ‘hit’ was replaced by ‘collided’, ‘bumped’, ‘smashed’, or
‘contacted’ and the other conditions which each had nine participants answering the
question.
Researchers predicted that using the word ‘smashed’ would result in higher
estimation of speed than using the word ‘hit’. The independent variable was the
different intensities of the verbs used in the critical question and the dependent
variable was estimation of speed. The result shows that the speed was highest in the
‘smashed’ condition and lowest in the ‘contacted’ group. This clearly indicates that
different words have the tendency to decrease the reliability of memory. In
conclusion, it is proven by the research that leading question might lead to
misinformation.

Bias in Thinking and decision making:

Emotion + cognition:

Some events are not easily forgotten because we tend to remember experience that
involves emotion. Furthermore, research stated that emotion play a key role on how
memory is formed. Feeling that our memories are “special” may lead us to believe
that they are more accurate than they actually are. Flashbulb memory is defined as
a highly detailed, exceptionally vivid “snapshot” of the moment when a surprising and
emotionally arousing event happened. It has different characteristics than “ordinary
memories” which are resistant to forgetting.

To support this statement, a research had been done by “Brown and Kulik (1977)”
which aimed to investigate flashbulb memory. The research suggested that there
may be a special neural mechanism which triggers an emotional arousal because
the event is unexpected or extremely important. It turns out that because of the
supporting evidence by neuroscience, emotional events are better remembered than
less emotional events due to the critical role of the amygdala. Amygdala is a small
structure in the temporal lobe that store emotional memories. The participants of the
research were 80 Americans (40 white, 40 black). They are asked to answer
questions about ten events. Nine of the events were mostly about assassinations or
attempted assassinations of well-known American personalities (eg. JF Kennedy,
Martin Luther King). The tenth even was self-selected by the participants and base
on personal experience. Participants were asked to recalled the circumstances they
found themselves in when they first heard the news about the ten events.

The results are 90% of the participants recalled the assassination of JF Kennedy and
where they were in vivid detail. African-Americans reported more FBMs for leaders
of civil rights movements (eg. The assassination of Martin Luther King) than white
Americans. Most participants recalled a personal FBM which tended to be related to
learning about the death of a parent. More recent research has found that the
amygdala appears to be critical in the brain’s emotional circuit. In conclusion, the
research provide evidence that people are more likely to remember events which
involves emotion.
Cognitive processing in digital world:

There are many conflicting claims in the media about the role that technology
has on our thinking. Some research stated that the marketing companies took
advantage at our system 1 thinking by selling things we don’t need. Another
research stated that engagement with technology may improve our skill. Cognitive
bias can happen due to our immersion in digital world and engagement with social
media. Frequent use of social media can lead to cognitive bias such as confirmation
bias. Confirmation bias is when we select information which confirms our view. It
may also intensify negative cognitive biases based on comparison between
ourselves and apparent experience of our online friends. Research indicate that
social media may have an effect in our self-esteem and self-concept. Self-concept
refers to our view of who we are while self-esteem refers to the emotional response
of our self-concept.

To support this statement, a research had been conducted by “Chou and

Edge (2014)” which aimed to test the influence of the availability heuristic on how
facebook users evaluate themselves in comparison to other people. Participants are
425 US undergraduate students and they were asked to complete a survey including
a 10 point Likert scale allowing them to indicate how strongly they agreed on a series
of statement such as “many of my friends have a better life than me” or “many of my
friends are happier than me”. They also indicated how many hours a week they
spent on facebook, how long they had used FB, the average time spent actually with
friend per week and the number of friends on facebook whom they did not actually
know personally.

The results are that participant who spend most hours per week on FB were
more likely to agree that “other people are happier than me” or “many of my friends
have a better life than me” but did not feel that other people is happier. In conclusion,
the more time we spent of facebook, the more we can see other people engaged in
exciting, fun, social activities, and facebook users are likely to compare their own life
to these examples. In addition, we over-estimate the extent to which the behavior of
other people reflects their disposition rather than their situation.
 Social identity theory:

Social Identity Theory is a theory that argues that a person has not just one “personal
self”, but rather several social selves that correspond to group membership. We tend to
change our characteristic to adapt/ adjust to the correspond group it is called conformity.
The tendency of someone to follow a correspond group increases when he/ she is in public
rather than in private places. People with lower self-esteem more likely to conform more,
rather than people with higher self-esteem, having a lower self-esteem is when u don’t like
yourself, or you feel bad about yourself. When they conform to a correspond group he/ she
can boost their self-esteem. Social identity theory is dived into three mechanisms: Social
categorization (when we categorize them into different group), Social comparison (we
compare what are the things that are good/ bad from other group), and the last one is
positive distinctiveness (we think what makes our group is better than the other group.)

We could learn the social identity theory through a research from Abrams et al (1990)
the aim of this experiment is to see if as social identity theory predicts, people are more
likely to conform behavior of people in their in-group. They conducted the experiment by
having 50 psychology students (23 males and 27 females). They were thought that they
were taking a test of visual accuracy. There were 3 confederates the (in-group) was the
psychology students and the (out-group) is the history students. The participant was shown
a straight line, and then three other lines. One of the lines was the same length as the
straight line. They were asked to identify which of the three lines matched the straight line.
There were 18 trials, in the nine of the trials the confederates gave the right answers. And
the other nine trials the confederates gave the wrong answer.

The hypothesis of this experiment is that the participant will conform more often when the
confederates were from their in-group and they will feel less confident of their own answer
in the in-group. The result supported this hypothesis, the participant conformed more often
to the confederates who they thought were from their in-group. From their post-
experimental questionnaire, they felt less confident with their own judgment in the in-group
condition. In the experiment they are done inside the lab which mean a high controlled
environment, but a low ecological validity. And there is some problem with the
generalization, because the participant was only psychology students. In conclusion the
experiment shows that social categorization can play a key role in one’s decision to
conform.

DEURY ET AL
 Social cognitive theory:

Social Cognitive Theory is when human learn behavior through observational learning/
people can learn by watching models and imitating their behavior. children who have grown
up with older brothers and sisters often learn about behavior and expectations through
watching their siblings. When they see their sibling get rewarded for a certain action, they
learn that they should also do the behavior, it is called vicarious reinforcement. There are
some factors that involves in social cognitive theory such as attention, in order to learn a
behavior, the learner must pay attention (see the situation), Retention the observer must be
able to remember the behavior. And the last one is motivation learners must want to
replicate the behavior that they have observed. (be will to do). But there are also some
factors that might influence whether or not the observer decides to imitate and learn, such
as consistency, identification, liking, and self efficacy.

We could learn the social identity theory through a research from Bandura et al (1961).
The aim of the experiment is to see if children would imitate aggression modelled by an
adult; and second, they wanted to know if children were more likely to imitate same-sex
models. There were children aged 3 to 6 years old (36 boys and 36 girls). They were divided
into two groups. One group was exposed to adult models who showed aggression by
punching “Bobo” doll or using verbal aggression toward the “Bobo” doll. And the second
group observed a non- aggressive adult who assembled toys for 10 minutes. The third group
was the control group and did not see any model. The children were divided into group that
match their aggression. In the first and second group they watched same-sex models and
some watched the opposite-sex models.

The result shows that the children who had observed the aggressive models were more
aggressive both physically and verbally. And according to their gender the girls were more
likely to imitate verbal aggression, whereas boys were more likely to imitate physical
aggression. and the children were more likely to imitate the same-sex adult rather than the
opposite-sex model. The experiment was done inside a lab which means it has high
controlled environment but low ecological validity. And the experiment is having a problem
with the ethical issue because they exposed violence, in front of a 3-6 years old children. In
conclusion the experiment support social cognitive theory that human learn behavior
through observational learning or imitating their behavior.

BANDURA ROS AND ROSS

 Cultural Dimension:

By doing an experiment the researcher is trying to find the cause and effect, by
manipulating the independent variable, and see how it effects the independent
variable. Usually the experiment was done inside the lab, the experiment was
divided into two group which is the control group and experimental group.
Experiments are used because they are important, they have several key strengths
because they are highly standardized, they may be replicated. This allows other
researcher to “redo” the experiment to attempt to get the same results. There are
many types of experiment; laboratory/controlled experiment, Field experiment,
Natural experiment.

One example of an experiment was done by Berry (1967). They are replicating
the Asch’s experiment the linear trial, the participant of this experiment was people of
Temne of sierra leone (rice farming), and the Inuit of Baffin Island (hunting). The
participant was shown a straight line, and then three other lines. One of the lines was
the same length as the straight line. They were asked to identify which of the three
lines matched the straight line. There were 18 trials, in the nine of the trials the
confederates gave the right answers. And the other nine trials the confederates gave
the wrong answer.

The hypothesis of this experiment is that the Temne will have a high level of
conformity, and the Inuits will have lower level of conformity compare to Temne. And
the result supported this hypothesis, the Temne people have higher level of
conformity it is because the people of Temne are collectivism, they valued social
harmony, their self is defined by group achievement. And the Inuits are
Individualism, they valued uniqueness, and their self is defined by individual
achievement. therefore, Inuits have lower level of conformity.

However, the experiment suffers from low ecological validity because the
experiment was done inside a lab, therefor it may not be done in the natural
environment. The experiment has problem with the population validity because it
was done only by Inuits and Temne people. The experiment is highly controlled
because there are not that many participants at once. The Asch’s experiment is
highly standardized they can be easily replicated.

Another researcher is a correlational study. A correlational study is different from

experiment in that no variable is manipulated by the researcher, so causation cannot
be inferred and correlation can only predict a relationship because we don’t know
what actually affect what. A correlational study usually was done by a survey or a
questionnaire.

One example of a correlational study was done by Wei et al (2001). The aim of
the research is to see the comparison between the collectivism and individualism on
conflict resolution. The participant was 600 managers, they were divided into four
groups; Japanese, America, Chinese, and Singaporean. The research was done in
Singapore. The participant was given a questionnaire to measure if they are
dominant/ conflict avoiding.
 The hypothesis of this experiment is that the American will dominate the
conflict resolution rather than Asian. And the result supported this hypothesis, the
American is individualist, where they valued uniqueness and their self is defined by
individual achievement therefor American are more likely to dominate the conflict.
The Asian they are not always conflict avoiding, but American people who lives in
Singapore for a long time are conflict avoiding, because they adapt norms and
behavior of other country for a long time even though they are actually Americans.

The research was a correlational study, because the research was done by a
survey (questionnaires). The result might be ambiguous / Bidirectional Ambiguity
because we don’t know what affects what. The experiment has problem with the
confounding variable because the result might be bias, the participant might not
understand the question, and the participant might answer in a way that is
considered to be more socially acceptable or appealing to others (social desirability).
The experiment was done in the natural environment which means the research has
high ecological validity. The research has high population validity because the
participant are from 4 different countries.

From the two research above the research method enables us to investigate/
understand about how collectivism and individualism affects our conformity and how
we deal on conflict resolution. the experimental method can be used to establish
cause-effect relationships between collectivism vs individualism on conflict
resolution. And the correlational study allows us to clearly and easily see if there is a
relationship between variables.

Correlational:

A correlational study is different from experiment in that no variable is manipulated

by the researcher, so causation cannot be inferred and correlation can only predict a
relationship because we don’t know what actually affect what. A correlational study
usually was done by a survey or a questionnaire.