PSY 201 Problems, Spring 2014

Name: __________________________________________ Date: ___________________________________________ 1. The following are abstracts (~200 word summaries of an empirical research project) which summarise research from different fields in Psychology. You task is to: 1) identify the research design (the research methods) employed (experimental, survey, naturalistic observation, case study, archival, correlations) 2) What are the advantages and disadvantages (as they apply to the particulars of the abstract) of the method used. 3) Figure out which subfield in Psychology and Perspective that the study most clearly belongs to or endorses. The author reports an unusual situation of deprivation. Monozygotic twin boys were reared from age 18 months to 7 yr in social isolation by a psychopathic stepmother and an inadequate father. Because of the criminal behaviour of the stepmother the children were exposed to living conditions which resembled those of an experimental situation. On discovery, their mental age level was 3 years. After treatment, a period in a children's home and approximately 2 yr in a good foster-home, they had made remarkable progress and now appear about average for their age. Forensic aspects of the case are discussed, as are features of the foster-home placement, and the significance of twins in the recovery. Residual effects of deprivation will be studied by an extended follow-up. 2. To see whether estrus (changes due to reproductive hormones) was really “lost” during human evolution (as researchers often claim), we examined ovulatory cycle effects on tip earnings by professional lap dancers working in gentlemen's clubs. Eighteen dancers recorded their menstrual periods, work shifts, and tip earnings for 60 days on a study web site. A mixed-model analysis of 296 work shifts (representing about 5300 lap dances) showed an interaction between cycle phase and hormonal contraception use. Normally cycling participants earned about US$335 per 5-h shift during estrus, US$260 per shift during the luteal phase, and US$185 per shift during menstruation. By contrast, participants using contraceptive pills showed no estrous earnings peak. These results constitute the first direct economic evidence for the existence and importance of estrus in contemporary human females, in a real-world work setting. These results have clear implications for human evolution, sexuality, and economics. 3. The relationship between three parenting styles (authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative) and the mental health of Arab adolescents was tested. It was hypothesized that parenting style toward boys would differ from that towards girls, psychological adjustment of girls would differ from that of boys, and that the authoritarian style applied within the authoritarian Arab society is not associated with poor psychological adjustment. The Parental Authority Questionnaire, Child Attitude Toward Parents, Lipsitt’s Self-Concept Scale for Children, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the Psychological State Scale were administered to 431 Arab adolescents. Sex comparison revealed that the parenting style with regard to girls tends to be more authoritative and less authoritarian than with regard to boys. Girls scored higher than boys on identity disorder, anxiety disorder, and depression scales, whereas boys scored higher than girls on the behavior disorder scale. There was no significant relationship between the authoritarian parenting style and the mental health measures. A significant positive relationship exists between the authoritative parenting style and the mental health of children. Among boys, the permissive parenting style was associated with negative attitudes towards parents, lower self-esteem and increased identity, anxiety, phobia, depressive, and conduct disorders. It seems, therefore, that the effect of parenting style is culturally and gender dependent rather than universal. 4. This article describes a procedure for the study of destructive obedience. It consists of ordering a research participant to administer increasingly more severe punishment to a victim in the context of a learning study. Punishment is administered by means of a shock generator with 30 graded switches ranging from Slight Shock to Danger: Severe Shock. The victim is a confederate of the study (the research assistant). The primary dependent variable is the maximum shock the research participant is willing to administer before he refuses to continue further. 26 participants obeyed the commands fully, and administered the highest shock on the generator. 14 participants left the study at some point after the victim protested and refused to provide further answers. The procedure created extreme levels of nervous tension in some participants. Profuse sweating, trembling, and stuttering were typical expressions of this emotional disturbance. One unexpected sign of tension—yet to be explained—was the regular occurrence of nervous laughter, which in some participants developed into uncontrollable seizures. The variety of interesting behavioral dynamics observed in the experiment, the reality of the situation for the participant, and the possibility of parametric variation within the framework of the procedure, point to the fruitfulness of further study. 5. Previous research indicates that the likelihood of receiving help decreases as the number of bystanders increases. Two possible explanations to explain the bystanders effect are diffusion of responsibility among bystander and a social norms explanation. To investigate which model explains the bystander effect a study was undertaken in which emergencies were staged (enacted). Bystanders were expected to provide help in a minor emergency. The results show an increase in helping behaviour when a bystander is present and a further increase if the bystander models the expected helping behaviour. The results contradict the often empirically shown bystander effect and support a social norms explanation of helping behaviour. 6. Children's physical risk behaviors were studied at a popular family outing site, San Antonio Zoological Gardens. Measured risk activities were crossing a suspension bridge without holding the safety handrails and entering exits of tube chutes that had posted pictorial and print warning signs. Proportional to the overall frequencies of boys and girls entering these exhibits, significant differences were observed at both the suspension bridge for boys (132/203) and girls (79/184), [X.sup.2] (1, N = 387) = 18.99, p < .001, one-tailed) and the tube chutes for boys (34/179) and girls (14/159), [X.sup.2] (1, N = 338) = 7.176, p < .01, one-tailed). Boys engaged in more physical risk behaviors than girls. These findings were consistent with other findings reported at similar zoo exhibits two decades earlier suggesting that, unlike self-reported risk-taking data, the magnitude of sex differences in children's physical risk- taking may not have diminished over time. 7. The facial feedback hypothesis suggests that muscular manipulations which result in more positive facial expressions may lead to more positive emotional states in affected individuals. In this essay, we hypothesize that the injection of botulinum toxin for upper face dynamic creases might induce positive emotional states by reducing the ability to frown and create other negative facial expressions. The use of botulinum toxin to pharmacologically alter upper face muscular expressiveness may curtail the appearance of negative emotions, most notably anger, but also fear and sadness. This occurs via the relaxation of the corrugator supercilii and the procerus, which are responsible for brow furrowing, and to a lesser extent, because of the relaxation of the frontalis. Concurrently, botulinum toxin may dampen some positive expressions like the true smile, which requires activity of the orbicularis oculi, a muscle also relaxed after toxin injections. On balance, the evidence suggests that botulinum toxin injections for upper face dynamic creases may reduce negative facial expressions more than they reduce positive facial expressions. Based on the facial feedback hypothesis, this net change in facial expression may potentially have the secondary effect of reducing the internal experience of negative emotions, thus making patients feel less angry, sad, and fearful. Answers 1. Case study, developmental psychology 2. Survey Design, evolutionary psychology 3. Survey Design, social psychology 4. Experimental Design, Social Psychology 5. Experimental Design, Social Psychology 6. Experimental Design + natural observation (quasi experimental design), Personality psychology 7. Experimental Design (with grouping variable), subfield isn’t 100% from the abstract,