Bennett-Levy & Marteau PY2 Flashcards
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- Created by: bananaaar
- Created on: 14-04-14 11:04
aims and context 1?
Since Derwin there has been interest in evolutionary psychology and the nature-nurture debate. People who were not fearful of dangerous things in the past did not survive to pass on their genes. This means some traits e.g fear of animals are adaptive
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Aims and context 2?
Selgiman (1971) proposed the idea of 'biological preparedness' - an inherited predisposition to fear certain animals. Research shows that animal fears are not random. Seligman also suggests that explains why some animal phobias occur without trauma
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Seligman analogy to show animal fears are not random?
Spiders are more feared than flies.
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Seligman theory test?
Looked at the number of electric shocks needed to create a phobia of spiders/snakes compared to flowers.2-4 shocks needed to create spider/snake phobia, and significantly more for flower. He said this is due to being biological prepared to fear harm
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Aims and context 3?
BL&M also wanted to find out if pps tended to fear the appearnance of an animal rather than the animal itself. Hinde (1974) developed idea of 'discrepancy principle'. He believed that we fear animals that differ in form to ourselves.
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Hinde Support?
therapist support Hinde's theory as most chronic phobics undergoing treatment talk about the appearance or movement of animal, not the danger that they present.
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BLM aim 1?
To find out whether it is the appearance/movement of the animals which makes us fear them.
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BLM aim 2?
To find out whether these fears are due to 'biological preparedness'.
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Procedures: research method?
Questionnaire.
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Procedures: Sample?
113 pps. Group 1: 34 females and 30 males (average age 35.5). Group 2: 25 females and 34 males (average age 35.1). all pps were attending a health centre in Britain - opportunist.
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Procedures: Research Involved
Pps filling in 1 of 3 questionnaires and answering informal questions about their responses.
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Procedures: Research Involved 2
Getting group 1 to fill in a questionnaire designed to measure fear and avoidance (how near they would go to the animal) of 29 small, harmless animals and insects, e.g. rat, spider, worm, tortoise etc.
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Procedures: Research Involved 3
Getting these pps to rate their fear on a 3 point scale and their avoidance on a 5 point scale.
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Procedures: Research Involved 4?
Measuring fear on the following scale: 1= not afraid, 2= quite afraid, 3= very afraid
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Procedures: Research Involved 5
Measuring avoidance on the following scale: 1= enjoy picking it up, 2= would pick it up but it would be unpleasant, 3= touch it/go within 6 inches, 4= stand 1-6 feet away, 5= move over 6 feet away.
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Procedures: Research Involved 6
Pps imagining the animal/insect had been injured in some way if it would be difficult to pick up in the wild, e.g. bird having a broken wing.
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Procedures: Research Involved 7
Telling the pps that things like jellyfish were harmless.
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Procedures: Research Involved 8
Getting group 2 to fill in a different questionnaire designed to measure the same 29 animals and insects on a 3 point scale of how ugly, slimy, speedy they are and how suddenly they appear to move.
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Procedures: Research Involved 9
Scale for group 2: 1= not, 2= quite, 3= very.
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Procedures: ethical issues?
Addressed ethical issues by only using people who did not already have an animal phobia as to not make their phobia worse.
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Found? 1
Most feared animal was the rat (2.08) which was also the most likely to be avoided (3.9)
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Found? 2
Ugliest animal was the slug (2.63) which was also the slimiest (2.9)
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Found? 3
Speediest animal was the lizard (2.53) and also the animal that moved most suddenly (2.78)
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Found? 4
On Q1 there was a strong positive correlation between fear and avoidance (0.9).
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Found? 5
Thjere was a positive correlation between fear on Q1 and ugliness on Q2 (0.82)
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Found? 6
On Q1, females were less willing to approach or pick up 10 of the animals such as the jellyfish, cockroach, spider.
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Found? 7
On Q1 females also feared most of the animals more than men, however there were no sex differences in Q2.
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Found? 8
During informal interviews pps reported 'ugly' as 'slimy', 'hairy', 'dirty, 'lots of legs' etc, i.e. very different from humans. (discrepancy principle)
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Concluded 1?
Animals with the 4 perceptual characteristics (ugly, slimy, speedy, moving suddenly) are less approachable and more fear-provoking.
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Concluded 2
We fear animals that differ in form to humans, i.e. phobias are caused by the discrepancy principle.
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Concluded 3
Findings have implications for the treatment of clinical phobias. The phobic's perception of animals, such as slimy, speedy, moving suddenly and ugly needs to be dealt with, ideally with systematic desensitisation.
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Concluded 4
'The degree to which humans are prepared to approach/fear an animal depends not only on its harmfullness, but also on the prescence of certain fear porvoking perceptual properties, and its discrepancy from the human form.'
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Reliability?
Strong - Questionnaires were standardised (both groups answered questionnaires on same 29 animals). Group 1 rated fear and avoidance, group 2 rated characteristics. TST can be repeated/retested.
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Validity?
Weak - pps may have lied about fears and perceptions so may not paint true picture. Lacks external validity - questionnaires un true to day to day life.
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Sampling?
Problematic - taken from same health centre, not representitive. However strong as equal amounts of men and women and large sample of 113 so generalisations were easier to make.
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Data?
Strong - quantitative (mean fear score for rat 2.08), qualitative - informal interview about what 'ugly' was.
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Ethics?
Strong - no deception as they gave fully informed consent. Protected from physical & psychological harm (questionnaire and only used people without phobias.
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Alternative Evidence 1?
Supported by Hinde - he believed we fear animals that differ in form to humans (discrepancy principle). Supports BLM as both studies suggest we fear animals because of what they look like, rather than the danger they present.
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Alternative Evidence 1 which was better?
BLM research was stronger as the research was more reliable than Hinde's as the latter was just theoretical, whereas BLM's study was based on real pps preceptyions revealed in 2 questionnaires.
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Alternative Evidence 2?
Supported by work of therapists who have treated animal phobias as they found that phobics talk about how the animal looks rather than its danger. Supports as both sets of research see phobias caused by discrepancy principle rather than threat.
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Alternative Evidence 2 which is better?
BLM more reliable than therapists evidence as BLM's pps were normal, as opposed to the 'abnormal' pps undergoing therapy and so were not reliable pps. Hoever therapists higher in external validity as they used real life pps with real phobias.
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Alternative Evidence 3?
Seligman rejects as he found that only 2-4 shocks were needed to fear spider/snake but lots of larger shocks for a flower. Rejects as it suggests innate preparedness causes animal phobias rather than discrepancy principle as BLM suggest.
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Alternative Evidence 3 which is better?
Seligman's study was more reliable than BLM as it was a controlled lab experiment as opposed to a questionnaire.
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Other cards in this set
Card 2
Front
Aims and context 2?
Back
Selgiman (1971) proposed the idea of 'biological preparedness' - an inherited predisposition to fear certain animals. Research shows that animal fears are not random. Seligman also suggests that explains why some animal phobias occur without trauma
Card 3
Front
Seligman analogy to show animal fears are not random?
Back
Card 4
Front
Seligman theory test?
Back
Card 5
Front
Aims and context 3?
Back
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