Teacher Guide PSYCHOLOGY

Qualification

Accredited

AS and A LEVEL

Teacher Guide

PSYCHOLOGY

H167/H567

For first teaching in 2015

Guide to

Core Studies 1

Version 2

.uk/psychology

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AS and A LEVEL

PSYCHOLOGY

This Core Studies guide is just a starting point for teachers and students. It is important that students understand the studies in-depth

in order to answer any assessment questions. The assessment questions may ask them to extrapolate information from the studies or

take their understanding of the studies and what they have taught us further.

CONTENTS

Biological Psychology

Regions of the brain

Social Psychology

Responses to people in authority

Milgram (1963)

Obedience

Bocchiaro et al (2012)

Disobedience and whistle-blowing

Sperry (1968)

Split brain study

Casey et al (2011)

Neural correlates of delay of gratification

Page 4

Page 9

Page 38

Psychology of Individual Differences

Understanding disorders

Cognitive Psychology

Memory

Loftus and Palmer (1974)

Eyewitness Testimony

Grant et al (1998)

Context-dependent memory

Page 34

Freud (1909)

Little Hans

Baron-Cohen et al (1997)

Autism in adults

Page 15

Page 20

Page 46

Page 50

Developmental Psychology

External influences on children¡¯s behaviour

Bandura et al (1961)

Transmission of aggression

Chaney et al (2004)

Funhaler Study

Page 26

Page 30

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Social Psychology

Responses to people in authority ¨C Milgram

MILGRAM, S. (1963) Behavioural study of obedience

Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67, (4), 371-378.

1. Theory/ies on which the study is based

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Obedience is the psychological mechanism that links individual action to political purpose. It is the dispositional feature that binds people to

systems of authority. It is an active or deliberate form of social influence.

According to Milgram (1992) obedience involves the ¡®abdication of individual judgement in the face of some external social pressure¡¯.

Obedience involves (a) being ordered or instructed to do something, (b) being influenced by an authority figure of superior status, (c) the

maintenance of social power and status of the authority figure in a hierarchical society.

A person commanded by a legitimate authority usually obeys ¨C it is a ubiquitous and indispensable feature of social life.

Obedience serves a number of productive functions with the very survival of society depending on its existence.

2. Background to the study

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From 1933-45, millions of innocent people were systematically slaughtered on command. Such inhumane actions may have originated in the

mind of one person, but they could only have been carried out on such a massive scale because large numbers of people obeyed.

History and observation suggest that for many people obedience is such an ingrained behavioural tendency that it will override training in

ethics, empathy and moral values. This is because, when given extreme commands by legitimate authority figures, subordinates adopt an

agentic state where they become the instrument for carrying out another person¡¯s wishes.

The adoption of the agentic state can account for horrific acts committed in the name of obedience eg the atrocities of WWII, the Balkans

conflicts, the atrocities in Rwanda.

The aim of this study was to investigate the process of obedience by testing how far an individual will go in obeying an authority figure, even

when the command breaches the moral code that an individual should not hurt another person against his will.

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Social Psychology

Responses to people in authority ¨C Milgram

MILGRAM, S. (1963) Behavioural study of obedience

Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67, (4), 371-378.

3. Research Method

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Although Milgram refers to this study as an experiment, it is generally considered a controlled observation as there was, in fact, no independent

variable.

The study took place in a laboratory at Yale University so conditions could be controlled eg who was teacher / learner, the learner¡¯s recorded

and thus standardised responses, the experimenter¡¯s ¡®prods¡¯.

Data was gathered through observations made by both the experimenter who was in the same room as the participant and others who

observed the process through one-way mirrors. Most sessions were recorded on magnetic tape, occasional photographs were taken through

the one-way mirrors and notes were made on unusual behaviours.

Prior to the study, 14 Yale Seniors, all psychology majors, estimated the percentage of participants who would administer the highest level of

shock. Estimates ranged from 1% - 3% (mean 1.2%).

4. Sample

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40 male participants aged between 20 and 50 years, from the New Haven area were obtained by a newspaper advertisement and direct

mail solicitation which asked for volunteers to participate in a study of memory and learning at Yale University. There was a wide range of

occupations in the sample. Participants were paid $4.50 for simply presenting themselves at the laboratory.

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