Unit 1: Social and cognitive psychology

1.1.1Theories of obedience

1.1.1 Theories of obedience, including agency theory and social power theory.

1.1.2Milgram’s obedience research

1.1.2 Research into obedience, including Milgram’s (1963) research into obedience and three of his variation studies: rundown office block (Experiment 10), telephonic instructions (Experiment 7), ordinary man gives orders (Experiment 13) as they demonstrate situational factors that encourage dissent.

1.1.3Factors affecting obedience and dissent

1.1.3 Factors affecting obedience and dissent/resistance to obedience, including individual differences (personality and gender), situation and culture.; Conformity.

1.1.4Types and explanations of conformity

1.1.4 Types and explanations of conformity.

1.1.5Asch’s conformity research

1.1.5 Research into conformity including Asch (1951) and his variation studies (1952, 1956).

1.1.6Minority influence

1.1.6 Minority influence (Moscovici, 1976).

1.1.7Factors affecting conformity and minority influence

1.1.7 Factors affecting conformity and minority influence, including individual differences (personality), situation and culture.

1.2.1Questionnaire and interview design

1.2.1 Designing and conducting questionnaires and interviews, considering researcher effects.

1.2.2Primary and secondary data

1.2.2 Primary and secondary data.

1.2.3Interview types and question types

1.2.3 Unstructured, semi-structured and structured interviews, open, closed (including ranked scale) questions.

1.2.4Alternative hypotheses. Sample selection and sampling techniques

1.2.4 Alternative hypotheses.; Sample selection and sampling techniques.

1.2.5Sampling techniques

1.2.5 Random, stratified, volunteer, and opportunity sampling techniques.; Quantitative data.

1.2.6Quantitative data analysis

1.2.6 (List A) Analysis of quantitative data: calculating measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode), data tables (frequency tables and summary tables), graphical presentation (bar chart, histogram), measures of dispersion (range and standard deviation), percentages, ratios, fractions.

1.2.7Normal and skewed distribution

1.2.7 Normal and skewed distribution.

1.2.8Thematic analysis

1.2.8 Analysis of qualitative data using thematic analysis.; Ethical guidelines.

1.2.9BPS ethics and risk management

1.2.9 British Psychological Society (BPS) code of ethics and conduct (2009), including risk management when carrying out research in psychology.

1.3.1Moscovici et al. (1969) minority influence

1.3.1 Moscovici et al. (1969) Influence of a Consistent Minority on the Responses of a Majority in a Color Perception Task.; Contemporary study.

1.3.2Burger (2009) Milgram replication

1.3.2 Burger (2009) Replicating Milgram: Would people still obey today? One contemporary study from the following two choices:.

1.3.3Yi Huang et al. (2014) conformity duration

1.3.3 Yi Huang et al. (2014) Conformity to the opinions of other people lasts for no more than 3 days.

1.3.4Haun et al. (2014) peer conformity

1.3.4 Haun et al. (2014) Children Conform to the Behavior of Peers; Other Great Apes Stick With What They Know.

1.4.1Social psychology practical investigation

1.4.1 One practical research exercise to gather data relevant to topics covered in social psychology.; This practical research exercise must adhere to ethical principles in both content and intention.; In conducting the practical research exercise, learners must:; design and conduct a questionnaire to gather both qualitative and quantitative data to look for a difference in the data; consider questionnaire construction, sampling decisions and ethical issues; collect and present an analysis of quantitative data using measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode as appropriate), measures of dispersion, (including range and standard deviation as appropriate), table and graphical representations (summary table, frequency table, bar graph, histogram as appropriate); collect and present an analysis of qualitative data using thematic analysis; consider strengths and weaknesses of the questionnaire; write up the procedure, results and discussion section of a report.; ; A questionnaire to see if males perceive themselves to be more obedient than females.; ; A questionnaire into self-reported levels of conformity based on scenarios.

2.1.1 The multi-store model of memory (Atkinson and Shiffrin, 1968), including information processing, encoding, storage, retrieval, capacity and duration.

2.1.2 The working memory model (Baddeley and Hitch, 1974) including the phonological loop, central executive, visual- spatial sketchpad, episodic buffer.

2.1.3 Reconstructive memory (Bartlett, 1932), including schema theory.

2.2.1 Designing and conducting experiments, including field and laboratory experiments.

2.2.2 Independent and dependent variables.

2.2.3 Experimental and null hypotheses.

2.2.4 Directional (one-tailed) and non-directional (two-tailed) tests and hypotheses.

2.2.5 Experimental and research designs: repeated measures, independent groups and matched pairs, the issues with each and possible controls.

2.2.6 Operationalisation of variables, extraneous variables and confounding variables.

2.2.7 The use of control groups, counterbalancing, randomisation and order effects.

2.2.8 Situational and participant variables.

2.2.9 Objectivity, reliability and validity (internal, predictive and ecological).

2.2.10 Experimenter effects, demand characteristics and control issues.

2.2.11 List A from Topic A. 18.

2.2.12 (List B) Decision making and interpretation of inferential statistics:.; levels of measurement.; Wilcoxon signed ranks test of difference (also covering Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (formula) and Spearman's rank (critical values table) and Chi-squared distribution once Unit 2 has been covered).; probability and levels of significance (p≤.10 p≤.05 p≤.01).; observed and critical values, and sense checking of data.; one- or two-tailed regarding inferential testing.; type I and type II errors.

2.2.13 Case studies of brain-damaged patients related to research into memory, including the case of Henry Molaison (HM).

2.3.1 Bartlett (1932) War of the Ghosts.; Contemporary study.

2.3.2 Schmolck et al. (2002) Semantic knowledge in patient HM and other patients with bilateral medial and lateral temporal lobe lesions.; One contemporary study from the following two choices:.

2.3.3 Darling et al. (2007) Behavioural evidence for separating components within visuo-spatial working memory.

2.3.4 Sacchi et al. (2007) Changing history: doctored photographs affect memory for past public events.

Conduct one ethical cognitive-psychology practical: design a repeated-measures laboratory experiment that gathers quantitative data. Make decisions about sampling, operationalisation, controls, hypotheses, experimenter effects, demand characteristics and order effects. Present and interpret central tendency, dispersion and appropriate graphs; consider normality where relevant; use the Wilcoxon non-parametric test of difference with significance and critical/observed values; evaluate strengths, weaknesses and improvements; and write the procedure, results and discussion. Suitable contexts include dual-task working-memory studies or acoustic similarity and short-term memory.