Leifer, A.D., Leiderman, P.H., Barnett, C.R. and Williams, J.A. (1972) Effects of Mother-Infant Separation on Maternal Attachment Behavior. Child Development, 43, 1203-1218
Klaus, M.H. and Kennell, J.H. (1976) Human maternal and paternal behavior,
in Klaus M.H. and Kennell J.H. (editors) Maternal-infant bonding, (1976) St.Louis, The CV Mosby Company
Assignment 7 is meant to be a fairly short assignment, which is really a nature/nurture discussion on child development. Well, not quite but nature nurture comes into it. The first bit requires you to outline (what's this?) psychological theories of imprinting, then temperament. You can find just about all you need for that in the Focus book. Just remember the KISS principle!
The second part wants a description of Klaus and Kennell's research followed by an evaluation. You really need to have been at the lesson for that, but here is a link to the notes we used in class.
The third part asks for a nature nurture discussion on the first two parts. Basically, imprinting is nature, temperament could be both (and say why!) and Klaus and Kennell is nurture (and say why.) Don't kill yourselves over it, because Assignment 8 will be along soon and that will be a bit more challenging.
So have a nice cup of tea now...
Oh, to hell with it, go for the biggie...
PS, congratulations to those who've had successful interviews.
Here are some clips that we've viewed in class recently. You might want to see them again, you might want to see them for the first time! And you might want to refer to them in Assignment 7.
First a clip of some old and original footage of Konrad Lorenz and his geese.
Next, a clip on temperament, from Thomas and Chess.
Here is a clip on temperament from Jerome Kagan.
Also today, here is the reference for Guiton (1966) and the chickens. He reared some male chicks in isolation for 47 days, i.e. until they were mature (oven ready?). While in isolation, they were fed only by an assistant in yellow gloves. They became imprinted on yellow rubber gloves, and at one stage they attempted to mate with yellow rubber gloves. The chicks had developed inappropriate social and sexual behaviour. Guiton then kept the chickens with normal females and eventually they developed normal sexual behaviour, although they were past imprinting age. This suggested the critical period may not be quite so critical.
Guiton, P. (1966) Early experience and sexual object choice in the Brown Leghorn. Animal Behaviour,14, 534-538.
Assignment Six is up and running! Here are some hints from our classroom discussions. If you haven’t been able to get in, you might be at a disadvantage until you can get the hand-outs. Since they are mainly photocopies of excerpts from textbooks, I can’t put them on the website because of copyright issues. Also, if you can’t get to classes the assignment is on the website here, and must be submitted by Monday 1st February.
Oh, and I might have confused and worried a few people last week. Assignment 5 is due in 18th January, not 11th. Ho hum.
Back to Assignment 6. The two most important words in the assignment are “discuss” and “two”. You are only required to discuss two of the three options.
Discuss is best summed up as ‘describe, explain, evaluate, giving examples where appropriate’.
I’ve made three burger diagrams (link 1)(Link 2)(Link 3) which are nothing more than basic suggestions as to how the options might be answered. They are not set in stone! And there’s no right or wrong answer for these – there rarely is for a discussion!
There is no word count for this assignment, but you must reference. I would expect the whole thing to be about 1000-1500 words, may be more, may be less.
Might be a lot of wine in this assignment.
Perhaps you’d better sit back and have a nice cup of tea instead.
As usual, if you're stuck, then ask. Ask me, ask your mate, ask anyone but don't sit and let it fester.
As I look out of the window today, much of the snow seems to have melted, and although there have been some flurries, it is now raining. So, assuming the thaw has started, perhaps it's back to normal.
If you can't get in on Monday, please email Assignment 5 and I will accept it as on time. If I mark it before I see you (unlikely!), I'll put on a fresh front sheet. Most resubmissions of assignment 4 have to be in by 11th (tomorrow). It's difficult to email them, so I'll have to accept them when I see you, but to qualify for grading I must have them as soon as possible.
On Monday, the lesson will be about recovered and false memories. Follow this link to the crime studies page on my website, scroll down and open or download the powerpoint. You will need some of this if you tackle that part of assignment 6.
You might have noticed the college was closed today! I hope you discovered that via the internet or radio or anything other than walking up to the front door!
Notice that most of the snow today landed on our part of Lincolnshire. Such is life. Anyway, there were no lessons today, have a nice weekend.
The forecast was for the rest of the country to be snowed under while our little corner of the world was to be clear, sunny and a little bit cold. No such luck, we had a bit of snow as well. Enough to keep many of my students away today. So here is an update on what we covered.
Access classes continued with memory. We watched this video, which introduces some of the forgetting issues we are studying. Then, we discussed some of the points on the mindmap about forgetting. (Link to website - paper copies available when you're next in class)
The points we concentrated on today were system failure (displacement, interference and trace decay. I call them system failure because they can be related to breakdown or leakage from the multistore system), retrieval failure, biological explanations of forgetting and an introduction to psychoanalysis and motivated forgetting. You should really read Focus pages 22-33.
Here are some more notes on forgetting. References to Gross are from an earlier edition, but you should be able to find it in the latest edition. Notes 1 – system failure. Notes 2 – amnesia.
We’ve taken up the story again with memory. Moving away from information processing models and looking instead at real life memory – sometimes called autobiographical memory. Find some more on page 18 Focus under Long Term memory.
Trouble is, as I write this (Sunday evening) it looks as though some of my students may have difficulty getting to the college. I am relying on you to go to PsychoSpace if you can’t make it. Please keep a regular watch here for messages and lesson exercises if the weather gets much worse. Two snowflakes and a sparrow fart and Boston grinds (slides?) to a halt!
The plan for the next couple of weeks is to look at some theories of forgetting and how they are applied to the Criminal Justice System. In particular, eye-witness testimony and interviewing. You can find this in Focus Chapter 3 pages 34-47. Assignment 6 is based on this. Talking about assignments, if you are snowed in over an assignment deadline, email it to me.
I’ve marked Assignment 4 for those who were able to submit on time. Those of you who missed the deadline, please try and get it in as soon as you can.
Many of you have to resubmit some questions. These are the main problems, and some hints if you’re still stuck:
Questions 1 to 8 are about correlation.
The graph associated with correlation is a scattergram. Please don’t join the dots, because then it isn’t a scattergram any more. It’s a line graph. Here’s a scattergram.
Correlation invites a particular terminology for hypotheses.
“There will be a positive/negative correlation between (variable 1) and (Variable 2)” and the null hypothesis “There is no (or zero) correlation between (Variable 1) and (Variable 2)”
Remember that GSR measures emotional arousal, not just fear!
Strengths and weaknesses for correlation can be found in the Focus book, page 240.
Questions 9 to 21 are about Experiments.
The Experiment is a separate research method in its own right. Don’t confuse with correlation. Yes, they are connected. A frequent research story will start with observation, then be tested with a correlational study, and finally with experiments where the intervening variables are controlled. So yes, questions 9 to 21 do continue the story.
Most people managed the calculations.
Most people described the results. “The results showed that (Dependent variable) was (higher/lower) under condition 1 than condition 2.”
Very few people got the bar chart correct. KISS never was more important than here! Why are you producing a graph of the results? To make the results easy to understand, using a graphic image rather than words. You described the results. The graph should be just as simple. TWO BARS. How many times have you done this? So why oh why were you fannying about with multi column charts and such like? When did you see me using them? Truth is, the charts you have produced are not summary charts, but pictorial representations of raw data. In this case, waste of ink.
Rant over.
Remember me drawing two column bar charts and saying “If you do it this way, you will always get IV and DV the right way round? Say no more…
Hypotheses for experiments are slightly different from correlational hypotheses. We did a practical memory experiment and wrote down a specimen hypothesis.
Experimental design is a subject apart. See Focus pages 253-254, or follow this link to my website. Page 5 has experimental design. Read the whole document if you can, it is interesting and informative and I wrote it.
Extraneous variables are linked with correlation intervening variables. (In this case they’re almost the same.) You should identify them, describe them, say what the effect would be on the results if they were not controlled, and then how you would control them.
Ethics is a subject apart; we do more on this later in the year, but for now see page 259 Focus for a short summary.
