Course layout

Social Behaviour

• Conformity
  • How and why people can conform to others
• Non-verbal communication (optional)

Individual Behaviour

• Phobias (optional)
  • How phobias can be acquired and overcome
• Sleep and Dreams

Research Methods

Answering exam questions

• Describe questions
  • Describe a point or provide a description, 1 mark per sentence
  • Often one of the easiest to answer
  • Describing a study
    • Asks to describe aims, (procedure,) method, results, (conclusion)
    • Not meeting all question criteria halves your maximum marks
  • Every sentence must have substance and add value to the answer
  • "Describe what is meant by personality." (2 marks)
• Explain questions
  • Write a description, then extend it with an explanation
    • Give background information to show you understand the question and answer
    • If the question is split up into 2 parts, describe and explain, write description first then write explanation in the second part, avoid repeating the same point in both parts
  • Most common command word in questions
  • Give points that make relationships between cause and effect clear
  • Explaining a study
  • Explaining a scenario
    • Must make a description, then explain a concept, then link the concept up with the scenario
      • Make further descriptions, explanations, and links to the scenario as required for the number of marks
    • Use the details shown in the scenario in the answer to the question
    • “Explain Marta’s phobia of snow using the two-process model.” (8 marks)
  • “Explain why one culture might have higher conformity rates than another.” (2 marks)
• Evaluate questions (explain strengths and weaknesses)
  • Evaluating a theory
    • “Explain one strength and one weakness of the restoration theory of sleep.” (4 marks)”
  • “Evaluate” only comes up in Higher, N5 instead uses “Explain one strength and one weakness”
    • Must also explain why the point is a strength or a weakness
  • Evaluating a study
    • “Explain one strength and one weakness of the Dement and Kleitman study.” (4 marks)
    • “Explain one strength and one weakness of systematic desensitisation.” (4 marks)
    • "Explain one strength OR one weakness of the Mori & Arai (2010) study." (2 marks)

Research Methods

Ethics

• Ethical Issues
  • Little Albert study
    • Albert was not able to be debriefed, as their mother took them out of the study early
    • Albert was shown to be traumatised, and was afraid of several fluffy white objects aftewards
  • Harlow’s monkeys
    • Monkeys were unable to consent to the study and were unable to withdraw from it
    • Monkeys were shown to be antisocial and unable to function normally afterwards
  • Milgram experiment
    • Participants were not properly debriefed afterwards
    • Participants may have been traumatised by what they thought they did to the actor
  • The monster study
    • The orphans were not able to give consent, by not being able to give consent
    • The children also weren’t able to withdraw from the study 
    • Many of the orphans left with worse stutters than they entered the study with
  • Stanford Prison Experiment
    • Little ability for participants to withdraw from the study
      • Only a few participants were able to leave the study, after facing much pressure to stay
    • Dehumanising prisoners by using numbers instead of names, psychological harm
• British Psychological Society Ethical guidelines
  • Informed consent
    • Participants must give permission to be studied
    • Participants must need to know exactly what they will be subjected to in detail
  • Right to withdraw
    • Participants must be free to leave the study at any time they want
  • Confidentiality
  • Privacy
    • Giving subjects fake names or just initials, blurring faces in video recordings
  • Protection from harm
    • Subjects must be debriefed well, this may include therapy or counselling
    • Experiments should not upset or offend anyone, or make them feel bad
  • Deception
• In the UK, studies may have to be approved by the British Psychological Society

Assignment

• 30% of final grade, out of 30 marks
  • Between 800 and 1000 words (try to stick close to 1000 words)
    • References, footnotes, appendices do not count
• Sections 
  • A: Introduction (2 marks)
    • 1 mark for explaining the topic (using psychological terminology), 1 for outlining why it is important to research
    • Usually 50-60 words, multiple sentences
  • *B: Background research (8 marks)
    • Outlining two research studies, possibly including aim, method/procedure, results
      • Make it clear how these studies link to the concept or theory from own
    • 4 marks for each study
      • 1 mark for name & date of study and researcher
      • Aim, procedure, results
      • Link to own study in conclusion
  • C: Aim (1 mark)
    • Simply a sentence summarising what you want the study to achieve
    • “The aim of this study is _”
    • “This study aims to find _ will have an effect on _”
  • D: Hypothesis (2 marks)
    • Also just a sentence summarising what you think the results would be
    • Must be clear and relevant to get both marks
    • “This study predicts to find that _ will have a {positive/negative} effect on _”
  • *E: Research plan (design, methods, sample) (12 marks)
    • Method (4 marks)
      • 1: Description of the research method
      • 2: Justification of the choice of method
        • Regard to suitability
      • 3: Explanation of possible strength
      • Experimental methods
        • Lab experiment
          • Highly controlled
          • Low ecological validity
        • Natural experiment
        • Field experiment
          • Investigating something in a natural environment
      • 4: Explanation of possible weakness
      • Non-experimental methods
        • Observations
        • Questionnaire / survey
        • Interviews
        • Case study
          • Studying a specific individual
    • Sampling (3 marks)
      • Researchers must choose who to study by recruiting a sample of participants from a larger group called a target population
      • Samples must be representative of the population
        • Must be large enough and contain a variety of people
          • Different age groups, gender, race, religion, etc.
        • This allows the findings to be generalised to a larger population
      • Opportunity
        • Choosing those who are available at the time of testinng
          • Sample may end up biased or unbalanced
          • The quickest and easiest to carry out
      • Stratified
      • 1: Description of method
      • Random
        • Refers to using chance or probability to choose participants at random
          • Fairly easy to carry out
          • May end up with an unbalanced sample by chance
          • Participants may not want to be in the study
        • Best type of sampling as there is no bias, everyone has equal chances
      • 2: Justification of method
      • Volunteer
        • Where participants self-select to become part of a study because they volunteer when asked
          • Easy to  carry out
            • Can easily reach a large population eg. by  online advertising
          • May respond to an advert
          • Can have bias if the ad appeals to certain people
            • Can have bad actors trying to please a researcher or mess up research
      • 3: Strength of the method
        • Extra mark for weakness
      • Systematic
        • Generate a list of all members and then using a system  to pick participants
          • Make sure that the sample is representative
          • Slower than other methods, the list has to be organised
          • Selected people may not be willing to volunteer
          • Sample can still be biased by accident
    • Variables (3 marks)
      • 1: The independent variable is the cause
        • Its value is independent of other variables in your study
      • 2: The dependent variable is the effect
        •  Its value depends on changes in the independent variable
      • 3: An extraneous or confounding variable is any variable that is not being investigated that can potentially affect the experiment
        • This can affect the results and conclusion of the study
        • Explain how the variable could be controlled
    • Procedure and Data (2 marks)
      • Qualitative vs Quantitative  data
        • Quantitative  data is numerical, can be analysed to produce graphs or charts
        • Qualitative data is gained from asking open-ended questions, includes descriptions, photos, videos, etc
      • 1: Description of procedures, steps to be followed when conducting research
      • 2: Explanation of data to be collected
      • Mean, Median, and Mode
        • Median is the middle of a sorted list of numbers
          • Calculated by placing numbers in order and finding the middle
          • If there are an even number of elements, add the middle 2 and half that
        • Mean is the average number in a set of data
          • Calculated by summing all numbers, then dividing  by the number of numbers
        • Mode is the most common occurance in the set of data
          • If there is no clear most common number, it may be a better idea to pick median or mean instead
          • Mode often works well if there are many outliers
  • F: Ethical guidelines (4 marks)
    • Must identify ad describe two ethical issues, and how the study will avoid breaching them
    • Best to abide by the BPS’s ethics guidelines
    • Planning an unethical experiment results in 0 marks for this section
      • This could be difficult when doing a replication of Asch or Mori & Arai, which requires deception
  • G: Psychological terminology (1 mark)

Social Behaviour

Non-verbal communication

• Non-verbal communication is communication without using spoken or written language

Conformity

• The Asch paradigm - Where the behaviours and actions of one person is influenced by the rest of the group

  • It even happens if the group is comprised of strangers to the participant

• The Elevator Experiment

  • People often slowly turn to face the back of the elevator, only to conform with the rest of the group
    • They may think that the rest of the group knew something that they didn’t about the elevator
    • They might not want to be the sole person who is acting differently to the rest of the group, possibly for fear of being left out
  • If there are several people in an elevator facing the wrong direction, will another person walk in and conform to face the wrong direction?

• The waiting room experiment

  • If there are several people sitting in a waiting room that all stand up when a tone sounds, will another person walk in and conform?
  • They stand up when the stone sounds, for no reason other than just because everyone else was doing it
  • Even after everyone has left the waiting room, the person still stands up when the tone sounds

• Trends can often push you to follow them

• Conformity is usually unspoken, changing how we act to match what we observe others doing

• Social influence is when our feelings, behaviours, and thoughts are influenced by other people

• Types of Conformity

  • Compliance

    • Changing your actions, but still disagreeing internally, keeping the same internal beliefs

    • eg. Listening to the same music as your friends while with them, but not in private

    • Conforming publicly, no change in private views; only complying with social norms

    • The weakest form of conformity, has the least effect on an individual

    • Usually done to avoid punisment, gain rewards, or avoid being thought of badly

    • "Explain how compliance differs from internalisation." (4 marks)
  • Identification
    • Changing your actions and even your private beliefs, but changing to a different belief and behaviour after leaving a group
    • eg. Supporting and believing in your school’s sports team, but after moving schools, changing to support and believe in that school’s sports team
    • Conforming publicly and privately, but not permanently; identifying with a group
    • Stronger than compliance, but weaker than internalisation
  • Internalisation

    • Changing your internal beliefs and core values as well as your outside actions permanently, not changing back

    • eg. Your friends introduce you to a new activity you like, and you still do that activity even if you no longer see those friends

    • Permanently confirming publicly and privately; internalising your new beliefs

    • The strongest form of conformity

    • "Explain Aleksandra’s behaviour using the concept of internalisation." (4 marks) (see note)

• It is done by someone to fit into a group due to social influences

• Asch Conformity Experiments (1951)

  • Seven of the eight were confederates (paid actors) that gave the wrong answers on 12 questions
    • On the other 6 questions, the actors gave correct answers to gain the trust of the participants
  • Aimed to find out if a participant would conform to others giving wrong answers to an obvious question
  • 25% of particpants did not conform at all, 75% conformed on at least one question, and 5% conformed on every question
  • Weaknesses

    • The participants in the experiment were not very culturally diverse,  all male, and of similar socio-economic status

      • This makes the results difficult to generalise to a larger population

    • Peer pressure could be considered harmful and unethical

    • The study relied on the good acting of the confederates

      • If their acting was not believed by the participant, the participant could have figured out that the experiment was a psychological study
      • Some confederates may have been better at acting than others

    • The advertisement, using volunteer sampling, may have attracted only a specific type of person

    • Low ecological validity: as a lab experiment, it did not reflect on conformity in day-to-day life

      • Comparing two lines several times is not something many people have to do every day, low mundane realism
    • "Identify 2 weaknesses of Asch's study." (2 marks)
  • Participants matched one line to 3 possible lines, asked each particpant to say which lines matched
  • 36.8% of questions were answered incorrectly
  • The real participant was seated in chair 7, meaning the participant got exposed to more viewpoints, making them more likely to conform
  • Strengths 
    • The study was the first of its kind
      • In previous conformity experiments, the participants usually didn’t know the answers to the questions, whereas in Asch’s study, the answers were obvious
    • The study was cheap to carry out, and easy to replicate it
    • Acted as a basis for future research
    • The study was able to demonstrate both types of social influences as main reasons for conforming
      • Normative Social Influence, where participants did not want to embarrass themselves by giving a different answer to the rest of the group, leading to compliance
      • Informative Social Influence, where participants thought that their answer must have been wrong and the group’s answer was correct, leading to internalisation

• Types of Social Influences

  • Normative social influence

    • eg. Someone liking the same things as their friends, in order to fit in and so others don’t see them as different
    • Pressure to conform comes from other people in the group
      • Often results in compliance rather than identification or internalisation
    • Caused by our desire to be liked and accepted by others

  • Informational social influence

    • When someone is unsure about a correct answer, behaviour, or opinion, so they adopt that of others they believe to be correct
    • Jenness (1932) study
      • Estimating how many beans were in a jar
      • After being told others’ guesses, almost all participants changed their guess to be closer to the average
      • Participants may have conformed because they thought others’ guesses might be more accurate
    • Caused by our desire to be right
    • eg. Someone following strangers on the street in a foreign place, because they believe the strangers might know something that they don’t
  • "Bobby conforms because of the influence of his friends. Name and describe two types of social influence that Bobby may experience." (6 marks)

• Individual factors that affect conformity

  • Gender

    • In the Mori & Arai study, women conformed at rates of 29%, similar to those of participants in the Asch study, whereas men in the same study did not conform at all
      • It has been suggested that this may be because women often take a communal role and promote harmony in groups
        • In contrast, men were traditionally brought up to maintain their independence instead
      • The Mori & Arai study showed that women tended to conform more than men

  • Personality and Self-esteem

    • People with low self-esteem normally conform more, as they don’t want to stand out as much
      • Might not accept themselves due to low self-worth, so conform because they  want others to accept them or have a fear of rejection
    • Those with higher self-esteem usually conform less
      • Often are confident in themselves, and feel less negative pressure when they stand out

  • Age

    • Teens are usually more likely to conform than young children or older adults
      • Teens can be highly susceptible to social influence, as relationships begin to become more important from ages 12 to 18
        • Teens are also more likely to take bigger risks while in large groups
      • Adults are often set up in life as an individual and are more secure with who they are, and young children are often not affected by others’ thoughts of them
  • "Explain why Adam conforms using your knowledge of individual and cultural factors." (6 marks) (see note)
• "Explain factors that affect conformity in relation to the case." (4 marks) (see note)

• Situational factors that affect conformity

  • Group Size

    • Another variation on the Asch experiment changed the number of confederates, ranging from 1 to 15
      • Conformity was at its lowest with only 1 confederate, rates of only 3%
        • With 2 confederates, conformity rates jumped up to 12.8%
      • With 3 confederates, conformity rates almost tripled to 33.3%, almost to the value of the original study with 7 confederates
        • Having more than 3 confederates did not make as significant a difference to conformity rates
        • Asch believed that a group of 3 people is the key number of people to form a “group”, and this makes it harder to reject their opinions

  • Task Difficulty

    • Asch changed the question cards, so that the 3 comparison lines were much closer in length, increasing the task’s difficulty and making answers less obvious
      • This was found to greatly increase the rate of conformity
      • This may have made it easier for participants to feel as if they had chosen the incorrect answer, leading to more informational social influence
        • The less sure we are about our answer, the more likely we are to get guidance from others in the group and accept their answer.

  • Group unanimity / Social support

    • A variation on the Asch conformity experiment had the 4th confederate, an “ally”, give the true answer to reduce the unanimity of the group
      • This greatly reduced the chances of the participant conforming to the majority answers of the group, from 36.8% to only 5%
      • Participants felt much more comfortable with giving the correct answer, as they weren’t the odd one out
      • Even when the ally gave a different but still incorrect answer to the rest of the group, the conformity rates still dropped significantly, to 9%
        • Participants knew that even if their answer was incorrect, they still wouldn’t be the odd one out
  • "Explain why Adam conforms using your knowledge of situational factors." (6 marks) (see note)

• Cultural factors that affect conformity

  • Collectivist cultures

    • Cultures where group achivements and following the majority are thought of as better than individual decisions
    • Causes members to conform more than those in individualistic cultures

  • Individualistic cultures

    • Cultures where individual decisions and beliefs are more accepted than those of a group
    • Causes members to conform less than those in collectivist cultures
  • "Explain cultural factors that may influence conformity." (4 marks)

• Minority & Majority influence

  • An out-group is a social group with which an individual does not identify

  • It is human nature to want to be part of a group most of the time

    • This may have helped people survive by sharing food, skills, and helping each other

  • “Us vs Them” approach

  • Majority influence is when an individual or small group is influenced by a large, majority group

    • Most conformity studies concentrate on majority influence
    • eg. Asch Conformity Experiments, Mori & Arai study, Jenness study

  • An in-group is a social group to which a person psychologically identifies as being a member

  • "Explain Majority and Minority influence."

  • “Why might pressure from a minority have a greater long-term effect on behaviour and opinions compared to the majority?”

  • Minority influence is when a single individual or minority changes the views or behaviour of a majority group

    • First follower
      • Publicly shows the others how to follow
      • Turns a lone individual into a leader
      • Takes confidence to be a first follower in case of being ridiculed
    • A leader needs to stand alone and be confident, make sure the followers get noticed so more join
    • Second follower
      • Shows that the first follower was doing well
      • Follows the first one, not the leader
      • Having 3 people now means it is a group, allowing for more power
    • The tipping point
      • When the number of people joined increases rapidly, now becomes the majority group
    • Minority influence requires the following:
      • Consistency, making sure that your goals don’t change, holding the same position
        • The Foot in the Door effect means that it’s more likely that something will be granted if demands increase slowly
      • Staying confident and passionate
        • People must be sure of their purpose, future success, and have confidence in succeeding
      • Stay flexible and unbiassed
        • Must seem cooperative and reasonable, not uncompromising
      • Keep fighting for the cause to be able to make change
        • Must believe in the importance, willing to suffer to achieve the goal
  • "Explain the differences between minority and majority social influence in relation to conformity." (4 marks)
  • "Explain how knowledge of minority influence could help the government to decrease the number of people working at home." (4 marks)
  • "Describe what is meant by minority influence." (2 marks)

  • Moscovici et al (1969)

    • A group of 6 people were asked to state the colour of a blue square placed in front of them
      • The group contained 4 participants and 2 confederates
    • The confederates in the group were told to 

• Mori & Arai (2010) study

  • Participants were put in groups of 4, were given glasses and said they were to protect their eyes
    • Just like in the Asch study, the participant with the altered glasses was asked to answer second-last out of the group
    • The glasses given to the 3rd person were different, and made them see different lines to everyone else for 12 out of 18 questions
  • Strengths 
    • The study used male and female participants, this was able to produce more easily generalised results
    • Each participant in a group knew the others, meaning the minority participant was more likely to conform to the others
      • There was more perceived risk to not conforming, as the person was likely to come back into contact with the others again
      • People conforming to their friends is more common than conforming to strangers
    • The study did not use confederates, so the actions of the majority participants would be real and less likely to be viewed as fake
  • Designed to replicate and improve the Asch study, but without the influence of confederates
  • Big differences were found between the Japanese men and women conforming
    • This is thought to be due to cultural expectations in Japan
      • If men were brought up  to value independence  more, they would conform far less as a result
    • Men conformed very little if at all
    • Women conformed at approximately the same rate as men in the Asch study
  • Weaknesses 
    • Their technique could be considered unethical, as they deceived the participants by telling them the glasses were used to prevent glare
      • Although deception was considered necessary, and it used less deception than the original Asch experiment
    • The study still had low ecological validity, as the scenario was not very true to day-to-day life and was conducted in a lab
    • It also still had low mundane realism, as the task was not something that is usually done day-to-day
    • The study only used Japanese participants, unable to generalise results to other countries
• "How might individual and cultural factors affect conformity?" (5 marks)

• In a nutshell:

  • Social influence: Normative (want to be liked), Informative (want to be right)
    • Normative usually happens with a group and trying to be liked by them, usually by compliance
      • eg. giving the same answer as the group due to not wanting to dissent against them
    • Informative usually happens in a new situation and trying to find out what is correct, usually by internalisation
      • eg. new setting, where a task is difficult or are unsure about the answer
  • Types of conformity: Compliance, Internalisation
    • Internalisation: Permanent public and private change
      • Usually Informative social influence, eg. learning something with someone else and liking it
    • Compliance: Temporary public only change, disagree privately
      • Usually Normative social influence, eg. conforming to a friend group to be liked by them
  • Situational factors: Task difficulty, Group size, Group unanimity
    • Task difficulty: A more difficult task increases conformity levels
      • With a more difficult task, people are more likely to be unsure about the answer
        • This results in informative social influence
    • Group size: Larger groups (3+) increase conformity levels
      • More than 2 people is considered a group, and is harder to dissent against
    • Group unanimity: A group with everyone acting the same increases conformity levels
      • If someone in the group gives a different answer, this will decrease conformity levels
    • Variations on the Asch experiments have studied these factors
  • Cultural factors: Collectivist and Individualistic cultures
    • Collectivist: Cultures where individuals are thought of as better than groups
      • Group achievements are valued more than individual achievements
      • Conformity rates are higher in collectivist cultures than individualistic cultures
        • Due to being rewarded for and brought up with working as a team and contributing to group goals
    • Asch vs Mori & Arai cannot be used as evidence, as this comparison includes generational factors
    • Individualistic: Cultures where groups are thought of as better than individuals
      • Individual successes are valued over group achievements
      • Conformity rates are lower in individualistic cultures than collectivist cultures
        • Due to being brought up with and rewarded for being independent and working as an individual
  • Individual factors: Gender, Age, Self esteem
    • Gender: Women are more likely to conform than men
      • Because women have in the past been brought up to promote group harmony
        • Men have traditionally been brought up to be individuals and maintain independence
      • The Mori & Arai study found that women conformed, whereas men showed no conformity
    • Age: Younger people between the ages of 11-18 are more likely to conform
      • This is because people care a lot about their appearance and being liked by others at this age
        • Valuing peer relationships more at this stage in life
    • Self-esteem: People with lower self-esteem have higher conformity rates
      • People with lower self esteem value being liked by others more
        • Increases likelihood to conform due to Normative social influence

Individual Behaviour

Sleep and Dreams

• There is no particular amount of sleep that is ideal

  • The average adult sleeps 7 - 8 hours nightly
    • 10% of the population need up to 10 hours
    • 5% of the population only need as low as 5 hours
  • The main criteria for getting enough sleep is whether you feel in good shape afterwards
• "Describe what is meant by sleep." (2 marks)
  • "Describe what is meant by dreams." (2 marks)

• REM & Non-REM sleep

  • REM sleep is a fairly light stage of sleep, and is when 90% of dreams occur

    • REM sleep is the time when the brain restores itself
    • Body temperature and heart rate can sometimes rise during REM periods
    • Muscle tensing and eye twitching can sometimes happen during REM sleep
      • This is caused by brain activity being similar to being awake
    • Waking up during REM sleep makes it far more likely to remember dreams

  • Non-REM or NREM sleep consists of 4 stages, and is when only 10% of dreams happen

    • NREM sleep is the time when the body repairs itself
    • In these stages, body temperature drops and heart rate slows
    • The long, slow, and deep brain waves that occur during NREM sleep are called Delta waves

  • Sleep is not one state, it goes through 5 main stages which repeat many times per night

    • Stages 1 to 4 are all NREM sleep
      • Stage 1 is the lightest type of NREM sleep, and is easy to wake up from
        • Stage 1 sleep occurs only at the beginning and end of the night
        • Stage 2 sleep occurs more and more frequently in later sleep cycles
      • Stage 4 is the deepest type of sleep, and is the most difficult to wake up from
        • Stages 3 and 4 (deep sleep) decrease in frequency and length towards the end of the night.
    • Sections of REM sleep increase in length of time until the person wakes up
  • "Explain what is meant by REM & NREM sleep." (6 marks)

• In the Randy Gardner experiment, Gardner stayed awake for 11 days straight

  • They then slept for 14 hours and felt well-rested afterwards

• There are (4 or) 5 stages of sleep

  • These stages happen in cycles that last 90 minutes to 2 hours each
    • Waking up at the end of a cycle is ideal, as this helps you feel more alert after waking
    • Children, Adults, and Elderly people all show different patterns of sleep
      • Women tend to have shorter cycles of sleep

• The Biological approach to Sleep and Dreams

  • The belief that behaviours are due to our DNA and genetics
    • These behaviors are fixed, and many cannot be changed
  • The biological appreach focuses on the body, especially the nervous system and brain
    • It uses these factors to predict and analyse behaviour
    • Imbalances in the brain affect our behaviour, and this must be corrected to fix it
  • Being a “morning person” or “evening person” is a biological phenomenon
  • Circadian Rhythms
    • Our internal biological clocks, sometimes called a Body Clock
    • Events that repeat every 24 hour cycle
  • Believes that the mind and the brain are one and the same
  • Evaluation
    • Strengths
      • Is based in science, is supported by clinical research
        • This allows other researchers to replicate the results in different studies
      • The use of the EEG as part of sleep studies has provided lots of evidence for different sleep stages
    • Weaknesses
      • Reductionism means that it oversimplifies the complexity of human emotion and behaviour
        • This is becaues we cannot understand sleep and dreams completely if only biological factors are focussed on
        • Psychological, cultural, and social factors also contribute to quantity and quality of sleep and dreams

• Sleep can be defined as a state of reduced conscious awarness

  • During sleep, the body is less active and less responsive

• Scientists found that sleep depriving rats for 17 days caused them to die

• Dement & Kleitman (1957) Study

  • The study aimed to find the link between dreams and sleep stages

    • Aimed to uncover the reasons for Rapid Eye Movement during sleep
    • Aimed to find if there was a relationship between length of REM sleep and length of dreams

  • Observed 9 adults (7 men, 2 women)

    • Asked to avoid all stimulants including caffeine and alcohol, and their brain activity was monitored with EOG machines
  • Strengths

    • The lab setting helped to control external variables in order to improve reliability of the results

      • Participants were asked not to use alcohol or caffeine, which further increased reliability

    • The difference in participants being able to remember their dreams in REM vs NREM sleep was very large, 80% to only 9%

    • The study was the first of its kind, and influenced other research with its strong evidence and conclusions

      • It was the first to prove that REM sleep is connected to dreaming, before that it was only thought to have a different function
    • "Explain one strength of the Dement and Kleitman study." (2 marks)

  • Participants that were woken up later (15 mins after REM started) reported that their dreams were longer than those who were woken up earlier (5 mins after REM started) 

  • Weaknesses 

    • Small sample size and gender bias made the results difficult to generalise to a wider population

    • The study had low ecological validity, the participants were in a lab setting and awoken several times per night

      • To control extraneous variables with a lab setting requires sacrificing ecological validity

    • Participants had to report on the content of their dreams themselves, which may have caused unreliable data

    • "Explain one weakness of the Dement and Kleitman study." (2 marks)
  • "Describe the aims of the Dement & Kleitman study." (3 marks)
  • "Explain the method and procedure of the Dement & Kleitman study." (4 marks)
  • "Describe one conclusion of the Dement and Kleitman study." (1 mark)
  • "Evaluate the Dement & Kleitman study into  sleep." (6 marks)
  • "What do the results of the Dement and Kleitman study tell us about REM sleep?" (4 marks)

• Oswald’s (1966) Restoration Theory 

  • What happens in REM
    • Without sleep, negative moods could be more common
      • Concentration would be more difficult during the day, and learning may be more difficult
    • Babies have lots more REM sleep time than adults, about 9 hours a day, as the brain is developing extremely fast
    • Sleep is an important way of replenishing neurotransmitters
      • Sleep is important for organising and storing memories: they are converted from short-term to long-term, and unimportant memories are removed
  • Proposed that the function of sleep is to replenish the body and brain after a day
  • Oswald believed that REM sleep restored the brain, and NREM sleep restored the body
  • What happens in NREM
    • Sleep is used by the body to remove waste products
    • Sleep can be used for muscle repair
      • Tissue repair and growth also occurs during sleep
    • Sleep is important for protein synthesis, creating protein molecules for the body
  • "Explain the restoration theory of sleep (Oswald, 1966)" (6 marks)
  • Evaluation
    • Strengths
      • Evolutionary past - If sleep wasn’t useful, animals wouldn’t sleep, as any animal that didn’t sleep would have a survival advantage
      • Sleep tends to happen more during periods of illness or stress, as the body or brain may need more time to repair
    • Weaknesses
      • Other studies have found that those who experience deprivation of REM sleep experience no bad results
      • It has been found that some bodily restoration can be achieved by resting, not just sleep
        • Cell repair also happens outside the period of sleep, though does increase during sleep

• The Psychoanalytical approach to Sleep and Dreams

  • Levels of consciousness

    • Unconscious mind
      • Feelings, urges, memories, & thoughts that are outside of our awareness
      • A lot of them can be unpleasant, unacceptable, or dangerous
        • They are repressed during waking hours
      • Freud believed that the unconscious mind influences our behaviour, even when we aren’t aware of it
      • Freud also believed that these thoughts emerged during dreaming, as we have less control over the thoughts
    • Preconscious mind
      • All the thoughts and ideas that are not being thought about, but can be easily retrieved
      • Memories, associations, etc
    • Conscious mind
      • Everything that is being thought of at the current moment
      • Any thoughts, emotions, or feelings that we are aware of

  • An approach proposed by Sigmund Freud

    • One of the main pushers of psychoanalysis
    • The term “psychoanalysis” is used to refer to lots of aspects of Freud’s work
      • May include Freudian therapy and research methodology used
      • The term “psychodynamic” tends to be used for things that happened after Freud
    • Relied heavily upon observations and case studies of patients
      • Believed that dreams are coded or disguised versions of deepest desires, memories, and fears

  • Believes that the brain and the mind are separate, that we also have a soul

  • The psychoanalytic (Freudian) theory of dreams/The Wish fulfillment theory of dreams

    • Freud wrote up some dream dictionaries, showing what imagery in dreams meant
      • Showing what innocent symbols were covering up something more sinister
        • A school: Scared of being judged
        • A storm: Emotional turmoil
        • Teeth falling out: Worries or lack of control, connections with money
        • Pregnancy: A new aspect of self is happening
        • Exams or tests: Signify self-evaluation
        • Nudity: Symbolises revealing true self to others
        • Being physically trapped: Real life inability to escape or make the correct choice
        • Vehicles: Show how much control you have over your life
        • Teachers: Can show authority figures that can enlighten you
        • Food: Abundance, life, prosperity
    • Freud believed dreams have two purposes: wish fulfillment, and a disguise using symbols to protect the sleeper
    • Freud believed that dreams involve wish fulfilment
      • Freud was one of the first to propose the idea that dreams meant something
      • The unconscious mind becomes dominant during sleep, and is motivated by pleasure (id)
      • We dream about what we want, especially if it’s impossible in real life
    • Images, thoughts, and emotions that are not acceptable will be repressed into the unconscious while awake
    • Our control over unconscious thoughts slips when sleeping, and these images result in dreams
    • Freud believed that dreams had two aspects

      • Manifest content: What the dream appears to be about, what is remembered

      • Latent content: What the dream is actually about, what the manifest content symbolises

      • Understanding a dream involves interpreting the manifest in order to understand the latent

      • "Explain what is meant by the manifest content and latent content of dreams." (4 marks)
  • "Explain the psychoanalytical theory of sleep & dreams." (4 marks)
  • "Explain the scenario using the psychoanalytic (Freudian) theory of dreams." (5 marks) (see note)

  • Little Hans study (1909)

    • Aim

      • Studied a boy named Hans and their parents
      • Tried to study the Oedipus complex, the theory that boys have a desire for their mothers, and may even compete with their fathers

    • Method & Procedure

      • Didn’t study the boy directly, exchanged letters with the father instead

    • Findings

      • Hans dreamed they were married to their mother, and even had children
        • Freud believed that this mean the boy had a romantic desire for his mother
      • These findings were unable to be proven
      • The boy also dreamed there was a giraffe being squashed by a larger giraffe
        • Freud said that this represented the boy’s parents, representing hostility to his father
    • Strengths
      • Case studies give qualitative data and lots of in-depth info about the participant

    • Freud conducted many case studies to better understand the content of dreams

    • Weaknesses
      • The study could be considered unethical
        • If Hans found out they had been used in this study later in life, it could be traumatizing
      • The study had a focus on only one participant, making the results difficult to generalise to a larger population
      • Freud and Hans’ father were self reporting, and since Freud was trying to support a theory, the results or evidence may have been distorted
    • "Explain one weakness of the Little Hans (1909) study." (2 marks)
    • "Describe the Little Hans study." (5 marks)

  • In a nutshell:

    • REM and NREM sleep
      • REM
        • Helps restoring the brain, repairing neurotransmitters
        • Body temperature and heart rate increases
        • When most dreams happen, more likely to remember if woken up during REM
      • NREM
        • Helps restore the body, repairing muscle tissue
        • Body temperature and heart rate drop
      • Split up into 4 NREM stages and 1 REM stage
        • Stage 1 is lighter sleep, stage 4 is deeper sleep
        • Lighter stages happen more often until waking up
        • REM sleep sections increase in length until waking up
        • Cycles from light to deep to light sleep happen every 1.5 to 2 hours while sleeping