The psychology behind fictional relationships

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2 The psychology behind fictional relationships Throughout the Attachment section of AQA psychology we learn of the different types of attachments displayed by infants in the Strange Situation experiment, such as secure and resistant. The critical period is also essential to understand as a crucial time for primary caregivers to interact with their child and ensure they form a monotropic attachment to stimulate a good internal working model. However, away from the specifics of the course, I want to explore why we get attached to other things so quickly in our lives, such as fictional characters. Whether it be sobbing over the loss of a character you ve known for less than two days or writing their last name in the margins of your book, our attachment to these figures is undeniable, but can it be explained using psychology? Can our emotional response be real, because it s not exactly directed at tangible people? Turns out, it can, and it happens to arise due to our own levels of empathy, which lives in a little lobe called the right supramarginal gyrus. It s easier, perhaps, to emphasise with a character because we ve been provided extensive knowledge of their tragic backgrounds. We easily fall into the trap of perspective-taking, and associate our emotions with theirs, therefore making it real and escaping from our own reality. However, psychologists argue we can t feel empathy when we understand the problems the person faces aren t real. If we re extensively aware the characters are false, why do we cry for their problems like our own? Interestingly, there s been research by Cohen J (2004) aimed at investigating if our attachment types stimulated from relationships formed within the critical period effect our emotional response to the loss of a TV character. A quota sample of 381 Israeli adults were asked to imagine how they d feel if their favourite characters TV show was discontinued and then completed a questionnaire. Though the extraneous variable of personality could have an effect on the DV, the rather large sample size limits this. It was found that type C s (resistant/insecure) were most intensely distressed by the loss, in comparison to type A s (avoidant/insecure) and type B s (secure), whom showed barely any difference to one another which was not expected. Even I would have thought that type A s tendency to be left alone as a child would ve perhaps hardened their emotions and their low levels of stranger anxiety would ve caused lower distress levels than the type B s ideal attachment. Parasocial relationships: Horton and Wohl (1956) carried out an experiment which defined parasocial relationships as onesided with someone who may not be aware of their existence. They can occur in any situation where someone i.e a fictional character or teacher, is put on a pedestal above a community. It was found there is three sub-sections of a Celebrity Attitude Scale (McCutcheon et al., 2002) which are as follows: Entertainment-Social relationship is the least extreme and widely relatable to our school celebrities are discussed and seen rightly as a source of entertainment. Intense-Personal relationship is when one may connect themselves and the celebrity together by seeing their identity as similar to the celebrity s, sharing a kinship. Borderline pathological relationships describe obsessive behaviours towards a celebrity in which time and effort is invested to meet or befriend the person this explains why some celebrities may receive peculiar gifts. This is why it s dangerous for frequently exposed celebrities like Princess Kate, as those in a onesided parasocial relationship with them believe they know everything about them and have formed a bond as media blurs the lines of reality. They have seen parts of themselves in the image of the person they ve been provided and have used their bond with that image as a foundation of what they think is a relationship, therefore overtime becoming attached to this idea. This can often revert back to Bandura s theory of an ideal role model, of the same age and gender therefore assuming their lives are somewhat parallel. We learn, or at least we think we learn, from observing the ins and outs of their lives, certain truths about ours. If Kate Middleton were to find her husband had an affair, it wouldn t be ridiculous to assume my own mother would get suspicious of her husband, for example. Henceforth this can be a dangerous attachment to form. Whatever the case, the next time you feel a pull towards a character or celebrity, know that there is a considerable amount of science behind it!

3 How reliable are eye witness testimonies? It is generally assumed that, as humans, we are more likely to remember particularly violent or stressful situations, it is believed that the more confidently a memory is recalled then the more likely it is to be true and accurate. However, are our brains really capable of retaining enough relevant and accurate information so it can be used as evidence in a courtroom in order to prove a person guilty or innocent of a crime? The term eyewitness testimony refers to the account given by an individual who has witnessed a crime or incident take place. An eyewitness may be required to give details at a trial regarding the incident, they may be asked to identify those involved, give details about the crime scene and give their own recollection of the events that took place. Usually, a jury tends to regard an eyewitness testimony as a reliable source of information and, as a result, will hold it in high regard when deciding the outcome of the trial. However, research has shown that an eyewitness testimony can be influenced by many psychological factors, for example, stress and anxiety, leading questions and weapon focus. In 1983, Dessenbacher carried out two metaanalyses on research focusing on the effect that anxiety has on an individual's ability to recognise a face from a crime and recall details from the scene of the crime. Dessenbacher found that high levels of anxiety significantly impaired the eyewitness s ability to accurately recall the details. This supports the idea that people could be falsely accused and charged due to the incorrect identification of a person. subsequently were less likely to be able to identify the customer in an identity line up than those who saw the customer with the checkbook. Another issue that questions the reliability of eyewitness testimonies is the large amount of time that can pass between an event or crime happening and the witness actually standing up in court to give their testimony. During this time, memories can fade or become distorted, a witness may forget details they believe to be unimportant but could actually mean the difference between being convicted or going free. Furthermore, an eyewitness may be asked leading questions when giving their testimony. Leading questions may presume things and make assumptions about situations. They are used to confuse an eyewitness or make them doubt themselves in order to achieve a desired outcome. Most commonly, leading questions are answered by a simple yes or no answer. Due to the number of psychological factors that can significantly affect the reliability and accuracy of an eyewitness testimony, is it really right that they are so heavily relied upon in order to convict or exonerate an individual? Or is it time that we find other, more reliable, way to convict an individual? By Katrina Melville In a study conducted by Loftus et al in 1987 supported the idea of weapon focus, during the study participants were shown a series of slides depicting a customer in a restaurant. In one version, the customer was holding a checkbook and in the other the customer was holding a gun. Participants who saw the customer with the gun were found to focus more on the gun than the customer and

4 Is our memory as reliable as it seems? Many people assume that their memories are an accurate collection of events that have occurred throughout their life as shown by a survey carried out in the US. This survey published in 2011 recorded that 63% of 1,838 respondents said they believed strongly or mostly that their memory worked liked a video camera. The results suggested that the video camera accurately recorded events that we see and hear so we can inspect and evaluate them at a later date. However there has been a lot of research done in previous years that suggests that out memory is not as reliable as we think. Research has shown that we are highly influenced by suggestions made by the people we come into contact with. These suggestions distort our memories and can often lead to false memories being created. Research that supports this was completed by Elizabeth Loftus and Jim Coan in the early 1990s. Elizabeth Loftus is an American cognitive psychologist and human memory manipulation expert. Loftus has conducted extensive research of the malleability of human memory and is most famously known for her ground breaking work on the misinformation effect and eyewitness memory. Through this research Elizabeth has proven that our memories may not be as reliable as we think. The memory war Loftus and one of her students Jim Coan carried out an investigation to see how malleable our memory is, they developed the lost in the mall technique. This method included implanting a false memory of being lost in a shopping centre as a child. Loftus and Coan then tested whether this false event could be turned into a memory that never happened. In the original study it was found that 25% of participants developed a memory for an even that never actually occurred. However since this original study many extensions and variations have been carried out and it has now been found that on average one third of participants could be convinced that they experienced things in their childhood or lifetime that never actually occurred. This evidence provides a scary insight into the world that is our memory and leaves us questioning whether the things we have recall or thought happened during our lifetime might be in fact false and completely fabricated by our own minds. Although the research produced by Loftus and Coan can been seen as a ground breaking insight into the world of unknown which is or memory they have been highly criticised by people like Lynn Crook and Martha Dean. Crook and Dean argue that the investigation is very unethical as it tampers with participants memories and could lead to long term psychological harm. Kenneth Pope also argued that Loftus had inappropriately generalised her findings to draw conclusions about false memories. However in response to this criticism Loftus argued that it was mainly her colleague who carried out the study on his own daughter, and emphasised that the participants involved showed no adverse effects in follow-up sessions. Loftus then pointed out that the study s results had been replicated repeatedly demonstrating the high validity of the results in contrast to Pope. However the question that many including myself have surrounding the Loftus and Coan study and any other study that tampers with the human memory is that, is it ethical to carry out such investigations like this on humans that tamper with their memories? The research carried out by Loftus and Coan have left the world wondering whether the memories we have are an accurate representation of the events we have experienced within our lives. The question I would like to leave you with today is: Is your memory as reliable as it seems? By Jess Penny

5 Fear or Phobia? The words fear and phobia are often used in the same context as we associate them with disliking and certain object or creature and often feel a strong anxiety when we come into contact with them. However fears and phobias are very different concepts that should not be mistaken. So what are the differences between fears and phobias? What is a fear? By definition a fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. Having a fear is very common within the population and are considered to be normal as even the strongest and bravest people are bound to have something that makes them squirm upon meeting. People with fears give an emotional response upon meeting the object or creature as you brain senses that you may have been presented with a dangerous object. When the brain senses the fear the person will give an emotional response that may lead to them screaming, crying or running away. However shortly after the object or creature giving them the fear has been removed the person is able to carry on with their lives as normal. For example, many people have a fear of spiders, they experience a mild to moderate anxiety reaction when the brain senses that the person has come into contact with a spider, but shortly after the spider has been removed or they have moved away from the spider they are able to calm themselves down and move on back to the task they were previously doing. What is a Phobia? Having a phobia on the other hand can be much more life changing. People with phobias experience such a strong anxiety that it interferes with their quality of life and/ or their ability to function. Using the example of a spider again, people with phobias of spiders will often spend a considerable amount of time worrying about spiders and planning there life around avoiding spiders to ensure that they will not come into contact with them. This affects their quality of life as they will often avoid such places where they assume there will be spiders. How do people develop phobias? Phobias are said to be produced by certain personality traits that people may be born with, inherited genes or a traumatising experience that people may have experienced in their childhood or adulthood life. Psychologists have stated that people who have had strong childhood fears or anxiety are more likely to develop one or more phobias. However phobias are not a sign of weakness or naivety and it is very common for people to experience then throughout their life. So in summary the main differences between a phobia and a fear is that people with fears may try to avoid the object that gives them anxiety however will not plan their life around trying to avoid the thing that gives them the anxiety or emotional response. Whereas people with phobias will plan their life explicitly to avoid coming into contact with their phobia. By Jess Penny The definition of a phobia is an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something.

6 THE RELEVANCE AND FACTORS OF SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY EXPLORED. In my opinion, social learning theory is one of the most interesting and exciting ways in learning to become someone else simply through our own observations; yes, we are all born with exciting and intricate genes and DNA however even those with the same genes (like identical twins) can become completely different people due to their environment. Albert Bandura formulated this theory which encompasses concepts of traditional learning theory and the operant conditioning of B.F. Skinner. The idea is somewhat simplistic: people can learn by watching others perform the behaviour, modelled in the famous Bobo Doll Experiment (1961). What I want to explore is is social learning still as relevant today or has the introduction of social media engendered us to copy behaviour in different ways? Social Learning Theory through social media. Bandura proposed this idea in the 1960s however it still remains as relevant as ever today and is employed beneficially by both individuals and institutions. For example, Cathy Davidson offers a course at Duke University in which social blogs are required. She found that: Blogs directed at peers are taken more seriously, exhibit fewer typographical and factual errors, less plagiarism, and generally better, more elegant and persuasive prose than classroom assignments by the same writers. Is it that when we know we can be scrutinised socially we perform better because we want people to copy us? Perhaps the idea of normative social influence our need to be liked changes which behaviour we retain and how we behave socially. Or is it that simply through the breakthrough of technology and henceforth social media, we have a broader scope of behaviours to copy, and they must compete for our attention via observation? Why, isn t this article a form of social learning? She also found that others learnt more from these articles than specifications, which highlights the idea that coding modelled behaviour into words, labels or images or in this situation, blogs and tweets - results in better retention than simply observing. Factors Affecting Social Learning Theory? The key idea behind social learning theory is Reciprocal Determinism. It suggests that learning is the result of interactive variables: personal, environmental and behavioural. The salient concept is that they don t function as dependent determinants, rather they all determine each other. Personal Factors: These are the beliefs and attitudes that affect learning, which can be influenced by past or current experiences and can affect future performance. Environmental Factors: These are the roles played by parents, teachers and peers, like the amount of feedback from teachers, the values and attitudes of parents or peer relations. Behavioural Factors: These are the responses made to a given situation such as negative or positive behaviours. These factors interact and effect the way which we approach social learning and which behaviours we retain, for example working harder due to a bad mark or simply giving up (I suggest the former)! To summarise, social learning theory is still as relevant and intricate as ever and we all have our own unique approach to the subject, which will undoubtedly be dominated by the effect of social media on the way we retain behaviours and information. By Rachael Pimblett.

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