Narcissism
There is a Greek myth[1] whereby a nymph called Echo is rejected by a man named Narcissus. She wastes away to just a voice (an echo) and he stops by a lake and falls in love with his reflection. Narcissus wastes away too, as he cannot stop looking at his own reflection. Narcissism is a known personality trait, but some psychologists believe that people can experience a narcissistic personality disorder. Campbell and Baumeister (2006) listed symptoms as; general sense of uniqueness and specialness, inflated self esteem and requiring constant and excessive admiration from others.
However, Levy, Reynoso, Wasserman, Clarkin, O’Donohue, Fowler and Lilienfeld (2007) have argued that evidence to support a narcissistic personality disorder has questionable validity and is not empirical. Therefore, should it be included in mental health books such as the DSM? More evidence is needed to support or refute the disorder – particularly empirical evidence. The disorder was included under axis II of DSM-IV but will, most likely, be removed from the 5th edition due out in 2013[2]. Withdrawing it from diagnostic manuals surely means that narcissistic personality disorder is not in fact a mental health disorder.
People who are narcissistic crave attention and positive appraisal. This is very similar to eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, whereby sufferers need to be positively reinforced about their bodies. Steiger, Jabalpurwala, Champagne and Stotland (1997) found that in girls with eating disorders, they scored much higher on narcissism scores than the control group. This suggests that there is a correlation between a narcissistic personality and eating disorders.
“50 Cent is Eminem’s favourite rapper and I’m my favourite rapper.”- Kanye West
Maybe it is a form of extreme arrogance as a result of success. The rapper Kanye West has often been considered as a narcissistic person or completely arrogant. Many celebrities are portrayed as conceited and arrogant by the media with valid reason. Young and Pinsky (2006) found that celebrities are significantly more narcissistic than the general population. Interestingly, whilst men are more narcissistic than females in the general population, female celebrities score higher than their male counterparts. Personally, this is striking because many female celebrities are constantly criticised about their bodies so could influence them to develop an eating disorder as Steiger, Jabalpurwala, Champagne and Stotland (1997) showed the correlation. However, it could be argued that celebrities are successful people who are pursuing their dreams so they have every right to be narcissistic.
“Fans jeer me because I’m good-looking, rich & a great player.” – Cristiano Ronaldo
References:
Campbell, W.K., & Baumeister, R.F.(2006). Narcissistic personality disorder. Practitioner’s Guide to Evidence Based Psychotherapy, 423-431. doi: 10.1007/978-0-387-28370-8_42
Levy, K.N., Reynoso, J.S., Wasserman, R.H., Clarkin, J.F., O’Donohue, W., Fowler, K.A., & Lilienfeld, S.O. (2007). Narcissist personality disorder. Personality disorders: Toward the DSM-V. Thousand Oaks, CA, US: Sage Publications. Retrieved from: http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2007-00410-009
Steiger, H., Jabalpurwala, S., Champagne, J., & Stotland, S. (1997). A controlled study of trait narcissism in anorexia and bulimia nervosa. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 22(2), 173-178. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1098-108X(199709)22:2<173::AID-EAT9>3.0.CO;2-C
Young, S.M., & Pinsky, D. (2006). Narcissism and celebrity. Journal of Research in Personality, 40(5), 463-471. doi: 10.1016/j.jrp.2006.05.005
[1] – http://www.echo.me.uk/legend.htm Echo & Narcissus
[2] – http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/health/views/30mind.html Removal of narcissistic personality disorder from DSM-V
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Tags: arrogance, DSM, eating disorders, kanye west, narciss, narcissim
Fairy Tales
Once upon a time, children were told fairy stories to send them off to sleep but should parents be concerned about the impact these tales have on their children?
There is always a villain in the stories; the witch in Hansel and Gretel, the troll under the bridge in Three Billy Goats Gruff or the giant from Jack and the Beanstalk. The villain is often depicted as being evil and twisted hence why they are the antagonist of the tale. They are often violent, malicious and cunning but this may have a detrimental effect on children’s behaviour. Bandura, Ross and Ross (1963) showed just how easily children can vicariously learn behaviour, especially aggression. Whilst the theory behind this study relies on the child identifying with the person they learn the behaviour from, it is unlikely a young boy would identify with a wicked witch. However, it is still possible for children to develop aggressive tendencies despite this. Huesmann, Eron, Lefkowitz and Walder (1984) showed that children who watched violent television had higher aggression levels and these persisted when they were observed twenty-two years later. Children will often be told the same fairy stories several times which could reinforce their aggressive behaviour and we could potentially have large numbers of people with gingerbread houses ready to cook children in!
Obviously, this is not the case so fairy tales should continue to be told as there is evidence to suggest that they can improve children’s imagination, creativity and problem solving skills. Flack (1998) encouraged children to think of a way the main character in a fairy story could have overcome a problem. Some of the examples used were ‘how would Cinderella have arrived at the ball without her Fairy Godmother’s help?’ and ‘how could the three bears Goldilocks-proof their house?’ This encourages children to think about alternative pathways a person can take and so will benefit them in the future when an obstacle needs to be tackled.
Fairy tales are not just for children – how many of you can still remember the Three Little Pigs? There is evidence to suggest that fairy stories can have therapeutic values. Women who have suffered domestic abuse often see themselves as the cause. Ucko (1991) encouraged therapists to use fairy stories in their counselling sessions. Women in these stories are often depicted as weak or wounded, for example Snow White and Cinderella can only escape to a better life when their prince rescues them. The women in the therapy sessions were told the stories and asked to think of alternative ways of changing their situations. The women were also asked questions that reflected that of their own situation, for example ‘do you think Cinderella was to blame for the abuse her step-mother gave her?’ The therapists believed that the use of these stories helped the women in understanding that they were not to blame for the abuse they suffered as well as showing them that they did not have to continue being abused.
To conclude, fairy tales are valuable not only to children but to adults too. Whilst there may be some concern over the violence within the stories, the positives of fairy tales far outweigh the concerns, and they could be considered as a better alternative to watching violent television or playing video games. Never underestimate the power of a fairy tale!
References:
Bandura, A., Ross, D., & Ross, S.A. (1963). Vicarious reinforcement and imitative learning. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67 (6), 601-607. doi: 10.1037/h0045550
Flack, J. (1998). A goldilocks problem with a three-bear solution. Teaching PreK, 8(28), 50-52. Retrieved from: http://elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=4865958
Huesmann, L.R., Eron L.D., Lefkowitz, M.M., & Walder, L.O. (1984) Stability of aggression over time and generations. Developmental Psychology, 20(6), 1120-1134. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.20.6.1120
Ucko, L.G. (1991). Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf? Confronting wife abuse through folk stories. Social Work, 36(5), 414. Retrieved from: http://storieswork.org/whos_afraid-wife_abuse.pdf
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Tags: Fairy Tales, Psychology
Theory of Mind
Ten years ago, children were more interested in a cardboard box that a gift came in as it provided seemingly endless play possibilities. Pretend play is attributed to a theory of mind. Sodian and Kristenn (2010) describe the theory of mind as the ability to identify different mental states such as feelings and emotions, of others, as well as themselves. It also includes desire understanding and belief understanding.
Theory of mind is particularly helpful in diagnosing autism in early childhood. Baron-Cohen, Leslie and Frith (2003) showed how children with autism did not have a theory of mind and so could not predict the behaviour of others; this was compared to “normal” controls that were actually younger than the children with autism. Interestingly, the study also looked at children who had Down’s syndrome and found that these children could put themselves in the position of others so it was concluded they did have a theory of mind.
Premack and Woodruff (1978) investigated whether one adult chimpanzee had a theory of mind and, remarkably, concluded that it did. It was shown videotapes of a human struggling with a problem, such as being unable to work a device because it was unplugged, and then a series of pictures in which there was one with a solution to the problem. The chimpanzee consistently chose the correct photo so it was concluded that it was able to put itself in the position of another.
Baron-Cohen, Jolliffe, Mortimore and Robertson (1997) found that whilst people with autism could not recognise people’s emotions from the eyes alone, they could recognise the gender of the person and general emotion from the face. More investigation is needed into it as this suggests that the theory of mind may be a continuum rather than a separate entity.
Whilst there are plenty of studies, particularly into autism, which provide qualitative data into the theory of mind, many of the studies into this area fail to produce quantitative data. Can we actually quantify the theory of mind? However, a study by Stone, Baron-Cohen, Caulder, Keane and Young (2003) showed that the amygdala may be responsible for a theory of mind. Patients with bilateral damage on the amygdala struggled with two tasks designed to test theory of mind. This can also be linked back to autism as Baron-Cohen, Ring, Bullmore, Wheelwright, Ashwin and Williams (2000) found that the amygdala was not activated when making social inferences in people with autism.
In conclusion, the theory of mind is important for social interactions and begins to develop from childhood interactions. Investigations into autism have further developed the theory and there is evidence to suggest that the amygdala plays a role in the theory of mind.
References:
Baron-Cohen, S., Jolliffe, T., Mortimore C., & Robertson, M. (1997). Another advanced test of theory of mind: evidence from very high functioning adults with autism or Asperger Syndrome. Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 38, 813-822. Retrieved from: http://autismresearchcentre.com/docs/papers/1997_BCetal_Anotheradvancedtest.pdf
Baron-Cohen, S., Leslie, A.M, & Frith, U. (1985). Does the autistic child have a “theory of mind” ? Cognition, 21(1), 37-46. doi: 10.1016/0010-0277(85)90022-8
Baron-Cohen, S., Ring, H.A., Bullmore, E.T., Wheelwright, S., Ashwin, C., Williams, & S.C.R. (2000) The amygdala theory of autism. Neuroscience and Biobehavioural Reviews, 24, 355-364. Retrieved from: http://www.autismresearchcentre.com/docs/papers/2000_bcetal_amygdala.pdf
Premack, D., & Woodruff, G. (1978). Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind? The Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 4, 515-526.
Sodian, B., & Kristenn, S. (2010). Towards a theory of thinking. On Thinking, 3, 189-201. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-03129-8_13
Stone, V.E, Baron-Cohen, S., Calder, A., Keane, J., & Young, A. (2003). Acquired theory of mind impairments in individuals with bilateral amygdala lesions. Neuropsychologia, 41(2), 209-220. doi: 10.1016/S0028-3932(02)00151-3
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Tags: Theory of Mind
The Issue of Love
“Love conquers all” – Virgil
Love is considered to be one of the most important feelings, in humans and in animals, but why do people love? As Psychologists, can we really measure love? One of the major issues with studying love is the subjectivity surrounding it, in a similar way to happiness or anger. For example, you do not love your mother in the same way or the same amount as you love your pet cat. A study into the types of love by Martson, Hecht and Robers (1987) found six distinct types of romantic love so it is difficult to actually measure love.
One could say that love begins at birth. But why does a mother love this crying, demanding, little person (in most cases) instantly? From Darwin‘s perspective, it’s in the mother’s best interest to care for the baby, after all she has nurtured it in the womb for nine months, but by ensuring the baby’s survival, she is also ensuring that her own genes will get passed on for future generations. Falling in love with someone would hopefully mean procreation would later happen so this is another way to ensure the transmission of genes.
However, there is evidence to suggest that love is needed for comfort and security. Harlow (1958) placed young rhesus monkeys with a choice of two artificial mothers: in one group, one was made of wire and provided milk, the other was soft and rocked; in the second group, the wire surrogate provided no food whilst the soft one did. All of the monkeys favoured a comforting mother for comfort and protection, regardless of whether it provided food for survival, and they would only go to the wire surrogate for food. From this perspective we could say that whilst survival does play a part in our behaviour, ultimately, for the monkeys in this experiment, it was the comfort and protection of the soft surrogate which influenced their decision on which mother to choose and hence love. We can see this reflected in humans too: despite some decisions not being in their best interests, people will do certain things for the security of love. Maybe it is a more complex thing rather than a means of ensuring the transmission of genes, maybe humans have an innate desire to be loved and loved in return to ensure a stable mental health.
The Greek language has several words for love, for example ‘ἀγάπη’ (agape) is unconditional love, whilst ‘φιλία’ (philia) is love between friends. This definition between the types of love could be beneficial to psychologists in understanding love better as well as trying to measure it quantitatively. If we could discriminate between the types of love then we would be able to know what love is and so establish ways of measuring each kind. Personally, I believe that currently we cannot measure this but there will be progression in this field in the future; at present, we can only gather qualitative information which many psychologists do not consider to be as important as quantitative data. To conclude, school children were asked “what is love?” and their answers are worth a read!
References:
Harlow, H.F. (1958). The nature of love. American Psychologist, 13, 673-685. Retrieved from http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Harlow/love.htm
Martson, P.J., Hecht, M.L., & Robers, T. (1987). `True love ways’: the subjective experience and communication of romantic love. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 4(4), 387-407. doi: 10.1177/0265407587044001
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Can Everybody Learn?
There have been many stories of children who are raised in the wild by animals. The famous story of Romulus and Remus tells how they were raised by a wolf and then went on to form Ancient Rome, but real cases of feral children have show that, upon being discovered by humans, their development has been severely impaired.
The famous case of Oxana Malaya can be used as case study: she had been raised by a pack of dogs for five years and when she was found aged eight, she walked on all fours, barked, growled and could only say yes or no [VIDEO]. By observing her, we can logically deduce that, in Oxana’s case, behaviour is learnt, as suggested by Bandura and Walters (1963). Obviously, she is genetically human but does not behave in a ‘normal’ human way so do genetics really have much of an impact on our behaviour?
The most important thing to consider is whether it is possible for us to reverse the effects of being raised by animals and rehabilitate the person into society, essentially this will be in the way we teach people and their learning capabilities. Oxana eventually managed to learn how to speak although not at a complex level. Another example of where rehabilitation has not been effective is in the case of Genie by Curtiss, Fromkin, Krashen, Rigler and Rigler (1974); whilst she was not raised by animals, she was left strapped to a chair for thirteen years and that left her development severely impaired. Despite rigorous efforts to teach her how to speak, her language was limited and after a certain period of time, it seemed as if a wall was hit and there was no further progression and without frequent reinforcement, everything she learnt quickly began to be reversed. Psychologists could draw conclusions from studying children who had been privated, for example, without being taught in early childhood do people lose the ability to learn? There is certainly a body of evidence from linguists which suggests that once the critical period of language has been passed, it’s unlikely a person will ever learn to speak proficiently.
Children who are isolated from a young age do not seem to be able to learn to the same level that non-isolated counterparts can but a chimpanzee which is raised by humans can learn at almost the same level as a child! Kellogg and Kellogg (1933) raised a chimpanzee with their son and treated the animal as if it was a child. The ape learnt how to walk upright, control its bladder and passed 42 tests, the child passed 46. Does the key to learning lie with our early experiences – if this is the case then early life is crucial to intellectual development and further investigation into a child’s upbringing and academic development would be worthwhile to development of our own knowledge of how people learn. The crucial question is can everybody learn?
References
Bandura, A. & Walters, R.H. (1963). Social learning and personality development. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Curtiss, S., Fromkin, V., Krashen, S., Rigler, D., & Rigler, M. (1974). The linguistic development of Genie. Language, 50(3), 528-554. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/pss/412222
Kellogg, W. N., & Kellogg, L.A. (1933). The ape and the child: a study of environmental influence upon early behavior. Oxford, England: Whittlesey House.
Snow, C.E., & Hoefnagel-Höhle, M. (1978). The critical period for language acquisition: evidence from second language learning. Child Development, 49(4), 1114-1128. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/pss/1128751
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Sex Blog
The study into biological components of sex differences in colour preference by Hurlbert and Ling (2007) may be misleading; firstly the participants had to express a preference for the colour, not the participant’s ability to discriminate between the colours. Saito (1998) found that participants from Asia actually preferred white rather than pink or blue and this was due to cultural and environmental factors. To assume that the differences are purely biological is not advised in Psychology as we now understand that nature and nurture both play a role.
In the study, the participants were required to select their preferred colour using a mouse cursor as fast as possible so the choice was their immediate gut reaction however the pressure of choosing quickly could mean there was some human error and the wrong colour was selected so the results may not be accurate. Participants in Hurlbert and Ling’s study were aged between 20-26, but Saito (1998) found that whilst sex does play a role in colour preference, age also played a role so more investigation is needed into this field. Could it be that there is a biological basis but as social factors influence people, their colour preference can change over time?
The findings of the study showed that both males and females shared a natural preference for blue, which, they explained, was due to an evolutionary basis that blue meant clean water. Females also preferred red colours as they were the gatherers and so red meant ripe berries and survival. However, the hunter-gatherer theory is just a theory. Knowledge from this time period is not completely accurate and relies on artefacts found and inferences about behaviour, so to explain the findings of this study solely this idea is reckless and ill-advised. The study itself admits that the Chinese participants may have preferred red because red is a colour of good luck as well as the national flag therefore there is some cultural influence therefore the title of ‘biological components of sex differences in colour preference’ is misleading.
The news report to accompany this article from the Times was titled ‘at last, science discovers why blue is for boys but girls really do prefer pink’. This title implies that the study really is groundbreaking and has discovered the truth, which is not the case. The study actually showed that there is a biological preference which could be due to the hunter-gatherer theory but it is not completely conclusive because of the limited sample. The study found that girls’ preferences peaked in the reddish-purple area whereas the article title says girls prefer pink; further into the article, we are told girls prefer a lilac shade, which was not mentioned in the actual study.
It is important to note that babies used to be dressed in whites and creams up until the 1920s when blue was the dainty colour for girls and pink, the fiery and more dominant colour was used for boys. Would the hunter-gatherer theory have changed if we maintained this colour stereotype? What about those with colour blindness – would they still display a biological preference?
References
Hurlbert, A.C., &, Ling, Y. (2007). Biological components of sex differences in colour preference. Current Biology, 17,(16), 623-625. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2007.06.022
Saito, M. (1998). Comparative studies on color preference in Japan and other Asian regions, with special emphasis on the preference for white. Color Research and Application, 21(1), 34-49. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1520-6378(199602)21:1<35::AID-COL4>3.o.CO;2-6
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Anorexia – Who is to blame?
Anorexia Nervosa is a psychiatric disorder which manifests itself in extreme weight loss through eating too little and exercising too much. A sufferer of anorexia will maintain a strict diet, often with low calorie food and cut out main meals, and engage in high impact sports such as aerobics or running. Women account for approximately 90% of all cases of anorexia. The disorder usually develops in mid-teens and 20% of cases are long term. However, cases of anorexia in Eastern cultures are relatively rare so why is there such a high rate of eating disorders in Western civilisations? What are the causes of anorexia that are present in our culture but not in Eastern society?
The media is often blamed as a causal factor in young girls developing anorexia. We are bombarded with constant photos of celebrities with perfect bodies and people feel they must adhere to their standards too, people then see that being thin somehow equals being successful and rich. However, when a celebrity is spotted looking less than perfect, that imperfection is highlighted and ridiculed so naturally, non-celebrities will become even more paranoid about their own bodies which in turn will impact on their self esteem. Park (2005) showed how fashion magazines increased a person’s desire to be thin both directly and indirectly.
Self esteem seems to be a major factor in developing the disorder as Button, Sonuga-Barke and Thompson (1996) showed how girls with low self esteem aged 11/12 were at greatest risk of developing anorexia aged 15/16. Whilst more research is needed in this field, we can see that lack of positive views coupled with lots of negative opinions on somebody’s weight would really damage a person’s view of themselves.
Tozzi, Sullivan, Fear, McKenzie and Bulik(2003) showed how girls with anorexia blamed having a dysfunctional family on their reason for developing the disorder. This is self report data so people may not be totally honest but generally, one would assume the girls were truthful with their reasons.
Is there a single factor involved with developing an eating disorder or is it a complicated web of causes? Why are some people influenced by the media and others not?
References:
Button, E. J., Sonuga-Barke E. J. S., & Thompson M. (1996). A prospective study of self-esteem in the prediction of eating problems in adolescent schoolgirls: Questionnaire findings. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 32, 2, 193-203. doi: 10.1111/j.2044-8260.1996.tb01176.x
Park, S. Y. (2005). The influence of presumed media influence on women’s desire to be thin. Communication Research, 32, 5, 594-614. doi: 10.1177/0093650205279350
Tozzi, F., Sullivan, P. F., Fear, J. L., McKenzie, J., & Bulik, C. M. (2003). Causes and recovery in anorexia nervosa: The patient’s perspective. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 33, 2, 143–154. doi: 10.1002/eat.10120
(Statistics found on Beat website http://www.b-eat.co.uk/about-beat/media-centre/facts-and-figures/ )
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Violent Films and Children
Ever since Bandura, Ross and Ross (1963) showed how easily children can learn behaviour, particularly aggression, there have been many investigations into the effects of violent media on children. However, major studies have concluded that there is little evidence to suggest that violent films are damaging children. Leyens, Camino, Parke and Berkowitz (1975) conducted a field study into the effects of violent films on children in a youth offending centre, and whilst short term aggression increased, there were no overall lasting effects. So why do newspapers continue to tell us that watching violent films will damage children?
Films like Saw, a Serbian Film, the Human Centipede and Hostel have all been to blame for the broken society we are currently living in and the reason why some children have attacked others e.g. the Edlington brothers:
But is this really fair? Should we ban these films from corrupting the innocent minds of children – or even ban them from everyone as adults can learn vicariously. And can they be used in court as an excuse? Huessmann, Eron, Lefkowitz, and Walder (1984) conducted a longitudinal study over twenty two years which found that in males especially, the continual exposure to violent media increased their aggression over time. If children watch Reservoir Dogs everyday for five years could they want to re-enact the Mexican standoff? Surely, instead of preventing people from watching it, we should really look at the creators of these films – where do they get their ideas from? Are they their fantasies they can’t carry out in real life?
Of course, it would be impossible to ban all violent media as it is not conclusively shown to turn people into violent criminals and the Government would not have the power to censor it all. Take children’s cartoons for example: how many times has Wile E. Coyote tried to murder Road Runner, and how many times has Jerry escaped Tom’s traps? Violence is displayed all around us – maybe some are more sensitive and react to it.
Charlton, Gunter and Hannan’s study on the island of St Helena (2002) showed how children who had never seen television before were not changed by then being able to watch it. However, one of the participants said it was because you could not misbehave on the island as everybody knows you and watches out for you. This may be at the heart of the issue – it’s not the violent films children are watching which are causing the aggression, it’s the lack of a close society. Children are left to their own devices and being allowed to watch this films (which do come with an age restriction), then their behaviour is not punished or reinforced as society has changed. Families are no longer close units – in the rare cases of children who will go onto attack/murder other children, the media will report that they watched violent films but often these children have a broken family and have been left to do as they please with nobody acting as a parental figure. If we ban these films, would it really make an impact?
References:
Bandura, A., Ross, D. & Ross, S.A. (1963). Imitation of film-mediated aggressive models. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, Vol 66(1), Jan 1963, 3-11. doi:10.1037/h0048687
Charlton, T., Gunter, B. & Hannan, A. (2002). Broadcast television effects in a remote community. UK: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Huesmann, L. R., Eron L. D., Lefkowitz, M. M., Walder, L.O. (1984) Stability of aggression over time and generations. Developmental Psychology, Vol 20(6). http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/dev/20/6/1120/
Leyens, J.P., Camino, L., Parke, R.D. & Berkowitz, L. (1975). Effects of movie violence on aggression in a field setting as a function of group dominance and cohesion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 32(2), Aug 1975, 346-360. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.32.2.346
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Longitudinal Studies
Longitudinal studies are a type of research method which is used over time to examine the same variable. They have been particularly useful in studying child development. Longitudinal studies can last for a few years or even a few decades. However, are they useful to Psychology?
Whilst they do provide high quality data (provided they are carried out correctly), there are several logistic problems associated with them. For example, Huesmann, Eron, Lefkowitz and Walder (1984) looked into the amount of aggressive television watched and the effects on later life over a twenty-two year period. The first problem is how time consuming some longitudinal studies can be for the researcher and the participant; the participants were only eight at the beginning of the study and this has been a part of their life up to age thirty! Ethical rules still apply and so participants are free to drop out at any point so longitudinal studies tend to have a very high dropout rate. Imagine how frustrating it would be as a psychologist to spend twenty-two years on a research project which people kept dropping out from and you could not recruit new participants for! Research is expensive so you would need to find a company willing to back your research for such a substantial amount of time – but what if your data was not conclusive and added nothing to pre-existing knowledge?
They are a type of study which looks at correlations but you must not assume cause and effect from the results. However, as the research is carried out over a long time period, you can have much more confidence that you are seeing real cause and effect. This is the case in Rutter’s (1997) study of privated Romanian orphans in which he could see that severe privation in early life had lead to cognitive deficits.
Whilst longitudinal studies can be very difficult to carry out due to the above mentioned reasons, they can provide lots of crucial data. One of the main reasons why longitudinal studies are important to Psychology is because the same participants are used over a time period so if there are any participant variables then they will be present every single time so do not affect the data which can be important when studying child development because people will all experience a different upbringing so eliminating the variables can make the data more valid. Longitudinal studies are most common in studying children, like Sylva’s EPPE project (2004), and can lead to positive applications of Psychology such as the Sure Start program so although there are many drawbacks to this method, they provide a wealth of evidence that cannot be obtained through any other method.
Huesmann, L. R., Eron L. D., Lefkowitz, M. M., Walder, L.O. (1984) Stability of aggression over time and generations. Developmental Psychology, Vol 20(6). http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/dev/20/6/1120/
Rutter, M. (1997) Developmental catch-up, and deficit, following adoption after severe global early privation. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=10487
Sylva, K., Melhuish,E., Sammons,P., Siraj-Blatchford,I., & Taggart, B. Findings from pre-school to end of key stage1. The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) Project. http://www.dotwaidecentre.org.au/pdf/EPPE.pdf
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Issues Surrounding IQ
An Intelligence Quotient is a score which assesses the participant’s intelligence. This is an example of a typical question in a test for IQ.: Which of the figures is the odd one out?
Some of the most important questions that are raised by the use of IQ as a test of intelligence are whether it really is measuring intelligence and whether it is a reliable method of measuring it.
Many people have argued that IQ is not a valid measure of intelligence because it may not actually be measuring intelligence, for example, Duckworth, Quinn, Lynam, Loeber, Stouthamer-Loeber, Morritt and Caspi (2011) conducted a study into IQ and found that whilst intelligence does play a role in IQ, motivation is also a key factor, so earning a high IQ score is a result of high intelligence and high motivation. This study has added weight to the idea that IQ testing is not a valid method and we shouldn’t rely on it so heavily.
Another issue with the use of IQ tests is who decides the cut off points in IQ? If you fall above or below the range for “normal” intelligence, you are deemed abnormal, even if you are one point below. However, abnormal IQ scores are not necessarily a negative thing, for example, Quentin Tarantino has an IQ of 160 and Kim Ung-yong has an IQ of 210! (He was able to talk fluently aged 6 months and attended university at 4 years old!) So in this respect IQ can give us a clear way of deciding between those who fall below average, above average and in the middle which is useful in some scenarios, e.g. in school we could identify the type of specialist teaching needed for each person – some will need a lot more help than others etc.
Personally, I think that whilst IQ tests provide a baseline to judge intelligence we shouldn’t rely on them fully as they can be very misleading. For example when the IQ of people from an ethnic minority is tested they tend to have much lower scores than the ethnic majority, which has been blamed on the fact IQ tests are ethnocentric and are based on cultural assumptions so if someone is foreign to that culture they won’t know the cues and so have a significantly scores which then is an unfair judge of their IQ particularly in the case of the 11+ which would determine whether a child attended a particular school which in turn influences their future.
Duckworth, A.L., Quinn, P.D., Lynam, D., Loeber, R., Stouthamer-Loeber, M., Moffitt, T.E., & Caspi, A. (2011) What intelligence tests test: individual differences in test motivation and IQ. Running Head: Motivation & Intelligence Testing. http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~duckwort/images/What%20intelligence%20tests%20test.pdf
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