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Developmental Psychology

Bettelheim (1943)

Muselmann was a derogatory term used


among inmates of World War II Nazi concentration camps to refer to those suffering from a combination of starvation and exhaustion and who were resigned to their impending death. The Muselmann inmates exhibited severe emaciation and physical weakness, an apathetic listlessness regarding their own fate, and unresponsiveness to their surroundings.

deCharms (1968) humans strive


to be the primary locus of causation for, or the origin of, their own behaviour

Ferrare (1962)
17 elderely people, forced old age home: 4 weeks later = 8 dead 10 weeks later = 16 dead

Langer et al. (1975) Hospital patients given more


personal control needed fewer pain relievers

Personal =
Control

Needed less pain relief

I want to do these tests in my own order. I am sure that would make me feel less anxious

Stotland and Blumenthal (1964)

Segliman (1975)
Lack of control leads to learned helplessness

Dogs conditioned to receive a shock did not move to relieve themselves from it even though they were free to.

Learned helplessness
A child who performs poorly on math tests and assignments will quickly begin to feel that nothing he does will have any effect on his math performance. When later faced with any type of mathrelated task, he may experience a sense of helplessness.

To study the effects of enhanced personal responsibility and choice in a group of nursing home patients.
Does increased control have general beneficial effects? How would physical, mental alertness, activity, sociability and satisfaction be affected? Would the sense of responsibility be generalised to other aspects of their lives?

Study carried out on two floors of a top Conneticut nursing home. All residents had similar: health, socioeconomic status and length of stay in home. 1 floor = Responsibility Induced Group (RIG). This was the experimental condition. 2nd Floor = comparison group. This was the control condition.

Each group was briefed differently about their stay in the nursing home:
Responsibility Induced Group (RIG) Experimental condition They had influence over what happened They should give their opinions about complaint procedures They could select their own plant and care for it They could choose which night was movie night Comparison Group (CG) Control condition They were given options of what happened All complaints would be handled by staff They would be given a plant which someone else would care for They would be told which night was movie night.

1 week before the

briefing they were given Questionnaire 1 and 2

This questionnaire assessed how much control residents felt they had over their lives. The research assistant scored their level of alertness. 3 weeks after the briefing they were given Questionnaire 1 and 2 again Completed by the 2 nurses who worked on each floor. They rated each resident for: Happiness, alertness, dependency, sociability and activity levels, eating time, sleeping time. They also noted whether residents went to the movie night or took part in organised activities

Questionnaire 1 (given 1 week before and 3 weeks after the briefing)


Happiness and Activness increased in the RIG although they didnt perceive themselves as having greater control . RIG were seen as being more alert Questionnaire 2 What the nurses thought 93 % of the RIG group had improved and were more active (moving, talking etc) than passive (reading). In addition: Movie attendance higher in the RIG Jelly bean guessing competition 10 participants from the RIG, 1 from CG.

Implications:
Personal responsibility = increased well being
But what about the sample?

71% of CG became more debilitated over the 3 weeks The improvements in the conditions of the RIG group were

quite small what if you made bigger changes?


What made them go to the movies? Happiness or control? Real world application conditions in a care home?

Method field experiment Reliability refers to whether something is consistent.

Consistency of answers on a questionnaire test-retest


Validity refers to whether something is legitimate or true.

Internal validity concerns the extent to which the researcher has tested what they intended to test. Ecological validity concerns the extent to which the research findings can be generalised beyond the research setting. Experimenter bias Extraneous variables
Sampling - representative Ethics Informed consent? Deception? Lack of right to withdraw?

Privacy? Protect from harm? Confidentiality?

Rodin and Langer (1977) Returned 18 months later, average mortality 25% RIG group = 15% CG group = 30% Schulz (1976) Benefit when institutionalized aged given control over their visitors. Savell (1991) Found no difference between choice and no choice groups in terms of physical well being.

Wurm et al. (2007) Cognitive schemas surrounding sense of control and the ageing process important in the physical health of elderly. Suls and Mullen (1981) SRRS (think Rahe et al) controllable life changes had less negative impact on health. Cohen et al. (1993) Ps given cold virus. Those whose life was unpredictable and stressful more likely to develop cold.

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