Welcome to the World of Psychological Research!

Welcome to one of the most exciting parts of your OCR AS Level Psychology course! In the "Individual Studies" section of Component 02, you aren't just learning theories; you are learning about real experiments conducted by real people. Think of each study as a story. To master this chapter, you need to be able to "tell the story" of 10 specific pieces of research.

Don't worry if it feels like a lot of names and dates at first. Once you understand the structure of how to look at a study, it becomes much easier to remember. Let’s dive in!

1. The "Storytelling" Template

For every study in your syllabus, the examiners want you to know the same six things. If you can fill in these blanks for a study, you are ready for the exam!

The 6 Key Chapters of a Study:

1. Background: What was happening in the world or in science that made the researcher want to do this study? What was their aim?
2. Method - Design: Was it a lab experiment? A field experiment? How did they set it up?
3. Method - Sample: Who were the participants? How many were there? Were they men, women, children, or even monkeys?
4. Method - Materials/Apparatus: What "stuff" did they use? (e.g., a questionnaire, a fake shock generator, or a video clip).
5. Method - Procedure: Step-by-step, what did the participants actually do?
6. Results and Conclusions: What did the data show (the numbers) and what does it actually tell us about human behavior (the meaning)?

Memory Aid: The "D-S-M-P" Trick

To remember the four parts of the Method, just think: Dogs Should Make People Happy.
Design, Sample, Materials, Procedure.

Quick Review: You must be able to describe the "story" of each study using these specific headings. If you miss one, you might lose easy marks!

2. The Five Areas of Psychology

The 10 studies you need to know are split into five "Areas." Each area looks at human behavior through a different lens.

1. Social Psychology: How the people around us influence our behavior. (Studies: Milgram and Bocchiaro).
2. Cognitive Psychology: How our "internal computer" (memory, thinking) works. (Studies: Loftus & Palmer and Grant et al.).
3. Developmental Psychology: How we change as we grow from children to adults. (Studies: Bandura and Chaney).
4. Biological Psychology: How our brain, genes, and chemicals control us. (Studies: Sperry and Casey).
5. Individual Differences: How we are all unique, focusing on things like mental health or personality. (Studies: Freud and Baron-Cohen).

Analogy: Imagine a person is angry. A Social psychologist asks who made them mad. A Biological psychologist checks their brain chemicals. A Cognitive psychologist asks what they were thinking!

3. A Closer Look: The Classic Social Study (Milgram, 1963)

Let's use the template to look at one of the most famous studies ever: Milgram’s Study of Obedience. This is a classic study because it changed everything we knew about "evil" behavior.

Background

After World War II, people wondered how so many ordinary citizens could follow orders to commit terrible crimes. Milgram wanted to see if Americans would obey an authority figure even if it meant hurting someone else.

Method

Design: This was a controlled observation in a laboratory at Yale University.
Sample: 40 males, aged 20-50, from different jobs. They were self-selected (they responded to a newspaper ad).
Materials: A scary-looking "shock generator" with switches ranging from 15V to 450V.
Procedure: Participants were told they were the "teacher" and had to give an electric shock to a "learner" (who was actually an actor) every time they got a word-pair wrong. The shocks weren't real, but the participants thought they were!

Results and Conclusions

Results: 100% of participants went up to 300V. 65% (26 out of 40) went all the way to the maximum 450V, even though they were sweating and trembling with stress.
Conclusion: People are much more likely to obey an authority figure than we think. The situation we are in is often stronger than our own personality.

Did you know? Before the study, Milgram asked students and psychiatrists what they thought would happen. They predicted only 1-3% would go to 450V. They were very wrong!

4. Common Mistakes to Avoid

Don't worry if this seems tricky at first—lots of students mix these up! Keep an eye out for these "traps":

• Mixing up Results and Conclusions: A result is a number or a fact (e.g., "65% obeyed"). A conclusion is the "big picture" lesson (e.g., "People obey because of the situation").
• Vague Samples: Avoid saying "some people." Be specific! Was it "40 males" or "22 five-year-olds"?
• Ignoring the "Why": Always remember why the study was done. This helps you explain the Background and Conclusion more clearly.

5. Working with "Contemporary" Studies

In your syllabus, each classic study (like Milgram) is paired with a contemporary (modern) study (like Bocchiaro).
The modern study usually asks: "Does this still happen today?" or "Does this happen in a different way?"

Example: Bocchiaro et al. (2012) looked at obedience just like Milgram, but they also looked at whistle-blowing (reporting someone for doing something wrong). They found that while many people *say* they would disobey, very few actually do when put on the spot.

Summary: Key Takeaways

• The Formula: Memorize the 6 points (Background, Design, Sample, Materials, Procedure, Results/Conclusions) for all 10 studies.
• The Areas: Know which area each study belongs to (e.g., Loftus & Palmer = Cognitive).
• The Numbers: Try to remember at least one key "headline" statistic for each study (like Milgram's 65%).
• The Story: Treat each study like a short movie plot. If you can explain the "plot" to a friend, you're 90% of the way there!