IB Psychology Topic 1.6 Responsibility Questionbank…

Aron and colleagues investigated whether interpersonal closeness can be deliberately generated through structured self-disclosure. Pairs of previously unacquainted students were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. In the closeness condition, partners worked through a set of questions that gradually escalated in personal depth, taking turns to answer and disclosing increasingly personal information and feelings. In the control condition, partners answered small-talk questions of similar length. After about 45 minutes, participants in the escalating self-disclosure condition reported feeling significantly closer to their partner than those in the small-talk condition. The researchers concluded that mutual, escalating self-disclosure can rapidly increase feelings of closeness between strangers, highlighting the role of reciprocal disclosure in the formation of relationships.

References: Aron, A., Melinat, E., Aron, E. N., Vallone, R. D. and Bator, R. J., 1997. 'The experimental generation of interpersonal closeness: a procedure and some preliminary findings.' Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23(4), pp. 363 to 377. source adapted.

the following study with reference to two or more of the following concepts: bias, causality, measurement, and/or responsibility.

Brown and Harris investigated the social factors that make depression more likely in women. They interviewed a large sample of women in a district of London about recent stressful life events and their social circumstances, and assessed who had become depressed. Depression was much more common in women who had experienced a severe life event or major difficulty. Certain 'vulnerability factors' increased the risk that such events would lead to depression: lacking a close confiding relationship, having several young children at home, not working outside the home, and the loss of one's own mother in childhood. The researchers concluded that depression in women arises from an interaction between provoking life events and social vulnerability factors.

References: Brown, G. W. and Harris, T., 1978. Social Origins of Depression: A Study of Psychiatric Disorder in Women. London: Tavistock. source adapted.

the following study with reference to two or more of the following concepts: bias, causality, measurement, and/or responsibility.

Loftus and Palmer investigated whether the wording of a question could change what people remember about an event. In one experiment, 45 participants watched film clips of car accidents and then answered questions about what they had seen. The critical question asked how fast the cars were going when they 'hit' each other; for different groups the verb was replaced with 'smashed', 'collided', 'bumped', or 'contacted'. Mean speed estimates were highest for the group given 'smashed' and lowest for 'contacted', although all groups had watched the same clips. In a second experiment, participants who had heard 'smashed' were more likely a week later to report having seen broken glass, although there was none in the film. The researchers concluded that information supplied after an event, through the wording of a question, can be integrated into memory, supporting a reconstructive view of memory.

References: Loftus, E. F. and Palmer, J. C., 1974. 'Reconstruction of automobile destruction: An example of the interaction between language and memory.' Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 13(5), pp. 585 to 589. source adapted.

One claim in the psychology of human development is that psychologists act responsibly when they cause brief distress to infants in order to study attachment. this claim with reference to one or more strategies used to study attachment.

Cialdini and colleagues investigated a technique for increasing compliance. In their first experiment, student researchers approached 72 people walking alone along university walkways and introduced themselves as being from a county youth counselling programme. Participants were randomly allocated to one of three conditions. In the first condition, the researcher made a very large request: to volunteer as an unpaid counsellor for young offenders for two hours a week for at least two years. No one agreed. The researcher then made a smaller request: to chaperone a group of young offenders on a single two-hour trip to the zoo. In the second condition, participants were asked only the smaller request. In the third condition, participants heard both requests described together and were asked whether they would do either one. Agreement to the smaller request was 50% after the large request had been refused, 25% when both requests were described together, and 16.7% when only the smaller request was made; the two comparison conditions did not differ significantly from each other. The researchers called this the 'door-in-the-face' technique and explained it through reciprocal concessions: when the requester appears to back down from a large request to a smaller one, the person feels pressure to make a concession in return by agreeing.

Disclaimer: Content used in IB assessments is taken from authentic, third-party sources. The views expressed within them belong to their individual authors and/or publishers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IB. References: Cialdini, R. B., Vincent, J. E., Lewis, S. K., Catalan, J., Wheeler, D. and Darby, B. L., 1975. 'Reciprocal concessions procedure for inducing compliance: the door-in-the-face technique.' Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31(2), pp. 206–215. source adapted.

the following study with reference to two or more of the following concepts: bias, causality, measurement, and/or responsibility.

IB Psychology 1.6 Responsibility Questionbank

IB Psychology 1.6 Responsibility Questionbank

IB Psychology 1.6 Responsibility Questionbank

IB Psychology 1.6 Responsibility Questionbank

IB Psychology (First Exam 2027) Topic 1.6 Responsibility Questionbank