Practical Application

Memory
1. Car registration after a crash / Post code (MSM)
Short term memory can hold 7 chunks of information suggested
by the Psychologist, George Miller. This is useful piece of
information for people who need to remember key pieces of
information such as license plates or postcodes. Based on the
multi store model of memory.

2. Revising for test (LOP)

As semantic processing leads to better understanding/learning.
While revising for a test if we understand what we learn we will
remember it by adding a deeper meaning to the revision
content and therefore recall it better.

3. Neutral questioning
Leading questions can change memory. Therefore, when police
talk to witnesses they should ask neutral questions to ensure
the validity of the testimony.

Practical Implications
Non Verbal Communication
1. Studies of eye movements in conversation help us to

understand why we might feel uncomfortable talking to

someone who either always looks at us, or never looks at us,
this is because the flow of conversation is disrupted.
2. If facial expression is inherited, this means that it happens
unconsciously and more likely to be truthful. If someone is
saying happy thing with a sad face, chances are they are sad.
People can therefore manipulate their facial expressions to
make people believe they are in a certain frame of mind.
3. People may use their posture to their advantage. For
example, counsellors might deliberately use postural echo to
develop a closer relationship with their client. The implication
for their clients is that they might give more information about
themselves to the counsellor than they would normally.
4. Sales people may adopt an open posture in order to help
them make a sale, the costumer does not realise how they are
being manipulated.
5. A famous restaurant chain trains waiters and waitresses to
squat down when taking orders to gain more tips. Unsuspecting
costumers probably see this as a friendly gesture, but they
have other motives, and that is to increase the tips they
receive.

Practical Implications
Personality (Implications for APD
only)
1. As the cause of APD isn't 100% situational/biological it makes
treatment difficult
2. If APD is biological it cannot be prevented.
3. Treatment for APD with drugs has proven ineffective.
4. Identifying at risk groups may lead to prejudice in societies
and over-looking other groups who may develop APD.
5. If APD is biological it gives people who are cruel and break
the law an excuse to do so, I cant help it, it is in my DNA.

Practical Implications
Stereotyping, Prejudiced and
Discrimination
1. Television programmes often demonstrate stereotypical
behaviour. This is an issue as children observe and imitate
these characters and therefore take on board the stereotypical
views.
2. Sherifs group conflict theory might make sense, but it is
difficult to put into practise. There may be tasks in everyday life
where we have to work together, but how do we get different
groups to join in?
3. Research shows that most stereotypes promote harmful

beliefs. Therefore we can make mistakes about people when we

meet them for the first time. Stereotypes can stop us seeing
what the person is really like.

Practical Implications
Social Influence
Conformity:
Studies have shown that it is hard for people to act differently when part
of a group. This may be an issue when people are in a jury and have to
make a decision regarding a persons verdict. It is highly likely if 11 people
find the defendant guilty, the final juror will agree.

Obedience:
If a student is asked to do something by a teacher they will do it because
the teacher is seen to have authority.
Children are more likely to obey their parents as they see them as an
authority figures.

Deindividuation:
Peoples critical faculties seem to abandon them when they are part of a
crowd or when they are being told what to do by an authority figure. We
find it hard, so the research would suggest, standing out from the crowd to
do what others dont. It is also difficult to know how to alter this kind of
behaviour.

Social Loafing:

People working in groups can be lazy. A good boss can use the knowledge
of factors which lead to social loafing in order to distribute tasks to always
get the best out of his/her workers, making sure that they all pull their
weight so that everyone is working well.

Bystander Effect:
People are much more likely to begin to help if they have some training
and feel more confident in the situation. The practical implications of that
is that the more widely people are trained in basic medical issues, in
schools, colleges and places of work, the more likely people will feel able
to intervene in emergency situations and not suffer bystander apathy.