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A Level Psychology > 3 - Approaches > Flashcards

3 - Approaches Flashcards

1
Q

What was psychology once known as?

A

experimental philosophy

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2
Q

Who are three key people who influence early pyschology?

A
  • Rene Descartes
  • John Locke
  • Charles Darwin
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3
Q

What were most people’s beliefs about behaviour before Wundt?

A
  • all behaviour was governed & given by God
  • no need to study or question human behaviour as it was God’s will
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4
Q

What did Wudnt believe about how behaviour should be specifically studied?

A

should be broken down into its constituent parts & analysed systematically

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5
Q

What are 2 assumptions of the scientific method?

A
  • all behaviour has a cause & is determined
  • future behaviour is predictable
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6
Q

What did Wundt believed about psychology as a science?

A

psychology should be studied like “hard sciences” (eg. Bio, Physics, Chemistry) using a scientific method

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7
Q

What was so special about Wundt?

A
  • first person to call himself a psychologist
  • published first book about psychology (Principles of Physiological Psychology)
  • founded Institute for Experimental Psychology, first person to study behaviour in a lab
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8
Q

What idea in psychology did Wundt come up with?

A

introspection

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9
Q

What is introspection?

A

where participants reflect on their own feelings, emotions, sensations and mental states

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10
Q

What did Wundt use introspection as a method for?

A

learning more about mental processes (eg. memory, perception, sensation & reaction)

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11
Q

What are the 4 key principles for methods of introspection?

A
  1. participant must know when stimulus will be presented
  2. participant must be in state of strained attention
  3. process must be repeatable
  4. stimuli must be such that its strength & quality can be varied
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12
Q

What are 2 weaknesses of introspection?

A
  1. nuisbett & wilson criticise the use of introspection bc ptcpts are only able to report on conscious mental processes
  2. introspection could not be used to study children & animals, who are unable to use vocab to accurately explain their emotions
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13
Q

What are is a strength of introspection?

A

Wundt’s focus on the inner working mental processes paved the way for emergence of cognitive approach

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14
Q

Define objectivity.

A

basing finding on a fact, rather than an opinion

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15
Q

Define subjectivity.

A

basing findings on an opinion, rather than a fact

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16
Q

Define replicability.

A

the ability to repeat a study & achieve the same findings

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17
Q

Define empirical methods.

A

= a phenomenon that can be observed & measured

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18
Q

What are approaches?

A

different perspectives of approaches

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19
Q

What are the 5 steps of the scientific method?

A
  1. ask a question
  2. state a hypothesis
  3. conduct an experiment
  4. analyse the results
  5. make a conclusion
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20
Q

What are the 4 goals of psychology?

A
  1. description - tell us what has occurred
  2. explanation - tell us why a behaviour/mental process has occurred
  3. prediction - identifies conditions under which a future behaviour/mental proccess is likely to occur
  4. change - applies psychological knowledge to prevent unwanted behaviour & bring abt desired change
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21
Q

What are the 5 approaches in psychology?

A
  1. psychodynamic approach
  2. Learning approach (behaviourist & social learning theory)
  3. cognitive approach
  4. biological approach
  5. humanistic approach
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22
Q

What are all approaches based on?

A

assumptions

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23
Q

What are assumptions?

A

beliefs, held without proof, that something is a fact

24
Q

Who created the Psychodynamic approach?

A

Sigmund Freud

25
Q

What theory did Freud create?

A

Theory of the Unconscious

26
Q

What is the Theory of the Unconscious?

A
  • unconscious wishes & desires cannot be accessed directly but they unconsciously influence our decision making & motivations
  • we repress these unconscious thoughts & use energy to do so & protect our conscious
27
Q

According to Freud, what 3 components make up our personality (psyche)?

A
  1. ID
  2. EGO
  3. SUPEREGO
28
Q

What is the ‘ID’? WHen is the ID formed?

A
  • pleasure principle - represents our desires & wishes, especially our biological & sexual urges
  • birth -> 18 months
29
Q

What is the ‘EGO’?

A
  • represents the reality principle, which is part of our personality that makes decisions based on demands of ‘ID’ & restrictions from ‘SUPEREGO’
  • formed from 18 mnths -> 3 yrs
30
Q

What is the ‘SUPEREGO’?

A
  • represents moral principles & ideas of what we ought to be like. We learn these from our upbringing & they tend to go directly against our ‘ID’s desires
  • formed from 3-6 yrs
31
Q

In a healthy psyche, which component is in charge?

A

EGO

32
Q

What did Freud believe most of the influences on behaviour come from?

A

unconscious mind

33
Q

What did Freud argue about how the Psychosexual stages affect behaviour?

A

conflicts that arise during the psychosexual can affect later behaviour

34
Q

What are the 5 stages of psychosexual development?

A
  1. oral stage
  2. anal stage
  3. phallic stage
  4. latency stage
  5. genital stage
35
Q

What can help control conflict caused by events during the psychosexual stages?

A

defence mechanisms

36
Q

What are the 3 defence mechanisms?

A
  1. repression
  2. denial
  3. displacement
37
Q

What is repression?

A

forgetting an unpleasant memory or strong emotion associated with it

38
Q

What is denial?

A

refusal to admit an unpleasant fact

39
Q

What is displacement?

A

shifting an emotion directed at one person towards another object/partner

40
Q

What are 4 strengths of the psychodynamic approach?

A
  1. psychological factors
  2. importance of childhood
  3. importance of the unconscious
  4. influential theory
41
Q

Why is psychological factors a strength fo the psychodynamic approach?

A

Freud was the first to emphasise the importance of psychological factors causing abnormal behaviour

42
Q

Why is importance of childhood a strength of the psychodynamic approach?

A

most psychologists accept that childhood is important in determining adult behaviour

43
Q

Why is importance of unconscious a strength of the psychodynamic approach?

A

many people agree that the uncoscious does affect behaviour

44
Q

Why is influential theory a strength of the psychodynamic approach?

A

Freud remains best known psychologist & his ideas have been represented in various media & his terminology adopted in everyday language

45
Q

Why is problems validating theory a limitation of the psychodynamic approach?

A

impossible to scientifically test model

46
Q

Why is poor methodology a limitation of the psychodynamic approach?

A

dominant use of case studies in psychodynamic therapy is unscientific, subjective & biased

47
Q

Why is over-emphasis on sexual factors a limitation of the psychodynamic approach?

A

Freud believed sexual factors were a major cause of abnormal behaviour but nowadays we recognise other factors like social relatioships as important

48
Q

Why is blame of parents a limitation of the psychodynamic approach?

A

good for individual but damaging for parent

49
Q

Why is andocentric a limitation of the psychodynamic approach?

A

sees men as ‘normal’ & women as wanting to be men eg. penis envy

50
Q

Who founded the Behaviourist approach?

A

JB watson

51
Q

What was the key focus of the behaviourist approach?

A

we are products of our learning, experiment & environment

52
Q

What are 5 assumptions of the behaviorist approach?

A
  1. Behaviourism is concerned with observable behaviours as it can be objectively & scientifically measured
  2. Psychology is a sicence so behvaiour must be measure in highly controlled environments to establish cause & effect
  3. When we are born our mind is a blank slate
  4. little difference between learning that takes place in humans & in animals
  5. All behaviour is learnt from environment through classical or operant conditionings
53
Q

What is classical conditioning?

A

conditioning of relfexes & involves associating a new stimulus with an innate bodily reflex
(involves pairing a response caused 1 one natural stimulus with another neutral stimulus)

54
Q

What was Pavlovs’ dogs experiment?

A
  • Pavlolv established meat caused dog -> salivate
  • unconditioned stimulus (FOOD) = unconditioned response (SALIVA)
  • Pavlov established a tone that did not cause dog to salivate
  • Pavlov presented tone with food, so dog salivates in response -> food
  • unconditioned stimulus (FOOD) + conditioned stimulus (BELL) = unconditioned response (SALIVA)
55
Q
A

A Level Psychology (8 decks)

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