Approaches

Question 1

humanistic

Answer 1

proposes that individuals are completely free to choose their own behaviours
free will- notion that humans have free will and behaviour is not determined by internal or external factors
focus is on personal growth but behaviour is affected by internal and external factors (but we are active agents who can determine their own development)
personal growth- we develop and change as a person in order to become fulfilled, satisfied and goal orientated

Question 2

hierarchy of needs

Answer 2

proposed by Maslow and involves what motivates people, beyond the needs for biological survival
physiological needs
safety and security
love and belongingness
self esteem
self actualisation- every person has an innate tendency to achieve their full potential and be the best version they can possibly be

Question 3

rogers

Answer 3

proposed the idea of the self, congruence and conditions of worth
the self- all ideas and values we have about ourselves and involves real and ideal self
congruence- when ideal and real match up and is necessary for self actualisation
incongruence- large gap between self and ideal self, leads to low self esteem
occurs- due to conditions of worth; if parents set limits on their love for children, they need unconditional positive regard
client centred therapy which aims to reduce the gap between the ideal and real self using positive regard

Question 4

humanistic ao3 strengths

Answer 4

positive approach as it humans as good and values personal ideas, self fulfilment and growth, doesn’t focus on negative effects of our past like other approaches
emphasises choice
holistic approach as it focuses on the person as a whole and doesn’t reduce behaviour down (more validity as it looks at humans in natural context and not in controlled lab conditions)
practical applications in CC therapy
idiographic as it focuses on the individual and appreciates that we are all different/unique

Question 5

humanistic ao3 weaknesses

Answer 5

uses non scientific, subjective date from interviews (lots of qualitative) which is impossible to replicate
interpretation may be influenced by researcher bias

can’t formulate general laws as it a set of abstract ideas
culturally relative as not all cultures share same ideas about individual achievement and some see SA as selfish
not falsifiable so dont know if the ideas are actually true as they cannot be proven wrong

not a realistic view of human behav as it ignores situational factors which have a large influence of behav and it ignores our capacity for self destruction (not everyone is positive)
ignores other approaches and is unrealistic to think that we will achieve all of maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Question 6

psychosexual stages

Answer 6

characterised by conflicts which must be resolved to pass to the next stage
oral- mouth is main focus and oral fixation occurs if stage is not completed eg biting nails or pens (ego develops)
anal- excretion is form of pleasure, anally retentive if not passed (perfectionist) or anally expulsive (messy)
phallic- genital area is form of pleasure
oedipus complex and electra complex- internalising same sex parent’s values in the end
(superego develops)
latency- same sex relationships, early conflicts are repressed
genital- puberty, adulthood and developing healthy adult friendships
difficulty forming same sex relationships

Question 7

unconcious

Answer 7

freud proposed that unconcious processes that we are unaware of determine behaviour and the unconcious protects us from conflicts using defence mechanisms
can be accessed using dream analysis as they have hidden content
freudian slips

Question 8

tri parte personality

Answer 8

id- operates on pleasure principle, demands immediate satisfaction, in conflict with superego
ego- works to resolve conflicts between id and superego using defence mechanisms
superego- works on morality principle, internalised sense of right and wrong, punishes ego for wrong doing
if ego doesn’t balance then problems arise
if superego is dominant- depression
if id is dominant- psychosis

Question 9

defence mechanism

Answer 9

help the ego resolve conflict between id and superego
provide solutions to deal with unresolvable conflicts
denial- refusing to believe something because it is too painful to think about
repression- forcing a distressing memory from the conscious mind
displacement- transferring feelings from the true source of distress onto a substitute target

Question 10

psychodynamic ao3 strengths

Answer 10

use of case studies develops in depth qualitative information about people which provides lots of evidence for the theory
fisher and greenberg reviewed studies and found evidence for some parts of the PD including defence mechanisms and role of the unconscious
focuses on events in childhood and their effect on later life which is often used when looking at mental health now
psychoanalysis was first type of therapy that looked at psychological issues rather than just physical health
idiographic due to nature of case studies but nomothetic as freud argued that all human behaviour is a result of the tri parte personality

Question 11

psychodynamic ao3 weaknesses

Answer 11

lacks falsifiability as it is not a scientific approach, cannot be tested, concepts are very abstract
popper said that is not open to empirical testing as we can’t study unconscious scientifically so there is no objective evidence that the theory is true- is a pseudoscience
reductionist- simplifies the whole mind to the tri parte personality
determinist- all behaviour is pre determined by the unconscious and we have no free will, there is nothing we can do to change our behaviour (some people set up for failure)
use of case studies is unique, subjective, can’t replicate and lack ecological validity

Question 12

behaviourism

Answer 12

studies behaviour that can be measured and observed
founded by watson and assumes that all behaviour is learned from the environment, we are born blank slates, result of stimulus + response

Question 13

pavlov

Answer 13

classical conditioning 
pairing a response that is naturally caused by one stimulus to another stimulus- association
shown in dogs 
food (UCS)- salivation (UCR)
bell (NS)
food + bell = salivation
bell (CS) = salivation(CR)

Question 14

skinner

Answer 14

idea of operant conditioning
positive reinforcement- receiving a reward for a certain behaviour
negative reinforcement- removal of an unpleasant consequence
both increase likelihood of that behaviour will be repeated
punishment- consequence of behaviour which reduces the likelihood of it being repeated

Question 15

skinner’s box

Answer 15

used rats to test ideas of operant conditioning
rats were in a skinner’s box and as they explored they found that pressing a leaver gave them food
once they found out they would keep pressing the lever so that they got the food- pos reinforcement

he also taught the rats to avoid an unpleasant stimulus
put rats in a box with an electric shock plate and the lever would stop the shock
once they found this out they would press the lever every time (neg reinforcement)

Question 16

behav ao3 s

Answer 16

skinner used highly controlled exp so can easily show cause and effect- high internal validity
introduced scientific methods into psychology
real world applications in explaining and treating phobias and token economy

Question 17

behav ao3 w

Answer 17

reductionist as the learning process has been reduced to a few simple components - ignores biological, cognitive aspects etc
ignores evidence from other approaches- but is one of the first to explain behaviour in any type of scientific way
determinist as it sees all behav as conditioned by past experience, ignores any influence that free will may have and ultimately proposes that some people are set up for failure
experiments carried out on animals which are very different in terms of cognition and physiologically, we mediate effects of our env differently so can’t generalise

Question 18

social learning theory

Answer 18

proposed by bandura
learning occurs directly (classical and operant conditioning) and indirectly through vicarious reinforcement
importance of
modelling- someone carries out behaviour
imitation- when individual observes behaviour and copies it (based on certain characteristics and consequences)
identification- how similar the person is to model
VR- observing the outcome of the behaviour to see if it is rewarded or punished
MP- cognitive processes that take place in between observing and imitating

Question 19

mediational processes

Answer 19

we do not passively observe and imitate (behav) but we consider consequences
attention- behav must grab our attention to be imitated
retention- a memory of behav must be formed to be performed later
social learning is not always immediate so this is important
reproduction- limited by our physical ability/ what we can physically achieve
motivation- rewards and punishments that follow behaviour are carefully considered
if rewards outweigh costs then it will be repeated

Question 20

bobo doll study

Answer 20

36 boys and 36 girls put into 3 groups
1- 12 boys and 12 girls shown an aggressive model- hitting the bobo doll
2- shown non aggressive role model
3- control group
children were taken to a room with a bobo doll and some other toys
-children who viewed aggressive role model were more aggressive than other groups
- found boys were most likely to imitate same sex models
- boys were more physically aggressive than girls
- no differences between verbal aggression

Question 21

SLT ao3 strengths

Answer 21

support from bobo doll study as they show that behav is imitated even if it is aggressive

takes mediational / cognitive processes into account which is more complete than behav and the processes are specific to humans + our traits of consciousness
which cannot be shown using animal studies (behav assumes)

explains why some cultures/ groups eg amish are non aggressive- as they have never seen the violent behav so it won’t be imitated
softer determinism as it says we have a choice if we want to imitate a behaviour or not
Andsager- identification with a character or example may increase the likelihood that audiences will model behaviour presented in an anti-alcohol message
Phillips-found that daily homicide rates in US almost always increased in the week following a boxing match
showing people imitate the violent behaviour
real world application and can be used positively in health campaigns

Question 22

SLT ao3 weaknesses

Answer 22

ignores biological differences in boys and girls- doesn’t explain why boys were more aggressive than girls- may be due to testosterone
lab study lacks ecological validity and is not the normal env that learning takes place, new env for children may change behaviour, may be demand char
some children are born blind + cannot observe behav are still able to learn complex behaviours so is not a complete explanation
siegel and mccormick– argued that people who hold deviant values at a young age are more likely to associate with peers of the same nature- they are more fun and thus the reinforcement of this deviant behaviour is a two-way process rather than the SLT in itself.
you do not learn deviant behav from peers but are more likely to find deviant friends
issue of causality

Question 23

types of reinforcement

Answer 23

negative
positive
vicarious- watching someone do something, if it is rewarded, this will increase likelihood that the behav will be repeated