Approaches Flashcards
Specification
Learning approaches: i) the behaviourist approach, including classical conditioning and Pavlov’s research, operant conditioning, types of reinforcement and Skinner’s research; ii) social learning theory including imitation, identification, modelling, vicarious reinforcement, the role of mediational processes and Bandura’s research.
The cognitive approach: the study of internal mental processes, the role of schema, the use of theoretical and computer models to explain and make inferences about mental processes. The emergence of cognitive neuroscience.
The biological approach: the influence of genes, biological structures and neurochemistry on behaviour. Genotype and phenotype, genetic basis of behaviour, evolution and behaviour.
The psychodynamic approach: the role of the unconscious, the structure of personality, that is Id, Ego and Superego, defence mechanisms including repression, denial and displacement, psychosexual stages.
Humanistic Psychology: free will, self-actualisation and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, focus on the self, congruence, the role of conditions of worth. The influence on counselling Psychology.
Comparison of approaches.
Humanistic psychology: approach
Approach to understanding behaviour that emphasises the importance of subjective experience and each person’s capacity for self determination
The free will one
Humans are active agents in their development
What is self actualisation?
The desire to grow psychologically and fulfill one’s full potential
Become what you are capable of
Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs
5 levelled hierarchical sequence
5) Self actualisation - achieve full potential
4) Esteem needs - feeling of accomplishment
3) Belongingness and love needs - intimate, relationships
2) Safety needs - security, safety
1) Physiological needs - food, water, warmth
What is Self?
The ideas and values that characterise I and me and includes perception and valuing of what i am and what i can do
What is congruence?
The aim of Rogerian therapy
When the self concept and ideal self are seen to broadly accord or match
conditions of worth
When a parent places limits or boundaries on their love for their children
Roger’s therapy
To get the self to have congruence with the ideal self
Client centred therapy to close the gap
Issues have roots in childhood and can be explained by a lack of unconditional positive regard or conditions of worth
Humanistic is not reductionist
Holistic approach
Subjective experience can only be understood by considering the whole person
Means more validity, as it considers context
BUT
It’s less scientific
Can’t break concepts down
no empirical evidence
Humanistic is a positive approach
It’s optimistic
See’s people as good and in control of their lives
Humanistic has Cultural bias
Ideas of individual freedom, autonomy and personal growth are more associated with individualist culture than collectivists
Self actualisationis nit as important as the needs of the group
Psychodynamic approach idea
A perspective that describes the different forces, most of which are unconscious, that operate on the mind and direct human behaviour and experience
The unconscious
The part of the mind that we are unaware of but which directs much of our behaviour
Id
Entirely unconscious
Made of of selfish aggressive instincts that demand immediate gratification
pleasure principle
Ego
Reality principle
Balances the conflicting demands of the Id and the superego
Mediator
Superego
The moralistic part of our personality
Represents the ideal self
Formed at the end of the phallic stage (5yrs old)
Represents the moral standards of the child’s same sex parents
Defence mechanisms
Unconscious strategies that the ego uses to manage the conflict between the Id and the superego
Repression - force distressing memory out of conscious
Denial - refusing to acknowledge some aspect reality
Displacement - transfer feelings from true source of emotion onto a substitute target
Psychosexual stages
5 developmental stages that all children pass through
At each stage stage there is a different conflict and outcome if they’re unresolved (UR)
Oral (0-1) -pleasure from mouth, desire mother’s breast
-UR = oral fixation (smoking, sarcastic, nail bite)
Anal (1-3) -pleasure from anus + withhold or expel faeces
-UR = anal retentive (perfectionist, obsessive)
= anal expulsive (messy, thoughtless)
Phallic (3-6) - pleasure from genital area
-UR = phallic personality (narcissist, reckless)
Latency - earlier conflicts are repressed
Genital - sexual desires become conscious
-UR = difficulty forming hetero relationships
Psychodynamic has real world application
Introduced the idea of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis
Treated mental disorders psychologically rather than physically, dream analysis
Helps deal with repressed emotions
Forerunner to counselling
BUT
Psychoanalysis is regarded as inappropriate for serious mental disorders
Psychodynamic has explanator power
Can explain human behaviours
It’s had a huge influence on psychology and can explain phenomena like personality development and origin if psychological disorders
Drew attention to link between childhood experiences and later development
Psychodynamic has untestable concepts
It’s not open to empirical testing so doesnt fit Popper’s criteria of falsification
unconcious is very difficult to test
Little Hans is a subjective case study, generalisability?
Pseudoscientific
Oedipus complex
In the phallic stage boys develop incestous feelings for their mother and hatred for their father as he is their rival
Fearing their father will castrate that, they repress their feelings ad indentify with their father
Electra complex
In the phallic stage girls experience penis envy
They desire their father and hate their mother
Penis is the primary love object
they are taught to give up these desires and replace this with a desire for a baby (identifying with their mother in the process)
Little Hans
Supports Oedipus complex
Developed a phobia of horses after seeing one collapse in the street
Freud suggested this phobia was a form of dislacement in which his repressed fear of his father was displaced on to horses
Horse is a symbolic representation of real unconcious fear of castration
Cognitive approach Idea
This approach is focused on how mental processes affect behaviour
Internal mental processes
Private operations of the mind such as perception and attention that mediate between stimulus and response
Schema
A mental framework of beliefs and expectations that influence cognitive processing
They are developed from experience
Inference
The process whereby cognitive psychologists draw conclusions about the way mental processes operate on the basis of observed behaviour
Cognitive neuroscience
The scientific study of those biological structures that underpin cognitive processes
Role of the schema
Schemas get more detailed as you grow up
They allow us to process things quickly and prevent us from being overwhelmed by environment.
Theoretical and computer models
Multi store model
Information processing approach - there is a sequence of stages - input, storage, retrieval
Emergence of cognitive neuroscience
Mapping the brain to match areas with specific cognitive functions
eg. Broca’s area, LTM has different sections
includes the use of computer generated models that are designed to read the brain
Could be used to analyse brain patterns of eyewitnesses to determine
Cognitive has scientific methods
Objective and scientific
Highly controlled and rigorous methods of study allow infer cognitive processes
Lab studies
Gives it credible scientific basis
BUT
It relies of inference not direct observation so can be a bit abstract
Artificial stimulus so lacks external validity
Cognitive has real world application
Currently the dominant approach
Has made an important contribution in the field of AI
Can be used to treat depression and improve the reliability of EWT
Cognitive is guilty of Machine reductionism
There are similarities between the human mind and the operations of a thinking machine
Mind is more complicated than a computer, it ignores the influence of human emotion
SLT idea
A way of explaining behaviour that includes both direct and indirect reinforcement
Imitation
Copying the behaviour of others
Identification
When an observer associates themselves with a role model and wants to be like the role model
Modelling
From the observers perspective modelling is imitating the behaviour of a role model
From the role model’s perspective, modelling is the precise demonstration of a specific behaviour that may be imitated by an observer
Vicarious reinforcement
Reinforcement which is not directly experienced but occurs through observing someone else being reinforced for a behaviour
This is a key factor in imitation
Mediational processes
Cognitive factors that influence learning and come between stimulus and response
Attention - the extent to which we notice certain
behaviours
Retention - how well the behaviour is remembered
Motor reproduction - the ability of the observer to
perform the behaviour
Motivation - the will to perform the behaviour, which is
often determined by whether the behaviour
is rewarded or punished
Bandura - SLT
1961
Got children to watch an adult behave aggressively towards bobo doll
And then left the children with the bobo doll and recorded their behaviour
Children behaved much more aggressively towards the doll than the children who had observed a non aggressive adult
Then he got the children to watch a video after where the aggressive adult was either praised, told off or had no consequence.
The children who saw the adult being praised were most aggressive followed by the control and then the group who saw them being told off
SLT considers cognitive factors
Neither OC or CC can offer an adequate account on their own
SLT is more comprehensive
BUT
Doesn’t consider biological factors, learning was determined by the environment
However observational learning may be due to MIRROR NEURONS
These allow us to imitate other people
Biological influences under emphasised
SLT uses lab studies
Evidence was gathered through lab studies
So might be a bit contrived and young ppts are likely to respond to demand characteristics
Children have just hit the doll as they thought this was the experiment
May not be representative of real life
SLT has real world application
Principles have been applied to a range of real world behaviours
Explains cultural differences in behaviours
Helps understanding how children come to understand their gender role
Increases value of approach
Behaviourist approach idea
A way of explaining behaviour in terms of what is observables and in terms of learning
Classical conditioning
Learning by ASSOCIATION
2 stimulus are repeatedly paired together
- UCS and a NS
-the NS eventually produces the sames response as a UCS
UCS –> UCR
NS –> no response
NS + UCS –> UCR
CS –> CR
Operant conditioning
A form of learning in which behaviour is shaped and maintained by its consequences
Possible consequences of behaviour include reinforcement and punishment
Positive reinforcement - receiving a reward when a certain behaviour is performed eg. praise for being right
Negative reinforcement - occurs when someone avoids something unpleasant, so that there’s a positive outcome. Hand in essay to avoid being told off.
Punishment - An unpleasant consequence of behaviour
eg. being shouted at
Skinner’s box
Rats in specially designed cage
They activate a lever and were rewarded with a food pellet
So they continued this behaviour
The same behaviour can be conditioned using unpleasant stimulus such as an electric shock
Behaviourist has well controlled research
Measures observable behaviours in highly controlled lab settings
Breaks down behaviour in to stimulus response
