Approaches

Question 1

Define psychology.

Answer 1

The scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those functions affecting behaviour in a given context.

Question 2

Define science.

Answer 2

A means of acquiring knowledge through systematic and objective investigation. The aim is to discover general laws.

Question 3

Describe Wundt’s research.

Answer 3

Wundt’s objective was to document and describe the nature of human consciousness;
Wundt used introspection in his work which involved people ‘looking into’ their own mental and emotional states to gain knowledge about themselves;
He was the first to attempt to systematically and experimentally study the mind by breaking up conscious awareness into basic structures of thoughts, images and sensations.

Question 4

Evaluate Wundt’s research.

Answer 4

1. PAVED THE WAY FOR LATER CONTROLLED RESEARCH - led to the study of mental processes by cognitive psychologists - Wundt has made a great contribution to current psychology.
2. SOME ASPECTS WERE NOT SCIENTIFIC - he relied on participants self-reporting - this is subjective - does not meet the criteria of scientific enquiry (impact)
3. SOME ASPECTS WERE SCIENTIFIC - recorded the introspections within a controlled lab environment + standardised the procedure - his research can be considered a forerunner to the later scientific approaches.
4. LACK OF ACCURACY - Nisbett and Wilson claim we have little knowledge of what causes or contributes to our behaviours and beliefs - some of our attitudes exist outside of conscious awareness (impact)

Question 5

What are the four goals of psychology?

Answer 5

1. Description - tells us ‘what’ occurred.
2. Explanation - tells us ‘why’ a behaviour or a mental process occurred.
3. Prediction - identifies conditions under which a future behaviour or mental process is likely to occur.
4. Change - applies psychological knowledge to prevent unwanted behaviour and to bring about desired change.

Question 6

Describe the emergence of psychology as a science.

Answer 6

Watson criticised introspection as he thought it was too objective as it involved measuring concepts that could not be seen and varied among individuals, therefore making it difficult to establish general principles.
He proposed that a truly scientific psychology should restrict itself to studying phenomenon that could be observed and measured, which gave birth to the behaviourist approach and the emergence of psychology as a science as it focused on a scientific process involving lab experiments with control, reliability, validity etc.

Question 7

Why is psychology seen today as a scientific discipline?

Answer 7

Due to the empirical methodologies that it uses;
Hypotheses are created and tested through objective methods which have as little opinion as possible;
The data collected helps to build, refine, falsify information which can be used to help produce scientific theories.

Question 8

What are the two basic assumptions of the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 8

1. The unconscious mind drives behaviour - this means if there is any issues with an individual’s behaviour their unconscious mind must be accessed to rectify behaviour.
2. Instincts motivate behaviour - we all go though stages within development that form our personality and behaviour in adulthood. (psychosexual stages)

Question 9

Describe the role of the unconscious as stated by Freud.

Answer 9

Most of our mind is made up of the unconscious and is the part of the mind that we are unaware of but it controls our everyday actions;
Our unconscious mind is thought to show in our behaviour through Freudian slips;
It also contains disturbing memories that have been repressed.

Question 10

Describe the structure of the personality.

Answer 10

A tripartite system of the Id, Ego and Superego;
The Id develops from 0-18 months and operates on the pleasure principle - it is selfish and demands instant gratification for its needs.
The Ego develops between 18 months and 3 years and operates on the reality principle and acts as a mediator between the id and superego by trying to reduce conflict through defense mechanisms.
The superego develops between 3 and 6 years and operates on the morality principle and is our internalised sense of right and wrong - it strives for the ego ideal which is determined by strict parenting.

Question 11

What are defense mechanisms and describe the three types of defense mechanisms.

Answer 11

Defense mechanisms distort reality to reduce anxiety because anxiety weakens the ego and means it cannot mediate between the ID and superego.
Repression - blocking of an unpleasant memory.
Denial - refusal to accept reality.
Displacement - redirecting of emotions onto other objects or people.

Question 12

Describe the psychosexual stages.

Answer 12

Instinct drives our unconscious mind and the underlying drive is sexual pleasure;
There are different stages each marked by a different conflict that the child must resolve in order to progress into the next stage;
Strict parenting can cause fixation as the psychosexual conflict is unresolved therefore the child carries certain behaviours and conflicts from that stage into adult life.

Question 13

Describe the oral stage of the psychosexual stages, including consequences of unresolved conflict.

Answer 13

Between 0-1 years and focus of pleasure is the mouth, mother’s breast is the object of desire.
Oral fixation - smoking, biting nails, sarcastic and critical.

Question 14

Describe the anal stage of the psychosexual stages, including the consequences of unresolved conflict.

Answer 14

Ages 1-3
Focus of pleasure is the anus, child gains pleasure from withholding and expelling faeces.
Anal retentive - perfectionist, obsessive (result of strict parenting)
Anal expulsive - thoughtless, messy (not strict parents)

Question 15

Describe the phallic stage of the psychosexual stages, including the consequences of unresolved conflict.

Answer 15

Ages 3-5
Focus of pleasure is the genital state, child experiences the Oedipus or Electra complex.
Phallic personality - narcisstic, reckless, possibly homosexual.

Question 16

Describe the latency stage of the psychosexual stages.

Answer 16

Earlier conflicts are repressed.

Question 17

Describe the genital stage and the consequence of unresolved conflict

Answer 17

Sexual desires become conscious alongside the onset of puberty.
Difficulty forming heterosexual relationships.

Question 18

Describe the Oedipus complex.

Answer 18

In the phallic stage, little boys develop incestuous feeling towards their mother and a murderous hatred for their father as he is their rival.
Fearing their father will castrate them, boys repress their feelings for their mother and identify with their father, taking on gender role and moral values.

Question 19

Describe the Electra complex.

Answer 19

Girls experience penis envy - they desire their father as the penis is the primary love object and they hate their mother.
They give up the desire for their father and replace it with one for a baby, therefore identifying with their mother.

Question 20

Evaluate the psychodynamic approach.

Answer 20

1. UNFALSIFIABLE - does not have the potential to be disproved - the id and Oedipus complex occur at an unconscious level - classed as a pseudoscience - reduces its credibility in explaining human behaviour (impact)
2. CRITISM OF RESEARCH METHODS USED - based on the intensive study of single individuals such as Little Hans - questions accuracy as findings may not be true for everyone - limits how useful it is when trying to explain human behaviour. (impact)
3. DETERMINISTIC - all human behaviour is caused by unconscious conflicts - removes the notion of free will.
4. PRACTICAL APPLICATION - Freud developed psychoanalysis - designed to access the unconscious - used to treat many patients with mental health problems.

Question 21

What are the two learning approaches?

Answer 21

The behaviourist approach and social learning theory.

Question 22

What is the main assumption of the behaviourist approach?

Answer 22

All behaviour is learned from experience therefore humans are “tabular rasa” and learning occurs through classical and operant conditioning.

Question 23

What is meant by classical condition?

Answer 23

Learning through association.

Question 24

Describe the study into classical conditioning.

Answer 24

It was first demonstrated by Pavlov, who revealed that dogs could be conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell, if that sound was repeatedly presented at the same time they were given food;
Before conditioning the food was an unconditioned stimulus which produced the unconditioned response of salivation and the bell was the neutral stimulus which produced no response;
During conditioning the bell was presented at the same time as the food and produced the unconditioned response;
After conditioning the bell alone became the conditioned stimulus and the dog produced the conditioned response of salivation.

Question 25

What is meant by operant conditioning?

Answer 25

Learning through reinforcement.

Question 26

Who investigated operant conditioning and what did they suggest?

Answer 26

Skinner, who suggested learning is an active process whereby humans and animals operate on their environment.

Question 27

What are the three types of consequences for behaviour?

Answer 27

1) Positive reinforcement - receiving a reward when a certain behaviour is performed.
2) Negative reinforcement - avoidance of an unpleasant stimulus that would be viewed as a punishment.
3) Punishment - an unpleasant consequence of behaviour - not a type of reinforcement.

Question 28

Describe Skinner’s study

Answer 28

Conducted an experiment with rats and pigeons in a box called a skinner box;
Positive reinforcement was investigated by rewarding the rat with a food pellet every time they pressed a lever, over time the rat would continually press the lever because it expected a food pellet;
Negative reinforcement was investigated by electrocuting the floor. The floor would not give an electric shock if the lever was pressed. After many repetitions the rat would continue to press the lever to avoid the unpleasant stimulus of the electric shock.

Question 29

Evaluate the behaviourist approach.

Answer 29

1) SCIENTIFIC CREDIBILITY - brought the languages and methods of the natural sciences to psychology - research was objective and could be replicated - hugely influential in the development of psychology as a scientific discipline (impact)
2) REAL LIFE APPLICATION - token economy systems have been successfully used in prisons to modify prison behaviour - shows rewarding appropriate behaviour can change behaviour - treatments like this have an advantage as they require less effort from the patient. (impact)
3) USED TO EXPLAIN THE DEVLOPMENT PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS - common explanation of phobias is the two-process model - conditioning is a valid explanation of how phobias develop - has provided ways that phobias can be treated by unlearning their phobia (impact)
4) HIGHLY DETERMINSTIC - suggests all actions are determined by past experiences that have been conditioned - ignored possible influences that free will may have on behaviour - problematic as it suggests people are not responsible for their behaviour.

Question 30

What are the two assumptions of Social Learning Theory?

Answer 30

1) Behaviour is learned from the environment.
2) Behaviour can be learnt directly through classical and operant conditioning, and indirectly through observing others.

Question 31

Describe Social Learning Theory.

Answer 31

In SLT there must be a role model for an observer to watch who provides examples of behaviour that can be observed and later reproduced through imitation.
For the behaviour of a role model to be remembered, the individual needs to identify with the role model e.g. through age, gender ethnicity, and want to be like them.
Imitation is dependent on the reinforcement the model receives. If a model experiences positive reinforcement, an observer is more likely to imitate the behaviour because they want to be rewarded. If a model experiences negative reinforcement, an observer is less likely to imitate the behaviour because they do not want to be punished. This is known as vicarious reinforcement.

Question 32

What is meant by mediational processes?

Answer 32

Cognitive factors i.e. thinking that bridge the gap between learning and cognitive theories.

Question 33

State the mediational processes.

Answer 33

1) pay Attention to the behaviour.
2) Retain the behaviour.
3) must be able to be Reproduced by the observer.
4) observer must be Motivated to perform behaviour which is based on vicarious reinforcement.

Question 34

Describe Bandura’s research. (SLT)

Answer 34

AIM - to demonstrate that aggression can be learned through modelling.
METHOD - 72 children aged 3 and 6 were put into one of three groups for 10 minutes: Aggressive model - played in a room while an adult hit and shouted at a “Bobo doll”, Non-aggressive model - played in a room while an adult played quietly with a construction set, Control - did not see a model.
Later the children were observed while they spent 20 minutes alone in a room with a range of aggressive and non-aggressive toys including the Bobo doll.
RESULTS - Children who saw the aggressive role model produced more aggressive acts than the other two groups, boys imitated same sex models more than girls, girls imitated more physical aggression if they saw male models and more verbal aggression if they saw female models.
CONCLUSION - aggression can be learned through modelling.

Question 35

What are the similarities of the behaviourist approach and SLT?

Answer 35

Learnt through experience;
Learning happens directly;
Both fall under the learning approaches umbrella.

Question 36

What are the differences between the behaviourist approach and SLT.

Answer 36

SLT assumes learners play an active role in learning WHEREAS behaviourism assumes that the learner responds passively to their environment:
SLT suggest learning is both direct and indirect WHEREAS behaviourism suggests learning is only direct;
SLT recognises a difference between learning and performing WHEREAS behaviourism argues that learning and performance are the same thing;
SLT recognises that behaviours can become fixed WHEREAS if behaviourism was correct our behaviour would constantly change in response to new reinforcement.

Question 37

Evaluate Social Learning Theory

Answer 37

1. COMPREHENSIVE EXPLANATION - because it recognises the role of mediational processes - earlier learning theories were criticised for failing to acknowledge the role of these - SLT therefore provides a less reductionist view of behaviour (impact)
2. BIOLOGICAL FACTORS - underestimates the influence of biological factors on learning - in Bandura’s research boys were more aggressive than girls regardless of the experimental condition - could be explained by hormonal factors e.g. higher levels of testosterone - reduces the validity of the research which in turn limits the evidence supporting the approach (impact)
3. OVER-RELIANCE ON LAB STUDIES - in Bandura’s study the children were observed in a controlled setting and may have been responding to demand characteristics i.e. the purpose of a bobo doll is to hit it so it bounces back - the children may have been doing what they believed to be expected of them - tells us very little about how children learn aggression which limits the applicability (impact)
4. LESS DETERMINISTIC THAN BEHAVIOURIST APPROACH - Skinner and the behaviourists rejected the notion of free will whereas Bandura placed emphasis on mediational processes - this suggests we play a much more active role in our own learning than behaviourism would suggest.

Question 38

Describe the cognitive approach.

Answer 38

Focuses on how our mental processes such as thoughts, perceptions and attention impact behaviour.
It suggests that internal mental processes can and should be studied scientifically which can be done by making inferences based on our behaviour.

Question 39

Describe the role of the schema. (cognitive approach)

Answer 39

A schema is a cognitive framework that helps organise and interpret information in the brain.
Schemas are learned through experience and help individuals respond to information appropriately .
They allow us to take shortcuts when interpreting large amounts of information which prevents us from becoming overwhelmed by our environment.

Question 40

Which models have been used to understand cognitive processing.

Answer 40

Theoretical models - suggests information flows through a sequence of stages that include input, storage and retrieval e.g. multi-store model of memory.
Computer models - refers to programmes that can be run to imitate the human mind - the mind is compared to a computer. This is because a computer uses ‘coding’ to store information and humans use ‘coding to store memories in different formats such as semantic and acoustic.

Question 41

Describe the emergence of cognitive neuroscience.

Answer 41

It is the scientific study of the influence of brain structures (neuro) on mental processes (cognition);
Research using brain imaging technology such as fMRIs and PET has shown that episodic and semantic memories are stored on opposite sides of the prefrontal cortex.

Question 42

Evaluate the cognitive approach.

Answer 42

1. EMPLOYS HIGHLY CONTROLLED AND RIGORUOUS METHODS OF STUDY - the use of lab studies e.g. Peterson and Peterson’s research into the duration of memory - high control of variables means cause and effect can be established - increases the validity of the data which in turn increases the support for the cognitive approach (impact)
2. MACHINE REDUCTIONISM - cognitive approach likens the human mind to a computer - ignores the influence of human emotion and motivation on the cognitive system - human mind is complex and human memory may be affected by emotional factors e.g. the influence of anxiety on EWT.
   3.DIFFICULT TO APPLY TO EVERY DAY LIFE - cognitive psychologists are only able to infer mental processes from behaviour observed in research e.g. word lists to test memory - it often suffers from being too abstract and theoretical in nature - may lack external validity which in turn limits the usefulness of the approach as a whole (impact)
3. TREATMENT APPLICATION - has been useful in explaining why some people are more vulnerable to depression than others - led to CBT - improved the lives of many who suffer from illnesses such as depression (impact)

Question 43

Describe one assumption of the biological approach.

Answer 43

Everything psychological is at first biological so to fully understand human behaviour we must look at biological structures in the body such as genes, neurotransmitters and the nervous system.

Question 44

Describe twin studies (biological approach)

Answer 44

The likelihood that certain traits have a genetic basis is determined by comparing concordance rates between twins which is the extent to which both twins share the same characteristic;
MZ twins share 100% of each other’s genes whereas DZ share 50%;
If MZ twins are found to have a higher concordance rate than DZ it suggests the characteristic has a genetic basis.

Question 45

What is the distinction between genotype and phenotype.

Answer 45

The genotype is the particular set of genes a person possesses and the phenotype is the physical characteristics determined by both genes and the environment

Question 46

What does the phenotype demonstrate?

Answer 46

That much of human behaviour depends upon an interaction between inherited factors (nature) and the environment (nurture)

Question 47

Evaluate the biological approach.

Answer 47

1. USES SCIENTIFIC METHODS - involves highly controlled and sophisticated imaging and recording techniques e.g. PET scans and fMRIs - these are easy to replicate thus adding validity to original findings if they can be reproduced.
2. SUCCESSFUL IN DEVELOPING TREATMENTS - SSRIs for OCD and drug treatments for depression - helped improve the lives of many sufferers.
3. REDUCTIONIST - explains behaviour by breaking it down into genes, hormones and neurotransmitters but ignores cognitive and behavioural factors - explain OCD through low levels of serotonin - however there are other factors that can contribute to OCD.
4. DETERMINISTIC - sees human behaviour as governed by internal, biological causes over which we have no control - individuals cannot control their behaviour and have no free will - implications for the legal system - discovery of “criminal gene” would complicate principles of the law.

Question 48

What assumption does the humanism approach make?

Answer 48

Humanistic psychologists reject scientific models that attempt to establish general principles of human behaviour;
This is because we are “active agents”, so we are all unique and psychology should be studying the subjective experience of individuals rather than looking at general laws.

Question 49

What is meant by self-actualisation?

Answer 49

This is the desire to grow psychologically and fulfill one’s full potential i.e. you become what you are capable of.

Question 50

What is meant by the Hierarchy of Needs?

Answer 50

Maslow created a five-levelled hierarchical sequence in which basic needs such as hunger must be satisfied before higher psychological needs such as self-esteem for self-actualisation to be achieved.

Question 51

Describe Roger’s focus on the self and congruence/

Answer 51

Rogers argued that for personal growth to be achieved an individual’s concept of self (what they see themselves as) must be congruent with their ideal self (who they want to be);
If too big a gap exists between the two selves the person will experience a state of incongruence and self-actualisation will not be possible.

Question 52

What is meant by conditions of worth?

Answer 52

When a parent places limits or boundaries on their love for their children and explains why worthlessness and low self esteem is experienced in adulthood.

Question 53

Explain client-centred therapy (humanism)

Answer 53

Rogers developed client centred therapy to reduce the gap between the self-concept and the ideal self and it sees the individual as the expert of their own condition;
The aim is to increase the person’s feelings of self-worth and reduce the level of incongruence between the self and the ideal self.

Question 54

Evaluate the humanistic approach.

Answer 54

1. HOLISTIC - rejects any attempt to break up behaviour and experience into smaller component parts - holism is the idea that subjective experiences can only be understood by considering the whole person - may have more validity than its alternatives.
2. LIMITED APPLICATION - relatively little real-world application - although Rogerian therapy has revolutionised counselling techniques and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has been used to explain motivation it remains the case the approach has limited impact within the discipline of psychology as a whole - may be due to the lack of sound evidence - reduces its validity in explaning human behaviour. (impact)
3. UNTESTABLE CONCEPTS - includes vague ideas that are abstract and difficult to test - e.g. self-actualisation and congruence are problematic to assess under experimental conditions - short on empirial evidence - this reduces its validity as it has no evidence to support its claims. (impact)
4. POSITIVE APPROACH - praised for bringing the person back into psychology - Freud saw human beings as slaves to their past - humanistic psychology offers a refreshing and optimistic alternative.