Approaches

Question 1

Behaviourism Assumptions

Answer 1

All behaviours are learned from our envrionment.
Focuses on observable behaviour.
Animals and humans learn in the same ways, experiment on animals.
Should be scientific and objective - use labatory experiments.

Question 2

Classical Conditioning

Answer 2

Pavlov
Learning through association.
Dog experiment.

Question 3

Operant Conditioning

Answer 3

Skinner
Learning by consequences.
Learning is an active process - consequences dictate if behaviour is repeated.

Question 4

Operant Conditioning - reinforcement

Answer 4

Posisitve Reinforcement - receiving an award.
Negative Reinforcement - Stopping something unpleasant from happening.
Punishment - Unpleasant consequence.

Question 5

Operant Conditioning - Skinner box

Answer 5

Rat in cage, activating lever meant a food pellet fell into the food dispenser (positive reinforcement). Rats quickly learnt to go straight to the lever. Showing positive reinforcement increases likelihood of behavior being repeated.
Same for negative reinforcement (electric shock).

Question 6

Behaviourism Application

Answer 6

Systematic Desensitisation - counter-conditioning process for people with phobias.
Token Economy - Effective in managing psychiatric patients, by reinforcing certain behaviours.

Question 7

Behaviourism Evaluation

Answer 7

Experimented on animals - hard to generalise (low population validity).
Scientific methods - high control, lack of extraneous variables, replicable, objective. MIAD: demand characteristics, ecological valdity.
Environmental reductionism - broken down to simple stimulus-response associations. Biological factors (neurotransmitters)

Question 8

Social Learning Theory

Answer 8

Bandura
Learn through observation and imitation.
Focus not only on behaviour but also mental processes involved, so not a pure behaviourist theory.

Question 9

SLT - Meditational Processes

Answer 9

ARRM
Attention - needs to pay attention to behaviour and consequence so create a mental representation of behaviour.

Retention - Storing observed behaviour in LTM.

Motivation - must expect to receive the same posistive reinforcement for imitating modelled behaviour.

Reproduction - must have the ability to reproduce observed behaviour.

Question 10

SLT - Vicarious Reinforcement

Answer 10

Imitation is more likely to occur if model recevied positive reinforcement.
Imitation is also more likely if one identifies with the model.

Question 11

SLT - study

Answer 11

Bandura’s bobo doll study.
Lab experiment, 36 boys and girls, aged 3-6.
Group 1 - model hit and shout at doll.
Group 2 - non-aggressive model.
Group 3 - no model.
Taken to room full of toys but told not to play with them.
Taken individually to room containing bobo doll and various toys, some aggressive.
Group 1 more aggressive, specific aggressive acts.

Repeated with vicarious reinforcement method.

Question 12

SLT Evaluation

Answer 12

Lab studies - hard to generalise to everyday life (ecological validity) + unfamiliar envrionment so demand characteristics.
Can explain differences in culture - behaviour is imitated.
Older children and adults may behave differently as they have more developed moral values.

Question 13

Behaviourism (SLT) I+D

Answer 13

Nature vs Nurture

Nature - behaviour is learned from our environment and external role models.

Question 14

Cognitive Approach

Answer 14

Focused on how mental processes affect behaviour, argues internal mental processes should be studied scientifically.
Influenced by developments in computer science and analogies are often made.
Interested in how the brain inputs, stores and retrieves information.

Question 15

Cognitive Approach - Assumptions

Answer 15

Information received from our senses is processed by the brian and this directs how we behave.
Internal mental processes cannot be directly observed, but we can infer what a person is thinking based on how they act.

Question 16

Cognitive Approach - Schemas

Answer 16

A schema is a cognitive framework that helps us organise and interpret information.
Based on previous experience and gets more detailed as you get older.

Question 17

Cognitive Approach - Role of Schemas

Answer 17

Cognitive processing can often be affect by schemas.
Help us to interpret incoming information effectively. Prevents us from becoming overwhelmed by the vast amount of information.
However, can lead to distortion of this information as we select and interpret environmental stimuli using schemas that might not be relevant. (eyewitness testimony).

Question 18

Cognitive Approach - Emergence of neuroscience

Answer 18

Aims to find out how brain structures influence the way we process information.
Maps cognitive functions to specific areas of the brain (fMRI, PET).
Example: Braver - central executive situated in the prefrontal cortex.

Question 19

Cognitive Approach - Loftus and Palmer

Answer 19

Aim: Test whether language used in eyewitness testimony can alter memory.

Procedure: 45 students, lab experiment.
& films of traffic accidents presented in random order to each group.
Asked to describe what happened as if eyewitness.
Asked specific questions, including “how fast were the cars going when they contacted/hit/bumped/collided/smashed”.

Findings: Estimated speed was affected by the verb used. Verb implied information about the speed. Smashed = highest speed, contacted = lowest.

Conc: eyewitness testimony might be biased by the way questions are asked after a crime is committed.

Question 20

Cognitive Approach - Explanations for for bias

Answer 20

Loftus and Palmer
1) Response-bias factor: information provided may have simply influenced the answer the person gave but didn’t actually lead to a false memory of the event.
2) Memory representation is altered: the critical verb changes the person’s perception of the accident.

Question 21

Cognitive Approach - Applications

Answer 21

lead to development of cognitive interviews, decreased inaccuracy of eyewitness memory.
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) shown to be effective fora range of mental disorders.

Question 22

Cognitive Approach - Evaluation

Answer 22

Scientific method - controlled and replicable, low ecological validity due to artificiality of the tasks and environment.
Reductionist - does not take into account emotions, motivation and genetic factors (schizophrenia) which influence processing. Oversimplifies complex mental processes, lacks validity.
Free will vs. determinism - unclear, determined by our past experience but also can change the way we think with CBT.

Question 23

Biological Approach - Assumptions

Answer 23

Our thinking and behaviour are strongly determined by biological factors: structure and functioning of nervous system. Which is influenced by genetic and evolutionary factors.

Question 24

Biological Approach - Genetic Factors

Answer 24

Each possess a unique combination of genetic material. Differ in terms of personality, intelligence.
To determine involvement of genetic factors we use twin studies.

Question 25

Biological Approach - Twin Studies

Answer 25

Test involvement of genetic factors.
Compare concordance rate of monozygotic twins (100%) to the concordance rate of dizygotic twins (50%).

Question 26

Biological Approach - Genotype and Phenotype

Answer 26

Genotype is the genetic code written in DNA (genetic makeup of individual).

Phenotype is the physical representation that results from the individual’s genotype. Results from the interaction between genes and environment.

Question 27

Biological Approach - Evolution

Answer 27

Charles Darwin
Theory of natural selection
Genetically determined characteristics that enhance our chances of of survival and reproduction are passed down and become more common in a population.
Attempts to explain psychological traits as adaptations that increase chances of survival.

Question 28

Biological Approach - Applications

Answer 28

Understanding role of neurotransmitters has led to development of effective drugs. However, can have serious side effects, do not sure disorders only suspend symptoms, will reappear after stop taking drug.

Question 29

Biological Approach - Evaluation

Answer 29

Twin studies do not separate nature and nurture, twins are raised in same environment. Difference in concordance rate between MZ and DZ twins could be due to the fact that DZ twins are treated more similarly as they look more similar.

Reductionist - does not take into account environmental and social factors which influence behaviour. Oversimplifies complex mental processes, lacks validity.

Drug Applications.

Question 30

Psychodynamic Approach - Assumptions

Answer 30

All behaviour can be explained in terms of inner conflicts of the mind.
Highlights role of unconscious mind, structure of personality and influence of childhood experiences.
Freud mind determines most of our behaviour and we are motivated by unconscious drives.

Question 31

Psychodynamic Approach - Tripartite Personality.

Answer 31

ID - biological part (instincts and drives) of the personality. Present as birth. Motivated by pleasure principle, demands instant gratification of needs.

Ego - develops from 1-3 years. Motivated by reality principle. Mediates conflicts between the ID and superego. Uses defense mechanisms to achieve this.

Superego - develops from 3-5 years. Motivated by the morality principle. Punishes the go with guilt.

To be mentally healthy, ego has to balance demands of the ego and superego. Dominant superego = neurosis (depression), dominant ID psychosis (schizophrenia).

Question 32

Psychodynamic Approach - The mind

Answer 32

Three parts.
Conscious: part we are aware of and can access without any effort, contains part of the ego.
Preconscious: part that we cannot access without effort, contains ego + some of superego.
Unconscious: pat cannot be accessed without help of trained psychoanalyst. It contains the superego and ID.

Question 33

Psychodynamic Approach - Defence Mechanisms

Answer 33

When conflicts between ID and superego cannot be resolved by the ego, they create anxiety. Defence mechanisms are used to reduce this anxiety.
Represion: keep disturbing memories out of conscious mind, where they cannot be accessed.
Displacement: Impulse may be redirected from original target to a more acceptable one.
Denial: existence of internal or external realities is denied and kept out of conscious awareness.

Question 34

Psychodynamic Approach - Psychosexual Stages of Development

Answer 34

Oral - 0-1 - mouth, sucking, swallowing.
Anal - 1-3 - anus, withholding + expelling feces.
Phallic - 3-5 - Penis or clitoris
Latent - 5-puberty - sexual drives repressed
Genital - puberty-death - adult derives pleasure from masterbation + intercourse.

Old Age Pensioners Like Grapes

Question 35

Psychodynamic Approach - Psychosexual Stages of Development Fixations

Answer 35

Oral - forceful feeding, deprivation, or early weaning, could lead to oral fixation (smoking)
Anal - If toilet training is too harsh or relaxed, fixation could lead to obsessiveness, meanness.
Phallic - abnormal family set-up leads to unusual family relationships, could led to self-obsession, sexual anxiety.
Latent - No fixation.
Genital - Fixation in this stage should occur in a mentally healthy adult.

Question 36

Oedipus Complex

Answer 36

Phallic Stage
Occurs in young boys because the boy develops sexual desires for his mother. He wants to possess his mother exclusively and get rid of his father to enable him to do so.
Boy develops castration anxiety as boy thinks his dad will take away what he loves most if he finds out.
Resolves problem by imitating masculine dad-type behaviours, identification.
Little Hans

Question 37

Electra Complex

Answer 37

Girl desires father, but realises that she dont have a penis. Leads to development of penis envy.
Resolves by repressing desire for her father, and substituting wish for penis with baby.
Blames mother for her ‘castrated state’, creates tension.
Girl represses her feelings to remove tension and identifies with mother to take on female gender role.

Question 38

Psychodynamic Evaluation

Answer 38

Not falsifiable, unable to test unconscious. Tripartite personality is very abstract and difficult to test experimentally. So use case studies (little hans), lacks population validity.

Determinist, rejects idea of freewill. Determined by unconscious motives, shaped by biological drives and early experiences.

Highlights a widely accepted link between childhood experience and adult characteristics. Modern day psychiatry still utilises this is psychoanalytic techniques.

Question 39

Humanistic Approach Assumptions

Answer 39

Each person has their own unique way of perceiving and understanding the world. Objectivity is not the aim, aim is to understand people’s subjectivity.
People are self-determining. so they have free will and can make choices about the way they think and act. No external factors.

Question 40

Humanistic Approach -Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Answer 40

Self-actualisation
Esteem
Love/Belonging
Safety
Psysiological

Question 41

Humanistic Approach - Self-actualisation

Answer 41

Once the other needs of the hierarchy are met, the person can develop to achieve their full potential.
People can only self-actualise if they have a positive view of themselves, which comes from unconditional positive regard from others.
People tend to only feel valued if they meet certain conditions of worth.

Question 42

Humanistic Approach - The self and congruence

Answer 42

self-actualisation is only possible if there is congruence between a person’s concept of self and their ideal self.
If not, negative feelings of self-worth, impossible for self-actualisation.

Question 43

Humanistic Approach - Applications

Answer 43

client-centred therapy:
aims to achieve congruence in client. Encouraged to discover own unconditional self-worth to reduce incongruence.

Question 44

Humanistic Approach Evaluation

Answer 44

Holistic - does not try to break down behaviours into simpler components. Increases validity, represents complexity of human behaviour.
Culture Bias - Personal growth is associated with individualist cultures as collectivist cultures, such as Japan, emphasis community and interdependence. Emic approach is more appropriate.
A positive approach, optimistic and has a focus on personal growth, and the ability to better one’s. MIAD - unrealistic - violence.

Question 45

Wundt

Answer 45

Father of experimental psychology.
First lab (science) in 1879.
Separated from philosophy to science, first psychologist.
Developed a process called introspection.
Used scientific method.

Question 46

Introspection

Answer 46

Process of observing and examining own conscious thoughts or emotions.
Strictly controlled environments, trained participants to give detailed observations on stimuli.
Applied it to more complex mental processes (learning).
Not reliable - only report a fragment of what we are actually thinking.