Approaches

Question 1

Arguments for psychology as a science (include 1 x case study)

Answer 1

Allport - psychology has the same aims as science - to predict, understand and control

NBehaviourist, cognitive and biological approaches to psychology all use scientific procedures - controlled unbiased

Question 2

Arguments against psychology as a science?

Answer 2

Unreliable methods sometimes used

Hard to get a representative sample of populatuion so often cannot generalise

Extraenous variable, demand characteristics etc.

Question 3

Strengths of Wundt?

Answer 3

Scientific
recorded introspections within a controlled lab env
standardised his procedures so that all ppts received the same info n were tested the same way
Wundts research considered forerunner to later scientific approaches

Question 4

Limitations of wundt

Answer 4

Research is subjective
relied on ppts self reporting their mental processes
may have hidden some thoughts
difficult to establish meaningful laws of beh, one of the aims of science

Question 5

WUNDTS CONTRIBUTION

Answer 5

Produced first academic journal
his pioneering research set foundation for approaches that were to come, beh n cog
shows despite flaws his early exp research wundt made significant contrib

Question 6

Skinner evaluation?

Answer 6

Hugely influential in behavioural psychology

Animals -> Not generalisable

Sample size small -> low reliability

Determinism (he ignores conscious decisions on behaviour - cognitive approach)

Question 7

Strengths of behaviourism?

Answer 7

Research uses well controlled research -> valid ….]

Principles have real world application - token economy systems reward appropriate behaviour with tokens that are exchanged for privileges (operant conditioning). Successfully used in prisons and psych wards.

Question 8

Limitations of behavioursm?

Answer 8

environmental determinism
sees all beh as determined by past experiences that have been conditioned, ignores inflence of free will n conscious decision making process on beh -cog

Oversimplifies behaviour - does not include sociallearning and cognitive explanations

Ethical issues -> Animals in harsh cramped conditions and made to be hungry - > benefits vs costs? What do you think ?

Question 9

Watson and Rayner evaluation- LITTLE ALBERT

Answer 9

Unethical

Not everyone develops a phobia after a negative situation (so learning theory cannot be the only explanation)

Lab study - lacks ecological validity, artificial

Lab study - highly controlled

Supports Pavlov’s idea of classical conditioning

Question 10

Evaluation of Bandura et al?

Answer 10

Evidence for social learning theory

Strict control of variables -> reliable and replicable

Low ecological validitiy

DIfficult to generalise

Ethical issues - encouraged aggression in children

Question 11

LIMITATION OF SLT BANDURA

Answer 11

many of banduras ideas developed thru observation of childrens behaviour in lab settings this raises problem of DC
main purpose of bobo doll is to hit it so children may have been beh as they thought was expected
Thus research shows little abt how children learn aggression IRL

Question 12

Bartlett evaluation?

Answer 12

Laboratory -> lacks ecological validity

Paved the way for future cognitive research

Question 13

Strengths of cognitive approach?

Answer 13

Rigorous and controlled studies -> credible and scientific

Application to everyday life -> treatment of depression(CBT), improving eyewitness testimony

Question 14

Limitations of cognitive approach?

Answer 14

Use of inference means cognitive psychology can occasionally be too abstract and theoretical

Research often uses artificial stimuli like word lists

May lack external validity and not represent everyday experience

Machine reductionism

Emotion and motivation, shown to influence accuracy of recall in eyewitness accounts. These factors are not considered within the computer analogy. This suggests that machine reductionism may weaken the validity of the cognitive approach (TLDR: we are not computers)

Fails to explain individual differences by assuming we all process stuff in the same way

Question 15

Gottesman (twin studies) - evaluation

Answer 15

Meta analysis on field studies -> high ecological validity

Another factor must be involved as not 100% twins same stuff blash blah

Family environment may play a large role?

Question 16

Heston - adoption schizophrenia evaluation?

Answer 16

Interview data can be unreliable

Affected by social desirability bias

However interviews are a good way of getting data in a naturalistic way

Question 17

Maguire et al - taxi driver brains evaluation?

Answer 17

Control -> replicable and reliable

Small sample size

Can only be generalised to male taxi drivers in London

Cannot be generalised to other areas of brain

Question 18

Aggression case study?

Answer 18

Bard and Mountcastle -> damaging areas of brains in cats led to changes in levels of aggerssion

Question 19

Memory case study?

Answer 19

Milner et al -> HM unable to use long term memory effectively, suggesting hippocampus plays an important role here

Question 20

Psychopathology case study?

Answer 20

Szeszko et al -> differences in prefrontal cortex when comparing people w and wo schizophrenia, suggesting a relationship

Question 21

BIological approach strenghts?

Answer 21

Scientific approach -> e.g fMRI -> objective and reliable data

Biological treatments can be developed - real world application e.g serotomnin reducing depressive symptoms -> can manage their lives better

Question 22

Weaknesses of biology approach?

Answer 22

Does not take into account environment family childhood experiences social

Can lead to individual avoiding personal or social responsibility

Deterministic -> genotype expression heavily infkuenced by environment, biologicalview too simplistic and ignores above…

Question 23

Psychodynamic strengths?

Answer 23

First attempt to treat m,mental disorders psychologically instead of physically -> claims to help people w everyday problems by providing access to unconscious -> forerunner of many modern day talk therapies

Explanatory power -> Used to explain a wide range of behaviours and drew attention to the influence of childhood on adult personality -> suggesting it has a positive effect

Question 24

Limitations of psychodynamic?

Answer 24

Cannot treat more serious mental disorders like schizophrenia - it can be harmufl

Untestable concepts-> Popper argued that it does not meet the scientific criterion of falsification -> it cannot be disproved -> e.g Oedipus complex happens at an uncponscious level, so is imposible to test -> lacks scientific rigor

Question 25

Little Hans Evaluation?

Answer 25

Case study -> lots of detailed data

Case study -> cannot be generalised

Provided evidence for Freud’s thepries

Results based on observation and interpretation

Could be other explanations

Cause and effect

Bias

Question 26

Aronoff - heirarchy and job - evaluation?

Answer 26

Supports Maslow

Ecological validity -> natural environment

One culture studied -> cannot be generalised

Question 27

GIbbard and Hanley study?

Answer 27

700 people

5 years

Questionarire measure condition before and after therapy

70% ppt significant improvement after person centered therapy

Question 28

Strenghts of humanistic psychology?

Answer 28

Anti reductionist -> holism -> the idea that subjective experience can only be understood by considering the whole person -> more valid in real world context

Positive image of human conidition -> optimistic

Treats the whole person

QUalitiatve data so rich in detail

Counselling shown to be effective

Question 29

Limitations of humanistic psychology?

Answer 29

Little empirical evidence to support claims

Cultural bias -> self actualisation -> collectivist cultures like India emphasise the need sof the group -> maybe this approach is therefore a product of the cultural context within which it was developed

Limited application on real world

Little emphasis on genes

Less scientific - idiographic