Approaches Flashcards
Evaluate the Behaviourist Approach
Good - Well controlled research (all lab studies) e.g. skinner’s rats, pavlov’s dogs
HOWEVER - Too simplistic - reducing to stimulus response associations could ignore other influences on behaviour (environmental reductionism)
Good - Real world application - conditioning has led to token economies to help in hospitals and prisons
Bad - Environmental Determinism - suggests all behaviour is learned from the environment and removes free will
What are some assumptions of the Behaviourist Approach?
(Need half points)
- Behaviour should be measurable and observable
- Use highly controlled settings for clear observations (lab settings)
- Animals have the same processes for learning behaviour as humans so they can be researched
- We are born as a blank slate (Tabula Rasa) and everything is learned
- Every behaviour is learned from stimulus-response associations from the environment
- Behaviour is learned from classical or operant conditioning
How do Behaviourists believe behaviour is learned?
Through simple stimulus-response associations from conditioning (classical or operant conditioning)
What 2 animal studies are there in the Behaviourist Approach?
Pavlov’s dogs - classical conditioning
Skinner’s rats - operant conditioning
What is classical conditioning?
Learning through association
What is the mapping for classical conditioning?
NS –> NR
UCS –> UCR
UCS + NS –> UCR
(after repeated over time)
CS –> CR
What did Pavlov do?
Pavlov researched dogs, and trained them to salivate when they heard a bell ring due to their association of food with the bell
What was Pavlov’s procedure?
The food was an Unconditioned Stimulus –> The dog’s salivation was the Unconditioned Response
The bell was a Neutral Stimulus –> The dog did not do anything for the bell, showing No Response/ a Neutral Response
The bell was rung at the same time the food was presented (UCS + NS) –> The dog salivated
After repeating this over time, Pavlov rang the bell but did not present food:
The bell was rung –> The dog salivated
Pavlov measured the saliva production of the dogs to test his findings.
What is operant conditioning?
Learning through reinforcement or response
What are the 3 types of reinforcement from operant conditioning?
Positive reinforcement
Negative reinforcement
Punishment
What is Positive Reinforcement?
Being rewarded for performing a behaviour.
This makes the behaviour more likely to be repeated.
What is Negative Reinforcement?
When something unpleasant is removed if a behaviour is performed.
This makes the behaviour more likely to be repeated.
What is Punishment?
Being negatively or unpleasantly reprimanded for performing a behaviour.
This makes the behaviour less likely to be repeated.
What did Skinner do?
Researched rats in rat boxes to see how they responded to the different elements of operant conditioning.
What were Skinner’s Procedure/findings?
1) He rewarded rats for pulling a lever in their rat box by giving them a food pellet. He found the rats were more likely to repeat that behaviour again.
2) He punished rats for pulling a lever in their rat box by giving them unpleasant electric shocks. He found the rats were less likely to repeat the behaviour.
3) The rats pulled a lever in their rat box to stop an electric current on the floor of their rat box. He found the rats were more likely to repeat that behaviour to avoid the negative electric shocks.
What side of the Nature/Nurture debate is the Behaviourist Approach?
Nurture. They believe humans are born as a blank slate (tabula rasa) and behaviour is learned from the environment through stimulus-response associations
Is the Behaviourist Approach Nomothetic or Idiographic?
Nomothetic. It uses highly controlled environments and procedures to create general laws of behaviour.
What determinism does the Behaviourist Approach show?
Environmental Determinism
What are some assumptions of Social Learning Theory?
- Classical and operant conditioning alone can’t account for all human learning
- There are important mental processes that come in between stimulus and response
- People learn through observation and imitation in a social context
- Learning can occur directly through classical and operant conditioning but also indirectly through vicarious reinforcement
What is Direct learning (SLT)?
Learning through classical and operant conditioning
What is Indirect learning (SLT)?
Learning through vicarious reinforcement
What is Vicarious Reinforcement?
When an observed behaviour is reinforced through positive reinforcement or punishment.
Observing a behaviour being positively reinforced makes the observer more likely to imitate that behaviour to receive the same reward for themselves
What are Mediational Processes?
The bridge between observation (stimulus) and imitation (response) - the mental processes that determine whether the behaviour will be imitated or not
What are the 4 Mediational Processes?
Attention
Retention
Motivation
Motor Reproduction
How many Mediational Processes are there?
4
What is Attention? (Social Learning Theory)
How much the observed behaviour is paid attention to and watched
What is Retention?
How well an observed behaviour is remembered.
What is Motivation?
How much someone wants to imitate the observed behaviour. The more someone wants to, the more likely the behaviour is to be imitated (e.g. vicarious reinforcement)
What is Motor Reproduction?
Can the observer physically carry out the behaviour themselves? Do they need special abilities or skills?
Who conducted research for SLT?
Albert Bandura
What did Bandura observe?
1) 1961 - observation and imitation of children and Bobo dolls
2) 1963 - how vicarious reinforcement affects observation and imitation of children and Bobo dolls
What happened in Bandura’s 1961 research?
Controlled observation:
1) Control condition - observed an adult playing with a Bobo doll in a room of toys
2) Experimental condition - observed an adult being aggressive with a Bobo doll in a room of toys. They hit it and shouted abuse at it.
Findings when observed in a controlled room of toys:
1) Played nicely with all toys
2) Children were aggressive with the Bobo dolls, hitting it and other toys
Conclusions:
This suggests observation and imitation is a key process in behaviour (especially in children)
What happened in Bandura’s 1963 research?
Controlled observation:
1) Control condition - children watched a video observing adults being aggressive with a Bobo doll
Experimental conditions:
2) Children watched a video observing adults being praised for being aggressive with a Bobo doll (e.g. being told well done for positive reinforcement)
3) Children watched a video observing adults being punished for being aggressive with a Bobo doll
Findings:
When playing in a room of toys themselves, the order of aggression of the groups with the Bobo dolls were:
(most) 2, 1, 3 (least)
What is a ‘role model’
Someone an observer looks up to or shares similar traits with. The observer is more likely to want to imitate their role model (motivation)
What is imitation?
Performing/ replicating an observed behaviour.
What is observation?
Watching a behaviour be performed
Which side is SLT on the Nature/Nurture debate?
Nurture. They believe behaviour is learned through observing the environment.
What determinism does SLT show?
Soft Determinism. It believes the environment and what you observe determines your behaviour, but that we have a limited choice of what we imitate through mediational processes.
Evaluate the Social Learning Theory/Approach
Good - Real world application - understanding the observation and imitation of role models has helped to put the watershed in place on TV, so that children are not observing violent behaviour and replicating it themselves.
Good - Scientific methodology - controlled lab studies
Bad - Bandura used controlled observations, but these may have been subject to Demand Characteristics. If children had never seen a Bobo doll, they might have thought you were supposed to play with it by being aggressive, which could mean that they were just trying to please the researcher.
Good - Includes important cognitive factors - it recognises the importance of mediational processes, and that observations are used as a template to replicate behaviour. This is more comprehensive than the Behaviourist approach’s stimulus-response associations
What are some assumptions of the Cognitive Approach?
- There are many important areas of human behaviour that have been neglected by behaviourist psychology (memory, perception, thinking)
- Internal mental processes should be studied to see how information is processed
- Humans are seen as information processors
- Private internal mental processes cannot be observed, so they should be studied indirectly by making inferences about what is happening inside people’s minds on the basis of their behaviour.
What is a Schema?
A package of ideas and information developed through experience.
What is a positive of Schema?
They allow us to process vast amounts of information quickly by making short cuts
What is a negative of Schema?
They can rely on unfair stereotypes or distort information due to taking short cuts
Why are Schema used in the Cognitive Approach?
They act as a mental framework for the interpretation of incoming information received by the cognitive system
What are theoretical models?
Abstract models that represent the thought processes that take place in the human mind. They make inferences by looking at behaviour and examining the thought processes that happen in the mind.
How do theoretical models work?
They allow us to make inferences by examining the thought processes that happen in the mind.
What is one important theoretical model?
The Information Processing Approach
What is the Information Processing Approach?
What does it suggest?
It is a theoretical model which suggests information flows through the cognitive system through the sequence:
input -> storage -> retrieval
What are computer models?
Physical programs made based off theoretical models. They can run the sequences suggested by theoretical models so we can compare the program’s output to real human behaviour.
If the outputs are similar, we can infer this is how the human mind works.
What is Cognitive Neuroscience?
The scientific study of the influence of brain structures on mental processes
What was the aim of Cognitive Neuroscientists?
To bridge the gap between cognitive science and neuroscience
What is an example of older brain mapping research?
Broca’s area. He successfully mapped speech production difficulties (Broca’s Aphasia) to damage in the left part of the frontal lobe (Broca’s Area)
How do we map brain areas to specific cognitive functions now?
Brain Imaging Techniques
What are Brain Imaging Techniques?
Technology which helps us understand the activity of each part of the brain in different circumstances.
For example, PET scans and fMRI scans
Tulving et al showed the different types of LTM were on different sides of the brain due to them illuminating differently during different tasks
What determinism does the Cognitive Approach show?
Soft Determinism. It recognises that our cognitive system can only operate within the limits of what we know, but we are free to think before responding to a stimulus
What side of the Nature/Nurture debate is the Cognitive Approach on?
Both Nature and Nurture. It suggests innate information processing (nature) is enhanced and modified by experiences (nurture)
What reductionism does the Cognitive Approach show?
Machine Reductionism. It ignores the influence of human motivation or emotion on our though processing and sees us purely as information processors.
Evaluate the Cognitive Approach
Good - Scientific methodology. Highly controlled, rigorous methods are used so inferences can be made accurately. Lab studies increase control, so it is likely the study of the mind has a scientific basis
HOWEVER
Bad - Some elements may be too theoretical or abstract. Inferences about private processes are untestable
The research uses artificial tasks
This makes it difficult to see how processes would occur in everyday situations
Good - Real world application - has helped neuro-imaging techniques and AI be developed to help our future development and understanding. Has also helped with the treatment for depression
Bad - Machine reductionism - There are similarities between the human mind and a machine, but human emotion and motivation has not been accounted for and they might affect our ability to process information.
What are some assumptions of the Biological Approach?
- Everything psychological is biological first
- We should look at biological structures to understand behaviour
- Believes all behaviour evolves the same way physical characteristics do
- The Central Nervous System (Brain and Spinal Cord) is important as the mind is in the brain
What is the neurochemical basis of behaviour?
The study of chemical processes in the nervous system
Why are neurotransmitters studied in the biological approach?
They are essential for the transmission of nerve impulses across the synapses. This means they are involved in all aspects of behaviour.
An imbalance of neurotransmitter can lead to mental disorders (e.g. OCD)
What are 2 examples of neurotransmitters?
Serotonin and Dopamine
What is the focus of neurochemistry?
Chemical Neurotransmitters in the brain
Why are biological structures studied?
Different parts of the brain are responsible for different functions.
Research into these functions and areas can highlight links between damaged areas and functions
e.g. Damaged Broca’s area –> difficulty producing speech
Damaged Ventral Striatum –> Avolition (Negative symptom of Sz)
What is the genetic basis of behaviour?
The idea that genes play a role in many aspects of behaviour and psychological characteristics.
What research do we use to see the genetic influence on behaviour?
Family studies –> twin studies
Why do we use family studies?
To assess the influence of genes and heritability
Why do we use twin studies?
To investigate the extent of the genetic basis of behaviour
How do we know if the genetic basis is high using a twin study?
The concordance rate will be high, showing both twins have inherited a trait or behaviour
If a characteristic is genetic, what would we expect the concordance rate to be for MZ twins?
100%
Which type of twins has a higher concordance rate? Why?
Monozygotic (Mz twins) as they share 100% of genes.
Dizygotic (Dz twins) only share around 50% of genes.
What is a genotype?
A person’s genetic make-up
What is a phenotype?
The interaction between genetic make-up (genotype) and the environment, expressed through physical, behavioural and psychological characteristics.
Which is the same in Identical twins: Genotype or Phenotype or both?
Mz twins might have the same genotype but different phenotypes if they have different environments. This could make their behaviour different.
Who theorised evolution?
Charles Darwin
What is Evolution?
The gradual changes in a species in response to environmental pressures