Approaches Flashcards
Emergence of psychology as a science
Behaviourism-Watson criticised Wundt for using subjective methods and stated that only behaviour that can be observed and measured should be studied. Behaviourist used well controlled lab studies to do this.
Social learning theory- Bandura, based on behaviourism classical and operant conditioning and assumes child learns through vicarious reinforcement.
Cognitive approach- with the introduction to computers psychology began to use theoretical models to explain the human mind, focusing on the processing, as well as what could be observed and measured.
Biological approach- technology such as brain scans and DNA testing has made psychology even more scientific by producing empirical data.
Psychodynamic approach- Freud unconscious processes determine our behaviour(id ego and superego) and early childhood experiences determine adult personality.
Humanistic approach- Maslow hierarchy of needs. Assumes people have free will but are still affected by internal and external influences. Subjective experiences interpreted rather than an attempt to create general laws.
Wundt and introspection
Wundt opened the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig Germany in 1879 and began to separate psychology from philosophy and marked the start of psychology being labelled a science.
Aimed to use introspection(standardised method of you analysing your own conscious experience)
He used introspection to study the mind and behaviour by getting individuals to internally analyse their own feelings.
Developed theories of mental processes by presenting participants with standard stimuli such as metronome and getting them to report present feelings such as sensations, emotional reactions and mental images.
Isolating the structure of consciousness is known as structuralism.
Wundt and introspection AO3
Standardised procedures in a controlled lab environment which led to development of more scientific approaches such as behaviourism
However data is self reported by participants in the study which is interpreted subjectivity so we can not tell if they Reported accurately.
No empirical evidence as Wundt didn’t observe or study anything directly.
Study of internal mental processes was later continued by cognitive psychologist who built models of how systems such as memory work. However they used experimentation instead of introspection.
Behaviourist approach
Jon Watson
Behaviourists believe that all behaviour is learnt and that there is no genetic influence on behaviour.
They believe this as they think we are born as a blank slate.
They only study behaviour that is observable and measurable in an attempt to make psychology more scientific.
Therefore most of research is conducted in controlled laboratory environments.
Believes that animal studies are valid since they share the same principles of learning.
Pavlov carried out notable and ethically dodgy experiments in Russia using dogs to see if they would salivate to something completely unrelated to food by creating an association through classical conditioning.
Skinners operant conditioning
-Positive reinforcement- when positive stimulus is added to enhance a behaviour(gaining something from doing desired behaviour)
-negative reinforcement- removing an aversive stimulus to enhance a behaviour(removing something from doing desired behaviour)
-punishment- adding an aversive stimulus to decrease undesired behaviour
-negative punishment- removing a pleasant stimulus to decrease an undesired behaviour.
Consequences which follow a response determine the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated.
Pavlov dogs classical conditioning
Unconditioned stimulus(food) would cause an unconditioned response(salivation) a neutral stimulus(bell) would then be paired with the unconditioned stimulus with the unconditioned response, repeatedly, until the neutral stimulus became a conditioned stimulus causing a conditioned response(salivation) the same response as the unconditioned stimulus.
Skinners rat box
Skinner used hungry rats in order for motivation of behaviour. They were placed in a Skinner box.
Positive reinforcement
-initially the rats behaviour was random but eventually from inattentively pressing the lever it resulted in rewards in the form of a food pellet.
Rat eventually learnt that pressing the lever resulted in positive outcome of receiving a food reinforcer.
Therefore consequence of receiving food(pleasant stimulus) from pressing the lever ensured action would be repeated.
Negative reinforcement
-rat was subjected to aversive stimulus being an electric current
Random acts of lever pressing switched off the electrical current.
Consequences of escaping the electric current(aversive stimulus) ensures behaviour of lever pressing will be repeated as it removes the aversive stimulus.
Later a light switch came on just before the current.
Therefore pressing the lever after the light switch was negatively reinforced.
Principles of classical conditioning
Generalisation:
Stimulus similar to the conditioned stimulus can cause the same conditioned response eg little Albert scared of fluffy white objects.
Discrimination:
If stimulus similar to the conditioned stimulus doesn’t cause a response this can be achieved by withholding the original unconditioned stimulus(e.g. food) which would cause the response to reoccur.
Extinction:
Frequent absence of the original UCS being present with the CS causes a non conditioned response
Spontaneous recovery:
When conditioned response to conditioned stimulus reappears after extinction due to the CS being present after a gap in time where it had not been used.
Higher order conditioning:
Associating a new conditioned stimulus with the original to cause the same conditioned response.
Behaviourist approach AO3
Real world application as it allowed for the development of treatment due to the approaches principles such as systematic desensitisation which is 75 percent effective at treating phobias according to McGrath 1990 and also token economies in prison. This suggests there is a strong behavioural element to behaviour.
Deterministic:
Skinner states that free will is just an illusion and everything we do is the sum of our reinforcement history. It ignores the influence of our conscious decision making.
A lot of the research is conducted on animals and according to Barney they are outdated and can not be used to explain human behaviour as humans are more cognitively advanced and social factors have an influence on behaviour.
Some human studies have been unethical such as little Albert made scared of rats and given a deliberate fear response to innocent fluffy white objects through generalisation of phobia as a principle of classical conditioning.
Social learning theory
Based upon classical and operant conditioning and proposes that in addition to those two we learn from observation and imitation.
Vicarious reinforcement
-a child learns vicariously by observing the actions and the consequences of those actions by role models and then goes on to imitate the role models.
-imitation happens if behaviour is seen to be rewarded.
-suggest that individuals do not need to experience rewards or punishment to learn new behaviours.
Identification
-imitation is more likely when the person we can identify with the person we are observing(role model) e.g. same sex etc.
-we consider them role models(similar characteristics, high status, same sex sibling or parent for children)
-children consider older children and same sex parent as role model.
-role models need to be same sex parent for children in order for SLT to be effective and they must be present in the same room.
Mediational processes:
Cognitive processes involved in the learning and production of new behaviours:
-attention: observer must pay attention to role model.
-retention: observer remember models behaviour.
-motor reproduction: observer must be physically able to reproduce the behaviour.
-motivation: observer must be willing to reproduce the behaviour for the rewards(vicarious reinforcement)
Bandura bobo doll experiment
Recorded the behaviour of young children who watched an adult behave aggressively towards a bobo doll.
Procedure:
72 children, 36 male and 36 female, were divided equally into groups of 3.
Children observed either aggressive or non aggressive models and were then tested for imitative learning in absence of the role model.
Group 1:
24 children placed with an aggressive role model. 12 of these children(equally boys and girls) were observing a male model and the other 12 observed a female model.
Group 2:
24 children placed with a non aggressive role model. 12 were observing a male model and 12 were observing a female model.
Group 3:
24 other children were in a control group and did not see a role model at all.
Ontop of this children were made to feel frustrated as they were shown attractive toys but we’re not allowed to play with them.
Children were then taken out the room one by one and observed for 20minutes with a range of toys including a bobo doll, dart gun, mallet and non aggressive toys as well.
Findings:
Children who observed the aggressive model reproduced the same aggressive behaviour with the bobo doll.
33% of children who observed and heard verbal aggression repeated what they had seen and heard e.g. ‘POW’
0% of children in non aggressive group displayed verbal aggression.
Girls seem to imitate more physical aggression when observing a male mode and imitate more verbal aggression when observing a female role model.
Boys imitated same sex models better than girls.
Social learning theory AO3
Does not take any biological explanations for aggression into account. Lavine found that high levels of dopamine were associated with increased aggressive behaviour. Pillay found a positive correlation between levels of testosterone and aggression.
Studies on SLT are mainly conducted on children and rarely investigate adult behaviour. Also only looks at immediate changes in children’s behaviour and we do not know the long term effects.
Evidence for SLT mainly came from experiments done on children in labs so results are artificial as there are demand characteristics meaning research may tell us very little about how children learn in every day life.
Improvement on behaviourism as it takes cognitive factors into account unlike classical and operant conditioning and is therefore a fuller explanation of human behaviour.
However still sees behaviour as environmentally reductionist despite acknowledging cognitive factors. Some behaviours may be innate and not learnt.
Cognitive approach
Focuses on how we perceive the world around us, how we process that information and the outcome it leads to.
Assumes thought processes can and should be studied scientifically.
Also assumes mind works like a computer, it has input from senses which it then processes to produce outputs such as language and specific behaviours.
Schemas
Everything we know about an object event or concept.
They allow us to predict what may happen or be expected of us.
Schemas mean we can process a lot of information quickly but can also lead to distortion in our perception.
Cognitive psychology uses theoretical models such as MSM of memory and looks at behaviour in a series of distinct steps.
Information processing model is one way psychologist apply the idea of computation to the human mind by comparing it to a computer.
Types of schema
Role schema: contains information about people in certain roles e.g. police
Event schema: contains information about certain events like birthdays
Self schema: contains information about ourselves such as skill or personality.
Emergence of cognitive neuroscience
Emerged in the 1950s but the term cognitive neuroscience was first used by George miller in 1971.
In the 1970s our understanding of the structure of the brain advanced rapidly.
This approach combined cognitive and biological psychology by combining cognitive psychology with medical neuroscience to try and explain as well predict behaviour.
Also to try and treat conditions such as depression and schizophrenia.
Several techniques to help map brain functions:
1)lesion studies: examine the brain damage to try and determine which section of the brain are responsible for certain functions.
2)electrophysiology: uses electrical and magnetic fields to examine brain function.
3)neuroimaging: uses complex imaging like PET scans to build up accurate structural maps of the brain.
Cognitive approach AO3
Deterministic
Suggests people are mechanistic and lack free will, therefore this approach is very deterministic. Although it does recognise internal processes which behaviourism does not.
Ecological validity
Most studies taken place in a lab so lack of ecological validity as thought processes measured could be argued to be artificial due to the context and tasks performed
Reductionist:
Theoretical models may oversimplify complex processes. For example role of emotion is sometimes overlooked so a computer analogy is not a valid way of explaining mental processes.
Abstract concepts:
Schemas and theoretical models are abstract concepts which are difficult to scientific evidence. However cognitive neuroscience does begin to take a more scientific approach.
