Approaches Flashcards
who was the first psychologist
wilhelm wundt (1879)
what method did wundt create
introspection
what is introspection
the first systematic attempt of studying the mind under controlled conditions
what is psychology
the study of the human mind and behaviour
what exactly did wundt do
seperate psychology from philosophy and biology (1879)
what is classical conditioning
learning by association - investigated by pavlov
what happened in pavlov’s experiement
pavlov paired a bell, with food to create the conditioned response of salivating to the sound of the bell as the dogs would have began to associate its sound with food
unconditoned stimulus
a stimulus which creates an innate response
conditioned stimulus
a stimulus which creates a conditioned response
neutral stimulus
a stimulus which creates no response
unconditioned response
a response which is innate
conditioned response
a response which is as a result of conditioning
strengths of pavlov’s experiment
- highly controlled environment (lab) preventing any extraneous variables to impact the results (such as other sounds or smells or foods being involved).
- it can be replicated and will have the same results, making it reliable
weaknesses of pavlov’s experiment
- reductionist and therefore not generalisable as humans and dogs have different behaviourisms meaning a dog’s simple reaction to the conditioned stimuli does not properly reflect a complex human’s behaviour
- the highly controlled environment makes it very artficial and makes it have a low population validity as the situation the dogs were in is not a common thing that would occur, making it an unrealistic representation of how behaviour can be influenced by association in the real world
what is operant conditioning
learning through consequences, which was brought about by skinner
what happened in skinner’s experiment
- rats were put in a box and food pellets were received if they pulled on the lever. this positive reinforcement gradually caused the rats to start pulling the lever more often in order to receieve the reward
- an electrical shock was given to the rats and would be stopped if they pulled on the lever. this negative reinforcement meant that they would pull on the lever more often as they realised that pulling it would remove the shock
behaviourist approach definition
all behaviors are learned through interaction with the environment
psychodynamic approach
human behaviours are as a result of the unconscious mind and early childhood events
oedipus / electra complex
the attachment of a child to the opposite sex parent along with the feelings of envy and aggression to their parent of the same sex
who created the psychodynamic approach
sigmund freud
the 3 parts of the tripartie personality
- id: pleasure principle, selfish drive
- superego: morality principle, concerned with what is right or wrong
- ego: reality principle, comprimises and balances the other 2
when does id develop
it is present from birth
when does the supergo develop
around the age of 5
when does the ego develop
around the age of 2
psychosexual stages (in order)
0-2 yrs: oral [pleasure from biting, sucking]
2-3: anal [becoming aware of the reality principle, potty training for e.g.]
3-6: genitals [sexual energy is directed to parent of opposite sex, identifying with same sex partner resolves desire]
6-puberty: hidden [individual begins to focus on social relationships]
pubert+: forming heterosexual relationships [psychosexual energy resides in the genitals and is redirected towards opposite sex partner]
ego defence mechanisms
repression, denial, displacement
repression
forcing a distressing or traumatic memory out of the conscious mind and into the unconscious mind
denial
refusing to accept the reality, acting as if nothing had happened
displacement
when one’s feelings cannot be directly expressed so it is transferred onto someone/something else
Little Hans case study summary
From around three years of age, little Hans showed an interest in ‘widdlers’, both his own penis and those of other males, including animals. His mother threatens to cut off his widdler unless he stops playing with it. Hans’s fear of horses worsened, and he was reluctant to go out in case he met a horse. Freud linked this fear to the horse’s large penis. The phobia improved, relating only to horses with black harnesses over their noses. Hans’s father suggested this symbolized his moustache.
weakness of little hans case study
it is not generalisable as ypu cannot make claims about a whole population’s behaviourisms based on a rare and subjective case study. for this reason, the pd approach cannot be seen as a credible account for human behaviour [low population validity]
GABA
a neurochemical that tells the brain to slow down, low levels of this typically leads to disorders like depression, anxiety, ocd
biologoical approach strengths
- many practical applications like drug therapies
- uses objective methods, making it mroe valid (e.g. brain scans which have a higher scientific credibility)
biological approach weaknesses
- removes accountability for actions
- overly emphasises on the biological structure, excluding external factors like lifestyle and upbringing
- reductionist
learning approach
behaviour is mainly influenced by prior learning experiences )ext. environment)
learning approach experiement
bobo doll - In 1977, an experiment was conducted by Bandura, which stated that aggressive mannerisms are learnt through the environment rather than genetics, as it is a result of observation and imitation. In his bobo doll experiment, the child sees a person being violent towards the doll and begins to mimic those actions. However, before this experiment he (the child) would not have inflicted harm onto the doll, refuting the biological approach of behavioural mannerisms and supporting the ideology that behaviour can be due to observed actions in the environment.
cognitive approach
… influenced by the internal mind
cognitive approach - bartlett (1932)
a group of british people were told a story with unfamiliar native american words and names. they were told to recall the story at differen time intervals. because these names were unfamiliar and did not fit into any specific schema, their brain had altered the information to make it more suitable. longer delay led to increased inaccuracy
bartlett evaluation
bartlett concluded that people use schemas to help them interpret new information but these findings aren’t necessarily generalisable as the scenario is specific and artificial
what is self actualisation
the point at which the individual has achieved their full potential. humansists believe everyone has the capability and motivation to work towards this goal
humanist approach - carl rogers
1960s - focuses on personal growth. our behaviour stem from free will as we consiously choose our behaviours freely even though there are laws and constraints on our behaviour
emphasises on each person’s unique subjective experiences
humanist approach weakness
everyone is unique and therefore cannot necessarily be generalised
the subjeciveness of their research methods make it unscientific and is therefore unfalsifiable, concepts like self actualisation cannot be clearly defined as it is purely subjective
targetted at a western society
subjective explanations will be distorted by Freudian defense mechanisms
h.a
could be argued that it has a more valid insight into human behaviour because their research methods value the subjectiveness of people
h.a positives
APPLICABLE
- humanistic ideas have been applied to person-centered therapy, where the client is in a non judgemental, empathetic environment allowing them to experience self improvement and realisation without forcefulness (brought about by carl rogers0
- Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is widely used in health and social work as a framework for assessing clients’ needs.
milgram
participants were told to shock someone if the question was answered wrong, due to authority telling them to continue, they proceeded to harm the person on the other side (obey orders even if harming others was involved due to authorital positions)
zimbardo et al
brutality towards prisoners
participants were assigned roles, the prisoners were stripped from their rights as the guards were brutal towards them and gained power
shows that people will quickly conform to societal roles even if it is unethical
ainsworth and bell
quality of attachment
child was left without mother for long periods of time
most US children appear to be securley attached…
harlow
is physical touch a need?
monkeys were given fake mothers, a wine bottle and cloth
they went to the cloth more often showing that physical touch is a necessity and is often wanted
assimilation meaning
incorporated into an already existing schema
accomodating meaning
the existing schema is adapted
what did wundt’s approach become known as
structualism
what is structualism
investigating the structures of the mind, such as thinking sensations and perceptions
how did wundt gather his data
he asked people to report their thoughts and feelings when presented with a stimulus, their reaction times were also measured to indicate their processing time
why are wundt’s research method not seen as scientific
he relied on the participants’ honesty in their self-report, this high level of subjectiveness means the data retrieved could have been inaccurate and it is unfalsifiable
