Approaches Flashcards
Who is Wilhelm Wundt
- father of psychology
- the first person to truly separate psychology from philosophy, as he wanted to study mind in a more scientific way
What is introspection?
Involves analyzing your own internal thoughts, feelings, and sensations after being presented with certain stimuli
What is structuralism ?
Trying to break down behaviours such as perception into their basic elements
What does replicable mean ?
A procedure can be accurately repeated
What does standardised mean ?
The same thing is done/ said to the same participant
What does controlled mean?
Other variables removed or kept constant so they don’t affect results
What does reductionist mean ?
The idea that complex behaviours can be better explained by breaking them down into small simple pieces
What does generalisable mean ?
When results can be applied generally to the wider population and not just to those who took part in experiment
What are the key criterias to decide whether something is a science ?
objecivity, control, replicability, falsifiability and generalisability
What does objectivity mean ?
Scientific observations should be recorded without bias
What does control mean ?
Experiment should take place in controlled conditions
What does replicability mean ?
Findings should be easily replicated to make scientists confident in the results
What does falsifiability mean ?
Theories should generate predictions (hypotheses) which can be tested to be proved either right or wrong)
What does generalisability mean ?
Results can be used to explain/predict future behaviour
What is the behavioral approach ?
Assumes that a person is born a blank slate and all their behaviour is learned. Those who take the behavioral approach in psych argue that it should focus on observable baviors instead of our thoughts which cannot be easily measured.
What is the cognitive approach
Assumes that our internal mental procsses like thinking and opinions are important in influencing our behavior. Believe we are like computers, taking in input, processing and then outputting information.
What is the humanistic approach in psychology
Emphasises importance of striving towards personal growth and accomplishment. Individuals have free will over their thoughts and actions.
What is the psychodynamic approach
All human behaviour can be explained in terms of inner conflict of the mind. Behavior being shaped by early childhood experiences, anger and sexual desires
What is the biological approach ?
The idea that our genetics, hormones and brain structure influence what we do and how we feel
What is the social approach
This approach assumes that other people affect our thoughts and feelings. Focuses on why we follow a group, reasons we obey or reject orders and how we learn our societal roles.
What are some assumptions of the behavioural approach
-The idea that all behaviour is learned, we are blank slates when born. This is called empiricism
- we can’t directly observe people’s thoughts, only their behaviour
- our behaviour is controlled by forces in the environment and can only be changed by changing the environment
- humans learn in the same way as animals, through simple stimulus response asscoiations
What is meant by classical conditioning
A way of learning from our environment where we can associate two stimuli so that one comes to cause the same response as the other
What is the difference between negative and positive punishment?
- positive punishment receiving something unpleasant to reduce bad behaviour
- negative punishment, removing something desirable to reduce probability of bad behaviour
What is positive and negative reinforcement?
- positive reinforcement is when a desirable stimulus is introduced to reward behaviour
- negative reinforcement is when an undesirable stimulus is removed to encourage a behaviour
What are the advantages and disadvantages of observation as a psychology research method
advantages: people less likely to act differently/ true representation of themselves
disadvantages: You can’t observe many people so limited ability to apply observations to whole population
What are the advantages and disadvantages of case studies ?
Advantages: more detailed information about an individual
Disadvantages: Only focused on one person, not very generalised. Can be biased and expensive
What are the advantages and disadvantages of surveys and questionnaires
Advantage: Can be shared to many ppl
Disadvantages: People can lie/ social desirability bias- respondents conceal their true opinion so they look good to others
What are the advantages and disadvantages of using experimental techniques
Advantage: You can test a hypothesis in a reliable scientific way
Disadvantage: Can only change one thing at a time
What is the difference between a lab, field and quasi experiment
lab experiment is a very heavily controlled form of experimental research ( not necessarily in a laboratory though), field experiment carried outside of lab setting, quasi-experiment- IV occurs in real life ie age or gender or personality type.
what is a stimulus ?
Anything internal or external which brings about a response
What is a neutral stimulus
stimulus that doesn’t naturally produce a response
What is an unconditioned stimulus
a stimulus that naturally produces a reflex action
What is a conditioned stimulus ?
stimulus which produces the learned response after an association has taken place
What does extinction mean
If the conditioned stimulus is presented enough times without unconditioned stimulus then loses its ability to produce a conditioned response
What does spontaneous recovery mean
If the CS and UCS are paired again, association between them made a lot more easily
What does generalisation mean
A CR is produced to stimuli similar to CS
What is the skinner box
An animal chamber used in experiments to test hypotheses, small in size, soundproof to minimise noise.
What are the different sections of a psychology research paper
- title page
- abstract: summary paragraph of what article is about
- introduction
- methods: detail about how research performed, description of participants involved
- results
- discussion - a summary of the results obtained, describe how results address topic under investigation
- references
What are different types of data that researchers record ?
- observational: captured through observation of a behaviour or activity
- experimental data: collected through active intervention by researcher to produce and measure change
- simulation data: imitating operation of a real world process using computer test models
What are the different types of observational methods
naturalistic: behaviours that occur naturally
participant observation - observer becomes part of the group
What is content analysis and the advantages and disadvantages ?
analysing the content of communication such as conversation, tv programmes or news report
advantage: analyze historical material and see behavior trends over time
disadvantage: may be some bias or false reports
When doing research what scientific method should be followed
- observe what you want to investigate
- ask a specific question and make predictions
- test hypothesis and collect data
- examine results and draw conclusions
- report and share results
How should you structure an evaluation question in psychology
S- support
O - opposition
D - Different approach
A - application
What is the theory of operant conditioning
- operant conditioning is a theory of learning where behavior is influenced by its consequences
- behavior that is reinforced will likely be repeated and behaviour that is punished will occur less frequently
what is skinner’s box ?
a device used to record an animal’s behavior in a compressed time frame. An animal can be rewarded or punished for engaging in certain behaviours ie lever pressings for rats
What was Skinner’s experiment with rats?
- would place a rat in skinner’s box and subject it to an electric current. To stop this rat would have to press lever.
What is the definition of an aim ?
The purpose for carrying out a study
What is an IV ?
some aspect of the experimental situation that is changed by the researcher or changes naturally so effect on DV can be measured
What is a DV ?
The variable that is measured by the researcher caused by a change in the IV
How should one write a hypothesis?
- identify both conditions of the IV and DV
- explain how variables can be operationalised ( measured)
- explain how you think IV will impact DV
What is a directional hypothesis and example ?
states the direction of the difference
ie more boys watch TV than girls
direction can usually be stated if there is prior research
What is a non directional hypothesis ?
States that there will be a difference but doesn’t state the direction
What is a null hypothesis ?
When you predict that there will be no difference
What was the violence experiment carried out based on social learning theory
-children split into three groups
- 24 children exposed to aggressive adults, 24 were the control group and the other 24 exposed to non aggressive adults
- non aggressive model would show gentle behaviour towards the bobo doll
- aggressive model showed physical and verbal aggression to doll
- control group were not exposed to any model
- all children had their toys taken from them before being taken to a room housing the bobo doll but no adults
- aggressive behaviour shown by children with aggressive adult model while barely any aggression displayed by group with non aggressive model
What is social learning theory?
The idea that people learn not only through conditioning but through imitating role models
What does identification refer to?
Refers to the extent to which the observer relates with the model. Occurs when the observer feels they are similar enough to model so they will experience the same outcomes in the observed situation
What is vicarious reinforcement?
- The concept suggests that an individual doesn’t need to experience rewards or punishments in order for learning to take place
- they can just observe consequences experienced by model and make judgements based on likelihood of them experiencing same outcomesq
Evaluation of classical conditioning
What is a strength
There is research to support the idea that classical conditioning can affect behaviour
ie Watson and Rayner showed with the Little Albert experiment that classical conditioning can create phobias
What are the applications of classical conditioning
- treatment of phobias systematic desensatisation: gilroy conducted experiment in 2003 to assess this method in treating a phobia of spiders
systematic desensitization group were both less fearful on spider phobia after 3 and 33 months
What are the limitations of classical conditioning
- reductionist explanation: explains behaviour by breaking it down into just a single explanation ( stimulus-response associations) which is oversimplistic as ignores other things that could affect behaviour
Describe the Little Albert experiment
Little Albert initially not scared of rats. Then Watson paired exposure with a loud sound that scared him. Soon Little Albert would react with fear at the sight of the rat alone. His fear was even generalised to other furry creatures.
What is a strength of operant conditioning
- methods used to test this theory were highly scientific ( Skinner’ use of skinner’s box to test theory under controlled circumstances shows this)
What are some applications of operant conditioining
Token economy, system where desirable behaviour can be encouraged with tokens which can then be exchanged for other rewards
Upper and Newton found that weight gain associated with taking antipsychotics could be reduced with token economy regimes.
What is a limitation of operant conditioning
skinner’s research has been criticised for use of non human animals - unethical, also different to humans so may learn in different ways and so not generalisable to humans and human learning
What is a strength of social learning theory
- many useful applications in real life human behaviour
What are some applications of SLT ?
Osborne and West found in 1979 that 40% of sons of fathers with criminal convictions had committed a crime before 18, compared to 13% of Control group
SLT used to justify a “watershed” on TV where violence, sex and obscene language only shown after 9pm
Limitations of SLT
- reductionist as disregards other potential influences on behaviour such as biology
- also if there are so many potential influences on a specific behsvaiour then becomes very difficult to show how one influence ( ie SL) is main causal issue
What are the key assumptions of cognitive approach
- behavior can best be understood by looking at processes that come between an environmental stimulus and the behavioral response ( brain activity)
- cognitive psychologists argue that learning is not a random result of trial and error, inst cognitive processes operate in organised/systematic way
- human mind compared to a computer
- CP argue that inferences can be made about an individual’s mental processes by looking at their behavior
- from the inferences CP may build theoretical/computer models of cognitive processes
- CP use experimental methods, emphasis on objectivity, control and replicability
Describe the computer model
- psychologists beginning to draw analogies between the way humans and computers function
- brain described as a processor, processing information
- some parts of brain form networks
- with some processes one must finish before another starts while other processes can work simultaneously
Where does the computing analogy fail
- humans often influenced by emotional and motivational factors
- humans have a potentially unlimited but unreliable memory whereas computers – limited but reliable
- humans have free will whereas computers are preprogrammed
What does experimental design refer to ?
how you allocate participants to the conditions of your experiment
What does repeated measures refer to
- participants take part in all the conditions of an experiment
What does independent groups refer to ?
- participants take part in one condition of the experiment
What are matched pairs ?
participants put into pairs with someone similar to them and one of them takes part in condition A and the other 1 takes part in B
What are the strengths and weaknesses of independent groups ?
Adv: no order effects which can affect outcome ie participants won’t get bored/tired and this won’t affect performance therefore
Weaknesses
- less data collected, needs double the number of participants of repeated measures for same amount of data
- participant variables ( differences between them) is a problem as they only take part in one condition
What are the strengths and weaknesses of repeated measures
Strengths:
- needs half the number of participants of independent groups to obtain the same amount of data
- participant variables are reduced as all participants are doing both conditions
Weaknesses:
- order effects ( order in which conditions are done) can negatively affect results
- participants are more likely to work out aim of study as they’re doing it twice, may cause a change in their behavior
What are the strengths and weaknesses of matched pairs ?
Strength: use of experimental control, to lessen participant variables
- no order effects
- lower risk of demand characteristics
- same equipment/ materials can be used in both conditions
Limitations:
- may be difficult and time-consuming to match participants
- more participants required than other experimental designs
How to deal with limitations of repeated measures
- counterbalancing. 1/2 group does condition A first and then there 1/2 does condition B and then they swap. Reduces order effects
- using cover story to avoid participants guessing aim
- time gap between conditions to allow participants to rest
How to deal with limitations of independent groups
- randomly allocate participants to variables
How to deal with limitations of matched pairs
- restrict number of variables to match on to make it easier to match people
What are participant variables
- how each particpant in the experiment varies from the other ie sex, gender, ethnicity, religion, age
What is a schema
- mental framework of beliefs that and expectations that influence cognitive processing
- contain all the info you know about an object, action or concept. Help you to organise and interpret info
How can schemas be both good and bad
Good - help us to process lots of information quickly which prevents us from being overwhelmed fro environmental stimuli
Bad - exclude anything that doesn’t fit our established ideas of the world so we may develop stereotypes that are difficult to disconfirm
What are the different types of schemas
- role schemas: ideas about the behaviour which is expected from someone in a certain role, setting or situation
- event schemas: ideas about what happens in a given scenario
- self schemas: contain info about our selves based on physical characteristics ad personality. Affect how you might act in a given situation
What are world application of schemas
- depressed people may have acquired a negative self schema
- may result from early rejection or criticism
Evaluation of schema theory
- schemas may lead to prejudice and bias. stereotypes that we have can cause a bias in the way we process information
- more likely to pay attention to info we can assimilate ( fully understand)
Schema theory has had useful applications to real-life situations such as improving the reliability of eyewitness testimony by asking witnesses to report events in reverse from the end to start reduce impact of schemas on the memory
What are some of the methods used in cognitive neuroscience
- Lesion studies: causing brain damage ( almost always in animals) to see how behaviour changes
- case studies of brain damage ie in humans after an accident
- brain scanning: pinpointing areas of the brain which are active during certain tasks
Practical application of cognitive neuroscience
- research has found that hippocampus is related to episodic LTM formation whereas prefrontal cortex is active when individuals are working on a task in immediate memory
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the cognitive approach
Strengths:
one strength is that is provides a less simplistic account of behavior than behaviorist approach. considers impact of mental processes on behaviour
Weaknesses:
approach may be guilty of machine reuctionism. assumes everyone processes information in the same way like machines, ignoring effect of emotion, personality
- may lack ecological validity though as research often carried out in controlled, artificial environments ( doesn’t reflect real life situations)
Applications of cognitive approach
- large influence on development of therapies such as cognitive behaviour therapy.
