Approaches Flashcards
State the features of the Biological Approach
- Behaviour is determined by physiological factors that are outside of our control
- Genotype - DNA
- Phenotype - The expression of genes
- Neurons and Nervous System
- Neurotransmitters
- Hormones
- Evolution
Outline Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
- Self actualisation
- Self esteem
- Social needs
- Safety and security
- Physiological needs
State the features of the Humanistic Approach
- Behaviour is not determined, humans have free will
- Congruence - The extent to which a person’s ideal self and and actual self are similar
- Conditions of worth - Conditions imposed on an idividual that are considered necessary to earn positive regard (love) for significant others
- Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Rogers Therapy CCT
- To reduce the gap between the actual self and the ideal self, Rogers developed a client centred therapy (CCT)
- An effective therapist is able to provide clients with the unconditional positive regard the failed to receive as children
Outline research support for SLT
Bandura et al (1961)
Experiment 1 - Children placed in 3 conditions
- Observe aggressive adult
- Observe adult playing quietly and ignoring the doll
- Control, children observed nothing
- Results- The children who observed the aggressive adult were more likely to behave aggressively themselves
Experiment 2 - Children placed in 3 conditions
- All children observed aggressive adult
- Adult was either rewarded or punished or control
- Adult received no punishment
- Results- Children who watched the adult get rewarded were more likely to be aggressive, opposite for children that watched adult get punished
Outline the features Social Learning Theory
- Behavior is learned as a result of the observations of others
- Modelling - A form of learning where individuals learn a particular behaviour by observing another individual performing that behaviour
- Imitation - The action of using someone or something as a model and copying their behaviour
- Identification - Extent to which an individual relates to a model and feels that they are similar to the model
- Vicarious reinforcement - Learning by observing someone else being reinforced for their behaviour
Meditational Processes
- The internal mental processes that exist between environmental stimuli and the response made by an individual to those stimuli
- Attention
- Retention
- Motor Reproduction
- Motivation
Outline research support for the Cognitive Approach
Two studies for Cognitive Neuroscience
Tulving
- PET scans of LTM
D’Esposito
- Associated parts of the WMM with different areas of the brain
Outline the features of the Cognitive Approach
- Behaviour is determined by our own thought processes, some degree of control over behaviour
- Schema - Cognitive framework that helps organise and interpret information in the brain quickly
- Inference - Reaching a logical conclusion on the basis of evidence and reasoning where direct observation cannot be done
- Cognitive neuroscience - An area of psychology dedicated to the underlying neural bases of cognitive function
- Theoretical model - Simplified representation of a particular mental process based on research and evidence eg. MSM, WMM etc.
- Computer models - Information is processed by the brain like a computer
Outline the Psychosexual Stages
- Freud claims childhood development occurred in 5 different stages
- At each stage the child must successfully resolve the conflict at that stage
- Children May become fixated at any stage and this will lead to certain behaviours late in life
Oral
• 0-1, Mouth, Smoking/Overeating
Anal
• 1-3, Anus, Orderliness/messiness
Phallic
• 3-6, Genitals, Deviancy/sexual dysfunction
Latency
• 6-12
Genital
• 12+, Genitals, Last stage, if all stages completed then the person will be sexually mature and mentally healthy
Outline the features of the Psychodynamic Approach
- Psychic determinism - Much of our behaviour is driven by unconscious motives
- Childhood is a critical period in development
- Mental disorders arise from unresolved unconscious conflicts originating in childhood
- Resolution occurs through accessing and coming to terms with repressed ideas and conflicts
- Id - Pleasure principle
- Superego - Morality principle
- Ego - Reality, balances the demands of the id and ego
- In order to deal with our unconscious conflicts we use defence mechanisms - Repression, denial, displacement
Outline research support for Operant Conditioning
Skinner (1938)
- Developed a special cage (called a ‘Skinner box) in order to investigate operant conditioning in rats
- Positive reinforcement - rat presses lever and gets food
- Positive punishment - rat presses lever and gets shocked
- Negative reinforcement - rat doesn’t press lever and gets shocked, stops when rat presses lever
Outline research support for Classical Conditioning
Pavlov (1927)
-You know how
-Investigated the salivary reflex in dogs
(classical conditioning process with dogs, food and bell)
-Timing - If the NS cannot be used to predict the UCS (time interval is too big) then conditioning does not take place
-Extinction - The CS can lose it’s ability to produce the CR if presented a few times without the UCS
-Spontaneous Recovery - After extinction, CR can be regained much faster than before if process is started again
-Stimulus Generalisation - Animal will respond to other stimuli that are similar to the CS
Outline the features of the Behaviourist approach
- All behaviour is learnt, born tabula rasa
- There is no influence from biological factors
- A person is born a blank slate and is the product of their environment
- Extreme ‘nurture’ end of the nature vs nurture arguement
Wundt and his method
• First person to call themselves a psychologist, first scientific method, opened the first psychological lab, wrote one of the first psychological books
Introspection
- Systematic analysis of one’s own conscious experience
- Participants are given stimuli, asked to describe their thoughts, psychologists analyse the descriptions
+ It’s the first scientific method
+ Still used today for studies into happiness and gambling
x Subjective
x Participant self-report methods are unreliable
x May be a delay between the conscious experience and reporting the experience
Structuralism
• Theory of consciousness that seeks to analyse the elements of mental experiences, breaks down conscious thought into different elements using introspection
Evaluate the Psychodynamic Approach
+ Led to psychoanalysis - the basis of modern talking therapy
+ First attempt to understand the mind
x Overly sexual
x Psychic determinism - too much focus on the childhood not always true
x Over reliance on case studies
x Not testable or falsifiable
Evaluate the Cognitive Approach
+ Highly scientific
+ Led to CBT
x Lacks ecological validity
x Machine reductionism, use of computer models of highly reductionist and ignored biological factors
