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Approaches Flashcards

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1
Q

Timeline of psychological approaches?

A

. 17th-19th century psychology is a branch of philosophy->1879 Wundt opens first experimental psychology lab in Germany and now psychology known on it’s own-> 1900s Freud publishes psychodynamic approach-> 1913 Watson behaviourist views and Skinner establishes behaviourist approach-> 1950s Roger’s and Maslow develop humanistic approach-> 1960s Cognitive revolution came with intro of digital computer->1960s Bandura proposes social learning theory-> 1980s biological approach begins to establish itself and be dominant psychological perspective-> 21st century cognitive neuroscience emerges and brings together cognitive and biological approaches ( why it became a science)

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2
Q

Wilhelm Wundt?

A

. In 1873 he published first book on psychology ‘principles of psychological psychology’ and in 1879 opened first psychology lab in Germany. Considered father of psychology
. Approach to psychology was to study structure of human mind, by breaking down behaviours into their basic elements = structuralism

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3
Q

Introspection?

A

He used introspection to investigate human mind. PTP asked to reflect on own cognitive processes and describe them
. He established psychology as a science by using scientific method in a lab

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4
Q

What is the scientific method?

A

. Based on 2 assumptions:
- all behaviours seen as being caused ( determined)
- If behaviour is determined then it should be possible to predict how human beings would behave in different conditions ( predictability)
. This technique used to explore assumptions= scientific method
( only way it can rlly be used is on gamblers)

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5
Q

Evaluation of his approach?

A

.He was systematic and reliable as he ensured process was same for all ptp so could be repeated to check validity of his findings.
. He tried to be objective in interpreting what ptp were saying, but when he processed what he’s been told, he could be bias and interpret it differently so can’t be objective e.g measure length of table using rule, no thought gone into that to be bias as it’s factual

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6
Q

Introspection evaluation?

A

. Relies on non observable responses, even though ptp can report conscious experiences they’re unbanked to comment on unconscious factors relating to their behaviour
. Data was subjective ( varied between people) so can’t establish general principles
.pavlov and thorndike achieved reproducible results and discovered explanatory principles that could be generalised to everyone

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7
Q

Introspection studies?

A

. Griffiths 1994 studied cognitive processes of fruit machine gamblers- asked them to think aloud whilst playing a fruit machine into a microphone on their lapel
.Sikzentmilyi and Hunter 2003- studied happiness in their work in area of positive psychology
Therefore wundts introspection has an advantage as used today to gain access to cognitive processes( mainly of gamblers)

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8
Q

key assumptions of Freud’s psychodynamic approach?

A

. unconscious processes, which we’re unaware of, determine our behaviour
. personality has 3 parts: id, ego and superego
. early childhood experiences determine adult personality

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9
Q

importance of unconscious mind?

A

. according to psychodynamic theory, we have an unconscious mind which influences our behaviour
. our conscious mind is unaware of what thoughts and emotions occur in unconscious
. however, these unconscious thoughts and feeling can have an effect on our conscious mind
= psychic determinism- unconscious forces and drives are inborn and control/ determine behaviour- all we say and do has a cause

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10
Q

the conscious, pre/subconscious and unconscious?

A

. conscious= small amount of mental activity we know about e.g perceptions and thoughts
. preconscious= things we could be aware of if we tried e.g memories, stored knowledge
. unconscious= things we’re unaware of and can’t become aware of e.g deeply buried memories, instincts
. Freud used metaphor of iceberg to describe mind. tip is visible so conscious, and rest hidden under surface so subconscious and unconscious

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11
Q

ways to access unconscious mind?

A

. dream analysis - ‘ the royal road to the unconscious’
. repressed ideas in uc more likely to appear in dreams than when awake- latent content of dreams
. manifest content- dream as it appears to dreamer- dream symbols used to disguise unacceptable ideas
. therapist interprets dreams in order to provide insight about what dream really represents

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12
Q

3 parts to personality?

A

. described as tripartite
. behaviour seen to be result of a compromise between 3 parts of psyche ( personality)
. id, superego, ego

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13
Q

The ID?

A

. selfish/ bad part of personality
. in unconscious part of mind
. operates according to “ pleasure principle”
. springs from 2 instinctive drives that all humans possess- eros= fuelled by psychic energy called libido, and Thanatos= death instinct

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14
Q

the superego?

A

this part of our personality always wants to do the right thing, so it opposes the desires of the id. It enforces moral restrictions and battles against id impulses. Also, it develops later in childhood through identification with one or other parent, at which the child internalises the moral and social norms of society

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15
Q

the ego?

A

This is the executive of personality. It uses cognitive abilities to manage and control id and balance desires against restrictions of reality and the superego. It operates according to the “ reality principle” and defends itself from id-superego struggles via various defence mechanisms

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16
Q

balance between id and superego?

A

. ego needs to balance demands of id and superego- if fails, may result in conflicts and psychological disorders
. intra-psychic conflict= conflict between components of psyche lead to anxiety
. ego defence mechanisms used to avoid anxiety and maintain balance

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17
Q

defence mechanisms?

A

. many unconscious strategies used= repression, denial and displacement
. repression= forcing a distressing memory from unconscious mind e.g PTSD so block memories
. denial= refusing to believe something because it is too painful to acknowledge reality e.g being sacked from work but still going
. displacement= transferring feelings from true source of distressing emotion onto a substitute target e.g mad at teacher for giving detention so kick door

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18
Q

importance of early childhood experiences?

A

. psychodynamic theory states that events in childhood have influence on adult lives, shaping our personality
. events can remain in unconscious and cause problems as adults
. Freud proposed all children go through same 5 stages of development

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19
Q

psychosexual development?

A

. each stage requires resolution of a conflict
. failure to do this= fixation - leaving some energy in a stage

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20
Q

the 5 stages?

A

. oral stage- 0-1yrs - focus of pleasure is mouth. oral fixation- smoking, biting nails ( if fixated)
.anal stage-1-3yrs - focus of pleasure is anus- anal retentative- perfectionist, obsessive. anal expulsive- messy, thoughtless ( if fixated)
.phallic stage-3-5/6yrs - focus of pleasure is genital area- phallic personality so reckless, homosexual ( if fixated)
.latent stage-6-11yrs - none
.genital stage-12+ yrs - sexual desires become conscious and aware of gender- difficulty forming heterosexual relationships ( if fixated)

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21
Q

oedipus complex?

A

. boys have unconscious sexual feelings for mother so fear father.
. fear from castration - hard to reconcile fear so boy resolves conflict by identifying w father
. boy develops superego and gender identity so masculine behaviour so resolves oedipus complex

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22
Q

electra complex?

A

. realise no penis so penis envy
. know father has one so develop sexual feeling
. girl blames mother for lack of penis as believes mother has castrated her
. identify with mother to possess father but not as strongly as boys so weaker superego ( penis envy is less serious than being castration anxiety)
. Freud believes females never completely resolve electra complex so not as moral as boys
. girl eventually replaces penis envy w desire for a baby

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23
Q

evidence to support?

A

. Little Hans case study in 1909
. Hans had phobia of horses
. boy said ‘ father don’t trot away from me’
. analysed this to be fear of horses but was rlly fear of his father and castration anxiety
. father wore glasses like blinkers of horse
. freudian slip of don’t trot away showed his true fear

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24
Q

strengths of approach?

A

. emphasises importance of unconscious factors in determining behaviour
. importance of childhood experiences
. unique insight into human behaviour
. useful applications e.g. in therapy

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25
Q

limitations of approach?

A

. unrepresentative sample- study of adults with emotional disorders
. subjective and open to bias- ideographic approach
. unscientific
. deterministic

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26
Q

comparisons to other approaches?

A

. biological and behaviourist approaches are also deterministic
. psychodynamic approach suggest unconscious is driving behaviour, biological psychologists believe we’re under control of/ caused by internal biological factors inc genetic, brain structure, hormones
. behaviourists believe all events are determined and controlled by external forces in environment e.g. punishment
. all 3 approaches see free will is an illusion

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27
Q

what is the learning approach?

A

. behaviourist perspective- learn our behaviour as a result of our experiences in our environment- nurture explanation

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28
Q

Pavlov classical conditioning?

A

. first observed in 1800s
. studying how dogs salivation helps digest food, whilst studying noticed dogs salivate before food arrives
. realised dogs associated food w other stimulus e.g. door opening
. made dogs associate food w bells
. applied learning by association to humans
. cc= stimulus creates a new response

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29
Q

process of cc?

A

. bell= no response
. food ( ucs)= salivation (ucr)
.bell and food ( ucs)= salivation ( ucr)
. bell ( cs)= salivation (cr)

30
Q

study to support cc?

A

. Little Albert
. Raynor and Watson 1920, used cc to demonstrate origins of fears and phobias
. boy liked white rat, but not loud noises
. during experiment rat and noise=fear
. after rat=fear as associates rat w loud noise

31
Q

cc evaluation?

A

. used successfully to explain phobias
. shows importance of nurture and environment influence on behaviour
. in lab so controlled so replicable and can establish cause and effect - nomothetic- empirical research
. replicated on little albert
x ignores what happens between stimulus and response
x oversimplifies human behaviour down to one explanation= reductionism. object= response
x behaviourists like to do research on animals and generalise it to humans

32
Q

operant conditioning?

A

. BF Skinner 1953 - learning is active process. 3 types of consequences of behaviour

33
Q

types of consequences of behaviour?

A

. positive reinforcement- receiving a reward when certain behaviour is performed
. negative reinforcement- animal/ human avoids unpleasant thing

34
Q

schedules of reinforcement?

A

. continous reinforcement - desired behaviour reinforced every time it occurs, may lead to stronger response
. partial reinforcement- response reinforced part of time so weaker effect

35
Q

evaluation of oc?

A

. scientific credibility- measures behaviour in controlled lab setting
. real life application- e.g treating phobias, token economy, psychiatric wards
x mechanistic view of behaviour- humans and animals are machine like responders to environment w no conscious insight into behaviour
x animal research is unethical, which may effect way they respond in study

36
Q

key assumptions of humanistic approach?

A

. free will
. congruence
. self actualisation

37
Q

what is free will?

A

. humans make own choices, not determined by biological/ external factors, but still can be affected by them

38
Q

assumptions of counselling?

A

. humans have basic need to feel nurtured and valued by significant people in lives
. unconditional positive regard means that theyll develop self worth, recognising abilities and difficulties
. children that are criticies develop low self esteem
. to avoid this, parents should blame behaviour not child- used in counselling

39
Q

congruence?

A

. a sense of well being
. maintain reasonable consistency between ideal self and actual behaviour= congruence
. big gap= bigger incongruence- can lead to low self worth and maladjustment

40
Q

assumptions?

A

. Rogers developed client centered therapy - to reduce gap between self and ideal self
. parent who sets limits on love for child is storing up psychological problems for child in future
. effective therapist provides unconditional positive regard they failed to receive as children
. whole person should be studies and individual case rather than average performance of groups

41
Q

contributions to society?

A

. used in therapeutic treatment
. CCT- client encouraged to develop positive self regard and overcome mismatch between perceived self, true self and ideal self
. gestalt therapy- help client become a whole person by getting them to accept every aspect of themselves. techniques inc, confrontation, dream analysis, role playing

42
Q

methods of investigating?

A

. Q sort assessment developed by Stephenson 1953 and used by Carl Rogers in CCT- measurement of congruence by this technique
. q sort is series of cards, containing a ps
. e.g needs recognition from others. Person sorts this statement into a forced distribution under 2 sets of conditions:
- describe real self
- describe ideal self

43
Q

evaluation of humanistic approach?

A

. emphacises choice - free will and responsibility
. considers subjective conscious experience
. values self fulfillment
. scientists more sensitive to humans when exploring
. contributed to psychological theories and effective for treating some disorders e.g depression
- depression results from lack of unconditional positive regard
- schizophrenia - supportive therapy e.g for relatives
-stress- counselling allows clients control
x less impact on mainstream psychology
x use of qualitative techniques has been questioned
. loose set of abstract ideas - cant formulate general laws of behaviour
x vague as little empirical research
x not all cultures share same assumption that individual achievement brings fulfilment

44
Q

assumptions of social learning theory?

A

. Albert Bandura agreed w behaviourists that all behaviour is learned from experience. But he said we learn through observation and imitation of others in a social context hence why it’s called social learning. We learn directly through classical and operant conditioning and indirectly

45
Q

what is vicarious reinforcement?

A

. for indirect learning to happen, individual observes behaviour of others. Learner may imitate behaviour of others, but only when rewarding not punished so they observe consequences of behaviour as well

46
Q

meditational process?

A

. bridge between behaviourism and cognitive approach. Mental processes approach talks about help mediate in learning process to determine whether behaviour is worth acquiring

47
Q

what are the 4 meditational processes?

A

. attention- notice certain behaviour
. retention- how well behaviour is remembered
. motor reproduction- ability of observer to perform behaviour
. motivation- will to perform behaviour, often determined by whether behaviour was rewarded or punished
. learning ( first 2) and performance ( last 2) don’t have to occur together. Can be learnt, stored and used at later date

48
Q

what is identification?

A

. people more likely to imitate w someone they identify with= role model. process= modelling. person becomes role model if they process similar characteristics to observer and/ or are attractive and have high status. May not be physically present ( why media has important implications on behaviour)

49
Q

when was Banduras research?

A

. 1961

50
Q

what was the aim of Banduras research?

A

. test idea that children could learn to become aggressive through imitating another person behaving aggressively

51
Q

method of Banduras research?

A

. basic procedure, children aged between 3-5 saw adult behave aggressively towards a large inflatable doll ( BOBO Doll)

52
Q

results of Banduras research?

A

. chance to play w toys, while observers watched behaviour. children showed more imitation of a same sex model and boys more aggressive

53
Q

further research bandura did?

A

. 3 groups saw diff consequences ( diff variation of original research)
. findings: model punished= low levels of imitative behaviour = vicarious punishment ( not direct).
. high levels of aggression= in those who saw model praised and children seeing no consequences for model.
. they knew the behaviour was appropriate for the models.
.when asked to reproduce behaviour they could remember, reproduced aggressive ones, even those who saw model being punished
. conclusion=all children learned behaviour, but more likely to imitate same sex behaviour or reinforced models

54
Q

evaluation of learning theory?

A

. underestimates influence of biological factors e.g boys more aggressive but may be due to hormonal factors such as high level of testosterone
. over reliance on evidence from lab studies- artificial - demand characteristics so results not accurate
. importance of cognitive factors in learning - humans make own judgements on whether behaviour is appropriate
. real world applications e.g used to rate games and films. Now children TV shows have a positive role model because of Banduras findings.

55
Q

key assumptions of cognitive approach?

A

. internal mental processes can be studied scientifically
. inferences made about what’s going on in peoples minds
. mind works like a computer

56
Q

study to support cognitive approach?

A

. Miller 1956 -STM has limited capacity of 5-9 units

57
Q

Internal mental processes?

A

. controlled, objective methods used for investigating behaviour
. e.g. comparing mental tasks of people with and without brain damage so psychologists know which part of brain does what

58
Q

what is inference?

A

. assumption on mental processes that can’t be seen directly

59
Q

role of schema?

A

. package of ideas and info developed through experience
. become more developed as we get older
. allows us to process lots of info quickly so not overwhelmed

60
Q

computer model?

A

. similarities in way mind and computer processes
. central processing unit ( brain), coding ( useable format) and stores to hold info, is used
. useful in robots and AI
. theoretical model is that mind is like a computer
. human minds work by a series of processing steps like a computer

61
Q

positive evaluation of cognitive approach?

A

. high control so can be replicated
. lab experiments produce reliable and objective data
. scientific basis
. good description of processes that occur so treatment made e.g. CBT
. most dominant approach to date and applied to real world e/g AI and Robots to make people buy things

62
Q

negative evaluation of cognitive approach?

A

. ignores influence of human emotion and how it affects our ability to process info
. lab settings so demand characteristics so can’t be generalised to real world
. soft determinism as doesn’t consider other factors e.g. biology

63
Q

key assumptions of biological approach?

A

. must look into biological structures and processes within body to fully understand human behaviour e.g. genes, nervous system
. understanding of brain structure and function can explain our thoughts and behaviour

64
Q

genes?

A

. genetic basis of behaviour
. behaviour geneticists study whether behavioural characteristics such as intelligence are inherited as physical characteristics
. twin studies used to see how likely it is for characteristics to be inherited by comparing concordance rates
. if monozygotic twins have higher concordance rates that dizygotic, suggest a genetic basis as mz twins 100% of each others genes

65
Q

methods of investigating genetic basis of behaviour?

A

. twin studies
. family studies
. adoption studies
. selective breeding

66
Q

family studies?

A

. 1869, Francis Galton- said all natural abilities are inherited
. simplistic viewpoint so he then had to agree that any resemblance between family members could be due to genes and shared environment

67
Q

adoption studies?

A

. comparing trait between adopted children and biological or adoptive parents

68
Q

selective breeding?

A

. artificially selecting male and female animals for a certain trait
. produce offspring
. used to demonstrate how many behavioural characteristics may have a genetic basis

69
Q

genotype and phenotype?

A

. genotype = actual make up of genes
. phenotype = way genes are expressed through physical, behavioural and psychological characteristics
. genotype expressed through environmental factors
. may have same genes but expressed differently through phenotype so a lot of human behaviour depends on interaction between inherited factors ( nature) and environment ( nurture)

70
Q

evolution?

A

. Charles Darwin in 19th century proposed idea of natural selection
. if a behaviour is advantageous, it’ll survive and reproduce
. some animals bred to have desirable characteristics

71
Q

evaluation of biological approach?

A

. precise and scientific methods used e.g. scanning so reliable data made
. real life application - inc understanding of biochemical processes so drugs made to treat mental illnesses e.g. schizophrenia
. determinist view of behaviour - no control over behaviour as all determined by internal processes - implications for legal system e.g. law offenders seen to be legally and morally responsible for actions

72
Q
A

Psychology (5 decks)

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