approaches Flashcards
who was the ‘founder of psychology’ and what did he do
wilhelm wundt, seperated psych from philisophy, opened the first psychology-only lab, this marked the beginning of psychology as a science
what was wundts aim
to analyse human consciousness
he wanted to attempt to systematically study the mind, under controlled conditions
how did wundt develop his theories about our mental processes (what did he and his co-workers do)
they recorded their experiences of various stimuli they were presented with (objects, sounds eg a ticking metronome) and try to catergorise their observations into thoughts, images and sensations.
what is one strength and one weakness of wundts research
strength - he used systematic, well-controlled methods, using lab studies and standardising procedures
alt strength - wundt formed the foundations of psych meaning he made huge contributions to the field
weakness - the data collected is subjective and would be considered unscientific today, self reporting has validity issues etc
briefly outline the emergence of psychology as a science
1900s behaviourism (inc SLT), introspections scientificness is qustioned, observable, objective, measurable behaviour is the new focus
1950s cognitivists, the digital revolution lead to computer models as a new metaphor for the mind
1980s biologists, this allowed for huge scientific advances, scanning techniques allowed for the genetic - behaviour relationship to be researched. (the biologist approach was uncovered long before but took off in the 80’s as technology developed)
what is classical conditioning
learning through association
who researched classical conditioning and how
pavlov - got dogs to salavate when a bell played by assosiating the bell with food
how did pavlov get dogs to associate the bell with the food (outline the diagram)
before conditioning:
food (unconditioned stimulus UCS) - salavation (unconditioned response UCR)
bell (neutral stimulus NS) - no response
during conditioning:
food UCS + bell NS - salavation UCR
after conditioning:
bell (conditioned stimulus CS) - salavation (conditioned response CR)
what is operant conditioning
learning through consequence
who researched operant conditioning and how
skinner - put rats in boxes and trained them to 1. push a lever by giving them a treat whenever they did it and 2. push a lever to stop a mild but ongoing electric shock
what application does conditioning have in real life
operant conditioning is the basis of token economy systems which are proven effective in prisons and psych wards
classical conditioning is used to help cure phobias
what isues does skinners research have
ethical - his rats were kept perminently underweight to ensure they were always hungry, aswell as being housed in cramped conditions
what is a general strength of the behaviourist approach
they used very controlled conditions with lab studies and working to eliminate extranuous variables
summarise the behaviourists viewpoints (comparisons)
interested in measurable and observable behaviour
nurture: we’re a blank slate and everything is learned
environmental determinism: all deternimed by enviro
reductionist: reduced to stimulus response
nomothetic: general laws
scientific: lab studies
what is vicarious reinforcement
indirectly learning through observing others behaviour
what are the mediational processes
- attention: noticing a behaviour
- retention: remembering it
- motor reproduction: being physically able to perform it
- motivation: the want to replicate (eg. it was praised)
what is the role of identification
people are more likely to imitate those they identify with (identification) they’re usually a role model, someone who looks simular, has simular charicteristics, behaves like them, are attractive and/or have high status
what study did bandura do
bobo doll - children wtched videos of adults acting aggressively to dolls then were obsevrved in a room with toys and dolls
summarise the SLT viewpoints (comparisons)
they mainly agreed with behaviourists that things are learned directly but proposed indirect aswell, learning through observations (socially)
nurture: learn through reinforcement
soft determinist: controlled by external factors just like behaviourists but we have some influence
part reductionist: shares behaviourists and cognitive viewpoints
nomothetic: general laws
mostly scientific: pretty good but has theoretical mediational proccesses
what are schema
internal packages of information, they can be developed through experience or innate eg babies knowing how to suckle
why do we have schemas
so we can process lots of information very quickly without getting overwhelmed
whats one problem with having schema
they can lead to perceptual errors, if we expect something and its not that way we might miss it and and just assume its normal
what are theoretical models
theoretical representations of our internal processes that help us understand how we work. for example information processing approach suggests that info flows through in stages
what are computer models
another way of helping us understand our brains, suggests our brain is like a computer with the CPU as a brain etc which affects for ‘thinking machines’ in artificial intelligence
what is cognitive neuroscience
the scientific study of how our brain structure imapcts our mental processes
what is brain mapping
connecting spesific areas of the brain to functions eg Broca’s area
how has brain imaging impacted cognitive neuroscience
its allowed us to identify how things like our memories work, we can also work out the neurlogical basis of some disorders like in alzhimers we can see the reduced activity
summarise cognitivists viewpoints (comparisons)
not a learning approach, focus on scienitfically studying internal mental processes
nature and nurture: affected by environment but mostly brain structures
soft determinist: we can chose behaviours wthin the limits of out brain/experiences
reductionist: machine reductionism - over comparrison to PC’s
nomothetic and idographic: trys to establish general laws but uses case studies
mostly scientific: use of scientific methids but still uses theoretical models
what are genotypes and phenotypes
genotype: out genetic makeup/DNA
phenotype: how our genetics are expressed through out charicteristics, eg hair colour, which can change
what is natural selection
some characteristics are favourable for survival, these genes are then passed down more (those iwhtout them die or arent chosen to reprocuce with) until the species is better as a whole
how are twin studies useful
they show us how much of a genetic basis something has through concordence rates
what are monozygotic and dizygotic twins
identical and non-identical, mono meaning one and di meaning two
summarise biologists viewpoints (comparisons)
everything psychological is first biological
nature: due to biology
biological determinist: controlled by genes
biological reductionism: reduced to bio structures
nomothetic : trys to establish general laws
scientific: scientific methods like brain imaging
what three conciousnesses does freud outline and what does he compare them to
the concious, preconcious and unconcious
an iceburg, the concious being just the tip, with the majority being under the surface
what is a freudian slip
a mistake like calling a teacher ‘mum’ its a reflection of our unconcious mind, stemming from a forgetten or repressed memory
what three parts does our personality split into according to freud
ID: pleasure principle - based on drives and instincts
ego: reality principle - the mediator
superego: morality principle - sense of right/wrong, punished the ego with guilt
what did freud say about the psychosexual stages
there were the five stages to childhood development, each stage is where pleasure is derived from and they have to be resolved before moving to the next stage, if not resolved we fixate on that stage which leads to issues in later life
what are the five psychosexual stages, and what happens if you fixate on the stage
oral - 0-1 - smoking, biting nails
anal - 1-3 - holding in - perfectionist, out - messy
phallic - 3-6 - narcasistic
latency - 7+ - earlier stages are repressed (dont remember)
genital - sexual desire becomes concious
what are defence mechanisms
methods to help us deal with draumas, or to protect the ego from the superego. theres:
repression - forgetting
denial - refusing to admit
displacement - putting it onto someone/thing else
what type of therapy did freud develop
psychotherapy, the first method of talking therapy to help people psychologically, now known as counselling
summarise the psychodynamic approaches viewpoints (comparisons)
mostly nature: unconcious drives but also the affects of childhood
psychic determinism: unconcious drives and early childhood
reductionist and holistic: reduced to innate drives but takes alot into account aswell
nomothetic and idiographic: use of case studies
pseudo scientific: unfalsifiable, cannot be tested, all theoretical etc
what are the 5 sections in maslows heirarchy of needs
in highest to lowest order:
physiological needs (water, shelter)
safety and security (health, employment)
love and belonging (friendship, intimacy)
self esteem (respect, status)
self actualisation (reaching full potential)
what is self actualisation
the desire to meet your full potential which is, according to them, essential to being a human
what is the self, the ideal self and congruence
the self is how we see ourselves, the ideal self is the person we want to be and congruence is how much these two things overlap
if they dont overlap, were incongruent and cant self actualise until they mean the same thing
how can we reduce the gap between the self and the ideal self
client centered therapy (counsiling)
this helps people with the problems of everyday life and bridges the gap between the slef and ideal.
low self esteem is seen as a product of conditional love in childhood so the therapist needs to show unconditional positive regard (love)
summarise the humanists viewpoints (comparisons)
nurture: shaped by environment
free will: we are capable of change and can choose
holistic: focus on all aspects of behaviour
idiographic: everyones unique we cant have general laws
not scientific: cannot test its theorys, actively rejects scientific methods
