Approaches Flashcards
Who created introspection?
Wundt.
Who is ‘The father of psychology’?
Wundt.
What is structuralism?
Breaking things down to study their component parts.
What is introspection?
Breaking down consciousness into component parts.
How did Wundt study introspection?
In a controlled lab environment
Using standardised procedure.
What did Wundt train researchers to do?
To describe their mental experiences of events through standardised stimulus.
What are limitations of Wundt?
Wundt only produced subjective unobservable results.
What are some strengths of Wundt?
His research has led to modern psychotherapy using introspection.
When was the first psych lab opened and where?
By Wundt in Leipzig, Germany in 1879.
What are assumptions of the psychodynamic approach?
We cannot generalise animal research to humans.
Our personality is due to nature.
We have free will.
What does the psychodynamic approach claim?
We have an unconscious thought that influences our behaviour.
What makes up our unconscious thoughts?
Fears, unacceptable sexual desires, violent motives, irrational wishes, selfish needs.
Freud argued our psyche is split into 3 parts, what are these 3 parts called?
The id, the ego, the superego.
What is the id?
Works on the ‘pleasure principle’.
Is in the unconscious mind.
What is the ego?
Works on the ‘reality principle’.
Is in the conscious mind.
Balances the id and superego.
What is the superego?
Works on the ‘morality principle’.
Is in the unconscious mind.
What are the three different defence mechanisms?
Repression, denial and displacement.
What is repression?
Forcing a distressing memory out of the conscious mind.
What is denial?
Refusing to acknowledge some aspects of reality.
What is displacement?
Transferring feelings from true source of distressing emotion onto a substitute target.
What is a positive evaluation of defence mechanisms?
Brewin & Andrew conducted a meta analysis and found that tween 20-60% of sexual abuse survivors had period of their lived when they could not remember the abuse.
What is a negative evaluation of defence mechanisms?
Lack of testability since defence mechanisms are unconscious processes they cannot be studied directly.
What are the 5 different psychosexual stages?
Oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital.
How long does the oral stage last?
0-18 months.
What is the focus of libido in the oral stage?
The mouth.
What causes a fixation in the oral stage?
Too much breastfeeding or too little.
What negative personality traits can present if a child was fixated in the oral stage?
Overeating, smoking, clingy, dependent.
How long does the anal stage last?
18 months-3.5 years.
What is the focus of libido in the anal stage?
The anus.
What causes a fixation in the anal stage?
Being too strict about potty training or being too lenient.
What are the two different types of anal fixation?
Anal expulsive or anal retentive.
What are the characteristics of anal expulsive?
Messy, disorganised, won’t listen to authority.
What are the characteristics of anal retentive?
Enjoys order, fear of authority, retentive.
How long does the phallic stage last?
3-6 years.
What is the focus of libido in the phallic stage?
The genitals.
What happens due to a fixation in the phallic stage?
Oedipus complex - Boys
Electra complex - Girls
What is the Oedipus complex?
Boys have unconscious sexual feelings for their mother
This leads them to fear their father - castration anxiety.
What is the Electra complex?
Girls realise they don’t have a penis so get penis envy
Girls blame their mother for her lack of penis
Girls replace their penis envy with a desire for a baby.
What is the latency stage?
Sexual energy is repressed or dormant
Energy is supplied to intellectual pursuits and social interactions.
How long does the latency stage last?
6 years - puberty.
What happens due to a fixation in the latency stage?
Children grow up to be immature
Have an inability to form fulfilling relationships.
What is the genital stage?
Where an individual develops a strong sexual interest in the opposite sex.
How long is the genital stage?
Puberty-Adolescence.
What are positive evaluations of the psychosexual stages?
Fischer and Greenberg found evidence of Freud’s oral and anal personality types. Identified them through standardised questionnaires.
Little Hans - fear of horses.
What are negative evaluations of the psychosexual stages?
Horney disputed Freuds theory of penis envy. Horney claimed the theory is demeaning to women and suggested men feel inferior because they cant birth children.
What are strengths of the psychodynamic approach?
It had practical applications - psychotherapy
Supporting studies
What are limitations of the psychodynamic approach?
Doesn’t generate observable behaviour.
Freud wasn’t objective.
It wasn’t a falsifiable theory.
What are the assumptions of behaviourism?
All people are born slates.
Only observable behaviour should be studied.
We can generalise from animal studies to humans.
What are the two sub theories of behavioursim?
Classical conditioning and operant conditioning.
What is the process of classical conditioning?
UCS->UCR
UCS+NS->UCR
CS->CR