Approaches Flashcards
L1: who is Wilhelm Wundt and what did he do
Father pf pysch
Moved pysch away from philosophical roots to controlled research
L1: what’s introspection
Scientific method developed by Wundt to study mental process like perception and structure of sensations
Systematic analysis of own conscious experience of stimuli.
Experience is analysed in terms of components parts eg. Sensations, emotions etc
L1: how did Wundt stabilise general theories about mental processes
- use of controlled environments
- work paved way for controlled research/stuy of mental processes
L1: Evaluation of Emergence of Psychology as a Science (3+ 1-)
- First to open lab designed for scientific study of physc enquiry in controlled conditions. Facilitated accurate and repeatable measurements
- He was 1st to focus on understandable psychological processes of perception, rather than physiological/biological ones
- Recognised later higher mental processes difficult to study using his procedures. Encouraged others to look for more appropriate methods. Paved wave for things like brain scanning.
- Modern psychologist argue, early behaviourists (Pavlov) had greater contribution to psychology development. They produced reliable findings, Wundt didnt, with principles that were generalisable -> was In keeping with scientific approach.
L1: what did Wundt say about objectively measuring mental processes such as perception
- with enough training, these processes could be objectively reported by individual. E.g. ask people to focus on every day objects and encourage to look inwards and reflect on sensations of feelings and images that came to mind.
- Info gained insight to mental process, involved in perception.
L1: evaluation of introspection (2+ 1-)
- Focus on mental processes through introspection, seeing as forerunner of cognitive approach.
- Introspection sometimes use the modern scientific research. Also used in therapy and studying emotional states. Demonstrates value as one way mental processes can be investigated.
- Studies using it may not be valid. Argued several aspects of our mind are outside conscious awareness. (e.g. research by Nisbet and Wilson 1977) so cannot be reported by individuals
L2: what does behaviourist approach suggest about behaviour?
Behaviour learned rather than inherited from parents
L2: what is classical conditioning?
It’s one way in which behaviour is learned.
Learn through association , when stimulus produces same response as another one as they have consistently been presented at the same time
L2: Pavlov study 1927
- Investigating salivation reflex in dogs when stimuli appeared. Explore, how dogs, learn, stimulate and food, and to dogs to salivate when Bell was rang
- Before conditioning:
- food= unconditioned stimulus, producing salvation= unconditioned response. Bell= neutral stimulus produce no conditioned response. - During conditioning:
- Food= unconditioned stimulus, paired with bell= neutral stimulus. Dog eventually associated with food - After conditioning:
- bell= condition stimulus produce salvation= conditioned response
L3: skinner theory of operant conditioning
- States organisms produced dif behaviours and these produced consequences (+ or -)
- positive consequence= behaviour likely to be repeated
- negative consequence = behaviour, unlikely to be repeated
L3: how is operant conditioning different classical conditioning?
Operant conditioning, reinforces responses, but not in CC.
CC explains acquisition of response (eg phobia) but OP explains maintenance
L3: What is reinforcement and the types of reinforcement
- reinforcement is something in environment that strengthens a particular behaviour
- Positive reinforcement - behaviour produces satisfying consequence
- Negativereinforcement - occurs when behaviour remove something adversive and we return to the state previously (e.g. turning off alarm clock, allows us to escape unpleasant noise)
L3: what is punishment and the different types?
- punishment occurs when behaviour leads to unpleasant consequence. So decrease in probability behaviour occur again
- positive punishment: something unpleasant added to persons life, wasn’t there before (eg. detention)
- Negative punishment: pleasant things removed from someone’s life
L3: skinner box study
- Study on rats
- Cage had speakers, lines door, etc could be electrified
- One rat at a time, placed in the box and run around. Rats may accidentally press the lever and be rewarded by food pellet which will drop into the box. (+ reinforcement.)
- rap continues to press lever as they learn, pressing lever letter to reward, or could avoid something unpleasant. Pressing the lever meant avoiding electric shock. (- reinforcement.)
L3: evaluation of the behaviourist approach (3+ 3-)
- Approach Enhanced scientific status of psych using strict scientific methods being objective, producing verifiable findings.
- Develop laws/principles have enabled psychologist to predict/control behaviour. But raises ethical concerns as approach could be used to control people against wishes.
- Approach led to several treatments like SD and token economy. But focusing only on behaviour and neglect whole person. Treatments using conditioning don’t get to root cause so patient will return to original behaviour when treatment is finished.
- Approach environmentally reductionist as focuses on lower level of explanation, then other approaches. Stimulus response associations lack meaning when explaining complex behaviour.
- Approach also environmentally deterministic. According to approach, behaviour determined by environment, so it doesn’t take into account free will
- Approach criticised as it uses non-human animals. Claims say it tells us a little about human behaviour as humans have cognitive factors/emotional states that influence behaviour
L4: what are the key assumptions of social learning theory?
Behaviour is land through experience, specifically observation, and imitation within social context
L4: what’s the stages of social learning theory?
- Modelling
- Imitation.
- Identification.
- Vicarious reinforcement.
- Mediational processes
L4: what is modelling and imitation? (Stages 1 and 2)
Modelling: for learning to take place, models must carry out behaviour to be learnt. Live Models may be parents teachers et cetera
Imitation: a lot of behaviour we acquire is through copying that modelled by others
L4: what is identification and vicarious reinforcement (stages 3 and 4)
Identification: more like it to imitate models who we admire. To identify with model must feel we are similar enough, so if they perform a behaviour consequence is for them and model
Vicarious reinforcement: Individuals, learn by observing behaviour of others and rewards/punishments they receive. We may learn behaviour, but not perform them as they have learnt behaviour as likely to be punished if displayed
L4: what are mediational processes? (Stage 5)
Must pay attention to model, then be capable of retention and remembering the behaviour. Then be motivated to imitate the behaviour due to wanting to receive same reward as model. Finally observer must consider themselves capable of reproducing behaviour.
People may not reproduce behaviour if they’re not motivated to, or they’re not capable of that
L4: bandura study (1961)
- 36 males/ female, kids 3 to 7. Children observe a model acting aggressive, or non-aggressive with Bobo doll. Some or same-sex model other or different and model displayed, aggressive acts like striking the door with a mallet
- after observing, children were made to feel frustrated. Showed attractive toys, but were told not allowed to play with them then take it into a room which had some toys including the doll and observed for 20 minutes
-children observed aggressive model, reproducing behaviour towards the doll. Where as those with non-aggressive, model showing no aggressive behaviour. - 33% of children who observed/heard verbal aggression, repeated it, but 0% of children in the non-aggressive group displayed verbal aggression.
- boys, more aggressive than girls and imitation was greatest when model was the same gender (identification)
L4: evaluation of social learning theory (1+ 4-)
- Recognises importance of behavioural and cognitive factors (meditioanl proccesses) when examining how we learn new behaviour, unlike behaviourist approach
- Mediational factors are inferred, so cannot measure extent of influence. SLT doesn’t explain MP and leaves this to cognitive psychologist.
- Theory criticise as doesn’t take into account cause and effect. Studies found children having deviant attitude, seek out pairs with similar ones, rather than becoming deviant due to peers
- Sees behaviour as environmentally determined so ignores role of biology. But, Bandura (1961) found in experiment boys more aggressive than girls, regardless of experimental situation they were in. Maybe due to testosterone thus behaviour is biologically determined.
- Able to explain behaviours like aggression, but not the learning of abstract notation like fairness and justice which aren’t observed directly
L5: key assumptions of cognitive approach
Psychology should be study of internal mental processes, like memory and the roles of schemes
L5: how have cognitive psychologist used computer models to explain mental processes?
Use computers as an analogy.
Info, inputted, through senses, coded in memory, then combined with previously stored info .
Computer models, often explain, memory, e.g. long-term memory like hard disk and ram is like working memory (memory is cleared and reset when task is being done)
L5: what are schemas?
Mental representations of experience and understanding. Help organise and interpret info in brain.
Useful as help us predict what will happen in our world based on previous experiences and enable us to process vast amount of info quickly
L5: how can schemas negatively impact us?
Could distort interpretation of sensory info
May lead to perceptual errors/inaccurate, memories
May cause bias recall as we see what we expect and faulty schemas may have a negative impact on mental health
L6: what is cognitive neuroscience?
Where cognitive and biological processes are integrated
Study of neurological structures, mechanisms and processes responsible for thinking
L6: Practical applications of cognitive neuroscience
- PET and fMRI = used to locate different types of memory, in different areas of brain, like episodic, memories in hippocampus or semantic memories in temporal lobe
L6: evaluation of cognitive approach (3+ 2-)
- Approach emphasises scientific methods like lab experiments. Means highlights of control and cause an effect relationships identified. But lab experiments criticised for lacking eco-validity..
Focus on detail of exactly what can be by recalled by partiipants in controlled environment means understanding of every day Use of memory is missing - Been used to explain development of negative schema, which aid understanding of mental illnesses like depression.
- Influence on development of therapy. CBT aims to change negative thoughts into positive ones to treat depression.
- Approach uses computer models. Phrases like storage and retrieval are taken directly from computing. But important difference between the sort of info processing that takes place within computers and in the brain. Computers make no mistakes or forget what it’s been stored in hard drives where as humans do
- Approaching as mechanical in regarding human thinking as computer processing. Leaves little room for irrationality often seen in emotional behaviours
L7: key assumptions of biological approach
Behaviour evolved through evolutionary adaptation and genes. We have influence behaviour.
L7: natural selection
Proposed by Charles Darwin, says behaviour has been adapted and changed through this process.
It’s profitable behaviour selected inmates and hence reproduced an overtime. These behaviours will continue and increase abilities to survive.
L7: How are twins used to examine extent to which genes influence behaviour?
Studies often involve comparing likelihood of a behaviour/disorder occurring in identical twins MZ to the likelihood of the behaviour/disorder occurring among non-identical twins DZ.
If the MZ twins show a higher concordance
rate then there is argued to be a genetic component.
L10: what are the psychosexual stages? (Table pic)
L11: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (pic)
