Approaches Flashcards
Who is Wilhelm Wundt?
“the father of psychology”
he made the first psychology lab in germany 1870’s
What is Introspection?
systematic analysis of ones own conscious experience
thought process, feelings, emotions and sensations
What was Wundts method of introspection?
- presented his colleagues with a controlled stimulus and asked them to describe their inner processes
How did Wundt control his method?
He used the same stimuli every time and the same standardised instructions
What is Falsifiability?
the ability to test whether a theory is right or wrong
What is Objectivity?
based on a fact/ can be observed
What is Reliability?
using the same standardised procedure and gaining similar results
What is the Empirical method?
gaining measurable data from a test
What is a Theory?
systems of idea intended to explain something based on an operationalised hypothesis
What is Theory construction?
creating a theory then testing it through experimentation
What is a paradigm?
a distinct set of concepts or thought patterns that are agreed upon within a specific domain
What is a paradigm shift?
when a theory is falsified and a new paradigm is created
What is the scientific approach?
psychology is considered a science
psychologists use empirical methods to test their hypothesis
Explain how method research is not Scientific as a limitation of Windts research
- not scientific
- use of introspection is non empirical and a subjective method. Ppts reporting their conscious experiences is considered unobservable.
- His approach failed bc it lacks reliability
- limitation as he didn’t use scientific methods. His research cant accurately be replicated
Evaluate Introspection still being used by modern psychologists
- strength of introspection
- Hunter et al used introspective methods to make happiness measurable. Teens had to write down their thoughts at random times of the day when a beeper went off
- demonstrates how introspection is a useful tool and can provide greater understanding of human behaviour
What is the learning approach?
Suggests all human behaviour is learnt and we are born a blank slate
What are assumptions about the behaviourist approach?
• Behaviour is learned from experience
• Only observable behaviour is measurable
• processes that govern learning are the same in all species
What is classical conditioning?
learning by association
Describe the processes of Classical conditioning
Unconditioned stimulus gives unconditioned response
Neutral stimulus gives no response
Unconditioned stimulus paired with Neutral stimulus
becomes Conditioned stimulus which provides conditioned response
How did Pavlov classically condition dogs?
Food = UCS and Salvation is the UCR
Paired food with the sound of a bell (NS)
Now when theu hear a bell they salvate
bell= CS salvation=CR
Evaluate experimental method as a Strength of Pavlov.
- experimental method
- used controlled conditions to establish a causal relationship between the IV and DV.
- Strength as it allowed him to establish cause and effect
Evaluate Pavlov using non human animals as a limitation
- non human
- dogs don’t reveal a great deal about human behaviour. unlike animals humans have free will and behaviour isnt determined by association
- his conclusions about classical conditioning might provide a valid explanation of human behaviour
What is operant conditioning?
Learning through reinforcement
What is positive reinforcement?
receiving a reward when a certain behaviour is performed
What is negative reinforcement?
When you’re rewarded by AVOIDING something unpleasant
What is a punishment?
an unpleasant consequence of a behaviour
What is a negative punishment?
removal of a desirable stimulus after a behaviour occurs
What is positive punishment?
presenting an undesirable stimulus after a behaviour occurs
Evaluate practical application as a strength of Behaviourist approach
- has practical applications and produced successful treatments for phobias
- classical conditioning led to systematic desensitisation which eliminates the learnt response (CR) associated with feared objects
- treated have been found to be effective. suggests the approach must have some validity
Evaluate behaviourist approach supported by evidence as a strength
- supported by skinners research
- demonstrated positive and negative reinforcement on rats. He rewarded them each time they pressed a lever
Also pavlov… - strength as research suggests behaviourist approach provides an accurate explanation of behaviour
What is a primary reinforcer?
Directly rewarding
What is a Secondary reinforcer?
LEADS to a reward (e.g loyalty card)
evaluate practical applications as a strength of behaviourist approach
- practical applications
- CC led to systematic desensitisation which eliminates learned anxious response (CR) thats associated with a feared object. learned response replaces anxiety with positive response
- treatments are effective for many conditions. this demonstrates the contribution behaviorist approach made to psychology
What are the basic assumptions of the Social Learning Theory?
- behaviour is learned from the environment
- behaviour is learned from observing others
What is identification?
when an individual is influenced by another because they are similar to that person or wish to be like them
What is imitation?
when an individual is observes behaviour from a role model and copies it
What is Modelling?
observing the behaviour of a role model
What is vicarious reinforcement?
observer sees someone else receive a reward so then imitate the behaviour so they will receive that reward
What are the meditional processes?
ARRM
- attention
- retention
- reproduction
- motivation
What is Attention?
noticing a behaviour to imitate
What is retention?
remembering the behaviour you want to imitate. forming a memory
What is reproduction
whether you have the physical ability to do the behavio
What is the motivation?
The desire to perform the behaviour rewards motivate you to imitate it
what are the basic assumptions of the cognitive approach?
- The mind works like a computer that has an input and an output
- thought processes should be studied scientifically
- 
What is a schema?
A mental framework of our ideas about a person/situation
Everyone has their own unique scheme about a situation
As we get older, ask him become more detailed and sophisticated
what is a theoretical model?
Siri, that can be represented as a diagram and can be used to provide testable hypothesis
What is the biological approach?
Behaviour is rooted in the physiology and biology of the body
What are the basic assumptions of the biological approach?
behaviour is affected by:
- Genetics
- Evolution
- Central nervous system
- Biochemistry
What is heredity?
characteristics are passed from one generation to the next through gene
what is a gene?
The code for a particular trait
What are monozygotic twins?
100% genetically the same
What are dizygotic twins?
50% similar
What is a genotype?
an individual genetic make up. dictates characteristics e.g eyecolour
What is a phenotype?
an observable trait
physical characteristic that can be affected by the environment
What is intersexual selection?
One biological sex chooses mate of the other sex to mate with
What is intra sexual selection?
Competition with members of the same sex for access to members of the opposite sex
What is maternal love?
A form of parental investment, powerful emotion that increases the chances of a woman’s offspring surviving
what are mate preferences?
Who you want to form an intimate relationship with, they are adaptive
- males prefer women who display characteristics of fertility
- females prefer characteristics in men that the place status
What is aggression?
Assume to have evolved in animals it is adaptive and can improve survival rates and increase access to resources
What is aggression?
Assume to have evolved in animals it is adaptive and can improve survival rates and increase access to resources
What is neurochemistry?
The biochemistry of the central nervous system
What is neurochemistry?
The biochemistry of the central nervous system
What are neurotransmitters?
They effect behaviour
for example high levels of a neurotransmitter called dopamine relate to schizophrenia
What is natural selection?
Trade become more/less common depending on an individuals ability to survive and gather resources
What is sexual selection?
traits become more less common depending on an individual ability to meet with more better partners
What are the basic assumptions of the psychodynamic approach?
- driving force behind our behaviour is the unconscious mind
- instinct or drive motivate our behaviour
- Early childhood experiences determine our personality and adult behaviour
- Psychoanalysis should be used to make the unconscious conscious
What is the conscious mind?
The part of our mind we can access
what is the unconscious mind?
- part of the mind that’s not easy to accessible
Ha ha ha ha ha ha - hold thoughts that will not easily surface or maybe never will
- stores desires, which is memories that the conscious has repressed
What is the preconscious?
Things that we could be aware of if we wanted to or tried to
what is the structure personality?
- ID
- Ego
- Superego
what is the ID?
-birth to 18 months
- Born with the ID contains primitive urges, sexual and aggressive
- Child life and selfish part of your personality
what is the ego?
18 months to 3 years
- develop during anal stage balance between Id and super ego
- able to delay the Id’s drive for pleasure
what is the super ego?
3 to 6 years
- Develop during phallic stage moral guardian demands we obey all the rules we have learnt
- Acts as individuals conscience in opposite of the Id’s. feels guilt
What is the defence mechanism?
message that we use unconsciously to reduce anxiety
What is repression?
Forgetting a painful or disturbing memory, it is pushed into the unconscious where it isn’t accessible
What is denial?
Refusal to expect the reality of an unpleasant situation
what is displacement?
When a stronger emotion is expressed onto a neutral person/object
- focusing emotions onto an uninvolved person or object
evaluate explanatory power as a strength of defence mechanisms
- have some explanatory power
- Some people can use them to understand their experiences since many people may appreciate the idea of the notion of displacement
- Strength as it enables people to understand their own behaviour
- Therefore defence mechanisms are valuable contribution to explaining human behaviour?
Evaluate lack of falsifiability as a limitation of defence mechanisms
- lacks testability and falsifiability
- they are unconscious processes that can be studied directly only inferred from reported thoughts/experiences which are open to interpretation bias
- This is a limitation because this means that hypotheses to study them cannot be tested so scientific evidence cannot be gained
- therefore they can be no scientific evidence that defence mechanisms are a valid explanation of humour behaviour
What is the oral stage?
0 to 12 months
- Focus on pleasure is the mouth mothers breast is the object of desire
What effect does the Oral stage have on Adult behaviour?
Oral fixation:
smoking
nail biting
sarcastic
critical
What are the divisions in the Oral stage?
Passive
Aggressive
What is the Anal stage?
1 - 3 yrs
focus of pleasure is the anus
child gains pleasure from withholding and expelling faeces
What are the divisions in the Anal stage?
Expulsive
Retentive
What effect does the Anal stage have on adult behaviour?
Expulsive - thoughtless, messy
Retentive - obsessive, perfectionist
What is the Phallic stage?
3 - 5 years
Focus of pleasure is the genital area
Child experiences Oedipus or Electra complex
What are the divisions in the Phallic stage
Oedipus or Electra complex
What effect does the phallic stage have in adult behaviour?
Phallic personality;
narcissistic
reckless
possibly homosexual
What is the Latent stage
6 - 12 yrs
No focus, Earlier conflicts are repressed
(no affect on adult behaviour)
What is the Genital phase?
12+ yrs
focus if pleasure is the genitals
sexual desires become conscious alongside the onset of puberty
What effect does the genital phase have on adult behaviour?
Difficulty forming sexual relationships
What effect does the genital phase have on adult behaviour?
Difficulty forming sexual relationships
Define Libido
sexual mental energy that motivates behaviour
What is a Fixation?
When i child gets stuck (fixated) at a particular stage
- this affects adult personality and behaviour
What is Gratification?
specific satisfaction or pleasure required at each psychosexual stage
What is the Oedipal complex?
happens in boys unconscious
- boy has sexual feelings for mother and sees father as rival
- threatened by father
- worried father will castrate him (castration anxiety)
- befriends father to reduce anxiety
What is the Electra complex?
around age 3 in girls unconscious
- girl realises she has no penis (
- become jealous of mum
- develop penis envy, shown by the desire for a baby
- desire father and identifies with mother
What is the latent stage?
age 6:
- libido is displaced throughout the body
- no complexes to resolve
- no focuses of pleasure
- Child focuses on being a child and develops social relationships
What is the genital stage?
- libido is focused on the genitals and stays there for the rest of the life
- everyone reaches the stage and the child becomes an adult
evaluate the contributions to society as a strength of the psychosexual stages of development
- contribution to society
- drawn attention to the possible long-term effects of traumatic events in childhood such as abuse
- strength it contributed to the world being of people
Evaluate gender bias as a limitation of the psychosexual stages
- gender biased
- theory focused almost entirely on male development with little mention of female development
- limitation as it’s a biased theory that may not apply to females and could be an example of androcentrism
What are assumptions of the humanist approach?
- every person is unique
- Each person is a rational and conscious being and have free will
- humour should be viewed as a whole not reduced to parts
- Scientific method is not a valid way to be humans humans are subjective
What is free will?
The ability to choose how to behave
- a person is responsible for their own behaviour
What is free will?
The ability to choose how to behave
- a person is responsible for their own behaviour
What is self actualisation?
attempt to achieve your full potential and become the best you can possibly be
- Every human has an innate tendency to try and self-actualise
How can we achieve self actualisation?
A person should be fully functioning
What are five characteristics of a fully functioning person?
- Open to experience
- Lives existentially (experiences)
- trust feelings
- Creative
-Has a fulfilled life
what are Maslow‘s hierarchy of needs?
- self actualisation
- steem needs
- Love needs
- Safety needs
- physiological needs
What are Rogers three selves?
- The self-concept
- Ideal self
- Real self
What is the self-concept?
how you perceive yourself to be
- based on life experiences and whether the individuals experience conditions of positive regard from parents
- negative self-concept = low self-esteem
What is the ideal self?
The person you wish to be
- Goals and ambitions in life
what is the real self?
The person you actually are
- If you haven’t experience unconditional positive regard as a child you may need therapy to understand who your real self is
What is Rogers theory of congruence?
Rogers said to receive self actualisation it’s necessary for someone to be congruent
What is congruence?
The ideal self real self and self-concept are similar
- This is difficult to achieve
what is Rogers theory of role of conditions of worth?
He assumed all people needed unconditional positive regard as it is essential to the development of a well adjusted adult
- Should to come from the mother
What is conditional positive regard?
Love that comes with boundaries or limits
What is person centred therapy?
Non-directive therapy where the client is encouraged to discover their own solutions in a non-judgemental setting
- therapist treat client with unconditional positive regard to restore the lack they received in infancy
If I make contribution to psychology as a strength of the humanist approach
- significant contribution to psychology
- The approach put forward an alternative viewpoint to other approaches by suggesting people are active agents who determine their own development. promoted the idea of personal responsibility and concepts such as self actualisation have been widely accepted
- Strength as the contribution of this approach to psychology knowledge of human behaviour would be limited
Evaluate successful treatment as a strength of humanist approach
- produced a successful treatment
- Client centred therapy and other therapy develop from this approach to effective and its popularity increased in recent years
- strength as approach clearly has practical application and as the treatment based on the approach its effectiveness indicates the approach must have some validity
evaluate cultural bias as a limitation of the humanist approach
- culturally biased
- The approach promotes concepts such as personal growth and naturalisation that are valued in western societies and collective coaches where people prioritise the needs of the group over their own. Such concepts may not be relevant.
- Limitation as the approach may not provide a valid area of human behaviour all cultures
