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approaches Flashcards

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1
Q

what critical role did Wundt have in developing psychology

A

he opened the first psychology lab in germany
he wrote the first book on psychology
he used introspection

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2
Q

what is introspection

A

mental processes could be observed systematically by makinig patients reflect on their own cognitive processes

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3
Q

what is structuralism

A

breaking thought into seperate elements as an attempt to uncover the structure of the mind

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4
Q

evaluate Wundts influence on psychology

A

+ he paved the way for later scientifically controlled research
- critisised by later behaviourists who thought that you cant study internal processes with introspection and instead should focus on observable behaviour

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5
Q

what do behaviorists believe

A

that all behaviour is learned and that we are all born with a “clean slate”

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6
Q

why was behaviourism developed

A

to make psychology more scienfic bu using controlled experiments and studying observable behaviour

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7
Q

what is classical conditioning

A

learning through associsation
NS + UCS –> UCR
CS —> CR

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8
Q

what are the basic featurs of introspection

A

focusing on being objective

reflection on feeling, sensation and images

asking people to look at an every day object adn reflect on their inward sensations

breaking thoughts down and systematic reporting of them

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9
Q

evaluate the strengths and limitations of introspection

A

-not reliable- cannot objectively measure a persons response as they are unobservable

-lacks validity- nisbett and wilson found that participants were unaware of factors that had been influential in their choice of a consumer item

+practical applications like Griffiths(1994) using it to study the cognitive processes of fruit machine gamblers

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10
Q

what is the scientific method

A

method used in investigations to ensure that preconcieved ideas dont affect the data collected and that experiments are conducted in an orderly way

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11
Q

evaluate the sceintific method

A

+relies on objective and systematic methods so is more than the passive acceptance of facts

+if scientific theories are jo longer fitting they can be refined or abandoned

+things can be retested reliably as they just follow the scientific method

-concentrates so much on objectivity it tells us little on how people act in a more natural environment and lacks ecological validity

-lots of the subject matter is unobservabelt and therefore cant be measured with a degree of accuracy thats certain

-not all psychologists share the view that all human behaviour can be explored by the use of the scientific method

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12
Q

what did Pavlov do to prove behaviourism

A

he discovered classical conditioning

he investigated the effects of pairing a bell with food and how much saliva the dogs woiuld produce

bell(NS) + food(UCS) –>salivate(UCR)
bell (CS) –> saliva ( CR)

he managed to condition the dogs to associate the bell with food by pairing them together repeatedly in close time

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13
Q

what did Watson and Rayner do

A

they suceeded in applying classical conditioning to a human

They paired a loud noise with a white rat several times to little albert

loud bang (UCS) + white rat (NS) –> fear(UCR)
white rat (CS) –> fear (CR)

little albert had learnt through association to fear the white rat as it had been paired with the loud bang

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14
Q

what is the operant conditioning

A

encouraging behaviours to be repeated through reinforcement

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15
Q

what did Skinner do to prove positive reinforcement

A

positive reinforcement- he put a hungry rat in the Skinner box and as they walked around and hit a lever a food pellet would drop. the food pellet is the postivie reinforcement and the rats soon learnt to go straight to the lever to get food which is the behaviour that has been encouraged to be repeated again.

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16
Q

what did skinner do to show negative reinforcements affect on behaviour

A

He put the rats in the Skinner box and they would be subjected to an electric shock. When the rats went around the box and knocked the lever the electric shock would turn off. The rats learnt that if they knocked the lever the electric shock would go away so when they were put in the box after several tries they learned to run straight to the lever. This is negative reinforcement as they are encouraged to do a behaviour to take away a bad feeling.

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17
Q

what is the oposite of reinforcement in behaviorism and why

A

punishment

it is designed to weaken or eliminate a bahviour rather than increase it

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18
Q

evaluate behaviourism

A

+practical applications like systematic desensitisation

+reliable as all the research that proves it is scientific and lab exp.

-both theories of classical and operant conditioning is on animals

-reductionist as it doesnt take into the nature side of the arguements like genes and brain

-can be seen as unethical as you are trying to control behaviour

-environmentally determinist as the behaviours wouldnt be happening if they werent forced

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19
Q

what did Bandura do

A

bandura conducted an experiment involving children and two different conditions. One condition was an aggressive role model playing with a Bobo Doll the other was non agressive. They were tested for imitative behaviour when the role model left.

Bandura found that the group with the agressive model reproduced a good deal of the verbal and physcial aggresive behaviour and the children who observed the non agressive role model exhibited no agression towards the Bobo Doll.

19
Q

what are the 5 processes that take place in order for people to learn behaviour through SLT

A
  1. Modelling- someone must see the behaviour carried out
  2. Identification- the individual relates to the model and feels they are similar so they can have the same outcomes of that behaviour
  3. Imitation- this is influenced by the characteristcs of the model, the ability to perfrom the behaviour and the outcome of the behaviour

4.vicarious reinforcement- reward for the behaviour

5.mediational processes- forming mental representations of the behaviour displayed adn the consequences of it

20
Q

what is the mediational process

A

the idea that there has to be a congitive aspect to imitation as they have to think about if they can do it and what the consequences are in order to want to imitate it

20
Q

what does social learning theory state

A

the theory that people learn through imitation

21
Q

what are the 4 mediational processes

A
  1. attention- the behaviour has to grab the attention
  2. retention- the behaviour being remembered so it can be imitated later
  3. reproduction- can the behaviour be imitated realistically
  4. motivation- the will to perfrom the behaviour after weighing up the rewards or punishments
22
Q

what does the cognitive approach suggest

A

all behaviour is preceeded by a thought process and that they can be studied scientifically

23
Q

evaluate SLT

A

+practical applications- increases our understanding of criminal behaviour as Akers suggested that is a person is exposed to models that commit crime they are much more likely too.

+research support- bandura showed that agressive behaviour being modelled is likely to be repeated

+includes cognitive processes as well as observations

-problems with causality as it could be argued that delinquency isnt learnt through models ans that the person had a devient attitude and seeked out others who also had the same attitude.

-it is reductionist as it ignores any other potential influences like genetic predispositions

-some behaviours may be better explained by biological explanations

24
Q

what is the comouter analogy

A

suggests the brain works in much the same way as a computer

infromation is taken in by the sense processed by the brain and the ouput is produced in the form of behaviour or speech

25
Q

what is the schema theory

A

states that all knwoledge is organized into units that allow us to make quick responses

26
Q

what did Piget say about schemas

A

schemas are crucial in cognitive development and said that thet can be defined as a set on linked mental representations of the world which we use to understand and respond to situations

27
Q

why are schemas important

A

they allow us to make shortcuts when interpreting a huge amout of data we deal with daily

they also help us fill in gaps in the absense of full info about a person

28
Q

why can schemas be bad

A

they cause us to exclude anything that doesnt confrom to our established ideas about the world

also causes us to form stereotypes

29
Q

What did Bartlett do

A

he told ppt an unfamiliar story that was part of native american folklore and asked them to recall it

he found that ppts changed the story as they tried to remember it

30
Q

what is distortion and what are the three patterns of it

A

distortion is changing something when remembering it

assimilation: the story becomes more consisent with the ppt own cultural expectations

levelling: the story becomes shorter with each retelling

sharpening: changing the order of the story to make it make more sense and adding details and emotions

31
Q

how do twin studies support the biological appraoch

A

psychologists look as the concordance rates of Mz twins and Dz twins and there should be a higher concordance rate in Mz twins then Dz twins as they share 100% of their genes

Gottesman and Shields found a 58% concordance rate for schizophrenia with Mz twins compared to 12% fro Dz twins

31
Q

what does the biological approach assume

A

all behaviour has a biological cause

31
Q

evaluate the cognitive approach

A

supporting research- Bartletts ghost story and schemas

critisism- the computer analogy is machine reductionist

opposing- doesnt take into account external factors like SLT can affect the brains thinking

practical applications- psychopathology as it is used to trace disfunctional behaviour back to though processes and helps with therapies like CBT

testablity- research lacks external validity but the results are reliable

32
Q

what are the three types of scans in neuroscience and what does it allow us to do and an example

A

fMRI, PET scan and Brainbows allow us to have an insight into the functionality of the brain

for example we know the Brocas area is very important in speech as any damage to the area on scans it paired with speech problems

33
Q

what do twin studies tell us about the limitations of the biological approac

A

Mz twins share 100% of their genes but dont have a 100% concordance rate so thier must be other factors other than genes

34
Q

what lobe is responsible for speech

A

the frontal lobe

35
Q

what lobe is responsible hearing and memory

A

temporal lobes

36
Q

what sense is resposible for sensory information

A

occipital lobe

37
Q

what are the five biological explanations for behaviour

A

genes
brain
neurotransmitters
evolution
hormones

38
Q

how can neurotransmitter be responsible for behaviour

A

they can influence the brain functioining which can cause imbalances in hormoes which can change behaviour

39
Q

how can hormones be an explanation for behaviour

A

they can affect the way a person feels and therfore change their behavioirs

for example doppamine will make a person have a feeling of euphoria but too much doppamine has been linked to things like schizophrenia

40
Q

how can evolution be used to explain behaviour

A

darwin suggests that organisms become adapted to their environement over time due to natural selection. Bowlby argues that we have evolved to behave a certain way to our primary caregiver as it gives us a survival advantage.

41
Q

evaluate the biological approach

A

+very scientific and therefore reliable

+practical applications like drugs developed for hormonla disorders like ADHD and dopamine

-reductionist and it reduces complex behaviour down to simple form and Mz twins dont have 100% concordance rate

-deterministic as it says that is you are born with the biological predispostition to behave a certain way you will but thats not true as Mz twins dont have 100% concordance rates with mental disorders

42
Q
A

a level psychology (9 decks)

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