Approaches Flashcards
Outline factors that make something a science
Controlled, experimental conditions that can show cause and effect and can test hypotheses
Highly standardised experiments that are replicable and reliable
Use of IVs and DVs
Scientific method- objective, systematic, replicable observation
Scientific cycle- objective, systematic, replicable observation.
Building, refining or falsifying, development of a scientific theory
Give reasons for psychology being a science
Relies on objective and systematic methods, it’s more than the passive acceptance of facts.
Scientific beliefs rely on determinism,
Can establish cause and effect through use replicable methods
Psychologists always replicating each others work so poor theories become redundant quickly
Give reasons agains psychology being a science
Concentrates on objectivity and control that it doesn’t explain much of the impact of the natural environment.
Most is unobservable, can’t be measured with accuracy
Briefly describe Wilhelm Wundt
German scientist
First person referred to as a psychologist
Wrote “principles of physiological psychology” in 1873
Viewed psychology as a scientific study of conscious experience
Studied it using introspection
Describe introspection
“Internal perception”
Someone examines their own conscious experience as objectively as possible
- uses a trained observer
- repeated stimuli that always produced the same experience in the subject
Outline problems with introspection
Not reliable,
Can’t objectively measure a person’s responses, unobservable
Processes are unobservable contrasts ie memory and perception
Not accurate or valid
What is reductionism
Reduces a complex phenomenon to the simplest explanation possible
+gives greater understanding of something by revealing evidence for a cause of behaviour
- humans too complex that the explanation doesn’t fully explain
Who introduced the behaviourist approach and with what
Watson
Behaviourists manifesto. ( 1913)
Identifies :
Behaviour is a response to environmental stimulus
Behaviourism is only concerned with observable stimulus-response behaviours
This can be studied in a systematic, objective way
Outline the principles of classical conditioning
Generalisation-
CR happens to a similar CS
Discrimination-
When person learns to differentiate between similar CS and a CR no longer occurs to a similar stimulus
Extinction-
When CS is no longer paired with UCS eventually CR will cease
Spontaneous recovery-
After extinction, only takes a few pairings of UCS and CS for the CR to reappear
Evaluate classical conditioning
Scientific approach,
Objective
Practical applications,therapies
Ignores cognition and free will,
Mechanistic view of human behaviour
Ethics of animal experiments
Ignores biology, nature v nurture
Describe skinners rat experiment
Rat placed in a Skinner box that has a lever
When rat pushes the lever, the box can either produce
Positive reinforcement like food
Punishment like an electric shock
A token conditioner like light
Describe social learning theory
Proposed by Albert Bandura
Takes cognitive process into account through looking at observational learning, modelling and vicarious reinforcement
Describe Banduras ideas on social learning theory
Pure behavioursim couldn’t explain why learning could take place in the absence of external reinforcement
Internal mental states must have a role,
Observational learning involves much more than imitation
- in imitation a person copies what the model does
- in observational learning, we learn by watching others, then imitating, or modeling
What were banduras three models
Live
Demonstrates a behaviour
Verbal
Doesn’t perform the behaviour, explains or describes it
Symbolic
Fictional character or real person who demonstrates behaviour in books or movies
Describe the factors for learning
Attention
Focused on what model is doing
Retention
Remember what you’ve observed
Reproduction
Must be able to perform the behaviour
Motivation
Must want to copy the behaviour
Describe vicarious reinforcement and vicarious punishment
Vicarious reinforcement
When a model is reinforced for their behaviour
Vicarious punishment
When you observe the model being punished
Describe Bandura’s bobo doll experiment
Describe the cognitive approach
Explains human behaviour in terms of internal mental processes
Contrasts learning approaches,
They focus only on the external behaviour
What is a schema
A cognitive structure where thoughts and linked together.
Influences future thinking
Influenced by the culture in which you grow up
Describe assimilation
When new information is added to a schema
Describe accomodation
When a new schema forms due to inconsistent information
Describe Bartlett’s War of the Ghosts study
Hypothesis,
Memory is reconstructive
Experimental design
20 students
Told them an unfamiliar story of Native American folklore
Asked to recall it several different time intervals,
Ranging from hours to years later
Findings
Ps changed the story as they tried to remember it, distortion
3 patterns of distortion
1- assimilation, more consistent with their own cultural expectations(fit British norms)
2- levelling, became shorter
3- sharpening, change order of the story to make sense of it using terms more familiar to their own culture
Give an example of a computer model
AS model
MSM
Views memory as being based on processing and storing information
What are limitations to computer analogies
The brain came first,
Wrong way round
Machine reductionism
Reduce comp,ex thought processes down to simple mechanical processes
Describe research that supports the biological approach
Gottesman(1991)
Concordance rate of schizophrenia in twins
Meta analysis of European twin studies
48% in MZ
17% in DZ
Conc
MZ tw8ns share 100% same dna, suggests that schizophrenia has a large genetic component,
H conc isn’t 100 so not all play a part
Evaluate
Reliable
Meta analysis
MZ share same environment
Describe the 1848 phineas gage experiment
Phineas suffered accident,
Iron tamping bar went through his eye socket and came out the top of his head.
Survived but underwent a personality change,
Frontal lobe damaged(decision making)
Helped study localisation in the brain
Describe a study on taxi drivers brains
Maguire et al(2000)
Studied London taxi drivers to see whether changes in the brain could be detected as a result of their extensive navigation experience
Natural experiments
Used fMRI scanner, calculated amount of grey matter in the brains
Posterior hippocampi were significantly larger relative to those of control group
Demonstrates brain plasticity,
Structure of the brain can change in response to the demands placed upon iy
Describe Freud’s structure of personality
Id, ego, superego
Id,
Instinct, unconscious desires, impulses,
Demands instant gratification of its needs
Primitive, pleasure principle
Ego,
Conscious mind
Develops around 2-3 years
Balance the Id in society
Demands of id can’t always be met, ego is logical and seeks to satisfy the id.
Reality principle
Superego
5-6 years
Morality principle
Ensures the ego doesn’t use unacceptable means to satisfy the demands of the Id.
Conscience- what we shouldn’t do
Ego ideal- what we should do
Describe and give examples for defence mechanisms
Triggered to help us deal with confrontation ,
Unconscious, distort reality so that anxiety is reduced
Only temporary
Can be psychologically damaging
Repression
Block out painful memories ie childbirth
Denial
Refusal to accept reality
Displacement
Redirection of hostile feeling towards a more acceptable target
Describe the little Hans study
Aim to discover evidence to support the Oedipus complex and displacement theories
Little Hans father was a supporter of Freud and corresponded with him about his son’s fear of horses.
Recorded conversations between ages 3-5 and accounts of his dreams
Freud claimed hans obsession with his penis and his mother showed that he was in the phallic stage of psychosexual sexual development and had an unresolved Oedipus complex
Fear of horses was a displaced fear of his father
Strengths
In depth, detailed
Led to development of therapy, talked cure
Limits
Unfalsifiable
Can’t generalise
Other plausible explanations for fear of horses ie behaviourism
Describe psychosexual development
Stages:
Oral
0-1
Fixations = smoking, drinking, overeating
Anal
1-3
Anal retentive, anal expulsive
Phallic
3-6
Desire in opposite sex parent, Oedipus or electra
Latency
6 years to puberty
Sexual feelings dormant
Genital
Sexual reawakening
If we don’t have the proper nurturing and parenting during a stage, we will be stuck or fixated as adults
Contraversial theory
(Freud made it at a time of sexual repression in Vienna)
Describe the humanistic approach
Focused on the individual person
Emphasises the potential for good that is innate in all humans
Individualistic, looks at observable behaviour and persons feelings
Free will is important factor
Describe self-actualisation
Humans strive to fulfil their potential
Self-concept and ideal self
Once the same, they are congruent
Describe unconditional positive regard
When someone receives lobe and support no matter how they behave,
Helps to develop a positive self-concept
Describe Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Bottom-
Physiological needs
Security
Loved
Self worth
Self actualisation
Give characteristics of self actualised people
Perceive reality efficiently
Accept themselves and others
Spontaneous in though and action
Problem centres not self centred
Unusual sense of humour
Able to look at life objectively
Evaluate Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Subjective nature
Inability to account for phenomena in the real world
Describe a study that investigated how the hierarchy of needs related to different job demands
Aronoff(1967)
Natural experiment
Compared cane cutters and fishermen in the west indies
Cane cutters had high job security but paid a small amount
Fishermen worked alone, low job security but paid well
Fishermen had higher levels on hierarchy
Only those who had physiological needs could become fishermen
Describe client centred therapy
Rogers
Patient takes a lead role in the therapy session
R believed therapist needed to display 3 features to maximise effectiveness
Unconditional positive regard
Genuineness
Empathy
Describe a study that evaluates the effectiveness of person-centred therapy
Gibbard and Hanley(2008)
Core Outcome Measure administered at referral and at the beginning and end of therapy
Over 5 years
Effectiveness for 697 individuals was 1.2
