Approaches

Question 1

the origins of psychology: what were Rene Descarte’s beliefs about the body and the mind?

Answer 1

“I think therefore I am”
belief that the body and the mind were separate. this influenced psychology because psychology is the study of the mind, so without this view, investigations into the brain would not exist.

Question 2

the origins of psychology: what were John Locke’s beliefs about empiricism?

Answer 2

people are born as “Tabula Rasa” - blank slate
empiricism is the study of experiences and how they contribute to an individual’s personality and behaviours.
this has influenced psychology because it specifically influences the behaviourist approach to psychology. must study behaviour in a way that can be measured and observed.

Question 3

the origins of psychology: what were Charles Darwin’s beliefs about evolution?

Answer 3

“survival of the fittest”
the mind is evolving and adapting from one period of time to another. the strongest adaptations survive while others die out. individual differences are a result of varying adaptations.
this has influenced psychology because it suggests that adaptation to survive can explain behaviour e.g. aggression. it influences biological psychology and genes study of human behaviour.

Question 4

the origins of psychology: the growth of psychology as a science: Wundt - father of psychology/introspection

Answer 4

first to study the structure of the mind in labs to increase the validity of studies.
conducted a study into intropsection: recording and verbalising conscious thoughts.

Question 5

the origins of psychology: the growth of psychology as a science: Freud - founding father of psychoanalysis

Answer 5

Argues that physical and psychological problems can be explained through the conflict of the mind.
He was the first to state that psychological illnesses should be treated psychologically.

Question 6

the origins of psychology: the growth of psychology as a science: Skinner - conditioning theory

Answer 6

argued that the mind shouldn’t be studied as it cannot be measured, and we should use scientific methods to understand behaviours.

Question 7

the origins of psychology: the growth of psychology as a science: Rogers and Maslow - Humanism and Holism

Answer 7

they developed the humanistic approach - hierarchy of needs.
we need to look at the present situation, and we are in control of our own behaviour.

Question 8

the origins of psychology: the growth of psychology as a science: 1960’s cognitive revolution

Answer 8

• humans are linked to computers: input= keyboard vs senses, output= printing vs behaviour
• focus on the brain being like the processes of a computer
• scientific approach

Question 9

the origins of psychology: the growth of psychology as a science: 1970’s social psychology

Answer 9

• lots of studies conducted on PPs in a group e.g. asch, zimbardo, milgram
• studies are massively unethical, but told us lots about human behaviour
• influential, but cannot be replicated.

Question 10

the origins of psychology: the growth of psychology as a science: 1980’s biological psychology

Answer 10

• technology advances means that people become interested in the internal workings of the mind e.g., the structure of the brain and the role of hormones
• bio psych is still developing today

Question 11

the origins of psychology: the growth of psychology as a science: 21st century cognitive neuroscience

Answer 11

• influenced by cognitive psychology and biopsych.
• can create images of the brain to identify the active areas.
• before an input after an individual response
  behaviour = output

Question 12

the origins of psychology: evaluation

Answer 12

• Wundt’s methods are unrealiable: open to researcher bias. introspective results were not reproducible by other researchers.
• introspection is not particularly accurate: social desirability, PPs were not unaware of factors that had been influential in their choice of a consumer item.

Question 13

behaviourist approach: background to behaviourism

Answer 13

The behaviourist approach emerged at the beginning of the 20th century and became the dominant approach in Psychology for half of that century. It is also credited with being the driving force in the development of psychology as a scientific discipline. The behaviourist approach is only interested in studying behaviour that can be observed and measured. It isn’t concerned with investigating the mental processes of the mind. Early behaviourists, such as Watson, rejected introspection as it involved too many concepts that were vague and difficult to measure. As a result, behaviourists tried to maintain more control and objectivity within their research and relied on lab experiments as the best way to achieve these. Following Darwin, behaviourists suggested that all species’ basic processes that govern learning are the same. This meant that animals could replace humans as experimental subjects in behaviourist research.

Question 14

behaviourist approach: basic assumptions of behaviourism

Answer 14

Behaviourism is primarily concerned with observable behaviour, as opposed to internal events - thinking and emotions.
psychology is a science so behaviour must be measured in highly controlled environments to establish cause and effect.
when born, our minds are a blank slate so there is no genetic influence on behaviour - John Locke.
there is little difference between the learning that takes place in humans and that in other animals. therefore research can be carried out on animals as well as humans.
behaviour is a result of stimulus-response.
all behaviour is learnt from the environment. we learn new behaviour through classical or operant conditioning.

Question 15

behaviourist approach: Pavlov’s dogs - classical conditioning

Answer 15

before conditioning:
food - UCS, salivation - UCR
bell = no response
during conditioning:
bell and food - UCS
salivation - UCR
After conditioning:
bell - CS
salivation - CR.
the dog has learnt to associate the bell with the food.

Question 16

behaviourist approach: what are the principles of operant conditioning?

Answer 16

Operant conditioning is when an animal or human learns to consistently perform or stop a behaviour based on whether it has received a reward or punishment for that behaviour.

Question 17

Behaviourist approach: operant conditioning - Skinner’s rats

Answer 17

In the experiment, a hungry rat was placed in a sealed box. At first, no food pellets were released, but then the food dispenser was connected, and the rat discovered that pressing the lever would cause a food pellet to be released—positive reinforcement.

Question 18

Behaviourist approach: operant conditioning - what is positive reinforcement?

Answer 18

receiving a reward when a certain behaviour is performed, making this behaviour more likely to reoccur because of the positive consequences.

Question 19

Behaviourist approach: operant conditioning - what is negative reinforcement?

Answer 19

increases the likelihood of a certain behaviour occurring because it involves the removal of, or escaping from, unpleasant consequences. the behaviour is more likely to reoccur because of avoidance of negative consequences.

Question 20

Behaviourist approach: operant conditioning - what is punishment?

Answer 20

this is an unpleasant consequence of behaviour. the behaviour is less likely to reoccur because of negative consequences.

Question 21

Behaviourist approach: evaluation - strengths

Answer 21

one strength of the behaviourist approach is that it has practical applications. this means that the findings can be seen throughout the real world. this is a strength because it shows it is relevant to the real world, therefore the behaviourist approach has high ecological validity. an example of this is Pavlov’s dogs.
Another strength of the behaviourist approach is that it is a scientific approach. this means that the findings can be proven. this a strength because you can identify how one thing causes another while controlling extrenous variables. you can identify a correlation between stimulus and response. an example of this is Skinner’s rats.

Question 22

Behaviourist approach: evaluation - weaknesses

Answer 22

one weakness of the behaviourist approach is anthropomorphism. this is the study of animals which is generalised to humans. this is a weakness as it doesn’t account for individual differences in humans. an example of this is Pavlov’s dogs.
another weakness of the behaviourist approach is that it is deterministic. this means that behaviour is predictable, and can be controlled. this is a weakness because it fails to consider human thoughts and actions, and only considers observable behaviour. an example of this is stickers as a reward.

Question 23

Social learning theory: what are the assumptions of the social learning theory?

Answer 23

Social learning theory is a way of explaining behaviour that includes both direct and indirect reinforcement, combining learning theory with the role of cognitive factors.
Bandura agrees with the behaviourists that much of our behaviour is learned from experience.
However his social learning theory proposed a different way in which people learn: through observation and imitation of others within a social context, thus social learning.
SLT suggested that learning occurs directly, through classical and operant conditioning, but also indirectly

Question 24

Social learning theory: what are the 5 key concepts of social learning theory?

Answer 24

Imitation
Identification
Modelling
Vicarious reinforcement
The role of mediational processes

Question 25

Social learning theory; what is imitation?

Answer 25

This is the term used to describe when an individual observes a behaviour from a role model and copies it, the imitation is more appropriate than copying as the behaviour is often not able to be copied, exactly, it is a simulation.

Question 26

Social learning theory: what is identification

Answer 26

People are more likely to imitate the behaviour of people with whom they identify, role models. This is called modelling. A person becomes a role model if they are seen to possess similar characteristics to the observer and/or are attractive and have high status. Role models may not be physically present in the environment, and this has important implications for the influence of the media on behaviour.

Question 27

Social learning theory: what is modelling

Answer 27

When someone is influential on someone is some way, they are referred to as a model. If the individual then imitates that persons behaviour, it is called modelling the behaviour. This term is only used when referring to behaviour that is imitated.

Question 28

Social learning theory: what vicarious reinforcement?

Answer 28

This is the term used to describe the reinforcement the observer sees the model receiving. They do not receive the reward themselves, they see someone else get it. A reinforcement, such as reward, makes a behaviour more likely to happen again.
When it is vicarious, the person learns by observing the consequences of another persons behaviour e.g a younger sister observing an older sister being rewarded for a particular behaviour so is more likely to repeat that behaviour herself.

Question 29

Social learning theory: what is the role of mediational processes?

Answer 29

SLT is often described as the ‘bridge’ between traditional learning theory and the cognitive approach. This is because it focuses on how mental factors are involved in learning. these mental factors mediate in the learning processes to determine whether a new response is acquired. We do not automatically observe the behaviour of a model and imitate it. There is some thought prior to imitation and this consideration is called mediational processes, this occurs between observing the behaviour and imitating it or not.

Question 30

Social learning theory: 4 mediational processes

Answer 30

Attention: for a behaviour to be imitated it has to grab out attention. We observe many behaviours on a daily basis and many of these are not noteworthy. Attention is therefore extremely important in whether a behaviour has an influence in others imitating it.
Retention: this behaviour may be noticed, but it is not always remembered which obviously prevents imitation. It is important that a memory of the behaviour is formed to be performed later by the observer. Much of social learning is not immediate so this process is especially vital in those cases. Even if the behaviour is reproduced shortly after seeing it, there needs to be a memory to refer to.
Reproduction: we see much behaviour on a daily basis that we would like to imitate but this is not always possible. We are limited by our physical ability and for that reason, even if we wish to reproduce the behaviour, we can’t. This influences our decisions whether to try and imitate it or not.
Motivation: the rewards and punishment that follow a behaviour will be considered by the observer. If the rewards outweigh the costs this behaviour will be more likely to be imitated by the observer. If the vicarious reinforcement is not seen to be important enough to the observer then they will not imitate the behaviour.

Question 31

social learning theory: different forms of behaviourism

Answer 31

since the start of behaviourism, there have been several developments from the original ideas. there are therefore now several perspectives within behaviourism. neobehaviourism is a more recent modified form of behaviourism, one of the most prominent forms being social learning theory as advanced by Bandura. one of the most important assumptions made by social earning is that learning occurs through observation and does not need to a consequence of direct experience. social learning theory takes account of cognitive factors in learning (the roles of ambition, emotion, perceptions, and expectations in influencing behaviour) so it spans both the behaviourist and cognitive approaches.

Question 32

social learning theory: what are the main principles of social learning theory?

Answer 32

children learn aggression by observing other people and imitating their behaviour. people who are observed are called models, and they are likely to be people the child sees as similar to themselves, or powerful, or who are rewarded for their aggression.

Question 33

social learning theory: Bandura’s bobo doll study

Answer 33

bandura conducted a series of experiments to study how children learned to behave aggressively. in bandura’s basic procedure, children saw an adult behave aggressively, both verbally and physically toward a large inflatable doll. the children then had the chance to play with a range of toys and observers assessed their behaviour. the observers found that children who saw an aggressive model reproduced more of the aggressive acts than children who saw a non-aggressive model. another finding is that children showed significantly more imitation of a same-sex model, and boys performed more acts of aggression than girls.

Question 34

social learning theory: evaluation

Answer 34

many of Bandura’s ideas were developed through observation of young children’s behaviour in lab settings. lab studies can be criticised for their artificial nature where PPs may respond to demand characteristics. it has been suggested that because the main purpose of the study was to strike the Bobo doll, the children were simply behaving in a way that they thought was expected. therefore, the research may tell us little about how children learn aggression in everyday life, as it lacks ecological validity.
Bandura makes little reference to the impact of biological factors on social learning. one consistent finding in the Bobo doll experiments was that boys were often more aggressive than girls. this may be explained through hormonal factors such as differences in levels of testosterone, which is released more in boys, and is linked to aggression. this means that this important influence on behaviour is not accounted for in SLT, therefore meaning it lacks validity.

Question 35

the cognitive approach: 3 basic assumptions

Answer 35

• it is important to focus on the internal processes of the mind
• compare the brain to the workings of a computer: input, processing, output
• disordered thinking can cause disordered behaviour e.g. eating disorders.

Question 36

the cognitive approach: the study of internal mental processes

Answer 36

cognitive psychologists use the results of their investigations as the basis for making inferences about mental processes. they apply the scientific method and have worked out some ways in which to examine thought. one way to do this is by making inferences about thought processes.

Question 37

the cognitive approach: the role of the schema

Answer 37

cognitive processing can often be affected by a person’s beliefs or expectations - schema. these are ‘packages’ of information and ideas developed through experiences. As we get older, schemas become more sophisticated and detailed and as adults, we have developed mental representations for every concept. schemas enable us to process lots of information quickly and this is useful and a mental shortcut that prevents us from being overwhelmed by environmental stimuli.

Question 38

the cognitive approach: the use of theoretical and computer models to explain and make inferences about mental processes

Answer 38

the cognitive approach also uses computer models, where the mind is compared to a computer by suggesting there are similarities in the way information is processed. these models use the concept of a central processing unit (the brain), coding (turning information into a usable format), and the use of stores to hold information.

Question 39

the cognitive approach: the emergence of cognitive neuroscience

Answer 39

its main focus is to look for a biological basis for thought processes, specifically at how the neurons explain those processes. cognitive neuroscience is the scientific study of the influence of brain structures on mental processes. miller and Gazzinga first used the term cognitive neuroscience in 1971. they wanted to bridge the gap between cognitive science and neuroscience.

Question 40

the cognitive approach: evaluation

Answer 40

real-life application: the cognitive approach has been influential in the development of talking therapies to help with mental health disorders. therefore, it has high ecological validity as it can be applied to the real world.
however, it doesn’t consider why people behave when they do. the cognitive approach only explains why they behave like they do. therefore, it lacks validity, as it doesn’t fully explain behaviours.