Approaches Flashcards
What is the role of an independent and dependent variable?
Independent variables are manipulated or changed.
Dependent variables are measured.
What does it mean to be ‘reductionist’?
If someone is reductionist, they don’t take in to account any other approaches. They are narrow minded. For example, if someone bakes a cake, there are many ingredients, sugar, butter, milk, flour, eggs. Someone reductionist would say that the cake is only made out of sugar, because they wouldn’t be taking in to account any other approaches.
What did William Wundt do?
William Wundt wanted to separate psychology from philosophy.
He invented introspection, which is a psychological method which involved analysing one’s own internal thoughts and feelings. His participants had to self-report what they were experiencing. This information could be used to gain insight into the nature of mental processes such as perception.
In the behaviourist approach, what does ‘Tabula Rasa’ mean?
We are born as a blank state, so therefore all behaviour is learned and determined by interactions and experiences in our environment, therefore there is no biological influence on our behaviour.
According to the Behaviourist Approach,
What is classical conditioning?
Name an experiment where this was used.
Classical conditioning is learning through association.
Experiment - Pavlov’s dogs.
*Behaviourist Approach
Pavlov performed an experiment where he investigated a response to a stimulus. Explain what happened in this experiment.
Pavlov took an unconditioned stimulus (the food), and saw the unconditioned response (salivation).
Then, he combined the unconditioned stimulus with something neutral (the food and the sound of the bell) which resulted in the unconditioned response (salivation).
Then, he saw that the conditioned stimulus (the bell) resulted in the conditioned response (salivation).
Pavlov used classical conditioning so that the dogs associated the sound of the bell with the food, therefore they salivated, until they removed the food and the sound of the bell alone was enough to make the dogs salivate.
In the Behaviourist Approach,
What is operant conditioning?
Operant conditioning involves learning through consequences of behaviour, these include:
- Positive reinforcement
- Punishment
- Negative reinforcement
According to the Behaviourist Approach,
What is the difference between negative reinforcement and punishment?
Negative reinforcement is when you remove something unpleasant once a desired behaviour is performed.
Eg. Torture
Punishment occurs after a behaviour that is unwanted, it reduces the chance that the behaviour will be repeated.
Eg. Taking away a phone after doing badly on a test at school
According to the Behaviourism Approach,
What is “The Skinner Box”?
Skinner would introduce a hungry rat to a box with a lever, that when pressed, would release a pellet of food. The rat soon learned that pressing the lever would result in food as a consequence of its actions. The rat continued to display this behaviour, this is positive reinforcement.
Skinner then changed the mechanism so that when the rat pressed the lever, it was given an electric shock to its paw. The rat very quickly stopped pressing the lever. The electric shock acted as a punishment.
Then, Skinner changed it so that the floor was electrified and the lever switched off the current. Skinner electrified the floor and the rat started to bounce about and accidentally pressed the lever. The rat learned to press the lever when the current was on. This is negative reinforcement.
According to the behaviourist approach, who is Watson and what did he do?
He performed the Little Albert study. This taught Little Albert to fear little white rats and react to stimuli. Watson proved that classical conditioning was possible in humans.
If a question mentions mediational processes, what structure are you expected to use and what does it stand for?
ARRM
A - Attention
R - Retention
R - Reproduction
M - Motivation
What theory does the Bandura study support?
The Social Learning Theory.
Explain the ARRM answer structure.
A - Attention - Is the subject paying attention to the behaviour that is being performed?
R - Retention - Is the behaviour or action memorable to the subject?
R - Reproduction - Is the subject able to easily reproduce the behaviour?
M - Motivation - Is the subject motivated to reproduce the behaviour? Why?
What is classical conditioning?
Learning through association.
What is a strength of social learning theory?
Strength - Lots of supporting evidence.
Principles of social learning theory have been used to increase our understanding of why humans behave in a prosocial or antisocial way.
