Approaches Flashcards
Give the definition of science
Discovering the physical and natural world systematically and objectively using empirical methods such as observation and experimentation
What does systematic mean?
Fixed or controlled method
What does objectivity mean?
Absence of bias (personal beliefs) in research
Who is Wundt?
Wundt, aka “the father of psychology”
Before Wundt the study of the mind was limited to philosophy and medicine
He set up the first psychological laboratory in Leipzig, Germany (1870s)
Want produced one of the first books on psychology
What is Introspection not?
Introspection is not a direct observation of mental processes; Wundt made inferences
Give the first stage of Wundt’s procedure on Introspection
Participants are trained to report conscious experiences as objectively as possible
Give the second stage of Wundt’s procedure on Introspection
Participants would be asked to focus on a sensory object, often a ticking metronome
Give the third stage of Wundt’s procedure on Introspection
Participants would systematically report their experience of the object by breaking their thoughts into separate elements; participants would focus inward and report sensations, feelings and images
Give an advantage of Wundt’s work
For his time, Wundt was highly scientific, primarily because of his controlled experiments and large sample sizes.
Give a disadvantage of Wundt’s work
His introspective methods are considered subjective and not truly scientific. Participants cannot be relied on to accurately report their mental states and self reports may be biased or influenced by demand characteristics.
What do behaviourists say about behaviour?
Behaviourists say that behaviour is learned through experiences and interactions with the environment
Which psychologist is associated with classical conditioning?
Pavlov
Which psychologist is associated with operant conditioning?
BF Skinner
What is classical conditioning?
Associative learning
Outline classical conditioning in Pavlov’s dog experiment
Dog produced saliva before seeing or smelling food (unconditioned response) suggesting they had formed a temporal association between the sound of the researcher’s walking down the hall (neutral stimulus) and food
What is positive reinforcement?
Adding a pleasant stimulus to encourage desired behaviour
What is negative reinforcement?
Removing an unpleasant stimulus to encourage the behaviour
What does a punishment do?
Discourages a behaviour
What is a positive punishment?
Adding an unpleasant stimulus following an undesired behaviour
What is a negative punishment?
Removing a pleasant stimulus to decrease a behaviour
Give one comparison between classical and operant conditioning
Classical conditioning is an involuntary response and operant conditioning is a voluntary response
State the advantage of research into behaviourism
It is scientific as it studies objectively observable and measurable stimulus response mechanisms. They establish cause and effect relationships through controlled lab experiments that manipulate variables systematically.
State the disadvantage of research into behaviourism
Pavlov and Skinner’s use of animal subjects means that their findings may not be generalisable to human behaviour.
Give the procedure of Skinner’s research into operant conditioning
Animals were placed in the Skinner box without prior training. Skinner then observed how animals learned to operate levers to receive a reward (food) or avoid punishment
Which psychologist is associated with social learning theory (SLT)?
Albert Bandura
What did social learning theorists argue?
They argued that human behaviour could not be fully understood without including the role of cognitive processes that happen between stimuli and responses
Give an example of the process of vicarious reinforcement
When seeing an individual being rewarded for a behaviour, we are more likely to mimic it
What are models?
People we observe and emulate (imitate)
Give an example of live models
Parents, friends and family
Give an example of symbolic models
Characters from books and movies
What are the four meditational processes?
The four meditational processes are:
Attention
Retention
Reproduction
Motivation
When must meditational processes occur?
They must happen between observing a model perform a behaviour and imitating that behaviour
What happens if any of the meditational processes are missing?
If any of them are missing the behaviour will not be imitated.
What did Bandura (1961) investigate?
Bandura conducted an experiment to see if children would copy aggressive behaviour demonstrated by an adult towards an inflatable toy (aka a Bobo doll)
Who were the participants in Bandura’s experiment?
Children age 3-6 split into 2 groups
What did each of the groups see in Bandura’s experiment?
One group saw an adult demonstrating physical aggression towards the doll in a room filled with toys and the other group saw an adult acting non-aggressively with different toys.
What were the findings of Bandura (1961)?
Children exposed to an aggressive model were more likely to be aggressive themselves
Give an advantage of social learning theory
SLT is supported by robust evidence, for example the Bobo doll study has high internal validity because of its lab setting. Participants would follow the same procedure in the same room with access to identical toys.
Give a disadvantage of social learning theory
In Bandura’s research it only demonstrated short-term social learning; aggression may not be imitated weeks or months after observation.
Describe what happens during attention (SLT)
In order to learn from a model, individuals must pay attention to the model by focusing on specific behaviours
Describe what happens during retention (SLT)
The ability to remember the observed behaviours
Describe what happens during reproduction (SLT)
The individual’s belief in their ability to replicate the behaviour that the model demonstrated
Describe what happens during motivation (SLT)
The willingness to perform the behaviour, which is influenced by the expected outcomes
What are Internal mental processes?
Internal mental processes are how information is stored in the mind, including all conscious and unconscious thoughts
What are the typical areas of research for cognitive psychologists?
Attention, perception and memory
Give an advantage of the cognitive approach
The cognitive approach is a scientific approach, this is due to the use of highly controlled experiments for example, many of the studies supporting the models of memory were conducted in a lab setting.
Give a disadvantage of the cognitive approach
The cognitive approach relies on inferences, which are essentially educated guesses that could be wrong. Cognitive psychology is seen as less scientific compared to biological psychology, which bases its theories on directly observable behaviours and physical processes.
What is a schema?
Schemas are mental frameworks, collections of connected basic knowledge about a concept or object built from previous experience with the world
What is the role of schemas?
Schemas work as mental shortcuts, we use them to quickly understand and navigate the world and interact with people and objects, this means it doesn’t take too much mental energy to decide how to respond to a range of situations
Give two ways in which schemas help us
Processing environmental information - Schemas allow us to engage with the world without being overwhelmed by sensory information
Predict the future - As schemas are based on previous experiences, they allow us to make assumptions about what objects and people will do in similar situations
Give two ways in which schemas cause problems
Leads to inaccurate recall - assumptions due to schemas can influence memory, a particular problem for eyewitness testimony
Negative schemas can lead to poor mental health - Beck argues people with depression have faulty schemas that bias their thinking about themselves, others and the future
What is the computer model?
The computer model is an analogy of a computer’s central processing unit running software programmes and the human brain conducting internal mental processes. This comparison suggests both systems receive inputs and generate outputs. They both process information through a sequence of programmed steps.
Give a limitation of the computer model
The computer model is overly simplistic. Critics argue that the human brain is more complex than any computer and the human brain is capable of consciousness and emotions, which can lead to irrational behaviours.
What is cognitive neuroscience?
Cognitive neuroscience aims to scientifically identify and examine the neurological structures and chemical processes in the brain that are linked to internal mental processes.
