Approaches Flashcards
What are the evaluation points for the humanistic approach?
-) anti-reductionist
C.P-> Lacks enoiugh empirical evidence to support aims
+) positive approach
-) cultural bias
How is being anti-reductionist a limitation of the humanisitc approach?
P - anti-reductionist
Ev - as humanistic psychologitsts refuse to reject any attempt to break up behaviour and experiences into smaller components
Ex - advocate holism, subjective experience can onyl be understood when considering the whole person
L- approach may have more validity than alternatives as it considers meanignful human behaviour in real-world context
What is a counter of anti-reductionism is humanistic psychology?
P - relatively few concepts that can be reduced to single variables and measured
Ev - lacks empirical evidence to support it’s claims
L - not useful IAPIAPATT
How is being positive a strength of the humanisitc approach?
P - humanisitc psychologists promote positive image of the human condition, seeing people as in control of their lives and having the freedom to change
Ev - Freud sees humans as slaves to their past and said we all exist simewhere between common unhapiness and absoloute depsiar
Ex - H.S offers refreshing, optimistic alternative
L - useful anf valuable IAPIAPATT
How is cultural bias a limitation of humanistic psychology?
P - many humanisitic ideas associated with individualidt cultures like US
Ev - Collecitivist cultures may not identify greatly with H.A
Ex- approach lacks generelaisability and is a product of the cultural context it was developed in
What are the evaluation points of the psychodynamic approach?
+) introduced psychotherapy
C.P-> Psychoanalysis is inappropiate for some mental disorders
-) includes untestable cocepts
+) explanatory power
How is introducing psychotherapy a strength of the psychodynamic approach?
P - Freud’s psychoanalysis 1st attempt to treat mental disorders psychologically
Ev - Psychoanalysis claims to help clients with everyday problems by providing acsess to their unconscious
Ex - psychoanalysis is the fore-runner to talking therapies like counselling
L - valuable IAPIAPATT
What is a counter for the psychodynamic approach introducing psychotherapy?
P - sucsessfu for patients with mild neuroses, harmful for more serious mental disorders
Ev - Schizophrenia
L - Freudian theory may not help with mental disorders when client has lost touch with reality
How is explanatory power a strength of the psychodynamic approach?
P - huge influence on Western contemporary thought
Ev - used to explain a wide range of behaviours and drew attention to the influence of childhood on adult personality
Ex- suggests the psychodynamic approach has had a positive influence on psychology and modern-day thinking
L - useful IAPIAPATT
How is including untestable concepts a limitation of the psychodynamic approach?
P - Popper said that the P.A doesnt meet the criteria of falsiaification
Ev - many of Freud’s concepts like Oedipus complex and Id occur at an unconscious level making it dfficult to test
Ex - Freud’s ideas lack scientific rigour, pesudoscience rather than real science
What are the evaluation points for the biological approach?
+) RWA
C.P - > research evidence does not support
+)scientific methods
-) determinist explanations
How is RWA a strength of the biological approach?
P - RWA as understanding of neurochemical proceses in the brain led to use of psychoactive drugs to treat serious mental disorders
Ev - drugs that treat clinical depression, increase seretonin and reduce depressive symptoms
Ex - people with depression are more iikely to manage condition and live a normal life, rather than confined to a hospital
L - valuable in society
What is a counter for the RWA of the biological approach?
P - everyone responds differently to drugs
Ev - Cipriani et al (2018) compared 21 antidepressants and found wide variations of effectiveness
Ex - challenges B.A as it suggests brain chemistry alone may not account for all cases of depression
How uis using scientific methods a strength of the BA?
P - uses precise and objective methods
Ev - include scnaning techniques like fMRI which assess biologicla processes in ways not open to bias
Ex - based on objective and reliable data
L - scientific credibility
How is determinism a limitation of the BA
P - Biological expalantions tend to be determinist, as it believes human behaviour is governed by internal, genetic causes we have no control over
Ev - environment heavily influences pheniotype as not even genetically indentical twins look and think exactly the same
L - suggests biological view is too simple and ignores the effect of the environment- cannot fully explain human behaiour
What are the evaluation points of the cognitive approach?
+) Uses scientific and objective methods
C.P - > lacks external valdiity
-) RWA
-) machine reductionist
How is using objective and scientific methods a strength of the cognitive approach?
P - cognitive psychologists always use controlled and rigorous methods of study like lab studies to infer cognitive processes at work
Ev - fields of biology and cognitive psychology formed congitive neuroscience
Ex - study of mind has a credible scientific basis
What is a counter of the cognitive approach using scientific and objective methods?
Ev - use of inference and Artificial stimuli sometimes used
Ex - lacks external validity and means C.S can sometimes be abstract and theoretical
How is RWA a strength of the Cognitive approach?
P - dominant today and has been applied to a range of practical and theoretical contexts
Ev - AI ,development of robots, treatment of depression and EWT
Ex - valuable approach
L - useful IAPIAPATT
What are the evaluation points of SLT?
+) emphasises importance of congitive factors
-) contrived lab studies
+) RWA
How is machine reductionism a limitation of the cognitive approach?
P - although there are similarities, human mind has been reduced to computers (inputs, outputs, central processor, storage systems), when human minds are more complex
Ev - emotion and motivation found to influence accuracy of recall e.g EWT. these factors not considered in computer analogy
Ex - machine redutionism weakens validity of C.A
L - not helpful IAPIAPATT
How is emphasising the importance of congitive factors a strength of SLT?
P - Classical and operant conditioning ignore cognitive factors so they cannot offer a compreensive account of human learning alone
Ev - humans and animals store info and use this to make judgements about when it is appropriate to perform certain actions
Ex - SLT recognises mediational processes so offers more complete explantion of human learning
What is a counter of SLT emphasising the importance of cognitive factors?
Ev - recent research found observational learning controlled by mirror neurones in the brain, allows us to empathise with and imitate others
Ex - means SLT does not take biological factors into account enough
How is heavy reliance on contrived lab studies a limitation of SLT?
P - Heavy reliance on evidence form contrived lab studies
Ev - Bandura observed behaviour in lab settings which could lead to demand charactersitics,
Ex - main purpose of bobo doll is to hit so children may have been behaving as they thought was expected
L - research tells us very little about how children actually learn aggression in everyday life
How is RWA a strength of SLT?
P - SLT could be responsible for how children learn from others around them, as well as through the media, and this can explain how cultural norms are transmitted
Ev - useful in understanding a range of behaviours like how children come to understand their gender role by imitating role models in media
Ex - increases value of SLT, can account for real world behaviour
What are the evaluation points for the behaviourist approach?
+) uses well-controlled research
-) RWA
-) environmental determinism
How is well-controlled research a strength of the behaviourist approach?
P - well-controlled research
Ev - Behaviourists have broken behaviour down into stimulus-response units and studied casual relationships
Ex - suggests that behaviourist experiments have scientific credibility
L - useful IPAIAPATT
What is a counter of the behaviourist approach?
P - oversimpifies learning and ignores important influences on behaviour like thought . Other approaches like SLT and congitive include this
Ex - learning is more complex than what we can observe
How is RWA a strength of behaviourism?
P - RWA
Ev - Token economy systems reward appropiate behaviour with tokens that are exchanged for priveliges - used in psychiatric wards and prisons
Ex - widespread applicaiton so increases approaches value
L - valuable, detrimental to socety
How is ethical issues a limitation of the behaviourist approach?
P - ethical issues
Ev - procedures like skinner’s box allowed behaviourists to have lots of control over their subjects
Ex - animals housed in cramped conditions and deliberately kept below natural weight so alwasy hungry
L - enormous benefits like application to token economy system offsets the harm animals experienced
What are the evaluation points of the Origins of psychology?
+) some aspects are scientific
-) some aspects are subjective
+) Modern psychology can claim to be scientific
-) some approaches use subjective data
How is some aspects being scientfic a strength of the origins of psychology?
P - some aspects of Wundt’s work are scientific
Ev - controlled lab setting and standardised procedures
Ex - participants recieve same info and tested in the same way
L - Wundt’s research can be considered a fore-runner to the later scientific approaches to psychology
How is some aspects of research being subjective?
P - some aspects are sibjective
Ev - Wundt relied on ppts self-reporting their private mental processes
Ex - difficult to establish meaningful laws of bhaviour one of the aims of science
L - so Wundt’s early efforts to study mind were naive and would not meet the criteria of scientific enquiry
How is modern psychology claiming to be scientific a strength of the Origins of psychology?
P - claims to be scientific
Ev - same aims as natural science - to describe, understand, predict, control behaviour
Ex - SLT, congitive, biological all use scientific methods
L- throughout 20th century, psychology is established as a scientific discipline
How is some approaches using subjective data a limitation of the origins of psychology?
P - some approaches rely on subjective data
Ev - H.A focusses on unique individual experiences rather than creating general rules
Ex - makes it difficult to produce objective, measurable findings as data is not easily generalised. C.S use small unrepresentative samples that may lead to biased conclusions
L - reliance on subjective data limits osychology’s ability to be regarded as a scientfic discipline
