APPROACHES Flashcards
What is one assumption of the cognitive approach?
One assumption of the cognitive approach is that mental processes such as perception, memory, attention, and problem-solving can be studied scientifically. This approach suggests that human behavior is influenced by internal mental states, and these processes can be understood by examining how individuals encode, store, and retrieve information. Essentially, it views the mind as an information-processing system, similar to how a computer processes data.
Main assumption of social approach
The key assumptions are: Other people and the environment influence our behaviour and thought processes. All human behaviour occurs in a social context (even in the absence of others). Our relationships with others influence our behavior and thought processes.
-strengths: can be applied to society, useful aim and results can be generalized to real settings. LIttle demand characteristics (they think its real). so often high eco validity..
-weakness: unethical, emotional physical harm, doesn’t consider nature (how biology could have affected them), deterministic, reductionist.
Main assumption of the learning approach?
-Behaviour is learned from our environment. Behaviour can always be understood in terms of a stimulus-response. Behaviourists argue that animal and human behaviour is comparable as both learn behaviours in the same way.
-Learning approaches measure and explain human behaviour as a product of environment and experience. The A level psychology syllabus specifies two learning approaches: behaviourism and social learning theory.
Main assumptions of the biological approach?
-approach explores thoughts, feelings, and behaviours from a biological perspective. The three main assumptions of this approach are ‘evolutionary influences’, ‘localisation of brain function’, and ‘neurotransmitters’.
· There is a direct correlation between brain activity and cognition
- the belief that behavior and mental processes are influenced by genetics, brain structure and function, and the nervous system.
