Approaches Flashcards
What are three key assumptions of the behaviourist approach
- Information received from our senses is processed by the brain, and this processing directs how we behave.
- The brain activities that take place between stimulus and response (behaviour) are known as internal mental processes, and these can be studied scientifically by making inferences. These activities may be affected by schema.
- The mind processes information like a computer, with the output of a computer being equivalent to human behaviour.
How does the biological approach explain behaviour
It explains behaviour in terms of physical factors within the body
Two examples of neuro transmitters and their consequences if they are dysfunctional
- Serotonin - maintains a stable mood, dysfunctions can lead to depression
- Dopamine - controls attention and motivation, dysfunctions can lead to ADHD
Introspection
The first systematic experimental attempt to study the mind by breaking up conscious awareness into thoughts images and sensations
Psychology
The scientific study of the mind behaviour and experience
Science
A means of acquiring knowledge through systematic and objective investigation
WUndt and introspection
- 1897 Wundt built the first ever lab to study psychology - this marked the beginning of scientific psychology
- He was the first to attempt to study the mind under controlled systematic conditions, his method became known as introspection
- Wundt and his co-workers would be presented with various stimuli and would have to write their thoughts, images and sensations
- Splitting up the subconscious like this is known as structrualism
Evaluation of Wundt’s introspection
His experiment was controlled and standardised, however he used the technique of self reporting which is subjective data
What is the chronological order that the approaches were developed
- 1900s Sigmund Freud, psychodynamic approach
- Watson and Skinner’s behaviourist approach, 1910s
- Rogers and Maslow, humanistic approach, 1950s
- Cognitive approach, 1950s
- Bandura’s social learning theory, 1960s
- 1980s, biological approach
- 21st century, cognitive neuroscience
Assumption of the behaviourist approach
- reject introspection as it is too vague
- Rely on lab studies, more objective and scientific
- A babies mind is a blank slate and is written on by experience
- the basic processes that govern learning are the same in all species, animals replace humans in experimental studies
Classical conditioning
Learning through association
- The process of learning to associate a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus, therefore resulting in a conditioned response hen in the prescence of the neutral stimulus - now a conditioned stimulus.
Pavlov
- showed how classical conditioning could cause a dog to salivate at the sound of the bell
- Bell - neutral stimulus and became a conditioned stimulus
- food - unconditioned stimulus
- salivating at food - unconditioned response
- salivating at bell (no food) - conditioned response
Operant conditioning
Learning through consequences
- positive reinforcement - repeating behaviours because you were rewarded for it in the past
- Negative reinforcement - repeating behaviour because in the past it presented something negative from happening
- Punishment - not repeating a behaviour because in the past you were punished for it
The Skinner box
- experiment into conditioning in rats
- rats were put in a box at a third of their natural weight, when they pulled a lever food would be dispensed - positive reinforcement
- the box would make rats feet itchy when the lever was pulled itching would stop - negative reinforcement
Behaviourist evaluation
Strengths
- scientific research
- real world application - token economy system, treatment of phobias
Weaknesses
- Humans brains are much more developed than animals - social learning theory, cognitive approach
- Environmental determinism, ignores free will
Assumptions of the social learning theory
Learning through observation and imitation, as well as classical and operant conditioning
Vicarious reinforcement
- social learning theory, proposed by Bandaranaike
- type of conditions, but occurs indirectly
- imitation of behaviours that you have seen others be rewarded for
Mediational processes in vicarious reinforcement
- attention - the extent to which we notice certain behaviours
- retention - how well the behaviour is remembered
- motor reproduction - the ability to physically repeat the behaviour
- motivation - willpower to repeat the behaviour, typically based on how the behaviour was rewarded
Identification
- People typically indentify with role models
- these are the people observers are most likely to imitate, this is known as modelling
- role models do not need to be physically present in the environment
Bandura’s study
Children split into three groups:
- aggressive role model
- non aggressive role model
- control (no role model)
All children were purposefully frustrated before the experiment to ensure they were all in the same state of mind.
The children were then put into a room alone with the bobo doll, after watching the adult.
The group with the aggressive role model committed signifcantly more aggressive acts than the group with the non aggressive role model
Evaluation of social learning theory
Strengths
- considers cognitive processes - mediational processes
- real world application - cultural differences in behaviours, gender roles
- reciprocal determinism, we are not simply influenced by our environment but we also have an affect on our environment - free will in the way we behave
Weaknesses
- contrived lab studies - demand characteristics
- Subjective - observations
Cognitive approach assumptions
- In contrast to the behaviourist approach, the cognitive approach argues that internal processes such as memory and perception can and should be investigated
- These investigations are based on inferences on the basis of their behaviour
The role of schema
- Schema is a package of beliefs or ideas of a certain object, action, place etc. these are developed through experience
- The role of schema is to help interpret environmental stimuli without getting overwhelmed
- However schema can distort our interpretation of sensory information, leading to perceptual errors
Theoretical and computer models
- Used by psychologists to help understand how internal processes work
- Theoretical models such as the multi store model, provide an outline for how the mind could work
- Computer models are more concrete, they involve programming a computer based on the theoretical model to see if it will produce the same “behaviour” as a human, this is used in ai
