Approaches Flashcards
What’s meant by introspection?
The first systematic experimental attempt to study the mind by breaking up conscious awareness into basic structures of thoughts images and sensations
What did Wundt carry out (introspection)?
In 1879 he opened his first ever lab dedicated entirely to psychological enquiry in Leipzig
He marked the beginning of scientific psychology
He aimed to try and analyse the nature of human consciousness and this represented the first systematic attempt to study the mind under controlled conditions
INTROSPECTION
Why did Wundt try and do?
Develop theories about mental process such as language and perception
How did he develop these theories?
He and his coworkers recorded their experiences of various stimuli they were presented with such as different objects/sounds.
They divided their observations into 3 categories:
Thoughts images sensations
What’s structuralism?
Isolating the structure of consciousness in this way is called structuralism
List the emergence of psychology…
17th - 19th century = experimental psychology
1879 = Wilhelm Wundt
1900 = psychoanalysis
1913 = John B Watson behaviourist approach
1950 = Carl rogers/abraham Maslow humanistic approach
1950 = cognitive approach
1960 = Albert bandura social learning theory
1980 = biological approach
Eve of 21st century = cognitive neuroscience
17-19 century…
Psychology is a branch of broader discipline of philosophy. If psychology has a definition during this time it is as experimental psychology
1879 wilhelm wundt…
Opens first experimental psychology lab in Leipzig and psychology emerged as a distinct discipline in its own right
1900 psychodynamic approach…
Sigmund Freud emphasises the influence of the unconscious mind on behaviour. He also developed his own person centred therapy - psychoanalysis and shows that physical problems can be explained in terms of conflicts within the mind
1913 John B Watson…
Wrote psychology as the behaviourist approach and later with BF skinner established the behaviourist approach.
Psychodynamic and behaviourist approaches dominate psychology for the first half of the 20th century
1950 Carl rogers and Abraham Maslow…
Humanistic approach
Rejecting the behaviourist and psychodynamic view that human behaviour is determined by outside factors.
Humanistic psychologists emphasise the importance of self determination and free will
1950…
Introduction of digital computer gives psychologists a metaphor for the operations of the human mind.
Cognitive approach reintroduces the study of mental processes to psychology but in a much more scientific way than earlier investigations
1960 Albert bandura
Social learning theory
Draws attention to the role of cognitive factors in learning providing a bridge between the newly established cognitive approach and traditional behaviourism
1980
Biological approach begins to stay lush itself as dominant scientific perspective is psychology and this is due to advances in technology that have increased understanding if the Brian and biological processes
Eve of the 21st century
Cognitive neuroscience emerges as a a distinct discipline bring together cognitive and biological approaches
Cognitive neuroscience investigates how biological structures influence mental states
When did behaviourists emerge?
1900
When did cognitive approach emerge?
1950’s
When did biological approach emerge?
1980’s
What’s a strength of Wundt’s work?
Some of his methods were systematic and well controlled
All introspections were recrossed in controlled lab environment to reduce extraneous variables therefore his research can be considered a forerunner to later scientific approaches in psychology e.g. behaviourist
What’s a limitation of Wundt’s work?
His research would be considered unscientific today as he relied on participants self reporting their mental processes therefore some may have hidden their thoughts so it’s difficult to establish meaningful laws of behaviour from data.
Implies Wundt’s early efforts to study the mind were flawed and would not meet to the criteria of scientific enquiry
What’s the behaviourist approach?
A way of explaining behaviour in terms of what is observable and in terms of learning
What behaviour is studied with the behaviourist approach?
Only ones that can be observed and measured
What do behaviourists believe?
That all behaviour is learnt
What are the 2 forms of learning?
Classical and operant conditioning
What’s classical conditioning?
Learning by association
Occurs when 2 stimuli are repeatedly paired together
What is operant conditioning?
A form of learning by which behaviour is shaped and maintained by its consequence
Who investigated classical conditioning?
Pavlov
Who investigated operant conditioning?
Skinner
What was pavlovs investigation?
Showed how Dogs could be conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell if it was repeatedly present when they were given food.
They learned to associate the sound of the bell with the food and would produce the salivation response every time they heard the sound
What was each stimulus and response in Pavlovs Dogs
Unconditioned stimulus = food > unconditioned response = salivation
Neutral stimulus = bell > unconditioned response = salivation
Conditioned stimulus = bell > conditioned response = salivation
What did skinner suggest?
He suggested learning is an active process by where animals/humans operate on their environment. Behaviour is shaped by consequences
What is positive reinforcement?
when a behaviour is followed by a desirable consequence (reward) and is more likely to be repeated
What is negative reinforcement?
when a behaviour is followed by the removal of an unpleasant consequence and is more likely to be repeated
What is punishment?
Unpleasant consequence of behaviour
What do positive and negative reinforcement do?
Increase likelihood of behaviour will be repeated
What does punishment do?
Decreases likelihood that behaviour will be repeated
What was skinners investigation?
Conducted with rats and pigeons in a box, every time rat activated a lever they were rewarded with food therefore animal would continue to perform the behaviour
What is a strength of the behaviourist approach?
Principles of conditioning have been applied to the real world
In prisons good behaviour has been rewarded with tokens that can be exchanged for privileges
This increases the value of the behaviourist approach as it has widespread application
What’s a limitation of the behaviourist approach?
Skinners box has ethical considerations and concerns as to have high control over the investigation skinner had to cramp the animals into a tight space and harsh conditions and kept below natural weight so they were always hungry
What’s the social learning theory?
A way of explaining behaviour that includes both direct and indirect reinforcement
Who investigated social learning theory?
Albert bandura
What did bandura propose?
That people learn through observation and imitation of others
It occurs directly through classical and operant conditioning but also indirectly
What is imitation?
Copying the behaviour of others
What is vicarious reinforcement?
Reinforcement that’s not directly experienced but occurs through observing someone else being reinforced for a behaviour
How do you remember mediations processes?
A
R
M
M
What does the A stand for?
A-attention: the extent to which we notice certain behaviours
What does the R stand for?
R-retention: how well the behaviour is remembered
What does the M stand for?
M-motor reproduction: the ability of the observer to perform the behaviour
What does the M stand for?
M-motivation: the will to perform the behaviour which is often determined by whether the behaviour was rewarded or punished
Which 2 relate to the learning of behaviour?
Attention and retention
Which 2 relate to the performance of behaviour?
Motor reproduction and motivation
What does identification mean?
When an observer associates themselves with a role model and wants to be like the role model
Who is most likely to use imitation?
Children
What is modelling?
Imitating behaviour of a role model or the demonstration of a specific behaviour that may be imitated by an observer
What is a strength of the social learning theory?
It has real world application.
It can explain cultural differences; modelling imitation reinforcement and identification can account for how children learn from others around them including the media and how cultural norms are transmitted through societies.
It can help understand a range of behaviours and increase the value of the approach as it can account for real world behaviour
What’s a limitation of the social learning theory?
The evidence in which it is based was gathered through lab studies.
Many of bandura ideas were developed through observation of children’s behaviour in the lab. It was suggested that because the children saw the main purpose of the doll was to strike it they acted that way as they believed it was expected.
Suggesting how little it tells us about how children actually learn aggression in real everyday life
What’s the cognitive approach?
Focused on how our mental processes affect behaviour
What is schema?
packages of information developed through experience
As we get older what happens to our schema?
It gets more detailed and sophisticated
What does schema allow us to do?
Process lots of information quickly and it’s useful as a sort of mental shortcut that prevents us from being overwhelmed by environment
What do psychologists use to help understand internal mental processes?
Theoretical and computer models
What is cognitive neuroscience?
Scientific study of those biological structures that underpin cognitive processes
What’s an important theoretical model?
Information processing approach-suggests info flows through cognitive system in sequence of stages
What’s a strength if the cognitive approach?
Real world application.
Been applied to wide range of practical and theoretical contexts e.g. it’s made an important contribution if field of AI and robots, representing how we may live in the future
This supports the value of the cognitive approach
What’s a limitation of the cognitive approach?
It is based on machine reductionism.
Similarities between human mind and operations of a thinking machine such as a computer, however computer analogy has been criticised. As it ignores the influence of human emotion and motivation and how it may affect our ability to process info
Suggests that machine reductionism may weaken the validity of the cognitive approach
What’s inference?
Process whereby cognitive psychologists draw conclusions about the way mental processes operate on the basis of overdeveloped behaviour
What’s the biological approach?
Perspective that emphasise the importance of physical processes in the body such as genetic inheritance and neural function
What does the biological approach suggest?
The mind lives in the brain and all thoughts feelings and behaviour ultimately have a physical basis
What are genes?
Make up of chromosomes and consist of DNA which codes the physical features of an organism and psychological features
What is a genotype?
Particular set of genes that a person possesses
What is a phenotype?
Characteristic of an individual determined by both genes and the environment
What is evolution?
The changes in inherited characteristics in a biological population over successive generations
What is meant by biological structure?
An arrangement or organisation of parts to form an organ system or living thing
