Approaches

Question 1

Behaviourist approach

Answer 1

-A way of explaining behaviour in terms of what is observable and in terms of learning.

Classical conditioning - Learning by association - Pavlov’s research

• Occurs when 2 stimuli are repeatedly paired together
  
  • An unconditional stimulus and a neutral stimulus. The stimuli eventually produces the same response that was first produced by the unconditional stimulus, making it now a conditioned response.

Operant conditioning - Skinner’s research

• A form of learning in which behaviour is shaped and maintained by its consequences.
• Positive reinforcement
• Negative reinforcement
• Punishment

Evaluation

• Scientific
• Real-life application
• Ignores the influence of free will
• Unethical - Animals can’t give consent and weren’t protected from harm

Question 2

Social Learning theory

Answer 2

-A way of explaining behaviour that includes both direct and indirect reinforcement, combining learning theory with the role of cognitive factors.
-Vicarious reinforcement
-It focuses on how mental factors are involved in learning.
Bandura identified 4 mental processes:
1 - Attention - the extent to which we notice certain behaviours
2 - Retention - how well the behaviour is remembered
3 - Motor reproduction - the ability of the observer to perform the behaviour
4 - Motivation - the will to perform the behaviour, which is often determined by whether the behaviour was rewarded or punished.

Identification - people, especially children, are more likely to imitate the behaviour of people with whom they identify (role models). This is called modelling.
A person becomes a role model if they’re seen to possess similar characteristics to the observer and/or are attractive and have a high status.

Bandura’s bobo doll experiment (1961)
Children watched a video of an adult behave in an aggressive way towards a Bobo doll. The adult hit the doll with a hammer and shouted abuse at it.
When these children were later observed playing in a room with various toys, including a Bobo doll, they behaved much more aggressively towards the doll and the other toys than those who had observed a non-aggressive adult.

Question 3

The cognitive approach

Answer 3

Focusses on how our mental processes affect our behaviour. The approach suggests that internal mental processes can and should be studied scientifically.

One way to study internal processes is through the use of theoretical models. An important theoretical model is the information processing approach, which suggests that information flows through the cognitive system in a sequence of stages that include input, storage and retrieval, as in the multi-store model.
These models use the concepts of a central processing unit (the brain), the concept of coding and the use of stores.

Schemas - Making connections between things you know and things you’re trying to learn.
The idea that you link new information to schemas you already have.

Babies are born with simple motor schema such as sucking or grasping. As we get older, our schema become more detailed and sophisticated.
Schema enable us to process lots of information quickly quickly and this is useful as a sort of mental short cut that prevents us from being overwhelmed by environmental stimuli.

Question 4

The psychodynamic approach

Answer 4

Is weird as fuck literally what was freud thinking please?

The unconscious is the part of the mind we are unaware of but which continues to direct much of our behaviour.
The ID is entirely unconscious, it’s made up of selfish aggressive instincts that demand immediate gratification.
The Ego is the reality check that balances the conflicting demands of the ID and the superego.
The superego is the moralistic part of the brain that represents the ideal self.

Defence mechanisms:

• Repression - forcing a distressing memory out of the conscious mind.
• Denial - refusing to acknowledge some aspect of reality.
• Displacement - Transferring feelings from true source of distressing emotion onto a substitute target.

Psychosexual stages:

• Oral - Smoking, biting nails, sarcastic, critical.
• Anal - Perfectionist, obsessive, thoughtless, messy/
• Phallic - Narcissistic, reckless, possibly homosexual.
• Latency - earlier conflicts are repressed.
• Genital - Difficulty forming heterosexual relationships.