Approaches Flashcards
Wundt
- Investigated metal processes using a technique called introspection
- Introspection involves trying to analyse how the mind works by asking people to think carefully about how they do mental tasks
- Wundt was aiming to break our mental processes down into their component parts to find out the structure of mental processes (structuralism)
Evaluation of Wundt’s contribution to psychology
- One of the first people to argue that scientific methods could be used to study human thinking
- Unreliable- couldn’t be repeated
What are the key features of science?
Control
Objective- scientific knowledge should be based on observable information and not on opinion
Replicable
Empiricism- knowledge is gained by developing theories
What are the key features of the biological approach?
Genes, biological structures, neurochemsistry, geno type and phenotype, evolution
What is a genotype?
An individuals’ genetic make up
What is a phenotype?
The combination of someone’s genotype and the environment
Evolution
All animals have evolved to be the way they are because of pressures to servive and reproduce
What are the strengths of the biological approach?
Scientific methods used
Leads to practical applications such as drug treatments for depression
What are the weaknesses of the biological approach?
Overlysimple
Deterministic
What are the key features of the learning approach?
Classical and operant conditioning
What is classical conditioning?
Learning through association
Pavlov’s dogs
Little Albert
What is operant conditioning?
Learning through rewards and punishments
What are the strengths of the learning theory?
Scientific methods
Leads to practical applications
What are the weaknesses of operant conditioning?
Much research is conducted on animals
Deterministic
What are the key features of the social learning theory?
Behaviour is learned from the environment t
Behaviour is learned from observing others and the rewards and punishment that they receive
Key terms in social learning
Imitation= used to describe when the individual copies a behaviour
Identification= it helps if the individual identifies with the model
Modelling
Vicarious reinforcement= the term used to describe when the individual sees a model receive a rewards or punishment
What are the 4 factors which Bandura said led to social learning?
Attention
Retention
Ability
Motivation
What are the key features of the cognitive approach?
Internal metal processes, schema, computer models, the emergence of cognitive neuroscience
What is schema?
Internal building blocs of knowledge
The emergence of cognitive neuroscience
As brain scanning technology has improved, the observation of internal mental processes has become more achievement
Cognitive neuroscience uses brain scanning methods such as PET or FMRI scanners to be able to observe the brain whilst completing different tasks
What are the strengths of the cognitive approach?
Objective measures
Some research has led to treatment such as the understanding of depression has led to CBT
What are the weaknesses of the cognitive approach?
The use of lab studies often means the research lacks ecological validity
The use of models overly simplifies complex human thoughts and behaviour
What are the key features of the psychodynamic approach?
The structure of personality, the role of the unconscious, defence mechanisms, psychosexual stages
What is the ID?
Part of the unconscious which demands gratification (the devil)
What is the ego?
Part of the unconscious which reduces conflicts between the ID and the superego by using defence mechanisms
What is the superego?
Part of the unconscious which represents the ideal self (angel)
What is the unconscious?
The part of the mind that we are unaware of but continues to direct much offer behaviou
Explain the oedipus complex
Freud believed that one unconscious desire was for people to have an unconscious desire for affection from the parent of the opposite sex. This unconscious desire is then coupled with the fear of the same sex parent finding out and castrating them
Define repression
Forcing a threatening feeling out of the conscious
Define denial
Refusing the face reality
Define displacement
Transferring feelings from true target onto a substitute
Pyschosexual stages
Oral Anal Phallic Latency Genital
What are the key features of the humanistic approach?
Free will, self actualisation, focus on the self, congruence, conditions of worth, counselling
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Physiological Safety Love/belonging Esteem Self actualisation
The self
Self concept= how you see yourself
Ideal self= how you want to see yourself
Real self=How you area actually seen
Congruence
Humanists belive that for self actualisation to occur, there must be congruence with the real self and ideal self
Conditions of worth
Humanists believe that for sel actualisation to occur then everyone should have at least one person who will love them unconditionally
E.g a child may believe that their parents will only love her if she does well in school
