Approaches

Question 1

Origins of psychology - AO1

Answer 1

• Wundt - believed that all aspects of nature including the human mind which could be studied scientifically
• Introspection - means looking into - process by which a person gains knowledge about their mental and emotional states
• With appropriate training, mental processes such as memory and perception could be observed systematically
• PPts to be presented with a stimulus and would have to say what their inner thought processes are

Empiricism;

• Belief that knowledge comes from observation and experience
• 2 major assumptions - that behaviour is caused and can also be predicted
• Use of the scientific method - this is a collection of investigative methods that are objective, systematic and replicable

Question 2

Origins of psychology - AO3

Answer 2

• Introspection has led to use in contemporary research - 2 researchers used introspection as a way of measuring happiness - found that when teenagers were engaged in a challenging task, they were more upbeat in comparison to an everyday task - suggests that introspection has some relevance in contemporary research and is a useful tool for measuring certain behaviours
• However - there is a lack of accuracy - researchers claim we have little knowledge of what causes or contributes to our behaviours and beliefs - found ppts were unaware of different factors that were influential in their choice of consumer items - suggests we are unable to observe our own thoughts and feelings - therefore some of our attitudes happen outside the conscious and introspection wouldn’t uncover them so poor technique to use
• Also the scientific methods can lack ecological validity - by concentrating on controlled and objective observations - psychologists create contrived situations which lack ecological validity - do not reflect real-life situations so we cannot apply the findings of research to these - matters because human behaviour may be impossible to test scientifically and these methods would therefore be inappropriate

Question 3

The behaviourist approach - AO1

Answer 3

• CC - Pavlov - dog study with salivation - demonstrates the learning of innate reflex behaviours in animals
• OC - Skinner - suggests that the consequences of a behaviour may be positive of negative, and whether someone repeats a behaviour depends on the consequences
• Positive reinforcement - when a behaviour produces a consequence that is rewarding for someone - example - giving praise to a child after they do something will reinforce their good behaviour
• Negative reinforcement - when a behaviour removes an unpleasant consequence - example - the act of hitting the ‘off’ button on an alarm clock removes the unpleasant ringing sound

Question 4

The behaviourist approach - AO3

Answer 4

CC;
- application to the treatment of phobias - led to the development of systematic desensitisation - a treatment which reduces the anxiety associated with phobias - works by using principles of CC to replace learned response (anxiety) with another response (relaxation) - matters because systematic desensitisation is an effective treatment for a range of phobias

OC;
- Use of experimental meths - Skinner’s research uses controlled conditions to discover the causal relationship between two or more variables - use of the box allowed manipulation of consequences of the behaviour to measure the effect on the rat’s behaviour - allowed him to establish a cause and effect relationship between positive and negative reinforcement

Behaviourist approach;
- Reliance on non-human animals in research - Skinners reliance on rats and pigeons means that we are unable to draw conclusions in relation to human behaviour because humans have a far more complex biological make-up and more complex causes of human behaviour - humans have free will and that our behaviour is not shaped by CC or OC - therefore can’t generalise findings to humans

Question 5

Cognitive approach - AO1

Answer 5

Internal mental processes;

• mental processes cannot be studied directly, but must be studied by inferring what goes on as a result of measuring behaviour
• schema is a cognitive framework that helps organise and interpret information in the brain
• theoretical models, for example the multi-store model, to present a pictorial representation of a mental process based on current research

Computer model and cognitive neuroscience;

• computer model of memory - information stored on the hard disk like long-term memory and computer’s RAM like the working memory
• Cognitive neuroscience - Neuroscientists now able to study the living brain using brain imaging technology like PET scans and fMRI to help psychologists understand how the brain supports different cognitive activities and emotions by showing which parts of the brain are active during different tasks

Question 6

Cognitive approach - AO3

Answer 6

• Application to the treatment of psychological disorders - used to explain how faulty thinking processes can cause illnesses such as a cause of depression - led to the development of successful treatments like CBT - matters because the cognitive approach has improved the lives of many individuals suffering from illnesses
• Humans are not like computers - uses computer models to explain human coding of memories and terms such as ‘encoding’, ‘storage’ and ‘retrieval’ - important distinction between computers and the human mind - example, computers do not make mistakes, nor do they forget information - weakens the position of this model’s power of explaining human behaviour
• Ignores emotion and motivation - approach can tell us how different cognitive processes take place, it fails to explain why they do - over-dependence on computer models may explain why the roles of emotion and motivation are largely ignored by the approach - matters because the human mind is clearly not like a computer, and emotion and motivation are clearly important aspects of human behaviour

Question 7

Psychodynamic approach - AO1

Answer 7

• id - impulsive physical appetites
• ego - mediates between the id, the reality of the outside world and the superego
• superego - the conscious
• repression - unconscious blocking of unacceptable thoughts and impulses
• denial - refusal to accept reality
• displacement - redirecting hostile feelings onto an innocent person or object

Question 8

Psychodynamic approach - Stages - AO1

Answer 8

• O - oral - 0-2years - mouth is focal point - underbreasfed = cynical overbreastfed = gullible
• A - anal - 2-3 - anally retentive = neat freak anally expulsive = messy
• P - phallic - 3-6 - genitals main focal point - desire to possess mother and not father causing castration anxiety
• L - latent - 6-12 - repression of earlier conflicts
• G - genital - 12+ - culminating in adult sexual relationships

Question 9

Psychodynamic approach - Stages - AO3

Answer 9

• Gender biased - based his theories on male sexual development as the norm and did not take account of the differences in female sexuality
• May have little relevance to non-Western cultures - example - in China, a person who is depressed or anxious avoids distressing thoughts rather than being willing to openly discuss - contrasts with the Western belief that open discussion and insight are always helpful in therapy - can’t generalise to other cultures
• Empirical evidence supporting aspects of psychodynamic theory - unconscious motivations in behaviour and the defence mechanisms of repression, denial and displacement - many claims of psychoanalysis have been tested experimentally and are supported by the findings - strengthens its theory

Question 10

Humanistic approach - A01

Answer 10

• Focus on the self - Rogers claimed that our two basic needs - unconditional positive regard from other people, and feelings of self-worth, develop from childhood interactions with parents
• The more similar our self-concept and our ideal self, the greater our psychological health and state of congruence

Question 11

Humanistic approach - A03

Answer 11

• Cultural diffs evident from cross-cultural studies - study in China found that belonging took priority over physiological needs, and self-actualisation related to contributions to the community rather than individual development - studies confirm that people in Western cultures focus more on personal identity, whereas Chinese, Japanese and Korean people define self-concept in terms of social relationships
• Support for Roger’s view that - People who experience conditional positive regard display more ‘false self’ behaviour - example, teenagers who feel they have to fulfil certain conditions to gain their parents’ approval frequently dislike themselves - Researchers found that adolescents who create a ‘false self’, pretending to be the sort of person their parents would love, are also more likely to develop depression - supports ‘conditions of worth’; the idea that unconditional positive regard from parents is essential for developing self-worth
• Economic advantages - In the early stages of economic development, priority is on physiological and safety needs, such as food and reduction in murder rates - countries then focus on esteem needs (e.g. women’s rights) and self-actualisation (e.g. access to education)strong support for the hierarchy of needs in societies as well as individuals