APPROACHES Flashcards
Wundt’s work (origins of psychology) - strength 1
scientific method/model
Wundt’s Scientific process (the hypothetico-deductive model) led to some useful, well known general laws in Psychology.
For example, Skinner’s operant conditioning was developed using Wundt’s scientific method.
He developed and tested his theory that the likelihood of future behaviour is determined by the consequences of past behaviour and ran objective and replicable investigations in his ‘Skinner’s box’ which have led to reproductions of his research.
This means Wundt’s work has ultimately helped psychology become recognised as a credible scientific subject as he inspired psychologists to use the scientific process.
Wundt’s work (origins of psychology) - strength 2
what it led to
Wundt’s approach was the first to try and apply the rigour of the natural sciences to the study of human behaviour. Wundt’s work instigated Psychology as we know it
- i.e the systematic observation and experimentation on human and animal behaviour using an evidence based approach.
This has been valuable in helping move forward our understanding of behaviour.
Without Wundt’s work we may still have been viewing Psychology in a more subjective, philosophical way which would not lead to the successful explanations and treatments we have today.
Wundt’s work (origins of psychology) - weakness 1
introspection
However, introspection is highly subjective. The very nature of this process was to introduce personal opinion/beliefs.
This leads to difficulty when trying to make general laws about the causes of behaviour so studying mind and behaviour in this manner is limited.
The lack of numerical data restricts the statistical analysis that later measures such as FMRI scans can achieve by objectively detecting changes in the brain when completing particular tasks.
This means that the introspection lacks scientific rigour and is not fully open to observation.
Wundt’s work (origins of psychology) - weakness 2
environment of introspection
A further limitation of Wundt’s scientific approach is that it lacks generalisability.
Introspection activities took place in artificial, controlled environments which therefore fail to fully represent real life experiences, and as such can lack ecological validity. This is a similar issue with other methods designed to measure thoughts, intentions and behaviour in a scientific way as the degree of control needed to make this scientific, takes away from the realism of the task.
Methods designed to measure mental processes such as thoughts and intentions, look at the concept of structuralism; but doing this in a scientific way becomes an issue as less realism of a task leads to a less accurate representation of our structure.
This implies that by using the scientific approach we cannot fully study all of human experience and behaviour.
The biological approach - strength 1
society
has made significant contributions to help society, including accessible ways to treat mental health problems. Genetics and neurochemistry give us insights to causes of mental disorders. Effective drug treatments have been developed because of this - for example, antipsychotics prescribed to patients with schizophrenia can effectively stabilise behaviour in up to 85% of patients. This means that the biological approach has ultimately benefited society and can be seen as extremely useful with practical applications.
The biological approach - strength 2
what is it praised for?
praised for being extremely scientific. The approach uses both objective and falsifiable methods to help identify biological roots of behaviours. For instance, neurotransmitter levels can be objectively measured through cerebral- spinal fluid (CSF) as well as carefully examining urine. This means the biochemical actions suggested are likely to be trustworthy and reliable which makes them deserving of respect and more likely to be funded by the government.
The biological approach - weakness 1
evolutionary discontinuity
A lot of research and knowledge gained from the biological approach has taken place on non human animals. Humans have multiple differences to all other species which means the findings of animal research cannot effectively be extrapolated to humans. (For example, humans have a language acquisition device in their brains which no other species has, so quantitative differences like this may result in variation of behaviour between animals and humans. Therefore some research in the biological approach can be subject to evolutionary discontinuity. This means that the biological approach may lack validity and moreover questions the moral and ethical implications involved in its research as animals cannot communicate and withdraw from research.
The biological approach - weakness 2
criticisms of research
There have also been other criticisms of research in the biological approach. Many studies, such as Maguire taxi drivers and Teubar study of soldiers with brain damage, there have been methodological issues. For example in the soldier study, Teubar found that recovery was age dependent. 60% of participants under 20 showed significant improvement, 20% over age of 26 showed similar improvement. This was a negative correlation between age and recovery but as this is correlational research, no cause and effect can be established.
This means the validity is reduced which reduces credible support of the biological approach.
Biological approach - weakness extra
how do they treat mental health problems?
Biological approach focuses on treating mental health disorders with medication, and only meds is seen as “putting a plaster” over the issue.
This is because by treating someone with meds alone will not lead to a long term solution as when they come off the drugs they could relapse. Arguably cognitive treatments can lead to a more lasting resolution as it looks at treating the cause.
This means that biological determinism is seen as a negative of the biological approach as mental health disorders should be treated in a holistic manner.
Behaviourist approach - strength 1
evidence
Lots of credible evidence to support the Behaviourist approach. For example Watson & Rayner’s Little Albert study shows how little Albert was conditioned to fear rats. They did this by pairing rats (a neutral stimulus) with a sudden, loud bang (unconditioned stimulus). After 7 pairings, Albert showed fear in response to just the rat. Watson and Rayner had used classical conditioning to condition a fear response.This means the approach has evidence to validate its claims, and can be seen as falsifiable
Behaviourist approach - strength 2
contributions to society
Made significant contributions to help society, including accessible ways to treat mental health problems. Many useful and effective therapies have been developed using the principles of Operant conditioning and Classical conditioning. For example, flooding and systematic desensitization (SD) are techniques to treat phobias. SD uses gradual exposure and deep relaxation to ‘unlearn’ phobias. Some studies have shown SD is effective in treating 91% of individuals with specific phobias. This means that the approach has ultimately benefited society and can be seen as extremely useful.
Behaviourist approach - weakness 1
research generalisability
However, there are methodological issues with some of the research in the behaviourist approach. For example, most of Pavlov’s research was on dogs meaning there may be issues extrapolating the principles of operant and classical conditioning to explain behaviours in humans. This is the issue of evolutionary discontinuity. It’s argued humans are exceptionally different to all other species meaning we cannot generalise findings from animal research to humans. Similarly, studies like little Albert, were individual case studies- making it hard to generalise findings to others. All of these issues limit the extent to which we can use this research to support the behaviourist explanations of human behaviour.
Behaviourist approach - weakness 2
is it determinist?
Another criticism of the learning approach in behaviourism is that it suffers from environmental determinism.
Behaviourism proposes that most of our behaviour is determined by past experiences that have been conditioned through our interactions and environment. Skinner argued that everything we do is the sum of our reinforcement history. This ignores any influence that other other factors have - e.g genetics and also ignores existence of free will. This means that the approach offers an incomplete explanation of human behaviour, neglecting proven biological factors in human behaviour as well as free will.
Social learning theory - strength 1
evidence
social learning theory has credible research evidence such as that carried out by Bandura. Using 72 children, Bandura showed the power of imitation with same sex models. Some children briefly saw an adult model attack a hobo doll with physical/ verbal aggressive acts. After being mildly frustrated, the children were observed through a one way mirror imitating these very specific aggressive acts. Children who weren’t exposed to aggressive role models did not display such ‘vicarious’ learning. This means we can be more confident that this approach can be used to help explain human behaviour.
social learning theory - strength 2
has it helped society?
In support of Social Learning Theory, we can see that the approach has led to useful practical applications to help society. For example, age restrictions on films and video games, as well as the 9pm watershed on mainstream TV, attempts to minimise children’s exposure to unsuitable material. Knowing about the potential power of vicarious learning/ imitation, we can keep children away from negative and inappropriate role models in the media. This could imply that one key contribution of SLT in society is that it’s helped to reduce aggressive behaviour in children.
