Approaches

Question 1

What are the fundamental beliefs of social learning theory?

Answer 1

• Imitation of rewarded behaviour

- We learn through observation of others

Question 2

What did Bandura et al do and what were his findings?

Answer 2

The bobo doll experiment, participants were in two groups: the aggressive group and kind group, participants saw a model treating a bobo doll in either way. DV - the children/s behaviour when alone with the bobo doll. Findings were that the aggressive group was more aggressive to the doll, 1/3 were verbally aggressive to the doll after witnessing where as in the kind group there was no verbal aggression. If the models was rewarded for the behaviour, the aggression was much greater.

Question 3

What is identification in social learning theory?

Answer 3

The extent of which someone can identify with their model and they are more likely to the more similar their model is to them, especially if they are the same gender.

Question 4

What is vicarious reinforcement in social learning theory?

Answer 4

Learning through observing consequences.

Question 5

What are mediational processes in SLT?

Answer 5

Cognitive processes which determine whether we acquire a new behaviour:

• Attention
• Retention
• Motor reproduction
• Motivation

Question 6

What happens in classical conditioning in the behaviourist approach?

Answer 6

Involves reflex responses (salivation, fear). A natural stimulus (UCS) causes a reflex response (UCR). When a neutral stimulus (NS) is paired with the UCS the UCR still occurs. When an association is made with the NS and the UCR in absence of the UCS it becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS) and a conditioned response (CR). Timing is important during the pairing.

Question 7

What is the acquisition phase and extinction in the behaviourist approach?

Answer 7

Acquisition phase - when the NS is repeatedly paired with the UCS until a response is first established.
Extinction - when a CS is presented without a UCS.

Question 8

What is spontaneous recovery and stimulus generalisation in the behaviourist approach?

Answer 8

Spontaneous recovery - recovery of a CR after a period of time
Stimulus generalisation - when a stimulus similar to the CS produces the same response.

Question 9

What is the iceberg theory?

Answer 9

We have the:
Conscious - thoughts and perceptions
Preconscious - memories and stored information
Unconscious - phobias, unpleasant feelings, unpleasant memories, traumatic experiences, violent thoughts.

Question 10

What are the fundamental beliefs of the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 10

Behaviour arises from unconscious drives
Emphasises the importance of childhood experiences on behaviour
Mental disorders can be resolved through accessing the unconscious parts of the mind and bringing thoughts to conscious awareness (psychoanalysis)

Question 11

What are the psychosexual stages of development?

Answer 11

We pass through stages, when the stage is resolved we move to the next but if there is a trauma during the stage we become fixated on it:
ORAL (0-18MO) - oral gratification
ANAL (18MO-3YR) - toilet training (all about control)
PHALLIC (3-5YR) - oedipal conflict, sexual curiosity
LATENT (5-9YR) - period of sexual calm, repression
GENITAL (9-10YR) - revival of sexual interests

Question 12

What are defence mechanisms?

Answer 12

Displacement - directing aggression to a non-threatening other
Repression - unconscious mechanism employed by the ego to help threatening thoughts from becoming conscious
Denial - blocking external events from awareness

Question 13

What is Freud’s structure of personality?

Answer 13

Personality consists of 3 parts: the id, ego and superego

Question 14

What is the ID, superego and ego?

Answer 14

ID - innate, contains our basic drives (hunger), operates on the pleasure principle, unconscious, selfish
Superego - develops through socialisation, opposite of the ID, allows us to feel guilt, operates on the morality principle, unconscious
Ego - balances the demands of the ID and the Superego, operates on ‘reality principle’, can cause defence mechanisms, conscious.

Question 15

What are the strengths of the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 15

Pioneering approach - represents huge shift in psychological thinking, psychological treatments over biological treatments, new methodological procedures for gathering empirical evidence, successful treatment, Maat’s large scale review of psychotherapy studies concluded psychoanalysis produced significant improvements in symptoms and was maintained years late.

Scientific support - originally criticised for being untestable (hard to prove existence of unconscious), Fisher and Greenberg - 2500 case studies concluded experimental studies of psychoanalysis compare well with other major areas of psychology, also evidence for existence of motivation in human behaviour and the defence mechanisms displacement, denial and repression.

Question 16

What are the criticisms of the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 16

Gender bias - Freud ignorant to sexual development of females, treatment, views under developed in comparison to males, oedipus complex vs electra complex, ignores female sexuality, considered women to be less morally developed than men due to resolution of phallic phase.

Culture bias - not relevant to non-western cultures, Sue and Sue argued that has little relevance, many cultures font value insight in the same way, psychoanalysis - memories locked in the unconscious treated through therapy, in China depressed people told to ignore thoughts that worsen condition rather than confronting them.

Question 17

What are the fundamental beliefs of the humanistic approach?

Answer 17

• Concept of the hierarchy of needs (starts with physiological needs up to self actualisation)
• Believes in free-will and that humans strive for self fulfillment which results in self actualisation (these people are creative and have an accurate perception of self)
• Individual may develop conditions of worth which can be fixed through unconditional love and positive regard
• for self actualisation there needs to be congruence (similarity between perception of self and ideal self)

Question 18

What are the fundamental beliefs of the behaviourist approach?

Answer 18

• Behaviour is learned through classical and operant conditioning
• Learnt through observable events
• Known as the ‘learning approach’

Question 19

Evaluate the humanistic approach

Answer 19

Research support for the conditions of worth - was discovered that teens who feel they have to fufil certain conditions to gain parents approv ended up having low self esteem. Instead they created a ‘false self’ by pretending to be the person they believe their parents would love. They were more likely to develop depression and lose touch with their real self (suggesting incongruence).

Limitation- approach is unrealistic - people are not inherently good and growth oriental, it does not recognise peoples capacity for pessimism and self destructive behaviour. Oversimplification to say that all problems come from blocked self actualisation as it may be situational factors.

Culture bias - heirarchy of needs differs - Maslow acknowledged that needs need to appear in another order. Found belongingness needs more fundamentalcthan psychological needs in other cultures, they focus more on community rather than individual debelopment.

Question 20

Evaluate the behavioural approach

Answer 20

Strength - use of systematic desensitisation (real world application), works by eliminating learned response which is associated with a stimulus.

Limitation- overall behaviourist explanations are limited as they dont take into account other approaches, like cognitive perspectives (how we interpret situations). Don’t take into account that humans have cognitive abilities.

Skinner - strength - Lab study, but uses non human animals (humans have free will and more complex cognitive abilities). Skinner responded that free will is an illusion and we are a product of external influences which guide our behaviour on a daily basis.

Question 21

Evaluate SLT

Answer 21

Limitations: validity
internal - demand characteristics, children heard saying “Look mummy there are the dolls we have to hit”
External - ecological validity and population validity (lab study and done on children)

Problems with causality - the cause of delinquency is not social learning but the possession of devious attitudes prior to contact with debiant peers, has been suggested that those who possess deviant attitudes would seek out peers with similar attitudes.

Question 22

How has the humanistic approach influenced counselling psychology?

Answer 22

Carl Rogers came up with ‘client-centred therapy’ where the therapy is non directive and the client is encouraged to work towards their own solutions.