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Psychology > Approaches AO1 > Flashcards

Approaches AO1 Flashcards

1
Q

What must a psychologist use in order to be scientific?

A

The hypothetico-deductive model of reasoning

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2
Q

What are the processes of the hypothetico-deductive model of reasoning?

A

Theory- about why behaviour is occurring

Hypothesis- to explain behaviour in line with theory, predict results of new observations

Empirical data- conduct empirical tests of predictions

Interpretation- verify findings to support/modify/throw out the theory

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3
Q

Who was Wundt?

A

Known as the ‘father of psychology’

Began studying humans in philosophical ways but moved towards more controlled research

Promoted use of introspection as a way of studying mental processes

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4
Q

What is introspection?

A

The systematic analysis of your own present conscious experience of a stimulus

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5
Q

What are the 2 sections in which an experience is analysed?

A

Physical sensations

Emotional feelings

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6
Q

What is structuralism?

A

Isolating the structure of consciousness

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7
Q

What did Wundt have in his labs?

A

Highly trained observers

Controlled and standardised sensory events

Individuals asked to describe mental experiences of events

Observations repeated numerous times

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8
Q

What did Wundt believe his observers had to be during his experiments?

A

High state of attention to the stimulus

In control of the situation

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9
Q

What does the behaviourist approach state about behaviour?

A

All behaviour is learnt and determined by the environment

Experiences after birth shape behaviour (nothing is innate)

Laws developed to explain all human behaviour and make predictions

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10
Q

How does the behaviourist approach state learning occurs?

A

Via classical conditioning or operant conditioning

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11
Q

What is classical conditioning?

A

Learning through association

Emphasises importance of association in causing behaviours

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12
Q

What is operant conditioning?

A

Based on learning via consequences of punishment and reinforcement

Emphasises importance of consequences

Behaviour that is reinforced is likely to be repeated and vice versa with punishment

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13
Q

What are the key terms linked to classical conditioning?

A

Unconditioned stimulus

Unconditioned response

Neutral stimulus

Association

Conditioned stimulus

Conditioned response

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14
Q

What is positive reinforcement?

A

Adding a desirable consequence to a behaviour to increase the chances of the behaviour being repeated

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15
Q

What is a primary reinforcer?

A

Something that in itself is directly rewarding

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16
Q

What is a secondary reinforcer?

A

Not directly rewarding but a token that will eventually lead to a primary reinforcer

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17
Q

What is an example of positive reinforcement?

A

Sweet for answering a question right

Sweet = primary reinforcer

Teacher = secondary reinforcer

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18
Q

What is negative reinforcement?

A

Taking away of something bad to increase the chances of the behaviour being repeated

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19
Q

What is an example of negative reinforcement?

A

Taking away chores for being good

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20
Q

What is punishment?

A

Causing an unpleasant outcome in response to a behaviour in order to make sure it is not repeated

Positive punishment- adding something bad

Negative punishment- taking away something good

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21
Q

What is an assumption about the psychodynamic approach?

A

Behaviour is determined more by internal psychological factors than by biological factors or environmental reinforcement

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22
Q

What did Freud say the personality is made up of?

A

Id- basic instincts and needs, sexual and aggressive

Ego- developing an appreciation of reality

Superego- morals

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23
Q

What does the psychodynamic approach say behaviour is determined by?

A

The unconscious mind and early childhood experiences

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24
Q

What is the unconscious mind?

A

Vast storehouse of basic drives and instincts, unresolved conflicts and unpleasant events/memories

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25
Q

What are some of the roles of the unconscious mind?

A

Store socially unacceptable drives and instincts that would interfere with us fitting in with society

Hide unresolved conflicts to protect ego/sense of reality

Source of dreams and automatic thoughts (Freudian slip)

Influences personality

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26
Q

How is the unconscious mind accessed?

A

Through psychoanalyis

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27
Q

How does a psychoanalyst access the unconscious?

A

Try to decode symbols of unconscious mind via dream analysis or free association

Psychoanalyst can tell patient what is buried and how patient must come to terms with it in order to recover

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28
Q

Can a patient ever access their own unconscious?

A

No, it is totally out of their awareness in its nature even though it controls much of their behaviour

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29
Q

When is the id formed?

A

Born with it, innate

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30
Q

What is the id responsible for?

A

Pleasure principle

Focusses on self, gets what it wants

Deals with feelings and needs

In the unconscious

E.g. quick temper, aggressiveness, cheating on partner

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31
Q

When is the ego formed?

A

Developed via psychosexual stages

Formed between 18months - 3 years

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32
Q

What is the ego responsible for?

A

Mediator between id and superego

Defence mechanisms

Self-preservation

Reality

Mediates conflict

E.g. calming down a situation

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33
Q

When is the superego formed?

A

Developed via psychosexual stages

Formed between 3 - 6 years

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34
Q

What is the superego responsible for?

A

Morality principle / moral guide

Punishes wrongdoing

Based on parental and societal views

In the unconscious

E.g. feeling guilty

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35
Q

What did Freud believe about child development?

A

Occurs in 5 stages

Each stage marked by a different conflict to overcome

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36
Q

What does unresolved psychosexual conflict lead to?

A

Fixation

Child becomes stuck and carries on certain behaviours/conflicts associated with that stage through to adult life

3 part personality will not be developed and will lead to problems in later life

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37
Q

What are the 5 psychosexual stages of development?

A

Oral

Anal

Phallic

Latent

Genital

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38
Q

What age is the oral stage?

A

0 - 1 years old

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39
Q

What is the oral stage?

A

Libido is focused on the mouth

Things put into mouth to experience them

Weaning- major development

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40
Q

What is the consequence of unresolved conflict in oral stage?

A

Likely to become a smoker or a compulsive eater

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41
Q

What age is the anal stage?

A

1 - 3 years

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42
Q

What is the anal stage?

A

Libido is focused on the bum and personal hygiene

Potty training- major development

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43
Q

What is the consequence of unresolved conflict in the anal stage?

A

Extreme orderliness/uptight
or
Extreme messiness

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44
Q

What age is the phallic stage?

A

3 - 6 years

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45
Q

What is the phallic stage?

A

Libido is focused on gender, love and morality

Obsession with opposite sex parent

Leads to identification with same sex parent

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46
Q

What is the consequence of unresolved conflict in the phallic stage?

A

Deviance from the ‘norm’

Sexual dysfunction

Criminality

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47
Q

What age is the latent stage?

A

7 - 12 years

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48
Q

What is the latent stage?

A

Calm, stable period

Developing use of defence mechanisms

Development of self, skills and values

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49
Q

What is consequence of unresolved conflict in the latent stage?

A

None

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50
Q

What age is the genital stage?

A

12 years onwards

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51
Q

What is the genital stage?

A

Libido is focused on developing a sexual interest in people outside of the family

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52
Q

What is the consequence of unresolved conflict in the genital stage?

A

Homosexuality

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53
Q

What must occur for someone to live a healthy and productive life?

A

Ego must be protected from unpleasant or threatening experiences using defence mechanisms

54
Q

What are the 3 defence mechanisms?

A

Repression

Denial

Displacement

55
Q

What is repression?

A

Forcing a distressing memory out of the conscious mind

e.g. forgetting clues that may indicate your partner is cheating

56
Q

What is denial?

A

Refusing to acknowledge some aspect of reality

e.g. an addict refusing to admit they have a problem

57
Q

What is displacement?

A

Transferring feelings from a true source of distressing emotion onto a substitute target

e.g. teacher makes you angry so you take it out on your friend as you cannot do it to teacher

58
Q

What are the main points about the cognitive approach?

A

Mind actively processes information from senses

Humans seen as data processing systems –> similar to computers due to encoding of information and outputs

59
Q

What does the cognitive approach argue about internal mental processes?

A

Should be studied scientifically

Studied indirectly by making inferences on basis of observable behaviour

60
Q

What is inference?

A

To go beyond immediate evidence and make assumptions about mental processes that cannot be directly observed

61
Q

What is an example of inference?

A

Baddeley –> STM, remember less acoustically similar words but infer that it is due to confusion in coding

62
Q

What is a schema?

A

Mental representation of experience, knowledge and understanding, pre-conceived idea

When cognitive processing is affected by a person’s beliefs or expectations

63
Q

Where do schemas come from?

A

Past learning and experiences or information given to us from sources such as people, books or the internet

64
Q

What is the purpose of a schema?

A

Allows us to easily understand the world without having to learn everything from scratch

Helps make predictions about about future

Fill in past memories

65
Q

Why could a schema not be useful when processing information?

A

Stereotypes may influence information processing

May lead to false memories

May make eye witnesses unreliable

Can lead to prejudice and discrimination

66
Q

What is a way to study internal mental processes?

A

Theoretical models

67
Q

What are theoretical models?

A

Visual representations of internal mental processes

Used to help researchers simplify and study complex processes

Diagrams or flowcharts that show how information is passed between different systems

68
Q

What is an important theoretical model?

A

Information processing approach

Suggests information flows through cognitive systems in sequence of stages –> input, storage, retrieval

69
Q

Why are the models theoretical?

A

Cognitive psychologists do not believe parts of model exist literally in the brain

Model is representation of what is happening

70
Q

What is another type of model used in the cognitive approach?

A

Computer models –> mind compared to a computer

71
Q

What are the processes that occur in a computer model?

A

Input from environment reaching central processing unit (brain)

Coding turns information into usable format

Stores hold information

Outpiut of behaviour

72
Q

What is cognitive neuroscience?

A

Scientific study of brain/neurological structures that are responsible for cognitive processes

73
Q

What advancements have been made in cognitive neuroscience?

A

Advances in brain imaging (fMRI and PET scans)

Allow psychologists to observe neurological basis of mental processes

74
Q

Who developed the humanistic approach?

A

Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow

75
Q

What is the humanistic approach concerned with?

A

Explanations of ‘healthy’ growth in individuals

76
Q

What is a summary of humanistic approach?

A

People have free will to direct their lives towards goals

Person should be understood as a whole

Cannot make generalisations and laws due to individual being unique

Focus on self and conscious experience

77
Q

What does it mean to say that the humanistic approach believes in free will?

A

That people are active agents with the ability to determine own development

78
Q

What is self-actualisation?

A

A person reaching their full potential and becoming the best they can possibly be

79
Q

What is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?

A

Explains how humans have an innate tendency to strive to self-actualisation

80
Q

What do the four lower levels of the hierarchy of needs represent?

A

Deficiency needs

Must be met before individual can work toward self actualisation and fulfil full potential

81
Q

What are the levels of the hierarchy of needs from bottom to top with examples?

A

Physiological (breathing, food, sex, water etc)

Safety (health, family, employment)

Love/belonging (family, sexual intimacy)

Esteem (confidence, achievement)

Self actualisation (self acceptance, purpose, morality)

82
Q

What did Rogers argue was required for personal growth to be achieved?

A

Individual’s concept of self must be broadly equivalent or have congruence with their ideal self

83
Q

What happens if there is too big of a gap between the ideal self and individual’s concept of self?

A

Person will experinece state of incongruence

Self actualisation will not be possible due to negative of feelings associated with incongruence

84
Q

What did Rogers claim were the causes of incongruence?

A

Rooted in childhood

Lack of unconditional positive regard

E.g. parent which has limits for love of their child has introduced conditions of worth

85
Q

How can gap between congruence and incongruence be closed/reduced?

A

Develop healthier view of ourselves

Have more achievable and realistic ideal self

Receive unconditional positive regard (from parent or therapist)

86
Q

How does a therapist providing unconditional positive regard help?

A

Client centred therapy

Helps patient cope with everyday life

Failed to receive unconditional positive regard as a child so therapist moves patient into state of congruence

87
Q

What is the aim of Rogerian therapy?

A

Increase feelings of self worth

Help person become more fully functioning person

88
Q

What is client centred therapy like?

A

Non-directive

Client encouraged towards discovery of own solutions

Therapeutic atmosphere

Warm, supportive

Non judgmental

89
Q

What 3 things should an effective therapist provide with client?

A

Genuineness

Empathy

Unconditional positive regard

90
Q

Why has client centred therapy been praised?

A

Forward-looking and effective approach

Focuses on present problems rather than dwelling on the past

91
Q

What is social learning theory?

A

A way of explaining behaviour including direct and indirect reinforcement

Individual has to decide if they want to enact behaviour normally based on evaluation of potential rewards

92
Q

Who proposed the social learning theory?

A

Bandura

93
Q

What are the main assumptions of the social learning theory?

A

States that people learn through observation and imitation of others within a social context

94
Q

What are the 4 ways in which learning can occur?

A

Identification

Modelling

Vicarious reinforcement

Imitation

95
Q

What is identification?

A

Idea that people are more likely to imitate the behaviour of those who they identify with (role models)

Role model is someone who possesses similar characteristics to the observer e.g. same gender, high status, celebrities

96
Q

What is modelling?

A

When we decide who to imitate based on several different consdierations- only imitate most influential people

If an individual imitates the person’s behaviour later this is modelling the behaviour

97
Q

What is vicarious reinforcement?

A

Reinforcement the observer sees the role model receiving

Observer does not receive reinforcement/punishment themselves but see someone else get it

Reinforcement makes observer more likely to imitate behaviour for themselves

98
Q

What is imitation?

A

When an individual observes a behaviour and copies it

Behaviour is often not able to be copied exactly –> simulation

99
Q

What are mediational processes?

A

Bridge between learning theory and cognitive approach

Mental factors mediate in learning process to determine whether new response is acquired or not

100
Q

What are the 4 mediational processes?

A

Attention

Retention

Reproduction

Motivation

101
Q

What is attention?

A

Behaviour must grab our attention for it to be imitated

We normally attend more to role models

Links to modelling and identification

102
Q

What is retention?

A

Important as much of social learning is not immediate

Observed behaviours may be stored by observer and reproduced at a later time, needs to be a memory to refer to

103
Q

What is reproduction?

A

When someone appreciates that an action is a desirable one but may not attempt to imitate as physically/logically cannot

See many behaviours that we would like to imitate but limited by physical abilities

104
Q

What is motivation?

A

Rewards/punishments will be considered by observer before

Perceived rewards outweigh costs then behaviour will be more likely to be imitated

Behaviour will not be imitated if vicarious reinforcement not seen to be important enough

105
Q

What are the assumptions of the biological approach?

A

Suggests everything psychological is first biological

Must look at biological structures and processes to understand human behaviour

Thoughts, feelings and emotions believed to have physical basis

106
Q

What is within each human cell?

A

23 pairs of chromosomes made up of 2 DNA molecules

107
Q

What is within each DNA molecule?

A

Genes (humans have approx 20,000)

108
Q

What are twin studies used for?

A

To investigate genetic basis of behaviour

109
Q

What are DZ twins?

A

Twins who are 50% genetically the same

110
Q

What are MZ twins?

A

Twins who are 100% genetically the same

111
Q

What result from twin studies would suggest genes are the cause of behaviour?

A

MZ twins more similar than DZ pair

112
Q

What result from twin studies would suggest the environment is the cause of behaviour?

A

Both just as similar

113
Q

What are alleles?

A

Different forms of a gene

Can be dominant or recessive

114
Q

What is the genotype?

A

Actual gene information for a trait

Genetic code represents alleles present

115
Q

What is the phenotype?

A

Expression of the trait in the environment due to interaction, combined effect of genes with environment

116
Q

What are neurons?

A

Cells in nervous sytem which transmit nerve impulses in form of electrical signals

117
Q

What is the central nervous system made up of?

A

Brain

Spinal cord

118
Q

What are the different parts of the brain?

A

Brain stem

Limbic system

Cortex

119
Q

What is the brain stem?

A

Basic and automatic functions

E.g. breathing, digestion

120
Q

What is the limbic system?

A

Emotions, memory

E.g. hippocampus

121
Q

What is the cortex?

A

Complex cognitive functions, not fully developed until 30

E.g. decision making, language, adding meaning

122
Q

What are key ideas about neurochemistry?

A

Communication via electrical impulses/signals

Neurotransmitters sent across synaspses

123
Q

What are neurotransmitters that activate messages called?

A

Excitatory

124
Q

What are neurotransmitters that stop messages called?

A

Inhibitory

125
Q

What is evolutionary psychology?

A

Looks at current behaviours and tries to work out if they exist due to their adaptiveness or if they were adaptive long ago

126
Q

What is the environment of evolutionary adpation (EEA)?

A

Approx 70,000 years ago

When humans lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle

Had to adapt and evolve due to difficult environments

127
Q

What is the mismatch theory?

A

If behaviours were adaptive long ago but no longer make sense in a modern world

E.g. flight or fight response, needed for cavemen but rarely used in today’s society and can be harmful in large amounts

128
Q

What is natural selection?

A

Where a behaviour enables survival

E.g. access to food, safety from predators

129
Q

What is sexual selection?

A

Where one biological sex chooses mates of other sex to mate with, competition between members of same sex for access to members of opposite sex

130
Q

What is selective advantage?

A

Any genetically determined behaviour that enhances an individual’s survival and reproduction will continue into future generations

Psychology (13 decks)

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