Approaches Ao1 Flashcards
17th-19th century
Psychology is a branch of the broader discipline of philosophy. If psychology was names at this time it was called experimental philosophy.
1879
Wilhelm Wundt opens the first experimental psychology lab in Germany and psychology emerges as a distinct discipline in its own right.
1900’s
Sigmund Freud emphasises the influence of the unconscious mind on behaviour (the psychodynamic approach). He also developed his person centred therapy, psychoanalysis, and shows that physical problems can be explained in terms of the mind.
1913
John B Watson writes ‘Psychology as he behaviourist views it. Later B.F Skinner establishes the behaviourist approach. The behaviourist and psychodynamic approach dominate psychology for the first half of the 20th century.
1950’s
Carl Rodgers and Abraham Maslow develop the humanistic approach, the so called ‘third force’ in psychology, rejecting the behaviourist approach and psychodynamic view that behaviour is determined by external factors. Humanistic psychologists emphasis the importance of self-determination and free will.
1950’s
The introduction of the digital computer gives psychologists a metaphor for the operations of the human mind. The cognitive approach reintroduces the study of mental processes into psychology but in a much more scientific way than Wundt’s earlier investigation.
1960’s
Albert Bandura proposes the social learning theory. This approach draws attention to the role of cognitive factors in learning, providing a bridge between newly established cognitive approach and traditional behaviourism
1980’s onwards
The biological approach begins to establish itself as the dominant scientific perspective in psychology. This is due to advances in technology that have increased understanding of the brain and biological processes.
Eve of the 21st century
Towards the end of the last century, cognitive neuroscience emerges as a discipline bringing together the cognitive cognitive and biological approaches. Cognitive neuroscience investigates how biological structures influence mental states.
Wundt’s lab
Wundt opened the first ever lab dedicated to psychology in Germany, this was the beginning of scientific psychology which separates it from philosophical roots. He aimed to analyse the nature of of human consciousness, and thus represented the first systematic attempt to study the mind under controlled conditions (introspection)
Wundt’s standardised procedures
One of Wundt’s objectives was to develop theory’s of mental processes eg language. He and his co-workers recorded their experience of various stimuli eg objects or sounds, and would divide their observations into three categories: thoughts, images, and sensations.
Wundt’s structuralism
Isolating the structure of the consciousness in this ay is called structuralism.
Assumptions of the behaviourist
-Only studies behaviour that can be observed and measured
-Rejected introspection (concepts vague and difficult to measure)
-Relied on lab studies to maintain control and objectivity
-All behaviour is learned (baby’s mind is a blank slate)
-Following Darwin behaviourists suggest there are basic processes that govern learning and are the same in all species
-Animals can replace humans as experimental subjects.
-Classical and operant conditioning
Classical conditioning - Pavlov’s dogs
Learning through association. Dogs could be conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell if that bell was repeatedly paired with food. Gradually the dogs would associate food with the food, so salivate. The neutral stimulus (bell) can produce the conditioned response (salivation).
Operant conditioning - Skinners rats
Learning is an active process in which humans and animals operate on their environment, learning shaped by consequences.
-positive reinforcement- receiving a reward for a certain behaviour
-negative reinforcement- avoiding something unpleasant so the outcome is a positive experience
-punishment- an unpleasant consequence of behaviour.
Outline Skinner’s rats experiment
Skinner conducted experiments with rats, and sometimes pigeons is cages called ‘skinners boxes’. Every time the rats activated a lever within the box and was rewarded with a pellet. Then the rats continue the behaviour. He could show they they could be conditioned using a negative stimulus eg an electric shock.
Assumptions of social learning theory
-Bandura agreed with behaviourist
-Proposed that people learn through observation
-they learn through direct reinforcement
-they learn through indirect reinforcement (vicarious)
Vicarious reinforcemt
Indirect learning takes place when an individual observes the behaviour of another. Imitation occurs when behaviour is seen to be rewarded. Learner observes the consequence of behaviour.
