Approaches AO1 Flashcards
How did Wundt contribute to emergence of psychology?
- Separated psychology from biology and philosophy
- Founded first scientific lab dedicated to psychology in Germany
- Developed structuralism
- Focused on observation, measurement and controlled experimentation which paved way for future psychological research
- Used introspection which paved way for more objective and measurable approaches such as behaviourism.
Define Structuralism
Analysing components of consciousness and breaking down mental processes into basic components.
Define Introspection
Individuals self reporting their conscious thoughts and experiences in response to a stimulus.
Define Classical Conditioning
Learning that occurs when a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a stimulus that naturally produces a behaviour.
Describe Pavlov’s Research
- Demonstrated importance of learning by association
- Dog strapped to harness with apparatus that measured amount of saliva produced
- Bell rung and saliva measured
- Food presented and saliva measured
- Bell and food presented at same time and saliva measured
- Repeated set number of times then bell is rung without food, then saliva measured to test strength of conditional response learned
Define Operant Conditioning
Learning behaviour through rewards (reinforcement) and punishments.
Describe Skinner’s Research into Operant Conditioning
- Skinner Box designed to teach rats how to push a lever.
- Positive reinforcement used by rewarding rat with food when it pressed the lever.
- Negative reinforcement used by letting the rat turn of electric shocks produced by the floor by pressing the lever.
Define Social Learning Theory
A way of explaining behaviour that includes both direct and indirect reinforcement, combing learning theory with the role of cognitive factors.
Define Vicarious Reinforcement
Reinforcement that is not directly experienced but occurs through observing someone else being reinforced for a behaviour. It is a key factor in imitation.
Define Mediational Processes
Cognitive factors that influence learning and come between stimulus and response.
What are the 4 mediational processes
Attention, Retention, Motor Reproduction and Motivation
Describe Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment
- Investigate whether children learn aggression through observation and imitation, particularly through an adult.
- Children divided into 3 groups, A observes aggressive adult, B observes non-aggressive adult, C control group with no adult.
- Children in A more likely to imitate aggression, especially if model was same gender.
Define Cognitive Approach
An approach focused on how our mental processes affect behaviour.
Define Internal Mental Processes
Private operations of the mind such as perception and attention that mediate between stimulus and response.
Define Schema
A mental framework of beliefs and expectations that influence cognitive processing that are developed from experience.
Define Inference
The process whereby cognitive psychologists draw conclusions about the way mental processes operate on the basis of observed behaviour.
Define Cognitive Neuroscience
The study of how brain structures and biology affect mental processes. It suggests that aspects of people’s thought processes have a physical basis.
Define Biological Approach
A perspective that emphasises the importance of physical processes in the body such as genetic inheritance and neural function.
What are the assumptions of the Biological Approach?
- There is a direct correlation between brain activity and cognition.
- Biochemical imbalances can affect behaviour.
- Brain psychology can affect behaviour.
- Behaviour can be inherited as it is determined by genes.
Define Gene
Makes up chromosomes and consists of DNA which codes the physical features of an organism and psychological features. They are transmitted from parents to offspring.
Define Biological Structure
An arrangement or organisation of parts to form an organ, system or living thing.
Define Neurochemistry
Relating to chemicals in the brain that regulate psychological functioning. Neurochemical imbalances in the brain are associated with abnormal behaviour.
Define Genotype
The particular set of genes that a person possesses.
Define Phenotype
The characteristics of an individual determined by both genes and the environment.
Define Evolution
The changes in inherited characteristics in a biological population over successive generations. This theory was proposed by Charles Darwin.
Define Psychodynamic Approach
A perspective that describes the different forces (dynamics), most of which are unconscious, that operate on the mind and direct human behaviour and experience.
What are the assumptions of the psychodynamic approach?
- Unconscious activity is the key development of how we behave.
- We possess innate “drives” or “instincts” that energise our minds to motivate behaviour as we develop.
- Our personality - the psyche - is comprised of the ID,ego and superego.
- Childhood experiences have significant importance in determining our personality when we reach adulthood.
Define The Unconscious
The part of the mind that we are unaware of but which continues to direct much of our behaviour.
Define Id
Entirely unconscious, the id is made up of selfish aggressive instincts that demand immediate gratification. It acts according to the “pleasure principle”.
Define Ego
The “reality check” that balances the conflicting demands of the id and superego. Acts rationally according to the “reality principle”.
Define Superego
The moralistic part of our personality which represents the ideal self: how we ought to be. Acts as your conscience according to the “immorality principle” and controls id with feelings of guilt.
Define Defence Mechanisms
Unconscious strategies that the ego uses to manage the conflict between the id and the superego.
Define Psychosexual Stages
Five developmental stages that all children pass through. At each stage there is a different conflict, the outcome of which determines future development.
Define Oral stage
Focus of pleasure is mouth, Focus of desire is mother’s breast, between 0-18 months old.
Define Anal stage
Focus of pleasure is anus, Focus of desire if withholding and expelling faeces, between 18 months to 3 years old.
Define Phallic stage
Focus of pleasure is genitals, children experience either the oedinus or electra complex, between 3-6 years old.
Define Latency stage
Previous conflicts are resolved or repressed and early years largely forgotten, between 6-12 years old.
Define Genitals stage
Sexual desires become conscious with onset of puberty.
Define Repression
Forcing a distressing memory out of the conscious mind.
Define Denial
Refusing to acknowledge some aspect of reality.
Define Displacement
Transferring feelings from the source of distressing emotion onto a substitute target.
Define Humanistic Approach
An approach to understanding behaviour that emphasises the importance of subjective experience and each person’s capacity for self-determination.
Define Free will
The notion that humans can make choices and are not determined by biological or external forces. We are active agents who have the ability to determine our own development.
Define Self-actualisation
The desire to grow psychologically and fulfil one’s potential - becoming what you are capable of.
Define Congruence
When our self-image is similar to the ideal self. There is more overlap and people can self-actualise.
Define Conditions of Worth
When a parent places limits or boundaries on their love of their children.
What are the hierarchy of needs?
Physiological -> Safety -> Love/Belonging -> Esteem -> Self-actualisation
What did Carl Rogers do?
- Asserted the idea of using unconditional positive regard in client-centered therapy.
- Used a form of pyschotherapy to treat his patients focusing on the positive aspects of the person and increasing a client’s self-worth to reduce incongruence.
