Approaches AO3 Flashcards
Wundt Evaluation Points
1- Methods were systematic
- Controlled extraneous variables
- Procedures and instructions were standardised so all participants were tested in the same way with the same information
2- Not considered scientific
- Relied on participants self-reporting their mental processes and this is subjective
- May have hidden some thoughts and hard to generalise this data
3- Contribution
- Produced first academic journal and wrote the first textbook
- Called the founder of psychology and research set the foundation for approaches to come e.g. cognitive focuses on mental processes
Psychodynamic Evaluation Points
1- Explanatory Power
- Freud had a massive influence on psychology
- Psychodynamics approach can explain a lot of behavior in a lot of areas
2- Case Studies
- Evidence is based on case studies such a Little Hans and his phobia of horses
- However they are not generalisable to a big population and are subjective
3- Lack of Science
- We cannot study much of Freuds theories such a psychosexual stages and the unconscious because they are a part of our brain we aren’t aware of, so unable to be studied scientifically
4- Real World Application
- Helped design a lot of therapy and psychological techniques such as hypnosis and dream analysis
- However some claim it is not appropriate for areas with people with mental issues such as schizophrenia
Behaviorism Evaluation Points
1- Supporting Evidence
- Lots of empirical supporting evidence e.g. Skinner and Pavlov and used objective techniques such as lab experiments and counting how many times the lever was pressed/ how much the dog salivated
2- Counterpoint
-Lots of the evidence is done on animals such as pigeons, rats and dogs
- We cannot apply to humans as much more complex and hard to understand
3- Real World Application
- Treatments such as phobias, schools, prisons and mental institutes
4- Reductionist
- The theory ignores processes such as learning from copying other people and ignores roles and factors such as mental processes and biology
- Reductionist means simple and unadvanced
