Approaches definitions

Question 1

Origins of Psychology: Psychology

Answer 1

The scientific study of the mind, behaviour and experience

Question 2

Origins of Psychology: Introspection

Answer 2

The first systematic experimental attempt to study the mind by breaking up conscious awareness into basic structures of images, thoughts and sensations

Question 3

Behaviourist approach

Answer 3

A way of explaining behaviour in terms of what is observable and in terms of learning

Question 4

Behaviourist approach: Classical conditioning

Answer 4

• Learned by association
• Occurs when two stimuli are repeated paired together
• The neutral stimulus eventually produces the same response that was first produced by the unconditioned stimulus alone

Question 5

Behaviourist approach: Operant conditioning

Answer 5

• A form of learning in which behaviour is shaped and maintained by its consequences
• Uses positive/negative reinforcement and punishment

Question 6

Types of reinforcement: Positive reinforcement

Answer 6

• Receiving a reward when a particular behaviour is performed
• Increases the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated

Question 7

Types of reinforcement: Negative reinforcement

Answer 7

When you avoid something unpleasant and the outcome is a positive experiment

Question 8

Social Learning Theory

Answer 8

• A way of explaining behaviour that included both direct and indirect reinforcement
• Combines the learning theory with cognitive processes

Question 9

SLT: Imitation

Answer 9

Copying the behaviour of others

Question 10

SLT: Identification

Answer 10

A desire to be associated with a particular person or group often because they possess desirable characteristics

Question 11

SLT: Modelling

Answer 11

Imitating the behaviour of a role model

Question 12

SLT: Vicarious reinforcement

Answer 12

Indirect reinforcement but occurs through observing someone else being reinforced

Question 13

SLT: Mediational processes

Answer 13

Cognitive factors that influence learning and come between stimulus and response
- Attention
- Retention
- Motor reproduction
- Motivation

Question 14

Cognitive approach

Answer 14

How our mental processes (thoughts perceptions and attention) affect behaviour

Question 15

Cognitive approach: Internal mental processes

Answer 15

‘Private’ operations of the mind such as perception and attention that mediate between stimulus and response

Question 16

Cognitive approach: Inference

Answer 16

The process whereby cognitive psychologists draw conclusions about the way mental processes operate on the basis of observations

Question 17

Cognitive approach: Schema

Answer 17

A mental framework of beliefs and expectations that influence cognitive processing (developed through experience)

Question 18

Cognitive approach: Cognitive neuroscience

Answer 18

The scientific study of those biological structures that underpin cognitive processes