Approaches: Essays

Question 1

Behaviorist Approach AO1: Operant Conditioning

Answer 1

• learning through consequences > positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement + punishment
• partial reinforcement more effective than continuous reinforcement
• reinforcement makes it more likely that a behaviour recurs

Question 2

Behaviourist Approach AO1: Classical Conditioning

Answer 2

• learning through association
• uncondtitioned stimulus + neutral stimulus to get unconditioned repsonse > stimuli become associated
• ns eventually becomes cs
• timing between ns + ucs is important
• association isnt permanent
• if extinct response is formed faster
• generalisation: respond to similar cs

Question 3

Behaviourist Approach AO3 Weakness: Determenistic

Answer 3

E: - sees all behaviour as determined by past experiences that have been conditioned
- ignores possibility that people have free will + make choices

K: - theory could be considered to be incomplete explanation on behaviour

Question 4

Behaviourist Approach AO3 Weakness: Research On Animals

Answer 4

E: - animals often exposed to stressful situations + conditions
- ethical issues
- stress may have affected how they responded

K: - issues of validity so issues of scientific credibility

Question 5

Behaviourist Approach AO3 Strength: Scientific

Answer 5

E: - associated with measuring behaviour in highly controlled lab settings
- emphasis importance of objectivity + replication > gave psychology credibility + status within scientific community

K: - strength for both theory and research

Question 6

Social Learning Theory AO1

Answer 6

• learning through observing others and imitating their behaviours: Bandura
• models provide examples of behaviour: live model (parent, teacher, friend) vs symbolic model (portrayed in media)
• imitation depends on characteristics of model, observers perceived ability to perform, observed consequences
• identification reders to the extent to which an individual can relate to a model > must feel similar enough to experience same outcome
• vicarious reinforcement: individuals learn about likely consequence of an action by viewing behaviour of model then adjust behaviour accordingly
• mediational processes referring to learning of behaviour: attention + retention
• mediational processes referring to performance: reproduction + motivation

Question 7

Social Learning Theory AO3 Weakness: No Link Between Violent Films and Crime

Answer 7

E: - Ulrich (2003) found no relationship between watching violent films and later criminality
- suggested strongest cause of violent behaviour is association with delinquent peer groups where violence was both modelled and rewarded

K: -slt may not be able to explain criminality so may lack explanatory power

Question 8

Social Learning Theory AO3 Strength: Acknowledges Other Approaches

Answer 8

E: - takes thought processes (cognitive approach) into account + acknowledges role they play in deciding whether behaviour is to be initiated or not
- bandura also acknowledged the role of biological urges in aggressive behaviour but argued while urge itself might be biological sl teaches individuals how and when to be aggressive

K: - while slt is generally learning approach mediating processes are congitive + urges may be biological thus providing more comprehensive explanation

Question 9

Social Learning Theory AO3 Weakness: Disregards Other Influences

Answer 9

E: - in explaining development of gender role behaviour, sl theorists would emphasise importance of gender specific modelling
- irl a child is exposed to many different influences, all interacting in complex ways including genetic predispositions, media portrayals, locus of control etc

K: serious problem for sl researchers, if virtually anything can have an influence on a specific behvaiour becomes very difficult to show that one particular thing (sl) is main causal influence

Question 10

Cognitive Approach AO1

Answer 10

• focuses on how internal method processes (thoughts memory etc) affect behaviour > mediate between stimulus + response
• cognitive psychologists cant observe these processes so they study them indirectly by making inferences/assumptions
• types of models: theoretical: represent certain mental processes in pictorial form, computer: metaphor of computer often used to describe the mind, schema: mental framework of beliefs + expectations that influence cognitive processing

Question 11

Cognitive Approach AO3 Strength: Scientific

Answer 11

E: - cognitive psychologists make theories and models of behaviour as a result of experimentation with human participants
- means that conclusions are based on far more than common sense and introspection, which can give a misleading picture

K: - approach can be seen as systematic, objective and rigorous way for reaching accurate conclusions about how the wind way

Question 12

Cognitive Approach AO3 Strength: Many Applications

Answer 12

E: - been able to explain dysfunctional behaviour in terms of faulty thinking processes, led to development of treatments for illnesses such as depression with cognitive based therapies

K: - treatments shown to be successful in some mental disorders which suggests that emphasis on mental processes for explaining mental disorders is valid

Question 13

Cognitive Approach AO3 Weakness: Ignores Important Factors

Answer 13

E: - although approach tells us how cognitive processes take place it doesnt tell us why
- role of emotion + motivation are largely ignored
- may be result of computer analogy and over dependence of approach on information processing analogies

K: - for example human minds make mistakes, can forget, are able to ignore available info when necessary > all fundamental differences

Question 14

Bandura’s Research AO1: Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961)

Answer 14

• to examine the effect of the continual influence of the model + if the sex of the model influenced same sex + opposite-sex participants
• children watched videos of adult with Bobo doll
• condition 1: adult is aggressive, 2: non- aggressive
• children in 1 more likely to be aggressive + repeat verbal responses
• greater level of imitation if model was same sex as child
• children clearly imitate models
• behavioural effect from observing aggressive behaviour + this behaviour continues after a delay

Question 15

Bandura’s Research AO1: Bandura and Walters (1963)

Answer 15

• to examine efect of the continual influence of the model
• children watched videos of adult acting aggressively
• condition 1: adult praised, 2: punished, 3: control, no consequence
• children in 1 more likely to show high levels of aggression
• children clearly imitate models

Question 16

Bandura’s Research AO3 Weakness: Ethical Issues

Answer 16

E: - major issue is protection from harms and wellbeing of participants
- children may have been distressed by aggressive behaviour witnessed and behaviour may have stayed with them becoming a behavioural problem
- ps are supposed to leave study in same state they entered which may not have happened

K: - Bandura would argue in termde of cost benefit analysis the benefits to society outweighed risks to children that took part as we gained invaluable info about influence of role models on behaviour
- therefore meaning that despite there being ethical issues there are lots of benefits to society

Question 17

Bandura’s Research AO3 Weakness: Lab Experiment

Answer 17

E: - lab eperiments are contrived situations where ps may respond to demand characteristics
- its possible that children thought main purpose was to hit doll and were behaving in a way that they thought was expected of them
- Noble (1975) reported one child at lab said “Look Mummy, there’s the doll we have to hit!”

K: - reduces internal validity of Bandura’s study + impacts the scientific credibility of the theory

Question 18

Bandura’s Research AO3 Strength: Lab Experiment

Answer 18

E: - allowed for a controlled environment where manipulation of IV allowed for the DV to be measured
- could control all extraneous variables

K: - we can be sure that changes in aggression (DV) are a result of changes to gender and exposure to a violent model (IV) in Bandura’s research and as such this allows us to establish a causal relationship

Question 19

Biological Approach AO1

Answer 19

behaviour affected by…
- genetics: genes influence behaviour and may be influenced by the process of evolution
- the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord): from a biological perspective, the mind lives in the brain; so all thoughts, feelings and behaviour have a biological basis
- the chemistry of the body: chemicals in the brain (neurotransmitters) and the body (hormones) are related to behaviour

• twin studies often used to determine the likelihood that certain traits have a genetic basis by comparing the concordance rates (degree of similarity) between pairs of twins
• monozygotic: identical from one fertilised egg, dizygotic: non identical from two
• if MZ shows higher likelihood of sharing behaviours than DZ then theres argued to be a genetic component

Question 20

Biological Approach AO3 Strength: Highly Scientific (Lab Experiments)

Answer 20

E: - take place in highly controlled environments and are highly replicable which adds to their validity
- sophisticated brain imaging techniques eg fMRI scanners enhance these characteristics of the approach + its validity

K:- but must be cautious of relying on this type of methodology alone as it could lead us to overlook other factors eg social + cultural influences on behaviour

Question 21

Biological Approach AO3 Weakness: Overly Reductionist

Answer 21

E: - scientific approach focuses strongly on an IV and DV but can overlook other factors
- eg depression can be caused by social, environmental and hormonal factors

K: - more holistic view would see behaviour as being influenced by multiple approaches which arent mutually exclusive

Question 22

Biological Approach AO3 Weakness: Socially Sensitive Concerns Around Genetic Explanations

Answer 22

E: - if psychologists argue that criminal behaviour is inherited people may not feel responsible for their own actions
- people might try to blame their aggressive actions on their genotype

K: - psychologists must ensure that when work of this nature is publicised that they also emphasise need for personal responsibility

Question 23

Cognitive Neuroscience AO1

Answer 23

• scientific study of influence of brain structures on mental processes
• main aim to explore neurobiological basis of thought processes and disorders
• study neural processes underlying internal mental processes and also interested in social cognition, brain regions involved when we interact with each other, and how impairments in regions may characterise different psychological conditions
  Brain imaging technology:
• fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) and PET (positron emission tomography) scans
• show what parts of brain become active in specific circumstances

Question 24

Cognitive Neuroscience AO3 Strength: Scientific

Answer 24

E: - process of research is more scientific and objective in comparison to cognitive approach.
- provides information about brain activity as well as behaviour.

K: - it is highly replicable as the studies are done using brain imaging technology which means it holds validity.

Question 25

Cognitive Neuroscience AO3 Strength: Backs Older Findings

Answer 25

E: - neuroscience provides evidence to support previously controversial behavioural findings > illuminates mechanisms of cognitive development that underlie behavioural observations.

K: - these findings now have research support and can be used to better our understanding of different behaviours.

Question 26

Cognitive Neuroscience AO3 Weakness: Only Correlational Data

Answer 26

E: - eg findings that the parahippocampal gyrus is often activated in people with OCD, does not show that this area is causally involved in OCD.

K: - hard to differentiate between true factors of behaviour and factors that aren’t directly linked.