Approaches in Psychology Flashcards
Who was Wundt
- first person to call himself a psychologist
- he believed that all aspects of nature, including the human mind, could be studied scientifically
- opened the first psychology lab in 1879
- paved the way to acceptance of psychology as a distinct science
Describe Wundts technique of introspection
Introspection is the examination of ones own thought processes, feelings, emotions or sensations
- self examination
- One of his studies on perception: participants were presented with carefully controlled stimuli such as a visual image, participants were then asked to provide a description of their inner processes they were experiencing
- his aim was to examine the structure of the mind and he believed the only way to do so was to use experimental methods to breakdown the structures of the mind
- structuralism
Describe the Emergence of psychology as a science
- Scientific approach was based on two major assumptions:
: all behaviour is seen as caused
: If behaviour is determined then it should be possible to predict behaviour - empiricists believe that knowledge comes from observation and experience alone rather than being innate
- value of introspection was questioned by Watson who criticised introspection for producing subjective data
^made it difficult to establish general results - scientific research needs to be objective, systematic and replicable
Evaluation of using scientific method in psychology
+ high internal validity (high levels of control allow researcher to manipulate the IV to see the effect it has on the DV (establish a cause and effect)
+ High reliability (use standardised and controlled procedures) - same stimulus used each time and same standardised instructions were given to all participants (allows for study to be repeated in exactly the same way)
- low ecological validity(operationalised), means variable no longer resembles the way we behave in our everyday lives - example, asking participants to recall a list of words as a test for memory is not how we use our memory on a daily basis (limited to the extent they can be generalised)
- Much of psychology is unobservable (our thoughts and emotions) - by measuring what is observable we may be missing other factors which influence our behaviour (so it may not be 100% accurate)
Describe the Behaviour approach
- all our behaviour is a result of previous experiences and is learnt. Behaviour can be learnt via the behaviourist approach and social learning theory
- valid to study the behaviour of animals
- can be learnt via classical conditioning or operant conditioning
Classical Conditioning:
- Behaviour learnt via association with a stimuli
Example: Pavlov’s Dogs
1) food (UCS) made dog salivate (UCR)
2) Bell (NS) made dog not salivate
3)bell and food associated together over time makes dog salivate
4) so bell eventually becomes a (CS) and the dog will salivate when hearing the bell (CR)
( - Timing matters: if NS occurs a long time after UCS then it can’t happen - )
( - Extinction - not permanent - )
Operant Conditioning:
- behaviour learnt via the consequences of our actions
Example: Skinners white rats
POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT: behaviour more likely to happen again
NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT: removing something unpleasant
1) Hungry rat placed in a box
2) negative reinforcement: unpleasant stimuli like a loud noise can be turned off by pressing a switch
3) positive reinforcement: pressing the lever would lead to the reward of food
Social learning theory:
- views behaviour as being learnt via observation and imitation of a role model
IMITATION AND MODELLING: we imitate the behaviour that we see others carry out is called modelling
MEDIATIONAL PROCESSES: bandura’s ARMM
Attention - notice the behaviour
Retention - how well the behaviour is remembered
Motivation - motivated to actually carry out action, reinforcement can help
Motor reproduction - ability to physically carry out behaviour
Example: Bandura (children observed aggressive behaviour acted more aggressively than those who did not.
Evaluation of Classical conditioning
+ Supporting research: Watson and Rayner carried out a study to try and create a phobia in a 9 month old child, white rat with loud noise. Supports the behavioural approach demonstrates that phobias can be learnt
+ Application: systematic desensitisation (treatment for Phobias) is based on the principles of classical conditioning. Gilroy et al found it worked to treat a spider phobia (means that the theory is able to improve people quality of life)
- Environmental determinism: states that all behaviour is a result of past, learnt behaviour. Do not have free will over our behaviour. means criminal behaviour can never be punished as the individual would not be responsible.
- Use of animals in research: the majority of research is based on non-human animals. These findings are then applied to explain human behaviour. reduces accuracy as animals do not have higher level thinking or reasoning compared to humans
Evaluation of operant conditioning
- Supporting research: Levin et al (gave rats the choice of self-administering doses of nicotine or water by licking waterspouts one with nicotine
