Approaches in Psychology Flashcards
What is the definition of psychology?
The scientific study of human minds and its functions
What is introspection?
A way of studying internal mental events. The first systematic and experimental attempt to study the mind/mental processes by breaking down conscious awareness into basic structures of reflections, thoughts, images and sensations.
What is Wundt known as?
The father of psychology
What psychological processes did Wundt want to focus on?
Perception and Structuralism
What is structuralism?
A theory of consciousness. It involves the use of introspection, self-reports of sensations, views, feelings, emotions etc.
What is the theory of consciousness?
The theory of consciousness involves the use of introspection, self reports of sensations, views, feelings, emotions, etc
What was Wundt’s introspection experiment?
Introspection was recorded under strictly controlled conditions in a lab and the same reaction times and instructions were given to participants. They had to also focus on present experiences
Introspection involved someone saying everything going through their head when doing an activity or thinking about a topic. They must keep talking even if their ideas are not clear, they also must not hesitate.
What is the emergence of psychology as a science?
Wundt wanted to investigate psychology in the same way as traditional sciences as he believed it should emerge as a science
What is reductionism?
The approach of reducing complex systems to simpler components that are more manageable to study.
Give 5 positives of introspection and the emergence of psychology as a science
+ It has helped other approaches in psychology like behaviourism and the cognitive approach - it is a very useful phenomenon used in psychologyterm-9
+ It is quite scientific and shares the same qualities as the scientific subjects of Chemistry, Biology and Physics. In a lab setting there is also high control.
+ It was able to establish what causes behaviour, this can then help predict future behaviour for example dopamine and OCD.
+. It is still used in areas of therapy today for example when patients have to turn their negative thoughts to positive ones in cognitive therapy.
+ Wundt advocates the idea of reductionism - believed consciousness can be broken down to basic elements.
Give 3 negatives of introspection and the emergence of psychology as a science
- It produces subjective data which varies from one individual to the next therefore introspection is not objective or reliable.
- Introspection may be considered unscientific
- Introspection fails to explain how the mind works and the processes involved in thinking about a particular topic/doing an activity.
What is the Behaviourist Approach in Psychology?
A way of explaining behaviour in terms of what is observed in terms of learning
What are general assumptions of the behavioural model?
- Emerged at the beginning of the 20th century
- Was the driving force in the development of psychology as a science
- Focused on behaviour being measured and observed
- All behaviour is learnt and involves the sae processes for animals and humans
- Watson rejected introspection because it was too vague and difficult to measure
- Behaviourism maintains more control and objectivity within research and relies on laboratory experiments
What is classical conditioning?
Learning by association. A neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus.
What is classical conditioning? (The work of Ivan Pavlov)
- Involves building up an association between two different stimuli so that learning takes place.
- Dogs can be conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell, if the sound of a bell is repeatedly presented at the same time as food is presented.
- Both of these stimuli would be paired or associated together to cause a learning response so that the dog would learn to associate the sound of the bell with food and will then salivate.
- Then, the dog will salivate to the bell sound alone
What are the conditions before classical conditioning?
- Food (unconditioned stimulus) produces the unconditioned response of the dog salivating.
- A bell (neutral stimulus) is rung and the dog does not salivate (no conditioned response is observed
What are the conditions during classical conditioning?
The unconditioned stimulus (food) is repeatedly paired with the neutral stimulus (bell) to produce salivation (unconditioned response). This is classical conditioning.
What are the conditions after classical conditioning?
The bell can be presented alone (conditioned stimulus) and the dog will being to salivate (conditioned response)
What are the 3 principles of classical conditioning in relation to Pavlov’s research?
- Generalisation
- Discrimination
- Extinction
What is generalisation?
Stimuli similar to the original conditioned stimuli will cause the conditioned response - a bell with a different pitch will still cause salivation
