Approaches in Psychology Flashcards
Who is William Wundt?
The first person to be called psychologist
- The Father of Psychology
When and where was the first psychology laboratory opened?
- 1879 in Leipzig,Germany
What happened in 1873?
- Wundt published his first book on Psychology (‘Principles of Physiological Psychology’) to establish Psychology as an independent science.
What is introspection?
The examination of one’s conscious awareness/thoughts
How was introspection carried out?
- Highly trained assistants would be given a stimulus such as a ticking metronome and would reflect on the experience.
- They were asked to report their sensations, thoughts and feelings, breaking their thoughts into separate elements
What was structuralism?
The attempt to understand the structure and characteristics of the mind.
When should introspection be obtained?
It should be obtained during a task rather than after as subjects may forget their thoughts
What are problems of introspection?
- reports may be deliberately distorted due to socially desirable responses, effecting validity
- there will always be a delay between the conscious experience and the reporting of it, so subjects may forget their thoughts.
- if results can’t be replicated they will not be reliable.
What was David Griffths experiment in 1994?
- Griffths gave individuals of 2 groups five pounds each (gambles and non gamblers).
- They were attached to a mic and told to speak out their thoughts.
He concluded that gamblers have a different thought process
What is the unconscious mind?
Buried, unknown thoughts at the back of the mind
Who was the founder of the psychodynamic approach.
Sigmund Freud
What does the psychodynamic theory state?
Psychodynamic theory states that events in our childhood have a great influence on our adult life. It will shape our personality
What metaphor does Sigmund Freud use to explain the mind?
An iceberg:
- the submerged majority represents the unconscious mind
- the middle represents the pre-conscious mind
- the tip represents the conscious mind
How can you access the unconscious mind?
Through psychoanalysis (therapy)
What is the structure of personality?
- Id
- Ego
- Superego
Where does the id reside?
It’s buried in the unconscious mind
When do we develop the id?
We are all born with it
What is the id motivated by?
The Pleasure Principle
What is the id?
It’s the unconscious focus on one’s self
What can a dominant id result in?
Addictions in adulthood
Where does the ego reside?
In the conscious and pre-conscious parts of the mind
What is the ego?
The rational, conscious part of the brain
What is the role of the ego?
To balance out the id and superego
What is the ego motivated by?
The Reality Principle
Where does the superego reside?
Mainly in the pre-conscious and sometimes the conscious mind
What is the superego motivated by?
The Moral Principle
What is the superego?
It’s a moral guide developed which is based on social and parental influence
What can a weak ego lead to?
A dominant id and/or superego
What can a dominant superego lead to?
It can lead to problems like anxiety, OCD, eating disorders and depression
What is a weakness of case studies?
- The information is very subject and not scientific
-> because there isn’t data to analyse but thoughts and experiences to evaluate
What are strengths of case studies?
Information gained is very detailed and produces qualitative data
What are defence mechanisms?
Different ways our ego protects us from past trauma (that can lead us to feeling anxiety,guilt or shame) by distorting reality for ourselves.
What are the three main defence mechanisms?
- Denial
- Displacement
- Repression
What is denial?
When a person refuses to accept that an event has happened.
Why is denial a defence mechanism?
- When something traumatic happens which would be hard to deal with, the person denies that is had happened at all. This isn’t a conscious process
- Denial can protect us from anxiety
What is displacement?
When an unacceptable drive is displaced to a more acceptable target.
- e.g. taking your anger out from one person to another
What is repression?
The mind force a distressing memory out of the conscious mind.
What is the problem with overusing defence mechanisms?
- It can lead to a person’s whole reality not being accepted.
- They would be living in a form of psychosis.
- They have their own individual reality that doesn’t affect other’s reality.
What are the 5 psychosexual stages?
- Oral stage
- Anal stage
- Phallic stage
- Latent stage
- Genital stage
What ages does the oral stage occur?
0-1 years old
What ages does the anal stage occur?
1-3 years old
What ages does the phallic stage occur?
3-5 years old
What ages does the latent stage occur?
6-12 years old
What ages does the genital stage occur?
Puberty to adulthood
What happens if a child is deprived or overstatisfied during any of the psychosexual stages?
They may become fixated and this will have effects on their adult behaviour
Why do we have psychosexual stages?
- Freud believed that children are born with a libido (not necessarily a sexual urge)
- There are a number of stages of childhood, during which the child seeks pleasure from a different ‘object’
- To be psychologically healthy, we must successfully complete each stage
During the oral stage, where is the main focus of pleasure?
The mouth
During the anal stage, where is the main focus of pleasure?
Anus - defecation is the main source of pleasure
During the Phallic stage, where is the main focus of pleasure?
Genitals
During the latency stage, where is the main focus of pleasure?
Sexual urges are sublimed. There is more focus on sports, hobbies and making same-sex friendships
During the genital stage, where is the main focus of pleasure?
Focus on genitals but not to same extent as phallic stage
What is the result of fixation at the oral stage?
Excessive smoking, overeating, or dependence on others
What is the result of fixation at the anal stage?
An overly controlling personality or an easily angered personality
What is the result of fixation at the phallic stage?
Guilt or anxiety about sex
What is the result of fixation at the latent stage?
No fixations at this stage
What is the result of fixation at the genital stage?
No fixations at this stage
What causes fixation at the oral stage?
Fixation occurs at this stage if a child is weaned too soon or is not weaned soon enough
What causes fixation at the anal stage?
Parent’s who are too lenient or too strict can cause fixation at this stage.
What is the Oedipus Complex?
- Boy wants his mother as his ‘primary love object’ and wants his father out of the way
- however when the boy later sees that he’s visually more similar to his father he seems to develop his superego based on his father action.
Who founded the behaviourist approach?
JB Watson in 1915
What are the assumptions with the psychodynamic approach?
- events in childhood stay in the unconscious and affect adulthood
- the ego uses defence mechanisms to protect the mind
What are the positives of the psychodynamic approach?
- information gained is detailed and helped to understand the reasons behind behaviour
What are the negatives of the psychodynamic approach?
- it’s subjective
- not enough data/information to compare everyone
What methods are used in the psychodynamic approach?
- psychoanalysis (talking therapy)
- through case studies of individuals
What are the basic assumptions of the behaviourist approach?
- We are all born ‘tabla rasa’ (blank slates)
- All behaviour is learnt - result of stimuli
- All behaviour is learnt from the environment
- All we have at birth is the capacity to learn
What is meant by tabla rasa?
Humans are born as a blank slates
What is the definition of a stimulus?
Anything, internal or external, that brings about a response
What is the definition of a response?
Any reaction in the presence of a stimulus
What is the definition of reinforcement?
The process by which a response is strengthened.
What is the focus of the behaviourist approach?
Observable behaviour
What is US or UCS?
Unconditioned stimulus
What is UR or UCR?
Unconditioned response
What is NS?
Neutral Stimulus
What is CR?
Conditioned response
What is CS?
Conditioned stimulus
What is a reflex?
Automatic response (uncontrolled)
Who came up with the theory of Classical Conditioning?
Ivan Pavlov
What are the three types of learning in the behaviourist approach?
- Classic Conditioning
- Social Learning Theory
- Operant Conditioning
What is classical conditioning?
This is the learning by association and refers to the conditioning of reflexes and involves associating a new stimulus with an innate bodily reflex.
Explain Pavlov’s dog experiment.
- First Pavlov established that food causes the dogs to salivate
- Unconditioned Stimulus — food
- Unconditioned Response — saliva
- Then Pavlov started to ring a bell each time he bought food over.
- Neutral Stimulus — bell sound
- The dogs soon associated the sound to food and would salivate when they heard the bells.
- Conditioned stimulus — bell
- Conditioned response — saliva
What was Pavlov’s contribution on understanding human behaviour?
- showed learning could be investigated experimentally using non-human participants
- discovered classical conditioning
- influenced therapy techniques
How do we know that Classical Conditioning works with humans as well?
Watson and Rainer experiment with ‘Little Albert’ in 1920
Who came up with Operant Conditioning?
BF Skinner
What is Operant Conditioning?
Learning through the consequences (positive or negative) of behaviour responses
What is reinforcement?
Anything which has the effect of increasing the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated
What is positive reinforcement?
Anything which has the effect of increasing the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated using consequences that are pleasant
What is positive reinforcement?
Anything which has the effect of increasing the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated using consequences that are pleasant
What is negative reinforcement?
Anything which has the effect of increasing the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated by removing an unpleasant consequence.
What is punishment?
Anything which has the effect of decreasing the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated by using consequences that are unpleasant.
Explain the positive reinforcement in Skinner’s box.
1) hungry rat was placed in in a box
2) box contained a lever on the side and as the rat moved it would accidentally knock the lever
3) food pellets would drop each time the lever was locked
4) the rat quickly learnt to go straight for the lever if it wanted food
Explain the negative reinforcement in Skinner’s box.
1) rat is placed in a box and is subjected to a mild electrical shock (causing discomfort)
2) as the rat moved around it will accidentally knock the lever
3) immediately as it did electrical current would be switched off
4) rat quickly learnt to go straight to the lever
What are the basic assumptions with Social Learning Theory?
- behaviour is learnt through experience (agrees with the behaviourist approach)
- learning occurs through observation and imitation of role models
What methods are used in Social Learning Theory?
- Controlled Experiments
What are the positives with the Social Learning Theory?
- more of a complete explanation of human behaviour than conditioning as it takes cognitive factors in learning
- based on lab experiments (accurate + reliable results)
- it’s concerned with human behaviour rather than animal behaviour
What are the negatives with the Social Learning Theory?
- doesn’t take into account free will and moral values
- doesn’t take into account the influence of biological factors on behaviour
What is the Social Learning Theory?
The indirect learning through imitation
Who came up with the Social Learning theory?
Albert Bandura
- he proposed the SLT as a development of the behaviourist approach
What is imitation in SLT?
It is the way an individual copies the behaviour of a role model.
When is imitation most likely to occur?
If we identify with the role model.
- this process is called modelling
Who makes a good model in SLT?
Anyone can make a good model,e.g:
- Same age
- Same sex
- Older sibling
- Celebrity
There should be a factor that we can identify ourselves with
What is vicarious reinforcement?
When imitation is most likely to occur when the model is positively reinforced
What was the Bobo doll experiment? Change this
It was a lab experiment were Bandura recorded the behaviour of children who had watched how an adult behaviour towards it.
What were the variables in the Bobo doll experiment?
- 24 children shown an aggressive model (6 boys and 6 girls were shown a male model, and 6 boys and 6 girls were shown a female model)
- 24 children shown a non-aggressive model (6 boys and 6 girls were shown a male model, and 6 boys and 6 girls were shown a female model)
- 24 children shown no model (as a control)
What was in sample in the Bobo doll experiment?
36 boys and 36 girls from the Stanford University Nursery School aged between 3 to 6 years old.
What were the results of the Bobo doll experiment?
- children who observed the aggressive model acted were more likely to act aggressively towards the doll then the other two groups
- boys imitated more aggressive acts than girls
- boys were more likely to imitate same-sex models than girls
What were the limitations of the Bobo doll experiment?
- a controlled environment, so real-life isn’t reflected
- ethical - may cause psychological harm to kids
What are the four cognitive conditions needed for observational learning?
- Attention: observer needs to pay attention to the model
- Retention: observer needs to be able to remember the models actions
- Reproduction: observer needs to be able to transform the mental representation into a a physical action
- Motivation: observer needs a reason to imitate
When was the humanistic approach developed?
The humanistic movement developed in America in the early 1950s
What are the assumptions of the Humanistic Approach?
- each person is unique and can exercise free will (rejects the other two approaches)
- humans strive towards self-actualisation
- subjective experience of the world is more crucial to understanding an individual than objective reality.
What are the positives of the humanistic approach?
- has application to modern society
- considers subjective conscious experience
What are the negatives of the humanistic approach?
- without ‘basic needs’ one can’t self-actualise (so homeless people can’t self-actualise)
- the hierarchy of needs is very exclusive
What methods are used in the humanistic approach?
Qualitative methods, such as:
- unstructured interviewing
- participant observation
- diaries, letters,etc
Who came up with the ‘Hierarchy of Needs’?
Abraham Maslow in 1943
What was the Hierarchy of Needs?
A pyramid which represents the most basic human needs at the bottom and the most advanced needs at the top
What is the order of the Hierarchy of Needs? (bottom to top)
1) Basic (food,water,air)
2) Safety (security, feeling secure)
3) Love (intimacy, family and friends)
4) Self-esteem (confidence and respect towards oneself, respect by others)
5) Self-actualisation (fulfilment, to develop or achieve one’s full potential)
What is Carl Roger’s Self Theory?
You are made up of two selves:
- real self
- ideal self
What is the real self?
- how you are in the real world
- how others see you
What is the ideal self?
- who you wish to be if you were the best version of yourself
What are the two basic needs that Carl Roger’s claimed people have?
- positive regard from others
- feeling of self-worth
When do feelings of self-worth develop?
It’s developed in childhood and formed as a result of the child’s interactions with parents and loved ones
When is congruence established?
When our real self is closer to our ideal self
- it’s rare to be in a state of complete congruence
What are the conditions of worth?
- humans have a basic need to feel nurtured & valued by significant people in their lives
- love and acceptance may be given conditionally or unconditionally
- psychological issues are thought to arise as a direct result of conditions of worth
When was the cognitive approach developed?
Began in late 1950’s and early 1960’s
Became dominant approach in 1970’s
What are the basic assumptions of the cognitive approach?
- external stimuli give us internal thoughts to process in the mind
- schema are mental representations of past knowledge and experience
- our mind is compared to a computer
What methods are used in for the cognitive approach?
- controlled lab experiments
- use of theoretical models
- use of computer models
What are the positives of the cognitive approach?
- it’s objective
- use of computer simulations to help in treatment of schizophrenia
- use of computer modelling to develop voice recognition program
- can use the scientific approach (controlled lab experiments)
What are the negatives of the cognitive approach?
- computer models to explain our mind is inaccurate as our minds can forget information, whereas computers can’t
- lack ecological validity making it difficult to generalise findings to real life.
What are internal mental processes?
Private actions or processes of the mind that mediate (comes between) stimulus and response
What are schema?
Pockets of information and mental representations of past experience, knowledge and understanding
Why do we have schema?
- They help us predict what will happen in the world based on past experience
- We can process a lot of information quickly using schemas
- Prevent us becoming overwhelmed by external stimuli
What are negative of schemas?
- they can lead to faulty conclusions which may result in unhelpful behaviour
- they can result in negative stereotypes
- they can distort our interpretation of sensory information
Who conducted the Rat-Man study?
Bugelsky & Alampay (1962)
What was the aim of the rat-man study?
To investigate whether previous knowledge (existing schema) affects the perception of new material
- the study supports the cognitive approach
How can we analyse internal model processes in the cognitive approach?
- using theoretical models
- inferences
What are the basic assumptions of the biological approach?
- human behaviour has biological cause which has/may be altered genetically and/or environmentally altered
- genes affect behaviour, genotype and phenotype which influence individual differences between people
What methods are used in the biological approach?
- lab experiments and observations
- objective brain recording and scanning techniques used
What are the positives of the biological approach?
- uses the scientific method (highly controlled increasing reliability and validity of results)
- is a scientific approach suggests we can find a cause and effect of biology on behaviour
What are the negatives of the biological approach?
- lab experiments can lack ecological validity
- very difficult to separate the effects of nature and the effects nurture
What is heredity?
The passing of characteristics through genes
What is heritability?
The amount of variation in a behaviour within a population that can be attributed to genetic differences
What are monozygotic twins?
Identical twins (share 100% of genes)
What are dizygotic twins?
Non-identical twins (share 50% of genes)
Who are typically used if we want to study a genetic cause of a behaviour?
Generally monozygotic twins, but dizygotic twins are sometimes uses
What do concordance rates refer to in twin studies?
To the extent which a pair of twins will share the same/similar characteristics
Explain the case of Phineas Gage?
He had a rod pass through his brain. Although he survived his personality was reported to be to be very different going from a sociable, kind person to an antisocial, ill-mannered person.
What is the cerebral cortex?
The outer layer of the brain, composed of folded grey matter and plays an important role in the consciousness. This grey matter separates us from other animals
What is the function of the cerebral cortex?
It’s responsible for higher order functions
What is the function of the cerebral cortex?
It’s responsible for higher order functions
What does low levels of serotonin lead to?
OCD or depression
What does low levels of serotonin lead to?
OCD or depression
What do high levels of dopamine lead to?
Schizophrenia
What is genotype?
Set of genes you are born with, the expression of genotype is influenced by environmental factors
What are phenotypes?
An individuals observable characteristics or behaviour from the inherited genotypes. Combination of genes and environment
What is evolution?
The changes in inherited characteristics in a biological population over successive generations
What are the two main concepts Darwin focuses on in his evolution theory?
- natural selection
- sexual selection
