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 infromation 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