Approaches In Psychology Flashcards
Definition of psychology
The scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those functions affecting behaviour in given context
Emergence of psychology as a science
→ 20th century + introspection
→ John B Watson
→ behaviourist approach
- Beginning of the 20th century → scientific status of introspection was being doubted
- John B Watson → believed data produced was subjective so didn’t establish general principles. Also he thought that in order for it to be truly scientific it needed to be properly measured
- behaviourist approach → this caused birth of behaviourist approach and with it the emergence or psychology as a science
Evaluation of psychology
✅
- modern research
- approaches + lab studies
- scientific discipline
❌
- approaches + subjective methods
-humanistic approach
- objective and reliable
✅
- modern research can claim to be scientific
- many approaches for example the cognitive approach all use lab studies in order to investigate in an unbiased way
- psychology has established itself as a scientific discipline
❌
- not all approaches use objective methods
- for example humanistic approach focuses on subjective individual experiences
- therefore psychology cannot always be objective and reliable
Vilhelm Wundt
- psychologist
- structuralism
- introspection
-scientific approach
- First psychologist and separated psychology from philosophy and biology
- his approach became known as structuralism
- he came up with introspection as a method to investigate people’s thoughts
- came up with the scientific approach and method
What is structuralism?
- Vilhelm Wundt
- building blocks
- participants observations
- reaction time
- mental processes
- Wundts approach
- used experimental methods to find the basic structures (building blocks) of thought
- broke participants observations of objects / images / events into constituent parts
- studied reaction time and systematically changed the stimuli, measuring how long it took them to respond
- he inferred that the longer it took to respond the more mental processes must be involved
Introspection
-Reflect
-Cognitive processes
❌
✅
- Wundt used to investigate the mind
- participants were asked to reflect on their own cognitive processes and describe them
❌ - subjective
✅ - would lead to multiple psychological perspectives
Wundt’s new scientific approach (scientific method)
- caused
- predict
- how did he study
Based on two major assumptions
→ all behaviour is caused (determined)
→ if its determined it is possible to predict how humans would behave in different conditions (predictability)
The method he used to study this became known as the scientific method
What is the scientific method
- Wundts scientific approach
- The method Wundt used to investigate his scientific approach
Ask a question
State hypothesis
Conduct experiment
Analyse results
Make a conclusion
Evaluation of the scientific method - A03
✅
- objective
- treatments
❌
-natural environment
-not all can be observed
✅
- knowledge acquired is accurate due to use of objective and controlled studies
- allows causes of behaviour to be established and treatments developed
❌
- too focussed on being objective so tells as little about how people behave in natural environments
- certain areas of human behaviour that cannot be observed therefore measured using the scientific method
Behaviorist approach summary - AO1
- blank state
- lab experiments
- classical conditioning
- operant conditioning
- we are born as a blank state so we are shaped by our environment
- argues we should focus on observable behaviour that can be measured using lab experiments
- classical conditioning is learning through association
- operant conditioning is where behaviour is shaped and maintained by it consequences
Classical conditioning
- behaviourist approach
- Ivan Pavlov
- Learning through association
- first demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov
- dogs could be conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell if that sound was repeatedly presented at the same time they were given food
- gradually they would associate the sound of the bell (the stimulus) with food and would salivate everytime they heard the bell
- showed now a neutral stimulus can elicit a new learned response (a conditioned response) through association
Conditioned response is desired outcome
Unconditioned stimulus is what they have the desired response to in the first place
Neutral stimulus is what you want them to have the desired response to
Operant conditioning
- behaviourist approach
- reinforcement and punishment
- skinners box
- Behaviour is shaped and maintained by its consequences
- positive reinforcement: receiving a reward when a certain behaviour is performed
- negative reinforcement: occurs when you avoid something unpleasant
- punishment: an unpleasant consequence of behaviour
- skinner developed a special cage called a Skinner box to investigate operant conditioning
- rat moves around cage and when he accidentally presses the never a food pellet (a reinforcer) falls into the cage
- the rat learns that to obtain food he needs to press the lever
- is the food stops the rat will abandon the lever (extinction)
Evaluation of the behaviourist approach - AO3
✅
- measurement of observable behaviour
- influential
- real world behaviours
❌
- free will
- ethics
✅
- focuses on measurement of observable behaviour in controlled labs so objective
- emphasises importance of objectivity so became influential in the development of psychology as a science
- principles of conditioning have been applied to a broad range of real world behaviours
❌.
- skinner said free will is an illusion → doesn’t recognise free will
- ethics are questionable → use of animals
Summary of social learning theory
- Learn through our experiences as well as indirectly by observing others
- bandara and the bobo doll experiment
- mediational processes: attention, retention, motor reproduction, motivation
- vicarious reinforcement → reinforcement not directly experienced but observed in someone else
- identification and rolemodels
Mediational processes
- social learning theory
-ARMM
- Attention: the extent to which we notice behaviour
- retention: now well behaviour is remembered
- motor reproduction: the ability to perform the behaviour that the model has demonstrated
- motivation: the will to perform the behaviour
Vicarious reinforcement and identification
- social learning theory
- observing behaviour and consequences
- modelling
Vicarious reinforcement: individual observes the behaviour taking place and then the learner may imitate this behaviour. The learner observes the behaviour and the consequence. Reinforcement is not directly experienced but observed in someone else.
Identification: people are more likely to imitate behaviour of someone they can identify with (role models) this is called modelling
Banduras research - AO1
- social learning theory
- bobo doll
- children learning agression
Aim - To investigate the effect of observed aggression on children’s behaviour
Method- 72 children between 3 and 6 observed adults behaviour towards the bobo doll - some adults behaved aggressively whereas some were non aggressive - the children observed this behaviour for 10 minutes and were then taken to a room containing a bobo doll, aggressive toys eg. Hammers and dart guns as well as non - aggressive toys such as farm animals. The children’s behaviour was observed for 20 minutes
Result - Children who had observed aggressive behaviour were more likely to be aggressive. Children were more likely to imitate the behaviour of the same-sex role model.
conclusion - Aggression can be learned via the mechanisms of SLT
Bandura did a later study where he used vicarious reinforcement and vicarious punishment after the adults had acted aggressively to see what effect that had on the children’s imitations of the behaviour
Evaluation of Banduras research - AO3
✅
- controlled
- debate
❌
- ethics
- only short term
✅
- controlled study so can be replicated therefore reliable
- fuelled debate therefore ahead good application to real word scenarios
❌
- ethical issues as some of the children were exposed to an aggressive adult which may have alarmed and distressed them
- The experiment only shows short-term effects of observed aggression, making it difficult to see if there are long-term effects too
Evaluation of social learning theory - AO3
✅
- cognitive factors
- application
❌
- biological factors
- natural environment
✅
- recognises the importance of cognitive factors
- applied to a wide range of real world behaviours
❌
- doesn’t take into account biological factors
- evidence based on lab studies so we do not know how the children would have behaved in their natural environments
Cognitive approach summary - AO1
- inferences
- models
- schema
- cognitive neuroscience
- internal mental processes cannot be studies scientifically so psychologists make inferences
- use theoretical models: information processing approach (multi store model) and the computer model
- schema: packets of information which help us to interpret new information
- cognitive neuroscience: study of the influence of brain structures on mental processes
Theoretical models
- cognitive approach
- information processing approach
- computer model
- Information processing approach: information flows through a sequence of stages including input, storage and retrieval as in the multi store model
- computer model: programming a computer to see if such instructions produce a similar output to humans. Proved useful in the development of AI
Schema
- cognitive approach
- like packets of information which help us to interpret new events. We have schema for people, situations and objects.
- we are born with basic schema but they become more complex as we gain more experience.
- Are believed to effect how we store, process and retrieve memories which is what makes them less accurate
EXAMPLE - a robber → tall dressed in black wearing a disguise carrying a sac
Evaluation of the cognitive approach - AO3
✅
- lab experiments
❌
✅
-methods used to investigate were highly controlled and rigorous producing reliable and objective data so has a credible basis
❌
- ignores human emotion for example in eye witness testimonies. The analogy of a computer had been criticised
- too abstract and theoretical as psychologists can only infer metal processes from what they observe so therefore lacks external validity
Biological approach summary - AO1
- definition
- genes influence
- genetic basis of behaviour
- genotype and phenotype
- Evolution
- combines psychology and biology to provide a physiological explanation for human behaviour. Tried to explain how we think and feel in terms of physical factors in the body
- genes affect behaviour and influence psychological differences in people
- investigate how biology effects behaviour
- genetic basis of behaviour is the study of the genetic makeup of organisms and how this influences behaviour. Twin studies were used to investigate this
- the expression of a genotype (the phenotype) that is influenced by the environment
- genes have evolved, biological psychologists argue that genes are responsible for physical and psychological characteristics
