Approaches in Psychology Flashcards
What did Wundt do?
Published the first book in psychology
Opened the first lab in Germany
Aimed to describe human consciousness carefully and scientifically
Introspection
“Looking into”- participants were asked to reflect on their own cognitive processes and describe
Stages/features of introspection
- Presented with a stimulus
- Inspect thoughts, and report back on emotions that resulted from stimulus
- Draw conclusions and compare all responses + strengths and weaknesses
Controlled procedures and standardised instructions
For all participants
Stimuli presented in the same order
Structuralism
Identifying structure of consciousness by breaking it up thoughts, images and sensations
->Married start of scientific psychology
Strengths of Wundt’s methods
SCIENTIFIC
-Within a controlled lab setting
-SP, all received same info + tested same way
–>forerunner to later scientific approaches
PIONEERING
-Produced the first academic journal and first textbook, set foundation for approaches
Disadvantages of Wundt’s methods
SUBJECTIVE
-relies on non observable responses-unconscious?
-subjective data- hard to establish general principles, not reliably reproduced by others
REDUCTIONIST
-Wundt only looked at everything in its simplest form which means it oversimplifies the human mind(bio, psychological, social, cultural)
FORE
Falsifiability- possibility of false hypothesis via testing
Objectivity- measurements affect by researcher expectations
Replicability- accurate recording of procedures to allow reliable replication
Empirical methods- using observation/testing to gain knowledge
1900s- Early behaviourists rejected introspection
Introspections was subjective as it is personal perspective
Behaviourist- scientific psychology should only study observable phenomena
1930s- Behaviourist scientific approach dominated
Skinner brought language +rigour
Behaviourist- observable empirical data about learning and the use of controlled lab studies
->dominated for 50 yrs
1950s- Cognitive approach studied mental processes scientifically
Cognitive psychologist likened the mind to a computer and tested memory and attention predictions using experiments
1980s- Biological approach introduced technological advances
Bio psychologists took advantage of recent tech advances, including scanning
Strengths of psychology as a science
SCIENTIFIC CLAIM
used controlled environments like labs and unbiased replicable methods like standardised instructions- allow for replication= reliability=validity
Weaknesses of psychology as a science
SUBJECTIVE METHODS + DATA
humanistic approach= no formulation of general laws of behaviour
psychodynamic approach= case studies, unrepresentative samples
humans= demand characteristics
EXPERIMENTAL REDUCTIONISM
complex behaviour reduced to isolated variable for testing- explains behaviour but ignores other influences
Unconscious in determining behaviour
Childhood experiences are important in adult development (distressing events become part of the unconscious mind)
Conscious
Things we are aware of
Preconscious
Brought into conscious mind
Subconscious
Unacceptable or unpleasant things outside of our consciousness
The Id
Pleasure principle- instincts to sex + aggression
The Ego
Reality principle- balances the id and superego
The Superego
Morality principle- after socialisation, moral conscience
Oral stage
0-1 years
mouth and sucking is primary source of pleasure
Oral stage fixation
Smoking, overeating
Anal stage
1-3
Involves the membranes of the anal region
toilet training= major demand
ego develops
Anal stage fixation
Overly messy, anally retentive
Phallic stage
3-6
Involves the genitals
Oedipus complex and castration anxiety
superego develops= identification with parents + internalisation of their moral standards
Phallic stage fixation
Masturbation
Latency stage
6-12
Less concentration on the sexual area
Previous conflicts repressed resulting in little recalled from childhood
Latency stage fixation
extreme perfectionism, rigidity, or an inability to maintain intimacy
Genital stage
After puberty
primary source of pleasure is hetero relationships
fixation may prevent this with sexual perversions/ homosexuality
Repression
Defense mechanism where traumatic memories are forced into the unconscious unless they break through
Denial
Deny event to prevent anxiety
Displacement
Redirection of an emotion to an easier target
Strength of Psychodynamic Approach- Psychoanalysis
First attempt to treat mental disorders psychologically
Claims to help clients in everyday
Forerunner to modern talking therapies
Disadvantage of Psychodynamic Approach- Gender bias
Androcentric
Ignored female sexuality- alpha bias
Jung made electra complex and said women have a less developed superego
Disadvantage of Psychodynamic Approach- FORE
is not falsifiable or scientific, was self interpreted
Strength of Psychodynamic Approach- Fisher and Greenberg
2500 studies compare well with studies relevant to any major area of psychology
support for existence of unconscious motivation in humans + ego defence mechanisms
Behaviourism
all behaviour is learnt and influenced by the environment
Behaviourists are only interested in studying what type of behaviour
Observable and measurable behaviour
Classical conditioning
Learning through association- Pavlov
Pavlov Dog study
Found dogs could be conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell and show a NS can come to elicit a new learned response
Neutral stimulus
An event that produces no response
Unconditioned stimulus
Produces an unlearned reflex response
Unconditioned response
Innate unlearnt reflex behaviour that is produced from a UCS
Conditioned stimulus
Event that produces a learned response
Conditioned response
Learned behaviour that is produced when exposed to a conditioned stimulus
Timing (feature of CC)
if NS cant predict UCS= no conditioning
Stimulus generalisation(feature of CC)
When animal is conditioned= response to similar stimuli
Extinction(feature of CC)
CR is not permanently established, after presented many times without UCS, ability is lost
Spontaneous recovery
if UC and UCS paired after extinction, link is made quicker
Operant conditioning
Learning by consequences
Positive and negative reinforcement
positive- add something pleasant so behaviour is more likely to occur
negative= removing unpleasant experience so behaviour is more likely to occur
Positive and negative punishment
positive- adding an unpleasant experience so behaviour is less likely to be repeated
negative- removing a pleasant experience so undesirable behaviour is less likely to be repeated
Strengths of behaviourism
Focuses on observable behaviour- stimulus-response units
Real life application- treatments especially in systematic desensitisation of phobias
Weaknesses of behaviourism
Reductionist- oversimplifies and ignores other important influences
All nature- ignores free will/ biological
Ethics- animals used in studies
Applicability- animals are not humans, can the same strategy by applied?
Social learning theory
proposed by Bandura includes direct and indirect reinforcement, combining learning theory with role of cognitive factors
Elements of SLT
Modelling-live models or symbolic
Imitation- copying the behaviours of another person
Identification- similar characteristics influence likelihood of imitation
Vicarious reinforcement- reward or watching reward given increases likelihood
Mediational processes ARMR
Attention- whether we notice
Retention- remember longterm
Motivation- is it worth it?
Reproduction- physically perform?
Strengths of SLT
Real life application- cultural differences being transmitted + explains aggression
Research- Bandura
Weaknesses of SLT
Lab based- demand characteristics, hard to apply
Deterministic- we cant control it
How did Bandura counter determinism
Reciprocal determinism, we exert some influence also
Has more face validity- more optimistic
Soft determinism
Acknowledges role of free will
