Approaches In Psychology Flashcards
What does the behaviourist approach assume?
Observable behaviour is all that is needed to be studied.
Basic processes are the same in all species.
What is classical conditioning?
Pavlovs dogs.
Research on salivation in dogs.
Association of an unconditioned stimulus with a neutral stimulus to produce a conditioned stimulus and conditioned response.
What is operant conditioning?
Research with rats and pigeons in Skinners box.
Animal operates on the environment, behaviour shaped by consequences.
Positive and negative reinforcement.
Punishment.
Evaluation of the behaviourist approach.
Well-controlled research - broken down into stimulus and response units.
Counterpoint - reducing behaviour in this way removed important influences on behaviour like thought
Real-world application - token economy systems used in prisons.
Environmental determinism - all behaviour influenced by past experiences, no free will.
Assumptions of social learning theory
All behaviour is learned through observation and imitation.
Learned through experience.
What is vicarious reinforcement?
Observation leads to imitation if behaviour is vicariously reinforced.
What are meditational processes?
Attention, retention, motor reproduction, motivation.
What is identification
More likely to imitate role models you identify with.
Social learning theory evaluation
Cognitive factors - comprehensive account of learning than the behaviourist approach.
Counterpoint - underestimates the influence of biology.
Contrived from lab studies - demand characteristics.
Real-world application - SLT can account for development of cultural differences.
What does the cognitive approach assume?
Internal mental processes can be studied through inference
What is the role of the schema?
Beliefs and expectations affect thoughts and behaviour.
Mental shortcut that leads to perceptual errors.
What are theoretical and computer models
Information processing approach. Believes that the mind is like a computer.
The emergence of cognitive neuroscience
Scientific study of how brain structures affect mental processes.
Biological structures link to mental state.
Brain imaging used in the real brain.
Cognitive approach evaluations
Scientific methods - lab studies produce reliable, objective data. Cognitive neuroscience is scientific.
Counterpoint - use of inference and artificial stimuli lead to low external validity.
Real world application - successfully applied to the fields of AI, depression and EWT.
Machine reductionism - computer analogy is too simple, ignoring the influence of emotion.
The biological approach assumptions
The mind and body are on and the same
What is the neurochemical basis of behaviour?
Thought and behaviour depend on chemicals like neurotransmitters and serotonin
What is the genetic basis of behaviour?
Concordance between MZ and DZ twins show the genetic basis of psychological characteristics
Evolution and behaviour
Natural selection of genes based on survival value and reproductive success.
Biological approach evaluation
Real-world application - understanding biochemical processes allow us to come up with psychoactive drugs.
Counterpoint - antidepressants don’t work on everyone.
Scientific methods - use FMRI and EEGs. Precise and objective.
Biological determinism - human behaviour governed by internal genetically determined factors. Oversimplification
What does the psychodynamic approach assume?
Behaviour is determined by unconscious forces that we cannot control.
What is the role of the unconscious?
The conscious mind is the ‘tip of the iceberg’
What is the ID?
Primitive part, pleasure principle.
What is the EGO?
Reality principle, protected by defence mechanisms
What is the superego?
Formed at the age of 5, sense of right and wrong, morality principle.
