Approaches in Psychology

Question 1

What is psychology?

Answer 1

Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behaviour. Psychology tries to identify what it is that we do and explain why we do it.

Question 2

What are the different school’s of thought?

Answer 2

The different school’s of thought are also called the approaches, Each school of thought/approach has its own explanations for behaviour. They are:

• biological
• behavioural
• cognitive
• psychodynamic
• humanistic

Question 3

What is introspection?

Answer 3

Introspection is a psychological method/technique that was pioneered by Wilhelm Wundt. It tries to gain insight into how mental processes work and involves describing your own inner experiences: emotions thoughts, feelings, sensations etc.

Question 4

Who was Wilhelm Wundt?

Answer 4

Wundt is widely considered the 'father of modern psychology' as he began distinguishing psychology from philosophy in 1879 when he opened his Institute for Experimental Psychology and began the study of the brain in a more scientific and structured way with the use of:
controlled environments
reductionism
structuralism
introspection

Question 5

How did Wundt use introspection?

Answer 5

He would present P’s (often his own researchers) with stimuli, a problem to solve, something to memorise and ask them to describe in detail their internal experience and their analysis of the experience.

Question 6

Why did Wundt use introspection?

Answer 6

Introspection allowed him insight into human consciousness at a time where technological advancement/brain scanning was unavailable to tell us how the mind worked.

He was able to use introspection in his study into sensations and perception.

Introspection allowed him to analyse the quality of the sensations people experienced.

Question 7

What is meant by the term ‘structuralism’?

Answer 7

Structuralism refers to breaking down human thoughts and experiences into smaller, basic components

Question 8

What is meant by the term ‘reductionism’?

Answer 8

Reductionism refers to the idea that everything has a simple explanation. All behaviour can be reduced to a simple cause-and-effect process.

Question 9

What are some strengths and weaknesses of introspection?

Answer 9

• Introspection was an appropriate method at the time
• It provides qualitative data that can be rich in detail
• It doesn’t tell us how the mind works it only describes what goes on
• It cannot be replicated and is therefore unreliable
• It is not objective as it is based on the subjective experiences of one person/one person’s viewpoint
• Accounts can’t be confirmed
• Therefore, it is hard to generalise and to generate truths using introspection

Question 10

What are the 5 qualities necessary for an approach or method to be considered scientific?

Answer 10

Objective
- no subjective influences from researcher or anything outside

Controlled
- controlled environment

Replicable
- standard procedure

Hypothesis
- testable/falsifiable hypothesis

Predictions
- predictions of future behaviour can be made

Question 11

Is psychology a science? Why and why not?

Answer 11

Most psychologists apply the scientific method to their work, using empirical methods to test their hypotheses, while others do not focus on the scientific aspects; they argue that there will always be an element of the subjective.

Question 12

Outline the behavioural approach in psychology. How does this approach explain behaviour?

Answer 12

The behavioural approach focuses on the idea that we are products of our environment

Our behaviour comes from our environment what we have learned

The behavioural approach covers behaviourism and social learning theory.

Question 13

What is behaviourism?

Answer 13

looks only at behaviour

Question 14

What is social learning theory?

Answer 14

looks at the social influences on how we learn and some of the mental processes that are involved

Question 15

Outline what is meant by classical conditioning.

Answer 15

Classical Conditioning is learning by association

Question 16

What are the 4 basic assumptions of the behavioural approach?

Answer 16

The 4 basic assumptions of the behavioural approach are as follows:

• behaviour is learned from experience
• only observable behaviour can and should be studied/tested as it is measureable scientifically, while thoughts are subjective and difficult to test
• it is valid to study animal behaviour and to extrapolate results because we all share the same principles of learning (CC + OC)
• we are born a blank slate – we have no genetic influences, i.e. extreme nurture side of debate

Question 17

Outline what is meant by classical conditioning.

Answer 17

Classical Conditioning is one of the behaviourist principles of learning that was first documented by Pavlov.

In short, it is learning by association.

A previously neutral stimulus comes to evoke a specific response (on its own) by being repeatedly paired with another stimulus that evokes the response.

Question 18

Who was Ivan Pavlov?

Answer 18

Pavlov was a physiologist whose initial research looked at the digestive systems of dogs.

He noticed that the dog’s would salivate when they heard the sound of the door, and made the conclusion that an association had been made between the possibility of food and the door

He began further research in which he manipulated certain variables to test his original findings.

Question 19

What part does his research play into our understanding of classical conditioning?

Answer 19

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Question 20

Briefly describe the process of classical conditioning?

Answer 20

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Question 21

Outline what is meant by ‘operant conditioning’.

Answer 21

Operant conditioning is behaviourist principle of learning and