Approaches in Psychology Flashcards
Who established the first psychology lab and when?
Wundt in 1879.
What is introspection?
The study of the mind by breaking up conscious awareness into basic structures of thoughts, images and sensations.
How did Wundt standardise his procedures?
- Same instructions given to all participants.
- E.g. all participants would report their thoughts when a metronome was ticking,
Give;
(i) 1 strength of Wundt’s work
(ii) 1 limitation of Wundt’s work
(i) Some methods are scientific:
- controlled lab environment
- standardised –> replicable.
= claim for psychology being scientific?
(ii) Some methods are unscientific:
- relies on self-reporting of private processes.
- self-report dependent on honesty as data recorded is subjective
- can’t establish general laws; thoughts may change every time a metronome ticked?
Who, and in the correct order, came after the behaviourist approach?
1) Cognitive approach emerged in 1950s
2) Biological approach emerged in the 1990s.
What approaches can be considered scientific?
- Behavioural
- Cognitive
- Biological
What approaches are considered unscientific?
- Humanistic
- Psychodynamic
Why do behaviourists only focus on observable behaviour?
- Observable and clearly measurable.
- Reject introspection for being unclear and hard to measure.
Why do behaviourists use animals in their studies?
They suggest the processes of learning are the same in all species, regardless of cognition.
Which study backs up classical conditioning? Explain it
Pavlov’s dog
1) UCS (food) –> UCR (salivation)
2) NS (bell) –> no response
3) NS + UCS (bell and food) occur at the same time
4) CS (bell) –> CR (salivation)
What is classical conditioning also known as?
Learning by association
What is operant conditioning?
Behaviour shaped and maintained by consequences.
Who did research into operant conditioning? Explain it
Skinner
- Animals, such as rats, placed in specially designed cages called skinner’s boxes.
- When a lever was activated, the animal was rewarded with a food pellet
- Pressing the lever led to a desirable consequence, so the behaviour was repeated.
What are the 3 types of consequences of behaviour?
1) Positive reinforcement - receiving a reward when behaviour was performed.
2) Negative reinforcement - when an animal/human produces behaviour that avoids something unpleasant.
3) Punishment - an unpleasant consequence of behaviour.
What two consequences increase the likelihood that behaviour will be repeated?
1) Positive and negative reinforcement.
Give 2 evaluative strengths of the behavioural approach
1) It gave psychology some scientific credibility:
- focused on careful measured and observable behaviour in a lab setting.
- can be replicated, and is objective.
= greater credibility and status.
2) Laws developed have real-life applications:
- e.g. Token economies - rewards for privileges is operant conditioning.
- used in prison and psych wards.
- suit those who lack insight
Give 2 evaluative limitations of the behavioural approach
1) Portrays a mechanistic view:
- animals/humans seen as machine-like responders to the environment with little decision in their own behaviour.
- SLT + cognitive have placed emphasis on mental events that occur during learning.
2) Animal research explaining behaviourism has ethical and practical issues:
- animals stressful and aversive conditions, this may explain their behaviour.
- behaviour may have not been ‘normal’
- validity?
How does SLT differ from the behavioural approach?
Proposes learning also occurs through observation and imitation of others’ behaviour.
What is vicarious reinforcement?
Learning of behaviour via consequences
- Reinforced behaviour is more likely to be copied than punished behaviour.
What are the 4 mediational processes of learning?
1) Attention - whether behaviour is noticed (learning of behaviour).
2) Retention - whether behaviour is remembered (learning of behaviour).
3) Motor reproduction - being able to do it (performance of behaviour).
4) Motivation - the will to perform the behaviour (performance of behaviour).
What makes a child more likely to imitate a behaviour?
If they identify (identification) with the person carrying out the action; mostly same gender, high status.
Describe Bandura’s first area of study, relating to SLT
- Children either watched an adult behaving aggressively towards a Bobo-doll or non-aggressively.
= The children who had seen aggressive behaviour were much more aggressive towards the Doll themselves
Describe Bandura’s second area of study, relating to SLT
- Children saw adult who was rewarded, punished or no consequence for being aggressive.
= The children who saw the aggressive condition rewarded were much more aggressive themselves towards the doll.
Give 1 strength of the SLT
1) Emphasises the importance of cognitive factors in learning:
- neither CC or OC offer a sufficient explanation of human learning as they omit cognitive factors
- SLT recognises the mediational processes involved.
A part from the emphasis on cognitive factors, give a strength of the SLT
1) It can account for cultural differences in behaviour:
- accounts for how children learn from others around them, through media and thus how cultural norms are transmitted.
- useful in understanding how come to understand gender roles by imitating others.
How does the SLT suffer from demand characteristics?
1) Evidence from lab studies:
- developed in lab settings which are unnatural to human environment.
- may have figured out the purpose of the doll is to hit it? behaving as expected? = ecological validity low.
How does the SLT underestimate the influence of biological factors?
- Consistent findings show boys were more aggressive regardless of the specifics of the experimental condition.
- Testosterone influence?
What does the cognitive approach believes should be studied?
The mental processes, e.g. memory
