approaches in psychology Flashcards
what does cartesian dualism mean?
the mind and body are separate entities. The brain is not the same as the mind
what is the definition of empiricism
Everything you know comes from what you have experienced from senses
who is Wilhelm Wundt
he was the first person to be referred to as a psychologist
how did Wundt view psychology
Wundt viewed psychology as a scientific study of conscious experience and he studied this view using introspection
what does introspection mean
The process by which someone examines their own conscious experience as objectively as possible.
WUNDT USED THIS TO INVESTIGATE THE HUMAN MIND
what does structuralism mean
breaking down behaviourists into basic elements
what are the three words in the scientific method which refers to the use of investigative method
- objective
- systematic
- replicable
what does subjective mean
basic findings on opinion rather than fact
what does objective mean
basic findings on fact, rather than opinion
what does replicable mean
the ability to repeat a study and achieve the same findings
what are the 4 goals of psychology
- description
- explanation
- prediction
- change
what are the positives of introspection
great way of understanding people
what are the negatives of introspection
- quite biased as it involves ourselves judging ourselves
* does not bring environmental and biological factors into element
who is ivan pavlov
A Russian physiologist who performed a series of famous experiments on dogs to investigate classical conditioning
what is classical conditioning ?
the process by which we learn to associate stimuli and to anticipate events
what did pavlov do in his studies
pavlov surgically implanted tubes inside dogs cheeks to collect saliva and measured the amount of saliva produced in response to various foods
what did pavlov observe overtime
He observed that the dogs began to salivate not only at the taste of foods, but also at the sight of foo/ empty bowl, and even at the sound of footsteps
how did pavlov discover what caused dogs to salivate
pavlov designed a series of carefully constructed experiments. He was able to train the dogs to salivate in response to stimuli (with nothing to do with food) such as a bell
which two types of responses which organisms respond to its environment
- unconditioned (unlearned ) responses/ reflexes
* conditioned (learned ) responses
what is a neutral stimulus
An event that does not produce a response
what is a conditioned stimulus
An event that produces a learned response
what does unconditioned stimulus mean ?
An event that produces an innate, unlearned reflex response
what does unconditioned response mean
An innate, unlearned reflex behaviour that an organism produces when exposed to an unconditioned stimulus
what is conditioned response
A learned physical reflex behaviour that an organism produces when exposed to a conditioned stimuli
name another assumption about the behaviourist
Argue that in order for psychology to be scientific it should focus on our observable behaviour which can be objectively measured rather than things on cognitive processes
Name one assumption of the behaviourist approach
we are a blank slate ‘tabula rasa ‘ which means everything that we become is shaped by our environment
describe the second stage of pavlovs experiment
pavlov would ring a bell then give the dogs meat powder
bell + meat - salivation
(NS) (UCS) (UCR)
before conditioning
describe the first stage of pavlovs experiment
the dogs salivated each time the meat powder was presented to them
meat powder- salivation
(UCS) (UCR)
before conditioning
describe the third stage of pavlovs experiment
the paired meat + bell also made the dogs salivate. the NS became the CS. Eventually the dogs salivated to the bell alone
bell + food - salivation (UCR )
during conditioning
describe the last stage of pavlovs experiment
the dogs learned to associate the bell with food (CS). They began to salivate in anticipation of food when the bell was heard. making salivation (CR) bell --- salivation (CS) (CR) after salivation
what is behaviourism
A psychological approach of observing and controlling behaviour
state a summary of pavlovs experiment
- the dogs salivated each time meat powder was presented to them
- pavlov would sound a tone then give the dogs the meat powder
- eventually the dogs began to salivate to the tone alone
what is operant conditioning
learning through consequence
who is skinner
American psychologist
what did skinner concentrate on
skinner concentrated on how behaviour is affected by its consequences
(he believed that behaviour is motivated by the the consequences we recieve for the behaviour:reinforcement + punishment)
what was skinners research device
A chamber that isolates the subject from the external environment and has a behaviour indicator such as a lever or a buttopn
what happens when the animal pushes the button
the box is able to deliver:
- a positive reinforcement of behaviour (eg food)
- a punishment (eg electric shocks )
- a token conditioner (eg light )
definition of reinforcement
a consequence applied in order to improve future behaviour
definition of positive reinforcement
posistive behaviour followed by positive consequences
manager praises employee
definition of negative reinforcement
positive behaviour followed by removal of negative consequences
(keep doing that behaviour to avoid something unpleasant)
definition of punishment
negative behaviour followed by negative consequence
definition of continuous reinforcement
method of reinforcing behaviour in a effort to increase or decrease a particular behaviour
what is the skinner box
the box isolates the subject from the outside world and has a behaviour indicator
what is a behavioural indicator
such as a lever or button, is able to deliver posistive reinforcement or punishment or a token conditioner
what is a token conditioner
this is a stimulus that is neather pleasant or unpleasant, such as light and can be used to test learning
what does positive and negative mean in operant conditioning
positive = adding something
negative =taking something away
what does reinforcement and punishment in operant conditioning
- all reinforces (positive or negative) increase the likelihood of a behaviouralk response
- all punishers decrese the likelihood of a behavioural response
what is an example of negative punichement
you remove an aversive stimulus to deacrease a behaviour such as taking away water
what is an exaqmple of positive reinforcement
you add a desirable stimulus to increase a behaviour eg food
what is an example of negative reinforcement
you remove an undesirable stimulus to increase a behaviour eg loud noise stops
what is an example of positive punishment
you add an undesirable stimulus to decrease a behaviour eg electric shock what
what does desimitation mean
a person simply copies what a model does
what is observational learning
we learn by w\tching others and then imitating, or modelling what they do or say
what are models
the individuals performing the imitated behaviour
how many models did Bandura identify
3-live , verbal and symbolic
what does a live model demonstrate
they demonstrate a behaviour in person. sych as when Ben stood up on his surfboard so that julian could see how he did it
what is a verbal model
does not perform a behaviour but instead explains or describes the behaviour
what is a symbolic model
can be fictional characters or real people who demonstrate behaviours in books, movies, televison shows , video games or internet sources
what are the specific steps in the process of modelling that must br followed if learning is to be successful
- attention
- retention
- reproduction
- motivation
what are the factors for learning
- first you must pay attention to what the model is doing
- Next you must be able to retain what you observed
- Then you must be able to perform the behaviour committed to memory
- Lastly you need to want to copy the behaviour
what does vicarious reinforcement mean
ifyou saw that a model was reinforced for their behaviour, you will be more motivated to copy them
what is vacarious punishment
if you obsereved the model being punished, you could be less likely/ motivated to copy them
what happened in Banduras experiment with a BoBo doll
childrensaggressive behaviour was influenced by whether or not the teacher was punished for their
what were the two types of responses by the children to the teachers behaviour
- when the teacher was punished for her bad behaviour , the children decresed the tendency to act as she had
- when the teacher was praised or ignored (not ounished)the children imitated what she did
what were the implications of the story
Bandura conducted that we watch and learn, and that this learning can be both prosocial and antisocial effecrs
what does prosocial mean
positive models can be used to encourage socially acceptable behaviour such as martin luther king
what are the antisocial affects
antisocial models sch as abusive parents can have negative effects on behaviour of children
what are the prosocial effects
these models can be used to increase positive behaviour. parents and public figures such as Gandhi are all proscial models
what does research suggest that antisocial effects explain
explaines why abused children often grow up to be abusers themselves
-in fact about 30% of abused children become abusive parents
How many chromosomes does the egg and sperm each contain
23 chromosomes
Containing long strings of gene tic material known as DNA
What is a phenotype
Physical characteristics of the offspring
What is a genotype
Genetic material was
What are genes Also associated with
Scientists have found genetic linkages to a number of behaviourial characteristics.
Genes are associated with temperament and a number of psychological disorders such as depression and schizophrenia
What was hestons study
1966 performed a study looking ah adoptees and assessing development of schizophrenia ( or other psychotic disorders) denied by in whether they were brought up and a disturbed or healthy family’s environment
What did hestons study find
36.8% of adoptees whose biological mothers had schizophrenia ( high genetic risk ) and who were raised disturbed family environment were less likely to develop schizophrenia
What else did hestons study find
Of those adoptees with high genetic risk but who where brought up in a healthy family environment, only 5.8 were likely to develop schizophrenia
What did hestons study gives evidence of
That both genetic and environment factors are necessary for some psychological disorders to develop
What is the theory of evolution by natural selection
Charles Darwin
The theory states that organisms that are better suited did their environment will survive and reproduce , while those that are poorest suited for their environment will die off
What does evolutionary psychology explain
Explains psychological traits as survival enhancing adaptions
What is a drawback of evolutionary psychology
The traits we posses now evolved under environmental and social conditions far back in human history, and we have a poor understanding of what the conditions were
What is true about evolutionary psychology
- is supported by charles Darwin’s theory
- expects all human cultures do express a behaviour if it’s caused genetically
- seeks time explain psychological traits as adaptions for survival
What steps do most evolutionary psychologists undertake
1 predict the outcome of a behaviour in a situation based in evolutionary theory
2 make observations or conduct experiments
3 asses whether the results match the proposed theory
What is our environment not important in not determining
How are genes are made
the learning approach: behaviourism assumptions
- explaining behaviour which suggests that
all behaviour is acquired and maintained through classical and operant conditioning.
Hence, only behaviour which can be objectively measured and observed is studied. This is due to the founders of behaviourism, Watson
and Skinner, disagreeing with the subjective nature of Wundt’s introspective methods,
and the inability to formulate general laws and universal principles based on his
observations.
• From a behaviourist perspective, the basic laws governing learning are the same across
both non-humans and humans. Therefore, non-human animals can replace humans in
behaviourist experimental research.
A03 for behaviourism approach
+ real life application
- environmental determinism
— Cost-benefit analyses with the use of animals in experimental research
Outline Bandura’s SLT
Bandura agreed that people can learn through conditioning but he stated other people such as role models also play a key role in our behaviour. people must focus their attention onto a role model, perceive what they do and then remember it in order to repeat it.
In order to model we must first identify with the role model, meaning certain attractive characteristics and qualities are picked up on.
The behaviour can be learnt through both reinforcement and vicarious reinforcement and once this is happened for effective learning meditational processes need to occur.
1) Attention
2) Retention
3) Reproduction
4) Motivation
Outline Bandura’s Study
He had a large sample of toddlers half female half male and setup a lab experiment. The experiment consisted of two conditions, in the first condition half the toddlers observed an aggressive model playing in a room ie. hitting a bobo doll and the second condition had the other half observing a non-aggressive model playing.
He found that children who had observed aggressive models tended to act with much more physical and verbal aggressive behaviour when compared to the non-aggressive group who showed nearly no aggressive behaviour.
This study provided evidence for social learning theory.
Evaluate SLT
:) - There are many real world applications that research into SLT has bought for example Akers suggested that the probability of someone engaging in criminal activity increases when they are exposed to models that do this around them. This is an application that can benefit society as we now know to keep children away from parents with criminal records or general antisocial behaviour.
:) - There has been research done which supports identification. Greater identification results in a learner learning more as it is easier for them to visualise them self in the place of the model. Fox found evidence for this using computer generated virtual humans engaging in exercise and had participants watch these CGI humans, some of which looked similar to participants and some didn’t. The participants were then observed for the next 24 hours and found that the participants who’s models looked similar tended to do exercise them self.
:( - Social learning theory is too reductionist as it only states that it only looks at the nurture side of the nature nurture debate. We know now that we must take a wholistic approach and take parts from both side of the argument as there is strong evidence that proves genes play a significant part in our behaviour and thus SLT needs to take a more wholistic approach in explaining human behaviour.
Outline the cognitive approach
Cognitive psychology looks at how we interpret the world, whilst the behavioural approach studies observable behaviour the cognitive approach does quite the opposite by looking at the internal workings of the mind. Cognitive psychologists try to explain behaviour by looking at our perception, language, attention and memory. They use scientific methods to construct experiments and is a fairly reductionist approach as they explain the mind by comparing it to a computer.
There are several principles to the cognitive approach, these are:
-Our mental systems have a limited capacity
-A control mechanism oversees all mental processes
-There is a two way flow of information
Evaluate the cognitive approach
:) - Research done into the cognitive approach has allowed for real life applications to surface because of it. The cognitive approach so psychopathology has been used to explain how much of a dysfunctional brain is due to faulty thinking processes and thus this lead to the therapy known as cognitive behavioural therapy which helps patients with OCD and depression.
:) - The cognitive approaches emphasis on scientific methods is definitely a strength of it as it allows for rigorous testing and thus detailed conclusions that are based off of cause and effect relationships rather than introspection and assumptions.
:( - The approach has been criticised for being too reductionist when comparing the brain to a computer system, it is hard to say that our brain revolves around a simple input, process and output model when we have many things that a computer doesn’t such as free will, emotions and motivational factors.
:( - Many studies done in cognitive psychology are done in a lab and although as stated earlier this can be seen as a huge benefit, it can also be looked at from a different perspective. It makes the studies very unrealistic and thus the reactions or the way humans behave in these studies may not represent real life.
Outline the bioogical approach
The biological approach assumes three points:
- Human behaviour can be explained by looking at biological factors such as genes, hormones, evolution and the nervous system
- In theory we can remove unwanted behaviour could be removed
- Experimental research on animals can inform us about human behaviour as we share a very high percentage of biological genes
The genotype of a person is the physical genes that they have whereas the phenotype is the characteristics that their genes produce for example hair and eye colour.
Many biological areas of our body have an influence on our behaviour.
The nervous system carries messages from one part of the body to another via neurons, many aspects of behaviour are under neuronal control including breathing eating and sexual behaviour.
The brain, the largest part of this is the cerebral cortex which is responsible for many of the higher order functions such as thought and language, it is divided into two halves with each having a different specialisation.
Neurochemistry in our body also plays a role in our behaviour
Neurotransmitters have many roles in the body, one of which is to trigger nerve impulses in the sensory brain to tell our brain to react to it. Dopamine is an excitatory neurotransmitter that is associated with our drive or motivation.
Hormones are similar to neurotransmitters but have much more powerful long lasting effects and travel in the blood. They are produced in the endocrine glands such as the pituitary gland.
Outline a twin study in regards to the biological approach
Gottesman conducted a meta-analyis of 40 twins and found that having an identical twin with schizophrenia gave you a 48% chance of developing the condition, this dropped down to 17% in non identical. He concluded that schizophrenia has a strong genetic basis
Evaluate the biological approach
:) - The biological approach implies clearly that our genes can be adapted to fix unwanted behaviours. This has been fully taken advantage of and many real life applications are now used because of it, drugs in particular are used world wide because of a biological approach to explaining psychological behaviours. SSRI for example has been proven to reduce symptoms for depression
:) - It takes a very scientific approach to prove theories, particularly making use of the experimental method. These take place in highly controlled environments so that other researchers can then easily repeat the experiments to check for consistent findings, increasing the validity of the results.
:( - It is a reductionist approach, it reduces our complex human behaviour down to a few separate components that work together such as genes, hormones and neurotransmitters. For example someone with depression it would explain it only via a fault in one of these factors whereas it should really take a wholistic approach by looking at both that and also environmental factors.
:( - There is a danger of genetic explanations for going too far in the sense that in the future there may be worldwide genetic screening for genes that may increase likelihood of criminal activity or anti social behaviour this would then lead to a discrimination against certain types of people. However on the contrary genes are not this simple and it is impossible to say this gene will cause this as other factors must be looked at as well.
key assumption of the biological approach
we can explain behaviour mainly in terms of biological factors
what is DNA
the substance that chromosomes are made of
a chain of two or more nucleotides joined together
each cell in your body has exactly the same DNA
what is a gene
a gene is a segment of DNA that controls the production of one specific protein
what are alleles
different versions of a particular gene
when a gene has different alleles we say that the trait has a genetic variation
what is genetic inheritance
when traits are passed down from parent to child
genotype
description of all their genes and alleles
phenotype
physical traits
controlled by genotype and environmental factors
what does the biological approach study
the extent to which behaviours are determined by genes
genes determining behaviour by affecting processes in the brain
Explain the difference between someone’s phenotype and someone’s genotype.
Someone’s genotype is a description of all of the genes and alleles in a person’s body. An entire list of someone’s physical and psychological and behavioural traits is their phenotype. Someone’s genotype is inherited from their parents. Someone’s phenotype is influenced by their genotype but also by environmental factors.
Saffron is a very confident person. She doesn’t care what people think of her and does what she wants to do. Her mum is also very confident. Using your knowledge of phenotypes, explain why Saffron might be a very confident person.
Phenotypes are influenced by both genotype (genetics) and environmental factors. Saffron could be a very confident person because she inherited this trait from her mother due to her mother passing down the gene allele of being confident to Saffron. However, environmental factors can also influence a person’s phenotype and so Saffron could be confident because she has witnessed her mum’s confidence and learnt the behaviour through observing her mother.
what is the difference between monozygotic and Dizygotic
mono- come from one zygote, which splits into two identical zygotes share 100% genotype
di - come from two different zygotes 50% genotype
Explain the impact of genotype and environmental factors on the phenotype of both monozygotic and dizygotic twins.
Monozygotic twins come from the same zygote meaning they have the same genes and so they have exactly the same genotype. Dizygotic twins, however, come from two different zygotes and so will on average have 50% of their genotype in common. We know that genotype influences phenotype. Therefore, monozygotic twins are likely to have a greater shared phenotype than dizygotic twins because they share the same genotype.
We know that phenotype is also determined by environmental factors. It is assumed that both monozygotic and dizygotic twins have similar amount of shared and non-shared environment meaning that the environment should have a similar impact on phenotype for both kinds of twins.
what do twin studies assume
- mono and di twins have similar amount of shared environment
- the impact of shared environment on phenotype is similar for both sets of twins
what does concordance mean
when two twins share the same phenotype. Twin studies dont include a set of twins where neither twin has the trait which we are studying
concordance rate is the percentage of twins which share a characteristic given at least one twin has the characteristics
The researcher conducts her study into music preferences. She recruits 120 monozygotic twins and finds that 90 pairs of twins both like music.
The concordance rate for monozygotic twins in her study is…
90/120 x 100 = 900 divided by 12 = 75%
The researcher conducts her study into music preferences. She recruits 100 dizygotic twins and finds that 68 pairs of twins both like music.
The concordance rate for dizygotic twins in her study is…
68%
What can researchers conclude based on concordance rates?
Genetic variation contributes to a trait if the concordance rate for monozygotic twins is bigger than for dizygotic twins. Researchers can make these conclusions using concordance rates because both types of twins have a similar amount of shared environment so greater similarity of monozygotic twins must be due to genetics.
what did McGuffin find about twin studies and depression
- mono 46% concordance rate
- Di had 20% concordance rate
- major depression is likely to be partially influenced by genetics
limitation of twin studies
- Mono twins share more of their environment than Di because they tend to be treated more similarly this means that bigger concordance rate in mono twins might be partly caused by a more similar environment not just more genetics
what is evolution
when a species gradually changes, over many generations
natural selection
when traits which increase the chance of survival are passed onto future generations
positive of biological approach
+ very scientific because it allows us to predict the behaviour, gathers objective data, investigates cause and effect relationships in the body and it uses empirical data
+ understanding the effects of genetics on behaviour means we can help people with genetically inherited conditions
limitation of biological approach
- overly reductionist it ignores social or cultural causes of behaviour
- problematic consequences of biological determinism (behaviour is determined by biological factors eg genetic) this means that we dont have the ability to improve and it means we cant be held accountable for our behaviour
One strength of the biological approach is that it has useful links to explaining and treating mental health disorders such as schizophrenia and depression. How can twin studies be used to understand and therefore treat disorders such as schizophrenia?
The researcher would find concordance rates for schizophrenia, in monozygotic and dizygotic twins. If the monozygotic twins had a much higher concordance rate, they would conclude that schizophrenia is a genetically inherited trait, which would indicate that there was a biological basis to schizophrenia. Then the researchers could begin to search for the specific brain abnormalities causing schizophrenia and potentially develop treatments such as drug medication, to reverse the brain abnormalities. For instance, drugs called antipsychotics are currently used to treat schizophrenia.
This shows that understanding the effect of genetics on behaviour means that we can help people who suffer from genetically inherited conditions.
A03 for wundt method
(first person to apply scientific method to psychology)
scientific as he …
+ standardised all the situational variables ie controlled them
+ record his studies so that they were replicable
- Wundt did not obtain the same results consistently whenever he tested the same participants, and so, his research lacked reliability.
- Wundt did not use direct observations in his research, and so his research did not use empirical evidence.
Question 2. Describe the method used by Wundt in his research.
Wundt used the scientific method to study the mind. He did this by testing participants in a controlled environment, to understand cause and effect. In his experiments, he would present participants with a stimulus on repeated occasions, and he would ask participants to report their experience of the stimulus through introspection.
Sasha is in year 10, is captain of the netball team and is very popular at school. She always wears the most fashionable clothes, has a new phone and everyone thinks she is really cool. A group of year 8 students notice her at lunch time.
Question 6. How do mediational processes contribute to imitation for this character?
The year 8 students have to pay attention to Sasha’s behaviour and remember how she is acting. They will only imitate her behaviour if they have done this. Moreover, they are only likely to pay attention and remember her behaviour if they identify with Sasha
