Approaches in Psychology (including Biopsychology) Flashcards
Introspection definition:
The first systematic experimental attempt to study the mind by breaking up conscious awareness into basic structures of thoughts, images and sensations.
Psychology definition:
The scientific study of the mind, behaviour and experience
Science definition:
means of acquiring knowledge through systematic and objective investigation. The aim is to discover general laws
Wundt’s lab (AO1)
- 1879 Wilhelm Wundt opened the first ever lab dedicated entirely to psychological enquiry in a little town called Leipzig in Germany.
- work is significant as it marked beginning of scientific psychology, separating it from its broader philosophical roots.
- aim: analyse the nature of human consciousness, so represented the first systematic attempt to study the mind under controlled conditions.
- method is knows as introspection
Wundt Standardised procedures (AO1)
- One of his main objectives was to develop theories about mental processes, e.g language and perception.
- Him + co-workers recorded their experiences of various stimuli they were presented with, such as different objects or sounds.
Divided observations into three categories: thoughts, images and sensations.
E.g, participants might be given a ticking metronome and they would report their thoughts, images and sensations.
Wundt Structuralism (AO1)
structuralism- Isolating the structure of consciousness as he did
The stimuli that Wundt and his co workers experienced were always presented in the same order and the same instructions were issued to all participants.
Timeline 17th century - 19th century
Psychology is a branch of the broader discipline of philosophy. If psychology has a definition during this time it is as experimental philosophy.
Timeline 1879
Wilhelm Wundt opens the first experimental psychology lab in Germany, and psychology emerges as a distinct discipline in its own right.
Timeline 1900S:
Sigmund Freud emphasises the influence of the unconscious mind on behaviour (the psychodynamic approach)
- also develops person-centred therapy, psychoanalysis + shows physical problems can be explained in terms of conflicts within the mind.
Timeline 1913:
John B. Watson writes Psychology as the Behaviourist views it and, later with B.F. Skinner, establishes the behaviourist approach. The psychodynamic and behaviourist approaches dominate psychology for the frst half of the 20th century.
Timeline 1950S Roger’s:
Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow develop the humanistic approach, the ‘third force’ in psychology, rejecting behaviourist + psychodynamic view that human behaviour is determined by outside factors.
- Humanistic psychologists emphasise importance of self-determination + free will.
Timeline 1950s digital computer:
introduction of the digital computer gives psychologists a metaphor for the operations of the human mind. The cognitive approach reintroduces the study of mental processes to psychology but in a much more scientific way than Wundt’s earlier investigations.
Timeline 1960s:
Albert Bandura proposes the social learning theory
- This approach draws attention to the role of cognitive factors in learning, providing a bridge between the newly established cognitive approach and traditional behaviourism.
Timeline 1980s onwards:
The biological approach begins to establish itself as the dominant scientific perspective in psychology. This is due to advances in technology that have increased understanding of the brain and biological processes.
Timeline Eve of the 21st century:
Towards the end of the last century, cognitive neuroscience emerges as a distinct discipline bringing together the cognitive and biological approaches.
- Cognitive neuroscience investigates how biological structures influence mental states.
What does science involve? (AO1)
involves building knowledge through systematic and objective (unbiased) measurement.
- aim is to discover general laws.
1900s Behaviourists (AO1):
By beginning of 20th century: value of introspection was questioned by many, mainly behaviourist John B. Watson.
- The problem was that introspection produced subjective data (rather than objective), so that it was very difficult to establish general laws. Watson, and later B.F. Skinner, proposed that a truly scientific psychology should only study phenomena that can be observed objectively and measured
- so behaviourists focused on behaviours that they could see, and used carefully controlled experiments. The behaviourist approach would go on to dominate scientific psychology for the next 50 years.
1950s Cognitive approach (AO1):
The digital revolution of 1950s gave new generation of psychologists a metaphor for studying the mind
- Cognitive psychologists likened the mind to a computer (eg. the multi-store model) and tested their predictions about memory and attention using experiments. The cognitive approach ensured that the study of the mind was a legitimate and highly scientific aspect of the discipline.
1980s Biological approach (AO1):
- recently, biological approach has taken scientific psychology to new levels. Researchers within this area have taken advantage of advances in technology to investigate physiological processes as they happen.
- e.g use of sophisticated scanning techniques such as fMRI and EEG to study live activity in the brain. New methods (eg. genetic testing) also allowed us to better understand the relationship between genes and behaviour.
Scientific Wundt (AO3)
Strength: some of his methods were systematic and well-controlled (ie scientific).
All introspections were recorded in the controlled environment of the lab, ensuring that possible extraneous variables were not a factor. - procedures and instructions were carefully standardised so that all participants received the same information and were tested in the same way.
- So Wundt’s research can be considered a forerunner to later scientific approaches in psychology, such as the behaviourist approach.
Subjective data Wundt (AO3):
Limitation: other aspects of Wundt’s research would be considered unscientific today.
Wundt relied on participants self-reporting their mental processes. Such data is subjective (influenced by a personal perspective). Also participants may have hidden some of their thoughts. It is difhcult to establish meaningful ‘laws of behaviour’ from such data. And general laws are useful to predict future behaviour, one of the aims of science
- so some of Wundt’s early efforts to study the mind were flawed and would not meet the
criteria of scientific enquiry.
Wundt’s contribution (AO3):
Wundt produced the first academic journal for psychological research and wrote the first textbook! He is often referred to as the ‘father’ of modern psychology. It is even suggested that Wundt’s pioneering research set the foundation for approaches that were to come, particularly the behaviourist approach and cognitive psychology.
Modern Psychology (AO3)
Strength: research in modern psychology can claim to be scientifc.
Psychology has the same aims as the natural sciences - to describe, understand, predict and control behaviour. The learning approaches, cognitive approach and biological approach all rely on the use of scientific methods, e.g lab studies to investigate theories in a controlled and unbiased way.
- So throughout the 20th century and beyond, psychology has established itself as a scientific discipline.
Subjective data (AO3):
limitation: in psychology not all approaches use objective methods.
The humanistic approach rejects the scientific approach, preferring to focus on individual experiences and subjective experience. The psychodynamic approach makes use of the case study method which does not use representative samples. Finally, the subject of study - human beings - are active participants in research, responding for example to demand characteristics.
Therefore a scientific approach to the study of human thought and experience may not always be desirable or possible.
