approaches in psychology - origins of psychology.

Question 1

What is meant by “psychology”?

Answer 1

The scientific study of the human mind and its functions especially those affecting behaviour in a given context.

Question 2

What is meant by “science”?

Answer 2

The pursuit and application of knowledge and understanding of the natural and social world following a systematic methodology based on evidence.

Question 3

What is meant by “introspection”?

Answer 3

“Looking into” - the process of observing and examining your own conscious thoughts and emotions.

Question 4

What was psychology first known as?

Answer 4

Experimental philosophy.
[roots in 17th and early 19th century philosophy]

Question 5

Who was involved in the early development of psychology?

Answer 5

1. Rene Descartes.
2. John Locke.
3. Charles Darwin.
4. Wilhelm Wundt.

Question 6

What was Rene Descartes involvement in the early development of psychology?

Answer 6

• early influence.
• created the Cartesian dualism.
• starting point of psychology.

Question 7

What is meant by “Cartesian dualism”?

Answer 7

The mind and body are separate entities.

Question 8

What was John Locke involvement in the early development of psychology?

Answer 8

• created the concept of empiricism.
• had an influence on the emerge of psychology as a science.

Question 9

What is meant by “empiricism”?

Answer 9

The belief that all knowledge is derived from sensory experience and can be studied using the scientific method.

Question 10

What was Charles Darwin involvement in the early development of psychology?

Answer 10

• believed that behaviour has evolved due to their adaptive value.
• survival of the fittest.

Question 11

What is meant by “survival of the fittest”?

Answer 11

Notion that human and animal behaviour has changed over generations where individuals with stronger genes will survive and reproduce.

Question 12

What was Wilhelm Wundt involvement in the early development of psychology?

Answer 12

• published first book on psychology named ‘principles of physiological psychology’.
• opened first psychology lab in Germany in 1879.
• considered the father of psychology.
• important as he separated psychology from physiology.
• structuralism.
• studied reaction time, sensation and perception.
• study paved the way for later controlled research and the study of metal processes by cognitive psychologists.

Question 13

What is meant by “structuralism”?

Answer 13

The promotion of the use of introspection in order to study the structure of the human mind.

Question 14

What is the use of introspection?

Answer 14

• way of understanding a person’s inner world
  ↳ comparisons of people’s responses can be used to make theories about thinking and perception.

Question 15

What are some examples of introspection?

Answer 15

• participants are shown an image or played a sound and asked to describe the inner process when viewing the image or hearing tone.
• participants were given an object and asked to reflect in how they are viewing it.

Question 16

How did Wilhelm Wundt research introspection?

Answer 16

• strictly controlled the environments where introspection took place.
• controlled the stimuli and tasks that participants were asked to think about.
• limited the range of responses they might give.
• trained his participants so that they could give the most detailed observations possible.

Question 17

How was the study of psychology before Wilhelm Wundt?

Answer 17

• no set limits on the tasks they studied.
• made any judgements about the relevance of thoughts.

Question 18

How did Wilhelm Wundt establish psychology as a science?

Answer 18

By using scientific methods where his ideas led to multiple different psychological perspectives.

Question 19

What are the strengths of Wundt and introspection?

Answer 19

• controlled environment.
• standardised procedures.
• forerunner to later scientific approaches such as the behaviourist, cognitive and biological approach.

Question 20

What are the weaknesses of Wundt and introspection?

Answer 20

• self-reporting mental processes results in subjective data.
• thoughts can be hidden.
• difficult to establish general laws of behaviour.

Question 21

What is the process of the emerge of psychology as a science?

Answer 21

1900s - behaviourism
- scientific nature of introspection was being questioned.
- Wundt’s approach was subjective.
- Watson and Skinner proposed you should only focus on what can be seen and measured.
1960s - the cognitive approach
- digital revolution which lead to psychologists comparing the mind to a computer.
- studied the unobservable such as memory and perception using experiments.
1980s - the biological approach
- has utilised technological advances in brain scanning which allows us to have an increased understanding of the brain and psychological processes.

Question 22

What are the different approaches in psychology?

Answer 22

• the biological approach.
• the learning approach (behaviourist and social learning theory).
• the cognitive approach.
• the psychodynamic approach.
• the humanist approach.

Question 23

What are the reasons for different approaches?

Answer 23

• looks at human behaviour from a different perspective.
• contribute to our understanding in different ways.
• no approach is right or wrong but some are more useful than others depending on what we try to explain.
• based on assumptions which are suppositions that something is a fact
  
  • e.g. the biological approach is based on the assumption that biological factors such as the level of serotonin in the synapses influences our behaviour.

Question 24

What are the strengths of the emerge of psychology as a science?

Answer 24

• modern psychology can claim to be scientific.
• same aim as natural sciences - to describe, explain, predict and change human behaviour.
• behaviourism, cognitive and biological approach rely on scientific methods.
• subject has established itself as scientific discipline.

Question 25

What are the weaknesses of the emerge of psychology as a science?

Answer 25

• not all approaches use scientific methods.
• humanistic approach rejects scientific methods.
• psychodynamic approach uses case studies which are unrepresentative of the general population.
• active within the research and can be affected by the situation.

Question 26

What are the four goals of psychology?

Answer 26

• description - tells us “what” occurred.
• explanation - tells us “why” a behaviour or mental process occurred.
• prediction - identifies conditions under which a future behaviour or mental process is likely to occur.
• change - applies to psychological knowledge to prevent unwanted behaviour and bring about desired change.

Question 27

What is meant by the “description” goal?

Answer 27

Tells us “what” occurred.

Question 28

What is meant by the “explanation” goal?

Answer 28

Tells us “why” a behaviour or mental process occurred.

Question 29

What is meant by the “prediction” goal?

Answer 29

Identifies conditions under which a future behaviour or mental process is likely to occur.

Question 30

What is meant by the “change” goal?

Answer 30

How it applies to psychological knowledge to prevent unwanted behaviour and bring about desired change.