Approaches L1 - 5 Flashcards
What firsts did Wilhelm Wundt accomplish?
- Father of psychology (first psychologist)
- 1879 –> first experimental psychological lab in Leipzig
What important theory did Wundt derive and what does it mean?
- Introspection
- First systematic and experimental attempt to study the mind by breaking down conscious awareness into basic structures of reflections, thoughts, images and sensations
What psychological processes did Wundt focus on?
- Perception
- Structuralism
What is structuralism and who developed this?
Theory of consciousness, developed by Wundt
What did Wundt believe about psychology as a science?
Believed psychology should emerge as a a science
What part of psychology did introspection help develop?
Cognitive psychology
How was introspection recorded? (3)
- Under strictly controlled lab conditions
- Same stimuli, reaction times + instructions
- Focus on present experiences
4 features of introspection:
- Saying everything that goes through their mind when they are doing an activity
- Continue talking even if ideas are not clear
- No hesitation –> can use fragmented sentences
- Do not have to justify
Evaluation of introspection and emergence of psych as a science: (+5, -3)
+ Helped develop other approaches eg. behaviourism + cognitive
+ Can be extremely scientific –> high level of control of variables
+ Can establish cause of behaviour, which allows future predictions
+ Still used in cognitive therapy
+ Wundt advocates the reductionism –> consciousness can be broken down to basic elements without sacrificing the properties of the whole thing
- Cannot be a science –> introspection produces subjective data that is not objective enough
- Inaccurate –> Wilson says introspection is unable to further knowledge about behaviour and attitude that exist outside of conscious awareness eg. racism
- Fails to explain how thoughts are generated –> how can introspection be observed properly?
Behavioural approach:
A way of explaining behaviour in terms of what is observed in ways of learning
Features of behaviourism:
- All behaviour can be learnt
- Humans and animals can learn behaviours via classical conditioning
- All behaviour should be studied scientifically in lab
Classical conditioning:
Building an association between two different stimuli so learning occurs
Pavlov’s study:
Before conditioning:
1) Food (unconditioned stimulus) = Salivation (unconditioned response)
2) Bell = no response
Conditioning process:
Food (UCS) + Bell (NS) = Salivation (UCR) (association through repetition)
Now:
Bell (conditioned stimulus) = Salivation (conditioned response)
3 key principles of classical conditioning:
1) Generalisation –> stimuli similar to og stimuli will cause conditioned response eg. doorbell
2) Discrimination –> stimuli similar to og stimuli will not produce conditioned response (done by withholding food)
2) Extinction –> conditioned response isn’t produced even if bell is rung (not presenting food when bell is present)
Evaluation of classical conditioning (+4, -5):
+ Research support –> King (1998), Pavlov, Little Albert (1920)
+ Explains how learning occurs in animals and young children
+ Easily tested model
+ Can be applied to psychological disorder treatments eg flooding, SD
- Criticised by biological approach, as there is strong research evidence eg. schizophrenia
- Deterministic
- Not everyone who has a phobia had traumatic experiences eg. Menzies
- Unreliable as Little Albert study could not be replicated
- Not strong in explaining learning in adults
King (1998) study:
- Supports classical conditioning
- Found after reviewing case studies that children acquire phobias by encountering traumatic experiences
Little Albert (1920) study:
Little Albert by Watson and Rayner (1920):
- 11 month old baby
- Repeated x3 and did the same a week later
- Hammer struck 6x
- Cried + started to crawl away
- Generalisation occurred
How is classical conditioning deterministic?
Ignores free will of people, as it suggests humans behave the same like machines with no variation
What research shows that not everyone who has a phobia had a traumatic experience?
- Psychologist Menzies found that 98% of the people he studied with hydrophobia had never had a negative experience with water
- Other findings show 50% of those who have a dog phobia have never had a bad experience with a dog
Positive reinforcement:
Receiving smth positive for carrying out a behaviour
Negative reinforcement:
Performing a behaviour in order to avoid smth unpleasant and therefore behaviour continues in future
Punishment:
Unpleasant consequence caused by certain behaviours
What study was conducted on operant conditioning?
Skinner (1953)
What did the Skinner box include?
- Loud speakers
- Lights
- A lever
- A door
- A floor that could be electrified
Skinner (1953) procedure:
1 hungry rat placed at one time and ran round freely
Positive reinforcement:
1) Accidentally presses lever and be rewarded w/ food pellet dropping into Skinner box (positive reinforcement)
2) Continues to press lever and learns it can receive reward by doing this
Negative reinforcement:
1) Can learn pressing lever avoids receiving electric shock (negative reinforcement)
Spontaneous recovery:
After extinction, if rat presses lever and unexpectedly receives food pellet again, it relearns this link very quickly
Schedules of reinforcement:
1) Continuous reinforcement
2) Fixed interval
3) Fixed ratio
Evaluation of operant conditioning: (+3, -3)
+ Research evidence
+ Cause and effect relationship —> highly experimental method w/ controlled variables
+ Supported by nurture side, as environmental factors would have impact on learning
- Ignores free will –> suggests past experiences have full control over actions
- Ethical issues –> psychological damage
- Conflict w/ biological approach –> other approaches must be considered
What research evidence supports operant conditioning?
Paul and Lents used token economy to treat patients who had schizophrenia + behaviour became more appropriate
Token economy:
- Rewarding appropriate behaviour w/ token for privileges
- Used in institutions for behaviour modification
Social Learning Theory and who proposed it:
- New patterns of behaviour can be acquired by observing the behaviour of others
- Bandura (1977)
4 key aspects of Social Learning Theory:
1) Modelling –> observer learns from model
2) Imitation
3) Identification
4) Vicarious reinforcement
In what 2 ways can the model be presented?
- Live
- Symbolic, like TV character
3 key characteristics of successful imitation:
1) Characteristics of model
2) Observer’s perceived ability to perform behaviour
3) Observed consequence of behaviour
How does identification affect whether the individual imitates?
Similarities between them may mean they can relate further with them so chances of imitation are higher
In what way does vicarious reinforcement affect whether an individual imitates and what research shows this?
- Positive/negative consequence observed affects whether behaviour happens
- Children who observed model being rewarded for aggressive behaviour were more likely to imitate this compared to those who saw punishment to model
What does social learning place importance on and what does this mean?
- Internal cognitive mediational process
- Must form mental representation of behaviour
What aspects do mediational processes involve?
Must be able to:
- Attention –> Pay and attention and notice model’s behaviour
- Retention –> Remember behaviour
- Motor reproduction –> Perform behaviour
- Motivation –> Willing to perform behaviour for reward
Evaluation of Social Learning Theory: (+3, -2)
+ Great understanding of how criminal behaviour is learnt
+ More effective when model is very similar
+ More comprehensive than operant and classical conditioning
- Does not consider cause and effect
- Environmental determinism –> doesn’t consider other factors
What research evidence shows that a model with similar characteristics is more effective for social learning?
Fox (2009) found evidence to suggest when observer played computer game that had a very similar model to them, they were more likely to engage in the behaviour
How is social learning theory more comprehensive than operant and classical conditioning?
Includes behavioural and cognitive factors
Why doesn’t social learning theory take cause and effect into account?
It cannot be assumed that behaviour like delinquency cannot be caused by other factors
Procedure of Bandura (1961):
Bobo doll experiment:
1) 36 male and 36 female kids 37 - 69 months age
2) Observed either aggressive/non-aggressive male or female model
3) Aggressive model - aggressive acts like hitting bobo with mallet + verbally aggressive words
3) Made to feel frustrated by giving attractive toys but disallowing them to play with it
4) Taken to room one by one that had bobo doll, mallet, dart gun + non-aggressive toys
Observed for 20 mins
Results of Bandura (1961):
- Children who observed aggressive model reproduced same aggressive behaviour, whereas children who did showed no aggression
- 33% of those who observed verbal aggression repeated this, compared to 0% in non-aggression group
What happened in the follow-up study?
- If child who observed model being rewarded for aggressive behaviour, likelihood that they would be aggressive as well increased
- Boys seemed more aggressive than girls
- Imitation of aggression was greatest when model was same gender
Evaluation of Bandura (1961) study: (+2, -4)
+ Highly reliable –> conducted in lab
+ Good evidence to support social learning theory
- Lacks ecological validity –> conducted in lab, demand characteristics
- Use of bobo doll –> possibly instigates, as it bounces back
- Only short-term effect of social learning are shown
- Ethical issues –> psychological harm
