Approaches P2 Flashcards
Where was psychology rooted in?
17th and 19th century philosophy, Rene Descartes - concept of cartesian dualism ‘the mind and body are separate entities, that the brain is not same as the mind’
Who is the ‘father of psychology’ and why?
-In 1873, he published ‘principles of physiological psychology’ the first psych book
-In 1879, opened first psych lab in Leipzig,Germany
-He used introspection to study the structure of the human mind, by breaking behaviours into their basic elements - approach =’structuralism’
Introspection = looking internally and recording your own conscious thoughts
Wundt’s experiment
-ppts given standardises instructions
Played sounds of metronomes, told to record how they felt/ what they though of
-Experiment was controlled and replicable
Weaknesses of Introspection
- Unable to verify truth
- subjective, due to people interpreting sounds differently
- Extraneous variables
- Relies on non-observable responses
Watson & early behaviourists
- Beginning 20th century, watson questioned the value of introspection as the data was subjective and varied too much
- W. felt that psych should only study phenomena that could be observed and measured
Importance of scientific methods
- Improves validity
- Prevents discrediting of the study &findings by other professions
- Scientific knowledge is self corrective, can be changed
Behaviourist approach (main concepts)
-Assumes that behaviourism is primarily concerned with observable behaviour,
that behaviour is a response to stimulus
that when born our mind is a blank state as there are no genetics involved controlling our behaviour
Classical conditioning (Pavlovs dogs)
-Learning through association
‘when a human learns to associate a reflex response with a new stimulus’
Pavlov’s dogs;
Before - dog given food(unconditioned stimulus) = salivation (unconditioned response
During - dog given food (UCS) whilst a bell was rang (Neutral stimulus) = responds with salivation (UCR)
After - the bell was rang (conditioned stimulus) and the dog gave a conditioned response of salivation
-Showed how repeated exposure to events -> learned,uncontrollable behaviour
Operant Conditioning (Skinners rats)
- Learning through reinforcement, as learning is an active process where humans +A operate on their environment
- Skinner place a rat in a box with a lever, controlled environment, when the lever was pressed the rat was given a food pellet - known as positive reinforcement
- also negatively reinforced the rat by removing a loud noise
Reinforcement
- Positive reinforcement = A reward which makes a good situation better ->increases likelihood of response occurring
- Negative reinforcement = a reward which takes away an unpleasant situation -> decreases the likelihood of negative response occurring
Punishment
=the outcome of a behaviour is negative and less likely to repeat it
- Positive P = ADDing something unpleasant
- Negative P = Removing something DESIRABLE
BEHAVIOURIST Strength (controlled research
+Uses well controlled research as its focused on measuring observable behaviour within controlled lab settings -> allows behaviourists to break down behaviour into S->R units. This suggests that behaviourist experiments have scientific credibility.
-> BUT CAN OVERSIMPLIFY learning and ignore influences on behaviour, suggesting that learning is more complex than what is oversable
Social Learning theory - Assumptions
- Concerned with human behaviour, people are active manipulators of their own environment
- Learning occurs through the observation of role models, through interpersonal situations - observation & imitation.
- Observational learning uses cognitive processes such as memory, the process between Stimuli -> Response are Meditational processes
Indirect learning - slt
Bandura agreed with behaviourist approach that learning occurs through experience.
->learning takes place in a social context through observation and imitation
SLT main concepts
-Vicarious Reinforcement:
the person observes behaviour of others, indirectly learning. May imitate this behaviour if positively reinforced, they observe the behaviour and the consequences of it.
-Meditational Processes;
factors which determine wether a new response is acquired, identified by Bandura. they are: Attention (extent to which the behaviour was noticed)-> Retention(remembering it) ->Motor Reproduction(ability of person to perform the behaviour)-> Motivation (the will to perform bh)
-Identification:
PPL imitate those they identify with- ‘ROLE MODELS’
Process of imitating the RM is modelling - RM as they posses similar charachteristics to the observer e.g. high status/play same sport
RM don’t need to be physically present in the environment e.g. a child is watching Andy Murray win a tennis game and the child now wants to improve their tennis skills.
Bandura 1961
Recorded the behaviour of children who watched an adult behave aggresively towards a Bobo Doll.
The adult hit the Bobo doll and shouted abuse at it.
When the children were then observed playing with toys, they behaved more aggresively towards the Bobo doll and other toys than the children who has observed a non-aggressive adult.
-Used three groups of 24 children, the first grp shown a aggressive adult, the second a non-aggressive adult and the third no model as the control group
Bandura 1963
-Showed videos to children where an adult behaved aggresively towards the Bobo doll
The first group saw the adult being praised for their behaviour
The second group saw the adult being punished for their behaviour towards the doll.
The third group saw the aggresive behaviour with no consequence.
-When the children were given a bobo doll to pay with, the first group showed more aggresion, the the third and then the second
SLT strength - importance of cognitive factors
+ Neither classicial conditioning of operant conditioning offer a comprehensive account of learning on own as cognitive factors are omitted. ->Humans store information about behaviours of others & use to make judgements if appropriate to perform.
This shows that SLT provides a more complete explanation of learning as it credits meditational processes.
Cognitive Approach - Assumptions
- It is the events within a person that must be studied if behaviour is to be fully understood
- the mind works like a computer, the input from our senses and then processed & produced as output like language
- As cognitions can’t be studied directly, inferences must be made - use of data & evidence to make an educated guess
Role of inference cog
-mental processes are private and can’t observed, cognitive psychologists study them indirectly through inferences.
Cog Approach - Brain imaging techniques
- FMRI, functional magnetic resonance imaging, detects changes in blood oxygenation and blood flow, produce 3d images, blue - O2 & black - no O2.
- ERP, event-related potentials, looks as specific areas, scans responses to a specific stimuli and scans types of brainwaves that are triggered by particular events
- EEG, electroencephalogram, scans overall acitivity of brain, electrodes are fixed on a skullcap which is then place on the participant, scans represent brainwave patterns.
- Post-Mortem, analysis of a dead persons brain, only done on those with rare disorders/head injuries. Areas examined to see causes of affliction.
Biological approach -assumptions
- Suggests that everything psychological is at first biological so to fully understand human behaviour we must look at biological structures and processes within the body
- The mind lives in the brain, all thoughts, feelings and behaviours have a physical basis.
- Genes affect behaviour and influence individual psychological differences between people.
BioAp - genetic basis of behaviour
- study whether behavioural charachteristics, like intelligence, personality, mental disorders are inherited in the same way as physical charachteristics, like height & eye colour
- different methods are used to investigate the extent to which these psychological charachteristics are affected by inheritance from parents & evolution
BioAp - Twin studies
- Monozygotic twins, 1 zygote that was split into two and formed separate embryos ->non identical twins & share 100% DNA
- Dizygotic, two zygotes fertilised by different sperm cells -> non identical twins, share 50% DNA
Use a concordance rate - the agreement between the extent to which monozygotic & dizygotic share similar traits
MZ - High Concordance rate
DZ - Lower concordance rate
BioAp twin studies - christiansen 1977
-Christiansen 1977 crime study, he studied mz & dz twins and found that 56% of MZ twins share a higher concordance rate of criminal behaviour than DZ, where 21% shared a lower concordance rate of criminal behaviour. Shows that influence of the environment which affects the chance of criminal behaviour.
BioAp -Twin studies, Gottesman 1991
-schizophrenia study
-Sample of 57 twin pairs - 24MZ & 33DZ, range of ages from 19-64
-Twin pairs were tested using blood samples & personality tests.
-fnd that 42% of MZ twins & 9% of DZ twins were both diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Also that 12% of MZ & 9% of DZ twins where at least one twin had been in psychiatric hospitalisation.
Conc -> genes appear as a large role in schizophrenia as concordance rates are higher in MZ twins than DZ twins. But environmental factors are still dependant of concordance rates as it is not 100%
BioAp Family studies
Look at the chance of child & parent having a disorder
-1869 Francis Galton, hereditary genius ‘a mans natural abilities are derived by inheritance, under exactly the same limitations as are the form and physical features of the whole organic world’
BioAp adoption studies
-focuses on environmental factors, compares traits between adopted children and their biological or adoptive parents
-> Heston 1966, compared 47 children whose mother had schizophrenia with a control group of adopted children with no schizophrenia in biological family.
FND that 16% of offspring of schizophrenic mothers were diagnosed, none were diagnosed in control group.
BioAp selective breeding
- involves artificially selecting males and females to breed for a specific trait. The animals are then put together in order to breed & produce offspring.
- Used to demonstrate how a number of behavioural charachteristics may have a genetic basis e.g. ‘Maze Bright rats’
Humanistic - Heriachy of needs & self-actualisation
- Maslow 1940-50s, developed heriachy of needs
- Self actualisation represents upper most level of needs, it means to have achieved your desire to grow psychologically & fulfil one’s potential
- Must progress through lower levels first
