Approaches To Psychology Flashcards
Who was the founder of Psychology
Wilhelm Wundt
When and where did Wundt set up the first psychology lab
1879- Leipzig, Germany
What separated psych from philosophy
Controlled, standardised procedures
What experiment did Wundt do and what did it consist of
Ticking metronome- ppts would report images, thoughts and sensations which were systematically reported so it was reliable
What was the ‘scientific way to look into the human mind’
Introspection
What did introspection do
Paved the way to structuralism
What is structuralism
Identifying consciousness by breaking down behavs into their basic elements of thought, images and sensations
What did structuralism do
Marked the beginning of scientific psychology separating it from it broader philosophical roots
Wundt Eval- :) P-scientific methodology
E- Ticking metronome
E- Meant all ppts could be tested the same to check for reliability in findings
L- let Psych est itself as a science as it had an experimental method
Wundt Eval- :( P- subjective and lacked scientific rigour
E- Wundt relied on self-reporting which may have been affected by indiv bias
E- difficult to est meaningful behav inline with aims of science
L- today’s standards would say his methods are naïve
Eval- :) P- wundts research shaped future of Psych
E- the 1st person to attempt to study human behav in a scientific way using controlled and standardised procedures e.g. recording reaction time
E- without wundts contributions, psych may not be the academic subject it is today
L- Most unis have Psych department which have scientific status.
What is meant by behaviouralist approach
A way of explaining behav in terms of what is observable and in terms of learning
What is meant by classical conditioning
Learning by association- UCS paired with NS. NS produces same response(CS)
What is meant by operant conditioning
Learning by reinforcement- behav is shaped and maintained by its consequences
What is meant by reinforcement
Consequence of behav (+ or- reinforcement) increases likelihood of behav being repeated
What are the 5 assumptions of behavourism
Observable events- if it isn’t observable it won’t be studied
Scientific- Psych is a science so behav must be measured in highly controlled environments to establish cause and effect
Blank slate (tabula rasa)- we are born as a blank slate and everything is learnt (nothing is inate)
Animal research- findings from animals can be generalised to humans because they believe there is no difference between our learnings
Behaviour S-R response- behaviour is the result of stimulus —> response
Who were the key researchers of Classical Conditioning
Pavlov and Watson
What did Pavlov study
How dogs would be taught to associate a bell with food so it was then shown that they would salivate (indicating that had associated the bell with food)
What did Watson study
Little Albert - a loud gong was hit when a rabbit touched Albert. He then associated the gong with the rabbit which initiated his phobia
Who was the key researcher for operant conditioning
Skinner
What is positive reinforcement
A reward is given when certain behaviour is performed
What is negative reinforcement
When an animal/human avoids something unpleasant
What is punishment
An unpleasant consequence of a behaviour
What was Skinners research
Skinners boxes- rats or pigeons were placed in a box and would move around until they hit a lever on accident. This lever released food and they then learnt through positive reinforcement that each time the lever was pressed they would be rewarded with food
What is meant by environmental determinism
Behaviourists argue that humans have little choice in their behaviour and our behaviour is simply a product of environmental learning
Behaviourism Eval- :) P- contributed to developing recognition of Psych as a science
E- Experimental methods used in animal studies by Pavlov and Skinner
E- Emphasis on scientific method has led to increased valid and reliable understanding in human behaviour
L- Helped Psych gain credibility and status as a science
Behaviourism Eval :) P- Important contributions to our modern understanding of human mental illness
E- e.g. Many phobias are thought to be from previous unpleasant experiences and developed therapies such as systematic desensitisation
E- addictions of gambling can be understood through OC
L- Thus many real life applications
Behaviourism Eval :( P- Too reductionist
E- ignore alternative explanations such as role of cognition, emotion and biological factors
E- skinner countered stating for behaviour to be investigated scientifically it had to be directly measurable and observable, cognition is not any of these
L- the most complex human interactions could be explained by operant conditioning
Behaviourism Eval- :( P- issues with animal extrapolation
E- assumed that findings from animal research can be generalised to humans
E- human brains are qualitatively different to non-human animals
L- means results from animal testing need to be cautiously generalised to humans
What did Bandura propose
The social learning theory
What was the social learning theory
A development of the behaviouralist approach which say in between the behaviouralist approach and the cognitive approach
What makes us more likely to imitate role models
If we identify and admire them
What does vicarious mean
Through others
What is vicarious reinforcement
Learning through rewards or consequences of others (role model) which will motivate the learner to imitate the behaviour of their role model as if they had been rewarded themselves
What is the mediational process
Where we do not automatically observe the actions of our role model, there is a thought process prior to imitation (mediational process) which occurs between the behaviour (stimulus) and imitation (response)
What is attention and retention an example of
Learning
What is motor replication and motivation an example of
Performance
What was Banduras experiment called
Bodo doll
What was the aim of Banduras bodo doll research
To investigate whether aggression can be learned through social learning theory principles
What was the method of Banduras Bodo doll research
72 children (36 boys and 36 girls) aged 3-6 put into groups who were either with an aggressive role model who hit and shouted at the bodo doll, with a non-aggressive role model who played quietly with a construction set and a control group who did not see a model
