Approaches to psychology Flashcards
What were the assumptions of the behaviourist approach?
interested in studying behaviour that can be observed and measure
Why did John Watson reject introspection?
(behaviourist)
Hard to measure as it was based on processes of the mind that cannot be viewed or proved
What were the ethical issues associated with the behaviourist approach?
animals housed in harsh, cramped conditions and deliberately kept under weight
What is classical conditioning?(behaviourist)
Where a behaviour is learned through association
What is the three stage process of classical conditioning?(behaviourist)
Before conditioning
During conditioning
After conditioning
What does Pavlov’s experiment show and how was the experiment carried out?(behaviourist)
Pavlov’s experiments show how classical conditioning is applied to animals. The experiments consisted of attaching a tube to a dogs salivary glands. He would present the dogs with food(unconditioned stimulus) and ring a bell at the same time (neutral stimulus). The result was that through association when the dog would hear the bell it would salivate(conditioned stimulus) as it associates the sound of bell with food.
What does operant conditioning state?(behaviourist)
Behaviour is shaped by consequence.
What were the three aspects of operant conditioning and what they consist of?(behaviourist)
Positive reinforcement: receive reward when certain behaviour performed
Negative reinforcement: animal or human avoids something unpleasant by doing act
Punishment: unpleasant consequence of behaviour such as being yelled at
What does the skinners box test test and how is the experiment carried out? (behaviourist)
Tests operant conditioning. Rat was placed in box and by pulling lever it learned it would release a reward (food). Also discovered if lever was pulled it would avoid an unpleasant electric shock. (shows both negative and positive reinforcement)
What are positive evaluations of the behaviourist approach?
well controlled research (by breaking down behaviour into basic stimulus removed other variables creating cause and effect relationship)
Have been applied to real world behaviour problems (token economy systems used in prisons and psychiatric wards where you receive tokens for good behaviour)
What are the limitations of the behaviourist approach?
Didn’t take into account other influences on learning (“private mental processes” make things more complex)
Sees all behaviour as conditioned from past experiences (ignores free will effect on behaviour and ignores influence of conscious decisions making decisions as well as disorders -skinner suggested everything we do is the sum of our conditioned history- )
What are the assumptions of the Cognitive approach?
The internal mental processes should be studied, these processes are private and so are studied indirectly via making inferences about what’s happening inside mind (thinking, memory, perception)
How are theoretical and computer models used in the cognitive approach?
Theoretical models: are used to visualise how information goes through the brain in a sequence ( input, storage, retrieval) referencing that out brains work similarly to computers
Computer models: involve programming a computer to see if computer develops a similar response to a human
USED TO DEVELOP THINKING MACHINES AND AI
What is soft determinism?
The view that human behaviour is determined by internal and external factors with free will
What is hard determinism?
views say all our behaviour is determined by factors other than our will e.g genes, conditioning
What did Bronca discover about the brain
Realised damage to the frontal lobe (Broncas area) can alter speech production
What do FMRI’s and PET scans allow (cognitive)
allow systematic observation (allows data to be collected accurately)
What research did Buckner and Peterson carry out (cognitive)?
research involving episodic and semantic memory, saw how different types of long term memory were located on opposite sides of the prefrontal cortex as well as central executive (working memory) in similar areas
What did scanning techniques help to recognise? (cognitive)
Helped to recognise mental disorders and finding links in how they process unpleasant emotions ( OCD and Para hippocampal gyrus)
How have computer models been applied to real life situations? (cognitive)
have been designed to read the brain to create a mind mapping techniques known as brain fingerprinting
also analysis of brain waves to see if eyewitnesses lie in court
What is schema? (cognitive)
Schema is the packages of ideas and information developed through experience, acts as mental framework for interpretation of incoming information
What are positive evaluations of the cognitive approach?
+ uses objective scientific methods
uses lab studies which are highly controlled and produce reliable, objective data also the emergence of cognitive neuroscience where both biology and cognitive psychology have come together
What are the limitations of the cognitive approach?
- uses objective scientific methods- suffers from being to abstract and theoretical
relies upon the inference of mental processes rather than direct observation on behaviour and lacks external validity
-machine reductionism
What specifically were the stages of classical conditioning? (behaviourist)
Before Conditioning
Neutral Stimulus - Bell. No conditioned response
Unconditioned Stimulus - Food
Unconditioned Response - Salivation
During Conditioning
Neutral Stimulus - Bell
Unconditioned Stimulus - Food
Unconditioned Response- Salivation
After Conditioning
Conditioned Stimulus - Bell
Conditioned Response- Salivation
What was Rene Descartes quote?
“i think therefore i am”- the mind and body are separate (cartesian duality)
What was Charles Darwin’s quote?
survival of the fittest, weakest genes weeded out
What was John Locke’s quote?
All information can be obtained through the senses, human beings don’t inherit knowledge or instinct, behaviour can be observed and measured (empiricism)
What is introspection?
recording the conscious thoughts of people and breaking them down into their constituent parts. Looking at structure of consciousness is called structuralism
What was Wilhelm Wundt’s research?
He tried to be very controlled in what he did. He would do his research in controlled (the same each time) conditions using a stimulus which was the same each time (such as the ticking of a metronome). This meant that the team had the same instructions each time so it could be replicated.
Who opened the first psychology lab and in what year?
Wilhelm Wundt
1879
What are the assumptions of social learning theory?
learn through observation and imitation. SLT suggests learning occurs through conditioning (directly) and observation + imitation(indirectly)
what is vicarious reinforcement?(SLT)
where an individual observes a behaviour and imitates it usually is the behaviour is seen to be rewarded
What is identification? (SLT)
the idea that people are more likely to imitate someone if they have similar characteristics (such as attraction, status) Process of imitating a role model is called modelling
What is Banduras research about?
Study A: behaviour of young children who watched an adult be aggressive towards a bobo doll. Recorded the children also showed aggression towards the doll when playing
Study B: three groups shown video, one with adult praised for abusing bobo doll, one punished and one without consequence. In order of aggression: 1,3,2
What is imitation? (SLT)
copying the behaviours of others
What is identification? (SLT)
When an observer identifies with a role model and wants to be like them
What are mediational processes? (SLT)
Cognitive factors that influence learning and comes between stimulus and response
What are the real world applications of Social Learning Theory?
advantage of being able to explain cultural difference principle (modelling, imitation, reinforcement) accounts for how children are influences by others and social media
What is reciprocal determinism?
not merely influenced by external environment but we also exert an influences, This shows we have some sort of free will in the way we behave contrasting the Behaviourist approach
Example of this determinism is Social Learning Theory
What are the positive evaluations of Social Learning Theory?
+ recognises importance of cognitive factors (e.g how we process and store information) suggesting SLT has a more comprehensive explanation of human learning
What are the limitations of Social learning theory?
- too little refences to biological factors (says learning was determined by environment however may be result of mirror neurons in the brain allow to empathise and imitate others)
-contrived lab studies means results are gathered through lab studies (observed young people , criticized for contrived nature and respond to demand characteristics meaning children only perform task because it was expected not that they learned it)
What is the role of the conscious part of the mind? (psychodynamic)
the part of the consciousness we are fully aware of
What is the role of the preconscious part of the mind? (psychodynamic)
contains thoughts and memories that can be accessed if desired but not in awareness
What is the role of the unconscious part of the mind? (psychodynamic)
store house of biological drives and instincts, contains threatening and disturbing memories that have been repressed
Can be accessed through dreams or slips of the tongue (parapraxes)
What are defence mechanisms? (psychodynamic)
unconscious and ensure the ego is able to prevent us from being overwhelmed by temporary threats or traumas
What is a negative of defence mechanisms? (psychodynamic)
often involve distortion of reality and are regarded as unhealthy long term
What are the three types of defence mechanisms? (psychodynamic)
displacement: transferring feelings onto another substitute target
Denial: refuse to acknowledge aspect of reality
Repression: force memory out of conscious mind into unconscious
What is the structure of personality? (psychodynamic)
composed of three parts (tripartite)
Id, super ego and ego
What does the super Ego do? (psychodynamic)
Formed at end of phallic stage (5)
Internalised sense of right and wrong
Represents moral standard of child’s same gendered parent
Punishes Ego for wrong doing
Moral principle
What does the Id do? (psychodynamic)
Primitive part of personality
Operates on pleasure principles
Seething mass of unconscious drives and instincts
Only one present at birth
Selfish
What does the Ego do? (psychodynamic)
Works on reality principles and mediator between Id and superego
Develops around 2 years old
Used to reduce conflict between Id and superego by employing defence mechanisms
Rational principle
What are the positive evaluations of the psychodynamic approach?
+ introduces idea of psychotherapy- first attempt to treat mental disorders psychologically instead of physically by bringing repressed feelings into consciousness to deal with
+ ability to explain human behaviour- explains personality development, origins of psychological disorders, moral development, gender identity also childhood connection between family and child
What are the limitations of the Psychodynamic approach?
- regarded as harmful for those with more serious mental disorders (e.g. schizophrenia)- patients cannot articulate thoughts as required for psychoanalysis also doesn’t apply to all disorders
- much is untestable- doesn’t meet scientific criteria of falsification as it is not open to empirical testing (possibility of being disapproved) also only studied single individuals (e.g. little hans)
what is stage one of the psychosexual stages? (psychodynamic)
Oral stage (0-1)
What is the description of the oral stage?(psychodynamic)
focus of pleasure in the mouth, mothers breast may become primary object of desire
What is the consequence of being stuck in the oral stage?(psychodynamic)
oral fixations- smoking, biting nails, sarcastic and critical
What is stage two of the psychosexual stages? (psychodynamic)
Anal stage (1-3)
What is the description of the anal stage? (psychodynamic)
Focus of pleasure in anus from expelling or withholding faeces
What are the consequences of being stuck in the anal stage? (psychodynamic)
Anal retentive-perfectionist, obsessive
Anal expulsive- thoughtless messy
What is stage three of the psychosexual stages?(psychodynamic)
Phallic stage (3-6)
What is the description of the phallic stage?(psychodynamic)
Focus of pleasure in genitals
What are the consequences of being stuck in the phallic stage?(psychodynamic)
Phallic person-narcissistic, reckless
What is stage four of the psycho sexual stages?(psychodynamic)
Latency
What is the description of the latency stage?(psychodynamic)
earlier conflicts are repressed
What is stage five of the psychosexual stages?(psychodynamic)
Genital stage (puberty)
What is the description of the genital stage?(psychodynamic)
sexual desires become conscious alongside the onset of puberty
What are the consequences of being stuck in the genital stage?(psychodynamic)
difficulty forming hetero sexual relationships
Describe Freuds case study of Little Hans.
Boys develop incestuous feelings toward their mothers and a murderous hatred for their rival in love - their father. Fearing the father will castrate them boys repress their feelings and identify with their father (gender role + moral values)
Girls experience penis envy: desire for their fathers penis as it is the primary love object and hate their mother (Electra complex) said to give up desire for their father and replace their desire with a want for a baby identifying with the mother in the process
Hans was five and was scared of horses after seeing one collapse in the street, Freud suggested Little Hans phobia was due to a form of displacement for his repressed fear of his father castrating him as the horse had a penis and fainted.
Did the Humanist approach believe in free will?
Yes it does as it claims human beings are self determining and are effected by internal and external influences determining their own development
What did the humanistic approach focus on studying?
study of subjects experience
What did Maslow’s hierarchy of needs help to explain and what did the hierarchy consist of?
Helped to explain motivation
consisted of the idea that to achieve self actualisation a number of other deficiency must be met first
What is self actualisation? (humanistic)
complete realisation of someone’s potential being achieved ( at the top of the pyramid)
What is self congruence? (humanistic)
The idea that your concept of self is equilivent to your ideal self
if gap is too big a person will not be able to reach self actualisation due to negative feelings of self worth
What is an example of a condition of worth? (humanistic)
unconditional positive regard
What did Rogers develop to reduce the gap between ideal self and actual self? (humanistic)
Client centred therapy called counselling to help people cope with every day living
How did Rogers explain negative behaviours in adults? (humanistic)
roots in child hood and can be explained by lack of unconditional positive regards (unconditional love) from parents
What are limits of love? (humanistic)
A parent setting a boundary by claiming “i will only love you if…”
What does limits of love do for a child? (humanistic)
storing up psychological problems which will later show themselves in later life
What did Rogers think his role of being the therapist was?(humanistic)
Was to show unconditional positive regard as the clients didn’t receive it in childhood
What did Carl Rogers refer to his patients as? (humanistic)
Clients who saw the individual as an excerpt of their own condition
What was the atmosphere like in carl Rogers therapies? (humanistic)
warm, supportive and non judgemental
What three things did Carl Rogers show his clients in his counselling sessions?(humanistic)
genuine, empathy and unconditional love
What was the aim of carl Rogers counselling sessions? (humanistic)
increase clients self worth
What are the positive evaluations of the humanistic approach?
+ rejects attempts to break up behaviour (reductionism)-believes in holism, the idea that subjective experiences can only be understood by looking at the whole person therefore may be more valid because it takes into account meaningful human behaviour
+optimistic - praised for promoting a positive image of the human condition
What are the limitations of the humanistic approach?
-reductionist approaches may be more scientific - experiments reduce behaviour to independent and dependent variables meaning they are more scientific and are therefore more valid
-culturally bias- many ideas from the humanistic approach (individual freedom, autonomy and personal growth) are more accessible in individualist societies contrasting the countries with collectivist tendencies which emphasize needs of the group and interdependence
What did Abraham Maslow reject? (humanistic)
scientific method
Why does the Humanistic Approach have limited application?
has a loose set of abstract ideas
What are the assumptions of the biological approach?
suggests everything psychological is first biological so to understand behaviour you must first look at biological structures and processes
What is the over production of dopamine linked to? (biological)
Schizophrenia
What are low levels of neurotransmitters serotonin linked to?
OCD
What are twin studies used to investigate? (biological)
used to investigate whether certain psychological characteristics have a genetic basis
What is analysing concordance rates in the twin studies? (biological)
extents to which twins share the same characteristics
What is the term for identical twins? (biological)
monozygotic
What is the term for non identical twins? (biological)
dizygotic
If things such as musical ability and schizophrenia is genetic what would be expect the concordance rates to be for monozygotic twins? (biological)
100% sharing all the genes if the environment is assumed to be constant
What are the positive evaluations of the biological approach?
+real world application -increased understanding of neurochemical processes of brain associated with use of psychoactive drugs to treat serious conditions
+uses scientific methods of investigation- uses scanning techniques such as fMRI’s and EEG’s able to accurately measure psychological and neutral processes in unbiased ways
What are the limitations of the biological approach?
- antidepressants don’t work for everyone - means brain chemistry alone may not account for all causes of depression
- it is deterministic - sess human behaviour as caused by internal processes(nature) yet genotype is influenced by environment also there cannot be a gene for everything (e.g a murder gene telling someone to murder)
What are the two subsystems within the nervous system?
central nervous system (CNS)
peripheral nervous system (PNS)
What is the brain covered in and how thick is it?
cerebral cortex (3mm thick)
What is the PNS subdivided into?
Autonomic nervous system (ANS) which governs vital functions (e.g heart rate, breathing, sexual arousal and stress response)
Somatic nervous system (SNS) which governs muscle movement and receives information from sensory receptors
What happens to the endocrine and ANS when a stressful event happens?
- when stressor perceived the hypothalamus activates the pituitary gland
- this triggers activity in the sympathetic branch of the ANS
3.the ANS changes from its normal resting state (parasympathetic) to the psychologically aroused (sympathetic state)
What is parasympathetic action?
Once threat has passed the parasympathetic nervous system returns to it’s resting state which works in opposition to the sympathetic nervous system as it reduces activity
What is the difference between the sympathetic and parasympathetic branch of the ANS?
sympathetic (fight or flight)
Parasympathetic (resting state)
What are the three types of neurones?
sensory relay motor
Where are the sensory neurons located?
located in PNS in clusters called ganglia
Where are relay neurones located?
Make up 97% of all neurones
Where are the motor neurones located?
Soma is located in CNS but their axons spread out into the PNS
What is it called at the end of an axon where a message is carried on?
terminal buttons
What are the gaps between the myelin sheath called ?
Nodes of Ranvier
What does the relay neuron not have compared to the motor and sensory neuron?
no myelin sheath
Which two of the three neurones are multi polar and which one is uni polar?
Multi- relay and motor
Uni- sensory
What type of charge is the inside of a neuron during the resting state(parasympathetic)?
negatively reducing the likely hood it’ll fire
What type of charge is the inside of a neuron during the aroused state(sympathetic)?
positively increasing the likely hood it’ll fire
What is the cell body of a neuron called?
soma
Explain the process of synaptic transmission?
1.impulse reaches the dendrites
2.impulse triggers vesicles to move to edge of dendrite
3.vesicles release neurotransmitter chemicals
4.chemicals diffuse across until they reach the post synaptic receptor site where chemical is received and turned back into an electrical signal
4.once completed the chemicals are reabsorbed by the re uptake transporters and are either packaged up and stored for redistribution or broken down
What does the lock and key analogy say for synapses?
The neurotransmitter chemicals are specific for the synapse
What do excitatory neuro transmitters do?
‘GO,GO,GO!’
telling signal to carry on moving
Example: dopamine, glutamate, ACH
What do inhibitory neurotransmitters do?
‘STOP!’
tells signal to stop
Example: GABA, serotonin, dopamine
In context: a person with Parkinson’s disease doesn’t have enough dopamine to tell body not to shake
What is action potential?
electrical signal which moves like a Mexican wave along the axon
the vesicles need a certain amount of voltage to open to release the chemicals
What is the process of summation?
balance of excitatory or inhibitory signals to whether neuron should fire or not
What is the definition of abnormal?
against the normal such as a mental illness which effects the behaviour
What is the definition of atypical?
against the typical such as being neurodivergent or neurotypical which causes people to develop differently
What is genetic determinism?
Much is behaviour is directed by innate (internal) processes
e.g. biological approach
what is Psychic determinism?
unconscious forces drive our behaviour and are simply rationalised by conscious mind
e.g. psychodynamic approach
What is Hard determinism?
all behaviour is determined by internal processes only
what is Soft determinism?
determined by internal processes and external factors with free will
e.g. cognitive approach
What is reciprocal determinism?
influenced by environment as well as exerting an influence on it
e.g. Social learning theory
What was the humanistic stance on the free will v determined argument?
everything is determined by free will believing we determine out development
What is genetic determinism?
belief that everything is due to entirely biological factors
e.g. biological approach
What approaches believe in the nurture side of the nature vs nurture argument?
Behaviourism- believed we are born a blank slate and learn from our experiences
SLT- behaviour is learned through observation and imitation of role models
Humanistic- development of self is ongoing through out life as we are the sum of all our experiences
What approaches agree with both sides of the nature and nurture debate?
Cognitive-we are born with information processing abilities and schema (nature) but they are both developed through experience (nurture)
Biological- Behaviour is a result of out genetic blue print that we inherit from our parents referencing genotype (nature) however does acknowledge how it is expressed is influenced by environment referencing phenotype (nurture)
Psychodynamic-uses biological drives and instincts (nature) however relationships with parents are fundamental in future development. (nurture)
What is genotype and phenotype?
Genotype- genetic code and how many combinations of genes you would get
Phenotype-how it can be expressed physically
What is extrapolation and what approaches used it?
Is the use of animals in substitute of humans saying they are similar
Examples: Behaviourism, biological and humanistic
What is reductionism and holism?
reductionism- the process of breaking down behaviours into smaller constituent parts in order to reduce it to a cause and effect relationship
holism- the belief that the person should be looked at as a whole
What is nomothetic and idiographic and what are the examples of each?
nomothetic- studying a large group of people- uses objective data and is interested in making general laws for behaviour.
Examples: Behaviourism, SLT, Cognitive, Biological,
idiographic-aiming to understand what makes individuals unique - uses subjective data.
Examples: Humanistic
Both: psychodynamic as it focuses on the unique childhood of each individual and its favoured method of study (using case studies) focuses on the individual (idiographic), but it does generalise to all and includes general law.
How does the behaviourist approach view development?
does not offer coherent stage theories of development but instead see the processes that sees learning continuous occurring at any age.
How does the biological approach view development?
Suggests the development of genetically determined changes in a child’s physiological status
Changes in hormones also develop during puberty and influence our behaviour.
How does the social learning theory view development?
the development is the same as behaviourism as it also just sees the processes as learning continuous occurring at any age.
How does the psychodynamic approach view development?
The most coherent theory of development - psychosexual stages are determined and developed by age .
this was the first stage of development which then led on to influence other philosophers such as Kohlberg
How does the cognitive approach view development?
As part of development children form increasingly complex concepts (schemas) as they get older. Later led to Kohlberg’s theory of developmental stages
How does the humanistic approach view development?
The development of self is ongoing - childhood and relationship are important in our development
What approaches are reductionist?
Behaviourist, Cognitive (machine reductionism), SLT, Biological, Psychodynamic
What approaches believe in Holism?
Humanistic
