Chapter 4 - Approaches Of Psychology Flashcards
What was Wundt’s approach to Psychology called?
Structuralism which is a form of introspection.
What is structuralism?
When you isolate the structure of consciousness and use scientific methods to study the structure of sensation and perception.
What does “introspection” mean
Introspection simply means ‘looking into’
How is introspection used?
Participants are asked to reflect on their own cognitive processes and describe them.
What are the 4 goals of Psychology?
1) Description - tells us ‘what’ occurred
2) Explanation - tells us ‘why’ a behaviour occurred
3) Prediction - Identifies conditions under which a future behaviour is likely to occur
4) Change - Applies psychological knowledge to prevent unwanted behaviour and to bring about desired change
What are the 5 assumptions of the behaviourist approach?
1) Behaviourism is concerned with observable behaviour, as opposed to internal events such as thinking.
2) When born, our mind is a blank state
3) There is little difference between the learning that takes place in humans and other animals.
4) Behaviour is a result of a stimulus
5) All behaviour is learnt from the environment
Who founded the behaviourist approach?
J.B Watson
What are 3 key concepts to the behaviourist approach?
- Stimulus
- Response
- Reinforcement
What is a stimulus?
Anything that brings about a response
What is a response?
Any reaction in response to a stimulus
What is a reinforcement?
The process by which a response is strengthened.
What is the unconditioned stimulus?
The stimulus that naturally produces the reflex response.
What is the conditioned stimulus?
The stimulus which, after repeated pairings with the unconditioned stimulus, produces the response.
What is the unconditioned response?
The innate reflexive response to a stimulus that has not been conditioned
What is the conditional response
The response that occurs after exposure to the conditioned stimulus.
What is a directional hypothesis?
Where a hypothesis states that the results go in one direction.
What is a non-directional hypothesis?
Where a hypothesis does not state a direction of the results but says that one factor affects another.
What was Bandura’s experiment attempting to show?
The experiment was attempting to show the social learning theory.
What scientist performed experiments on dogs to investigate classic conditioning?
Ivan Pavlov.
Briefly describe what operant conditioning is
A theory which claims that all behaviour is learnt as a result of consequences in our environment (positive and negative).
Who founded operant conditioning?
BF skinner
How is operant conditioning used to shape behaviour?
It uses consequences, such as gaining rewards or receiving punishment to modify behaviour.
Who founded the social learning theory?
Albert Bandura
What is modelling?
Modelling is when you learn through the observation of other people (models) which may lead to copying of the behaviour but only if behaviour is seen to be rewarded
What are the 4 steps in Bandura’s social learning theory?
1) Observe
2) Identify
3) Reinforce
4) Copy
Briefly summarise Bandura’s Bobo doll experiment.
36 girls and 36 boys were split into 2 conditions. In the first condition, children observed aggressive adult models playing with a bobo doll aggressively. In the second condition, children observed non-aggressive models playing with less violent toys than the Bobo doll. In the third condition, the children’s behaviour was solely observed in a room with violent and non-violent toys.
What was Bandura’s study attempting to show?
The social learning theory.
What were Bandura’s findings from the Bobo doll experiment?
Aggressive behaviour is learnt through imitation of other people behaving aggressively.
What is the cognitive approach?
A theory which shows how our mental processes such as thoughts affect behaviour.
What is a schema?
A schema is a cognitive structure that serves for a person’s knowledge about people, places or objects.
What the 3 different types of schema?
- Role schemas
- Event schemas
- Self schemas
What is a role schema?
These are ideas about the behaviour which is expected from someone in a certain role or setting.
What is an event schema?
Ideas about what happens in a certain situation.
What are self schemas?
Ideas about ourselves based on physical and mental characteristics, as well as beliefs and values.