developmental area Flashcards
according to the developmental area, what is behaviour due to?
our experiences
as we experience new cognitive, behavioural and environmental influences and information, we build it into our future behaviours
in this way, our behaviour develops over a lifetime
what are cognitive influences on development?
Kohlberg’s stages of moral development
how does our sense of right and wrong develop over time
behavioural influences on development?
experiencing punishment or reinforcement following behaviour can encourage or discourage repetition of behaviour
example of how environmental factors influence development
feral child ‘Genie’ raised socially isolated but developed non-verbal communication
what is the methodology of the developmental area?
developmental psychology is interested in how behaviour is affected by experiences
researchers want to make comparisons between people who have had different experiences
use methods such as observations, brain scans and experiments
what is Social Learning Theory?
says behaviour is learnt through the watching and imitation of role models
what were the 4 processes needed for social learning that Bandura (1977) said there were?
- attention: we notice a behaviour
- retention: we copy behaviours we remember
- reproduction: we copy behaviours we are capable of
- motivation: we must be motivated to reproduce a behaviour
what did Bandura and Hudson (1961) say?
children will imitate behaviour demonstrated by a model when the model remained present in the room
aim of bandura?
aimed to demonstrate that learning can occur through the observation of a model and that imitation of the learned behaviour can occur without the model being present
what were the four hypotheses to test in Bandura’s study?
- children viewing aggressive models will carry out more aggressive acts resembling the models than children in the non aggressive model or no model conditions
- children shown non aggressive models will show significantly less aggressive behaviour than children in the aggressive or no model condition
- boys will imitate more aggressive behaviours than girls
- children will imitate more behaviours if the model is the same sex as them
experimental method of bandura?
quasi
sample demographics of bandura?
72 children from a nursery at Stanford University
ages ranged from 37 months to 69 months, with an average of 52 months
36 girls and 36 boys
how were aggression ratings calculated in bandura?
given before children were allocated a condition
observed in their normal social interactions in the nursery by a teacher + experimenter
were rated for physical + verbal aggression, aggression towards inanimate objects and aggression inhibition on a 5 point scale
children then placed into groups of 3 based on similar aggression ratings
how were pts allocated to conditions in bandura?
3 main conditions: aggressive, non aggressive and no model
one child from each grp of three randomly allocated into each condition
within experimental grps there was another set of conditions based on sex of pts and model. This gave a total of 8 experimental grps. each containing 6 pts and one control grp containing 24 pts
what was stage one of bandura’s procedure?
in the experimental conditions the participant was taken into the first room where they were given some high interest activities eg potato prints and stickers
model sat in opposite corner of room w tinker toy set + bobo doll
NON AGGRESSIVE: model would play quietly play w tinker set and ignore doll
AGGRESSIVE: model played w tinker toy set. after 1 minute, they would start being aggressive to the bobo doll by hitting, throwing and shouting eg ‘SOCK HIM IN THE NOSE’
first stage lasted 10 MINUTES
stage 2 of bandura?
aggression arousal:
- all pts completed this stage
- pts taken to a second room w attractive toys eg firetrucks + tea sets, and were allowed to play w them
after 2 mins, the experimenter told the child that these toys were the best and so reserved for other children. they were told they could play with toys in the third room instead
this gave pts motivation to be aggressive
stage three of bandura?
third room contained a range of toys and were standardised
all the toys from the first room were in the third room. there were also additional aggressive toys eg a dart gun. they were observed through a one way mirror for 20 mins whilst they played
a behavioural checklist was used during the observation. a note was made for one of the categories once every 5 secs, giving each child 240 behaviour ratings
behavioural categories:
- imitative aggression (hitting doll with mallet)
- partially imitative aggression (hitting doll with something other than the mallet)
- non-imitative aggression (shooting the doll with a dart gun)
- no aggression (colouring)
findings of bandura?
1) children in the aggressive model condition showed significantly more aggressive responses than those in the other two conditions
2) no overall significant difference was found between the behaviour of children in the non aggressive model grp and the control grp
3) boys imitated more physical aggression than girls, however there was no significant difference between boys and girls regarding verbal aggression
4) there was some evidence of a ‘same-sex’ effect for boys but not for girls. overall, male models have a higher level of imitation than female models in all children
conclusions of Bandura?
this study provides evidence to support Social Learning Theory
Behaviour can be affected by external influences, eg who we view as role models
characteristics of role models, eg sex of model, have an effect on imitation
strengths of Bandura?
matched pairs - individual differences have less of an impact
useful - imitation of behaviours seen on TV
behavioural checklist - all data relevant
quantitative data (from room 3 observation) - easy to analyse
weaknesses of Bandura?
ethics - protection from psychological harm lacking, kids told that they’re not good enough for toys
ethnocentric - all from Stanford Uni nursery, less validity
ethics - kids didn’t give consent to be in study
what does the behaviourist perspective assume about behaviour?
- humans are born ‘Tabula Rasa’, meaning were are not born w any information on how to behave. behaviour is therefore leart and shaped by interactions w the environment and others
takes the NURTURE side of the debate
sees psychology as a science
tend to use observations and experiments to collect objective data
what is classical conditioning?
learning through association
we have an unconditioned response to stimuli (eg salivating at food). if we then pair a conditioned stimuli eg a bell with this, eventually we associate the two and will produce the response for the conditioned stimuli
what did Watson and Rayner do?
conditioned a 9 month old baby to develop a fear of white fur
Albert was shown different stimuli and he wasn’t initially scared of any of these (fire, white rat, dog etc). then, every time he was shown the white rat, someone would make a loud noise and Albert would cry.
after conditioning, albert learnt to associate the white rat with the loud noise, so would cry when he was the white rat regardless of noise
what is operant conditioning?
learning through rewards and punishments
when we are rewarded, we want to repeat a behaviour so we get the reward again
when we are punished, we avoid repeating the behaviour to avoid punishment
what is positive reinforcement?
something positive happens after a behaviour, eg the rat pushes the lever and receives food
what is negative reinforcement?
something negative happens until a behavior occurs, eg there is an electric current through the cage until the rat presses the lever
what is punishment?
something negative happens after a behaviour eg the rat pushes the lever and an electric current is run through the cage
strengths of the behaviourist perspective?
- highlights importance of environmental influences on behaviour. by being aware of the influence of our environment we can make changes to shape behaviour eg using reinforcement to encourage children to take their medication
- the behaviourist perspective forms the basis of many forms of therapy eg classical conditions is used during flooding therapy for phobias
- focused on observable behaviour measured in controlled settings. by conducting research in a scientific research in a scientific way, the behaviourist perspective contributes to the credibility of psychology
weaknesses of the behaviourist perspective?
- due to the focus on environment, it ignores influence of nature. reductionist to ignore the influence that factors such as genetic and brain structure have on learning
- can be difficult or inappropriate to apply findings to real world, eg to what extent should we control the environment children are exposed to
- reduced ecological validity due to highly controlled settings. conditions may fail to resemble the real world so may be difficult to generalise results
what is asthma?
a common lung condition that causes occasional breathing difficulties
what is a Funhaler?
an inhaler attachment device that incorporates an incentive toy module (including a spinning disk and whistle) which is activated by the child’s breathing pattern
aim of Chaney?
to establish the acceptance, ease of use and compliance of the Funhaler compared with the currently used standard inhaler
a pilot study to determine the basis for further clinical trials
experimental method of Chaney?
field experiment
IV of Chaney?
standard inhaler or Funhaler
experimental design of Chaney?
repeated measures
sample of Chaney?
pts recruited through 7 GP surgeries from doctors in Perth, Australia
32 pts
22 male, 10 female
ages ranged from 1.5 to 6
average length of time since their diagnosis was 2.2 years
how were the participants selected for Chaney?
before study began, parents of asthmatic children who were using a standard inhaler were randomly selected and contacted by their GP to ask if they would like to take part.
Parents then gave written consent before the start of the study
procedure of Chaney?
parents completed a questionnaire about their child’s use of the standard inhaler device.
this was made of closed questions including ‘Are you successful at always medicating your child? Always/Not always’
After completing the questionnaire, parents given a Funhaler device to use instead of the standard inhaler. they were asked to use the device for 2 weeks and told the device should only be used with adult supervision
during the 2 week period of using the Funhaler parents were occasionally contacted and asked whether the child had used the Funhaler the previous day
At the end of the 2 week period, researcher came to pts’ homes to give second questionnaire identical to the first. was completed by same parent who completed the first
findings of Chaney
59% of the time said yes to using inhaler the previous day with the standard inhaler compared to 81% of the time w Funhaler
50% achieved recommended 4 breath cycles per delivery w standard inhaler, 80% for Funhaler
10% always successfully medicated child with standard inhaler, 73% of the time w Funhaler
conclusions of Chaney?
using the behaviourist learning theory of operant conditioning (specifically positive reinforcement) can be effective at improving the adherence of medication in young asthmatics
the Funhaler can improve compliance and the health development of children. This device can improve compliance and the health development of children. This device has the potential to prevent the hospitalisation of young children
strengths of Chaney?
ethics = parents gave written consent
field experiment - higher ecological validity
useful - prevents hospitalisation of young children
weaknesses of Chaney?
slight gender bias (22 male 10 female)
field experiment - lower levels of control
closed questions lack depth and detail
differences between Bandura and Chaney?
bandura quasi vs chaney field
bandura lower ecological validity, chaney higher
bandura matched pairs vs repeated measures chaney
similarities of Chaney vs Bandura?
both useful
both ethnocentric
both quantitative data
how does chaney change our understanding of individual diversity?
different external influences of behaviour shown (bandura social learning theory, chaney positive reinforcement)
how does chaney change our understanding of social diversity?
bandura in Standford Uni Nursery, socioeconomic privelage
chaney in Perth, recruited from GPs
how does chaney change our understanding of cultural diversity?
both ethnocentric, Bandura in America, Chaney in Australia
