Key Approaches Flashcards
Psychology
the scientific Study of the mind ,behaviour and experience
Objective Methods
-Researchers should remain totally unbiased in their investigations
-They should not be influenced by personal feelings and experiences
-All sources of bias are minimised and personal or subjective ideas are eliminated
Strengths of Hypothesis Testing
this is done in a controlled and organized way , altering one variable at a time
-The degree of support for a hypothesis determines the degree of confidence in a theory
Science
A means of acquiring knowledge through systematic and objective investigation
The aim is to discover general laws
Wilhelm Wundt - 1879
-first man to be called a psychologist
-moving away from philosophy more towards science
-opened first lab - experimental Psychology lab in Leipzig in Germany 1879
-Introspection
Why was Wundt’s work significant and what was his aims
-Wundt’s work is significant because it marked the beginning of scientific psychology , separating it from its broader Philosophical roots
-Wundt’s aims was to try to analyse the nature of human consciousness , and thus represented the first systematic attempt to study the mind under controlled conditions
What is Introspection
The first systematic experimental attempt to study the mind by breaking up conscious awareness into basic structures of thoughts , images and sensations
Psychodynamic Appraoch
- Freud-1900s
- emphasises that behaviour is down to the unconscious mind
-he also develops his person-centred theory psychoanalysis and shows that physical problems can be explained in terms of conflicts within the mind
Behaviourism
-1913-Watson and Skinner
-behaviours are down to learning
from environment
-Pavlov & dogs
-becomes more scientific(experiment/repeats
Humanism
-Rogers and Maslow - 1950s
-rejecting the behaviourist and psychodynamic approach view that human behaviour is determined by outside factors
-Humanistic psychologists emphasise the importance of seldf - determismianstion and free will
Cognitive approach
-1950s
The introduction of digital computers gives psychologists a metaphor for the operations of the human mind
-The cognitive approach reduces the study of mental processes to psychology but in a much more scientific way than Wundt’s earlier investigations
-Experiments/lab based
-SCIENTIFIC
-dominant view point at the time
Social Learning Theory
-Albert Bandura -1960s
-This approach draws attention to the role of cognitive factors in learning - providing a bridge between the newly established cognitive approach and traditional behaviourism
-Learning from observation - consequences of others lead to copying or not
-Scientific - lab based
Biological Approach
-1980s onwards
- begins to establish itself as the dominant scientific perspective in psychology
-This is due to advances in technology that have increased understanding of the brain and biological processes
-VERY SCIENTIFIC - lab based
-conduct on animals -rats/mice
-genetic /hormones/neurotransmitters
Cognitive Neuroscience
-21st Century
-Cognitive neuroscience emerges as a distinct discipline brining together cognitive ad biological approaches
-Cognitive neuroscience investigates how biological structures influence mental states
What did the behaviourist approach believe?
-Behaviourists believe that all behaviour is learnt from the environment (nothing is innate)
-They believe we are born as a blank slate - Tabula Rasa
-They are only interested in studying behaviour that can be observed and measured
Behaviourists believe all behaviour is learnt through either:
-classical conditioning
-operant conditioning
What is classical conditioning
-when behaviour is learnt through association
-people associate two stimuli together to generate a response
What is an example of Classical Conditioning
Pavlov’s dogs - demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov (1927)
Explain Pavlov’s dogs
-Pavlov showed hoe dogs could be conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell if that bell was repeatedly presented at the same time they were given food
-Gradually Pavlov’s dogs learned to associate the sound of the bell (a stimulus) with the food (another stimulus) and would produce the salivation response every time they heard the sound
-Thus Pavlov was able to show how a neutral stimulus(the bell ) can come to elicit a new learned response through association
Food(UCS) ---- salivation(UCR)
Food (UCS) + bell(NS) — salivation
(UCR)
Bell(CS)————-salivation(CR)
What is operant conditioning
- learning through rewards and consequences and the reinforcement of behaviour
Types of operant conditioning
-positive reinforcement
-negative reinforcement
-Punishment
positive reinforcement
-The addition of something which strengthens behaviour
-e.g praise from a teacher for answering a question right in class
Negative reinforcement
-the subtraction of un unpleasant stimulus which strengthens behaviour
Punishment
-unpleasant consequence which stops behaviour being repeated
-e.g being shouted at by a teacher for talking
An example of Operant conditioning
-Skinners Box - skinner conducted experiments with rats and sometimes pigeons in specially designed cages called skinner boxes
-Positive Reinforcement - Every time the rat activated a leaver within the box it was rewarded with a food pellet - from then on the animal would continue to perform this behaviour
-negative reinforcement - Every time the rat pressed the leaver the floor in the box became unelectrified
Behaviourism - STRENGTH
-scientific Credibility
One strength is the approach is based on well controlled research
- Behaviourists focused on the measurement of observable behaviour within highly controlled lab settings
- by breaking down behaviour into basic stimulus response units , all other possible extraneous variables were removed , allowing cause and effect relationships to be established
-For instance Skinner was able to clearly demonstrate how reinforcement influenced an animals behaviour
-This suggests that behaviourist experiments have scientific credibility
Behaviourism - LIMITATION -Scientific credibility
On the other hand research done in labs is an artificial setting and therefore lacks ecological validity (ability to apply it to everyday life
Behaviourism - STRENGTH - practical application
-One strength is the approach has practical application
the principles of conditioning have been applied to real world behaviour and problems
For example principles of operant conditions are used in token economy systems which have been used successfully in institutions such as prisons and psychiatric wards
-These work by rewarding appropriate behaviour with tokens that can be exchanged for privileges
Therefore it generates a method of control to encourage good behaviour, this is especially advantageous when managing large groups
Behaviourism - LIMITATION - practical applications
However one weakness of a token economy is it is a short term solution as the participants may have no motivation to continue good behaviour when they are not being rewarded .
This approach is criticised due to this lack of long term effectiveness and can be argued to be unethical
Behaviourism - LIMITATION
- ignores cognition
Furthermore the behaviourist approach ignores cognition .
This means it Just looks at the stimulus and the response . This is an issue as it ignores the emotions and motivations behind why actions were performed
This is a limitation as it views humans as passive responders.
Although some behaviourists will argue that they are only interested in studying observable behaviour
Biological Approach
A perspective that emphasises the importance of physical processes in the body such as genetic inheritance and neural function
What did the biological Approach suggest
All behaviour is strongly influenced by our genetic makeup and genetic inheritance .
Behaviour is not learned from others around you
-Mind lives in the brain- all thoughts, feelings and behaviour ultimately have a physical bias
-brain = biological structure, so anything psychological is first biological
Neurochemistry
Relating to chemicals in the brain that regulate psychological functioning
Biological structure
An arrangement or organisation of parts to form an organ , system or living thing
Biological Approach features
humans have evolved to behave in certain ways that have allowed the species to survive
-natural selection - weaker mal adaptive genes are not passed on
-adaptive genes are passed on
-behaviour becomes universal - see them across cultures
-facial expressions are a wired in behaviour - exactly the same across the world
-adaptive trait in human behaviour is aggression
-past people were aggressive over - land , food , family ,children (need these to survive)
-today people are aggressive over land and territory
Evolution
The changes in inherited characteristics in a biological population over successive generations
What is further evidence of behaviour becoming wired in
Further evidence of behaviour becoming wired in from the psychologist BUSS (1989)
They investigated in 37 cultures looking at mate preferences
and universal wants
In BUSS’s study what did women and men seek in their partners
-women seek men who
.physical characteristics (protection )
.money-recourses
-men seek women who
.domesticity
.younger - fertility and health
Genotype
The particular set of genes that a person possesses
.unobservable
.fixed
Phenotype
The characteristics of an individual determined by both genes and the environment
.influenced by environment
.height /hair colour
Biological elements in the body that can have an impact on behaviour
- nervous system:
.fight or flight response
.adrenaline
-hormones :
.oestrogen - nurturing / emotional
.testosterone - aggression
-neurotransmitters :
.Serotonin - mood and OCD
.Dopamine - mood/reward and neurological conditions
.Oxytocin-love
What can an imbalance of neurochemicals in the brain cause
A possible cause of mental illness for example low levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin and overproduction of dopamine in schizophrenia
Whats the left hemisphere of the Brain in charge of
Language
What’s the right side hemisphere of the brain in charge of
facial recognition
Broca’s area
speech production
Wernicke’s area
speech comprehension
Research methods
-family studies
-twin studies
(measure through Concordance)
-Adoption studies
Family studies
-look for similarities
-although they are the same family they have different genetics
Monozygotic Twin Studies
Twin studies are used to investigate whether certain psychological characteristics have a genetic basis
-MZ twin - have 100% same genetics
-so if behaviours genetic both twins will show it
- grow up in the same environment with the same experiences
-cannot isolate the role of learning and the environment
How do we measure through concordance
-% of similarity for a trait
-higher concordance rate = more likely genetic
Adoption studies
- Monozygotic twins with same genetics grow up in different environments
if same behaviour = genetic
if different behaviour = environmental
LIMITATION - SMALL SAMPLE SIZE
BIOLOGICAL -S
BIOLOGICAL-S
BIOLOGCLA - L