Padigrams and Padigram shifts

Question 1

What is a paradigm?

Answer 1

-theoretical framework accepted by the majority of scientists in that particular field or study

Question 2

What does the prevailing paradigm in psychology dictate?

Answer 2

that research should focus on thoughts and behaviour. However, this paradigm may be interpreted differently by sub-disciplines within Psychology. e.g. Behavioural Psychology only focuses on observable behaviour, whereas Cognitive Psychologists would focus on internal mental processing that precedes observable behaviour.

Question 3

What can be done with paradigms?

Answer 3

can change- not fixed

Question 4

With time what can happen to a paradigm?

Answer 4

evidence can accumulate which cannot be accounted for by the current paradigm.
-Eventually a paradigm shift can occur

Question 5

what does a paradigm shift involve?

Answer 5

revolutionary changes to the framework underpinning the current paradigm, which must then be fundamentally changed or replaced, involving a change from one way of thinking to another.

Question 6

What are examples of subtle paradigm shifts that have occurred as psychology has emerged as a science?

Answer 6

-the change in emphasis from the cognitive approach (which assumes the mind is like a computer) to the biological approach (which assumes everything psychological had a biological basis). -Scientific advances in neuropsychology, such as scanning techniques have meant more is now known about how the brain works which has led to changes in the focus of psychological research.