Paper 2 - Approaches Flashcards
What is psychology
The scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those functions affecting behaviour in a given context
Where does the word psychology come from
The Greek word ‘psych’ meaning ‘mind’ and the Greek word ‘logos’ meaning ‘study of’
Who established the first psychology lab
Wilheim Wundt
Where and when did Wundt open his psychology lab
Germany in 1879
What was Wundts aim
To describe the nature of human consciousness
What did Wundt pioneer
The method of introspection - the same standardised instructions were given to all participants so the procedures could be replicated (controlled conditions)
What is introspection
The first systematic attempt to study the mind. Conscious awareness was broken down into basic categories: thoughts, images and sensations
Strength and weakness of WUNDTS methods
Strength: some aspects of Wundts methods would be classed as scientific today. For instance, Wundt recorded all introspection within a controlled lab environment. He also standardised his procedures. So Wundts research can be considered a forerunner to the later scientific approaches in psychology.
Weakness: can be considered unscientific by today’s standards. He relied on participants self-reporting their own ‘private’ mental processes. This data is subjective and participants may not have wanted to reveal some of their thoughts. Participants would also not have had exactly the same thoughts every time so establishing general principles would not have been possible, general laws are an aim of science. Therefore Wundts efforts to study the mind were naive and would not meet the criteria of scientific enquiry today.
What did Watson and early behaviourists argue
That introspection was subjective, it varied from person to person. A ‘scientific’ psychology should only study phenomena that can be observed and measured
What did the behaviourist approach lead to
Emergence of the scientific approach. Watson and Skinner brought the language and rigour of the natural sciences into psychology
How can the legacy of the experimental method still be observed today
Many modern psychologists rely on the experimental method. The cognitive approach investigates ‘private’ mental processes via lab tests.
The biological approach studies activity in the brain using scanning techniques like EEG and FMRI in controlled conditions.
What is the scientific method
An objective means of testing hypotheses in order to develop empirically based explanations/ theories
Strength and weakness of psychology using the scientific method
Strength: much of the research done in modern psychology is based on the method. It had the same aims as the natural sciences: to describe, understand, predict and control behaviour. Learning approach, cognitive approach and biological all rely on the use of the scientific method. Throughout the 20th century psychology has established itself as a scientific discipline.
Weakness: other approaches that do not use objective methods to study behaviour. Humanistic approach is anti-scientific and does not try to generate general laws of behaviour. Psychodynamic uses the case study method which is open to bias and no attempt is made to gather a representative sample of the population. For this reason, many claim that a scientific approach to study human thought and experience is not possible as it is important to take into account subjective experiences
What are the two learning approaches
Behaviourism
Social learning theory
What are the key features of the behaviourist approach
Observable and measurable behaviour. Lab experiments. Animals in research. Classical conditioning. Operant conditioning. Positive and negative reinforcement and punishment.
What is the behaviourist approach
A way of explaining behaviours in terms of what is observable and in terms of learning
Why was introspection rejected by behaviourists
As it’s concepts were vague and difficult to measure
Why do behaviourists rely on lab experiments
As they try to maintain more control and objectivity with their research than WUNDT
Why do behaviourists advocate the use of animals in research
Following Darwin, they suggested the processes that govern learning are the same in all species, so non-human animals can replace humans as experimental subjects
What is classical conditioning
Learning through association. Occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired together - an unconditioned stimulus and a neutral stimulus. The neutral stimulus eventually produces the same response that was first produced by the unconditioned stimulus alone
What did PAVLOV demonstrate
How dogs could be conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell if that sound was repeatedly presented at the same time as the dogs were given food
What is operant conditioning
A form of learning in which behaviour is shaped and maintained by its consequences. Possible consequences include positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement or punishment
What did SKINNER suggest
That learning is an active process whereby humans and animals operate on their environment
What is positive reinforcement
A stimulus that increases the probability that a behaviour will be repeated because it is pleasurable
What is negative reinforcement
When an animal or human produces behaviour that avoids something unpleasant
What is punishment
Any procedure that decrease the likelihood that a behaviour will be repeated because the overall experience is unpleasant
What are the two key studies in behaviourism
The Skinner box
Pavlov and salivation and dogs
Procedure of Skinners box
Experiment with rats and sometimes pigeons in specially designed cages.
Animals kept at about 3/4 of normal weight to ensure it was always hungry.
All aspects of the environment controlled.
Every time the rat activated a lever (or pecked a dish in the case of the pigeon) it was rewarded with food - PR.
In other variations, the rat or pigeon had to perform the same behaviour to avoid an unpleasant stimulus I.e an electric shock - NR.
Findings of SKINNERs study
When rewarded with a food pellet, the animal would continue the same behaviour in order to receive an award. Suggest that positive reinforcement increases the likelihood that a behaviour will be repeated.
Animal would continue the same behaviour to avoid an unpleasant stimulus. Suggests negative reinforcement is also at play.
Procedure of pavlovs study
He realised that dogs salivate when they heard a door opening, signalling the food was arriving. Wanted to see if a dog could be conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell.
Before learning: food (unconditioned stimulus) would produce the reflex (innate) response of salivation (unconditioned response).
During learning: Pavlov would sound a bell (neural stimulus) every time he presented the dog with food. Done several times.
Findings of Pavlovs study
After learning: dog would salivate (conditioned response) every time the bell was presented on its own (conditioned stimulus)
Conclusions of pavlovs study
Through classical conditioning, the dog had learned to associate the sound of the bell with food and the conditioned response of salivation was triggered as a result
2 strengths of behaviourism
Developed real-world application. Token economy systems, based on operant conditioning, have been used successfully in prisons and psychiatric wards. These work by rewarding appropriate behaviour with tokens that can be exchanged for privileges. Treatments like these are suitable for patients who lack ‘insight’ into their condition and are not capable of talking about their problems.
Gave psychology scientific credibility. Approach focuses on the careful measurement of observable behaviour within a controlled lab setting. Behaviourists emphasised the importance of scientific processes like objectivity and replication. This brought the language and method of the natural science into psychology, giving it greater credibility and status.
2 weaknesses of the behaviourist approach
Form of environmental determinism. Sees all behaviour as determined by past experiences that have been conditioned and ignores the influence that free will may have on behaviour. SKINNER suggested that free will was an illusion. When something happens we impose a sense of having made the decision but our past conditioning determine the outcome. This is an extreme position and ignores the influence of conscious decision making processes in behaviour.
Animal experiments have ethical and practical issues. Although the experimental procedure allows a high degree of control, critics have drawn attention to the ethical issues involved. Animals were exposed to stressful and aversive conditions and this may affect how they reacted to the experimental situation. This means the validity of the findings from these studies might be questioned because the observed behaviour was not ‘normal’
What are the key features of the social learning theory approach
Learning that occurs indirectly.
Observing consequences of behaviour.
Meditational processes.
Distinction between learning and performance.
Identification with role models.
Two different uses of the term modelling.
What did Bandura propose
He agreed with behaviourist that learning occurs through experience; but believed that learning takes place in a social context through observation and imitation of others behaviours
What is imitation
Copying the behaviour of others
What is vicarious reinforcement
Reinforcement which is not directly experienced but occurs through observing someone else being reinforced for a behaviour. Behaviour that is seen to be rewarded (PR) is much more likely to be copied than behaviour that is punished. key factor in imitation.
What are meditational processes
Cognitive factors like thinking that influence learning and come between stimulus and response
What is social learning theory the bridge between
The cognitive approach and behaviourism as it recognises the role of cognitive processes in learning
What are the four meditational processes
Attention - whether behaviour is noticed
Retention - whether behaviour is remembered
Motor reproduction - ability of the observer to perform the behaviour
Motivation - the will to perform the behaviour
What is social learning theory
A way of explaining behaviour that includes both direct and indirect reinforcement, combining learning theory with the role of cognitive factors
What does social learning theory recognise a distinction between that behaviourism did not
Learning and performance of behaviour may not necessarily occur together.
Attention and retention is learning whereas motor reproduction and motivation relate to the performance of the behaviour
What is identification
When an observer associates themselves with a role model and wants to be like them
Who are children more likely to imitate the behaviour of
People they identity with: role models
What are role models
People who have qualities we would like to have and we identify with, this we model or imitate their behaviour and attitudes. They are likely to be attractive with high status
What are the two subtly different uses of the term modelling
From the observers perspective: modelling is imitating the behaviour of a role model
From the role models perspective: it is demonstrating behaviour that may be imitated by an observer
Two key studies in the social learning theory
Bandura and imitation of aggressive role models
Bandura and Walters and the effects of vicarious reinforcement
Procedure of BANDURAs study
In the lab, children between 3-5 years watched a film of an adult behaving aggressively towards a bobo doll.
A second experimental group of children watched an adult interacting with the doll in a non-aggressive manner.
Children then led into a room and given their own toys to play with, including a bobo doll. Their behaviour towards the doll was recorded
Findings of BANDURAs study
When children were given their own bobo doll to okay with, they behaved much more aggressively than other children who had observed a non-aggressive adult. This includes imitating specific actions they had previously seen and repeating some of the words like ‘pow’.
Conclusions of BANDURAs study
This suggests that children will imitate the behaviour of role models even when such behaviour is aggressive / antisocial
Procedure of BANDURA and WALTERs study
A follow up of BANDURAs study, a similar experimental set-up was created but this time, it invoked three groups of children being shown films of an adult behaving aggressively towards the bobo doll.
Group 1- children saw the adult praised for their behaviour
Group 2- children saw the adult punished
Group 3- no consequence
Findings of BANDURA and WALTERS study
When given their own bobo doll, group 1 was most aggressive followed by group 3 followed by group 2.
Conclusions of BANDURAs and WALTERs study
Imitation of behaviour is more likely if the role model has been rewarded for their actions. This shows the importance of vicarious reinforcement in the learning of behaviour
2 strengths of the social learning theory
Emphasises the importance of cognitive factors in learning. Neither classical or operant conditioning can offer a comprehensive account of human learning on their own because cognitive factors are omitted. Humans and animals store information about the behaviour of others and use this to make judgments about when it is appropriate to perform certain actions. SLT provides a more convincing explanation of human learning by recognising meditational processes.
Can account for cultural differences in behaviour. Accounts for how children learn from other people around the. And this can explain how cultural norms are transmitted through particular societies. Proved useful in understanding a range of behaviours, such as how children come to understand their gender role by imitating role models. Unlike the biological approach which would suggest universal behaviour, SLT can explain cultural differences.
Less deterministic
2 weaknesses of SLT
Relies too heavily on evidence from lab studies. Many of BANDURAs ideas were developed through observation of children’s behaviour in lab setting and this raises the problem of demand characteristics. In the bobo study, the main purpose of the doll is to hit it, it has been suggested that the suggested that the children were simply behaving in a way that they thought was expected. Thus the research may tell us little about how children actually learn aggression in everyday life.
Underestimated the influence of biological factors. A consistent finding in the Bobo study was that boys showed more aggression than girls regardless of the specifics of the experimental condition. This may be explained by hormonal factors like testosterone which is present in greater quantities in boys and has been liked to aggression. This means that BANDURA May have overlooked the importance of biological factors on social learning
Key features of the cognitive approach
Reintroduced the scientific of internal mental processes.
Role of inference.
Theoretical models.
Computer models.
Idea of schema is central to cognitive approach.
Emergence of cognitive neuroscience.
What does the cognitive approach argue of mental processes
They can and should be studied scientifically. The approach has investigated areas of human behaviour that were neglected by behaviourism like perception and memory
What is the cognitive approach
The term cognitive has come to mean mental processes, so this approach is focused on how our mental processes (thoughts, perceptions, attention) affects behaviour
Why do cognitive psychologists study mental processes using inferences
Because mental processes are private and cannot be observed.
What does inference mean
The process whereby cognitive psychologists draw conclusions about the way mental processes operate on the basis of observed behaviour
Example of a theoretical model in the cognitive approach
Information processing approach which suggest that information flows through a sequence of stages like a computer that include inputs and storage and retrieval like the multi-store model
What does the ‘computer analogy’ suggest in the cognitive approach
That there are similarities in the way computers and human minds process information
Example of a computer model to describe and explain mental processes
the use of a central processor (the brain), the changing of information into a useable code and the use of ‘stores’ to hold information
What is a schema
A mental framework for the interpretation of incoming information received by the cognitive system and the beliefs and expectations that influence cognitive processing.
What is a schema developed through
Developed from experience
What are babies born with according to the cognitive approach
A simple motor schema for innate behaviours such as sucking and grasping. As we get older our schemas become more detailed and sophisticated
What is cognitive neuroscience
The scientific study of the influence of brain structures ‘neuro’ on mental processes (thinking I.e cognition)
What has been the result of advances in brain scanning technology in the last 20 years
Scientists have been able to describe the neurological basis of mental processing. This includes research in memory that has linked episodic and semantic memory to opposite sides of the prefrontal cortex in the brain
2 strengths of the cognitive approach
Scientific and objective methods. Cognitive psychologists have always employed controlled and rigorous methods of study like lab experiments in order to infer contrive processes at work. This has enabled the two fields of biology and cognitive psychology to come together (cognitive neuroscience). This means that the study of the mind has established a credible, scientific basis.
Application of key concepts to real life. It is dominant in psychology today and has been applied to a wide range of practical and theoretical contexts. For instance, the approach has made an important contribution to the field of artificial intelligence and the development of thinking machines (robots). Hondas ASIMO is an example. These exciting advances are likely to revolutionise how we live in the future.
2 weaknesses of the cognitive approach
Based on machine reductionism. There are similarities between the operations of the human mind and a computer but the computer analogy has been critiqued. For instance, human emotion and motivation have been shown to influence accuracy of recall (EWT). These factors are not considered within the computer analogy. Therefore the cognitive approach oversimplifies human cognitive processing and ignores important aspects that influence performances.
Based on research that lacks validity. Cognitive psychologists are only able to infer mental processes from the behaviour they observe in labs, so the approach sometimes suffers from being too abstract and theoretical. Also, research is often carried out using artificial stimuli, such as recall of word lists in studies of memory that may not represent everyday experience. Therefore, research into cognitive processes may lack external validity.
What is machine reductionism
A feature of the cognitive approach in which the operations of the human mind are likened (reduced) to those of a computer
What are the key features of the biological approach
Everything psychological is at first biological.
Behaviour has a genetic and neurochemical basis.
Approach regards the mind and body as one and the same.
Twin studies.
Genotype and phenotype.
Darwin’s theory of evolution is used to explain aspects of behaviour.
What do the biological psychologists suggest
If we want to fully understand human behaviour we must look at biological structures and processes within the body, such as genes, neurochemisrry and the nervous system
