Perspectives

Question 1

What are the 3 levels of consciousness?

Answer 1

1. Our conscious mind
   - what we’re currently thinking about
2. Our preconscious mind
   - accessed with relative ease by retrieving stored memories
3. Our unconscious mind
   - hidden from our awareness, very hard or impossible t access

Question 2

How does the unconscious reveal itself?

Answer 2

1. In dreams
2. Freudian slips of the tongue
   These are analysed

Question 3

How does Freud think best to reveal the unconscious?

Answer 3

• Comfortably lying down on a sofa and speak
• Projective tests ie. inkblots
  these are a reflection of the unconscious mind

Question 4

What are our two drives?

Answer 4

1. Eros (life instinct)

2. Thanatos (death instinct)

Question 5

What do out two drives represent?

Answer 5

Eros = pleasure, sex drive, excitement
Thanatos = aggression, cruelty, drive to destruction

Question 6

What are the three parts of our personality?

Answer 6

1. Id - primitive desires (drives) slaves to
2. Ego - negotiates desires of Id and Super Ego to try and find a balance between them
3. Super Ego - ‘conscience’ what society is telling us what is morally right and wrong

Question 7

What is the significance of ‘ego anxiety’?

Answer 7

When our Ego cannot resolve and issue between Id and Super Ego it can lead to mental health problems

Question 8

What are the strengths of the psychodynamic perspective?

Answer 8

1. Offers an explanation for why people develop mental health disorders by highlighting the importance of the unconscious mind
2. Suggests ways to help people with mental health problems (talking cure to find origin)
3. Made the caste study method popular in psychology. In depth detail about participant’s experiences current and past.

Question 9

What are the weaknesses of the psychodynamic perspective?

Answer 9

1. Unscientific - concepts cannot be proved or falsified (not open to scientific process)
2. Taken from case studies - studying one person in detail which is highly subjective and affected by researcher bias. Lack of validity and generalisability

Question 10

What are the key ideas of the behaviourist perspective?

Answer 10

1. children learn from the environments they are in

2. that humans are born tabula rosa (blank slates) and everything is learned after birth

Question 11

What are the 3 behaviorists learning theories?

Answer 11

1. Classic Conditioning
2. Operant Conditioning
3. Social Learning Theory

Question 12

What is Classic Conditioning?

Answer 12

learning through association

Question 13

What is Operant Conditioning?

Answer 13

learning through the results of rewards and punishment

Question 14

What is Social Learning Theory?

Answer 14

learning through observing and imitating the behavior of others

Question 15

What is an example of Classic Conditioning?

Answer 15

Pavlov’s Dogs - associated bell with food, would be salivating by sound of bell

Question 16

What is an exmaple of Operant Conditioning?

Answer 16

Chaney et al

Question 17

What is an example of Social Learning Theory?

Answer 17

Bandura

Question 18

What are the strengths of the behaviourist perspective?

Answer 18

• highlights role of nurture
• practical applications - useful - phobias
• controlled lab = scientific credibility

Question 19

What are the weaknesses of the behaviourist perspective?

Answer 19

• ignores influence of nature
• difficult to apply and inappropriate use
• lack ecological validity