Psychology as a Science Flashcards
1
Q
Objective research
A
- findings are based on fact rather than opinion, key to proper scientific method
2
Q
Subjective research
A
- findings are based on opinions
3
Q
Elements of scientific method
A
- objectivity
- replicability (experiment can be repeated and same results found)
- empirical methods (the phenomenon being studied can be observed and repeated while being tested scientifically)
4
Q
5 steps to scientific method
A
- ask a question
- state the hypothesis
- conduct the experiment
- analyse the results
- make a conclusion
5
Q
Roots of psychology
A
- first came about between the 17th and 19th century through philosophy, known once as experimental philosophy
6
Q
Rene Descartes
A
- main early influence on psychology
- concept of Cartesian dualism, meaning the body and mind are separate things
- ‘I think therefore I am’
7
Q
Wilhelm Wundt
A
- opened the first experimental lab in 1879
- psychology emerged as a distinct discipline, studying the structure of the mind
8
Q
Wundt’s methods - strengths and weaknesses
A
- Wundt’s methods were criticised by behaviourists for not being scientific enough, producing subjective results
Strengths
- Wundt’s methods of study can be seen as scientific as he used standardised procedure, as well as controlled environment, meaning there is replicability
- Wundt’s introspection is still used in present to gain access to cognitive processes, e.g. Griffiths (1994) who studied gambling on slots - asked them to think aloud whilst playing a fruit machine, and found that the gamblers used more irrational verbalisations
Weaknesses
- however, participants were reporting on their own subjective experience, meaning it is not objective or empirical as no one else can observe it
- two main objectors to Wundt’s methods were Watson and Skinner
- Wundt’s findings were also found to not be replicable, producing different data
9
Q
Sigmund Freud
A
- 1900s
- emphasised the influence of the unconscious mind
- established the psychodynamic approach
10
Q
J. B. Watson
A
- 1913
- rejected vagueness of Wundt’s introspection
- instead focussed on how we are a product of our learning, experience and environment
- established behaviourists approach
11
Q
Rogers and Maslow
A
- 1950s
- rejected ideas of behaviourism and psychodynamic approaches
- established humanism
- emphasised importance of self-determinism and free will
12
Q
Cognitive psychology
A
- 1960s
- accompanied the introduction of computers
- workings of computers was applied to human mind
- cognitive psychologists studied the workings of the internal mind
- more scientific
13
Q
Albert Bandura
A
- Bandura proposed SLT in the 1960s
- provided a bridge between cognitive and behaviourist approaches
14
Q
Biological approach
A
- 1980s onwards
- established itself as the dominant scientific perspective on psychology with advances in tech
- more understood about the brain and psychological processes
- biological approach is objective, empirical and replicable, so seen as most scientific approach
- most widely accepted
15
Q
Cognitive neuroscience
A
- eve of the 21st century
- emerged as distinct discipline
- combined both cognitive and biological approaches within psychology
