Section b Questions (areas and perspectives) Flashcards
What are the defining principles and concepts of the social area
How behaviour, thought processes and emotions can be explained/ affected by external influences such as the social environment or other people (more determined, reductionist and situational explanation) concepts: obedience to authority, simpatico cuiutre, diffusion of respo, arousal cost reward model, whistle blowing, conformity
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the social area
Strengths: research can help improve our understanding of human behaviour (and the extent to which it is affected by other people), research can be useful, research helps bring psych to wider audiences as seeks to explain real world events, research often high in ecological validity (makes use of field experiments) weaknesses: findings may not be true for all time as social situations change over timely findings may not be true for all places (situations change in cultures), can be difficult to stay within ethical guidelines as socially sensitive,
What is an application of the social area
Research can be used to change situation to control behaviour e.g used by teachers to use authors for obedience or by parents e.g. use cctv, wear formal clothing, have anonymous website
What are the defining principles and concepts of the cognitive area
It is the investigation of our internal mental processes such as memory, thinking and reasoning that start with an input and result in an output observable in our behaviour so behaviour is highly predictable based on identifiable patterns in thinking (thought patterns can be changed as a results of free will and outside factors) concepts :schemas, context dependent memory, reconstructive memory, inattentional blindness, cocktail party effect
What are applications the cognitive area
Cognitive therapies, eye witness testimonies, memory aids, teaching and learning, advertising of products (getting attention), campaigns to change attitudes towards mental health , recycling..
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the cognitive area
Strengths: Research can be useful (eyewitness testimony)l it favours the scientific method as uses lab experiments to investigate mental processes which allows researches to establish cause and effect between variables, mean brings academic credibility to psych. Controlled studies makes studies more reliable and so more scientific weaknesses: findings may lack eco validity as use lab experiments, cannot study cognitive processes directly, have to use inferences (self report, observations, mri). Using lab experiments may mean more demand characteristics
What are the defining principles and concepts of the developmental area
Change and development is an ongoing process which continues throughout our lifetime, behaviour may be learnt or may be innate, early experiences affect later development and development may happen in pre determined stages . Concepts:moral development, social learning theory, operate conditioning
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the developmental area
Strengths: Has many useful applications to child care, education, attempts to answer the nature nurture debate, uses a variety of qualitative and quant methods so will gain useful data, can study Ps over time to reduce p variables. Weaknesses: research with children may arise ethical issues (consent and protection), using children can highlight practical issues like making inferences from observed behaviour and can’t tell, research can be constrained by time or culture and samples are small and unrepresentative
What are applications of the developmental area
Can be useful for parents and teachers/ anyone who works with children, children’s healthcare..
What are the defining principles and concepts of the biological area
Looks at physiological causes for behaviour. Looks at the role of genetic inheritance, the study of brain and brain function, role of the nervous system, hormones and other chemicals affecting brain and behaviour, impact of environment on biology l concepts:brain plasticity, lateralisation of brain functions delay gratification
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the biological area
Strengths: learning how the brain works and how it impacts our behaviour which contributes to our understanding of normal and abnormal brain brain function. Favours the scientific method as often uses lab experiments which enables to see cause and effect and makes psych seen as a science, also uses objective measures like mri. More reliable . Weaknesses: Methods like mri have limitations as show us what is happening but rely of human interpretations, explanations of behaviour based on biology too simplistic, limitations with the way data vis gathered as use self report data which may not be valid
Applications of the biological area
Biological treatments for conditions, e.g. SSRIs, genetic screening , rehab from stroke understanding impact on brain from environment and biological differences between people
Defining principles and concepts of the individual differences area
Everyone is different and unique and our differences explain our behaviour
2. Looks at differences between us rather than taking a nomothetic approach/measure diffs using psycho tests
3. Not everyone is the ‘average person’
4. Believes a person’s behaviours are unique to them due to a combination of biological and experiential factors,
such as DNA, cognitions and development
Concepts: measuring diffs, theory of mind, native intellectual ability, understanding mental disorders
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the individual differences area
Strengths: enables psychologists to find out about a wider range of human behaviours all not just average are studies, can have great social benefit, improving our understanding of mental disorders and digesting treatments, help inform free will determinism debate. Weakness: lacks a set of defining beliefs about reasons for behaviour, some research is socially sensitive and can be put to harmful use, tools for measuring differences are not always developed
Applications of the individual differences area
Help with understanding disorders, diagnosing, treatments and any requirements they may need for deficiencies. E.g. helping autistic children to recognise emotions, develop psychometric tests to job roles
Principles and concepts of the behaviourist perspective
Believes that everyone is born tabula rasa (blank slate) and all behaviour is learnt. Uses classical and operant conditioning as well as social learning theory as examples of this. Takes the scientific approach and the importance of studying observable behaviour concepts:operant conditioning, social learning, classical conditioning
Strengths and weaknesses of the behaviourist perspective
Strength: highlights role of nurture, showing influence environment has on our behaviour (means variable that you can change). Very useful with clinical applications , has scientific credibility as looks at observable behaviour in controlled experiments. Weakness: ignores influence of nature on behaviour (genetics and biology), information can be difficult to apply (hard to control what children exposed to) and are open to inappropriate use. Can lack EV as use lab
Applications of the behaviourist perspective
Applications in therapies (systematic desensitisation) and social skills training. Role models can be used positively in education or restricted for tv and games, black box in car to get lower insurance
Principles and concepts of psychodynamic perspective
Influences on the behaviour,come from the unconscious mind, childhood is a critical period in development of behaviour and personality. The mind operates on 3 levels: conscious (what we currently think about), the preconscious ( easily accessed by retrieving stored memories), and unconscious mind. Id- our selfish desires. Superego- our moral component ego- conscious rational mind that balanced the other 2. In order to protect ego, use defecne mechanisms which converts unconscious desires into more acceptable (displacement or denial) also: psychosexual stages concepts: Oedipus, psycho stages, I’d ego, supercomputer
Strengths and weaknesses of the psychodynamic perspective
Strengths: explanations for why people develop disorders, suggests ways people with mental disorders can be helped/treated (talking cure into origins), makes use of case study method which provides in depth detail weaknesses: unscientific as may be subjective and not falsifiable and lacks empirical support and can’t be tested scientifically. Case studies can be subjective and be affected by researcher bias
Applications of psychodynamic perspective
Can be used for treatments or diagnosing for phobias or other mental disorders (dream interpretation, hypnosis, Freudian slips, ink blot testing, free association. Used by parents, teachers, prisons? Police: e.g. psychoanalysis to help phobias, reduce aggression via displacement
What are studies that support the perspectives
Behaviourist: Chaney, bandura, Pavlov, little Albert psychodynamic: Freud and Hancock
Compare the social and cognitive areas
Diff: observation vs self report, diff in EV , Situational vs individual, Sim: both snapshot, deterministic/, both reductionist, large representative samples, snapshot
Compare social and ind diffs
Doff: one focuses on diffs between people (individual)but social makes general assumptions about behaviour (situational), experiment vs case study Sim: both help us explain diffs in behaviour, both tend to be ethnocentric
Compare social and developmental
Both help explain generalised patterns of behaviour/phenomena, can make use of cross cultural research and longitudinal;ethnocentric ? , LACK ETHICS,both situational, can collect qual Diffs: developmental tends to use children, case study but social uses experimental. Social at one point in time, developmental over time
Compare social and psychodynamic
Diffs: difference in how scientific it is , social more situational, psycho more individual, research method (experiment vs case studies), quant vs qual data, sample size..Same: both can lack objective research, both deterministic
Compare social and behaviourist
Same: focus on situational context, both deterministic as only look at environment use observation, diff: behaviourist involves conditioning but social is the influence of others , nature vs nurture
Compare cognitive and developmental
Same: both have useful applications, both scientific diff: cognitive mainly snapshot but developmental uses longitudinal, self report vs observation, dev is ethnocentric and ethical issues
Compare cognitive and biological
Same:both use lab experiments and studies in controlled conditions, may lack EV, not ethnocentric diff: self report vs objective, sample size
Compare cognitive and individual diffs
Same:both have useful applications e.g. treatment of disorders diff: cognitive mainly experiments, ind can use case study, diff in scientific
Compare cognitive and behaviourist
Both used controlled settings and both lack EV diff: observation vs self report, nature vs nurture
Compare cognitive and psychodynamic
Both have useful applications. Cbt, therapies.., use self reportdiff: cog uses experimental and snapshot, psycho uses case studies/self report and longitudinal
Compare social and biological
Both deterministic and assume little free will, diff: observation vs lab experiment, individual vs situational,nature vs nurture (but also other way round), ethnocentric vs not ethnocentric
Compare developmental and biological
Diff: bio uses snapshot, dev uses longitudinal or cross sectional, dev ethnocentric bio is reductionist and socially sensitive.Same: both can be linked to the nature nurture debate although on diff sided and individual situational
Compare developmental and ind diffs
Same: childhood affects adulthood, has ethics problems, both individual, socially sensitive diff: self report vs lab exponent, diff in how scientific, qual vs quant data , case study vs not
Compare developmental and behaviourist
Both: deterministic , both use children both nurture diff: behaviourist snapshot, ,dev uses longitudinal. Behaviourist uses animals
Compare developmental and psychodynamic
Both assume childhood influences behaviour . Both ass to nature nurture debate, use children Diff: dev uses scientific method, psycho doesn’t , longitudinal vs case study
Compare bio and ind diffs
Many useful applications in treating disorders, can be socially sensitive . Diff: bio is more objective, uses scanning techniques, uses animals, reasons for behaviour, quant vs qual data
Compare bio and behaviourist
Same: both use objective methods, both reductionist diff: bio more nature, uses scanning , diff Samples
Compare bio and psychodynamic
Useful in treatments for disorders, both individual, both socially sensitive . Diff: bio more objective, lab experiments, sample size, reliabaility
Compare ind diffs and behaviourist
Both have practical applications, involve children diffs: diff in sample size, behaviourist situational, other individual, self report vs observation, diff in scientific
Compare behaviourist with psycho
Both deterministic but environmental vs psychic. Diff: behaviourist more scientific , psycho focuses on more childhood but behaviourism looks at experiences more bradly,, psycho emphasises role of nature. Behaviourist reductionist but psycho looks at unconscious mind and childhood. Psycho more individual but behaviourist more situational. Psycho less ethical as bring up trauma from past. Validity- use of animals by behaviourist lack generalisability and psycho less reliable
Compare ind diffs with psycho
Both use case studies, both get data retrospectively and rely on memory diffs both not scientific : diff research methods (case study vs quasi), qual vs quant data
