Approaches

• Define psychology


  The scientific study of the human minds and its functions, especially those functions affecting behaviour in a given context.
• Define science


  A means of acquiring knowledge through systematic and objective investigation. The aim is to discover general laws.
• What was psychology like in the 17th century-19th century?

  Psychology is a branch of the broader discipline of philosophy known as experimental philosophy.
• Who was Wilhelm Wundt?

  Known as the father of psychology, he opened the first experimental psychology lab in Germany ( in 1879), and psychology emerges as a district discipline in its own right. His objective was to document and describe the nature of human consciousness, he used introspection to investigate the human mind.
• Define introspection


  The first systematic experimental attempt to study the mind by breaking up conscious awareness into basic structures of thoughts, images, and sensations.
• How does introspection work?

  Wundt and co-workers recorded their own conscious thoughts, with the aim of breaking these down into their constituent parts. All introspections were recorded under strictly controlled conditions using the same stimulus every time ( e.g. ticking metronome). Standardised procedures allowed it to be replicated.
• Define behaviourist approach

  A way of explaining behaviour in terms of what is observable and in terms of learning.
• What 2 approaches branch off of the learning approach?

  Social learning theory and the behaviourist approach
• State assumptions of the behaviourist approach

  1. Only deal with behaviour that can be observed and measured
  2. Tabula rasa: all behaviour is determined or caused in some way by our environment as we are born as a blank state
  3. All behaviour follows certain laws, which are universal
  4. Thorndike's Law of Effect: response with pleasant consequence becomes more probable (and vice versa)
• What are the 2 important forms of learning that behaviourist identified?

  Classical conditioning and operant conditioning
• Define classical conditioning


  Learning through association
• Define operant conditioning

  A form of learning in which behaviour is shaped and maintained by its consequences. Possible consequences of behaviour include positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement or punishment.
• Outline Skinner's research on Operant conditioning

  In Skinner's box, there was a rat inside (isolated from external environment) and has a behaviour indicator such as a lever. When the animal pushes the lever, the box is able to deliver:

  • A positive reinforcement: food
  • A punishment: Electric shock
  • A negative reinforcement: avoid the electric shock (punishment) by pressing the lever when the light came on (another variation).
• Give the 3 types of consequences of behaviour in operant conditioning

  1. POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT: receiving a reward when a certain behaviour is performed
  2. NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT: Performing a behaviour to avoid unpleasant consequences
  3. PUNISHMENT: an unpleasant consequence of behaviour
• Evaluate the behaviourist approach

  STRENGTH: scientific credibility- objective evidence (e.g. Pavlov's dog and skinner's box experiments). Objectivity and replication helped psychology emerge as a science.

  STRENGTH: real-life application- Token economy used in prisons/schools and classical conditioning used in treating phobias.

  WEAKNESS: environmental determinism- Tabula rasa, controlled entirely by environment (no free will). Can cause mental health problems if you tell people they have no free will (problematic).
• Define social learning theory

  A way of explaining behaviour that includes both direct and indirect reinforcement, combining learning theory with the role of cognitive factors.
• Give the assumptions of the social learning theory

  1. Behaviour is learned by experience
  2. Learnt by observation and imitation of others (within a social context)
  3. Learning can occur directly and indirectly
• Define vicarious reinforcement (SLT)


  Behaviour that is seen to have positive consequences is more likely to be imitated by the observer.
• Define identification (SLT)


  People are much more likely to imitate the behaviour of a people that they identify with, called role models. A person is a role model if they have similar characteristics to the observer and/or are attractive, and have a high status. E.g. for children it would be the same-sex parent.
• Evaluate the social learning theory(SLT)

  STRENGTH: scientific- lab studies e.g. Bandura's bobo doll experiment. Objective evidence helps psychology emerge as a science.

  STRENGTH: more holistic than the behaviourist approach- has cognitive factors, e.g. mediational process.

  WEAKNESS: reciprocal determinism- still deterministic but suggests some free will in the way we behave. Allows us to hold people accountable and is less determinist than the behaviourist approach.
• Outline Bandura et al.'s Bobo doll study (SLT)

  Recorded the behaviour of young children who watched an adult behave in an aggressive way towards a Bobo doll. The adult hit the doll with a hammer and shouted abuse at it. When these children were later observed playing with various toys, including a Bobo doll, they behaved much more aggressively towards the doll and the other toys than those who had observed a non-aggressive adult.
• Define the cognitive approach

  Explains human behaviour in terms of internal mental processes
• Give the assumptions of the cognitive approach

  1. Internal processes can and should be studied scientifically
  2. Study them indirectly by making inferences
• Outline theoretical and computer models (Cog.)

  Use both theoretical and computer models to help them understand internal mental processes. Theoretical models are abstract whereas computer models are concrete things. The mind is like a computer. Such computational models of the mind have proved useful in the development of ''thinking machines'' or AI.
• Outline the role of schema (cog.)

  Schema is a mental framework of beliefs and expectations that influence cognitive processing. They are developed from experience. Babies are born with simple motor schema for innate behaviours such as sucking and grasping. As we get older, our schema becomes more detailed and sophisticated. Schemas can be seen as a mental shortcut that prevents us from being overwhelmed by environmental stimuli. However, schemas may also distort our interpretations of sensory info, leading to perceptual errors.
• Outline the emergence of cognitive neuroscience (cog.)

  Defined as the scientific study of the influence of brain structures on mental processes. Biological structures link to mental states e.g. damage to Broca's area could permanently impair speech production. Brain imagining (e.g. fMRI) used to read the brain. Scanning techniques have also proved useful in establishing the basis of some mental disorders, e.g. OCD and depression.
• Evaluate the cognitive approach

  STRENGTH: scientific and objective- brain scans and lab studies (e.g. Baddeley's study) with standardised procedures

  WEAKNESS: machine reductionism- compares the mind to computer model and ignores social and biological factors that affect behaviour. Anxiety affects EWT. However, it is more holistic than behaviourist as it takes nature and nurture factors

  STRENGTH: high in application- CBT for depression and brain scanning techniques can help to study mental processes and improve treatment. And treatments for other neurological illnesses such as Parkinson's.
• Give the assumptions of the biological approach

  1. Behaviour and thought processes have an innate/genetic basis
  2. Human genes have evolved to adapt behaviour to the environment
  3. Human characteristics are due to our genetic make-up
• Outline Pavlov's research on classical conditioning

  Dogs would salivate(UCR) at food (UCS). Pavlov would ring a bell (NS) and then give food to the dog. Overtime, the dog associated the bell (CS) with food so the dog began to salivate (CR) at the sound of the bell.
• Outline the mediational process (SLT)

  Bandura believed that social learning was achieved only if 4 criteria were met:

  1. Attention: the extent to which we notice certain behaviours
  2. Retention: how well the behaviour is remembered
  3. Motor reproduction: the ability of the observer to perform the behaviour
  4. Motivation: the will to perform the behaviour, which is often determined by whether the behaviour was rewarded or punished.
• Outline genetic basis of behaviour (bio.)

  Twin studies are used to determine the likelihood that certain traits have a genetic basis by comparing the concordance rates(the extent to which twins share the same characteristic) between pairs of twins. Monozygotic (MZ) are identical and share 100% of each other's genes, whilst dizygotic (DZ) twins are non-identical and share 50% of their genes.
• Outline Genotype and phenotype (bio.)

  Genotype is a person's actual genetic make-up, whereas phenotype is the way that genes are expressed through physical, behaviour, and psychological characteristics. The expression of the genotype is inevitably influenced by environmental factors. Much of human behaviour depends upon an interaction between inherited factors (nature) and the environment (nurture).
• Outline Evolution and behaviour (bio.)

  Theory of natural selection- any genetically determined behaviour that enhances an individual's survival (and reproduction) will continue in future generations. The possessor of the desired traits is more likely to survive, reproduce and pass on the traits. If the individual survives but does not reproduce, the traits do not remain in the gene pool.
• Evaluate the biological approach

  STRENGTH: Application- psychoactive drugs that treat serious mental illnesses, e.g. SSRIs for depression.

  WEAKNESS: determinist- governed by internal,biological causes over which we have no control. Cant hold offenders accountable. MAOA gene linked to aggression.

  STRENGTH: Scientific- range of precise and highly scientific methods. E.g. scanning techniques, twin studies and drug trials. Based on reliable data.
• Give the main assumptions of the psychodynamic approach

  1. Much of our behaviour is driven by unconscious motives
  2. Childhood is a critical period in development
  3. Mental disorders arise from unconscious, unresolved conflicts from childhood
  4. Resolution occurs through accessing and coming to terms with repressed ideas and conflicts
• Outline the role of the unconscious (psy.)

  Most of our mind is made up of the unconscious, has a significant influence on our behaviour and personality it also contains memories that have been repressed and forgotten (accessed through dreams or ''slips of the tongue'' (parapraxes). Under the surface of conscious mind is the preconscious which contains thoughts and memories which are not currently in conscious awareness but we can access if desired.
• Outline the structure of personality (psy.)

  ID: Pleasure principle- primitive part of our personality. It's a seething mass of unconscious drives and instincts. Only the id is present at birth, throughout life the id is entirely selfish and demands instant gratification of its needs.

  EGO: Reality principal- is the mediator between the other 2, manages this by using defence mechanisms. (around 2 years)

  SUPEREGO: Morality principle- formed at end of phallic stage (around age of 5), it's our internalised sense of right and wrong. It punishes the ego for wrongdoing (through guilt)
• Give the defence mechanisms used by the ego (psy.)

  REPRESSION: forcing a distressing memory out of the conscious mind

  DENIAL: refusing to acknowledge some aspect of reality

  DISPLACEMENT: transferring feelings from true source of distressing emotion onto a substitute target
• Outline psychosexual stages (psy.)

  Freud claimed that child development occurred in 5 stages. Each stage (apart from latency) is marked by a different conflict that the child must resolve in order to progress successfully to the next stage.Any that is unresolved leads to a fixation where the child becomes ''stuck'' and carries certain behaviours and conflicts associated with that stage through to adult life.

  A) anal retentive

  B) anal expulsive

  C) phallic personality

  
• Evaluate the psychodynamic approach

  STRENGTH: explanatory power- huge influence, dominant force in psych for first half of the 20th century. Draw connection between experience in childhood and later development

  WEAKNESS: untestable concepts- doesn't meet the scientific criteria of falsification(Kan Popper). The unconscious level cannot be experimented. No scientific credibility (pseudoscience).

  WEAKNESS: deterministic- mental health issue, due to conflicts in mind they can't control. Problematic as it ignores free will. Approach takes an interactionist position in the nature-nurture debate