Approaches

• Who is William Wundt?

  • German Researcher
  • First Experimental psychology lab in 1879
  • Came up with Introspection - 'looking in' human mind
• What is a strength of Wundt's research?

  • Standardized procedures - procedures & instructions the same
  • Scientific method (AO3) - lab setting > high control over extraneous variables > led to later approaches using scientific stance
• What is a weakness of Wundt's work?

  • Subjective - relied on p's self-reporting mental processes, based on perspective / honesty / opinion
  • P's may have hidden some of their thoughts - difficult to establish meaningful laws of behavior from such data - suggests some of Wundt's early efforts were flawed and would not meet criteria of scientific enquiry today
• What are key assumptions about the behaviourist approach?

  • We are born as a blank slate 'tabula rasa' - shaped by learning from environment
  • Extreme 'nuture'
  • Observe behaviour in order to be scientific (rejected introspection)
  • Lab experiments best way
• What is the processes of behaviourist approach?

  • CC - learning through associations
  • EXAMPLE : Pavlos Dog and bell / food (CR = salivation)
  • OC - learning through consequences
  • Through : Reinforcement (positive and negative) + Punishment
  • EXAMPLE : Skinner's Research with rats, hungry and accidentally presses lever and does it again - positive
  • rat in box, electric floor, presses lever to stop being electrocuted - negative
• What is a strength of the learning approach?

  • Scientific credibility - focuses on observable behaviours & studies them in lab based setting with high control
  • also highlighted important scientific processes such as objectivity & replication > more credible and reliable
• What is another strength of the learning approach?

  • RLA - Token Economies - OC
  • EXAMPLE : schools going detentions for poor behaviour - provides validity to the theory - learning through consequences
  • Phobia's - CC
  • EXAMPLE : Little Albert (explain) - not fear of mice originally but when paired with loud bang cr was fear
  • understanding of process led to treatments to create new associations + remove phobias
• What is a criticism of the learning approach?

  • Ethical issues - rats got electric shocks
  • Practical issues - research done on rats and dogs > not generalisable to humans as we are more complex
• What is another criticism of the learning approach?

  • Viewed as passive - robotic responders to environment
  • SLT and CA have instead focused on how we think before responding through internal mental processes and mediational processes - something behaviourist's have ignored > A REDUCTIONIST APPROACH!
• Who was Bandura?


  • Founder of SLT
  • Agreed that behaviour was learnt
  • We learn 'socially' through observation and imitation of others - indirectly learnt
• What is Vicarious reinforcement?

  • Happens through observing someone else being reinforced for their behaviour
• What is Identification?


  • Person becomes a role model if they're seen to possess similar characteristics to the observer and/or are attractive and have high status
• What is Meditational Processes?

  • 1.) Attention - extent to which we notice certain behaviours
  • 2.) Retention - how well the behaviour is remember
  • 3.)Motor reproduction - ability of the observer to perform
  • 4.)Motivation - the will to perform the behaviour, which is often determined bu whether the behaviour was rewarded or punished
• What is the key study Bandura performed?

  • Study A - children watched aggressive adult with bobo doll and acted aggressively too - identification & imitation
  • Study B - three conditions = control group, no consequences; one group saw adult punished; another saw adult praised (showed most aggression) - vicarious reinforcement
• What is a strength of SLT?

  • Cultural differences in eating disorders - anorexia nervosa is more common in Western societies compared to non-western
  • Suggests eating disorders don't have a biological explanation as individuals imitate behaviour of 'thin' celebrities - especially if they're rewarded for their thinness
• What is a weakness of SLT?

  • Underestimates biological explanation
  • Bandura's study - boys showed more aggression regardless of the specifics of the environment condition
  • May be explained by differences in levels of testosterone - more present in boys and linked to aggressive behaviour > should consider interaction of nature vs nuture
• What is a weakness/strength of Bandura's study?

  • Demand characteristic's - observations of young children in lab settings, suggested children were only hitting bobo doll as they thought it was expected
  • Reciprocal determinism - not influence by external environment by we influence it by what we influence it, through the behaviours we do - suggests we have some free will
• What are the basic assumptions of the cognitive approach?

  • focuses on how people perceive, store, manipulate & interpret information
  • look at internal mental processes
  • thought processes studied scientifically - in controlled lab studies
  • mental processes are 'private' and can't be observed, cp study them indirectly by making inferences
• What are Inferences?


  • CP draw conclusions about way mental processes operate through observing behavior
  • making logical conclusions on basis of evidence and reasoning
• What is the Cognitive Approach?

  • 1.) Schemas - born with basic ones then develop from experience, can lead to faulty conclusions & unhelpful behaviour
  • useful in helping us take short cuts in thinking
  • supports rat - man study
  • 2.)Computer Models - role of theoretical models, simplified representation often in boxes, NOT computers have brains/emotions etc, IPM
  • 3.) Cognitive Neuroscience - scientific study of influence of brain structure on mental process - RLA in understanding memory and implementing ideas e.g. cognitive interview, advances in brain scanning
• What is a strength of Cognitive approach?

  • RLA - used to explain much dysfunctional behaviour can be traced back to faulty thinking processes (cognitive approach to treating depression)
  • useful in understanding memory and implementing ideas (CI)
  • contributions in field of ai and development of thinking machines (robots)
  • therefore > ca has provided great value to multiple areas of Psychology
• How has the Cognitive approach been criticized?

  • MACHINE REDUCTIONISM - ignores influence of emotion and motivation on cognitive system & how it affects our ability to process info
  • FOR EXAMPLE = research shown human memory may be affected by emotional factors such as influence of anxiety on eyewitnesses > questions validity
• What is a strength of the cognitive approach?

  • Always employed rigorous methods of study in order to enable researchers to infer cognitive processes e.g. lab experiments
  • Also emergence of cognitive neuroscience has enabled two field cognitive and biological to work together and establish a scientific basis
  • Puts psychology in line with natural sciences
• What is another criticism of the Cognitive approach?

  • Most research conducted in lab setting in controlled artificial environments also experimental studies on cognitive processes carried out using artificial stimuli such as tests on memory using words which may not represent rl e.g. Baddeley & P&P
  • Therefore > makes it difficult to draw conclusions about cognition in the real world
• What is Freud's layers of consciousness?

  • Conscious - currently thinking
  • Preconscious - not thinking right now but easy access
  • Unconscious - outside of conscious thinking
  • Represented as Iceberg
• What is the Structure of the personality?

  • id - responsible for impulses and instant gratification, conscious principle
  • supergo - wants us to follow rules and morals, morality principle
  • ego - mediates between id and superego makes decisions, reality principle
• What the defence mechianism?

  • displacement - redirects id's impulse/feelings to something else e.g. others
  • repression - ego pushes id's impulses back into the unconscious mind
  • denial - ego gives into id but refuses to believe it has done so
• What are the impulses in the unconscious mind shaped by?

  • Repressed childhood experiences
• What are the 5 psychosexual stages?

  • Oral - (0-1yrs) id focused on mouth, main impulse is to eat (mothers breast object of desire)
  • Anal - (1-yrs) id focused on anus, main focus on poo
  • Phallic - (3-5yrs) focused on penis, main focus is 'Oedipus complex', wishes to possess mother
  • Latent - conflict and issues of previous stages are repressed
  • Genital - Sexual desires become conscious along with onset of puberty
• What are the consequences of unresolved conflict?

  • Oral - oral fixation, smoking, nail biting
  • Anal - anal retentive, anal expulsive
  • Phallic - narcissistic, reckless
  • Genital - difficulty forming heterosexual relationships
• What are some assumptions of the Biological approach?

  • EVERYTHING PSYCHOLOGICAL IS AT FIRST BIOLOGICAL
  • investigates how biological structures and processes impacts behaviour
  • genes affect behaviour and influence individual pyschological differences
  • should study the brain, nervous system and other biological systems e.g. hormones, chemicals acting on the brain etc
• Describe Genetics through MZ & DZ Twins.

  • investigating extent psychological characteristics are inherited
  • MZ twins show 100% concordance rates and share 100% of genotype
  • DZ twins show lower concordance rates and share 50% of genotype
• Describe Phenotypes and Genotypes?

  • genes only determine the potential for characteristics (genotype)
  • Genotype - genetic programming that provides phenotype
  • observable characteristics of individual depend on interaction of genetic + environmental factors
  • to large extent individuals phenotype determined by its genotype
• What is Natural Selection?

  • 'adaptive traits' passed on to help animals survive, need to adapt to environment living in
  • EXAMPLE = evolving long necks enable giraffes to feed on leaves in the others get reach
• What is a strength of the biological approach?

  • RLA - used for disorders such as depression
  • creation of psychoactive drugs that alter levels of serotonin to improve symptoms
  • shows how useful BA can be to real world and improve lives of those with mental health conditions
  • establishing a cause and effect
• What is a criticism of the biological approach?

  • Deterministic and controversial - believes we are determined by our physiological, genetic or evolutionary make-up > no free will
  • 'criminal gene' - controversial, not reflective of legal system - where criminals are not given different sentencing based on their genes- we are held morally and legally accountable for actions- ignores role of environment
• What is another strength of the biological approach?

  • It is scientific - we can find cause and effect between behaviour and physiology
  • lends to study of psychology - establishes psychology as a respectable science
  • impact can lead to treatments and interventions
  • and use of machinery allow accurate and precise measurements e.g. PET scans
• What is a problem with the biological approach?

  • impossible to separate nature vs nurture
  • as nurture impacts concordance rates due to MZ twins looking the same they get treated the same meaning experience similar things
  • may explain differences between MZ and DZ twins concordance rates due to non-biological differences
• What are key principles of the humanistic approach?

  • Developed by Maslow and Rogers
  • Emphasized importance of personal growth and fulfillment
  • Focused on personal responsibility, freewill and choice rather than determinism
  • Considered less scientific than most other approaches
  • Humans have free will
• What does Maslow talk about in regards to the Humanistic approach?

  • Hierarchy of needs
  • Self - actualization - most advanced and rewarding but not everyone can achieve