Approaches Flashcards - A Level Psychology AQA

• Wundt

  • found the Institute of Experimental Psychology
  • publishes one of the first books on psychology
  • helped establish psychology as an independent branch of science
  • studied aspects of behaviour that could be controlled under experimental conditions of sensation and perception
• Inception

  • believed all aspects of human behaviour could be studied scientifically
• Structuralism

  • is the theory of consciousness that analyses elements of mental experiences and how these elements combine to form more complex experiences
  • it uses introspection
• Evaluate Introspection

  • subjective -> open to interpretation by experimenter -> introspective methods were reliably reproduced -> Wundt contrasts with the objectivity of scientific process means replication is difficult due to subjectivity
  • methods of introspection are still used today -> studies into happiness and gambling -> first method used to scientifically study mind processes -> therefore said to have paved the way for the cognitive approach
• Behaviourist Approach - AO1

  • believe all behaviour is learned
  • person is product of their environment and born a blank slate (Tabula Rasa)
• Behaviourist Approach - AO1 - Operant Conditioning

  • positive punishment = adding something to decrease behaviour
  • negative punishment = subtracting something to decrease behaviour
  • positive reinforcement = adding something to increase behaviour
  • negative reinforcement = subtracting something to increase behaviour
• Behaviourist Approach - AO1 - Classical Conditioning Features

  • timing = if too much time between NS and UCS, conditioning will not take place
  • stimulus generalisation = once conditioned, may respond to similar stimuli in the same way
  • extinction = CR may not become permanently established after presenting CS without UCS it may lose it's ability to produce CR
  • spontaneous recovery = after extinction if CS and UCS paired together, link is made quickly and animal shows CR
• Evaluate Behaviourist Approach - AO3

  • has led to development of successful treatments -> systematic desensitisation (SD) is therapy based classical conditioning to unlearn phobias -> Mc Grath et al reports around 75% patients with phobias respond to SD successfully
  • environmental reductionism -> simplifies complex human behaviour to being caused solely by environment (stimulus-response) -> ignores other factors -> biological
• Evaluate Behaviourist Approach - AO3

  • scientific and uses experimental methods -> behaviour is observable so use highly controlled conditions to discover cause -> e.g. Skinner's box manipulated consequences of behaviour (IV) to measure effects on rats behaviour (DV) -> found cause and effect relationship -> BUT animal research cannot be generalised to humans -> much more intelligent
• Psychodynamic Approach - AO1

  • much of our behaviour is driven by unconscious motives
  • childhood is critical period in development
  • mental disorders arise from unresolved unconscious conflicts originating in childhood
• Psychodynamic Approach - AO1 - Freud's Model of Personality

  • we all have 3 characters in our mind at the same time and if they are unbalanced can cause us anxiety, and lead to mental abnormality
  • ID = pleasure principle
  • Superego = morality principle
  • Ego = reality principle -> balances demands of ID and Superego
• Psychodynamic Approach - AO1 - Defence Mechanisms

  • Repression = forcing distressing memories out conscious memory
  • Denial = refusing to acknowledge reality
  • Displacement = taking out your emotions on a substitute object
• Psychodynamic Approach - AO3

  • overreliance on case studies -> to gain support + develop his ideas -> interpretations are highly subjective + overall sexualised -> BUT Freud thought individuals need to be studied and not generalised
  • first approach to recognise the value of talking therapy -> unlike other treatments psycho-analysis can be used for wide range of disorders from anxiety to severe depression -> seen to get to the root cause of the problem
• Psychodynamic Approach - AO3

  - lacks scientific credibility -> Karl Popper said theories should be tested and falsifiable (able to prove wrong) -> he dismissed psychoanalysis as a body of unfalsifiable theories
• Cognitive Approach - AO1

  • the mind actively processes information from our senses
  • because stimulus + response are complex mental processes, they can be studied scientifically
• Cognitive Approach - AO1 - Inference

  • process where cognitive psychologists draw conclusions about the way mental processes operate on base of observed behaviour
• Cognitive Approach - AO1 - Schema

  • mental framework of expectations that influence cognitive processing, developed from experience

  Schema - AO3

  + allows us to take shortcuts when interpreting huge amounts of info we deal with on a daily basis

  + process information rapidly

  - exclude anything that doesn't conform to our established ideas about the world -> leads to stereotypes
• Cognitive Approach - AO1 - Theoretical models

  • simplified, pictorial representation of mental process based on research and evidence -> e.g. multi-store model

  Cognitive Approach - AO1 - Computer models

  • focus on the ways that sensory information is coded to represent mental processes
• Cognitive Approach - AO3

  • highly scientific and objective -> uses lab experiments to produce reliable + objective data -> wealth of research into memory like Loftus + Palmer experiment on leading questions on eye-witness testimonies -> BUT lab experiments lack ecological validity + mundane realism so cannot be used in inferences
• Cognitive Approach - AO3

  • machine reduction in computer models -> states that behaviours can be better explained when simplifying them -> ignores influences of human emotions and how this effects cognitive processes -> e.g. Yuille + Cutshall found positive effect on testimony with anxiety BUT Johnson + Scott found negative effects with memory recall -> therefore computer models don't explore complexity of information processing in humans
• Cognitive Approach - AO3

  • real-life applications -> March et al looked at teens with depression and found individually CBT and antidepressants improves 81% but together improves 86% -> led to development of CBT talking therapy so patients alter their thinking patterns -> therefore cognitive has high success rate for different disorders today
• Social Learning Theory - AO1

  • modelling = demonstration of specific behaviour
  • imitation = copying the behaviour of another
  • identification = associating themselves with the model (similar features)
  • vicarious reinforcement = indirect reinforcement -> observation of someone else being rewarded

  Social Learning Theory - AO1 - Mediational Processes = cognitive factors that influence learning

  1. Attention = the extent to which we notice certain behaviours
  2. Retention = how well is it remembered
  3. Motor Reproduction = ability to perform behaviour
  4. Motivation = will to perform behaviour
• Social Learning Theory - AO1 - Bandura et al - AO1

  • experiment 1:
  • children had 3 conditions:
  • observe adults behave aggressively towards the doll
  • observe someone ignoring the doll
  • control condition didn't observe anything
  • experiment 2:
  • all children watched adult behave aggressively towards the bobo doll
  • children had 3 conditions:
  • adult rewarded
  • adult punished
  • adult received no consequence
• Bandura et al FOUND:

  • children who observed adult behaving aggressively were more aggressive themselves (imitation)
  • children who observed adult be rewarded for behaving aggressively were more likely to be aggressive themselves (vicarious reinforcement)
  • children who observed adults be punished were less likely to behave aggressively
• Bandura et al - AO3

  • high element of control -> clearly manipulates IV and conditions -> e.g. adult rewarded or punished -> this means it allows replications
  • issues with the use of the Bobo doll -> Nolan said it was made to be hit + child said "that's the doll i am suppose to hit" -> levels of aggression due to demand characteristics
  • lacks ecological validity -> beating up a doll different to beating up a person -> lacks mundane realism -> BUT in a variation of study person dressed up as a clown -> still got beaten up
• Social Learning Theory - AO3

  • lacks population validity -> research conducted mainly on children -> Phillips found daily homicide rates in the US almost always increased following major boxing matches for adults -> therefore not only children but adults can be imitating a model
  • acknowledges roles of human cognition -> SLT recognises role of meditational processes as conscious + cognitive insight that humans have with their behaviour -> therefore SLT better for explaining human behaviour compared to behaviourism
• Social Learning Theory - AO3

  • Bobo doll study ignores biological differences between boys + girls -> found regardless of the condition boys are more aggressive than girls -> explained due to boys having higher levels of testosterone hormone which increases aggressiveness -> therefore SLT may be an incomplete explanation of gender differences in behaviour, as not accounting hormonal differences between sexes
• Humanistic Approach - AO1

  • Free will = choosing + determining own actions
  • Maslow's hierarchy of needs = motivate to achieve self-actualisation, must fulfil each layer (Self-actualisation -> Esteem -> Love -> Safety -> Physiological Needs) = (Some Elephants Like Small Presents)
  • The self = ideas + values about ourselves
  • Congruence = when actual-self + ideal self match
  • Unconditional positive regard
  • Conditions of worth = parents place a limit on love for the child
  • Roger's Client-Centered Therapy (CCT) = restore congruence, provide client with unconditional positive regard
• Humanistic Approach - AO3

  • therapies successful -> CCT widely used in health, social work, and industry -> therapy helps people overcome difficulties in life -> significant contribution to improve people's quality of life so improve the economy
  • conditions of worth -> Harter found teens who feel that they should meet conditions of worth for their parent's approval, end up not liking themselves -> they tend to create a false self for their parents -> leads to them becoming depressed and lose touch with their true self
• Humanistic Approach - AO3

  • cultural differences in the hierarchy of needs -> Nevis found in China in different order like love being more important than physiological needs -> in collectivist cultures, self-actualisation is more in terms of community than individual development -> hierarchy of needs mostly based on individualist cultures so won't match other cultures
• Biological Approach - AO1

  • suggests everything is innate and governed by biology
  • twins studies used to see whether or not behaviour had a genetic basis -> concordance rate higher for monozygotic twins (100%) than dizygotic twins (50%)
  • Phenotype = refers to observable characteristics which consequence of interactions between genotype + environment
  • Genotype = is inherited genetic material passed from generation to generation
  • The theory of natural selection by Darwin states that any genetic material that aids survival is passed on to their offspring which affects their vital survival too
• Biological Approach - AO3

  • real-life application -> led to the development of effective drug treatments, treating disorders from anxiety to schizophrenia -> work by restoring neurotransmitters like dopamine + serotonin to normal levels -> therefore seen to reduce symptoms
  • BUT drug treatments don't work on everyone -> suggest there must be other causes behind mental illness -> biological approach only offers a partial explanation of human behaviour
• Biological Approach - AO3

  • uses scientific methods of investigation -> Nestadt twin study found MX = 61% and DZ = 38% concordance rates for developing OCD -> supports MS being higher than DZ so there is genetic basis for behaviour -> biological approach theories based on reliable data + therefore likely to be valid
  • BUT MZ isn't 100% -> this means that there could be another factor effecting human behaviour like the environment