Approaches

• What is psychology?

  The scientific study of the mind, behaviour and experience
• What is introspection?

  The first systematic experimental attempt to study the mind by breaking up conscious awareness into basic structures of thoughts, images and sensations
• What is a science?

  A means of acquiring knowledge through systematic and objective investigation. The aim is to discover general laws
• Who opened the first psychological lab?

  Wundt - 1879
• What is the behaviourist approach?

  A way of explaining behaviour in terms of what is observable and in terms of learning
• What is Classical Conditioning?

  > learning by association

  > occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired together - an unconditioned (unlearned) stimulus (UCS) and a new 'neutral' stimulus (NS)

  > the neutral stimulus eventually produces the same response that was first produced by the unconditional (unlearned) stimulus alone
• What is Operant Conditioning?

  > a form of learning in which behaviour is shaped and maintained by its consequences

  > Possible consequences of behaviour include reinforcement (positive or negative) and punishment
• What is reinforcement?

  > a consequence of behaviour that increases the likelihood of that behaviour being repeated

  > can be positive or negative
• The behaviourist approach - assumptions

  > studies behaviours that can be observed and measured

  > not concerned with investigating mental processes of the mind

  > Early behaviourists (Watson) rejected introspection -> involved too many concepts that were vague and difficult to measure - so they relied on lab studies to try and maintain more control and objectivity

  >believe all behaviour is learned -> baby born with a 'blank slate'

  > suggested all basic processes that govern learning are the same in all species -> animals replace humans as experimental subjects in research
• Classical conditioning - Pavlov's dogs

  > learning through association

  > Pavlov (1927) showed dogs could be conditioned to salivate to sound of bell if sound was repeatedly presented at same time as given food

  > Gradually, Pavlov's dogs learned to associate the sound of sound of the bell (a stimulus) with the food (another stimulus) and would produce the salivation response every time they heard the sound

  > was able to show how a neutral stimulus (the bell) can come to elicit a new learned response (conditioned response) through association
• Operant conditioning - Skinner


  > Skinner (1953) suggested learning is an active process - humans & animals operate on their environment -> behaviour shaped by consequences

  > positive reinforcement: receiving reward when certain behaviour performed (press lever for food)

  > negative reinforcement: avoids something unpleasant (press lever to stop being electrocuted)

  > punishment: unpleasant consequence of behaviours

  > positive & negative reinforcement increases the likelihood that behaviour behaviour will be repeated

  > punishment decreases the likelihood of behaviours being repeated
• Operant conditioning - The Skinner Box


  > Skinner conducted experiments with rats and sometimes pigeons, in specially designed cages called Skinner boxes

  > Every time the rat activated a lever within the box it was rewarded with a food pellet. From then on the animal would continue to perform the behaviour -> positive reinforcement

  > he also showed how they could be conditioned to perform the same behaviour to avoid an unpleasant stimulus, e.g. an electric shock -> negative reinforcement
• Evaluation of behaviourist approach - Well-controlled research


  (+) based on well-controlled research

  > focused on the measurement of observable behaviour within highly controlled lab settings

  > all other extraneous variables were removed -> cause and effect relationships established

  > e.g. Skinner able to clearly demonstrate how reinforcement influenced an animal's behaviour

  > suggests: behaviourist experiments have scientific credibility
• Evaluation of behaviourist approach - reductionist


  (-) oversimplified the learning process

  > reduced behaviour to simple components - ignored important influence of learning (human thought)

  > alternative approaches (SLT & cognitive) have drawn attention to the mental processes involved in learning

  > suggests: learning is more complex than observable behaviour alone, and that private mental processes are also essential
• Evaluation of behaviourist approach - Real-world application

  (+) the principles of conditioning have been applied to real-world behaviours and problems

  > e.g. operant conditioning is the basis of token economy systems that have been successful in institutions, such as psychiatric hospitals, in the treatment of schizophrenia - rewarding appropriate behaviour with tokens that can be exchanged for privilege's

  > classical conditioning has been applied to the treatment of phobias

  > this increases the value of the behaviourist approach because it has widespread application
• Evaluation of behaviourist approach - environmental determinism

  (-) see's all behaviours as conditioned by past conditioning experiences

  > Skinner suggested: everything we do is the sum total of our reinforcement history

  > when something happens we may think 'I made the decision to do that', but according to Skinner, out past conditioning history determined the outcome

  > this ignores any possible influence that free will may have on behaviour

  >This is an extreme position and ignores the influence of conscious decision-making processes on behaviour (suggested by cognitive approach)
• What is social learning theory?

  A way of explaining behaviour that includes both direct and indirect reinforcement, combining learning theory with the role of cognitive factors.
• What is imitation?

  Copying the behaviour of others
• What is identification?

  A desire to be associated with a particular person or group often because the person/group possesses certain desirable characteristics
• What is modelling?

  From an observer's perspective, modelling is imitating the behaviour of a role model. From the role model's perspective, modelling is the precise demonstration of a specific behaviour that may then be imitated by an observer
• What is vicarious reinforcement?

  Reinforcement which is not directly experienced but occurs through observing someone else being reinforced for a behaviour. This is a key factor in imitation.
• What are mediational processes?

  Cognitive factors (i.e. thinking) that influence learning and come between stimulus and response
• Social learning theory - assumptions

  > Bandura agreed with the behaviourist that behaviour is learned from experience

  > His SLT proposed a different way in which people learn - through observation and imitation of others

  > SLT suggests that learning occurs directly, through classical and operant conditioning, but also indirectly
• Social Learning Theory - Vicarious reinforcement

  > for indirect learning to take place, an individual observed the behaviour of others

  > learner may imitate these behaviour but, in general, imitation only occurs if the behaviour is seen to be rewarded (reinforced) rather than punished.

  > the learner observed a behaviour but also observes the consequences of a behaviour
• What are the four mental/ mediational processes identified by Bandura for SLT?


  1. Attention: the extend to which we notice certain behaviours
  2. Retention: how well the behaviour is remembered
  3. 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

  > Attention & Retention -> relate to learning of behaviour

  > Reproduction & Motivation -> relate to performance of behaviour

  > Behaviours may be stored by observer and reproduced at a later time
• Social learning theory: Identification

  > People (especially children) are more likely to imitate people they identify with -> identification

  > the person they identify with = role model, and process of imitating a role = modelling

  > a person becomes a role model if they are seen to posses similar characteristics to the observer and/or are attractive and have a high status

  > role models may not necessarily be physically present in their environment -> important implication for the influence of the media on behaviour
• Bandura's Bobo doll experiment (1961)

  > controlled experimental study (lab) to investigate if social behaviours can be acquired by observation and imitation

  > 36 boys and 36 girls (3-6 years)

  > pre-tested their aggression

  > matched-pairs design -> in groups of similar aggression styles

  > results: children who observed aggressive model made far more aggressive responses; boys more likely to imitate same-sex model; boys were more physically aggressive but little difference between verbal aggression
• Evaluation of SLT - Cognitive factors

  (+) it recognises the importance of cognitive factors in learning

  > classical and operant conditioning don't offer an adequate account of learning on their own

  > Humans & animals store information about the behaviour of others and use this to make judgements about when it is appropriate to perform certain actions

  > suggests: SLT provides a more comprehensive explanation of human learning by recognising the role of mediational processes (complex cognitive or mental situational factors that lie in the middle of a stimulus and response)
• Evaluation of SLT - Biological factors

  (-) criticised for making little reference to the influence of biological factors

  > Although Bandura claimed natural biological differences influenced our learning potential, he thought that learning itself was determined by the environment

  > However, recent research suggests that observational learning may be the result of mirror neurons in the brain, which allow us to empathise with and imitate other people

  > suggests: biological influences on social learning were underemphasised in SLT
• Evaluation of SLT - Contrived lab studies

  (-) evidence gathered through lab studies

  > Many of Bandura's ideas developed through observation of young people children's behaviour in the lab

  > lab studies often critisied for contrived nature where ppts may respond to demand characteristics

  > It been suggested, in relation to Bandura's bobo doll research that, as the main purpose of the doll is to strike it, the children were simply behaving in a way that they thought was expected

  > suggests: research may tell us little about how children actually learn aggression in everyday life.
• Evidence of SLT - Real-world application


  (+) principles been applied to a range of real-world behaviours

  > SLT is able to explain cultural differences in behaviour

  > principles, such as modelling, imitation and reinforcement, can account for how children learn from others around them, including media -> can explain how social/cultural norms are transmitted through particular societies

  > this has proved useful in understanding a range of behaviour, such as how children come to understand their gender role

  > this increases the value of the approach as it can account for real-world behaviour
• What is the cognitive approach?

  The term 'cognitive' has come to mean 'mental processes', so this approach is focused on how our mental processes (e.g. thoughts, perceptions, attention) affect behaviour
• What are Internal mental processes?

  'Private' operation of the mind such as perception and attention that mediate between stimulus and response
• What is a schema?

  A mental framework of beliefs and expectations that influence cognitive processing. They are developed from experience
• What is inference?

  The process whereby cognitive psychologists draw conclusions about the way mental processes operate on the basis of observed behaviour
• What is cognitive neuroscience?


  The scientific study of those biological structures that underpin cognitive processes
• The cognitive approach - Assumption

  > direct contrast to the behaviourist approach -> argues that internal mental processes can, and should, be studied scientifically.

  > the cognitive approach has investigated those areas of human behaviour that were neglected by behaviourists, such as memory, perception and thinking

  > these processes 'private' and can't be observed, so cognitive psychologists study them indirectly by making inferences about what is going on inside people's minds on the basis of their behaviour
• The cognitive approach - the role of schema

  > cognitive processes often affected by person's beliefs or expectations -> schemas

  > babies born with simple motor schema for innate behaviour e.g. sucking & grasping

  > with age, our schema becomes more detailed and sophisticated -> adults have developed mental representations for everything

  > schema enable us to process lots of information quickly - useful as a sort of mental shortcut that prevents us from being overwhelmed by environmental stimuli

  > But, they may also distort our interpretations of sensory info, leading to perceptual errors
• The cognitive approach - theoretical and computer models

  > use both theoretical & computer models to help them understand internal mental processes

  > theoretical model = information processing approach, suggests information flows through the cognitive system in a series of stages, e.g. multi-store model.

  > this is based on the way that computers function, but a computer model would involve actually programming a computer to see if such instructions produce a similar output to humans

  > if they do we can suggest that similar processes going on in human mind -> links to development of AI
• The cognitive approach - the emergence of cognitive neuroscience 


  > the scientific study of the influence of brain structures on mental processes

  > Broca identified how damage to area of frontal lobe (Broca's area) could permanently impair speech production

  > advances in brain imaging techniques (fMRI & PET scans) have allow scientists to systematically observe and describe the neurological basis of mental processes - e.g. research involving tasks that require use of episodic & semantic memory

  > scanning techniques also useful in establishing the neurological basis of some mental disorder