Approaches

• Wundt was the father of psychology and the founder of the first psychology lab. first person to use empirical scientific research to study the mind
• Wundt studied internal mental processes, analysing conscious experience to standard stimuli using things like sensations, emotional reactions and mental images
• Wundt took a systematic approach; breaking down thought about objects into separate elements in attempt to uncover the structure of the mind in an approach called structuralism
• Structuralism is the idea that consciousness can be broken down into its basic components (structures) which are then combined to form complex thoughts.
• evaulte wundts introduction to psychology?

  + paved the way for scientifically controlled research in psychology

  — criticised by behaviourists who though that internal mental processes couldnt be studied scientifically by introspection

  + internal mental processes were continued by cognitive psychologists who built systems like the working memory model; however they used experimentation as opposed to introspection
• what is introspection?

  Self-reflection or examination of one's own thoughts, feelings, and experiences.
• What does the behaviourist approach suggest about how we learn?

  All behaviours are learned through our interaction with the environment
• classical conditioning is the idea that we learn through association as suggested by behaviourists, and suggests that learning occurs when a neutral stimulus is consistently paired with an unconditioned stimulus so eventually the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus that produces a learnt response
• outline pavlovs research?

  pavlovs dogs learned to associate the sound of a bell, which was a neutral stimulus which became the conditioned stimulus, with food (unconditioned stimulus) and then drool which is the learned response to the now conditioned stimulus
• operant conditioning is learning through trial and error as suggested by behaviourists and is when we learn from connection between behaviours and consequences
• outline skinners research?

  demonstrated operant conditioning in rats who learnt from trial and error that pulling on a lever would release a food pellet; the lever pulling behaviour became more frequent and deliberate over time. the rats also learnt to press the lever to stop the floor of the cage being electrocuted for 30 seconds
• positive reinforcement is adding a stimulus to increase a behaviour

  negative reinforcement is removing a stimulus to increase a behaviour

  punishment is adding a stimulus to decrease a behaviour
• Limitation of behaviourist approach

  Environmentally deterministic: Behaviours are a result of learning from the environment and not free will

  hard determinism as no free will
• Limitation of behaviourist approach

  Reductionist on lower levels of explanation: Ignores social context
• Limitation of behaviourist approach

  Research mainly with animals, therefore generalisation to humans may be limited
• Positive of behaviourist approach

  Scientific: Objective and empirical, systematically manipulates variables

  focus on observable behaviour demonstrates cause and effect
• Positive evaluation of the behaviourist approach?

  Little Albert experiment: Fear was a learnt response, learnt to associate loud noises with all white fluffy objects, leading to the development of counter conditioning treatments for phobias
• The social learning theory agrees with behaviourist ideas that behaviour is a result of learning from environment but disagrees with the disregard for internal mental processes; suggests that they must be present in order for learning to occurs and focuses on learning taking place in a social context due to exposure to others behaviour
• what does the social learning theory include?

  vicarious reinforcement, modelling, identification and mediational processes
• what are mediational processes?

  cognitive processes between stimulus and response that influence the liklehood of a behaviour being imitated; include attention, retention, motor reproduction and motivation
• vicarious reinforcement is when a behaviour is being observed and is then rewarded which is likely to cause reproduction of that behaviour however is there are consequences of a behaviour then it is less likely to be copied
• what is modelling?

  others act as blueprints for our behaviour
• what is identification?

  behaviour is more likely to be copied if the person that is carrying out the behaviour is someone with similar characteristics to us like age, gender and ethnicity
• Outline banduras research?

  72 3-5 year old were matched on levels of agrsession.

  the groups watched videos of adults interacting aggressively, non agressively or neutrally with a bobo doll. Found that aggression was imitated in the group who watched adults be aggressive, whereas the other group weren’t aggressive; the effect was stronger if the adult was the same gender as the child; this is an example of identification and vicarious reinforcement
• Limitations of social learning theory?

  — sees behaviour as environmentally determined (nurture) but some behaviours may be innate (nature) and better explained by biological explanations or a combination of both

  — less scientific than other approaches as subjective and less easy to observe behaviours
• positives of social learning theory?

  banduras research demonstrated that behaviour was imitated how cause and effect relationship; limited application to real world

  inclusion of mental processes improves explanation to human behaviour proposed by behaviourists
• The cognitive approach suggests that behaviour is the result of conscious and unconscious information processing
• What are the key features of the cognitive approach?

  role of schema; mental blueprints of how people and objects work, formed from prior experience to organise large amounts of new info, make assumptions on behaviour

  inferences; going beyond observed behaviour to make assumptions about structure of mp that results in certain behaviours

  computer model; brain is like a computer

  theoretical model; flowcharts that show how info flows and is processed in a mental system like wmm and msm
• What is cognitive neuroscience?

  development of new brain scanning techniques (like fmri) that have allowed though processes to be linked to patterns of activity in the brain; providing neuro biological support to pre existing cognitive models like the working memory model
• positives of cognitive approach?

  + soft determinism; thought are influenced by past experience and brain structure but conscious thought can override as an expression of free will

  + artificial intelligence
• limitations of cognitive approach?

  reductionist; over simplifies human behaviour by comparing it to a computer; computers do not have features of a human experience like emoitions, consciousness and irrationality

  unscientific; inferences and internal mental processes can’t be tests and may be subjective however experimental methods are scienfitic
• the biological approach suggests that human behaviour is a result of physical processes within the body, primarily neurological brain activity but also hormonal factors; these processes are inherited genetically and a result of evolutionary pressure
• explain the influence of genes on behaviour as suggested by the biological approach?

  twin studies; show likelihood of disorders like ocd and depression that are increase significantly based on how people are related as they share the same genes;

  cocoaro twin studies; mz twins share 100% dna and 50% environment and concordance rates were 33% 68% which is double showing the link however if it was entirely genetic concordance rates would be 100%
• what is a phenotype?


  The observable characteristics or traits of a person
• what is a genotype?

  The genetic makeup of a person
• Explain biological structures in relation to the biological approach?

  neural areas in the brain are associated with behavioural functions such as the amygdala (aggression), orbital frontal cortex and Broca’s area (speech production), the development of these areas of the brain and the connections between them are coded genetically
• explain neurochemistry in the biological approach?

  neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine can influence brain functioning

  imbalances can result in changes in aggression such as aggression if too much or too low amount of serotonin

  also hormones released by the endocrine system in response to stressors result in the fight or flight response being activated
• explain evolution in the biological apporach?

  selection of genotypes that code for phenotypes that provide a survival advantage; behaviours with these advantages would become more prevalent in a population, examples in human behaviour is mate-guarding
• limitations of the biological approach?

  — biological determinism; suggests that human behaviour and thought processes are the result of biological processes outside of our conscious control; behaviour is not at all driven by free will; hard determinism

  — completely ignores any other explanations like environment therefore making it biologically reductionist
• positives of biological approach?

  + biological reductionism; reduce the explanation for complex behaviours and human experience to simple biological elements (neurotransmitters)

  + therapy includes treatments for disorders using effective drug treatments like ssris

  + scientific; reliable, empirical evidence like fmris and blood tests as well as objective; evidence for the claims