approaches

• who was wundt?

  the 'father of psychology' who set up the first psychology laboratory in Germany in the 1870s. he developed introspection
• what is introspection?

  introspection is the systematic analysis of your own conscious experience of a stimulus - involves reporting on your own mental processes as they occur

  1. focus on a stimulus
  2. reflect on different mental processes e.g emotions
  3. provide a systematic description of the inner processes experienced
  4. compare different participants reports in response to the same stimuli
• the emergence of psychology as a science

  wundt's work followed an empirical approach - acquiring knowledge from direct experiences

  encouraged people to look for more appropriate methods and techniques to study mental processes

  other approaches then began to develop e.g behaviourist focussing on observable learned behaviour
• what is a strength of introspection?

  highly influential in psychology's emergence as a distinct science - many other scientists inspired by this work
• what is a weakness of introspection?

  can be subject to social desirability bias - people may lie about their thoughts to look favourable to others
• what are the two parts of the behaviourist approach?

  classical conditioning and operant conditioning
• what is classical conditioning?

  learning through association - pavlov's dogs study

  food (unconditioned stimulus) = salivation (unconditioned response)

  bell = neutral stimulus

  bell + food = salivation

  dog learns to associate bell with salivation until

  bell (conditioned stimulus) = salivation (conditioned response)
• what is operant conditioning?

  learning through reinforcement - skinner's rats

  positive reinforcement (the addition of something positive)

  negative reinforcement (the removal of something negative)

  punishment (addition of something negative/removal of something positive)

  reinforcement encourages behaviour whilst punishment discourages behaviour

  rats rewarded with food when pressed lever or rats stop getting an electric shock when press lever
• evaluation of behaviourist approach pt 1

  + scientific - focuses on observable and measurable behaviour - pavlov and skinners research highly controlled and clear to observe and measure - supported by empirical evidence

  + practical applications - systematic desensitisation shown to be extremely successful for phobias - 75% phobia patients improved - useful in developing treatments

  -based largely on animal studies - may not reflect human behaviour - humans may be capable of controlling their behaviour more effectively - may be limited in explaining human behaviour
• evaluation of behaviourist approach pt 2

  -reductionist - reduces human behaviour down to the activity of specific variables e.g environmental factors and ignores the role of biological factors - twin studies show genes may play a role in man y aspects of human behaviour - approach may be limited and over-simplify complex behaviours

  -determinist - suggests our behaviour is caused by factors outside of our control and may struggle to explain why we don't all respond the same way to our environment - e.g 2 people experience a frightening event and only 1 develops a phobia - ignores free will
• social learning theory


  learning vicariously through observation and imitation of role models

  if somebody observes a behaviour being reinforced they are likely to imitate this behaviour themselves - they have seen the consequences and expects similar consequences if they imitate the behaviour

  bobo doll study - half shown aggressive adult and half shown non aggressive adult - those who observed aggressive adult reproduced the aggression and those who didnt showed virtually no aggression - children who saw adult rewarded for aggression were more likely to show aggression themselves
• identification and modelling


  people more likely to imitate behaviour of people they identify with (role models) - this is called modelling

  a person is a role model if they possess similar characteristics to the observer and/or are attractive and have high status
• mediational processes

  argues mental processes are involved in learning

  the four mediational processes are:

  1. attention (noticing certain behaviour)
  2. retention (remembering the behaviour)
  3. reproduction (ability to perform the behaviour)
  4. motivation (the will to perform the behaviour)
• evaluation of social learning theory pt 1

  + scientific - observable and measurable behaviour - bobo doll study highly controlled - supported by empirical evidence -however incorporates mediational processes which cannot be observed - factors e.g attention and motivation have to be inferred

  + practical applications - concepts of identification and modelling used to encourage positive behaviour - perceived similarity of a model in adverts improves effectiveness of message - can be used to improve behaviour
• evaluation of social learning theory pt 2

  -based on evidence from young children in laboratory settings - bobo doll study may have had demand characteristics - main purpose of bobo doll is to strike it so children may have behaved how they though expected - may be based on flawed evidence

  + less reductionist than behaviourist approach - incorporated internal cognitive factors - e.g attention and retention mediate learning - more holistic explanation than behaviourist approach

  + less deterministic than behaviourist approach - argues we have some control over environmental influence
• cognitive approach

  behaviour explained by internal mental processes - studied indirectly using inferences

  theoretical models - information processing approach suggests info flows through the cognitive system in a sequence of stages e.g input, storage, retrieval such as multi-store model of memory

  computer models - use concepts of a central processing unit i.e the brain, coding to process info and stores to hold info

  schema - mental frameworks of ideas & expectations from experience - 'fill in gaps' - predict what will happen - however can distort interpretations e.g stereotypes
• evaluation of cognitive approach pt 1

  + scientific - observable and measurable - lab experiments allow to infer cognitive processes - supported by empirical evidence - however not possible to directly observe processes like memory

  + practical applications - led to development of therapies like CBT - CBT found to be just as effective as drugs in treating depression - helps to improve everyday lives

  -lacks ecological validity - based on artificial tasks and dont represent real life memory - e.g random word or digit lists meaningless in everyday life - based on flawed evidence
• evaluation of cognitive approach pt 2

  -reductionist - reduces human behaviour down to the level of a computer and ignores role of human emotion - e.g EWT research found memory may be affected by anxiety - limited and over-simplify complex behaviours

  +less determinist than other approaches - does not suggest totally caused by factors outside of our control and argues we are free to think before responding to a stimulus - middle ground between determinism and free will
• biological approach

  twin studies - if monozygotic twins have higher concordance rate for a certain characteristic than dizygotic then suggests a genetic basis

  genotype = actual genetic makeup

  phenotype = the way genes are expressed through physical, behavioural and psychological characteristics

  expression of genotype is influenced by environmental factors

  neurochemistry - certain neurotransmitters influence certain behaviours e.g serotonin and mood

  natural selection & evolution - behaviours passed on to offspring
• evaluation of biological approach pt 1

  + scientific - observable and measurable - brain scanning techniques highly controlled - supported by empirical evidence

  + practical applications - drug therapies correct neurochemical imbalances in the brain - SSRIs more effective in treating OCD - helps improve everyday lives

  -family and twin studies struggle with nature v nurture - assumes twins and members of the same family all have genetic similarities so similar behaviours must be genetic - however all exposed to same environment - based on flawed evidence
• evaluation of biological approach pt 2

  -reductionist - reduces human behaviour to specific variables such as biological factors and ignores environmental factors - studies by behaviourists show behaviour can be learnt - approach may be limited and over-simplify complex behaviours

  -determinist - suggests our behaviour is caused by factors outside of our control (biological factors) but may struggle to explain why mz twins dont have 100% concordance rate - mz twins have 68% concordance rate for OCD - ignores free will
• psychodynamic approach

  behaviour explained by unconscious mind - driving force behind our behaviour and personality - contains range of instincts and memories we are unaware of - protects the conscious self from anxiety, fear, trauma and conflict through defence mechanisms

  tripartite system - id (pleasure principle) - ego (reality principle, mediates other two parts) - superego (morality principle)

  defence mechanisms - repression, denial, displacement

  psychosexual stages - oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital - unresolved conflict at any stage = 'stuck', carry certain behaviours to adult
• evaluation of psychodynamic approach pt 1

  -unscientific - not observable or measurable - cannot see or test unconscious mind - not supported by empirical evidence

  +practical applications - psychoanalysis shown to be successful for a range of problems - used to treat things like phobias and paralysis - useful in developing treatments

  -largely based on case studies - focuses on study of single individuals - studied little hans who had a horse phobia (displaced fear of father) - may not be possible to develop a theory of human behaviour based on a small number of abnormal individuals
• evaluation of psychodynamic approach pt 2

  +less reductionist than other approaches - does reduce behaviours down to variables like instinctive drives but argues other factors play a role too - argues psychosexual development is interaction between nature and nurture - more holistic than other approaches

  -determinist - believes our behaviour is out of our control - overemphasises role of the unconscious - may have more conscious control than freud suggested - ignores free will
• humanistic approach

  all behaviour explained in terms of free will - we are active agents who can consciously choose how to behave

  self-actualisation - we all have the drive to self-actualise (realise true potential) - 5 levelled sequence of physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem and self-actualisation - must all be satisfied

  self and ideal self must be congruent to achieve personal growth - too big a gap leads to incongruence and negative feelings

  lack of unconditional positive regard & conditions of worth (i will only love you if...) = future problems for the person
• evaluation of humanistic approach pt 1

  -unscientific - not observable and measurable - cannot see ideal self or self actualisation - have to use self reports to measure - not supported by empirical evidence

  +practical applications - revolutionised counselling - counsellors use a client centred approach (also in education, health & social work) - helps to improve peoples lives

  -based on research using non-experimental methods - hard to evaluate the qualitative methods used - cant be sure if counselling causes the changes seen in a person - lacks objectivity
• evaluation of humanistic approach pt 2

  +not reductionist - avoids reducing human behaviour down to specific variables like biological and environmental factors - argue you have to consider the whole person to understand them - does not over-simplify complex behaviours

  -rejects determinism - suggests our behaviour is caused by our own free will and may ignore factors outside of our control - twin studies show genes play a part in human behaviour - requires a more middle ground between determinism and free will
• comparison of approaches

  biological - deterministic - nature - reductionist - scientific

  behaviourist - deterministic - nurture - reductionist - scientific

  social learning - less deterministic - nurture - less reductionist - scientific

  cognitive - less deterministic - nature & nurture - reductionist - scientific

  psychodynamic - deterministic - neither nature/nurture - less reductionist - unscientific

  humanistic - not deterministic - aspects of both - holistic - unscientific