Approaches in Psychology

• Explain Wundt's contribution to the origins of psycholgoy.


  He seperated psychology from philosophy and biology, and started his own lab that utilized scientific methods to study the human mind and behaviour.
• What is the Behaviourist Approach?


  A learning approach that suggests all children are born as blank slates, learing through their interactions with their enviroment.
• What is a Biological Approach?

  A learning approach that views human behaviour as a result of genetics and proposes that induvidual psychology stems from internal physiology.
• Define Positive Reinforcement

  Increases the likelyhood of a response occuring because it involves a reward for the behaviour.
• Define Classical Conditioning.

  A form of learning which occurs by associating naturally occuring instinct with new stimuli, creating a 'conditioned' response.
• Define Negative Reinforcement

  Increases the likelihood of a response happening because it involves the removal of, or escaping from unpleasent consequences.
• Give some examples of Negative Reinforcement


  stopping a baby crying by giving it a dummy

  • stopping torture when the victim confesses
• Define Punishment

  The consequence of receving something unpleasent which decreases the probability of the behviour being repeated
• Give examples of Punishments


  • driver speeding -> given ticket
  • babys hand burned if touches hot stove
  • puppy pees on rug -> tap on nose
• What are the assumptions of the Behaviourist Approach?(5)

  • Psychology is a science so behaviour must be measured in highly controlled enviroments to establish cause and effect
  • Behaviourism is primarily concerned with observable behaviour, as opposed to interal events like thinking and emotion. Observable (external) can be objectively and scientifically measured.
  • When born our mind is a blank slate
  • Behaviour is the result of a stimulus
  • All behaviour is learnt from the enviroment
• What are the strengths to the Behaviourist Aproach?

  
  

  • Based on well-controlled research, without extraneous variables
  • High scientific credibility as ^
  • Can be applied to real-world behaviour from animals and humans
  • Mainly quantitative data -> easy to analyse
  • Replicable as highly controlled
• What are the weaknesses to the Behaviourist Approach?

  • Oversimplified the learning process as its more complex than just observable behaviour (ignores mental processes)
  • Enviromental determinalism: Dismissive of free will as it labels all behaviour as conditioned
  • Ethical issues -> manipulation, usage of animals (purposely kept below their natural weight so theyre always hungry, and taken out of their enviroment)
  • Lacks ecological validity as its highly controlled -> may not be able to be generalised
• What is a cognitive approach, and what does it suggest?

  A learning approach that describes the mind as a computer, with internal mental processes turning an input into an output -> suggests studying these interal processes by inference is key to understanding human psychology.
• How can video game addiciton be explained using behaviourist principles?

  In games, players recieve rewards (positive reinforcement) for achieving goals, levelling up or completing tasks -> rewards trigger the release of dopamine, and they become more inclined to keep playing. Adititonally, theres classical conditioning as theres enviromental cues (sounds, visuals etc) which are linked to good things within the game, so when the player encounters these cues they are drawn back to the game.
• What is a genotype?


  The genetic profile of an induvidual (what genes they carry, the 'genetic makeup' of an organism)
• Define Identification, and what it suggests humans can internalise.

  A form of learning (derived from the social learning theory) which suggests humans can learn from observing role models whom they percieve are similar to themselves, suggesting humans can internalise the beliefs of someone we 'identify' with (e.g similar with age, goals hobbies)
• Define Imitation

  A form of learning (derived from the learning theory) proposing humans learn through copying the behaviour of a role model they identify with.
• What are Mediational Processes? Give 2 examples.


  Internal processes that contribute to producing certain behaviours, hence 'mediators' between observation and imitation (e.g: judging/evaluating something, or retrieving information)
• Define Negative Reinforcement, and give an example of it occuring.

  A behaviour performed in response to a negative stimulus, in the expection of the negative stimulus being removed. For example, a mother comforting her child -> the mother learns to comfort her child again and again (reinforced behaviour) to avoid the child crying (negative stimulus)
• What is Operant Conditioning?


  A form of learning by direct consequence for behaviour, whether that be reinforcement (consequences that increase behaviour) or punishment (consequences that decrease behaviour).
• What is a phenotype?


  An organisms physical manifestation of their genotype -> an induviduals observational characteristics.
• Define Positive Reinforcement, and give an example of it occuring.

  Administration of a positive stimulus that aims to increase a certain behaviour. For example, giving a child a treat (positive stimulus) if they clean their room, so they clean their room more often (reinforced behaviour).
• What is meant by the term 'Schema'?

  Schema is a mental framework based on previous information, allowing us to interpret new information efficiently.
• Who suggested the concept of dualism in the 17th century?

  Descartes
• What does Descartes' dualism imply about the mind and body?

  They interact differently to produce behaviors
• What is the IB definition of psychology?

  Scientific study of behavior and mental processes
• What is the definition of science according to the study material?

  Pursuit of knowledge through systematic methodology
• What are the features of science?

  • Universal paradigm
  • Theory construction
  • Hypothesis testing
  • Deduction
  • Falsification
  • Replicability
  • Objectivity
  • Empirical method
• When did Wundt set up his first laboratory?

  In 1879
• What is introspection?

  Learning about one's own mental states
• What are the three conditions of introspection?

  Mentality, first-person, temporal proximity
• What does structuralism involve?

  Isolating conscious thoughts into basic structures
• How did Wundt ensure reliable data in his experiments?

  By using the same stimulus each time
• Who disagreed with the subjective nature of introspection?

  Skinner
• What is radical behaviorism?

  Measuring private events like observable behavior
• What method did Skinner use for his research?

  Laboratory experiment method
• What does operant conditioning involve?

  Learning based on consequences of behavior
• What is the significance of Skinner's Box?

  Demonstrated positive and negative reinforcement
• What are the types of reinforcement in operant conditioning?

  • Positive reinforcement: Rewarding behavior
  • Negative reinforcement: Avoiding unpleasant consequences
• What happens during extinction in classical conditioning?

  Conditioned response disappears without pairing