psychology aqa a level

• Psychology


  The scientific study of behaviour and mental processes and how these are affected by internal and external factors
• Science


  The pursuit and application of knowledge and understanding of the natural and social world, following a systematic methodology based on evidence
• Features of science


  • Universal paradigm
  • Theory construction
  • Hypothesis testing
  • Deduction
  • Falsification
  • Replicability
  • Objectivity
  • Empirical method
• Introspection


  A means of learning about one's own currently ongoing mental states or processes. Introspective knowledge is often held to be more immediate or direct than sensory knowledge
• Conditions of introspection


  • Mentality condition
  • First-person condition
  • Temporal proximity condition
• Structuralism


  Isolating conscious thoughts into basic structures of thoughts, processes and images
• Skinner disagreed with the subjective nature of introspection, in which the findings differed greatly from individual to individual, making it difficult to establish general laws and unifying principles of behaviour and cognition
• Radical behaviourism


  Private events could be measured and quantified in the same way as observable behaviour
• The laboratory experiment method of research allowed for the objective measurement of observable behaviour, providing reliable data through controlling and eliminating the effects of extraneous and confounding variables, by using highly controlled conditions
• Cognitive psychology


  Flourished with the invention of the computer in the 1960s, as psychologists had a metaphor for the functions and workings of the mind i.e. the 'computer analogy'
• Social learning theory


  Agreed with behaviourist principles (i.e. that behaviour is learnt through experience) but argued that these principles are better applied to a social context
• Biological approach


  Advances in technology, particularly with brain scanning techniques in the 1970s, allowed psychologists to objectively observe and measure the biological basis of behaviour
• Behaviourism


  An approach to explaining behaviour which suggests that all behaviour is acquired and maintained through classical and operant conditioning
• Only behaviour which can be objectively measured and observed is studied, as demonstrated by Skinner's Box
• The basic laws governing learning are the same across both non-humans and humans. Therefore, non-human animals can replace humans in behaviourist experimental research
• Classical conditioning


  A type of learning which occurs through associations made between the unconditioned stimulus and the neutral stimulus
• Pavlov's experiment


  • Dogs were conditioned to salivate upon hearing a bell
• Extinction


  Occurs when the conditioned stimulus is no longer paired with the unconditioned stimulus, so the conditioned response becomes extinct/disappears
• Spontaneous recovery


  Occurs when the individual carries out the conditioned response some time after extinction has occurred
• Generalisation


  Occurs when slight changes in the conditioned stimulus still produces the same conditioned response
• Operant conditioning


  A type of learning where behaviour is acquired and maintained based on its consequences
• Positive reinforcement


  Occurs when we carry out a behaviour to receive a reward
• Negative reinforcement


  Occurs when we carry out a behaviour to avoid negative consequences
• Skinner's Box


  • Demonstrated the mechanisms of positive and negative reinforcement using a rat
• An understanding of the role of classical conditioning in the acquisition and maintenance of a phobia of white rats in Little Albert (Watson and Rayner, 1920) would be particularly useful

  
• Being able to differentiate between classical and operant conditioning is important
• Behaviourist approach


  • Makes use of highly scientific research methods, particularly the laboratory experiment
  • Focuses on behaviour which is observable and can be measured, increasing the scientific credibility of psychology
• Behaviourist approach


  • Has led to the development of treatments and therapies for serious mental disorders
  • May be a limited explanation for human behaviour as it sees all behaviour as the product of past reinforcement contingencies, leaving no room for free will or conscious choices
• Much behaviourist research, at least by modern standards, would be viewed as unethical due to causing physical and psychological harm to participants
• Social learning theory


  Suggests that learning occurs both directly, through classical and operant conditioning, and indirectly, through vicarious reinforcement
• Role model


  A person with whom the observer identifies with. The role model is usually attractive, has high social status, is of a similar age and the same gender to the observer
• Identification


  The process by which an observer relates to/ associates themselves with a role model and aspires to become more like that role model
• Vicarious reinforcement


  A type of indirect learning which occurs when an observer sees their role model being rewarded for displaying a certain behaviour
• Mediational processes


  Cognitive processes which mediate/intervene between stimulus and response. The 4 mediational processes are: Attention, retention, motor reproduction and motivation
• Bandura's Bobo Doll Study


  • Children who'd observed an aggressive role model behaved more aggressively themselves towards the Bobo doll compared to the non-aggressive role model control group
• Social learning theory may not be a complete explanation for gender differences in behaviour, due to not accounting for the biological and hormonal differences between the sexes
• Bandura's Bobo Doll study may lack internal validity and mundane realism due to demand characteristics
• Social learning theory


  • Recognises the role of mediational processes as the conscious and cognitive insight that humans have into their behaviour, making it a better explanation of human behaviour compared to behaviourism
• Bandura's study may lack internal validity, due to not entirely investigating the effect of aggressive role models because the Bobo doll is specifically designed to be hit
• The study may also lack mundane realism because it may not represent or measure how children would be aggressive in day-to-day situations, perhaps towards objects or people that are not meant to be struck