paper 2: approaches🪆

• Introspection


  Analysis of our conscious experience (thoughts and feelings)
• Psychology is a relatively new scientific discipline. It has its roots in 17 and early 19" century philosophy and was indeed once known as experimental philosophy
• Early influences on psychology

  • Rene Descartes and his concept of Cartesian dualism (mind and body are separate entities, the brain is not the same as the mind)
  • John Locke and his concept of empiricism (all knowledge is derived from sensory experience and can be studied using the scientific method)
  • Charles Darwin's evolutionary theories
• Wundt


  Known as 'father of psychology', moved from philosophical roots to controlled research, set up the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany in the 1870s
• Wundt's approach to psychology

  1. Study the structure of the human mind by breaking down behaviors into their basic elements

  2. Promote the use of introspection as a way of studying mental process

  3. Analyse the experience in terms of its components parts eg sensations, emotions and reactions
• Introspection


  The systematic analysis of own conscious experiences of a stimulus
• Introspection produced data that was subjective (varied greatly from person to person), so it became very difficult to establish general principles. Introspective experimental results are not reliably reproduced by other researchers
• Wundt's scientific approach to psychology

  • All behaviour is seen as being determined
  • If behaviour is determined, then it should be possible to predict how human beings would behave in different conditions
• Scientific method


  Use of investigative methods that are: objective-fact based, not opinion; systematic-research conducted according to a plan or set methodology; replicable-a test, when repeated, finds the same results
• Classical Conditioning


  Learning through association
• Operant Conditioning


  Learning through reinforcement (rewards and punishment)
• Reinforcement


  A consequence (good or bad) that will strengthen an persons future behaviour
• Pavlov's research on classical conditioning

  1. Unconditioned stimulus (food) produces unconditioned response (salivation)

  2. Conditioned stimulus (bell) is paired with unconditioned stimulus (food), leading to conditioned response (salivation)
• Skinner's research on operant conditioning

  Pigeon turns and pecks when sees the words, reinforcement not rewarding constantly, to shock
• Schema


  Representation of our understanding of the world (semantic memory)
• The cognitive approach studies mental processes such as perception and memory, which are private and cannot be observed directly
• Information processing approach


  Theoretical model that suggests information flows through the cognitive system in a sequence of stages similar to a computer
• Role of schemas


  • Act as a mental framework for the interpretation of incoming information
  • Enable us to process lots of information quickly as a mental shortcut
  • Can also lead to perception errors due to sensory overload
• Cognitive neuroscience is the scientific study of the influence of brain structures (neurons) on mental processes (cognition)
• Scanning techniques have established the neurological basis of some mental disorders, and different types of long-term memory may be located on opposite sides of the pre-frontal cortex
• Machine Reductionism


  There are limitations to using computer models to explain human coding. There is much difference between the processing that takes place in computer programming and the information processing that takes place in the human mind. Computers do not make mistakes, ignore information or forget anything that has been stored in their hard drive. Humans however, do all of these things.
• Emotion


  The role of emotion and motivation is also ignored from this approach. The lack of focus on motivational states may be explained by the over dependence upon information processing analogies. Motivation is clearly irrelevant to computers, but not to humans.
• Cognitive approach


  The dominant approach in psychology today and has real-life applications. Cognitive approach has made important contributions to artificial intelligence.
• Cognitive approach


  • It is less deterministic than other approaches. It recognises that our cognitive system operates within the limits of what we know, but we are free to think before responding.
• Psychodynamic Approach


  The language of the Psychodynamic approach: Id (the selfish part of our personality), Ego (the mediator, resolves conflict between the Id and the Superego), Superego (our morals and values), Conscious (what we are aware of, our reality and view of the world), Unconscious (the process that happen without our conscious awareness, biological drives and instincts).
• Psychodynamic approach


  Involves a variety of approaches that have evolved from Freud's psychoanalytic theory. According to Freud, our mind is split into three parts: the Id, the Ego, and the Superego. These three parts are in constant conflict and this causes anxiety.
• Structure of Personality


  • Composed of 3 parts: Id (operates on pleasure principle, gets what it wants, only acts present at birth), Ego (works on reality principle, mediator, develops at age 2, employs defence mechanisms), Superego (formed at end of phallic stage, around 5, has an internalised sense of right and wrong, based on morality principle).
• Unconscious


  Most of our mind is made up of the unconscious: vast storehouse of biological drives and instincts that has a significant influence on our behaviour and personality. Also contains memories that have been repressed, locked away or forgotten.
• Freud's Three Levels of Mind

  Conscious (what we are aware of), Preconscious (we become aware of these during dreams or through 'slip of the tongue'), Unconscious (vast storehouse of biological drives and instincts that has a significant influence on our behaviour and personality).
• Research Techniques


  Free Association (patient says first thing that comes to mind), Projective tests (patient discusses a picture), Defence mechanisms (ego balances potential conflict between id and superego).
• Psychosexual stages


  Freud proposed that psychological development in childhood takes place in a series of fixed stages, each representing the fixation of libido (sexual drives or instincts) on a different area of the body.
• Oedipus complex


  In the phallic stage, a boy is unconsciously attracted to his mother and is jealous of his father. To resolve this, he identifies with his father and adopts a masculine gender role.
• Electra complex


  In the phallic stage, a girl is unconsciously attracted to her father and is jealous of her mother. To resolve this, she identifies with her mother and behaves in a similar way to her.
• Humanistic Approach


  Emerged in the 1950s, focuses on the healthy growth of the person, emphasises free will and self-actualisation.
• Humanistic Approach


  • Differs from other approaches in that it believes people have the freedom to choose their own thoughts and behaviours, rather than being constrained by external factors. It focuses on subjective experiences rather than general laws.
• Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs


  A theory of motivation describing a hierarchy of needs that must be satisfied in order to achieve self-actualisation, the highest level of personal growth and fulfillment.
• Self-Actualisation


  • The highest level of Maslow's hierarchy, representing the desire to achieve one's full potential and become the best version of oneself. All lower-level needs must be satisfied before an individual can focus on self-actualisation.