approaches

• define psychology



  psychology is the scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting behaviour in certain contexts
• cause and prediction

  all behaviour is caused (determined) and it is possible to predict how humans will behave in certain conditions
• empiricism


  belief that all knowledge is derived from objective sensory information
• Wilhelm Wundt – introspection



  looking into your own mind and analysing your individual conscious experience (analytical method)
• Wilhelm Wundt – structuralism



  studying the structure of the mind – thoughts, feelings and images (idea)
• Wilhelm Wundt – contributions (father of psychology)



  Founded the first psychology laboratory in 1879 in Leipzig, Germany. Published the first academic journal and textbook 'principles of physiological psychology'. The method of introspection and the idea of Structuralism
• Wilhelm Wundt – strength evaluation



  ✔️- controlled and systematic methods – controlled environments, same stimulus. Repeatable and replicable. Laid down the basis for scientific psychology
• Wilhelm Wundt – weakness evaluation



  ❌ – Introspection is an objective method however the results are subjective due to social desirability therefore this does not reach the criteria for science.
• origins of psychology – evaluation



  ❌ – Thomas Kuhn says that a paradigm is needed for a subject to be a science (a set of ideas or theories collectively agreed upon) which psychology lacks. Not all approaches use science – humanistic and psychodynamic.✔️ – Modern psychology research is scientific as it has the same aim as natural sciences – describe, control and predict behaviour. Lab studies observe behaviour in an objective and measurable manner.
• behaviourist approach – general ideas


  behaviour is learned from experience (blank mind at birth). psychology should focus on the study of external behaviour and not internal thought processes (objective and measurable). animals and humans have the same behavioural processes.
• classical conditioning


  learning by association. when an unconditioned stimulus is repeatedly paired with a neutral stimulus, a conditioned response is produced
• Ian Pavlov – classical conditioning study


  before conditioning – food (UNCS) leads to salivating (UNCR)

  during conditioning – bell (NS) followed by food (UNCS) leads to salivating (UNCR)

  after conditioning – bell (CS) leads to salivating (CR)
• unconditioned stimulus (UNCS)


  a stimulus that causes an automatic response
• unconditioned response (UNCR)


  an automatic response to an unconditioned stimulus
• neutral stimulus (NS)


  stimulus that does not cause a response until after conditioning
• conditioned stimulus (CS)


  stimulus that is repeatedly paired with the UNCS until until it causes the same response
• conditioned response (CR)


  response learnt through conditioining
• operant conditioning


  learning whereby behaviour is shaped and maintained by its consequenses
• Skinner's box – operant conditioning study


  step 1: when the lever in skinners box was pressed, food was given to the rat. the rat was positively reinforced by being rewarded for pressing the lever.

  step 2: skinner electrocuted the floor of the box, the shock stopped when the rat pressed the lever. the rat was negatively reinforced by pressing the lever to avoid the shock
• positive reinforcement


  a behaviour is rewarded or praised in order for it to be repeated
• negative reinforcement


  performing a behaviour in order to avoid a bad experience
• punishment


  unpleasant consequence of behaviour to prevent it being repeated
• behaviourist approach – evaluation


  ❌- real world application, token economy in prisons and psych wards, classical conditioning used for phobias. issue of extrapolation – can't apply animal behaviour to human. unethical to electrocute a rat. environmental determinism/mechanistic view says humans are passive and have no free will.

  ✔️– well controlled research, extraneous variables eliminated, cause and effect relationships established.
• social learning approach – general ideas


  behaviour is learned from experience of our own behaviour and by imitating other peoples behaviour. people imitate role model. includes some cognitive elements
• AIM Bandura – bobo doll experiment 


  A– children imitate the behaviours of role models they identify with, wanted to see if this occurs even when the role model was not present.
• PROCEDURE Bandura –bobo doll experiment


  36 boys, 36 girls between 3 and 6

  they were put into a room with an inflatable bobo doll and observed an adult role model interact with the doll for 10 minutes

  separated into groups:

  1. aggressive – role model hits the doll and shouts abuse at it
  2. non aggressive – role model does not hit or shout at the doll
  3. control – no role model

  half subjects had a role model of the same gender, half had the opposite gender
• RESULTS Bandura – bobo doll


  children who observed aggression, reproduced aggression 1/3 repeated the models verbal responses (ARMM)

  children who saw the model being rewarded for aggressive behaviour were more likely to show high levels of aggression

  boys = physical aggression girls = verbal aggression
• mediating processes


  ARRM – attention, retention, reproduction, motivation

  cognitive processes in between that determine wether someone imitates a behaviour or not
• attention – meditational processes


  the behaviour has to be significant enough to grab the attention
• retention


  the observed behaviour has to be remembered/retained
• reproduction


  our physical ability to produce the activity (an old woman may want to do a front flip but she doesn't have the capability)
• motivation


  if we think that a behaviour will be positively rewarded, we will be more likely to imitate the behaviour
• vicarious reinforcement


  a person is more likely to imitate a behaviour if they observe the model being rewarded for it
• role models


  people imitate the behaviour of role models that they identify with.

  children are more likely to identify with same-sex models.
• social learning theory – evaluation 


  ❌- lack of ecological validity, unfamiliar lab setting means children may be behaving in a way that they think they were expected to. biological factors such as a higher level of testosterone in boys may have caused higher levels of aggression.

  ✔️– offers more than behaviourism's limited stimulus and response by allowing room for cognitive (meditational) processes for people to internally reflect and judge how they will behave. explains cultural differences if children learn from models around them
• cognitive approach – general ideas


  inner mental processes should be studied in a scientific way. Mental processes should be inferred from external behaviour. Can be modelled like a computer: inputs data, get processed in the mind, produce behaviour
• schemas


  schemas are formed from experience and we use these to interpret past, present and future experiences. everyone has different schemas and schemas can change and develop as we grow and our knowledge of the world becomes more vast
• cognitive neuroscience

  scientific study of the influence of brain structures on mental processes
• understanding memory

  brain scanning showed that LTM are on opposite sides of prefrontal cortex
• treatments for mental health

  brain scanning techniques have helped establish neurological basis of mental health disorders

  e.g. para hippocampal gyrus is involved in OCD

  helps divise medicines