Approaches

• Approach


  A perspective or theoretical framework for explaining behaviour
• Psychology

  The study of the human mind and behaviour
• Wundt 


  First person to be known as a psychologist

  Wundt's approach became known as structuralism
• Introspection


  Means looking into and refers to the process of observing and examining your own conscious thoughts or emotions
• Watson and Skinner


  Brought the language, rigour and methods of the natural sciences into psychology
• Objectivity 


  When something is based on facts and evidence and isn't influenced by bias or misinterpretation
• Empiricism


  The idea that all learning comes from only experience and observations
• Replicable


  A study should produce the same results if repeated exactly, either by the same researcher or by another
• Falsifiable 


  Does not mean something is false; rather that if it is false, then this can be shown by observation or experimentation
• The learning approach - Behaviourism 


  Assumptions:

  1. Tabula rasa - we are all born as a blank slate so everything we become is sloped by a process of learning via environment
  2. Humans and animals learn in similar ways
  3. Behaviour is learned through conditioning
• Classical conditioning: learning by association


  Pavlov dogs salivated at the sound of the bell even with no food present

  1. Dog presented with food (unconditioned stimulus), and they salivated (Unconditioned response)
  2. Then Pavlov sounded a bell (Neutral stimulus) before giving the food
  3. After few pairings, dogs salivated when hearing bell even with no food - Bell become conditioned stimulus and salivation become conditioned response
• Operant conditioning: learning by consequence 


  Skinner argued learning is an active process, when humans or animals act consequences follow these behaviours - If the consequence is pleasant, they repeat, if the consequence is unpleasant, they do not repeat
• Positive reinforcement 


  Receiving a reward
• Negative reinforcement 


  Occurs when performing an action stops something unpleasant from happening
• Punishment 


  An unpleasant consequence
• The skinner box (1953) 1st experiment 


  Hungry rat in cage - lever activated = food pellet dropped (Positive reinforcement) Rats quickly learning to go straight to lever
• The skinner box (1953) 2nd experiment

  Rat placed in cage with uncomfortable electric current, as he moved around cage, rate hit the lever which turned current off (Negative reinforcement) The rats quickly learned to go straight to the lever
• The skinner box (1953) - conclusion

  Both negative and positive reinforcement see increases in the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated
• Behaviourist approach - Evaluation

  Strengths:

  • Based upon observable behaviour, easier to quantify and collect
  • Increased understanding of causes of phobia and therefore given rise to therapies such as systematic desensitisation

  Weaknesses:

  • Many of the experiments were on animals; we are different cognitively and physiologically
  • Does not explain important aspects of human behaviour such as memory and problem-solving
• Learning approach: Social Learning Theory

  The idea that we learn through observation and imitation of others behaviour and role models
• Stages of social learning theory

  Attention - Pay attention to behaviour and its consequences

  Retention - Storing observed behaviour in LTM

  Reproduction - Replicating the actions

  Motivation - Expected to receive vicarious reinforcement
• The Bobo doll study Bandura et al (1961) - Method

  Group 1 - 12 girls and 12 boys were shown a model hitting the doll with a hammer and shouting at the doll

  Group 2 - 12 girls and 12 boys were shown a role model that was non-aggressive towards the model

  Group 3 - 12 girls and 12 boys were not shown a model

  Children taken to a room with some attractive toys but told not to play

  Then taken to Bobo doll room, with two non-aggressive toys and two aggressive toys
• The Bobo doll study Bandura et al (1961) - Results 


  Group 1 were more aggressive than children from the other two groups

  Group 1 imitated specific aggressive acts that were displayed by model

  Boys imitated more physically aggressive acts than girls, with no difference in verbal aggression
• Bandura and Walters (1963)


  Bobo doll experiment repeated but this time saw aggressive model and consequences

  Group 1 - model was praised

  Group 2 - model was punished

  Group 3 - no consequences for aggressive behaviour
• Bandura and Walters (1963) - Results


  Group 1 showed the most aggression, followed by group 3, group 2 was the least aggressive

  Shows that imitation is more likely to occur when model is positively reinforced, demonstrating the importance of vicarious reinforcement
• Vicarious reinforcement 


  Reinforcement - positive consequence - behaviour is imitated

  Punishment - negative consequence - behaviour is not imitated
• Social learning theory - Evaluation


  Strengths:

  • Supported by research by Bandura et al and Bandura and Walters
  • Can be used to explain influence of media on aggressive behaviour

  Weaknesses:

  • At young age, parents would guide understanding which was not the case in Bandura
  • Children were in an unfamiliar environment
• Cognitive approach 


  Focused on how our mental processes affect our behaviour. It argues that internal mental processes should be studied scientifically
• Cognitive approach - Assumptions

  • Information received from our senses is processed by the brain and that this processing directs how we behave
  • These internal mental processes cannot be observed directly, but we can infer what a person is thinking based on how they act
• Inferences 


  Means to make assumptions about mental processes that cannot be directly observed by going beyond the immediate research evidence
• Internal mental processes


  1. Attention - Concentration of awareness
  2. Memory - Facility of encoding
  3. Perception - Process of becoming aware of objects
  4. Language - System for expressing or communicating
  5. Problem solving - Mental process that involves discussing
• The role of schemas 


  A schema is a packet of information or cognitive framework that helps us organise and interpret information. They are based on our previous experience
• Schemas 


  Help us to interpret incoming information quickly and effectively

  However, can lead to distortion of this information as we select and interpret environmental stimuli using schemas that might not be relevant
• Emergence of neuroscience


  Cognitive neuroscience is the scientific study of the influence of brain structures on mental processes, done via brain scanning techniques such as fMRI
• Neuroscience aims


  Aims to find out how brain structures influence the way we process information and map mental cognitive functions to specific areas of the brain - done by fMRI and PET
• Neuroscience - Broca

  Dr Paul Broca carried out a case study which identified how damage to part of the frontal lobe could permanently damage speech production - Patient named Tan as thats all they could say. Studied him and found damage to specific part of brain now called Brocas area (speech production)
• Theoretical and computer models

  Cognitive psychologists use models to explain unobservable behaviour such as the process of memory and therefore explained via the Multi-store model
• Cognitive approach - computer model

  The human mind can be compared to a computer. When we use a computer we input information, which is stored in the memory of the computer. We retrieve it again when needed - similar to the mind
• Cognitive approach - Evaluation

  Strengths:

  • Uses a very scientific method, mainly lab experiments which are controlled and replicable
  • Wide range of applications for example schemas can be used to explain how eyewitness memories of events can be distorted

  Weaknesses:

  • Research that supports, has low ecological validity due to the high extent of lab experiments
  • The approach is reductionist as it does not take into account emotions and motivation
• Biological approach - Assumptions 


  • There is a direct correlation between brain activity and cognition
  • Biochemical imbalances can affect behaviour
  • Brain psychology can affect behaviour
  • Behaviour can be inherited