Approaches

• Science

  A means of acquiring knowledge through systematic and objective investigations, the aim is to discover general principles
• Introspection

  The first systematic experimental attempt to study the mind by breaking up conscious awareness into basic structure of thoughts, images and sensations
• First psychology laboratory

  1879
• Psychology emerged as a separate discipline during the mid-1800s
• Wundt

  The first person to call himself a psychologist, believing that all aspects of nature, including the human mind, could be studied scientifically. His approach paved the way to the acceptance of psychology as a distinct science in its own right, and experimental psychology as the preferred method of studying human behaviour
• Wundt's approach


  1. Studied aspects of behaviour that could only be strictly controlled under experimental conditions (such as perception and reaction times)

  2. Examined the structure of the mind

  3. Used introspection, a form of self-examination, where trained subjects would attempt to record their thoughts and to break down their responses and reactions
• Wundt's aim was to examine the structure of the mind, and he believed the only way to do this was to break down behaviours such as perception into their basic elements
• Wundt's approach was termed structuralism
• Wundt's technique was introspection
• In Wundt's studies of perception, participants would be presented with carefully controlled stimuli (such as a visual image) and then asked to provide a description of the inner processes they were experiencing as they looked at the image
• This made it possible to compare participants' responses to the same stimuli, and so establish general theories about perception and other mental processes
• All behaviour is seen as being caused (determined)
• If behaviour is determined, then it should be possible to observe it
• By the beginning of the 20th Century, the scientific status and the value of introspection was being questioned by many, especially Watson who was a behaviourist
• Watson's issue with introspection was that it produced subjective data, so it varied from person to person making it difficult to establish general principles
• Behaviourist approach

  Only behaviour that was objectively measurable and observable should be studied
• Watson, and later Skinner, brought the language, rigour and methods of the natural sciences into psychology
• Their focus on the scientific process involved in learning, alongside the use of carefully controlled lab experiments, dominated the discipline for the next 50 years
• These lab experiments with their high level of control meant that observations could be easily repeated by other researchers to determine whether the same results are obtained (reliability)
• Other approaches, such as cognitive and biological, use the scientific method
• Cognitive psychology (the study of mental processes) is now seen as a legitimate and highly scientific area within psychology
• This is because now cognitive psychologists make inferences about private mental processes through controlled lab tests
• Biological psychologists have taken advantage of recent advances in technology to investigate physiological processes as they happen, including live activity in the brain using scanning techniques such as fMRI and EEG
• Strengths of the emergence of psychology as a science

  • Reliance on objective and systematic methods of observations means that knowledge acquired using the scientific method is more than just the passive acceptance of facts
  • Scientific methods rely on a belief in determinism, so they are able to establish cause and effect of behavior. They use well controlled conditions that allow for replicability to be certain of both the cause and effect
• Weaknesses of the emergence of psychology as a science

  • By concentrating on objectivity and control in observations, scientific psychologists create contrived situations that may tell us little about how people act in more natural environments
  • Much of the subject matter in psychology is unobservable, therefore cannot be directly measured with any degree of accuracy. Of all the sciences, psychology has to make the biggest inferences. In other words, there is a far bigger gap between the actual data obtained in research investigations and the theories put forward to explain the data
• Classical conditioning


  Learning via association. It occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired together - an unconditioned (unlearned) stimulus (UCS) and a new neutral stimuli. The neutral stimuli eventually produces the same response as the unconditioned (unlearned) stimulus
• Classical conditioning - Pavlov's research

  1. Before conditioning: Neutral stimulus (bell) + Unconditioned stimulus (food) = Unconditioned response (salivation)

  2. During conditioning: Neutral stimulus (bell) + Unconditioned stimulus (food) = Unconditioned response (salivation)

  3. After conditioning: Conditioned stimulus (bell) = Conditioned response (salivation)
• Classical conditioning is learning through association and was first demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov
• Pavlov revealed that dogs could be conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell (or tuning fork) if that sound was repeatedly paired with the presentation of food
• Gradually, Pavlov's dogs learned to associate the sound of a bell with the food and would salivate every time they heard the bell, even without the appearance of food
• Pavlov was able to show how a neutral stimulus can come to elicit/produce a new learned/conditioned response
• Other features of classical conditioning

  • Extinction - After a few presentations of the CS (e.g., the bell) in the absence of the UCS (e.g., the food), it loses its ability to produce the CR (e.g., salivation)
  • Stimulus generalisation - Pavlov also discovered that once an animal has been conditioned they will also respond to other stimuli that are similar to the CS
• Operant conditioning

  An approach proposed by Skinner, where the best way to understand behaviour is to consider its consequences. Depending on whether the consequences are positive or negative, this would influence whether the behaviour was more or less likely to be repeated
• Reinforcement

  Something in the environment that strengthens (or reinforces) a particular behaviour so it makes it more likely to occur. There are two main types: positive reinforcement (produces a pleasant consequence) and negative reinforcement (removes an unpleasant consequence)
• Punishment

  Decreases the likelihood that a behaviour will be repeated, as it is an unpleasant consequence of behaviour
• People often get negative reinforcement and punishment mixed up - negative reinforcement increases the likelihood of something happening again because it removes the unpleasant stimuli, whereas punishment makes it less likely to happen again
• Social learning theory

  Proposed by Bandura, which argues that we learn not just directly from our experiences through classical and operant conditioning, but also indirectly by observing and imitating others, especially if others appear to be rewarded for their behaviour (vicarious reinforcement)
• Modelling

  • In order for social learning to take place, someone must carry out (or 'model') the behaviour. Individuals that perform this role are referred to as models, and they can be live models (e.g. parents or siblings) or symbolic (e.g. someone portrayed in the media such as a character on TV)
• Imitation

  • Refers to the copying of behaviour by others. The key determinants of whether a behaviour is imitated are: the characteristics of the model, the observer's perceived ability to perform the behaviour, and the observed consequences of the behaviour
• Identification

  • Refers to the extent to which an individual relates to a model and feels that they are similar to that person. In order to identify with a model, observers must feel that they are similar enough to them, so that they will receive the same outcome