psch

• Psychology = "The scientific study of behaviour and mental processes and how these are affected by internal and external factors" (IB definition)
• 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
• The cognitive approach flourished as psychologists had a metaphor for the functions and workings of the mind i.e. the 'computer analogy'
• Bandura agreed with behaviourist principles (i.e. that behaviour is learnt through experience) but argued that these principles are better applied to a social context
• Advances in technology, particularly with brain scanning techniques in the 1970s, allowed psychologists to objectively observe and measure the biological basis of behaviour
• The behaviourist approach is an approach to explaining behaviour which suggests that all behaviour is acquired and maintained through classical and operant conditioning
• From a behaviourist perspective, 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
• Classical conditioning


  1. Before conditioning, the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) produces the unconditioned response (UCR)

  2. During conditioning, the neutral stimulus (NS) is repeatedly paired with the UCS, producing an UCR

  3. After conditioning, the neutral stimulus becomes the conditioned stimulus, producing the conditioned response

  
• Pavlov's classical conditioning experiment


  • Before conditioning, the unconditioned stimulus (food) produced an unconditioned response (salivation)
  • During conditioning, the unconditioned stimulus was repeatedly paired with a neutral stimulus (a bell), to produce the same unconditioned response of salivation
  • An association was made between the unconditioned stimulus and the neutral stimulus
  • After conditioning, the neutral stimulus became the conditioned stimulus, producing the conditioned response of salivation

  
• Extinction


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


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


  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. Reinforcement increases the likelihood of the observed behaviour being repeated, whilst punishment (an unpleasant consequence of behaviour) decreases this likelihood
• Types of reinforcement


  • Positive reinforcement
  • Negative reinforcement
• Skinner's Box


  • Positive reinforcement was shown when the rats pressed down on a lever to receive food as a reward, and subsequently learnt to repeat this action to increase their rewards
  • Negative reinforcement was shown when the rat learnt to press down on the lever to avoid the unpleasant consequence of an electric shock
• Social learning theory suggests that learning occurs both directly, through classical and operant conditioning, and indirectly, through vicarious reinforcement
• Stages of social learning theory


  • An observer identifies themselves with a desirable role model
  • This role model displays or models a specific behaviour, which is imitated by the observer
  • The likelihood that the observed behaviour will be imitated is increased if the role model is seen to be 'vicariously reinforced' or rewarded
• 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. This model can exert influence indirectly by not being physically present in the environment but, for example, seen in the media
• 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. The observer is then motivated to imitate this behaviour, in an effort to receive the same reward
• Mediational processes


  • Attention
  • Retention
  • Motor reproduction
  • Motivation
• The first two mediational processes are involved with the observation and understanding of the behaviour, whilst the latter two are involved in the actual imitation of the behaviour. This separation means that observed behaviours do not always need to be reproduced at the same time
• Bandura's Bobo Doll Study


  • 36 boys and 36 girls, aged between 3 and 6 years old, were tested. There were three experimental groups, with the first being exposed to real-life aggressive models, a second group observing the same models displaying aggressive acts on film and a third group viewing an aggressive cartoon character. The researchers found that the 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
• Bandura's Bobo Doll experiment ignored the finding that "boys, in relation to girls, exhibited significantly more imitative aggression, more aggressive gun play, and more nonimitative aggressive behaviour"
• Bandura's Bobo Doll 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
• Social learning theory has the advantage, over behaviourism, that it recognises the role of mediational processes as the conscious and cognitive insight that humans have into their behaviour
• 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
• Participants may have deliberately acted more aggressively towards the doll in order to please the experimenter (the 'Please-U effect')
• This reduces the generalisability of the findings
• Human cognitive and decision-making processes


  May be considered as more complex than that of animals
• Social Learning Theory (SLT)


  Has the advantage, over behaviourism, that it recognises the role of mediational processes as the conscious and cognitive insight that humans have into their behaviour