Approaches

• Science


  The systematic study of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment
• Psychology


  The scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those functions affecting behaviour in a given context
• Early influences on Psychology


  • Rene Descartes and Cartesian dualism
  • John Locke and empiricism
  • Charles Darwin and the notion of behaviour evolving
• Wilhelm Wundt


  • Published the first book on psychology 'Principles of Physiological Psychology'
  • Opened the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany
  • Considered the 'father of psychology'
  • Separated psychology from philosophy
  • Promoted the use of introspection to study the structure of the human mind (structuralism)
  • Studied reaction time, sensation and perception
• Introspection


  Looking into and observing one's own conscious thoughts or emotions
• Wundt's use of introspection


  1. Strictly controlled the environments

  2. Controlled the stimuli and tasks

  3. Limited the range of responses

  4. Trained participants to give detailed observations
• Wundt established psychology as a science by using the scientific method
• Wundt's ideas would lead to multiple different psychological perspectives
• Introspection involves reporting present experience
• Introspection aims to document and describe the nature of human consciousness
• Wundt and his co-workers recorded their own conscious thoughts with the aim of breaking these down into their constituent parts (structuralism)
• Wundt's role in the development of Psychology


  • What he is known as: 'the father of psychology'
  • Contribution: Separated psychology from philosophy, promoted the use of introspection to study the structure of the human mind
  • Feature demonstrating Psychology as a Science: Used the scientific method
• Strengths of Wundt's approach and introspection


  • Methods were systematic and well-controlled
  • Standardised procedures
  • Forerunner to later scientific approaches
• Limitations of Wundt's approach and introspection


  • Self-reporting mental processes - subjective data
  • Thoughts can be hidden
  • Difficult to establish general laws of behaviour
• Emergence of different approaches in Psychology


  • Behaviourism (1900s)
  • Cognitive approach (1960s)
  • Biological approach (1980s)
• Goals of Psychology


  • Description - tells us "what" occurred
  • Explanation - tells us "why" a behaviour or mental process occurred
  • Prediction - identifies conditions for future behaviour/mental process
  • Change - applies psychological knowledge to prevent unwanted behaviour and bring about desired change
• Different approaches/perspectives in Psychology


  • Biological approach
  • Learning approach (Behaviourist and Social Learning Theory)
  • Cognitive approach
  • Psychodynamic approach
  • Humanistic approach
• Assumptions


  Suppositions that something is a fact, which underpin each psychological approach
• Evaluation of Psychology as a Science


  • Modern Psychology can claim to be scientific: same aim as natural sciences, Behaviourism/Cognitive/Biological rely on scientific methods, subject has established itself as a scientific discipline
  • Not all approaches use scientific methods: Humanistic rejects scientific methods, Psychodynamic uses unrepresentative case studies, human beings are active within the research and can be affected by the situation
• Psychology has emerged as a science through the development of different approaches over time, from early philosophical roots to the biological approach
• Behaviourist approach


  • Interested in studying behaviour which can be observed & measured, not concerned with investigated mental processes of the mind
  • Relies on lab experiments in order to maintain control and objectivity
  • Suggested basic processes which govern learning are the same in all species
• Classical conditioning


  Learning occurs through association
• Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)


  Stimulus which automatically triggers a response
• Unconditioned response (UCR)


  Unlearned response that occurs naturally in reaction to the unconditioned stimulus
• Neutral stimulus (NS)


  Something that does not produce a specific reaction
• Conditioned stimulus (CS)


  Previously neutral stimulus that, after becoming associated with the unconditioned stimulus
• Conditioned response (CR)


  Learned response to the conditioned stimulus
• Classical conditioning


  1. Neutral stimulus paired with unconditioned stimulus

  2. Neutral stimulus becomes conditioned stimulus

  3. Conditioned stimulus triggers conditioned response
• Classical conditioning


  • Spontaneous recovery
  • Extinction
  • Stimulus generalisation
• Problems with the Little Albert study
• Operant conditioning


  Learning in which behaviour is shaped and maintained by its consequences
• Positive reinforcement


  Receiving a reward when a behaviour is performed
• Negative reinforcement


  Avoiding something unpleasant which increases the desired behaviour
• Positive punishment


  Adding an undesirable stimulus to decrease a behavior
• Negative punishment


  Removal of a desired stimulus to decrease a behaviour
• Positive reinforcement


  • Jerome cleans his room, he gets a toy
• Negative reinforcement


  • Fastening seatbelt to avoid hearing beep sound
• Positive punishment


  • Giving a student a detention for texting in class
• Negative punishment


  • Jerome misbehaved, so his parents took away his favourite toy
• Skinner's operant conditioning chamber


  • Designed to teach rats how to push a lever
  • Positive reinforcement - rat awarded food for pressing lever
  • Negative reinforcement - rat able to turn off electric shocks by pressing lever