Approaches

• Wundt


  Founded the Institute of Experimental Psychology and published one of the first books on psychology helping to establish the subject as an independent branch of science. His approach was structuralist meaning he studied the structure of the human mind not using philosophy.
• Introspection


  Wundt studied the mind through introspection. This is a psychological method which involves analysing your own thoughts and feelings internally. It is used to study sensation and perception by asking participants to describe their experiences when presented w/a set of stimuli and often their reaction times were recorded collecting quantative data. He used controlled environments to establish general theories about mental processes.
• Wundt higher mental processes

  • Learning
  • Language
  • Emotions (all internal)
• ☹️Subjectivity of Wundts methods

  contrasts objectivity of the scientific process & the difficulty modern psychologists have trying to objectively study unobservable matter. For example processes like memory are impossible to observe. Introspective methods were not reliably reproduced/Wundt's difficulty with replication due to subjectivity. However it is still sometimes used in modern scientific psychological research.
• 😊Wundt focus on mental processes 


  Can be seen as a forerunner to the cognitive approach. Wundt was the first to apply empirical methods to internal mental processes, this technique has been adapted & developed by cognitive psychologists and is called the scientific method. e.g processes like memory impossible to observe so cognitive psychologists developed inference to study their process more scientifically. Moved psych away from philosophy.
• ☹️Greater contributions to the development of psych

  Early behaviourists e.g Pavlov produced reliable findings with explanatory principles that were generalisable- much more in keeping w/scientific approach.
• Assumptions of the behaviourist approach

  Humans learn from stimulus-response associations.

  All behaviour is learnt.

  Only considers observable behaviour.

  Human behaviour should be studied scientifically.

  Born a blank slate

  Our environment shapes our behaviour.
• Classical conditioning (learning)


  We learn behaviour through stimulus-response associations, it links an existing reflex behaviour with a new stimulus e.g loud noise=fear response.
• Pavlovs dogs ��


  First documented classical conditioning. Researching salivation reflex in dogs when fed, finding the dogs started to salivate before they were fed e.g when the door was opening hearing the feeders footsteps. Added bell (neutral stimulus) and after conditioning became conditioned stimulus.
• Aspects of classical conditioning

  Generalisation- a similar stimuli to the original CS produces the CR. Albert generalised his fear of the white rat to other white fluffy stimulus.

  Discrimination- when similar stimuli to the original CS does not produce the CR because it is too different.
• Little Albert


  9 month old baby nicknamed Albert for anonymity. Baseline was to make sure Albert was scared of certain things to begin with.

  Creates a loud noise when introducing them again to make him jump/scared by reflex.

  Didn't need loud noise and became conditioned.
• Pavlovs contributions 


  Importance of learning by association in his conditioning experiments.

  Showed learning could be investigated experimentally using non-human p's.

  Provided theories of learning and laws of learning- classical conditioning.

  Provided therapies for the treatment of disorders such as phobias & addictions.
• Skinner:Operant conditioning


  Focuses on the behaviour the animal/human makes & the consequence of that behaviour.

  The consequence is important, it shapes whether or not the behaviour will be repeated. We learn through rewards and reinforcement.
• Positive reinforcement


  Presenting something the organism likes to strengthen the behaviour.
• Negative reinforcement


  Removing something the organism doesn't like to strengthen the behaviour.
• Punishment


  Presenting something the organism doesn't like to weaken the behaviour.
• Skinners box


  Only looks at external observable behaviour. Used an electric grid to shock the rat, a lever and pellet dispenser and a food cup.