Approaches

• Wundt 1879

  • Opened first psychology lab
  • Used introspection as first standardised procedure
  • Participant had to report all thoughts, images and sensations
• Behaviourist Approach: Assumptions

  • All behaviour is learnt
  • Babies are blank slates
  • Focus on scientific observations and remaining objective
• Behaviourist Approach: Classical conditioning- Pavlov 1927

  • Unconditioned Stimulus (Food)= Unconditioned Response (Salivate)
  • Neutral Stimulus (Bell)= Neutral Response (No Salivate)
  • Unconditioned Stimulus (Food)+ Neutral Stimulus (Bell)= Unconditioned Response (Salivate)
  • Conditioned Response (Bell)= Conditioned Response (Salivate)
• Behaviourist Approach: Operant Conditioning- Skinner 1953

  • Positive reinforcement; reward for behaviour (Rat pushes lever and gets a treat)
  • Negative reinforcement; performs a behaviour to avoid unpleasant consequence (Rat pushes over lever to avoid electric shock)
  • Both reinforcements increase the likelihood of behaviour being repeated
  • Punishment; unpleasant consequence of a behaviour, decreases the likelihood of behaviour being repeated
• Behaviourist Approach: Evaluation

  + Highly controlled

  + Real world applications

  -Environmental determinism

  -Ignores other factors like social or cognitive
• Social Learning Theory: Assumption

  • Behaviour is learnt through experience
  • Indirect as well as direct
  • We learn through observation and imitation
• Social Learning Theory: Vicarious Reinforcement

  • Behaviour will only be imitated if it is seen as rewarded (reinforced) rather than punished
  • Observes behaviour but also observes the consequences of that behaviour
• Social Learning Theory: Mediational Processes

  • Attention- extent to which we notice certain behaviours
  • Retention- how well the behaviour is remembered
  • Motor Reproduction- ability of the observer to perform the behaviour
  • Motivation- the will to perform the behaviour, often determined by whether behaviour was rewarded or punished
• Social Learning Theory: Identification

  • More likely to imitate people they identify with= identification
  • Processes of imitating a role model= modelling
  • Role models are those with similar characteristics, but also attractive and have high status
  • Doesn't have to be physically present
• Social Learning Theory: Bandura 1663

  • Showed videos of adults acting aggressively towards a Bobo doll to children
  • One condition saw this praised, another punished and control group saw no consequences
  • When given their own Bobo doll the condition that saw aggression praised were more aggressive, followed by control then punished
• Social Learning Theory: Evaluation

  + Recognises cognitive factors

  -Lab studies may have demand characteristics

  + Real World applications, explains cultural differences
• Cognitive Approach: Assumptions

  • Argues internal mental processes can and should be studies scientifically
  • Studies areas such as memory, perception and thinking
  • Study indirectly by making inferences about behaviour
• Cognitive Approach: Role of Schema

  • Mental packet of information
  • As we grow schemas develop and become more sophisticated
  • Schemas enable us to process lots of information quickly without being overwhelmed by environmental stimuli
• Cognitive Approach: Theoretical and Computer Models

  • Theoretical models are abstract
  • E.g. Information processing approach suggests sequence of stages such as multi-store model
  • Computer models are concrete
  • Involves programming a computer to see if instruction produce similar output to humans
  • Often used in development of AI
• Cognitive Approach: Cognitive Neuroscience

  • Scientific study of influence of brain structures on mental processes
  • Much easier now with advances in brain imaging like fMRI and PET scans
  • E.g. Buckner and Peterson 1996, found episodic and semantic memory are on opposite sides of the prefrontal cortex
  • Focus on cognitive neuroscience expanded recently to include use of computer generated models designed to 'read' the brain
• Cognitive Approach: Evaluation

  + Scientific methods

  + Real world application, treatment of depression and improved reliability of Eye Witness testimonies

  -Machine reductionism

  +/- Soft Determinism
• Biological Approach: Assumption

  • Everything psychological is at first biological
  • The mind lives in the brain
• Biological Approach: Neurochemistry

  • Actions if chemicals in the brain
  • E.g. imbalance of neurochemicals in the brain has been implicated as possible causes of mental disorders (Serotonin in depression)
• Biological Approach: Genes

  • Psychological characteristics like intelligence are inherited
  • Investigated using twin studies and concordance rates
  • If characteristic is genetic then Monozygotic twins should have a concordance rate of 100%
• Biological Approach: Genotype and Phenotype

  • Genotype= genetic makeup
  • Phenotype= way genes are expressed through physical, behavioural and psychological characteristics
  • Despite same genes, Monozygotic twins phenotype is different
  • Suggesting behaviour depends on interaction of nature and nurture
• Biological Approach: Evolution

  • Charles Darwin- Natural selection, behaviour that enhances survival is passed on
• Biological Approach: Evaluation

  + Real world application, treatments

  + Scientific method

  -Determinist

  -Popper claims its not possible to falsify natural selection
• Psychodynamic Approach: Role of the Unconscious

  • Most of the mind is made up of the unconscious, vast store of biological drives and instincts
  • Repressed memories may be accessed in dreams or slips of the tongue (Freudian slip) such as calling your teacher mum instead of miss
  • Under surface of conscious mind is preconscious which has thoughts and memories not currently consciously aware but can be accessed if desired
• Psychodynamic Approach: Personality

  • ID- primitive, present at birth, pleasure principle demands instant gratification
  • EGO- mediator, develops at age 2, reality principle, reduce conflict between ID and Superego
  • Superego- morals, develops at age 5, morality principle, punishes EGO for wrongdoing through guilt
• Psychodynamic Approach: Psychosexual Stages

  • Oral: 0-1 years, focus of pleasure=mouth, unresolved conflict leads to oral fixation- smoking, biting nails sarcastic, critical
  • Anal: 1-3 years, focus of pleasure=anus, unresolved conflict leads to anal retentive (perfectionist, obsessive) or anal expulsive (thoughtless, messy)
  • Phallic: 3-6 years, focus of pleasure=genitals, conflict leads to phallic personality- narcissistic, reckless
  • Latency: earlier conflicts repressed
  • Genital: sexual desires conscious alongside puberty, conflict leads to difficulty forming heterosexual relationships
• Psychodynamic Approach: Defence Mechanisms

  • Repression- forcing distressing memory out of conscious mind
  • Denial- refusing to acknowledge aspect of reality
  • Displacement- transferring feelings from true source of distressing emotion onto substitute target
• Psychodynamic Approach: Little Hans case study

  • 5 year old boy (Phallic stage) developed phobias of horses after seeing one collapse in street
  • Freud suggested phobia was a form of displacement- his repressed fear of father was displaced onto horses
  • Horses were a symbol of the unconscious fear of castration= Oedipus complex
  • Oedipus complex- son in love with mother, fears father, leads to repression of desire and then identification with father
  • Electra complex- girls have penis envy and hate their mothers for having castrated them, then replaced by desire for baby, then identifies with mother
• Psychodynamic Approach: Evaluation

  + Real world application, psychotherapy

  + Explanatory power

  -Untestable

  -Psychic determinism

  -Alpha Bias
• Humanistic Approach: Free Will

  • Humans are self-determining and have free will
  • Still affected by internal and external influences but as active agents we determine our own development
  • As active agents we are all unique and so psychology should be the study of subjective experiences rather than general laws
• Humanistic Approach: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

  • Each stage must be completed to move onto the next

  
• Humanistic Approach: Self-Actualisation

  • Achieving full potential and being your best version of self
  • Many barriers can prevent this
• Humanistic Approach: Self, Congruence and Conditions of Worth

  • For personal growth to be achieved, concept of self must have congruence with ideal self
  • Too big a gap leads to incongruence and self-actualisation is blocked due to negative feelings of self-worth
  • Rogers developed client-centred therapy to reduce gap (counselling)
  • Many issues have roots in childhood and can be explained by lack of unconditional positive regard (unconditional love)- Conditions of love placed by parents
  • Rogers saw his role as therapist to provide clients with this as they failed to receive it as children
• Humanistic Approach: Evaluation

  + Holistic

  + More optimistic

  -Cultural bias
• Views on Development

  • psychodynamic: ties concepts to specific stages but little development after teens
  • Cognitive: schema become increasingly complex as we develop
  • Biological: maturation, genetically determined changes in physiological status influence psychological and behavioural characteristics
  • Humanistic: develop constant throughout life although childhood critical
  • Behaviourist and SLT: no theories of development but learning is continuous at any age
• Nature Vs Nurture

  • Nature: Biological
  • Nurture: Behaviour, Social Learning Theory, Humanist
  • Interactionist: Psychodynamic, Cognitive
• Reductionism Vs Holism

  • Reductionist: Biological, Behavioural, Cognitive, Social Learning Theory, Psychodynamic
  • Holistic: Humanistic
• Determinism Vs Free Will

  • Hard Determinism: Behaviourist, Biological, Psychodynamic
  • Soft Determinism: Cognitive, Social Learning Theory
  • Free Will: Humanist
• Explanations and Treatment of Psychological Disorders

  • Behavioural: Faulty learning, systematic desentisiation
  • SLT: Explains aggression but little application to treatment
  • Psychodynamic: Anxiety is due to unconscious conflict, overdue of defence mechanisms and childhood trauma, psychoanalysis
  • Cognitive: Faulty thinking, CBT
  • Humanistic: Counselling
  • Biological: Chemical imbalances and structural abnormality, drug therapies
• Idiographic Vs Nomothetic

  • Nomothetic: Behaviourist, Social Learning Theory, Cognitive, Biological
  • Idiographic: Humanist and psychodynamic