Approaches

• Psychology


  The scientific study of behaviour and mental processes and how these are affected by internal and external factors
• 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
• Introspection features 3 conditions: The mentality condition, the first-person condition, and the temporal proximity condition
• Structuralism


  Isolating conscious thoughts into basic structures of thoughts, processes and images
• Wundt's method of data recording was highly scientific e.g. the same stimulus was used each time, allowing for replication under standardised conditions, hence producing reliable data
• 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


  The idea that 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 with the invention of the computer in the 1960s, 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
• Behaviourism


  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
• Pavlov's classical conditioning experiment with dogs

  • 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
• Positive reinforcement


  Carrying out a behaviour to receive a reward
• Negative reinforcement


  Carrying out a behaviour to avoid negative consequences
• Skinner's Box experiment


  • 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
• An understanding of the role of classical conditioning in the acquisition and maintenance of a phobia of white rats in Little Albert (Watson and Rayner, 1920) would be particularly useful, including the extinction of the phobia and generalisation to other white, fluffy objects

  
• Being able to differentiate between classical and operant conditioning is important, as these two types of learning involve different mechanisms and have been demonstrated in different scenarios
• Social Learning Theory


  Suggests that learning occurs both directly, through classical and operant conditioning, and indirectly, through vicarious reinforcement
• Role Model


  A person with whom the observer identifies and aspires to become more like. The role model is usually attractive, has high social status, is of a similar age and the same gender to the observer.
• 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


  Cognitive processes which mediate/intervene between stimulus and response. The 4 mediational processes are: Attention, retention, motor reproduction and motivation.
• Bandura's Bobo Doll Study

  • 36 boys and 36 girls, aged between 3 and 6 years old, were tested. 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 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
• SLT


  May be a better explanation of human behaviour, compared to behaviourism
• Cognitive approach


  • Assumes that the scientific and objective study of internal mental processes is possible
  • As these private processes cannot be directly observed, cognitive psychologists formulate conclusions of their workings, through making inferences, based upon observable behaviours
  • The cognitive approach sees mental processes as being separate from the brain