Approaches In Psychology

• Watson & Skinner brought methods from natural sciences into psychology e.g. controlled lab experiments
• Following cognitive revolution in 1960s, the study of mental processes is now seen as a highly scientific area within psychology
• Biological approach uses experimental data and recent advances in tech mean that imaging techniques investigate physiological processes such as 'live' activity in the brain
• Behaviourism: Assumptions

  • Behaviour is learned from experience
  • Only observable behaviour is measurable scientifically- thought processes are subjective & difficult to test
  • Valid to study behaviour of animals as they share the same principles of learning
  • Born a blank slate- no genetic influence on behaviour
• Classical conditioning


  • Learning by association
  • Learning occurs when an association is made between previously NS and response

  
• Pavlov's research

  Dogs associated sound of the bell (NS) with the food (UCS) and produced saliva (CR) every time the bell (CS) was heard
• Stimulus generalisation


  • Pavlov found when varying the bell pitch & tone, dog will still salivate
  • If stimulus has characteristics close to the conditioned stimulus, then association would be made to new stimulus
• Stimulus discrimination

  Happens when characteristics of the CS & an object became too different to be generalised
• Time contiguity (temporal contiguity)

  • Association only occurs if UCS and NS are presented at the same time/ around the same time
  • If time lapse is too great- no association made
• Social Learning Theory: Assumptions

  • Behaviour is learned from environment so disregards genetics
  • Behaviour learnt from observing others & reinforcement/punishment they receive
  • No strictly a behaviourist approach as it also considers cognitive processes
• Bandura's research

  1. Examining the effect of continual influence of the model

  2. Examining if sex of the model influenced same-sex & opposite sex participants to a differing degree

  3. 36 male & 36 female ppts with ages ranging from 37-69 months

  4. 2 adults, one of each sex were the role models

  5. 8 experimental groups where half observed aggressive behaviour from role model and other half observed non-aggressive

  6. Groups were subdivided by gender and same sex/opposite sex to model

  7. Ppts put into a room 1 at a time & observed role model's behaviour with a Bobo doll, hammer & other toys present

  8. Aggressive model hit the Bobo doll with the hammer and shouted abuse ('punch him in the nose')

  9. After witnessing behaviour 10 mins ppts were taken to another room where they were told they couldn't play with any toys

  10. Taken to another room with experimenter

  11. Room had: 3 foot Bobo doll, mallet, dart guns, etc. and 'non-aggressive' toys- dolls, crayons, plastic farm

  12. Ppts were observed in that room for 20 mins and rated for extent the behaviour was imitated
• Results

  • Children who observed A behaviour acted more A when observed
  • Boys acted more A than girls
  • Greater level of imitation if the role model was the same gender
• • Behavioural effect from observing aggressive behaviour
  • Behaviour continues after a delay
• Imitation

  Individual observes behaviour from model and simulates it
• Identification

  Individual is influenced by another because they are in some way similar/ wish to be like them
• Modelling

  Individual is influential on another in some way & the other individual simulates the behaviour that the person showed them
• Vicarious reinforcement

  • Reinforcement the observer sees the model receiving
  • Don't receive reward themselves but see someone else get it
  • Learning by observing consequences of another's behaviour
• Role of mediating processes

  • Imitation is not automatic
  • Consideration before imitation= mediational processes
  • Cognitive factors that influence learning and come between stimulus & response
• Attention

  • Extent to which a behaviour is noticed
  • Pivotal in whether a behaviour has an influence on others imitating it
• Retention

  How well the behaviour is remembered
• Motor reproduction


  Ability of observer to reproduce behaviour
• Motivation


  Will to perform the behaviour, often determined by whether behaviour was rewarded/punished
• Operant conditioning

  • Learning by consequences
  • 3 types of consequences: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement & punishment
  • Positive reinforcement - receiving reward when certain behaviour is performed
  • Negative reinforcement - occurs when you avoid something unpleasant/ avoid disapproval
  • Punishment - unpleasant consequence of the behaviour
  • P & N reinforcement ↑ likelihood of behaviour being repeated
  • Punishment ↓ likelihood that behaviour gets repeated
• Skinner's research

  1. Rat box containing a response lever prompting the release of a pellet down a chute so the rat could eat it

  2. P reinforcement- pellet

  3. Punishment- electrified floor

  4. N reinforcement- avoidance of electrified floor

  5. Observed that rat learned it would get a pellet when pressing the lever it would keep doing it so pressing lever became learnt

  6. Rat learns it gets a pellet every time lever is pressed = continuous reinforcement
• Cognitive Approach: Assumptions

  • Thought processes should be studied scientifically - introspection is too unscientific & well controlled lab studies can investigate what we are thinking
  • Mind works like a computer in the sense that it has an input from our senses which it processes and produces an output such as language/ behaviours
  • Stimulus and response is appropriate but only if thought processes occurring between them is acknowledged
• Study of internal mental processes

  • Cog psychologists want to work out what thought processes are occurring from the behaviour an experiment elicits
  • Application of scientific method
  • Aware of our thoughts but unaware of what thoughts make us behave in certain ways
• Role of schema

  • Mental framework of beliefs and expectations that influence cognitive processing - developed from experience
  • Unique to individual experience
  • Personal experience dictates the schema we form
• Theoretical and computer models

  • Advocates theoretical models as it supports a scientific approach to enquiry and testing
  • By taking behaviour & looking at thought processes 'behind the scenes', process can be described in a series of steps
  • Use of models means components can be tested individually & examined in detail
  • Areas of brain can be assigned to different tasks
  • Similarities and differences between the mind and a computer
• Information processing model

  • A way that cog psychologists apply idea of computational models to the human mind and draws on similarities between the two
  • 3 stage process: input- comes from the environment via the senses and is encoded by the individual, processing- once info is encoded, it can be processed e.g. schemas, output- behavioural response emitted following the processing
• Emergence of cognitive neuroscience is a discipline that is a combination of several disciplines i.e. cog psych, cog science, cog neuroscience
• Cognitive neuroscience looks for a bio basis to thought processes, specifically the neurons involved
• Advances in brain imaging techniques (fMRI & PET scans) have allowed scientists to study neurological basis of mental processes
• Biological Approach: Assumptions

  • Genetics - genes an individual possesses influences their behaviour
  • Belief in process of evolution
  • Behaviour evolves the same way as physical characteristics leading to idea that examination of animals can usefully tell us about our own behaviour
  • CNS comprising of the brain & spinal cord - brain seen to be origin of how world is seen and acted upon by an individual
  • Chemistry of the body- chemicals in the brain (neurotransmitters) and the body (hormones) are related and influence reactions to the environment
• Genotype

  Individual's genetic makeup occurring at conception and providing the genetic code for how the individual will develop
• Phenotype

  Characteristics shown by a person that have occurred because of genes + environment
• Genetic basis of behaviour

  • Individuals are born with 23 pairs of chromosomes inherited from bio parents= genotype forming basis for development
  • May be genetic underpinning for certain behaviours
  • Twin studies- MZ twins are 100% genetically similar
  • If MZ twins show a higher likelihood of sharing behaviours than DZ = genetic component
  • Genetics isn't the sole component for behaviour if concordance isn't 100%
• Evolution & behaviour

  • Random change (mutation) in genetic makeup of individual leading to characteristic/behaviour
  • If change means survival/chance of reproduction are reduced then gene isn't passed on
  • If increasing chance of survival and reproduction then genes get passed on
  • If mutation has been adaptive for individual then it has every chance of being adaptive for subsequent organisms
  • Process takes many generations to occur & process of behaviour becoming part of genetic makeup of humans is lengthy
  • Examination of non-human behaviour is useful
• CNS

  • Consists of brain & spinal cord
  • Pivotal in transferring messages to and from environments
  • Acts as the centre from which all the physiology of the individual is controlled
• PNS

  • Sends & receives info to the CNS
  • Collects info from environment
  • Autonomic nervous system - important for survival of individual and affects reaction to threat along with returning the body to normality
  • Somatic nervous system - muscles attached to skeleton which are important in movement and receives info from the skin
• Neuron

  Nerve cell transferring info throughout the NS