approaches Flashcards
(100 cards)
1
Q
what is psychology?
A
scientific study of the mind, behaviour and experience
2
Q
what is science?
A
acquiring knowledge through systematic and objective investigation, with the aim being to establish general laws
3
Q
who opened the first lab dedicated to psychological research?
A
Wundt
4
Q
what was Wundt’s aim?
A
to analyse the nature of human consciousness, by studying the mind under controlled conditions
5
Q
what is introspection?
A
studying the mind by breaking up conscious awareness into basic structures of thoughts, images and sensations
6
Q
how did Wundt use standardised procedures?
A
he and his co workers recorded their experiences with stimuli they were presented, and divided their observations into thoughts, images and sensations
7
Q
what did philosopher Kuhn say about science?
A
must have a paradigm- general set of principles, assumptions and methods that people who work in a subject agree on
8
Q
what were the order of approaches in psychology?
A
psychodynamic approach, humanistic approach, cognitive approach, social learning theory, biological approach, cognitive neuroscience
9
Q
what is the behaviourist approach?
A
explaining behaviour in terms of what is observable and learning
10
Q
what are the assumptions of the behaviourist approach?
A
studies mental behaviours which can be observed/measured, ignores mental processes of the mind, used objective lab studies, mind is a blank slate
11
Q
what is classical conditioning?
A
learning by association
12
Q
what is operant conditioning?
A
learning where behaviour is maintained by its consequences
13
Q
what is positive reinforcement?
A
receiving a reward for when a behaviour is performed correctly
14
Q
what is negative reinforcement?
A
an action avoids something that is unpleasant, with the outcome being a positive experience
15
Q
what is punishment?
A
an unpleasant consequence of behaviour
16
Q
what happened in Pavlov’s research into classical conditioning?
A
food was an unconditioned stimulus resulting in an unconditioned response of salivation from the dog
bell was a neutral stimulus resulting in no conditioned response
bell and food together resulted in salivation during conditioning
until the bell alone (conditioned stimulus) caused a conditioned response of salivation
17
Q
who investigated classical conditioning?
A
Pavlov
18
Q
who investigated operant conditioning?
A
Skinner
19
Q
who proposed social learning theory?
A
Bandura
20
Q
what are the assumptions of social learning theory?
A
behaviour is learned from experience
people learn through observation and imitation of others
learning can be direct through classical and operant conditioning but can also be indirect
21
Q
what is vicarious reinforcement?
A
reinforcement not directly experienced but occurring by observing someone else being reinforced for a behaviour
22
Q
what are meditational processes?
A
cognitive factors that influence learning
come between stimulus and response
23
Q
what are the four meditational processes?
A
attention
retention
motor reproduction
motivation
24
Q
what is attention?
A
the extent to which we notice certain behaviours
25
what is retention?
how well the behaviour is remembered
26
what is motor reproduction?
the ability of the observer to perform the behaviour
27
what is motivation?
the will to perform the behaviour, often influenced by if the behaviour was previously rewarded or punished
28
what is identification?
a desire to be associated with a person/group due to the desirable characteristics they possess
29
what is modelling?
imitating the behaviour of a role model or demonstrating a specific behaviour for another person to imitate
30
what happened in Bandura’s research?
recorded the behaviour of young children who observed an adult behaving violently towards a Bobo doll
31
what are the assumptions for the cognitive approach?
The mind actively processes information from our senses (touch, taste etc.).
Between stimulus and response are complex mental processes, which can be studied scientifically.
Humans can be seen as data processing systems.
The workings of a computer and the human mind are alike – they encode and store information, and they have outputs.
32
what is a schema?
key concept of the cognitive approach:
| internal ‘script’ for how to act or what to expect from a given situation based off experience
33
how do cognitive psychologists study internal mental processes?
Using experimental methods, the cognitive approach studies internal mental processes such as attention, memory and decision-making
Makes inferences to form theoretical and computer models
34
what are theoretical models and computer models?
Theoretical and computer models are proposed to attempt to explain and infer information about mental processes. For example, the Information-Processing Model describes the mind as if a computer.
35
what are theoretical models?
| what are computer models?
models to demonstrate abstract things
| models to demonstrate concrete things
36
what is cognitive neuroscience?
scientific study of biological structures which underpin cognitive processes
37
what are the assumptions of the biological approach?
to understand human behaviour we need to look at biological structures
mind lives in the brain so thoughts, feelings and behaviour have a physical basis
38
what are examples of advances in brain technology?
fMRI scans
PET scans
brain fingerprinting
39
what do genes do?
make up chromosomes
consist of DNA
code physical and psychological features of an organism
inherited from parents
40
what is neurochemistry?
the actions of chemicals in the brain that regulate biological and psychological functioning
41
how does chemical transmission in the brain occur?
using neurotransmitters
42
what should happen if a characteristic is genetic?
monozygotic twins should be concordant
43
what are concordance rates?
the extent to which twins share the same characteristic
44
what is a genotype?
the set of genes a person possesses
45
what is a phenotype?
the characteristics of an individual determined by genes and the environment
46
what is evolution?
changes in inherited characteristics in a biological population over successive generations
47
who proposed the theory of natural selection?
Charles Darwin
48
what does natural selection suggest?
any genetically determined behaviour which enhances an individual’s survival will continue in future generations
49
what is the psychodynamic approach?
a perspective describing different forces (mostly unconscious) which operate on the mind to direct human behaviour and experience
50
what is the unconscious?
the part of the mind we are unaware of but which directs most of our behaviour, contains repressed memories
51
how can the unconscious mind be accessed?
through dreams or slips of the tongue (parapaxes)
52
what did Freud describe the personality as?
tripartite
53
what is the Id?
```
primitive part of the personality
operates on the pleasure principle
present at birth
selfish- demands instant gratification of needs
unconscious drives and instinc
```
54
what is the ego?
meditator between the Id and superego
works on the reality principle
develops around age 2
uses defence mechanisms
55
what is the superego?
internalised sense of right and wrong
formed at the end of the phallic stage
based on the morality principle
represents the moral standards of the child’s same sex parents
punishes the ego for wrongdoing through guilt
56
what are psychosexual stages?
five development stages which children pass through
different conflicts at each stage which impacts future development
unresolved conflicts lead to fixation where a child becomes stuck and carries these through to later life
57
what happens in the oral psychosexual stage?
0-1 years
focus of pleasure is the mouth
mother’s breast is the object of desire
unresolved leads to oral fixation, eg smoking, nail biting, sarcastic
58
what happens in the anal psychosexual stage?
1-3 years
focus of pleasure is the anus
child gains pleasure from withholding and expelling faeces
unresolved conflict- anal retentive (perfectionist, obsessive) anal expulsive (thoughtless, messy)
59
what happens during the phallic psychosexual stage?
3-6 years
focus of pleasure is the genital area
child experiences the Oedipus or Electra complex
unresolved conflict- narcissistic, reckless, homosexual?
60
what did Freud claim about the Oedipus complex?
boys develop incestuous feelings towards their mother and a murderous hatred for their rival in love- the father
in the fear that their father will castrate them, boys repress their feelings for their mother and identify with the father
in the process they take on his gender role and moral values
61
what happens in the Electra complex?
girls experience penis envy
desire their father as the penis is the primary love object
hate their mother
give up this desire over time and replace it with the desire for a baby
62
what is latency?
6 years to puberty
no further psychosexual development
energy used for school work, hobbies and friendships (acquiring new skills and knowledge)
play is usually between children of the same gender
63
what is the genital psychosexual stage?
sexual desires become conscious along the onset of puberty
heterosexual pleasure
unresolved conflict means difficulty in forming heterosexual relationships
64
what are defence mechanisms?
unconscious strategies the ego uses to manage the conflict between the Id and superego
65
who proposed the psychodynamic approach?
Freud
66
who proposed the humanistic approach?
Rogers and Maslow
67
what is humanistic psychology?
an approach to understanding behaviour emphasising the importance of individual experiences and a persons capacity for self determination
68
what is free will?
humans can make choices and their behaviour/thoughts are not determined by biological or external forces
69
how do humanistic psychologists use free will?
reject scientific models that attempt to establish general principles of humans behaviour
subjective, person centred approach
70
what is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?
hierarchical sequence where basic physiological needs must be satisfied before higher psychological needs
71
what are the stages in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?
```
physiological needs
safety and security
loving and belonging
self esteem
self actualisation
```
72
what is self actualisation?
the desire to grow psychologically and fulfil one’s potential
73
what is congruence?
proposed by Rogers
| an individual’s concept of the self must be similar to their ideal self to achieve self actualisation
74
what did Rogers do to develop the gap between self concept and the idea self?
client centred therapy=counselling
claims issues we face as an adult often have reports in childhood
provide clients with unconditional positive regard
75
what are conditions of worth?
when a parent places limits on the love of their children
| ‘I will love you if...’
76
AO3 points for behaviourism (2 positive, 1 negative)
+ scientific credibility
+ animal research lacks generalisability
- environmental determinism
77
Behaviourist approach - scientific credibility
P: Focuses on scientific means of collecting data, measures observable behaviour in highly controlled lab settings
E: Importance of scientific conduct - replication, objectivity
E: Behaviourism was influential in the development of psychology as a scientific field, and its scientific data increases internal validity
C: lack of application - artificial
78
Behaviourist approach - animal studies
P: Behaviourist research often bases a lot of data on animal studies.
E: Pavlov's research demonstrates the credibility of the behaviourist assumption of classical conditioning
E: Moreover, this research is also backed up by the likes of Lorenz's research into attachment. - Suggests conditioning applies to a wide variation of species, not just humans, enhancing the credibility of the approach
C: Social learning theory and cognitive approach argue that cognitive processes play a role in learning - data can't be generalised to humans as they play a more 'active' role in their learning - undermining strength of approach
79
Behaviourist approach - Environmental determinism
P: One weakness of this approach is that it is too deterministic
E: The Humanistic approach advocates the importance of free will and self autonomy
E: Moreover, considering the complexity of the human race, is it possible we can all be banded into such a determined outcome - consider the influence of personal morality and even the influence of genetics are ignored
C: Skinner dictates that any free will is a delusion. When something happens, we impose a sense of having made the decision, but our past conditioning history determined our outcome
80
AO3 points for social learning theory - (1 positive, 2 negative)
- Bobo doll was a lab study
-Doesn't consider role of genetics
+ explains cultural differences
81
social learning theory - Bobo doll lab study
Bobo Doll was a lab study – lab settings are often criticised for their artificiality – ppt may respond to demand characteristics – because the main purpose pf the study was to strike the doll, children were behaving in the way they were expected to replicability and external validity
82
social learning theory - doesn't consider role of genetics
Underestimate impact of biological factors – one consistent finding in the Bobo Doll experiments were that boys were more aggressive than girls regardless of the specifics of the experimental situation – hormonal factors play a role? E.g testosterone – more prominent in boys which is linked to greater aggressive behaviour
83
social learning theory - cultural differences
Explains cultural variations in behaviour – social learning principles account for how children learn from individuals around them - explains how cultural norms are transmitted through particular societies application to gender roles
84
AO3 points for the cognitive approach (1 positive, 2 negative)
+ scientific conduct
- machine reductionism
- real-life application lacks
85
cognitive approach - scientific conduct
Scientific conduct – reliable, objective data and further allowed the fields of psychology and neuroscience to come together -enhancing the credibility of psychology as a scientific field
- Counteract
86
cognitive approach - machine reductionism
Machine reductionism – computer analogy criticised – ignores the influence of human emotion on cognition – may reflect our ability to process information e.g found that human memory is influenced by emotional factors (e.g anxiety on EWT)
87
cognitive approach - lacks practical application
Counteract: cognitive psychologists are only able to infer – suffers from an abstract and theoretical nature (e.g schemas) – lack external validity and application to real-life
- Cognitive psychologists has been applied to a wide range of practical and theoretical concepts e.g made an important contribution in the fields of AI and development of robotics – revolutionary advances
88
A03 points for the biological approach (2 positive, 1 negative)
+ real-life application
+ twin studies (e.g OCD rates) - counteract!!
- casual conclusions
89
the biological approach - real-life application
Biological approach has real-life application to explain human behaviour. Research into neurochemical imbalance has led to the development of drugs which minimise imbalance and reduce depressive symptoms
90
the biological approach - casual conclusions
Biological approach claims casual conclusions which may not be true. The approach explains mental illness through the actions of neurotransmitters. This is evident for example through the association of serotonin and depression – discovering associations between two factors doesn’t establish certainty of cause of behaviour or illness – there is merely association
- Scientific studies prove?
91
A03 points for the psychodynamic approach - (1 positive, 2 negative)
+ practical application in therapy
- subjective/unscientific methods
- lacks falsifiability
92
the psychodynamic approach - practical application in therapy
Freud also brought to the world a new form of therapy; psychoanalysis – employing a range of techniques designed to assess the unconscious, such as hypnosis and dream analysis – allowed the revolutionization of psychoanalysis and analysis.
Although Freudian therapists have claimed success with many patients suffering from mild neuroses psychoanalysis has been criticised an inappropriate even harmful for more serious mental disorders e.g schizophrenia
93
the psychodynamic approach - falsifiability
Karl Popper – psychodynamic approach doesn’t meet scientific criteria of falsification – many of Freud’s concepts e.g the Electra complex are impossible to disprove – lacks credibility
94
the psychodynamic approach - unreliable/unscientific methods
Freud’s theory was based on the interview study of individuals who were often in therapy (e.g case of Little Hans) - not only do they lack generalisability as they were based on a minority of abnormal individuals, but results were highly subjective, thus lacking scientific rigor
- considering time period + Freud’s observations were detailed and carefully recorded - allowing key contributions to the field
95
AO3 points for the humanistic approach (1 positive, 2 negative)
+ research
- cultural bias
- rejection of scientific methods
96
the humanistic approach - research
Research has shown that individuals who receive conditional positive regard are likely to display more ‘false self behaviour’ e.g. doing things to meet others’ expectations, even when they do not want to.
Harter et al (1996) found teenagers who have to do certain things to meet parents approval often end up not liking themselves and thus be more likely to develop depression - supports Roger’s conditions of worth explanation of the self, increasing it’s validity in explaining the origins of self esteem and personal growth in human behaviour.
97
the humanistic approach - cultural bias
study carried out in China by Nevis (1983) found that within the community self-actualisation was defined more in terms of contribution to the community rather than in terms of individual development -many of the ideas from Maslow and Rogers (i.e. individual freedom/personal growth) are representative of individualist cultures, ignoring the values of collectivist cultures (such as the needs of the group/community) - credibility of the approach questioned due to its generalisability being limited to a certain cultural context
98
the humanistic approach - rejection of scientific methods
Humanistic Psychology reject scientific models - difficult to test and measure it’s assumptions.
Some studies have shown personal growth as a result of receiving humanistic counselling, however they do not show that therapy caused the changes.
The lack of establishing cause and effect means that it is difficult for Humanistic Psychologists to ever really provide empirical evidence to support their ideas, showing it’s success.
limits the validity and credibility of the approach
99
FREUD: 6 defence mechanism
repression, denial, projection, displacement, regression sublimation
100
FREUD: 6 defence mechanism and definitions
repression: unconscious mechanism used by ego to supress thoughts
denial: blocking extents from awareness
projection: attributing their own unacceptable thoughts/feelings onto another person
displacement: satisfying an impulse on an object
regression: reversal in psychological development in times of stress e.g sucking your thumb
sublimation: satisfying an impulse in a socially acceptable way e.g sports
