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A-Level Psychology (Paper 2) > Approaches > Flashcards

Approaches Flashcards

1
Q

What is the biological approach?

A

Hormones, neurotransmitters, brain psychology , the influences of genes, evolution

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2
Q

What is the learning approach?

A

Learning from experiences in the world

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3
Q

What is the cognitive approach?

A

Thought processes and perception of the world

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4
Q

What is the psychodynamic approach?

A

The unconscious mind

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5
Q

What is the humanistic approach?

A

The importance of human values and dignity

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6
Q

What is introspection?

A

The examination or observation of one’s own mental and emotional processes

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7
Q

What is science?

A

Acquiring knowledge through systematic and objective investigation

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8
Q

What are the four goals of psychology?

A

Description, explanation, prediction, change

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9
Q

What is description?

A

It tells us “what” occurred

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10
Q

What is explanation?

A

It tells us “why” a behaviour or mental process occurred

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11
Q

What is prediction?

A

Predicts what new behaviour or mental process is likely to occur

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12
Q

What is change?

A

Applying psychological knowledge to prevent unwanted behaviour

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13
Q

What is the conscious mind?

A

The part of the mind we can see

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14
Q

What is the unconscious mind?

A

The part of the mind we can’t see and where most our actions are made from

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15
Q

What is the preconscious mind?

A

The part of the mind we are aware of if we tried i.e. memories, dreams

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16
Q

How is personality structured?

A

Id, ego, superego

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17
Q

Explain the id

A

•Primitive
•Present at birth
•Pleasure principle
•Selfish
•Instant gratification

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18
Q

Explain the ego

A

•Develops between 18 months-3 years old
•Reality principle
•Mediates between id and superego, •Defence mechanisms

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19
Q

Explain the superego

A

•Develops between 3-6 years old
•Morality principle
•Controls impulses from the ego
•Represent moral standards of same-sex parent

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20
Q

What is a defence mechanism?

A

Actions/behaviours that distort reality to reduce anxiety

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21
Q

What are the 3 types of defence mechanisms?

A

Repression, Denial, Displacement

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22
Q

What is repression?

A

Blocking out an unpleasant memory

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23
Q

What is denial?

A

Refusal to accept reality

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24
Q

What is displacement?

A

Redirecting of emotions onto objects and/or people

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25
Q

What is the idea behind the psychosexual stages?

A

•Instincts drives our conscious mind to dictate the stages we experience

•Each stage is marked by a different conflict the child must resolve in order to progress successfully to the next stage

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26
Q

What are the psychosexual stages?

A

Oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital

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27
Q

Explain the oral stage

A

•Focus of pleasure is the mouth. The mother’s breast is the object of desire

•Consequence = oral fixation - smoking, biting nails

•0-1 years old

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28
Q

Explain the anal stage?

A

•Focus of pleasure is the anus. The child gains pleasure from withholding and expelling faeces

•Consequence = anal retentive - perfectionist, obsessive

•1-3 years old

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29
Q

Explain the phallic stage?

A

•Focus of pleasure is on genital area. Child experiences Oedipus or Electra complex

•Consequence = phallic personality - narcissistic, reckless, possibly homo

•3-5 years old

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30
Q

Explain the latency stage?

A

Earlier conflicts are repressed

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31
Q

Explain the genital stage

A

•Sexual desires become conscious, independence from parents

•Consequence = difficulty developing heterosexual relationships

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32
Q

What is the learning approach?

A

The idea that suggests behaviour is learnt

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33
Q

What are the explanations for the learning approach?

A

Behaviourist , social learning theory

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34
Q

What does behaviourist mean?

A

A way of explaining behaviour in terms of what is observable

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35
Q

What is classical conditioning?

A

Learning by association

36
Q

What is operant conditioning?

A

Learning by reinforcement and consequences

37
Q

What are the assumptions of behaviourism?

A

-All behaviour is learnt from experience- “tabular rasa”-blank slate

-Only interested in studying behaviour that can be observed and measured

-Uses lab experiments to try and gain more control and objectivity in research

-The basic processes that govern learning are the same in all species

38
Q

What is an example of classical conditioning

A

Pavlov’s dog

39
Q

What did Pavlov’s dog reveal?

A

Dogs could be conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell , if the sound was repeatedly presented at the same time they were given food

Gradually the dogs would associate the sound of the bell with food , and would salivate every time they heard the sound

40
Q

What is positive reinforcement?

A

Receiving a reward when a certain behaviour is performed

41
Q

What is negative reinforcement?

A

Avoidance of an unpleasant stimulus that would be viewed as a punishment

42
Q

What is punishment?

A

An unpleasant consequence of behaviour that decreases the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated

43
Q

What is an example of operant conditioning?

A

Skinners box

44
Q

What is social learning theory?

A

A way of explaining behaviour that includes direct and indirect reinforcement

45
Q

What is the significance of a role model

A

-There must be a role model for an observer to watch

-Role models provide examples of behaviour that can be observed and later reproduced through imitation

46
Q

What is imitation dependent on?

A

-Positive reinforcement = more likely to imitate because they want that reward

-Negative reinforcement = less likely to imitate as they want to avoid that outcome

-Imitation is dependent on the reinforcement the model receives

47
Q

What is vicarious reinforcement?

A

Reinforcement is not experienced directly by the individuals but occurs through someone else being reinforced/ punished for a behaviour

48
Q

What are internal mediational processes?

A

The bridge between learning and cognitive theories

49
Q

Explain the internal mediational processes

A

In order for learning from a role model to occur the observer must:
1) Pay attention to the behaviour
2) They must retain the behaviour
3) The behaviour must be able to be reproduced by the observer
4) They must be motivated to perform the behaviour

50
Q

What are the assumptions of the psychodynamic approach?

A
  • Instincts are thought to drive behaviour
  • Early childhood experiences are extremely important in making us who we are
51
Q

What is determinism?

A

The view that an individual’s behaviour is shaped or controlled by internal or external forces, rather than an individual’s will to do something

52
Q

What is free will?

A

The notion that humans can make choices and that their behaviour/thoughts are not determined by biological or external forces

53
Q

What is reductionism?

A

The belief that human behaviour is best understood by studying the smaller constituent parts

54
Q

What is holism?

A

An arguement or theory which proposes that it only makes sense to study an indivisible system

55
Q

What is the cognitive approach?

A

How our mental processes, such as, thoughts, perception, and attention impact our behaviour

56
Q

What are the assumptions of the cognitive approach?

A

-The mind actively processes information from our senses e.g. taste, smell

-The approach argues that internal mental processes should be studied scientifically

-Mediational processes occur between stimulus and response (what is happening between the input into the mind and the output of human behaviour)

-Humans are information processors and therefore resemble computers (information is transformed, stored, and retrieved from the memory)

57
Q

What does the term inference mean?

A

The process whereby cognitive psychologists draw conclusions about the way mental processes operate on the basis of observed behaviour

58
Q

What is the schema?

A

-The cognitive framework that helps organise and interpret information

59
Q

Explain how the schema develops

A

-Babies are born with simple motor schema for innate behaviours, such as sucking or grasping

-Our schemas become more detailed and sophisticated with age and is learned through experience, helping individuals respond to objects appropriately

-Schemas allow us to take shortcuts when interpreting information, preventing us from becoming overwhelmed by environmental stimuli. However they can lead to perceptual errors

60
Q

What are perceptual errors? And why might they occur due to the schema?

A

The inability to judge humans, things or situations fairly

-This might occur as we make assumptions about people based on incomplete information because our schema can distort our interpretations of sensory information

61
Q

What are the two models used in the cognitive approach?

A

Theoretical and computer

62
Q

What is the theoretical model?

A

The model suggests that information flows through a sequence of stages that include input, storage and retrieval

63
Q

What is the computer model?

A

-The model refers to programmes that can be run on a computer to imitate the human mind

-For example, a computer uses ‘coding’ to store information, whereas a human uses ‘coding’ to store memories in different formats, such as semantic and acoustic

64
Q

How do the computer programmes help psychologists?

A

They help psychologists test whether their ideas about information processing are correct

65
Q

What is cognitive neuroscience?

A

The scientific study of the influence of biological brain structures on cognitive processes

66
Q

Explain the emergence of cognitive neuroscience

A

-Cognitive neuroscience was formally formed in MIT in 1956

-The term “cognitive neuroscience” was coined by George Miller and Michael Gazzaniga in the 1970s

67
Q

What has the emergence of cognitive neuroscience scientists to do?

A

Neuroscientists are now able to study the living brain, using brain technology, like PET and fMRI

68
Q

How does brain technology benefit neuroscientists?

A

Brain technology helps psychologists understand the neurological basis of mental processing

69
Q

What are internal mental processes?

A

Private operations of the mind, such as perception and attention that mediate between stimulus and response

70
Q

Evaluate the strengths of the cognitive approach

A

-The cognitive approach uses highly controlled and rigorous methods of study to allow psychologists to infer the cognitive
processes that are at work

-The cognitive approach has been used to explain how faulty
thinking processes can cause illnesses, such as depression, leading to the development of successful treatments, like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

-The cognitive approach is less deterministic than other approaches

71
Q

Evaluate the weaknesses of the cognitive approach

A

-The approach has been criticised by many for being reductionist

-It is difficult to apply the research from his approach to everyday life

72
Q

What is the biological approach?

A

The biological approach is a perspective that emphasises the importance of physical processes in the body, such as genetic inheritance and neural function

73
Q

What are the assumptions of the biological approach?

A

-Everything that is psychological is first biological

-An understanding of the brain’s structure and function can explain our thoughts and behaviour

-All thoughts, feelings and behaviours have a physical basis in contrast to the cognitive approach

-The mind lives in the brain, whereas the cognitive approach believes they are two different

74
Q

What are the three different areas of the biological approach?

A

Genetics, genotype + phenotype and evolution

75
Q

What are genes (genetics)?

A

They make up chromosomes and contain DNA, coding the features of an organism

76
Q

What are twin studies (genetics)?

A

Studies used to determine the likelihood that certain traits have a genetic basis by using concordance rates between twins to see if they have the same characteristics

77
Q

What are concordance rates (genetics)?

A

The statistical measure that describes the proportion of pairs of individuals that share an attribute, given one already has that trait

78
Q

What percentage of DNA do MZ twins share (genetics)?

A

100%

79
Q

What percentage of DNA do DZ twins share (genetics)?

A

50%

80
Q

What percentage of DNA do siblings share (genetics)?

A

50%

81
Q

If MZ twins have a higher concordance rate than DZ twins, what does it suggest (genetics)?

A

They have a genetic basis

82
Q

What is evolution (evolution)?

A

The changes in inherited characteristics in a biological population over successive generations

83
Q

What is natural selection (evolution)?

A

-Any genetically determined behaviour that enhances an individual’s survival. This will continue in future generations

-E.g. adrenaline/fight or flight response that helps humans stay out of danger

84
Q

What happens as a result of natural selection to genes that do not provide an advantage (evolution)?

A

They are less likely to be passed on as the possessor is less likely to survive. It wont remain in the gene pool

85
Q

What is a genotype?

A

A particular set of genes a person possesses

86
Q

What is a phenotype?

A

The characteristic of an individual that is both determined by the genes and the environment

87
Q

What do genotypes and phenotypes show about human behaviour?

A

Behaviour depends on the inherited factors, which is nature and the environment, which is nurture

A-Level Psychology (Paper 2) (4 decks)

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