approaches Flashcards
what are the origins of psychology?
Descartes (1596-1650) was a french philosopher who suggested mind and body were independent from eachother - cartesian dualism.
locke (1632-1704) proposed empiricism which is the idea we that everything we experience can be obtained through the senses and that humans dont inherit knowledge or instincts. this view later becomes the basis of the behaviourist approach.
darwin (1809-1882) said there was an evolutionary theory where all human and animal behaviour has changed over generations so those with stronger and more adaptive genes survive and reproduce, but weaker genes don’t survive - survival of the fittest. this is linked to the biological approach.
17-19th century psychology is just a broader discipline of philosophy and is ‘experimental’.
1879 wundt opened the 1st experimental lab in germany and psychology emerged as its own discipline.
1900s freud established psychodynamic approach which emphasises the unconscious mind on behvaiour (person centered therapy - psychoanalysis).
1913 watson and skinner establish the behaviourist approach.
1950s rogers and Maslow develop the humanistic approach rejecting the views of behaviourism and psychodynamic.
1960s computers introduced and so then cognitive approach (scientific). bandura proposes social learning theory.
1980s+ biological approach is the dominant perspective.
21st century cognitive neuroscience is distinct discipline (cognitive and biological).
desribe Wundt - introspection
wundt opened the first lab dedicated to psychological enquiry. he wanted to document and describe the nature of human consciousness.
called this introspection and involved wundt and his colleagues recording their own thoughts to try break them down to their constituent parts, (isolating the structure of consciousness in this way is called structuralism)
used controlled methods. the introspections were recorded under strictly controlled conditions and standardised instructions, allowing procedures to be replicated.
this meant wundt work was important in marking the seperation of the modern scientfic psychology from its borader philosophical roots.
describe the behaviourist approach
only interested in studying behaviour that can be observed and measured. not concerned with investigating mental processes of the mind. early behaviourists rejected introspection as it had too many vague and difficult to measure concepts.
due to this they tried to get more control and objectivity in their research and relied on lab experiments for this.
followed darwin, so behaviourists suggested basic processes that govern learning are same in all species so in their research could use animals in place of humans.
identified classical and operant conditioning.
desribe the behaviourist approach - classical
this was from pavlovs research. classical conditioning is through ‘association’.
pavlov found dogs could be conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell if that sound was repeatedly present at the same time as being given food. pavlovs dogs would associate the bell (neutral stimulus) with food (unconditioned stimulus) and produce saliva (unconditioned response). led to saliva becoming conditioned response.
pavlov showed how a NS can elicit a new learned response (CR) through association.
before - food US and salivation
UR bell NS and no salivation is noCR
during - bell and food lead to salivation as UR
after - bell CS salivation CR
desribe the behaviourist approach - operant
this was from skinners research. he said learning is an active process where humans and animals operate on their environment. in operant there is 3 types of consequences to behaviour.
positive reinforcement - receive reward when certain behaviour performed.
negative reinforcement - animal/ human avoids something unpleasant (student hands in essay to avoid unpleasantness of being told off).
punishment - unpleasant consequence of behaviour.
positive and negative increase likelihood behaviour is repeated but punishment decreases that likelihood.
skinner had ‘skinner boxes’ with rats who had to activate lever to get food, or press lever to avoid electric shock.
what are 2 strengths of behaviourist approach?
one strength is it has scientific credibility. behaviourism was able to bring the language and methods of natural sciences into psychology by focusing on measuring observable behaviour in highly controlled lab settings. by emphasising the importance of scientific processes like objectivity and replication meaning behaviourism influential in development of psychology as a scientific discipline giving it greater credibility and status.
another strength is real life application. principles of conditioning have been applied to broad range of real-world behaviours and problems. e.g. operant is the basis of token economy systems that have been used successfully in institutions like prisons and psych ward. can work by rewarding appropriate behaviour with tokens that can be exchanged for privileges, or classical conditioning with phobias. treatment like this have the advantage of requiring less effort from patient as patient doesnt have to think about their problem. such therapies are also suitable for patients who lack insight.
what is 1 weakness of behaviourist approach?
the weakness is it has a mechanistic view of behaviour. from a behaviourist perspective, animals are seen as passive with little or no conscious insight into their behaviour. other approaches like social learning theory and cognitive have emphasised importance of mental events in learning. these processes, which mediate between stimulus and response suggest people play a much more active role in their own learning. means learning theory may apply less to humans than to animals.
describe the biological approach
says that everything psychological is first biological so to understood human behaviour we must look to biological behaviours processes and structures like genes, neurochemistry and nervous system. an understanding of brain structure and function can explain our thoughts and behaviour. from biological perspective, mind lives in brain meaning all thoughts and behaviour have a physical basis. this is in contrast to cognitive approach that sees mental process of mind as seperate from physical brain.
describe the biological approach - genetic basis
behaviour geneticists study if behavioural characteristics like intelligence, personality etc are inherited in the sam way as physical characteristics.
use twin studies to determine likelihood certain traits have genetic basis by comparing concordance rate between twins, so the extent twins share the same characteristics.
if identical (monozygotic) have higher concordance rates than non identical (dizygotic), e.g for schiz, then it suggests genetic basis.
this is because mz twins share 100% genes but dz share about 50%.
describe the biological approach - genotype and phenotype
genotype is a persons actual genetic makeup. phenotype is way a persons genes are expressed through physical, behavioural and psychological characteristics.
expression of genotype influenced by environmental factors, e.g. identical adult twins usually look slightly different as one exercises or has dyed their hair. so despite having the same genes, the way identical twins genes are expressed (phenotype) is different.
illustrates what many biological psychologists would accept, that much of human behaviour depends on interaction between inherited factors and environment.
describe the biological approach - evolution
evolution of plants and animals is a fact. in 19th century darwin proposed natural selection. main principle is any genetically determined behaviour that enhances an individuals survival will continue in future generations.
in nature this selection occurs naturally so no one decides, the selection occurs just because some traits give the possessor certain advantages. if individual survives but doesnt reproduce the traits dont remain in the gene pool.
what are 2 strengths of the biological approach?
one strength is it has scientific methods of investigation. to investigate genetic and biological basis of behaviour this approach makes use of a range of precise and highly scientific methods. these include scanning techniques like fMRIs and EEGs, family and twin studies, and drug trials. withh advances in tech its possible to accurately measure biological and neural processes in ways that arent open to bias. this means biological approach is based on reliable data.
another strength is real life application. increased understanding of biochemical processes in the brain has led to the development of psychoactive drugs that treat serious mental illnesses like depression. although these drugs arent effective for all patients they have revolutionised treatment for many. this is a strength as it means sufferers are able to manage their condition and live a relatively normal life rather than stay in hospital.
what is 1 weakness of the biological approach?
the weakness is causal conclusions. the bio approach offers explanantion for mental illness in terms of the action of neurotransmitters in the brain. the evidence for this relationship comes from studies that show a particular drug reduces symptoms of a mental disorder and thus its assumed that the neurochemical in the drug causes the disorder. this is a bit like assuming the cause of headache is the lack of paracetamol just because taking paracetamol is effective in relieving symptoms of a headache. discovering an association between the 2 factors doesnt mean 1 is a cause. this is a limitation as the bio approach is just claiming to have discovered causes where only an association occurs.
describe the cognitive approach
this directly contrasts the behaviourist approach. the cognitive approach argues that internal mental processes can and should be studied scientifically. as a result, cognitive approach has investigated those areas of human behaviour that behaviourists neglect, like memory and perception. these processes are ‘private’ and cant be observed so cognitive psychologists study them indirectly by making inferences about whats going on inside peoples minds on the basis of their behaviour.
describe the cognitive approach - models
they use both theoretical and computer models to help understand internal mental processes. in reality theres overlaps between these two models, but theoretical are more abstract and computers are concrete things.
the information processing approach IPA is an important theoretical model. it suggests info flows through the cognitive system in a sequence of stages that include input, storage and retrieval like in the multi store model. this IPA is based on the way computers function, but a computer model would involve actually programming a computer to see if instructions produce a similar output to humans.
if they do we can suggest similar processes are going on in the human mind. such computational models of the mind have proves useful in the development of ‘thinking machines’ or AI.
describe the cognitive approach - schemas
cognitive processing can be affected by a persons beliefs or expectations - schema. these schemas are packages of ideas and info developed through experiences.
act as mental framwork for the interpretation of incoming info received by the cognitive system.
babies are born with simple motor schemas for innate behaviours like sucking and grasping. as we get older our schemas become more detailed and sophisticated. adults have detailed mental representations for everything from what happens in a restaurant to what a zombie looks like.
schemas allow us to process lots of info quickly which is useful as a sort of mental shortcut that prevents us from being overwhelmed by environmental stimuli, but schemas can distort our interpretations of sensory info leading to perceptual errors.
what is 1 strength of the cognitive approach?
one strength is it has scientific and objective methods. the cognitive approach has used highly controlled and rigorous methods of study to allow researchers to infer cognitive processes at work. this has involved lab experiments to produce reliable objective data. also, cognitive neuroscience has enabled the 2 fields of biology and cognitive psychology to come together. this means the study of the mind has established a credible scientific basis.
what are 2 weaknesses of the cognitive approach?
a weakness is machine reductionism. although there are similarities between the human mind and computer operations (e.g. input output storage etc) the computer analogy has been criticised by many. such machine reductionism ignores the influence of human emotion and motivation on the cognitive system and how this may affect our ability to process info. for example research has found human memory may be affected by emotional factors like the influence of anxiety on EWT.
another weakness is application to everyday life. cognitive psychologists can only able to infer mental processes from the behaviour they observe in their research. as a consequence, cognitive psychologists occasionally suffer from being too abstract and theoretical in nature. similarly, experimental studies of mental processes are often carried out using artifical stimuli which may not represent everyday memory experience. therefore research on cognitive processes may lack validity.
describe social learning theory
SLT was proposed by bandura who agreed with behaviourists that much of our behaviour is learned from expereince. but his SLT proposed a different way we learn - through observation and imitation of others in a social context, so social learning.
SLT suggests learning occurs directly through classical and operant and indirectly.
describe social learning theory - vicarious reinforcement
for indirect learning the individual observes the behaviour oof others. learner may imitate this behaviour, but generally behaviour is only imitated if behaviour is seen to be rewarded (reinforced) not punished - vicarious reinforcement. so learner observes behaviour and most importantly the consequences of the behaviour.
describe social learning theory - mediational processes
the mediational processes are focused on mental factors involved in learning. the mental processes mediate (intervene) in the learning process to determine if a new repsonse is acquired. bandura proposed 4 of these mediational processes - ARMM.
attention is the extent to which we notice certain behaviours.
retention is how well the behaviour is remebered.
motor reproduction is the ability of the observer to perform the behaviour.
motivation is the will to perform the behaviour which is often determined by whether the behaviour was rewarded or punished.
describe social learning theory - identification
people are more likely to imitate the behaviour of people they identify with - role models. this process is ‘moddeling’.
a person becomes a role model if they are seen to possess similar characteristics to the observer and/ or are attractive and have high status. role models dont have to be present in the environment and this has important implications for the influence of the media on behaviour.
bandura did a bobo doll study where he recorded behaviour of young kids who observed an adult behave in an aggressive way to a bobo doll. the kids were observed later playing with the bobo doll and found those observed the aggressive adult behaved much more aggressively to the doll than those who observed a non aggressive one.
they also did the study with videos where the adult was being praised, punished and having no consequence for aggressiveness to the bobo doll. those who saw the praising were the most aggressive, then no consequence followed by punishment being least aggressive.
what is 1 strength of social learning theory?
a strength is the importance of cognitive factors in learning. neither classical or operant can offer adequate accounts of learning on their own. humans and many animals store information about the behaviours of others and use this to make judgements on when its appropriate to perform certain acts. this means SLT provides a more comprehensive explanation of human learning by recognising role of mediational processes.
what are 2 weaknesses of social learning theory?
one weakness is over reliance on evidence from lab studies. many of banduras ideas were developed through observations of young kids in lab settings.lab studies are often criticised for their contrived nature where pts may respond to demand characteristics. its been suggested, in the bobo doll study where the main purpose of the doll is to strike it that the kids were just performing in a way that they thought was expected of them. so this research may tell us little about how kids actually learn aggression in everyday life.
another weakness is it underestimates the influence of biological factors. bandura makes little reference to the impact of bio factors on social learning. a consistent finding in the bobo doll study was that boys were more aggressive than girls regardless of the specifics in the experimental situation. this can be explained by hormonal factors like differences in testosterone levels. this is present in greater quantities in boys than girls and is linked to increased aggressive behaviour. this means this important influence on behaviour isnt accounted for in SLT.
