approaches Flashcards
Origins: what is introspection?
studying the mind by breaking up thoughts and feelings into thoughts images and sensations
Origins: what is psychology?
the scientific study of the mind, behaviour and experience
Origins: what is science?
A means of acquiring knowledge through systematic and objective investigation to discover general laws
origins: When and where was Wundt’s lab?
Leipzig, Germany 1879
origins: what was Wundt’s method?
he showed participants images/ objects and had them record their thoughts and feelings
Origins: Evaluate
+ It was scientific and well controlled
> high internal validity
+ He standardised his procedures
> reliability
+ separated psychology from philosophy
- considered unscientific by todays standards because ‘thoughts, feelings and images’ are subjective
Psychodynamic: who came up with it?
Sigmund Freud
Psychodynamic: what are the main assumptions?
- we have unconscious and preconscious. unconscious influences behaviour
- early childhood experiences affect behaviour
- defence mechanism enables adaptive behaviours
- psycho sexual stages influence later behaviour
- our personality is split into Id, Ego and superego
- common research methods: case studies
- treating mental illness through psychoanalysis
Psychodynamic: what is the role of the unconscious?
- Its a store house of biological drives and instincts -> influences behaviour
- contains repressed memories which can be accessed though slip of the tongue or dreams
- there is also the preconscious containing thoughts and memories we aren’t aware of but can access if we want
Psychodynamic: what is id, ego, superego?
id: pleasure principle, unconscious drives and impulses
- present at birth
ego: mediates
- reality principle
- employs defence mechanisms
- presents at about 2 yrs
superego: morality principle
- works through guilt
- presents at the end of the phallic stage
Psychodynamic: what are the psycho sexual stages?
- oral: 0-1 yrs
>focus of pleasure is mouth
> consequence: smoking, nail biting, sarcastic, critical - anal: 1-3 yrs
> focus of pleasure is anus
> consequence:
explosive: thoughtless, messy
retentive: perfectionist, obsessive - phallic: 3-6 yrs
> focus of pleasure is genitalia
>consequence: narcissistic, reckless - latency: earlier conflicts are repressed
- genital: sexual desires become conscious alongside onset of puberty
Psychodynamic: what are defence mechanisms?
- ego struggles to mediate between Id and superego
- prevents us from becoming overwhelmed by temporary threats or traumas
- can involve distortion of reality and shouldn’t be a long term solution
- denial, displacement, repression
Psychodynamic: what is the Oedipus/Electra complex?
when a child has a crush on their opposite gender parents and sees the same gender parent as competition so hates them (Oedipus=m, Electra=f)
Psychodynamic: evaluate
+ real world application
> brought in psychoanalysis as a new form of therapy
> first attempt to treat mental illness
> forerunner for modern ‘talking therapies’ e.g. counselling
- unusable or even harmful for more serious mental illness e.g. schizophrenia
- untestable. doesn’t meet scientific standards
Behaviourist: what are the key assumptions?
- we are born with a ‘blank state’. out behaviour is nurture
- only observable behaviour should be investigated
- ignores investigation into mental process/ inner thought
- behaviour is a result of learned association (cc) and consequence (oc) between responses and stimuli
- humans and animals learn the same. animal tests are valid
- behaviour is learned so can be unlearned
Behaviourist: what is classical conditioning?
learning through association:
an unconditional stimuli (e.g. food) causes an unconditioned response (e.g. salivating), a neutral stimuli (e.g. a bell) causes no response, the neutral and unconditioned stimuli are paired and associated, the neutral stimuli becomes the conditioned stimuli causing a conditioned response (salivating)
Behaviourist: who researched CC?
Pavlov
Behaviourist: what is operant conditioning?
behaviour is shaped by consequence:
> positive reinforcement: doing a behaviour to get a reward
>negative reinforcement: not doing a behaviour to avoid punishment
> punishment: negative consequence to bad behaviour
Behaviourist: what was skinners box experiment?
- every time a rat in a box activated a lever it got rewarded
- the same was done with electric shocks for not pulling the lever
Behaviourist: evaluate
+ based on well controlled research
> high validity and scientific credibility
+ real world application
> token economy in prisons
- oversimplifies the learning process
- suggests we don’t have free will
- many unethical experiments (little albert)
SLT: what are the key assumptions?
- people learn through observation
- reinforcement and punishments have indirect affects on behaviour
- cognitive factors/ mediational apply to behaviour
- learning does not always mean change
SLT: what is vicarious reinforcement?
observing behaviour and consequence and only imitate rewarded behaviour
SLT: what is the mediational process?
how cognitive factors are involved in learning:
- Attention: to what extent do we notice certain behaviours
- retention: how well behaviours are remembered
- motor reproduction: ability to replicate behaviours
- motivation: will to perform behaviour often down to the consequences
SLT: what is identification?
an observer is more likely to imitate behaviour if they share characteristics
