Approaches Flashcards
(55 cards)
Who was the first psychologist to separate psychology and philosophy
Wilhelm Wundt
How did Wundt study introspection
⚫ He would train himself and his colleagues to record every mental process they experienced when presented with a stimulus
⚫ This could be anything from a burning candle to a metronome (image in the corner)
What are the two weaknesses of wundts study on introspection
Not reliable
-results were not consistent
-reported different thoughts every time when presented with a candle
C: Wundt intended for his finding to be objective by using his colleagues
Not valid
-demand characteristics from the collegues who were trained by Wundt
-social desirability
-making it less valuable evidence
What is one strength on how Wundt studied introspection
It was controlled
In a lab
Standardised
And was replicated
Outline behaviourist approach
Behaviourism emphasises the role of environmental factors in influencing behaviour, to the near exclusion of innate of inherited factors.
There’s no fundamental (qualitative) distinction between human and animal behaviour. Therefore, research can be carried out on animals as well as humans.
All behaviour, no matter how complex, can be reduced to a simple stimulus —>response association.
Describe Pavlov experiment on conditioning
Before conditioning ,the unconditioned stimulus (the food) produced an unconditioned response(salvation.
The unconditioned stimulus was paired with a neutral stimulus which was a bell
After multiple pairings ,the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned response producing a conditioned response
Describe operant conditioning
A type of learning where behaviour is acquired and maintained based off the consequences.
What is reinforcement and punishment
Reinforcement increases the likely hood that the observed behaviour would be repeated
Punishment decreases the likelihood behaviour would be repeated
Describe the Skinner box experiment
Positive reinforcement was demonstrated when the rat pulled down the leaver and was rewarded with food
Negative reinforcement was shown when the rat would press down on the leaver to avoid getting shocked
Why is extrapolation a weakness for the behaviourist approach
Point – one weakness of the behaviourist approach is that its research is based on animal studies
Evidence – for example, Pavlov’s research on classical conditioning used only dogs. Similarly, Skinner’s research is based on rats and birds
Explanation – this is a weakness because there is an issue with extrapolation, as animal behaviour may not be generalizable to humans. Humans have more complex mental processes than animals like rats, which are not being considered when they are used for testing.
⚫ Counter – however, it can be argued that it would be unethical to test humans in the ways that Pavlov and Skinner did, as they were kept isolated in controlled conditions, so use of animals is necessary.
⚫ Link – therefore, despite the necessity for extrapolation, the behaviourist approach may better explain animal behaviour than human behaviour.
What is one weakness of the behaviourist approach
⚫ The behaviourist approach describes humans as passive responders to the environment (stimulus response)
⚫ Furthermore, they believe we are born with a blank slate (tabula rasa) – we only become who we are by responding to stimuli around us
⚫ humans are not that simplistic
⚫ If you don’t think this mechanistic view is correct, why not?
⚫ This approach fails to consider the influence of other factors that make us who we are, like emotions, mental processes and biology
One strength of the behaviourist approach
The behaviourist approach is considered to be highly scientific.
⚫ Behaviourists are only concerned about measuring physical observable behaviour.
⚫ They also conduct their experiments in high controlled conditions (lab settings)
High scientific credibility
What are the key assumptions for social learning theory
People learn behaviour through modelling and imitation (role models)
⚫ People are more likely to imitate behaviour from role models they identify with
⚫ People learn indirectly from others via vicarious reinforcement
⚫ Mental processes influence how people respond to a stimulus (mediational processes)
Explain one way in which social learning theory overlaps with one other approach in psychology.
Social learning theory overlaps with the behaviourist approach because they both say behaviour is learned in the environment.
They both refer to reinforcement, suggesting that positive consequences of actions can increase the likelihood of behaviour occurring
Bandura and Walter bobo doll
Conducted a variation of the Bobo Doll study
⚫ Rather than the children watching an adult being aggressive towards the Bobo Doll in the room, they watched this on a video instead
⚫ At the end of each clip, ppts were shown the adult being either praised or punished for their actions
⚫ Results showed that ppts only imitated the model’s behaviour when they were praised, but not when they were punished
Mediational process
Attention
Retention
Motor reproduction
Motivation
Describe each stage of the motor process
Attention - the extent to which we notice certain behaviour
Retention - How well the behaviour is remembered
Motor reproduction - the ability of the observer to perform the behaviour
Motivation - The will to perform the behaviour –depending on whether the behaviour was rewarded/punished
One weakness of SLT
⚫ SLT fails to take any biological factors into account when explaining behaviour
⚫ It only uses the environment, along with mental processes in its explanation
⚫ So what though? Is there any reason to suggest that they should have taken biological factors into account? (think back to Bandura’s study)
⚫ Bandura’s findings (boys showing more physical aggression than girls) are best explained with biology e.g. higher testosterone levels
Two strengths of SLT
One strength of SLT is that it can explain individual differences (when people in similar situations respond/behave differently towards the same stimulus
⚫ The mediational processes – they suggest that we evaluate situations cognitively before responding to them
-recognises that every human has different mental processes and sees human as more complex
Less determinism ⚫ Determinism: when behaviour is caused by any internal or external factors (the opposite of free will) ⚫ SLT is deterministic because like the behaviourist approach, it says all behaviour is learned from the environment ⚫ However, it includes cognitive factors (mediational processes) which suggests that we have some choice over our behaviour.
What are the key assumptions of the cognitive approach
Internal mental processes direct and shape our behaviour
⚫ Mental processes are studied indirectly by making
inferences on the basis of their behaviour
⚫ Individuals use schema to help interpret incoming
information quickly
⚫ The mind works in the same way as a computer – computer and theoretical models are used to explain human mental processes
Define internal mental processes
Private operations of the mind that mediate between stimulus and response
E.g attention
Perception and memory
What is inference
Inference
The method whereby cognitive psychologists draw conclusions about the way mental processes operate on the basis of observed behaviour
What are theoretical models
Theoretical models are used to illustrate specific mental processes (e.g. memory)
Examples from memory
⚫ Working memory model – infers that we process different types
of information in different stores in the brain
What is a schema
A mental framework of beliefs and expectations that influence cognitive processing. They are developed from experience.
