Approaches Flashcards
(115 cards)
1
Q
Which approach did Wundt work into?
A
Cognitive approach
2
Q
Who first opened an institute for experimental psychology?
A
Wilhelm Wundt at the university of Leipzig Germany in 1879.
3
Q
What did Wundt believe about the consciousness?
A
That it could be broken down into its basic elements without sacrificing properties of the whole. (reductionism)
4
Q
What is meant by introspection?
A
An experimental approach which involves training people to carefully and as objectively as possible to analyse the content of their own thoughts.
5
Q
How did Wundt use introspection?
A
Used highly trained observers as participants who were presented with carefully controlled sensory events by using a standard stimulus and then asked to report or their sensations.
6
Q
What did Wundt believe made up the human mind?
A
He believed there were 2 key components which made up the human mind sensations and feelings.
7
Q
How is introspection beneficial for the person as a method of research?
A
Introspection can be a great source of personal knowledge. By spending time focused upon the inner working of your thoughts people come to better understand what they are feeling or the actions they wish to take.
8
Q
What is a benefit of the use of introspection as a method of research?
A
The process provides knowledge that is not possible in any other way. Put simply if you want to know for sure how someone is feeling or what they are thinking, you need to ask them.
9
Q
Why when using the method of introspection is the reliability questioned?
A
When observing the self people will often not be reliable in responses. As shown in Wundt’s findings even the most highly trained observers were not consistent in their responses.
10
Q
What is a problem with the use of introspection as a method of research?
A
Its impossible to do with both children and animals.
11
Q
Which other approaches reject Wundt’s methodology?
A
Psychodynamic - Says the thoughts which are truly significant are in the unconscious mind.
Behaviourists - Works on behaviour which is directly observable which is impossible when observing the self.
12
Q
What approach did Freud follow?
A
Psychodynamic approach
13
Q
What did Freud split the mind into?
A
Conscious and subconscious mind
14
Q
What does the subconscious mind broken down into?
A
Id
Ego
Super ego
15
Q
What is meant by the Id?
A
Wants and desires which we are born with ie food, water etc.
16
Q
What is meant by the ego?
A
What manages the demands of the Id whilst looking at the requirements of the super ego. Usually develops between 2 and 3 years during the anal stage.
17
Q
What is meant by the super ego?
A
The sense of morality of what is right and wrong which usually develops between 3 - 6 years in the phallic stage.
18
Q
What is Freuds theory of development?
A
Psychosexual theory of development which states that development is fuelled by sexual drives.
19
Q
What stages did Freud identify during development?
A
Oral 0 - 2 years
Anal 2 - 3 years
Phallic 3 - 7 years
Latency 7 - 11 years
Genital 11+ years
20
Q
What did Freud say happens in the oral stage of development?
A
Infant achieves gratification through oral activities such as feeding, thumb sucking and dummies.
21
Q
What did Freud say happens in the anal stage of development?
A
Child learns to respond to some of the demands of society (such as bowel and bladder control).
22
Q
What did Freud say happens in the phallic stage of development?
A
Child learns to realise the difference between males and females and becomes aware of sexuality.
23
Q
What did Freud say happens in the latency stage of development?
A
The child continues to develop but sexual urges are relatively quiet.
24
Q
What did Freud say happens in the genital stage of development?
A
Growing adolescent shakes off old dependencies and learns to deal maturely with the opposite sex.
25
What is a supporting case study of the psychosexual stages of development?
Little Hans - a 5 year old boy with a phobia of horses.
26
What was Freuds primary aim for Little Hans?
To treat his phobia of horses.
27
What did Freud say is the reason phobias develop?
Unconscious impulses or thoughts that cause conflict between the three parts of the human personality or psyche: the id, superego, and ego.
28
What happened when Littles Hans mother threatened to cut off his penis?
His fear of horses worsened and he became reluctant to go outside in case he met a horse.
29
When does the Oedipus or Ellectra complex develop?
In the phallic stage.
30
What happens in the Oedipus complex?
Desire to possess their mother sexually but realise that their father possess her if he find out the will cut off their penis. Their fear of this ( castration anxiety) means that they have to de clever in order to avoid this. Realising that their mother desires the father they start to copy the father in order to gain their mothers affection while avoiding their father punishment by being seen as similar to them. Over time boy will take on the father’s gender and morality (develop their super ego), causing them to realise that they cannot possess mother in that way and so to resolve the complex
31
What happens in the Electra complex?
Girls see the penis as a symbol of power and status, however having no penis, they believe that they have already been castrated. As such they desire to control a penis, this is called penis envy. They fixate upon their fathers as the closest penis they can possess and control. They realise however that their mother possess their father’s penis and fear that they will be thrown out if their mother realises their desires. To overcome she acts like her mother to in order to avoid mother’s anger and to gain fathers affection. Over time she will take on her mother gender identity and morality, realise that it is wrong to want her father in that way and resolve the complex.
32
What are the defence mechanisms identified by the psychodynamic?
Repression
Denial
Projection
Displacement
Regression
Sublimation
33
What is meant by repression in the psychodynamic defence mechanisms?
An unconscious mechanism employed by the ego to keep disturbing or threatening thoughts from becoming conscious ones.
34
What is meant by denial in the psychodynamic defence mechanisms?
Blocking external events from awareness. If some situation is too much to handle the person refuses to. I.e. smokers refusing to admit smoking is bad for health.
35
What is meant by displacement in the psychodynamic defence mechanisms?
Satisfying an impulse (e.g. aggression) with a substitute object. Someone being frustrated by a boss and then going home and kicking a dog.
36
Which therapy does the psychodynamic approach use?
Psychoanalytic therapy (e.g. dream analysis) which works on the idea you cant access the subconscious mind easily, yet its where the issue is.
37
What is a support for the psychodynamic approach?
Freud’s theories have been applied to many areas, and offer explanations for almost all areas of human experience. Its focus upon our childhood as a time which shapes us as people was revolutionary.
38
What is a weakness of the psychodynamic approach?
The theory is unfalsifiable – we cant prove it correct or incorrect and must believe in it. Belief have no place in a scientific discipline and as such the approach undermines the standing of psychology as a science.
39
What are some of the key assumptions learning theory takes?
The only thing worth studying is things which are directly observable.
We are born with a blank slate therefore everything is learnt through direct experiences
There are 2 ways which we learn threw operant and classical conditioning.
40
What did Pavlov develop a theory into?
Classical conditioning - Learning through forming associations which can cause people to give irrational responses to stimulus.
41
What did Skinner develop a theory into?
Operant conditioning - Learning through reinforcement of receiving comfort when a persons shows distress to a stimulus.
42
What is meant by token economy?
A system in which targeted behaviours are reinforced with tokens (secondary reinforcers) and later exchanged for rewards (primary reinforces).
43
Why does token economy work in institutions?
The patient learns how to achieve the reward quickly and so start to seek the reward showing rapid improvement ie weight gain or self grooming.
44
Why does token economy not work outside of institutions?
Because the patient can become over reliant on the tokens, making it difficult for them to adjust to society once they leave the institution, as theirs no one to operate the system for them.
45
What is a support for the behaviourists?
Many theories can be applied to real life ie token economy, phobia treatments or aversion therapy.
46
Why does the behaviourist approach not allow for free will?
They say all actions are governed by the situation we are currently in and our past learning.
47
What is a criticism of the behaviourist approach?
Its overly mechanical as it does not consider the thought processes just the actions of a person. Therefore they have no idea what the person is truly thinking/feeling.
48
What is aversion therapy used for?
Treating people with problems of addiction.
49
Why does aversion therapy work?
Causing the person to break positive association they have the performing the addiction based action.
50
What approach did Albert Bandura conduct work into?
Social learning theory - Bobo doll study
51
What did suggest is the reason we learn?
We learn through indirect experiences as well as directly, this is done by watching others and seeing what happens to them.
52
What is meant by role models?
People we identify with (seem similar to us) and we often look to them to see how we act.
53
What is meant by vicarious reinforcement?
When we look at role models performing an action, if they are rewarded for it we are vicarious reinforced. Therefore they have modelled a behaviour for us to copy.
54
What are the 4 mediational processes?
Attention
Retention
Motor reproduction
Motivation
55
What is meant by attention in social learning theory?
If the person noticed another being punished/rewarded for a behaviour.
56
What is meant by retention in social learning theory?
Whether the person remembers the action by the time they are in a similar situation.
57
What is meant by motor reproduction in social learning theory?
Whether the person is physically able to perform the action.
58
What is meant by motivation in social learning theory?
Whether the consequence of an action is seen to be a reward or punishment for the person.
59
Where does social learning theory approach begin to acknowledge cognitive factors?
Because it focusses on how cognitive factors effect a persons learning such as many of the mediational processes are cognitively based
60
What is a strength of social learning theory approach?
Can explain the difference across cultures as people are consistently learning from those people around them. ie the Kung sang! are a desert tribe whom have no violence in there community.
61
What is a criticism of social learning theory approach?
Fails to take into account biological factors such as hormones.
62
What was the aim of Banduras Bobo doll study?
To discover if aggression was being caused by observations.
63
What was the design of Banduras Bobo doll study?
Independent measure laboratory experiment
64
What was the procedure of Banduras Bobo doll study?
72 children split into 3 groups of 24. All of them watched a video of an adult playing with a bobo doll where they punched and kicked the doll.
65
What were the conditions of Banduras Bobo doll study?
Children saw the model being rewarded for the way they played with the doll.
Children saw an adult telling off the model for how they played with the doll.
Model was neither punished nor rewarded for the play.
66
What were the key findings in the bobo doll study?
Children who observed the aggressive model made far more imitative aggressive responses than those who were in the non-reward or control groups.
67
What was found about the genders of participants in the bobo dol study?
The girls in the aggressive model condition also showed more physical aggressive responses if the model was male, but more verbal aggressive responses if the model was female. However, the exception to this general pattern was the observation of how often they punched Bobo, and in this case the effects of gender were reversed.
68
What is a criticism of the bobo doll study?
Ethical issues as one of the boys said 'look Mommy, there's the doll we have to hit it'. This shows the participants could've suffered lasting effects.
69
What is a support of the bobo doll study?
They used standardised procedures. Therefore allows replicability which it was however there was some slight changes.
70
What is a criticising study of the bobo doll study?
Cumberbatch - Children who had not played with the doll were 5 times more likely to imitate the aggressive behaviour than those who were familiar to it.
71
What does the cognitive approach base its ideas on?
The thought based approach which works with internal mental processes.
72
What does the cognitive approach say causes our behaviour to occur?
Internal mental processes - our thought processes
73
How does the cognitive approach conduct its research?
By devising experiments to show us what is happening or by asking people what they are thinking. Both of which requires us to make inferences based on what we observe.
74
What is meant by cognitive neuroscience?
The idea that the mental processes which have been identified by the cognitive approach must reside some where within the brain.
75
How is cognitive neuroscience conducted?
Through the use of (fMRI) and PET scans on the brain we have been able to map the levels of activity in different areas of the brain. Thereby allowing us to work out where though processes are actually located.
76
What is a criticism of the cognitive approach?
Machine reductionism - We are reducing people to the level of fairly limited machine processes, losing the importance of emotion and motivation on human actions. This is shown in WMM and MSM of memory.
77
Why does the cognitive approach have real life application?
Its development has lead to many beneficial treatments such as CBT.
78
What is a support for the cognitive approach?
Often uses laboratory experiments for research, therefore its scientifically credible and means it normally has strong reliability.
79
What are the explanations does the biological approach contain?
Genetic basis of behaviour
Nervous and Endocrine system
Neurons and Synaptic transmission
80
What does the biological approach say is the reason for behaviour occurring?
Thoughts and behaviours occur due to the biological structures within us.
81
What are the methods for study of the effect of genes on behaviour?
Animal experiments
Twin studies
Family studies
Adoption studies
82
How can animal experiments be used to test the effects of genes on behaviour?
Using animal experiments to alter the genetic codes of lower order animals to see how it effects the animals behaviour.
83
How can twin studies be used to test the effects of genes on behaviour?
By looking at monozygotic and dizygotic twins to see if one has a certain behaviour or trait that the other does too.
84
How can family studies be used to test the effects of genes on behaviour?
By looking at families to see if one parent or both has a certain behaviour or trait that the children do as well.
85
How can adoption studies be used to test the effects of genes on behaviour?
By looking at children whom have been raised away from their family to see if they have a certain behaviour or trait that the biological parent does.
86
What is meant by genotype?
Refers to a persons actual genetic make up, it guides how the are made i.e. It is the reason why identical twins look the same when born, and respond to things like stress in the same way.
87
What is meant by phenotype?
Refers to how our genes are expressed ,our physical, psychological & behavioural characteristics. i.e. two identical twins may look different as they age as one smokes, causing premature ageing of the skin while the other does not.
88
What is a support of the biological approach?
Has real life application in he form of drug treatments
89
Where does the biological approach sit with the free will vs determinists?
Hard biological determinist as it states all our actions are out of our control.
90
What are the 2 systems in the brain?
Nervous system
Endocrine system
91
How does the nervous system pass information around the body?
By using electrical impulses and information received from our senses. This is the faster acting but only works for a short time.
92
How does the endocrine system pass information around the body?
By using hormones to control our body systems. Its slower in acting but lasts for longer.
93
What are the sub systems of the nervous system?
Central nervous system
Peripheral nervous system
94
What does the central nervous system consist of?
Brain - Provides conscious awareness
Spinal cord - Responsible for more basic functions such as reactions or regulating breathing
95
What is the peripheral nervous system broken down into?
Autonomic nervous system
Somatic nervous system
96
What does the autonomic nervous system do?
Governs the vital functions in the body such as heart rate breathing and digestion.
97
What does the somatic nervous system do?
Controls muscle movement and receives information from receptors.
98
What is the purpose of the central nervous system?
Receive, process and respond to sensory information
99
What is the purpose of the peripheral nervous system?
Feeds information into your brain from most of your senses.
100
Name a hormone?
Insulin
Melatonin
Thyroxine
Oestrogen
101
Where is thyroxine made and what does it do?
Thyroid gland - Plays a vital role in regulating digestion, heart and muscle function.
102
What types of neurone are there?
Sensory neurone
Relay neurone
Motor neurone
103
What is meant by incongruence?
Having beliefs about ourselves which are inaccurate in some way.
104
Where does the humanist sit with the free will determinist debate?
Free will - That we are all free to develop into unique individuals, therefore cannot predict behaviour as everyone is different.
105
What was Maslows theory?
Hierarchy of needs and everyone is striving to achieve self actualisation.
106
What are the motivational needs on the hierarchy of needs (in order)?
1. Self actualisation
2. Esteem needs
3. Belongingness and love needs
4. Safety needs
5. Physiological needs
107
What is meant by self actualisation?
When you becomes the best that you can be and are completely satisfied as a person.
108
What is meant by self esteem?
Refers to you level in confidence you have in your self to achieve and progress. Lower self esteem is firmly link to anxiety and depression.
109
What is meant by self concept?
How you see yourself currently
110
What is meant by unconditional positive regard?
Positive respect given to you no matter what happens and is very important in increasing your self esteem.
111
What therapies come from the humanist approach?
Client centred therapy
112
What is the idea behind client centred therapy?
To get the client to move towards self actualisation.
113
How does client centred therapy work?
To support the client with unconditional positive regard and increase their self esteem.
114
What is a benefit of the humanist approach?
Gives power back to people, saying they can effect there own future and can drive forward their life if they choose to do so.
115
What is a problem with the humanist approach?
Many ideas which are central to humanistic psychology, such as individual freedom, autonomy and personal growth are much more readily associated with individualistic cultures. This is because that's where they are developed.
