approaches and biopsych AS Flashcards
(139 cards)
Where is psychology thought to have originated from?
Wundt, Leipzig, Germany,1879
What did Wundt do?
opened a lab specific for psychology
studied the ‘structure’ of the mind
created introspection
How did Wundt study the structure of the mind?
by breaking down behaviors into different parts- called structuralism.
How was introspection developed?
by Wundt and his colleagues documenting and describing their own conscious thoughts
Strengths of Wundt’s approach
despite criticisms its still seen as useful
Griffiths studied gamblers and non gamblers inner thoughts and found gamblers have more irrational thoughts
weaknesses of Wundt’s approach
-criticized for relying on non observable responses, methods lacked reliability and introspection hasn’t been reliably reproduced
-method of introspection is highly subjective and varies for person to person resulting in unreliable data
-some suggest introspection isn’t accurate, little knowledge of underlying process
Why was Wundt’s work criticized?
because it wasn’t scientific and introspection varied from person to person and principals were hard to establish and explain behavior . Considered unreliable. Non observable variables that you can’t measure make it unreliable .
What methods did early psychologists use?
empirical methods
What are the two assumptions of empirical methods
all behavior is caused
it is possible to predict how humans will behave
Whats the scientific methods
objective- researchers aren’t affected by bias
systematic- observations are carried out in an orderly way and data is recorded accurately
replicable- results can be repeated
strengths of the emergence of psychology
+use of objective and systematic provide good scientific evidence, these methods use standardized procedures so are replicable
+psychologists are always repeating each others experiments so the theories are refined or abandoned- meaning its self correcting
weaknesses of the emergence of psychology
-ensuring objectivity and control in the research by using artificial situations means its harder to apply to a real life setting
-most subject matter in psychology is unobservable so cannot be measured accurately therefore it could not be considered scientific.
What is behaviourism
idea behaviour is conditioned and focuses on observable events only
who and when did classical conditioning studies
pavlov 1927
what is classical conditioning
learning through association
learned response become involuntary
a stimulus causes a response
what are the letters of classical conditioning
UCS-UCR
NS+UCS-UCR
CS-CR
what does extinction mean
the NS and the UCS are no longer paired and the CR disappears
what does spontaneous recovery mean
the reappearance of a previously extinguished conditioned response
what does stimulus generalization mean
a conditioned response is elicited when presented with a stimulus that is similar to the conditioned stimulus
strengths of classical conditioning
+can be applied to real life situations for systematic desensitization. Treating phobias by associating it with something good
+ Pavlov’s dogs support it, he trained dogs to salivate at a bell and at food.
weaknesses of classical conditioning
-deterministic, suggests all behavior is determined from past experiences and ignores free will
-reductionist, ignores biological explanations such as genetics. Also brain chemistry and hormonal imbalance. Explanation isn’t holistic and doesn’t take into account all factors
-doesn’t explain behavior when we haven’t had previous experiences. Could be linked to evolutionary theory where fears have developed to survival behaviour
who and when id operant conditioning studies
Skinner, 1940
what did skinner do
developed a chamber in which an animal could learn a specific response
found rats learn from trial and error and by pressing certain levers they would receive food but by pressing others they would get an electric shock
the rats learned that certain behaviors were learned through consequences
the behavior was reinforced when they rats got food or a shock.
what is a positive reinforcer
encourages a person to repeat a specific behavior by giving something positive
always positive effects