Approaches evaluation/ discussion

Question 1

Introspection is not particularly accurate

Answer 1

• Nisbett and Wilson (1977) claim that we have very little knowledge of the causes of, and processes underlying, our behaviour and attitudes.
• The problem was particularly acute in the study of implicit attitudes. Because such attitudes exist outside of conscious awareness, self reports through introspection would not uncover them.
• This challenges the value of introspective reports in exploring the roots of our behaviour

Question 2

Introspection is still useful in scientific psychology

Answer 2

• Csikszentmihalyi and Hunter (2003) used introspective methods as a way of making ‘happiness a measurable phenomenon’
• they gave teens a beeper that went off randomly throughout the day when they were then to write down their thoughts and feelings
• most results came back unhappy rather than happy
• Introspection therefore offers researchers a way of understanding more clearly the momentary conditions that affect happiness, and as such may help them to improve the quality of our lives

Question 3

Classical conditioning is only appropriate for some learning

Answer 3

• Because different species face different challenges to survive, some relationships between CS and UCS are more difficult to establish
• Seligman (1790) proposed the concept of preparedness to explain this
• Animals are prepared to learn associations that are significant in terms of their survival needs, yet unprepared to learn associations that are not significant in this respect (e.g. associating the sound of a bell with food)

Question 4

Social learning theory has useful applications

Answer 4

• Akers (1998) suggests that the probability of someone engaging in criminal behaviour increases when they are exposed to models who commit criminal behaviour

Question 5

Research support for identification