Approaches in psychology Flashcards
What is psychology known as?
The scientific study of the mind and behaviour
Name the 5 approaches in psychology?
Behavioural, cognitive, biological, psychodynamic and humanistic
What was William Wundt known as?
The farther of experimental psychology
In 1879 what did William Wundt do?
Opened the first institution for experimental psychology in Germany. He separated psychology from philosophy and focused on studying the mind in a more structures and scientific way
What method did Wundt develop?
Introspection
What is introspection?
Psychological method which involves analysing your own thoughts and feelings internally
Name 2 problems with introspection.
It doesn’t explain how the mind works, it relies on people describing their own thoughts and feelings, which isn’t objective and doesn’t provide data that can be used reliably
Wundt believed in reductionism, what is it?
Idea that things can be reduced to simple cause and effect processes
What are the 5 features that make something a science?
Objectivity, control, predictability, hypothesis testing and replication
What is one argument for psychology being a science?
Allport (1947) said psychology has the same aims as a science to predict, understand and control.
What is one argument against psychology being a science?
They use unreliable methods to study the data and it is hard to get a representative sample of the population for a study so findings can’t be generalised.
When did behaviourism start, and who developed it?
1900s by John Watson
What are the 3 assumptions made about behaviourism?
1)Nearly all behaviour is leant there’s only a couple of exceptions like inborn reflexes/instincts
2) Animals and humans learn in the same ways we learn by the same principles based on stimulus-response associations
3) The ‘mind’ is irrelevant
Who studies classical conditioning in dogs?
Ivan Pavlov (1900s)
Explain what Pavlov did.
Before conditioning: A certain stimulus like food is the UCS and triggers a natural reflex like salvation
During conditioning: UCS repeatedly presented with another stimulus like a bell (NS)which triggers salivation UCR
After conditioning: Overtime the bell presented by itself (CS) triggers salivation (CR)
How can Pavlov’s experiment be related to human development?
Having its needs dealt with and gaining comfort naturally makes a baby happy, but being happy is an inborn reflex its not learnt. Comfort is an UCS that produces happiness which is an UCR, the babies mother will talk to it while she feeds it and changes its nappy so the mothers voice becomes the CS producing the CR of being happy
What are the 5 principles of classical conditioning?
Generalisation, discrimination, extinction, spontaneous recovery and higher order conditioning
What is the key idea behind classical conditioning?
Learning through association
In CC what is generalisation?
When stimuli similar to the original CS produce the CR
In CC what is discrimination?
When stimuli similar to the original CS don’t produce the CR, this can be achieved by withholding the UCS when the similar stimulus is used
In CC what is extinction?
When the CR isn’t produces as a result of the CS, this happens when the CS is repeatedly presented without the UCS following it
In CC what is spontaneous recovery?
When a previously extinct CR is produced in response to the CS, this happens when the CS is presented again after a period of time during which its not been used
In CC what is higher order conditioning?
When a new CS produces the CR as the animal associates it with the original CS. This can be achieved by consistently presenting the new CS before the original CS
Who investigated operant conditioning?
B.F Skinner
What study is Skinner famous for?
Skinner box with the rats
What is the main idea behind operant conditioning?
Learning as a result of consequences of their actions
What is positive reinforcement?
When something ‘desirable’ is obtained in response to doing something (chocolate bar given to well behaved student)
What is negative reinforcement?
When something ‘undesirable’ is removed when something happens (no homework given if they pass the test)
Name 3 weaknesses of conditioning?
Conditioning can’t explain all human behaviour, most studies are done on animals making generalisation hard and genetics seem to influence and limit what different species can learn by conditioning
Who conducted the experiment on ‘Little Albert’ and in what year?
Watson and Rayner (1920)
Name 3 things that have been discovered through experiments on humans.
Our genes influence behaviour,
we can learn in ways other than conditioning and mental,
cognitive processes are relevant to understanding behaviour
Who developed the Social Learning Theory and when?
Bandura in 1960s
What does the SLT agree with?
The idea that people can learn by conditioning but also claims that they learn a lot from role models, people must focus their attention on the the role model, perceive what they do and remember it in order to learn how to do it
What is modelling?
Involves observing and imitating another person, it requires identification with the model where certain characteristics are picked up on
Name 2 ways the behaviours can be learnt (SLT)?
Reinforcement- positive or negative makes the behaviour more likely to happen in the future and Vicarious reinforcement
What is vicarious reinforcement?
Seeing others being rewarded for a behaviour influences someone in whether they choose to imitate the behaviour
Name the 4 meditational processes.
Attention, retention-remembering what was observed, motor reproduction, ability to reproduce the behaviour and motivation, evaluate the direct or indirect results of imitating the behaviour
What type of theory is SLT?
Reductionalist
What does it mean that SLT is reductionist?
Explains things through very basic cause and effect mechanisms, explaining behaviour as a result of learning from others and ignores any biological explanations
What were some of the main comments made about Bandura’s study into SLT?
That it shows reinforcements isn’t needed for learning, that bobo dolls are meant for aggressive plat and your meant to hit them and that it emphasises learning as the case of behaviour and so is on the nature side of the nature-nurture debate.
What is cognitive psychology?
How we interpret the world
What does the cognitive approach study?
Explains the mind through cognitive processes, which is all about how we think. It uses experimental procedures and methods to test behaviour
In the cognitive approach what can the mind be compared to?
A computer, humans are treated as information processors and the theoretical models are used to explain and make inferences about the mental processes that lead to certain behaviours