Approaches in Psychology Flashcards
Psychology Paper 2 (109 cards)
1
Q
what is a paradigm?
A
it consists of basic assumptions, ways of thinking and methods of study that are commonly accepted by members of a discipline or group.
2
Q
what is a paradigm shift?
A
it is an important change in the basic concepts and experimental practices of a scientific discipline (a change from one way of thinking to another).
3
Q
what is objectivity?
A
it is not being influenced by personal opinions: being free from bias, based on facts (more scientific).
4
Q
what is subjectivity?
A
it is not influenced by facts: based on opinions and could be biased.
5
Q
who is wilhelm wundt and why is he considered the father of psychology?
A
he set up the first psychology lab in germany, 1879, he made psychology more of a science and he focused on studying the mind.
6
Q
what did wundt emphasise?
A
the importance of using objective and controlled methods of investigating the mind and mentality.
7
Q
what is wundt’s approach to studying behaviour?
A
he came up with the idea of structuralism, this is using experimetnal methods to find structures of thoughts.
8
Q
what is introspection?
A
it is observing and examining your own conscious thoyghts and emotions (“looking into”).
9
Q
what are the strengths of wundt’s methods and introspection?
A
they were systematic and well-controlled, which ensured that any possible extraneous variables were not a factor and his procedures were carefully standardised so that all participants were treated equally, this suggests that his research can be considered as a ‘lead’ to later scientific approaches e.g. the behaviourist approach.
10
Q
what are the issues of wundt’s methods and introspection?
A
introspection does not explain how the mind actually works, it simply relies on people’s subjective thoughts, therefore not objective/scientific and it does not provide data that can be used with certain reliability - thoughts and feelings are constantly changing.
11
Q
what is wundt’s role in the emergence of psychology as a science?
A
psychology began as a branch of philosophy, until 1879 when wundt opened the first psychology lab and showed that objective methods can be used to investigate the mind; this enabled him to separate psychology from philosophy through the use of structuralism and the scientific methods that he used allowed for data to be gathered objectively with no bias to gain accurate results.
12
Q
how was wundt’s role in the emergence of psychology as a science effective?
A
- psychology began as a branch of philosophy, until 1879 when wundt opened the first psychology lab and showed that objective methods can be used to investigate the mind.
- he separated psychology from philosophy through the use of structuralism.
- he encouraged others to look for more effective ways of studying the mind.
he paved the way for other approaches.
13
Q
what are the key assumptions of the behaviourist approach?
A
- the belief that all behaviour is learnt.
- only interested in behaviour that can be observed.
- rely on lab experiments and study behaviour under controlled conditions.
- research conducted on animals.
14
Q
what is classical conditioning?
A
learning through association.
15
Q
what did pavlov do in his study?
A
he investigated the salivary reflex of dogs and showed how they can be conditioned to associate the sound of a bell with food.
16
Q
what did pavlov find in his study?
A
he found that when a neutral stimulus (NS) is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS), then the NS becomes the conditioned stimulus (CS) with a conditioned response (CR).
before conditioning:
UCS (food) -> UCR (salivation)
NS (bell) -> NR (no response)
during conditioning:
UCS (food+bell) -> UCR (salivation)
after conditioning:
CS (bell) -> CR (salivation)
17
Q
what did watson do in his study?
A
he conducted the ‘little albert’ experiment where he explored classical conditioning using a month old boy showing how classical conditioning plays a central role in developing fears in human beings.
18
Q
what did watson find in his study?
A
he found that the baby had no reaction to the rat at first, but when the rat was associated with the loud noise, he began to show fear in response to the rat, even without the noise.
before conditioning:
NS (rat) -> NR (no fear)
UCS (loud noise) -> UCR (fear)
during conditioning:
NS+UCS (rat+loud noise) -> UCR (fear)
after conditioning:
CS (rat) -> CR (fear)
19
Q
what is operant conditioning?
A
learning through reinforcement.
20
Q
what are the 3 types of operant conditioning?
A
positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement and punishment.
21
Q
what is positive reinforcement?
A
receiving a reward for a behaviour makes it more likely that the behaviour will be repeated.
22
Q
what is negative reinforcement?
A
where behaviour leads to the removal of something unpleasant, this increases the likelihood of behaviour being repeated.
23
Q
what is punishment?
A
a negative consequence of behaviour, this decreases the chance of behaviour being repeated.
24
Q
what did skinner do in his study?
A
he showed how reinforcement works in a controlled environment with rats: he placed rats in a skinner box (each had a variety of different stimuli - speaker, electric floor, food dispenser connected to lever) and he recorded the time that the rats took to press the lever.
25
what did skinner find in his study?
he found:
- positive reinforcement: rats pressed down on a lever to receive food and learnt to repeat this behaviour to gain more rewards.
- negative reinforcement: rats learnt to press down on the level to avoid unpleasant consequences of an electric shock.
26
what are the strenghts of the behaviourist approach?
there is research support, pavlov (dogs), skinner (rats), watson (little albert), they each show that behaviour can be learnt therefore supporting the approach.
the use of experimental methods (lab experiment), controlled conditions with basic stimulus, response units etc means other extraneous variables can be removed allowing cause-and-effect which adds scientific credibility, however the use of animal research cannot be generalised due to the complexity of human behaviour.
there is real-world application, application to schools e.g. detentions, reward charts, point systems which makes the approach useful (operant conditioning).
there is application to prisons and psychiatric wards, operant conditioning is the basis of token economy systems by rewarding appropriate behaviour with tokens that can be exchanged for privileges which increases value of behaviourist approach.
27
what is a weakness of the behaviourist approach?
the approach is only interested in studying behaviour that is observed so mental processes / aspects of the mind (subconscious) is not considered; only interested in the environment of people - how they behave and why.
28
what are the key assumptions of the social learning theory?
- human behaviour is learnt through experiences.
- focuses on how people learn - observational learning and modelling (imitating a model/ acting as a model).
- involves: identification, imitation, reinforcement.
- mediation processes (cognitive factors) play an important role in observational learning.
- learning can occur indirectly through vicarious reinforcement.
- most research is conducted using lab experiments.
29
what is imitation?
copying the behaviour of others.
30
what is identification?
when a learner associates themselves with the model and wishes to be like them.
31
what is modelling?
when a learner copies the behaviour of a model or the behaviours a role model performs are copied by a learner.
32
what are mediational processes?
they are internal mental processes that lie between stimulus and response, involved in learning (cognitive factors).
33
what are the four mediational processes?
attention, retention, reproduction and motivation.
34
what is attention?
the extent to which a learner notices the model's behaviour.
35
what is retention?
how well the behaviour is remembered.
36
what is reproduction?
the learner's ability to imitate the model's behaviour?
37
what is motivation?
the will to perform the behaviour (rewarded/ punished).
38
what is vicarious reinforcement?
indirect learning (observing behaviour) leads to imitation if the behaviour is rewarded rather than punished and vicarious reinforcement occurs.
39
who conducted the bobo doll experiment and when?
bandura et al, 1961
40
what was bandura et al's aim of their study?
to find out if social behaviours can be acquired by observation and imitation.
41
what did bandura et al do in their study?
he recorded the behaviour of 72 young children who watched behaviours of a role model and divided them into 3 groups; group 1 = aggressive role model, group 2 = non-aggressive role model, group 3 = no model and the children were later observed playing with various toys and assessed on their physical and verbal aggression and number of times using a mallet.
42
what did bandura et al find in their study?
- children who observed the aggressive model displayed both imitative and non-imitative aggression.
- identification occurred, children were more likely to copy behaviour of the same sex models (stronger for boys).
- girls = more physical aggression with male models, more verbal aggression with female models.
- boys = more physical aggression
- boys & girls = verbal aggression
43
what did bandura et al conclude in their study?
children can learn from the observation of adult models which suggests that learning can occur without reinforcement and that identification encourages imitation.
44
did bandura conduct a second experiment, if so when?
bandura and walters, 1963
45
what did bandura and walters do in their study?
they showed videos to children where an adult behaved aggressively towards a bobo doll and the children were split into 3 groups; group 1 = adult was praised, group 2 = adult was punished, group 3 = control group (no consequence), they then observed the children's behaviour towards the bobo doll.
46
what bandura and walters find and conclude in their study?
they found that group 1 showed more aggression, followed by group 3 then group 2 and in this study, bandura illustrates vicarious reinforcement where children who had seen praised aggression were more likely to imitate the aggression than the control group and group 2.
47
what are the strengths of the social learning theory?
there is research support, bandura's studies consistently found that when children observed aggression, imitation and identification occurred, his first study illustrates concepts of observational learning e.g. identification and imitation and his second study illustrates vicarious reinforcement.
there is real-world application, the SLT can explain cultural differences in behaviour and SLT principles can account for how children learn from external factors e.g. the media and this can explain how cultural norms are transmitted through particular societies, the SLT is also applied to the legal system, parenting, education which highlights the importance of role models and this increases the value of the approach and makes it generalisable and culturally relative.
it has a more comprehensive account of learning than the behaviourist approach as it recognises cognitive factors (mediational processes) and from observing behaviour, individuals can form ideas of how new behaviour is and this coded information serves as a guide to behave.
48
what are the weaknesses of the social learning theory?
the use of lab studies means the participants may respond to demand characteristics e.g. bandura's research as children may know that they are in a study and change their behaviour and the bobo doll was designed to be hit so children behave in a way that they expect which suggests that the SLT may not be able to explain how children learn in real life.
it ignores biology, bandura does not explain why boys were more aggressive (could be due to high levels of testosterone) and he only explained learning through environmental factors, recent research suggests that observational learning may be the result of mirror neurons in the brain which allows us to emphasise with and imitate other people.
49
what are the key assumptions of the cognitive approach?
- the mind actively process information from our senses (touch, taste etc).
- interested in internal processes of the mind e.g. memory, language, thinking, attention, perception etc.
- believes the working of the human mind and a computer are alike - they encode and store information, and they have outputs.
- they argue that between stimulus and responses are important mental processes that can only be investigated scientifically, but because we can't see them we have to study them indirectly - by studying behaviour and making inferences - when psychologists make assumptions about mental processes that cannot be directly observed.
50
what are theoretical and computer models and how are they used?
theoretical: suggests that the mind works in a systematic way.
computer: suggests that the mind works in a computer-like way by turning information into a format that can be stored - inputs and outputs.
they are used to attempt to explain and infer information about mental processes.
the information processing model:
INPUTS (senses) -> MENTAL PROCESSES -> OUTPUTS (behaviour)
51
what is the role of schema?
schemas are units of information that we use to help us understand the world, they develop from experience, form our beliefs and expectations of the world, they also allow us to process information quickly: a short-cut so we are not overwhelmed but they can lead to perceptual errors, they alter our mental processing of incoming information.
52
what is the emergence of cognitive neuroscience?
it involved linking brain structures to mental processes and this field became prevalent over the second half of the 20th century, incorporating neuroscience techniques e.g. brain scanning to study impact of brain structures on cognitive processes.
53
what are the strengths of the cognitive approach?
research support:
use of objective, scientific methods - lab studies to produce valid, objective data and the emergence of cognitive neuroscience has enabled fields of biology and cognitive neuroscience to enhance scientific basis of studies.
support from studies in memory topic e.g. baddeley's experiment.
(counterpoint) - studies of mental processes are often carried out using artificial stimuli so may not represent everyday experience and may lack external validity.
application:
applied to wide range of practical and theoretical contexts e.g. treatments of depression (CBT)
used in many memory studies which has impacted the real world, this shows how the approach is useful and can make a difference to the real world.
54
what are the weaknesses of the cognitive approach?
it is based on machine reductionism - influence of human emotions and motivation on the cognitive system is ignored which may affect human's ability to process information e.g. human memory affected by emotional factors, suggests machine reductionism weakens validity of approach.
55
what are the key assumptions of the biological approach?
- everything psychological is first biological
- it explains behaviour in terms of different biological processes including genes, hormones, neurotransmitters etc.
- believes that brain physiology and biochemical imbalance can affect behaviour, also that behaviour can be inherited.
- uses highly objective and scientific methods to investigate these areas e.g. lab experiments, brain scans etc.
56
what is the concept of evolution?
all animals and plants evolve, the theory of natural selection = any genetically determined behaviour that enhances an individual's survival (and reproduction) will continue in future generations.
'selection' takes place naturally - occurs due to some traits giving advantages to possessor and are more likely to survive, reproduce and pass on the traits; no reproduction = traits not remaining in the gene pool (for generations)
57
what is the concept of genetics?
psychological characteristics inherited same as biological characteristics e.g. height.
twin studies are used to investigate whether certain psychological characteristics have a genetic basis, by analysing concordance rates (the extent to which twins share the same characteristics) - more likely for MZ (monozygotic) twins to have high CR than DZ (dizygotic) twins.
58
what is the phenotype and genotype?
phenotype = what you see; characteristics determind by genes & environment
- expression of a genotype and influenced by environmental factors
genotype = raw DNA (not traits)
- a unique set of genes that a person has, which are fixed at conception and provides instructions for how the body grows and develops.
PKU = rare genetic condition, unable to break down amino acid phenylalanine which builds up and causes brain damage, if child is diagnosed (heel prick test at birth) they are places on low protein diet for 12 years to help
- PKU is genetic (genotype) but prevented due to environment (phenotype)
59
what is the influence of biological structures and neurochemistry?
biological psychologists interested in brain structure and neurochemistry to explain behaviour:
- brain structure = different parts of the brain have certain functions and work together to influence how we act.
- neurochemistry = certain neurotransmitters influence our feelings and behaviour.
- nervous system = transmits signals to and from the brain to control actions
- endocrine system = releases hormones which affects psychological responses
60
what are the strengths of the biological approach?
real-world application:
treatments have been developed based on this approach e.g. SSRIs for depression, OCD and other disorders, brain surgery to remove parts causing symptoms, discovery of impact of brain tumours on behaviour.
counterpoint - if genes are found to cause certain behaviours, this creates issue for the legal system in holding people responsible for their behaviour
research support:
use of scientific and exeprimental methods (gathering observable evidence) which makes approach scientific - increases validity, scanning research techniques are useful for investigating functions of the brain.
61
what are the weaknesses of the biological approach?
reductionism = does not account for wide base of evidence that points to influence of environment e.g. culture and society.
(COUNTERPOINT) isolating specific cases of behaviours can be very useful in identifying treatments or understanding problematic behaviours.
deterministic = sees human behaviour as governed by internet genetic causes over which we have no control
counterpoint - an individual's genotype is heavily influenced by the environment.
62
what are the key assumptions of the psychodynamic approach?
- our behaviour and feelings are powerfully affected by unconscious motives.
- our behaviour and feelings as adults (including psychological problems) are rooted in our childhood experiences, events that occur in childhood can remain in the unconscious and cause problems as adults.
- all behaviour has a cause (usually unconscious), therefore all behaviour is determined - psychic determinism (by unconscious factors that we have no control over).
63
what is the role of the unconscious?
freud suggested that the conscious mind can be seen as the 'tip of the iceberg' and it is the most important as we are unaware of it.
64
what is the unconscious mind made up of and what does it do?
it is made up of instincts and drives that has a significant influence on behaviour and personality so the unconscious mind is the driving force and it protects the conscious from anxiety, trauma etc. through repression (some thoughts are locked away or forgotten and can be accessed through dreams, hallucinations etc.).
65
what is under the conscious mind and what does it have?
the preconscious mind which contains thoughts and memories that can be accessed if desired.
66
what did freud describe personality as?
tripartite, containing 3 parts.
67
what are the 3 parts of personality?
the id, ego and super-ego.
68
what is the id?
operates on the pleasure principle, id gets what it wants and is based on the instinctive drive, present from birth.
69
what is the ego?
operates on the reality principle, it acts as a mediator between the id and super-ego and this is to reduce conflict within our minds by using defence mechanisms.
70
what is the super-ego?
based on the morality principle, it is part of the phallic stage (5 years old) internalised sense of right and wrong and represents moral standards of same sex parents and punishes the ego if wrong (guilt).
71
what are defence mechanisms?
unconscious strategies that the ego uses to manage conflict between the id and the superego, these include repression, denial and displacement.
72
what is repression?
forces a distressed memory out of the conscious mind.
72
what is denial?
refusing to acknowledge some part of reality.
73
what is displacement?
transferring feelings from the source of distressing emotion onto a substitute target.
74
why did freud come up with the psychosexual stages?
he claimed child development occurred in 5 stages where each involves a different conflict and must be resolved to move onto the next stage, unresolved conflicts can lead to 'fixation' - psychic determinism.
75
what are the 5 psychosexual stages?
oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital.
76
what is the oral stage?
(0-1 years)
the focus of pleasure is the mouth, unresolved conflict is oral fixation e.g. smoking, biting nails.
77
what is the anal stage?
(1-3 years)
the focus of pleasure is the anus, unresolved conflict is anal retentive (perfectionist, obsessive) or anal expulsive (thoughtless, messy).
78
what is the phallic stage?
(3-5 years)
the focus of pleasure is genitals (oedipus for boys, electra for girls), unresolved conflict is phallic personality - narcissistic.
79
what is the latency stage?
(6 years - puberty)
earlier conflicts are repressed.
80
what is the genital stage?
(puberty - adult)
sexual desires become conscious, unresolved conflict is having difficulties in relationships.
81
what are the strengths of the psychodynamic approach?
there is real-world application, a new form of therapy (psychoanalysis) has been introduced; techniques to access the unconscious and began 'talking therapies' (counselling) which shows value of the approach in creating effective treatment.
-> (counterpoint): however, it is not suitable for all mental disorders e.g. schizophrenia.
it is also applicable by explaining human behaviour, personality development, origins of psychological disorders, gender identity etc; also significant in connecting childhood experiences with later development which shows a positive impact on psychology.
82
what are the weaknesses of the psychodynamic approach?
all the research support is from case studies and clinical evidence which suggests freud's research lacks generalisability due to his sample not deemed as 'normal' and had struggles with acting in a 'normal' way - no use of controlled experiments so it is lacks scientific credibility.
it could be argued that freud's approach overemphasises childhood experiences as the source of abnormality (although modern psychodynamic theories give more recognition to adult problems).
83
what are the key assumptions of the humanistic approach?
- every human is unique and should be treated that way.
- everyone has a wish to fulfil their potential and are motivated to do so.
- emphasises free will vs what makes us behave the way we do.
- holistic approach - considers the whole person not just elements of them.
- behaviour is influences by how we feel about ourselves, linked to how others treat us.
- study the subjective experience = a person-centred approach, helping people choose what they want to be and fulfil own potential.
- rejects the scientific model and favours idiographic approach and free will.
84
what is maslow's hierarchy of needs?
he described this hierarchy of needs that motivate our behaviour, in order to achieve the primary goal of self-actualisation, a number of other deficiency needs must be met.
85
what are the goals on maslow's hierarchy of needs (in order from the top to the bottom of the triangle)?
self-actualisation, self-esteem, love and belongingness, safety and physiological needs.
86
what is self-actualisation?
the ultimate feeling of well-being and satisfaction - 'completeness'.
- basic needs must be met before self-actualisation can be achieved.
87
what is self-esteem?
confidence, achievement, respect of/by others.
88
what is love and belongingness?
friendship, family, sexual intimacy, relationships.
89
what is safety?
security of: body, employment, resources, morality, family, health, property.
90
what are physiological needs?
breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis, excretion.
91
what were maslow and rogers interested in?
the healthy personal growth of individuals.
92
what are the 3 'selves' that we need to achieve self-actualisation?
the self-concept, the ideal self and the real self.
93
what is the self-concept?
the way you see yourself (affected by self-esteem) i.e. in a positive/negative light.
94
what is the ideal self?
the self you wish to be.
95
what is the real self?
who you actually are (difficult to measure).
96
what is congruence?
when your 'selves' are the same as each other (necessary for self-actualisation but difficult to achieve); consistency between perceived and ideal self.
97
what is incongruent?
differences between perceived and ideal self which rogers believed could lead to psychological problems e.g. eating disorders, depression.
- to achieve congruence you need unconditional positive regard 9from family, friends, partners, therapist).
98
what are conditions of worth?
real or perceived requirements an individual believes they must have to be loved by others (conditional positive regard), therefore individuals do not experience unconditional positive regard - total acceptance received from another person meaning that self-actualisation is difficult to achieve and physiological issues may develop.
99
what did rogers believe?
feelings of worthlessness and low-self-esteem have their roots in childhood and can often be explained by a lack of unconditional positive regard.
100
what are the strengths of the humanistic approach?
it is not reductionist (breaking up behaviour into smaller components) meaning it considers meaningful human experiences that exist in the real-world suggesting that this approach may have more validity.
-> (counterpoint): however, there are few concepts that can be borken down to single variables and measured meaning it is less scientific, therefore less evidence to support and lacks credibility.
there is real-world application, revolutionised counselling psychology (used widely today) and maslow’s hierarchy is used in the workplace, meaning it is therefore useful.
-> (counterpoint): however, the impact on the real world is limited compared to other approaches.
101
what are the weaknesses of the humanistic approach?
it is culturally biased, the approach is based on individualistic, western ideals which means it does not apply universally to collectivist cultures where group needs are put first so in such countries, the ideals of humanistic psyhcology may not be as important as others e.g self-actualisation.
102
what views does the psychodynamic approach have on development?
it presents the most coherent theory of development, tying its concepts and processes to specific (psychosexual) stages that are determined by age.
- freud saw very little further development once a child enters the genital stage in the teen years.
103
what views does the cognitive approach have on development?
stage theories within the approach have contribued to the understanding of child development e.g. children form increasingly complex concepts (schema) as they get older.
104
what views does the biological approach have on development?
maturation is an important principle within the approach whereby genetically determined changes in a child's physiological status influence psychological and behavioural characteristics.
105
what views does the humanistic approach have on development?
they see the development of the self as ongoing throughout life, however childhood is a particularly important period and a child's relationships with their parents is important in terms of unconditional positive regard.
106
what views does the behaviourist approach and social learning theory have on development?
they do not offer coherent stage theories of development but instead see the processes that underpin learning as continuous, occurring at any age.
107
what views does the behaviourist approach and social learning theory have on the nature vs nurture debate?
they characterised babies as 'blank slates' at birth and suggest that all behaviour comes about through learned associations, reinforcement contingencies or (social learning theory) observation and imitation.
108
what views does the biological approach and social learning theory have on the nature vs nurture debate?
argues that behaviour is the result of a genetic blueprint that we inherit from our parents (genotype), though the way it is expressed is influence by the environment (phenotype).
