Approaches in Psychology

Question 1

what is the definition of psychology?

Answer 1

the scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those functions affecting behaviour in a given context

Question 2

what is the definition of science?

Answer 2

a means of acquiring knowledge through systematic and objective investigation. the aim is to discover general laws

Question 3

what is the definition of introspection

Answer 3

the first systematic experimental attempt to study the mind by breaking up conscious awareness into basic structures of thoughts, images and sensations.

Question 4

what is empiricism?

Answer 4

basing facts off of evidence

Question 5

what is Cartesian Dualism?

Answer 5

the belief that the mind and body are separate entities

Question 6

who is Wilhelm Wundt and how did he contribute to psychology being a science?

Answer 6

he is considered the ‘father of psychology’, as he opened the first psychology lab in Germany, and wrote the first book on psychology, applied scientific studies to the mind, used experimental processes.

Question 7

what was Wundt’s approach to psychology?

Answer 7

to study the structure of the human mind, by breaking down behaviours into their basic elements, hence his approach became known as structuralism

Question 8

what was Wundt’s objective in his study?

what did it become known as?

Answer 8

to document and describe the nature of human consciousness

introspection

Question 9

what were ppts asked to do in Wundt’s study? e.g.?

Answer 9

reflect on their own cognitive processes and describe them
e.g. listen to sounds (e.g. a metronome)

Question 10

why are some of Wundt’s methods recognised as scientific today?

Answer 10

• all the introspections were recorded in strictly controlled conditions using the stimulus every time
  -the same standardised instructions were given to all ppts (procedure could be repeated every time)

Question 11

why are Wundt’s methods also considered unscientific today?

Answer 11

data was mainly subjective (therefore hard to come up with general principles)

Question 12

who primarily developed the behavioural approach and why?

Answer 12

John B. Watson (1913) and later BF Skinner (1953)

Watson felt that scientific psychology should only study phenomena that could be observed and measured And therefore remove unscientific introspection

Question 13

what does the behaviourist approach focus on?

Answer 13

scientific processes in learning, alongside the use of carefully controlled lab experiments

Question 14

what did BF Skinner (1953) believe?

Answer 14

that human (and all conscious animal) behaviour is a predictable response to expected consequences - these come from experience

Question 15

In regard to the Learning Approach, what are the 2 most important parts of learning?

Answer 15

classical and operant conditioning

Question 16

what is the definition of behaviourism?

Answer 16

it is only interested in studying behaviour that can be observed and measured
-controlled studies
-believed all species behave in similar ways - animals were often substituted for humans in studies
-behaviourism includes classical and operant conditioning

Question 17

who was classical conditioning discovered by?

Answer 17

Ivan Pavlov - early 1900s

Question 18

What is the definition of classical conditioning?

Answer 18

A procedure where an animal or person learns to associate a reflex response with a new stimulus
i.e. learning through association

Question 19

What is the process of classical conditioning?

Answer 19

1. Before conditioning: unconditioned stimulus = unconditioned response
2. Before conditioning:
   neutral stimulus = no conditioned response
3. During conditioning: unconditioned stimulus + neutral stimulus = unconditioned response
4. After conditioning: conditioned stimulus = conditioned response

Question 20

What was Pavlov’s (real) example of classical conditioning?

Answer 20

1. Food presented to dog (UCS)&raquo_space; dog salivation (UCR)
2. Bell presented to dog (NS)&raquo_space; no dog salivation (UCR)
3. Bell + food presented to dog (NS + UCS)&raquo_space; dog salivation (UCR)
4. Bell presented alone to dog (CS)&raquo_space; dog salivation (CR)

Question 21

How did Pavlov explain classical conditioning?

Answer 21

-we are born with a few innate reflex behaviours to specific stimuli
-behaviour that develops on top is the result of a mental association
-we are conditioned to pair stimuli together
-when we have done so, we will respond in the same way to the conditioned stimulus as we would (innately) do to the conditioned one

Question 22

what does the ‘Little Albert’ case illustrate? (KS)

Answer 22

-that behaviours such as phobias are learned rather than innate
-that classical conditioning is a convincing explanation for how they are learned

Question 23

What was the procedure of the Little Albert experiment? (KS)

Answer 23

1. Bell hit (UCS)&raquo_space; Albert frightened (UCR)
2. Bell hit (UCS) + white rat (NS)&raquo_space; Albert frightened (UCR)
3. White rat (CS)&raquo_space; Albert frightened (CR)

Question 24

in operant conditioning, what 3 types of consequences are there?

Answer 24

1. Positive reinforcement
2. Negative reinforcement
3. Punishment

Question 25

What is positive reinforcement? Give an example.

Answer 25

Increasing a behaviour by giving something positive e.g. study more >> better grades

Question 26

What is negative reinforcement? Give an example.

Answer 26

increasing a behaviour by removing something negative e.g. turning off an alarm clock >> more sleep (as the behaviour)

Question 27

What is punishment? Give an example.

Answer 27

Decreasing a behaviour by giving something positive e.g. child being naughty >> put on the naughty step, told off, etc.

Question 28

What was the procedure of ‘The Skinner Box’ experiments?

Answer 28

- put rats/pigeons inside especially designed cages (called skinner boxes) - every time the rat activated a lever within the box, it was rewarded with a food pellet - the animal would then continue to perform this behaviour

Question 29

How did Skinner show that rats/pigeons could also be conditioned to avoid unpleasant stimulus aswell?

Answer 29

Giving an electric shock

Question 30

what type of reinforcement is it when the rats activated the lever to receive food?

Answer 30

Positive reinforcement

Question 31

what type of reinforcement is it when the rats actived the lever to avoid being electrocuted?

Answer 31

negative reinforcement

Question 32

who primarily discovered the Social Learning Theory (Learning Approach)

Answer 32

Albert Bandura

Question 33

How is Social Learning Theory approach described?

Answer 33

A bridge between traditional behaviourism and the cognitive approach

Question 34

what did Bandura’s SLT propose?

Answer 34

that we learn through observation and imitation of others in a social context

Question 35

what does Bandura’s SLT state?

Answer 35

that we learn directly and indirectly, through classical and operant conditioning

Question 36

what is vicarious reinforcement?

Answer 36

For indirect learning to take place, the individual observes the behaviour of others, but also the consequences - in general, the individual will only imitate the behaviour if it is seen to be rewarded rather than punished

Question 37

what is the role of mediational processes?

Answer 37

the mental processes that SLT talks about help mediate (intervene) in the learning process to determine whether a behaviour is worth acquiring

Question 38

what are he 4 mediational/mental processes identified by Bandura?

Answer 38

1. Attention - the extent to which we notice certain behaviour 2. Retention - how well the behaviour is remembered 3. Motor reproduction - the ability of the observer to perform the behaviour 4. Motivation - the will to perform the behaviour, which is often determined by whether the behaviour was rewarded or punished

Question 39

In motor reproduction, what is self-efficacy?

Answer 39

high self-efficacy = belief that you are able to physically do the behaviour Low self-efficacy = not believing you can do the behaviour

Question 40

In motivation, what are direct awards, indirect awards and self-produced awards?

Answer 40

direct award: gain a reward for doing something e.g. having a job >> get paid indirect award: vicarious reinforcement - when you imitate behaviour based on someone else’s reinforced behaviour e.g. seeing sibling receive something when they use manners self-produced award: if you think doing a behaviour will benefit you in some way e.g. revising to get good grades

Question 41

What is modelling?

Answer 41

People, especially children, are far more likely to imitate someone they identify with - i.e. role models.

Question 42

How does a person become a role-model?

Answer 42

If they possess similar characteristics to the observer and/or are attractive and have high status. They may not be physically present, which is why the media has such important implications on behaviour

Question 43

What was the aim of Bandura et al.'s study (1961)? (KS)

Answer 43

to test the idea that children could learn to become agrressive through imitating another person behaving aggressively

Question 44

What was the basic procedure of Bandura et al.'s study (1961)?

Answer 44

children aged between 3 and 5 saw an adult behave aggressively towards a large inflatable doll (BOBO doll) 72 children: 24 shown aggressive role model, 24 shown non-aggressive role model, 24 as control group - no role model

Question 45

What were the results of Bandura et al.'s study (1961)? (KS)

Answer 45

. female model male model female ppts: 19 9 male ppts: 17 38 children showed significantly more imitation of a same sex model, and boys performed more acts of aggression than girls (higher testosterone levels)

Question 46

What was the conclusion of Bandura et al.'s study (1961)? (KS)

Answer 46

all the children learned the behaviour, but they were more likely to imitate same sex behaviour or reinforced models (i.e. seeing the consequences of the behaviour - if any)

Question 47

How do we know that all the children learnt the behaviour?

Answer 47

when asked to recreate as much of the role models behaviour as they could remember (and rewarded for doing so), all children were able to reproduce most of the aggressive acts - this was true even for the children who had seen the role model punished

Question 48

In Bandura et al.'s study (1961), when were the highest levels of aggression shown? When were the lowest levels of aggression shown?

Answer 48

highest levels of aggression: children who saw the role model being praised (vicarious reinforcement), and also children who saw no consequences of the behaviour lowest levels of aggression: children who saw the role model punished (vicarious reinforcement - not direct)

Question 49

What are the assumptions of the cognitive approach?

Answer 49

- that internal mental processes could and should be studied scientifically - psychological processes can be studied indirectly and inferences can be made about these processes from behaviour

Question 50

What are the theoretical and computer models of the cognitive approach?

Answer 50

One theoretical approach: information processing approach, which suggests that information flows through the cognitive system in a sequence of stages that include input, storage and retrieval (this is seen as the multi-store model) One computer model: the mind is compared to a computer (suggesting similarities in the way that information is processed) using concepts such as coding and the use of 'stores' to hold information

Question 51

how have the theoretical and computer models of the cognitive approach been useful?

Answer 51

they have been useful in the development of artificial intelligence

Question 52

what does inference mean?

Answer 52

the process whereby which cognitive psychologists draw conclusions about the way mental processes operate based upon the sensory information (input) and observed behaviour (output)

Question 53

what is the role of schema in the cognitive approach?

Answer 53

- cognitive processes are often affected by a person's beliefs or expectations - they act as framework to interpret incoming information - schema change as we get older e.g. babies' schema are motor functions like grasping or sucking; but as we get older, our schema become more detailed and sophisticated - schema allow us to process a lot of information quickly, which prevents us from being overwhelmed by environmental stimuli - schema may distort our interpretations of sensory information, leading to perceptual errors

Question 54

What are the assumptions of the biological approach?

Answer 54

- we must look to biological structures and processes within the body, e.g. gene, neurochemistry, nervous system. - an understanding of brain structure and function can explain our thoughts and behaviour - all our thoughts, feelings and behaviour have a physical basis, meaning the mind lives in the brain

Question 55

What is the genetic basis of behaviour according to the biological approach?

Answer 55

- behaviour geneticists study whether behavioural characteristics, such as intelligence personality, metal disorders, etc. - if identical (monozygotic) twins are found to have higher concordance rates than non-identical (dizygotic), it would suggest a genetic basis - family and twin studies, adoption studies, selective breeding

Question 56

What is a genotype?

Answer 56

the actual make-up of their genes

Question 57

what is a phenotype?

Answer 57

the way their genes are expressed through physical, behavioural and psychological characteristics, expressed through environmental factors

Question 58

What does much of human behaviour depend on according to the biological approach?

Answer 58

interaction between the inherited factors (nature) and the environment (nurture)

Question 59

How did Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory impact the biological approach of psychology?

Answer 59

his theory of natural selection suggests that certain traits which are desirable and give the species an advantage in survival will be passed on to offspring