Approaches L1 - 5

Question 1

What firsts did Wilhelm Wundt accomplish?

Answer 1

• Father of psychology (first psychologist)
• 1879 –> first experimental psychological lab in Leipzig

Question 2

What important theory did Wundt derive and what does it mean?

Answer 2

• Introspection
• First systematic and experimental attempt to study the mind by breaking down conscious awareness into basic structures of reflections, thoughts, images and sensations

Question 3

What psychological processes did Wundt focus on and what are these?

Answer 3

• Perception = Provess of interpreting and organising sensory info
• Structuralism = Breaking down mental processes into their basic components

Question 4

What is structuralism and who developed this?

Answer 4

Theory of consciousness, developed by Wundt

Question 5

What did Wundt believe about psychology as a science?

Answer 5

Believed psychology should emerge as a a science

Question 6

What part of psychology did introspection help develop?

Answer 6

Cognitive psychology

Question 7

How was introspection recorded? (3)

Answer 7

• Under strictly controlled lab conditions
• Same stimuli, reaction times + instructions
• Focus on present experiences

Question 8

4 features of introspection:

Answer 8

• Saying everything that goes through their mind when they are doing an activity
• Continue talking even if ideas are not clear
• No hesitation –> can use fragmented sentences
• Do not have to justify

Question 9

Evaluation of introspection and emergence of psych as a science: (+5, -3)

Answer 9

+ Helped develop other approaches eg. behaviourism + cognitive
+ Can be extremely scientific –> high level of control of variables
+ Can establish cause of behaviour, which allows future predictions
+ Still used in cognitive therapy
+ Wundt advocates the reductionism –> consciousness can be broken down to basic elements without sacrificing the properties of the whole thing
- Cannot be a science –> introspection produces subjective data that is not objective enough
- Inaccurate –> Wilson says introspection is unable to further knowledge about behaviour and attitude that exist outside of conscious awareness eg. racism
- Fails to explain how thoughts are generated –> how can introspection be observed properly?

Question 10

Behavioural approach:

Answer 10

A way of explaining behaviour in terms of what is observed in ways of learning

Question 11

Features of behaviourism:

Answer 11

• All behaviour can be learnt
• Humans and animals can learn behaviours via classical conditioning
• All behaviour should be studied scientifically in lab

Question 12

Classical conditioning:

Answer 12

Building an association between two different stimuli so learning occurs

Question 13

Pavlov’s study:

Answer 13

Before conditioning:
1) Food (unconditioned stimulus) = Salivation (unconditioned response)
2) Bell = no response

Conditioning process:
Food (UCS) + Bell (NS) = Salivation (UCR) (association through repetition)

Now:
Bell (conditioned stimulus) = Salivation (conditioned response)

Question 14

3 key principles of classical conditioning:

Answer 14

1) Generalisation –> stimuli similar to og stimuli will cause conditioned response eg. doorbell
2) Discrimination –> stimuli similar to og stimuli will not produce conditioned response (done by withholding food)
2) Extinction –> conditioned response isn’t produced even if bell is rung (not presenting food when bell is present)

Question 15

Evaluation of classical conditioning (+4, -5):

Answer 15

+ Research support –> King (1998), Pavlov, Little Albert (1920)
+ Explains how learning occurs in animals and young children
+ Easily tested model
+ Can be applied to psychological disorder treatments eg flooding, SD
- Criticised by biological approach, as there is strong research evidence eg. schizophrenia
- Deterministic
- Not everyone who has a phobia had traumatic experiences eg. Menzies
- Unreliable as Little Albert study could not be replicated
- Not strong in explaining learning in adults

Question 16

King (1998) study:

Answer 16

• Supports classical conditioning
• Found after reviewing case studies that children acquire phobias by encountering traumatic experiences

Question 17

Little Albert (1920) study:

Answer 17

Little Albert by Watson and Rayner (1920):
- 11 month old baby
- Repeated x3 and did the same a week later
- Hammer struck 6x
- Cried + started to crawl away
- Generalisation occurred

Question 18

How is classical conditioning deterministic?

Answer 18

Ignores free will of people, as it suggests humans behave the same like machines with no variation

Question 19

What research shows that not everyone who has a phobia had a traumatic experience?

Answer 19

• Psychologist Menzies found that 98% of the people he studied with hydrophobia had never had a negative experience with water
• Other findings show 50% of those who have a dog phobia have never had a bad experience with a dog

Question 20

Positive reinforcement:

Answer 20

Receiving smth positive for carrying out a behaviour

Question 21

Negative reinforcement:

Answer 21

Performing a behaviour in order to avoid smth unpleasant and therefore behaviour continues in future

Question 22

Punishment:

Answer 22

Unpleasant consequence caused by certain behaviours

Question 23

What study was conducted on operant conditioning?

Answer 23

Skinner (1953)

Question 24

What did the Skinner box include?

Answer 24

• Loud speakers
• Lights
• A lever
• A door
• A floor that could be electrified

Question 25

Skinner (1953) procedure:

Answer 25

1 hungry rat placed at one time and ran round freely Positive reinforcement: 1) Accidentally presses lever and be rewarded w/ food pellet dropping into Skinner box (positive reinforcement) 2) Continues to press lever and learns it can receive reward by doing this Negative reinforcement: 1) Can learn pressing lever avoids receiving electric shock (negative reinforcement)

Question 26

Spontaneous recovery:

Answer 26

After extinction, if rat presses lever and unexpectedly receives food pellet again, it relearns this link very quickly

Question 27

Schedules of reinforcement:

Answer 27

1) Continuous reinforcement = Every single time the behaviour happens, it's reinforced 2) Fixed interval = Reinforced after a fixed amount of time has passed 3) Fixed ratio = Reinforced after a set number of responses

Question 28

Evaluation of operant conditioning: (+3, -3)

Answer 28

+ Research evidence + Cause and effect relationship ---> highly experimental method w/ controlled variables + Supported by nurture side, as environmental factors would have impact on learning - Ignores free will --> suggests past experiences have full control over actions - Ethical issues --> psychological damage - Conflict w/ biological approach --> other approaches must be considered

Question 29

What research evidence supports operant conditioning?

Answer 29

Paul and Lents used token economy to treat patients who had schizophrenia + behaviour became more appropriate

Question 30

Token economy:

Answer 30

- Rewarding appropriate behaviour w/ token for privileges - Used in institutions for behaviour modification

Question 31

Social Learning Theory and who proposed it:

Answer 31

- New patterns of behaviour can be acquired by observing the behaviour of others - Bandura (1977)

Question 32

4 key aspects of Social Learning Theory:

Answer 32

1) Modelling --> observer learns from model 2) Imitation 3) Identification 4) Vicarious reinforcement

Question 33

In what 2 ways can the model be presented?

Answer 33

- Live - Symbolic, like TV character

Question 34

3 key characteristics of successful imitation:

Answer 34

1) Characteristics of model 2) Observer's perceived ability to perform behaviour 3) Observed consequence of behaviour

Question 35

How does identification affect whether the individual imitates?

Answer 35

Similarities between them may mean they can relate further with them so chances of imitation are higher

Question 36

In what way does vicarious reinforcement affect whether an individual imitates and what research shows this?

Answer 36

- Positive/negative consequence observed affects whether behaviour happens - Children who observed model being rewarded for aggressive behaviour were more likely to imitate this compared to those who saw punishment to model

Question 37

What does social learning place importance on and what does this mean?

Answer 37

- Internal cognitive mediational process - Must form mental representation of behaviour

Question 38

What aspects do mediational processes involve?

Answer 38

Must be able to: - Attention --> Pay and attention and notice model's behaviour - Retention --> Remember behaviour - Motor reproduction --> Perform behaviour - Motivation --> Willing to perform behaviour for reward

Question 39

Evaluation of Social Learning Theory: (+3, -2)

Answer 39

+ Great understanding of how criminal behaviour is learnt + More effective when model is very similar + More comprehensive than operant and classical conditioning - Does not consider cause and effect - Environmental determinism --> doesn't consider other factors

Question 40

What research evidence shows that a model with similar characteristics is more effective for social learning?

Answer 40

Fox (2009) found evidence to suggest when observer played computer game that had a very similar model to them, they were more likely to engage in the behaviour

Question 41

How is social learning theory more comprehensive than operant and classical conditioning?

Answer 41

Includes behavioural and cognitive factors

Question 42

Why doesn't social learning theory take cause and effect into account?

Answer 42

It cannot be assumed that behaviour like delinquency cannot be caused by other factors

Question 43

Procedure of Bandura (1961):

Answer 43

Bobo doll experiment: 1) 36 male and 36 female kids 37 - 69 months age 2) Observed either aggressive/non-aggressive male or female model 3) Aggressive model - aggressive acts like hitting bobo with mallet + verbally aggressive words 3) Made to feel frustrated by giving attractive toys but disallowing them to play with it 4) Taken to room one by one that had bobo doll, mallet, dart gun + non-aggressive toys Observed for 20 mins

Question 44

Results of Bandura (1961):

Answer 44

- Children who observed aggressive model reproduced same aggressive behaviour, whereas children who did showed no aggression - 33% of those who observed verbal aggression repeated this, compared to 0% in non-aggression group

Question 45

What happened in the follow-up study?

Answer 45

- If child who observed model being rewarded for aggressive behaviour, likelihood that they would be aggressive as well increased - Boys seemed more aggressive than girls - Imitation of aggression was greatest when model was same gender

Question 46

Evaluation of Bandura (1961) study: (+2, -4)

Answer 46

+ Highly reliable --> conducted in lab + Good evidence to support social learning theory - Lacks ecological validity --> conducted in lab, demand characteristics - Use of bobo doll --> possibly instigates, as it bounces back - Only short-term effect of social learning are shown - Ethical issues --> psychological harm