Psychology - Approaches

Introspection

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

Wundt in Psychology

• Opened the first ever lab dedicated to psychological research

• His work is significant as it marked the beginning of scientific psychology

• He wanted to analyse the nature of human consciousness in controlled conditions

Wundt - Introspection

• Wanted to develop theories about mental processes like language and perception

• Recorded their experiences of various stimuli such as objects and sounds

• They would divide their observations into 3 categories: thoughts, images and sensations

Behavioural Approach

A way of explaining behaviour in terms of what is observable and in terms of learning

Classical Conditioning

Learning by association. Occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired together - an unconditioned stimulus and a neutral stimulus. The neural stimulus eventually produces the same response that was first produced by the unconditional stimulus alone

Operant Conditioning

A form of learning in which behaviour is shaped and maintained by its consequences of behaviour include reinforcement. Possible consequences of behaviour include reinforcement and punishment

Reinforcement

A consequence of behaviour that increases the likelihood of that behaviour being repeated

Pavlov - Classical Conditioning

• Learning through association when a dog associated the sound of a bell with food

• Eventually when the sound of a bell chimed dogs began salivating without food (stimulus)

Positive Reinforcement

Receiving a reward when a certain behaviour is performed (additional stimulus)

Negative Reinforcement

Occurs when you avoid something undesired and the outcome is then positive (the removal of a stimulus)

Punishment

An unpleasant consequence of behaviour (decreases likelihood of a behaviour)

Skinner - Operant Conditioning

• Experimented on rats and pigeons in specialised cages

• Every time a rat pulled a lever it was rewarded with food

Token Economy

Using operant conditioning a reward system can be created often to encourage specific behaviours

Social Learning Theory

A way of explaining behaviour that includes both direct and indirect reinforcement,combining learning theory with the role of cognitive factors

Imitation

Copying the behaviours of others

Identification

When an observer associates themselves with a role model and wants to be like the role model

Modelling

From the observer’s perspective, modelling is imitating the behaviour of a role model. From the role model’s perspective, modelling is the precise demonstration of a specific behaviour that may be imitated by an observer

Vicarious Reinforcement

Reinforcement which is not directly experienced but occurs through observing someone else being reinforced for a behaviour. This is a key factor in imitation

Mediational Processes

Cognitive factors that influence learning and come between stimulus and response

Bandura - Mediational Processes

• Attention - the extent to which we notice certain behaviours

• Retention - how well that behaviour is remembered

• Motor reproduction - the ability of the observer to perform the behaviour

• Motivation - the will to perform the behaviour, which is often determined by whether the behaviour is rewarded or punished

Bandura - Bobo Doll (A)

• Recorded the behaviour of young children who watched an adult behave in an aggressive way towards a Bobo doll

• Children were later observed and seen to be more violent towards the doll

Bandura - Bobo Doll (B)

• Showed videos to children when an adult behaved aggressively towards the Bobo doll

• One group saw the adult being praised and another told off whilst the control saw aggression with no consequence

• First group was the most aggressive then control and then the second group

Cognitive Approach

This approach is focused on how our mental processes affect behaviour

Internal Mental Processes

‘Private’ operations of the mind such as perception and attention that mediate between stimulus and response

Schema

A mental framework of beliefs and expectations that influence cognitive processing. They are developed from experience

Inference

The process whereby cognitive psychologists draw conclusions about the way mental processes operate on the basis of observed behaviour

Cognitive Neuroscience

The scientific study of those biological structures that underpin cognitive processes

Informational Processing Approach

Suggests that information flows through the cognitive system in a sequence of stages including input, storage and retrieval. This acts as a computational model

Biological Approach

A perspective that emphasises the importance of physical processes in the body such as genetic inheritance and neural function

Biological Structure

An arrangement or organisation of parts to form an organ, system or living thing

Neurochemistry

Relating to chemicals in the brain that regulate psychological functioning

Genotype

The particular set of genes that a person possesses

Phenotype

The characteristics of an individual determined by both genes and the environment

Evolution

The changes in inherited characteristics in a biological population over successive generations

Nervous System

Consists of the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. Communicates using electrical signals

Central Nervous System

Consists of the brain and the spinal card and is the origin of all complex commands and decisions

Peripheral Nervous System

Sends information to the CNS from the outside world, and transmits messages from the CNS to muscles and glands in the body

Somatic Nervous System

Transmits information from receptor cells in the sense organs to the CNS. It also receives information from the CNS that directs muscles to act

Autonomic Nervous System

Transmits information to and from internal bodily organs. It is autonomic as the system operates involuntarily. It has two main divisions the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system

Cerebral Cortex

The brain’s outer layer

Endocrine System

One of the body’s major information systems that instructs glands to release hormones directly into the bloodstream. These hormones are carried towards target organs in the body. Communicates via chemicals

Fight or Flight Response

The way an animals responds when stressed. The body becomes physiologically aroused in readiness to fight an aggressor or in some cases flee

Neuron

The basic building blocks of the nervous system, neurons are nerve cells that process and transmit messages through electrical and chemical impulses

Sensory Neurons

These carry messages from the PNS to the CNS. They have long dendrites and short axons

Relay Neurons

These connect the sensory neurons to the motor or other relay neurons. They have short dendrites and short axons

Motor Neurons

These connect the CNS to effectors such as muscles and glands. They have short dendrites and long axons

Dendrites

Branchlike structures which carry nerve impulses from neurons to cell body

Axon

Carries the impulse away from the cell body down the length of the neuron

Myelin Sheath

Protects the axon and speeds up the electrical transmission impulse

Nodes of ranvier

Speed up the transmission of the impulse by forcing it to ‘jump’ across the synapse along the axon

Synaptic Transmission

The process by which neighbouring neurons communicate with each other by sending chemical messages across the synapse that separates them

Neurotransmitter

Brain chemicals released from synactic vesicles that relay signals across the synapse from one neuron to another. Neurotransmitters cam be broadly divided into that that perform excitatory or inhibitory function

Excitation

When a neurotransmitter such as adrenaline, increases the positive charge of the postsynaptic neuron. This increases the likelihood that the postsynaptic neuron will pass on the electrical impulse

Inhibition

When a neurotransmitter such as serotonin increases the negative charge of the postsynaptic neuron. This decreases the likelihood that the postsynaptic neuron will pass on the electrical impulse

Acetylcholine

A transmitter found at each point where a motor neuron meets a muscle, and upon its release,it will cause muscles to contract

Psychodynamic Approach

A perspective that describes the different forces (dynamic) most of which are unconscious that operate on the mind and direct human behaviour and experience

Unconscious

The part of the mind that we are unaware of but which directs much of our behaviour

Id

Entirely unconscious, the Id is made up of selfish aggressive instincts that demand immediate gratification

Ego

The ‘reality check’ that balances the conflicting demands of the Id and the Superego

Super ego

The moralistic part of our personality which represents the ideal self how we ought to be

Defence Mechanisms

Unconscious strategies that the Ego uses to manage the conflict between the Id and the Superego

Psychosexual

• Oral (0-1) - focus of pleasure is the mouth and can create an oral fixation

• Anal (1-3) - focus of pleasure is the anus and can result in retentiveness or expulsivity

• Phallic (3-6) - focus of pleasure is the genital area and can result in a phallic personality

• Latency - Early conflicts are repressed

• Genital - sexual desires become conscious alongside puberty and could then find difficult to form heterosexual relationships

Repression

Forcing a distressing memory out of the conscious mind

Denial

Refusing to acknowledge some aspect of reality

Displacement

Transferring feelings from true source of distressing emotion onto a substitute target

The Tripartite

The Id, Ego and Superego

Parapraxes

A ‘slip of the tongue’

Humanistic Psychology

An approach to understanding behaviour that emphasises the importance of subjective experience and each person’s capacity for self-determinism

Free Will

The notion that humans can make choices and are not determined by internal biological or external forces

Self-Actualisation

The desire to grow psychologically and fulfill one’s full potential - becoming what you are capable of

Hierarchy of Needs

Congruence

The aim of Rogerian therapy, when the self-concept and ideal self are seen to broadly accord or match

Conditions of Worth

When a parent places limits or boundaries on their love for their children

Client-Centered Therapy

Reduces the gap between self-concept and the ideal self (aka counselling)

Debates of Approaches

• Nature Vs Nurture

• Reductionism Vs Holism

• Free will Vs Determinism