Approaches to Psychology

Wundt’ s Lab

attempt to document human consciousness (introspection)

wundt and co-workers recorded own conscious thoughts to try and isolate structure (structuralism)

Controlled methods

Original methods would be viewed as scientific, high control and same stimulus

Standardised and replicated

Watson and Behaviourists

Watson’s main problems: Subjective data, varied too greatly to establish principles, too focused on private

Truly scientific psychology = Focus on observable and measurable behaviour

Scientific approach

Watson and Skinner: Language, rigour and method involved in controlled lab experiments

Scientific procedure, modern usage

Continued into modern usage and experimental usage, but has broadened, can test private thoughts but can establish connections based on rigour

Expanded into biological approach e.g. fMRI, EEG

BEHAVIOURISM : Assumptions

Not concerned with mental processes, reject introspection

Use lab experiments to maintain control and objectivity

All basic processes are learnt the same, we are born blank slate

BEHAVIOURISM: Pavlov procedure, classical conditioning

Food (unconditioned stimulus) causes salivation (unconditioned response)

Bell (neutral stimulus) doesn’t cause a response

Food + Bell produces salivation (unconditioned response)

OVER TIME: Bell (conditioned stimulus) produces salivation (conditioned response)

BEHAVIOURISM: Pavlov theory, classical conditioning

You can create a learned response through continual association

BEHAVIOURISM: Skinner, positive reinforcement, operant conditioning

You receive a reward when a certain behaviour is performed to encourage the behaviour to occur more

increases likelihood of behaviour

BEHAVIOURISM: Skinner, negative reinforcement, operant conditioning

You do an action to receive a negative consequence, avoidance of unpleasantness

increases likelihood of behaviour

BEHAVIOURISM: Skinner, punishment, operant conditioning

An unpleasant consequence of behaviour that should not have been done

decreases likelihood behaviour will be repeated

BEHAVIOURISM: Skinner’s Box

POS REINFORCE: Rat discovered it would receive pellet if it pressed on a lever

NEG REINFORCE: Rat discovered it would avoid electrical shock if it pressed on lever

BEHAVIOURISM EVAL: Scientific credibility

Brings language and method of sciences into psychology through controlled experiments

Emphasis on objectivity and replication = credibility

BEHAVIOURISM EVAL: Real-life application

Token economies used in institutions and prisons

Classical conditioning in treatment of phobias

BEHAVIOURISM EVAL: Mechanistic view of behaviour

Views humans as passive responders to environment, with no insight into behaviour

Other approaches emphasise mental processes in learning, placing humans as active

BEHAVIOURISM EVAL: Environmental determinism

All behaviour is seen as determined by environment, ignores free will

Skinner = Free will is an illusion

BEHAVIOURISM EVAL: Ethical issues with animals

Skinner’s Box : Animals reacting to stressful situations which may further condition their behaviour, may reduce applicability

SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY (SLT) : Assumptions

Bandura = Agreed behaviour is learned from experience, but it is focussed on how we interact with others

Learnt through observation and imitation of others

Learning occurs directly AND indirectly

SLT : Vicarious reinforcement

Learner imitates behaviour seen in others IF they are rewarded or punished

SLT: Bandura’s Bobo Dolls

Children watched adults play aggressively with Bobo doll, hit it with hammer and shouted abuse at it

Children that watched adults play aggressively played more aggressively than those that watched a non-aggressive adult

SLT: Bandura and Walters, bobo doll replication

Replication, 1st group watched adult praised for aggression, 2nd group watched adult punished for aggression, 3rd group saw aggression with no consequence

1st (praise) group most aggressive, then 3rd (no consequence) group, then 2nd (punish) group

SLT: What are mediational processes

Mental factors involved in learning that determine whether new response is learnt

Attention, retention, motor reproduction, motivation

SLT: What do the mediational processes mean

Attention: Extent we notice behaviours

Retention: How behaviour is remembered

Motor reproduction: Ability of observer to perform behaviour

Motivation: Want/ urge to perform the behaviour

Attention and retention: learning processes, motor reproduction and motivation: performance processes

SLT: Identification and modelling

People more likely to imitate behaviour if they identify with person doing behaviour : role models

A person becomes role model if they observers shared characteristics or are attractive to observer in some way

SLT EVAL: Importance of cognitive factors

Conditioning alone doesn’t offer adequate account of learning by itself

SLT provides more comprehensive explanation through mediational process

SLT EVAL: Over-reliance of lab studies

Bandura’s ideas developed through his observations in lab studies

Lab studies often have higher demand characteristics e.g. children acting the way they were expected to

SLT EVAL: Underestimates biological factors

Consistent finding in Bobo doll studies = boys more aggressive in every condition

Could be explained by hormones e.g. testosterone

SLT EVAL: Cultural differences

SLT can account for principles across cultural boundaries

Proves useful in understanding ranges of behaviours

SLT EVAL: Less deterministic

Bandura emphasises reciprocal determinism = environment influences us, but we also influence our environment

Behaviours we choose to exert on environment = free will

COGNITIVE: Assumptions

Mental processes can be studied scientifically e.g. memory, perception and thinking

Private processes can be studied indirectly by making inferences

COGNITIVE: Theoretical and computer models

Help them understand internal mental processes

Information processing approach: Information flows through cognitive system in stages (input, storage, retrieval)

COGNITIVE: Schemas

Processing affected by person’s beliefs and expectations = schemas

Schema = Package of information, framework developed through experience, enable us to process information quickly

As a baby our schemas are very simple, but become more detailed and sophisticated and we develop mental representation for everything in life

COGNITIVE: Cognitive neuroscience

Scientific study of the influence of brain structures on mental process

You can map brain structures to specific cognitive functions

COGNITIVE: Cognitive neuroscience, methods

FMRIs and PET : Observe neurological basis of mental processes e.g. Tulving = LTM

Scanning techniques : Neurological basis of mental disorders e.g. parahippocampal gyrus and OCD

COGNITIVE EVAL: Scientific and objective methods

Highly controlled and rigorous methods of study e.g. lab studies

Cognitive neuroscience : Enables biology and cognitive psychology to come together

COGNITIVE EVAL: Machine reductionism

Computer analogy can be criticised as reductionist

Ignores influence of human emotion and motivation on cognitive system e.g. anxiety and eyewitness testimony

COGNITIVE EVAL: Application in real life (neg)

Infer mental processes and cognitive psych can be too abstract or theoretical

Experimental studies of mental processes use artificial stimuli (memory tasks with word lists) and lacks everyday memory

COGNITIVE EVAL: Application to real life (pos)

Cognitive approach has been applied to wide range of practical and theoretical contexts e.g. developing AI

COGNITIVE EVAL: Less deterministic

Soft determinism = recognises we can only act within limits of what we know, but we can freely respond to stimuli

BIOLOGICAL: Assumptions

Everything psychological is biological, we need to understand biological to understand thoughts and behaviours

Mind lives in the brain = everything has a physical basis

BIOLOGICAL: Genetic basis

Behavioural characteristics are inherited in the same way as physical

Twin studies = Determine likelihood by comparing concordance rates (MZ vs DZ)

BIOLOGICAL: Genotype versus phenotype

Genotype = Entire genetic make-up Phenotype = Way genes are expressed (may be influenced by environment)

PKU = Genetic disorder found by heel prick as infant, if detected, child can go on diet and develop normally

Biological psychologists accept interaction of nature and nurture

BIOLOGICAL: Evolution

Natural selection: genetically determined behaviours enhance survival through survival of fittest

Selection takes place naturally

BIOLOGICAL EVAL: Scientific methods in investigation

Highly precise methods of investigation e.g. scanning techniques

Biological approach based on reliable data

BIOLOGICAL EVAL: Real-life application

Increasing understanding in bio processes = development of drugs and treatments

Increases quality of life

BIOLOGICAL EVAL: Causal biological conclusions

Offers explanations for mental illness based on neurotransmitters, drug reduces symptoms and assumption is made that lack of neurochemical

Association does not mean it is a cause

BIOLOGICAL EVAL: Deterministic view

Sees human behaviour as governed by internal causes, we have no control over

Law sees criminals as morally responsible for crime, criminal genetic component would alter perception of crime and individuals

BIOLOGICAL EVAL: Cannot separate nature and nurture

Twin studies = Cannot remove the environment that people are in, cannot identify whether it is nature or nurture

Difficulty accounting for fact DZ twins show higher concordance than regular siblings (same genetic relation)

What is in the CNS

Brain = Centre of conscious awareness, developed cerebral cortex

Spine = Extension of brain, used in reflex actions

What is in the peripheral nervous system

Autonomic nervous system: Vital functions in the body, unaware of control e.g. heart rate, digestion, breathing

Somatic nervous system: Controls muscle movements and receives information from sensory receptors

How does the autonomic nervous system divide

Sympathetic nervous system: Fight or flight, changes to biological system

Parasympathetic nervous system: Rest and digest, return to original state

Endocrine system

Acts more slowly through the blood, hormones released from glands

Hormones target specific cells or areas

Fight or flight : ANS and the endocrine system

When stressor is perceived, hypothalamus triggers sympathetic nervous system and adrenaline is released into blood

Adrenaline causes physiological changes

When threat passes, parasympathetic nervous system returns body to resting state

Sensory neuron

Carry messages from the PNS to the CNS, long dendrites and short axons

Relay neurons

Connect sensory neurons to motor neurons/ sensory neurons

Short dendrites and short axons

Motor neurons

Connect CNS to effector e.g. muscles or glands

Short dendrites and long axons

Structure of neuron

Axon is covered in myelin sheath to insulate and speed up impulse

Gaps are nodes of ranvier = force impulse to jump

Chemical transmission in synpase

Electrical impulse triggers release of neurotransmitters from synaptic vesicles

Neurochemicals diffuse across synapse and stimulate the post-synaptic receptor sites, and chemical message is changed back into electrical

PSYCHODYNAMIC: Role of unconscious

Most of our mind is the unconscious, biological drives and instincts

Contains memories or instincts that have been repressed, locked away or forgotten

Pre conscious = Under surface of conscious, can be accessed if desired

PSYCHODYNAMIC: Structure of the personality

ID, ego, superego

PSYCHODYNAMIC: ID

Primitive part, operates on pleasure principle and unconscious drives/instincts

ID is only thing present at birth

PSYCHODYNAMIC: Ego

Reality principle, mediates ID and superego to reduce conflict

Develops around 2

PSYCHODYNAMIC: Superego

Forms at end of phallic stage, around 5

Internalised sense of right and wrong

Morality principle, represents moral standards of child’s same-sex parents and punishes ego for wrong doing

PSYCHODYNAMIC: What are psychosexual stages

Each stage marks different conflicts that a child must resolve to progress successfully

Unresolved psychosexual conflict can lead to fixations

PSYCHODYNAMIC: What are the psychosexual stages

Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, Genital

Old Age Pensioners Like Grapes

PSYCHODYNAMIC: Oral stage

Age: 0-1 years

Focus: Pleasure of mouth, breast is object of desire

Unresolved conflict = Oral fixation, smoking, nail biting, sarcastic and critical

PSYCHODYNAMIC: Anal stage

Age: 1-3 years

Focus: Pleasure from anus, gained by holding and expelling faeces

Unresolved conflict = Anal retentive or anal expulsive

Retentive = Perfectionist, obsessive Expulsive = Thoughtless messy

PSYCHODYNAMIC: Phallic stage

Age: 3-5 years

Focus: Pleasure from genital area, Oedipus or electra complex

Unresolved conflict = Phallic personality: narcissistic, reckless, possibly homosexuality

PSYCHODYNAMIC: Latency stage

Age: 6-12 years

Early conflicts are repressed

PSYCHODYNAMIC: Genital stage

Age: Beginning of puberty, lasts into adulthood

Focus: Sexual desires become conscious with onset of puberty

Unresolved conflict: Difficulty forming heterosexual relationships

PSYCHODYNAMIC EVAL: Explanatory power

Freud’s theory has huge influence on psychology and contemporary thought, dominant explanatory force in 20th century e.g personality development, abnormal behaviour, moral development

Significant in drawing attention to childhood experiences and relationships

PSYCHODYNAMIC EVAL: Case studies (pos)

Observations were highly detailed and carefully recorded

Can make specific links and hypothesis

PSYCHODYNAMIC EVAL: Case studies (neg)

Hard to make universal claims from small case studies

Interpretations are highly subjective

Lack scientific rigour

PSYCHODYNAMIC EVAL: Untestable concepts

Popper: Psychodynamic doesn’t meet scientific criterion, not falsifiable

Concepts occurring at unconscious = difficult to test

PSYCHODYNAMIC EVAL: Practical application (pos)

Developed psychoanalysis as therapy, forerunner of modern therapies

Designed techniques to access unconscious e.g. dream analysis and hypnosis

PSYCHODYNAMIC EVAL: Practical application (neg)

Inappropriate and harmful for treating more serious mental disorders

PSYCHODYNAMIC EVAL:Psychic determinism

Freud: No human behaviour was accident, everything is driven by unconscious forces

All behaviour is driven by unconscious conflict, free will is an illusion

HUMANISTIC: Free will

Human beings are self determining, we aren’t determine by influences, we are active agents

Humanism rejects scientific models that try to generalise principles

HUMANISTIC: Self actualisation

Everyone has innate tendency to reach full potential, self-actualisation is highest level of needs

Humanistic psychologists regard personal growth as essential part of being human

Personal growth = Person becoming fulfilled, satisfied and goal-orientated

HUMANISTIC: Self and congruence

Rogers = Personal growth occur is concept of self (idea of self) has congruence (similarity) to their ideal self

If gap is too big, person will have state of incongruence

HUMANISTIC: Client-centered therapy

Issues we face as adult root back to childhood and unconditional positive regard

Parents who set limits on love for child sets up psychological issues

HUMANISTIC: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, levels

Physiological, safety (basic needs), love and belonging, self-esteem (psychological needs), self-actualisation

HUMANISTIC: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, physiological

Fundamental requirements for survival

Air, water, food, shelter, clothing, sleep

HUMANISTIC: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, safety

Security and predictability in environment

Personal security, health & wellbeing, stable environment, financial security

HUMANISTIC: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, love and belonging

Social connection and acceptance

Family, friendship, community, affection and intimacy, romantic relationships

HUMANISTIC: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, esteem

Recognition, competence and respect

Self-respect, confidence, respect from others, reputation, recognition, attachment

HUMANISTIC: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, self-actualisation

Realising full potential

Creativity, personal growth, moral development, pursuit of meaning, peak experience

HUMANISTIC EVAL: Not reductionist

Reject attempts to break up behaviour, advocate for holistm

Subjective experiences can only be understood by considering whole person

More validity = Considers meaningful human behaviour

HUMANISTIC EVAL: Limited application

Little real-world application (Roger’s therapy and counselling)

Limited impact in whole of psychology, lacks sound evidence-basis

HUMANISTIC EVAL: Positive approach

Brings the person to the centre

Provides optimistic view of humans and their will to change

HUMANISTIC EVAL: Untestable concepts

Uses primarily vague ideas, self-actualisation and congruence are theoretically helpful but not in experimental conditions

It is anti-scientific

HUMANISTIC EVAL: Cultural bias

Freedom, autonomy and personal growth = More associated with individualist cultures

Collectivist cultures focus on needs of community and interdependence

Possible that approach wouldn’t travel well

COMPARISONS: Views of development

Behaviourist: No concrete stages, learning is continuous

Biological: Genetic changes in physiological influence psychological and behavioural traits

Cognitive: Intellectual development tied to schemas

Humanistic: Development of self is ongoing

Psychodynamic: Concepts are tied to age

COMPARISONS: Nature versus nurture

Behaviourism: Born blank slate, all behaviour is learned (nurture)

Biological: Anatomy is destiny, genetic blueprint comes from parents (nature)

Cognitivism: Processing and schemas are innate but influenced and redefined by experienced (both)

Humanistic: Parents, society and friends have impact on self-concept (nurture)

Psychodynamic: Behaviour driven by biological instincts, but relationships with parents are key (both)

Social learning: Observation and imitation of others (nurture)

COMPARISONS: Reductionism

Behaviourism: Breaks up complex behaviour to stimulus-response units (reductionist)

Biological: Human behaviour and psychology driven by biology (reductionist)

Cognitive: Presents people as informational processing systems (machine reductionism)

Humanism: Views the person as a whole, investigates persons interaction with society (holistic)

Psychodynamic: Reduces behaviour to drives and instinct, but addresses tripartite personality (both)

Social learning theorists: reduces learning to key processes but acknowledges interactions with external influences (both)

COMPARISONS: Determinism

Behaviourism: All behaviour is influenced by external influences we can’t control (determinism)

Biological: Genes determine our behaviour (genetic determinism)

Cognitive: We chose our thoughts, but only within limits of our own knowledge (soft determinism)

Humanistic: Humans operate as active agents to determine development (free will)

Psychodynamic: Unconscious forces drive behaviour (psychic determinism)

Social learning: We influence our environment, environment influences us (reciprocal determinism)

COMPARISON: Development of treatment

Behaviourism: Systematic desensitisation for phobias

Biological: Revolutionised drug therapy and treatments

Cognitive: CBT used for depression and faulty thinking

Humanism: Counselling can develop congruence

Psychodynamic: Psychoanalysis can be used for anxiety disorders

Social learning: Modelling and observation can explain dysfunctional behaviour, forensic psychology