C5 - Appraches in Psychology

What is introspection in psychology?

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

What is psychology?

the scientific study of the mind, behaviour and experience

What is science?

A means of acquiring knowledge through systematic and objective investigation.

When is the timeline of psychology?

17th century to 20th century

What happened in psychology from the 17th century to the 19th century?

Psychology is called experimental psychology as it is still a branch of the broader discipline of philosophy.

What happened in psychology in the 1879?

Wilhelm Wundt opens the first experimental psychology lab in Germany and psychology becomes a distinct discipline in its own

What happened in psychology in the 1900s?

The psychodynamic approach is introduced by Sigmund Freud and he also develops psychoanalysis.

What happened in psychology in the 1913?

John B Watson writes Psychology as the behaviourist views and with Skinner establishes the behaviourist approach

What happened in psychology in the 1950s?

Rogers and Maslow develop the humanistic approach, rejecting the behaviourist and the psychodynamic view. It was also the introduction of the digital computer to give psychologists a metaphor for the operations of the human mind which introduced the cognitive approach.

What happened in psychology in the 1960s?

Bandura proposes the social learning theory

What happened in psychology in the 1980s onwards?

The biological approach begins to establish itself as the dominant scientific perspective in psychology

What happened in psychology in the 20th century ?

Cognitive neuroscience becomes a distinct discipline bringing together the cognitive and biological approaches.

Explain Wundt and his relationship with introspection?

He used trained participants to reflect on and report their internal experiences, such as thoughts and sensations, in response to specific stimuli. This allowed Wundt to study the mind scientifically in a controlled way, marking the shift of psychology from philosophy to an experimental science.

What is structuralism?

an early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the structural elements of the human mind

What is a strength of the origins of psychology?

A scientific approach was introduced, foundation for future research, controlled experimental methods

Explain a scientific approach being introduced as a strength of the origins of psychology

Wundt introduced a scientific approach to studying the mind. He set up the first psychology lab in 1879 and used controlled methods like standardised procedures and lab experiments. This helped establish psychology as a credible scientific discipline, separate from philosophy.

Explain it being a foundation for future research as a strength of the origins of psychology

Wundt's work laid the foundation for future psychological approaches. His methods inspired later approaches like cognitive psychology, which also focus on internal mental processes. This shows that introspection, although limited, helped shape modern psychology by starting the scientific exploration of the mind.

Explain it being a controlled experimental method as a strength of the origin of psychology

Another strength is that Wundt used controlled environments to ensure reliable findings. His introspection experiments were conducted in the lab with carefully timed stimuli and trained participants. This increased the replicability and reliability of his findings, which is a key feature of science.

What is a weakness of the origins of psychology?

Heavily subjective, lack of usefulness for studying complex mental processes, cultural bias

Explain it being heavily subjective as a weakness of the origin of psychology

introspection relies on subjective data. Participants' thoughts and feelings are personal and difficult to verify or measure objectively. This reduces scientific validity, as the findings can't be reliably replicated.

Explain it as a lack of usefulness for complex topic as a weakness of the origin of psychology

introspection is not useful for studying complex mental processes. It doesn't explain how we form memories, solve problems, or make decisions and because of this, later approaches like behaviourism rejected introspection in favour of observable behaviours.

Explain cultural bias as a weakness of the origin of psychology

Wundt's methods and theories were developed based on Western ideas of thought and consciousness. His introspective techniques may not apply to collectivist or non-Western cultures where self-reflection is less common. This makes the origins of psychology culturally biased, limiting its universality.

What is a paradigm?

A paradigm is a set of shared beliefs, methods, and assumptions that guide how research is done within a particular scientific field.

Explain how paradigms are a weakness of the origins of psychology?

A weakness of the origins of psychology is that it lacked a clear scientific paradigm. Unlike established sciences like biology or chemistry, early psychology included several competing approaches, such as Wundt's introspection and Freud's psychodynamic theory, each with different methods and assumptions. As a result, the early roots of psychology may be seen as fragmented and inconsistent.

What are the different approaches in psychology?

biological, behavioral, psychodynamic, humanistic, cognitive, social learning theory

What is the behaviourist approach (learning approach)?

The behaviourist approach argues that all behaviour is learned from the environment through classical and operant conditioning. It focuses only on observable behaviour that can be measured scientifically

Explain classical conditioning in terms on the behaviourist approach (Pavlovs dog)

Classical conditioning is a type of learning first shown by Pavlov, a Russian physiologist. It involves learning through association. In Pavlov's experiment, dogs learned to associate a neutral stimulus (a bell) with an unconditioned stimulus (food), which naturally caused an unconditioned response (salivation). Over time, the neutral stimulus (bell) became a conditioned stimulus, producing a conditioned response (salivation) even without the food.

What is extinction in classical conditioning?

Extinction is when the CS is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus UCS, and as a result, the conditioned response CR gradually weakens and eventually disappears.

What is spontaneous recovery?

the reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response

What is stimulus generalization?

the tendency for the conditioned stimulus to evoke similar responses after the response has been conditioned

Explain the Skinners rat experiment?

Skinner placed rats in a Skinner box. Inside the box, there was a lever the rat could press, and a food pellet would be released as a reward. At first, the rats pressed the lever by accident, but over time, they learned to intentionally press the lever to receive food. This is an example of positive reinforcement. Skinner also showed negative reinforcement. In another version of the experiment, a rat received an electric shock through the floor of the box. Pressing the lever stopped the shock, so the rat quickly learned to press the lever to avoid discomfort.

What is reinforcement?

any event that strengthens the behavior it follows

What is positive reinforcement?

This means adding something pleasant after a behaviour to increase the likelihood of it happening again.

What is an exmaple of positive reinforcement

Giving a child praise or a treat for doing homework.

What is negative reinforcement?

This means removing something unpleasant to increase the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated.

What is an example of negative reinforcement?

A student studies to avoid being scolded by the teacher.

What are schedules of reinforcement?

Schedules of reinforcement refer to the rules that determine how often a behaviour is reinforced. Behaviours are best maintained when they are not reinforced every single time. There should be intervals

What is punishment?

an event that decreases the behavior that it follows

What is positive punishment?

This means adding something unpleasant to reduce a behaviour.

What is an exmaple of positive punishment?

A student is given detention for being late.

What is negative punishment?

This means taking away something pleasant to reduce a behaviour.

What is an exmaple of negative punishment?

A child loses their phone for being rude.

Explain the Little Albert experiment

Albert was shown a neutral stimul (rat) from 9 months old, linked with an uncontrolled stimulus (striking a iron bar) and albert began to shown fear (controlled response)

What are the strenghts of the behaviourist approach?

Use of scientific methods, real world applications, focuses on observable behaviour

What are the weaknesses of the behaviourist approach?

Reductionist, ethical issues, deterministic

What is SLT?

Learning through observation of others and imitating behaviours that are rewarded

Explain the Bobo Doll study procedure

72 children (aged 3-6) were split into groups. One group watched an adult model behave aggressively toward a Bobo doll, another group saw a non-aggressive model, and a control group saw no model at all. After watching, the children were taken to a room with toys, including the Bobo doll, and observed.

Explain the Bobo Doll study findings

Children who observed the aggressive model were much more likely to imitate the aggressive behaviour themselves. Boys showed more physical aggression than girls. Children were more likely to imitate a model of the same gender.

What is vicarious reinforcement?

When a person's behavior changes based on consequences that happen to an observed model

What are mediational processes?

Cognitive factors that influence learning and come between stimulus and response

What are the mediational processes?

attention, retention, motor reproduction, motivation

Explain attention as a mediational process

The extent to which we noticed behaviour

Explain retention as a mediational process

How well the behaviour is remembered

Explain motor reproduction as a mediational person

The ability of the observe to perform the behaviour

Explain motivation as a mediational process

The will to perform the behaviour

What is reciprocal determinism?

interaction between individuals behaviors, enviroment, and cognition.

Why is the social learning theory more advanced than the behaviourist theory?

Social Learning Theory is more advanced than the behaviourist approach because it provides a more complete explanation of human learning. While the behaviourist approach focuses purely on stimulus-response associations and reinforcement, SLT recognises the importance of internal mental processes and shows that children don't just imitate behaviour for rewards. They also learn by observing role models and thinking about consequences as shown by the Bobo Dolls

Explain how SLT works

People observe other people usually role models with whom they aspire to be like then imitation occurs if the observer sees the models behaviour being reinforced like praised this is called vicarious reinforcement.

What are some factors that increase the likelihood that an observer will imitate their role models behaviour?

If the role model is the same age gender and is admired or respected

What are the strengths of SLT?

Explain complex behaviour, supporting research evidence, explains cultural differences

What are the weaknesses of SLT?

Reductionist, doesn't show a clear cause an effect, over reliance on lab studies

What is the cognitive approach?

An approach to psychology emphasizing the mental processes involved in knowing: how we direct our attention, perceive, remember, think, and solve problems.

What does the cognitive approach use to explain the human behaviour?

Metaphors and inferences

What is the mind compared to in cognitive approach?

A computer

Explain inferences in cognitive psychology?

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

Explain the Bugelski and Alampay study (not procedure or findings)

They tried to access how prior experiences and schemes influences perception

Explain the procedure of the Bugelski and Alampay study

Participants were shown a series of images. One group was shown several pictures of animals. Another group saw pictures of faces. Then all participants were shown the same ambiguous image, which could be interpreted either as a rat or a man.

Explain the findings of the Bugelski and Alampay study

Participants who saw animal images were more likely to perceive the ambiguous image as a rat. Those who saw faces first were more likely to interpret the image as a man.

What is a schema?

a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information

What are the benefits of a schema?

Speeds up information processing, helps us with predictions, aids with understanding

What are the downfalls of a schema?

Leads to perceptions distortion, can reinforce stereotypes, may cause memory errors

How can a schema cause memory errors?

Research has shown people may recall things that didn't happen, just because they fit the schema

How does information flow through the cognitive system?

Input, storage and retrieval

Why is mind compared to a computer?

Like a computer, the mind receives input (from senses), processes it (through thinking, memory, perception), and then produces an output (behaviour or decision)

what is the infomation processing model

This is a model that suggest the mind works in a sequential process.

Explain the input stage of information processing

This is the information we receive from our environment through our senses

Explain the processing stage of information processing

This involves interpreting, analysing, and storing the information using mental processes like memory, perception, and decision-making.

Explain the output stage of information processing

This is the response or behaviour based on the processing.

What is cognitive neuroscience?

a branch of psychology that combines cognitive psychology and neuroscience to study how biological processes in the brain influence mental processes like thinking, memory, language, and perception.

Why is cognitive neuroscience and advancement in it useful for us?

Improves our understanding of mental disorders, enhances brain surety and treatment, improves the accuracy of EWT

What are some advancement in cognitive neuroscience?

EEG, fMRI, MRI

What are the strengths of the cognitive approach?

Uses scientific methods, real world applications, focuses on internal mental processes

Explain how focusing on internal mental processes is a strength of the cognitive approach?

It investigates thinking, memory, perception, and problem-solving, which were ignored by earlier approaches like behaviourism. This is a strength because it provides a more complete understanding of human behaviour, especially complex behaviours like decision-making

What are the weaknesses of the cognitive approach?

Machine reductionism, flaws in research methods, use of inferences

What is machine reductionism?

It refers to the idea that the human mind is overly simplified by comparing it to a computer.

Explain flaws research methods as a weakness for the cognitive approach?

Cognitive experiments are often carried out in artificial lab settings. For example, memory research like Loftus and Palmer's study may not reflect how memory works in real life as it was carried out in a control setting. This shows a lack of ecological validity in the research carried out.

What is a phenotype?

physical characteristics of an organism

What is a gene?

segment of DNA that codes for a protein

What is concordance?

The extent to which both twins share the same characteristics

What are genetics?

The study of hereditary and the variation of inherited characteristics

What is a dominant gene?

Only one gene needs to be expressed

What si a gene pool?

The stock of different genes in an interbreeding population

What is dizygotic twins?

Twins derived from two separate ova

What is a recessive gene?

Gene that is hidden when the dominant gene is present

What is a genotype?

genetic makeup of an organism

What is monozygotic?

Twins derived form a single ovum

What is the biological approach?

a perspective in psychology that explains behaviour in terms of biology, especially the brain, genes, hormones, and nervous system.

What are some key assumptions of the biological approach (3)

Everything psychological is biological first, behaviour sis strongly influenced by genetics, neurochemistry and brain structure.

What are some key assumptions of the cognitive approach (3)

The mid works like a computer, internal working processes can be studied scientifically, behaviour is influenced by schemas

What are some key assumptions of the SLT approach (3)

Behaviour is learned through observation and imitation, learning involves cognitive processes, learning can occur without direct reinforcement