psychology - approaches

AO1 outline the Origins of Psychology

• Wundt - father of psychology (1870)

• he was the first to use empirical scientific methods to study the mind which contributed to the establishment of psychology as a science

introspection

analyzing ones own thoughts and feelings

Briefly explain operant conditioning

• learning through reinforcement

• Skinner’s box, a controlled environment, had a rat where it activated a lever and was positively reinforced with food

• If it didn’t press the button it was punished with an electric shock which lead to negative reinforcement where it activates the lever to avoid being shocked

Explain classical conditioning using research

• learning through association

• Pavlov pairs the bell (NS) with the food (UCS) which causes the dog to salivate (UCR)

• After conditioning, the bell is the conditioned stimulus and the dog’s salivating in the conditioned stimulus

What approaches did Wundt use?

Structuralism → identifying structure of consciousness by breaking it up into most basic structures

Reductionism → concepts can be broken down into a cause and effect process

introspection → analyzing ones own thoughts and feelings

origins of psychology AO3

• ✅scientific → he recorded introspection in controlled & standardised environment (lab), ∴ placing psychology on equal terms with natural sciences

• ✅real world application → significant inspiration to psychologists, laid the foundation for psychology as a scientific discipline

• ❌subjective → Wundt relied on self report as ppt disclosed their private mental processes, making it difficult to establish laws of behaviour

what are the key assumptions of the behaviourist approach

• the mind is a blank slate at birth and behaviour is learnt

• they only care about behaviour that can be objectively measured and observed

• learning through classical and operant conditioning

• behaviourists suggest behaviour is the same in all organisms so animals can replace humans as experimental subjects

punishment definition

a consequence following a behaviour that decreases the likelihood of the behaviour

Outline AO3 of behaviourist approach

• ✅scientific → they focus on measurement of observable behaviour, increases scientific credibility

• ✅RWA → e.g. prisons use token economy systems where appropriate behaviour is awarded with tokens that are exchanged for privileges, supporting operant conditioning ∴ increases value of approach as it has widespread application

• ❌unethical → e.g. Skinner’s box housed rats in harsh and cramped conditions and they were deliberately kept below their natural weight ∴ questions if the costs outweigh the benefits

• ❌environmentally determinist (behaviour is because of internal/external forces rather than their will to do smth e.g. they believe the mind isn’t suitable for scientific study since it cant be directly observed and is a ‘black box’ )

key assumptions of SLT

• behaviour is learnt through observation and imitation (vicarious reinforcement)

• which is when you observe an individual do a behaviour and if they are rewarded, you imitate that behaviour

What is the difference between operant conditioning and SLT

operant → individual themself is being reinforced

SLT → individual watches someone else be reinforced

Explain link between modelling , identification and imitation

• Live or symbolic model performs behaviour and if individual identifies (relates) with them then they imitate that behaviour

• An individual is more likely to identify if the model is of high social status, attractive or similar to individual

Mediational processes

• Attention → whether behaviour is noticed

• Retention → whether behaviour is remembered

• Motor reproduction → ability to perform behaviour

• motivation → the will to perform behaviour

• all determine if a new behaviour is required or not, occur after observing a model and before imitating them

SLT Case Study

• Bandura et al

• children aged 3-6, one group observed an adult displaying physical and verbal aggression to a bobodoll, another group observed an adult play non-aggressively

• findings → children exposed to an aggressive role model being rewarded were more likely to be aggressive themselves (imitation), and boys were more likely to mimic an aggressive male role model (identification)

Outline SLT AO3

• ✅ scientific → e.g. performed in lab, highly controlled conditions, increases internal validity and replicability, increasing credibility of psychology as a science and placing it on equal ground with natural sciences

• ✅ research support for identification → e.g. Bandura bobo doll experiment

• ❌overreliance on lab studies - increases demand characteristics, may inhibit or exaggerate behaviours that wont occur in everyday life, so tells us little about how children actually learn aggression in everyday life

• ❌underestimates role of biology → e.g. those with higher testosterone are more predisposed to express learned aggression

Key assumptions of cognitive approach

• behaviour is based on cognitive processes: perception, attention, language, memory

What is the schema

• mental framework of beliefs and expectations

• role → used to quickly navigate and understand the world and interact with people and objects

• schemas can lead to inaccurate memories and lead to negative biases which cause mental health issues

What is inference

Logical conclusions on thought processing based on evidence

what is a theoretical model + example

• flowchart representation of the steps of mental processes

• e.g. computer models - suggests humans and computers receive inputs, generate outputs and process information through a sequence of programmed steps

explain the role of cognitive neuroscience

• it aims to scientifically examine neurological structures and chemical processes in the brain linked to internal mental processes using scanning techniques such as PET and fMRI scans

What is machine reductionism

• When analogies of computers are used to explain human behaviour

• This ignores the complexity of human behaviour and influences like emotion

Outline AO3 for cognitive approach

• ✅ real world application → e.g. cognitive neuroscience explains OCD is linked to faulty thought processes

• ✅ scientific → e.g. neuroimaging in labs increases the credibility of psychology as a science, putting it on equal footing with natural sciences

• ❌uses inferences - subjective and not fully scientific, decreases credibility as a science and the integrity of the approach as it lacks replicability and cannot establish general laws of behaviour

• ❌machine reductionist → uses theoretical models which undermine complexity of human behaviour, emotion and motivation influences behaviour which isn’t reflected within analogy, weakening validity of approach

Key assumptions of biological approach

• everything psychological is first biological

• the mind is inseparable from the brain

• takes into account genes

AO1 for biological approach

• biological structures affect behaviour such as hormones and frontal lobe

• neurotransmitters such as serotonin (associated with happiness) and dopamine (associated with pleasure) affect behaviour

• evolutionary psychologists believe in theory of natural selection proposed by Darwin where innate, inherited behaviours that increase survival chance are passed on to next generations

Genes definition

Hereditary definition

• Carry information about psychical and psychological characteristics in the form of DNA

• Passing characteristics from one generation to another through genes

Monozygotic vs dizygotic

Monozygotic twins share 100% DNA

Dizygotic twins share 50% DNA

Define genotype and phenotype

G → genetic makeup

P → the way genes are expressed through physical and behavioural characteristics, influenced by environment

Outline biological approach AO3

• ✅ scientific → to measure chemical processes and biological structures, objective methods like scanning techniques are used, empirical data increases validity and credibility

• ✅ real world application → e.g. understanding the role of neurotransmitters allowed the development of SSRIs to improve the quality of life for millions of people, shows it has practical value above theoretical explanation

• ❌biologically determinist → e.g. allows diffusion of responsibility - people blame their biology instead of taking accountability which limits usefulness in areas like the criminal justice system and denies free will

• ❌reductionist → overlooks complexity of human behaviour ∴ incomplete explanation

Key assumptions of psychodynamic approach

• Different forces act on the mind that direct human behaviour

AO1 for psychodynamic approach

• mind is made up of the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious which affects behaviour the most

• tripartite personality (Freud) → id (pleasure principle), ego (reality principle), superego (morality principle, appears at 5)

• ego uses defence mechanisms → denial, displacement & repression to protect us from unresolved conflict which causes stress & anxiety

• Oedipus Complex (Freud) → boys are jealous of their fathers because they have romantic feelings towards their mother

• Oedipus Complex is resolved in phallic stage of psychosexual stages where they identify with father, girls of same age experience castration anxiety

• Psychosexual stages (at each stage, the child experiences a conflict that must be resolved and if its not they become fixated with affects adult personality) → oral, anal, phallic, latency (conflicts are repressed), genital

AO3 for psychodynamic approach

• ✅RWA → e.g. Freud introduced psychotherapy using dream analysis and ink splatter therapy, which aimed to help clients by providing access to their unconscious ∴ wide spread application as used in modern day talk therapies

• ❌Androcentric → e.g. Oedipus complex suggests women are morally inferior because they lack castration anxiety meaning they identify less with mother and develop weaker superego ∴ alpha bias

• ❌subjective research support → Little Hans, lacks scientific theory and empirical data and considered ‘pseudoscience’

• ❌psychic determinist → e.g. behaviour is determined by unconscious conflict suggesting we have no free will, leaving negative view on human behaviour

Key assumptions of humanist approach

• Rogers and Maslow state that humans are active agents so psychology should be subjective

Humanist approach AO1

• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs → psychological needs, safety, belonging, esteem need to be achieved to reach self actualization

• Congruence → ideal self and perceived self need to overlap to reach self actualisation

• If gap is too big, individual will experience a state of incongruence, could be due to conditions of worth where parents give conditional love in childhood

• Roger’s client centred therapy→ requires genuineness, empathy and unconditional positive regard, aimed to reach congruence and self actualisation, clients and therapist are equal.

Humanist approach AO3

• ✅ real world application → e.g. Roger’s work transformed psychotherapy, his client centred therapy which is practiced throughout education, health and and social work industry

• ✅ holistic approach → anti-reductionist means it has a positive view on human behaviour which increases validity as it considers meaningful human behaviour within real-world context

• ❌cultural bound → e.g. collectivist cultures such as India may not identify with ideals of humanistic psychology as they emphasise needs of the group ∴ it doesn’t apply universally and is a product of the cultural context it was developed in

• ❌unscientific → lacks empirical data, cannot be generalised which decreases credibility as a science,