APPROACHES

ORIGINS OF PSYCHOLOGY

^^WUNDT & INTROSPECTION

^^Wundt is considered the father of psychology as he believed that all aspects of the human mind could be studied scientifically. Wundt created the first experimental psychology lab in Germany (1879), called The Institute of Experimental Psychology. He pulled psychology onto a more scientific ground from its origins of philosophy. Wundt created the key technique of introspection.

Introspection involves investigating internal events (emotional states, conscious thoughts and feelings used as a form of data collection). This technique allows us to observe our inner world of thoughts and feelings in terms of intensity, longevity and quality.

^^SCIENTIFIC PROCESSES

^^%%HYPOTHETICO-DEDUCTIVE MODEL

%%Observation is made → theory & hypothesis is developed → hypothesis tested using empirical methods → results analysed (support hypothesis? Y/N)

%%F-R-O-G-S

%%Falsifiability: all theories must be capable of being tested and potentially disproved.

Replicable: research procedures should be capable of being repeated to check the consistency. This means procedures should be standardised so variables can’t be manipulated by researchers.

Objective: it should be observable and measurable on an agreed universal scale that is not open to interpretation.

General Laws: using evidence to develop basic generalisable principlesabout human or animal behaviour that apply to all individuals. \n Systematic: evidence or recordings are carried out in a controlled manner using direct observations/measurement.

^^WUNDT EVALUATION

  • ^^(+) Helped psychology be recognised as a credible scientific subject
  • (-) Introspection is highly subjective
  • (-) Lacks ecological validity as introspection activities don’t represent real life

BIOLOGICAL APPROACH

MAIN ASSUMPTION: all behaviour is driven by physiological factors

^^EVOLUTION & BEHAVIOUR

^^Natural selection: where inherited characteristics that enhance survival are passed onto the next generation.

Evolution: when there is a gradual change with a species over several generations in response to environmental pressures.

Highly adaptive behaviour like being scared of heights or predators is inherited from evolution.

Seligman (1971) suggested there was a biological preparedness to phobias of certain things. It’s not the fears themselves that are inborn but rather the innate tendency to rapidly acquire a phobia to potentially harmful phenomena. This would explain why phobias of things that would have threatened early man (heights, etc) are more common than other things.

^^GENES & BEHAVIOUR

^^Genotype: the genetic constitution of a person.

Phenotype: the result of your genetic material interacting with your environment to establish a behaviour.

We can link twin research to genes as MZ twins share 100% genetic similarity while DZ share 50%.

If we find that MZ twins are far more similar than DZ twins we can say this is due to genetics, because they share the same environment and the only difference is th

e greater genetic similarity.

PKU is a rare genetic disorder that can be detected in babies via a heel prick test. If left unchecked it can cause severe learning difficulties in those who have the genotype. If it can be detected early enough though the child can be put on a restricted diet to avoid high protein and they will develop normally.

^^NEUROANATOMY

^^Neuroanatomy is mapping the relationship between the various areas of the brain (sometimes called neuroanatomy) and their functions.

Broca’s area: responsible for language production → damage to this area can result in ‘Brocas Aphasia’ where individuals have major difficulty in forming speech.

Wernicke’s area: responsible for language comprehension → damage to this area can result in ‘Wernickers Aphasia’ where individuals have major difficulty in understanding language.

Brain plasticity → Using MRI scans - discovered that London ‘cabbies’ had developed more grey matter in hippocampus than control participants. There was also a positive correlation that the longer they had been a taxi driver the greater the structural differences in the hippocampus.

Raine found that 41 criminals who were pleading ‘Not Guilty for Reasons of Insanity’ had less activity in their amygdala and the hippocampus compared to a control group. This suggests that perhaps the amygdala and the hippocampus play a role in criminal behaviour.

^^NEUROCHEMISTRY & BEHAVIOUR

^^Neurochemistry: which concerns all of the chemical processes that take place in the brain.

GABA: inhibits the activity of neurons in most areas of the brain.

Adrenaline: involved in the fight or flight response.

Serotonin: low levels linked to the anxiety in OCD and depression.

^^BIOLOGICAL APPROACH EVALUATION

  • ^^(+) Extremely scientific as it uses objective & falsifiable methods
  • (~~-~~) Displays evolutionary discontinuity as humans and animals display genetic differences so we can’t generalise this effectively
  • (+) Help society access treatment for mental health problems →  APs given to patients suffering from schizophrenia can quickly stabilise behaviour in up to 85% of patients
  • (-) methodological issues with studies → Teubar found young soldiers with brain damage recovered more than older soldiers

LEARNING APPROACHES

MAIN ASSUMPTION: all behaviour is learned and a person is a product of their nurture.

^^BEHAVIOURIST APPROACH

^^%%CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

%%Pavlov carried out research to see if his laboratory dogs could learn to salivate in response to
a bell.

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) = Unconditioned Response (UCR)

FOOD = SALIVATION

\
@@Neutral Stimulus@@ (NS) + Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) = Unconditioned Response (UCR)

BELL + FOOD = SALIVATION

\
@@Conditioned Stimulus@@ (CS) = Conditioned Response (CR)

BELL (+ ~~FOOD~~) = SALIVATION

Extinction: if the CS is continually presented without the UCS then the CR gradually dies out or extinguishes→ salivation died out after no food presented.

Spontaneous recovery: if a CR is not reinforced, it become extinguished but after a period of rest the response may suddenly reactivate → salivation returned to bell after re-pairing with food.

Discrimination: the CR is produced only by presentation of the original stimuli, it does not extend to similar stimuli → dogs only salivating in response to a particular bell, not all bells.

Generalisation: extension of CR from the original stimulus to similar stimulus → salivating at any bell.

One trial learning: when conditioning occurs immediately, after one trial only → dog food is poisoned so the dogs won’t eat it again.

%%OPERANT CONDITIONING

%%Primary reinforcers: is anything that fulfils a basic/biological need → food fulfilling hunger.

Secondary reinforcers: only becomes a reinforcer because it is associated with a primary reinforcer → mother (SR) feeds (PR) her baby.

Skinner called learning from consequences ‘operant conditioning’. Essentially, Skinner’s theory is that the likelihood of future behaviour is determined by the consequences of past behaviour.

Positive reinforcement: increasing the frequency of a desired behaviour by giving pleasant consequences.

  1. Rat will press the lever in the cage by accident and food will be dispensed.

  2. Rat will connect the appearance of food with pressing the lever.

  3. Rat will now press the lever to gain food.

    Press lever (desired behaviour) = food (pleasant consequences)

    \

Negative reinforcement: increasing the frequency of a desired behaviour by removing something unpleasant.

  1. Skinner electrifies the floor of the cage and only the lever can stop it.

  2. Rat will press the lever on accident and stop being electrified.

  3. Rat will connect the lever to stopping the electricity.

  4. Rat will now press the lever immediately to avoid being electrocuted.

    Press lever (desired behaviour) = not be electrocuted (pleasant consequences)

\
Punishment: decreasing the frequency of undesired behaviour by giving unpleasant consequences.

  1. Skinner changes the lever mechanism so the rat now receives an electric shock when it pulls it.

  2. Rat will pull the lever and receive an electric shock.

  3. Rat will stop pressing the lever.

    Press lever (undesired behaviour) = electrocuted (unpleasant consequences)

^^BEHAVIOURISM EVALUATION

  • ^^(+) Extremely scientific
  • (+) Evidence to support it → Little Albert
  • (-) Evolutionary discontinuity from Pavlov’s research
  • (+) Contributing accessible ways to treat mental health problems
  • (-) Environmental determinism → everything is caused by past experiences

^^SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

^^Bandura is the creator is SLT