Approaches in Psychology.

• Wilhelm Wundt:
  • Established experimental psychology as a science
  • Involves breaking down behaviour into basic elements
  • Introspection was the method of study
  • Worked by asking individuals to engage in a task and then reflect the mental processes they were performing
  • Used to establish general theories about mental processes
• Psychology as a science
  • Scientific psychology uses empirical methods
  • Assumptions of determinism and predictability
  • Scientific methods= objective, systematic and replicable

EVALUATION

• Wundt's methods were unreliable
• Introspection not particularly accurate
• Stengths of science: Objective and systematic methods, determines cause and effect relationships and corrective nature
• Limitations of science: lack of agreement over appropriateness of method for studying human

• Associated with Pavlov

• Timing- NS must be shortly before UCS
• Extinction- CS loses its ability to produce CR after a few trials if no reinforcement
• Spontaneous recovery- CS + UCS paired again, link make more quickly

EVALUATION

• Strengths- development of treatments for anxiety
• Weaknesses- different species have different capabilities of learning

• Likelihood of repeating behaviour depends on its consequences
• Positive and negative reinforcement increases the likelihood of a behaviour occuring
• Pleasant consequences = Positive reinforcement
• Removal of unpleaant stimulus = Negative reinforcement
• Continuous reinforcement effective for establishing a behaviour, partial reinforcement for maintaining it
• Adding unpleasant consequence, or removing pleasent stimulus = punishment

EVALUATION

• Strengths- reliance on the experimental method
• Weaknesses- most of Skinners' work was on animals, excluding possibility of human free will

• New patterns of behaviour acquired as a result of the observation of others
• Models provide examples of behaviour that can be observed and imitated
• Key determinants (i) characteristics of the model; (ii) observer's ability to perform the behaviour; (iii) its observed consequences
• Identification with the model based on percieved similarity
• Vicarious reinforcement- individuals learn about the likely consequences of behaviour by observing others
• Individuals must form mental representations of the behaviour and its probable consequences
• Bandura et al- Bobo doll:
  • Procedure- Children observed aggressive or non-aggressive models interacting with Bobo doll. The aggressive model displayed physical and verbal aggression; children then allowed to communicate with doll.
  • Findings- Chilren observing aggressive models imitated aggression. Otherwise, shildren showed little aggression.

EVALUATION

• Strengths- understanding criminal behaviour, learning for effective from similar model
• Weaknesses- criticism of criminals due to ecposure of deviant models, disregards other influences

• The study of internal mental processes:
  • Mental processes cannot be studied directly so must be inferred
  • Schemas help organise and interpret information
  • Schemas fill in gaps in the absence of full information
  • Theoretical models are simplified representations based on current evidence
  • Computer models of mental processes- analogies of information is inputted through the senses, encoded into the memory, etc.
• Emergence of cognitive neuroscience:
  • The emergence of cognitive neuroscience, e.g. use of neuroimaging techniques to study the brain
  • Burnett et al., when people feel guilt, medial prefrontsl cortex is active

EVALUATION

• Strengths- Has applications, scientific methods
• Weaknesses- Many differences between computer processing and human processing, ignores emotion; irrelevant to computer but not to a human

• Genes carry the instructions for a particular characteristic from one generation to next
• Relative role of genes or environment = nature-nurture debate
• Genotype is the genetic code written in individual's DNA
• Phenotype is physical manifestation of this inherited information
• Heritability = the amount of variability in a trait within a population attributed to genetic differences
• The nervous system = central and peripheral nervous systems
• The largest part of the brain in the cerebrum, divided into four lobes
• Neurotransmitters enable nerve impulses to cross the synapse
• Excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters stimulate or inhibit a recieving nerve cell
• Serotonin is an inhibitory neurotransmitter
• Hormones- produced by endocrine cells and stimulate target cells
• Evolution and behaviour- through natural selection

EVALUATION

• Strengths:
  • Scientific method- makes replication easier
  • Provides clear predictions, which can be tested
• Weaknesses:
  • Biological approach is reductionist
  • Ignores possibilities of cultural evolution