Approaches in Psychology
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- Created by: ash8642
- Created on: 17-04-19 17:53
Origins of Psychology
Wundt and Introspection
- First psychology lab in Leipzig
- Introduced structuralism
- Standardised instructions made the procedures replicable
- Early philosophical roots - Descartes, Darwin, Locke
Emergence of Psychology as a Science
- Watson and early behaviourists - reject introspection
- Scientific approaches
- Behaviourism
- Cognitive revolution
- Biological approach
- Cognitive neuroscience
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Learning Approach: Behaviourism
Assumptions
- Observable
- Basic processes are the same in all species
Pavlov's Classical Conditioning
- Neutral stimulus = no conditioned response
- Unconditioned stimulus = unconditioned response
- Neutral stimulus + unconditioned stimulus = unconditioned response
- Conditioned stimulus = conditioned response
Skinner's Operant Conditioning
- Are you gaining something (positive) or having something taken away (negative)?
- Are you more likely to do the behaviour again (reinforcement) or less likely (punishment)?
- Skinner boxes - rats placed in boxes
- Press lever = receive a treat = positive reinforcement
- Electrocuted route = rat learns route without shocks = negative reinforcement
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Learning Approach: Behaviourism
Evaluation
- Scientific credibility - objectivity and replication helped create psychology as a science
- Real-life application - token economy used in prisons; focus on the here and now (e.g. treating phobias)
- Mechanistic - humans are passive responders, mental events not included
- Environmental determinism
- Ethical and practical issues in animal studies
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Learning Approach: Social Learning Theory
Assumptions
- Behaviour is learned from experience, directly and indirectly
- Observable
- Basic processes same in all species
Vicarious Reinforcement
- Observation leads to imitation if behaviour is vicariously reinforced
- Bandura's 'Bobo Doll' experiment
Mediational Processes
- Attention
- Retention
- Motivation
- Reproduction
Identification
- More likely to imitate role models you identify with
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Learning Approach: Social Learning Theory
Evaluation
- Cognitive factors in learning - more comprehensive account of learning
- Evidence from lab studies - demand characteristics + low validity
- Underestimates influence of biology - aggression involves hormonal factors (e.g. testosterone)
- Explains cultural differences
- Less deterministic than behaviourism (reciprocal determinism)
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Cognitive Approach
Assumptions
- Internal mental processes can be studied through inference
Theoretical and Computer Models
- Information processing approach
- Mind is likened to a computer and applied to artificial intelligence
Role of Schema
- Beliefs and expectations affect thoughts and behaviour
- Innate or learned
- Mental short-cut, leads to perceptual errors
Emergence of Cognitive Neuroscience
- Biological structures link to mental states
- Brain imaging used to read the brain
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Cognitive Approach
Evaluation
- Scientific and objective methods - lab experiments to produce reliable, objective data; credible basis
- Machine reductionism - ignores influence of emotion (e.g. anxiety and EWT)
- Application to everyday life - abstract and overly theoretical; artificial stimuli
- Real-world application (e.g. artificial intelligence)
- Less deterministic than other approaches
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Biological Approach
Assumption
- Everything psychological is at first biological
- Biological processes - genes, neurochemistry, and the nervous system
Genetic Basis of Behaviour
- Twins - monozygotic and dizygotic
- Used to determine likelihood that certain traits are genetic
- Family studies
Genotype and Phenotype
- Interaction between nature and nurture
Evolution and Behaviour
- Natural selection of genes based on survival value, and, ultimately, reproductive success
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Biological Approach
Evaluation
- Scientific methods - precise techniques (e.g. scanning techniques, family studies, drug trials)
- Real-life application - psychotherapeutic drugs
- Casual conclusions - drugs may only be associated with symptom reduction, not causes
- Deterministic
- Cannot separate nature and nurture
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Biopsychology
Nervous System
- Central nervous system - brain and spinal cord
- Peripheral nervous system - autonomic nervous system (sympathetic and parasympathetic); somatic nervous system (body)
Endocrine System
- Glands and hormones - hormones secreted into the bloodstream; pituitary is main gland
- Fight or Flight - sympathetic arousal: pituitary --> ACTH --> adrenal gland --> adrenaline
Structure and Function of Neurons
- Motor, sensory, and relay neurons
- Cell body contains nucleus, + has dendrites
- Axon covered in myelin sheath divided by nodes of Ranvier
- Positive charge leads to action potential
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Biopsychology
Synaptic Transmission
- Synapse - terminal buttons at synapse, presynaptic vesicles release neurotransmitters
- Neurotransmitters - post-synaptic receptor site links to dendrites of adjoining neuron; specialist functions
- Excitation or inhibition - adrenaline is excitatory, serotonin is inhibitory
- Psychotherapeutic drugs - SSRIs increase serotonin activity
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