Approaches Psychology

Wilhelm Wundt (father of psychlogy)

used introspection to study sensation and perception, he asked participants to describe experiences when presented with a set of stimuli and recorded their reaction times.

(+) All introspections were done under controlled conditions using the same stimulus each time

(+) The same standardised instructions were issuedd to all participants which allowed procedures to be replicated each time

(-) Doesnt explain how the mind work it just relies on people expressing their own thoughts and feelings which isnt usualy objective

(-) Doesnt provide data that can be used reliably as people are reporting their own experiences so their accounts cant be confirmed

Bandura- imitation of aggressive models

Method; 36 boys and 36 girls with the mean age of 52 months ( around 4 years each). A matched pair design was used to group children into groups of aggression within their behaviour at nursery school. There were three conditions for the experiment

1) group one observed agressive adults playing with the bobo dolls hitting it with a mallet.

2) group two observed people ignoring the bobo doll and playing with other toys

3) group three were the control group they had no exposure to models so they couldnt copy behaviour however they had a bobo doll and agressive tools and normal toys .

Behaviour of all groups was observed for twenty minutes.

Results;

group one- imitated the agressive behaviour

group two- showed barely any agressive behaviour

group three- agressive behavour was slightly higher than in group two

Conclusion; agressive behaviour is learned through imitation of others acting the same

Ev Points;

(+) provides evidence for social learning theory

(+) Strict control of variables which means that results are more reliable and the experiment can be replicated

(-) lacks ecological validity as participants werent in a natural setting

(-) hard to generalise as the children were all from the same school

(-) encouraged agressive behaviour which can be seen as unethical

What makes something a science?

* Objectivity- recorded scientific observations without bias and not influenced by other factors or people

* Control- scientific observations that take place under controlled conditions

* Predictability- being able to use the results of an experiment and knowledge gained to predict future behaviour

*Hypothesis testing- theories which generate hypotheses which can be tested to either strengthen the support for the theory or disprove it.

*Replication- each experiment should be replicted so people have more confidence in results

(+) allport- psychology is a science as it has the same aims of science ( predict, understand, control)

(-) psychology experiments are open to extraneous variables and demand characteristics, these can be hard to control.

B.F Skinner studied how animals learn from the consequences of thei actions.

Consequences are classified into two categories;

Positive reinforcement; this is when you experience something desirable in response to doing something e.g; a child a child a chocolate bar for being well behaved

Negative reinforcement; when behaviour is strengthened by avoiding punishment e.g; being told you'll have more homework if you fail an exam.

Experiment done; Skinner's rats

Method; created a box which had a range of stimuli such as a speaker, lights, a food dispenser and a floor which gave an electric shock. A hungry rat was placed in the box with the range of stimuli The time taken for the rats to learn pressing the leaver would release food was recorded.

Results;The rats began to get quicker at finding the lever with food and avoiding the consequence of an electric shock.

Conclusion; Rats learnt through operant conditioning and pressing the lever was positive reinforcement

EV Points;

(+) Promotes the idea of behavioural psychology

(-) Uses animals which cant be generalised to animals

(-) A small sample size was used so the reliability of the results is reduced

Strengths and weaknesses of conditioning

(-) we as humans also learn by social learning theory

(-) generalising results from experiments to humans can be difficult as most were animal studies

(+) we've learned that different species have capacities to what they can learn through conditioning

(-) animal studies can be seen as unethical

Little Albert by Watson and Rayner

Method; 11 month old baby boy was used to be conditioned into having a fear of white objects. Researchers tried a conditioned response to these objects . They placed a white rat in front of little albert when he reached out to get in a loud bang was made which frightened him. This was repeated twice then 5 more times a week later.

Results; When a rat was shown little albert would cry this also happened when he saw other fluffy white object.

Conclusion; A fear had been conditioned into little albert showing that abnormal behaviour can be learned

Ev points

(-) experiement was very unethical as little albert was distressed

(-) It was in a lab so it lacks ecological validity

(+) Supports pavlov's idea of conditioning

Key points;

* our genes can influence our behaviour

we can learn other ways than conditioning

cognitive processes are relevant to understanding behaviour

several processes have to take place for social learning theory to occur

* Modelling- observing and imitating behaviour ( model can be a parent or celebrity etc)

* Identification- where certain characteristics/ qualities are picked out ( you copy and learn from their behaviour)

Behaviour can also be learned through reinforcement; positive or negative

Behaviour can also be learned through vicasious reinforcement; seeing others being rewarded for a behaviour

Mediational processes

1) Attention- Factors that influence whether a learner pays attention to a role model

2) Retention- Factors that influence whether a learner identifies with a role model and remembers the behaviours their role model produces.

3) Reproduction- Factors that influence whether a learner believes they should imitate the behaviour they have acquired

4) Motivation- Factors that influence how a learner responds to reinforcement.

Classical Conditioning-

Pavlov's dogs,

before conditioning

a stimulus e.g, food is the unconditioned stimulus.

This then triggers a natural reflex e.g; salivation in the dogs which is an unconditioned response

During Conditioning

the unconditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented with another stimulus in this case a bell and this is now a neutral stimulus

this then triggers salivation which is still an unconditioned response

After conditioning

the bell presented by itself is now a conditioned stimulus

this then trigger the now conditioned response of salivation

Genes are the genetic information carried by DNA in chromosomes, found within a cell’s nucleus; they are passed on through generations of a species if individuals survive and successfully reproduce. In line with Darwin’s theory of evolution, it might also follow that genes form a basis of behaviour, as both behaviour and genes appear to be heritable. An example might be aggressive behaviour, in light of obvious survival benefits such as warding off predators and competing for resources.

Strengths

- Scanning research techniques are useful for investigating the functions of the brain: an organ with obvious involvement in our behaviour that would otherwise be unobservable.

- The approach presents the strong nature viewpoint of the nature-nurture debate.

- The experimental methods used (gathering empirical [i.e. observable] evidence) make this approach very scientific.

Weaknesses

- The approach is considered reductionist; complex behaviour, thoughts and emotions are all equally explained by low-level biological mechanisms such as biochemicals and nerve impulses.

- Biology alone has been unable to explain the phenomenon of consciousness.

- An extreme biological approach does not account for the wide base of evidence that points to the influence of our environment (e.g. culture and society).

• The Computational model similarly compares with a computer, but focuses more on how we structure the process of reaching the behavioural output (i.e. the aim, strategy and action taken), without specifying when/how much information is dealt with.
• The Connectionist model takes a neural line of thought; it looks at the mind as a complex network of neurons, which activate in regular configurations that characterize known associations between stimuli.

The role of Schema

A key concept to the approach is the schema, an internal ‘script’ for how to act or what to expect from a given situation. For example, gender schemas assume how males/females behave and how is best to respond accordingly, e.g. a child may assume that all boys enjoy playing football. Schemas are like stereotypes, and alter mental processing of incoming information; their role in eyewitness testimony can be negative, as what somebody expects to see may distort their memory of was actually witnessed.

Strengths

• Models have presented a useful means to help explain internal mental processes
• The approach provides a strong focus on internal mental processes, which behaviourists before did not.
• The experimental methods used by the approach are considered scientific.

Weaknesses

• It could be argued that cognitive models over-simplify explanations for complex mental processes.
• The data supporting cognitive theories often come from unrealistic tasks used in laboratory experiments, which puts the ecological validity of theories into question (i.e. whether or not they are truly representative of our normal cognitive patterns).
• Comparing a human mind to a machine or computer is arguably an unsophisticated analogy.

Behaviourism is also known as learning theory. Through idea's John Watson.

The 3 main assumptions;

1) Nearly all behaviour is learnt

the only exceptions to this are reflexes which are inborn. e.g; blinking

Research method; learning is the main research goal

2) Animals and humans learn in the same way

we can both form stimulus response associations and conditioning although humans can use social learning as well

Research Method- natural procedures to measure animal behaviour

3) The mind is irrelevant

we cant measure a person's thinking

Research Method- laboratory experiments