Basic Assumptions

• the mind and the brain are the same.
• thought processes and behaviour cannot occur without the operation of the CNS, including the brain. 
• an imbalance of the chemicals in the CNS can cause certain types of mental disorders such as bipolar disorder. 
• human behaviour and thought processes have a biological basis and are influence by our genetic make-up and inheritance. 
• human characteristics are due to our DNA and are innate.
• evolutionary change to our genes has helped us adapt our behaviour to the environment. 

• behaviour is learned through our experiences in the environment.
• psychology should be concerned with observable behaviour and the laws of learning. Internal mental processes cannot be studied. 
• reinforcement strengthens a behaviour and punishment stops a behaviour reoccurring.
• the laws of learning are due to stimulus and behavioural responses.
• research carried out on animal behaviour can be generalised to human behaviour.   

• individuals will imitate or copy behaviour they have seen rewarded in other people. 
• individuals will not imitate or copy behaviour they have seen punished in others. 
• vicarious reinforcement is when the observer has seen a behaviour rewarded or reinforced in another person. They then become more likely to copy the behaviour.
• vicarious reinforcement only happens through mediational processes.
• observational learning has four conditions:

Attention Retention Motor reproduction Motivation

• our behaviour is determined by the mental processes that lie between stimulus and response. Only by studying these can we understand why people behave as they do. 
• assumes internal mental processes can be studied in an objective, scientific way using carefully controlled experimental methods as its main method of investigation. 
• humans are information processors.
• the mind operates in the same way as a computer, encoding, storing and outputting data.
• the human brain actively manipulates/processes information from the environment through our senses.  

• our behaviour is determined by unconscious processes of which we are unaware. 
• the human mind is energised and subsequent behaviour motivated by instinct or drives. 
• childhood experiences determine adult personality through the 5 psychosexual stages; oral, anal, phallic, latent, genital. 
• personality has 3 parts; id, superego and ego.
• psychoanalysis can uncover unconscious thoughts (especially in dream analysis).

• humans must be viewed as a whole and not component parts. 
• human beings are unique and should be valued in that way.
• humans have free will, are active agents in their own development and determine their own paths in life. 
• humans strive towards self actualisation.
• to be psychologically healthy, our real self and ideal self must be congruent.