Key Assumptions

Key Assumption 

All behaviour occurs in a social context, environmental factors cause us to behave a certain way.  Social psychologists state that our behaviour is influenced by the actual, implied or imagined presence of others.

Studies

Milgram

• To investigate what level of obedience would be shown when participants were told by a authority figure to adminster electrical shocks to another person

Bocchiaro

• To replicate Milgram's findings and to find out how individual factors effect behaviour and how likely people are to whistle blow.

Key Assumption

All individuals differ from each other in their behaviour so no one can be considered the 'average person'. Every individual is genetically and this uniqueness is displayed through their unique behaviour 

Studies

Freud

• To report the findings if treatment of a 5 year old boy for his phobia of horses and find evidence for Freud's psychosexual stages of development and the oedipus complex

Baron - Cohen

• To test whether high functioning adults with autism adn asperger's syndrome would struggle with a new and more difficult task for theory of mind called the eyes task

Key Assumption 

Behaviour is a result of information processing. The Human mind works like a computer, we input information, process using internal processes eg- memory and the output is our behaviour 

Studies

Loftus and Palmer

• To investigate the effects of leading questions on an individuals ability to accuratly recall events

Grant at el

• To test for context dependancy effects caused by the presnct or absence of noisy during retrival and recall of meaningful material  

Key Assumption

All behaviour has a biological origin, all thoughts, feeling and behaviours have a biological basis. Our behaviour differs due to inherited genetic information and how the environment we grow up in alters how our genetics mature 

Studies

Sperry

• To record the psychological effects of hemispheric deconnection in patients with severe epilepsy and to understand *** th right and left hemispheres work in 'normal individuals'

Casey

• To bukid on previous into whether delay of gratification in childhood predicts impulse control when participants are olders and to investigate sensitivty to alluring social cues (happy faces)

Key Assumption 

Behaviour develops over your life span, These changes are influenced by the biological stages of development and our environmental experiences

Studies

Bandura

• To demonstrate that learning can occur simply through the observation of a role model and imitation of learnt behaviour can occur even when the role model is no longer present

Chaney

• To test whether an asthama spacer known as a funhaler could provide postive reinforcment to improve medical adherance in child ashmatics compared to pre existing devices 

Key Assumption

Behavioural psychologist believe that people are born as bank slates and behaviour is a result of the environment. Learning can occur through stimulus-response connections

Studies

Bandura and Chaney

Key Assumption

Our behaviours and feelings are rooted in our childhood experiences. Our behaviour, personality, motivations and feelings are influenced by the unconisious mind which we arent consiously aware of. Our early relationships with people are of perticular importance

Studies

Freud