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Origins and Approaches in Psychology, Cognitive Approach, Main Approaches…

- - - - Models of brain uses concepts such as 'coding' (turning info into a usable format) and 'stores' (holding info)
        
        These models have helped in the development of AI
- - - - Schemas provide a mental short cut that allow us to process lots of information quickly without overwhelming us with environmental stimuli
        
        Schemas can change and get more sophisticated as we get older e.g: we now can have a schema for what a typical park looks like
- - - - The last 20 years: MRI & PET scans allow us to systematically observe and describe mental processes based on what physically happens in the brain
        
        e.g: Research has been able to show episodic and semantic memories are located on opposite sides of the pre-frontal cortex (See Tulving's LTM in Memory topic)
        
        Brain fingerprinting can be used to analyse brain wave patterns to see if eyewitnesses are lying in court
- - - - Perceptions, thoughts, previous experiences, feelings & mood can influence how we react
      - Supporting evidence
        
        Minturn & Bruner's (1955) study of perceptual set
        
        Perceptual set: When we are more likely to take in certain kinds of information rather than others because of pre-existing expectations
        
        Group A: Shown numbers
        
        e.g: 11,14,17, 12
        
        Card with ambiguous B shown (looks like could be '13' or 'B')
        
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        Group B: Shown letters
        
        e.g: A, B, C, D
        
        Same card with ambiguous B also shown (looks like could be '13' or 'B')
        
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      - Stimulus --> Meditational Processes --> Response
- - - - Introduction of 'cognitive neuroscience' brings biology and cognitive psychology together. Study of the mind now has credible scientific basis
    - - Computer analogy approach allows researchers to build models of thought processes
        
        Unlike behaviourists, cognitive psychology showed that scientific, laboratory approaches can be applied to understanding cognitive processes
  - - - e.g: Memory research suggests emotional factors can affect EWT accuracy (See 'weapon focus theory' in Memory topic)
- - - - Wundt trained ptts to 'observe' their inner mental processes such as emotions when presented with a stimulus e.g: a lamp or metronome
        
        Thoughts were then reported in detail, outlining intensity, quality and/or duration of thoughts
        
        Wundt hoped to be able to use this method to document & describe the nature of human consciousness
        
        Introspection: The examination and documentation of ones mental or emotional processes
        
        Introspection aimed to study the mind by breaking up conscious awareness into basic structures such as thoughts, images & sensations
- - - - Difficult to formulate general principles
        
        Watson believed scientific psychology should only study things that could be observed and measured like how other sciences normally do things
        
        This was the start of the Behavioural Approach
        
        Scientific approach
        
        Behaviourist
        
        Behaviourist approach focuses on scientific processes in learning, including the use of controlled lab experiments
        
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        Cognitive
        
        Cognitive revolution (1960's): Movement that shifted focus from studying observable behaviour (behaviourist) to studying inner mental processes
        
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        Biological
        
        Uses experimental data too
        
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- - - - Difficult for results to be replicated
  - - - All introspections were recorded in strictly controlled conditions and used the same stimulus each time
        
        Same standardised instructions were given to all ptts
        
        Allows for procedure to be repeated, making it reliable
  - - - Psychology turned into the more scientific and measurable area of study it is today
- - - - Tolman (1932) showed that rats running through a maze could find food even if their usual routes were blocked
        
        Suggests rats had developed an internal map of where the food was located
        
        Highlights importance of studying what goes in inside the brain as well as observable behaviour
- - - - Reality principle
        
        Helps mediate between the ID & Superego
        
        Develops around 2 years old
        
        Reduces conflict between demands of the ID & Superego through defence mechanisms
        
        Defence Mechanisms
        
        Unconcious mechanisms
        
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    - - Morality principle
        
        Internalised sense of right & wrong based on moral standards of the same sex parent
        
        Develops at end of Phallic stage (5 years old)
        
        Punishes wrongdoings of the ego through guilt
    - - Also known as Innate Drives / Instinct-Driven
        
        Primative part of personality that operates on a pleasure principle - gets what it wants
        
        ID begins at birth and stays throughout life
        
        Selfish & demands instant gratification
- - - - Concious
        
        We know & are aware of this area
      - Preconcious
        
        Contains ideas/thoughts that we may accidentally become aware of
        
        Usually occurs during dreams or 'slips of the tongue' (parapraxes)
        
        e.g: Calling your teachner 'mum' instead of 'Miss'
      - Unconcious
        
        Most of the mind is made up of the unconcious mind
        
        Unconcious mind contains:
        
        Threatening/disturbing memories: These have been locked away/repressed & forgotten
        
        Biological drives: Instincts which have a significant influence over our behaviour & personality
- - - - Any unresolved conflict will lead to fixation, where the child carries on certain behaviours & conflicts into adulthood
        
        5 stages:
        
        Stage
        
        Oral
        
        Anal
        
        Phallic
        
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        1-3 years
        
        Focus of pleasure: Mouth Mother's breast is object of desire
        
        Oral fixation - Smoking, biting nails, sarcastic, critical
        
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        Focus of pleasure: Anus Withholding & expelling faeces
        
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        0-1 years
        
        Description
        
        Consequences (If unresolved)
- - - - Freud only studied 'Little Hans, Dora and the Rat Man'
        
        Small sample size means it's difficult to make universal claims about human nature
        
        Freuds observations were detailed BUT his interpretations were very subjective - Lacks scientific rigour
      - Untestable concepts
        
        Deterministic
        
        Approach is based on Psychic determinism as it suggests that all behaviour is caused by unconcious conflicts
        
        e.g: Even 'random' events such as a 'slip of the tongue' is driven by unconcious forces and has symbolic meaning according the Freud
        
        Approach suggests that free will has no role in influencing behaviour - hard determinism
        
        Karl Pooper argued that the Psychodynamic apporach doesn't meet the scientific crietria of falsification
        
        Concepts like the Ego and Oedipus/Electra complex occur at an unconcious level
        
        This makes the concepts difficult to prove/disprove as they cannot be tested
  - - - Explanatory power
        
        Freud's work has had huge influence on Western contemporary thought despite its controversial theories
        
        Helps explain a range of behaviours and has drawn attention to influence of childhood on adult personality
        
        Psychodynamic + Behaviourism were dominant approaches in early psychology
      - Approach has lead to the development of therapies such as 'Psychoanalysis'
        
        Psychoanalysis: Aims to reach the unconcious mind using techniques such as hypnosis & dream analysis
        
        Psychoanalysis has laid the groundwork for development of more modern therapies
        
        HOWEVER, psychoanalysis can only be used for mild neurosis and is inappropriate in treating more severe mental disorders like Schizophrenia
- - - - However, the also acknowledge that people can still be influenced by external & internal forces
        
        Ultimately, we are active agents over our own lives
- - - - All 4 lower tiers of Maslow's hierarchy need to be met before self-actualisation is achieved
- - - - This is called congruence
        
        If the gap between concept self & ideal self is too big, individual will experience incongruence
        
        Self-actualisation cannot be achieved
        
        Client-centered Therapy
        
        Based on idea that issues with incongruence were rooted in childhood experiences
        
        Parents set boundaries/conditions for love (e.g: "I'll only love you if you score an A")
        
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- - - - Roger's theory has helped changed counselling techniques & Maslow's hierarchy helps explain motivation in the workplace
        
        BUT lack of scientific rigour means there is a lack of sound evidence supporting the humanist approach
        
        Means that approach has limited real world application
    - - Humanist approach is not scientific because concepts are difficult to test
        
        Creates issues with trying to identify cause & effect relationships
        
        Rogers tried to develop the Q-Test (measures progress during therapy) to solve the issue
        
        BUT Humanist theory still lacks scientific rigour
    - - Concepts such as personal growth, autonomy & individual freedom resonate more with individualistic cultures
        
        Collectivist cultures however, put more emphasis on the welfare of the whole group/community
        
        Difficult therefore, for the Humanist approach to be applied to other cultures
  - - - Emphasis on humans' desire to be the best version of themselves and constantly seeking to improve is a much more positive perspective
        
        Contrasts to Freud's belief that humans are controlled by their past experiences
    - - Humanists consider the individual as a whole & don't try to breakdown behaviour into smaller components
        
        This is the best way to understand subjective experiences
        
        This approach may be more valid than others as it considers human behaviour in a real life context
- - - - Bio-psychologists believe that most human behaviour depends on interaction between inherited factors and the environment (nature vs nurture)
        
        e.g: identical twins may look slightly different as one may have exercised more or ate more food than the other
  - - - The idea that any behaviour that benefits a species and has helped it to survive will continue in future generations
        
        Psychologists look at evolution of behaviour
        
        e.g: Memory - Human memory evolved because it provided advantages to survival
        
        e.g: Attachment - Bowlby argued attachment to PCG is adaptive
        
        e.g: Psychopathology - Some mental disorders, like OCD, have a genetic basis
  - - - Looks at whether these traits are inherited as physical characteristics (phenotype)
        
        Twin studies
        
        Usually used to compare concordance rates and see how likely characteristics are inherited.
        
        i.e: How much do the twins have the same characteristics
        
        If monozygotic twins (identical) have a higher concordance rate than dizygotic twins (non-identical), it would suggest a genetic bias
        
        Because MZ twins share 100% of genes, DZ share 50% (same as normal siblings)
  - - - Chemicals influence reactions to the environment. e.g: Fight or flight
- - - - Identical/non-identical twins & family members all have genetic similarities.
        
        Biological approach suggests that any similarities in the way they look/act must be genetic
        
        BUT, exposure to similar environmental conditions can also affect looks & behaviour
        
        This supports nurture argument more than nature
    - - Negative implications for legal system & wider society
        
        e.g: In law, offenders are seen to be legally & morally responsible for their actions. Discovery of 'criminal gene' may complicate this
  - - - Increase understanding of biochemical processes in the brain have led to development of psychoactive drugs that treat mental illnesses
        
        Drugs allow patients to live a relatively normal life rather than stay in hospitals
    - - Improvements in technology makes it easier to accurately measure biological & neural processes
        
        Approach is now more objective and based on reliable data
- - - - Includes:
        
        Genes
        
        Understanding brain structure & function can help explain thoughts & behaviours
        
        Nervous system
        
        Neurochemistry
- - - - Unlike behavioural approach, SLT shows that behaviour can be learnt then stored for later use
        
        Assumptions:
        
        Mediational processes: The bridge between traditional behaviourism & the cognitive approach
        
        This mental process helps decide whether a behaviour is worth acquiring
        
        4 mental/meditational processes:
        
        1. Attention:
        
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        Observation & Imitation: We learn indirectly through observation & imitation
        
        Modelling & Identification: People are more likely to imitate someone they identify with e.g: same gender, higher status, attractive etc.
        
        Process is called modelling
        
        Vicarious reinforcement: Learner may imitate behaviour observed but generally only when it is seen to be rewarding (reinforced)
        
        Individuals observe consequences more than actual behaviour
  - - - Laboratory studies known as Bobo doll studies to examine the effect of a violent model on children's behaviour
    - - Children aged 3-5 observed an adult behave aggressively towards an inflatable doll
        
        Children placed in one of 3 conditions: 12 boys + 12 girls per condition
        
        Condition 1:
        
        Room with female experimenter sitting at a table with crayons and paper
        
        2nd experimenter enters with mallet and attacks Bobo doll (10 minutes)
        
        Condition 2:
        
        Same as Condition 1 but no aggression shown towards doll
        
        Condition 3:
        
        Control group with no adult model
        
        Sample of 72 children from Stanford University nursery studied
    - - Children then allowed to play with toys, including the Bobo doll (20 minutes)
        
        All children were able to reproduce most of the aggressive acts shown by the model, even if model was punished (lowest level of imitation)
        
        Behaviour observed from studying films of the children:
        
        Non-imitative agression
        
        Imitative aggression
        
        Children also appeared to be aware of what behaviour was appropriate for the models
        
        Conclusion
        
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        e.g: Some children commented that "ladies shouldn't do things like that"
        
        Agressive fun play
        
        Partial imitation
      - Other variations
        
        Vicarious punishment: Seeing the model punished resulted in lowest levels of imitative behaviour
        
        Vicarious reinforcement: Seeing model praised resulted in highest levels of aggression
        
        No consequences: High levels of aggression too
  - - - SLT added to our knowledge on how learning takes place in humans
        
        SLT explains how humans & animals are able to store information and judge when and whether it's appropriate to perform certain actions
    - - SLT is too focused on environmental factors and relationship between observer & model
        
        E.g: In one of Bandura's research, boys were found to be more aggressive than girls regardless of the conditions of the investigation
        
        Biologists could have explained that difference in aggression was caused by imbalance of testosterone or genetics
    - - According to science, any supporting evidence of a theory should be based on observations and objective measurement
        
        SLT uses carefully controlled scientific methods to investigate observational learning
        
        Use of scientific method means SLT experiments can be easily repeated to check for reliability
    - - Lab studies are often criticised for their artificial nature
        
        Demand characteristics mean behaviour displayed might reduce internal validity.
        
        Study might not actually tell us how children learn aggression in real life
    - - Bandura's experiments has raised questions on whether people can be influenced by what they see on TV
        
        Case Study: Toddler James Bugler was murdered by two 10-year old boys.
        
        Argued that boys were inspired by 'Child's Play 3'
    - - SLT can't explain how abstract ideas are learnt e.g: moral principles of justice & fairness
        
        Some morals are hard to learn just by observation
- - - - Assumes that we're all born with a blank slate. Behaviour is learnt and determined by external forces in the environment
    - - Believe psychology should not be the study of mental processes as they aren't open to scientific investigation
    - - Believe all species learn in a similar way.
  - - - See Attachment mind map for more
  - - - Types of consequences:
        
        Negative reinforcement
        
        When a human or animal avoids something unpleasant
        
        e.g: rats pressing the lever to turn off the loud noise
        
        Positive reinforcement
        
        Receiving a reward when a certain behaviour is performed
        
        e.g: rat pressing the lever for food
        
        Punishment
        
        Unpleasant consequence of a behaviour
        
        e.g: Rats getting. electric shocks after every lever press
      - Learning can be extinguished e.g: if food stopped being given after lever presses, rat will stop pressing lever
  - - - Behaviourism was able to bring methods used by natural sciences and apply it to psychology
        
        Done by measuring behaviour in controlled lab settings
        
        This systematic approach gave psychology more credibility and status as a scientific discipline
    - - Principles of behaviourism have been applied to a wide range of real-world behaviours & problems
        
        e.g: token-economy system used in prisons and psychiatric wards is based on operant conditioning
        
        Appropriate behaviour is rewarded with tokens that can be exchanged for privileges
        
        e.g: Phobias have been treated by using techniques based on classical conditioning
        
        Systematic desensitisation based on classical conditioning
    - - Behaviourist approach views humans and animals aspassive responders
        
        Ignores other factors such as conscious insight into their behaviour
        
        Cognitive & Social Learning approach on the other hand look at mental events too (meditational processes)
    - - Behaviourists use animals research in their work to apply it to humans
        
        Humans are seen to have more complex behaviour patterns than animals, making it hard to generalise findings from animals to humans