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Approaches: Part 1 - Coggle Diagram
Approaches: Part 1
Behavourist approach
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The behaviourist approach is an approach to explaining bahviour which suggest that all behaviour is learnt and maintained through classical and operant conditioning - founders of behaviourism Watson and Skinner disagree with the subjective nature of Wundt's introspection
From a behaviourist perspective, the basic laws governing learning are the same across both non-humans and humans. Therefore, non-human animals can replace humans in behaviourist experimental research.
Classical Conditioning - A type of learning which occurs through associations made between the unconditioned stimulus and the neutral stimulus - Pavlov's dogs - neutral stimulus consistently paired with an unconditioned stimulus eventually the conditioned stimulus creates a response
Bell - neutral stimulus (doesn't make the dog salivate) Food (unconditioned stimulus) Drooling (unconditioned response) - when the bell is rung and then the dog is given food the dog begins to associated the bell with food and the bell becomes the conditioned stimulus which causes the dog to drool which is the conditioned response.
Watson and Raynor also showed classical conditioning with Little Albert - 9 month old baby boy who was exposed to many stimuli (monkeys, dogs etc) and showed now fear response - when exposed to a white rat (unconditioned stimulus) initially Little Albert would show no fear response (unconditioned response) Watson would hit a steel bar with a hammer (neutral stimulus) which would make Little Albert cry (neutral response). When little Albert was presented with the white rat Watson would hit the steel bar with the hammer so the loud noise was associated with the white rat. This caused Little Albert to cry (conditioned response) when presented with the white rat (conditioned stimulus)
Operant conditioning - A type of learning where behaviour is acquired and maintained based on its consequences. Reinforcement increases the likelihood of the observed behaviour being repeated, whilst punishment (an unpleasant consequence of behaviour) decreases this likelihood - Skinners Box - learning by trial and error
Positive reinforcement shown when the rats pressed down on the lever they were given food as a reward and subsequently learnt to repeat this action to increase their rewards - Negative reinforcement shown when the rats learnt to press down on the lever to stop the electric shocks
Positive reinforcement - something added increases behaviour (food)
Negative reinforcement - Something is turned off (shocks turned off)
Extinction - if the behaviour that has been reinforced stops being reinforced it will eventually stop happening
Primary reinforcers - Food/water/sex normally rewarding in themselves
Secondary reinforcers - reinforcing due to pairing with a primary reinforcers, money buys food
Intermittent reinforcement - behaviour isn't reinforced every time it happens - gambling and slot machines - winning every few times but not in a predictable pattern - resistant to extinction
Evaluation: :check: Scientific Rigour - highly scientific lab experiments - control of extraneous variables increasing reliability and internal validity
:check: Real - life applications - knowledge of classical and operant conditioning has led to development of treatments and therapies e.g. token economies in prisons - rewarding for good behaviour
:no_entry: Environmetal determinism - doesn't acknowledge free will - can apply to animals but for humans need to take into account emotions, motivations and reasoning skills
:no_entry: Ethical implications - protection from harm in BPS manual breached by Skinner's experiment as he was shocking the rats - Watson and Raynor - psychological damage to Little Albert (grew up being scared of anything white and fluffy) and was not offered the right to withdraw
Social Learning theory
suggests that learning occurs directly through classical and operant conditioning and indirectly through vicarious reinforcement
Assumes that learning occurs through the following stages: An observer identifies
themselves with a desirable role model. This role model displays or models a specific behaviour, which is imitated by the observer. The likelihood that the observed behaviour will be imitated is increased if the role model is seen to be ‘vicariously reinforced’ or rewarded. Therefore, the consequences of the observed behaviour are more important than observing the behaviour alone
Role model: A person who the observer identifies with - attractive, has a high social status, is of a similar age and same gender
Identification: The process by which the observer relates to/ associates themselves with a role model
Vicarious Reinforcement: A type of indirect learning which occurs when an observer sees their role model being rewarded for a certain type of behaviour - the observer is then motivated to imitate this type of behaviour
Mediational processes: Need to occur between stimulus and response - Attention, retention, motivation and motor reproduction
Bandura (1961) - Bobo Doll Exeperiement - 72 3 -5 year old children (36f 36m) - 3 groups - 1. watched a clip of an adult acting aggressively towards the Bobo doll 2. watched the adult act in a neutral manner towards the Bobo doll 3. the control group didn't watch any clip. The children's aggression levels were measured beforehand and a matched pairs design was used so that their were the same levels aggression in each group - before the experiment all the children were given a 'mild aggression arousal' by being placed in a room with toys they weren't allowed to play with.
Findings: The children who observed the adults playing aggressively imitated the aggressive behaviours. The neutral group were not aggressive. This effect was stronger if the children observed an adult with the same gender as them being aggressive suggesting identification
Variation - Vicarious reinforcement: Children who observed adults being praised for aggressive behaviours acted more aggressively than the children who watched adults being punished for aggressive behaviour
Evaluation: :no_entry: Environmental determinism - Bandura's experiment ignores the biological difference between males and females and ignores any other factors - hormones testosterone increasing aggression in males
:no_entry: Lacks ecological validity as this is not a try measure of how children may act in real life
:no_entry: Demand characteristics - Bobo doll is made to be hit and therefore encourages that behaviour
:check: Has an advantage over behaviourism as it recognises cognitive processes - the meditational processes that lead to behaviour
Cognitive approach
Behvaiour is a result of information processing - thoughts can be conscious or non-conscious and pass through stages called internal mental processes
Computer analogy for the brain - computer processes information and then displays it - the brain processes information which results in outputs like movements
Inference - internal mental processes cannot be directly observed - an inference is going beyond the immediate evidence that has been observed to make assumptions about the underlying structure of mental processes
Cognitive neuroscience - cognitive and biological processes can be integrated to understand human behaviour - relate mental processes to brain structure
Models - used to provide testable theories about mental processes and these can be studied scientifically and inferences made
Computer model - CPU (central processing unit (the brain)), Coding (turning stimuli into thoughts), Memory stores (specialist areas in the brain for memory), Output (behavioural responses)
Theoretical model - like flow chart models used in computer programming and are a representation of how information flows and is processed through a mental system such as memory or attention (working memory model)
Schema - mental representation of experience and expectations about the world and objects - this is developed from experience with these objects
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Cognitive neuroscience
the scientific field concerned with the study of biological processes and aspects that underline cognition, with a specific focus on neural connections in the brain which are involved in mental processes
History of neuroscience: 1. Brain mapping in the 1870's - Carl Wernicke, based on case studies of patients who all had damage on the same area of the brain and all suffered the same kind of aphasia (Wernicke's), inferred that Brodman's area 22 must be involved with speech comprehension. 2. Objectively investigating Brain Localisation Theory in the 1970's - advances in technology meant that we were able to measure and observe mental processes which coincide with different brain processes - Wernicke's in listening tasks and Broca's when talking. 3. Current focuses of neuroscience - the neural basis of model-based planning (including the role of the dorsal hippocampus), the neurological basis of autism and also the neurological basis of moral reasoning
Evaluation: :check: Scientific methods and Rigour - substantially increased the scientific credibility of psychology :no_entry: Overly - abstract concepts using analogies to understand a complicated concept - reliance on inference also means less empirical evidence therefor lacks validity :check: Practical applications - in education cognitive neuroscientists can study children behaviour :check: Soft determinism - The cognitive approach sees humans as being able to reason and make conscious decisions within the limits of what they know or their ‘cognitive system’, and so adopts a soft deterministic approach - more flexible than the behaviourist hard determinism stance because it allows for humans to have some conscious insight into their behaviour: a complexity which differentiates us from animals, and so provides a better explanation for human behaviour than behaviourism.
Origins of Psychology
Wilhelm Wundt
' Father of Psychology' - moved the study of the mind from philosophical roots to empirical scientific research
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:check: Entire approach paved the way for how psychology was scientifically researched.
:no_entry: Wundt's work later criticised by behaviourist learning theories who thought mental processes could not be explained by introspection - they focused only on observable inputs (stimuli) and outputs (behaviours)
Descartes and Dualism
17th century Descartes suggested that the mind and body represented a dualism - the two interact in different ways to produce behaviours and thoughts (basis for the nature vs nurture debate)
Psychology - The scientific study of behaviour and mental processes and how these are affected by internal and external factors