Approaches in Psychology AQA A level

24 Pages·2017·1.22 MB·English

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Approaches in Psychology
AQA A level (Yr12) Component 2

Paper 2 GREEN AMBER RED
Candidates should be able to: -
3.2.1
Approaches in Psychology

1. Origins of Psychology: Wundt, introspection and the
emergence of Psychology as a science
2. Learning approaches: Behaviourism; Classical conditioning -
Pavlov, Operant conditioning - Skinner, Social Learning theory –
Bandura
3. Cognitive approach: study of internal mental processes,
schema theory, theoretical and computer models to explain
mental processes. Emergence of cognitive neuroscience
4. Biological approach: influence of genes, biological structures
and neurochemistry on behaviour. Genotype and phenotype,
genetic and evolutionary basis of behaviour

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1) Origins of Psychology

In contrast to the natural sciences (physics, chemistry and biology) is a
relatively new scientific discipline. It has its roots in 17th and early 19th
century philosophy and was indeed once known as experimental
philosophy. Early influences included Rene Descartes, and his concept of
Cartesian dualism, which simply means that the mind and body are
separate entities, the brain is not the same as the mind. This is a clear
starting point for psychology. The work of John Locke and his concept
of empiricism, the belief that all knowledge is derived from sensory
experience and can be studied using the scientific method also had an
influence on the emergence of psychology as a science. Finally, the
evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin set the stage for the
emergence of psychology as we know it today.

In 1873 Wilhelm Wundt published the first book on psychology
‘Principles of Physiological Psychology’ and in 1879 opened the first
psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany. His approach to psychology
was to study the structure of the human mind, by breaking down
behaviours into their basic elements, hence his approach became known as
structuralism.

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Wundt used introspection to investigate the human mind. Introspection
comes from Latin and means ‘looking into’. Basically, participants were
asked to reflect on their own cognitive processes and describe them.

Wundt established psychology as a science by using the scientific
method.

Introspection may
not seem
particularly
scientific, but it is
still used today to
gain access to
cognitive processes.
For example,
Griffiths (1994)
used introspection
to study the
cognitive processes
of fruit machine
gamblers. He asked
then to ‘think aloud’ whilst playing a fruit machine into a microphone on
their lapel. Csikzentmilyi and Hunter (2003) used introspection to study
happiness in their work in the area of positive psychology.

Psychology Timeline

Date (approx.) Dominant Approach/Perspective
1900s Freud – Psychodynamic approach
1920-30s Behaviourism
1950s Humanism
1960s Cognitive Psychology
1960s Social Psychology
1980s Biological approach
2000s Cognitive Neuroscience

Task : - Outline two criticisms of introspection as a method of
investigation. (2 + 2 marks)
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2) Learning theory

Behaviourism - Also known as learning theory Key Study: - Bandura,
Ross & Ross (Griffiths could also be seen as a Behaviourist study as
people learn to Gambling through reinforcement, Savage-Rumbaugh as
Kanzi learnt language through imitation and reinforcement.)

Behaviourists insist that psychology should be the study of behaviour,
rather than the inner workings of the mind. Unlike mental processes,
behaviour can be directly observed. The behaviour model, therefore, has
a scientific approach, as it is based on observation and measurement
within a laboratory. Behaviourism was first formulated around the
beginning of the 20th century. According to this model all behaviour, both
normal and abnormal is learnt by a process known as conditioning. There
are three main ways in which we learn behaviour: - Classical Conditioning,
Operant Conditioning and Social Learning Theory.

1) Classical Conditioning

Classical or Pavlovian
conditioning involves
learning new behaviour
through association
between two stimuli.
The concept of Classical
Conditioning was first
formulated by Ivan
Pavlov, who was
investigating the salivatory reflex in dogs. The salivatory reflex is a
response, which occurs automatically when food is placed on the dog’s
tongue. He noticed that dogs salivated in response to anything associated
with the feeding routine (e.g. dish, person). By ringing a bell prior to
feeding Pavlov could condition (train) the dogs to salivate just in response
to the bell.

Key Terms: -

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) = food touching the tongue
Unconditioned Response (UCR) = Salivation
Conditioned Stimulus (CS) = Bell
Conditioned Response (CR) = Salivation
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At the start f the experiment, the CS does not cause a reflex response
by itself. After many pairing (the exact number depends on how quickly
the animal learns), with the UCS eventually the dog salivates just in
response to the bell. This is called learning through association.

Task: - Using the key terms draw a diagram to illustrate Classical
Conditioning in Pavlov’s Dogs. The first stage has been completed for
you.

1) UCS (food) = UCR (Salivation)
2)
3)

Application of Classical Conditioning to abnormal behaviour

Most learnt behaviours are useful. However, sometimes maladaptive
behaviours are learnt. Watson & Rayner (1920) applied the principles of
Classical Conditioning to humans. They succeeded in inducing a fear of
white rats (phobia) in an 11-month-old child. Watson & Rayner discovered
that ‘Little Albert’, in common with most small children, displayed a fear
response when he heard a loud noise. They made a loud noise by hitting a
steel bar with a hammer behind him. This loud noise was the UCS in the
experiment and fear was the UCR. Originally, Albert showed no fear of
the white rat (CS) and played quite happily with it. However, after
several pairing of the loud noise (UCS) and the white rat (CS), he
displayed fear (UCR) in response to just the white rat. Little Albert had
learnt to fear and avoid white rats without the loud noise being present.
He had been conditioned to associate white rats with fear. However,
Little Albert generalised this fear to other white fluffy things including
Dr. Watson wearing a white beard!

Task: - Draw a classical conditioning diagram for little Albert.

1)
2)
3)

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2) Operant Conditioning

This was developed by B F Skinner (1904-1990). In operant conditioning
behaviour is shaped through reinforcement.

Positive reinforcement – encourages behaviour to be repeated, by using
rewards (e.g. training your dog with chocolate drops).

Negative reinforcement – behaviour with negative outcomes tends not to
be repeated (e.g. a child who burns itself of the oven learns not to touch
the oven).

Punishment – decreases the likelihood that behaviour is repeated.
However, punishment has been found to ineffective as a negative
reinforcement. This is because it is not a direct consequence of the
behaviour. Children who are punished often simply find ways to avoid
detection and the punishment rather than modify their behaviour.

This model can explain way people persist with maladaptive behaviour.
For example, the naughty child may continue with bad behaviour, despite
of punishment, because he/she is actually being positively reinforced with
attention. Many parents and teachers ignore good behaviour. To
effectively shape a child’s behaviour it would be preferable to ignore bad
behaviour, where practical, and praise good behaviour.

Skinner (1935) designed an experiment to demonstrate the principles of
operant conditioning. A rat or pigeon was placed in a box (Skinner box)
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How does the Skinner box demonstrate operant conditioning?

Schedules of reinforcement

In the case of the Skinner box, if a food reinforcer is not dispensed for
every single lever press, but to a predetermined schedule then different
response patters will emerge. Skinner experimented by using different
ratio schedules e.g. 1:5 a food pellet was dispensed every 5th lever press.
He discovered that unpredictable reinforcement was more successful for
conditioning behaviour than continuous reinforcement.

Why so you think this is? (Hint: Gambling)

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3) Social Learning Theory

A later development of behaviourism was Social Learning Theory (SLT).
The term was introduced by Bandura in the 1960s. He was studying
aggression in children after they had been exposed to aggressive role
models. In SLT learning is through indirect observation. Individuals
observe role models and the consequences of their actions. If the
consequences are positive (or at least not punished) they imitate the
behaviour. For example, if children observe a naughty child, not being
punished, and in fact benefiting from their action through teacher
attention, they are likely to copy.

Evaluation of Behaviourism

Strengths Weaknesses

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4) Cognitive Approach

The cognitive approach suggests that all behaviour is preceded by a
thought and that thought processes can and should be studied
scientifically. However, there is a problem we can only study thought
processes by introspection or inference from behaviours.

Cognitive Psychology’s main areas of study are: -
 memory
 language
 problem solving
 perception
 attention

Early research centred on human experimentation, then moved on to
computer model analogies and now makes use of advances in cognitive
neuroscience, using the latest brain scanning technologies.

Computer Analogies

Cognitive Psychology suggests that thought processes precede all
behaviour. It uses the computer analogy, which suggests that the brain
works in much the same way as a computer.

Information is taken in via the five senses, processed by the brain and
the output is behaviour or speech. The Central Processing Unit (CPU) the
brain encodes information into a suitable format for process or storage.
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However, as the brain can first the analogy is really the wrong way round,
computers are trying to be like human brains! That is the rationale behind
Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Computer analogies have been criticized for machine reductionism,
which means that they reduce complex thought processes down to simple
mechanical processes.

Schema theory

Simply put, schema theory states that all knowledge is organized into
units. Within these units of knowledge, or schemata, is stored
information. A schema, then, is a generalized description or a conceptual
system for understanding knowledge-how knowledge is represented and
how it is used.

Piaget emphasized the importance of schemas in cognitive development,
and described how they were developed or acquired. A schema can be
defined as a set of linked mental representations of the world, which we
use both to understand and to respond to situations.

Bartlett’s War of the Ghost Study
Bartlett’s hypothesis was that memory is reconstructive and that people
store and retrieve information according to expectations formed by
cultural schemas.
He told participants an unfamiliar story that was part of Native American
Folklore.

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