| NA | NA |
| Key ideas of behaviourism | Should not study mental processes
Only look at behaviour you can observe and measure
Use lab experiments for more control/objectivity |
| The introspection experiment | Asked people to focus on an everyday object and look inwards, noticing sensations/feelings/images |
| Skinner's research | Learning is an active process and occurs when we operate on (interact with) our environment
Associating a voluntary response and a consequence
Reinforcement - consequence that encourages you to repeat behaviour
Punishment - consequence that discourages you from repeating behaviour |
| multidisciplinary | There is no one agreed-upon way to study human mind and behaviour, psychologists often disagree on a number of key issues and ideas |
| Who was Descartes | French philosopher who was one of the first to suggest that the mind and body are separate (cartesian dualism) |
| Who was Wilhelm Wundt | German physician and professor, known as the founding father of psychology.
Founded the first lab for psychological research in Leipzig, Germany in 1879
Attempted to investigate the brain through introspection |
| What is introspection | Method of self reflection, allowing people to understand their own mental processes and emotions |
| The introspection experiment | Asked people to focus on an everyday object and look inwards, noticing sensations/feelings/images |
| Advantages and disadvantages of introspection | Positive: Controlled conditions, laboratory setting, tried to be objective, standardized
Negative: quite subjective, reliant on people not lying/missing, not scientific by today's standard |
| multidisciplinary | There is no one agreed-upon way to study human mind and behaviour, psychologists often disagree on a number of key issues and ideas |
| Nature VS Nurture | Nature: The idea that all human characteristics and behaviour is innate - with us from birth or destined to be a part of us thanks to our genetics
Nurture: The idea that we are born on a blank slate and that it is the environment that shapes us and our behaviour |
| Free will VS Determinism | Free will: the idea that we as humans are self-determining: we are able to make choices and form our own thoughts and actions. We are effectively the masters of our destiny
Determinism: the idea that all of our thoughts and behaviours are controlled by internal or external forces. This could be biological (genes), environmental or even unconscious forces in our mind |
| Holism VS Reductionism | Holism: The idea that you can only fully understand a person by studying them as a whole - you need to consider every factor that may have caused a person to act in a certain way.
Reductionism: The idea that it is best to reduce behaviour down to more specific parts in order to better understand it. For example, you might just look at a person's genetics or family rather than every possible factor. |
| Idiographic VS Nomothetic | Idiographic: the idea that it is best to focus on one individual and consider what makes them unique. It is better to study individual people and spend more time looking at them in-depth to understand human behaviour.
Nomothetic: the idea that psychology should formulate general laws of behaviour by studying larger groups of people, in order to be more scientific and rigorous. |
| Who was Ulric Neisser | Neisser was a German-born American psychologist, who is known as "the father of cognitive psychology".
His key idea was that the human mind and mental processes can be scientifically measured and analyzed |
| Cognitive approach key ideas | Cognitive = mental processes
Should study mental processes like perception/memory
Can do this in a scientific way by making inferences and using models
Compares human mind to a computer |
| Inference | Assumption/educated guess |
| Theoretical models | Believe that information is processed in the brain in a series of stages
Brain works like a computer with memory stored like information in files |
| Schema | Schema are the packages of information
Develop through experience and act as framework for interpreting new information |
| Cognitive neuroscience | Merges the biological and cognitive approaches to psychology |
| Strengths of cognitive approach | One strength of the cognitive approach is that it can be used to help to treat psychological disorders
The cognitive approach has been used to explain disorders like depression through faulty thinking
This has led to the development of successful treatments for depression like cognitive behavioural therapy
This has helped to improve the lives of millions of people and provides for the ideas in the cognitive approach |
| Criticism of cognitive approach | One criticism of the cognitive approach is that it compares the human mind to a computer
A final criticism of the cognitive approach is that the research often lacks ecological validity |
| Who was John B Watson | Watson was an American psychologist who is credited with popularizing the scientific theory of behaviourism in psychology. |
| Key ideas of behaviourism | Should not study mental processes
Only look at behaviour you can observe and measure
Use lab experiments for more control/objectivity
Basic processes of learning are the same in all species - so use animals as research subjects |
| Pavlov's research | Learning is a passive process and occurs through association
Associating an involuntary response and a stimulus
Ring the bell (NS) at the same time as given food (UCS), causing the dogs to salivate (UCR)
Eventually dogs would salivate (CR) at the sound of the bell (CS) even without any food |
| Little Albert experiment | Watson's most famous experiment was with a child he called "little Albert". He wanted to demonstrate his idea that all behaviours are learned from the environment, and he used classical conditioning to demonstrate how even something like fear is learnt |
| Skinner's research | Learning is an active process and occurs when we operate on (interact with) our environment
Associating a voluntary response and a consequence
Reinforcement - consequence that encourages you to repeat behaviour
Punishment - consequence that discourages you from repeating behaviour |
| Classical conditoning and Operant conditioning | Classical conditioning: associate an involuntary response and a stimulus
Operant conditioning: associate a voluntary behaviour and a consequence |
| Operant conditoning examples | Schools and prison |
| Criticisms of the behaviourist approach | Ethical issues
Generalizability |
