Approaches Poppy Stone
Approaches
Origins of psychology
Wundt and introspection
First lab dedicated to psychology opened in 1879
Introspection- examination of ones though processes by recording own conscious thoughts
with aim of breaking down in constituent parts
Isolating the structure of consciousness in this way is called structuralism
All introspections recorded under strictly controlled conditions using same stimulus every
time
Same standardised instructions given to all participants allowed replication
Emergence of psychology as a science
Behaviourist approach made with it the emergence of psychology as a science
Controlled lab experiments
Cognitive revolution of the 1960s, the study of mental processes is now seen as legitimate
and highly scientific
Psychologists can make inferences about how mental processes work with lab tests
Use of fMRI and EEG scanning techniques to look at live activity in the brain
Behaviourist approach
Assumptions
Only interested in behaviour that can be observed and measured
Relied on lab experiments
2 important forms of learning: classical and operant conditioning
Classical conditioning-
Learning through association
Dogs could be made to salivate to the sound of a bell if sound was present at same time,
they were given food
Dogs learned to associate the sound of bell with food to produce salivation response
Pavlov-
Before conditioning-
Neutral stimulus no response
Unconditioned stimulus unconditioned response
During conditioning-
Neutral stimulus + unconditioned stimulus unconditioned
response
After conditioning-
Conditioned stimulus conditioned response
1
, Approaches Poppy Stone
Operant conditioning-
Believed we learn through consequences
Learning was active and we operate on our environment
Skinner said we have 2 forms of learning: reinforcement and punishment
Reinforcement-
Always aims to make it more likely that a behaviour will be repeated
Reinforcements can be positive and negative
Positive reinforcement- receiving a reward for doing a behaviour
o E.g. if a dog does a trick, it gets a treat
Negative reinforcement- something unpleasant is given for doing a behaviour
o E.g. if a child doesn’t eat its vegetables it goes to bed early
Skinner-
He put a rat into a box with a lever and if the rat
touched the lever food would get dispensed this is
positive reinforcement as it makes the rat want to
touch the lever to get the food
However in the second box the floor of the box
constantly had an electric current going through it but
if the rat touched the lever the electric current would
stop for a limited amount of time this is negative
reinforcement
Conditioned stimulus conditioned response
Punishment-
Makes a behaviour less like to be repeated
A punishment always decreases the occurrence of a behaviour
Positive punishment- receiving something unpleasant for a behaviour
E.g. get a detention if you take your phone out in class
Negative punishment- something pleasant will be taken away for a behaviour
E.g. if you take your phone out in class it will get taken away
Social learning theory
Assumptions
Behaviour is learned from experience
Learn through observation and imitation of others
Involves cognitive processes
Vicarious reinforcement-
For indirect learning to take place individual observes behaviour of others
It happens when we observe someone else get a reward for a specific behaviour
2
Approaches
Origins of psychology
Wundt and introspection
First lab dedicated to psychology opened in 1879
Introspection- examination of ones though processes by recording own conscious thoughts
with aim of breaking down in constituent parts
Isolating the structure of consciousness in this way is called structuralism
All introspections recorded under strictly controlled conditions using same stimulus every
time
Same standardised instructions given to all participants allowed replication
Emergence of psychology as a science
Behaviourist approach made with it the emergence of psychology as a science
Controlled lab experiments
Cognitive revolution of the 1960s, the study of mental processes is now seen as legitimate
and highly scientific
Psychologists can make inferences about how mental processes work with lab tests
Use of fMRI and EEG scanning techniques to look at live activity in the brain
Behaviourist approach
Assumptions
Only interested in behaviour that can be observed and measured
Relied on lab experiments
2 important forms of learning: classical and operant conditioning
Classical conditioning-
Learning through association
Dogs could be made to salivate to the sound of a bell if sound was present at same time,
they were given food
Dogs learned to associate the sound of bell with food to produce salivation response
Pavlov-
Before conditioning-
Neutral stimulus no response
Unconditioned stimulus unconditioned response
During conditioning-
Neutral stimulus + unconditioned stimulus unconditioned
response
After conditioning-
Conditioned stimulus conditioned response
1
, Approaches Poppy Stone
Operant conditioning-
Believed we learn through consequences
Learning was active and we operate on our environment
Skinner said we have 2 forms of learning: reinforcement and punishment
Reinforcement-
Always aims to make it more likely that a behaviour will be repeated
Reinforcements can be positive and negative
Positive reinforcement- receiving a reward for doing a behaviour
o E.g. if a dog does a trick, it gets a treat
Negative reinforcement- something unpleasant is given for doing a behaviour
o E.g. if a child doesn’t eat its vegetables it goes to bed early
Skinner-
He put a rat into a box with a lever and if the rat
touched the lever food would get dispensed this is
positive reinforcement as it makes the rat want to
touch the lever to get the food
However in the second box the floor of the box
constantly had an electric current going through it but
if the rat touched the lever the electric current would
stop for a limited amount of time this is negative
reinforcement
Conditioned stimulus conditioned response
Punishment-
Makes a behaviour less like to be repeated
A punishment always decreases the occurrence of a behaviour
Positive punishment- receiving something unpleasant for a behaviour
E.g. get a detention if you take your phone out in class
Negative punishment- something pleasant will be taken away for a behaviour
E.g. if you take your phone out in class it will get taken away
Social learning theory
Assumptions
Behaviour is learned from experience
Learn through observation and imitation of others
Involves cognitive processes
Vicarious reinforcement-
For indirect learning to take place individual observes behaviour of others
It happens when we observe someone else get a reward for a specific behaviour
2
