APPROACHES
Boden & Baumeister: used repressive coping style questionnaire to
investigate individual differences in memory for emotional events - found
that repressors were less able to recall details (positive or negative) than
non-repressors
Little Hans: 5-year-old boy with a phobia of white horses with black
blinkers and a bit after seeing a horse collapse, afraid one would 'bite his
widdler off', Hans' father wrote letters to Freud detailing Hans' dreams,
Freud interpreted his phobia as displacement, he repressed his fear of his
father (as he was going through the phallic stage and was experiencing
castration anxiety) and transferred it to something more socially
acceptable
Pavlov: realised dogs could be conditioned to salivate at the sound of a
bell if the sound was repeatedly presented when given food, dogs learned
that the bell was linked with food, causing them to salivate
Watson & Rayner: exposed 9 month old 'Little Albert' to a series of stimuli
including a white rat, a rabbit, a monkey and masks - he initially showed
no fear of any of them but the next time he was exposed to the rat
Watson hit a metal pipe with a hammer, creating a loud noise, as they
were repeatedly paired together the child began to cry every time he saw
the rat - also feared other furry objects after conditioning e.g. Santa beard
Skinner: first stage, rat is in a cage (Skinner's box) with a lever which
releases food pellets when pressed, the rat learned this as it was given
positive reinforcement which made the behaviour more likely to be
repeated, second stage food would be in the tray at meal times and the
cage is constantly electrified, the rat learned to press the lever to stop the
current - negative reinforcement
Williams: aimed to extinguish tantrum behaviour in 21-month-old using
operant conditioning, when child threw a tantrum, the parents ignored
behaviour (negative reinforcement) yet they previously comforted the
child until he fell asleep (positive reinforcement) - results: tantrum
behaviour extinguished over number of nights, showing that operant
conditioning can change unwanted behaviour
Sexton & Whiston: reviewed how effective client centred therapy was and
found there were generally successful outcomes but success was not
inevitable and no objective measures were made, long term follow up
studies were also rare
Bugelski & Alampay: 2 groups of participants shown sequence of pictures
(either faces or animals) then shown the ambiguous figure, the 'rat man' -
participants who saw a sequence of faces were more likely to perceive it
as a man and vice versa
Boden & Baumeister: used repressive coping style questionnaire to
investigate individual differences in memory for emotional events - found
that repressors were less able to recall details (positive or negative) than
non-repressors
Little Hans: 5-year-old boy with a phobia of white horses with black
blinkers and a bit after seeing a horse collapse, afraid one would 'bite his
widdler off', Hans' father wrote letters to Freud detailing Hans' dreams,
Freud interpreted his phobia as displacement, he repressed his fear of his
father (as he was going through the phallic stage and was experiencing
castration anxiety) and transferred it to something more socially
acceptable
Pavlov: realised dogs could be conditioned to salivate at the sound of a
bell if the sound was repeatedly presented when given food, dogs learned
that the bell was linked with food, causing them to salivate
Watson & Rayner: exposed 9 month old 'Little Albert' to a series of stimuli
including a white rat, a rabbit, a monkey and masks - he initially showed
no fear of any of them but the next time he was exposed to the rat
Watson hit a metal pipe with a hammer, creating a loud noise, as they
were repeatedly paired together the child began to cry every time he saw
the rat - also feared other furry objects after conditioning e.g. Santa beard
Skinner: first stage, rat is in a cage (Skinner's box) with a lever which
releases food pellets when pressed, the rat learned this as it was given
positive reinforcement which made the behaviour more likely to be
repeated, second stage food would be in the tray at meal times and the
cage is constantly electrified, the rat learned to press the lever to stop the
current - negative reinforcement
Williams: aimed to extinguish tantrum behaviour in 21-month-old using
operant conditioning, when child threw a tantrum, the parents ignored
behaviour (negative reinforcement) yet they previously comforted the
child until he fell asleep (positive reinforcement) - results: tantrum
behaviour extinguished over number of nights, showing that operant
conditioning can change unwanted behaviour
Sexton & Whiston: reviewed how effective client centred therapy was and
found there were generally successful outcomes but success was not
inevitable and no objective measures were made, long term follow up
studies were also rare
Bugelski & Alampay: 2 groups of participants shown sequence of pictures
(either faces or animals) then shown the ambiguous figure, the 'rat man' -
participants who saw a sequence of faces were more likely to perceive it
as a man and vice versa
