Approaches in psychology
sychologist names =Red
P
Statistics =Purple
Examples =Green
Important terminology/ information =Orange
,Approaches in psychology
Outline and evaluate the behaviourist approach (16)
Outline and evaluate social learning theory (16)
Outline and evaluate the cognitive approach (16)
Outline and evaluate the biological approach (16)
Outline and evaluate the psychodynamic approach (16)
Outline and evaluate the humanistic approach (16)
Outline and evaluate the behaviourist approach (16)
A01 - ehaviourism is also known as learning theory
B
- Study behaviour that can be observed and measured, highly value empirical methods.
- Not concerned with mental processes
- Rejected introspection as it involved too many concepts that were vague and difficult to measure
- Behaviourists try to maintain control and objectivity within their research and rely on lab studies.
- Behaviourists believe behaviour is learnt.
- They describe a baby's mind as 'blank slate' (Tabula Rasa), and this is written on by experience.
lassical
C - lassical conditioning- learning through association
C
conditioning - - This stems fromPavlov'sdog, who, through classicalconditioning, began to salivate to the
Pavlov/ sound of the bell after pairing the sound with food
Watson & - Before conditioning:
Rayner - Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) = food
- Unconditioned response (UCR) salivation
- During conditioning:
- Unconditioned stimulus = food + bell
- Unconditioned response = salivation
- After conditioning: Conditioned stimulus (CS) = bell Conditioned response (CR) =
salivation
- Watson & Raynershowed that phobias in humans couldbe taught through classical
conditioning.
- They taught Little Albert to have a phobia of a white rat after they paired a rat with a loud
noise
- To start, Little Albert showed no fear of the white rat, but after several pairings, he
exhibited fear
- The phobia was then generalised to other white things, such as cotton wool and rabbits
(stimulus generalisation).
, perant
O - S kinnertaught rats to press a lever to get food inthe 'Skinner box'.
conditioning - - Firstly, touch the lever by accident and release a pellet of food.
Skinner - The rat learns to press the lever quickly to get lots of food
- Skinnertested variable reinforcement where food wasdispensed using different ratio
schedules
- e.g. 1:5 a food pellet was dispersed every 5th lever press
- He discovered that unpredictable reinforcement was more successful for conditioning
behaviour than continuous reinforcement.
- This is the same principle as playing fruit machines.
- Our behaviour is shaped by its consequences.
- Positive reinforcement- encourages behaviour to berepeated and strengthens behaviour
through rewards,e.g. merits and house points at school.
- Negative reinforcement- encourages behaviour becausea negative condition is
punished.e.g. a child being caned for doing a negativeaction/ behaviour
- Punishment decreases- There is a chance of behaviourbeing repeated as children who
are punished often simply find ways to avoid detection and punishment rather than
changing their behaviour.
- Similarly, a child with bad behaviour, may continue as they are being positively reinforced
with attention.
A03 nimal studies
A - S kinner’sresearch on rats has faced criticisms regardingits generalisability to human
- behaviour.
generalisability - Critics argue that the controlled environment of theSkinnerBox and the use of rats as
issues subjects may not fully capture the complexity of human behaviour.
- The research does not address the nuances of human decision-making and behaviour.
- Human actions are influenced by a range of factors, including emotions, social context,
and cognitive processes that were not represented inSkinner’sexperiments with rats.
- Consequently, this raises questions about the extent to which findings from rat studies
can be generalised to human behaviour.
Scientific - strength of behaviourism is that it focuses on studying phenomenon which are
A
observable and measurable.
- E.g.Skinnerproved that a rat could learn throughpositive reinforcement, as the
introduction of food showed a direct change in the rat’s behaviour i.e. pushing a lever.
- Having observable behaviour to support a theory is a strength because it allows
researchers to understand behaviour objectively.
- The behaviourist approach places importance on scientific processes such as replication
and objectivity, which has helped improve the credibility and status of psychology, helping
to establish it as a science.
Deterministic - ne weakness of the behaviourist approach is that it is highly deterministic.
O
- For example,Skinnerhimself said that free will isan illusion.
- In addition, in his experiment, he showed that the rat’s behaviour of pulling the lever was
a direct result of the reinforcement.
- This demonstrates environmental determinism as it sees all behaviour as being
determined by past experiences and conditioning.
- As a result, we cannot be certain that the approach gives us an accurate and varied
explanation of human behaviour, which accounts for the impact of free will.
eal-life
R - T wo treatments for phobias, systematic desensitisation and flooding, are based upon the
application idea of classical conditioning and have been successful in helping individuals overcome
their irrational fear by forming a new association with the stimulus.
- This shows that behaviourism is useful because it highlights how the principles of
conditioning have been successfully applied to a broad range of real-world behaviours.
- Consequently, this theory has been shown to have positive implications within society,
improving people’s well-being and helping them to manage their future behaviours
positively.
sychologist names =Red
P
Statistics =Purple
Examples =Green
Important terminology/ information =Orange
,Approaches in psychology
Outline and evaluate the behaviourist approach (16)
Outline and evaluate social learning theory (16)
Outline and evaluate the cognitive approach (16)
Outline and evaluate the biological approach (16)
Outline and evaluate the psychodynamic approach (16)
Outline and evaluate the humanistic approach (16)
Outline and evaluate the behaviourist approach (16)
A01 - ehaviourism is also known as learning theory
B
- Study behaviour that can be observed and measured, highly value empirical methods.
- Not concerned with mental processes
- Rejected introspection as it involved too many concepts that were vague and difficult to measure
- Behaviourists try to maintain control and objectivity within their research and rely on lab studies.
- Behaviourists believe behaviour is learnt.
- They describe a baby's mind as 'blank slate' (Tabula Rasa), and this is written on by experience.
lassical
C - lassical conditioning- learning through association
C
conditioning - - This stems fromPavlov'sdog, who, through classicalconditioning, began to salivate to the
Pavlov/ sound of the bell after pairing the sound with food
Watson & - Before conditioning:
Rayner - Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) = food
- Unconditioned response (UCR) salivation
- During conditioning:
- Unconditioned stimulus = food + bell
- Unconditioned response = salivation
- After conditioning: Conditioned stimulus (CS) = bell Conditioned response (CR) =
salivation
- Watson & Raynershowed that phobias in humans couldbe taught through classical
conditioning.
- They taught Little Albert to have a phobia of a white rat after they paired a rat with a loud
noise
- To start, Little Albert showed no fear of the white rat, but after several pairings, he
exhibited fear
- The phobia was then generalised to other white things, such as cotton wool and rabbits
(stimulus generalisation).
, perant
O - S kinnertaught rats to press a lever to get food inthe 'Skinner box'.
conditioning - - Firstly, touch the lever by accident and release a pellet of food.
Skinner - The rat learns to press the lever quickly to get lots of food
- Skinnertested variable reinforcement where food wasdispensed using different ratio
schedules
- e.g. 1:5 a food pellet was dispersed every 5th lever press
- He discovered that unpredictable reinforcement was more successful for conditioning
behaviour than continuous reinforcement.
- This is the same principle as playing fruit machines.
- Our behaviour is shaped by its consequences.
- Positive reinforcement- encourages behaviour to berepeated and strengthens behaviour
through rewards,e.g. merits and house points at school.
- Negative reinforcement- encourages behaviour becausea negative condition is
punished.e.g. a child being caned for doing a negativeaction/ behaviour
- Punishment decreases- There is a chance of behaviourbeing repeated as children who
are punished often simply find ways to avoid detection and punishment rather than
changing their behaviour.
- Similarly, a child with bad behaviour, may continue as they are being positively reinforced
with attention.
A03 nimal studies
A - S kinner’sresearch on rats has faced criticisms regardingits generalisability to human
- behaviour.
generalisability - Critics argue that the controlled environment of theSkinnerBox and the use of rats as
issues subjects may not fully capture the complexity of human behaviour.
- The research does not address the nuances of human decision-making and behaviour.
- Human actions are influenced by a range of factors, including emotions, social context,
and cognitive processes that were not represented inSkinner’sexperiments with rats.
- Consequently, this raises questions about the extent to which findings from rat studies
can be generalised to human behaviour.
Scientific - strength of behaviourism is that it focuses on studying phenomenon which are
A
observable and measurable.
- E.g.Skinnerproved that a rat could learn throughpositive reinforcement, as the
introduction of food showed a direct change in the rat’s behaviour i.e. pushing a lever.
- Having observable behaviour to support a theory is a strength because it allows
researchers to understand behaviour objectively.
- The behaviourist approach places importance on scientific processes such as replication
and objectivity, which has helped improve the credibility and status of psychology, helping
to establish it as a science.
Deterministic - ne weakness of the behaviourist approach is that it is highly deterministic.
O
- For example,Skinnerhimself said that free will isan illusion.
- In addition, in his experiment, he showed that the rat’s behaviour of pulling the lever was
a direct result of the reinforcement.
- This demonstrates environmental determinism as it sees all behaviour as being
determined by past experiences and conditioning.
- As a result, we cannot be certain that the approach gives us an accurate and varied
explanation of human behaviour, which accounts for the impact of free will.
eal-life
R - T wo treatments for phobias, systematic desensitisation and flooding, are based upon the
application idea of classical conditioning and have been successful in helping individuals overcome
their irrational fear by forming a new association with the stimulus.
- This shows that behaviourism is useful because it highlights how the principles of
conditioning have been successfully applied to a broad range of real-world behaviours.
- Consequently, this theory has been shown to have positive implications within society,
improving people’s well-being and helping them to manage their future behaviours
positively.
