Approaches Revision Template - A Level Psychology PDF

**[Approaches revision template ]** **[Content: ]** Origins of psychology Behaviourist approach Social learning theory (SLT) Psychodynamic approach Cognitive approach Biological approach Humanistic approach Comparison of approaches 1. **[Origins of psychology ]** - Opened the Institute...

**[Approaches revision template ]** **[Content: ]** Origins of psychology Behaviourist approach Social learning theory (SLT) Psychodynamic approach Cognitive approach Biological approach Humanistic approach Comparison of approaches 1. **[Origins of psychology ]** - Opened the Institute for Experimental Psychology and the University of Leipzig in Germany in 1879, this was the first laboratory dedicated to psychology, its opening was thought to be the beginning of modern psychology - He was important as he separated psychology from philosophy by analysing the workings of the mind in a more structured way and with an emphasis on objective measurement and control - Wundt believed in reductionism; he believed consciousness could be broken down into its basic elements without sacrificing any properties of the whole - He studies the mind scientifically using introspection **[Introspection ]** - Derived from the Latin meaning 'looking into' - First systematic experimental attempt to study the mins by breaking up consciousness into basic structures e.g. thoughts, images, and sensations - Wundt claimed that with sufficient training, mental processes such as memory and perception can be observed systematically using introspection - For example, in an experimental set up, under controlled conditions, participants will be presented with a stimulus such as a visual image or an auditory tone then would be asked to provide a description of the inner processes they experience as they looked at the image or heard the tone The scientific method refers to; - Using methods that are objective, systematic, and replicable. - Measuring and recording of data as accurately as possible - Aiming to produce results that are replicable by other researchers - Developing, modifying, and falsifying theory based on accurate and objective data - Constant testing and developing of theories **[Is introspection scientific?]** Yes No -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------ ----------------------- Science breaks down complex phenomena into smaller parts called reductionism. Wundt thought the human experience and consciousness could be broken down into thoughts, Fellings, and sensations. He called this structuralism, and it was reductionist Wundt believed that psychology should be scientific, and that introspection was a scientific method, it did use controlled settings and stimuli  Science uses a lot of measurements to establish rules or laws, this is a nomothetic approach whereas the data gained through introspection was ideographic- based on one person's individual experiences Science tries to be objective however the observations made through introspection were inevitably subjective and based on one person's individual experiences  Science tries to explain why things happen -- introspection describes what people were experiencing rather than explaining how their minds worked **[Did Wundt make a difference?]** - So, although Wundt tried to be scientific, the structuralist introspection approach wasn't scientific - However, other psychologists did agree with Wundt that they were a need for a scientific study of why humans think, feel, and act the way they do. - Other approaches in psychology have continued to explore psychology in a scientific way, such as behaviourists (focus on objective, observable behaviour), biological (uses a range of scientific techniques like fMRI and PET scans), and cognitive (uses a controlled laboratory experiments to test internal mental processes) **[Behaviourist approach]** - The behaviourist approach states psychology must be scientific, it should use experiments and objective, valid measures. - What we think can only be inferred by what we say, therefore it is subjective. The only objective measure would be to record what people do -- our behaviour. - Is your level of intelligence born or learned? This is an example of the nature-nurture debate Nature- the characteristics you are born with, coming from Biological inheritance and genetics Nurture- how you learn or develop because of your upbringing (the behaviourists believe in this idea) - The behaviourist approach states that behaviour is learned, behaviourists believe we are born as a 'Tabula Rasa' or a blank state on which our behaviour and characters are constructed through our experiences. - The behaviourists state that we learn through two main ways; Classical conditioning (learning through association), and Operant conditioning (learning through reward and punishment) **[Classical conditioning ]** - Ivan Pavlov was a Russian scientist interested in the salivation reflex; his studies kept getting ruined as dogs were salivating before the studies began. - When the dogs were fed, they produced saliva, so each time he fed his dogs he rang a bell. After repeated occasions, he rang the bell on its own, the dogs produced saliva as they had learned to associate the bell with the response  - UCS; unconditioned stimulus, produces a natural or innate response - UCR; unconditioned response that comes from another stimulus - CS; conditioned stimulus that now produced a conditioned response - CR; conditioned response, the response that has been learned - Pavlov also found generalisation; this means that once the dogs had learned to salivate to the sound of one bell, they would also salivate to other kinds of bells e.g. fire bells, doorbells. **[Watson & Raynor, The case of Little Albert, (1920)]** **Aims:** - To see if it was possible to induce a fear of an object through classical conditioning. - To see if the fear would be transferred to other similar objects (generalisation) - To see what effect time will have on the fear response - To see if it was possible to remove a fear response in a laboratory **Method:** - A case study on one child - 'Little Albert'. The study was done in controlled conditions and lasted about two months (though it was intended to last longer) - **Participant-** Little Albert was 9-11 months during the study, he was an orphan who was looked after by a 'wet nurse' in a hospital. Little Albert was described as a stolid baby, showing little emotion or sensitivity - **Baseline measures- l**ittle Albert showed no fear when he was presented with a rat, rabbit, dog, a monkey, a mask, and cotton wool. - At nine months old, a metal bar was hit with a hammer **BEHIND** his head, he was startled, held his breath, and began to cry uncontrollably - When Albert was presented with the rat in the lab, the steel bar was hit when he reached out for the rat, this was repeated. The first time the bar was struck, Albert jumped and fell forwards, the second time he started to whimper, after several paired presentations Albert reacted to the rat alone by immediately crying, turning to the left and crawling away from the rat. - Some toy blocks were presented to Little Albert to play with, these items were ones he enjoyed. Then the rat was followed by a dog, a seal fur coat, some cotton wool, Watson\'s hair and a Santa Claus mask. Every time the blocks were given, Albert played with them happily, but the other stimuli produced a negative response such as crying and crawling away. - **One month later\...** Little Albert was tested with various stimuli including the Santa Claus mask, the fur coat, the rat, the rabbit, and the dog. Albert continued to show fear to varying degrees to all the stimuli, crawling away or crying. With the rabbit, he was less frightened and appeared to want to play with it but when he touched it, he showed the fear response. **Evaluation:** - Aim 1 was met - the fear was conditioned - Aim 2 was met -- the fear was generalised - Aim 3 was met -- the fear lasted a month - Aim 4 was not met due to the guardians of Little Albert being pulled from the study due to ethical worries - **Usefulness -** the study does tell us about how we can learn fears and offers a suggestion for how fear can be reduced - **Generalisation -** Watson and Raynor only use one baby which Watson described as calm and even tempered. Other children may have reacted in different ways - **Controls --** the study used controls to reduce extraneous variables: such as the baseline measures, established the fear was only to furry things (wooden blocks) - **Ecological validity** -- all sessions were carried out in controlled settings, rather than a home or nursery, these 'unrealistic' settings may have caused 'unrealistic' behaviours. - **Ethics** -- Little Albert clearly experienced distress (crying, crawling away), the researchers did not show protection from harm (repetitive startling of Albert to create fear), the conditioning could have had lasting effects (the fear of the rat lasted a month) **[Operant conditioning ]** - developed a theory of learning which was based on rewards and punishments, his basic idea was that if you did a behaviour and got a reward, you would be more likely to do the behaviour again e.g. good grades on an essay - However, if you got punished, you would be less likely to do the behaviour again e.g. committing a crime and getting arrested and serving a prison sentence will make you less likely to commit another crime. - **Aim**- Skinner developed a Skinner box which he used with rats and pigeons, this allowed him to control the rewards and punishments that each animal received and thus shape the animals\' behaviours  - **Findings -** - **Positive Reinforcement**: **Example:** rat presses the lever and gets food **Concept:** Adding a pleasant stimulus to encourage a behaviour. - **Negative Reinforcement**: **Example:** rat presses lever and the electric shock is taken away **Concept:** Removing an unpleasant stimulus to increase a desired behaviour. - **Punishment:** **Example:** the rat presses the lever, and it receives a shock **Concept:** giving an unpleasant stimulus to decrease a behaviour. **[Behaviourist Approach evaluation]** - Can you generalise animals to people? - Behaviourists say you can because animals' behaviours are just simpler forms of human behaviour - It is more convenient, and we can control more variables by studying animals in a laboratory setting therefore behaviourists can be more objective and scientific - Emphasises the importance of science, uses reliable, scientific research methods to support ideas. - Many real-world applications such as treatment of disorders e.g. the token economy for schizophrenia or systematic desensitisation for phobias - Ignores the importance of thinking and social interactions, these are fundamental to our experiences as humans, **[Social learning theory (SLT)]** - Albert Bandura thought that behaviour was learnt, he considered both type of conditioning was important but we also people learned through observation and imitation, he called this idea as social learning theory, we learn by watching those around us. - The person who performs the behaviour is called a role model. - Demonstrating the behaviour is called modelling - Four requirements for observational learning to occur: attention, retention, reproduction, motivation - Attention- observer must pay attention to the model - Retention- observer must be able to remember the observed behaviour - Reproduction- observer must be able to preform the observed behaviour - Motivation - observer must be motivated to do the action - The behaviour Bandura decided to used in his studies was aggression **[Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961)]** - **Participants-** 72 children from Stanford University nursery school, there were 36 boy and 36 girls, they were aged between 3-5 years old, and a mean age was 4.5 years, the children were pretested for aggression. This was done by an experimenter (who knew the children) and one of the children\'s teachers, rating the children's behaviour **Procedure-** - **Room 1** - the child was sat at a table and was asked to design a picture. Also in the room was another table and chair, tinker toy set, a mallet and a bobo doll, depending on the condition, the model would appear in this room - **Room 2** -- in the second room, the child was shown some attractive, colourful, and desirable toys but were told that these toys were reserved for the other children. The upset and anger were used to get the children\'s motivation. - **Room 3** -- the room contained a variety of toys, aggressive (mallet, dart gun, bobo doll) and non-aggressive toys (car, animals, paper, crayons). The child was by two observers who did not know which condition the child was in. **The conditions-** - There were three model conditions (aggressive, non-aggressive, and no model) - The aggressive model- in room one, whilst the children were playing, the aggressive model would come in and be aggressive to bobo doll e.g. lie the bobo doll on its side, sit on it, punch its nose, strike the bobo doll with a mallet, kick/ throw the bobo doll into the air. The model makes comments like 'he keeps coming back for more', 'sock it to him', 'pow', 'hit him down', 'he sure is a tough fella' - Non-aggressive model- in room one, whilst the children were playing, the non-aggressive model would come in and start to play quietly with the toys and would ignore the bobo doll - No model condition/ control condition- the children in this condition wouldn\'t see a model, they would play on their own for ten minutes in the first room. The other rooms were the exact same as for the other model conditions. - **Gender-** this was the second independent variable of this experiment, Bandura and Ross & Ross wanted to investigate if the children would be more influenced by a model of the same gender and would a male children be more aggressive than a female child. So, they used both a female and male model in both the aggressive and non---aggressive conditions, they also used both male and female children in the conditions, so some children would see a same-sex model and others saw an opposite sex model **Findings-** - Children in the aggressive model condition showed more imitative physical and verbal aggression than the two other groups. No. Of physical acts of aggression Aggressive model condition Non-aggressive model condition Control condition ------------------------------------ ---------------------------- -------------------------------- ------------------- 50.9 4.2 3.2 No. Of verbal acts of aggression Aggressive model condition Non-aggressive model condition Control condition ---------------------------------- ---------------------------- -------------------------------- ------------------- 32.7 1.3 2.4 - Children in the aggressive condition showed more imitative physical and verbal aggression than the other two groups. - Does seeing a non-aggressive model reduce aggressive behaviour? - The non-aggressive condition was no less aggressive than the control condition - Boys showed more amounts of aggression when the model was male than with a female model Physical acts shown by boys Aggressive male model Aggressive female model ----------------------------- ----------------------- ------------------------- 25.8 12.4 - Girls showed more acts of physical aggression when the model was male but showed more verbal aggression when there was a female model Verbal acts shown by girls Aggressive male model Aggressive female model ---------------------------- ----------------------- ------------------------- 2.0 13.7 **Conclusion-** - Children exposed to an aggressive model will imitate aggressive behaviour. - Children do imitate same sex models more, though this is affected by the child\'s expectations of male and female adults behaviour - Therefore children learn through observation and imitation - This supports Social Learning Theory. - According to Bandura, there are four requirements for observational learning to occur, these are attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation. **[Psychodynamic approaches]** **Sigmund Freud.** - Lived most of his life in Vienna, Austria - To escape nazi occupation of Austria, Freud moved in 1936 to London - He trained as a medical doctor - Fascinated by people with anxiety or nervous disorders - He developed therapy to help people with nervous disorders called psychoanalysis - His therapy was based on his psychodynamic approach - As other researchers have developed his theory, this has become known as the psychodynamic approach **The mind** - Freud stated that the mind had 2 parts- the conscious (our stored memories, what we are thinking right now) and the unconscious (our hidden thoughts and feelings, memories which are too painful to recall, repressed wishes and desires) - In order to keep things in our unconscious and prevent them from becoming conscious, we use defence mechanisms. - There are many types of these but the specification asks us to know three - Displacement- using a substitute object to express unacceptable feelings -- slamming doors after an argument - Denial- refusing to acknowledge some aspect of reality e.g. still thinking a partner loves you after a breakup - Repression- keeping unacceptable thoughts hidden in the unconscious mind e.g. not remembering an Oedipus complex \# **Tripartite personality** **Id-** immediate gratification, pleasure principle  **Ego-** makes decisions and compromises, reality principle **Superego-** concerned with how others see and judge us, morality principle **The influence of childhood experiences** - Freud believed that we all had a libido- this is a basic sexual drive, a motivation or a lust for life - Freud stated that the adult personality depended on childhood experiences - Throughout childhood, each child progressed through a series of stages called the psychosexual stages - At each stage, the child would find pleasure from a different area and at each stage the child would develop a new part of the personality. **The psychosexual stages** - **Oral stage-** ages 0-2, in this stage the child finds pleasure and explores the world through its mouth. The child is a 'bundle of id' that is that s/he only has the id part of the personality. They demand their needs to be met immediately and always seek pleasure and avoid pain. Fixation may occur in this stage where the child has either too much or too little oral pleasure, this results in an oral personality as an adult. Signs of this are smoking and biting your nails - **Anal stage-** ages 2-5, in this stage the child meets the restrictions of the outside world for the first time, this is where the child is toilet trained, pleasure comes from either holding on or letting go. The child develops the ego, the executive of the personality, which is aware of reality and controls the ids need for immediate gratification. Fixation may occur in this stage where the child either enjoys keeping it in or getting it out, this can result in an anal personality as an adult. Signs of being an anal expulsive are generosity and signs of an anal-retentive personality are more organised. - **Phallic stage-** in this stage the child develops his or her superego, the moral part of the personality. In order to do this, the child must go through a conflict. Boys go through the Oedipus complex, girls go through the Electra complex. - **Latent stage-** in this stage the child's development is focused on intellectual and social development rather than personality development, this stage lasts until puberty - **Genital stage-** puberty onwards, the individual has a complete personality and develops adult sexuality. Fixation in childhood has shaped the personality characteristics of the individual. **The Oedipus complex-** - This conflict only affects boys. - At about age of 6, the boy starts to feel attracted to his mother, he wants to marry her and have children. - He is also jealous of his father for being with his mother, but is also scared that his father will find out and punish him for his thoughts by castrating him. - This leaves the boy in a conflict, wanting his mother but fearing the punishment from his father. - He needs to resolve this conflict and does this by starting to act like his father, he takes on the father's behaviours and importantly the father's values and morals. This is called identification with the aggressor. - Now he has a sense of morality and has developed his superego. Because he is like his father, the mother will like him and the father wont want to hurt him. - After he has resolved this conflict, it is repressed into the unconscious. **[Freud (1909) - analysis of a phobia in a five-year-old boy.]** **The aim-** - To give a small boy therapy for a phobia of horses - To provide evidence for Freud's theory of psychosexual development. **The participant-** - Freud used a case study method - He used a five year old boy called 'little Hans', he lived with his mother, father, and baby sister Hannah - Little Hans had a phobia of horses, which, due to the time period of horses being used for transport, made him afraid to leave the house. His parents contacted Freud because they though he could help him overcome this fear **The study-** - Freud met Hans once. The case study was conducted through letters with Hans' father, Hans' father would ask questions, discuss dreams etc. And send letters to Freud, then he would analyse events and make suggestions. Hans' father was a firm believer in Freud's work and started writing to Freud about Hans when he was 3 and the case study was published when Hans was 6. it is an in-depth study based on qualitative data. **Findings-** +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | **Theory- the Oedipus conflict** | | +===================================+===================================+ | **The boy falls in love with his | HANS WANTED TO SPEND TIME WITH | | mother and desires to be with | HIS MOTHER | | her** | | | | Hans liked getting into bed with | | | his mother and liked going to the | | | toilet with her. | | | | | | INTERPRETATION: | | | | | | Hans desires his mother and wants | | | to be with her. | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | **The boy wants to have children | MOTHER & GRANDFATHER FANTASY | | with her** | | | | Hans described a fantasy in which | | | his mother was his wife and they | | | had children. His father was the | | | grandfather to the children. | | | | | | INTERPRETATION: | | | | | | Hans showed a desire to be with | | | his mother and have children with | | | her. | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | **The boy wants the mother to | Hans reported having a dream | | himself and to take the mother | about two giraffes -- a big | | away from the father** | giraffe and a smaller crumpled | | | giraffe. The big giraffe called | | | out when the Hans took the | | | crumpled giraffe away. The big | | | one stopped calling out and Hans | | | sat on the crumpled giraffe. | | | | | | INTERPRETATION: | | | | | | Hans often got into bed with his | | | parents in the morning, his | | | father objected (big giraffe | | | calling out). | | | | | | Hans took crumpled giraffe away | | | (taking mother away from father). | | | | | | Long neck of giraffe represented | | | large widdler | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | **The boy wants the father out of | SEEING HORSE FALL DOWN | | the way or wants him dead** | | | | Hans described an incident where | | | he had seen a horse fall down in | | | the street. The horse was pulling | | | a bus so it was heavy and laden. | | | Hans was very frightened by this | | | and thought that the horse was | | | dead. Hans' father asked him | | | "when you saw the horse fall down | | | did you think of daddy?" Hans | | | replied "yes it is possible". | | | | | | INTERPRETATION: | | | | | | Hans had made a connection | | | between father and horse. | | | | | | Hans though the horse was dead | | | indicating he wished his father | | | was dead | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | **The boy fears the father** | FREUD ASKED HANS TO DESCRIBE THE | | | HORSES HE WAS FRIGHTENED OF. | | | | | | Hans reported that he was scared | | | of pale horses with black bits | | | around their eyes and mouth. | | | | | | INTERPRETATION: | | | | | | Hans' father was pale. | | | | | | Hans' father wore dark glasses | | | | | | and had a black moustache. | | | | | | This represents a fear of his | | | father. | | | | | | HANS PLAYED WITH FATHER | | | | | | When playing with his father Hans | | | said "Daddy don't trot away from | | | me". | | | | | | INTERPRETATION: | | | | | | Hans has made a connection | | | between his father and horses. | | | | | | This represents a fear of his | | | father. | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | **The boy fears being punished by | MOTHER THREATENED TO CUT OFF HIS | | castration- believes it can | WIDDLER | | happen** | | | | His mother told Hans that if he | | | didn't stop playing with his | | | widdler she would get the doctor | | | to come and cut it off. He found | | | out that his mother did not have | | | a widdler. | | | | | | INTERPRETATION: | | | | | | This confirmed to Hans that | | | castration | | | | | | could happen. | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | **Conflict is resolved by | PLUMBER FANTASY | | becoming like the father -- | | | identifying with the aggressor** | Hans described a fantasy where a | | | plumber came and removed his | | | bottom and his widdler and | | | replaced them with larger ones, | | | like Daddy's. | | | | | | INTERPRETATION: | | | | | | Hans is becoming like his father | | | and is | | | | | | identifying with his dad | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | **Unwanted memories or conflicts | This was not in the original | | are repressed into the | study, but when Freud met with | | unconscious** | Hans when he was 18, he did not | | | remember anything about it. | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ **Dream analysis-** - Freud stated that dreams were the royal road to the unconscious activities of the mind. - The psychodynamic approach claims people would be aware of symptoms of psychological problems but unaware of issues in the unconscious mind causing the difficulties - The aim of psychoanalytic therapy is to bring conflicts into the conscious mind where they can be resolved through insight and catharsis. - Insight is the process of bringing unconscious thoughts and feelings into the conscious - Catharsis is the process of talking about or dealing with negative emotions and memories. **Dreams as wish fulfilment** - The most important aspect of our personality when we look at dreams is our id. This is because it is the source of our wishes and fantasies. It is instinct driven, irrational, and impulse led - In our conscious minds, a lot of these impulses are seen as unacceptable, and so are repressed to protect the conscious mind. - However, when we dream, the id has more freedom and can be a source of wish fulfilment. - Freud argued that dreams were the unconscious fulfilment of wishes that could not be satisfied in the conscious mind. **the symbolic nature of dreams-** - Although dreams allow us to fulfil our unconscious wishes and desires, the actual content of a dream is expressed often symbolically - This is because if we dreamed what we desired, it may cause stress to the conscious mind. - Therefore, dreams are filtered through layers of symbolism, allowing us to have our wish fulfilment, but still protecting our conscious from the harmful content of the unconscious. - Manifest content is the content as experienced by the dreamer - Latent content is the real meaning of the dream. **Case studies** 1. **Dora\'s dream** - At the age of 16, Dora had a friend of her father's make sexual advantage towards her, her father refused to believe her. She began having a reoccurring dream in which her father woke her in the night telling her that the house was on fire, and they had to get out. Her mother wanted to stop for a jewel case, but her father refused to stop. - Freud\'s interpretation of this was that Dora felt her own 'jewel case' was in danger but that her father failed her by refusing to believe her. More controversially, Freud also believed that the dream was a result of the conflict between her revulsion at the molest and her expression of sexual instinct. - **Context of the time, a jewel case was a slang term at the time for the female genitalia** 2. **Wolf man's dream** - Between 1910 and 1914, Freud treated Sergei Pankejeff for depression and a psychological dependency on enemas - In his therapy, he confessed a dream he had since the age of four in which he awoke terrified to see white wolves with fluffy tails in a tree outside his window, staring at him. - As a toddler, he had awoken early in the morning and looked through the bars of his cot and saw his parents having sex in a certain position. - The time was significant as in adulthood, his depression was worse in the mornings, Freud's interpretation was that the wolves represented his parents, while the window was symbolic of the bars of the cot. - Freud further made the interpretation that Hans was gay, and the dream exposed his wish to perform a sex act in that position - **Lack of scientific support**- a major issue with the psychodynamic approach is that the theories that it is based on do not really have any scientific backing - Freud\'s theories, such as the psychosexual stages and the Oedipus/ Electra complex, and the role of the unconscious cannot be observed directly, they must be inferred and as such don\'t have scientific evidence to support them. - Freud gives case studies which are based on one individual, very subjective and open to interpretation - It is also impossible to falsify Freud's concepts -- we cannot show that the unconscious does not exist - **Is there any scientific evidence for this approach? -** Solms (2000) found some evidence for Freud's theories of dreaming. He used PET scans (a type of brain scan) to monitor people's brains when they were asleep. He found that when people were dreaming, the forebrain (which is involved with memory and motivation) was very active, while regions of the brain concerned with rational thought were inactive. In Freud's language, the rational conscious ego was dormant and the primitive, unconscious id is given free reign - **Psychoanalysis-** Freud developed his therapy of psychoanalysis which made people think about 'talking' as a way of dealing with psychological problems, psychoanalysis requires patients to examine their unconscious looking for past issues and trauma using dream analysis and word association. This has been shown to be effective for many people, particularly with anxiety disorders and Freud offers a range of case studies to support, such as Little Hans, Dora, and the Wolfman. - **False memory syndrome-** there is a lot of evidence from other areas of psychology (particularly the cognitive approach) that suggests that human memory is fallible and easily changed. In particular, the work of psychologists such as Elizabeth Loftus has found strong evidence for the prevalence of false memories. A false memory is a memory that an individual feels is true and valid but is in fact a fabrication of an event that never actually happened. In therapy, a client will be encouraged to dig deep into their unconscious to bring to the surface any repressed memories that may have been the cause of their current psychological distress. However, there is no way of ascertaining whether these 'recovered memories ' are actually memories of a real event, or a false memory, implanted (albeit accidentally) by a therapist. There have been cases where individuals have recovered lost memories of horrific child abuse, that there is no corroborating evidence for, or in some cases, contradicting evidence (the absence of scars from a violent assault for example). These false memories can not only cause a great deal of distress for the client themselves, and can have further consequences. Nicole Taus recalled repressed memories of childhood abuse by her mother, when Loftus did some investigating into the case, it seemed highly likely that these were false memories. In this case it resulted in Taus's mother losing custody of her daughter because of these false memories. **[Humanistic approach]** - Humanistic psychologists believe that we are all different. Psychologists should not try to generalise to groups as there are so many differences within each group. This way of viewing people as unique individuals is called idiographic. - Most approaches are deterministic (they believe that our behaviour is caused by something), this means that our behaviourists believe our behaviour is caused by learning or conditioning while the psychodynamic psychologists believe our behaviour is caused by unconscious issues from our childhood. The humanistic approach is based on the idea that we have free will. This means that we have the ability to choose what we do and we are in control of our behaviour. We are in charge of how we develop and progress through life. The humanistic approach acknowledges some constraints on free will: social rules and morals. However, if we want to do something, we have the ability to choose to do it. A person is responsible for their own behaviour, social or anti-social e.g. the legal system, this places the responsibility with the individual, meaning it is their 'fault' - **The scientific method is not appropriate for psychology-** Humanistic psychology argues the scientific method tries to be too objective and yet humans are subjective in the way they think and behave. Science assumes there is a cause to behaviour which can be found and studied. It is determined by environment or biology. Humanistic psychology believes in free will. Science tries to generalise the results of studies to everyone, whereas humanistic psychology believes we are all unique. Science breaks behaviour into smaller parts such as associations between a stimulus and response. Humanistic psychology believes that this ignores how all the different experiences we have impact our behaviour. This is a holistic approach, looks at the whole person. **Abraham Maslow, hierarchy of needs-** - Maslow was one of the founding fathers of Humanistic psychology, who claimed that this approach was the third way or third force for psychology. - Maslow developed a theory about personality and motivation, applied to education, business, sport, management training, personal development and therapy amongst other areas. - This is known as the hierarchy of needs, Maslow argued that human beings have basic needs which need to be met in order for them to function throughout life -  - Maslow stated people start at the bottom of the pyramid with basic physiological needs and move up the hierarchy. An individual is only able to progress to the next level once the needs of the current level are met. Maslow characterised life as a series of peak moments of achievement when all the deficiency needs are met. He also identified that people who are self-actualisers, people who, for whatever reason, were fulfilled in life and used their abilities to the fullest. - **1- physiological needs-** these are biological requirements for human survival, e.g. air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep. If these needs are not satisfied the human body cannot function optimally. Maslow considered physiological needs the most important, as all the other needs become secondary until the needs are met - **2- safety needs-** protection from elements, security, order, law, stability, freedom from fear - **3- love and belongingness needs- after** physiological and safety needs have been fulfilled, the third level of human needs is social and involves feelings of belongingness. The need for interpersonal relationships motivates behaviour. Examples of this are friendships, intimacy, trust, and acceptance, receiving and giving affection and love, affiliating, being part of a group (family, friends, work). - **4- esteem needs-** classified into two categories, esteem for oneself (dignity, achievement, mastery, independence) and the desire for reputation or from other (status, prestige) - **5- self-actualization needs- realising** personal growth potential, self-fulfilment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences. A desire 'to become everything one is capable of' (Maslow, 1987) **Self-actualisation-** - A belief of the humanistic approach is that everyone has an innate drive to achieve their full potential. The achievement of that full potential is called self-actualization. - Maslow believed that individuals self-actualise in their own way and as with behaviour in general, it is unique to them. This is the pinnacle of the hierarchy of needs. When self-actualization is achieved it can be described as the ultimate feeling of well-being and satisfaction. - Theorists argue it is a drive we all have, but we do not all achieve it. The feeling has been described as: ecstasy, peak experience, religious or spiritual experience. It is thought to be an intensely strong feeling of 'completeness.' - Maslow believed we are all working towards self-actualization. If the first need is not met then all the other needs cannot be met. The state of self-actualization is not permanent and if all the five needs do not remain in place, then an individual can move out of that state. **Carl Rogers-** - Argues that we have two basic needs, positive regard from other people and a sense feeling of self worth (what we think about ourselves). Carl Rogers' work focuses on the self, or rather the 'selves' of the individual. He suggested that we have three selves which need to integrate to achieve self-actualization, the self-concept, the ideal self, and the real self. - Our sense of self develops in childhood as a result of our interactions with our parents. - **Self concept-** this is the self that you feel you are. A poor self- concept means a person will have a distorted view of how capable they are. - **Ideal self-** this is the self you wish to be. It is who you are aiming towards being or it is possible you are already there. A typical way of knowing whether someone is still working towards their ideal self is when you hear someone say, 'I wish I was more\...' or 'I wish I was able to\...' - **Real self-** the third self is the real self, the person who you actually are, not who you think you are or who you wish you were. This is actually a difficult self to demonstrate, as everyone will perceive or judge a person differently. **Congruence and incongruence** - When there is similarity between a person's ideal self and how they believe themselves to be in real life, a state of congruence exists. - Congruence is where there is consistency between the self concept (how you see yourself) and the ideal self (the self you would like to be). - However, if there is a difference between the self and the ideal self, the person is in a state of incongruence - Rogers believed that to achieve self-actualization, it is necessary for a person to be congruent. - Rogers believed that an important part of achieving congruence is 'unconditional positive regard' this means being liked or loved for who they are as a person with no demand or requirement for anything more, to be accepted unconditionally. **Conditions of worth-** - Conditions of worth are requirements that the individual feels they need to meet to be loved. This is also called conditional positive regard. - Conditions of worth can be either real or perceived by the individual e.g. a child feels they must achieve high grades in school for their parents to accept and love them. - These feelings may be gained directly (parents told them) or indirectly (witnessed siblings disappointing parents for same behaviour). **Counselling-** - Rogers was one of the first psychologists to develop counselling as a therapy for psychological disorders. He believed that therapy should be warmer and kinder than that offered by the behaviourists or psychodynamic psychologists. It should also be based around what the individual thought and felt not an interpretation by a therapist. Rogers developed his technique called Person Centred Therapy. - In Person Centred Therapy, the therapist must show three qualities: - **Genuineness --** show themselves, their feelings and emotions - **Empathy --** to understand what the client is thinking and feeling, to understand the situation from the clients point of view. - **Unconditional Positive Regard-** to show approval of the person - 'I\'ll accept you as you are'. The therapist can disapprove of actions or behaviours but still shows approval for the person. **Elliot & Friere (2008)** - Reviewed 191 different studies of Person Centred Therapy, involving more than 14,000 people - They found that person centred therapy had a positive effect on the client (they show fewer negative symptoms), these positive effects last over time, person centred therapy is as effective as other therapies. - However, these effects are only shown when the therapist fully believes in and engages with the person centred therapy techniques. **Evaluation-** - Rogers\' work on person centred therapy has been influential in developing counselling as a technique to help and support people. - Elliot and Friere's study supports the view that these are effective techniques. - Maslow\'s hierarchy of needs theory has been applied successfully in business and sport. - **Lack of testable concepts-** it is difficult to study concepts such as self-actualization, the real self or congruence in an objective, scientific way. On one hand this is ok as humanistic psychology rejects a scientific approach. However other psychologists state without empirical evidence to support ideas, we cannot establish any cause and effect relationships for behaviour. - **Cultural bias**- the values of the humanist approach have an American bias. The values of freedom, autonomy, and success of the individual are seen in an individualist (usually Western) cultures. Other cultures are collectivist, this means community, the needs of the group and working for the benefits of the group over the self do not fit in with the humanistic psychology's focus on the self. - **Positive psychology-** a more modern update on humanistic psychology has been the positive approach. Positive psychologists, such as Seligman, believe that psychology in general has become too focused on negative human experiences such as Milgram\'s study on obedience and Zimbardo's prison experiment. The approach centres around the belief that individuals wish to improve upon their lives, enriching their own well-being and personal happiness. Myers & Diener (1995) conducted a meta-analysis into what makes us happy, they found money, age, and gender made no difference to happiness, but having and achieving our goals does. **[The cognitive approach]** **What is the cognitive approach?** - Neisser (1967) defined cognition as all the processes by which the sensory input is transformed, reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered, and used. - Cognition is used when you solve maths puzzles, try to remember the title of a film, retell a joke, observe a beautiful sunset, think about what you\'re going to do tomorrow. - In the 1960's, there was a shift to systematically explore cognition to understand human behaviour. Cognitive psychologists believed this should be done in a scientific way, using experiments. Cognitive psychologists wanted to study our 'minds' and what we used them for, specifically how we processed information, such as attention, perception, and memory, and how this influenced behaviour. - These processes could not be seen or observed (so had been ignored by behaviourists) but could be inferred from behaviour (making inferences means drawing conclusions about what is going on in the mind from what people do or say) - psychologists working in this area were heavily influenced by the technological changes of the time. **Using computer models** - Cognitive psychologists are interested in the processes and functions of the mind. One cognitive approach has been to use a 'computer analogy'. That is, seeing - - the brain as a computer with inputs, processes, and outputs. -  - Inputs processes outputs - Cognitive psychologists are interested in what processes go on in the brain - One example of the computer model is Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968): Multistore Model of Memory  **Internal mental processes** - These are processes that that go on inside our brains that result in our behaviour. **Mental representations** - Means the images, words, and concepts stored in our mind based on our past experiences **Schema** - Cognitive schema are networks of knowledge, beliefs, and expectations about aspects of the world. Stored representations of objects, people actions. - Schemas are how specific knowledge is organised and stored in memory so that it can be accessed and used when it is needed. They are cognitive shortcuts that save us having to analyse every bit of information. - Schema theory suggests that what we know will influence the outcome of information processing -- humans are active processors of information. - If there are bits of information missing, the brain will fill in the blanks. This could result in mistakes called distortions. **Bartlett (1932)- war of the ghosts** **Bugelski & Alampay (1962) -** - Conducted an experiment called rat-man. - Two groups of participants were shown a sequence of pictures either a number of different faces or a number of different animal. - They were then shown an ambiguous figure -- the rat-man - Participants who saw a sequence of faces were more likely to perceive the figure as a man, whereas participants who saw a sequence of animals were more likely to perceive the figure as a rat. **Cognitive Neuroscience-** - Cognitive neuroscience is the scientific study of the influence of brain structures on mental processes. It addresses the question of how psychological/ cognitive functions are produced by neural circuits in the brain- it relates mental processes to brain structures - In the 1860's **Paul Broca** identified how damage to an area in the frontal lobe could impair speech production. This came to be known as Broca's area.  - The emergence of cognitive neuroscience occurred due to advances in brain imaging techniques such as fMRI (Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is an imaging scan that shows activity in specific areas of the brain.) and PET (PET stands for positron emission tomography. The PET scan uses a mildly radioactive liquid (radioactive tracer) to show up areas of your body where cells are more active than normal) scans, which allows scientists to study the neurobiological basis of mental processes like memory. - Cognitive neuroscience can also look at the effects of damage to the brain and subsequent changes in the thought processes due to changes in neuro circuitry resulting from the damage **PET scan fMRI** **Evaluation-** - The cognitive approach uses scientific, controlled lab experiments producing reliable data. This has been further supported by the brain scan evidence from cognitive neuroscience. - Cognitive psychology has many real world applications such as cognitive behavioural therapy and improving police interviewing techniques. In addition, the approach has contributed to the understanding of AI (artificial intelligence) - Seeing the mind as a computer ignores the role of emotions and social factors, for example, research has shown that anxiety can affect the accuracy of eye-witness testimony. This is known as machine reductionism. - Much of the research is done in controlled environments with artificial stimuli (such as word lists or nonsense syllables). This lacks ecological validity - The behaviourists see our behaviour as determined by learning and the psychodynamic psychologists see our behaviour as determined by unconscious wishes. whereas the humanistic psychologists reject both of these totally by saying that we have free will - The cognitive approach sits in the middle, there are influences on our behaviour such as the stimuli we process in our environment but we do have some freedom to think and make our own decisions and choices. This is called soft determinism. **[Biological approach]** - The biological approach combines psychology and biology to provide physiological explanations for how we think, feel and behave. This may be due to physical needs such as hunger, hormones and chemicals in our brains and bodies, the structure or the functioning of the brain, or our genes. - The nervous system carries messages to and from the brain. - It is divided into two parts, the CNS and the PNS - CNS -- central nervous system, the brain and spinal cord - PNS -- peripheral nervous system, nerves throughout the body  **A quick tour of the brain-** - One of the most important areas of the nervous system in biological psychology is the study of the brain. - The brain in divided into two hemispheres that are joined by the corpus callosum. - - The outer surface, the wrinkly bit is called the cerebral cortex. The outer surface is usually a pink-grey colour and is a little spongey to the touch, however, if it was touched the person wouldnt feel it, as it has no touch receptors. - Each hemisphere of the cortex is divided into four lobes, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, frontal lobe, temporal lobe. -  - Inside the brain, there are the sub-cortical areas, hippocampus, hypothalamus, thalamus - Hippocampus- this is the part of the brain that is involved with emotions, particularly with dealing with emotional memories - Hypothalamus- this is involved with maintaining body temperature and hunger - Thalamus- this is a relay centre that sends information from the senses to the correct parts of the brain that deal with that information. - - Localisation of function means that certain areas of the brain have specific functions, for example a small area of the left hemisphere is responsible for producing language -  **Evolution and behaviour-** - Charles Darwin outlined his original theory of evolution in his book On the origin of species (1859). In it he attempted to explain how living creatures were created and how they change and develop over time - **1-** different species have all evolved from simple life forms which lived on earth three billion years ago - **2-** evolution occurs through natural selection. Natural selection suggests that individuals in a species show a wide range of variation due to the differences in their genes. Individuals with characteristics or behaviours most suited to the environment are more likely to survive and reproduce. The genes that allow these individuals to be successful are passed onto their offspring **Heredity and genes.** - Physical characteristics are passed on to the next generation through genes. This may also be true for psychological characteristics and behaviours such as intelligence, mental illness or personality. - Genes carry the instructions for the characteristic but how this develops will depend on interaction with other genes and with the environment. - What the person inherits is the genotype - their genetic make up and what we will be able to see is their phenotype- the observable characteristics of the individual. - - **Investigating genes- family studies** - One way of studying the roles of genes is to look at family studies: twin studies and adoption studies. In twin studies they look for concordance - Two key issues with twin studies are finding twins where one has a particular characteristic who are both willing to take part- often results in small samples, and twins usually grow up in the same environment and are often treated in very similar ways -- any similarities in dysfunctional behaviour could be due to nurture rather than nature. - To try and overcome the second issue, psychologists have compared monozygotic and dizygotic twins. -  - Another technique that has been used is adoption studies - This is where a person has a particular characteristic. And then the biological parents are looked at to see if they have the characteristic, and the adoptive parents are looked at to see if they have the characteristic - **Neurochemistry** - Biological researchers often adopt a reductionist approach to the study of human behaviour. The micro-level of research breaks down complex human behaviour into its smallest parts, EG focusing on the role of a gene, hormone or neurotransmitter. Hormones such as oxytocin, testosterone and cortisol have all been shown to have a relationship with our behaviour. - Oxytocin is the hormone for positive feelings - Testosterone is responsible for aggression - Cortisol is a stress hormone - Nerve cells, called neurons are one of the building blocks of behaviour. -  - It is estimated that there are between 10 and 100 billion neurons in the nervous system and that neurons make 13 trillion connections with each other. - The neurons send electrochemical messages to the brain so that people can respond to stimuli either from the environment or from internal changes in the body. - - The method by which these messages are sent is called neurotransmission. - When an electrical impulse travels down the body or an Axon of the neuron, it releases neurotransmitters which then crossed the synapse, the gap between two neurons. - Nearer transmitters at the body\'s natural chemical messengers, which transmit information from one year on to another.  **Evaluation** - The biological approach uses scientific precise experiments using family studies brain scanning techniques in drug trials. These methods are reliable, replicable and produce reliable data. - Understanding neurotransmitters can help us to understand mental illnesses and treatments. - The biological approach is deterministic. This means it sees our behaviour as being caused by our biology. But does this mean we have no choice? Should people be held responsible for their actions - The biological approach is reductionist. It focuses on the smallest element of our behaviour and in doing so might miss some of the wider influences and meaning, such as the role of environment and our culture.