Detailed Revision Notes of the Approaches topic of AQA A-Level Psychology produced by me using both the textbook and class notes. Has both the AO1 and AO3 needed to gain top marks.
Includes: ORIGINS OF PSYCHOLOGY, BEHAVIOURISM, SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY, COGNITIVE APPROACH, BIOLOGICAL APPROACH, PSYCH...
Approaches
ORIGINS OF PSYCHOLOGY
1879: Wilhelm Wundt opened first ever psychological enquiry lab in Germany
Marks the beginning of scientific psychology
Wundt’s aim: to analyse the nature of human consciousness
Introspection: First systematic attempt to study the mind under controlled conditions
o Broke up conscious awareness into basic structures of thoughts, images & sensations
(structuralism)
AO3 PARAGRAPHS
P- A strength is that some of his methods were systematic & well controlled.
E- For example, his introspections were recorded in the controlled environment of the lab so
extraneous variables were not a factor.
E- All procedures were standardised so all pps received the same information and were tested in the
same conditions.
L- This suggests Wundt’s research contributed to later scientific approaches such as the behaviourist.
P- A limitation is that Wundt’s research would be considered unscientific today.
E- For example, Wundt relied on pps self-reporting their mental processes which is subjective.
E- Also some pps may have hidden thoughts so it is hard to establish meaningful ‘laws of behaviour’
which can be generalised and used to predict future behaviour.
L- Therefore, Wundt’s results can not necessarily be generalised and applied today.
LEARNING APPROACH: BEHAVIOURISM
Emerged early 1900s
Main people: John B Watson (and Ian Pavlov & BF Skinner)
Focuses on human behaviour that is observable, measurable and objective (not biological)
Not concerned with mental processes so rejected introspection
o Involved vague concepts which were hard to measure
Aim to study behaviour under controlled lab conditions
Studied behaviour in the form of stimulus-response form
Believe that basic processes that govern learning are the same in animals & humans
, o Inspired by Darwin
o Therefore, use animals as experimental subjects
We are born as a blank slate – a ‘tabula rasa’ – everything we become is shaped by the process
of learning from our environment.
Driving force in development of psychology as a scientific discipline
Extreme ‘nurture’ end of nature-nurture debate
Conditioning: learnt behaviour
Classical conditioning
Learnt through association
o Humans & animals born with reflexes (stimulus & response) which become associated
1st & 2nd stimulus are consistently associated together, both stimuli produce response
individually
We are conditioned from a young age to perform certain behaviours e.g. shaking hands
Pavlov’s Dogs
Dogs conditioned to salivate when hearing bell after it repeatedly heard/associated with food
Neutral stimulus (bell) associated with unconditioned stimulus (food) which stimulated
salivation response
Eventually the neutral stimulus (bell) produced a conditioned response (salivation)
Little albert experiment
Ethical issues: couldn’t give consent, albert could have long term trauma
Operant conditioning
Behaviour is learnt through consequences (positive/negative)
o Positive Reinforcement: receiving a reward when behaviour is performed
o Negative Reinforcement: avoiding something unpleasant is a ‘positive experience’
E.g. handing in homework avoids being told off
o Punishment: an unpleasant consequence of a behaviour
o Used in reward & sanction
o Real world: education (taught tasks and have positive reinforcement)
Skinner
Positive Reinforcement
o Rats move around the cage and when it accidently presses the lever a food pellet
(reinforcer) is dropped
o Rats learnt to press the lever to get food
Negative Reinforcement
o Rats move around the cage and when it accidently presses the lever an electric shock was
given
o Conditioned to avoid the behaviour (lever pressing) to avoid an unpleasant stimulus
(electric shock)
AO3 PARAGRAPHS
P- A strength is that the behaviourist approach is that it is based on well-controlled research
E- Behaviourists focus on measuring observable behaviour within lab settings. By breaking down
behaviour into basic stimulus-response units all other extraneous variables were removed so cause-
and-effect relationships can be established.
E- For example, Skinner clearly demonstrated how reinforcement influenced an animal’s behaviour.
C- However, it could be argued that they have over-simplified the learning process and other
approaches (e.g. cognitive) have shown how mental processes are involved.
L- Nevertheless, due to lack of extraneous variables, behaviourist experiments have scientific
credibility.
P- A strength is that the behaviourist approach has real life application
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