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Three Psychological Perspectives

BehaviourismBehaviourists believe all behaviour is learnt.

Classical Conditioning

Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) discovered the conditioned reflex when studying salivationof dogs. A bell rang at feeding time.

There are four stages:

Unconditional stimulus- the smell of food ~ noise*.Unconditional response- the dogs feel hungry ~ fear*.Conditional stimulus- the sound of the bell ~ rat*.Conditional response- the dogs salivate ~ fear * (Pavlov 1927).* John B. Watson’s (1878-1958) little Albert experiment (Watson & Raynor 1920).

Other terms:Acquisition- a response to a stimulus is initially learnt.Extinction- the initial response to a stimulus stops. This occurs when the conditioned

stimulus is no longer paired with the unconditional stimulus.Spontaneous recovery- the initial learnt behaviour reappears.

Stimulus generalization- the conditioned stimulus brings about similar responses tosimilar objects.Discrimination- able to tell apart conditioned stimulus to similar objects

Operant Conditioning

B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) was influenced by Pavlov and Watson and came up withthe phrase operant conditioning in 1937 (A.K.A instrumental conditioning) (Staddonand Cerutti 2006). This consists of reinforcements (increase desired behaviour) and

punishments (stop unwanted behaviour):

Positive reinforcement- good behaviour is acknowledged with praise or a reward.

Negative reinforcement- something unpleasant (chores) is stopped when good behaviour is shown.Positive punishment- an unpleasant event used (smack) to stop unwanted behaviour.

Negative punishment- something pleasant (sweets) is removed to stop unwanted behaviour (Simply Psychology 2011).

Skinner used shaping of phylogenic behaviour with his Skinner box. Reward littlesteps towards a bigger goal (Skinner 1975).

Social Learning Theory

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Albert Bandora’s (1925) bobo doll experiment (violent & non-violent role modelgroups & control group 1961-63) set out to prove children will imitate what they seeor hear (Isom 1998). This theory states a child will vicariously learn from a rolemodel whether from reality or fictional observation (context dependant learning). Thismental representation can lead to observation imitation. Internal feelings of pride and

achievement will reinforce behaviour. There are four major factors involved:The attention of a child, how much information they retain, practising what theylearnt (thereby enhancing their skill) and motivational outcome (reward or

punishment) (Shuttleworth 2008).

Summary

Strengths: Behaviourism is based on observable behaviour. Under laboratoryconditions it is a high control group and removes any confounding variables.This makes it easy to collect data. Intensive behavioural intervention can helpchange harmful and maladaptive behaviours (Cherry 2011b).

Weaknesses: Samples used were children and animals so are not representative of a population and not fully developed cognitively. Laboratory research isartificial so lack ecological validity. Testing was not long term. Behaviourismhas been used unethically (Haralambros 2002).

Psychodynamic Behaviour

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) the father of psychoanalysis believed behaviour could beexplained through a person’s early upbringing. He based his theories on a few closefriends and their children.

There are three psyche states:A person is born with the id. This is hidden in the unconscious mind and is compelled

by the pleasure principle of having all desires and needs instantly sated. Anxiety andtensions set in when this does not happen.The ego is develops after the id. It balances the wants of the id with reality so itsdesires are sated in a socially accepted way.The superego is the last to develop. It is divided into the ego ideal which is the ideas

of what is good and the conscience which dictates what is bad.The ego balances the conflict between what the id wants against the moral standardsof the superego (AllPsyche on line 2011).

Psychosexual development goes through five stages:Oral 0-1. Derives pleasure from feeding. Children who are weaned too early or toolate may exhibit problems of over indulgence (obesity, smoking) or deprivation(pessimism, envy).Anal 1-3. Toilet training stage. If a child has been trained too strictly they may be toostingy, precise or stubborn. Not enough training may result in untidiness and dirtiness.Phallic 3-6. Focus on the genitals. The Oedipus complex is the sexual feelings a boyhas for his mother. The Electra complex are the desires a girl has for her father.Extreme behaviours can be brashness and vanity or timidity and self-hate.

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Latent period. Libido is suppressed as the superego develops. It is a period of calmand play.Genital stage at puberty. Sex plays a big role (Furnham 2008).

Between balancing the id and the superego the ego forms defence mechanisms:

Denial- A person sleeping around denying they could get pregnant.Displacement- A person may have a bad day at work then shout at partner when theyget home.Intellectualisation- Person with ill health assesses lifestyle of what is and isn’thealthy.Repression- Grandfather says remember the good old days failing to remember thesad times.Disassociation- Saying one thing but practising something else (bad politicians and

preachers) (Changing Minds.org 2011).

There are three conscious states:Conscious- thoughts and perceptions.Preconscious- memories.Subconscious- dreams and irrational fears (AllPsyche on line 2011).

(AllPsyche on line 2011)

Strengths: pioneer of counselling therapy and discussing problems.

Weaknesses: Not falsifiable, lacks historical and population validity, Deterministic,over emphasis on sex, reductionist, not scientific, blame on parents, gender bias,retrospective evidence, lacks historical validity. False memory syndrome is possible.

Cognitive Approaches

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The Multi-Store Model

(Oxford University Press 2010)

Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) says that memory goes through a series of stores.Information enters the brain via one of the senses (sensory memory). If the mind paysattention to this information it is sent to the short term memory. With a brief repetitionthe short term memory may retain this information for a short time. With elaborate

practise and using techniques (i.e. mnemonics) information gets passed to the Longterm memory. This then can be retrieved by the short term memory when needed.Time scales of remembering:SM- half a second.STM- 18 seconds.LTM- unlimited.(Mcleod 2007)

The primacy effect on memory happen because words in lists at the front have moretime to be set in LTM. The Recency affect happens because words said last are easier to recall from the STM. Words in the middle tend to get forgotten (Gross et al 2000a)Glancer and Cunitz experiment (1966) tested Miller’s theory that STM holds sevenchunks. Result was primacy effect cuts that by half (Nicoh.com 2011).

Strengths: much scientific study that backs up long and short term memory. A lot of research has been carried out. HM has been a long term case study (45 years) (SimplyPsychology 2011).

Weaknesses: models say you must rehearse to recall yet some memory is instantly set

in LTM especially traumatic events. It is over simplistic missing other types of memory (see diagram p5).

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(Sprenger 1999)

Working Memory Model

(The Student Room 2011)

Baddeley and Hitch thought the memory was more complex that just storage stops.The central executive would control decisions, solving and planning. It would decidewhich parts of memory to use. Though limited in use it would be modality free. Somewould call this attention. The phonological loop has two parts: the phonological storeencodes sounds and the articulatory control process is part of our inner voice. It works

by not how much it can store but by how long it takes to retrieve data. The visualspacial sketch pad stores visual and spacial information. With the WM doing twotasks using the same systems the tasks will be done badly. Using different system twotasks will be done competently (Gross et al 2000). An experiment to repeat la la outloud whilst remembering lists would back this theory (Coursework.info 2005).

Strengths: high face validity, Empirical evidence, helps understand working memory.

Weaknesses: how can Central executive be measured? Episodic buffer was added in2000, 26 years after original model. So was floored to begin with. Baddley saysmemory can be divided into sub-systems but fails to mention what they are. It doesn’t

explain LTM (S-cool 2011).

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References:

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