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A-Level Psychology Flashcards: Approaches

A-Level Psychology: Approaches — Flashcard Deck

20 flashcards with spaced repetition. Press Space to flip, then rate your recall (1-4).

What These Flashcards Cover

These flashcards test your knowledge of the major psychological approaches and their key concepts, researchers, and evaluations. You should be able to compare and contrast the approaches and evaluate their strengths and limitations.

Key areas:

  • Biological Approach: Behaviour is determined by genetics, brain structure, and neurochemistry. Key concepts: localisation of brain function, genetic influences on behaviour, biological treatments (drug therapy). Key researchers: Broca and Wernicke (localisation), Gottesman (schizophrenia and genetics).
  • Behaviourist Approach: Behaviour is learned through interaction with the environment. Classical conditioning (Pavlov): association between stimuli produces a conditioned response. Operant conditioning (Skinner): behaviour shaped by reinforcement and punishment. Key researchers: Pavlov, Watson, Skinner. Evaluation: scientific and objective, but deterministic and ignores cognition.
  • Cognitive Approach: Behaviour is determined by mental processes (thinking, memory, perception). Key concepts: schemas, mental models, cognitive processes, computer analogy. Key researchers: Beck (depression and cognitive distortions), Piaget (cognitive development). Evaluation: scientific and has practical applications, but can be reductionist.
  • Humanistic Approach: Behaviour is determined by free will and the drive for self-actualisation. Key concepts: self-concept, incongruence, conditions of worth. Key researchers: Maslow (hierarchy of needs), Rogers (person-centred therapy). Evaluation: holistic and empathetic, but unscientific and difficult to test.
  • Psychodynamic Approach: Behaviour is determined by unconscious desires and childhood experiences. Key concepts: the id, ego, and superego; psychosexual stages; defence mechanisms. Key researcher: Freud. Evaluation: influential and clinically useful, but based on case studies and unverifiable claims.
  • Social Learning Theory (SLT): Behaviour is learned through observation and imitation of models. Key concepts: vicarious reinforcement, identification, mediational processes. Key researchers: Bandura (Bobo doll experiment). Evaluation: bridges behaviourist and cognitive approaches, but can be reductionist.
  • Comparison and Integration: Each approach offers a different explanation for the same behaviour. Modern psychology often takes an eclectic or integrative approach, combining insights from multiple approaches. Biopsychosocial models are increasingly common.

Intuition

Think of each approach as a different pair of glasses. The biological approach sees behaviour as a product of the brain and genes. The behaviourist approach sees it as a product of learning history. The cognitive approach sees it as a product of mental processing. The humanistic approach sees it as a product of personal growth. The psychodynamic approach sees it as a product of unconscious conflict. No single pair of glasses gives the full picture — you need to look through several to understand behaviour fully.

Common Pitfalls

  1. Confusing the approaches. The behaviourist and social learning approaches are both about learning, but SLT includes cognitive processes (attention, memory) that behaviourism ignores. The cognitive and humanistic approaches both focus on internal processes, but cognitive is mechanistic while humanistic is holistic.
  2. Overgeneralising from key studies. Bandura’s Bobo doll experiment showed that children can learn aggression through observation, but it was conducted in a lab with a specific setup. Generalising to all aggression in all settings is too broad.
  3. Assuming one approach is “correct.” Each approach has strengths and weaknesses. The exam expects you to evaluate them, not to choose a favourite and defend it exclusively.
  4. Confusing determinism types. Biological determinism: behaviour is determined by genes/brain. Environmental determinism: behaviour is determined by learning. Psychic determinism: behaviour is determined by the unconscious. Each approach has its own form of determinism.

Cross-References