APPROACHES

a. Cognitive Approachb. Behaviourist Perspectivec. Individual Differences

Approach

Research Methods & Approaches G544

EXAM STYLE QUESTIONS (ESQ)Approaches

COGNITIVE APPROACHJanuary 2010a. Briefly outline the cognitive approach to psychology (4) b. Describe two pieces of research that use the cognitive approach to

psychology (8) c. Discuss the strengths and limitations of using the cognitive approach to

explain behaviour. Use examples of research to support your answer (12) d. Compare the cognitive approach with the behaviourist perspective. Use

examples of psychological research to support your answer (8) e. Discuss determinism and free will debate in psychology (8)

June 2010a. Using your knowledge of psychology, briefly outline the cognitive

approach to psychology. (4)b. Describe two pieces of research that use the cognitive approach to

psychology. (8)c. Discuss the strengths and limitations of using the cognitive approach to

explain behaviour. (12)d. Compare the cognitive approach with the behaviourist perspective. (8)e. Discuss the features of the cognitive approach that support the view that

psychology is a science. (8)

EXAM STYLE QUESTIONS (ESQ)Approaches

BEHAVIOURIST PERSPECTIVE

Example a. Using your knowledge of psychology, briefly outline the

behavioural perspective to psychology. (4)b. Describe two pieces of research that use the behavioural

perspective to psychology. (8)c. Discuss the strengths and limitations of using the

behavioural perspective to explain behaviour. (12)d. Compare the behavioural perspective with the OTHER

physiological approach. (8)e. Discuss how the behavioural perspective provides a

situational explanation of behaviour. (8)

EXAM STYLE QUESTIONS (ESQ)Approaches

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES APPROACH

EXAMPLEa. Briefly outline the individual differences approach in

psychology. (4)b. Describe two pieces of research that use the

individual differences approach in psychology. (8)c. Discuss the strengths and limitations of research that

provides an individual explanation of behaviour. (12)d. Compare the individual differences approach with the

physiological approach. (8)e. Can individual explanations of behaviour be

considered useful? (8)

Resources: APPROACHES

PowerPoint Essay Help Booklet Exam Style Questions (ESQ)

Worksheet 1: KEY WORDS

Complete the key terms related to this topic

You can use the resources and internet to help

Each definition should be at least two sentences long

You should use these terms where appropriate in your essays

Activity 1

Worksheet 2: Summary Notes

Complete summary notes for each study Cognitive Approach Behavioural Perspective Individual Differences Approach

You can use the resources and internet to help

Activity 2

2a. Summary Questions: COGNITIVE APPROACH

What are the main assumptions of the Cognitive Approach?What does the cognitive approach focus on? What does ‘how was process information’ influences? What does the cognitive approach assume?Can mental processes be studied scientifically according to this approach?What analogy does the cognitive approach use?

Identify studies (AS & A2) that have used the Cognitive Approach in Psychology?

Main Assumptions Research Evidence

3 limitations of the Cognitive Approach

3 strengths of the Cognitive Approach

Strengths

Limitations

Cognitive Approach

Internal, mental processes (perception, attention, language, memory and thinking explain behaviour).

Looks at how we input, store and retrieve information.

ASSUMTPIONS

1. Behaviour can largely be explained in terms of how the mind operates

2. The mind works like a computer, inputting, storing and retrieving data.

3. People make decisions as to how they behave.

Assumptions of the... Cognitive Approach

The cognitive approach focuses on how information received from our senses is processed by our brains. This approach assumes that how we perceive information, including how we perceive, store and retrieve information, influences how we behave.

The cognitive approach assumes that we can and should study mental processes such as memory, ways of thinking and problem solving in order to further understand human behaviour. It assumes that these mental processes can be studies scientifically, so the experimental method is favoured by cognitive psychologists in their research.

The cognitive approach uses the computer analogy to describe how the brain processes information, assuming that comparisons can be made between how machines process information and how brains process information.

2a. Summary Questions: COGNITIVE APPROACH

SUPPORTING RESEARCH

What was the aim of this study?

Aims Results & Conclusions

What were the main findings? What did the researchers conclude?

What research method was used in this study?What are the details of the sample? If appropriate, what was the design of the study?If appropriate, what were the IVs?If appropriate, what were the DVs?What happened?

Method, Sample, Procedure

INCLUDE 2 RESEARCH STUDIES AS EVIDENCE

2b. Summary Questions: BEHAVIOURIST PERSPECTIVE

What are the main assumptions of the Behaviourist Perspective?

What does the Behaviourist Perspective assume?

Where does the Behaviourist Perspective fall on the nature-nurture scale?

According to the Behaviourist Perspective, what is useless?

According to the Behaviourist Perspective, what should psychologists focus on?

What does the behaviourist perspective assume about normal and abnormal behaviour?

Identify studies (AS & A2) that have used the Behaviourist Perspective in Psychology?

Main Assumptions Research Evidence

3 limitations of the Behaviourist Perspective

Strengths

Limitations

3 strengths of the Behaviourist Perspective

Behaviourist Perspective

Assumes that behaviour is learned, and that experience and interaction with the environment make us what we are because we learn stimulus-response units of behaviour in reaction to the environment.

Environmental determinism – because behaviour is learned in the past.

ASSUMTPIONS

1. There is no need to look at what goes on inside ‘black box’ of the mind. Psychologists need only be concerned with external and observable behaviour.

2. All behaviour can be explained in terms of conditioning theory through classical/operant conditioning.

3. All behaviour is determined by the environment.

Assumptions of the... Behaviourist Perspective

The behaviourist perspective assumes that all behaviour is learned, and that learning happens through the process of classical conditioning, operant conditioning or social learning. This means that the behaviourist perspective is at the extreme nurture end of the nature-nurture debate.

The behaviourist perspective considers that explanations of behaviour based on internal causes or mental states are generally useless, and to study behaviour psychologists should focus on what can be overtly observed.

The behaviourist perspective assumes that both normal and abnormal behaviours are all learned and can be unlearned, and behaviour can be controlled and altered, not just described and quantified.

2b. Summary Questions: BEHAVIOURIST PERSPECTIVE

SUPPORTING RESEARCH

What was the aim of this study?

Aims Results & Conclusions

What were the main findings? What did the researchers conclude?

What research method was used in this study?What are the details of the sample? If appropriate, what was the design of the study?If appropriate, what were the IVs?If appropriate, what were the DVs?What happened?

Method, Sample, Procedure

INCLUDE 2 RESEARCH STUDIES AS EVIDENCE

2c. Summary Questions: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

What are the main assumptions of the Individual Differences Approach?

According to the Individual Differences Approach, what are the main differences between people?

What is the name for the approach that focuses on the way in which we are the same?

What is the name for the approach that focuses on the way in which we are different?

Identify studies (AS & A2) that have used the Individual Differences Approach in Psychology?

Main Assumptions Research Evidence

3 limitations of the Individual Differerences Approach

Strengths

Limitations

3 strengths of the Individual Differences Approach

Assumptions of the... Individual Differences Approach

The individual differences approach assumes that the differences between people, such as personality, abnormality or intelligence, and not just the factors that people share in common, have an important influence on our behaviour.

This approach assumes that it is not only the ways we are the same as one another (the nomothetic approach) but also the ways in which we differ from others and are individuals that is important for psychology to investigate. This is known as the idiographic approach.

2c. Summary Questions: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

SUPPORTING RESEARCH

What was the aim of this study?

Aims Results & Conclusions

What were the main findings? What did the researchers conclude?

What research method was used in this study?What are the details of the sample? If appropriate, what was the design of the study?If appropriate, what were the IVs?If appropriate, what were the DVs?What happened?

Method, Sample, Procedure

INCLUDE 2 RESEARCH STUDIES AS EVIDENCE

Worksheet 3: Evaluation

Part 1: EVALUATION & DEBATES

Part 2: EVALUATION GRID

Activity 3

3a. Evaluation Questions COGNITIVE APPROACH

Identify strengths and limitations of the cognitive approach

Identify similarities and differences of the cognitive approach

To what extent is the cognitive approach useful?

To what extent is the cognitive approach reductionist?

Individual Differences Approach

One of the most established approaches in psychology. It is the study of what makes individuals unique rather than what we as humans have in common.

ASSUMTPIONS1. The studying what makes us unique as individuals is as

important as understanding norms of human behaviour

2. That the differences between people in terms of personality and intelligence are important influences on behaviour as well as situational factors.

3. The individual-differences approach is fundamental to an understanding of mental health and dysfunctional psychology.

3a. Evaluation COGNITIVE APPROACH

STRENGTH 1This approach favours the scientific method, using the laboratory experiment to investigate mental processes. This enables researchers to establish cause & effect between variables, provide objective evidence in which we can have confidence and to produce quantitative data, making it easier to test reliability. This approach brings academic credibility to psychology as a discipline. STRENGTH 2Some cognitive approach studies assume that there is a continuity between the way animals, particularly primates, process information and the way humans process information. By studying animals we can understand human cognitive processes, for example, the acquisition of language. This means we can find out about human behaviour without the practical and ethical concerns that might be raised by an in-depth study of, for example, the language development of a human child.

3a. Evaluation COGNITIVE APPROACH

LIMITATION 1The use of laboratory studies in the cognitive approach raises concerns about the ecological validity of the research, and this method also increases the changes of participants responding to demand characteristics in the study.

LIMITATION 2At present, there are limitations to the way data is gathered in the cognitive approach. Cognitive processes can only be studies by inference, that is we cannot study them directly – we can only gather what is going on in someone’s head by recording what they can or cannot tell us (self-report) or can or cannot do (observation), or at best by making and interpreting recordings of the active parts of their brain by, for example, using MRI scance.

3b. Evaluation Questions BEHAVIOURAL PERSPECTIVE

Identify strengths and limitations of the behavioural perspective

Identify similarities and differences of the behavioural perspective

To what extent is the behavioural perspective useful?

To what extent is the behavioural perspective reductionist?

3b. Evaluation BEHAVIOURAL PERSPECTIVE

STRENGTH 1The behaviourist perspective highlights the role of nurture in learning, and shows the important influence environment has on our behaviour.

STRENGTH 2It assumes that behaviour can be both learned and unlearned, which means we can control and change behaviour using behaviourist technique. The behaviourist perspective therefore offers hopeful theories about the causes of behaviours and helps develop techniques to change them.

STRENGTH 3In it attempt to study behaviour it favours the scientific method and laboratory experiments in particular. This focus of the behaviourist perspective on studying observable behaviour in laboratory experiments gave psychology as a discipline the scientific credibility it previously lacked.

3b. Evaluation BEHAVIOURAL PERSPECTIVE

LIMITATION 1A weakness of the behaviourist perspective that by favouring the laboratory experiment as a research method studies in this approach can lack ecological validity and therefore fail to resemble behaviours that people might perform in real life. LIMITATION 2Another weakness of the behaviourist perspective is that there are moral issues and ethical objections raised against the behaviourist perspective. If the principles of behaviourism can be used to control people and change their behaviour, then who should decide which behaviours should be changed and who controls the controllers?

3c. Evaluation Questions INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

Identify strengths and limitations of the individual differences approach

Identify similarities and differences of the individual differences approach

To what extent is the individual differences approach useful?

To what extent is the individual differences approach reductionist?

3c. Evaluation INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

STRENGTH 1Case studies are a popular method, they are in depth and often longitudinal studies that focus on one individual or one case. A detailed case history can be useful in describing unusual or unique cases. STRENGTH 2It recognises that individual differences are an important element of people’s behaviour, something often overlooked by other approaches. By focusing on the ways people differ rather than how their behaviours fit in with general rules, the individual differences approach makes an important contribution to psychology as an academic discipline. STRENGTH 3This approach includes the study of abnormal behaviour. This is useful for helping to explain abnormal behaviour and for improving the experience of both those suffering from mental illness and those who work with them and care for them.

3c. Evaluation INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

LIMITATION 1This approach often focuses on unique cases. The rarity of cases may lead to intrusive investigations and excessive study and testing, which may not help the individual and could distress them. This raises ethical concerns about the balance between the value of the research and causing possible harm to the person being investigated. LIMITATION 2There are problems with the type of data gathered in studies in the individual differences approach. In some studies in this approach large amounts of qualitative data is gathered and this can present problems for the researchers as there are difficulties with its interpretation, objectivity and analysis which leads us to question its validity. LIMITATION 3Psychologists have to be careful that their findings are not misused. By focusing on the difference between people, the individual differences approach may emphasise these differences and this can lead to discrimination. Researchers in this area must present their data responsibility and be sensitive to the possible implications of highlighting differences between people.

Worksheet 4: Essay Plans

10 Mark Questions

15 Mark Questions

Activity 4

EXAM STYLE QUESTIONS (ESQ)Approaches

COGNITIVE APPROACHJanuary 2010a. Briefly outline the cognitive approach to psychology (4) b. Describe two pieces of research that use the cognitive approach to

psychology (8) c. Discuss the strengths and limitations of using the cognitive approach to

explain behaviour. Use examples of research to support your answer (12) d. Compare the cognitive approach with the behaviourist perspective. Use

examples of psychological research to support your answer (8) e. Discuss determinism and free will debate in psychology (8)

June 2010a. Using your knowledge of psychology, briefly outline the cognitive

approach to psychology. (4)b. Describe two pieces of research that use the cognitive approach to

psychology. (8)c. Discuss the strengths and limitations of using the cognitive approach to

explain behaviour. (12)d. Compare the cognitive approach with the behaviourist perspective. (8)e. Discuss the features of the cognitive approach that support the view that

psychology is a science. (8)

EXAM STYLE QUESTIONS (ESQ)Approaches

BEHAVIOURIST PERSPECTIVE

Example a. Using your knowledge of psychology, briefly outline the

behavioural perspective to psychology. (4)b. Describe two pieces of research that use the behavioural

perspective to psychology. (8)c. Discuss the strengths and limitations of using the

behavioural perspective to explain behaviour. (12)d. Compare the behavioural perspective with the OTHER

physiological approach. (8)e. Discuss how the behavioural perspective provides a

situational explanation of behaviour. (8)

EXAM STYLE QUESTIONS (ESQ)Approaches

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES APPROACH

EXAMPLEa. Briefly outline the individual differences approach in

psychology. (4)b. Describe two pieces of research that use the

individual differences approach in psychology. (8)c. Discuss the strengths and limitations of research that

provides an individual explanation of behaviour. (12)d. Compare the individual differences approach with the

physiological approach. (8)e. Can individual explanations of behaviour be

considered useful? (8)