Unit 8 –
Psychological
Perspectives
Monday 13th April 2015
Today’s aims….
Introduction to new unit
Start to look at the basics of Psychology
Unit spec
Unit 8
2 assignments
P1, P2, P3
M1, M2
D1
What is Psychology?
It is a science which looks at the study of mind and behaviour
There are different perspectives or ‘schools’
We will look at various perspectives and try to apply them to a work setting
We observe things around us
We develop a theory to
Understand
Explain
Predict
Start thinking…..
Read the case study and think about the questions, to get in the Psychological mindset
The perspectives
We will look at the following perspectives –
The Behaviourist perspective
Social Learning theory
The Psycho-Dynamic approach
The Humanist perspective
The Cognitive perspective
The Biological perspective
The Behaviourist perspective
The key idea behind this theory is that we can try and understand behaviour by looking at what it is that the person has learnt
The theory looks at things like individual personality such as their levels of confidence or shyness
Also looks at things like ‘on the spot’ behaviour such as giving money to a homeless person
This perspective suggests that all human behaviour occurs as a result of EXPERIENCE from which we learn things and these things shape our behaviour
Think about a time when you experienced something – good or bad. Has this in some way changed your behaviour?
Key thinkers
Ivan Pavlov
Frederic Skinner
Pavlov
Came up with a theory known as CLASSICAL
CONDITIONING
Pavlov (1849 – 1936) was a Russian psychologist who has a very famous study where he used dogs. He was studying dogs’ digestive systems
Pavlov’s dogs
One day he noticed that a dog began to salivate when a bowl of food was brought into the room by his assistant – but the dog was yet to taste the food
He found this unusual because salivation is a reflex response At the time, it was believed that saliva is only produced when food touches the tongue
Pavlov thought – maybe the dog salivated because it associated the assistant with food?
So he started to investigate……
Pavlov's Dogs
Pavlov’s theory….
Salivation is an automatic response not a learned response– a bit like the thought of
Haribo’s fizzy sweet make your mouth water/salivate This automatic response is known as an unconditioned response (UR)
Not learned
Food automatically leads to this response
This is known as an unconditioned stimulus
(US)
The food stimulates the response automatically Pavlov rang a bell when presenting food – this is a neutral stimulus
He wanted to see if the dog associates the bell with food
Eventually, the dog would salivate at the sound of the bell even when no food was
Therefore the dog had learned to conditioned response (CR) of salivation to the conditioned stimulus (CS) of the bell
Key terms
Now match the terms – it is important that you understand what they mean
Unconditioned response
Unconditioned stimulus
Conditioned response
Conditioned stimulus
Terms answers
A new, learned response to a previously neutral stimulus that mimics the response to the unconditioned stimulus – CONDITIONED RESPONSE A response that regularly occurs when an unconditional stimulus is presented, e.g. the startle response resulting from a thunderclap –
UNCONDITIONED RESPONSE
A stimulus that regularly and consistently leads to an automatic (not learned) response from, e.g. a clap of thunder – UNCONDITIONED
STIMULUS
A neutral stimulus that, when paired with the unconditioned stimulus, produces a conditioned n(learned) response, just as the unconditioned response used to – CONDITIONED STIMULUS
Skinner
Burhuss Frederic Skinner (1904 – 1990) was also a thinker of the Behaviourist perspective but had a slightly different theory known as
OPERANT CONDITIONING
He was an American psychologist who had a
famous
