Section A – Approaches in Psychology
Steph and Georgie are both working mothers. Steph enjoys being
challenged at work. Stephanie’s daughter listens to her mother’s
colleagues praising and admiring Stephs work and sees the awards she
has been presented with in recognition of her effort. Stephanie’s
daughter is an enthusiastic student who is keen to be challenged at
school.
Georgia hates her job. Her daughter has heard her boss shout at her
down the phone for missing deadlines and sees how tired Georgie is
after staying up late working. Georgie’s daughter feels anxious when
she is given difficult work and does not want to go to school.
03. How might vicarious reinforcement explain the different attitudes of
Steph's and Georgie's daughters to their schoolwork? [4 marks]
Vicarious reinforcement is the idea that the observed consequences of other
people's behaviour influence the likelihood that another person will imitate that
behaviour. An example being challenged at work – Steph enjoys work and
demonstrates it in front of her daughter. The positive consequence as a result,
Steph’s daughter is more likely to imitate her mum’s behaviour.
On the other hand, Georgie expresses her dislike for work and all the negative
consequences e.g. her boss shouting at her, so her daughter is less likely to
imitate her mum hence why she doesn’t want to go to school.
04. Explain one strength and one limitation of using social learning
theory to explain the different attitudes of Steph’s and Georgie’s
daughters.
[6 marks]
One strength of using SLT to explain the different attitudes is research support
by Bandura. It was found that children were more likely to imitate adults who
were praised for aggressive behaviour.
This provides evidence of the existence of social learning theory and the
importance of observation and vicarious reinforcement for learning. A limitation
of SLT is that it relies heavily on mediational cognitive processes like motivation
that are cognitive and can only be inferred.
This means that not all of the SLT concepts can be viewed as cognition cannot be
observed.
05. In what ways might the biological approach explain the different
attitudes of Steph’s and Georgie’s daughters to their schoolwork? [4
marks]
The biological approach would imply that Steph has inherited (genotype) genes
that cause her to demonstrate positive (phenotype) behaviour towards
, schoolwork, e.g. she is more motivated because her mum is.
On the other hand, Georgie has inherited a genetic makeup which makes her
less motivated to do schoolwork (phenotype) because she has inherited this from
her mum.
06. Outline and briefly discuss cognitive neuroscience. [8 marks]
Cognitive neuroscience is the combination of both the biological and cognitive
approach. It aims to explain and understand cognitive processes like memory,
perception etc. through their influence on biological structures like
neurochemistry and brain structure. Cognitive neuroscience typically uses brain
scanning techniques like fMRI to investigate the neurological basis of mental
processes. Tulving was able to demonstrate through brain scans the location of
episodic and semantic memory.
Cognitive neuroscience has also been useful in understanding what areas of the
brain are responsible for certain disorders, for example low levels of dopamine in
the prefrontal cortex contributing to negative schizophrenic symptoms.
One strength of cognitive neuroscience as an explanation for behaviour is that it
is scientific. The use of various scanning techniques means that empirical data
can be collected, like in Peterson's study of Broca’s and Wernicke’s area and the
effect of practical tasks on those areas.
This means that the findings can be falsified, which is a key feature of any
science.
On the other hand, cognitive neuroscience still relies heavily on inference of the
mental processes like memory and the concept of schemas. Schemas are mental
frameworks which cannot be seen or observed so reduce the objectivity of the
cognitive neuroscience approach.
Furthermore, many of these studies use artificial tasks which lack external
validity. This means that various studies are difficult to apply to real life
situations where we utilise mental processes.
Steph and Georgie are both working mothers. Steph enjoys being
challenged at work. Stephanie’s daughter listens to her mother’s
colleagues praising and admiring Stephs work and sees the awards she
has been presented with in recognition of her effort. Stephanie’s
daughter is an enthusiastic student who is keen to be challenged at
school.
Georgia hates her job. Her daughter has heard her boss shout at her
down the phone for missing deadlines and sees how tired Georgie is
after staying up late working. Georgie’s daughter feels anxious when
she is given difficult work and does not want to go to school.
03. How might vicarious reinforcement explain the different attitudes of
Steph's and Georgie's daughters to their schoolwork? [4 marks]
Vicarious reinforcement is the idea that the observed consequences of other
people's behaviour influence the likelihood that another person will imitate that
behaviour. An example being challenged at work – Steph enjoys work and
demonstrates it in front of her daughter. The positive consequence as a result,
Steph’s daughter is more likely to imitate her mum’s behaviour.
On the other hand, Georgie expresses her dislike for work and all the negative
consequences e.g. her boss shouting at her, so her daughter is less likely to
imitate her mum hence why she doesn’t want to go to school.
04. Explain one strength and one limitation of using social learning
theory to explain the different attitudes of Steph’s and Georgie’s
daughters.
[6 marks]
One strength of using SLT to explain the different attitudes is research support
by Bandura. It was found that children were more likely to imitate adults who
were praised for aggressive behaviour.
This provides evidence of the existence of social learning theory and the
importance of observation and vicarious reinforcement for learning. A limitation
of SLT is that it relies heavily on mediational cognitive processes like motivation
that are cognitive and can only be inferred.
This means that not all of the SLT concepts can be viewed as cognition cannot be
observed.
05. In what ways might the biological approach explain the different
attitudes of Steph’s and Georgie’s daughters to their schoolwork? [4
marks]
The biological approach would imply that Steph has inherited (genotype) genes
that cause her to demonstrate positive (phenotype) behaviour towards
, schoolwork, e.g. she is more motivated because her mum is.
On the other hand, Georgie has inherited a genetic makeup which makes her
less motivated to do schoolwork (phenotype) because she has inherited this from
her mum.
06. Outline and briefly discuss cognitive neuroscience. [8 marks]
Cognitive neuroscience is the combination of both the biological and cognitive
approach. It aims to explain and understand cognitive processes like memory,
perception etc. through their influence on biological structures like
neurochemistry and brain structure. Cognitive neuroscience typically uses brain
scanning techniques like fMRI to investigate the neurological basis of mental
processes. Tulving was able to demonstrate through brain scans the location of
episodic and semantic memory.
Cognitive neuroscience has also been useful in understanding what areas of the
brain are responsible for certain disorders, for example low levels of dopamine in
the prefrontal cortex contributing to negative schizophrenic symptoms.
One strength of cognitive neuroscience as an explanation for behaviour is that it
is scientific. The use of various scanning techniques means that empirical data
can be collected, like in Peterson's study of Broca’s and Wernicke’s area and the
effect of practical tasks on those areas.
This means that the findings can be falsified, which is a key feature of any
science.
On the other hand, cognitive neuroscience still relies heavily on inference of the
mental processes like memory and the concept of schemas. Schemas are mental
frameworks which cannot be seen or observed so reduce the objectivity of the
cognitive neuroscience approach.
Furthermore, many of these studies use artificial tasks which lack external
validity. This means that various studies are difficult to apply to real life
situations where we utilise mental processes.
