16th May EMA tutorial

Many may often ask, “Why are people always so ready to inflict harm on others simply

This essay will be looking at four psychological approaches. These are the psychodynamic approach, the humanistic approach, the cognitive approach and the behaviourist approach. Furthermore this essay will be describing and evaluating a psychologist's theory for each approach. The psychodynamic approach will be looking at Sigmund Freud's (1856-1939) theory of personality and the humanistic approach will be looking at Abraham Maslow's (1943) hierarchy of needs theory . The cognitive approach will be looking at a cognitive theory of memory, this being the multi-store model by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968). The cognitive approach will also be looking at a cognitive theory of forgetting, this being trace decay first proposed by Edward Thorndike (1914). Finally, the behaviourist approach will look into an example of classical conditioning in humans (first proposed by Burrhus Frederic Skinner, 1940-90), this being the acquisition of phobias, and also an example of operant conditioning in humans (first proposed by Ivan Petrovich Pavlow, 1849-1936), this being the acquisition of language.

I have selected the movie “The Silence of the Lambs“ as it’s considered one of the most taut, suspenseful, psychological thrillers of all time. The reason, simply, is that no other film looks or feels like it, and even though its influence is still strong today, there has still never been a strong successor to it. This is the 2nd time in my college life I have taken Psychology and I am intrigued by the fact the psychology is the scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting behavior in a given context (Hockenbury + Hockenbury, 2014). Although, the movie “The Silence of the Lambs” mostly shows the dark sides of the human characters; but it shows that the choices people make during their adolescence and adult life could make them polar opposite of each other even though they could come from similar background where they had been abused as a

In the fields of research, psychological research poses a number of challenges due to the subjective nature of assessing and measuring emotional states and the development of personalities and disorders. Many biological and environmental factors contribute to a person’s unique psychological functioning. Although similarities can usually be drawn, a single experience can affect a varying number of people in different ways. This paper will focus on two particular methods of research and identify the pros and cons of both.

When psychology first emerged as a science, the process of explaining the human mind and human behavior began. In this essay we will present a brief synopsis of what psychology is and introduce the reader to the primary biological foundations of psychology that are linked to behavior as well as introducing the reader to the major schools of thought in psychology. In Kowalski and Westen Fifth Edition of Psychology, psychology is define as “the scientific investigation of mental processes such as; thinking, remembering, feeling, and behavior. Understanding a person requires attention to the individual’s biology, psychological experience, and cultural context.”(Kowalski & Weston, 2009, p. 4). Each component is necessary in formulating who

Methods used in psychological research are used to obtain quantitative or qualitative data. Quantitative data is more often than not derived from methods such as experiments and statistics analyzing data using surveys, questionnaires and interviews. Qualitative data tends not to be aimed at finding exact measurements in its findings, but is more concerned with evidence collection and analysis through practices such as observation and ethnography (using observations through involvement in activities over a period of time) (Brownlow 2011).

Questioning “why?” or “how?” people behave the way they do captivates me. I first remember questioning human behaviour whilst watching a TV show on Nazi Germany. I was struck by how most German citizens were highly supportive of Hitler’s views and they appeared to be unresponsive to the brutality towards the Jews. This all began to make sense to me when I started my A level Psychology course by gaining an insight of social influence, which described theories like obedience to authority, shown through Milgram’s shock experiments. This helped me realise why Germans conformed to legitimate authority. I wish to explore the psychological world further, especially abnormal psychology, at university.

Why do we humans interact the way that we do? Why do we act a certain way in one situation, but differently in another? Why are some capable of committing heinous crimes while others are not? These questions can only be answered by social psychology. According to Science Daily, social psychology is defined as the study of how people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. The psychology of social interactions has explained various situations as to why we humans interact the way that we do. From the Holocaust to today’s politics, social psychology has not only played a part in major world events, but in our everyday lives. Furthermore, three psychologists conducted three experiments

Stanley Milgram (1963) was interested in how likely people would obey an authority figure who instructed them to harm another person. His study involved 40 male participants, aged 20 to 50, who were recruited through advertisements and mail solicitation. Participants had diverse occupations and educational levels. They came to a lab where they served as teachers in a supposed learning and memory experiment. A simulated shock generator with 30 switches was used. It was clearly marked with voltage levels and verbal designations ranging from 15 volts (slight shock) to 450 volts (danger: severe shock). The participants’ task was to administer an electric shock to the learner, a confederate of the experimenter, whenever he made an error in the memory test, increasing the intensity of shock each time. When the participant refused to administer a shock, the experimenter would give a series of prods to the participants to ensure that they continue with the experiment, even if they reached the marked danger of a severe shock, or heard the learner’s screams and pounding from an adjacent room. The experiment ended when the maximum voltage of shock had been delivered, or if the participant refused to continue any further. The maximum intensity shock a participant was willing to administer before he refused to participate any further was measured.

This article was downloaded by: [UQ Library] On: 09 September 2011, At: 16:52 Publisher: Psychology Press Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

A: I have come to the conclusion that people can harm others just by sheer motivation. Those kind of people have always and will always have some form of a motive, even if it has yet to be uncovered by other people. Some people desire an abundant amount of money, some even crave the bittersweet taste of violence, and others just want power. In the world, there will always be people who just want to be the leader and be feared by everyone. They need people to listen to every single word they say and latch onto it like it is the last meal they will ever be able to eat.

A key criterion of experimentation involves the participants being blind to the manipulation of variables. This prevents prior knowledge affecting the results. Although in some cases this involves deception, Professor Haslem points out most experimental social psychologists accept this as necessary if there is a strong scientific case for the research and providing the participants are not subjected to enduring harm. The introduction of strict research ethics meant that cognitive social psychologists must follow strict guidelines when designing research studies, which included ensuring the safety of their participants. However, in the 1960’s and 1970’s scientific knowledge was the most important consideration and researchers were given a free hand, which meant there were no adequate measures to protect the well-being of the participants. In Milgram’s words ‘before you do the experiment, you don’t know whether there will be stress (Milgram 1977, p.97 cited by Hollway, 2007). The research carried out during those two decades has to be considered in terms of its situatedness.

In psychology, the purpose of research is to improve knowledge and inform action. This research must be of higher quality in order to form consistent boundaries in science. It also must not limit to exceed boundaries in order to advance and become more in depth with the subject at hand. There are three methods of research that have, more often than not, come to subjective conclusions. These methods include Case studies, which involves observing what has happened in the ‘case history’ of an individual or group of individuals. Surveys, which can be described as a “data collection tool used to gather information about individuals.” (Cherry, 2016). And at last, scientific experiments, which “key features are control over variables, careful measurement, and establishing cause and effect relationships.” (McLeod, S. A. 2012).

Introduction to research creates a blueprint of psychological research intended for undergraduates at a fundamental level. Moreover, it explains the foundation of psychological research, which is aimed at achieving four key objectives, which if applied to our career goals, will provide self-improvement and increase our marketability. The first three of these four objectives; describe, explain and predict, fall under basic research, while the last of the four; manipulation of emotions and mental constitution, fall under applied research (Crawford, 2016, p. 53). However, these objectives are accomplished through experimental and nonexperimental approaches, classified under two principal research methodologies; qualitative and quantitative. This paper describes the various concepts associated with research discussed in my Psychology class, Introduction to research. Nonetheless, unlike an argumentative paper, this paper is an expository which integrates the terms affiliated with basic and applied research to create one logical ensemble demonstrating my learning experience in this course.

Modern day psychology takes into account several perspectives with each differing in the approach taken. Aside from the strengths they bring to the fore, each of these approaches has its own weaknesses. This paper starts by looking at some of these psychological perspectives in detail so that we can better understand how they affect human behaviour.