This essay will discuss the role of ecological validity in psychological research, drawing on material from the DE100 textbook ‘Investigating Psychology’. It will begin by giving a description of what ecological validity is, and consider it in relation to different examples of research. The research used to discuss the role of ecological validity will be based around social learning and aggression, behaviourism, and memory. Firstly the study of Bandura et al. will be considered, his experiments on children copying violent behaviours using the Bobo doll experiment.
So forth it is regarded a key asset in psychology, serving as a springboard for new theories although a major critique is that it is unreliable and cannot be measurably proven. Whilst the behaviourist approach has been proven, predominantly through animal experimentation, it provides a practical understanding of the mind to allow for the resolution of negative
A serial killer is defined as a person who commits at least 3 murders over a period of more than a month, typically following a characteristic, predictable behaviour pattern (Fbigov, 2018). This essay will critically evaluate the different explanations for why someone would commit serial murders, with reference to reductionism. Reductionism is the belief that human behaviour can be easily explained by breaking it down into its constituent components. It is based on the scientific assumption of parsimony which is the idea that complex phenomena such as mental processes should be explained within the framework of basic sciences e.g. physiology, chemistry (Simplypsychologyorg, 2018). Psychological theories of crime look at the differences in individual
Equally important this experiment was good to begin with but a weakness of the experiment was the children knew they had to hit the doll one report saying "mum look it’s the doll we have to hit" the children already knew they had to hit the
However, this theory does not always state for all behaviors since thoughts and feelings are influenced by many other factors. Overall, with the amount of evidence, SCT is an important theory because it explains how behaviors are influenced by observational learning. It contributes largely to important human social behaviors as well as social implications. But the theory requires further research to overcome its limitations because we cannot be 100% sure that the aggressive behavior is the result of observing the
These findings have impacted the psychological field in a manner of ways. One finding was that four of the children later talked about how they felt uncomfortable in the dark room (Bain et al, 1958). This will have had an impact on the psychological field as it clearly displays the lasting effects of a stressful situation on young children. Thus, studies of this sort will have had an impact upon on the guidelines which the British Psychological Society (BPS) produce for all psychological studies to follow. The ethical guidelines now state that the monitoring of the willingness of the child should be applied to every study (British Psychological Society, 2014).
For my replication study I chose to use Bandura’s Transmission of Aggression Through Imitation of Aggressive Models, also known as the Bobo Doll experiment. The purpose of the experiment was to not only see how impressionable young children are to adult actions, but also to measure the difference in young boys aggression to young girls after witnessing an adult act out aggressively against a bobo doll. The conclusion was that children are impressionable, and Bandura found that boys were more prone to act out in violence or make violent remarks as opposed to girls.
3. Seventy-two children partook in the Bobo Doll Experiment, they were divided into three categories: groups that were exposed to aggressive action, groups that were exposed to non-aggressive action, and a control group. They were further subdivided by gender and both genders were given a male and female
Given the broad areas of interest falling under the purview of biological psychology, it will probably come as no surprise that individuals from all sorts of backgrounds are involved in this research, including biologists, medical professionals, physiologists, and chemists. Indeed, Tolman stated, “I believe that everything important in psychology can be investigated in essence through the continued experimental and theoretical analysis of the determiners of rat behavior at a choice-point in a maze.” Behaviorism dominated experimental psychology for several decades, and its influence can still be felt today. Given that any behavior is, at its roots, biological, some areas of psychology take on aspects of a natural science like biology. Reflecting the diversity of the field of psychology itself, members, affiliate members, and associate members span the spectrum from students to doctoral-level psychologists, and come from a variety of places including educational settings, criminal justice, hospitals, the armed forces, and industry.
Psychologist must provide physical and mental protection. Vulnerable people must have the right to received special care and ensure welfare for them. They should not take the participants in situations of extreme risk. They should ask help from therapists and make sure that the participant is total-Bobo doll The experiment was executed by Albert Bandura with the aim of demonstrating that the aggressive behaviour is learnt by social environment.
Psy20150 Essay. Name: Clodagh Finnerty Student Number: 13362386 ‘It has been argued that two events led to the development of the modern discipline of Psychology: the foundation of Wilhelm Wundt’s Institute of Experimental Psychology, and the introduction of a new theory of evolution, described in Darwin’s Origin of Species. Critically assess the impact of these events on Psychology and society.’
Introduction of the Theory (History) Social Learning Theory was introduced by Albert Bandura in year 1977 ( McLeod, 2011). Social Learning Theory was mainly talking about how environmental factor influence the social behavior of an individual. An individual will simply observe and imitate the behaviors or actions of nearby people.
" Behaviour is learned from the environment through the process of observational learning." The behaviour we observed is models. In social life, children encompassed with effective people like parents, siblings, friends, tv characters and teachers etc. They attract to certain people and encode the behaviour and later imitate the behaviour interest to them regardless whether it is appropriate or inappropriate for them.
So, while there is and always will be controversy surrounding Skinner and his experiments, Skinner contributed a great quantity to the field of psychology. `Opening Skinner’s Box by, Lauren Slater tells of may different events, one of those being an experiment by David Rosenhan trying to determine how well psychiatrists can tell apart sane and insane people. David Rosenhan called up a group of eight of his friends to ask an outrageous question. David Rosenhan asked his friends, “Are you busy next month? Would you have time to fake your way into a mental hospital and see what happens, see if they can tell you’re really sane?”
Through The Psychologist Eye In Lauren Slater’s book, “Opening Skinner’s Box,” we discover in the first three chapters the mysteries behind a few psychological experiments and the discoveries that three profound psychologists have made. Each chapter is about a different psychologist, the first is B.F. Skinner; a behaviorist who designed a process of learning in which behavior is controlled, he called this operant conditioning. Lauren Slater wanted people to know about his experiment, she read his books, talked to friends and family members to unearth the features behind this man. She found that he was a loving father, who could train animals to do unordinary things, like play the piano for an example, through the processes of operant conditioning,