Approaches

• In the 17th century, Descartes suggested that the mind and the body represented a dualism, and that the two interact in different ways to produce different behaviours and thoughts, which was the basis for the nature versus nurture debate.
• Psychology is defined as “The scientific study of behaviour and mental processes and how these are affected by internal and external factors” (IB definition).
• Science is defined as “The pursuit and application of knowledge and understanding of the natural and social world, following a systematic methodology based on evidence”.
• The features of science include a universal paradigm, theory construction, hypothesis testing, deduction, falsification, replicability, objectivity, and the empirical method.
• These genes influence neurotransmitter and hormone production.
• A lack of unconditional positive regard in childhood, due to conditions of worth imposed by parents, leads to incongruence and an inability to self-actualise.
• Behaviourism, SLT, The Cognitive Approach, The Biological Approach, Humanism are different approaches in psychology.
• There may be candidate genes for specific mental health disorders and criminality such as CHD-13 (criminality) and 5HT1-D beta (OCD).
• Faulty schemas generated through specific experiences, leading to perceptual errors and sensory stimuli distortions
• In 1879, Wundt set up his first laboratory where he adopted the use of introspection.
• Introspection is defined as “a means of learning about one’s own currently ongoing mental states or processes”.
• Introspective knowledge is often held to be more immediate or direct than sensory knowledge.
• Wundt isolated conscious thoughts into basic structures of thoughts, processes and images, in a process called structuralism.
• The method of data recording in Wundt’s laboratory was highly scientific, using the same stimulus each time, allowing for replication under standardised conditions, hence producing reliable data.
• Skinner disagreed with the subjective nature of introspection, in which the findings differed greatly from individual to individual, making it difficult to establish general laws and unifying principles of behaviour and cognition.
• In the 1930s, Skinner’s idea of radical behaviourism, that private events could be measured and quantified in the same way as observable behaviour, was tested using the laboratory experiment method of research.
• The biological approach has serious implications for the judicial system and the economy as it suggests that individuals should not be held morally responsible for their actions, and that criminal and mental health disorders cannot be entirely blamed on genetic factors.
• The theory suggests that any genetically-determined behaviour, which gives the individual a selective advantage, will be present in future generations due to the genetic transmission of beneficial characteristics from one generation to the next, a process known as heredity.
• MZ twins usually show higher concordance rates for mental disorders and psychological characteristics compared to DZ twins.
• Examples of genetically-determined behaviours with a selective advantage include avoiding fire and deep water, having a longer neck, and producing more milk.
• Genetic and psychological disorders demonstrate the interaction between genotype and phenotype.
• Drugs are developed on the basis of these measurements.
• Family and adoption studies can lead to an increased understanding of the concordance rates and heritability of certain psychological characteristics.
• Evolution is the process by which organisms change over time as a result of changes in heritable physical or behavioural traits.
• Two individuals can have the same genotypes, but different phenotypes.
• The biological approach suggests that all behaviour is caused by internal biological forces over which we have no control, such as genes, hormones, and neurochemistry.
• The biological approach uses EEG, PET, and fMRI scans to objectively and systematically measure the biological or neural basis of behaviour.
• Behaviours which have a ‘selective advantage’ include avoiding fire and deep water, having a longer neck, and producing more milk.
• This marked the beginning of Psychology as a scientific discipline.
• Twin studies cannot differentiate between the effects of nature and nurture.
• The Cognitive Approach flourished with the invention of the computer in the 1960s, providing a metaphor for the functions and workings of the mind i.e the ‘computer analogy’.
• Social Learning Theory argues that behaviour is learnt through experience, but that these principles are better applied to a social context.
• The Biological Approach advances in technology, particularly with brain scanning techniques in the 1970s, allowed psychologists to objectively observe and measure the biological basis of behaviour.
• Freud identified three levels of consciousness: The conscious, preconscious and unconscious.
• The Superego is formed at the end of the phallic stage, and operates on the morality principle, containing the child’s internalised sense of right and wrong, based upon their same-sex parent, and is in constant conflict with the Id.
• The strength of the unconscious depends upon how efficiently the ego resolves the conflict.
• The Ego is formed during the first 3 years of life, and operates on the reality principle, helping to resolve the conflict between the id and the superego through the use of defence mechanisms.
• Freud’s data and theories suffer from limited applications and generalisability.
• Freud viewed the personality as made up of three components i.e. ‘tripartite’: Id, ego and superego.
• We are only aware of our conscious.