Evaluating approaches

• Psychodynamic approach is interractionst = between reductionist and holistic as it considers nature and nurture via innate drives and experiences
• Behavioral approach is reductionist as it focuses on stimulus and response via conditioning or reinforcement eg skinners rats or pavlovs dogs = too simplistic and ignores other approaches
• Cognitive approach is reductionist = machine reductionism = oversimplified to computer processing = humans are not the same as machines
• Biological approach is reductionist as puts behaviour down to brain structure eg low serotonin means depression = too simplistic
• Positive approach is holistic as it acknowledges a variety of factory’s like work age and gender and their impact on subjective well being
• Psychodynamic approach doesn’t create an effective therapy = falk and hill = women in divorce = higher self esteem than control = no evidence helps disorders
• Behavioural approach doesnt create an effective therapy = mc robbie = rapid smoking = no change after 4 weeks be video condition = short term only
• Cognitive approach creates an effective therapy = kulpers = 50% of 60 med resistant schizophrenics improved with cbt vs 31% without and 1 suicide
• Biological approach creates an effective therapy = cole = 75% improved vs 25% with placebo = fast acting, effective and most common in the nhs
• Positive approach creates effective therapy = Davidson = 8 week mindfulness = more antibodies to flue nah and more positive brain activity than control = help physical and mental health
• Psychodynamic approach is deterministic = infant behavior controlled by id and adult by childhood experiences = implies no free will as oral frustration = will be a smoker and aggressive
• Behavioural approach are environmentally deterministic = for example banduras bobo dolls learnt aggression = avoids personal responsibility
• Cognitive approach = soft determinism due to internal mental processes deciding behaviour but cbt helps you to choose another way = acknowledges both free will and external factors
• Biological approach is deterministic = depression is due to low serotonin or alcohol addiction can be due to ADH13 gene = no control over own mental health
• Positive approach involve free will = seligman = happiness is not genes but due to our signature strengths and encourage responsibility
• Psychodynamic approach is not scientific = Freud is unflasofiable = repression cant be proven or little hans (scared of horses because of fear of dad) = all subjective
• Behavioural approach = scientific = lab experiment = Watson and Rayners used set stages = reliable and measurable
• Cognitive approach is scientific = lab experiment = loftus and palmer = well respected as objective and measurable
• Biological approach is scientific = scientific plainer via brain structure and neurotransmitters = raine used pet scans = objective and measurable
• Positive approach is unscientific = difficult to objectively define happiness = myers and Reiner used questionnaires etc = Lowe internal validity as less respected