Outline … approach and compare to … approach

• Determinism vs Free Will

  • Determinism is the belief that behaviour is determined by forces other than the individuals will to do something.
  • Behaviour is caused by something other than free will. Something that is out of our control
  • E.g. Biological approach suggests that behaviour is determined by physiological processes 
  • The opposite of determinism is free will. Free will suggests that individuals can choose their behaviour and it is in their control
• Behaviourist 

  • Behaviour determined by reinforcement history (the consequences of our behaviour in the past) – e.g. if we were rewarded for completing homework, this determines future behaviour of doing homework

  Social Learning

  • Behaviour determined by observation of others. However, could be argued that although we may learn how to behave by observing others, how and when we use this behaviour is up to us (free will)
• Cognitive

  • Free will: We choose our own thought processes; Determinism: However, thought processes are determined by our schema (what we know/our experiences)

  Biological

  • Determinist: physiological factors (e.g. neural/hormonal), genetic factors cause behaviour
• Psychodynamic

  • Determinist: Unconscious factors out of our conscious control determine behaviour

  Humanism

  • Free will: Human beings have free will and can determine their own development.
• Nature vs nurture

  • Human behaviour is either the product of a person’s genes and biology (nature) or what they experience and their environment (nurture)
  • It is rare that behaviour is entirely one or the other alone
  • Usually nature and nurture interact
• Nature vs nurture

  Behaviourist

  • Nurture: People are ‘blank slates’ at birth. All behaviour is the result of learned associations

  Social learning

  • Nurture: People learn as a result of observing and imitating others

  Cognitive

  • Nature: thought processes may be the product of innate factors (e.g. we are all born with ability of cognitive processing)
  • Nurture: our schema is the product of our experiences (e.g. developing a negative schema because of bad experiences)
• Nature vs nurture

  Biological

  • Nature: Biological systems (e.g. CNS)/genetics determine behaviour.
  • Nurture: Experiences may change these biological systems

  Psychodynamic

  • Nature: Focus on the role of unconscious forces on behaviour (e.g. the ‘id’ is biological/animalistic drives)
  • Nurture: How we cope with unconscious demands may be a product of our upbringing 
• Nature vs nurture

  Humanistic

  • Nature: We all have an innate drive to achieve their full potential (self-actualise)
  • Nurture: There are problems that we face when we try to self-actualise. These are the result of our experiences (e.g. experience of conditional positive regard in childhood)
• Reductionism

  • The practice of analysing and describing a complex phenomenon (e.g. human behaviour) in terms of its most simple and important parts
  • The opposite of this is holism - the idea that phenomena are best understood by looking at the interplay between many different factors
• Behaviourism

  • Reductionist: breaks complex behaviours into stimulus-response units for ease of testing in the lab.

  Biological approach

  • Reductionist: Explains human behaviour and psychological states simply through genes and neurons

  Psychodynamic approach

  • Reductionist: Much of behaviour is reduced to biological instincts and sexual drives.
  • Holistic: Personality is a dynamic interaction between id, ego and superego
• Cognitive approach

  • Reductionist (machine reductionism): presents people as information processing systems and ignores influence of emotion on behaviour

  Social Learning theory

  • Reductionist: Complex learning reduced to a handful of key processes (imitation, modelling, etc.) 
  • Holistic: Focus on mediational processes (attention, retention, motor reproduction, motivation) takes into account the more complex cognitive processes involved in social learning 
• reductionism

  Humanistic approach

  • Holistic: Investigates all aspects of the individual, including the effects of interaction with others and wider society
• Real World Applications and Treatments

  Biological approach

  • The biological approach has led to the development of numerous drug therapies to treat disorders such as depression, OCD, schizophrenia, etc. An example of these therapies is SSRIs.

  Behaviourist approach

  • The behaviourist approach has led to the development of treatments for phobias. Examples of these treatments are systematic desensitisation and flooding
• Real world Application and treatments

  Social Learning Theory

  • SLT is able to explain many psychological disorders including: eating disorders and aggression. This has led to positive changes such as not showing violent aggression on TV while children are awake (aggression). It has also led to treatments for anorexia by providing sufferers with healthy role models who they can imitate to overcome their anorexia or prevent it
• Real world application and treatments

  Cognitive Approach 

  • The cognitive approach has led to the development of numerous treatments, including cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Furthermore, the cognitive approach has helped improve the accuracy and reliability of EWT through development of the cognitive interview.
• real world application and treatments

  Psychodynamic approach

  • This approach claims that anxiety disorders emerge from unconscious conflicts. Therefore, it has led to the development of psychoanalysis as a treatment for mental disorders. Psychoanalysis aims to put people in touch with their unconscious thoughts in order to address any underlying unconscious conflicts.
• Real world application and treatments

  Humanistic approach

  • This approach has influenced counselling. The humanistic approach claims that an individual’s psychological problems are a direct result of their conditions of worth (whether parents gave them unconditional love or conditional love). Therefore, the humanistic approach suggests that counsellors need to give patients unconditional positive regard (empathy, understanding and acceptance) in order to treat their psychological problems.