comparison of approaches

• The behaviourist approach is nomothetic because it assumes everyone learns using the same learning mechanisms of classical and operant conditioning.
• The humanistic approach is idiographic because it assumes everyone is unique and we cannot generalise from one individual to others
• The psychodynamic approach is deterministic because it assumes behaviour is caused by the unconscious mind, specifically repressed childhood experiences. This is referred to as psychic determinism
• The behaviourist approach is deterministic because it assumes behaviour is caused by the environment, specifically classical and operant conditioning. This is referred to as environmental determinism.
• The cognitive approach strikes a balance between determinism and free will because it assumes behaviour is caused by external stimuli and mental processes. It can be applied to CBT and we can change our behaviour.
• The biological approach is deterministic because it assumes behaviour is determined by biological factors such as genetics, which is known as biological determinism.
• Social learning theory is similar to the behaviourist approach because it involves learning from the environment. Determinism as we don't have control over our environment, however SLT involves mediational processes. Suggests that environment influences our behaviour, but we have some free will as to whether we imitate behaviour.
• The humanistic approach assumes free will because it matches our subjective experience and allows us to reach our full potential by self-actualising.
• Psychodynamic approach strikes a balance between idiographic and nomothetic. Idiographic as uses case studies which allow for rich detail and interpretation of an individual’s behaviour. Nomothetic because establishes general theories about personality and development.
• Cognitive approach is nomothetic as it assumes their cognitive models generalise to everyone.
• Biological approach is nomothetic because it establishes universal laws for how biological factors affect behaviour.
• Social learning theory is nomothetic because it assumes that everyone learns through the same learning mechanisms.
• Psychodynamic approach strikes a balance between reductionism and holism. Reductionist as explains behaviour in terms of repressed traumatic experiences. Holistic because the tripartite personality theory involves an interaction between the ego, which mediates between the ID and the superego.
• Behaviourist approach is reductionist because it explains all behaviour in terms of just stimulus and response.
• Cognitive approach is reductionist as explains behaviour using theoretical models.
• Cognitive approach is less reductionist than behaviourist approach because it involves more complex explanations of behaviour
• The biological approach is reductionist, because it explains all behaviour in terms of biological factors.
• SLT is less reductionist than the behaviourist approach, because it incorporates mediational processes into its explanation of behaviour.
• The humanistic approach is holistic, because it doesn’t try to break down behaviour into simpler components like stimuli or biological factors.
• The psychodynamic approach contains aspects of nature, because the ID contains innate drives, such as the urge for instant gratification. Nurture because it explains behaviour is the result of repressed childhood trauma.
• Behaviourist approach could be argued to consider nature as unconditioned responses are innate instincts and reflexes to certain stimuli. Mostly nurture as assume most behaviour is learned through classical and operant conditioning
• According to the cognitive approach, ‘nurture’ affects behaviour because we build up our schema of the world from experiences which affect how we interpret new information, and how we behave. Nature determines the structure of our mental processes
• Biological approach can be nurture because phenotype can be determined by both genotype and environmental factors. Biological approach assumes nature because assumes behaviour is mainly the result of biological factors
• SLT supports nurture because it assumes most behaviour is learned but also nature because it assumes instincts and reflexes are innate behaviours
• The humanistic approach doesn’t try to reduce behaviour down to either nature or nurture. Nature because Maslow's hierarchy of needs includes innate needs for survival and safety but also supports nurture as our well-being depends on whether we meet our needs and achieve congruence.
• Psychodynamic approach isn't scientific. The study of the unconscious mind isn't based on empirical evidence and isn't an objective approach
• Behaviourist approach is scientific as it only studies directly observable behaviours and behaviourist experiments involve a high degree of control.
• Cognitive approach is scientific due to its use of highly controlled lab experiments to make inferences about mental processes.
• Cognitive approach is less empirical than behaviourist approach as we can't directly observe mental processes, however, cognitive approach still rigorously follows scientific method
• Biological approach is very scientific because it uses empirical methods to study cause and effect relationships between biological factors and behaviour.
• SLT is scientific because it uses empirical methods to study cause and effect relationships between observing and imitating behaviour. However, it is unscientific as it incorporates mediational processes into the theory, but doesn’t provide a method for studying them.
• The humanistic approach is unscientific, because it rejects using the scientific method for psychology.