Comparisons between Approaches

• What is free will?

  The assumption that we have full control over our behaviour
• What is determinism?

  The assumption that we never have control over our behaviour.
• What does the Psychodynamic approach assume? (Free will/Deterministic)

  It is deterministic, because it assumes behaviour is caused by the unconscious mind.
• The psychodynamic approach assumes that the unconscious mind causes our behaviour, which is referred to as psychic determinism.
• What does the behaviorist approach assume? (Free will/Determinism)

  It is deterministic, because it assumes behaviour is caused by the environment.
• What does the behaviourist approach assume behaviour is caused by?

  Operant conditioning and Classical conditioning.
• What does the cognitive approach believe is responsible for causing our behaviour?

  External stimuli and mental processes.
• What does the biological approach assume? (Free will/determinism)

  It is deterministic, because it assumes behaviour is caused by factors such as genes.
• The biological approach is deterministic, because it assumes behaviour is determined by biological factors such as genetics, which is known as Biological determinism.
• In what way is social learning theory similar to behaviorism?

  They both use the concepts of operant and classical conditioning and they both explain that behaviour is caused by learning from the environment.
• Social learning theory is similar to the behaviourist approach, because it involves learning from the environment, however, social learning theory also includes mediational processes.
• What does the humanistic approach assume?(Free will/Determinism)

  Full Free Will
• Why does the humanistic approach assume free will?

  The feeling of free will matches our subjective experience and it allows us to reach our full potential, by self-actualizing.
• Which of these approaches support are fully determinist?

  Biological, Behavioural and psychodynamic
• Which of these approaches support are half determinist, half free will?

  Cognitive and social learning theory
• Which of these approaches fully supports free will?

  Humanistic
• Nomothetic approaches try to establish general theories of behaviour.

  Idiographic approaches say that psychology must focus on studying individual differences.
• Is the psychodynamic approach nomothetic or idiographic?

  (Both)

  Idiographic - It uses case studies, which allow for rich detail and interpretation of an individual’s behaviour.

  Nomothetic - It establishes general theories about personality and development.
• Is the Behaviourist approach nomothetic or idiographic?


  The behaviourist approach is nomothetic, because it assumes that everyone learns in the same way.
• The cognitive approach involves using theoretical models of mental processes making the approach nomothetic because it assumes that their cognitive models generalise to everyone.
• Is the biological approach nomothetic or idiographic?


  The biological approach is nomothetic, because it establishes universal laws for how biological factors affect behaviour.
• Social learning theory is nomethetic because it assumes that everyone learns through the same learning mechanisms.
• Is the humanistic approach nomothetic or idiographic?

  The humanistic approach is idiographic, because it assumes that everyone is so unique that we can’t have any general theories of behaviour.
• Which of the approaches is fully nomothetic?

  Behaviouralist, Biological, Cognitive, SLT
• Which of the approaches is half nomothetic, half idiographic?

  Psychodynamic
• Which of the approaches is fully idiographic?


  Humanistic
• Reductionism is the belief that we can understand behaviour by breaking it down into simpler parts.

  Holism is the belief that we must look at behaviour as a whole.
• In what way is the psychodynamic approach reductionist?

  It explains behaviour in terms of repressed traumatic experiences.
• The psychodynamic approach can be holistic because the tripartite personality theory involves an interaction between the ego, which mediates between the ID and the super-ego. Cant reduce behaviour to one cause such as trauma.
• Is the Behaviourist approach reductionist or holistic?

  the behaviourist approach is reductionist because it explains all behaviour in terms of just stimulus and response.
• The cognitive approach explains behaviour using theoretical models, and therefore we can say that it’s reductionist.
• The cognitive approach is less reductionist than the behaviourist approach because it involves more complex explanations of behaviour.
• Is the biological approach reductionist or holistic?

  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.
• Is the humanistic approach holistic or reductionist?

   The humanistic approach is holistic, because it doesn’t even try to break down behaviour into simpler components like stimuli or biological factors.
• The humanistic approach is very holistic. The biological and behavioural approaches are very reductionist – they break behaviour down to very simple parts.Whereas, the cognitive approach and social learning theory include additional components to their explanations of behaviour, so they are both less reductionist than the behaviourist approach.
• What ways are there to compare between approaches?

  1) Free will vs Determinism

  2) Nomothetic vs Idiographic

  3) Reductionist vs Holistic

  4) Nature vs Nurture
• What does nature and nurture mean?

  ‘Nature’ means that we inherit our behaviours.

  ‘Nurture’ means that we learn our behaviour from the environment.
• All the approaches involve some combination of nature and nurture.
• The psychodynamic approach contains aspects of ‘nature’, because the id contains innate drives, such as the urge for instant gratification.