REDS

• Reductionism - simplifying psychological events - looking at smallest element/ only one factor makes it. reduces complex behaviour, but weakness - it can be far too simple, only using a simple factor. Strength - focussing on a single factor you can identify treatments for behaviours by focussing on the sole cause for behaviours.
• Holism - whole rather than individual parts, multiple approaches. Complex human behaviour can not be understood in a simplistic way by looking at factors separately but instead can only be truly understood by looking at the whole picture. It recognises that behaviour is due to a complex interaction of numerous factors so a more complex explanation. However it is difficult to create treatments for behaviour that may involve multiple causes.
• Psychodynamic - more holistic nature and nurture have influences on adult personality. Freud stated that adult personality and behaviour is due to experience of libido and experiences - during psychosexual stages. Most complex view point of the range of factors that interact to make us the unique people we are. Others are too simplistic so behaviour is solely due to environment.
• Behaviourist - highly reductionist - complex behaviour us reduced to stimulus response associations, reinforcement and phobias due to an association of something with fear, too simplistic and it ignores other important influenced on behaviour such as biology. More appropriate would be multi-dimensional view of behaviour, people playing an active role in own learning.
• Cognitive - more holistic - criticised for machine reductionism mind is to similar to workings of a computer. Over simplifies complex behaviour to working of a machine or computer - depression due to faulty processing, hardware and software so cognitive processes develop in a unique way so approach is acknowledging interaction between biology and environment and less reductionist than other approaches which only focus on one or another.
• Biology - highly reductionist - reduces complex behaviour to simple explanation only focuses on biology. Explaining depression as hormone imbalance in neurotransmitters in brain, low levels of serotonin. Too simple of an explanation as it ignores other important influences on behaviour such as cognitive influences. More appropriate explanation, multi-dimensional view, biological makeup, thought processes and possible past life events.
• Positive - more holistic - varieties of factors, relationships, work, health, religion and culture, recognises a number of factors that have an impact on person affecting their happiness and subjective well being.
• Effectiveness of therapy - is it effective or not.
• Psychodynamic - ineffective - not fit for NHS, more harmful than help with SZ patients. Psychotherapies lack evidence so no longer regarded as effective. Strupp found the psychoanalytic therapy more harm than help for SZ patients, modern psychology needs well supported evidence to be seen as effective.
• Behaviourist - effective - McRobbie rapid smoking less likely to smoke for up to 4 weeks. Counter condition to achieve abstinence treats phobias. Successful therapies have been developed systematic desensitisation, addictions learnt through classical conditioning aversive stimulus to counter condition learned response increased chance of abstinence.
• Cognitive - effective - dominant therapy used in clinical psychology for treating anxiety, depression, SZ. Kuipers et al 50% improvements in SZ patients. More effective than drugs for some and avoiding addiction and side effects. Based on need to change faulty thinking processes or negative schemas that are believed to be the cause of the disorder. CBT could be more effective than drug therapy for some and avoiding addiction and side effects.
• Biological - effective - Cole 75% SZ much improvement when treated with anti-psychotics. Lead to development of fast acting therapy to help people with serious mental health conditions. drug therapy is most commonly used in treating psychological disorders. Psychological drugs alter neurotransmitters activity in specific areas of the brain.
• Positive - effective - NICE recommends mindfulness for those with recurrent depression. Effective for both mental and physical wellbeing. Lead to development of mindfulness, acknowledgement of free will, lead to acceptance based therapies such as mindfulness being used to treat disorders such as anxiety and stress. Davidson found that mindfulness caused greater activity in areas of the brain associated with positive emotions and caused a stronger immune system response to a flu jab. Can be a benefit for both mental and physical wellbeing.
• Determinism - the belief that our actions are totally pre determined/decided by internal or external forces.
• Free will - belief that individuals are free to choose their own actions, we have choice and control over our behaviour.
• Psychodynamic - hard determinism criticised for psychodeterminism. Freud saw infant behaviour as determined by innate forces and adult behaviour determined by childhood experiences and our progression through the psychosexual stages of development. Needy and insecure adult is due to fixation by overindulgence during oral stage. Implies that behaviour is inevitable consequences of childhood experiences such as ignoring free will.
• Behaviourist - hard determinism criticised for environmental determinism, believe all behaviours are learned. Bobo doll experiment showed that aggressive behaviour is not innate but learned through observing role models and imitating behaviour observed. How behaviour overlooks free will, people are to 'blame' their environment for their deviant acts and avoid taking personal responsibility for their behaviour, fails to explain behaviour of people who aren't a product of their environment, bad background so negative influences.
• Soft determinism


  Acknowledges free will
• Cognitive psychology

  • Assumes behaviours and emotions are results of internal mental processes
  • Memory, language, schemas are determined by biology of brain and experiences throughout life
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

  1. Can actively choose other ways of thinking and processing things that happen to us

  2. Exercising control to direct our response to situations
• Cognitive approach


  Better than purely determinist as it acknowledges we may be predisposed to certain behaviours or mental states but we can take control and do not have to be a victim of environment or biology
• Hard determinism


  Highly determinist view that criticises
• Depression is caused by low levels of serotonin in the brain
• Hard determinism suggests that individuals have no control over mental health and would not acknowledge the role of free will taken by other approaches in treating depression
• Research conducted by biological psychologists has found behaviours such as addiction or crime are an inevitable result of having certain variants of particular genes
• Hard determinism suggests people who carry such strains of these genes could place responsibility for their actions on their biology and not take personal responsibility for actions
• Positive


  Acknowledges free will to shape the course of their own life and mental wellbeing
• Seligman: 'Happiness was not down to genes or good luck but due to people choosing to develop their signature strengths and nurture meaningful connections to other people'
• Research by Diener and Seligman

  • Students who put time into family and friends relationships had less depression and higher levels of life satisfaction
• Positive view of human behaviour

  Encouraging people to take responsibility and have choice over their behaviour and how to direct thoughts and emotions and empower individuals by putting them in the driving seat of life and mental health
• Scientific - generate lots of rigorous research evidence to support or disprove their theories use objective, controlled, measurable, replicable, falsifiable (can be proven right or wrong).
• Not scientific - concepts may be difficult to operationalise and theories may be falsifiable as they use subjective measures, difficult to replicate and lack control.
• Psychodynamic - not scientific - criticised for being unscientific. Freuds theory is unfalsifiable - tripartite personality is based on the Id ego and super ego but cannot be objectively tested and proven to exist or not. Repression can also not be measured also used case studies which can be seen as unscientific, less respected and trusted as an explanation of human behaviour.
• Behaviourist - highly scientific - only believe in studying behaviour which can be observed/measured. Lab experiments such as the Bobo doll, Pavlovs dogs, Skinners rats or controlled observations such as Watson and Rayner, used association with Pavlovs dog. SO, based on objective measurable which is well respected and trusted in general public/wider scientific community.
• Cognitive - scientific - large body of rigorous, highly controlled and objective experimental evidence, in a variety of cognitive processes, memory and language etc. Loftus and Palmers lab experiment with eye witness testimony, so cognitive approach which is well respected as can establish cause and effect between cognitions and behaviours.
• Biological - highly scientific - can be explained in terms of measurable biological influences such as neurotransmitters and brain structures, uses brain scans to objectively investigate behaviour. Raine et al murderers and non-murderers. So, the approach as well as theories/therapies are well respected and trusted, in wider community and public as being valid and credible.
• Positive - not scientific - difficult to measure happiness studies reviewed were unscientific, lacking internal validity because they were self-reports, potential of social desirability approach may struggle in its aim to objectively measure happiness and impacts certain factors so limited by this flaw. Less respected and trusted amongst the scientific community and public.