Approaches In Psychology

Six Criteria

Biological Approach

Learning Approach

Cognitive Approach

Psychodynamic Appr.

Humanistic Approach

Free Will Determinism

(free vs controlled by something outside you)

Deterministic: All Behaviour is due to our biological roots.

Deterministic: All behaviour is due to experience: Just a stimulus-response reaction.

Schemas are affected by past experiences. But, in CBT, we have some free will to change our thoughts.

Deterministic: Behaviour and thoughts driven by our unconscious mind.

Free Will: We have the ability to choose our path in life.

Nature-Nurture Debate (biology

vs environment)

Nature: Behaviour is passed on through our genes.

Nurture: All behaviour is due to the environment.

Nature Nurt: How we think is innate, but experience shapes it.

Nature Nurture: We have innate drives, but parents affect superego.

Debate is invalid: Humans are more than just nature and nurture.

Holism Reductionism

(complete vs over simplified)

Reductionism: Looks only at genes, neurotransmitters brain structures.

Reductionism: All behaviour is due to classical and oper. conditioning.

Reductionist with lab experiments, but CBT is Holistic: Focuses on thinking behaviour.

Holistic: Looks at many aspects of human experience, but basic drives = reductionist.

Very Holistic: Looks at the individual as a whole.

Idiographic Nomothetic: (uniqueness vs universal rules)

Nomothetic: Focus on similarities between families, evolution genders.

Nomothetic: All humans learn by classical and oper. conditioning.

Nomothetic: Sees all humans as thinking in ways similar to computers.

Idio Nomo: Every child has psychosexual stages, but each child turns out different.

Idiographic: It emphasises the uniqueness of the individual.

Scientific Methods

(based on scientific research)

Scientific: Uses experimental control and uses machines like EEG and fMRI.

Scientific: Uses lab experiments only examines behaviour that can be seen.

Mostly Scientific: Uses controlled lab experiments, but we can`t observe thoughts.

Not Scientific: Cannot use experiments to measure unconscious.

Not Scientific: Does not believe in measuring human behavior.

Extrapolation:

Using animal research generalise to humans.

Uses Animal Research: Animals have a shared evolutionary history.

Uses Animal Research: We learn about conditioning using dogs, rats, etc.

Very Little Animal Research: Focuses on thinking, which is hard to study in animals.

No Animal Research: Would be impossible to study the unconscious mind in animals.

No Animal Research:

Human development is very different than animal development.

Other Approaches:

Wundt`s Structuralism

Opened the first psychology lab in 1875. Used Introspection: Having people self-report what went on in their minds in response to a stimulus. It failed as different participants said different things about the same stimulus, so not replicable.

Bandura`s Social Learning Theory

Uses all concepts from Learning theory, but adds imitation of models and vicarious reinforcement. Since imitating and vicarious reinforcement requires some thinking (cognitive mediating factors), Bandura did not ignore the mind: He was less reductionist than other behaviourists. However, is it scientific, emphasises nurture and mostly deterministic.