Approaches in Psychology PDF

**[Approaches in Psychology]** **The Origins of Psychology** - - - - - Structuralism: the mind is broken down into separate parts - thoughts, feelings, sensations Introspection: given an external stimuli e.g. image/sound/metronome, respond to it by describing thoughts and feelings tha...

**[Approaches in Psychology]** **The Origins of Psychology** - - - - - Structuralism: the mind is broken down into separate parts - thoughts, feelings, sensations Introspection: given an external stimuli e.g. image/sound/metronome, respond to it by describing thoughts and feelings that arise, analyse these to make inferences about internal mental processes Strength: made psychology more scientific Limitation: still criticised for not being scientific enough **The Behaviourist Approach** Behaviourists such as Skinner and Pavlov believed that behavior can be learnt from the environment. Pavlov investigated classical conditioning in dogs as a way of learning behaviour through the process of association: - - Skinner investigated operant conditioning with rats. Operant conditioning is learning through consequences and considers positive and negative reinforcement as well as punishment as a means to encourage or discourage a behaviour. - - - **Strength** One strength of the behaviourist approach is that research from Pavlov and Skinner has real world applications in the explanation and treatment of conditions such as phobias and schizophrenia. Classical conditioning explains phobias through the two process model, and treats phobias through counterconditioning techniques like SD. Operant conditioning can also be used to support people with schizophrenia who are living in institutions through the use of token economy systems. This shows that the approach has good practical uses which can be used to improve the quality of life of patients. **Limitation** One limitation of the behaviorist approach is that it is environmentally reductionist. Environmental reductionism is when you take a complex human behaviour and try to explain it using only constituent parts. In this case, the constituent parts are stimulus-response links and learning from the environment through classical and operant conditioning, being the only way to explain how behaviours are acquired and maintained. An example of this is trying to explain phobias only through learning from the environment. This is an issue because it does not take into account more holistic explanations of behaviour which might include other psychological, biological, or sociocultural explanations as a better idea of how to understand behavior. Finally, the best explanations might be those that are interactionist and take multiple factors into account. This environmental reductionism reduces the validity of the theory in its ability to explain human behaviour. **Social learning Theory** Modelling - Learning by observing and imitating someone else\'s behaviour Imitation - copying behaviours observed in others or role models Identification - internalising and adopting behaviours shown by a role model, because they have a quality the individual would like to possess. Vicarious Reinforcement - learning through observation of the consequences of actions for other people. When a learner observes someone they identify with and the role model receives reinforcement, the learner is motivated to imitate the behaviour as if they had been reinforced themselves. Mediational Processes - proposed by Bandura, these are four processes including attention, retention, motor reproduction and motivation, which help to determine whether a new behaviour is acquired. Attention - the individual needs to pay attention to the behavior and its consequences and form a mental representation of the behavior. Retention - individuals symbolically store a model's behavior in their minds. Motor Reproduction - the ability to perform the behavior that the model has just demonstrated. Motivation - the perceived favorable or unfavorable consequences of mimicking the model's actions that are likely to increase or decrease the likelihood of imitation. **Strength:** One strength of the social learning theory is that it has real world applications in explaining mental illness. The social learning theory helps to explain how eating disorders are acquired and maintained through the imitation of someone else's behaviour. For example, a child may develop an eating disorder because they have seen a parent with an eating disorder and so are imitating this behaviour. This also has positive implications for the treatment of eating disorders as treatments can include giving patients role models that exhibit healthy eating behaviours rather than disordered eating for them to imitate. This increases the validity of the theory and makes it more applicable to everyday life. This shows that the approach has good practical uses which can be used to improve the quality of life of patients. **Limitation:** One limitation of the social learning theory is that the lab studies used as evidence for ther theory lack validity. Bandura's bobo doll study (1975) found that the social learning theory explained violent behaviour in children, however the demand characteristics that were present in the study had allowed the children participating to guess what the objective of the study was. An experimenter on the study, Noble, is quoted as saying that the children could be overheard entering the lab setting saying "Look mummy, there is the doll we have to hit". This suggests that the children only acted in a violent manner because they believed that that was what was required of them in the study, rather than from observing and imitating the behaviour displayed to them. This reduces the internal validity of the study and the scientific credibility of the theory. **The Cognitive Approach** Internal mental processes - includes attention, memory and decision-making that are used to infer what processes are influencing behaviour. Inference - using the findings from studies and evidence form theoretical models to make assumptions about how the mind works. Schemas - cognitive frameworks that organize knowledge into little packages of information from experience that can be used to process new or similar information. This helps to save mental energy and makes the processing of the new information faster. Theoretical Model - eg. the working memory model. It is a diagrammatic representation of a theory that focuses on how mental processes shape behaviour. Computer Model - eg. the computer analogy for the functions of the brain. These are used to compare mental processes and make them easier to comprehend **Strength:** One strength of the cognitive approach is the real world applications in explaining mental illness. The cognitive approach is able to explain depression through Ellis' ABC model; it suggests that depression is due to faulty negative schemas about the self. This has positive implications for treatment because the understanding of the cause of depression has led to successful treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which improves the patients\' cognitions through disputing and challenging their irrational negative beliefs. This increases the validity and applicability of the theory and so this shows the approach has good practical uses which can be used to improve the quality of life of the patients. **Limitation:** One limitation of the cognitive approach is that it is machine reductionist. Machine reductionism is when you take a complex human behaviour and reduce it down into its constituent parts. In this case the constituent parts are the use of faulty negative schemas and theoretical models to explain brain functions in a more simplistic manner. An example of this is trying to explain memory only using the multistore model which is a simple theoretical model. This is an issue because it does not take into account the more holistic ways of explaining behaviour such as other psychological, biological, or sociocultural explanations as a better idea of how to understand behavior. Finally, the explanations that are best may be the interactionist ones that take multiple factors into account. This reduces the validity of the theory because it does not wholly explain the complex human behaviours. **Cognitive Neuroscience** Cognitive neuroscience is the scientific study of the influence of brain structures on mental processes. The main aim is to explore the neurobiological basis of thought processes and disorders, (how neurons in the brain explain those processes). Neuroimaging - using methods such as MRI, fMRI, PET and EEG to map cognitive processes in the brain by looking at the brain regions that become active when a stimulus is presented to an individual. Cognitive science was formally formed in MIT in 1956. However, the term 'cognitive neuroscience' was not used until the 1970s by Miller and Gazzaniga. Cognitive neuroscientists study the neural processes underlying internal mental processes including **memory, attention, perception and awareness.** They are also interested in social cognition, the brain regions involved when we interact with each other, and how impairments in these regions may characterise different psychological conditions. **Strength:** One strength is that cognitive neurosciences uses scanning/imaging techniques e.g. to locate different types of memory in different areas of the brain leading to treatment for memory problems. Use of scanning/imaging techniques to study mental processing patients with depression or OCD or in children with autism or dyslexia. Use of imaging techniques and angiography to study the effects of normal aging on the brain or to observe the effects of stroke on the brain. These methods make the approach highly scientific. **Limitation:** One limitation of cognitive neuroscience mostly provides only correlational data. For example findings that the parahippocampal gyrus is often activated in people with OCD, does not show that this area is causally involved in OCD. Correlation does not equal causation and there may always be intervening variables which could cause OCD which is not related to the functioning of the parahippocampal gyrus. This shows that the approach and the use of scanning techniques cannot be seen as causal. **The Biological Approach** Genetics - the genotype of an individual and hereditary factors can affect the person\'s behaviour in how they interact with their environment. Behavioural genetics researches the extent to which behavioural characteristics are inherited in the same way as psychological characteristics. Evolution - genetically determined behaviour which gives an individual a selective advantage to increase their chances of survival and reproduction allows for organisms to change over time as a result of heritable physical and behavioral traits. Neurochemistry - the study of neurotransmitters and chemicals that regulate mood, behaviour, cognition and other mental processes. Aids us in understanding how chemical signals can influence and indicate psychological health. Neuroanatomy - the study of the structure of the brain and the nervous system and how the different regions and pathways are involved in regulation of psychological functions. Hormones - these are released into the bloodstream and influence psychological functions throughout the body including motor movement. Eg. cortisol and oxytocin. **Strength:** One strength of the biological approach is the real world applications in explaining mental illness. The biological approach is able to explain OCD by using neurotransmitters and candidate genes. For example, the approach suggests that an increase in dopamine and a lack of serotonin is what leads to depression which is due to genetic factors. This has helped to create successful therapies such as drug treatments for depression including SSRIs, which increase serotonin in the synapse and so reduce the symptoms of depression. This increases the validity and applicability of the approach as it has had positive implications for day to day life. This shows the approach has good practical uses which can be used to improve the quality of life for the patients. **Limitation:** One limitation of the biological approach is that it has biological reductionism. This means that the approach attempts to reduce complex human behaviours down to its constituent parts, in this case the idea that neurotransmitters, genes and evolution are the only factors for behaviour. An example of this is the approach's explanation for ocd, which only considers the candidate genes and hormones such as serotonin and dopamine. This is an issue because it does not take into account more holistic explanations of behaviour which might include other psychological, biological, or sociocultural explanations as a better idea of how to understand behavior. Finally, the best explanations might be those that are interactionist and take multiple factors into account. This biological reductionism reduces the validity of the theory in its ability to explain complex human behaviour. **The Psychodynamic Approach** Iceberg Metaphor: - - - Tripartite Personality: - - - Ego defence mechanisms: strategies employed by the ego to protect the mind from feelings that are too overwhelming. - - - Psychosexual stages: a theory suggesting that personality develops via overcoming a series of stages in childhood. Failure to complete a stage results in fixation, which manifests as some sort of disorder in adulthood. - - - - - **Strength:** One strength of the psychodynamic approach is that it has real world applications for explaining mental illness and behaviours. The psychodynamic approach is able to explain mental illness by referring to trauma in the unconscious mind that has been repressed. This has led to positive implications in treatment for mental illnesses. For example, psycho-analysis, dream analysis and hypnosis are all used to help recover and treat the repressed traumas in the unconscious mind, eventually leading to the mental illness being resolved. This increases the validity and applicability of the approach as it has had positive implications for day to day life. This shows the approach has good practical uses which can be used to improve the quality of life for the patients. **Limitation:** One limitation of the psychodynamic approach is that the evidence to support the theory is unscientific. This is because all of the evidence, for example, the case study of Little Hans, is idiographic and from case studies and self report methods. These are both subjective and introduce experimenter bias (as Freud did the case study himself) as well as demand characteristics for the participants (Hans' father was a friend of Freud). The theories of the psychodynamic approach also involve areas of the mind that cannot be directly studied, which makes them unfalsifiable due to them being abstract concepts. This reduces the validity of the approach due to the fact that it is unscientific. **The Humanistic Approach** Maslow's hierarchy of needs: A theory that suggests humans have multiple needs that have to be fulfilled in order to achieve a person's full potential. Self-actualization: when a person has fully realised their potential through being creative, spontaneous and becoming the best version of themselves. Esteem: this is similar to congruence, a person must have a high value of self-esteem or regard in order to become self actualised. E.g. feeling of accomplishment in life. Love and belonging: a person must feel as though they are loved and belong in order to have a good esteem of themself. E.g. family, friends, intimate relationships. Safety: they must be safe in order to feel love and belonging. E.g. security and safety. Physiological: the person must have good physical health in order to be safe. E.g. food, water, sleep etc The bottom 4 needs are called 'deficiency needs' which have to be met, before reaching SA which is known as the 'being need'. Roger's theory of the self: A theory based around the self and the self-concept. Self: how a person views themself. Ideal Self: how the person would like to be. Congruence: the closer our self- image and ideal self are to each other, the more congruent we are and the higher our sense of self-worth. Incongruence: when there is not a match between the self and ideal self which can lead to tension and anxiety. Conditions of worth: when love and positive regard is only displayed upon the condition of something. Eg. I will only love you if you are a great gymnast. Unconditional positive regard: love and encouragement is given without hindrance or conditions. **Strength:** One strength of the humanistic approach is that it has real world applications for explaining mental illness and behaviours. The humanistic approach is able to explain mental illness through self actualisation and congruence. For example, if a person has not reached self actualisation or they have incongruence between their ideal self and their self-image, this could cause the person to become distressed or anxious. This has led to positive implications for treatment of mental illness including client centered therapy, which reduces the incongruence and allows for self actualisation to take place, which improves the clients mental health. In CCT the therapist must be congruent themselves, and give the patient unconditional positive regard. This increases the validity and applicability of the approach as it has had positive implications for day to day life. This shows that the approach had good practical uses which can be used to improve the quality of life for the patients. **Limitation:** One limitation of the humanistic approach is that the evidence to support the theory is unscientific. This is because all of the evidence, for example, diary accounts, open-ended questionnaires, unstructured interviews, and observations, are all idiographic methods. These are subjective and introduce experimenter bias as the data collected is subjective. The theories involving self congruence and a hierarchy of needs is also unfalsifiable due to them being abstract concepts, this reduces the validity of the approach due to the fact it is less scientific. **Comparison of Approaches** **Behaviorist** **SLT** **Cognitive** **Biological** **Psychodynamic** **Humanistic** ----------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------- **Core assumptions** Learnt from environment- CC/OC Learnt from environment - imitation Due to thought processes Behaviour due to genes and evolution Due to unconscious mind Due to self actualisation and congruence **Scientific (research methods)** Yes - use of animals in lab exp Yes - use of lab studies Yes - use of lab studies and brain scans Yes - use of lab studies, brain scans No - case studies, self report No **Reductionism v Holism** Environmental reductionism Middle level reductionism - takes cognitions into account Machine reductionism Biological reductionism More on the holistic end of the spectrum (childhood exp + innate drives) Holistic **N v N** Nurture Nurture Both - nature because brain and nurture because takes experiences into account (e.g. schemas) Nature Both - (childhood exp + innate drives) Both - (innate desire to SA + experiences) **Determinism v Free Will** Environmental Determinism Deterministic but takes cognitions into account which are a bit Free will (motivation) Deterministic but the cognition gives it a bit of free will. Biological determinism Psychic determinism Free will **Idiographic v Nomothetic** Nomothetic Nomothetic Nomothetic Nomothetic Idiographic Idiographic **Explaining mental illness** Phobias - association and conditioning Eating disorders - learning through imitation Depression - ABC model and negative triad OCD - explained through neurotransmitters Trauma in the unconscious mind Inability to SA and incongruence **Treating mental illness** Phobias - counterconditioning Eating disorders - providing healthy role models Depression - CBT OCD - SSRI antidepressant medication Psychoanalysis - dream analysis, hypnosis etc Client centred therapy