approaches Flashcards
What are schemas?
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A schema is made up of the beliefs and expectations we have about the world around us. These mental frameworks are in place before we even begin to take in external information which cna allow us to make mental short-cuts that improve our efficiency in day to day life. However,this can also lead to errors as we make assumptions in our schemas that lead to errors in the actions we take to respond.
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How did cognitive psychology emerge?
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This approach began as early as the 1860s when Broca identified how damage to the frontal lobe could permanently impair speech (now known as the Broca Area). However, the main bulk of the approach has only become established in the last 20 years with the development of brain imaging technology (eg. fMRI and PET scans). More recently computer-generated models have been used to ‘read’ the brain which is commonly known as a ‘brain fingerprint’. This may in the future be used for practical applications such as the ability to know if someone is lying in court.
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What are the main principles of the humanist approach + founders?
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Maslow and Rodgers founded the humanist approach.
- based on the fact that we are all unique individuals with free will that allows us to choose our actions
- looks at the person as a whole rather than trying to chunk different sections of human behaviour
- the aim of our lives is to work towards our ideal selves
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What is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs?
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These different sections from top to bottom are split into self-fulfilment(1), psychological needs (2,3) and basic needs(4,5).
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What is the overarching theory from the Humanist Approach?
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Maslow (1943) stated that we are all striving for self-actualisation and that we are all motivated to achieve certain needs which aim to move in the order of the Hierarchy of Needs (updated in 1954). We cannot self actualise without achieving the bottom needs - however, we do not need self-actualisation to be happy only need to be moving towards it to be healthy. (idiographic approach).
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Defining the key terms…
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- Self-esteem
Refers to the level of confidence in yourself - lower self-esteem can be linked to anxiety and depression.
- Self-conception
How you see yourself currently.
- Ideal self
The version of yourself you would like to be.
- Self-actualisation
When you become your best possible self.
- Hierarchy of needs
Maslow’s theory
- Unconditional positive regard
That positive respect is given to you at all times in order for yo to improve your self-belief.
- Client-centred therapy
A form of therapy based on the humanist approach.
- Incongruence
Having inaccurate beliefs about yourself.
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What is client-centred therapy?
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This was developed by Rogers and focuses on empowering the client and moving towards self-actualization.
This kind of support is not a challenge to the client but is instead used to support them. It mainly focuses on the future and how they will achieve self-actualisation.
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By its nature it can’t be supported by a study…and yet?
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Houtte and Jarvis did a study in which they looked at a sample of 130 pupils (71 boys and 59 girls ) from Illinois in the USA, in order to determine the psychological effect of owning a pet on teens. P/pants were matched on a range of socio-cultural factors and 4 different areas were assessed. Namely; autonomy, self-concept, self-esteem and attachment to the animal. They found that pet ownership is directly linked to an increase in self-esteem and a more positive self-concept as well as a higher sense of autonomy from age 11 onwards. These benefits occurred because of the unconditional positive regard the teens received from their pets.
But this study, although linking the concept of unconditional positive regard to a positive self-actualisation trend in that population, can by definition not be generalised by the humanist approach and therefore does not speak for the population - thereby verifying the humanist approach and simultaneously being discounted by it.
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We can’t use it…often
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One criticism for the humanist approach is that it cannot be used in practical application in such a wide variety as the other approaches. It is only in counselling that it has the necessary capabilities to tackle mental health issues or relationship issues. Therefore the theory may be valid ‘in theory’ but it is of no practical value on the same scale as other approaches and is thereby limited.
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How are the untestable concepts an issue?
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The approach itself is undermined by its inability to be verified by empirical methods and so any proof provided is simply rejected by the approach itself. Without anything to empirically support this approach, it can only seem less valid in comparison to rigorously tested approaches eg. the biological.
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How does this approach suffer from a cultural bias?
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Despite this approach stating that they value the individual uniquely this is not always the case culturally as not all societies revolve around individualism. In a collectivist society, they may instead value the progression of the whole population, rejecting the suggested goals of the humanist approach. Therefore if the approach is ignoring certain cultural structures it does not have the overarching validity necessary as well as it being ineffective if the population does not utilise their methods.
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How is this a positive approach?
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Unlike the other approaches humanists can be praised for placing the human at the center of their approach and thereby placing value on the individual. It also promotes a positive image for a human being unlike Freud’s understanding that had us down as slaves to our own pasts and living in despair. This therefore is an optimistic alternative and may have more value in providing a positive view of the human psyche while exploring the roots of human behaviour.
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How is the humanist approach unaffected by determinism?
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In comparison to the other approaches, the humanist approach is not limited by the effects of determinism as it allows humans to have autonomy rather than restricting them to only predictable actions. This freedom allows us all to develop into unique individuals with unpredictable behaviour. Therefore this approach will be more pleasant for individuals to adopt as they wish to have autonomy and not be reduced to automatically functioning robots like that of the biological approach.
However, this does mean that any research done on one individual cannot be applied to the whole population as they are too unique to be valid when generalised.
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What is the Freudian theory of personality?
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This is concerning the difference between the conscious and the subconscious which is put into three sections:
- The Id - our wantes and desires
- The Ego - manages the deman of the id and the superego
- The Super Ego - this is our sense of morality and right or wrong
These parts of the mind have to be balanced in order to to be healthy. This is achieved through the negotiation of the Id between the Ego and the Super Ego.
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What is Frued’s Psychosexual Theory of Development?
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The Stages:
- What is the oral stage?
Oral (0-2) - Where an infant recieves gratification through oral stimulus (eg. sucking or babbling) as this is where the labido resides at this point. Freud also explored how if people did not progress past this phase they may have developed oral fixation in later life (eg. nail biting, smoking).
- What is the anal stage?
Anal (2-3) - The child here begins to conform to some of the demands of society by controlling their excrement, which is where the libido resides at this point. This is as the child realises they are a person in their own right and so come into conflict with the outside world. Freud looked at how those with excessive potty-training would often become compulsivly tidy and have a respect for authority. While those who did nto have such harsh control over this develop to be more ‘anal’ where they are messy and overshare.
- What is the phallic stage?
Phallic (3-7) - The child then learns to recognize the differences between what is male and female while also becoming aware of sexuality as their libido centres on their genitalia at this stage. It is at this point Freud believed that the Oedipus and Electra Complex become apparent.
- What is the latency stage?
Latency (7-11) - The child’s sexual drive is not as strong at this point in their development and Freud believed that it was actively repressed where it is intead sublimated towards other activities such as school work. Children will also tend to sick to groups with their own gender.
- What is the genital stage?
Gentital (11+) - When the child begins to deal with the opposite sex more maturely as they reach puberty and is directed at others rather than at self-pleasure in the phallic stage. Freud foudn the only proper outlet for this to be heterosexual intercourse as sexual perversions will develop if fixation and conflict arise.
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What are the Oedipus and Electra Complexes?
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Oedipus - This is linked with the Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex which was a Greek Tragedy in which Oedipus kills his father and weds his mother unkowingly.
For boys it is that they desire their mother but alos fear castration by their father (castration anxiety). They therefore employ a system that allow them persue their mother without the wrath of their father being tempted by attempting to emulate him (identification). This workd becuase the father would never want to castrate someone so like himself. In time this adoption of the father’s values means the boy adopts both his gender and his morals - ending his lust for his mother.
For girls this is slightly different as they desire theri fathers because of what Freud calls ‘Penis Envy’. This states that girls desire a penis becuse it is a source of power and therefore choose to control the one that is most acessable to them, their father. This is resolved as the girl replaces the desire for her father with the desire of having a child and will blame her mother for her ‘castrated state’. She will then repress her feeligns and identify with the mother taking on her gender and morals.
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Explain Frustration, Overindulgence and Fixation?
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Some do not leave one stage and move onto the next when their desire in that stage has nto been adequately met. When they achieve the level they had needed in that stage through frustration and overindulgence, a fixation can develop with a psychosexual stage.
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What is the case study of Little Hans?
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The case study of little hans looked at a young boy who had a fear of horses. Through psychoanalysis Freud foudn that his fear was due to his oedipus complex leading to conflict with it not being fully resolved. This had ended with displacement of the ‘castration anxiety’ he experienced onto horses as they had similar features to his father. Freud believed that if Hans were to spend more time with his father this conflict would be resolved as he adopted both his father’s morals and gender.
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What is the case study of Anna O?
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Anna O was found to exhibit symptoms of hysteria that lead to physical effects such as the paralysis of her arm. She was treated by recalling past traumatic effects where it was noted that she had deveoped these symptoms due to past abuse from her father. She also expressed anxiety for this illness that she did not experience outside of the therpy. Freud believed that these phsyical manifestations were the result of deeply repressed conflicts.
She was treated with the cathartic method.
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How is application a support?
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Freud’s theory can be used to explain a wide range of human experiences in many areas as it focuses on how the childhood can shape our later actions.
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Innovation?
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Freud’s theory was the first step in an alternative explanation for key human aspects of existence and offered the possibility of treating and resolving these issues rather than treating those with mental health issues as dangerous and confining them to asylums.
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But it is unfalsifiable…
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We cannot be certain whether the theory is correct or incorrect and having the belief that the theory does not make it scientifically justified and therefore it can undermine the idea of psychology being a science.
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Case Studies as an issue?
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The psychodynamic approach is supported mostly by case studies rather than any experiments done in highly controlled conditions. This can lead to the approach lacking credibility as these forms of evidence do not completely reinforce in a truly reliable manner - especially when they only centre around one data point. Therefore the psychodynamic approach is limited in its support being provided by low-control case studies.
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Time as an Issue?
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This structure of talking therapy can take years to completely help an individual recover from a mental health illness in which the patient is paying copious amounts of money every week in order to resolve their inner conflicts. This can lower the validity not only because of the lack of reach due to affordability but also the long time span of this treatment may mean that the mental illness has gone through spontaneous remission and only the patient begins to associate this with the treatment. Therefore it may lack validity because of the length of time it takes to be effective.
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Free will as an issue?
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Freud’s theory does nto allow for the individual to have any control over their own wills and actions in their day to day life which makes it directly unacceptable to a large number of people who wish to believe they are in control of their own actions. Therefore people may choose not to take the therapy because this takes away their autonomy - not allowing the treatment to be reliable.
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What are the Defence Mechanisms?
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- Repression - This is to stop traumatic thoughts before they become present in the concious mind.
- Denial - This blocks external events from going into our awareness. By refusing to experience this it provides a coping mechanism.
- Displacement - Satisfying an impulse with a substition that is not necessarily socially acceptable.
- Sublimation - Substitution of a difference emotion that is more socilaly acesptable.
- Projection - Where someone applies their own indivual beliefs and ideas to others.
- Regression - A movement back in your psychological progression so that you are removed to a past stage.
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What is the process of dream analysis?
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In your dreams, your Ego believes it is a safe place to indulge in your Id’s wishes without there being any repercussions. However, they may still be an indirect analysis of this by using other symbols to represent certain aspects. Trained professionals on dream analysis can only interpret these accurately.
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Draw out application diagram of operant conditioning?
