Comparison

Question 1

For a comparisons essay what aspects could you include?

Answer 1

• nature vs nurture
• idographic
• nomothetic
• reductionism
• determinism

Question 2

What does idiographic mean?

Answer 2

Aiming to understand what makes people unique through case studies and unstructured interviews.

Question 3

What does nomothetic mean?

Answer 3

Attempting to establish general laws by studying large groups of people.

Question 4

Which approaches are nomothetic?

Answer 4

Biological:
- creates universal laws as humans share similar physiologies.
Behaviourist:
- creates universal laws as behaviour is the result of stimulus-response associations.
SLT:
- attempts to establish general laws of behaviour (e.g. vicarious reinforcement).

Question 5

Which approaches are idiographic?

Answer 5

Humanist:

- focuses on the subjective human experience and makes no attempt to create general laws.

Question 6

Which approaches are both idiographic and nomothetic?

Answer 6

Cognitive:
- attempts to establish general laws of cognitive processing but utilises an idiographic approach with case studies (HM and Clive Wearing).
Psychodynamic:
- attempts to establish general laws in relation to innate drives which considering unique experience during childhood
- Little Hans

Question 7

What is determinism?

Answer 7

Suggests all behaviour is predictable - internal and external causes.

Question 8

Is the biological approach determinist?

Answer 8

Biological determinism:

- all behaviour is controlled by internal biological factors (genes, hormones etc).

Question 9

Is the behaviourist approach determinist?

Answer 9

Environmental determinism:

- behaviour is controlled by stimulus-response conditioning.

Question 10

Is the SLT approach determinist?

Answer 10

Soft determinism:

- behaviour is controlled by mediational processes but humans can choose what information they attend to.

Question 11

Is the cognitive approach determinist?

Answer 11

Soft determinism:

- behaviour is controlled by environmental forces but humans have personal responsibility and free choice.

Question 12

Is the psychodynamic approach determinist?

Answer 12

Psychic determinism:

- behaviour is determined by unconscious and innate drives and early childhood experience.

Question 13

Is the humanistic approach determinist?

Answer 13

Free will - humans control their own environment and are capable of change.

Question 14

Is the biological approach nature or nurture?

Answer 14

Nature:

- behaviour is the result of innate biological factors.

Question 15

Is the behaviourist approach nature or nurture?

Answer 15

Nurture:

- humans are born as blank slates and behaviour is learned.

Question 16

Is the SLT approach nature or nurture?

Answer 16

Nurture:

- behaviour is learnt through observation and imitation and vicarious reinforcement.

Question 17

Is the cognitive approach nature or nurture?

Answer 17

Nature and nurture:

- behaviour is the product of information processing and modified by experience.

Question 18

Is the psychodynamic approach nature or nurture?

Answer 18

Behaviour is the product of innate drives, but is shaped by childhood experience.

Question 19

Is the humanistic approach nature or nurture?

Answer 19

Behaviour is shaped by the environment as humans strive to achieve self-actualisation.

Question 20

What is reductionism?

Answer 20

The belief that human behaviour can be most effectively explained by breaking it down into constituent parts.

Question 21

Is the biological approach reductionist?

Answer 21

Biological reductionism:

- behaviour is broken down into biological structures and processes.

Question 22

Is the behaviourist approach reductionist?

Answer 22

Environmental reductionism:

- behaviour is broken down into simple stimulus-response associations.

Question 23

Is the cognitive approach reductionist?

Answer 23

Environmental reductionism:

- behaviour is investigated in terms of isolated variables, e.g. capacity of STM.

Question 24

Is the psychodynamic approach reductionist?

Answer 24

Behaviour is reduced to innate drives while taking into account the multiple aspects of human behaviour/

Question 25

Is the humanistic approach reductionist?

Answer 25

Holism - focuses on understanding all aspects of human experience and interaction.

Question 26

Explanations and treatment for abnormal behaviour.

Answer 26

Behaviourist - phobias - systematic desensitisation
SLT - explain how negative behaviours may be learned through the influence of dysfunctional role models
Cognitive - CBT
Humanistic - client centered therapy
Biological - drug therapies