COMPARISON OF APPROACHES Flashcards
what are the approaches’ views on develpoment?
- PSYCHODYNAMIC APPROACH: presents the most coherent theory of development, tying its concept and processes specific psychosexual stages that are determined by age. Freud saw little further development once a child enters the genital stage.
- COGNITIVE APPROACH: has contributed to understanding child development. eg their intellectual development, children form increasingly complex concepts (schema) as they get older.
- HUMANISTIC APPROACH: see the development of the self as ongoing throughout life. However childhood is a particularly important period and a child’s relationship with their parents is important in terms of unconditional positive regard.
nature vs nurture
nature- when human behaviour is influenced by inherited biological factors
nurture - when human behaviour is influenced by the environment and experience
what are the approaches’ view on nature and nurture?
- BIOLOGICAL APPROACH: biological approach argues from a position that behaviour is the result of a genetic blueprint that we inherit from our parents genotype, though the way it is expressed is influenced by the environment ( phenotype).
-BEHAVIOURIST APPROACH: behaviourists characterise babies as blank slate at birth and suggest that all behaviour comes about through learned associations, reinforcement contingencies or in the case of social learning theory, observation and imitation.
HUMANISTIC: regard parents, friends and wider society having a critical impact on the persons self concept.
COGNITIVE: many of our information processing abilities and schema are innate (inborn,natural), they are constantly refined through experience.
What is reductionism?
the belief that human behaviour can be most effectively explained by breaking it down into constituent parts.
The opposing view is holism (considering the person as a whole) and all the factors.
What are the approaches’ views on reductionism?
BEHAVIOURIST - is reductionist in the sense that it breaks up complex behaviour into stimulus- response units for ease of testing in the lab.
BIOLOGICAL - is also reductionist in the way that explains human behaviour and psychological state at the level of the gene or neuron.
PSYCHODYNAMIC - reduces much of a behaviour to the influence of sexual drives and biological instincts although Freud’s argument that personality is a dynamic interaction between three parts of the personalities of the viewed as a most holistic explanation.
COGNITIVE - is the machine reductionist by presenting people as information processing systems and ignoring the influence of emotion on behaviour.
SLT - reduce complex learning to handful of key processes such as imitation and modelling though they do at least place emphasis on cognitive factors that mediate learning and how these interact with external influences.
HUMANISTIC - formulate a holistic approach to understanding human behaviour. This involves investigating all aspects of the individual including the effects of interaction with others and wider society.
what is determinism?
Determinism proposes that or behaviour has an internal or external calls and is thus predictable.
What are approaches’ views on determinism?
BEHAVIOURIST - the behaviourist approach sees all behaviour as environmentally determined by external influences that we are unable to control. eg operant conditioning
BIOLOGICAL - advocate a form of genetic determinism in its assumption that much of our behaviour is directed by in eight influences.
PSYCHODYNAMIC - psychic determinism is a key feature of the psychodynamic approach in so far as the unconscious forces that drive our behaviour of the ultimate cause of behaviour,and these are simply rationalised by the conscious mind.
COGNITIVE - the cognitive approach suggests that we are the chooses alone thoughts and behaviours, get these choices can only operate within the limits of what we know and have experienced.
SLT - reciprocal determinism – the idea that as well as being influenced by our environment, we also exert some influence upon it through the behaviours we choose to perform.
HUMANISTIC - human beings have free will and operate as active agents who determine their own development.
what are the approaches’ views on explanation and treatment of psychological disorders?
BEHAVIOURIST - the behaviourist model sees abnormality as arising from maladaptive or faulty learning in the sense that inappropriate or destructive patterns of behaviour have been reinforced. Behaviour therapies such as systematic desensitisation aim to condition new, more healthy responses for the treatment of phobias.
SLT - social learning theory has little application to treatment, but the principles of modelling and observational learning have been used to explain how negative behaviours such as aggression maybe learn through the influence of dysfunctional role models.
PSYCHODYNAMIC - Freud so anxiety disorders as emerging from unconscious conflict, childhood trauma and the overuse of defence mechanisms. Psychoanalysis has had some success as a therapy but it is not appropriate for everyone because it requires a considerable input from the patient in terms of time and also ability to talk about and reflect on emotions.
COGNITIVE - cognitive therapy is much more effective and applicable especially when combined with behaviour therapy as CBT. It aims to identify and eradicate 40 thinking which is assumed to be the root cause of maladaptive behaviour.
HUMANISTIC - counselling is humanistic therapy based on Rogers’s philosophy and closing the gap between the self concept and ideal self will increase self-esteem and stimulate personal growth.
BIOLOGICAL - the biological approach has revolutionised the treatment of mental disorders through the development of drug therapy which regulates chemical imbalances in the brain.
what is a nomothetic approach?
To establish general laws by studying large groups of people.
what is an idiographic approach?
Aiming to understand what makes individuals unique.
Which approaches have an idiographic approach?
The biological and cognitive approach is often brought upon data derived from case studies, especially those involving individuals with unusual abnormalities or deficits. The person – centred approaches – psychodynamic and humanistic – or idiographic in that they favour the case study method, usually carried out within clinical settings.
Which approaches have a nomothetic approach?
The more scientific approaches – the behaviourist social learning theory cognitive and biological subscribe to the experimental nomothetic approach.
What is the eclectic approach?
Electicism in psychology refers to the combining of several approaches, methods and/or theoretical perspectives in order to provide a more comprehensive account of human behaviour.
