Comparison of Approaches

Question 1

Is the biological approach free will or determinism?

Answer 1

It’s strongly deterministic as it believes that all behaviour is generated by biological roots and side of our conscious control

Question 2

Is the behaviourist approach free will or determinism?

Answer 2

It’s deterministic as it argues that all behaviour is due to a stimulus response reaction

Question 3

Is the social learning theory free will or determinism?

Answer 3

It could be considered to be free will as it argues there is a level of choice if we imitate or not

Question 4

Is the cognitive approach free will or determinism?

Answer 4

The way we process information is determined by schema but there and element of free will as cognitive therapy requires the individual to change their thoughts

Question 5

Is the psychodynamic approach free will or determinism?

Answer 5

It is strongly deterministic as the core assumption is that our behaviour and thoughts are dictated by our unconscious mind

Question 6

Is the humanistic approach free will or determinism?

Answer 6

It fully advocates the existence of free will and the idea that we choose our path in life

Question 7

Is the biological approach nature or nurture?

Answer 7

It supports the nature side of the debate as it suggests that al behaviour is passed through genetic make up

Question 8

Are the learning approaches nature or nurture?

Answer 8

It takes an extreme nurture position as it suggests that the environment forms behaviour

Question 9

Is the cognitive approach nature or nurture?

Answer 9

It takes both sides of the debate. It acknowledges that there could be innate thought mechanisms but the role of our environment shapes our thought processes

Question 10

Is the psychodynamic approach nature or nurture?

Answer 10

It takes neither side of the debate. It argues the existence of innate drives represented by the ID but the way a parent raises the child affects the personality which is nurture

Question 11

Is the humanistic approach nature or nurture?

Answer 11

It’s difficult to determine where is stands. There seems to be innate drives to be the best you can be (nature) but the environment can help the process (nurture)

Question 12

Is the biological approach holism or reductionism?

Answer 12

It’s reductionism because it only explains behaviour due to genetic, physiological or biochemical

Question 13

Are the learning approaches holism or reductionism?

Answer 13

It is said to have experimental reductionism due to testing in labs. It holds a scientific approach and this means isolating elements of behaviour

Question 14

Is the cognitive approach holism or reductionism?

Answer 14

It supports experimental reductionism. They isolate one variable to test. With the issue of decoupling it isolates one variable for testing. However it looks at the context of experiments which makes them less reductionist

Question 15

Is the psychodynamic approach holism or reductionism?

Answer 15

It’s not reductionist because it believes that all elements of the individual should be taken into account. It also doesn’t employ scientific methods. However it’s not purely holistic because it focuses on drives

Question 16

Is the humanistic approach holism or reductionism?

Answer 16

It’s an holistic approach because it believes that the individual should be regarded as a whole and it rejects the uses of scientific methods

Question 17

Is the biological approach idiographic or nomothetic?

Answer 17

It’s nomothetic because it suggests we all share a common physiology and biochemistry and it is used to test general theories

Question 18

Are the learning approaches idiographic or nomothetic?

Answer 18

It’s nomothetic because it seeks to establish laws in behaviour. It believes we have shared processes for learning behaviour and therefore it seeks to generalise to all

Question 19

Is the cognitive approach idiographic or nomothetic?

Answer 19

It’s nomothetic as the focus is on scientific study of cognitive processing in groups and compares individuals to computers. It suggests we all have different thoughts but the underlying processes can be generalised to all

Question 20

Is the psychodynamic approach idiographic or nomothetic?

Answer 20

It is both idiographic and nomothetic. It focuses on the unique childhood of each individual and it uses case studies but it does generalise the innate drives we use to all

Question 21

Is the humanistic approach idiographic or nomothetic?

Answer 21

It’s idiographic as it focuses on the uniqueness of the individual and sees no merit in generalising behaviour

Question 22

Is the biological approach scientific?

Answer 22

It’s the most scientific as it includes measurements such as biochemical, brain activity using scanning methods

Question 23

Are the learning approaches scientific?

Answer 23

It examines observable behaviour and therefore it’s said to have scientific methods as its objective and there’s no interpretation

Question 24

Is the cognitive approach scientific?

Answer 24

It uses well controlled lab experiments and therefore it’s said to be scientific. However thoughts are not directly observable so it’s not as scientific as the biological

Question 25

Is the psychodynamic approach scientific?

Answer 25

It’s impossible to measure scientifically as the methods used to test the unconscious mind are objective and require interpretation

Question 26

Is the humanistic approach scientific?

Answer 26

It doesn’t believe that scientific measurement of behaviour is appropriate and therefore there’s no point in measuring scientifically as all individuals are unique

Question 27

Does the biological approach use animal extrapolation?

Answer 27

Animal research is widely used as they see animals being physiologically similar to humans. Therefore animal testing is appropriate and helpful

Question 28

Does the behaviourist approach use animal extrapolation?

Answer 28

Behaviourist principles were developed through animal testing as learning mechanisms are said to be the same as animals

Question 29

Does the social learning theory use animal extrapolation?

Answer 29

It doesn’t use animals as it requires though processes on whether to imitate or not and this can’t be tested on animals. Also animals can’t be used to test imitation

Question 30

Does the cognitive approach use animal extrapolation?

Answer 30

Animal research is not appropriate as animals can’t communicate by human language therefore it’s difficult to determine what they are thinking

Question 31

Does the psychodynamic approach use animal extrapolation?

Answer 31

Animal testing is impossible as the unconscious mind is difficult to test in humans so wouldn’t be possible in animals

Question 32

Does the humanistic approach use animal extrapolation?

Answer 32

Animal research is not used as the ideas are focuses on human development so there would be no reason to involve animals