Psychology Approaches Definition and Comparison

Definition
 Psychology: It is a science that studies behaviour and
mental processes. (Hilgard et al) or
 It is a scientific study of behaviour and mental processes
 This definition recognizes that psychology is an overt
(observable) study of activities such as withdrawal from
pain.
8/26/2019Jones H.M-MBA
2

Definition cont
 It also values the importance of covert (unobservable)
underlying mental processes that must be inferred from
behavioural and physiological data such as emotions,
thoughts and dreams.
 Behaviour: is any activity of a person including physical
actions that may be observed directly, and mental activity
which is inferred and interpreted.
3

Approaches Introduction
 There are various different approaches in contemporary
psychology.
 An approach is a perspective (i.e. view) that involves certain
assumptions (i.e. beliefs) about human behaviour: the way
they function, which aspects of them are worthy of study
and what research methods are appropriate for undertaking
this study.
4

Approaches Introduction
 You may wonder why there are so many
different psychology approaches and whether
one approach is correct and others wrong.
 Most psychologists would agree that no one
approach is correct, although in the past, in the
early days of psychology, the behaviourist would
have said their approach was the only truly
scientific one.
 Each approach has its strengths and weaknesses,
and brings something different to our
understanding of human behaviour.
5

Approaches Introduction cont
 For this reasons, it is important that psychology does have
different approaches to the understanding and study of
human and animal behaviour.
 Below is a brief summary of the 5 main psychological
approaches (sometimes called perspectives) in psychology
6

Approaches Introduction cont
 Behaviourism (Behavioural approach)
 Psychodynamic (Psychoanalytical)
 Cognitive Psychology
 Humanism (Humanistic approach)
 Biological Psychology (Neurological)
7

Behaviourist Approach
 Behaviourism is different from most other approaches
because they view people (and animals) as controlled
by their environment and specifically that we are the
result of what we have learned from our environment.
 Behaviourism is concerned with how environmental
factors (called stimuli) affect observable behaviour
(called the response).
 The behaviourist approach proposes two main
processes whereby people learn from their
environment: namely classical conditioning and
operant conditioning.
8

Behaviourist approach cont
 Classical conditioning involves learning by association, and
operant conditioning involves learning from the
consequences of behaviour.
 Behaviourism also believes in scientific methodology (e.g.
controlled experiments), and that only observable behaviour
should be studies because this can be objectively measured.
9

 Behaviourism rejects the idea that people have free will, and
believes that the environment determines all behaviour.
 Behaviourism is the scientific study of observable behaviour
working on the basis that behaviour can be reduced to
learned S-R (Stimulus-Response) units.
10

 Classical Conditioning (CC) was studied by
the Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov.
 Through looking into natural reflexes and
neutral stimuli he managed to condition
dogs to salivate to the sound of a bell
through repeated associated of the sound of
the bell and food.
 The principles of CC have been applied in
many therapies.
11

 These include systematic desensitisation for
phobias (step-by-step exposed to feared
stimulus at once) and Aversion therapy for
socially undesirable behaviours and bad
habits (individual associates a disliked
response to the habit through repeated
pairing).
 However CC only deals with involuntary
behaviour, operant conditioning tackles
voluntary behaviour.
12

 B.F. Skinner investigated Operant
Conditioning of voluntary and involuntary
behaviour.
 Skinner felt that some behaviour could be
explained by the person's motive.
 Therefore behaviour occurs for a reason, and the
three main behaviour shaping techniques are
positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement
and punishment.
13

 Behaviourism has been criticised in the way it
under-estimates the complexity of human
behaviour.
 Many studies used animals which are hard to
generalise to humans and it cannot explain for
example the speed in which we pick up
language.
 There must be biological factors involved.
14

 Sigmund Freud
16

 If you know very little about psychology, and you have
heard of just one psychologist, the chances are that this is
Sigmund Freud, the founder of the psychodynamic
approach to psychology, or psychoanalysis.
 If Freud represents your layperson's idea of psychology then
you probably have an image of a patient lying on a couch
talking about their deepest and darkest secrets
17

Psychodynamic Approach
 Sigmund Freud believes that events in our
childhood can have a significant impact on
our behaviour as adults.
 He also believed that people have little free
will to make choices in life.
 Instead our behaviour is determined by the
unconscious mind and childhood
experiences.
18

Psychodynamic Approach cont
 Freud’s psychoanalysis is both a theory and a
therapy.
 It is the original psychodynamic theory and
inspired psychologists such as Jung and
Eriksonn to develop their own psychodynamic
theories.
 Freud’s work is vast and he has contributed
greatly to psychology as a discipline.
19

 Freud, the founder of Psychoanalysis, explained the
human mind as like an iceberg, with only a small
amount of it being visible, that is our observable
behaviour, but it is the unconscious, submerged mind
that has the most, underlying influence on our
behaviour.
 Freud used three main methods of accessing the
unconscious mind: free association, dream analysis
and slips of the tongue.
 He believed that the unconscious mind consisted of
three components: the 'id' the 'ego' and the
'superego'.
20

 The 'id' contains two main instincts: 'Eros', which
is the life instinct, which involves self-
preservation and sex which is fuelled by the
'libido' energy force. ‘
 Thanatos' is the death instinct, whose energies,
because they are less powerful than those of
'Eros' are channeled away from ourselves and
into aggression towards others.
21

 The 'id' and the 'superego' are constantly in
conflict with each other, and the 'ego' tries
to resolve the discord.
 If this conflict is not resolved, we tend to use
defense mechanisms to reduce our
anxieties.
 Psychoanalysis attempts to help patients
resolve their inner conflicts.
22

 An aspect of psychoanalysis is Freud's theory of
Psychosexual Development.
 It shows how early experiences affect adult
personality.
 Stimulation of different areas of the body is
important as the child progresses through the
important developmental stages.
 Too much or too little can have bad
consequences later.
 The most important stage is the phallic stage
where the focus of the libido is on the genitals.
23

 During this stage little boys experience the 'Oedipus
complex', and little girls experience the 'Electra complex'.
 These complexes result in children identifying with their
same-sex parent, which enables them to learn sex-
appropriate behaviour and a morale code of conduct.
24

 However it has been criticised in the way that it over
emphasises of importance of sexuality and under
emphasises of role of social relationships.
 The theory is not scientific, and can't be proved as it
is circular.
 The sample was biased, consisting of middle-class,
middle-aged neurotic women.
 Never the less psychoanalysis has been greatly
contributory to psychology in that it has encouraged
many modern theorists to modify it for the better,
using its basic principles, but eliminating its major
flaws.
25

Humanistic Approach
 Humanism is a psychological approach that
emphasises the study of the whole person.
 Humanistic psychologists look at human
behaviour not only through the eyes of the
observer, but through the eyes of the person
doing the behaving.
 Humanistic psychologists believe that an
individual's behaviour is connected to his inner
feelings and self-image.
26

Humanistic Approach cont
 The humanistic approach in psychology developed
as a rebellion against what some psychologists saw as
limitations of the behaviourist and psychodynamic
psychology.
 The Humanistic approach is thus often called the
“third force” in psychology after psychoanalysis and
Behaviourism.
 Humanism rejected the assumption of the
behaviourist approach which is characterized as
deterministic, focused on reinforcement of stimulus-
response behaviour and heavily dependent on animal
research.
27

 Humanistic psychology also rejected the psychodynamic
approach because it also is deterministic, with unconscious
irrational and instinctive forces determining human thought
and behaviour.
 Both Behaviourism and psychoanalysis are regarded as
dehumanizing by humanistic psychologists.
28

 Humanistic Psychology Assumptions
 Humanistic psychology begins with the
existential assumptions that phenomenology
is central and that people have free will.
 Personal agency is the humanistic term for
the exercise of free will.
 Personal agency refers to the choices we
make in life, the paths we go down and their
consequences.
29

 A further assumption is then added - people are
basically good, and have an innate need to make
themselves and the world better.
 The Humanistic approach emphasises the personal
worth of the individual, the centrality of human
values, and the creative, active nature of human
beings.
 The approach is optimistic and focuses on noble
human capacity to overcome hardship, pain and
despair.
30

 Both Rogers and Maslow regarded personal growth
and fulfillment in life as a basic human motive.
 This means that each person, in different ways, seeks to
grow psychologically and continuously enhance
themselves.
 This has been captured by the term self-actualisation
which is about psychological growth, fulfillment and
satisfaction in life.
 However, Rogers and Maslow both describe different
ways of how self-actualization can be achieved.
31

 Central to the humanist theories of Carl Rogers and
Abraham Maslow are the subjective, conscious
experiences of the individual.
 The humanistic psychologists argued that objective
reality is less important than a person's subjective
perception and subjective understanding of the
world.
 Because of this, Rogers and Maslow placed little value
on scientific psychology especially the use of the
psychology laboratory to investigate both human and
other animal behaviour.
32

 The humanist's view human beings as
fundamentally different from other animals
mainly because humans are conscious beings
capable of thought, reason and language.
 For humanistic psychologists’ research on
animals, such as rats, pigeons, or monkeys held
little value.
 Research on such animals can tell us, so they
argued, very little about human thought,
behaviour and experience.
33

 Humanistic psychologists rejected a
rigorous scientific approach to psychology
because they saw it as dehumanising and
unable to capture the richness of conscious
experience.
 In many ways the rejection of scientific
psychology in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s
was a backlash to the dominance of the
behaviourist approach in North American
psychology.
34

 Basic Assumptions
 Humans have free will; not all behaviour is
determined.
 All individuals are unique and have an innate
(inborn) drive to achieve their maximum
potential
 A proper understanding of human behaviour can
only be achieved by studying humans - not
animals.
 Psychology should study the individual case
(idiographic) rather than the average
performance of groups (nomothetic).
35

 Areas of Application
 Person Centered Therapy
 Qualitative Methods
 Abnormal Behaviour (incongruent, low self-worth)
 Education
 Gender Role Development
36

 Strengths
 Shifted the focus of behaviour to the individual /
whole person rather than the unconscious mind,
genes, observable behaviour etc.
 Humanistic psychology satisfies most people's
idea of what being human means because it
values personal ideals and self-fulfillment.
 Qualitative data gives genuine insight )and more
holistic information) into behaviour.
 Highlights the value of more individualistic and
idiographic methods of study
37

 Weaknesses
 Unscientific – subjective concepts
E.g. cannot objectively measure self-actualization
 Humanism ignores the unconscious mind
 Behaviourism – human and animal behaviour
can be compared
 Qualitative data is difficult to compare
 Ethnocentric (biased towards Western culture)
 Their belief in free will is in opposition to the
deterministic laws of science.
38

Cognitive Approach
 The whole movement had evolved from the early
philosophers, such as Aristotle and Plato.
 Today this approach is known as Cognitive Psychology.
39

Cognitive Approach
 Cognitive Psychology revolves around the notion that if
we want to know what makes people tick then the way to
do it is to figure out what processes are actually going on in
their minds.
 In other words, psychologists from this perspective study
cognition which is ‘the mental act or process by which
knowledge is acquired.’
40

Cognitive Approach
 The cognitive approach is concerned with “mental”
functions such as memory, perception, attention etc.
 It views people as being similar to computers in the way we
process information (e.g. input-process-output).
 For example, both human brains and computers process
information, store data and have input an output
procedures.
41

Cognitive Approach
 This had led cognitive psychologists to explain that memory
comprises of three stages:
 encoding (where information is received and attended to),
 storage (where the information is retained)
 and retrieval (where the information is recalled).
42

Cognitive Approach
 It is an extremely scientific approach and typically uses lab
experiments to study human behaviour.
 The cognitive approach has many applications including
cognitive therapy and eyewitness testimony.
43

Cognitive approach
 The term cognitive psychology came into use
with the publication of the book Cognitive
Psychology by Ulric Neisser in 1967.
 Cognitive Psychology revolves around the notion
that if we want to know what makes people tick
then the way to do it is to figure out what
processes are actually going on in their minds.
 Cognition literally means “knowing”. In other
words, psychologists from this approach study
cognition which is ‘the mental act or process by
which knowledge is acquired.’
44

Cognitive approach
 They focus on the way humans process information,
looking at how we treat information that comes in to the
person (what behaviourist would call stimuli) and how
this treatment leads to responses.
 In other words, they are interested in the variables that
mediate between stimulus/input and response/output.
 The main areas of study in cognitive psychology are:
perception, attention, memory and language.
 The cognitive approach applies a homothetic approach
to discover human cognitive processes, but have also
adopted idiographic techniques through using case
studies (e.g. KF, HM).
45

Cognitive approach
 Typically cognitive psychologists use the laboratory
experiment to study behaviour.
 This is because the cognitive approach is a scientific
one.
 For example, participants will take part in memory
tests in strictly controlled conditions.
 However, the widely used lab experiment can be
criticised for lacking ecological validity (a major
criticism of cognitive psychology).
 Cognitive psychology became of great importance
in the mid-1950s.
 Several factors were important in this: -
46

Cognitive approach
 Dissatisfaction with the behaviourist approach in
its simple emphasis on external behaviour rather
than internal processes
 The development of better experimental
methods
 The start of the use of computers allowed
psychologists to try to understand the
complexities of human cognition by comparing
it with something simpler and better understood
i.e. an artificial system such as a computer.
47

Cognitive approach
 The cognitive approach began to revolutionise
psychology in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, to
become the dominant approach (i.e. perspective)
in psychology by the late 1970s.
 Interest in mental processes had been gradually
restored through the work of Piaget and Tolman.
 Other factors were important in the early
development of the cognitive approach.
48

Cognitive Psychology Summary
 Key Concepts
 Mediational Processes (process between stimulus and
response)
 Information processing approach
 Computer Analogy
 Introspection (Wundt)
 Nomothetic (studies the group)
 Schema
49

 Cognitive psychology is a pure science, based
mainly on laboratory experiments.
 Behaviour can be largely explained in terms of
how the mind operates, i.e. the information
processing approach.
 The mind works in a way similar to a computer:
inputting, storing and retrieving data.
 Mediational processes occur between stimulus
and response.
50

 Gender Role Development
 Eyewitness Testimony / Cognitive Interview
 Memory, Attention, Perception etc.
 Child Development (Piaget)
 Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
 Learning Styles (Kolb)
 Moral Development (Piaget)
51

 Strengths
 Scientific
 Highly applicable (e.g. therapy,)
 Combines easily with approaches: Behaviourism + Cog =
Social Learning Biology + Cog = Evolutionary Psychology
 Many empirical studies to support theories
52

 Weaknesses
 Ignores biology (e.g. testosterone)
 Experiments - low ecological validity
 Humanism - rejects scientific method
 Behaviourism - can’t objectively study unobservable
behaviour
 Introspection is subjective
 Machine reductionism
53

Cognitive Approach Evaluation
 The Information Processing paradigm of cognitive
psychology views that minds in terms of a computer when
processing information.
 However, their are important difference between humans
and computers.
 The mind does not process information like a computer as
computers don’t have emotions or get tired like humans.
54

Biological Psychology Introduction
 Biology is defined as the study of life (from
the Greek bios meaning ‘life’ and logos
meaning ‘study’). A biological perspective is
relevant to the study of Psychology in three
ways:
1. Comparative method: different species of
animal can be studied and compared. This
can help in the search to understand human
behaviour.
55

Biological Psychology Introduction
 2. Physiology: how the nervous system and hormones
work, how the brain functions, how changes in structure
and/or function can affect behaviour. For example, we
could ask how prescribed drugs to treat depression
affect behaviour through their interaction with the
nervous system.
 3. Investigation of inheritance: what an animal inherits
from its parents, mechanisms of inheritance (genetics).
For example, we might want to know whether high
intelligence is inherited from one generation to the next.
Each of these biological aspects, the comparative, the
physiological and the genetic, can help explain human
behaviour.
56

Biological Psychology cont
 Key Concepts
 Natural Selection / Evolution
 Adaptation
 Heredity / Genetics
 Nomothetic (studies the group)
 Reductionist
 Instincts / Sociobiology
 Comparative Psychology
57

 Methodology
 Lab Experiments
 Correlation studies
 Twin research
 Naturalistic observations (Kettlewell)
 Ethical Considerations
 Reliability and validity of research
58

 Psychology should be seen as a science, to be
studied in a scientific manner (usually in a
laboratory).
 Behaviour can be largely explained in terms of
biology (e.g. genes/hormones)
 Human genes have evolved over millions of
years to adapt behaviour to the environment.
 Therefore, most behaviour will have an adaptive
/ evolutionary purpose.
59

 Gender Role Development
 Abnormal Behaviour
 IQ
 Relationships
 Therapy
 Stress
60

 Strengths
 Very Scientific
 Highly application to other areas: Biology + Cog =
Evolutionary Psychology
 Helped develop comparative psychology
 Strong counter argument to the nurture side of the debate
 Many empirical studies to support theories
61

 Weaknesses
 Experiments – Low Ecological Validity
 Humanism: too deterministic – little room for free-will
 Doesn’t recognize cognitive processes
 Biopsychological theories often over-simplify the huge
complexity of physical systems and their interaction with
the environment.
62

Biological approach
63

Biological approach
 We can thank Charles Darwin (1859) for demonstrating
in the idea that genetics and evolution play a role in
influencing human behaviour.
 Theorists in the biological perspective who study
behavioural genomics consider how genes affect
behaviour.
 Now that the human genome is mapped, perhaps, we
will someday understand more precisely how behaviour
is affected by the DNA we inherit.
 Biological factors such as chromosomes, hormones and
the brain all have a significant influence on human
behaviour, for example gender.
64

Biological approach
 The biological approach believes that most
behaviour is inherited and has an adaptive (or
evolutionary) function.
 For example, in the weeks immediately after the
birth of a child, levels of testosterone in fathers
drop by more than 30 per cent.
 This has an evolutionary function.
 Testosterone-deprived men are less likely to
wander off in search of new mates to inseminate.
 They are also less aggressive, which is useful
when there is a baby around.
65

Biological approach
 Biological psychologists explain behaviours
in neurological terms, i.e. the physiology and
structure of the brain and how this
influences behaviour.
 Many biological psychologists have
concentrated on abnormal behaviour and
have tried to explain it.
 For example biological psychologists believe
that schizophrenia is affected by levels of
dopamine (a neurotransmitter).
66

Biological approach
 These findings have helped psychiatry take off
and help relieve he symptoms of the mental
illness through drugs.
 However Freud and other disciplines would
argue that this just treats the symptoms and not
the cause.
 This is where health psychologists take the
finding that biological psychologists produce
and look at the environmental factors that are
involved to get a better picture.
67

Approaches Conclusion
 Therefore, in conclusion, there are so many different
approaches to psychology to explain the different
types of behaviour and give different angles.
 No one approach has explanatory powers over the
rest.
 Only with all the different types of psychology which
sometimes contradict one another (nature-nurture
debate), overlap with each other (e.g. psychoanalysis
and child psychology) or build upon one another
(biological and health psychologist) can we
understand and create effective solutions when
problems arise so we have a healthy body and
healthy mind.
68

Approaches Conclusion cont
 The fact that there are different approaches
represents the complexity and richness of human
(and animal) behaviour.
 A scientific approach, such as behaviorism or
cognitive psychology, tends to ignore the
subjective (i.e. personal) experiences that people
have.
 The humanistic approach does recognize human
experience, but largely at the expense of being
non-scientific in its methods and ability to
provide evidence.
69

Approaches Conclusion cont
 The psychodynamic approach concentrates too
much on the unconscious mind and childhood.
 As such it tends to lose sight of the role of
socialization (which is different in each country)
and the possibility of free will.
 The biological approach reduces humans to a set
of mechanisms and physical structures that are
clearly essential and important (e.g. genes).
 However, it fails to account for consciousness
and the influence of the environment on
behaviour.
70

Importance of psychology in
nursing
 It equips the nurse with necessary skills to interact well with
other members of the health care team
 It enables the nurse to work well with fellow nurses
 It enables the nurse to understand her or his clients and
treat them as unique beings
71

Importance of psychology in
nursing cont
 It helps the nurse to understand the learning process
 It helps the nurse to anticipate behaviour from her or his
clients
72

 THE END
Thank you for your attention
73

Psychology Approaches Definition and Comparison

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