Approaches

16th-17th century

• Descartes = cartesian dualism (mind-body dualism)

17th-18th century

• Locke = pre-behaviourist, instincts/senses are not inherited, empiricism (environment)

19th century

• experimental psychology
• Charles Darwin = evolutionary theory, pre-biological theory
• Wundt = first psychology lab in Germany, introspection (reductionism + structualism)

20th century

• Freud = psychodynamic approach, psychoanalysis, conflicts within the mind
• Watson, Pavlov & Skinner = contribute to the Behaviourist approach
• Rogers & Maslow = humanistic approach, emphasis on free will

20th century

• cognitive approach
• Bandura = Social Learning Theory
• biological approach

21st century

• cognitive neuroscience

• part of the Learning Theory
• Locke: pre-behaviourism
• Watson: rejected introspection as it involved too many vague concepts

Pavlov

• neutral stimulus can cause a learned (conditioned) response
• classical conditioning via association
• unconditioned stimulus + neutral stimulus = unconditoned response -> conditioned response

Skinner

• learning via active processes (operant conditioning) = positive/negative/punishment
• increased likelihood of repeated behaviour
• no free will = reinforcement history contols behaviour
• Skinner's Box experiments
  • press lever/peck disc for a pellet (positive reinforcement)
  • press level/peck disc to avoid shocks (negative reinforcement)

For

• scientific credibility of the processes (repeatability)
• application to phobia therapy (counterconditioning = systematic desensitisation)

.
Against

• other factors may be causing this response (e.g evolutionary instincts)
  • environmental determinism
• ethical issues of using animals in experiments
• non-generalisability of using animals in experiments
  • lack of rationality and complexity in animals
• other approaches such as the Social Learning Theory

• Bandura
• extension of Behaviourism
• part of the Learning Theory
• accounts for cognitive processes (conditioning can not be generalised)
• humans have a more active role than animals
• people learn indirectly in a social context
• vicarious reinforcement (imitation of someone when they are given a reward for behaviour)
• mediational processes
  • attention
  • retention
  • motor reproduction
  • motivation
    .

• Bobo experiment
  • film of adults interacting with Bobo the doll, shown to children
  • boys were more likely to copy aggression and their same-sex adults, than girls
  • (recreation) children copied more when adults received a reward for their behaviour

For

• accounts for cognitive processes - less reductionist and deterministic than Behaviourism
• explains gender stereotypes
• explains cultural differences
• explains why children copy things off of the internet and mature TV (real-life application)

Against

• underexplains biology, etc (incomprehensive)

• attention, creativity, language, memory, perception, problem solving, thinking
• mind is separate from the brain, but related
• internal mental processes studied scientifically and indirectly (inference)
• theorectical models - info flows through cognitive systems = input, storage, output
  • Information Processing Approach
  • Computer Analogy (hardware vs. software)
    .
• schema:
  • cognitive framework
  • developed through experience
  • perception of what will happen (short-cut)
    .
• cognitive neuroscience
  • influence of brain structures for specific cognitive functions
  • uses EEGs and fMRIs
• social cognition
  • areas of the brain associated with interaction

For

• less deterministic than other approaches (soft determinism)
• scientific credibility
• real life application to Eye-Witness Testimonies, robotics, education, therapy, etc
• analogies are quite comprehensive

.
Against

• underexplains biological factors (reductionist)
• reductionism of computer analogy
• schema can be explained via two-process behavioural model

• evolution, natural selection, selective breeding (Charles Darwin)
• assumptions
  • genes, neurochemistry (nervous system) = thoughts/feelings/behaviours
  • phenotype is affected by environment, so behaviour must be, too
    .

• monozygotic twins = identical twins, from the same gametes
• dizygotic twins = non-indentical twins, 3+ gametes, 50% same genes
• familiy studies = Galton = all abilities (including addiction and talents) are inherited
• adoption studies = show the difference in influence of nature vs. nurture
  .

• concordance rates 
  • probability that a pair of individuals have the same characteristics (MZ twins more likely)
• genotype = particular set of genes possessed, including unexpressed genes -> phenotype
• environmental factors = health products, trauma, radiation -> phenotype

For

• scientific credibility
• psychoactive drug application (e.g to help with depression)
• application to PKU
  • rare genetic disorder that causes learning difficulties
  • symptoms can be controlled by diet (environmental factors)
  • example of an interaction between biology and the environment
    .

Against

• under-explains environmental factors
  • uncertainty over nature and nurture
• concordance rates are never 100%
• deterministic (no free will)

Id

• primative part of the psyche
• demands instant gratification
• acts on the pleasure principle
• unconscious

Ego

• conscious
• forms at 2-3 years of age
• logical and rational
• acts on the reality principle to satisfy the Id, reasonably

Super-Ego

• Ego ideal vs. Conscience (should do vs. should not do)
• acts on the same-sex parents morality principle
• forms at 5-6 years

Defense Mechanisms

• denial, repression, displacement [from the ego, as a mediator]

Conscious

• mind that we are aware of
• covers some of the ego and the super-ego

Pre-Conscious

• just below the conscious
• awareness during dreams and parapraxes

Unconscious

• biological drives
• repressed memories
• all three forces are included in the unconscious

Oral

• 0-1 years, success = solid food, fixation = smoking

Anal

• 1-3 years, sucess = potty training, fixation = anal retentive/expulsive = tidy/messy

Phallic

• 3-5 years, success = supass oedipus stage, fixation = 'abnormal' sexual tendencies

Latency

• 5-puberty, no sexual development, libido channeled into schoolwork

Genital

• puberty, success = start of 'normal' sexual relationships

For

• case studies of Anno O and Little Hans
• application to effective anxiety/depression treatment (psychoanalysis)
• comprehensive stages

Against

• gender bias towards males (oedipus complex)
• culture bias to the West (not tested in Collectivist cultures)
• untestable psychosexual stages
• controversial and outdated
• deterministic (no free will)

• 'third force' = replaces and challenges behaviourism and psychoanalysis
• free will = subjective experience = significant personal choices
  • within biological/social constraints

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

• innate tendency to achieve full potential (self-actualisation)
• deficiency needs, before self-actualisation (levels of progression, based on motivation)
  • physiological needs
  • safety
  • belongingness and love
  • self-esteem

Rogers

• congruence of self to ideal self
• need unconditional positive regard and self-worth as a child
• combat negativity from childhood with defense mechanisms for incogruence
• conditions of worth = acceptance by others is based on meeting perceived expectations

For

• not deterministic (free will)
• not reductionist (holism)
• application to Rogers' Client-Centred Therapy (empathy, unconditional regard, anaylsis)
• promotes positivity, self-actualisation

.
Against

• culture bias to individualist cultures, as personal growth is limited in collectivist cultures
• untestable concepts (anti-scientific)
• limited application

Development

• psychodynamic = psychosexual stages
• biological = maturation
• cognitive = development of complex schemas
• humanistic = self-development (congruence)
• learning = no coherent stages

Nature Vs. Nurture

• biological = nature, with nurture influence
• psychodynamic = fundamentaly nature, with nurture elements
• cognitive = nature of schema, vs. nurture of experience
• humanistic = nurture of self-concept
• learning = nurture of association

Reductionism Vs. Holism

• biological = genetic/neuronic reductionism
• learning = reduction to stimulus-response units, and reduced modelling/imitation
• psychodynamic = reduced to psychosexual stages, but holistic personality
• cognitive = machine reductionism
• humanistic = holistic

.
Determinism Vs. Free Will

• biological = hard genetic determinism
• psychodynamic = hard psychic determinism
• behaviourism = hard environmental determinism
• cognitive = soft cognitive determinism (choose our thoughts and behaviours)
• social learning theory = soft reciprocal determinism
• humanistic = soft free will

Treatment

• biological = drug therapy
• cognitive = CBT for depression
• psychodynamic = psychoanalysis for anxiety/depression
• behaviourism = systematic desensitisation
• humanistic = humanistic therapy/counselling (Client-Centred Therapy)
• social learning theory = none
  .

Nomothetic Vs. Idiographic [laws v.s no laws]

• biological = nomothetic
• psychodynamic = nomothetic
• learning = nomothetic general laws
• cognitive = some idiography
• humanistic = unique idiography and nomothetic Maslow hierarchy