Approaches AO3

Griffiths study of introspection

He conducted a study to investigate the thought processes of people who gambled regularly and those that did not gamble. He proposed that the thought processes of gamblers would be more irrational than non-gamblers. Ps were asked to 'think aloud' while playing a fruit machine by saying everything that went through their mind and by talking continuously. They were told to not to try and justify their thoughts. As expected, Griffiths found that gamblers did have more irrational thoughts.

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Wundt: Unreliable

His methods are considered to be unreliable. Although Ps could report on their conscious experiences, the processes themselves e.g. memory and perception are considered to be unobservable. Introspective 'experimental' results could not reliably be reproduced by other researchers.

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Wundt: Underlying behaviour

It is claimed that we have little knowledge of the causes of processes underlying our behaviour. This means that introspective reports may not be accurate e.g. in one study Ps were unaware of factors that influenced their choice in consumer goods. People are also particularly unaware of their own hidden attitudes or stereotypical thinking e.g. someone may hold sexist views that influence their behaviour. But if they are unaware of this thinking, self-report methods through introspection would not help us to understand their behaviour. Therefore, this method lacks validity.

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Wundt:Unfalsifiable

A weakness is that as Wundt is studying unobservable mental processes his theories are unfalisfiable, this means that it is difficult to test the ideas scientifically because it is impossible to know what someone is thinking. Therefore the theory cannot be proven false.

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SM: Objective

Science uses objective and controlled methods of testing so any new knowledge should be reliable and valid.

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SM: Deterministic

Scientific methods are deterministic as they are able to establish the causes of behaviour. Therefore, in using the scientific method cause and effect can be inferred.

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SM: Modification

If scientific theories no longer apply, they can be modified or abandoned as science progresses and moves on.

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SM: Artificial

As scientific testing is carried out in controlled conditions, the situation may be artificial and therefore findings may not apply to real life, therefore the studies may lack ecological validity.

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SM:Behaviour cannot be tested scientifically

Some psychologists say human behaviour cannot be tested scientiically. We don't live in labs or under controlled conditions so scientific methods may be inappropriate.

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SM:Irrelevant data

Much of human behvaiour cannot be empirically observed therefore data that is collected may not be directly relevant to the theory.

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BA: Real life applications

These concepts have real life application; CC has led to the development of treatments for various phobia. Through systematic desensitisation a new association is taught to replace the once learned response(fear) with a new conditioned response(relaxation).

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BA: Real life applications(OC)

OC has real life applications: token economy systems have been successfully used in may institutions e.g. prisons. They work by rewarding appropriate behaviour with token that can be exchanged for privileges.

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BA: Scientific credibility

Behaviourism was influential in increasing the scientific credibility of psychology by using lab experiments and focusing on observable behaviour within highly controlled settings. This allows us to show causal relationships and predict future behaviour. Therefore, the theories within behaviourism are falisifiable and based on empirical data.

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BA: Animal research

Most research is carried out on animals so may not generalise to humans. This is because humans have much higher cognitive functioning and are therefore much more active in their learning.

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BA: Reductionist

The behaviourist theory is reductionist as it reduces human behaviour to learning through rewards and associations. It therefore oversimplifies behaviour, there are other approaches that can explain behaviour such as the cognitive approach. Some argue that there are actually complicated thoguh processes behind our learning.

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BA: Deterministic

The theory is deterministic as Skinner argues that our past conditioning experineces will produce behaviour. This does not allow for any free will we may have over our behaviour.

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SLT:Cognitive processes

Neither CC nor OCD can offer adequate accounts of learning on their own, human and animals store behaviour of oters and make judgements about when it is appropriate to perform the actions. Therefore, SLT provides a more comprehensive explanation of human learning by recognising the importance of cognitive mediational processes.

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SLT: Real life applications

SLT is good at explaining criminial behaviour.
Ulrich found in a review of literature that the strongest cause of violent behaviour in adolescents was when it was modelled and rewarded.

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SLT:Lab experiments

There may be an over reliance on lab experiments, many of Bandura's studies were carried put on children in lab settings. This may lack realism and therefore ecological validity. Therefore, the results cannot be generalised to real world aggression.
Additionally, in research like the bobo doll study children may have been responding to demand characterisitcs.
Durkin pointed out, "where else in life does a child find a powerful adult actually showing you how to knock the hell out of a dummy and then give you the chance to try it for yourself?"

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SLT: Causality

There is a problem with causality; it may be adolescents with deviant attiudes seek out deviant role models, not necessaily deviant role models making them deviant to begin with. So it is not the role model causing the behaviour- these adolescents have aggressive tendencies already.

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SLT: Reductionist

The theory is reductionist as it is too simplistic to argue that behaviour is ony learnt through imitation. In fact, there is evidence that biological factors influence social learning. One consistent finding in the study was that boys were more aggressive than grils regardless of the experiment. This may be better explained by hormonal differences such as levels of testosterone.

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CA: Widely applicable

The cognitive approach has been applied to many areas of psychology.
In social psychology it has helped psychologists understand how we form impressions of other people due to our schemas.
It therefore helps us to understand errors and biases that we may make in our interpretations of others and why we may stereotype and make judgements about other people.

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CA: Explaining psychopathology

The cognitive approach can explain psychopathology.
It explains how the dysfunctional behaviour shown by people can be traced back to faulty thinking processes. This has led to effective treatments such as CBT which can be used to treat OCD and depression. CBT aims to challenge faulty thinking and change such thoughts into more rational ones.

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CA: Scientific Method

The use of experimental methods for collecting and evaluating evidence means there is an emphasis on the scientific method.
This evidence is more rigourous meaning that we can form accurate conclusions about how the mind works which are not based on opinion or introspection.

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CA: Computing terminology

Terms such as 'encoding' and 'storage' are borrowed from the field of computing.
However, there is a difference between the sort of information processing that takes places in a computer programme and that which takes placed in the human mind e.g. computers do not make mistakes or forget things while humans do and computers do not have emotions.

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CA: Reductionist

The cognitive approach is reductionist because it reduces all behaviour down to thought processes. Despite telling us how different cognitive processes take place it fails to explain why these processes occur e.g. the role of emotion and motivation has largely been ignored.
It therefore oversimplifies bhevaiour.
Furthermore there are other explanations to behaviour such as the behaviourist and biological approach which are ignored.

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BioA: Scientific and objective

Genetic explanations are based on biological fact which is sceintific and objective .
This means that the genetic basis of behaviour can be tested under controlled conditions and studies can be replicated.
Therefore, genetic theories are falsifiable.

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BioA: Deterministic

In biological psychology saying that behaviour is caused by genetics is often used as an excuse for undesirable behaviour such as murder therefore removing free will from the offender.
This has even led to people suggesting there should be genetic screenings for genes linked to criminal behaviour.

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BioA: Evolution explains depression

Evolutionary explanations can explain a whole range of human behaviour which may seem contradictory to survival.
Depression may help survival as it informs the organism that it is suffering damage and motivates it to withdraw from the source of damage and avoid such cricumstances in the furture.
Therefore, this approach can help us to understand all aspects of human behaviour.

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BioA: Evolution is unfalsifiable

This means that a theory cannot be tested therefore it cannot be proved to be false.
Evolutionary theory is unfalsifiable because we cannot travel back to the EEA and see if certain behaviours did promote survival e.g. did men with more resources have more children.

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BioA: Reductionist

The biological approach reduces complex human behaviour down to simplistic biological processes. It is more likely that behaviour is determined by an interaction between genes and the environment.
It is widely thought that there has to be a genetic predisposition combined with an environmental trigger for an effect to occur- Diathesis-Stress Model e.e someone needs to have a genetic predisposition for schizophrenia but also undergo some life trauma to develop the illnes.

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PA: Shift in thinking

The development of this approach as an explanation of human behaviour represented a huge shift in psychological thinking and was very infuential at the time.
It suggested new methodological procedures for gathering empircal evidence(case studies) and the development of the approach was based on observation of behaviour rather than relying on introspection.
It also acknowledges the importance of childhood experiences in determining adult behaviour.
It lead to a greater acceptance of abnormality due to its view that everyone suffered internal conflicts.

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PA: Psychoanalysis

This approach has pratical applications. Using the theoretical basis of the psychodynamic approach Freud proposed a new form of therapy called psychoanalysis.
This uses a range of techniques used to assess the unconscious mind such as free association and dream analysis.
Psychoanalysis was the forerunner to many modern day psychotherapies that have since been established.
However, psychoanalysis has been criticised as inappropriate for people suffering more serious mental disorders e.g. shizophrenia.

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PA: Non-western cultures

Sue and Sue argue that psychoanalysis has little relevance for people from non-Western cultures.
Psychoanalysts believe that mental disorders are a result of traumatic memories being locked in the unconcious and that freeing them through therapy gives the individual change to deal with them in a supportive therapeutic environment.
However, they claim that many groups do not value insight in the same way western cultures do.
In China a person who is depressed or anxious avoids thoughts that cause distress rather than willingly discussing them openly.This contrasts with the Western belief that discussion and insight are always helpful in therapy.

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PA: Case studies

Freud based his research on in-depth detailed analysis of his own limited number of patients.
Case studies (like Little Hans) can be beneficial as a very detailed study can collect a huge amount of information about that patient and be very interesting.
However, it is unlikely that one patient is representative of the wider population thus the external validity of any conclusions drawn is liekly to be questionable.

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PA: Unfalsifiable

Karl Popper argued that the psychodynamic approach does not meet the scientific criterion of falsification.
This is because the psychodynamic approach is not open to empirical testing.
Many of Freud's concepts,such as the id and the Oedipus complex, are said to occur at a unconcious level, making them almost impossbile to test.
According to Popper this gives the theory the status of pseudoscience rather than real science.

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HA: Positive approach

The humanistic approach takes a positive approach to human behaviour and has been praised for promoting such a positive image of humans.
It gives. refreshing alternative to the psychodynamic approach and provides an optimistic view of all people as basically good, having freewill and being able to achieve their potential.

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HA: COW- Harter study

Harter found that teenagers who feel that they have to fulfill certain conditions in order to gain their parent's approval frequently end up not liking themselves.
Adolescents who created a 'false self', pretending to be the person their parents want them to be, are more likely to develop depression.

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HA: Not reductionist

Humanists reject any attempts to break up behaviour and experience into smaller components.
Instead, humanists advocate holism; the idea that subjective experience can only be understood by considering the whole person.
This approach may therefore have more validity than the other approaches by considering meaningful human behaviour within its real-life context.

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HA: HON applied to economy

Hagerty looked at the relationship between economic growth and the hierarchy of needs in 88 countries over a 34 year period.
He found that countries in early stages of economic development wee characterised by lower level needs.
Whereas in countries in the advanced stages of economic development esteem needs and self-actualisation became important.
However the approach has a limited real-world application and unlike the other approaches has a limited impact within Psychology.
This may be due to the fact that it is lacking evidence and is based around a set of abstract concepts.

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HA: Vague/abstract ideas

The approach is based on vague and abstract ideas that are difficult to test. Concepts such as self-actualisation and congruence may be useful therapeutic tools but are problematic to test in experimental conditions.
However, Rogers did attempt to introduce a more objective measure by developing the Q sort, a measure of progress in therapy.
Therefore, the approach is lacking in scientific evidence although this is to be expected of an approach that describes itself as anti-scientific.

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HA: Cultural bias

Many of the ideas that are central to the approach, such as indiviudal freedom, autonomy and personal growth are associated with individualsitic cultures in the western world such as the USA.
Collectivist cultures like India, which emohasise the needs of the group, community and interdependence, may not identify so easily with the ideals and values of humanistic psychology.
Therefore, it is possible that this approach would not generalise well and is a product of the cultural content in which it was developed.

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