Comparing approaches

Scientific

Practical applications 

Reductionist 

Nature/nurture stance OR Nomothetic

Free will 

Mnemonic - Students Prefer Really Nice Food

• what research method is used?
• what data type is found?

key words

• quantitative/qualitative
• (non)experimental
• objective/subjective
• biased/valid
• standardised
• replicable

• how is abnormality explained?
• has a treatment/therapy been developed?
• is this the same as other theories?
• is the treatment useful/effective?

key words

• practical application 
• economic benefits/implications
•  therapy
• drug treatment
• abnormality

• how many variables are investigated?
• what levels of explanation are used?
• parsimonious or interactionist?
• what type of reductionism?

key words

• parsimony/interaction
• scientific
• testable/empirical 
• biological 
• machine

• accept nature? 
• accept nurture? 
  
• are interactions explained?

key terms

• nature/nurture 
• innate/environmental 
• experience
• interaction 
• genetics

• determined by outside forces?
• does free will shape behaviour?
• type of determinism?

key words

• hard
• soft
• biological
• environmental
• psychic

S - yes. Based on experiments and scans (Eg fMRI)

P - yes. Drug treatments have been developed to treat mental illness etc 

R - only acknowledge one variable. parsimony. Biological reductionism   

N - nature only. Genetics determine behaviour, only innate 

F - no free will, biological determinism. 

S - somewhat. Case studies not but lab studies on animals are (But unethical)

P - yes, developed flooding and anxiety hierarchy for phobias 

R - no. only one variable. Ignores emotional input, sees humans as passive  

N - no. nurture only. Belief in tabula rasa means all behaviour is learned.

F - no. All behaviour passively learned and accepted. 

S - somewhat, development of computer model based on lab studies. However inference may be used  

P - yes, CBT developed for depression 

R - yes. Machine reductionism. 

N - both. Interactionist perspective which sees genetics and environment both as helpful. Diathesis-stress

F - somewhat.  Soft determinism.

S - no. Concepts are untestable. Self report and qualitative techniques are used 

P - yes. Client centred therapy has been developed from this

R - no. Reductionism is low due to holistic approach

N - both. hierarchy of needs recognises importance of biological needs as well as external factors 

F - yes. Free will wholly accepted in this theory. 

S - no, based on untestable concepts and case studies 

P - yes. Psychoanalysis and dream analysis is still common

R - yes. Biological reductionism 

N - nurture.  values innate processes (e.g psychosexual stages) and environmental 

F - no, psychic determinism 

S - yes. based on lab studies eg. Bandura 

P - no. No approaches have been developed 

R

N - nurture. Ignores biological influence on behaviour and learning

F - somewhat. reciprocal determinism (you influence the environment as much as it influences you)