Approaches to Psychology

Biological (Neuroscience) Approach

• All of your feelings and behaviors have an organic root.

• In other words, they come from your brain, body chemistry, neurotransmitters, etc…

• How the brain, nervous system, hormones, genetics influence behavior

Let us imagine for a second that your dog died (sad, but it will happen). You become depressed. You stop eating and sleeping. What would a psychologist from this school say is going on and how might they help you?

What is the biological approach to psychology?

• It assumes that people are controlled by their biology. We evolved in response to our environment; so we are controlled by genetics and physiology.

• If we become psychologically ill, it is because of genetic damage, disease or accident. We should only look at the physical elements of human behaviour.

What two strengths are there to the biological approach?

• If we know what causes illness then we can treat it using drugs or surgery and this can be done fairly easily.

• This approach explains some behaviors and illnesses that are difficult to understand using other approaches: schizophrenia and addictions.

Phineas Gage

Psychoanalytic Approach• Focuses on the

unconscious mind.• We repress many

of our true feelings and are not aware of them.

• In order to get better, we must bring forward the true feelings we have in our unconscious.

If a man has intimacy issues and cannot form relationships with others. What do you think someone from this school may think?

Perhaps they may delve into the man’s unconscious and discover that he was bullied when he were younger. The bullying may have caused fear in getting close to others.

Psychoanalytic Approach• Focuses on?

– Personality development• What is behavior determined by?

– Tensions generated by unconscious motives, current conflicts and unresolved childhood conflict (many sexual). Most thought processes occur unconsciously

• Key Terms:– Conscious: thoughts and feelings we’re aware of– Preconscious: Area of mind holding information that is not

conscious, but is retrievable– Unconscious: Region of mind that is reservoir of mostly

unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, memories

Psychoanalytic Approach

Psychoanalytic Approach• Sigmund Freud:

– father of psychoanalytic perspective – 3 levels of consciousness – Many thought processes occur unconsciously

Psychoanalytic Psychology Sigmund Freud

Primitive biological urges beneath the surface that are in conflict with requirements of society and morality.

Free Association- reveal thought process; patients say anything that comes to mind, then analyzed.

Dream analysis Used notes to develop a personality theory.

Behavioral Perspective• Focuses on

observable behaviors while putting feelings to the side.

• Way behave is because we have been conditioned to do so.

• Change behaviors - we have to recondition the client.

Pretend that you fail psychology class. You become depressed. In turn, you begin to binge and gain weight.

What do you think a behaviorist may do?

They would probably ignore the fact that you are depressed and just focus on your overeating.

Maybe make you run a mile every time you eat over 2000 calories.

Behavioral• What is the focus?

– Behavior! Everything should be observable & testable. Our behavior is shaped by learning from past experience

• What is behavior determined by?– Experience

• Rewards• Consequences• Verbal cues

• We are products of all past events and experiences: Behavior + Reactions of people around us + consequences = future behavior

Pavlov

Watson

Skinner

Behaviorists

"Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select–doctor, lawyer, artist–regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations and race of his ancestors”

–John B. Watson

Behavioral(Important People)

• Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)– Pavlov’s Dog: taught a dog to salivate in response

to bell– Classical Conditioning: learning by association– Office Example

Ivan PavlovIvan Pavlov

Behavioral(Important People)

• Edward Thorndike (1874-1949)– Puzzle Box: Animals learn how to get out based on

past experiences, increasingly fast– Conclusion: All animals learn the same way

• John Watson (1878-1958)– Little Albert Experiment: conditioned child to be

afraid of white rat by using loud noise– Little Albert video– Father of Behaviorism

• Authored Psychology as the Behaviorist Views ItJohn B. John B. WatsonWatson

Behavioral(Important People)

• B.F. Skinner (1904): Behavior changes according to reward or punishment– Negative and Positive Reinforcement (behavior rewarded

with candy = more likely to behave in same way)– Skinner Video

• Albert Bandura (1925- ) Social Learning Theory– People learn by seeing what goes right and wrong for

others• Bobo Doll Experiment: children learn violent behavior by

observation

Humanist Perspective• Peaked in the late

1960’s and 70’s….so it focused on spirituality and free will.

• We have to strive to be the best we can be “self-actualization”.

• Happiness is defined by the distance between our “self-concept” and “ideal self”.

Humanistic• What is the focus?

– Individuals’ freedom to choose and capacity for personal growth– Humans are inherently good

• What is behavior determined by?– Free will / self-actualization– Self Concept (image of oneself)

• Ideal self: what we want to be• Actual self: what we are• The more ideal = actual, the more we exercise free will• Individuals have ultimate free will to decide own behavior

Humanistic(Important People and Beliefs)

• Carl Rogers – Conscious experience is proper focus of psychology– Humans growth and free will is

achieved by being:• Accepting (unconditional positive

regard)• Genuine (freely express feelings,

open about selves)• Empathetic (sharing thoughts and

feelings with others)

Carl RogersCarl Rogers

Humanistic(Important People and Beliefs)

• Abraham Maslow: self-actualization is ultimate psychological need– Self-Actualization: All basic physical

and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved; motivated to achieve potential

– Developed Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (lower on pyramid you are, the less free will you can exercise)

Abraham MaslowAbraham Maslow

Maslow’s Maslow’s Hierarchy Hierarchy of Needsof Needs

Cognitive Perspective• Focuses on how we

think (or encode information)

• How do we see the world?

• How did we learn to act to sad or happy events?

• Cognitive Therapist attempt to change the way you think.

You meet a girl…Hopes are high!!!

She rejects you…don’t even get digits.

How do you react to the rejection?

Some learned get back on the horseAnd try again.

Some learned to give up and live a lonely life of solitude.

Cognitive• What is the Focus?

– How mental processes affect decision making and thus behavior

• What is behavior determine by?– Ability to make rational decisions through thought

processes• Conversation with self• The way that brain makes decisions (memory, thinking, learning)• “Information Processing”: brain like a computer

Cognitive(Important People)

• Jean Piaget – Studied children and how thinking develops– Children think differently, not just less powerfully– Development occurs in stages

Jean PiagetJean Piaget

Social-Cultural Perspective• Says that much of your

behavior and your feelings are dictated by the culture you live in.

• Some cultures kiss each other when greeting, some just bow.

• Does your culture place value on individual or the group?

Socio-Cultural Psychology

• Study of the influence of cultural and ethnic similarities and differences on behavior and social functioning.

Ex: How do people react when someone

sneezes? How would your life be different if you were born in extreme poverty or extreme wealth?

Socio-Cultural

• What is the Focus?– Everything about your identity

• Ethnicity, race, culture, gender, socioeconomic status, societal expectations, family values, morals, friends

• What is Behavior Determined by?– Your upbringing– The Situation: people you are surrounded by and

setting

Socio-Cultural

• Massillon Tigers Example

Socio-Cultural(Important People)

• Philip Zimbardo (1933): Situations can cause people to do things they otherwise wouldn’t– Stanford Prison Experiment: College students who

played guards were very cruel in a simulated prison

Socio-Cultural(Important People)

• Stanley Milgram (1933-1984): Influence of authority is important in determining behavior– Ran shock experiments where participants

were asked to deliver shocks to others• 65% of participants were willing to deliver

lethal shocks to strangers when asked by the white-coated “researcher”

• People will do what authority asks, even when they know it’s wrong

• Shock Experiment (3:35)

Socio-Cultural(Important People)

• Solomon Asch (1907-1996): Influence of conformity and group influence– People will go along with the group, even when

they know it’s wrong

A B C

Which line is closest in length to the line at the left?

Experiment

Psychology’s Three Big Debates

• Nature Versus Nurture

• Stability Versus Change

• Continuity Versus Discontinuity

Approaches to Psychology Group Skit

• Each group will be assigned one of the approaches we discussed.

• You groups will need to develop a skit to demonstrate the approach.

**You can read more about each approach in the textbook!!

**Everyone in the group must be involved in the skit!