Issues, debate and approaches

Biological approach

• Free will vs determinism

  • Hard determinism

  • biological determinism

  • controlled by physical factors

• Nature vs Nurture

  • Nature - heredity

• Reductionism vs Holism

  • Biological reductionism

  • reduces us to biological structures and processes.

• Idiographic vs Nomothetic

  • Nomothetic - says that we have a share physiology

• Scientific

  • use lab exp

  • twin studies

  • family studies

  • adoption studies

• Real-world application

  • Drug therapies

  • SSRI in depression

Behaviourist approach

• Free will vs determinism

  • Hard determinism

  • Environmental determinism

  • consequences

• Nature vs Nurture

  • Mainly nurture - ‘blank slate’ - mind

  • Behaviour is learnt through environmental factors

• Reductionism vs Holism

  • Environmental reductionist

• Idiographic vs Nomothetic

  • Nomothetic - learn through operant and classical conditioning

• Scientific

  • use lab exp

• Real-world application

  • Flooding

  • systematic desensitisation (SD) for phobias

  • token economy

Social learning theory

• Free will vs determinism

  • soft determinism

  • Environmental determinism

  • learnt through observation - vicarious reinforcement

• Nature vs Nurture

  • Mainly nurture - through imitation

  • Tiny nature - mediational processes

• Reductionism vs Holism

  • Environmental reductionist - observes and imitating role model in an environment

• Idiographic vs Nomothetic

  • Nomothetic - people in the same group as their role model

• Scientific

  • use lab exp - Bandura Bobo Doll

• Real-world application

  • Role models - TV, advertising, social media, prefects - schools

Cognitive approach

• Free will vs determinism

  • soft determinism - info processing

• Nature vs Nurture

  • Nature - biological machine

  • Nurture - schema

• Reductionism vs Holism

  • machine reductionist - treats us/reduces us like a machine

• Idiographic vs Nomothetic

  • Nomothetic - theory (most)

  • idiographic - case studies

• Scientific

  • use lab studies - brainscans

  • But can sometimes use case studies to back up lab experiments

• Real-world application

  • Brain mapping

  • Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)

Psychodynamic approach

• Free will vs determinism

  • psychic determinism - behaviour is determined by childhood and unconscious drives

• Nature vs Nurture

  • nature - unconscious drive, instincts (sexual)

  • nurture - childhood experiences

• Reductionism vs Holism

  • reductionist - phallic stages, ID, Ego, Superego

• Idiographic vs Nomothetic

  • Nomothetic - applies to everyone

  • idiographic - methods (case studies)

• Scientific

  • non-scientific - only uses 2 case studies

• Real-world application

  • psychoanalysis

Humanistic approach

• Free will vs determinism

  • Free will

• Nature vs Nurture

  • mostly nurture - hierarchy of needs

  • nature (tiny) - drive to self-actualisation

• Reductionism vs Holism

  • holism

• Idiographic vs Nomothetic

  • idiographic - focuses on individual differences

• Scientific

  • non-scientific - uses unstructured interviews

• Real-world application

  • Client based therapy