AS and A Level Psychology (9990) Psychological Approaches
==Psychological== Approaches
%%Biological%% Approach
Assumptions:
- Behavior, Cognitions, and emotions can be explained by genes, hormones, and chemicals.
| Strengths 💪 | Weakness 🍰 |
|---|
| Objective/Straightforward - It only looks at genes, hormones, and chemicals. | Reductionist - It will overlook other approaches and only look at genes, hormones, and chemicals. |
| Application - Humans are all biologically the same. Therefore, if a psychologist sees something that can be applied to Americans, that theoretically can be applied to any person worldwide. | |
Cognitive Approach
Assumptions:
- Behavior and emotions can be explained through cognitive processes like attention, language thinking and memory
| Strengths 💪 | Weakness 🍰 |
|---|
| Objective - It uses scientific methods | Interpreting data - It is subjective because there might be multiple ways to explain it, in other words, it depends on your opinion. |
| Deals with the mind, which may be central (critical) towards human Psychology | Reductionist - Reduces everything in your brain and your cognitive processes |
| Builds models to analyze data | Makes the assumption that all input from people is equal, and doesn’t consider individual differences. |
Learning Approach
Assumptions:
- We are a blank slate (Tabula Raza), so everything about us is learned
- Behavior can be explained through the consequences of actions
- Learning occurs through observations and their consequences
| Strengths 💪 | Weakness 🍰 |
|---|
| Objective - Focuses on observable behaviors | Reductionists - Will put methods and overlook every other approach |
| Creates a model for universal learning | Assumes we are tabula Raza, blank slates, and that everything about us is learned. |
| Provides explanations about how to prevent and unlearn diseases | |
| Research on animals can be later used on humans | |
Social Approach
Assumptions:
- We are influenced by social factors, and contexts
- People can be changed/influenced through social and environmental factors
| Strengths 💪 | Weakness 🍰 |
|---|
| Able to discover norms of behavior within the unwritten rules of society. | Maybe ethnocentrically biased as social studies typically focus on one’s culture. This means the studies done in one country won’t necessarily apply worldwide because they have other cultures. |
| Tends to be Holistic investing different levels of explanations and approaches. | |