Approaches and Perspectives

In Psychology
OCR Module
G544

The Biological / Physiological or Medical

Approach
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The biological approach explains our behaviour as being determined by our genetics, the
workings of our nervous system, endocrine system (hormones) and the structure and
functioning of our brain. It is the only approach in psychology that examines thoughts,
feelings, and behaviours from a medical/biological, and therefore physical point of view.
Examples you have studied include; our language centre stored in our left hemisphere
(Sperry); memories (stored in the temporal lobe) (Loftus and Palmer); the over active
prefrontal cortexs causing high levels of aggression (Raine); the hippocampus and
spatial awareness enabling us to find our way home (McGuire); our corpus collosum
transferring memories from the two hemispheres of the brain so that separate
information stored in those separate areas can be shared (Sperry); hormones like
serotonin or dopamine regulating mood; dysfunctional behaviours like schizophrenia
being genetically inherited (Gottesman and Shields); stress causing high blood pressure,
sweating and long term illness (Hans Seyle) etc
Evolutionary genetically inherited instincts or behaviours are also considered in this
approach. We have evolved both physically and psychologically in response to our
environment. For example men may be more pre-disposed to crime than women as
they are genetically determined to be hunter gatherers and protect their family from
threat.
Advantages of the biological approach are that it is based on reliable scientific data
like DNA or blood analysis. The biological approach used accurate measuring devices
like PET scans or blood pressure readings etc. The approach has been very useful in
the development of drug treatments for a variety of mental disorders. Schizophrenia is
understood caused by the over-production of the neurotransmitter dopamine.
Depression comes from physiological changes to neurons that dull them to serotonin.
Both disorders are treated with drugs which affect the production of transmission of
these hormones. Identifying genetic pre-dispositions may help early diagnosis of
conditions and even lead to prevention through genetic screening. However our
understanding of the structure and function of the brain is still in its early stages and
although we may identify structural or functional abnormalities we often still cannot
determine the cause (eg: Raine).
The biological approach plays down the influence of environment and does not account
for why diseases like schizophrenia are not 100% genetic. The biological approach finds
itself firmly on the genetic or nature side of the nature-nurture debate. It accused
of being reductionist and deterministic. The biological approach has been criticised
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because of its use of non-human subjects in experimental research. Many researchers

do not believe that findings from animal research can be applied usefully to human
behaviour and some argue it is unethical to experiment on animals for the benefit of
humans. Some drug treatments or surgical interventions are also considered unethical
due to their potential serious side effects. There are other ethical dilemmas with the
biological approach and crime. If a person is pre-disposed to be extremely aggressive,
how do we handle this potential information? It would be wrong to label a person with
expected tendencies when we do not understand all of the other contributing factors.

Study 1 from the biological

approach: (4)

Study 2 from the biological

approach: (4)

a. Using your knowledge of psychology, briefly outline the physiological approach (4)
b. Describe two pieces of physiological research that use the physiological approach
(8)
c. Using examples of research that you have studied discuss the strengths and
limitations of explaining behaviour using only the physiological approach (12)
d. Compare the physiological approach with any one other approach in psychology (8)
e. Discuss how the physiological approach can help our understanding of everyday
life (8)

The Psychodynamic Perspective

The psychodynamic perspective sees behaviour as a balance between our instincts

(nature) and how these instincts are nurtured by early experience in the family. It
explains behaviour from the point of view of our unconscious and early childhood
experiences. The contents of our unconscious can give us neurosis, an anxiety state
that affects the quality of your life (Little Hans). Freud was the first researcher to
explain how some behaviour is not within our conscious control but may be driven
instead by unconscious motivations and anxieties.
Freud's psychodynamic structure of personality suggests that our behaviour is
influenced by id, ego and superego, the three components of personality. Those with a
strong super ego may be carers of others and campaigners in society for equality,
whilst those with a strong Id may be self centred and lacking in empathy or concern for
others. We are born id, and acquire ego and superego during childhood. Our
personality is therefore shaped by early experiences. Freuds theories were important
as they shaped our view of the importance of these early times and parental nurturing.
Freud also explains that iff we fail to resolve conflicts associated with a particular
(oral, anal, phallic, latent and genital) stage of personality development we could develop
fixations which will show themselves in our personality-related behaviours as adults,
e.g. a smoker would be said to have an oral fixation. We also unconsciously use egodefence mechanisms to protect ourselves from the anxieties of life. Examples, you
have encountered are the denial of ill health by patients who do not adhere to medical
requests or an unconscious desire to hurt oneself like having an accident at work and
the denial by some criminals to take personal responsibility for their crimes.
Psychoanalytic psychotherapy is a treatment which has been developed by followers of
Freud. This includes free association, dream analysis, regression using hypnosis and
projective personality tests (Eve White and Thigpen and Cleckley) all of which try to
uncover unconscious thoughts, desires or motivations. This approach to treatment has
been important in changing societys attitudes from covering problems up, to the idea
of talking about and sharing problems with others. This was the start of the
development of counselling as a therapeutic practice. However some aspects of
psychotherapy have been criticised. For example hypnosis is now thought to cause
false memory syndrome.
The main limitations of the psychoanalytic approach are the case study method. This
method is non-scientific and lacks generalisability. The constructs of Id, Ego and
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Super Ego are also hypothetical and cannot be proved. Projective personality tests
lack validity as there is no proof they are actually measuring unconscious thoughts or
desires. However, it does appear to have mundane realism (appears to be valid
according to our everyday experiences) which may account for its enduring importance.
Most of us instinctively feel that early childhood experience does have an effect on our
long term behaviour. It is also hard to deny that some of our behaviours are driven by
our unconscious. There is also evidence to support the idea that early childhood trauma
causes dysfunctional behaviour in patients who have been abused and who later develop
DID (Dissasociative Identity Disorder). There is also correlational evidence which
supports the idea that boys who have an absent or sick mother are more likely to turn
to crime in adolescence.

Study 1 from the

psychodynamic perspective:
(4)

Study 2 from the

psychodynamic perspective:
(4)

a. Using your knowledge of psychology, briefly outline the psychodynamic

perspective (4)
b. Describe two pieces of research that use the psychodynamic perspective (8)
c. Using examples of research that you have studied discuss the strengths and
limitations of explaining behaviour using only the psychodynamic perspective (12)
d. Compare the psychodynamic perspective with any one other perspective or
approach in psychology (8)
e. Discuss how the psychodynamic approach can help our understanding of everyday
life (8)

The Behaviourist Perspective

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Founded by JB Watson in 1915 the behaviourist perspective studies observed

behavioural responses of humans and animals. The perspective assumes that all
behaviour is environmentally determined, i.e. nurture rather than nature. The
behaviourist believes we learn to behave in response to our environment, either by
stimulus-response association, or as a result of reinforcement. Important contributors
to the behaviourist perspective are Ivan Pavlov, with his theory of classical
conditioning, and BF Skinner who worked on operant conditioning. Classical conditioning
identifies learning by association. This is often instinctive learning through association
(being sick after eating chocolate can lead to the learning of the association of
chocolate with sickness and an automatic feeling of nausea when you see chocolate etc)
Operant conditioning identifies learning through reinforcement. Reward, (or positive
reinforcement) tends to encourage the repetition of a learned behaviour. Avoidance of
unpleasant consequence, (or negative reinforcement), tends to discourage the
repetition of behaviour etc.
Bandura developed the early ideas of the behaviourists to include social learning theory.
He said that as well as classical and operant conditioning we can also learn through
vicarious reinforcement (that is seeing the reward someone else gets for behaviour).
He also demonstrated how some behaviour occurs through modelling without the need
for any specific conditioning or reward (Bobo doll studies). The idea that children
simply model what they see, has had an influence on our attitude to violent TV and video
games. This theory has been useful as it has changed our understanding in what young
children should be exposed to in the media and has led to the introduction of a
watershed on TV and the rating of films and video games for their violent or sexual
content which make them unsuitable for young children.
Classical conditioning has also been effective as it has been used in programmes of
systematic desensitisation (McGrath), to reduce the effects of a learned phobia.
Operant conditioning is used in biofeedback techniques to help learn new ways of
relaxation to reduce stress (Budzinski). Operant conditioning has also been used in
behaviour modification regimes such as the token economy systems used with
schizophrenic patients, young children or children with special needs, to change overt
behaviour.
A great strength of Behaviourist theories is that they are based on a large amount of
empirical evidence (scientific data). The theories are able to be tested under
laboratory conditions and are replicable. However, early research centred on animal
research rather than human research, so may not always be generalisable to humans.
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The complexity of human thought, feeling, and behaviour is thought to be more

sophisticated than the behaviourist approach originally suggested. Another problem
with the behaviourist approach is that it may change the overt behaviour of a person by
offering rewards but this does not necessarily change the way the person thinks.
There is also some irrefutable scientific data provided by the biological approach that
some behaviours are, at lest in part, genetically inherited (Gottesman and Shields)
making the theory reductionist and environmentally deterministic.

Study 1 from the behaviourist Study 2 from the behaviourist

perspective: (4)
perspective: (4)

a. Using your knowledge of psychology, briefly outline the behaviourist perspective

(4)
b. Describe two pieces of research that use the behaviourist perspective (8)
c. Using examples of research that you have studied discuss the strengths and
limitations of explaining behaviour using only the behaviourist perspective (12)
d. Compare the behaviourist perspective with any one other approach or
perspective in psychology (8)
e. Discuss how the behaviourist perspective can help our understanding of everyday
life (8)

The Cognitive Approach

The cognitive approach studies information processes like perception, attention,

language, memory, and thinking, and how they influence our thoughts, feelings and
behaviours. The cognitive approach views us as active processors of information from
the outside world and likens our thought processes to the workings of micro chips and
computers. We are not passive learners, as behaviourism would have us believe, but act
upon our world interpreting and reinterpreting information that is presented in the
light of existing information. It is our previous experience that makes the difference
between one person's perception and another's.
The cognitive approach has been extremely popular since the advent of computer
modelling systems. It has led to useful understandings of how the processes of
memory function and the failings and complexities of these memories (Elizabeth Loftus,
eye witness testimony, and Bartletts reconstructive memory). Cognitive psychologists
have enabled us to understand how there are specific cognitive differences in some
dysfunctional behaviours (Simon Baron Cohen, Autism, Yochelson and Samenow, errors
in the thinking patterns of criminals etc). Piaget was an important cognitive
psychologist who demonstrated how children go through stages of development in their
thinking. This has been effectively used by educationalists to plan appropriate learning
activities for children of different ages and to help early identification of children
with slow or abnormal patterns of development.
Cognitive research has been praised for its scientific and reliable approach with much
of its research being carried out under laboratory conditions which are strictly
controlled. However it is also criticised for its lack of ecological validity and
reductionist or mechanistic approach which ignores the role of emotion in cognitive
processing. The approach tends to rely on quantitative measurable data and ignores
qualitative data like social factors and emotions, which explain why we think, feel, and
behave as we do. Some say not only is the approach reductionist but it is also
incomplete as it fails to explain why certain thinking patterns occur.
Another great strength however, of the approach is its effectiveness as a therapy.
There is considerable empirical research to show the effects of behaviour change from
cognitive therapy (Beck). It has been useful in identifying how to change behaviour by
changing the way we think. In recent years it has become closely associated with
behavioural therapies and many clinicians now use a combined approach, CBT, (Cognitive
Behavioural Therapy), as a preferred and more holistic form of therapy.

Study 1 from the cognitive

approach: (4)

Study 2 from the cognitive

approach: (4)

a. Using your knowledge of psychology, briefly outline the cognitive approach (4)
b. Describe two pieces of research that use the cognitive approach (8)
c. Using examples of research that you have studied discuss the strengths and
limitations of explaining behaviour using only the cognitive approach (12)
d. Compare the cognitive approach with any one other approach in psychology (8)
e. Discuss how the cognitive approach can help our understanding of everyday life
(8)

Social Psychology and the Social Approach

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Social psychology (or the social approach) is interested in studying individuals in a social
context, such as family, friends, institutions, and wider society. Social behaviour
involves activity within a group or between groups. Social psychologists focus on the
individual and attempts to explain how the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of
individuals are influenced by other people. Psychologists who study social psychology
are interested in such topics as roles, conformity, obedience, group dynamics, altruism,
social change, leadership styles and aggression etc.
Their research methods are varied although often centered on laboratory experiments,
for example the Milgram experiment, the Piliavin subway experiment, the Reicher and
Haslam and Zimbardo prison experiments etc. You should also be familiar with the work
of Moscovici (minority influence) and Asch (majority influence) from forensic
psychology. Other social research tends to use existing data to draw conclusions
through correlation (comparing income, housing or environmental situation with rates of
criminality or mental illness etc) or use longitudinal methods (The Cambridge study on
families and crime) to investigate changes in social behaviour in groups over time. The
social approach is often hampered in its attempt to study contemporary social effects
on behaviour by ethical dilemmas involved in experimentation.
One of the debates in social psychology is whether an individual's behaviour is a result
of their personality or their social context. Social psychologists believe the situation
we are in has a more powerful effect on behaviour that our personality. Zimbardo
demonstrated this effect in the Stanford Prison Experiment. However, social
psychologists often fail to explain why some individuals with similar social experiences
behaviour differently to others (for example why not all family members turn to crime).
They may be able to explain general trends or expectations of behaviour but are rarely
able to predict behaviour in the individual.
Social psychologists are environmentally deterministic in their approach and are
therefore reductionist. They fail to take account of the genetic or biological
component of behaviour and so fail to explain individual differences like gender. Their
deterministic view also fails to take account of free will. The social approach has lost
favour in recent years with advances in DNA technology which have extended our
understanding of the contributions to behaviour of biology. However it has been an
extremely effective approach in enabling us to affect changes in behaviour such as
reducing prison riots by changing the conditions inside of prisons, by ensuring that
individuals take responsibility for their own decision making and do not enter an agentic
state (Ahbu Graib), through providing family support, improving education or social
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conditions as a way to improve life chances etc. The social approach is also important
as it takes away blame from the individual for some actions and enables us to see
behaviour in the light of the situation in which the behaviour occurs (for example
increased crime or aggression in communities with most poverty and disadvantage).

Study 1 from the social

approach: (4)

Study 2 from the social

approach: (4)

a. Using your knowledge of psychology, briefly outline the social approach (4)
b. Describe two pieces of research that use the social approach (8)
c. Using examples of research that you have studied discuss the strengths and
limitations of explaining behaviour using only the social approach (12)
d. Compare the social approach with any one other approach in psychology (8)
e. Discuss how the social approach can help our understanding of everyday life (8)

Individual Differences in Psychology

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The approach of individual differences is different from other approaches in that it

tends to identify what factors cause some individuals not to behaviour in ways which
might be expected in any group or social context. This approach studies, what is
considered a relatively small number of ways, in which individuals are different.
Individual differences tend to focus on differences between genders or age and
behaviour, differences in dysfunctional behaviour and differences between cultures
etc. The assumption of the individual differences approach is that the general rules
that we establish about normal behaviour cannot be applied to everyone, as not
everyone will fit the same mould. This is in direct contrast to the social or biological
approaches where psychologists study the similarities between individuals. Differences
between individuals make it harder to classify us into type and therefore generalise
from one person to another. Despite the things we have in common each of us has a
unique set of genes and personal experiences.
Common variables that makes us different from other members of a group:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Our gender. Are males and females likely to behave in the same way
Our culture. Different cultures have different influences on people which will
affect their understanding, perception, attitudes and behaviours etc.
Our genetic inheritance. Each one of us has a unique set of genes and
individual personality characteristics.
Our past experiences, to each of us these are unique
Our physical or mental health. Schizophrenia, anorexia, addiction, bipolar? We
may think and behave differently to others in our social group.

Most studies do not tell us about the specifics of individuals for example the Milgram
study. Most participants went to 450 volts but his study does not tell us about the
ones who refused. What was it about the refusers that made them different to the
majority of participants? Would women have behaved the same? Would people from
different cultures have behaved the same? In the Reicher and Haslam study you note
that a few of the participants gained most of the attention. What was it about some of
the participants that encouraged them to be leaders of their groups, and others to stay
in the background happy to go along with the crowd? If it was not for these individual
differences psychology would be a much more exact science and we would have more
success in predicting behaviour.
In the core studies you looked at mental health and the problem of gambling and
addiction. You have now also considered the issues of criminality and a range of other
dysfunctional behaviours like schizophrenia and anxiety disorders. These different
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studies all use a range of methods to investigate their particular differences which
range from case study to laboratory experiments and often come from a variety of
approaches. For example some research on dysfunctional behaviour is cognitive
(Griffiths and Beck), some is behavioural (McGrath) and some is biological (Gottesman).
You should also have considered whether the findings from a variety of studies may
have been different if the research had been carried out in different cultures.

Study 1 from the individual

differences approach: (4)

Study 2 from the individual

differences approach: (4)

f. Using your knowledge of psychology, briefly outline the approach of individual

differences (4)
g. Describe two pieces of research that use the individual differences approach
(8)
h. Using examples of research that you have studied discuss the strengths and
limitations of explaining behaviour using only the individual differences approach
(12)
i. Compare the approach of individual differences with any one other approach in
psychology (8)
j. Discuss how the approach of individual differences can help our understanding of
everyday life (8)

Developmental Psychology
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Developmental psychology is interested in discovering the psychological processes of

development. Studies often focus on how children develop but developmental
psychologists also study development in adulthood too. Researchers who take the
developmental approach may come from any number of perspectives. Samuel and
Bryant's (1984) study is an example of a experiment which attempted to criticise Jean
Piaget's cognitive developmental approach to child development. Piaget's influential
approach to child development is also called the structuralist approach. Piaget argued
that younger children do not have the capabilities to think in the same way as older
children. And that children have to go through a process of cognitive development in
order to achieve the abilities of an older child or adult. Piaget believed that there are
a number of stages that all children go through in the same order. Piaget is therefore
arguing that these stages are innate.
Bandura takes a very different approach to developmental psychology. In his study of
aggression, Bandura (1961) demonstrated that children learn from role models.
Bandura's approach is an extension of behavioural theories which emphasise the way we
learn behaviour from others, our environment, experiences and so on. Bandura was
particularly interested in the way children learn new behaviours through observing and
imitating role models. Studies looking at how children become criminals have often
identified developmental problems associated within the family (Farrington) or social
learning affecting normal moral development (Kohlberg)
Whereas Piaget was mainly interested in cognitive development and Bandura behavioural
development, Freud was interested in emotional development. Freud's psychodynamic
approach argued that a child's early experiences will shape its personality in later life.
He believed that all children pass through a number of psycho-sexual stages as they
develop. Freud's study of Little Hans provides a detailed account of a young boy
coming to terms with his emotional conflicts. Freud's emphasis on the early years
being important for later development has been extended by psychologists interested
in the concept of attachments. Other psychodynamic psychologists such as Bowlby
have popularised the ideas that a baby must have an emotional bond with its mother
during the first two years of its life. Bowlby argued that if this bond was not
developed during this time there would be negative consequences for the child. These
consequences would be a lack of social, emotional and intellectual development.
Thigpen and Cleckley considered that early developmental problems in Eve Whites life
were largely responsible for her developing Multiple Personality Disorder (DID).
One of the great advantages of developmental psychology is that it has enabled people
like educators or carers of young children to identity early signals when development is
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not progressing within a normal range. It has also helped identify, when things do go
wrong, what we can specifically do to help.

Study 1 from the

developmental approach: (4)

Study 2 from the

developmental approach: (4)

a. Using your knowledge of psychology, briefly outline the developmental approach

(4)
b. Describe two pieces of research that use the developmental approach (8)
c. Using examples of research that you have studied discuss the strengths and
limitations of explaining behaviour using only the developmental approach (12)
d. Compare the developmental approach with any one other approach in psychology
(8)
e. Discuss how the developmental approach can help our understanding of everyday
life (8)

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