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The Different Approaches

The problems you wish to investigate
are tied to a number of theoretical
approaches to psychology
There are six basic approaches to the
study of psychology (some
psychologists also include a seventh
approach)
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Seven Approaches
Evolutionary
1.

2. Biological
3. Behavioral
4. Cognitive
5. Humanistic
6. Psychodynamic
7. Sociocultural
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Overview of Each Approach
Biological: Focuses primarily on the
activities of the nervous system, the
brain, hormones, and genetics

Psychodynamic: Emphasizes internal,

unconscious conflicts; the focus is on
sexual and aggressive instincts that
collide with cultural norms
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Behavioral: Examines the learning
process, focusing in particular on
the influence of rewards and
punishments
Evolutionary: Investigates how
primal survival instincts can
influence behavior
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Cognitive: Focuses on the mechanisms
through which people receive, store,
and process information

Humanistic: Emphasizes an
individual’s potential for growth and
the role of perception in guiding mental
processes and behavior
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Sociocultural: Explores how
behavior is shaped by history,
society, and culture

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 The Evolutionary Approach
is focused in the direction of Charles
Darwin and his evolution .

 is focused on how evolution has shaped

the mind and behavior.

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 Natural Selection
An evolutionary process in which
individuals of a species that are
best adapted to their environments
are the ones most likely to survive;
they then pass on these traits to
their offspring

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James’s Adaptation of
Darwin’s Principles

“The most adaptive behaviors in

an individual are the ones that
grow stronger and become
habitual.”

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 The Adaptive Value
Evolutionary psychology examines
behaviors in terms of their adaptive
value for a species over the course of
many generations

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Examples
Mating preferences,
 jealousy,
 aggression,
sexual behavior,
 language,
 decision making,
personality,
 development
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The Biological perspective
Behavior and mental processes are largely
shaped by biological processes

It is not identified with any single

contributor
 The Biological Focus

The brain and central nervous system

Sensation and perception
Autonomic nervous system
Endocrine system
Heredity and genetics

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The sleep-wake cycle

Understanding the physical bases of

mental illnesses such as depression and
schizophrenia

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 Howard Gardner
Studied brain damage and neurological
disorders
Created the theory of multiple
intelligences
The different types of intelligence

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 Hans Eysenck
Importance of genetics
Intelligence is inherited
Personality has a biological component
Hierarchy of personality traits

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 Roger Sperry
Split-brain surgery
Techniques for measuring the different
functions of the hemispheres of the brain
Application: epilepsy

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 William James
Humans are motivated by a variety of
biological instincts
Instincts are inherited tendencies
The father of American psychology

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 Masters & Johnson
Study of human sexuality

They used physiological recording devices

to monitor bodily changes of volunteers
engaging in sexual activity

Insights into sexual problems

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 The Psychodynamic
Approach
Examines unconscious motives influenced
by experiences in early childhood and how
these motives govern personality and
mental disorders

Free association and psychoanalysis

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•HISTORY
•
•Anna O a patient of Dr. Joseph Breuer suffered
from hysteria

•In 1895 Breuer and his assistant, Sigmund

Freud, wrote a book, Studies on Hysteria

• By 1896 Freud had found the key to his own

system, naming it psychoanalysis
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•In 1900 Freud published his first major
work, The Interpretation of Dreams

•In 1902 Freud founded the Psychological

Wednesday Society, later transformed into
the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society

•In the years following the visit to the United

States, the International Psychoanalytic
Association was founded
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• Freud designated Carl Jung as his successor to
lead the Association

•Jung's (1907) study of schizophrenia, The

Psychology of Dementia Praecox, led him into
collaboration with Sigmund Freud.

•Jung's close collaboration with Freud lasted

until 1913.
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•Jung had become increasingly critical of
Freud's exclusively sexual definition of libido
and incest

•Jung developed his own theories systematically

under the name of Analytical Psychology

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•Anna Freud (Freud's daughter) became a major
force in British psychology, specializing in the
application of psychoanalysis to children.
Among her best known works is The Ego and
the Mechanism of defense(1936).

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 Sigmund Freud

The “Father of psychoanalysis”

 This is a personality theory

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 conscious
preconscious
 unconscious

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STRUCTURE OF PERSONALITY

 id
 ego
 superego

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PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES OF
DEVELOPMENT
 ORALSTAGE(0-2)
 ANAL STAGE(2-3)
 PHALLIC STAGE(3-7)
 LATENCY STAGE(7-11)
 GENITAL STAGE(11--)

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ANXIETY DIFENSE MECHANISM

ANXIETY: Unpleasant feelings of tension or

worry experienced by individuals in reaction to
unacceptable wishes or impulses

DEFENSE MECHANISM: Techniques used by

the ego to keep threatening and unacceptable
material out of consciousness and so to reduce
anxiety
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DIFENCE MECHANISMS

 denial
 displacement
 projection
 regression
 repression
 sublimation

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 Carl Jung
Analytical psychology

Personal and collective unconscious

Archetypes

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 Alfred Adler
Individual psychology
Striving for perfection,
compensation,
inferiority complex
Ordinal position

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 Anna Freud

Founder of child psychoanalysis

Defense mechanisms

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 What Is Behaviorism?
Focuses on observable behavior and the
role of learning in behavior

Behaviorism continues to influence

modern psychology

The role of reward and punishment in

learning
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Applications of Behaviorism
Aggression
Drug abuse
Self-confidence issues
Overeating
Criminality

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John Watson
The father of behaviorism

Psychology should become a science of

behavior

Environment molds the behavior of us all

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Ivan Pavlov
Nobel Prize winner
Psychic reflexes
Classical conditioning

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B.F. Skinner

A strict behaviorist

Operant conditioning: rewards and

punishments

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Edward Thorndike
Studied animal thinking and reasoning
abilities

The puzzle box, instrumental learning

Laid the groundwork for operant

conditioning

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•The Humanistic approach has emerged in the
late 1960’s, primarily as a reaction to the two
major views of humanity popular at that time

•The Freudian perspective and its emphasis on

unconscious sexual and aggressive instincts

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•The behavioral perspective, and its emphasis
on the mechanical nature of responses to stimuli
in the environment. The humanistic perspective,
thus, as been called the “third force”.

•The founders of the Humanistic Approach,

Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow, were
both therapists

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•At that time, the Freudian model of therapy was
popular, viewing the therapist as an expert who
tells the client what is the problem

•Rogers maintained that it was only the client

that is responsible for the therapeutic direction

•The therapist can create conditions for self-

exploration.
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Key Elements of the
Humanistic Perspective
Emphasis on personal growth—
Rogers called this ”becoming a fully
functioning, while Maslow referred to
this idea as “self-actualization”.

An optimistic view of human

potential
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 Carl Rogers
In the 1940s, humanism began to receive
attention because of Rogers

Human behavior is governed by each

individual’s sense of self

The drive for personal growth

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• The role of the therapist is to create an
atmosphere of “unconditional positive
regard” to enable the client’s self-exploration
and becoming “fully functioning”.

• Paraphrasing and reflection of feelings were

methods to facilitate self-exploration

• Rogers described the “fully- functioning

person” as an ideal for healthy personality.

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Application of the
Humanistic Approach

Greatest contribution comes in the

area of therapy

Client-centered therapy

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 Abraham Maslow
Hierarchy of needs, theory of motivation

Becoming fully self-actualized

Emphasis on uniqueness

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Criticisms of the
Humanistic Approach
Not all people have the same needs or
meet them in a hierarchical fashion

The humanistic approach is vague

and unscientific

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 The Cognitive Perspective
Studies people’s mental processes in an effort to
understand how humans gain knowledge about
the world around them

Cognition = Latin for “knowledge”

How we learn, form concepts, solve problems,

make decisions, use language

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An “unobservable” mental process

The study of consciousness,

physiological determinants of behavior

1950s-1960s: new understanding of

children’s cognitive development
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The manipulation of mental images can
influence how people behave

The focus is not on “overt” behavior

The cognitive method can be studied

objectively and scientifically

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Human behavior can be explained as a
set of scientific processes.

Our behavior can be explained as a series

of responses to external stimuli.

Behavior is controlled by our own

thought processes, as opposed to genetic
factors.
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 Aaron Beck
A cognitive therapist

Maladaptive thought patterns cause a

distorted view of oneself that leads to
problems

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• one's thoughts and beliefs affect one’s behavior

• dysfunctional behavior is caused due to

dysfunctional thinking, and that thinking is
shaped by our beliefs

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This approach emphasizes the
influence of the society that we living
on our learning process.

 cultural factors such as language, art,

social norms and social structures can
play a significant role in the
development of our cognitive abilities.
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 Vygotsky: Father of sociocultural
approach

He proposed that interactions made

by children can shape and influence
both the way in which they perceive
the world and their cognitive processes

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three methods which are used to teach children
skills.
1)imitative learning,
2) instructed learning, and
3) collaborative learning.

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Sociocultural Issues
Ethnicity
Gender issues
Lifestyles
Income
The influence of
culture on behavior
and the mental
process

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 Abnormal psychology
 child psychology
 counseling psychology
 criminal psychology
 forensic psychology
 health psychology
 industrial psychology
Personality psychology

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social psychology
 sports psychology
 educational psychology
 physiological psychology
 school psychology
Military psychology

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