Approaches in Psychology

Origins and the learning approaches

In 1879, Wilhelm Wundt opened the first psychology lab and used introspection (trained people describing their own thoughts). It was hard to check, so later psychologists wanted more objective methods.

• Behaviourist approach (from 1913): study only what can be seen. Behaviour is learned by classical conditioning (learning by association) and operant conditioning (learning by reward and punishment).
• Social learning theory: we also learn by watching and imitating models, especially if they are rewarded (vicarious reinforcement). It adds thinking: attention, memory, motivation.

The cognitive approach

• Studies internal mental processes: perception, memory, attention, thinking. These cannot be seen, so psychologists make inferences from behaviour.
• Schemas: packages of ideas built from experience. They help us process information fast but can cause errors.
• Theoretical and computer models: e.g. the information-processing model (input → process → output) and comparing the mind to a computer.
• Cognitive neuroscience: uses brain scans (such as fMRI) to link mental processes to brain areas.

Strengths: scientific, lab-based; useful applications (e.g. therapy for depression). Limitations: machine reductionism (ignores emotion), artificial tasks.

The biological approach

• Genes: twin studies compare concordance rates in identical twins (share 100% of genes) and non-identical twins (about 50%).
• Genotype vs phenotype: genes you carry vs how they show, which depends on environment.
• Neurochemistry: neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine carry signals; imbalances are linked to conditions such as depression.
• Evolution: behaviours that helped survival and reproduction were naturally selected and passed on.

Strengths: scientific, objective; led to drug treatments. Limitations: biological determinism and reductionism; hard to separate genes from environment.

The psychodynamic approach

• The unconscious: a hidden store of thoughts and memories that still drives behaviour (the iceberg below water).
• Structure of personality: id (pleasure principle, from birth), ego (reality principle, mediates), superego (morality, forms around age 5).
• Defence mechanisms used by the ego to reduce anxiety: repression (pushing memories out of awareness), denial (refusing to accept reality), displacement (moving feelings onto a safer target).
• Psychosexual stages: oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital. Unresolved conflict can lead to fixation.

Strengths: introduced talking therapy; explains behaviour across the lifespan. Limitations: many ideas cannot be tested (unfalsifiable); based on case studies; psychic determinism.

The humanistic approach

• Free will: people can make choices and are not fully driven by forces.
• Maslow's hierarchy of needs: physiological → safety → love and belonging → esteem → self-actualisation (reaching your potential). Lower needs come first.
• Self and congruence (Rogers): the self-concept is how we see ourselves; the ideal self is who we want to be. A big gap is incongruence, causing distress. Conditions of worth (love only if you behave a certain way) increase the gap; unconditional positive regard helps close it.
• Counselling: client-centred therapy is warm, non-judgemental and empathic.

Strengths: positive, holistic. Limitations: vague ideas, hard to test; may reflect individualist (Western) values.

Comparing approaches

Many modern psychologists take an eclectic (mixed) view, e.g. the diathesis-stress model: a biological weakness plus life stress together cause a disorder.

Try it: one problem, five lenses

Pick a behaviour, such as a friend who is scared of dogs. Write one sentence on how each approach explains it and one way each would help. Then use the free-play step to see where each approach stands.

Key formulas and definitions

• Key term: Approach = a set of assumptions about the causes of behaviour and how to study it
• Key term: Schema = mental package of knowledge; Inference = conclusion about mind drawn from behaviour
• Key term: Concordance rate = how often both twins share a trait; Neurotransmitter = brain chemical messenger
• Key term: Id / Ego / Superego = pleasure / reality / morality parts of personality; Defence mechanism = unconscious way of reducing anxiety
• Key term: Self-actualisation = reaching one's full potential; Congruence = match between self-concept and ideal self
• Key term: Determinism = behaviour caused by forces; Free will = we choose; Reductionism = explaining by simplest parts

Worked examples

Common mistakes

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