Approaches in Psychology

What are Approaches in Psychology?

Approaches in psychology are called schools of thought. In psychology, there are five main approaches biological, cognitive, psychodynamic, behavioural and humanistic. Each of these major approaches in psychology explains human behaviour differently and prefers differing research methods to investigate these.

Approaches in Psychology: The Psychodynamic Approach

In the late 1900s, Sigmund Freud established the psychodynamic approach, a personality theory that emphasised unconsciousness.

Freud argued that human behaviour emerged as a consequence of the interaction of the components of the psyche (mind). These were: the id, the ego and the superego.

Further, Freud argued that the psyche develops during the psychosexual stages of development; during these stages, children receive pleasure from different body regions. Children becoming fixated on a stage can lead to psychological illnesses.

Freud explained that individuals use defence mechanisms to deal with the conflict between the id, the ego and the superego. Some examples of defence mechanisms are repression and denial.

• Repression is when someone hides a memory deep into their unconscious, so it isn't easy to access it consciously.
• Denial is when someone does not accept something as reality, e.g. may think it was a dream.

Learning Approaches: Psychology

Psychology underwent a dramatic change in the early 1900s. Moving away from Freud's ideas of the conscious mind, psychology was dominated by the scientific view and focused on observable and measurable behaviour. This is how behaviourism was born.

Behaviourists stress that we are all born as blank slates and can learn to be anything through our experiences.

Learning Approaches: Classical Conditioning

Ivan Pavlov developed the theory of classical conditioning. Pavlov conducted an experiment with dogs and argued that learning occurs when an involuntary reflex is associated with a new stimulus.

Classical conditioning occurs when a neutral stimulus (such as a bell) is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (food) that occurs naturally. Eventually, the neutral stimulus evokes the same response (salivation) as the naturally occurring stimulus. Pavlov explained that this process would take place in three steps:

The main idea of this theory is that learning occurs through association.

Learning Approaches: Operant Conditioning

Operant conditioning is a theory developed by Skinner (1948), who demonstrated that learning occurs after associating behaviour with a consequence; such a consequence could either be a punishment or a reinforcement.

Skinner used the "Skinner box" with rats and pigeons; the animal was placed in a box where they could move freely. In the box, there was a level; when pressed, it would reward the animal with food. The animal eventually learned the association between the behaviour (pressing the lever) and the reinforcement (food).

Skinner suggested that punishments decrease the likelihood of the behaviour happening, while reinforcements increase the likelihood of the behaviour occurring again.

Approaches in Psychology: The Humanistic Approach

The humanistic approach supports the individual to fulfil their potential and maximise their well-being. It states that people need to be viewed as a whole. According to this approach, we have the innate capacity for self-actualisation, which is the desire to be the best version of ourselves. Another assumption of the approach is that humans have free will.

Abraham Maslow was a humanistic psychologist who developed the hierarchy of needs theory. This theory suggests that four previous stages must be achieved before self-actualisation. The five components of the self-actualisation theory are:

1. Psychological needs refer to the basic needs of a human to function, such as water, food, sleep and a home.
2. Safety refers to the protection from violence and the presence of well-being and emotional stability.
3. Love and belonging refer to social interactions with friends and family.
4. Self-confidence refers to believing that one is valuable and has potential for personal worth.
5. Self-actualisation refers to the fulfilment of a person and their potential.

Fig. 1 - Maslow's hierarchy of needs suggests individuals must follow through each stage sequentially to achieve self-actualisation

Cognitive Approaches in Psychology

The cognitive approach believes that to understand human thinking, one must explain the internal processes in the brain.

The cognitive approach in psychology often compares the mind to a computer, called the information-processing model. The brain receives an input (stimuli), and the internal mental processes give an order of what to do with it, which leads to an output.

Neuroscience is a relatively new cognitive approach in psychology that involves investigating brain functionality using brain imaging techniques.

The Biological Approach: Psychology

The biological approach assumes that all human behaviour has a biological origin and highlights the importance of understanding internal biological structures, hormones, genes, the nervous system and neurochemistry.

The biological approach emphasises the role of biology in determining human behaviour. This approach focuses on biological systems at various levels:

• Damage to brain regions can cause atypical behaviour.
• Evolutionary influences.
• Irregular neurotransmitters, e.g. too high or too low, can cause atypical behaviour.
• Genetics, the genes we inherit from our parents, i.e. mutations of genes are associated with specific mental illnesses, can lead to the onset of mental illnesses. Family studies and twin research have supported this.

Approaches and Research Methods in Psychology

As we discussed earlier, the approaches in psychology explain human behaviour differently but also use different research methods to back the theories they proposed.

The psychology approaches can either take an idiographic or nomothetic approach.

Psychology Approaches Comparison Table

The table below summarises and compares the different approaches in psychology.