Humanities and Social Sciences

Introduction

This assessment covers the three most prominent approaches and statements regarding them which are either in support of the approaches or disagreeing with the approaches including the three approaches are- behaviourism, biological and psychodynamic. All these three approaches are parts of psychological theory studies where all of them perform differently according to their usage, nature and working pattern. The strengths and weaknesses of all these three approaches are discussed so that they can be implemented while arguing regarding their nature and topics related with them. Relevant to these approaches, some ideas were presented which will support them and their implementation in real scenarios.

Behaviourism Approach

Explaining behaviourism approach

The Behaviourism approach is concerned with only the observable stimulus-response behaviours because these behaviours can be able to stud in a fully systematic and observable manner. The Behaviourist approach updated by Dr. Saul McLeod in the year 2020 or in other words the Behaviourism approach which also has the known name of behavioural psychology, which is a theory of learning that states all the human behaviours which people learn from the interaction with the societal environment via a process which is called conditioning. So, the Behaviourism approach is a simple response to the environmental stimuli of the society. As suggested by Gomes and Neves (2019) the basic assumption of the behaviourism theory or approach states that any new behaviour is learned by an individual through the operant conditioning which has another name of the learning theory, which emphasises that the role of all the environmental factors which influences the human behaviour is much nearer to the exclusion of all those innate or the inherited factors of the essentially focuses on the primary learning. The theories always support the empirical data that is obtained very carefully through the controlled observation and measurement of human behaviour. Smith (2020) stated that the components of the behaviourism theory need to be as simple as possible proposing the usage of operational definitions that clearly defines all the variables in terms of observable, measurable events.

Strengths/weaknesses of behaviourism approach

The strengths and weaknesses of the behaviourism theory or approach are:

Scientific credibility – It is basically emphasising the significance of all scientific processes including objectivity and replication where the behaviourism approach is influential regarding the development of psychological studies as the scientific discipline by giving it a greater credibility and a better status

Real-life application – Fortune and Heffernan (2021) stated that the operant conditioning method is the primary basis of the token economy system which has been utilised successfully in various institutions dealing with real scenarios which includes cases like in prisons and in psychiatric wards too.

Mechanistic view of behaviour – From the perspective of a behaviourist, animals & humans both are seen as machine-like and passive responders of the environment, with either little or no conscious insights into their behaviour which means learning theory can be applied to human less than to animal behaviour.

Environmental determinism – Everything that we do is the summative total of our reinforcement history. It generally ignores all the possibilities that will influence freeness in the behaviour. This behaviourist approach covers all the behavioural traits all of which are determined by the past experiences being conditioned.

Ethical and practical issues – The experimental procedures enables behaviourists in maintaining a high degree of control over the experimental subjects with many critics which questioned the ethics of conducting like investigation (Jongen et al. 2018).

Statement supporting the Behaviourism theory

The behaviourism approach or theory is also popular in various treating therapies which reveal that in treating phobia, the behavioural strategies involves forming new & positive associations with all fearful objects or situations. For instance, a person may practice various relaxation techniques when they get exposed to their fear. Lebel (2017) suggested the statement that eventually, this association with relaxation responses sometimes replaces the anxiety response. This theory mainly addresses complex thoughts and feelings which interact to determine any particular behavioural trait. It is also the most rapid theory to address phobias (Kok et al. 2018). This approach is something which is important not only because of the matters related with health care costs but it also facilitates helping many people in coping with all the situations which are sometimes difficult to treat the respective concerns.

Biological Approach

Explaining biological approach

The biological approach of psychology is one of the ways which can conceptualise and explicates all human experiences. This particular approach always seeks to give explanation on mental processes and behavioural traits by focusing on all the function of human nervous system of the structural & cellular level. The biological perspective of approach is a way which looks at all psychological issues by studying the physical basis for human & animal behaviours (SpringerLink, 2018). It is one of such an essential & major perspective of psychology that involves things such as studying the brain, nervous system, immune system and genetics too. Biological psychology theory which is also known by the name of physiological psychology is a study of the biology of behavioural traits where it significantly focuses on human nervous system, hormones and genetics. The biological theory strongly believes that human behaviour to be a consequence of human genetics and physiological matters (Goldman et al. 2017). It is only this approach in psychology which examines each and every thoughts, feelings, and behaviours from the biological perspective along with physical view point. Biological psychology theory examines the relationship in between mind and body, neural mechanisms & the influence of heredity on human behaviour. All thoughts, feeling & behaviour ultimately persists a biological cause to occur.

Strengths/weaknesses of biological approach

The strengths and weaknesses are:

Statement supporting the Biological theory

The biological theory explains that the acquisition of phobic disorders establishes the fact that phobias are caused by genetic issues, innate its influences and the principles of the topic biochemistry (Mayo et al. 2020). Consequently, phobias are often treated with a class of various antidepressants which are known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Normally the serotonin is released from a specific nerve cell into the synaptic gap between cells. It recognises the second nerve cell, which later transmits the signal towards brain cells. For some people, this is an obvious environmental cause or any life event which creates the phobia. And for others, it is a stronger genetic predisposition. According to Lonsdorf and Merz (2017) both the biology and environment come up together to play the role in developing the phobia. It stays amidst the synaptic gap for processing the further stimulation of the second nerve cell to brain. SSRI is not only that medication which is used in the treatment of phobias but these are among those which are the most effective ones. However these must be utilised with full caution that too particularly among the young people since these can have serious side effects on the human body (Nature Neuroscience, 2019). This theory specifically recognises the over-sensitive fearful responses which may be inherited, causing the abnormal levels of anxiety in human.

Psychodynamic Approach

Explaining psychodynamic approach

The psychodynamic approach or theory is basically a psychological theory developed by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and later his followers continued to apply and explain the origins of human behaviour. This psychodynamic approach includes that all the relevant theories in psychology says that see the human functioning based upon the interaction of driving the forces within a person is particularly unconscious in nature and is between the different structures of each personality. Freud's psychoanalysis contains both the theory and therapy alongside. The terms psychodynamic and psychoanalytic seems to be confusing but Freud’s theories made people remember that these were psychoanalytic. Whereas, the term ‘psychodynamic’ refers mainly both the theories of Freud and all of his followers too. Sigmund Freud in between the years 1890s to 1930s has developed a huge collection of such theories which formed the base of the psychodynamic approach of psychology. The psychodynamic therapist usually treats the patients having depression or anxiety related disorders. The most eminent and basic assumptions says that the human feelings, moves, behaviours and decisions are actually taken powerfully by getting influenced by the past experiences of them and then stored in the unconscious state. The unconscious human mind comprises the mental processes which are in state of inaccessible to consciousness but that will influence human judgments, feelings & behaviours.

Strengths/weaknesses of psychodynamic approach

Strengths and weaknesses of the psychodynamic approach can be listed as:

Strengths

One of the strength of this psychodynamic theory presents that it focuses on the impacts of the childhood experiences which have effect on the developing of personalities. Christopoulou (2018) defined that it seemed to be a strong point because Freud was the first ever psychologist to feel & realise the value of childhood. Later, it also led to other psychologists in realising the fact that it includes developing of the theories in childhood.

One of the strength of the psychodynamic theory stated that it covers both the nature and nurture into account and this makes it a strength which emphasises the significance of both. As an example, Freud's assumption states that regarding the childhood experiences which focuses on nurturing whereas the ID, Ego and Super-ego focuses on the nature.

Weaknesses

One major weakness of the psychodynamic approach says that this theory is unfalsifiable in nature. This point seems to be a weakness because the assumptions given were not scientifically measured or proved right or wrong in its state. As an example of this approach, it can be identified as the idea of the human mind which is being split into three different parts.

Another weakness of the psychodynamic approach is analysed that this theory is too deterministic in nature. Felix (2019) opined that this is identified as a weakness since it suggests the thought that the human behaviour is pre-determined and people do not have their free will in it whose example is the psychosexual stages in people.

Statement supporting the Psychodynamic theory

It is always believed that the phobias are the summative product of all the unresolved conflicts between the id and the superego natures of human. Cohen and Kaplan (2020) said psychoanalysts generally believed that these conflicts are mainly originated from the childhood period & are later either repressed or re displaced on the feared objects. The object of the phobia is not mainly the original source of the anxiety. Sigmund Freud who is the father of psychoanalysis & its relative theories are sometimes considered as the father of modern psychology approach. Uddin and Uddin (2021) stated that the ideas and concepts attempt the method to explain the dynamics of the entire unconscious minds. According to Freud a human mind consists of three primary parts: id, ego, and superego. The psychodynamic therapy is also very helpful in recognising, understanding, expressing and overcoming all the conflicts too.

Conclusion

The Behaviourist approach updated in the year 2020 is the Behaviourism approach which also has the known name of behavioural psychology, which is a theory of learning that states all the human behaviours which people learn from the interaction with the societal environment via a process which is called conditioning. The biological perspective of approach is a way which looks at all psychological issues by studying the physical basis for human & animal behaviours. Lastly, the psychodynamic approach see the human functioning based upon the interaction of driving the forces within a person is particularly unconscious in nature and is between the different structures of each personality.

Bibliography

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