Comparison of the five approaches: Similarities between the approaches

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Questions from this subtopic

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1. 1

   On the free will and determinism debate, which of the five approaches is the odd one out, and why?

   Model answer

   The positive approach is, because it is the only one to make free will an explicit founding assumption. Of the other four, the biological, psychodynamic and behaviourist approaches are hard determinist, while the cognitive approach is usually classed as soft determinist: thinking is shaped by schemas and processing limits, but people can consciously change how they think.

2. 2

   Name the form of determinism adopted by each of the four non-positive approaches.

   Model answer

   The biological approach takes biological determinism, the psychodynamic approach psychic determinism, the behaviourist approach environmental determinism, and the cognitive approach soft determinism.

3. 3

   Which two approaches occupy the extreme ends of the nature-nurture debate, and how?

   Model answer

   The biological approach sits at the nature end, explaining behaviour by evolution, brain structure and neurotransmitters, while the behaviourist approach sits at the nurture end with its blank slate assumption; the psychodynamic, cognitive and positive approaches are all interactionist, combining innate drives, innate processing capacity or inherited temperament with what experience and choice make of them.

4. 4

   Rank the five approaches from most reductionist to most holistic.

   Model answer

   The biological approach is the most reductionist, reducing behaviour to neurotransmitters and brain regions, followed by the behaviourist approach reducing it to stimulus and response and the cognitive approach reducing it to information processing; the psychodynamic approach is less reductionist because it treats the whole dynamic personality, and the positive approach is the most holistic in dealing with meaning, values and the whole person.

5. 5

   Which approach is generally judged the most scientific and which the least, and on what grounds?

   Model answer

   The biological approach is the most scientific because it measures brain activity and biochemistry objectively with replicable techniques, while the psychodynamic approach is the least scientific because its constructs are unobservable and its interpretations unfalsifiable; the positive approach also scores poorly because free will cannot be falsified and its outcome data are self-reported.

6. 6

   Compare the approaches on the idiographic-nomothetic distinction.

   Model answer

   The biological, behaviourist and cognitive approaches are nomothetic, seeking general laws from group data; the psychodynamic approach is largely idiographic, building theory from individual case studies; and the positive approach uses both, with nomothetic population surveys of well-being but idiographic work on an individual's own strengths and chosen goals.

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