Levels of Analysis

Modern Approaches/Perspectives Evolutionary Biological Cognitive Behavioral Psychoanalytical Humanistic Approach Cross-Cultural

Evolutionary Approach Focus: How nature selects traits that promote the perpetuation of one’s genes. Survival. Influenced by Charles Darwin Evolutionary Approach focuses on how nature selects traits that promote the perpetuation of one’s genes. Evolutionary Psychologists want to learn how evolution influences behavior tendencies. Example: Someone working from this perspective might analyze how test anxiety or amount of stress experienced facilitated the survival of our ancestors’ genes.

Psychoanalytical Approach Focus: How behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts Early Childhood Dreams Sigmund Freud The psychoanalytical approach is based on the belief that childhood experiences greatly influence the development of later personality traits and psychological problems. It also stresses the influence of unconscious fears, desires, and motivations on thoughts and behaviors. Example: Is test anxiety related to procrastination? Obvious reasons for why some may procrastinate are laziness, lacking motivation, lack of organization skills….etc. Psychoanalysts would want to look beyond the obvious and delve into possible unconscious reasons such as …low self esteem, too dependent on others, a strong fear of failure.

Biological Approach Focus: How the body and brain create emotion, memories, and sensory experiences. Brain structures, blood chemistry, neural communication. Roger Sperry, Michael Gazzaniga, Paul Broca The biological approach examines how our genes, hormones, and nervous system interact with our environments to influence learning, personality, memory, motivation, emotions, coping techniques, and other traits and abilities. Example: Why do my hands sweat? Sweaty hands often indicate stress. Stressful thoughts can trigger palmar sweating, which is one measure of the emotional component of test anxiety.

Cognitive Approach Focus: How we encode, process, store, and retrieve information. Jean Piaget, Elizabeth Loftus, Hermann Ebbinghaus The Cognitive approach focuses on how we process, store, and use information and how this information influences what we attend to, perceive, learn, remember, believe, and feel. Example: Can you worry too much? How will my test performance be affected if I worry too much ? Cognitive psychologists have identified a second component, the cognitive component, which is excessive worrying, (usually about doing poorly on a test) Too much worrying can interfere with reading comprehension, and accuracy.

Behavioral Approach Focus: Learning based on how a behavior is rewarded or punished. John Watson, B.F. Skinner, Ivan Pavlov Behavioral approach analyzes how organisms learn new behaviors or modify existing ones depending on whether events in their environments reward or punish these behaviors. Example: Can I redirect my worrying? Can one learn how to channel worry into studying for exams? Self-Management practices (Select time and place for studying, reward yourself for studying, keep records of time spent studying, establish priorities, complete one task before moving on.

Humanistic Approach Focus: Emphasizes that we have great freedom in directing our future, a large capacity for growth, intrinsic worth, and self-actualization. Abraham Maslow Carl Rogers Humanistic approach emphasizes that each individual has great freedom in directing his or her future, a large capacity for achieving personal growth, a considerable amount of intrinsic worth, and enormous potential for self-fulfillment. Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow are associated with this perspective. Example: How can students reach their potential? We get tests back…look at the grade.. Researchers want to know if you would give different reasons for earning high scores than for earning low scores. External/Internal Locus of Control, Intrinsic/Extrinsic Motivations, Self Efficacy.

Social-Cultural Approach Focus: How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures. Albert Bandura, Phillip Zimbardo Cross Cultural approach studies the influence of cultural and ethnic similarities and differences on psychological and social functioning. Example: How do other cultures deal with test anxiety? Culture plays an important rolw in determining the intensity and expression of anxiety. For example, the highest test anxiety scores were reported by students in Egypt, Jordan, and Hungary. Lowest in China, Japan, Italy and Netherlands. US lies somewhere in the middle. Cultural factors that play a role in determining levels of test anxiety include importance of academic success, career opportunities, parental expectations, perceptions of being evaluated, and student’s expectations.

Which Perspective?? Dr. A is interested in studying the different attitudes about the elderly among North American and Japanese adults. Dr. A has found that the Japanese show more respect and responsibility toward elderly parents, and wishes to understand the cultural norms that contribute to these attitudes.

Which Perspective?? Prof. B studies the attention process involved when people search for specified objects by measuring the amounts of blood flow to various portions of the brain while a participant engages in a letter detection task.

Which Perspective?? Dr. C tries to help a client stop smoking by understanding the unconscious reasons for the client’s need to smoke. Dr. C encourages the client to talk about his childhood conflicts with his parents.

Which Perspective?? Dr. Dre tries to help a client stop smoking by telling her to keep a careful record of the number of cigarettes smoked and the particular people or situations who are a part of her smoking behavior. She keeps these records as a way of uncovering the factors that reward her for smoking, so that she may later remove those rewards.

Which Perspective?? Prof. E studies the factors that help or hinder students in memorizing information from textbooks. The professor systematically varies task characteristics such as textbook difficulty in an effort to understand the underlying memory processes involved in reading a textbook.

Which Perspective?? Dr. F is working to help a seriously depressed man become a productive member of society again. She points out to her client his potential for personal growth and his obvious love for his family, and reminds him of his many successes in professional and personal activities.

Goals of Psychology

Where Do Psychologists Work? 49% Private Practice-Therapy Setting-Clinical Psychologist 28% Academic Setting- Research (Basic/Applied, Professor) 13% Variety –(Social Work, Group Home Coordinator) 6% Industrial/Organization Setting (Production Manager) 4% Secondary Schools-(School Psychologist/Counselor)