1. Overview
Homework card/checklist

2. Housekeeping activities
Homework card (catch up with summer homework: check on Wednesday)
What are you going to learn this term?

3. Term One Week Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Lesson 3 1
Introductory lesson/ Psych as a science
Overview of the approaches
Introspection 2 RM
Behaviouist
SLT 3
TEST
Behaviourist/SLT evaluation
Biological 4
evaluation
Cognitive 5
Essay writing 6
MEMORY

4. What does this parable suggest about psychology?

5. Why are there different approaches in psychology?
The ‘idea’ of an approach is that psychologists tend to have a general view of what causes behaviour
Each approach looks at human behaviour from a different perspective.
No approach is right and the others wrong but some are more useful than others depending on what we try to explain.
Some of the approaches think that the way we behave is largely inherited; others believe it is largely learned through your life experiences
The approaches to psychology are each partly right but also partly wrong because they do not necessarily make connections with each other and look at the big picture. To truly understand psychology we need to be able to understand each of the approaches. The idea of an ‘approach’ is that psychologists tend to have a general view of what causes behaviour. Some of them think that the way we behave is largely inherited; others believe it is largely learned through your life experience.

6. Nature or Nurture?
The approaches to psychology are each partly right but also partly wrong because they do not necessarily make connections with each other and look at the big picture. To truly understand psychology we need to be able to understand each of the approaches. The idea of an ‘approach’ is that psychologists tend to have a general view of what causes behaviour. Some of them think that the way we behave is largely inherited; others believe it is largely learned through your life experience.

7. Objectives To be able to outline the approaches in psychology.
To outline the main assumptions of each approach in psychology
To create a timeline of the approaches in psychology

8. Approaches based on assumptions
All approaches are based on assumptions, (belief that something is a fact)
For example the biological approach is based on the assumption that biological factors such as the level of serotonin in the synapses influence our behaviour.
The first step when studying an approach is to look at what are its main assumptions.

9. Activity 1
On your table, select one of the main approaches. Using your summer homework, resources provided and the internet, find the following:
Psychologists associated with the approach
Main assumptions
Key terms
Important dates
15 minutes

10. Approaches Behaviourist approach Social Learning Theory
Cognitive approach
Biological approach
Humanistic approach
Psychodynamic approach

11. Feedback Behaviourist approach Social Learning Theory
Cognitive approach
Biological approach
Humanistic approach
Psychodynamic approach
You have 3 minutes each to feedback to your group, the information that you found out about your researched approach.

12. As a group, how would you explain Lewis’s behaviour?
Lewis had problems keeping down relationships. He had a number of romantic relationships but they never lasted. He was often left feeling unsatisfied and pessimistic about his romantic future. Lewis’s friends argue that he is always looking for perfection in his romantic partners and that he sets himself up for disappointment as no one can live up to his expectations.
print

13. Individually: Apply Task
Explain a students poor performance on their exams using the assumptions from each approach
An inappropriate level of emotional arousal (i.e test anxiety) is preventing the student from performing at an optimal level)

14. Which approach do the following assumptions belong to?
The human mind processes information much the same as a computer
Classical conditioning and operant conditioning can be used to explain behaviour
Twin studies are often used by this approach
Behavioural traits and abnormalities may be inherited from our parents, experiences in the environment
The individual uses defence mechanisms to protect themselves from harmful thoughts and feelings
Each individual is unique, and their subjective experience should be studied
Faulty thought processes lead to behavioural abnormalities
Most of our personality is made up of the unconscious

15. Creation of the timeline
In your group, create a poster for your approach. The poster must contain the following information:
Psychologists associated with the approach
Main assumptions
Key terms
Important dates
You have the rest of the lesson to create your poster. The more creative they are, the better!

16. Psychology has its roots in 17th and early 19th century philosophy and was indeed once known as experimental philosophy.
1879
Wilhelm Wundt
Opens the first experimental lab and psychology emerges as a distinct discipline. He studied the structure of the human mind, by breaking down behaviours into their basic elements.
1950s
Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow reject the ideas favoured by behaviourism and the psychodynamic approach. Humanistic psychologists emphasise the importance of self-determination and free will
1913
J.B Watson rejecting the vagueness of introspection instead focusing on how we are a product of our learning, experience and environment.
Thus, the behaviourist approach was established
1900s
Sigmund Freud emphasised the influence of the unconscious mind and the psychodynamic approach is established

17. The emergence of psychology as a science
Even though the scientific method is still a major cornerstone in psychology, it has come a long way since its early beginnings
1960s
With the introduction of the computer, psychologists applied the analogy of the workings of a computer to the human mind. Cognitive psychology studied the working of the internal mind in a more scientific way than Wundt’s earlier investigations
1960s
Around the time of the cognitive revolution, Albert Bandura proposes the social learning theory. This provided a bridge between behaviourism and cognitive psychology
1980 onwards
The biological approach begins to establish itself as the dominant scientific perspective in psychology. Advances in technology have lead to increased understanding of the brain and biological processes
Eve of the 21st century
Cognitive neuroscience emerges as a distinct discipline bringing together the cognitive and biological approaches.