help i have to compare and contrast 2 phychological approaches/ perspectives i don't know where to start?

Question

I am doing an access course and haven't had any info on this subject yet it was an independent task but I am struggling i always listen in class and want to do well which is why i am asking for help not horrible sarcastic answers Thank you

p.s soory for the spelling mistake just was rushing

* sorry
*psychology

Answer 1

You could choose nature/nurture. It's all to do with personality traits and whether we are born with them or our environmental surroundings influence them. The biological and environmental approach. If you use these two you will answer the question. Nature/Biological theorists suggest that we are born with our personality traits. Nurture/environmental theorists suggest that our upbringing and surroundings influence this. You could also bring in attachment and how that might affect this.


Dustin you could do with finding the right way to spell "Psychology" too! lol

Answer 2

Get a few psychology books out of the library. A great one I had for my access course was "Psychology for A Level" by Cardwell, Clark and Meldrum. Another good one at a higher level is by Gross called "Psychology: The science of mind and behaviour". Although any books should have the different approaches in.

These are basically different ways of explaining how people behave and experience things. The approaches are:-

'biological approach' - what we are made up of
'evolutionary approach' - how we evolved
'psychodynamic approach' what we feel
'behavioural approach' what we do
'cognitive approach' what we think.

Have a look at them in some books then choose two, make notes from each of the books about the approaches then you wil begin to understand the differences between them and the strenghts and limitations of them both.

Eg, biological approach would view schizophrenia as a medical (biological) problem in the brain and treat it with drugs. But a cognitive view of schizophrenia would be therapy to teach a person how to alter their thought pattern. A behavioural approach would be teaching the person new behaviours to replace any old disruptive ones.

Generally all perspectives will be taken when trying to understand why a person does things, there might be a biological, cognitive and behavioural reason for instance and all would need addressing. But its important to understand each perspective individually first.

Hope this helps and good luck.

Answer 3

I did the access course and we had to choose a topic and then compare and contrast it from a physiological viewpoint and a behaviourist viewpoint. I did my essay on eating disorders and thus compared and contrasted the viewpoints of the behaviorists approach and the physiological approach in the development of eating disorders. Basically when asked to compare and contrast you are being asked to compare the similarities and differences.

So take the behaviourist and physiological viewpoints for example.
They are similar in that they both take a deterministic viewpoint of behaviour in that behaviour is out of ones control.
They are different in that one argues for nature (physiological) and the other argues for nurture (behaviourist).
This is a start, and obviosly I am not going to give you all the answers because you need to learn for yourself (I mean that in the nicest possible way). But what I would say is look over what you have learnt so far. Look at the strengths and weaknesses of each approach - by doing this you can start seeing similarities and differences.

Answer 4

Compare and contrast means look at the similarities and differences between 2 things. The most commonly taught approaches are:

Physiological (biological)/medical model
Psychodynamic
Cognitive
Behavioural.

A useful way of starting would be to pick 2 approaches (Behavioural and physiological would be good because as the other people on here said these 2 approaches appear to take completely opposite views of behaviour and are therefore part of a great nature/nurture debate in Psychology which you may already know about), draw up a table listing each approach, the main assumption (idea) of each one and their similarities and differences (these can be in terms of methods of investigation. Main assumptions, and strengths & weaknesses) and then bring up the points listed in each table as separate paragraphs when completeing your assignment/exam question. In your conclusion, you could then say which approach is better and why or even say that neither approach is better and perhaps a combined approach is best when explaining & treating behaviour (e.g. the Diathesis stress model as an explanation for mental disorders-for further details on this approach, see my list of recommended books and websites). E.g.

Approach:

1. Behavioural-all behaviour is learned. Explained in terms of stimulus-response patterns.

2. Physiological-all behaviour is innate (inborn). Explained in terms of biology (brain structures, genes and chemicals).


similarities:

1. Both use animal studies as support for their approaches.

Differences:

1. Use different types of treatments for abnormal behvaiour-physiological approach uses treatments which change the biological workings of our body, such as drugs and psychosurgery (rarely performed nowadays), whereas behaviourism uses treaments to change our behaviour, such as aversion therapy (when giving up bad habits, such as smoking).

Hope this helps!

If not, you may find the following links useful:

Books:

Psychology for A2 Level-Cardwell, M, Clark, L, Meldrum, C

Psychology for A2 Level-Eysenck, M

A2 Psychology: the complete companion-Cardwell, M and Flanagan, C

Gross, R-The Science of Mind and Behaviour

Websites:

www.psyonline.org.uk

Free resources for Psychology students and teachers, especially those studying the AQA A exam specification

http://www.gerardkeegan.co.uk/

As above, especially those studying for Scottish highers

www.s-cool.co.uk

Excellent quick learn resources for A level Psychology revision

www.freewebs.com/psychedout

My free non-commerical, non profit making teacher resource website. this website contains all the resources used in my Psychology classes. It also contains an e-mail link if you need any extra help.


By the way, if you're struggling, go and talk to your teacher. If he/she is doing a good job, he/she will care about you and want you to do the best that you can! If this means going over things again that you find more difficult, then that's what he/she will do, so keep asking! Also, the chances are that you're not the only one who isn't sure what to do for this task (they just may not be brave enough to say so on here or in front of everyone else)!

Lots of luck with the rest of your course! I'm sure that you'll do very well on it! ;-)

PS. Will everyone else please lay off the sarcasm! It's not easy for people to admit that they need help!

Answer 5

Julius Caesar and the fictional Emperor Palpatine --both lived in a Republic --both gradually gained greater power through popular support --both gained supreme power (responsible for turning a republic into an empire--in a way) --both had an imperial guard/army (lol I had fun with this but it's not really relevant)---how about Hannibal Barca and Alexander the Great (both great military leaders and I can't be bothered to list their similarities and differences)

Answer 6

Find some dimensions along which you wish to make the comparison. For example, "How does each theory deal with the individual? How does each theory deal with the individual within family? How does each theory deal with the individual within social group?" Or, "What does each theory say about the development of personality/intelligence?" Just a couple examples. There is no right or wrong way as long as you make a coherent analysis.

Answer 7

It's talking about comparing either psychodynamic approach, behaviourism, cognitive approach, humanism or biopsychology. You compare their methods, their theories on the same topics, their fundamenta beliefs, their positions in the mind/body, nature nurture, freewill determinism etc debates. its an easy question, you'll do great :)

Answer 8

You could use type vs. trait approach to personality, nature vs. nurture, behaviourism vs. cognitivism. Happily psychology is littered with diametrically opposed theories. It usually turns out to be a bit of both.

Answer 9

You should have listened in class, i'm sure nobody is asking you to do something that you haven't recieved background instruction on. See your tutor.

Answer 10

You could start by spelling "Phychology" right?