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Simply Psychology - Psychodynamic Approach

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Simply Psychology - Psychodynamic Approach

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The psychodynamic approach in psychology emphasizes unconscious processes and unresolved past conflicts as influences on behavior. Rooted in Freud's theories, it explores the interplay of drives, desires, and defense mechanisms in shaping personality and behavior.

Sigmund Freud (writing between the 1890s and the 1930s) developed a collection of theories which have formed the basis of the psychodynamic approach to psychology.

Key Features
* Tripartite Personality
* Psychosexual Stages
* Unconscious Mind
* Drive / Instinct Theory
* Defence Mechanisms
* Oedipus / Electra Complex

Assumptions
* The causes of behavior have their origin in the unconscious mind.
* Psychic determinism: all behavior has a cause/reason. E.g., slips of the tongue (we have no free will).
* Behaviour is motivated by instinctual drives, Eros (Life) & Thanatos (Death).
* Different parts of the unconscious mind are in constant struggle (id, ego, and superego).
* Our behavior and feelings as adults (including psychological problems) are rooted in our childhood experiences (psycho-sexual stages)

Methodology
* Case Studies (Little Hans)
* Dream Analysis
* Free Association
* Projective Tests (TAT, Inkblots)
* Clinical interviews
* Hypnosis

Strengths
* First "talking cure": psychoanalysis
* Importance of childhood
* Personality theory
* Recognition that some physical symptoms may have psychological (emotional) causes
* Play therapy (Anna Freud)

Weaknesses
* Unfalsifiable
* Subjective interpretation
* Lacks empirical evidence)
* Deterministic (little free will)
* Unrepresentative sample
* Reductionist: ignores cognitive processes

Theoretical assumptions in psychology are basic statements or beliefs that provide a framework for understanding human behavior. They also help researchers to develop new theories and to test existing theories.

Importance of the unconscious mind

The unconscious mind comprises mental processes inaccessible to consciousness that influence judgment, feelings, or behavior (Wilson, 2002).

According to the psychodynamic approach, the unconscious is the part of the mind that contains things we are unaware of, such as feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories.

According to Freud (1915), the unconscious mind is the primary source of human behavior. Like an iceberg, the most important part of the mind is the part you cannot see. Our feelings, motives, and decisions are powerfully influenced by past experiences and stored in the unconscious.

Most of the content of the unconscious is unacceptable or unpleasant and could cause feelings of pain, anxiety, or conflict if it becomes conscious.

For example, hysteria is an example of a physical symptom that has no physical cause though the ailment is just as real as if it had, but rather is caused by some underlying unconscious problem.

The unconscious is seen as a vital part of the individual. It is irrational, emotional, and has no concept of reality which is why its attempts to leak out must be inhibited.

The role of the unconscious mind is to protect the ego from this content. However, according to Freud, the content of the unconscious motivates our feelings, motives, and decisions.

Importance of early experience

Our behavior and feelings as adults (including psychological problems) are rooted in our childhood experiences.

The psychodynamic theory states that events in our childhood have a significant influence on our adult lives, shaping our personality.

Personality is shaped as the drives are modified by different conflicts at different times in childhood (during psychosexual development).

Freud's theory of psychosexual stages of development predicated that childhood experiences create the adult personality. Events that occur in childhood can remain in the unconscious and cause problems as adults, such as mental illness.

Psychic determinism

Psychodynamic theory is strongly determinist as it views our behavior as entirely caused by unconscious emotional drives over which we have no control.

Unconscious thoughts and feelings can transfer to the conscious mind through parapraxes, popularly known as Freudian slips or slips of the tongue. We reveal what is really on our minds by saying something we didn't mean to.

Freud believed that slips of the tongue provided an insight into the unconscious mind and that there were no accidents, every behavior (including slips of the tongue) was significant (i.e., all behavior is determined).

Behavior can be explained in terms of the inner conflicts of the mind

Personality comprises three parts (i.e., tripartite): the id, ego, and super-ego. Parts of the unconscious mind (the id and superego) are in constant conflict with the conscious part of the mind (the ego).

The id is the primitive and instinctive component of personality. It consists of all the inherited (i.e., biological) components of personality present at birth, including the sex (life) instinct - Eros (which contains the libido), and the aggressive (death) instinct - Thanatos.

The ego develops to mediate between the unrealistic id and the external real world. It is the decision-making component of personality.

The superego incorporates society's values and morals, which are learned from one's parents and others. It has two components: the ego ideal, which sets the standards, and the conscience, which produces guilt.

When unconscious conflicts between the id and the superego cannot be resolved by the ego, they create anxiety. To reduce this anxiety, we use defense mechanisms such as repression.

To be mentally healthy, the ego has to be able to balance the demands of the ego and the superego. If the superego is dominant, the individual might develop a neurosis e.g., depression. If the id is dominant, the individual might develop a psychosis e.g., schizophrenia.

According to the psychodynamic approach, the therapist would resolve the problem by assisting the client to delve back into their childhood and identify when the problem arose.

Having identified the problem, this can be brought into the conscious, where the imbalance can be resolved, returning equanimity between the id, ego, and superego.

Consequently, the defense mechanisms will only operate at the maintenance level, and the mental illness will be cured.

Key Figures

Sigmund Freud: Freud is the founder of psychoanalysis and the psychodynamic approach. He developed many key concepts of psychodynamic theory, such as the unconscious mind, psychosexual development, and defense mechanisms.

Carl Jung: Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and one of Freud's closest collaborators. However, he later broke away from Freud to develop his theory of personality, known as Jungian analysis. Jung's theory emphasized the importance of the collective unconscious, a shared reservoir of knowledge and experience inherited from our ancestors.

Alfred Adler: Adler was another Austrian psychiatrist who was a student of Freud's. However, he later broke away from Freud to develop his theory of personality, known as individual psychology. Adler's theory emphasized the importance of striving for superiority and belonging.

Melanie Klein: Klein was a British psychoanalyst who contributed significantly to understanding early childhood development and child psychopathology.

Karen Horney: Horney was a German-American psychoanalyst who was one of the first female psychoanalysts to be taken seriously. Her work focused on the impact of social and cultural factors on personality development. Horney believed that anxiety was the root cause of all psychopathology.

Erik Erikson: Erikson was a German-American psychoanalyst who developed the theory of psychosocial development. Erikson's theory describes the eight stages of development that people go through from birth to death.

Psychodynamic vs Psychoanalytic

Both psychodynamic and psychoanalytic theories originate from the ideas of Sigmund Freud, but they have different applications and emphases.

Historical Timeline

Anna O, a patient of Dr. Joseph Breuer (Freud's mentor and friend) from 1800 to 1882 suffered from hysteria.

In 1895 Breuer and his assistant, Sigmund Freud, wrote a book, Studies on Hysteria. In it they explained their theory: Every hysteria is the result of a traumatic experience, one that cannot be integrated into the person's understanding of the world. The publication establishes Freud as "the father of psychoanalysis.

By 1896, Freud had found the key to his own system, naming it psychoanalysis. In it, he had replaced hypnosis with "free association."

In 1900, Freud published his first major work, The Interpretation of Dreams, which established the importance of psychoanalytical movement.

In 1902, Freud founded the Psychological Wednesday Society, later transformed into the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society.

As the organization grew, Freud established an inner circle of devoted followers, the so-called "Committee" (including Sàndor Ferenczi, and Hanns Sachs (standing) Otto Rank, Karl Abraham, Max Eitingon, and Ernest Jones).

Freud and his colleagues came to Massachusetts in 1909 to lecture on their new methods of understanding mental illness. .Those in attendance included some of the country's most important intellectual figures, such as William James, Franz Boas, and Adolf Meyer.

In the years following the visit to the United States, the International Psychoanalytic Association was founded. Freud designated Carl Jung as his successor to lead the Association, and chapters were created in major cities in Europe and elsewhere. .

Regular meetings or congresses were held to discuss the theory, therapy, and cultural applications of the new discipline.

Carl Jung's study on schizophrenia, The Psychology of Dementia Praecox, led him into collaboration with Sigmund Freud.

Jung's close collaboration with Freud lasted until 1913. Jung had become increasingly critical of Freud's exclusively sexual definition of libido and incest. The publication of Jung's Wandlungen und Symbole der Libido (known in English as The Psychology of the Unconscious) led to a final break.

Following his emergence from this period of crisis, Jung developed his own theories systematically under the name of Analytical Psychology. Jung's concepts of the collective unconscious and the archetypes led him to explore religion in the East and West, myths, alchemy, and later flying saucers.

Melanie Klein took psychoanalytic thinking in a new direction by recognizing the importance of our earliest childhood experiences in the formation of our adult emotional world. .After becoming a full member of the Berlin Psychoanalytic Society in 1923, Klein embarks upon her first analysis of a child.

Extending and developing Sigmund Freud's ideas, Klein drew on her analysis of children's play to formulate new concepts such as the paranoid-schizoid position and the depressive position.

Alfred Adler (1927) thought that the basic psychological element of neurosis was a sense of inferiority and that individuals suffering with the symptoms of this phenomenon spent their lives trying to overcome the feelings without ever being in touch with reality

Wilhelm Reich (1933) was a psychoanalyst who developed a number of radical psychoanalytical and physical theories. An apprentice of Freud, he believed that neuroses, as well as physical illnesses such as cancer, derived from a lack of "orgone energy" in the body.

Anna Freud (Freud's daughter) became a major force in British psychology, specializing in the application of psychoanalysis to children. Among her best known works are The Ego and the Mechanism of defense (1936).

Erich Fromm, born in Frankfurt, was educated in Heidelberg and Munich before establishing a private psychotherapy practice in 1925. Fromm began as a disciple of Sigmund Freud, combining his psychological theories with Karl Marx's social principle.

Free Will vs Determinism

It is strongly determinist as it views our behavior as caused entirely by unconscious factors over which we have no control.

Nature vs. Nurture

Sigmund Freud believed both nature (innate drives) and nurture (early life experiences) played crucial roles in human development. For Freud, the interplay of nature and nurture was central to understanding human psychology.

He posited that individuals have inborn instincts and drives, like the id's desires. Simultaneously, he emphasized the profound impact of early childhood experiences, especially within the family dynamic, on personality and behavior.

The psychodynamic approach argues that we are driven by innate biological instincts, represented by the Id (nature), but the ways these instincts are expressed are shaped by our social and cultural environment, such as early childhood experiences (nurture).

Holism vs. Reductionism

The psychodynamic approach is determinist as it rejects the idea of free will. A person's behavior is determined by their unconscious motives which are shaped by their biological drives and their early experiences.

Idiographic vs. Nomothetic

Freud argued that human behavior is governed by universal processes that apply to everyone e.g. the tripartite structure of the mind (nomothetic).

However, he also proposed that the ways in which these processes manifest themselves in the individual is unique (idiographic).

Are the research methods used scientific?

The concepts proposed by Freud cannot be tested empirically. The theory is not falsifiable. If people behave in the way predicted by the theory, it is viewed as a support; if they don't, it is argued that they are using defense mechanisms.

Critical Evaluation

The psychodynamic approach has given rise to one of the first "talking cure", psychoanalysis, on which many psychological therapies are now based. Psychoanalysis is rarely used now in its original form, but it is still used in a shorter version in some cases.

Psychoanalytic therapy has been seen as appropriate mainly for the neurotic disorders (e.g. anxiety and eating disorders) rather than for the psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. It is also used for depression although its effectiveness in this area is more questionable because of the apathetic nature of the depressive patients.

Bachrach et al., (1991) suggests that psychoanalysis may not be appropriate for patients suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder in that it may inadvertently increase their tendency to over-interpret events in their life.

One of the very influential concept put forward by Freud is the lasting importance of childhood on later life and development. This has influenced Bowlby's theory of attachment. John Bowlby (1952) was a psychoanalyst (like Freud) and believed that mental health and behavioral problems could be attributed to early childhood.

The greatest criticism of the psychodynamic approach is that it is unscientific in its analysis of human behavior. Many of the concepts central to Freud's theories are subjective and as such, difficult to test scientifically.

For example, how can scientifically study concepts like the unconscious mind or the tripartite personality? In this respect, it could be argued that the psychodynamic perspective is unfalsifiable as its theories cannot be empirically investigated.

However, cognitive psychology has identified unconscious processes, such as procedural memory (Tulving, 1972), automatic processing (Bargh & Chartrand, 1999; Stroop, 1935), and social psychology have shown the importance of implicit processing (Greenwald & Banaji, 1995). Such empirical findings have demonstrated the role of unconscious processes in human behavior.

The concepts of id, ego and superego are very abstract and difficult to test experimentally, so evidence is obtained from case studies ( Little Hans, and Anna O). However, the sample used in these case studies is mainly Austrian, so lacks population validity.

Kline (1989) argues that psychodynamic theory comprises a series of hypotheses, some more easily tested than others and some with more supporting evidence than others. Also, while the theories of the psychodynamic approach may not be easily tested, this does not mean that it does not have strong explanatory power.

The main problem here is that the case studies are based on studying one person in detail, and concerning Freud, the individuals in question are most often middle-aged women from Vienna (i.e., his patients). This makes generalizations to the wider population (e.g., the whole world) difficult.

Another problem with the case study method is that it is susceptible to researcher bias. Reexamination of Freud's own clinical work suggests that he sometimes distorted his patients" case histories to "fit" with his theory (Sulloway, 1991).

The humanistic approach criticizes that the psychodynamic perspective is too deterministic. Freud suggests that all thoughts, behaviors, and emotions are determined by our childhood experiences and unconscious mental processes. This is a weakness because it suggests we have no conscious free will over our behavior, leaving little room for the idea of personal agency (i.e., free will).

The individual is not seen as responsible for their disorders however as the conflicts which lead to the disorder are unconscious there is nothing they can do about it without an analyst, they are disempowered.

The psychodynamic approach can be criticized for being sexist against women. For example, Freud believed that females" penis envy made them inferior to males. He also thought that females tended to develop weaker superegos and more prone to anxiety than males.

Finally, it cannot explain the biological symptoms observed in some disorders such as enlarged ventricles in schizophrenics.

References

Adler, A., Jelliffe, S. Ely. (1917). Study of Organ Inferiority and its Psychical Compensation: A Contribution to Clinical Medicine. New York: Nervous and Mental Disease Publishing Company.

Adler, A. (1927). Understanding human nature. New York: Greenburg.

Bachrach, H. M., Galatzer-Levy, R., Skolnikoff, A., & Waldron Jr, S. (1991). On the efficacy of psychoanalysis. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 39(4), 871-916.

Bargh, J. A., & Chartrand, T. L. (1999). The unbearable automaticity of being. American psychologist, 54(7), 462.

Bowlby, J. (1952). Maternal care and mental health. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 16(3), 232.

Erikson, E. H. (1950). Childhood and society. New York: Norton.

Freud, A. (1936). Ego & the mechanisms of defense.

Freud, S., & Breuer. J. (1895). Studies on hysteria. In Standard edition (Vol. 2, pp. 1-335).

Freud, S. (1896). Heredity and the etiology of the neuroses. In Standard edition (Vol. 3, pp. 142-156).

Freud, S. (1900). The interpretation of dreams. In Standard edition (Vols. 4 & 5, pp. 1-627).

Freud, S. (1909). Notes upon a case of obsessional neurosis. In Standard edition (Vol. 10, pp. 153-249).

Freud, S. (1909). Analysis of a phobia of a five year old boy. In The Pelican Freud Library (1977), Vol 8, Case Histories 1, pages 169-306.

Freud, S. (1915). The unconscious. SE, 14: 159-204.

Freud, A. (1936). The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense. International Universities Press, Inc.

Fromm, E. (1959). Psychoanalysis and Zen buddhism. Psychologia, 2(2), 79-99.

Greenwald, A. G., & Banaji, M. R. (1995). Implicit social cognition: attitudes, self-esteem, and stereotypes. Psychological review, 102(1), 4.

Jung, C. G. (1907). Ueber die Psychologie der Dementia praecox. Psychological Bulletin, 4(6), 196-197.

Jung, C. G. (1912). Wandlungen und Symbole der Libido: Beiträge zur Entwicklungsgeschichte des Denkens. F. Deuticke.

Jung, C. G., et al. (1964). Man and his Symbols, New York, N.Y.: Anchor Books, Doubleday.

Kline, P. (1989). Objective tests of Freud's theories. Psychology Survey, 7, 127-45.

Stroop, J. R. (1935). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of experimental psychology, 18(6), 643.

Sulloway, F. J. (1991). Reassessing Freud's case histories: The social construction of psychoanalysis. Isis, 82(2), 245-275.

Tulving, E. (1972). Episodic and semantic memory. In E. Tulving & W. Donaldson (Eds.), Organization of Memory, (pp. 381-403). New York: Academic Press.

Reich, W. (1933). On character analysis. The Psychoanalytic Review (1913-1957), 20, 89.

Wilson, T. D. (2004). Strangers to ourselves. Harvard University Press.

FAQs

Is there a difference between psychodynamic and psychoanalytic?

The words psychodynamic and psychoanalytic are often confused. Remember that Freud's theories were psychoanalytic, whereas the term 'psychodynamic' refers to both his theories and those of his followers.

What is psychodynamic in simple terms?

Sigmund Freud highlights the role of the unconscious mind, the structure of personality, and the influence that childhood experiences have on later life.

Freud believed that the unconscious mind determines most of our behavior and that we are motivated by unconscious emotional drives.

Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc
BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education

Associate Editor for Simply Psychology

Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.

Saul Mcleod, PhD
Educator, Researcher

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul Mcleod, Ph.D., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years experience of working in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

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The psychodynamic approach in psychology emphasizes unconscious processes and unresolved past conflicts as influences on behavior. Rooted in Freud's theories, it explores the interplay of drives, desires, and defense mechanisms in shaping personality and behavior.

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Key assumptions of the Psychodynamic Approach

Unconscious activity is the key determinate of how we behave.

We possess innate 'drives' (or 'instincts') that 'energize' our minds to motivate behaviour as we develop through our lives.

Our [three-part] personality - the psyche - is comprised of the ID, ego and superego.

Childhood experiences have significant importance in determining our personality when we reach adulthood.

The Role of the Unconscious

ID - driving us to satisfy selfish urges (i.e. acts according to the 'pleasure principle') (exists from birth).

Ego - acts rationally, balancing the ID and the superego (i.e. acts according to the 'reality principle') (develops years 2-4).

Superego - concerned with keeping to moral norms (i.e. acts according to the 'morality principle'), and attempts to control a powerful ID with feelings of guilt (develops years 4-5).

The psyche, forming the structure of personality, has three parts:

Psychosexual Stages

Oral - sucking behaviour (0-18 months)

Anal - holding or discarding faeces (18 months - 3.5 years)

Phallic - fixation on genitals (3.5 - 6 years)

Latency - repressed sexual urges (6 years - puberty)

Genital - awakened sexual urges (puberty onwards)

Freud also thought that humans progress through 'psychosexual stages', during the development of the psyche. He named five stages, each with a particular characteristic behaviour:

Freud claimed that, during development, becoming fixated on one of these stages would restrict full development result in displaying specific personality symptoms. An 'anally retentive' personality is one such symptom - he proposed that when conflict occurs over potty training, a person could become fixated on cleanliness and orderliness to an extreme.

Ego Defence Mechanisms

Repression - burying an unpleasant thought or desire in the unconscious (e.g. traumatic childhood experiences may be repressed and so forgotten).

Displacement - emotions are directed away from their source or target, towards other things (e.g. wringing a dishcloth in anger, which would have otherwise been directed at the cat scratching the furniture).

Denial - a threatening thought is ignored or treated as if it were not true (e.g. a wife might find evidence that her husband is cheating on her, but explain it away using other reasons).

The ego balances potential conflict between the ID and superego, and tries to reduce anxiety. In areas of significant conflict, the ego can redirect psychic energy using 'defense mechanisms'. Three key mechanisms Freud proposed are:

Research methods used by the approach

Free association - expressing immediate [unconscious] thoughts, as they happen

Dream interpretation - analysing the latent content (i.e. underlying meaning) of manifest content (i.e. what was remembered from the dream).

Freud's psychoanalytical theory was based on case studies, which gather large amounts of detailed information about individuals or small groups. These cases were of patients with which he used psychoanalysis ('talking cures'), the aim of which to bring unconscious mental activity to the conscious to release anxiety. Techniques to do this include:

Current psychologists using the psychodynamic approach still utilize case study evidence (e.g. recording psychoanalytic interviews) to provide proof of their explanations.
Strengths
Evaluation of the psychodynamic approach/methods

- Freud highlighted a widely accepted link between childhood experience and adult characteristics.

- Case study methodology embraces our complex behaviour by gathering rich information, and on an individual basis - an idiographic approach - when conducting research.

- Some evidence supports the existence of ego defence mechanisms such as repression, e.g. adults can forget traumatic child sexual abuse (Williams, 1994).
Weaknesses
- Modern day psychiatry still utilizes Freudian psychoanalytic techniques.

- It could be argued that Freud's approach overemphasises childhood experience as the source of abnormality (although modern psychodynamic theories give more recognition to the adult problems of everyday life, such as the effects of negative interpersonal relationships).

- By using case studies to support theories, the approach does not use controlled experiments to collect empirical evidence, so is considered far less scientific than other approaches.

- Case study evidence is difficult to generalise to wider populations.

- Many of Freud's ideas are considered non-falsifiable - theories may appear to reflect evidence, but you cannot observe the relevant constructs directly (namely the unconscious mind) to test them scientifically, such that they could be proved wrong. Philosopher of science Karl Popper famously argued that a theory is not scientific if it is not falsifiable.

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The Psychodynamic Approach | Psychology | tutor2u

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Sigmund Freud - psychiatrist, neurologist and key pioneer of the psychodynamic approach (including his psychoanalytic theory of personality) - theorised that our mental activity is mostly unconscious, and it is this unconscious activity that causes our behaviour.

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Case Study Summary Little Hans was a 5-year-old boy with a phobia of horses. Like all clinical case studies, the primary aim was to treat the phobia. However, Freud’s therapeutic input in this case was

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Hence, even in the domain of natural science the aid of the experimental method becomes indispensable whenever the problem set is the analysis of transient and impermanent phenomena, and not merely the observation of persistent and relatively constant objects.

Wilhelm Wundt

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Mediational processes occur between stimulus and response:

The behaviorists approach only studies external observable (stimulus and response) behavior that can be objectively measured.

They believe that internal behavior cannot be studied because we cannot see what happens in a person's mind (and therefore cannot objectively measure it).

However, cognitive psychologists regard it as essential to look at the mental processes of an organism and how these influence behavior.

Cognitive psychology assumes a mediational process occurs between stimulus/input and response/output.

These are mediational processes because they mediate (i.e., go-between) between the stimulus and the response. They come after the stimulus and before the response.

Instead of the simple stimulus-response links proposed by behaviorism, the mediational processes of the organism are essential to understand. Without this understanding, psychologists cannot have a complete understanding of behavior.

The mediational (i.e., mental) event could be memory, perception, attention or problem-solving, etc.

For example, the cognitive approach suggests that problem gambling is a result of maladaptive thinking and faulty cognitions. These both result in illogical errors being drawn, for example gamblers misjudge the amount of skill involved with 'chance' games so are likely to participate with the mindset that the odds are in their favour so they may have a good chance of winning.

Therefore, cognitive psychologists say that if you want to understand behavior, you must understand these mediational processes.

Psychology should be seen as a science:

The cognitive approach believes that internal mental behavior can be scientifically studied using controlled experiments. They use the results of their investigations as the basis for making inferences about mental processes.

Cognitive psychology uses laboratory experiments that are highly controlled so they avoid the influence of extraneous variables. This allows the researcher to establish a causal relationship between the independent and dependent variables.

Cognitive psychologists measure behavior that provides information about cognitive processes (e.g., verbal protocols of thinking aloud). They also measure physiological indicators of brain activity, such as neuroimages (PET and fMRI).

For example, brain imaging fMRI and PET scans map areas of the brain to cognitive function, allowing the processing of information by centers in the brain to be seen directly. Such processing causes the area of the brain involved to increase metabolism and "light up" on the scan.

These controlled experiments are replicable, and the data obtained is objective (not influenced by an individual's judgment or opinion) and measurable. This gives psychology more credibility.

Replicability is a crucial concept of science as it ensures that people can validate research by repeating the experiment to ensure that an accurate conclusion has been reached.

Without replicability, a scientific finding may be invalid as it cannot be falsified. Additionally, scientific research relies on the peer review of research to ensure that the research is justifiable.

Without replicability, it would be impossible to justify the accuracy of the research.

Humans are information processors:

Cognitive psychology has been influenced by developments in computer science and analogies are often made between how a computer works and how we process information.

Information processing in humans resembles that in computers, and is based on transforming information, storing and processing information, and retrieving information from memory.

Information processing models of cognitive processes such as memory and attention assume that mental processes follow a linear sequence.

For example:

Input processes are concerned with the analysis of the stimuli.

Storage processes cover everything that happens to stimuli internally in the brain and can include coding and manipulation of the stimuli.

Output processes are responsible for preparing an appropriate response to a stimulus.

This has led to models which show information flowing through the cognitive system, such as the multi-store model of memory.

Information Processing Paradigm

The cognitive approach began to revolutionize psychology in the late 1950s and early 1960s to become the dominant approach (i.e., perspective) in psychology by the late 1970s. Interest in mental processes was gradually restored through the work of Jean Piaget and Edward Tolman.

Tolman was a 'soft behaviorist'. His book Purposive Behavior in Animals and Man in 1932 described research that behaviorism found difficult to explain. The behaviorists' view was that learning occurred due to associations between stimuli and responses.

However, Tolman suggested that learning was based on the relationships formed amongst stimuli. He referred to these relationships as cognitive maps.

But the arrival of the computer gave cognitive psychology the terminology and metaphor it needed to investigate the human mind.

The start of the use of computers allowed psychologists to try to understand the complexities of human cognition by comparing it with something simpler and better understood, i.e., an artificial system such as a computer.

The use of the computer as a tool for thinking about how the human mind handles information is known as the computer analogy. Essentially, a computer codes (i.e., changes) information, stores information, uses information and produces an output (retrieves info).

The idea of information processing was adopted by cognitive psychologists as a model of how human thought works.

The information processing approach is based on several assumptions, including:

1. Information made available from the environment is processed by a series of processing systems (e.g., attention, perception, short-term memory);

2. These processing systems transform, or alter the information in systematic ways;

3. The aim of research is to specify the processes and structures that underlie cognitive performance;

4. Information processing in humans resembles that in computers.

The Role of Schemas

Schemas can often affect cognitive processing (a mental framework of beliefs and expectations developed from experience). As you get older, these become more detailed and sophisticated.

A schema is a "packet of information" or cognitive framework that helps us organize and interpret information. They are based on our previous experience.

Schemas help us to interpret incoming information quickly and effectively; this prevents us from being overwhelmed by the vast amount of information we perceive in our environment.

However, it can also lead to distortion of this information as we select and interpret environmental stimuli using schemas that might not be relevant.

This could be the cause of inaccuracies in areas such as eyewitness testimony. It can also explain some errors we make when perceiving optical illusions.

History of Cognitive Psychology

Kohler (1925) published a book called, The Mentality of Apes. In it, he reported observations which suggested that animals could show insightful behavior. He rejected behaviorism in favour of an approach which became known as Gestalt psychology.

Norbert Wiener (1948) published Cybernetics: or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, introducing terms such as input and output.

Tolman (1948) work on cognitive maps - training rats in mazes, showed that animals had an internal representation of behavior.

Birth of Cognitive Psychology often dated back to George Miller's (1956) " The Magical Number 7 Plus or Minus 2: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information." Milner argued that short-term memory could only hold about seven pieces of information, called chunks.

Newell and Simon's (1972) development of the General Problem Solver.

In 1960, Miller founded the Center for Cognitive Studies at Harvard with the famous cognitivist developmentalist, Jerome Bruner.

Ulric Neisser (1967) publishes " Cognitive Psychology", which marks the official beginning of the cognitive approach.

Process models of memory Atkinson & Shiffrin's (1968) Multi-Store Model.

The cognitive approach is highly influential in all areas of psychology (e.g., biological, social, neuroscience, developmental, etc.).

Issues and Debates

Free will vs. Determinism

The position of the cognitive approach is unclear as it argues, on the one hand, the way we process information is determined by our experience (schemas).

On the other hand in, the therapy derived from the approach (CBT) argues that we can change the way we think.

Nature vs. Nurture

The cognitive approach takes an interactionist view of the debate as it argues that our behavior is influenced by learning and experience (nurture), but also by some of our brains' innate capacities as information processors e.g., language acquisition (nature).

Holism vs. Reductionism

The cognitive approach tends to be reductionist as when studying a variable, it isolates processes such as memory from other cognitive processes.

However, in our normal life, we would use many cognitive processes simultaneously, so it lacks validity.

Idiographic vs. Nomothetic

It is a nomothetic approach as it focuses on establishing theories on information processing that apply to all people.

Critical Evaluation

B.F. Skinner criticizes the cognitive approach as he believes that only external stimulus-response behavior should be studied as this can be scientifically measured.

Therefore, mediation processes (between stimulus and response) do not exist as they cannot be seen and measured. Due to its subjective and unscientific nature, Skinner continues to find problems with cognitive research methods, namely introspection (as used by Wilhelm Wundt).

Humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers believes that the use of laboratory experiments by cognitive psychology has low ecological validity and creates an artificial environment due to the control over variables. Rogers emphasizes a more holistic approach to understanding behavior.

The cognitive approach uses a very scientific method which are controlled and replicable, so the results are reliable. However, experiments lack ecological validity because of the artificiality of the tasks and environment, so it might not reflect the way people process information in their everyday life.

For example, Baddeley (1966) used lists of words to find out the encoding used by LTM, however, these words had no meaning to the participants, so the way they used their memory in this task was probably very different than they would have done if the words had meaning for them. This is a weakness as the theories might not explain how memory works outside the laboratory.

These are used to study rare conditions which provide an insight on the working of some mental processes i.e. Clive Wearing, HM. Although case studies deal with very small sample so the results cannot be generalized to the wider population as they are influenced by individual characteristics, they allow us to study cases which could not be produced experimentally because of ethical and practical reasons.

The information processing paradigm of cognitive psychology views the minds in terms of a computer when processing information. However, although there are similarities between the human mind and the operations of a computer (inputs and outputs, storage systems, the use of a central processor), the computer analogy has been criticized by many.

The approach is reductionist as it does not consider emotions and motivation, which influence the processing of information and memory. For example, according to the Yerkes-Dodson law anxiety can influence our memory.

Such machine reductionism (simplicity) ignores the influence of human emotion and motivation on the cognitive system and how this may affect our ability to process information.

Behaviorism assumes that people are born a blank slate (tabula rasa) and are not born with cognitive functions like schemas, memory or perception.

The cognitive approach does not always recognize physical ( biological psychology) and environmental (behaviorist approach) factors in determining behavior.

Cognitive psychology has influenced and integrated with many other approaches and areas of study to produce, for example, social learning theory, cognitive neuropsychology, and artificial intelligence (AI).

Another strength is that the research conducted in this area of psychology very often has applications in the real world.

For example, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has been very effective in treating depression (Hollon & Beck, 1994), and moderately effective for anxiety problems (Beck, 1993). CBT's basis is to change how the person processes their thoughts to make them more rational or positive.

By highlighting the importance of cognitive processing, the cognitive approach can explain mental disorders such as depression, where Beck argues that it is the negative schemas we hold about the self, the world, and the future which lead to depression rather than external events.

References

Atkinson, R. C., & Shiffrin, R. M. (1968). Chapter: Human memory: A proposed system and its control processes. In Spence, K. W., & Spence, J. T. The psychology of learning and motivation (Volume 2). New York: Academic Press. pp. 89-195.

Beck, A. T, & Steer, R. A. (1993). Beck Anxiety Inventory Manual. San Antonio: Harcourt Brace and Company.

Hollon, S. D., & Beck, A. T. (1994). Cognitive and cognitive-behavioral therapies. In A. E. Bergin & S.L. Garfield (Eds.), Handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change (pp. 428-466). New York: Wiley.

Köhler, W. (1925). An aspect of Gestalt psychology. The Pedagogical Seminary and Journal of Genetic Psychology, 32(4), 691-723.

Miller, G. A. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two: some limits on our capacity for processing information. Psychological Review, 63 (2): 81-97.

Neisser, U (1967). Cognitive psychology. Appleton-Century-Crofts: New York

Newell, A., & Simon, H. (1972). Human problem solving. Prentice-Hall.

Tolman, E. C., Hall, C. S., & Bretnall, E. P. (1932). A disproof of the law of effect and a substitution of the laws of emphasis, motivation and disruption. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 15(6), 601.

Tolman E. C. (1948). Cognitive maps in rats and men. Psychological Review. 55, 189-208

Wiener, N. (1948). Cybernetics or control and communication in the animal and the machine. Paris, (Hermann & Cie) & Camb. Mass. (MIT Press).

Further Reading

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Cognitive Psychology Approach: The Science of How We Think

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Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of the mind as an information processor. It concerns how we take in information from the outside world, and how

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Supporting research for humanistic approach

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Supporting research for humanistic approach

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Wundt's Introspection and the Science of Psychology Blog

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Wundt's Introspection and the Science of Psychology Blog

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Wundt was the first self-professed 'psychologist.' He set out with the very best intentions, to produce a scientific study of human mind and behaviour. Initially only behaviours that were observable were studied, such as reaction times, pupil dilations etc.

Structuralism
Wundt defined psychology as the study of the structure of conscious experience. The goal was to find the 'atoms' of conscious experience, and from there to build a knowledge of how the atoms combine to create our experience. He was a reductionist, who believed the whole was better understood by breaking it down into its component parts. The main tool of structuralism was introspection.

Introspection
It soon became clear to Wundt, that much of what is essential to psychology is unobservable, namely mental states. Descartes, two centuries earlier had used the method of introspection to investigate the inner workings of the human mind. However, for Wundt, the process had to be rigorous and tightly controlled. After all, he was aiming for a science of psychology!

He would train his students in the process and present them with a variety of stimuli. By controlling all other variables he could show the precise response being elicited by the stimuli.

Although introspection is largely discredited by modern psychology, Wundt's essential legacy is his realisation that a scientific investigation of the human mind and behaviour was possible. Since Wundt, psychology has largely followed a scientific and empirical course.

Evaluation
Wundt did attempt a scientific study of psychology and showed it was possible. However, he was overly reliant on introspection which by its nature is subjective. When others tested Wundt's ideas their findings often differed. His research therefore lacked reliability.

Introspection is still used but it lacks scientific rigour. Looking inwards, attempting to understand our conscious thought processes is difficult enough. Trying to explain them to others, even for the most intelligent and eloquent observer is nigh on impossible.

Wundt's contemporaries were to include the Freudian psychodynamic theorists and by the early twentieth century the behaviourists. Wundt's research was clearly more scientific than the former, clearly less so than the latter. Psychology was becoming more scientific. Wundt and other early pioneers such as James had sewn the seeds.

The Emergence of Psychology as a Science

Wundt had realised that knowledge and understanding had to come from observation, the basis of an empirical approach. Unfortunately his methods had let him down. His successors, particularly the behaviourists, were now to focus on more scientific methods. They believed:

1. Behaviour had a cause. It didn't appear for no reason. It was determined by certain factors (although they would spend the next century or more arguing over what these factors were!).

2. If behaviour was determined and if we could fully understand the factors responsible for causing behaviour, then behaviour could be predicted and, according to Skinner, it could be controlled.

What do we mean by science?
Controlled observations
Generally in scientific research something (the IV) is manipulated and we observe the effect this has on something else (the DV). A physicist might manipulate the weight of a pendulum and measure its period, whilst obviously keeping length of string and height of release constant.

Objectivity
Physics and chemistry are objective and hopefully mostly free of personal opinions but is psychology? Our existing knowledge determines our expectations and our viewpoint. This is particularly noticeable in psychology with researchers belonging to one approach or another, e.g. cognitive or behaviourist.

Falsifiability
A concept introduced by Popper in 1969. Having a theory that can be objectively tested and ultimately proven wrong is what distinguishes science from religion and pseudoscience such as psychoanalysis. Psychological research tests an alternative or experimental hypothesis, however, we are not seeking to prove this, rather we seek to disprove our null hypothesis.

Replicability
Generally in psychology, laboratory experiments can be repeated. Much of the behaviourist approach has been tested many times and the schedules of reinforcement for example are seen as close to psychological fact as it's possible to get. Piaget's work has been tested to death too!
Replication in social psychology however is more hit and miss. Generally, research such as that of Asch and Milgram that was set in tightly controlled environments has been repeated.

Are scientific methods appropriate for psychology?
Using scientific methods with tight control of variables allows for cause and effect relationships to be determined. This together with replication adds strength and validity to the theories produced.

However, laboratory experiments tell us little about behaviour in real life. How many times during lessons on memory and social influence have we used the term 'lacks external validity?'

Humans are not coiled springs or burettes of alkali. Much of what determines our behaviour is not observable. Our memories, perceptions, thought processes, stereotypes and emotions all have an impact. With no objective way of measuring these can we develop a truly scientific theory of human behaviour? As we shall see later, some psychologists believe we can't and even if we could, we shouldn't!

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Wundt was the first self-professed 'psychologist.' He set out with the very best intentions, to produce a scientific study of human mind and behaviour. Initially only behaviours that were observable were studied, such as reaction times, pupil dilations etc. Structuralism Wundt defined psychology as the study of the structure of conscious experience.

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Intro to Psychology: Crash Course Psychology #1

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Evolutionary Explanation (Bio Approach) Essay

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Evolutionary Explanation (Bio Approach) Essay

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Evolutionary Explanation (Bio Approach) Essay

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Evolutionary Explanation (Bio Approach) Essay

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This Week published an interesting article called 'The Birth of Psychology'. The article describes Thomas Willis, a 17 th Century Oxford Professor, who published The Anatomy of the Brain in 1664, which helped to establish was it now termed 'neurology' and could be seen as the starting point of psychology.

Thereafter, William James published the Principles of Psychology in 1890; followed by Sigmund Freud's Interpretation of Dreams in 1899.

However, despite these historic landmarks, most A-Level Psychologists are probably familiar with Wundt, who was the founder of experimental psychology, setting up the first experimental lab at the University of Leipzig in 1876.

While Wundt maybe the founder of experimental psychology, let's not forget the 17 th Century Oxford Professor Willis, who once said: 'I addicted myself to the opening of Heads especially, and of every kind.'

To read the full article, click here.

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The Birth of Psychology. Was It Wundt? | tutor2u Psychology

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This Week published an interesting article called 'The Birth of Psychology'. The article describes Thomas Willis, a 17th Century Oxford Professor, who published The Anatomy of the Brain in 1664, which helped to establish was it now termed 'neurology' and could be seen as the starting point of psychology.