RECREA

Red de comunidades para la renovación

de la enseñanza-aprendizaje en Educación
Superior

Development and Learning

Careers in Preschool Education & Elementary Education
First Semester
Psychological Perspectives
Biological Approach
Description The biological approach believes us to be as a consequence of our genetics and
physiology. It is the only approach in psychology that examines thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors from a biological and thus physical point of view.
Inventor/autor Saul McLeod
Bouchard and McGue (1981)
Consequences All that is psychological is first physiological. All thoughts, feeling & behavior
ultimately have a biological cause.

Evidence The biological approach provides clear predictions that can. This means that
explanations can be scientifically tested and support with evidence.
Different species of animal can be studied and compared. This can help in the
search to understand human behavior.
Other theories Theories within the biological approach support nature over nurture. However,
it is limiting to describe behavior solely in terms of either nature or nurture, and
attempts to do this underestimate the complexity of human behavior. It is more
likely that behavior is due to an interaction between nature (biology) and
nurture (environment).

Individuals may be predisposed to certain behaviors, but these behaviors may

not be displayed unless they are triggered by factors in the environment. This is
known as the ‘Diathesis-Stress model’ of human behavior.
Xtra Bouchard and McGue (1981) conducted a review of 111 worldwide studies
information which compared the IQ of family members. The correlation figures below
represent the average degree of similarity between the two people (the higher
the similarity, the more similar the IQ scores).

There are methodological flaws which reduce the validity of twin studies. For
example, Bouchard and McGue included many poorly performed and biased
studies in their meta-analysis. Also, studies comparing the behavior of twin
raised apart have been criticized as the twins often share similar environments
and are sometimes raised by non-parental family member.

Adriana González Montalvo

 RECREA
Red de comunidades para la renovación
de la enseñanza-aprendizaje en Educación
Superior

Development and Learning

Careers in Preschool Education & Elementary Education
First Semester
Psychological Perspectives
Cognitive approach
Description It studies the mind as an information processor. It Is divided in 3: “Human experimental
psychology” “computer analogies information processing approach” and “cognitive
neuroscience”
It became popular in mid-1950’s, by comparing how humans process information as a
computer.
You need to understand the mind because there are internal processes that cannot be
observed and objectively measured.
Inventor/autor Kohler 1925 publishes “The mentality of Apes” rejecting behaviorism in favor of the
Gestalt psychology.
The “birth” of cognitive psychology goes back to Gorge Miller in 1956 with “the
magical number 7 plus or minus 2.
Miller in 1960 founded the center of cognitive studies at Harvard with Jerome Bruner.
Consequences It influenced all areas in psychology, by giving them a scientific way of doing things.
It is the most dominant approach in psychology until now and has been applied to a wide
range of practical and theoretical contexts.
Evidence It’s been used in the treatment of depression and anxiety problems by different
psychologists.
It also helps with social learning, cognitive neuropsychology and artificial intelligence.
Other theories It shares the idea as behaviorism by preferring objective, controlled, scientific methods
for investigating behavior.
Combines easily with other approaches creating new ones.
Xtra It became the dominant approach to psychology in late 1970’s
information Cognitive psychologists try to build models of how the information is processed inside
the people’s mind, they try to include: perception, attention, language, memory, thinking
and consciousness.

Adriana González Montalvo

 RECREA
Red de comunidades para la renovación
de la enseñanza-aprendizaje en Educación
Superior

Development and Learning

Careers in Preschool Education & Elementary Education
First Semester
Psychological Perspectives
Behaviorism
Description The approach is only concerned with observable stimulus-response behaviors, and
states all behaviors are learned through interaction with the environment.
Behaviorism emphasizes the role of environmental factors in influencing behavior,
to the near exclusion of innate or inherited factors.
Inventor/autor Classical Conditioning
was studied by the Russian Ivan Pavlov
Food During the 1980
Food with bll
Only bell He was researching salivation in dogs in response to being fed. He inserted a small
test tube into the cheek of each dog to measure saliva when the dogs were fed.
Little Albert Pavlov predicted the dogs would salivate in response to the food placed in front of
Rat them, but he noticed that this fog would be to salivate whenever they heard the
Rat mas footsteps of his assistant who was bringing them the food.
Noises Skinner- Operant Conditioning
Scare rat
Began in 1913 when John Watson wrote an article entitled “Psychology as the
behaviorist views it”.
Skinner believe that we do have such a thing as a mind, but that it is a simply
more productive to study observable behavior rather than internal mental events.
Method of learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for behavior
and a consequences
Skinner Box: When the rat pull the lever the human gives it food
Positive Reinforcement: Proving a consequence an individual finds rewarding.
Negative: Removal of an unpleasant reinforce can also strengthen behavior.
“remove the reward or give a punishment”
Consequences Behavior is the result of stimulus-response:
All behavior, no matter how complex, can be reduced to a simple stimulus-
response association). Watson described the purpose of psychology as: “To
predict, given the stimulus, what reaction will take place; or, given the reaction,
state what the situation or stimulus is that has caused the reaction.” (1930)
Gender Role Development: Attitudes depends on the gender.
Behavioral Therapy: Can be applied in the school of different ways
Phobia: Irrational fear that is out of proportion to the danger
Evidence Behaviorism only provides a partial account of human behavior, that which can be
objectively viewed. Important factors like emotions, expectations, higher-level
motivation are not considered or explained. Accepting a behaviorist explanation
could prevent further research from other perspective that could uncover
important factors.

Adriana González Montalvo

 RECREA
Red de comunidades para la renovación
de la enseñanza-aprendizaje en Educación
Superior

The contribution of behaviorism can be seen in some of its practical applications.

Behavior therapy and behavior modification represent one of the major
approaches to the treatment of abnormal behavior and are readily used in clinical
psychology.
Other theories Law of Effect ( Thorndike 1905)
The behavior of organisms ( Skinner 1936)
Principles of behavior ( Clark Hull´s 1943)
Walden Two ( B.F Skinner 1948)
Xtra It has limitations:
information Ignores mediational processes
ignores biology (e.g., testosterone)
it’s too deterministic (little free-will)
Strengths:
Real life applications
Many experiments to support theories
Identified comparisons between animals and humas
Areas of application
Phobias
Education
Depression
Relationships
Moral Development
Addiction

Adriana González Montalvo

 RECREA
Red de comunidades para la renovación
de la enseñanza-aprendizaje en Educación
Superior

Development and Learning

Careers in Preschool Education & Elementary Education
First Semester
Psychological Perspectives
Psychodinamic
Description See human functioning based upon the interaction of drives and forces within the
person, particularly unconscious, and between the different structures of the
personality.
Inventor/autor
Sigmund Freud (writing between the 1890s and the 1930s

Consequences The psychodynamic therapist would usually be treating the patient for depression or
anxiety related disorders.
Evidence Our behavior and feelings are powerfully affected by unconscious motives
Our behavior and feelings as adults (including psychological problems) are rooted
in our childhood experiences
All behavior has a cause (usually unconscious), even slips of the tongue. There for
all behavior is determined
Other theories
Psyche (Id, Ego, Superego)
Xtra The id is the primitive and instinctive component of personality.
information The ego is 'that part of the id which has been modified by the direct influence of the
external world.'
The superego incorporates the values and morals of society which are learned from
one's parents and others.

Adriana González Montalvo

 RECREA
Red de comunidades para la renovación
de la enseñanza-aprendizaje en Educación
Superior

Development and Learning

Careers in Preschool Education & Elementary Education
First Semester
Psychological Perspectives
Brunner
Description The outcome of cognitive development is thinking. The intelligent mind
creates from experience "generic coding systems that permit one to go
beyond the data to new and possibly fruitful predictions"

Inventor/autor Jerome Bruner

Consequences Language is important for the increased ability to deal with abstract
concepts. Bruner argues that language can code stimuli and free an
individual from the constraints of dealing only with appearances, to
provide a more complex yet flexible cognition.
Bruner (1960) adopts a different view and believes a child (of any age) is
capable of understanding complex information: 'We begin with the
hypothesis that any subject can be taught effectively in some intellectually
honest form to any child at any stage of development.'
Evidence Enactive representation (action-based)
Iconic representation (image-based)
Symbolic representation (language-based)

Other theories
Xtra Bruner states that what determines the level of intellectual development is
information the extent to which the child has been given appropriate instruction
together with practice or experience. So - the right way of presentation
and the right explanation will enable a child to grasp a concept usually
only understood by an adult. His theory stresses the role of education and
the adult.

Adriana González Montalvo

 RECREA
Red de comunidades para la renovación
de la enseñanza-aprendizaje en Educación
Superior

Development and Learning

Careers in Preschool Education & Elementary Education
First Semester
Psychological Perspectives
Vigotsky
Description
Vygotsky's theories stress the fundamental role of social interaction in the
development of cognition , as he believed strongly that community plays a
central role in the process of "making meaning." Individual development
cannot be understood without reference to the social and cultural context
within which it is embedded. Higher mental processes in the individual have
their origin in social processes.
Inventor/autor LEV VIGOTSKY ( 1978)

Consequences 1: Vygotsky places more emphasis on culture affecting cognitive development.

2: Vygotsky places considerably more emphasis on social factors contributing to
cognitive development.
3: Vygotsky places more (and different) emphasis on the role of language in
cognitive development.
4: According to Vygotsky adults are an important source of cognitive
development.
Evidence
Other theories Zone of proximal development
Theorie of language
ZPD

Xtra 1: It is the main means by which adults transmit information to children.

information
2: Language itself becomes a very powerful tool of intellectual adaptation.

Vygotsky (1978) sees the Zone of Proximal Development as the area where the
most sensitive instruction or guidance should be given - allowing the child to
develop skills they will then use on their own - developing higher mental
functions.

Vygotsky also views interaction with peers as an effective way of developing skills
and strategies. He suggests that teachers use cooperative learning exercises
where less competent children develop with help from more skillful peers -
within the zone of proximal development.

Adriana González Montalvo

 RECREA
Red de comunidades para la renovación
de la enseñanza-aprendizaje en Educación
Superior

Development and Learning

Careers in Preschool Education & Elementary Education
First Semester
Psychological Perspectives
Biological
Description The biological approach believes us to be as a consequence of our genetics and
physiology. It is the only approach in psychology that examines thoughts, feelings, and
behaviors from a biological and thus physical point of view.
Inventor/autor The Voyage of the Beagle (1805 - 1836) - Darwin formulated his theory of natural
selection through observing animals while traveling the world.
Darwin (1859) publishes "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection."
1,250 copies were printed.
Harlow (1848): Phineas Gage brain injury case study provides neuroscience.
Jane Goodall (1957) began her study of primates in Africa, discovering that chimps have
behaviors similar to all the human cultures on the planet.
Edward Wilson (1975) published his book, "Sociobiology" which brought together
evolutionary perspective to the psychology.
Consequences Therefore, all that is psychological is first physiological. All thoughts, feeling &
behavior ultimately have a biological cause. A biological perspective is relevant to the
study of psychology in three ways: 1. Comparative method: different species of animal
can be studied and compared. This can help in the search to understand human behavior.
2. Physiology: how the nervous system and hormones work, how the brain functions,
how changes in structure and/or function can affect behavior. For example, we could ask
how prescribed drugs to treat depression affect behavior through their interaction with
the nervous system. 3. Investigation of inheritance: what an animal inherits from its
parents, mechanisms of inheritance (genetics). For example, we might want to know
whether high intelligence is inherited from one generation to the next.
Evidence Methods of Studying the Brain. It is important to appreciate that the human brain is an
extremely complicated piece of biological machinery.
1. Neuro Surgery. H.M.
2. Electroencrphalograms (EEGs).
3. Brain Scans.
Other theories Reductionism and Holism. Behaviorists such as Skinner explain all behavior as being a
result of past learning. The relationships between stimuli and our responses to them are
the basis for all we know and how we behave. This is a reductionist view because
complex behavior is being reduced to a simple stimulus and response relationship. We
might also consider the biological approach to abnormality as reductionist. The
biological approach says that psychological problems can be treated like a disease and so
are often treatable with drugs. Identifying the source of someone’s mental illness as an
imbalance of chemicals in the brain is being reductionist
Xtra If heredity (i.e., genetics) affects a given trait or behavior, then identical twins should
information show a greater similarity for that trait compared to fraternal (non-identical) twins.
Identical twins have the same genetic make-up, and fraternal twins have just 50 per cent
of genes in common. However, there are methodological flaws which reduce the validity
of twin studies. For example, Bouchard and McGue included many poorly performed
and biased studies in their meta-analysis. Also, studies comparing the behavior of twin

Adriana González Montalvo

 RECREA
Red de comunidades para la renovación
de la enseñanza-aprendizaje en Educación
Superior

raised apart have been criticized as the twins often share similar environments and are
sometimes raised by nonparental family member.

Adriana González Montalvo