BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma in Health and Social Care
Contents Page
P1 – Explain the principal psychological perspectives……………………………………………….Page 3-6
M1 – Assess different psychological approaches to study………………………………………………..………Page 7-8
P2 – Explain different psychological approaches to health practice & P3 – Explain different psychological approaches to social care practice……….………………………..……Page 9-10
M2 – Compare two psychological approaches to health and social care service provision….………………………Page 11-12
D1 – Evaluate two psychological approaches to health and social care service provision………………………….Page 13-14
References………………………………………………..Page 15
P1 – Explain the principal psychological perspectives
For this assignment I will be explaining the main psychological perspectives, these are views that involve certain assumptions about the human behaviour and the way humans function. Although there are several theories in each approach they all share very common assumptions.
Behaviourist Perspectives
Pavlov – It is believed to be possible that we can classical condition (train) humans to behave in a certain way. Aggression, anger, love, affection and all of our other behaviour / emotions occur as a result of what we learn and go through. Ivan Pavlov 1849 -1936 proved that classical conditioning is effective, through his dog experiment, for this to occur he needed the right environment. In this case;
Food: Unconditioned stimuli
Dog salivating: Unconditioned response (automatic response)
Food: Bell ringing: Unconditioned response
Condition stimuli: Ringing the bell
Stimulus: Something that provokes a specific functional organ to react
Skinners – Operant conditioning
A rat can be taught how to behave using positive and negative reinforcements, i.e. what to do in order to obtain food and what to do to avoid punishment.
Skinner usually conducted this experiment with rats and pigeons. Operant conditioning is produced when behaviour is rewarded. Reinforcement is the repetition which adjusts the behaviour over time. There are different types of reinforcements e.g. positive; exceeding the months sales quota and receiving a bonus from your boss. Behaving in primary school and receiving stickers in class from teachers. Attending and being punctual in college and getting bursary. Negative; Putting on oven gloves to pick up a piping hot bowl, hands are not burned after. This occurs when something is prevented from happening, so we learn to prevent burning our hands by putting on the gloves.
Social Learning Theory – Albert Bandura 1925
Observational learning – agrees with the two behaviourism theories classical conditioning and operant condition though he does add two more important ideas -: Mediating processes occur between stimuli and responses. Behaviour is learned from the environment through the process of observational learning.
This theory suggests that behaviour can be learnt by observing others around us therefore it focuses on observational learning. The main contributor to the theory is Albert Bandura who claims that social learning is a form of ‘observational learning’. In order for the perspective to take place successfully, there must be: availability – i.e. the model must be present (media outlet, such as a game, movie or a person). Attention – in order to learn the behaviour attentiveness, reproduction and motivation. Sometimes others learn by observing you, this is called reverse learning. The way we behave influences the way that others respond to us e.g. problem solving – calm, patient vs. angry, frustrated.
Children observe people (models) around them, especially behaviour; this is proven during the famous Bobo doll experiment. Children are surrounded with many models around them such as parents, siblings, cousins, TV and friends. These models provide a type of behaviour to observe and imitate E.g. masculine and feminine, pro and anti-social etc.
Psychodynamic Theory – Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and Erik Erikson (1902-1944)
Freud was an Id psychologist, he believed that the events we go through in our childhood can possibly have a significant impact on our behaviour as adults, however he also claims that if our development needs are met well at an early age we will progress normally. Our conscious mind is like the ‘top of an iceberg’ our mind is a psyche and our psyche exists on three main levels: Id, Ego and Super-ego.
- Id: This is where we are unconscious and exist from birth, where we only focus on getting what we want
- Super ego: this refers to our moral values that are formed via socialisation and maturity. The super ego tries to restrain the activities of the id.
- The ego: this is the area of our consciousness which tries to balance the activities of the ’id’
People who have dominant id tend to be impulsive, those with dominant ego tend to be rational and those with dominant superego tend to be submissive and willing to please.
Humanism
This is a psychological theory which articulates the study of the person, humanistic psychologists observe not only the persons behaviour through their own eyes but they also observe through the person who is doing the behaving, two psychologists, Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers became very well known for their humanistic theories.
They assume that everyone has their own unique and different way of seeing the world through their own eyes, humanist psychologists explicitly approve that everyone has a free will and are all capable of choosing their own actions. Abraham Maslow had a hierarchy of needs: 1. Self-actualisation 2. Esteem needs 3. Belonging needs 4. Safety needs 5. Physiological needs.
Carl Rogers had a person centred theory, his key view was self-concept which included all thoughts, feelings and beliefs people have about themselves as he believed for it to be the most important feature of one’s personality.
Cognitive/Information processing theory
The word cognitive refers to how we use our brain and how we can maintain a better understanding of the way we use our mind.
Jean Piaget 1896-1980 was a psychologist and performed experiments on children who had similar intelligence; the main idea behind this was constructivism. Piaget had 4 stages of cognitive which were: The sensory motor (begun at birth; they mainly focus on what’s in front of them and what they can see), Preoperational (appears at about 24 months old; due to the very fast development, they are now able to think and talk past their experience), Concrete operation (appears at about age 6/7; quite limited adult like logic begins), Formal operations (appears at age 11/12; reasoning for mathematics and scientific problems start appearing).
George Kelly 1905-1966 was known for developing the psychology of construct, he viewed individuals to scientists. “We do not have to be constrained by past experience”. Personal constructs according to Kelly can be seen as statement with two opposite ends such as bipolar statements, e.g. ‘kind-cruel’ or ‘intelligent stupid’.
Biological Perspective
The biological perspective argues that an individual’s development is influenced by genetic rather than environmental factors. Arnold Gesell 1880-1961 is credited for developing the theory of maturation. In the womb we develop according to a set of fixed stages: 1. Heart 2.Nervous system 3.Bones and muscles 4. “Overtime we develop into a fully functioning human, ready to be born” (Stretch and Whitehouse, 2010, p. 351) 5. And from birth onwards, our genes are what are responsible for our actions.
M1 – Assess different psychological approaches to study
For this assignment I am going to be assessing and discussing the criticisms and strengths of two different psychological approaches to study, which are the biological perspective and thee humanistic approach.
Biological Perspective
Some strength the biological perspective holds is that firstly it’s very scientific which makes it more reliable as it could be tested multiple times giving the analyst more control, with this advantage; the scientist can find explanations causing the ill health/disorders, helping turn people lives around hopefully for the better. Another asset in biological perspective is that it’s definable giving professionals a higher chance of treating those with unnatural/abnormal behaviour which then provides reasons as to why a person is behaving in such a way. Overall this view could change people’s lives.
Some setbacks of the biological approach is that one of its strong focal points are the nature/nurture debate, they are on the nature side and are convinced that human behaviour is brought by our hormones, genetics and neurotransmitters, for example there are some theorists that believe schizophrenia is genetic and others say it’s not completely genetic because the environment plays a role in the illness. Also, being nomothetic which means relating to the study of general scientific laws, the biological approach develops theories about disorders and seeks to find something that applies to everyone. The view does not say that all humans are unique; this was proven when the General Adaptation Syndrome had assumed that we all respond in the same way to stress however some people receive more support than others do.
Humanistic Approach
The terms humanistic, humanism and humanist in psychology all relate to an approach which studies the whole person. The humanistic approach focuses on the person as a whole rather than focusing on small aspects, humanism rejects a few approaches like the behaviourist, determinism and scientific methods. They believe that it’s wrong to use scientific methods because the correct way of testing is affected by the laboratory conditions.
The primary problem with the Humanistic approach is the practical evidence not being provided to support claims; another weakness of the humanistic theory is that psychologists think that the treatments are only aimed at certain issues.
Although many people focus on the flaws, others are for the humanistic theory as this perspective looks at experiences from the view of a human which focuses on being entitled to making our own choices and our free will, Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers are the two psychologists behind this theory. It’s also said to be that many healthcare professionals including therapists have embraced the suggestion in their work as it is helping people change.
A lot of people have seen the benefits of humanism move onto different professions. You are likely to discuss Maslow’s hierarchy if you study the health sector, business, economy and many other higher education courses.
P2 – Explain different psychological approaches to health practice & P3- Explain different psychological approaches to social care practice
In this assignment I will be explaining both the different psychological approaches to the health and social care practises.
The Behaviourist Approach in health and social care
The main assumption of the behaviourist perspective is that all behaviour is learned and shaped by the environment. For example in the Bandura et al. study it is demonstrated how aggression is learned and shaped by role models.
The leading expectations from the behaviourist approach are that all types of behaviour consists of responses to stimuli, our behaviour is influenced from our environment. Two important learning theories proposed by the behaviourist perspective are classical conditioning (Pavlov) and operant conditioning (Skinner). Classical conditioning explains how we learn behaviours through association and operant conditioning explains how the consequences of behaviours (reinforces) shape behaviour.
The behaviourist perspective consists of two components of the conditioning theory- classical conditioning; which claims behaviour is learnt as a result of association. Alcohol could easily become addictive, without noticing as a person could turn to a drink for depression or a celebration, for example they may want to continue to celebrate under the influence of alcohol, the person may just be associated with the celebration they don’t have to consume alcohol, they may just be around people who drink alcohol.
The Psycho-Dynamic Approach in health and social care
The psycho dynamic theory in its broadest sense is an approach to psychology that emphasises systematic study of the psychological forces that underlie human behaviour, feelings, and emotions and how they might relate to early experience.
The basis of the psycho dynamic perspective is to understand what is going on in the mind of an individual or ‘‘to get in the head’’ of a patient to see what is going on in the unconscious part of the mind. This will provide insight into how the patient views his relationships, experiences and the world and how that affects their preferences, behaviours and drives and therefore personality.
The unconscious mind is the part of the brain which stores the memories which have been forgotten or put away in order for them not to be remembered because they may be negative. Freud stated that the unconscious mind was very important as it had an impact on a person’s behaviour, hence why they may not want to remember certain memories as this may result in negative thoughts and feelings although the person may not be aware of the impact. Therefore the person will be unaware of the change in their personality if the unconscious mind becomes active.
All people are different and could learn different ways to change their life whether they’re influenced to or are doing it willingly even if they have come from a very deprived background however those who have had constant negative experiences may never get to that stage as they may find it hard to build courage and strength to believe in themselves, therefore Freud’s statement about a child’s personality is completely established by time they reach the age of five is not entirely true and it only determines the child’s future into adulthood.
M2 – Compare two psychological approaches to health and social care service provision
For M2 I will be comparing the two psychological approaches to health and social care service provisions which are the behaviourist approach and psychodynamic theory.
Psychodynamic Theory
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was the first person to discover this approach however many psychologists have been developing the perspective over the years. Psychodynamic means a wide number of theories which emphasise the effect of the unconscious mind, personality, interpersonal relationships and the influence of childhood experiences which will have an effect on the person later on in their life. Freud suggested that the causes of behaviour originate from the unconscious mind, he thought strongly that personality is made up of three things which are: The id, ego and super ego.
The id: is the impulsive part of our psyche which responds immediately to the instincts, the id is the personality of a new born child and later on in life it develops into an ego then super-ego there for it engages in primary thinking which is mainly fantasy orientated and selfish in its nature.
The ego: The ego is what develops from the unrealistic and fantasy orientated id and the real world out there; the ego has reasons for the decisions made in order to avoid pain and reduce tension unlike the id.
The superego: incorporates the values and morals of society which are learned from their parents or other role models, the superego usually develops around the ages of 3 to 5.
The significance in the term dynamic within the psychodynamic approach to phobias rest upon the fact that these underlying psychological forces within an individual can be both contradictory in addition to complimentary to one another, shyness is a very common type of fear, however if it is major, it will have an impact on the individuals life.
Behaviourist Approach
The behaviourist approach is used in a social care setting in order to do similar things as the health care services; the main aim here is to change and shape the individual’s behaviour in order to understand that there is a way in overcoming the difficult behaviour. Operant conditioning can be used in schools for students with behavioural problems so when the child behaves in the certain way they should, they get a reward. The child will then be conditioned to behaving in a certain manner as the classical conditioning with have a chain reaction.
The behaviourist approach is based on an assumption that learning occurs through interactions with the environment, rules and regulations are places in education systems to allow the children a standard outline of a basic routine. The school routine may be considered as classical conditioning and once they are aware of the schools expectations, they will be aware of what’s required from them in school.
Classical and operant conditioning are useful in social care settings as positive rewards are given in return for good behaviour and a negative punishment will be in return for a person’s bad behaviour, negative reinforcements can also have beneficial impacts on the individuals future behaviour and decisions they make.
I have compared the psychodynamic theory and the behaviourist approach.
D1 – Evaluate two psychological approaches to health and social care service provision
I will be evaluating the psychodynamic approach and behaviourist approach to health and social care provision.
The Psychodynamic Approach
The psychodynamic approach which was developed by Freud emphasizes the interplay of unconscious psychological processes in determining human thoughts, feelings and behaviour. The approach interprets that psychological factors play a major role in determining behaviour and shaping personality, Freud says that everyone was born with the ID which was in our unconscious which made us selfish and unaware. The ego and superego are in our conscious where we begin to think and care about others as well as our selves.
Freud strictly believed that personality develops in psychosexual stages and in each stage a part of the body becomes the child’s main source of pleasure, personality characteristics are a reflection of each person’s fixation. The oral stage occurs during the first year of life as the mouth is centre of pleasure; babies obtain gratification through sucking and biting just like adults when they bite their nails, binge drink or comfort eat. The anal stage then occurs when toilet training begins followed by the ego whilst the child vacillates between ID impulses and parental demands. The phallic stage starts at the age of three and can go up until the age of five. Boys go through the Oedipus complex meaning they have sexual desires for his mother and wants to kill his father out of jealousy. The girls go through the Electra complex which makes her hate her mother because she is jealous and transfers a deeper love towards her father. Adolescence then goes on until death and sexual desires may appear and re appear as boys and girls get more involved with the opposite sex.
The Behaviourist Approach
The behaviourist approach suggests that people learn through their interaction with the environment; however there are both advantages and disadvantages towards this approach.
The approach itself being scientific is a great strength for example Pavlov’s work was used to create objective and therefore scientific approach to psychology. This approach aims to study behaviour which is observable and directly measurable and this is done because thoughts and opinions are operationalized making it possible to analyse and compare differing behaviours.
On the other hand, as there is so much emphasis on nurture, it focuses on how the environment affects and shapes behaviour meaning the role of nature is left ignored because behaviourists usually ignore that genetic make-up could have an impact on the way in which we behave.
A lot of internal factors govern human behaviour e.g. the role of motivation and emotions are not taken into consideration in the behaviourist approach.
A major strength of the behaviourist approach is that it focuses on behaviour which can be observed and manipulated under laboratory conditions, as the environment is highly controlled, collecting objective quantitative data. The association with alcohol consumption could be documented easily e.g. carrying out scientific investigations proposes that the research is easily repeatable due to the controlled systematic manner of the analysis. This being the strength of the perspective, using scientific methods gives added status to psychology.
References:
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Belin Kumcu 