Preview

Biological, Psychodynamic, Behavioral and Cognitive Approach to Psychology Essay Example

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
963 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Biological, Psychodynamic, Behavioral and Cognitive Approach to Psychology Essay Example
Excuse or Explanation? When the news report flashes across the television informing millions around the world of the murder of a family of six, it is obvious that the initiate reaction of the civilians would be terror and hatred. This hatred, a fierce, in-tolerant force behind these people that would instantly choose the worst for whomever the suspect may be. Often, this is the reaction of the people whereas there are a few of those individuals who may decide to view this case differently. These would be psychologists. A psychologist may approach this story with a view inside of the perpetrators mind. Was he biologically, psychodynamicly, behaviorally or cognitively provoked to do such a thing? What would make someone do something horrible and violent like that? Each of the psychologists views provide different aspects and alternate explanations for why this offenders actions occurred, sometimes even explanations to the point of understanding the mind of a criminal. A biological psychologist specifically focuses on the genetics and physiological side of the story. Biology itself refers to the make-up of each individual person, most of the time stemming off from his or her parents, grand-parents or even great-grand-parents. How did they act? What did they do? And why did they do it? It could be in their genes, the way that things are put together inside each individuals mind that illustrates the reason for their actions. Is it possible that one’s genes were made up to be completely violent? Could one’s father or mother be more responsible for the deaths of these six people than the murderer themselves? A biological psychologist would more than likely answer this question with a definite “yes”. A biological point of view examines all thoughts, feelings and behaviors as a product of the chemistry of our brains. A statement might also be that we become ill whether medically or psychologically due to our genetics. This, might bring the biological psychologists

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Serial Killer Mind

    • 2375 Words
    • 10 Pages

    The following paper represents the further research to take place in regards to the mind of a serial killer and what their differences are between their mind and the mind of a normal person. This proposal presents the problematic concerns associated with this subject and identifies the framework that will be utilized to support the…

    • 2375 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Chapter 10 Psychology

    • 360 Words
    • 2 Pages

    1. In order to develop his theory of the role of marital communication and risk factors for divorce, Gottman:…

    • 360 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Ap Psychology Unit 6 Essay

    • 1319 Words
    • 6 Pages

    against prototypes is an efficient way of making snap judgments about what belongs in a…

    • 1319 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    ii. Drive – An Internal State of Tension that Motivates an Organism to Engage in Activities that should Reduce this Tension.…

    • 1166 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Best Essays

    “A problem shared is a problem halved” is an old saying that humans have found comfort in. For some unexplainable reason humans love and have found great comfort in sharing their problem’s or telling stories to others. Although the term, “counseling” wasn’t coined until the 1960’s, counseling can be traced all the way back to tribal times; they would sit around and share their experiences as a group. This later transferred into priests that would listen and advise their parishioners on their problems. But, in the 1890’s Sigmund Freud, a German neurologist, developed a theory, psychoanalysis.…

    • 1594 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    intro psychology workshee

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Complete each part with 100- to 200-word responses. The word count for individual questions may vary but your responses should total 500- to 800-words for the entire worksheet.…

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The first psychological theory I am using is the Psychodynamic Approach which was created by Sigmund Freud, Freud believed that early childhood experiences give an explanation for the behaviour you have when you are an adult, he believed that you develop a mental and emotional state from birth to adolescence which is when your personality is set as you have been influenced by family and friends at this point in life. In this theory there are three levels of mind. The first level of mind is conscious, this is where we think and become aware of what is around us, the second level of mind is pre-conscious, this is where we store memories and information that is important to us, we can access this information at anytime with some encouragement,…

    • 1598 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The psychologist taking the biological approach would respond with an explanation of how the brain may be deficient in a certain area. He/she may suggest that there is a chemical imbalance in the brain causing the irrational actions displayed by the criminal. There may be any number of chemicals in the brain that could be off and affecting reactions in the nervous system all the way into the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system. Additionally, the psychologist may attribute genetic markers such as the body type or inherited traits that would make the person more susceptible to exhibiting these actions. Lastly, the biological psychologist would respond in a way that would consider any physiological and neural indicators that could have triggered the response by the person on the news.…

    • 495 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In module 1A, I learned about the history of psychology, psychological perspectives, careers in psychology, and ethics. At the start of the idea of psychology Wilhelm Wundt became the “father of psychology”. Different approaches and perspectives became as a variety of people began to study psychology, such as Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytical perspective, Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow’s psychological perspective, and so on. I also learned about the diverse careers in the psychology field. There are clinical and counseling psychologists which diagnose and treat people with things such as depression, and there are sports psychologists to help athletes keep their heads in the game. In the last…

    • 1422 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The biological approach to psychology which looks at physical aspects controlling behaviour such as the structures of the brain, gives evidence that both nature and nurture are involved in our behaviour. For instance a study which compared the incidence of schizophrenia in MZ and DZ twins (Gottesman and Shields (1966)) found a concordance rate of 40% for the MZs but only 9% for the DZs. As arguably the only material differences between these groups was the fact that MZs share 100% genetic material whereas DZs on average only share 50% of their genes, this gives strong evidence that schizophrenia has a genetic component. However it is notable that even the sharing of 100% of genes with an ill sibling did not confer a certainty of getting the disease which implies that in this case at least, there must be some environmental factors at work.…

    • 578 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although I enjoy every aspect of psychology, my interest in psychology first ignited through reading and learning more about brain disorders, deviancies in the brain structure, and how these different conditions can impact human behaviors. Therefore, my long-term research interests revolve around these subjects. However, I understand that studying brain disorders on an undergraduate level is a realistic scenario. Thence, my possible research interests for the Psychology Honors Program are studying the role of impulsivity in psychological disorders and/or addictive behaviors.…

    • 538 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    As people in today's society, we are constantly being bombarded with the crazy actions that mankind is capable of. We watch the news and hear about murders, or even read a book about a mysterious killer. As we go through these pieces of reality, one can't help but be struck by the thought--what causes a person to act so violently? There have been many studies done to try and find an answer. For a crime such as serial killing, there are two thoughts. The first idea is that serial killing is caused by an abnormality in the frontal lobe of the brain. The other is that serial killers are bred by circumstance which means they have certain genes that make them prone to becoming a killer. With some analysis, the evidence for both theories can serve to prove that serial killers are genetically different.…

    • 2281 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many have claimed to experience Generalised Anxiety Disorder, although the correct definition states to have GAD you have to experience at least 6 months of consistent excessive worrying, feeling anxious and tense due to a number of events and activities including finance, relationships, health and work (Swinburne University, 2013). There are a number of treatments with the most successful being cognitive behaviour therapy. Anxiety can be caused by a number of things including environmental and medical factors, genetics and a combination of substance abuse and brain chemicals. I will discuss all these issues in the following paragraphs…

    • 953 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Psychology Paper

    • 5379 Words
    • 12 Pages

    I was born in the late 60’s to the parents of first generation Americans. My grandparents migrated to America through Canada from Scotland in the early 1930’s. Eventually, both sides of the family landed in the Black Hills of South Dakota. My father’s side of the family worked at Homestake Gold Mine in Lead, South Dakota and my mother’s side of the family ran a trailer park in Hill City while my Grandfather worked at Mount Rushmore. After my parents married, my father followed his father by working at Homestake, while my mother was a stay at home mom. We lived on a hillside over the fairgrounds in Deadwood on Railroad Avenue. My father’s parents lived next door to us. Due to the fear of landslides, the city of Deadwood forced my grandparents and us to move off the hillside. As of 2008, the houses were still on the hillside, granted they slid downhill slightly. It is amazing how tiny the houses are, I would say no more than 400 to 500 square feet, and there were 5 of us who lived in the house. When I was about four years of age, we left the Black Hills and moved to a small mining town in Colorado called Creede. It is here I remember being left handed and having to learn to do things differently. I guess I go against the grain with handedness, according to our studies it suggests it is linked by a genetic basis. (Linke & Kersebaum, 2005) No one else in the family has been left handed, and even today I am still the only one. I still do things different from left or right handed people because I had to learn my own way. I started school while living here; we had a one room school house, and I remember we would follow the creek line down to school and back up the creek line to get home. I remember having a skunk get in the garage, our house was a bi-level with the laundry room…

    • 5379 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ap Psychology Essay

    • 493 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Whether it’s watching the girls on America’s Next Top Model fighting and screaming at each other or if it’s brutally murdered victims on CSI, violence finds its way into almost any TV show. As the crime rates and arrests increase many researchers and parents are beginning to believe that violent crimes are caused from watching violence on television. But is there a way to prove that?…

    • 493 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays