The two approaches I will be looking at in this essay are "behavourism" and "humanism". Apart from the fact that one of them is scientific and the other is not, I have chosen these two as they have very different aspects of studying and interperatation that interests me. .
Psychology evolved through three subjects philosophy, biology and physics.
It developed through stages and views, firstly with Psychoanalysis, behaviarism, cognitive, humanistic and lastly biological.
Behaviourists believed that we are shaped by the way our behaviours are rewarded. Behaviourists want results, by which they can check measure and observe on the stimulus and the reacted response.
Humanists believe that every human being in the world is unique and also that there will never be any two people whom are identical. This relates to the belief on genetics and the experiences we go through in life are different from each other. Through "ethics" there is a rule that no mental or physical harm should come to a participant of an experiment carried out on a psychological basis. Although in Behaviourism it is believed that animals are practically and ethically more convenient to test. The behaviourists believed that the laws of learning were crucial and as there was only a small difference between animals and humans. However the animals were not physically harmed. An example of such an experiment would be Edward Thorndike's, whom also created the "law of effect". He said that "actions that are rewarded are repeated". Thorndike had to test his theory to see if his hypothesis was right. Therefore he tested it out on a cat. The cat was placed in a box with a lever inside of it that would release an opening. Eventually the cat would panic and begin to scratch all sides of the box, primarily it was an accidental event yet it was rewarded with food and freedom. The idea behind this simple as it may seem, was that the cat would learn from its previous times in the box when it was rewarded.
