AQA A-Level Psychology: Approaches in Psychology — Revision Notes

Condensed for the final weeks. For the full explanation of each approach, use the Approaches in Psychology study guide.

Six approaches at a glance

Approach	Core idea	Key figure(s)	Free will or determinism
Behaviourist	All behaviour is learned from the environment	Pavlov, Skinner	Determinist
Social learning theory	Behaviour learned by observing and imitating others	Bandura	Soft determinist
Cognitive	Behaviour explained by internal mental processes	—	Soft determinist
Biological	Behaviour explained by genes, neurochemistry, evolution	—	Determinist
Psychodynamic	Behaviour driven by unconscious conflict	Freud	Determinist
Humanistic	Behaviour reflects free will and self-actualisation	Maslow, Rogers	Free will

Learn the “free will vs determinism” column cold — comparison questions ask for it directly and it is the fastest mark-scheme point to lose through vague wording.

Learning approaches (i): behaviourism

Classical conditioning (Pavlov) — learning through association: an unconditioned stimulus paired repeatedly with a neutral stimulus produces a conditioned response to the previously neutral stimulus. Operant conditioning (Skinner) — learning through consequences: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, and punishment shape future behaviour. Only observable behaviour matters; the mind is a “black box” not worth studying scientifically.

Learning approaches (ii): social learning theory

Adds cognitive processes behaviourism ignores. Learning happens by observing a model, then imitating if the model’s behaviour is reinforced (vicarious reinforcement) — no personal reinforcement is required first, unlike operant conditioning. Identification makes imitation more likely when the model is similar, high-status, or attractive. Four mediational processes sit between observing and imitating: attention, retention, motor reproduction, motivation.

Cognitive approach

Studies internal mental processes (memory, perception, language, thinking) using the computer as a model of the mind — input, processing, output, with schemas as mental “shortcuts” built from experience. Introduced the theoretical and computer models now standard across the discipline.

Biological approach

Behaviour explained through genes (genotype vs phenotype), biological structures (such as brain areas), neurochemistry (neurotransmitters, hormones), and evolution (natural selection favouring adaptive behaviours). Genetically identical twins (monozygotic) are compared to non-identical twins (dizygotic) to estimate genetic influence. Cognitive neuroscience — the study of how brain structures and activity underlie mental processes such as memory and language, often using scanning — is listed by the current AQA specification (3.2.1 in the AS content, 4.2.1 in the A-level content) under the biological approach, not the cognitive approach.

Psychodynamic approach

Freud’s structure of personality: Id (pleasure principle, present at birth), Ego (reality principle, mediates), Superego (morality principle, develops around age 5). Anxiety triggers defence mechanisms — repression (pushing a memory out of conscious awareness entirely), denial (refusing to accept reality), displacement (redirecting an emotion onto a safer target). Development proceeds through fixed psychosexual stages; unresolved conflict at any stage causes fixation.

Humanistic psychology

Rejects both determinism and the scientific, lab-based methods of the other approaches. Centres on free will and self-actualisation — the top level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, reached only once lower needs (physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem) are met. Rogers added congruence (match between self-image and ideal self) and conditions of worth (conditional acceptance in childhood that can block congruence in adulthood).

Worked example

Question style: “A teenager starts smoking after watching an older sibling get praised by friends for it. Explain this using social learning theory. [4 marks]”

Model:                the older sibling
Identification:       likely, since a sibling is similar/relatable
Vicarious reinforcement: friends' praise reinforces the sibling's
                       behaviour, observed (not personally
                       experienced) by the teenager
Mediational process:  motivation -- the teenager expects similar
                       social reward, making imitation more likely

Naming the specific mediational process involved, not just “SLT explains this,” is what separates a 4-mark answer from a 1-mark answer on this style of question.

Comparison of approaches

Every approach can be placed on: (1) free will vs determinism, (2) nature vs nurture, (3) reductionist vs holistic, (4) scientific/nomothetic vs idiographic. Behaviourism and the biological approach sit at the determinist, reductionist, nomothetic end; humanistic psychology sits at the opposite, free-will, holistic, idiographic end; cognitive, SLT, and psychodynamic approaches fall between the two extremes in different ways. An extended-writing question asking you to “compare two approaches” wants you to select two or three of these dimensions explicitly rather than describing each approach separately and leaving the comparison implicit.

Why this comparison matters for the exam

Paper 2 regularly asks you to apply two or more approaches to the same behaviour, rather than describe them one at a time. A useful habit: for any behaviour in a scenario, ask what the behaviourist, cognitive, and biological approaches would each point to as the cause, then note where they would disagree. Behaviourism looks only at the environmental history of reinforcement; cognition looks at the mental processing between stimulus and response; biology looks at genes or brain chemistry. Practising this three-way split on ordinary scenarios (a phobia, an addiction, a habit) builds the flexibility scenario-based questions actually test, rather than memorising each approach in isolation.

Exam traps

• Describing behaviourism and SLT as identical — SLT adds cognitive/mediational processes and does not require personal reinforcement.
• Confusing the Id/Ego/Superego with the psychosexual stages — they are separate parts of the theory.
• Naming a defence mechanism without describing what it does.
• Forgetting that self-actualisation sits at the top of Maslow’s hierarchy and requires lower needs to be met first.

Self-test

1. What is the key difference between classical and operant conditioning?
2. Name the four mediational processes in social learning theory.
3. What are the three parts of personality in the psychodynamic approach, and which develops last?
4. What does “self-actualisation” mean in the humanistic approach?
5. Which two approaches sit at the determinist, reductionist end of the comparison dimensions?

Answers: 1. Classical conditioning is learning through association (pairing stimuli); operant conditioning is learning through consequences (reinforcement and punishment). 2. Attention, retention, motor reproduction, motivation. 3. Id, Ego, Superego — the Superego develops last, around age 5. 4. Reaching one’s full potential, the top level of Maslow’s hierarchy, achievable only once lower needs are met. 5. Behaviourist and biological.