Mrs. Chambers
AP Psychology
27 January 2015
Case Study #1:
The neurobiological approach to Mrs. B’s behavior would be to find out what is wrong with the physical part of her brain. They would assume things such as a chemical imbalance or nerves that are not firing correctly. When applying the neurobiological approach to this behavior you would see how neural functioning affects the moral centers of the brain as well as the areas of the brain that control emotion. The solution would be to prescribe medication.
The humanistic approach would work well with Mrs. B’s change in behavior considering that it focuses on current environmental influences and the importance of a persons need to be accepted. Humanistic psychologists would contribute her behavior change to the fact that she feels that her students see her as boring implying that she is unaccepted which is a basic psychological human need.
The psychodynamic approach would be to assess the events that have recently taken place in her life. They would look at the death of Mrs. B’s father and the departure of her only child to see how that affected her. They would also analyze major childhood experiences and unconscious motives that are biologically based.
The behavioral approach would be to asses her environment and observe if there have been any changes. Although her teaching environment has remained constant her home one has not. With the move of her child comes an observable change in environment contributing to her change in behavior. Also the principal observed that her teaching style seemed “poorly organized” which is also an observable stimuli.
The cognitive approach would be to identify her current inner emotions and thoughts. Looking at the fact that she told her friend that she feels overwhelmed and lonely would be key insight into her feelings explaining her behavioral changes. They would also have to look at how she processes information and how the retention of it leads to responses.
Case Study #2: The neurobiological approach would be to assess what is wrong with the physical part of his brain. They would probably contribute his forgetfulness to lack of communication among certain brain cells. They could also try to find out why he is not comfortable taking on social situations. Inferring that he is probably anti-social this would explain his lack of real life communication with others. The humanistic approach would be to find out what in his environment is causing him to be so anti-social. A humanistic psychologist would attribute his behavior to the fact that he has minimal human