History and Approaches in Psychology - TCE Psychology (Tasmania)
“Describe the origins of psychology and the major perspectives used to explain behaviour.”
You need to trace psychology from its philosophical beginnings to a laboratory science under Wundt, then describe the major perspectives (biological, behaviourist, cognitive, psychodynamic, humanist and sociocultural) and how each explains behaviour differently.
What this dot point is asking
Module 1 of the TASC course opens with where psychology came from and the competing frameworks psychologists use. This matters because the same behaviour can be explained in several valid ways, and a good answer names the perspective it is using.
From philosophy to science
For centuries questions about the mind belonged to philosophy. Thinkers such as Descartes debated dualism (the idea that mind and body are separate) and the nature versus nurture question of whether knowledge is innate or learned. Psychology became a separate discipline only when researchers began testing ideas empirically rather than by argument alone.
Wilhelm Wundt opened the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig in 1879, the date usually given as the birth of scientific psychology. Wundt used introspection (trained self-report of conscious experience) to break experience into its elements, an approach called structuralism. William James responded with functionalism, asking what mental processes are for rather than what they are made of.
Psychology became a science when Wundt founded his Leipzig laboratory in 1879 and insisted on controlled, repeatable observation. Before that, the study of the mind was a branch of philosophy. Citing this date and method shows you understand why psychology counts as empirical.
The major approaches
Each perspective rests on different assumptions about the cause of behaviour:
- Biological approach: behaviour comes from genes, brain structures, neurotransmitters and hormones. It explains depression through low serotonin or aggression through the amygdala.
- Behaviourist approach: only observable behaviour can be studied scientifically, and behaviour is learned through conditioning (Watson, Skinner). The mind is treated as a "black box".
- Cognitive approach: the mind processes information like a computer, encoding, storing and retrieving it. It studies memory, attention and thinking using models and inference.
- Psychodynamic approach: Freud argued that unconscious drives and early childhood experience shape behaviour, with conflict between the id, ego and superego.
- Humanist approach: Maslow and Rogers stressed free will, personal growth and the drive toward self-actualisation, rejecting the determinism of the other schools.
- Sociocultural approach: behaviour is shaped by culture, social groups and norms, so the same act can mean different things in different societies.
Determinism is the view that behaviour is caused by forces beyond our control (genes, conditioning, the unconscious). Free will is the view that people consciously choose their actions. The biological, behaviourist and psychodynamic approaches lean deterministic; the humanist approach champions free will.
Why several approaches survive
No single approach explains everything, so psychologists often combine them. The biopsychosocial model used later in the course (in health and wellbeing) is a direct example: it blends biological, psychological and social explanations rather than choosing one. This is called eclecticism.
Read the task
Briefly explain aggression using two different approaches, showing how each locates the cause differently.
Apply the biological approach
The biological approach attributes aggression to physical causes such as high testosterone, genetic predisposition or amygdala activity, treating aggression as something inside the body.
Apply the behaviourist approach
The behaviourist approach (Bandura's modelling) instead argues aggression is learned by observing and imitating models who are rewarded for it, locating the cause in the environment. Naming both shows the same behaviour has multiple valid explanations, which is the point the question rewards.
Levels of explanation
A useful exam habit is to recognise that approaches sit at different "levels". The biological level looks inside the body; the cognitive level looks at mental processing; the social and cultural level looks outward to groups. Strong responses move deliberately between levels rather than treating one as the whole truth.
Students often write as if the behaviourist or biological view is simply correct. TASC markers reward recognising that each approach has strengths and weaknesses and that they can be complementary. Behaviourism is testable but ignores thinking; the psychodynamic approach is rich but hard to falsify. Always evaluate rather than pick a winner.
Putting it together
When you meet a behaviour in the exam, ask which approach a claim belongs to and what it assumes about the cause. Anchor your answer to the founders (Wundt for the science, Watson and Skinner for behaviourism, Freud for the psychodynamic view, Maslow and Rogers for humanism) so the marker can see you are using a defined framework rather than everyday opinion.
Exam-style questions
Questions in the style of TASC exam questions on this dot point, each with a worked answer. They are written by ExamExplained unless tagged "Past paper"; the year shows the paper a question is modelled on.
Practice6 marksExplain why 1879 is regarded as the date psychology became a science, and outline one feature of the biological approach and one feature of the behaviourist approach.Show worked answer →
This is a knowledge item marked on Criterion 3. Address the date, then each approach.
- 1879 and the science
- In 1879 Wilhelm Wundt opened the first dedicated psychology laboratory in Leipzig and studied the mind through controlled, repeatable observation (introspection under standardised conditions). This shift from philosophical argument to empirical, measurable method is why 1879 is taken as the birth of scientific psychology.
- Biological approach
- It explains behaviour through physical causes such as genes, brain structures, neurotransmitters and hormones; for example, attributing depression to low serotonin.
- Behaviourist approach
- It argues that only observable behaviour can be studied scientifically and that behaviour is learned through conditioning (Watson, Skinner), treating the mind as a black box.
Markers reward the date with a reason (empirical method), plus one accurate feature of each named approach.
Practice9 marksCompare the behaviourist and cognitive approaches to explaining behaviour. In your answer refer to their core assumptions, one strength and one limitation of each, and explain why psychologists may use more than one approach.Show worked answer →
This is an extended-response item marked on Criteria 3 and 7. Compare the assumptions, evaluate, then justify eclecticism.
- Core assumptions
- The behaviourist approach assumes behaviour is learned through conditioning and that only observable behaviour should be studied. The cognitive approach assumes behaviour is driven by internal mental processes (encoding, storing and retrieving information), studied by inference using models.
- Strengths and limitations
- Behaviourism is highly testable and produced effective therapies (systematic desensitisation), but it ignores thinking and reduces people to stimulus-response units. The cognitive approach restored the study of mental processes and underpins memory and CBT research, but its inferences about unobservable processes can be hard to verify directly.
- Why use more than one
- No single approach explains everything, so psychologists are often eclectic. The biopsychosocial model used in the health topic combines biological, psychological and social explanations rather than choosing one, giving a fuller account of behaviour.
Markers reward a genuine comparison (not two separate descriptions), balanced evaluation, and a reasoned case for combining approaches.