Billy was the third child of loving but busy parents. When he was growing up, he thought that his parents favored his older sibl
ings. When Billy was four, his parents divorced, and he remained with his father. His brother and sister moved with his mother to a distant city. Billy rarely saw them. Feeling inadequate in raising his son alone, Billy’s father responded by providing the child with costly toys and frequent trips to amusement parks. As Billy grew older and attended school, he had trouble focusing and was taken to a doctor for an appraisal of his abilities and disabilities. Billy’s medical evaluation showed symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, but Billy’s father dismissed the diagnosis. Because of these difficulties in school, Billy had trouble making friends and was ridiculed by his classmates. This diminished his self-confidence. By the time Billy was an adolescent, he had difficulty forming lasting relationships despite his expertise in athletics. He was capable of high academic achievement, but his grades were below average. Teacher reports frequently cited his excessive need for attention. Personally, he felt lost and doomed to failure. The following names will be used in this assignment. Each name will ONLY be used ONCE.
B. F. Skinner
Sigmund Freud
Martin Seligman
Abraham Maslow
Charles Darwin
Hans Eysenck
Carl Rogers
Each perspective has a list of words that MUST be used in your answer. Remember, you may need to do some outside research to find the correct usage of the terminology. Many of these terms will be used later in the term.
1. Psychoanalytic Approach (2 Points)
Name of psychologist who would be analyzing Billy from this approach:
What is the basic cause of Billy’s problems? Please be sure to include the following: unconscious, impact of early childhood on relationships.
2. Behaviorist Approach (2 Points)
Name of psychologist who would be analyzing Billy from this approach:
What is the basic cause of Billy’s problems? Please be sure to include the following: reinforcement, punishment.
3. Humanist Approach (2 Points)
Name(s) of psychologist(s) who would be analyzing Billy from this approach:
What is the basic cause of Billy’s problems? Please be sure to include the following: free will, self-esteem
4. Cognitive Approach (2 Points)
Name of psychologist who would be analyzing Billy from this approach:
What is the basic cause of Billy’s problems? Please be sure to include the following: learned helplessness, thinking
5. Biological Approach (2 Points)
Name of psychologist who would be analyzing Billy from this approach:
What is the basic cause of Billy’s problems? Please be sure to include the following: norepinephrine, dopamine, genetics.
6. Evolutionary Approach (2 Points)
Name of psychologist who would be analyzing Billy from this approach:
What is the basic cause of Billy’s problems? Please be sure to include the following: heredity, discussion of why this trait was passed down.
7. Taking into account all of these approaches/perspectives, which do you think gives us the best explanation of Billy’s behavior? Why? (3 Points)
Billy gets frustrated and starts to cry. He pushes his bike down on the lawn and throws his helmet off. Then he tells his father that he doesn't want to learn how to ride a bike.
Learned helplessness occurs when an individual continuously faces a negative, uncontrollable situation and stops trying to change their circumstances, even when they have the ability to do so
