Question

Jake has become very anxious ever since he started taking harder classes in his major. The university's counselor diagnosed him with an anxiety disorder. Compare and contrast how the behavioral, humanistic, and cognitive approaches would view the origins and treatment of Jake's anxiety. Then, describe how psychologists view each of the three approaches.

Answer 1

Behaviorist approach:	Humanist approach	Cognitive perspective
A psychologist who is specialized in behavioral psychology, would argue that Jake has had suppressed anxiety from previous experiences with difficult classes. He has associated an increase in workload with things like staying up late to study, falling behind in the curriculum, and negative consequences from getting bad grades. He has been conditioned to associate good grades with positive consequences and bad grades with negative consequences. If Jake were to be treated using a behavioral approach, he would have to be conditioned to learn, study, and test in a way that created the least amount of anxiety. Rewards at the end of a study session would be a good place to start.	A psychologist who strongly believes in the humanistic approach would argue that since all of Jake’s essential and basic needs have been met, he now strives for the highest level of achievement, which is self-actualization. His anxiety comes from the fear of not meeting his goals. A humanistic treatment could be teaching Jake how to control his anxiety by making him recognize that he has control over his own life.	Jake’s anxiety is genetic, and that he has been predisposed to having anxiety. The neurons firing in his brain are out of his control, and they fire in such a way that makes Jake overthink and worry. If anxiety is, in fact a disorder, Jake could be prescribed anti-anxiety medicine that would help take the edge off.

All three approaches recognize that there is a very real problem in Jake’s anxiety and that he has to make a real effort to control it. All in all, the theories and approaches have not changed much since they were first discovered. There might be slight alterations in treatment, but for the most part, psychologists believe in the same methods and therapy