Megan Durgan
PSY 100L
Professor Prewett
9 December 2014
Psychology Term Paper
Over the course of this semester I have learned substantial information regarding not only
psychology, but also about how these concepts relate to leadership and my life. In this paper I am
going to discuss the five major approaches to psychology, how different concepts relate to these
approaches, and how both these approaches and concepts relate to leadership. The first approach
that will be addressed is the biological approach. The biological approach is, “the view that
behavior is the result of physical processes, especially those relating to the brain, to hormones,
and to other chemicals. (Bernstein A-102) After analyzing this approach, it proved to be fairly
easy to relate this approach to leadership because all people, whether they are leaders or not,
undergo changes that effect our brains as well as our hormones. The second approach that we
will address is the behavioral approach. This approach states that behavioral psychology is, “a
view based on the assumption that human behavior is determined mainly by what a person has
learning in life, especially rewards and punishments. (Bernstein A-102) The behavioral approach
was also quite easy to apply to leadership because many leaders either operate on a rewards and
punishment routine, or they utilize other behavioral concepts in their relationships with their
followers. The next approach that was examined was the psychodynamic approach. The
psychodynamic approach was, “a view developed by Freud that emphasizes unconscious mental
processes in explaining human thought, feelings, and behavior” (Bernstein A-107). This was
definitely the hardest approach to apply to leadership because much of the approach deals with
an individual’s unconscious and the different aspects that are hard to measure and compare.
Following psychodynamic we have the cognitive approach. This approach can be explained as,
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“a view that emphasizes research on how the brain takes in information, creates perception,
forms and retrieves memories, processes information, and generates integrated patterns of
action” (Bernstein A-103). Similarly to the biological and the behavioral approach, the cognitive
approach proved to be fairly easy to relate to leadership because it can be related to how we
process information and oftentimes leaders follow certain patterns. Finally we will be discussing
the humanistic approach. This approach to psychology can best be described as, “a view of
behavior that is controlled by decisions that people make about their lives based on their
perceptions of the world” (Bernstein A-105). This was also easy when relating it to leadership
because leaders often times make decisions based mainly on how they perceive different parts of
their world or their tasks. Ultimately, this paper will be a reflection of the information that I have
learned over the course of the past sixteen weeks and how I have been able to relate and apply
these ideas to leadership and my own life.
As I stated above, the first approach that we will be examining is the biological approach.
The biological approach can be helpful in understanding why leaders behave in certain ways.
Within this next section we will be examining four concepts that relate directly to both the
biological approach as well as leadership. The first concept that we will be discussing is the
concept of stress. Stress is the, “process of adjusting to circumstances that disrupt or threaten to
disrupt a person’s daily functioning” (Bernstein A-109). Stress relates to the biological approach
because it is controlled by the hormones in your body and your body’s physical reactions in
response to being pushed to its limits. This idea correlates with leadership because all leaders
experience stress at one point or another in their lives; however, it is how a leader handles his or
her stress that determines whether or not he is being a good leader. A good leader takes the time
to plan out and organize his days or weeks so that he can minimize as much stress as possible.
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However, when stress does arise a good leader is able to sit down and analyze the situation and
determine what the best plan of action would be. A bad leader tends to snap under pressure and
effect his teammates in a much more negative fashion.
Not only does stress effect how leaders performs, but sleep deprivation can also play a
big role in a leaders performance or behavior. Sleep deprivation is, “a condition in which people
do not get enough sleep, may result in reduced cognitive abilities, inattention, or increased risk of
accidents” (Bernstein A-108). Sleep deprivation is related to the biological approach because it
causes physical harms to the body. It is common for a leader to experience sleep deprivation at
some point or another due to the fact that leaders are often very busy and because of that tend to
lose sleep. Sleep deprivation can cause a leader to perform poorly because of the negative effects
it can have on ones body. For example, if a leader is the chair of the homecoming committee for
his high school and experiences sleep deprivation during the middle of homecoming week, he is
more likely to make mistakes and forget information. This experience with sleep deprivation
would cause him to perform poorly as a leader.
Although stress and sleep deprivation can affect a leader negatively, a leaders intelligence
can have positive effects on how they perform. Intelligence is, “the possession of knowledge, the
ability to efficiently use that knowledge to reason about the world, and the ability to use that
reasoning adaptively in different environments” (Bernstein A-105). Intelligence is related to the
biological approach because your intelligence is a physical process; your hormones help to
determine how intelligent you are and how quickly and efficiently you learn information. A good
leader needs to have at least some level of moderate to high intelligence in order to perform well
when it comes to leadership skills. These skills involving intelligence could range from public
speaking ability to problem solving to writing a 15-page psych paper.
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The final concept that we will be discussing is bottom-up processing. Bottom-up
processing includes, “aspects of recognition that depend first on information about stimuli that
come up to the brain from the sensory systems” (Bernstein A-103). This concept relates to the
biological approach because it has to do how our brains process information. When relating to
leadership, bottom-up processing can allow you to make logical decisions based on your
emotions. For example, when faced with a difficult decision as to judging whether or not your
class float looks good for the upcoming homecoming parade, when using bottom-up processing
you are able to tell your classmates that it is not adequate enough or up to your standards for the
parade because you are not reacting with your emotions. Rather you are making a logical
decision and reaction.
The next approach that we will be examining is the behavioral approach. When
discussing this approach we will relate it to the four concepts: habituation, observational
learning, operant conditioning, and punishment. First we will discuss habituation. Habituation is
the, “reduced responsiveness to a repeated stimuli” (Bernstein A-105). This relates to the
behavioral approach because it is something that is learned over time and it affects your
behavior. When relating this concept to leadership, habituation can be both a good and bad thing.
Habituation can be good when leaders get used to public speaking therefore they are good at it
and are willing to do it whenever needed. However, it can be bad if a leader experiences
habituation in response to a team member’s negative attitude. Rather than help to fix this persons
negative attitude, the leader may simply become unaware that it is happening all of the time and
is hurting their progress as a group.
The next concept that we will discuss is observational learning; observational learning
occurs when watching the behavior of others. This relates to the behavioral approach because
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observational learning occurs when you watch the behaviors of others. This can be beneficial to a
leader if he is observing good leadership behavior because he may pick up these traits and utilize
them in his own leadership toolbox, however, he may also observe poor leadership qualities and
learn how not to behave in order to be an effective leader.
Operant conditioning is the idea of shaping behavior based on rewards and punishments.
This idea relates to the behavioral approach because operant conditioning effects the way a
person behaves and how they react to rewards or punishments. Leaders react to operant
conditioning in various ways. For example, a leader may be more inclined to finish an
assignment early if they will be given a reward such as more time at recess, but if they finish
early and are punished by being given another assignment, odds are the leader will not strive to
finish early.
The final concept that we will relate to the behavioral approach is the concept of
punishment. Punishment can be defined as, “the presentation of aversive stimulus or the removal
of a pleasant one following some behavior” (Bernstein A-107). This relates to the behavioral
approach because you learn whether or not a certain behavior is good based on whether or not
you receive a punishment. This relates to leadership because leaders occasionally need to provide
punishment to their followers if they are not doing what they have been instructed to do. For
example, my high school student council advisor had to take away Fun Fridays in our leadership
class because we were not getting all of our work done on the other days of the week. Therefore
our punishment was taking away our fun break time on Fridays.
Following the behavioral approach we will discuss the psychodynamic approach. The
first of the four concepts we will be analyzing is the idea of implicit memory. Implicit memory
is, “the unintentional recollection and influence of prior experiences” (Bernstein A-105). This
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concept relates to the psychodynamic approach because you are unaware of the memories that
are being encoded. Implicit memories can relate to leadership because often times leaders are
unaware of why they feel a certain way about something. For example, leaders often support one
cause more than another, such as relay for life, odds are that they have an unconscious memory
relating them to this organization; this would be an example of an implicit memory influences
ones behaviors.
Next in our discussion is the concept of unconscious desires. Unconscious desires are the
wants that are present in the unconscious mind as are influenced by Sigmund Freud. The idea of
unconscious desires is directly related to the psychodynamic approach because we are unaware
that we are experiencing them. Leaders can be influenced by their own unconscious desires and
this can have an effect on the things they are striving for. A leader may focus his or her efforts
very hard during the spring semester unaware that he is working way harder during these months
than during the fall months. Unconsciously the leader may be working so hard because he knows
in the back of his mind that his scholarship is up for renewal and he must have a certain grade
point average in order to guarantee he earns it.
Similar to unconscious desires is the idea of achievement motivation. Achievement
motivation is, “the degree to which a person establishes specific goals, cares about meeting them,
and experiences satisfaction by doing so” (Bernstein A-102). This concept is related to the
psychodynamic approach because people often times use the achievement motivation
subconsciously without necessarily knowing what they are doing. Leaders can apply the
achievement motivation concept to group projects without their team members being entirely
aware of what they are doing. For example, when given a deadline to create a display case within
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the next week, a leader may create group goals for the group members and offer mini rewards
throughout the week leading up to the deadline.
The final concept that we will relate to the psychodynamic approach is the concept of
defense mechanisms. Defense mechanisms are, “unconscious tactics that either prevent
threatening material from surfacing or disguise it when it does” (Bernstein A-104). This is
related to the psychodynamic approach because it is an entirely unconscious process. Leaders use
defense mechanisms to sway themselves to believe that something isn’t so bad. For example, a
leader may be using a defense mechanism when he realizes that they only have two days until
prom and the DJ has backed out. Rather than panic, the leader unconsciously convinces him that
it is okay and that everything will work out so that he doesn’t go into panic mode.
Now that we have discussed the psychodynamic approach, we are going to work our way
into the cognitive approach. The concepts that we will cover in the cognitive approach are:
grouping principals, recency effect, primacy effect, and schemas. The first concept that we will
relate to the cognitive approach is grouping principals. Grouping principals are ideas such as
similarity and proximity that lead us to group people together. This concept relates to cognitive
because it is a way to organize thoughts and ideas. This concept can relate to leadership because
leaders are often grouped together. For example, although many people who live in Barnes are
not LAS scholars, Barnes dorms are often viewed as the leadership dorms because LAS students
live there as well. Therefore, everyone who lives in Barnes is grouped together based on the
proximity principal.
Following the grouping principals will be the recency effect. Recency is, “a characteristic
of memory in which recall is particularly good for the last two or three items on a list”.
(Bernstein A-107) This relates to the cognitive approach because it has to do with your mental
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processing of information and how your brain takes in information. This concept relates to
leadership because it can determine how well you remember tasks that are given to you. For
example, when your instructor reads off to you a list of seven tasks that need to be accomplished,
odds are that you will definitely remember the last two or three of the tasks that are on the list.
This is because they are the most recent in your brain and you are reacting to the recency effect.
Similarly to the recency effect is the primacy effect. The primacy effect is a characteristic
of memory in which recall is particularly good for the first two or three items on a list. This
relates to cognitive because it has to do with how your brain processes and stores information.
This concept can be related to leadership in similar terms as the recency approach. However, the
primacy effect states that you remember the first few tasks read off in a list because they are the
first few things that your brain encodes.
The final concept that we will be relating to the cognitive approach is the concept of
schemas. Schemas by definition are, “what we know and expect about the world” (Bernstein A108). This relates to the cognitive approach because it has to do with how your brain processes
information and relates it to the real world. Leaders can often be identified by their own schema.
When someone is viewed as a leader, others often view him or her as though they are above all
others. For example, here on campus non-LAS students often think of LAS students as privileged
or special because they know to expect leaders as they are above them, when we know that to not
be true because that is what we have experienced.
The final approach to psychology that we will be discussing is the humanistic approach.
Within this approach we will discuss Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, emotions, gender roles, and
conditions of worth. We will start with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs can be defined as, “human behavior is influenced by a ranking of needs, physiological,
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safety, belongingness, esteem, and self actualization”. This concept relates to the humanistic
approach because it has to do with ones emotions and overall well-being as a whole. Leaders
may all practice Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. True leaders strive to achieve self-actualization
above all else and at the same time will encourage others to follow suit.
The second concept in the humanistic approach is emotions. Emotions are, “temporary
positive or negative experiences that are felt as happening to the self” (Bernstein A-104). This
concept relates to the humanistic approach because emotions are determined by the decisions
that people make and how they are perceived by the world. Emotions relate to leadership because
all people, whether they are leaders or not experience emotions. However, emotions can also
make or break a leader. A good leader needs to be able to handle his or her emotions and keep
them within an acceptable range. A bad leader on the other hand may cry often when stressed or
take their anger out on their teammates when they are stressed.
Following emotions we will discuss gender roles. Gender roles are, “patterns of work,
appearance, and behavior that society associates with being male or female”. This idea relates to
the humanistic approach because society determines how we feel, react, and relate to people that
are male or female and how they are expected to behave. Gender roles can also be related to
leadership because it is often expected that females are more patient and understanding leaders
where males tend to be more aggressive leaders. In a stressful situation, if you have a female
leader in charge of your group, you may feel more comfortable admitting your mistakes because
she may be more likely to provide empathy and understanding. A male leader however may
provide harsh feedback and cause you to feel poorly about your mistake.
The final concept that we are going to address in regards to the humanistic approach to
psychology is conditions of worth. According to Carl Rogers, conditions of worth are,
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“circumstances in which an individual experiences positive regard from others only when
displaying certain behaviors or attitudes”. This concept relates to the humanistic approach
because a person experiences conditions of worth based on how he perceives himself in relation
to the rest of the world. Leaders often experience conditions of worth when they are interacting
with their followers. Followers often express their gratitude when they are following good
leaders but do not express gratitude when working with poor leaders.
Although there are only five main approaches to psychology, there are hundreds of
concepts that accompany each approach. Each approach, whether it is the biological, the
behavioral, the psychodynamic, the cognitive, or the humanistic approach, relates to both my
own leadership abilities and myself in general. This class has taught me that there is more to
leadership than just meets the eye.
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Work Cited
Bernstein, D. A. (2011). Essentials of Psychology (5th edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth
Cengage.