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Lisa is a high school senior who has a negative outlook on life. She believes that odds are stacked against her and that a few powerful people get all of the advantages in life. She is sarcastic and has few friends. Recently, she ran for student government and didn’t get elected. She claims the election was unfair and that the student government advisor purposely misguided her. Since then, she has stopped studying for her classes and attending school regularly. She had hoped to go to college next year, but she is now too depressed about her failures. She has become afraid her parents won’t love her anymore.
Describe the following perspectives and give an explanation of Lisa’s problems from each of them.
Psychoanalytic
Social-cognitive
Humanistic
Behavioral
Finally, which perspective do you think makes the most sense and why?
All Answers 1
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Psychoanalytic perspective
- Basic idea: Behavior is driven by unconscious conflicts, early childhood relationships, and defense mechanisms (Freud). Current problems are seen as the surface expression of deeper, often unconscious, emotional struggles.
- Explanation of Lisa: Her bitterness, sarcasm, and belief that powerful people control outcomes could reflect unresolved unconscious anger toward parental or authority figures from childhood. The election loss may have reactivated earlier feelings of rejection or inadequacy. She may be using defenses such as projection (attributing her own hostile impulses to others — “they’re unfair”), rationalization (making excuses to protect self-esteem), and withdrawal/avoidance as a way to keep painful unconscious material out of awareness. Her drop in school attendance and study could be a symptom of depressive withdrawal originating from these deeper conflicts.
Social-cognitive perspective
- Basic idea: Behavior results from interactions between cognitive processes (beliefs, expectations, attributions), behavior, and the social environment (Bandura). Self-efficacy, learned helplessness, and attributional style are central.
- Explanation of Lisa: She appears to have adopted an external, stable, and global attributional style (“odds are stacked against me,” “a few powerful people get all advantages”) that fosters learned helplessness and low self-efficacy. After the election loss — perceived as caused by outside, uncontrollable forces and possibly by the advisor — she generalized that failure to other domains (college prospects), stopped trying (reduced studying, attendance), and now expects low control over outcomes. Social learning could also have played a role if she observed others being rewarded for cynicism or saw adults modeling distrust of institutions. The social-cognitive view predicts that changing her beliefs about control and efficacy would change her behavior and mood.
Humanistic perspective
- Basic idea: People are motivated to grow toward self-actualization; psychological problems arise from blocked growth, unmet needs, incongruence between the real self and ideal self, and lack of unconditional positive regard (Rogers, Maslow).
- Explanation of Lisa: Lisa feels disconnected from her ideal hopes (going to college, being accepted) and experiences a threat to her self-worth when those hopes seem blocked. If she has lacked unconditional positive regard from parents, teachers, or peers, she may be overly dependent on external approval and now fears losing parental love. Her sarcastic aloofness and few friends reflect a protective stance against judgment. The humanistic view would see her depression and withdrawal as a response to thwarted growth and a mismatch between her sense of self and her aspirations; she needs empathy, acceptance, and opportunities to make meaningful choices to regain motivation.
Behavioral perspective
- Basic idea: Behavior is learned through conditioning. Problems are maintained by reinforcement histories: operant (rewards/punishments) and classical conditioning shape responses. Change follows from altering contingencies and learning new behaviors.
- Explanation of Lisa: Her reduced studying and attendance can be understood through operant principles: after the election, she may have received immediate relief from anxiety by avoiding school (negative reinforcement), or she hasn’t received social or academic reinforcement for effort, so effort decreased. Her belief in unfairness may have been reinforced by a single salient loss and by selective attention to confirming evidence. Sarcasm and social withdrawal may be reinforced by keeping people at a distance (reduces risk of rejection). From a behavioral view, increasing positive reinforcement for attendance, study, and social interaction and using graded exposure/behavioral activation would likely reverse the pattern.
Which perspective makes the most sense (and why)
- Most useful explanation: Social-cognitive (integrated with behavioral techniques).
- Why: Lisa’s pattern — a sudden loss of motivation after a perceived unfair event, statements that outcomes are uncontrollable, withdrawal from previously valued goals — is well accounted for by low self-efficacy, maladaptive attributional style, and learned helplessness. These cognitive appraisals directly explain both her negative outlook and the behavioral changes (stop studying, avoid school). The social-cognitive framework also integrates social influences (how others and models shape beliefs) and lends itself to testable, evidence-based interventions (CBT to reframe attributions, enhance problem-solving and self-efficacy). Adding behavioral strategies (behavioral activation, contingency management, graded exposure) makes it more actionable.
Suggested interventions (practical, brief)
- Cognitive-behavioral approach: identify and challenge unfair/uncontrollable attributions, build mastery experiences (small achievable academic tasks), teach problem-solving and attributional retraining to internal, unstable, specific explanations when appropriate.
- Behavioral activation: schedule and reinforce small, concrete steps (attend class twice a week, study 30 minutes) to regain momentum and mood improvement.
- Social support: involve parents/mentor to provide consistent, unconditional support and realistic feedback about college options.
- If symptoms of depression are significant, consider referral for clinical assessment (therapy, possible medication) and school-based supports (counselor, academic accommodations).
In short: psychoanalytic and humanistic views offer valuable depth about emotions and needs, and behavioral ways of thinking explain reinforcement processes, but a social-cognitive/behavioral integration best explains Lisa’s negative beliefs and resulting behaviors and provides clear, evidence-based steps to help her recover.
- Basic idea: Behavior is driven by unconscious conflicts, early childhood relationships, and defense mechanisms (Freud). Current problems are seen as the surface expression of deeper, often unconscious, emotional struggles.
- Explanation of Lisa: Her bitterness, sarcasm, and belief that powerful people control outcomes could reflect unresolved unconscious anger toward parental or authority figures from childhood. The election loss may have reactivated earlier feelings of rejection or inadequacy. She may be using defenses such as projection (attributing her own hostile impulses to others — “they’re unfair”), rationalization (making excuses to protect self-esteem), and withdrawal/avoidance as a way to keep painful unconscious material out of awareness. Her drop in school attendance and study could be a symptom of depressive withdrawal originating from these deeper conflicts.
Social-cognitive perspective
- Basic idea: Behavior results from interactions between cognitive processes (beliefs, expectations, attributions), behavior, and the social environment (Bandura). Self-efficacy, learned helplessness, and attributional style are central.
- Explanation of Lisa: She appears to have adopted an external, stable, and global attributional style (“odds are stacked against me,” “a few powerful people get all advantages”) that fosters learned helplessness and low self-efficacy. After the election loss — perceived as caused by outside, uncontrollable forces and possibly by the advisor — she generalized that failure to other domains (college prospects), stopped trying (reduced studying, attendance), and now expects low control over outcomes. Social learning could also have played a role if she observed others being rewarded for cynicism or saw adults modeling distrust of institutions. The social-cognitive view predicts that changing her beliefs about control and efficacy would change her behavior and mood.
Humanistic perspective
- Basic idea: People are motivated to grow toward self-actualization; psychological problems arise from blocked growth, unmet needs, incongruence between the real self and ideal self, and lack of unconditional positive regard (Rogers, Maslow).
- Explanation of Lisa: Lisa feels disconnected from her ideal hopes (going to college, being accepted) and experiences a threat to her self-worth when those hopes seem blocked. If she has lacked unconditional positive regard from parents, teachers, or peers, she may be overly dependent on external approval and now fears losing parental love. Her sarcastic aloofness and few friends reflect a protective stance against judgment. The humanistic view would see her depression and withdrawal as a response to thwarted growth and a mismatch between her sense of self and her aspirations; she needs empathy, acceptance, and opportunities to make meaningful choices to regain motivation.
Behavioral perspective
- Basic idea: Behavior is learned through conditioning. Problems are maintained by reinforcement histories: operant (rewards/punishments) and classical conditioning shape responses. Change follows from altering contingencies and learning new behaviors.
- Explanation of Lisa: Her reduced studying and attendance can be understood through operant principles: after the election, she may have received immediate relief from anxiety by avoiding school (negative reinforcement), or she hasn’t received social or academic reinforcement for effort, so effort decreased. Her belief in unfairness may have been reinforced by a single salient loss and by selective attention to confirming evidence. Sarcasm and social withdrawal may be reinforced by keeping people at a distance (reduces risk of rejection). From a behavioral view, increasing positive reinforcement for attendance, study, and social interaction and using graded exposure/behavioral activation would likely reverse the pattern.
Which perspective makes the most sense (and why)
- Most useful explanation: Social-cognitive (integrated with behavioral techniques).
- Why: Lisa’s pattern — a sudden loss of motivation after a perceived unfair event, statements that outcomes are uncontrollable, withdrawal from previously valued goals — is well accounted for by low self-efficacy, maladaptive attributional style, and learned helplessness. These cognitive appraisals directly explain both her negative outlook and the behavioral changes (stop studying, avoid school). The social-cognitive framework also integrates social influences (how others and models shape beliefs) and lends itself to testable, evidence-based interventions (CBT to reframe attributions, enhance problem-solving and self-efficacy). Adding behavioral strategies (behavioral activation, contingency management, graded exposure) makes it more actionable.
Suggested interventions (practical, brief)
- Cognitive-behavioral approach: identify and challenge unfair/uncontrollable attributions, build mastery experiences (small achievable academic tasks), teach problem-solving and attributional retraining to internal, unstable, specific explanations when appropriate.
- Behavioral activation: schedule and reinforce small, concrete steps (attend class twice a week, study 30 minutes) to regain momentum and mood improvement.
- Social support: involve parents/mentor to provide consistent, unconditional support and realistic feedback about college options.
- If symptoms of depression are significant, consider referral for clinical assessment (therapy, possible medication) and school-based supports (counselor, academic accommodations).
In short: psychoanalytic and humanistic views offer valuable depth about emotions and needs, and behavioral ways of thinking explain reinforcement processes, but a social-cognitive/behavioral integration best explains Lisa’s negative beliefs and resulting behaviors and provides clear, evidence-based steps to help her recover.
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