Intercationist Approach

Question 1

Research support for the interactionist approach

Answer 1

A strength of adopting an interactionist approach (rather than nature or nurture) as an explanation of human behaviour is that there is research support for it. For example, Tienari et al. (2004) investigated the combination of genetic vulnerability (diathesis factor) and parental child-
rearing style (stress factor) in schizophrenia. They compared the rates of schizophrenia of children adopted between 1960 - 1979 from 19,000 Finnish mothers with schizophrenia (high risk) to a control group of adoptees without a mother with schizophrenia (low risk). The children were then followed up and their adoptive parents were assessed for child-rearing style. High levels of parental criticism and conflict with low levels of empathy was implicated in the development of schizophrenia, but only for the children with a high genetic risk. This supports the importance of using an interactionist approach to
explaining human behaviour, in this case schizophrenia, as it suggests that the contribution of both a genetic vulnerability (diathesis) and family dysfunction (stress) are
important in the development of schizophrenia.

Question 2

Practical application of adopting an interactionist approach

Answer 2

practical application of the
Interactionist approach is that in combining both nature and nurture, this produces more effective therapies for a variety of psychological disorders. For example, there is research support for the use of eclectic therapy in the treatment of schizophrenia. Guo et al (2010) reported that patients in the early stages of schizophrenia who receive a combination of
antipsychotic medication and psychological therapy have improved insight, quality of life
and social functioning and are therefore less likely to discontinue treatment or relapse than those taking antipsychotic medication alone, illustrating the value and effectiveness of combining treatments in patients with schizophrenia. This finding demonstrate the effectiveness of taking an interactionist approach to treatments.