DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGY
1
Abstract:
The following paper consists of an explanation, of what the history of psychology taught us about the human behaviour. This explanation consists of summarising the different perspectives in psychology. Each perspective is trying to view the human mind and behaviour from a different angle, i.e. the biological perspective tries to analyse the human behaviour by understanding the biological and physical structure of the brain and the nervous system, whereas the psychodynamic perspective focuses on, how the behaviour changes according to our infant and child experiences. The different perspectives are shown below with the following order: a) Psychodynamic b) Humanistic c)
…show more content…
He also believed that the unconscious consists of three main areas.
1. The Id
2. The Ego
3. The Superego
The Id area is divided into two main human instincts. One is the “EROS” which is the instinct of life, which involves the self-preservation and sex instincts. The other one is “Thanatos” which is the death instinct. It is far less powerful than Eros and therefore its energies and thoughts are channeled away from ourselves or are expressed by aggression towards others.
Defence mechanisms are often used by people to reduce anxieties that are caused by the inner conflict between the Id and Superego. Psychoanalysis is a therapy performed to patients in order to help them resolve this inner conflict.
DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGY
4
HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE:
The humanistic perspective of psychology is a field that studies the human as a whole person to understand its behaviour. Humanistic psychology is a study that looks the human behaviour through the eyes of the person behaving in a certain way, and not from a third person aspect. In addition to the psychodynamic perspective, where Freud believes that the behaviour of a human being is determined by its childhood, the humanistic perspective supports that each and every person is unique and individual and has the free will to change his behaviour at any time of its life. Humanistic psychologists believe that every person is responsible for his own happiness and
While in college, Behavioral Psychology greatly intrigued Maslow but, soon found aspects he disagreed with. He found Behavioral and Psychoanalytic psychology only focused on the negative primitive aspects of humanity. Maslow argued that although humans can be cruel and negative there are also positive aspects of humanity such as compassion, kindness, empathy and many others. He felt that current schools of thought during his time watered down humanity made it seem simplistic and he wanted there to more positivity to add to the complexity that is humanity. Humanistic Psychology according to Shiraev (2015), “a value of orientation that holds a hopeful and constructive view of people and of their substantial capacity to be self-determining” (p. 389).
The psychodynamic perspective focuses on the motivation of human behavior by a person’s inner personality through their emotions, childhood experiences, or environmental demands (Hutchison, 2015). As the root of all psychodynamic theories, psychologist Sigmund Freud used his interrelated points of view to develop approaches for human
What is one theory that influenced the development of the approach and how the theory helps describe behaviors
Plato and Socrates thought that the mind and body were separate and that mind keeps going after the body dies, later Rene Descartes agreed and did experiments to prove it
The biological perspective, examines biological and environmental factors that shape how we learned. This perspective does not focus on subject experiences, but objectives behaviors. Behavioral scientists are interested in how we learn from the things around us.
As the Behaviourist approach differs so greatly in comparison to the Psychodynamic approach, people have mixed opinions on both approaches. As no one can ever fully understand the complexity of the human mind, neither the behaviourist nor psychodynamic approach will ever be completely correct. As both approaches vary, we can conclude they have both been successful and incorrect in many cases. Psychologists have studied the mind for decades and these approaches give us a foundation in understanding the human
1. Psychology has contributed to the advancement of social issues in many ways. Psychologists challenged societies way of thinking on many social issues, one being segregation in schools. Psychology was used to show the affects of segregation and that psychologically homosexuals were no different than heterosexuals. Psychology has helped drop stereotypes and stigmas and helped create the way of thinking that most of society now has.
Psychology is the scientific “study of the mind” (Gross, 2015) and behavior, which includes the study of humans and animals. There are various approaches in modern psychology. A theoretical approach is a perspective (view) about human behavior, there may be several different theories within an approach, but they all share these common assumptions and principles. (McLeod, 2007). A theory is an attempt by theorists to try to explain behavior. Theories are not facts but can be verified by testing. Theories can then be evaluated which I aim to do through this essay, where I will briefly explain the theoretical approaches in psychology and aim to focus on an analysis for each perspective which consist of the psychodynamic, humanist, cognitive and behavioral approaches where I will analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each approach separately.
Psychology is the scientific “study of the mind” (Gross, 2015) and behaviour, which includes the study of humans and animals. There are various approaches in modern psychology. A theoretical approach is a perspective which is someone’s view about human behaviour, there can be many different theories within an approach, however they all piece together the same assumptions. (McLeod, 2007). A theory is an attempt by theorists to try to explain behaviour. Theories are not facts but can be verified by testing. Theories can then be evaluated which I aim to achieve through this essay, where I will briefly explain the theoretical approaches in psychology and aim to focus on an analysis of each perspective which consists of the psychodynamic,
This essay will outline and compare both biological and behavioural perspectives on human behaviour. The history, major discoveries and theories will be discussed along with some of the most influential theorists in each of these two areas of psychology. This essay will also compare the two areas strengths and weaknesses in the field of psychology.
It is said that humanistic psychology was developed upon the limitations of behaviourism. The humanistic approach is often referred to as the “third force” in psychology coming after psychoanalysis and behaviourism; it is an alternative approach to psychology (Maslow, 1968). It offered a more wholesome approach to psychology at the time in comparison to behaviourism and psychoanalysis. This essay will compare and contrast behaviourism and humanistic psychology; it will focus on their contributions to psychological theory and their applications in the real world.
It begins by studying the whole person, not only through the eyes of an observer, but through the eyes of the person performing the behavior. The humanistic approach is also called the phenomenological approach in some circumstances. In these cases, the personality is looked at from the view of a person’s individual subjective experience. This approach arose as a rebellion of sorts
The humanistic perspective on personality deals exclusively with human behavior. Humanistic psychologists believe that human nature includes a natural drive towards personal growth, that humans have the freedom to choose what they do regardless of environmental factors, and humans are mostly conscious beings and are not controlled by unconscious needs and conflicts. They also believe that a person's subjective view of the world is more important than objective reality. Two of the humanistic theorists that have made an impact of humanism are Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow.
The purpose of this essay is to outline and evaluate at least three psychological perspectives of human behaviour. The three approaches that will be summarised are humanistic, social learning theory and the Biological approach. They will also be criticised and compared to one another. A brief description on psychology will occur, and there will also be a short summarisation on some key early influences of psychology, from its origins in philosophy.
The humanistic approach to psychology is an organization of different thoughts in which the interests of humans and their values and/or beliefs are of main importance (Schultz & Schultz, 2009). The term humanistic relays the notion that all human beings have the potential for growth and that no one is purposely bad or unworthy (Carver & Scheier, 2012). In contrast to psychoanalytical psychologists, humanistic psychologists tend to focus on the strengths of human behavior and not the aspects that make an individual’s