
What is a Psychological ‘Perspective’ Over the course of the year we will be studying a number of different “perspectives” in the field of psychology. A psychological perspective is a school of thought or a philosophy which would guide someone’s interpretation of an individual’s behavior. Take the subject
What are the 6 major psychological theories?
Six Major Psychological Theories: Strengths and Weaknesses Term Paper
- Introduction. A psychological theory is a laid down study backed by research that tries to explain certain behaviors and human thought.
- Behavioral Theories. ...
- Biological Theories. ...
- Cognitive Theory/Cognitive Behavioral. ...
- Humanistic Theories. ...
- Psychodynamic theories. ...
- Psychosocial Theories. ...
- Conclusion. ...
- Reference List. ...
What are the 7 approaches to psychology?
What are the approaches to psychology?
- The Psychodynamic Perspective.
- The Behavioral Perspective.
- The Cognitive Perspective.
- The Biological Perspective.
- The Cross-Cultural Perspective.
- The Evolutionary Perspective.
- The Humanistic Perspective.
What are the seven contemporary psychological perspectives?
What are the 7 major perspectives in psychology?
- Structuralism, the first of the psychological schools. This current that appeared around 1890 includes members of the tradition of psychological research inaugurated by Wilhelm Wundt.
- Functionalism. One of the main currents of psychology that appeared at the beginning of the 20th century. ...
- Psychoanalysis. ...
- Behaviorism. ...
- Gestalt. ...
- Humanistic. ...
- Cognitivism. ...
What are the six major perspectives of psychology?
What are the six major approaches to psychology?
- The Psychodynamic Perspective. ...
- The Behavioral Perspective. ...
- The Cognitive Perspective. ...
- The Biological Perspective. ...
- The Cross-Cultural Perspective. ...
- The Evolutionary Perspective. ...
- The Humanistic Perspective.

What are examples of psychological perspectives?
The five major perspectives in psychology are biological, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive and humanistic.
What does the psychological perspective focus on?
A psychological perspective is the same in that it's a specific focus or way of viewing something, but in psychology specifically, the focus is based on observing behaviors. Essentially, a psychological perspective is a specific approach to observing and understanding human behavior which can contain various theories.
What are the 7 common psychological perspectives?
At this point in modern psychology, the varying viewpoints on human behavior have been split into eight different perspectives: biological, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, psychodynamic, sociocultural, evolutionary, and biopsychosocial.
Which is the most important psychological perspective?
1. Cognitive Perspective. One of the important psychological perspectives is the cognitive perspective of psychology. It focuses on the processing, organizing, storing, and retrieving of information and is concerned with the higher mental processes such as thinking, memory, etc.
Why is psychological perspective important?
The different perspectives in modern psychology give researchers and students tools to approach problems and answer questions. They also guide psychologists in finding new ways to explain and predict human behavior. This exploration and deeper understanding can even lead to the development of new treatment approaches.
What is psychological perspective in understanding the self?
In psychology, the notion of the self refers to a person's experience as a single, unitary, autonomous being that is separate from others, experienced with continuity through time and place. The experience of the self includes consciousness of one's physicality as well as one's inner character and emotional life.
What are the 4 major perspectives of psychology?
Psychoanalytic Perspective.Humanistic Perspective.Trait Perspective.Social Cognitive Perspective.
What are the 6 perspectives of psychology?
Psychology: Six Perspectives shows students a measure of unity and continuity within this fragmented field by briefly and coherently discussing six primary perspectives that have arisen: biological, psychoanalytical, behavioral, humanistic, cognitive, and evolutionary. Author L.
What are the 4 types of psychology?
There are different types of psychology, such as cognitive, forensic, social, and developmental psychology.
What is psychology and what is the basis of all of the perspectives in psychology?
Psychology is the study of the mind. This involves understanding thought, feeling, and behavior—along with palpable things that can be... See full answer below.
What are the psychological theories?
Grand theories of development include psychoanalytic theory, learning theory, and cognitive theory. These theories seek to explain much of human behavior, but are often considered outdated and incomplete in the face of modern research.
What is the psychological perspective that focuses primarily on the way in which rewards and punishment shape human development?
Behaviorism. worked on mapping out the details of how rewards and punishments shape, maintain, and change behavior through what he termed "operant conditioning".
What is the core idea of psychoanalysis?
Psychoanalysis is defined as a set of psychological theories and therapeutic techniques that have their origin in the work and theories of Sigmund Freud. 1 The core of psychoanalysis is the belief that all people possess unconscious thoughts, feelings, desires, and memories.
What are the different perspectives of psychology?
Learn about these perspectives by exploring psychodynamic theory, behaviorism, cognitivism, biopsychology, sociocultural perspectives, and humanistic theories. Updated: 11/09/2021
What is cognitive perspective?
A cognitive perspective is most interested in how a person mentally processes information, which ultimately affects how that person behaves. Similar to behaviorists, those researching cognitive processes may use experiments to study behavior.
What is humanism in psychology?
Humanism is a perspective that answers this question with a big yes! Humanists are particularly focused on how a person can reach their full potential. While other approaches also aim to improve a person's life, humanists tend to emphasize the unique qualities and capacities of each individual person.
Which perspective is most interested in how a person's environment leads to certain behavior?
Behaviorism is most interested in how a person's environment leads to certain behavior, while cognitivism looks at how a person mentally processes information. Biological psychology considers genes, evolution, and environmental factors. Sociocultural perspectives place more emphasis on social and cultural factors.
What is the movement of behaviorism?
Behaviorism and Cognitivism. A movement known as behaviorism has also had a significant impact on the field of psychology. Behaviorists are most interested in how a person's environment leads to certain behavior. Behaviorists may study animal reactions to stimuli to try to understand human reactions better.
What is sociocultural perspective?
You might wonder how other factors fit into the picture, ones that are not biological, but are more about the way you were raised and the environment you live in today. Here's where a sociocultural perspective can help. This perspective looks at how social and cultural factors affect human behavior.
Why do behaviorists study animal reactions to stimuli?
Behaviorists may study animal reactions to stimuli to try to understand human reactions better. For instance, how does a rat respond when presented with obstacles in a maze that provide a barrier between the rat and the food he wants? Are there connections between how animals react to these types of situations and how humans respond?
How Are Psychological Perspectives Used?
So how do all of these different psychological perspectives the way that psychologists view human issues? Let’s take a look at a few examples of how psychological perspectives are used.
What are the different perspectives of psychology?
These early schools of thought included structuralism, functionalism, psychoanalysis, behaviorism, and humanism.
How can behavioral psychology help with anxiety?
Behavioral techniques such as classical conditioning or operant conditioning might be used to help reduce the feelings of anxiety.
How are behaviors learned?
Two of the key ways that behaviors are learned is through the processes known as classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning is the process that was first discovered by the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov during his famous studies on the digestive systems of dogs.
Why is psychology so modernized?
Psychology has become more modernized, the techniques and tools available to researchers study human thought and behavior have also grown more advanced. Because psychologist now focus on so many different aspects of human behavior, it’s not surprising that so many different psychological perspectives have emerged.
What is the school of thought that studies observable behaviors?
During the early part of the 20th century, the school of thought known as behaviorism emerged. The school of thought was focused on studying observable behaviors and making psychology a more scientific pursuit.
What did Freud believe about human behavior?
Freud believed that human behavior was motivat ed by an energy he called the libido. The libido is the driving force between the part of personality known as the id. The id is the most primal part of personality that is present at birth and that strives to fulfill all of the most basic urges.
What are the five perspectives of psychology?
The five major perspectives in psychology are biological, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive and humanistic. You may wonder why there are so many different psychology approaches and whether one approach is correct and others wrong. Most psychologists would agree that no one approach is correct, although in the past, ...
What is biological perspective?
The biological perspective states that all thoughts, feeling & behavior ultimately have a biological cause. It is one of the major perspectives in psychology and involves such things as studying the brain, genetics, hormones, and the immune and nervous systems.
How is behaviorism different from other approaches?
Behaviorism is different from most other approaches because they view people (and animals) as controlled by their environment and specifically that we are the result of what we have learned from our environment. The behaviorist perspective is concerned with how environmental factors (called stimuli) affect observable behavior (called the response).
Why is behaviorism considered a scientific method?
Behaviorism also believes in scientific methodology (e.g., controlled experiments), and that only observable behavior should be studied because this can be objectively measured. Behaviorism rejects the idea that people have free will, and believes that the environment determines all behavior. Behaviorism is the scientific study of observable behavior working on the basis that behavior can be reduced to learned S-R (Stimulus-Response) units.
What is humanistic psychology?
Humanistcic Perspective. Humanistic psychology is a psychological perspective that emphasizes the study of the whole person (know as holism). Humanistic psychologists look at human behavior, not only through the eyes of the observer, but through the eyes of the person doing the behaving.
What are the two processes that behaviorists propose?
The behaviorist perspective proposes two main processes whereby people learn from their environment: namely classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning involves learning by association, and operant conditioning involves learning from the consequences of behavior.
What is the layperson's idea of psychology?
If your layperson's idea of psychology has always been about people in laboratories wearing white coats and watching hapless rats try to negotiate mazes in order to get to their dinner, then you are probably thinking about behavioral psychology.
What is biological perspective?
The Biological Perspective. The biological perspective is also known as biopsychology or physiological psychology. Biopsychology focuses on the physical and biological roots of behavior. For example, a biological psychologist may research the influence of genetics on behavior or the changes in personality after a person suffers damage ...
Why do psychologists have multiple perspectives?
In fact, psychologists may embrace multiple perspectives, as each perspective has strengths and weaknesses. Understanding a variety of psychological perspectives can help students and professionals develop a more comprehensive view of mental health and developmental issues.
What are the principles of humanistic psychology?
Before the development of this approach, the psychology profession was dominated by the behavioral and psychodynamic approaches. Some psychologists critiqued these approaches as deterministic and pessimistic. Some of the central principles of the humanistic perspective are: 1 Human beings have inherent goodness and will thrive under the right conditions. 2 Each person is unique and has unique experiences. As a result, psychologists should not rely heavily on group studies. 3 Individuals have free will and must accept responsibility for their self-actualization.
What is behavioral psychology?
In other words, behavioral psychologists explore psychology through observable behaviors and actions. In this perspective, psychologists treat all behavior as learned or acquired.
What is Freud's analogy of the subconscious mind?
Only a small part of a floating iceberg is visible above the water. Most of the iceberg is underneath the water. In Freud's analogy, the tip of the iceberg represents the conscious mind .
How can unconscious thinking be overcome?
A person can overcome undesirable behaviors and thoughts by forming a better understanding of their subconscious root causes.
What is the role of biological psychologists in schizophrenia?
For example, a biological psychologist may determine that the level of dopamine in the brain plays a significant role in schizophrenia. This could influence research to test new drugs intended to stabilize dopamine levels in schizophrenia patients.
Psychological Perspectives
Psychologists today do not believe there is one “right” way to study the way people think or behave. There are, however, various schools of thought that evolved throughout the development of psychology that continue to shape the way psychologists investigate human behavior.
The Psychodynamic Perspective
Psychodynamic theory is an approach to psychology that studies the psychological forces underlying human behavior, feelings, and emotions, and how they may relate to early childhood experience.
The Behavioral Perspective
Behaviorism is an approach to psychology that emerged in the early 20th century as a reaction to the psychoanalytic theory of the time. Psychoanalytic theory often had difficulty making predictions that could be tested using rigorous experimental methods.
The Cognitive Perspective
Cognitive psychology is the school of psychology that examines internal mental processes such as problem solving, memory, and language. “Cognition” refers to thinking and memory processes, and “cognitive development” refers to long-term changes in these processes.
The Humanistic Perspective
Humanistic psychology is a psychological perspective that rose to prominence in the mid-20th century, drawing on the philosophies of existentialism and phenomenology, as well as Eastern philosophy.
The Socio-Cultural Perspective
Sociocultural factors are the larger-scale forces within cultures and societies that affect the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of individuals.
Cultural Psychology
Cultural psychology is the study of how psychological and behavioral tendencies are rooted and embedded within culture. The main tenet of cultural psychology is that mind and culture are inseparable and mutually constitutive, meaning that people are shaped by their culture and their culture is also shaped by them.
What is psychology perspective?
Perspectives in Psychology. Psychology is the study of people’s minds and behavior. Many psychologists defined and have presented different looks towards the interests and explanations of human behavior. Reason this, many perspectives in psychology emerged. Starting from Aristotle to the modern definition of psychology, ...
What are the different perspectives in psychology?
The major perspectives in psychology that emerged are cognitive, behavioral, psychodynamic, humanistic, biological, socio-cultural, and evolutionary. 1. Cognitive Perspective. One of the important psychological perspectives is the cognitive perspective of psychology. It focuses on the processing, organizing, storing, ...
Why are humanistic psychologists so difficult to study?
The principle they focus on is very difficult to investigate scientifically because it characterizes by philosophical aspects of human life.
What is the humanistic principle?
One of the most important humanistic principles is that all human beings have a basic powerful inborn tendency to grow and improve to their fullest potential, and a desire to take control of their own lives. Humanistic psychologists are the “least scientific” of all perspectives of psychology.
What is physiological psychology?
In recent years, physiological psychologists are focusing on the influence of heredity on personality characteristics and abilities. They are also concentrating on behavior genetics to determine how much genes and environmental influence individual differences.
Why is psychodynamics used?
The term psychodynamic is used because these unconscious motives and conflicts influence our behavior even though we do not know they exist. They are revealed in disguised, symbolic ways such as in dreams, in slips of the tongue, and sometimes in psychological problems.
What is the correct way to view human behavior?
Starting from Aristotle to the modern definition of psychology, no single view has emerged as the correct way of viewing human behavior and mental processes. Nowadays viewpoints of founders of psychology have blended so much that they no longer exist as a separate school of thought.

What Are Perspectives in Psychology?
The Psychodynamic Perspective
The Behavioral Perspective
The Humanist Perspective
The Biological Perspective
The Cognitive Perspective
How Are Psychological Perspectives used?
Summary
- As you can see, the many different psychological perspectives represent different ways of thinking about different issues that affect the mind and behavior. While some psychologists tend to take a different perspective over others, it is common today for professionals to take an eclectic approach when looking at a problem. Learn more about some of ...
Behaviorist Perspective
Psychodynamic Perspective
Humanistic Perspective
- Humanistcic Perspective
Humanistic psychologyis a psychological perspective that emphasizes the study of the whole person (know as holism). Humanistic psychologists look at human behavior, not only through the eyes of the observer, but through the eyes of the person doing the behaving. Humanistic psychol…
Cognitive Perspective
Biological Psychology
Evolutionary Psychology
Perspectives Conclusion