Psychological Perspectives
With the AP exam coming up in May, I thought it would be a good idea to break down essential concepts into bite sized articles. In these posts, I will go over a singular topic, tricks to memorize them, and how to apply it on the test with example MCQ questions available at the end. Today, our topic is psychological perspectives: the different views on human thoughts and behaviors. There are currently eight categories of psychological views.
Table of Contents
- Psychodynamic Perspective
- Humanistic Perspective
- Behavioral Perspective
- Cognitive Perspective
- Sociocultural Perspective
- Biopsychological (Neurological) Perspective
- Biopsychosocial Perspective
- Evolutionary (Darwinist) Perspective
- Eclectic Perspective
- Practice
Psychodynamic Perspective
This is a perspective built off of the psychoanalytic perspective created by the works of Sigmund Freud. He introduced the idea of the subconscious (id), preconscious (superego), and conscious (ego). He believed that our most primal nature is hidden in the id, which consists of our repulsive desires and our need for immediate gratification. The superego keeps it in check and serves as our morality. The ego works to satisfy both parts of our conscious in a way that helps us while also conforming to the norms of society.
Psychodynamic, while it does have a heavy focus on the unconscious, has moved away from the sexual nature that Sigmund Freud empathized. Instead, they focus on identifying the influence of the unconscious on human behavior and thoughts, often contributing negative behavior with repressed memories. Do you know the stereotype of a man lying on a couch talking about his emotions while the psychiatrist tells them it’s because of their childhood? Yeah, that stereotype is based on this one. Psychoanalysts use methods such as free association (speaking whatever comes to mind), dream analysis, and other techniques in order to ascertain the root influence of behavior buried in the unconscious mind.
Humanistic Perspective
One of the most famous psychological models used in everyday life is the Hierarchy of Needs. This pyramid-shaped model was created by Abraham Maslow, who stressed the importance of achieving self-fulfillment, but only if certain needs were met first. He believed that our actions are driven by our need to satisfy our desires. Only once our basic needs were met could we continue our journey to self-actualization.
Behavioral Perspective
With the least focus on the mental aspect of human identity and actions, behaviorists instead focus on strictly targeting external behaviors and either encouraging or inhibiting certain actions through conditioning. They explain behavior based on human and animal reactions to stimuli and use methods such as operant conditioning (reward and punishment) and classical conditioning (pairing a conditioned response with an unconditioned stimulus) to mold behaviors.
Cognitive Perspective
This is the opposite of the behavioral perspective. While behaviorists ignore the rationale behind actions, cognitive psychologists study our behavior and thoughts based on how we interpret, process, and remember environmental events. They examine how the way we generate our thoughts influences the way we behave.
Sociocultural Perspective
Psychologists analyze how our cultures influence our thoughts and behaviors. Cultural norms are essential to this school of thought in determining what traits we express, our thoughts and turmoils, and how we assimilate into society.
Biopsychological (Neurological) Perspective
This school of thought emphasizes the brain’s and hormones’ influence on our behavior and thoughts. The medical model of psychiatry follows this perspective closely, such as by prescribing medicine that alters the brain’s production of a certain neurotransmitter or hormone. They also study the effects of genetics and how often heredity can be attributed to our identities.
Biopsychosocial Perspective
Not to be confused with biopsychological, this perspective emphasizes the combination of biological, social, and psychological factors in creating our thoughts and behaviors. They believe that there is no one direct influence on our lives, and it is instead a combination of all three factors.
Evolutionary (Darwinist) Perspective
Psychologists state that human traits have evolved over time due to them allowing our ancestors to survive. As such, our thinking and behaviors are based upon the fact that they were essential to our survival.
Eclectic Perspective
Although not an official perspective, this view simply states that a psychologist doesn’t fully align with any of the previously mentioned clusters. They use perspectives depending on the situations that arise.
Practice
Read the following description of a client. There will be eight answers by psychologists determining why he thinks/behaves in the way he does. Match each number to the correct perspective (eclectic is not an option).
An American man, John, recently lost his job after insisting that he could make it on his own. He fell into a depression, and without any money to afford food, he couldn’t think of a way to improve his life. Luckily, a friend managed to snag him a cashier job. Now that he could afford to eat, he never could stop. He felt terrible and was unable to hold a relationship due to his shame of not being able to care for himself.
- John must run a mile every time he eats more than his body needs. There is no need to address his depression because his behavior is the issue.
- John is overeating because his body believes he is in famine. It is important to acknowledge that survival isn’t precarious nowadays.
- John’s self-defeating cycle of thinking is keeping him participating in bad habits. He’s reacting out of stress, processing his actions and his job life as examples of misery.
- John is part of a highly individualistic culture, and as such, he finds shame in his need to rely on his friend for help.
- John is unable to focus on keeping relationships due to not being able to afford food for a long time.
- John’s mother had depression, and he inherited it from her. Additionally, the levels of dopamine in his brain are significantly below normal.
- Although John’s genetics predisposition him to depression, his inability to handle the stress of life encouraged his poor state.
- John is remembering his own poor childhood, and the fear of becoming like that again keeps him trapped in a self-destructive cycle.
Answers:
- Behavioral
- Evolutionary
- Cognitive
- Sociocultural
- Humanistic
- Biopsychological
- Biopsychosocial
- Psychodynamic
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