MAJOR APPROACHES TO PSYCHOLOGY

Dr. Farjana Ahmed

Professor
 Major Approaches within Psychology:

❑ Psychologists have different philosophical perspectives

on their work.
❑ There are many different ways of thinking about how
people think, feel and behave.
❑ There is no single perspective that is better than another.

❑ Some perspectives may be more useful at one time than

at another.
❑ They all have something important to offer.
What are the Major Approaches to Psychology?

1. The Neuroscience Approach

Approach 5. The Cognitive Approach
2. The Psychodynamic
Approach
3. The Behavioral Approach
4. The Humanistic
The Neuroscience Perspective: Blood, sweat, and fears

❑ Views behavior from the perspective of biological functioning.

❑ Includes the study of heredity and evolution.
❑ Researchers who take this perspective on psychology look at
how genetics influence different behavior or how damage to
specific areas of the brain influence behavior and personality.
❑ How the inheritance of certain characteristics from parents and
other ancestors influences behavior, how the function of the
body affects hopes and fears, which behaviors are reflexive, and
so on.
❑ Every behavior, feeling, and thought, a corresponding physical
event takes place in the brain.
The Psychodynamic Perspective: Understanding the
inner person

❑ Originated by Sigmund Freud.

❑ Behavior is motivated by inner forces and conflicts about which
we have little awareness.
❑ Emphasizes the role of the unconscious mind, early childhood
experiences, and interpersonal relationships to explain human
behavior
❑ Helped treat and understand some psychological disorder.
❑ Dreams and slips of the tongue are the indication of what a
person is truly feeling within an unconscious psychic activity.
❑ Helps us understand everyday phenomena like prejudice and
aggression.
The Psychodynamic Perspective: Cont…

❑ According to Freud our personality is composed of three key

elements-
• Id - The primitive and instinctual part of the personality. It
is amoral, impulsive, and irrational and works according to
the pleasure principle.
• Superego - It is the moral branch of the mind, operating
according to what is ideal.
• Ego - It works according to the reality principle. This
realistic part balances between the desires of the id and the
superego.
❑ Free association – a method in which the patient learns to discuss
embarrassing or painful thoughts simply by reporting whatever
comes to mind.
The Behavioral Perspective: Observing the outer person

❑ In contrast to the neuroscience and psychodynamic schools,

grew out of a rejection of psychology’s early emphasis on the
inner workings of the mind.
❑ Behaviorists suggested that the field should focus on observable
behavior that can be measured objectively.
❑ The behavioral perspective concerned with how behaviors are
learned and reinforced.
❑ The behavioral perspective has its roots in the work of Ivan
Pavlov. His experiments were the first systematic study of
learning that came to be labeled classical conditioning.
The Behavioral Perspective: Cont…

❑ Edward Thorndike proposed the law of effect, when a

behavior is followed by satisfaction it is “stamped in,” and
when it is not followed by satisfaction it is “Stamped out”.
❑ John B. Watson, American psychologist believed that it was
possible to elicit any desired type of behavior by controlling a
person’s environment.
❑ Behavioral principles are often applied in mental health settings,
where therapists and counselors use these techniques to explain
and treat a variety of illness.
The Humanistic Perspective: The unique qualities of
the human species

❑ All individuals naturally strive to grow, develop and be in

control of their lives and behavior.
❑ Each of us has the capacity to seek and reach fulfillment.
❑ Assumes that people have the ability to make their own choices
about their behavior rather than relying on societal standards.
❑ People are striving to reach their full potential if they are given
the opportunity to do so.
❑ Emphasis is based on freewill, which is the ability to freely
make decisions about one’s own behavior and life.
The Humanistic Perspective: Cont…

❑ Influenced by the work of prominent humanists such as Carl

Rogers and Abraham Maslow.
❑ According to Rojers, humans are characteristically, “positive,
forward-moving, constructive, realistic and trustworthy”. Each
person is aware, inner-directed, and moving toward self-
actualization.
❑ Self-actualization is an essential part of this perspective. Self-
actualization is the process of being what one is and not a
process of striving to become.
The Cognitive Perspective: Identifying the roots of
understanding
 This area of psychology deals with mental processes such as
memory, thinking, problem solving, language and decision-
making.
 Focuses on how people think, understand and reason about the
world.
 Learning how people internally comprehend and represent the
outside world and how our ways of thinking about the world
influence our behavior.
 Cognitive psychologists often utilize an information-processing
model, comparing the human mind to a computer, to
conceptualize how information is acquired, processed, stored
and utilized.
THANK YOU