PERSPECTIVES

OF
PSYCHOLOGY
PSYCHOLOGICAL 01 BEHAVIOURAL

PERSPECTIVES 02 COGNITIVE

03 BIOLOGICAL

04 EVOLUTIONARY
Approach to looking at an event or
situation from different perspectives.
There is not one single perspective that is
05 HUMANISTIC

used to explain all human behavior and

mental processes. 06 SOCI0-CULTURAL

07 PSYCHODYNAMIC
 Biological Perspective
The biological approach to the study of human beings and other species attempts to
relate overt behavior to electrical and chemical events taking place inside the body.
It seeks to specify the neurobiological processes that underlie behavior and mental
processes.
Genetics and biological processes, physical body- genes, hormones.
Example: depression- the biological approach tries to understand this disorder in terms
of abnormal changes in the levels of neurotransmitters, which are chemicals produced in
the brain that make communication between the nerve cells possible.
Study of memory: emphasized the importance of certain brain structures that are
involved in consolidating memories.
Also known as the Biopsychological perspective- is part of a larger field of
neuroscience- which is the study of physical structure, function, and development of
the nervous system. Cognitive neuroscience often overlaps with biopsychology.
Biopsychological perspective- human and behavior is seen as a direct result of events in
the body. Hormones, heredity, brain chemicals, tumors and diseases are some of the
biological causes of behavior and mental events.
Research by biopsychologists includes sleep, emotions, aggression, sexual behavior,
learning and memory.
 Cognitive Perspective
Focuses on how people think, remember, store, and use information.
Reasoning, planning decision making, problem solving, and communication.
Within cognitive psychology- cognitive neuroscience includes the study of the physical
workings of the brain and nervous system when engaged in memory, thinking and other
cognitive processes.
Cognitive psychology assumes that only by studying mental processes can we fully
understand what organisms do and we can objectively study mental processes by
focusing on specific behaviors but interpreting them in terms of underlying mental
processes.
Just like computers- incoming information is processed in various ways: it is selected,
compared, combined with other information already in memory, transformed,
rearranged, and so on.
Cognitive neuroscientists use tools for imaging the structure and activity of the living
brain, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and functional magnetic resonance
imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography (PET).
Evolutionary Perspective
Grounded in the Darwin’s evolutionary theory.
Natural selection, adaptation, survival, reproduction
Why do human beings think and behave in a certain way?
Focuses on the general mental strategies and traits.
seeks to understand human behavior and mental processes through the lens of evolution.
It draws on principles of natural selection and adaptation to explain how certain
psychological traits and behaviors have evolved over time and how they contribute to
the survival and reproduction of individuals and their genes.
Many of your core behaviors and ways of processing information are a result of
evolution- Traits that increase the chance of survival are more likely to be genetically
passed on to future generations. This creates a process where undesirable traits are
more likely to fade over time, while desirable traits carry on strongly.
Survival skills such as consciousness, responding to stimuli, learning, and motivation.
Psychodynamic/ psychoanalytic Perspective
Unconscious dynamics, motives, conflicts and past experiences.
Sigmund Freud developed a psychoanalytic conception of human behavior in Europe. It is a
blend of cognition and physiology- Frued combined the cognitive notions of consciousness,
perception, and memory with ideas about biologically based instincts to forge a bold new
theory of human behavior.
Assumptions- behavior stems from unconscious processes, meaning beliefs, fears, and desires
that a person is unaware of but that nonetheless influence behavior.
Freud believed that many of the impulses that are forbidden or punished by parents and
society during childhood are derived from innate instincts. Forbidding them forces them out
of awareness into the unconscious. They do not disappear and may manifest as emotional
problems and symptoms of mental illness or as socially approved behavior such as artistic
and literary activity.
Freud believed that we are driven by the same basic instincts as animals- (sex and
aggression) and that we are continually struggling against a society that stresses the control
of these impulses.
Dream analysis is one way to uncover the latent and hidden meaning from the unconscious.
Keywords- Dream analysis, unconscious, unresolved conflict, childhood or past experiences,
defense mechanisms, repression.
What happened in adults past to cause them so much anger in the present?
 Psychodynamic/ psychoanalytic Perspective

Unconscious Mind
Psychodynamic/ psychoanalytic Perspective

Id, Ego, and Superego: primal instincts

and desires, seeking immediate
gratification; ego balances the id's
impulses with the constraints of reality,
while the superego incorporates
societal norms and values, acting as a
moral guide.
Psychodynamic/ psychoanalytic Perspective
Psychosexual Stages of Developmentoral: anal, phallic, latent, and genital. Unresolved
conflicts at any stage can lead to psychological issues in adulthood
Psychodynamic Perspective Defense Mechanisms
Psychodynamic/ psychoanalytic Perspective
Free Association
Psychodynamic/ psychoanalytic Perspective

Dream Analysis
 Behavioural Perspective
Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), who investigated
classical conditioning though often disagreeing
with behaviorism or behaviorists
Edward Lee Thorndike (1874-1949), introduced
the concept of reinforcement and was the first to
apply psychological principles to learning
John B. Watson (1878-1958), rejected
introspective methods and sought to restrict
psychology to experimental methods
B.F. Skinner (1904-1990), who conducted
research on operant conditioning.
Observable and measurable behaviors
Behavioral perspectives focus on observable
stimuli and responses and regard nearly all
behavior as a result of conditioning and
reinforcement.
Stimuli-Response Associations: Behaviors are
learned through associations between stimuli and
responses.
 Behavioural Perspective-
Classical Conditioning
Ivan Pavlov, is known for his work on one important type of learning, classical conditioning.
Pavlov began pairing a bell sound with the meat powder and found that even when the meat
powder was not presented, a dog would eventually begin to salivate after hearing the bell. In this
case, since the meat powder naturally results in salivation, these two variables are called the
unconditioned stimulus (UCS) and the unconditioned response (UCR), respectively.
In the experiment, the bell and salivation are not naturally occurring; the dog is conditioned to
respond to the bell. Therefore, the bell is considered the conditioned stimulus (CS), and the
salivation to the bell, the conditioned response (CR).
Many of our behaviours today are shaped by the pairing of stimuli. The smell of a cologne, the
sound of a certain song, or the occurrence of a specific day of the year can trigger distinct
memories, emotions, and associations. When we make these types of associations, we are
experiencing classical conditioning.
Behavioural Perspective-
Operant Conditioning
Reinforcement means to strengthen, and is
used in psychology to refer to any stimulus
which strengthens or increases the
probability of a specific response. For
example, if you want your dog to sit on
command, you may give him a treat every
time he sits for you. The dog will
eventually come to understand that sitting
when told to will result in a treat. This
treat is reinforcing the behaviour because
the dog likes it and will result in him
sitting when instructed to do so. There are
four types of reinforcement: positive,
negative, punishment, and extinction.
 Behavioural Perspective- Operant Conditioning
Positive reinforcement involves adding
something in order to increase a response. For
example, adding a treat will increase the
response of sitting; adding praise will
increase the chances of your child cleaning
his or her room. The most common types of
positive reinforcement are praise and
reward, and most of us have experienced this
as both the giver and receiver
Punishment refers to adding something aversive
in order to decrease a behaviour. The most
common example of this is disciplining (e.g.,
spanking) a child for misbehaving. The child
begins to associate being punished with the
negative behaviour. The child does not like the
punishment and, therefore, to avoid it, he or
she will stop behaving in that manner.
Negative reinforcement involves taking something
negative away in order to increase a response.
Imagine a teenager who is nagged by his parents
to take out the garbage week after week. After
complaining to his friends about the nagging, he
finally one day performs the task and, to his
amazement, the nagging stops. The elimination of
this negative stimulus is reinforcing and will likely
increase the chances that he will take out the
garbage next week.
Extinction involves removing something in order
to decrease a behaviour. By having something
taken away, a response is decreased.
 Humanistic Perspective
Humanistic psychology emerged as the third force in psychology after psychodynamic and
behaviourist psychology. Humanistic psychology holds a hopeful, constructive view of human beings
and of their substantial capacity to be self-determining. This wave of psychology is guided by a
conviction that intentionality and ethical values are the key psychological forces determining
human behaviour. Humanistic psychologists strive to enhance the human qualities of choice,
creativity, the interaction of the body, mind, and spirit, and the capacity to become more aware,
free, responsible, life-affirming, and trustworthy.

Carl Rogers, for instance, introduced what he called person or client-centred therapy, which relies on
clients’ capacity for self-direction, empathy, and acceptance to promote clients’ development.

Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) developed a hierarchy of motivation or hierarchy of needs culminating in

self-actualization.

Rollo May (1909 – 1994) brought European existential psychotherapy and phenomenology into the field by
acknowledging human choice and the tragic aspects of human existence
 Humanistic Perspective
Humanistic psychology is a psychological perspective that emphasizes the study of the whole person.
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 psychologists believe that an individual's behavior
is connected to his inner feelings and self-image.
Unlike behaviorists, humanistic psychologists believe that humans are not solely the product of their
environment. Rather humanistic psychologists study human meanings, understandings, and experiences
involved in growing, teaching, and learning. They emphasize characteristics that are shared by all
human beings such as love, grief, caring, and self-worth.
Humanistic psychologists study how people are influenced by their self-perceptions and the personal
meanings attached to their experiences. Humanistic psychologists are not primarily concerned with
instinctual drives, responses to external stimuli, or past experiences. Rather, they consider conscious
choices, responses to internal needs, and current circumstances to be important in shaping human
behavior.

Summary:
Humanistic psychologists believe that:
An individual's behavior is primarily determined by his perception of the world around him.
Individuals are not solely the product of their environment.
Individuals are internally directed and motivated to fulfill their human potential.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Socio-cultural Perspective
Psycholgical approach that emphasizes on cocial and cultural infleunces on behaviour.
Social psychology- the study of social olres, groups and relationships.
Cultural psychology- study cultural norms, socioeconomic status, gender, values and
expactation.
Sociocultural theory stresses the role that social interaction plays in psychological
development. It suggests that human learning is largely a social process, and that our
cognitive functions are formed based on our interactions with those around us who are "more
skilled.
we develop our values and beliefs through our interactions within social groups or by
participating in cultural events.
Lev Vygotsky (1920s) formed the cultural-historical psychology.
Vygotsky argued that children learn from the beliefs and attitutes modeled by thier
culture.
according to Vygotsky, social interaction- especially involvement with knolwedgeablle
community or family members- helps children to acquire the thought processes and behavior
specific to thier cultura and or society.