Love: A Chemical Equation Essay, Research Paper
The five major theoretical perspectives in psychology are biological, learning,
cognitive, psychodynamic, and sociocultural perspectives. Each one of
these perspectives searches for answers about behavior through different
techniques and through looking for answers to different kinds of questions.
Due to the different approaches, each perspective form their own
assumptions and explanations. Some perspectives are widely accepted
while others struggle for acceptance. Biological perspective “The premise
behind the biological perspective in psychology is that all actions, feelings,
and thoughts are associated with bodily events.” Biological psychologists
examine how all of the electrical impulses, hormones, and chemicals
flowing through the body can effect behavior and how changes to these
bodily functions can change behavior. They are concerned with how the
aspects of biology effect peoples’ emotions, learning abilities, and their
perception of events. One of the major theories of biological psychology is
that “We cannot know ourselves if we do not know our bodies.” Through
application of this theory, biological psychologists strive to understand the
relationship between the mind and body and they influence sickness or
health. It is believed that poor health can lead to negative attitudes while
poor attitudes can lead to poor health. Biological psychologists research
and study the correlation of this theory in an attempt to help solve some
mental and emotional problems. Learning Perspective The writings and
findings of Ivan Pavlov, John B. Watson, and B.F. Skinner have done much
for the advancement of modern psychology. Many of the important findings
in psychology from their theory of behaviorism, later evolving into the
social-learning theory or cognitive social-learning theory. Proponents of the
learning perspective think that mentalism should be abandoned for
behaviorism. Psychologists should concentrate on observation and direct
measurement rather focusing on introspection. Behaviorists believed that
actions were responses to stimuli that were learned. The basic concept was
that positive responses would be triggered by good stimuli while negative
responses would could from bad stimuli. Actions that would produce positive
results tended to repeated, while those that led to negative results tended to
be avoided. This concept led to a broadening of psychology. Many groups
that were often overlooked by psychologists were being discovered and
observed. Behavior became the dominant school of psychology in the U.S.
until the 1960’s. Adversaries to this approach were repulsed by the concept
that humans did not think or feel, but only thought that they did.
Nonbehaviorists and behaviorists parted company. Behaviorists believed that
feelings could not explain behavior. Out of behaviorism came the social
learning theory, which taught that in addition to behavior, imitation and
observation led to learning. Cognitive Perspective The cognitive perspective
of psychology focuses on the thought process. Psychologists from this
school argue that it is necessary to know what is going on in the mind to
fully understand why a person will do the things that they do. By observing
behavior, psychologists try to interpret what thought process led to the
action. Critics who disapprove of this theory do so on the basis that in
addition to perceptions, external forces must also be taken into
consideration. The objective of cognitive psychology is to understand how
perceptions and interpretations relate to behavior. Why is that one person
will turn to violence when insulted while another person will make excuses
for that person rather than acting violently. Through the use of computers,
research data can be further analyzed to discover the thought process used
in behavior and in some instances, programs can even be written to help
understand how humans will react in certain situations. Psychodynamic
Perspective Many critics of the psychodynamic perspective do not think that
this school of psychology has any bearing on academic psychology.
Primarily based upon the fact that many of the psychoanalysis assumptions
could not be verified, research psychologist was more related to philosophy
rather than clinical science. Though not as scientific as the other
perspectives, the psychodynamic perspective is none the less still
associated with psychology. When Sigmund Freud released his book The
Interpretation of Dreams, it was met with very little success; but it eventually
provided the foundation for psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis contends that
urges and thoughts live in the unconscious and manifest themselves in
events during normal everyday life. The goal of psychoanalysis is to dig into
the unconscious to find the source of the disturbances. Concerned more
with therapy than scientific observation and research, psychodynamic
psychologists probe the mind to find events, usually from childhood, that
manifest feelings of fear, violence, love, etc. Aggressive feelings, or even
sexual feelings, are located in this unconsciousness; and regardless of what
a person does, they will come out during normal activities. By finding the
root of these feelings, it can be understood why a person may act the way
that they do. Also by discovering these events, it may be possible to help
people channel the energy in a positive way or solve the problem.
Sociocultural Perspective Unlike the other perspectives, the sociocultural
perspective concentrates on an individual’s or individuals’ culture or society
rather than the individual. To understand why people tend to show certain
behavior traits, psychologists look at what effects the person’s community
might have on their thought process. Some of the questions pondered are if
a person behaves a certain way to be accepted or commits an act because
it is accepted amongst their society. They mainly study how other people
affect a person. Some studies look at how male and female roles relate to
their respective emotion or how job status relates to their ambitions. In this
perspective violence does not reside in instincts or brain waves, but instead,
in cultural rules and political arrangements. These five perspectives are
similar in that all try to determine what cause certain behavior traits, though
they all approach their explanations differently. The biological and cognitive
perspectives both look at the physiological aspects of behavior. The learning
and sociocultural perspectives look at how society affects a person’s
behavior. With the exception of the psychodynamic perspective, the other
disciplines focus on a scientific approach, many of their theories being able
to be tested for accuracy. Each of these perspectives has their strong
supporters as well as their strong critics. Regardless of opinion, these are
the main perspectives and more than likely a psychologist has roots in one
of these psychological perspectives.