Perspectives in
Psychology
Introduction
Y.Quaintrell, 2009
What are Perspectives?
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Perspectives are different view-points, different ways of looking at
something.
If you witnessed a crime you would have a different perspective than
that of the ‘victim’ and the ‘criminal’. Each person looks at the incident
from a different view-point.
Your perspective can be shaped by your beliefs and experiences. For
example you might view dogs as friendly, fun, loyal companions.
But if you had been bitten by a dog you might view them as vicious and
you may be wary of them.
If you lived in Indonesia you would have been brought up to eat dogs
and see them as food!
If you followed a religion that worshipped dogs you would have a
completely different view of them!
Psychology too has different perspectives based on different
psychologists beliefs about people (their ontology) and what they are
trying to find out (their epistemology)
Y.Quaintrell, 2009
Developmental Psychology
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This area of psychology is primarily
interested in the way in which children
develop.
It will carry out studies and research that
chart the different stages and processes of
development.
Developmental psychologists come from
many different perspectives.
Y.Quaintrell, 2009
Perspectives within
Psychology
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There are a number of different perspectives and the mains
ones that we will be looking at are:
Behaviourism
Social learning
Psychodynamic
Humanistic
Cognitive-developmental (Social-constructivism)
We may also look at
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Cognitive psychology which is to do with how the brain is
structured and is interested in thought processes
Developmental psychology which looks at how we develop,
particularly children
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Behaviourism
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You have looked at most of these
perspectives and their theories about play
and learning in unit 7.
What do you remember about Behaviourism?
You may remember looking at Pavlov and
Skinner and the experiments they did with
rats and dogs…remember?
What conclusions did they come to?
Y.Quaintrell, 2009
Behaviourism
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Behaviourists are interested in studying
behaviour
They are only interested in what can be
observed
Behaviourists look for scientific,
demonstrable explanations for simple
behaviours
Y.Quaintrell, 2009
Behaviourism outline
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Behaviourists believe that we are shaped by our
environment – NURTURE
They believe that our experiences reinforce our
behaviour. - Positive and negative reinforcement
and punishment. Remember?
It is through this that we learn and develop.
Apply this to learning language – how do you think
our language development is reinforced?
How might this apply to personality and physical
development?
How might this apply to fears? – Remember
Watson’s studies?
Y.Quaintrell, 2009
Key people within
behaviourism
Throughout this unit we will be looking at:
 Burrhus F. Skinner
 Ivan Pavlov
 John Watson
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The DEBATES
Sees development as continual through reinforcement
(CONTINUITY and LATER)
Sees behaviour and learning as being shaped through
reinforcement (NURTURE)
Applies the rules of reinforcement to all. (NOMOTHETIC)
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Social Learning Theory
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This perspective grew out of the behaviourist
traditions
It believes that behaviour can be explained in terms
of both direct and indirect reinforcement.
(NURTURE)
It emphasises the role of social influences on
development, particularly observational learning.
Do you remember what this is?
This means that children learn about social norms
and expectations by observing others; role models.
(Harris, Butterworth, 2002)
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Social Learning Theory
The key influencer was Bandura.
 Do you remember Bandura’s experiment with the Bobo doll?
 What conclusions did he come to about this?
 That children observe key figures in their lives and they learn
about behaviour and how to behave in society from them. Think
about how children learn about gender.
The DEBATES
 Sees development as continual through direct and indirect
reinforcement (CONTINUITY and LATER)
 Sees behaviour and learning as being shaped through
reinforcement (NURTURE)
 Applies the rules of reinforcement to all. (NOMOTHETIC)
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Y.Quaintrell, 2009
Psychodynamic
The Psychodynamic Perspective was developed by a
psychologist named Sigmund Freud
 This approach has 3 broad themes
1. Importance of unconscious motivations and feelings
2. Origin of these in early childhood
3. Significance of unconscious anxiety and inner conflict
(psychodynamics)
The DEBATES
 Believes that the unconscious has its origins in biological
drives. (NATURE )
 Freud believes we develop through Psychosexual stages.
(DISCONTINUITY)
 He applies these stages to all (NOMOTHETIC)
 He places the emphasis on our early experiences (EARLY)
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Freud and psychodynamics
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Conflict between 3 aspects of psyche;
Id - this is the part that is likened to a child it focusses
on pleasure from satisfaction of biological needs e.g.food,
sex
Superego – this is the part that can be likened to a
parent. It’s the conscience side that stops you from doing
or behaving in certain ways
Ego - this is the part that tries to regulate the other two.
Problems occur when either the Id or the Superego is too
strong or when the Ego is not mature enough.
Consequence of conflict is Angst which leads to defence
mechanisms such as repression, displacements, denial,
isolation, sublimation (form of displacement for libido to
creative valued goals), regression…
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Psychodynamic
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From this theory Freud developed a therapy
for helping patients deal with their
unconscious drives and conflict –
psychoanalysis.
Freud has been largely discredited by most
other perspectives but it is a perspective that
continues to develop e.g. Melanie Klein who
pioneered observation and interpretation of
children’s play.
We will look at this further throughout the rest
of this unit.
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The Humanist Perspective
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Started in 1950s with Abraham Maslow, George
Kelly, Carl Rogers and Gordon AllPort
Inspired by Existentialism – that awareness of
our existence and the ‘now’ is important
They felt that neither Behaviourism nor
Psychoanalysis captured the core aspects of
human experience. (Sometimes called 3rd force)
Wanted a perspective that did justice to people’s
capacity to be self-aware and responsible for
directing their own lives.
Y.Quaintrell, 2009
The Humanist Perspective
Key Themes
 Focus on conscious not unconscious meanings
 Experiential approach – concerned with how people
experience the world.
 Phenomenological approach because it focuses on phenomena
– things as they appear to us.
 Conscious experience not fixed or given.
 People are self-aware and responsible for directing own life.
 In contrast to the idea that early conscious experiences
influence actions, humanists emphasize our ability to become
aware of our feelings and our power to initiate change.
(Existential)
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The Humanist Perspective
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The DEBATES
It sees NURTURE as key and development
and CONTINUITY.
The emphasis for change and development is
not in early experiences but throughout life
(LATER).
It is interested in the individual’s
experiences and not interested in applying
general laws about people (IDIOGRAPHIC)
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Cognitive Perspective
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This perspective looks at how our actions and
behaviours are influenced by our thoughts and the
way we process information.
They will also consider how the development of
language influences our thinking.
Research in this area includes studies on; memory,
information processing models, cognitive stages of
development and language acquisition
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Cognitive-Developmental
(Social Constructivism)
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The cognitive-developmental approach is interested
in studying the way that people think and process
information. They are particularly interested in areas
such as information processing, intelligence,
reasoning, language development and memory.
This perspective is also interested in the influence of
social aspects; interactions with others and the
influence of our culture and background
It was previously thought that babies and infants
could not think however it is now recognised that
babies do take an interest in their surroundings and
from the time they are born they are actively
learning about their environment.
Y.Quaintrell, 2009
Cognitive-Developmental
Remember Piaget? What were his main ideas?
Main themes
 We are actively involved in our learning
 We are information processors
 We categorise and encode information
 We develop schemas about the world
 When we receive new information we either assimilate it into
existing schemas or we accommodate it into a new schema.
 Piaget sees children develop through stages (DISCONTINUITY)
 Vygotsky and Bruner would argue that children develop through
interaction with their environment (CONTINUITY)
 Both our biology and our environment are important (NATURE
and NURTURE)
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Y.Quaintrell, 2009
Cognitive-Developmental
Key People
 Piaget – schemas, Sensori-motor stages
 Vygotsky – ZPD, Contextual development
 Bruner – Category Learning & modes of representation
The DEBATES
 We are active in our learning. We interact with the social world.
(NURTURE & DISCONTINUITY)
 Piaget believes we pass through stages (DISCONTINUITY).
 The emphasis for change and development is not in early
experiences but throughout life (LATER).
 It is interested in applying general laws about people
(NOMOTHETIC)
Y.Quaintrell, 2009
Finally…
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This has been a brief overview of each
perspective we will be looking at throughout
this unit.
You need to familiarise yourself with their
different approaches to the debates within
psychology as these affect the way in which
they approach developmental psychology
and the information they set out to discover.
Y.Quaintrell, 2009
Influence of perspectives
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Task 1
In pairs consider recap what each debate is
Consider how the perspectives fall under each of the debates
Task 2
From what you have learned so far consider how each
perspective might influence our understanding of children’s
behaviour
Now consider what influence each has had on early years
practice.
Over the next few weeks we will be looking at this in more detail.
You need to keep these themes in mind as this relates to task 2.
Y.Quaintrell, 2009
Task 2 – P2, M2, D1
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Outline each of these perspectives and how they apply to the
understanding of the development of children’s behaviour.
(P2)
Explain, using examples from placement, how areas of early
years practice have been influenced by developmental theory.
(M2)
Analyse the contribution of these perspectives to early
years practice. (D1) You need to consider how and in what
ways these perspectives have influenced practice. Do you feel
that the ways in which they have been applied are relevant?
Explain. Do you feel they should be applied in better ways or
that we should be less influenced by one or more them?
Explain. Are there some aspects of the perspectives that
have not influenced practice that you feel would be useful?
Y.Quaintrell, 2009
Bibliography
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Harris.M., Butterworth.G., 2002,
Developmental Psychology: A Student’s
Handbook, East Sussex: Psychology Press,
USA and Canada: Taylor and Francis Inc.
Miell,D., Pheonix,A., Thomas.K., (2002)
Mapping Psychology 1, Milton Keynes: The
Open University
Squire.G., (2007) BTEC Nationals Children’s
Care, Learning and Development 2nd Ed.,
Oxford: Heinemann
Y.Quaintrell, 2009