Psychology Honors
1/8/2016
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Notes:
Perspectives in Psychology
1. Psychoanalytic Approach
The psychologists of the psychoanalytic approach believe that a person’s behavior is determined
by primal drives and the experiences of early childhood. This school of psychology emphasizes
the unconscious mind. Some psychoanalytic theorists focus on the relevance of feelings of
inferiority, while others stress the resolution of psychosocial or psychosexual conflicts.
2. Behaviorist Approach
Behaviorist psychologists stress the connection between stimulus/response and behavior/reward.
These theorists view the environment, rather than internal states, as instrumental in behavior.
According to behaviorists, a person’s behavior is determined by the actions that were rewarded
or punished. Through this process, the person learns to associate certain acts with the response it
produced.
3. Humanist Approach
The psychologists that subscribe to the humanist approach emphasize the concept that people are
in control of their own destiny. According to this view, one tries to satisfy both basic and
enriching needs, always striving for personal achievement. A person’s self-concept is important.
Humanists emphasize the inherent worth of the individual.
4. Cognitive Approach
Cognitive theorists feature the mental processing of the individual. To these psychologists, a
person’s difficulties often stem from false perceptions of reality. Cognitive theorists believe that
people develop ideas of the world and base their judgments upon these perceptions. Some
theorists of this school view intellectual growth as stage-related.
5. Biological Approach
The advocates of the biological approach stress the genetic, medical, and neurological
components of the person. These theorists believe that these biological factors influence
behavior. Hormonal changes, brain anomalies, and neurochemical differences help determine a
person’s actions and subsequent changes in behavior.
6. Socio-cultural Approach
The socio-cultural approach is based on the idea that society and culture shape cognition. Social
customs, beliefs, values, and language are all part of what shapes a person's identity and reality.
According to this approach, what a person thinks is based on his or her socio-cultural
background. A socio-cultural approach takes into account more than the individual in attempting
to understand cognitive processes.
7. Evolutionary Approach
According to the Center for Evolutionary Psychology, Evolutionary Psychology is "an approach
to psychology, in which knowledge and principles from evolutionary biology are put to use in
research on the structure of the human mind. It is not an area of study, like vision, reasoning, or
social behavior. It is a way of thinking about psychology that can be applied to any topic within
it. In this view, the mind is a set of information-processing machines that were designed by
natural selection to solve adaptive problems faced by our hunter-gatherer ancestors." As such,
this field really examines natural selection and how it favors behaviors that help keep a species
going from one generation to the next.
Causes of Behavior: A Case Study
Read the selection below, and answer the questions that follow. Be prepared for class discussion.
Billy was the third child of loving but busy parents. When he was growing up, he thought that his
parents favored his older siblings. When Billy was four, his parents divorced, and he remained
with his father. His brother and sister moved with his mother to a distant city. Billy rarely saw
them. Feeling inadequate in raising his son alone, Billy’s father responded by providing the child
with costly toys and frequent trips to amusement parks. As Billy grew older and attended school,
he had trouble focusing and was taken to a doctor for an appraisal of his abilities and disabilities.
Billy’s medical evaluation showed symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, but
Billy’s father dismissed the diagnosis. Because of these difficulties in school, Billy had trouble
making friends and was ridiculed by his classmates. This diminished his self-confidence. By the
time Billy was an adolescent, he had difficulty forming lasting relationships despite his expertise
in athletics. He was capable of high academic achievement, but his grades were below average.
Teacher reports frequently cited his excessive need for attention. Personally, he felt lost and
doomed to failure.
1. What is the basic cause of Billy’s problems?
2. What will happen to Billy?
3. What steps could Billy take to improve his life?
NOTES FOR ME (The poem!)
The Blind Men and the Elephant
John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887)
The Fourth reached out an eager
hand,
(Though all of them were blind),
And felt about the knee
"What most this wondrous beast is
like
Is mighty plain," quoth he:
"'Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a TREE!"
The Fifth, who chanced to touch the
ear,
That each by observation
Said: "E'en the blindest man
Might satisfy his mind.
Can tell what this resembles most;
The First approached the Elephant,
Deny the fact who can,
And happening to fall
This marvel of an Elephant
Against his broad and sturdy side,
Is very like a FAN!"
At once began to bawl:
The Sixth no sooner had begun
"God bless me! but the Elephant
About the beast to grope,
Is very like a WALL!"
Than seizing on the swinging tail
The Second, feeling of the tusk,
That fell within his scope,
Cried, "Ho, what have we here,
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
So very round and smooth and sharp?
Is very like a ROPE!"
To me 'tis mighty clear
And so these men of Indostan
This wonder of an Elephant
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
Is very like a SPEAR!"
The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a SNAKE!"
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!