Many historians wondered great questions that would today be called psychological. Many wondered how a person processes information through their senses and transform this information to solve problems, and become motivated to act in significant ways. They wondered about the nature and whether or not it controls us or is it something we control ourselves. Like today’s psychologist historians wanted to describe, predict, understand, and modify behavior to increase the human knowledge and happiness. Unlike Psychologist today, scholars did not rely deeply on empirical evidence. They often used observations based on anecdotes or descriptions of similar cases.
Early approaches of psychology eventually evolved into the five major theoretical perspectives: the biological, learning, cognitive, sociocultural, and psychodynamic perspectives, which now dominate the field. These approaches reflect different questions psychologist may have about human behavior and how the human mind works. It can also describe different ways of explaining why people act, behave, and do what they do.
Two of the most known perspectives in psychology are the learning and the cognitive perspectives. The learning perspective is a psychological approach that reflects how the environment and how experience affects a person’s or animal’s actions. It emphasizes the importance of a unique experience in families, schools, and communities. Within this perspective, psychologist keeps their attention mainly on the environmental rewards and punishers that maintain or discourage certain behaviors. Behaviorists do not generally order the mind to explain behavior. They often prefer to continue with things they can observe and measure directly such as acts and events taking p...
... middle of paper ...
...rison of these two different viewpoints and illustrates how these differences might be translated into practical applications in instructional situations.
Works Cited
Cherry, K. (n.d.). Major perspectives in social psychology. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/socialpsychology/f/socpersp.htm
The learning perspective. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.internationalcounselor.org/Psych/learning_perspective.htm
Learning the developmental stages of your child. (2007, June 26). Retrieved from http://www.lifescript.com/soul/self/growth/piagets_theory_for_parents.aspx?gclid=CPmYjZCH_rkCFVNo7AodyDwA2g&trans=1&du=1&ef_id=Uk8ohwAAAfgVDyBy:20131004204958:s
McLeod, S. (n.d.). Cognitive perspective. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive.html
Wade, C., & Tavris, C. (2012). Invitation to psychology (Fifth ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
The World of Psychology. (2002). A Pearson Education Company. Boston, MA: Samuel Wood & Ellen Green Wood p. 593
Davis, S. F., & Palladino, J. J. (2003). Psychology. (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Gall, S. B., Beins, B., & Feldman, A. (2001). The gale encyclopedia of psychology. (2nd ed.). Detroit, MI: Gale Group.
Hockenbury, Don H., and Sandra E. Hockenbury. Psychology. 6th ed. New York, NY: Worth, 2013. Print.
Schacter, D. L., Gilbert, D. T., & Wegner, D. M. (2010). Psychology. (2nd ed., p. 600). New York: Worth Pub.
The study of psychology began as a theoretical subject a branch of ancient philosophy, and later as a part of biological sciences and physiology. However, over the years, it has grown into a rigorous science and a separate discipline, with its own sets of guidance and experimental techniques. This paper aims to study the various stages that the science of psychology passed through to reach its contemporary status, and their effects on its development. It begins with an overview of the historical and philosophical basis of psychology, discusses the development of the various schools of thought, and highlights their effects on contemporary personal and professional decision-making.
Wood, S. E., Wood, E. G., Denise , B., Wood, E., & Desmarais, S. (2008). The world of psychology. (5th ed.). Pearson Education Canada.
Weseley, A., McEntarffer, R., & McEntarffer, R. (2010). AP® psychology. Hauppauge, N.Y: Barron's Educational Series.
Gall, S. B., Beins, B., & Feldman, A. (2001). The gale encyclopedia of psychology. (2nd ed., pp. 271-273). Detroit, MI: Gale Group.
Hewstone, M. Fincham, F. and Foster, J (2005). Psychology. Oxford: The British Psychological Society, and Blackwell Publishing. P3-23.
The behavioural perspective to psychology’s assumptions are that all behaviours are learnt from the environment. The environment is made up of many aspects such as housing, local amenities, financial stability and education, these factors that influence are known as environmental determinism.
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.
Comparing the Behavioral Perspective and the Cognitive Perspective The behavioral perspective is the idea that if psychology was to be a science, then it must focus on events, which are directly observable on behavior, rather than on mental life. The behavioral perspective maintains the primary emphasis on observable behavior and its relation to environmental events. Behavioral perspective is through reinforcement, which is the idea that patterns of emitted behavior can be selected by their consequences. Cognitive perspective is centered on the description of the nature and development of the representation of knowledge. It comes from three points of view, which are the theory of information processing, the inability of behaviorism to provide a comprehensive account for all aspects of human behavior, and the invention of the computer.
Boyd, D., Wood, E.G., Wood, S.E. (2014, 2011, 2008). Mastering the world of psychology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. 128-129, 329-330, 335-340. Print.
Edited by Raymond J. Corsini. Encyclopedia of Psychology, Second Edition, Volume 1. New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc.