Because the perspectives (or Schools of Thought) are an important segment in psychology, I felt the need to add an extra section for it here. You can find information on these schools of thought in the prologue of David Meyer's book. Also, there is a list of psychologists under each category they fit under and it will benefit you to remember them for the AP test.
Psychoanalytical/Psychodynamic PerspectiveFocus: "How behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts."
What Does That Mean? Psychoanalytic psychologists believe there is a reason for how we behave. They try to get to the "root of the problem," something in the past that conflicts with the present and creates the client's problem. Example: Situation: A client, John, is having trouble in his marriage. He's distant from his wife, ever since she raised her voice at him once during a fight. Now his distance threatens his marriage. Why? Reason: John's past is the reason why he is acting distant. Because his father hit him, he has learned to become quiet in the fact of someone yelling. Treatment: John has to come to terms with his past by accepting that the past happened and possibly talking to the father. Through this, John will be able to get past his response to yelling. Famous Psychologists with This Perspective: Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Alfred Adler Neuroscience/Biological PerspectiveFocus: "How the body and brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences."
What Does That Mean? Neuroscience psychologists focus on what is wrong with the physical body. Because of this, they will deal mostly with chemical neurotransmitters and the blood chemistry linked with your moods and motives. Example: Situation: A client, John, is having trouble in his marriage. He's distant from his wife, ever since she raised her voice at him once during a fight. Now his distance threatens his marriage. Why? Reason: John is depressed. His dopamine and seratonin levels are low, not only is he physically tired, he is also physically sick. Treatment: An anti-depressant will be the best treatment for John to treat his depression. Famous Psychologists with This Perspective: Hans Eysenck Behavioral PerspectiveFocus: "How we learn observable responses."
What Does That Mean? The behavioral perspective only focuses on the OBSERVABLE behavior. They focus on what they can see and use mostly operant conditioning to fix it. Example: Situation: A client, John, is having trouble in his marriage. He's distant from his wife, ever since she raised her voice at him once during a fight. Now his distance threatens his marriage. Why? Reason: Every time he sees his wife he is reminded of her yelling because she has been yelling a lot more at him because he's distant. Now every time he sees her, he's reminded of the unpleasantness of their fighting and doesn't want to be around her. Treatment: In order to fix this problem, they must condition him to feel happy around his wife so that his behavior will change for the better. Perhaps they wouldn't see each other unless their on dates where they act happy and smile. Famous Psychologists with This Perspective: B. F. Skinner, John Watson, Ivan Pavlov, Edward Thorndike, Evolutionary PerspectiveFocus: "How the natural selection of traits promotes the perpetuation of one's genes."
What Does That Mean? This perspective focuses on how our ancestors changed the way we live. They focus on our development as a species and believes that our problems like fear and attractions can be attributed to how they helped us survive when we were all cavemen. Example: Situation: A client, John, is having trouble in his marriage. He's distant from his wife, ever since she raised her voice at him once during a fight. Now his distance threatens his marriage. Why? Reason: Because our ancestors have learned to shy away from yelling to stay alive that could be a reason for John's distancing away from his wife. Treatment: In order to fix this, one must teach the wife to not yell as much and create a safe feeling in their home where John will feel safe from yelling. Famous Psychologists with This Perspective: Charles Darwin, Robert Trivers |
Cognitive PerspectiveFocus: "How we encode, process, store, and retrieve information."
What Does That Mean? Cognitive psychologists focus on the way we think. Thought process A leads to thought process B which then leads to the behavior. They believe that they must change the thought process and how the client approaches the situation in order to help the person move on though their problems. Example: Situation: A client, John, is having trouble in his marriage. He's distant from his wife, ever since she raised her voice at him once during a fight. Now his distance threatens his marriage. Why? Reason: John is unhappy in his marriage. Because of this, whenever John gets in a fight with his wife he is already mad and her and won't listen to her. Treatment: In order to help them, the therapist must fix the marriage by changing the way that John and his wife view the other and their marriage. Famous Psychologists with This Perspective: Wilhelm Wundt, Jean Piaget, Stanley Schacter, Lawrence Kohlberg Humanistic PerspectiveFocus: "How do we reach our full potential, or 'self-actualize,' and what prevents us from doing so?"
What Does That Mean? The humanistic perspective focuses on the individual. They mostly believe that humans are inately good and that we may all achieve self-actualization by improving ourselves. They would focus on what is making us not become self-actualized in therapy and work to fix that. Example: Situation: A client, John, is having trouble in his marriage. He's distant from his wife, ever since she raised her voice at him once during a fight. Now his distance threatens his marriage. Why? Reason: John is having trouble figuring who he is. He feels stuck and he doesn't feel like he's reaching his potential so he's taking it out on his family, mainly his wife. Treatment: John and the therapist would work together to get a system of activities that would make John feel like he's reaching his true self. Like if John likes to draw, they can set up time for drawing classes at a local art school. Famous Psychologists with This Perspective: Carl Rogers, Martin Seligman, Abraham Maslow Social-Cultural PerspectiveFocus: "How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures."
What Does That Mean? The social-cultural perspective is all about environment. This school of thought believes that behaviors stem how the people you know interact with you. Also, it looks at the place that you live, the place where they went to school, the place where you work, etc. The things that are happening around you also influence what behaviors you do. Example: Situation: A client, John, is having trouble in his marriage. He's distant from his wife, ever since she raised her voice at him once during a fight. Now his distance threatens his marriage. Why? Reason: John is having trouble at work and is always yelled at. Because he's stress from work, he is unable to talk to his wife and work through their problems. Treatment: Either John could get a new job, talk to his boss, or he could divorce his wife, along with a variety of other options. Any way he could change his environment so it is less stressful for him could help him with his marriage and help him communicate more effectively. Famous Psychologists with This Perspective: Erik Erikson, Mary Ainsworth, Harry Harlow, Albert Bandura, Stanley Milgram, Solomon Asch |