THE 7 MAIN APPROACHES/PERSPECTIVES TO PSYCHOLOGY



The 7 Main Approaches/Perspectives to Psychology

*Many psychologists may believe that each perspective has valid explanations depending on the specific situation, and this point of view is called eclectic. This term refers to the claim that no one perspective has all the answers to the variety of human thought and behavior. Psychologists tend to use various perspectives in their work depending on which point of view fits best with the explanation.

|Approach & Its Influential Period |Principle Contributors |Subject Matter |Basic Premise |

| |Carl Rogers-Person-centered therapy|Unique aspects of human |Belief that we choose most of our behaviors and |

|Humanistic |and unconditional positive regard |experience |these choices are guided by physiological, |

|(1950s-Present) |Abraham Maslow-Hierarchy of Needs | |emotional or spiritual needs. Humans are free, |

| |and Self-Actualization | |rational beings with the potential for personal |

| | | |growth, and they are fundamentally different from |

| | | |animals. |

| |Sigmund Freud-Personality and |Unconscious determinants of |Belief that the unconscious mind---a part of our |

|Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic |States of Consciousness |behavior |mind that we do not have conscious control over or|

|(1900-Present) |Carl Jung-the most important and | |access to---controls much of our thought and |

| |lifelong task imposed upon any | |action. Unconscious motives and experiences in |

| |person is fulfillment through the | |early childhood govern personality and mental |

| |process of individuation, | |disorders. |

| |achievement of harmony of conscious| | |

| |and unconscious, which makes a | | |

| |person one and whole | | |

| |Alfred Adler-"Individual | | |

| |Psychology," a term which is | | |

| |sometimes misunderstood. It refers | | |

| |to the indivisibility of the | | |

| |personality in its psychological | | |

| |structure. | | |

| |James Olds-the "reward" system in |Physiological bases of behavior |An organism’s functioning can be explained in |

|Biopsychology/Neuroscience |the brain |in humans and animals |terms of the bodily structures and biochemical |

|(1950s-Present) |Roger Sperry-showed that if the two| |processes that underlie behavior. How the body and|

| |hemispheres of the brain are | |brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory |

| |separated by severing the corpus | |experiences |

| |callosum (the large band of fibers | | |

| |that connects them), the transfer | | |

| |of information between the | | |

| |hemispheres ceases, and the | | |

| |coexistence in the same individual | | |

| |of two functionally different | | |

| |brains can be demonstrated. | | |

| |George Miller-The Magical Number | | |

| |Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some | | |

| |Limits on our Capacity for | | |

| |Processing Information | | |

| |David Buss-His primary interests |Evolutionary bases of behavior |Examines human thought and behavior in terms of |

|Evolutionary/Darwinian |include the evolutionary psychology|in humans and animals. |natural selection. Behavior patterns have evolved|

|(Also called sociobiologists) |of human mating strategies; | |to solve adaptive problems; natural selection |

|(1980s-Present) |conflict between the sexes; | |favors behaviors that enhance reproductive |

| |prestige, status, and social | |success. |

| |reputation; the emotion of | | |

| |jealousy; homicide; anti-homicide | | |

| |defenses; and stalking. | | |

| |Charles Darwin-the Origin of | | |

| |Species in 1850. | | |

| |John B. Watson-Father of |Effects of environment on the |Explain human thought and behavior in terms of |

|Behavioral |Behaviorism & Baby Albert |overt behavior of human and |conditioning and look strictly at observable |

|(1913-Present) |Experiment |animals. |behaviors and what reaction organisms get in |

| |Ivan Pavlov-Classical Conditioning | |response to specific behaviors. Belief that only |

| |with dogs and salivation | |observable events (stimulus response |

| |B.F. Skinner-Operant Conditioning | |relationships) can be studied scientifically. |

| |and invented the Skinner Box | | |

| |Jean Piaget-Stage Theory of |Thoughts; mental process |Examine human thought and behavior in terms of how|

|Cognitive |Cognitive Development | |we interpret, process, and remember environmental |

|(1950s-Present) |Noam Chomsky-Theorized the | |events. The rules that we use to view the world |

| |critical-period for language | |are important to understanding why we think and |

| |acquisition | |behave the way we do. Overall, human behavior |

| |Herbert Simon-one of the founding | |cannot be fully understood without examining how |

| |fathers of modern research in | |people acquire, store, and process information. |

| |artificial intelligence | | |

| |Ulric Neisser-focused on pattern | | |

| |recognition, visual search, brief | | |

| |information processing, and memory.| | |

| |Vygotsky-argues that a child's |Effects of social and cultural |Looks at how our thoughts and behaviors vary from |

|Sociocultural (Social-Cultural) |development cannot be understood by|issues on behavior |people living in other cultures. Emphasizes the |

|(???-Present) |a study of the individual. We must | |influence culture has on the way we think and act.|

| |also examine the external social | | |

| |world in which that individual life| | |

| |has developed. | | |

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