Major Perspectives of Psychology

1. Major Perspectives of Psychology What do you see? It depends on your perspective

2. Perspectives • Psychoanalytic/psychodynamic • Behaviorism • Humanism • Cognitive • Sociocultural • Biological/Neuroscientific • Evolutionary

3. Psychodynamic • The psychodynamic perspective originated with the work of Sigmund Freud. This perspective emphasizes the role of the unconscious mind, early childhood experiences, and interpersonal relationships to explain human behavior and to treat people suffering from mental illnesses.

4. Freud focused on early childhood experiences, especially parent-child relationships, believing that personality was formed in the first six years of life.

5. Our personality is a conflict between our unconscious Id and our superego (our moral sense) and our ego (our sense of reality).

6. Defense Mechanisms Displacement Repression Regression

7. Psychoanalysis • Psychoanalysis is the form of treating psychological disorders, invented by Freud

8. Personality assessment • Psychoanalysts use projective tests like the Rorschach Ink Blot test or the TAT test

9. Pros of Freud’s theory • 1. Argued that childhood experiences are important in personality development. • 2. Information outside of awareness does influence us. • 3. Defense mechanisms—good descriptions of some of our behaviors.

10. Criticisms of Freud’s theory: • 1.   Freud had no scientific data to support his theories. • 2.   Freud’s theories (unconscious, libido, etc.) cannot be observed. • 3.   Theory explains behavior (post-hoc) after the fact. • 4.    Observations not representative of population (very sexist and not multicultural).

11. Behaviorism

12. Behaviorism • By the 1950s, Psychoanalysis seemed very unscientific. Behaviorists will bring science back into psychology, even if they overdo it a little. • Behaviorism is NOT interested in the unconscious mind since it cannot be observed or measured in a laboratory.

13. A telling quote… • Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select -- doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors.--John Watson, Behaviorism, 1930

14. Ivan Pavlov • He was not a psychologist but a Russian physiologist. He discovered classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is associative learning. He trained a dog to drool to a bell.

15. Dog associates food with bell.

16. B.F. Skinner • B.F. Skinner is the most famous of the Behaviorists. He is famous for operant conditioning. Operant conditioning (aka shaping) is learning through reinforcements (rewards) and punishments.

17. Behaviorism • Albert Bandura did a famous experiment that said our behavior does not have to be classically conditioned or operant conditioned. We can simply observe behavior and copy it.

18. Behaviorism • The behavioral perspective can explain why people get addicted to gambling (positive reinforcement) • …or why you come home before curfew • …or why you don’t like grape jelly.

19. Behaviorism Summary • Behaviorism says we do what we do because of classical conditioning, operant conditioning or we simply learn the behavior from watching or copying it. • In its extreme, they think we are simply rats in a cage pressing buttons. • Many diet apps are based on behaviorist approach.

20. Humanism

21. Humanistic • Humanism came about in the 1960s in reaction to psychoanalysis and behaviorism. Humanistic psychology was instead focused on each individual’s potential and stressed the importance of growth and self-actualization. The fundamental belief of humanistic psychology was that people are innately good. • We are not rats in a cage! We are not id-driven animals! We are humans with free will.

22. Humanism • Abraham Maslow said we have a hierarchy of needs

23. Humanism • Carl Rogers revolutionized talk therapy. His therapy is client-centered, where the client has all the answers instead of the therapist. Therapists treat the client with unconditional positive regard (no judgments). Group therapy comes from Humanism.

24. Humanism summary • Humanists are really touchy-feely, but without them we are just rats in a cage. • Rogers and Maslow put the “human” element back into psychology and therapy. • Their philosophy: We are all humans striving to maximize our potential. A therapist’s job is to remove obstacles to self-actualization.

25. Cognitive Perspective • What does the word cognitive mean? How about cognition? Or Recognition? • It is the study of how people perceive, remember, think, speak, and solve problems. • Cognitive therapy is about changing the maladaptive thoughts of a person.

26. Cognitive Psychologists • Jean Piaget studied cognitive development in children.

27. Cognitive perspective on depression • We are depressed because we are irrational. Our expectations are too high and misplaced. We want everyone to love us and accept us. We want every thing to go our way. We stay angry about issues or events that happened a long time ago. WE MUST CHANGE THE WAY WE THINK TO BE HAPPY AND SUCCESSFUL.

28. Cognitive Therapy • Cognitive therapy is about changing the maladaptive (bad) thoughts. Albert Ellis, Aaron Beck and William Glasser are famous for reality therapy. They challenged his patients to ask, “Are my thoughts realistic or rational?” Cognitive therapy also “educates” the client, teaches him/her proper behaviors/thoughts

29. Social Cultural Perspective • How social environment and culture influence behavior and thoughts. Behavior is heavily influenced by social norms and expectations.

30. Cross Cultural research • Reaction to ethnocentric bias, relying on European and North American subjects. • Compare and contrast two or more cultures

31. Kenneth B and Mamie Clark Doll Studies Their research demonstrated that segregation harmed Black children’s self-images, Their testimony contributed to landmark Supreme Court case Brown v Board of Education of Topeka, KS

32. Evolutionary Psychology • Studies the evolutionary origins of human behavior. Behavior and mental characteristics adapt over time based on natural selection.

33. Evolutionary Psychology • Darwin published his theory of evolution in 1859 • Natural selection- if an inherited trait gives certain members an advantage over others (such as increasing ability to attract mates, escape danger and acquire food) these members will be more likely to survive and pass these characteristics on to their offspring).

34. Evolutionary Psychology • Across the world, on average, men desire a younger mate and women desire an older mate. How does this help pass on genes?

35. Neuroscience Perspective • This perspective is among the most respected right now. Neuroscientists focus on our brain, nervous system, neurotransmitters and hormones to explain our behaviors.

36. Tools used by neuroscientists PET Scan: Positron emission tomography fMRI machine: functional magnetic resonance imaging

37. Dr Ben Carson Neurosurgeon Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital

38. Dr. Ramachandran • Mirror box treatment for phantom limb syndrome