Sneak Peak 2

Humanistic Perspective

Perspective that looks at humans as individuals. Discusses human capacity for self-fulfillment and growth. It assumes all humans are good. Ex. A student gets a bad grade on a test but believes they can improve by working harder.

Abraham Maslow

He created the hierarchy of needs, which means we humans are motivated by a series of needs: self-actualization, meaning you try to be the best person you can be.

Carl Rogers

client centered therapy; dealt with acceptance. One of the major founders of humanistic perspective.

Neuroscience/Biopsychology

Studies how the brain, body, and neural system affect your mental states. Studying how lack of sleep affects the brain and memory.

Behavior Genetics

How much our genes and environment influence our differences. Researchers study whether children whose parents are naturally athletic are more likely to have athletic abilities themselves, while also looking at how practice and training affect their performance.

Evolutionary Psychology

Evolutionary psychology is the branch of psychology that describes human thoughts, emotions, and behaviors as developed adaptations shaped through natural selection to solve ancestral survival and reproduction problems. For example, you had to be a good hunter to be able to feed yourself and find a special someone, if you didn’t you’d die, and this good hunting trait was sent down through generations through spatial awareness.

Psychodynamic Perspective

Focuses on unconscious drives and childhood experiences. Originally called psychoanalysis, established by Sigmund Freud. Ex. Someone fears dogs b/c of childhood fear.

Sigmund Freud

Founded psychoanalysis, presented the power of the unconscious mind, and created talk therapy

Unconscious

Stores hidden memories, fears and urges that silently influence our daily choices, feelings, and behavior without our knowledge

Behavioral Perspective

The studies of observable behavior and how behavior is learned. A student studies more often because their parents reward them with extra screen time whenever they get a good grade.

Ivan Pavlov

Russian scientist who discovered classical conditioning (helps us to associate two things together) with an experiment where he rang a bell, gave a dog food, and the dog salivated a few times. Then, the dog began salivating before the food came because it expected it (proving classical conditioning)

John Watson

Famous for the Little Albert Experiment (proved classical conditioning can be done with humans). The rat came, screamed, and the baby cried a few times. Then the rat just came, and without screaming, the baby cried

B.F. Skinner

Operant conditioning (learning by consequence). Getting rewared for good behavior so you always act good so you can maybe get a reward again or crying and getting what they want once so they cry every time to try to get what they want again

Cognitive Perspective

Focuses on thinking and everything related to it; how thinking affects our behavior (how we interpret and remember). Ex: A student feels nervous before a test because they think they are going to fail, even though they studied.

Social Cultural Perspective

Examines how social interactions and cultural contexts influence individual development and behavior. Ex: A teenager dresses a certain way because their friends and social group dress that way, influencing their behavior.

Research

Study of the mind and behavior, using organized data collection, experiments, and observations to test ideas and facts

Basic v. Applied

Basic- focus on expanding scientific knowledge and building theories. A psychologist studies how sleep affects memory to better understand how the brain stores information.

Applied- uses knowledge through basic research to solve real-world problems. Example: A psychologist studies whether starting school later improves students’ grades so a school can decide whether to change its schedule.

Clinical Psychologists vs. Psychiatrists

Psychologist- (Clinical) Focus on psychotherapy, licensed and certified (PhD), work with people with big issues such as schizophrenia, PTSD, etc. (Counseling) Assist people with ordinary life problems, such as depression, marital issues, anxiety, etc.

Psychiatrists- provide medical management and medications, medical doctors (MD); study longer than psychologists, and look at issues through the perspective of neuorscience