A.P. Psychology Perspectives.

Behavioral

Perspective focusing primarily on observable behavior to environmental stimuli and how it shapes one's actions and behavior. Contributions by John B. Watson, Ivan Pavlov, and B.F. Skinner.

Biological (Behavioral Genetics)

Perspective focusing on physical aspects such as genetics and brain structures and how they affect one's behavior and personality.

Cognitive

Perspective focusing on how mental processes such as memory, thought, and problem solving are involved in acquiring knowledge. Contributions by Jean Piaget.

Evolutionary

Perspective focusing on how adaptive processes and natural selection develop one's behavior and traits, as well as their children's behaviors and traits. Contributions by David Buss and Charles Darwin's studies.

Humanistic (Humanism)

Perspective focusing on the human qualities of freedom, potential growth, and motivation and how they affect one's personality and behavior. Contributions by Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow.

Psychodynamic

Perspective focusing on how both conscious (ego and superego) and unconscious (Id) drives affect behavior. Contributions by Sigmund Freud.

Socio-cultural

Perspective focusing on how personality and behavior vary across one's background culture and social situations.

Gestalt psychology

View of the human mind and behaviors as a whole (from a top-down perspective). "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts". Contributions by Max Wertheimer.

Structuralism

View of each of the separate aspects of the consciousness and see how each are related to eachother (from a bottom-up perspective). Contributions by Edward Titchener.

Empiricism

View that knowledge is acquired primarily through observation. Contributions by John Locke (Created Tabula Rasa- "blank slate"; Infants are born completely without knowledge).

Functionalism

View that psychology should primarily investigate the function of the function of the consciousness instead of its structure. Contributions by William James.