Psychological Perspectives

The psychodynamic perspective

The psychodynamic perspective relies on several key premises.

People’s actions are determined by the way thoughts, feelings and wishes are connected in their minds.

Many of these mental events occur outside conscious awareness.

These mental processes may conflict with one another, leading to compromises among competing motives.

Sigmund Freud emphasised unconscious mental forces in his psychoanalytic theory.

According to psychoanalytic theory, many of the associations between feelings and behaviours or situations that guide our behaviour are expressed unconsciously.

The humanistic perspective

The humanistic perspective focuses on the uniqueness of the individual — it assumes that people are motivated to become self-actualised (reach their full potential).

Carl Rogers’ client-centred therapy emphasised conscious, goal-directed choices and the need for individuals to realise their true potential — to self-actualise.

The behaviourist perspective

The behaviourist perspective focuses on the way objects or events in the environment come to control behaviour through learning.

B. F. Skinner observed that behaviour can be controlled by environmental consequences that either increase (reinforce) or decrease (punish) their likelihood of occurring.

The cognitive perspective

The cognitive perspective focuses on the way people perceive, process and retrieve information.

René Descartes’ early philosophical questions led many cognitive psychologists to emphasise the role of reason in creating knowledge.

Modern-day cognitive psychologists use experimental procedures to infer the underlying mental processes in operation.

The evolutionary perspective

The evolutionary perspective argues that many behavioural tendencies in humans, from the need to eat to concern for our children, evolved because they helped our ancestors survive and rear healthy offspring.

Evolutionary psychologists support Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection — the most adaptive behavioural traits are those that helped our ancestors adjust and survive in their environment.

Psychology foundations

Wilhelm Wundt founded the first psychological laboratory in 1879.

Two prominent early schools of thought were:

structuralism (uncover the basic elements of cons-ciousness through introspection) Edward Titchener initiated the school of thought known as structuralism.

functionalism (explain psychological processes in terms of the role, or function, they serve). William James was one of the founders of functionalism.