1. Contemporary Psychological Perspectives

2. Perspectives Perspective is a way of viewing phenomena
Psychology has multiple perspectives
Cognitive
Biological
Socio-cultural
Cross-Cultural
Behavioral
Humanistic
Psychodynamic
Evolutionary

3. Cognitive Perspective
Focus: On how people think and process information
Behavior is explained by how a person interprets the situation
How is knowledge acquired, organized, remembered, and used to guide behavior?
Influences include
Piaget – studied intellectual development
Chomsky – studied language
Computer Science – Specifically information processing

4. Biological Perspective
Focus: How our biological structures and substances underlie a given behavior, thought, or emotion
Behavior is explained by brain chemistry, genetics, etc.
Interest in behavior makes it psychology rather than biology.

5. Social-Cultural Perspective
Focus: How thinking and behavior change depending on the setting or situation
Behavior is explained by the influence of other people present

6. Cross-Cultural Perspective
The study of psychological differences among people living in different cultural groups
How are people’s thoughts, feelings and behavior influenced by their culture?
What are the common elements across culture? Are these innate?
Keywords: cultural psychology

7. Behavioral Perspective
Focus: How we learn through rewards, punishments, and observation
View of behavior based on experience or learning
Classical conditioning - Pavlov
Operant conditioning – Skinner
Founded by James Watson

8. Humanistic Perspective
Focus: How healthy people strive to reach their full potential
Behavior is explained as being motivated by satisfying needs (safety, hunger, thirst, etc.), with the goal of reaching one’s full potential once basic needs are met.
Developed by Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers
behavior reflects innate ‘actualization’
focus on conscious forces and self perception
more positive view of basic forces than Freud’s

9. Psychodynamic Perspective
Focus: How behavior is affected by unconscious drives and conflicts
Behavior is explained through unconscious motivation and unresolved inner conflicts from one’s childhood.
Modern version of psychoanalytic perspective (Sigmund Freud)

10. Psychodynamic Perspective
View of behavior is based on experience treating patients
Psychoanalytic approach (Sigmund Freud)
drives and urges within the unconscious component of mind influence thought and behavior
early childhood experiences shape unconscious motivations
Keywords: psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud

11. Evolutionary Psychology
Influenced by Darwin with the emphasis on innate, adaptive behavior patterns
Combines aspects of biological, psychological, and social perspectives
Behavior is explained by how the behavior may have helped our ancestors survive long enough to reproduce successfully.

12. Perspectives Timeline

14. How do we explain Kanye West?
Cognitive Perspective?
Social-Cultural Perspective?
Psychodynamic Perspective?

15. For Homework: Observe a classmate in one of your other classes.
Notice how they behave (well, poorly, working hard, hardly working, etc.)
Using two of the perspectives that we learned today, how could you explain their behavior?
IMPORTANT: DO NOT NAME NAMES