1. Psychology Contemporary Perspective (1:4)

2. Six Perspectives ► Biological ► Cognitive ► Humanistic ► Psychoanalytic ► Learning ► Sociocultural

3. Biological Perspective ► The influence of biology on our behavior  The Nervous System plays a gigantic role in behavior ► Connections of events in the brain  Brain activity in various situations  Hormones and genes ► Do these relate to personality traits?

4. Cognitive Perspective ► The role played by thoughts in determining behavior  Study of the mind ► Problems, dreams, interpreting the world ► Jean Piaget – The concept of the world from child to adult

5. Cognitive Perspective ► Information Processing  From the cognitive perspective our minds are similar to supercomputers ► Behavior is influence by values, interpretations, and choices  Perceptions of statements

6. Humanistic Perspective ► Human capacity for self-fulfillment and the importance of consciousness, self- awareness, and choice making  Personal experience is the most important part of psychology (Humanistic Psychology)

7. Humanistic Perspective ► People are basically good and helpful  Critics say that this is unobservable, therefore it is unscientific ► Is the inner-experience as important as an outer experience?

8. Psychoanalytic Perspective ► The influence of unconscious forces on human behavior (Freud) ► Pent up aggression and its outlets

9. Learning Perspective ► The effects of experience on behavior  In the view of many psychologists learning is an essential factor  People do things because they are learned, not because of conscious choice ► Social-Learning Theory – learning by observation and storing outcomes for later use  Can you choose to do what you learned to do?

10. Sociocultural Perspective ► Ethnicity, gender, culture, and socio- economic status have a great impact on behavior and mental process

11. Sociocultural Perspective ► Gender is NOT simply a matter of anatomy  A complex web of expectation and social roles ► How has this changed over time?