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Over the years, psychology developed to be a science with many ways of explaining human behavior. Different factors are nowadays taken into consideration when trying to evaluate the psychological background of an individual. Modern science distinguishes the five most significant perspectives of psychology – neuroscience, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, and psychodynamic (Feldman, 2018). While each of these perspectives offers a unique vision of human psychology, all of them can be classified according to such principles as the effect of nature, observance, determinism, consciousness, and individual differences.
Neuroscience is linked to biology and its theories more than the other perspectives. It characterizes humans as animals, and all psychological states and actions are viewed through the prism of brain chemistry and its physical functioning. The way signals are sent between brain cells is predetermined by genetics, being universal for all people. This perspective regards psychology as a set of unconscious internal processes driven by determinism. The latter was introduced by Freud to state that all unconscious phenomena have a cause, and now this term is used to characterize something over which a person has little or no control(Colman, 2015).
The psychodynamic perspective is rather similar to neuroscience. It focuses primarily on unconscious matters like dreams and slips of a tongue, regarding those as a key to understanding the psyche. This perspective also admits the dominating power of nature over human psychology, along with the lack of control and principles common for large groups of the population. Psychodynamics views mental processes as being fully internal and often unintentional.
The behavioral perspective, on the contrary, focuses on the external side of psychology. It is based on observation of human behavior, being the most applicable when researching the visible sides of the psyche. Unlike neuroscience and psychodynamics, the behavioral perspective argues that the environment is the most significant factor in psychological studies. Factors like space, its design, territory, and other physical attributes are essential to environmental psychology (Hayes & Stratton, 2017). While behavioral perspective admits determinism, consciousness is important as well.
The humanistic perspective also focuses on environmental factors instead of the natural effect. However, its most important perception is the free will of an individual to grow and develop. An effort to reach well-being and development by putting inner strengths to it reveals the best in people, which is the core idea behind the humanistic perspective(Linley, 2013). There is a self-control model showing the extent of free will over time, which argues that free will is limited (Vohs& Baumeister, 2016). Other principles include consciousness, observance, and the importance of individual differences. Unlike neuroscience and psychodynamics, the humanistic perspective states that mental characteristics are predicted by individual traits and not biological or social elements common within a particular group.
Finally, there is the cognitive perspective that is based on the perception of thinking as informational processing. Its definition of a “higher mental process” stresses the importance of analytical brain functioning (Lachman, Lachman, & Butterfield, 2015, p. 6). This perspective admits that both nature and environment affect the human psyche, while internal processes can be both conscious and unconscious. However, cognitive abilities are predicted by individual differences and free will, which set all people apart as unique beings regarding mental abilities.
In conclusion, it can be said that all the five perspectives have both the same and different factors that they base on. Elements such as nature, environment, determinism, control, and others shape a unique method of researching the human psychic. Such a variety is useful since it helps to evaluate psychology from different perspectives. Depending on what area or case needs to be studied, a particular perspective may be chosen.
References
Colman, A. M. (2015). Dictionary of psychology (4th ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Feldman, R. (2018). Psychology and your life (3rd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Hayes, N., & Stratton, P. (2017). A student’s dictionary of psychology and neuroscience (6th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
Lachman, R., Lachman, J. L., & Butterfield, E. C. (2015). Cognitive psychology and information processing: An introduction. New York, NY: Psychology Press.
Linley, P. A. (2013). Human strengths and well-being: Finding the best within us at the intersection of eudaimonic philosophy, humanistic psychology, and positive psychology. In A. S. Waterman (Ed.), The best within us: Positive psychology perspectives on eudaimonia (pp. 269-285). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Web.
Vohs, K. D., & Baumeister, R. F. (Eds.). (2016). Handbook of self-regulation: Research, theory, and applications (3rd ed.). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
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