Major Perspectives of Psychology

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Perspectives

Psychoanalytic Behaviorism Humanism Cognitive Evolutionary Biological/Biomedical

PsychodynamicThe psychodynamic perspective originated with the work of Sigmund Freud. This perspective emphasizes the role of the unconscious mind, early childhood experiences, and interpersonal relationships to explain human behavior and to treat people suffering from mental illnesses.

Freud’s Personality Theory

Our personality is a conflict between our unconscious Id and our superego (our moral sense) and our ego (our sense of reality).

Defense Mechanisms

Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is the form of treating psychological disorders, invented by Freud.

It is famous for the couch.

A. What are Psychoanalytic methods of therapy (4 of them):

1. Free Association – patient reports anything that comes to his/her mind.

The psychoanalyst listens for links & themes that might tie the patient’s fragmentary thoughts or remarks together.

B. Dream analysis:

Dreams have two types of content:

Manifest content- actual events in dream.

Latent content – hidden message in dream.

Freud thought that each dream represents a form of wish fulfillment. The wish may be disguised, but it is always there.

C. Transference

Feelings of love or other emotions (hatred) are expressed toward the therapist.

These feelings are actually unconsciously felt toward others; the patient is projecting these feelings onto the therapist.

This provides clues about the client’s feelings about these other people.

Hypnosis

Hypnosis is a psychoanalytic therapeutic technique.

Supposedly reaches into the unconscious

Psychoanalysis summary

All methods deal with accessing the unconscious mind

Psychoanalysis is therapist-centered, meaning the therapist has all the answers, not the patient.

Personality assessment

Psychoanalysts use projective tests like the Rorschach Ink Blot test or the TAT test

Assessing achievement motivation

The TAT Thematic Apperception Test

Criticisms of Freud’s theory:

1.   Freud had no scientific data to support his theories.

2.   Freud’s theories (unconscious, libido, etc.) cannot be observed.

3.   Theory explains behavior (post-hoc) after the fact.

4.    Observations not representative of population (very sexist and not multicultural).

Pros of Freud’s theory

1. Argued that childhood experiences are important in personality development.

2. Information outside of awareness does influence us.

3. Defense mechanisms—good descriptions of some of our behaviors.

Behaviorism

Behaviorism

By the 1950s, Psychoanalysis seemed very unscientific. Behaviorists will bring science back into psychology, even if they overdo it a little.

Behaviorism is NOT interested in the unconscious mind since it cannot be observed in a laboratory.

Very telling quote!!

Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select -- doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors.--John Watson, Behaviorism, 1930

Ivan Pavlov

He was not a psychologist but a Russian physiologist. He discovered classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is associative learning. He trained a dog to drool to a bell.

Dog associates food with bell.

B.F. Skinner

B.F. Skinner is the most famous of the Behaviorists. He is famous for operant conditioning. Operant conditioning (aka shaping) is learning through reinforcements (rewards) and punishments.

Thorndike “law of effect”

Basically, he was Skinner “lite.” The law of effect principle developed by Edward Thorndike suggested that responses closely followed by satisfaction will

become firmly attached to the situation and therefore more likely to reoccur when the situation is repeated. Conversely, if the situation is followed by discomfort,

the connections to the situation will become weaker and the behavior of response is less likely to occur when the

situation is repeated.

Behaviorism

Albert Bandura did a famous experiment that said our behavior does not have to be classically conditioned or operant conditioned. We can simply observe behavior and copy it.

Behaviorism

The behavioral perspective can explain why people get addicted to gambling (positive reinforcement)

Why students don’t wear their id badge (rewards of the adrenaline rush?)

Why that girl won’t call you anymore (How was she reinforced for calling you?)

Behavioral Therapy

Focuses on maladaptive behaviors (mal means bad) and changing them.

Token economy uses positive reinforcement to get large groups of students or mental ward patients or employees to do something like clean up or attend group therapy. (ex: pizza party if you all pass your test)

Behavioral therapy

Systematic desensitization – treatment of phobias and anxiety. Treat the behavior of not freaking out over spiders.

Behavioral therapy

Aversive conditioning – There is a drug called Antabuse. When mixed with alcohol, it makes you sick. Motivated alcoholics will take this pill and begin to associate the sickness with alcohol and possibly stop drinking.

Behaviorism Summary

Behaviorism says we do what we do because of classical conditioning, operant conditioning or we simply learn the behavior from watching or copying it.

In its extreme, they think we are simply rats in a cage pressing buttons. WE HAVE NO FREE WILL!

Humanism

HumanisticHumanism came about in the 1960s in reaction to psychoanalysis and behaviorism. Humanistic psychology was instead focused on each individual’s potential and stressed the importance of growth and self-actualization. The fundamental belief of humanistic psychology was that people are innately good.

We are not rats in a cage! We are not id-driven animals! We are humans with free will.

Humanism

Abraham Maslow said we have a hierarchy of needs

Humanism

Carl Rogers revolutionized talk therapy. His therapy is client-centered, where the client has all the answers instead of the therapist. Therapists treat the client with unconditional positive regard (no judgments). Group therapy comes from Humanism.

Incongruent self: neurosis

REAL IDEAL

REAL IDEAL

Incongruent self: psychosis (shattered self)

Fully-Functioning Individual

Congruence!

Open to experiences

Freedom from society

Creativity

Carl Rogers’ fully functioning Individual

Humanism summary

Humanists are really touchy-feely, but without them we are just rats in a cage.

Rogers and Maslow put the “human” element back into psychology and therapy.

Their philosophy: We are all humans striving to maximize our potential. A therapist’s job is to remove obstacles to self-actualization.

Positive psychology comes from Humanism

Cognitive Psychology

Cognitive Perspective

What does the word cognitive mean? How about cognition? Recognition?

It is the study of how people perceive, remember, think, speak, and solve problems.

Cognitive therapy is about changing the maladaptive thoughts of a person.

Cognitive Psychologists

Alan Baddeley studied memory. He’s famous for his model for working memory (STM)

Cognitive PsychologistsJean Piaget studied cognitive development in

children.

Cognitive perspective on depression

We are depressed because we are irrational. Our expectations are too high and misplaced. We want everyone to love us and accept us. We

want every thing to go our way. We stay angry about stuff that happened a looong time ago.

WE MUST CHANGE THE WAY WE THINK TO BE HAPPY AND SUCCESSFUL.

Cognitive Therapy

Cognitive therapy is about changing the maladaptive (bad) thoughts. Albert Ellis, Aaron Beck and William Glasser are famous for reality

therapy. They challenged his patients to ask, “Are my thoughts realistic or rational?”

Cognitive therapy also “educates” the client, teaches him/her proper behaviors/thoughts

Evolutionary Psychology

Evolutionary psychology examines psychological traits — such as memory,

perception, or language — from a modern evolutionary perspective. It seeks to identify

which human psychological traits are evolved adaptations, that is, the functional products of

natural selection or sexual selection

Evolutionary Psychology

This branch explains why humans do what they do in terms of adaptive value (survival of the species. Why do women usually prefer the guy on the right for long-term relationships?

Evolutionary Psychology

Why do women spend so much money on a weekly basis but men will surprise their wives with a brand new car (without asking her)?

Evolutionary psychologists try to explain this behavior with comparisons to hunter-gather cultures.

Why do women have more bug phobias?

Biological Perspective

This perspective is among the most respected right now. They focus on our brain, nervous system, neurotransmitters and hormones to explain our behaviors.

Biological Perspective

“I don’t know why you are depressed or anxious. But here is some medicine!”

Love is simply oxytocin in your brain.

Surgeries

The Lobotomy damages your frontal lobe to relieve you of anxiety.

Surgery

Cut the corpus callosum to keep seizures from spreading to other side of brain.

Electroconvulsive Therapy ECT

Common medicines

Prozac – antidepressant – blocks reuptake of serotonin.

Xanax – anti-anxiety (side effect of drowsiness)

Thorazine – replaced the lobotomy

Your Turn…

Theoretical Perspectives in Psychology Chart

Theoretical Perspectives Case Study practice!