Psychology is the study of human behaviors. It studies the conscious and unconscious circumstances including the feelings and thought of a person. It has 7 psychological perspectives that psychologists use to determine different aspects of human behavior. Each of these perspectives focuses on specific points of view and each one has its own purpose.
Major Perspectives On Modern Psychology
- Psychodynamic perspective. This perspective which started from Sigmund Freud’s work, views that human behavior emphasizes the role of early childhood experiences, the unconscious mind, and interpersonal relationships to treat mental illnesses and explain human behavior.
Freud believes that the human is composed of three elements; id, ego, and superego.
1.1 Id- known as the persona’s main source of initial and unconscious desires.
1.2 Ego- this psyche aspect is the one that deals with the pressure of the real world.
1.3 Superego- this part of the human psyche is the last to develop and is responsible for our internal morals, standards, and ideals. - Cognitive perspective. The cognitive perspective focuses on the human mental processes that include thinking, memory, decision-making, language, and problem-solving. It depicts how the human mind works by comparing it to a computer. The main goal is to figure out how the mind acquires, process, store, and utilize information.
- Behavioral perspective. This perspective is focused on humans’ learned behavior. Its main concern is learning how behaviors were learned and reinforced in an individual. Behavioral perspective is usually used by therapists in treating a mental health condition to explain the cause of the illness.
- Cross-cultural perspective. This particular perspective examines human behavior throughout different cultures. There are 2 components that researchers study in order to determine how culture affects our thinking and behavior. The first one is the individualistic culture while the second one is the collectivistic culture.
- Biological perspective. This area of psychology previously known as biopsychology or physiological psychology highlights the physical and biological bases of human behavior. Biological psychologists study how genetics or damaged areas in the brain can affect behavior and personality. Some of its subjects include not only the brain but also the nervous system, the immune system, and the endocrine system. It uses tools such as magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography to observe the brain.
- Humanistic perspective. The psychologists on this perspective focus on what makes human wants to change, grow, and develop their personality. This area of psychology examines the responsibility of motivation on behavior and thought, making self-actualization an essential concept.
- Evolutionary perspective. Psychologists who use this approach study how human evolution has an impact on psychological phenomena. This study proposes that human mental processes exist because of the purpose that they serve on evolution, including how they can aid human survival and reproduction.
Interesting Facts About Psychology
This area of study is fascinating in its own way. Psychology has a wide scope of studies when it comes to understanding and examining human behavior and personality. This is important in order for us to understand and know why someone reacts or behaves in a different manner. According to various researches, psychology claims interesting facts that we are not even aware of. Here are some of the cool things that psychology suggests:
- Violence is not in our nature. We are naturally empathetic the moment we gain consciousness.
- Race is not a biological but a social construct.
- The human body has the ability to heal on its own.
- We can reconstruct our memories.
- Multi-tasking is not possible at all.
No matter what our interests are, psychology is definitely one for the books. If you wish to know more compelling facts about psychology, modern technology has new ways to feed us tons of information.