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PSYCHODYNAMIC PERSPECTIVE.
The story of a teenage girl who bites her nails was published in the local daily newspaper. A 16-year-old adolescent girl who was featured says that she has been biting her nails ever since she was young. She claims that her experiences while growing up generated anxiety that propels her to bite her nails even when she is not anxious. She narrates that some robbers attacked their place when she was four years old and dared to rape her. Thus, this created a withdrawal attitude in the girl resulting in her keeping biting her nails ever since. Therefore, due to the trauma, the girl developed anxiety that has always affected her to date.
In psychology, this can be explained through a psychodynamic perspective. It says that childhood behaviors can significantly affect ordinary emotions and change how individuals may behave in the future. The psychodynamic perspective involves understanding events and feelings in an individual’s head (Caputo 2020). The unconscious part of the mind is the target of this perspective. Gaining access to this region of the mind allows the psychologist to see events and experiences that the individual has been through. How the individual approaches situations and sees relationships can also be determined from this region. Behavior and emotions are affected by the unconscious part of the mind. Thus, all actions are said to be with cause and therefore determined. Hence, the psychodynamic perspective entails that some childhood incidents may affect adulthood behavior.
BEHAVIOURAL PERSPECTIVE.
Articles posted on the web show parents rewarding their small child for using the potty in the morning. From this situation, it is evident that the parents are trying to cultivate some child behavior. It also creates the motivation of getting more rewards; thus, the child will use the potty more often. Eventually, the action becomes a habit. In the same article, another story involves a teacher who wants to motivate his class to behave better. The teacher develops a behavior management system that is aimed at encouraging the students to behave better. He formulates a plan that will see the class earn a star at the end of the lesson, provided they have adhered to the rules accordingly. If they shall have attained more than five stars, the teacher throws them a pizza party. Thus, this kind of approach helps to cultivate behavior within individuals.
In psychology’s behavioral aspect, the perspective is concerned with how environmental factors affect an individual’s observable behavior. In this aspect, people learn from their environment (Suls et al., 2019). Classical conditioning and operant conditioning are the two main processes whereby people can learn from their environment. Classical involves learning through association, while operant consists of learning through the consequences of behavior. Behavioral techniques are usually applied in mental health settings with counselors and therapists. Several mental illnesses can be treated with the application of this perspective. A person’s motive could explain some behaviors. Thus behaviorism believes the environment determines all behavior. Therefore, behaviorism focuses on observable behaviors rather than emphasizing external states.
COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE.
The science magazine published in 2019 contains several articles about the cognitive perspective of psychology. Students were taken from a class, and both their memory and logic ability put into scale. Students who were advanced in age happened to have a better memory than the younger students. In terms of logic, it’s the same case. Most of the older students happened to have better judgment skills than younger students. However, some students in the lower division had better memory and logic skills than their fellow counterparts. Thus the way our brain the human brain makes the connection as it learns new concepts in different ways to remember what it has learned. Therefore, due to cognitive involvement, most people grow and mature differently. Abilities possessed by people are also unique in a difference.
From the articles, cognitive refers to the study of how the human mind thinks. Attention span, memory, reasoning, and other actions are considered complex mental activities to study cognitive psychology. To understand the way people think, we must also be and ready to know what is particularly going on in their minds (Suzuki et al., 2019). Through perspectives such as memory, perception, and attention, people are likened to computers. The same way computers handle information, process it, and have output is the same way the mind also works. With the ability to recall, the brain stores information, process it, and eventually creates an outcome. Therefore, encoding, storage, and retrieval are the main aspects of memory.
BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE.
Articles published in the science magazine contained the story of individuals involved in criminal behavior. The individual was said to have participated in a robbery that involved three men, but he was the only one caught. Later on, it was found that his father also served a prison term in the neighboring prison facility. Therefore, in a way or the other, the individual inherited terrible genes from the father. To avoid this from reoccurring, prisoners are appropriately sterilized to reform the unwanted genes and develop better and desirable genes. Another article published showed that depression results from a traumatic situation that alters an individual’s nervous system. Thus, resulting in the secretion of specific neurotransmitters.
Based on the above article, it is clear that all thoughts, feelings, and behavior have a biological course. It involves the study and analysis of brain genetics, hormones, and the immune and nervous system. Psychologists who study the genomics of behavior take into consideration the effect of genes on behavior. Chromosomes, hormones, and other biological factors influence our human behavior. A good example is a gender; the natural composition of males and females is entirely different, thus creating a difference in the way males and females behave (Scarr 2019). A study conducted shows that testosterone hormones in a father reduce immediately after his son’s birth. It helps the father become less aggressive, thus creating a suitable condition for the infant’s growth. Abnormal behavior such as schizophrenia is said to be affected by dopamine levels in an individual’s body. Therefore, such findings help psychiatrists take off and help relieve mental illness symptoms by administering drugs.
CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE.
From national geographic programs aired by the local channels, they compare life and individuals’ culture. Their thoughts, social behaviors, and perceptions are the main factors to analyze. The two-fingered sign of peace is considered offensive in England, Ireland, and Australia. But in the US, the signal is a peaceful gesture. How people from Australia, Ireland, and England perceive the two-fingered sing of peace is entirely different from other groups. Their social background of a person affects the behavioral outcome of the person. Cultures such as the US that stress on individualism results in the formation of independent individuals considered acceptable. At the same time, cultures that stress collectivism results in individuals who value group goals rather than individual success. Therefore, a group’s practices with the same cultures do not apply to the other group with different cultural values.
From the selected article, it is evident that culture influences people’s thinking and behavior. Social behaviors differ in individualistic and collectivistic cultures. In individualistic cultures, people tend to exert less effort when they are part of a group, thus resulting in social loafing. On the contrary, in collective cultures, people tend to work harder when they are part of a group. It creates some motivation and ability to work even harder, depending on the situation (Shiraev 2020). Psychologists here study how culture impacts psychological processes. The cultural setting of an individual is said to have life-term effects on a person’s life. Thoughts, perceptions, behaviors, and development are some of the factors affected by the cross-cultural aspect. Therefore, the culture of an individual is said to have lifelong effects on their behavior.
EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVE.
Articles published in the monthly magazine narrate how human behavior has been evolving. Human behavior and relations of the past cannot be compared with the current actions. Just like evolution, human behavior has been getting better with time. Thus, it has resulted in improved human relations than in the past. In the past, cases of violence and cooperation were on the rise. Evolution in human behavior has resulted in the formation of a better society with cooperative and peaceful members. Human behavior can be categorized into four types. These include; optimistic, pessimist, envious, and trusting. Therefore, there has been a remarkable evolution in the advancement of human behavior.
From an evolutionary perspective, the study of how evolutionary theory can explain some of the physiological processes. From the article, fundamental principles such as natural selection are applied to explain some psychological phenomena. Thus mental processes exist because of their role in evolutionary purpose. Hence, they are said to support human survival and reproduction. In this perspective, the approach tries to explain behaviors in terms of selective pressures that shape behavior (Schaller 2020). Most actions displayed today are a result of evolutionary adaptation to help us survive. Behavioral patterns are said to have evolved through natural selection. Thus adaptive behaviors that increase reproductive success are passed on from one generation to another. Therefore, just like physical evolution, psychology has also been evolving, resulting in better and desirable human behaviors.
HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE.
A review of an article found on the web shows how the humanistic approach can psychologically address some problems. A 32-year-old young adult feels like his life has become dull and bland. He is experiencing withdrawal signs and feels like nothing is worth living for. The humanistic perspective encourages the adult to do some soul searching and determine what is missing. A perfect guess could probably be finding a hobby or evaluating some of his friendships and relationships. Thus, finding whatever the individual feels self-actualized could be the possible treatment for his problem. Another article states that gestalt therapy encourages an individual not to allow the past to affect the present. Family therapy allows families to talk about their relationships amongst themselves. Therefore, this is aimed at strengthening the nature of these relationships, especially during tough times.
In the above-discussed articles, it can be concluded that the humanistic perspectives influence human behavior. The humanistic perspective emphasizes the basic concepts of self-actualization and self-motivation. Thus triggering psychologists to focus on what drives humans to change, grow, and develop their potential. The personal worth of the individual, the centrality of human values, and the creative, active nature of human beings are emphasized by this kind of perspective (Joseph 2019). It enables the nobleman’s capacity to overcome hardships, pain, and despair. The humanistic perspective encourages individuals to focus on their strengths rather than their weaknesses. Thus, the concept of learning by watching the behavior of others is what this perspective entails. Therefore, this kind of psychology helps individuals to fulfill their potential and maximize their well-being.
DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVE.
An article contained in the daily news show analyses how adolescence affects a child’s general behavior. Research conducted on more than fifty American teenagers and parents showed that adolescents’’ behavior changes over time. Teenagers’ parents told the reporter that during this period, their children are associated with volatile emotions. Over 90% of the parents said that their children developed to become moody, argumentive, and flippant. Such kind of behaviors is exhibited from time to time based on the environmental setting of the teenager. Mentally, they tend to develop healthy emotions that they have never experienced before. Hence, such kind of changes happens to most teenagers, therefore affecting their general behavior and also their social interactions.
The articles discussed above show the developmental aspect of various forms of psychological instances. Over time human beings change, and the way they think, feel, and behave tends to differ from the beginning. There are several ways in which this change can be achieved. Physical development, cognitive development, and social-emotional development are the developmental perspective (Amir & McAuliffe 2020). In this perspective, nature and nurture processes are human development examined. Most interactions involve the individual’s behavior and environmental factors such as the social setting and the built environment. Therefore, it is essential to understand how humans learn, adapt, and mature.
References.
Caputo, A., & Tomai, M. (2020). A systematic review of psychodynamic theories in community psychology: Discovering the unconscious in community work. Journal of Community Psychology, 48(6), 2069-2085.
Suls, J., Green, P. A., & Boyd, C. M. (2019). Multimorbidity: Implications and directions for health psychology and behavioral medicine. Health Psychology, 38(9), 772.
Suzuki, Y., Nakata, T., & Dekeyser, R. (2019). Optimizing second language practice in the classroom: Perspectives from cognitive psychology. The Modern Language Journal, 103(3), 551-561.
Scarr, S. (2019). Toward more biological psychology. In Science And The Question Of Human Equality (pp. 71-87). Routledge.
Shiraev, E. B., & Levy, D. A. (2020). Cross-cultural psychology: Critical thinking and contemporary applications. Routledge.
Schaller, M. (2020). Evolutionary psychology meets socio-ecological psychology: the motivational psychologies of disease-avoidance and parental care. Current opinion in psychology, 32, 6-11.
Joseph, S. (2019). Post-traumatic growth as a process and an outcome: Vexing problems and paradoxes seen from humanistic psychology. The Humanistic Psychologist.
Amir, D., & McAuliffe, K. (2020). Cross-cultural, developmental psychology: Integrating approaches and critical insights. Evolution and Human Behavior, 41(5), 430-444.