Love: A Chemical Equation Essay, Research Paper

The five major theoretical perspectives in psychology are biological, learning,

cognitive, psychodynamic, and sociocultural perspectives. Each one of

these perspectives searches for answers about behavior through different

techniques and through looking for answers to different kinds of questions.

Due to the different approaches, each perspective form their own

assumptions and explanations. Some perspectives are widely accepted

while others struggle for acceptance. Biological perspective “The premise

behind the biological perspective in psychology is that all actions, feelings,

and thoughts are associated with bodily events.” Biological psychologists

examine how all of the electrical impulses, hormones, and chemicals

flowing through the body can effect behavior and how changes to these

bodily functions can change behavior. They are concerned with how the

aspects of biology effect peoples’ emotions, learning abilities, and their

perception of events. One of the major theories of biological psychology is

that “We cannot know ourselves if we do not know our bodies.” Through

application of this theory, biological psychologists strive to understand the

relationship between the mind and body and they influence sickness or

health. It is believed that poor health can lead to negative attitudes while

poor attitudes can lead to poor health. Biological psychologists research

and study the correlation of this theory in an attempt to help solve some

mental and emotional problems. Learning Perspective The writings and

findings of Ivan Pavlov, John B. Watson, and B.F. Skinner have done much

for the advancement of modern psychology. Many of the important findings

in psychology from their theory of behaviorism, later evolving into the

social-learning theory or cognitive social-learning theory. Proponents of the

learning perspective think that mentalism should be abandoned for

behaviorism. Psychologists should concentrate on observation and direct

measurement rather focusing on introspection. Behaviorists believed that

actions were responses to stimuli that were learned. The basic concept was

that positive responses would be triggered by good stimuli while negative

responses would could from bad stimuli. Actions that would produce positive

results tended to repeated, while those that led to negative results tended to

be avoided. This concept led to a broadening of psychology. Many groups

that were often overlooked by psychologists were being discovered and

observed. Behavior became the dominant school of psychology in the U.S.

until the 1960’s. Adversaries to this approach were repulsed by the concept

that humans did not think or feel, but only thought that they did.

Nonbehaviorists and behaviorists parted company. Behaviorists believed that

feelings could not explain behavior. Out of behaviorism came the social

learning theory, which taught that in addition to behavior, imitation and

observation led to learning. Cognitive Perspective The cognitive perspective

of psychology focuses on the thought process. Psychologists from this

school argue that it is necessary to know what is going on in the mind to

fully understand why a person will do the things that they do. By observing

behavior, psychologists try to interpret what thought process led to the

action. Critics who disapprove of this theory do so on the basis that in

addition to perceptions, external forces must also be taken into

consideration. The objective of cognitive psychology is to understand how

perceptions and interpretations relate to behavior. Why is that one person

will turn to violence when insulted while another person will make excuses

for that person rather than acting violently. Through the use of computers,

research data can be further analyzed to discover the thought process used

in behavior and in some instances, programs can even be written to help

understand how humans will react in certain situations. Psychodynamic

Perspective Many critics of the psychodynamic perspective do not think that

this school of psychology has any bearing on academic psychology.

Primarily based upon the fact that many of the psychoanalysis assumptions

could not be verified, research psychologist was more related to philosophy

rather than clinical science. Though not as scientific as the other

perspectives, the psychodynamic perspective is none the less still

associated with psychology. When Sigmund Freud released his book The

Interpretation of Dreams, it was met with very little success; but it eventually

provided the foundation for psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis contends that

urges and thoughts live in the unconscious and manifest themselves in

events during normal everyday life. The goal of psychoanalysis is to dig into

the unconscious to find the source of the disturbances. Concerned more

with therapy than scientific observation and research, psychodynamic

psychologists probe the mind to find events, usually from childhood, that

manifest feelings of fear, violence, love, etc. Aggressive feelings, or even

sexual feelings, are located in this unconsciousness; and regardless of what

a person does, they will come out during normal activities. By finding the

root of these feelings, it can be understood why a person may act the way

that they do. Also by discovering these events, it may be possible to help

people channel the energy in a positive way or solve the problem.

Sociocultural Perspective Unlike the other perspectives, the sociocultural

perspective concentrates on an individual’s or individuals’ culture or society

rather than the individual. To understand why people tend to show certain

behavior traits, psychologists look at what effects the person’s community

might have on their thought process. Some of the questions pondered are if

a person behaves a certain way to be accepted or commits an act because

it is accepted amongst their society. They mainly study how other people

affect a person. Some studies look at how male and female roles relate to

their respective emotion or how job status relates to their ambitions. In this

perspective violence does not reside in instincts or brain waves, but instead,

in cultural rules and political arrangements. These five perspectives are

similar in that all try to determine what cause certain behavior traits, though

they all approach their explanations differently. The biological and cognitive

perspectives both look at the physiological aspects of behavior. The learning

and sociocultural perspectives look at how society affects a person’s

behavior. With the exception of the psychodynamic perspective, the other

disciplines focus on a scientific approach, many of their theories being able

to be tested for accuracy. Each of these perspectives has their strong

supporters as well as their strong critics. Regardless of opinion, these are

the main perspectives and more than likely a psychologist has roots in one

of these psychological perspectives.