Why do you feel, think and act the way you do? Here are five frameworks that psychologists use to answer these questions
Key Takeaways
- Psychology is the scientific study of thought and behavior, but did you know that psychology actually has five different perspectives?
- The earliest studies of human psychology date back to 400-500 BC.
- Biological approach, psychodynamic approach, behavioral approach, cognitive approach and Humanistic approach provide valid but contrary perspectives on why humans behave the way we do.
Human beings are fascinating. Have you ever wondered why some people can remember certain dates well and others can't? Or why are you a family person and your best friend is usually the life of the party? What makes us think, feel and behave the way we do?
Psychology - the study of thought and behavior - dates back to 400-500 BC, and modern psychology is said to have begun in 1879, when Wilhelm Wundt set up the first psychological experiment room.
Wundt's laboratory would become a focal point for those with a keen interest in psychology - opening its doors first to German philosophers and psychology students, and later to American and British students as well. Wundt's goal was to record thoughts and feelings and analyze them into their constituent elements, much like a chemist analyzing chemical compounds, to understand their underlying structure.
Thanks to Wundt and other pioneers, the study of psychology has made great progress. Over the years, psychologists have begun studying various aspects of human behavior, from personality traits to brain function. Eventually, these studies began to look at the same human behavior from various perspectives, including biological, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, and humanistic perspectives. These are known as the "five major ideas" in psychology.
Biological Approach
The biological approach to psychology focuses on examining our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors from a strictly biological perspective. In this approach, all thoughts, feelings, and behaviors have a biological cause.
This method is relevant to psychological research in three ways:
- Comparative method: Different kinds of animals can be studied and then compared with each other. This helps us better understand human behavior.
- Physiology : The study of how the nervous system and hormones work, how the brain functions, and how changes in structure and/or function affect our behavior. For example, how prescription drugs to treat depression affect our behavior through interactions with the nervous system.
- Genetic Investigation: The study of what we inherit from our parents (through genetics). For example, whether high IQ is passed from one generation to the next.
Each of these is intrinsically important to how we study human psychology from a biological perspective, and suggests that behavior can be largely explained biologically.
Psychodynamic Approach
The psychodynamic approach to psychology is best known for its association with Sigmund Freud and his followers. This approach includes all theories in psychology that consider human functioning to be based on the interaction of drives and forces within the human body, especially the interaction between the unconscious and different personality structures.
Freud developed a series of theories (most of them based on what his patients told him during therapy) that formed the basis of the psychodynamic approach.
The psychodynamic approach is best described by the following basic assumptions:
- Our behavior and feelings are strongly influenced by unconscious motivations.
- How we act and feel as adults is rooted in childhood experiences.
- All actions have a reason, and that reason is usually unconscious.
- Personality consists of three parts (id, ego and superego).
Behavioral Approach
The behavioral approach to psychology focuses on how a person's environment and external stimuli influence a person's mental state and development. More importantly, it focuses on how these factors specifically "train" us for the behaviors we later display.
People who support this approach to psychology over others may think that the concept of "free will" is an illusion because all behavior is learned and based on our past experiences. In other words, we are so conditioned to behave the way we do that nothing is really a choice of our own.
Cognitive approach
The cognitive approach to psychology moves away from conditioned behavior and psychoanalytic concepts to the study of how our minds work, how we process information, and how we use processed information to drive our behavior.
This method focuses on:
- The meditative process that occurs between a stimulus and our response to the stimulus.
- Human beings are information processors, and all learning is based on the relationship we form with various stimuli.
- Internal psychological behavior can be studied scientifically using experiments that show us how we respond to certain stimuli.
In other words, the cognitive approach focuses on how our brains react to the environment around us, and how our cognitive brains have very specific ways of processing certain stimuli, which may explain why we behave in certain ways. Thinking, feeling and behaving.
Humanistic Approach
The humanistic approach to psychology was considered a rebellion against what psychologists saw as the limitations of behaviorist and psychodynamic theories. We should do a unique psychological study of each person because we are all very different.
This approach focuses on:
- We all have the idea of free will.
- People are basically good, and we have an innate need to make ourselves and the world better.
- We are motivated to fulfill ourselves, grow and thrive.
- Our experiences are our motivation.
This approach emphasizes the uniqueness of each person and every situation, suggesting that other research can never be completely accurate because there is such a wide range of thoughts, feelings, and human behaviors that can adapt and change just as we do.
This article was originally published on Big Think in July 2020 and updated in June 2022.
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psychology
