first sem I chapter assignment

Contemporary Psychology

There are various different approaches in contemporary psychology. An approach is a perception or view that involves certain assumption or belief about people: the way they function, act, behave, which aspect of them is worthy of study and what research methods should be appropriate for undertaking the study. It is simply not possible to study the human behavior through one approach. The contemporary psychologists try to understand the complexity of the human behavior through various ways. The following are some of the approaches with which the contemporary psychologists study the human behavior:

1. Behaviorism approach
2. Psychodynamic approach
3. Cognitive approach
4. Biological approach
5. Humanistic and Positive approach
6. Evolutionary approach
7. Socio and Cultural approach

Psychologists would agree that no one approach is correct, though in the past the Behaviorists would have said that their approach was the only scientifically true. The fact that there different approaches represent the complexity and richness of human and animal behavior. A scientific approach, such as behaviorism and cognitive approach tends to ignore the subjective experiences that people have. The humanistic approach does recognize human experience, but then it tends to leave out the scientific aspects. The psychodynamic approach concentrates too much on the unconscious and childhood experiences. As it tends to lose the sight of socialization and ones free will. The biological approach reduces human being to merely a set of mechanism and physical structure. However it fails to explain the impact of environment and consciousness in human and animal behavior.

Behaviorism

Behaviorism is different from most other approaches because the behaviorists view people and animals as controlled by their environment. There are two main factors where by people learn from the environment: Classical conditioning and Operant conditioning. Classical conditioning involves learning from association and operant conditioning involves learning from the consequences of the behavior. In addition to that, the THOUGHT PROSESSES also plays vital role in determining behavior.
Classical conditioning was studied by Ivan Pavlov. Through natural reflexes and natural stimuli he managed to condition a dog to salivate to the sound of a bell through repeated associated of the sound of the bell and food.
Skinner investigated the operant conditioning of voluntary and involuntary behavior. He felt that some behavior can be explained by the person’s motive. Therefore behavior occurs for a reason, and the three main techniques of behavior shaping are: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement and punishment.


Psychodynamic approach

Sigmund Freud was the one who developed psychodynamic approach. According to him, our behavior is determined by our unconscious mind and childhood experiences. Freud the father of Psychoanalysis explained the human mind as an iceberg with only a small part of it visible that is our observable behavior. But it is the unconscious, submerged mind that has most influence in our behavior. However, it has been criticized because of the over emphasis given to aggressive sexuality. Today the modern psychodynamics gives importance to cultural experiences. The cultural background also plays equally important role to form behavior.

Cognitive approach

Cognitive approach that focuses on how people think, understand and know about the world. On learning how people comprehend and represent the outside the world within themselves and how our ways of thinking about the worlds influence our behaviour. Cognitive psychologists often compare human thinking to the working of a computer, considering how information is processed, transformed, stored and retrieved. Indeed, many would argue that attempting to understand behavior without attention to cognitive processes is akin trying to solve a complex jigsaw puzzle from which any of the most important pieces have been removed. “Cognition refers to the mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge.” Psychology was institutionalized as a science in 1879 by Wilhelm Wundt who set up the first psychological laboratory. From then on William Wundt along with other psychologists explored areas such as mind, thinking, perception and all other higher mental faculty.


Biological approach

Charles Darwin (1859) demonstrated the idea that the genetic and evolution play a major role in human behavior. Biological factors such as chromosomes, hormones, brain and nerves systems all have a significant role in human behavior, for example gender. The approach believes that most behavior are inherited and adapted evolutionarily. What happens inside your body when you think, listen to music, grow hungry, or become angry? And what takes place when you dream, experience anxiety, become sexually aroused, or simply read a text such as this one? Obviously, something must be occurring in all these cases; we are living beings, and every experience we have must be accompanied, at some level, by biological events. Activity in our brains and other parts of the nervous system, hormones released by our glands and the bodily changes these induce- such processes are intimately linked to everything we do think, feel, or say. Psychologists have ling recognized this fact and generally agree that understanding these biological roots is an essential component of the field.

Evolutionary approach

Evolutionary psychology examines behavioral processes in terms of their adaptive value for members of a species over the course of many generations. The most recent major development in psychology has been the emergence of evolutionary psychology, a new theoretical perspective that is likely to be influential in the years to come. Does behavior stem primarily from inherited tendencies and related biological factors, or primarily from experience and learning? This question often described as the nature- nurture controversy – has long been of interest to psychologists, early behaviorists, of course adopted a strict ‘nurture’ position. They argued that behavior is entirely shaped by experience and the effects of learning. Modern psychologists generally reject such extreme views and adopt a much more balanced position with respect to the nature – nurture controversy.

Humanistic and Positive approach

Humanistic psychology is a psychological perceptive that emphasizes the study of the WHOLE PERSON. Humanistic psychologists look at the human behavior not only through the eyes of the observer, but through the eyes of the person doing the behavior. They believe that the individual’s behavior is interconnected with his inner feelings and self image. Humanistic approach came into being in 20th century. The positive approach is to give emphasis to the positive qualities of one’s life. It is because every individual has the capacity to be a good person. According to this approach every one has the capacity to choose his/her destiny. Every one has also has the ability to control the environment. Further, psychologists who adhere to the humanistic perspective emphasize the importance of tendencies toward personal growth – tendencies in each of us to try to become the best person we can be. Only when external obstacles interfere is the growth process interrupted; in such cases, humanistic psychologists contend, we may experience various psychological disordered stemming from disruption of our normal growth.


Socio-cultural approach

An American real estate agent is asked to find a suitable home for a high –ranking executive of a Japanese company that has just opened a large plant in the United States. Confidently, she takes the executive and his wife to see a house in the fanciest subdivision in town. As they enter the subdivision, the executive becomes nervous; and as they approach the house, both he and his wife become visibly upset. In fact, they tell the agent that they do not wish to see he house but would prefer to see another one located on the opposite side of town. The real estate agent is puzzled, because this house seems to be precisely what the executive and his wife are seeking. Why do they refuse to consider it? Later she finds out, the executive’s boss lives in this subdivision, just down the block. From the Japanese perspective, buying a house in the same location would be viewed as inappropriate; in fact, it could be interpreted as an insult by the higher – ranking executive!

This incident provides one illustration of the fact that culture is a very important determinant of human behavior. In many cases, individuals’ perceptions, feelings and actions are strongly influenced by the social and cultural systems in which they live. In order to fully understand many aspects of behavior, therefore, one must take such factors into account. Psychologists have become increasingly aware of this fact in recent years and, as a result, have adopted an increasingly multicultural perspective on all of the topics that they study. The social and cultural environment has a deep impact on person’s behavior. For example dating is not common in the Indian culture.

Therefore, in conclusion, there are so many different approaches to psychology to explain the different types of behavior and give different angles. No one approach has the explanatory power over the rest. Only with all the different types of psychology which sometime contradict one another, overlap with each other or build upon one another, can we understand and create effective solutions when problems arise so we have a healthy body and healthy mind.




Reference: Psychology-Third edition
Robert A. Baron&
Michael J. Kalsher