Describe different perspectives in psychology - Essay Example

PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES By The of the As one of huge scientific realms psychology is considered to be a very precise science with multiple perspectives that studies certain laws and regularities of human behaviour. The criteria of scientific approach of psychology can be estimated by the applicable results acquired by this or that psychological theories. The most important feature of psychology as, first of all, a practical science is its effectiveness in experimental way. If a theory is applicable to human beings and displays the working patterns of human behaviour this means that its methods are objective and evaluate true cause and effect chain of human behaviour.

Also, if a theory can be experimented on people and it gets truthful results, its replicability is proven scientifically (Hockenbury & Hockenbury 2010). Thus, most of relevant psychological theories are proven by real experimental experience and practical results. Different views on psychological results and truth generated multiple perspectives of psychology which consider the science from opposite points of view. Each of the psychological perspectives considers different approaches to exploration of human behaviour and has specific criteria of estimation of applicable results.

Behaviorists claim that human behaviour is determined by outside factors of environment that form special adaptation of behavioural patterns and create conditioned reflective response (Gambrill 1977). Psychodynamic perspective considers deep unconscious stimuli that make people react on outside events differently in accordance with the experience that is being kept on unconscious levels of human mind (Freud 1921). Biological perspective asserts that genetics controls human behaviour and determine both physical and mental qualities of human beings.

Cognitive psychology studies human cognitive functions and argues that human personality is formed as a result of human cognitive activity which collects empirical experience and creates specific human personalities (Mandler 2007). None of the perspectives is more or less truthful; as all of them show efficient practical results and discussions around their effectiveness are still relevant.Concerning the aspect of estimation of human behavioural patterns, nowadays the most popular perspectives of psychology are psychodynamic, cognitive, and behavioural ones.

Psychoanalyses deals with deep unconscious stimuli which work on such levels of human mind, that can’t be controlled by a person oneself (Petocz 1999). However, psychoanalysis as therapy fits the criteria of scientific effectiveness and can be quite helpful. Psychoanalysis is helpful because its approach defines some universal features of human mind and actually proves the existence of unconsciousness itself (Fancher 1998). Behaviorists’ approach denies existence of unconscious stimuli; still its methods are often efficient in changing of certain harmful behavioural patterns.

The convenience of the approach is that it works on less deep levels of human mind system and is really applicable to both slight and middle level problems (Barrowclough et. al. 2010). Human cognitive functions indeed influence the perception of the world by different personalities and it is impossible to deny the fact that, for instance, human memory forms the way the personality develops and perceives incoming events. The main problem of psychological perspectives is that all of them usually work separately which makes therapists skip some crucial aspects of human behaviour when cooperation of the perspectives would have brought much more complex results.

ReferencesBarrowclough, C., Haddock, G., Wykes, T., Beardmore, R., Conrod, P., Craig, T., Davies, L., Dunn, G., Eisner, E., Lewis, S., Moring, I., Steel, C., and Tarrier, N., 2010, ‘Integrated motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioural therapy for people with psychosis and comorbid substance misuse: randomised controlled trial’, British Medical Journal 341(7784) 1204. Fancher, R., 1998, Introduction to "The Origin and Development of Psychoanalysis.", dspace. Mit.edu, viewed 23 December 2014, from http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.

1/65347/sts-003-spring-2008/contents/readings/freud.pdfFreud, S., 1921, Group Psychology and The Analysis of The Ego, Gutenberg.org, viewed 23 December 2014, from http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35877/35877-h/35877-h.htmMandler, G., 2007, A history of modern experimental psychology: From James and Wundt to cognitive science, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.  Hockenbury & Hockenbury, 2010. Psychology. Worth Publishers, New York. Gambrill, E., 1977, ‘Book Review: Psychoanalysis and Behavior Therapy: Toward an Integration by Paul L.

Wachtel’, Social Work, 22(4) 327-328.Petocz, A., 1999, Freud, Psychoanalysis, and Symbolism, Cambridge University Press.