Psychological Perspectives

Psychological Perspectives

One of the commonly used perspectives in psychology is the behavioral perspective, which focuses on learned behaviors. Its pioneers include Ivan Pavlov, John B Watson, B.F Skinner, and Edward Thorndike (Cherry, 2019). Unlike other perspectives, behaviorism focuses on overt and observable behaviors learned from one’s environment as opposed to internal states or underlying conflicts. This perspective is concerned with the manner in which behavior can be learned and reinforced. The behavioral perspective can be used to explain and understand how certain things like money or recognition can motivate employees to perform more productively in the workplace.

The second psychological perspective is the humanistic perspective, which is a holistic perspective attributing human actions and characteristics to free will and the inherent drive for self-actualization. This perspective focuses on maximum human achievement and potential as opposed to symptoms and psychological disorders. The theory emphasizes the inherent goodness of humans and pays particular attention to personal creativity, experiences, and empathy (Bland & DeRobertis, 2020). Psychologists who make use of this perspective concentrate on the things that drive humans to develop, change, and grow their potential. An everyday example of the humanistic approach is striving to find meaning in one’s life through soul-searching, finding what is missing, and pursuing it in order to attain self-actualization. This could be done through finding a new hobby or even career and relationships. I believe that the humanistic perspective has the most relevance in today’s society due to the increased emphasis on leading a quality and happy life. Individuals are able to attain heightened self-awareness and understanding, and given their free will, individuals can attain their best possible self. With emphasis on freedom of self in the current society, this approach seems most relevant today.

The last perspective is the psychodynamic perspective, which originated from Sigmund Freud’s work. This perspective emphasizes the role of the unconscious mind, interpersonal relations, and childhood experiences to help explain human behavior and also help treat mental illnesses (Bornstein, Maracic & Natoli, 2018). An example of how this perspective applies in everyday life is one’s fear of sexual relations in adulthood due to traumas experienced in childhood, such as sexual abuse.

References

Bland, A. M., & DeRobertis, E. M. (2020). Humanistic perspective. Encyclopedia of personality and individual differences, 2061-2079. Retrieved 6 December 2021, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315602202_Humanistic_Perspective

Bornstein, R. F., Maracic, C. E., & Natoli, A. P. (2018). The psychodynamic perspective. Sage Publications. Retrieved 6 December 2021, from https://nobaproject.com/modules/the-psychodynamic-perspective

Cherry, K. (2019). The 7 Major Perspectives in Psychology. Verywell Mind. Retrieved 6 December 2021, from https://www.verywellmind.com/perspectives-in-modern-psychology-2795595

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Thus far, you have been asked to provide a link for any source used in your discussion posts as a way of attributing credit to the source. In the future, you will need to attribute credit to your sources by including in-text citations and references in accordance with APA style. This assignment will be good practice for building this valuable skill!

Instructions:

 For this assignment, you will:

• Choose two (2) of your previous discussion board posts that were submitted earlier in the course.
• Replace the links with appropriate APA style in-text citations. Use the correct format and placement.
• Include the appropriate reference citation at the end.