Preview

Five Approaches to Psychology

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
5666 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Five Approaches to Psychology
QUESTION ONE
Name Five Approaches to Psychology
1. Social Psychology
Social psychology is about understanding individual behaviour in a social context. Baron, Byrne, and Suis (1989) defined social psychology as “the scientific field that seeks to understand the nature and causes of individual behaviour in social situations”. It therefore looks at human behaviour as influenced by other people and the social context in which it occurs.
2. Comparative Psychology
This is a science which studies animal behaviour, although human behaviour is studied. There are several issues involved in the psychological study of animals; some of them resolvable by evidence and others more question whether to try to list the peculiarities of individual species. Cutting across this distinction is the question of whether to be satisfied with the outcomes or whether to look more deeply for explanations of known or as yet-known facts. In the twentieth century, several branches of comparative psychology have been influenced by the Darwin Theory of Evolution.
3. Developmental Psychology
Developmental psychology is interested is discovery of the process of development from birth to old age. It is also known as child development. Children were often viewed as little adults and not much attention was paid to the many advances in cognitive abilities, language usage and physical growth that occur during childhood and adolescence. Interest in the field finally began to emerge early in the twentieth century, but it tended to focus on abnormal behaviour. Eventually, researches became interested in other topics including typical development as well as the influences on development. An understanding of child development is essential allowing us to fully appreciate the cognitive, emotional, physical, social and educational growth that children go through from birth to early adulthood.
4. Physiological Psychology
This focuses on the relationship between our biological make-up and our

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Developmental Psychology

    • 588 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Also known as human development, is the scientific study of systematic psychological changes that occur in human beings over the course of their life span. Originally concerned with infants and children the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult development, and the entire life span. This field examines change across a broad range of topics including motor skills and other psycho-physiological processes; cognitive development involving areas such as problem solving , moral understanding and conceptual understanding; language acquisition social, personality, and emotional development; and self-concept and identity formation. The study of age-related changes in behavior from birth to death. Developmental psychologists attempt to determine the causes of such changes.…

    • 588 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Psychology Analysis

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Social Psychology: the branch of psychology that deals with social interactions, including their origins and their effects on the individual.…

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Developmental psychology studies the effect of “nature and nurture” on the process of human development, processes of change in context and across time from Infant to Adult stage. “Development” defines the progress of humans during the term of life, from the day of birth until death. The scientific study of human development search for understands and explains how and why people change through their life. This includes all aspects of human growth, as well as physical, emotional, intellectual, social, perceptual, and personality change. Development psychology not only just involves the biological and physical aspects of progress, but also the thought and social aspects associated with development during life. Developmental psychology contains…

    • 133 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to psychologist Gordon Allport, social psychology is a discipline that uses scientific methods "to understand and explain how the thought, feeling and behavior of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of other human beings" (1985). Social psychology looks at a wide range of social topics, including group behavior, social perception, leadership, nonverbal behavior, conformity, aggression, and prejudice. It is important to note that social psychology is not just about looking at social influences. Social perception and social interaction are also vital to understanding social behavior.…

    • 783 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Social psychology- a branch of psychology that studies society and people’s interactions with each other.…

    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Freud posited that the mind consisted of three areas the conscious, the unconscious and the preconscious…

    • 1290 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    1. Lifespan Developmental Psychology - Branch of psychology concerned with the systematic physical, cognitive, and psychosocial processes that lead to these changes that occur throughout life…

    • 1618 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Theoretical Perspectives

    • 2040 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Developmental psychology is the study of human development and the changes that take place from conception on. Through the study of human development, scientists are able to uncover patterns of development in which they make hypothesis and theories from. In their observations, developmental scientists have offered many theories that explain the growth of a child’s body, mind and personality. There are five major psychological theories which are the psychoanalytic, learning, cognitive, contextual and evolutionary / sociobiological perspectives. These perspectives guide scientist down a path of study and questioning that best suits their beliefs about the development of children.…

    • 2040 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Psychology is a discipline that involves monitoring mental processes and behaviour scientifically. Psychologists try to delve into the basic functions of a person and animals cerebral activity. This usually involves studying relationships, emotions, personality and many more areas of a person or animals day to day life. Psychology tends to steer towards finding reasons for a person or animals actions in an attempt to resolve them.…

    • 1534 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    For ease of review in discussing the developmental theorists and their theories of human development I have subdivided each theorist into their respective schools of psychology. These schools include the psychoanalytic school, behavioral school, humanistic school, cognitive school, and the individual schools of psychology. Each developmental theorist holds their own unique ideas and theories about various components of human development. I will be discussing the contributions of each of these theorists.…

    • 5063 Words
    • 21 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Biological Psychology is the study of physiological, genetic, and developmental mechanisms of behaviour in humans and non-human animals.…

    • 407 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Social psychology deals with how people make sense of the social aspects of the world they live in and how they make sense of themselves and others. This sense of being and belonging is not only about themselves and others but also how and why social interactions take place and how these interactions influence individual’s thoughts, feelings and behaviours.…

    • 2293 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another. Social psychology includes a…

    • 1123 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    *Many psychologists may believe that each perspective has valid explanations depending on the specific situation, and this point of view is called eclectic. This term refers to the claim that no one perspective has all the answers to the variety of human thought and behavior. Psychologists tend to use various perspectives in their work depending on which point of view fits best with the explanation.…

    • 668 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are numerous theories relating to the psychological development that have been provided by psychologists, but within this course we have dealt with three. These psychologists are Erik Erikson, Jean Piaget and Sigmund Freud. Suggestions and ideas are given by these psychologists’ theories about the intellectual developments, the milestones and the developmental stages that a child has throughout their years of development.…

    • 2062 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics