Psychology is the study of human or animal behavior and mental processes using the scientific method. Years and years of studies conducted by various scientists such as: Willhelm Wundt and his student Titchener, who introduced Structuralism; William James, who introduced Functionalism; and Sigmund Freud, who introduced the Psychoanalytic Theory, developed together what we now call psychology.
Also developed over time are the eight different perspectives of psychology. The biological/physiological perspective focuses on strictly physical causes of behavior by studying how genetics, biochemicals, and the nervous system relate to behavior/mental processes. Focusing on how behaviors increase or decrease chances of survival is the evolutionary perspective. The evolutionary perspective also sees behavior as biological, but includes the idea of natural selection. The cognitive perspective explains how our thoughts and interpretations based on memory, expectations, beliefs, and problem solving influence our behavior. By studying mental processes, the psychodynamic perspective, which branches from Freud’s theory, explains how our unconscious thoughts, motives, and desires affect our behavior. The behavioral perspective focuses on how environments and stimuli affect behavior, leading us to the idea that behavior is learned based on what we are around. The sociocultural perspective also focuses on how the environment influences behavior, but with a wider view. It says that things such as society, culture, social status, family structure, and gender all influence our behavior and actions. Unlike the majority of these perspectives, the humanistic view says that our behavior comes from within, and that the way people see themselves influences their actions.
Since psychology deals with all of these perspectives at some point, most psychologists take the eclectic approach with their work, allowing them to combine perspectives for a clearer explanation. I believe that the biological and evolutionary perspectives somewhat balance each other because they both have the same starting idea: that behavior is biological. I also believe that the cognitive and psychodynamic perspectives balance each other because both focus on the internal causes of behavior. Next, the behavioral and sociocultural perspectives balance each other because both focus on the idea that external things influence behavior. Lastly, I see myself drawn to all of the perspectives as a whole, because I can see how they all tie in with each other, and not studying any certain one would leave a hole in the explanation.
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I like how you looked at various perspectives and then how different ones balanced each other. You make an excellent point that all perspectives are important and "not studying any certain one would leaves a hole in the explanation." Also, using one theory too much can also bias our perspective of behavior and the mental processes.
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Psychology is the study of human behavior and mental processing. One perspective of viewing psychology is the evolutionary perspective. The Evolutionary perspective comes from how natural selection relates to human behavior. The biological perspective focuses more on the physical aspects to human behavior. Pyschodynamic is the perspective that derives from the internal conflicts, often originating in the childhood. The perspective that uses memory to view human behavior is the cognitive perspective. The behavioral perspective uses highs and lows of human behavior to learn about human behavior. The last perspective is the humanistic persepctive which focuses on the choices made by the people. The perspective that i am most drawn too mos is the behavioral because i feel like i have grown the most from my mistakes and my accomplishments. In my opinion all of the perspectives are related in some way. Each perspective can go with any of the other ones.
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You have the correct definition of psychology. However, memory is just one of many of the mental processes studied by the cognitive perspective. How does the behavioral perspective explain your "growth" from your mistakes and accomplishments? Each perspective can go with any of the others but how do you see that they work together? Also it is important in an academic environment forum to use proper capitalization and punctuation.