Perspectives on contemporary issues and viewpoints

Psychological Perspectives

Three of the most predominant psychological perspectives include behaviorism, psychodynamics, and humanism; each has their strengths and weaknesses. The strong points of behaviorism include its strict attention paid to observable behavior, which eliminates any speculation and relies heavily on the scientific method. Emphasis is on how an organism learns through stimuli and response, and no inferences are made regarding thought processes, the unobservable unconscious mind, or emotional states. Strengths of the psychoanalytic or psychodynamic perspectives include an admission of the power of the unconscious and subconscious realms of the mind over human behavior. While behavior is not the central focus of the psychodynamic perspective, it is considered a product on the individual's unconscious and conscious thought processes. The humanistic perspective, known also as the "third force" of psychology, encourages a more open-ended investigation of the human experience, one that neither reduces persons to a set of behaviors nor one that focuses exclusively on instincts and subconscious desires.

The behaviorist perspective can shed light on the overt aspects of the human experience: the ways we react to stimuli in predictable, almost animalistic fashion. For example, behaviorism can explain the "fight and flight" response. Psychodynamics can shed light on some of the least understood aspects of the human experience: our dreams. Moreover, psychodynamics can help individuals understand behavior that is not motivated by stimuli but rather by instinctual desires. Finally, the humanistic perspective addresses the emotional and spiritual aspects of human existence and can shed light on the quest for individual expression, creativity, and spiritual awareness.

Each of these schools of thought can apply to certain populations better than others. For example, the humanistic perspective would be weak when trying to study infants or very young children but would be more useful to study adults. Similarly, psychodynamics applies more readily to adults than to young children. Behaviorism can apply to all populations in theory, but regarding stimuli-response, behaviorism can be best applied to understanding infant behaviors.