Essay Sample on Three of the Perspectives of Psychology

Psychology is an essential field of study, especially when it comes to the understanding of human and animal behavior in the daily settings of one's life. Therefore, one needs to have a clear understanding of the significant perspectives of psychology that exist and be able to apply each of these perspectives well in their daily lives or rather know where each aspect involves and how. Several views of psychology live, and this scope major in discussing the following three perspectives of psychology; psychodynamic, humanistic, and behaviorism about their founders, their significant contributions to psychology as a field, and how they have continued to be used in 2018-2019. Discussion about these three perspectives of psychology or theories of psychology is provided in the scope below in in-depth detail.

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Beginning with the psychodynamic theory of psychology or perspective, it is an approach that looks into the forces of psychology determining the behavior of human beings, their feelings as well as emotions, and also how these relate to the early childhood history or experience of these individuals. In other words, it can be said to be a perspective or theory that focuses so much on the dynamic relations of conscious and unconscious motivation and proves that the behavior of an individual is a product of the fundamental conflicts which individuals have very little awareness about (James & CNPeReading., n.d.). The founder of this theory and or perspective of psychology was a German scientist known as Ernst von Brucke in the year 1874, and he said that all the living organisms are systems of energy that are governed by the energy conservation principle. In the same year of founding the theory, another student, Sigmund Freud taking medicine course, adopted the idea and stretched out it, creating the original notion of psychodynamics and recommended that psychological procedures are as flows of psychosexual drive or libido in the intricate intellect.

The psychodynamic theory has been of significant contribution to psychology as a larger field, and it has helped scientists in the current world to understand human thought processes, response patterns as well as influence in various situations (James & CNPeReading., n.d.). In 2018-2019, psychodynamics has expanded to become a multidisciplinary field importantly used in anticipating and understanding conscious and unconscious responses range to definite sensory contributions like textures, sounds, colors and images, making usage of the talkative nature of drive and the primal physiological gestures affecting studying individual states of body and mind and lastly in the examination of mind's capacity and senses to impact physiological reaction and biological changes (James & CNPeReading., n.d.).

Turning to behaviorism theory/ perspective, it can be well defined as the method to psychology which developed in the initial twentieth epoch to react to the psychoanalytic theories of time. This psychoanalytic theory had difficulties coming up with predictions to be tried by the use of rigorous experimental methods. This theory holds that the behaviors of individuals and animals can be defined logically without alternative to internal physiological occasions or the hypothetical constructs like beliefs and thoughts. It does not focus on original conflicts but instead on noticeable, obvious behaviors cultured from the surrounding environment (James & CNPeReading., n.d.). It has been applied in treating mental problems in the modification of behavior. It was authored or coined by Ivan Pavlov, John B. Watson, Edward Lee Thorndike, and B.F Skinner. The behaviorism theory/perspective has continued to be used in the field of psychology in 2018-2019 to determine behavior modification in the process of treating medical problems in healthcare facilities. In other words, it is applied in looking at the causes of behavioral change in human beings as a result of the surrounding circumstances.

The last theory or perspective of psychology essential to look at in this scope is the humanistic theory. By definition, the humanistic approach is a perspective of psychology which arose in the middle of the 20th century and drew on the viewpoints of existentialism and phenomenology and also the Eastern philosophy. This psychological theory embraces the holistic method of human existence through examinations of various notions like values, meaning, tragedy, freedom, personal responsibility, spirituality, human potential, and self-actualization (James & CNPeReading., n.d.). It associates human actions and characteristics to the free will and inborn ambition one has for self-actualization and puts its focus on maximum human potential as well as an achievement rather than symptoms and psychoses of the disorder.

It stresses that human beings are fundamentally upright and have exceptional courtesy to creativity and personal experiences. It has been applied in the psychology field to advance positive, educational, and also industrial psychology dealing with various issues of life of individuals (James & CNPeReading., n.d.). It was founded by Abraham Maslow and has been used in 2018-2019 to look at the changes that occur in a person in their lifetime and look at this from the perspective of how the whole person is associated with the changes in them rather than just the separate processes or traits. In other words, it has been used to understand and approach related psychological problems affecting human beings.

References

James, W., & CNPeReading. The Principles of Psychology.