Compare and Contrast three approaches to psychology
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This report compares and contrasts the Biological, Cognitive and Humanistic approaches to psychology and suggests the best approach for studying the mental and behavioral state of a person.
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Running head: Psychology Psychology Compare and Contrast three approaches to psychology
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Psychology Introduction There are several contemporary approaches of psychology and some of them are really in fact relates to the brain and behaviors of human beings very closely. These contemporary approaches are Biological, Humanistic, Cognitive, Behavioral, Psychodynamic, Evolutionary and Sociocultural approaches. The three approaches which this report compares and contrast are Behavioral, Cognitive and Humanistic approach. This report also describes that one approach which is very suitable according to the mental and behavioral perspectives both. Comparison between three approaches Biological Approach: This approach studies the genes and hereditary factors which develops a difference in the behaviors of a person(Kreibig, 2010). It is linked with the genes which come in a person from his or her parent and how it affects the behavior of that person. It was founded by Charles Darwin in the year 1859. It focuses on the DNA of a person and figuring out how it affects the behavior. Biological factors such as chromosomes and the hormones are studied in this psychology by the psychologists. It works on the evolutionary function of the body. Cognitive Approach: This approach is related to learning. A person learns a lot when he is growing up by the study of the mechanisms, and processing of the information. It is linked with the sensory memory and the perception of the person. Was founded by Wilhelm Wundt in the year 1879. It focuses on the psychological process which goes on in the person’s mind or brain. It is about identifying as to what exactly goes on in the person’s mind. It works on the functions like memory, perception and attention(Wundt, 1921). Humanistic Approach: In this approach, the psychologists emphasizes on the subjective and consciousness of the person(Hayes, 2012). It is linked with the internalself image and the inner feelings of the person. Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow founded this theory. It focuses on the happiness of oneself and personal experiences. It is all about the individual empowerment. It drives the person to be the best in any field and helps in self motivation. All these three approaches are quite similar in a way that they all are related to the psychologybut they are very different in terms of the functions and the research and their nature of work with respect to the human beings.While humanistic approach works on building the self 2
Psychology image of a person and biological approach comes in a person with his or her genes and heredity, the cognitive approach deals with the brain and this can help a person change his opinion as well as develop or grow further in life. This is what makes these approaches different from each other. Out of the three approaches, I feel the best psychological approach is cognitive psychology. The major idea behind the cognitive approach is that it claims that the mind of the human is the processor of the information which is same to the computer. The information is chosen, coded and stored and then recalled whenever it is required(Posner, Bourke, & Neisser, 1993). This psychology believes that the events which are occurring in the person’s behavior should always be studied. The events which occur actually act as the mediators in between the response and the behavior. Hence, that is why the major areas of the focus of the cognitive psychology are memory, perception and the language. Piaget, a psychologist, saw the development of the cognitive psychology in four stages. The first stage is the sensor meter stage which is of the age 0-2 years when the baby reflex to the events and on the basis of which the further development is analyzed. These are known as the schemas(King, 2012).Then secondly, the age comes which is 2-7 years. This is known as the pre operational stage. This stage consists of the capability to perceive the dissimilarities in the appearances and the size too. Third comes the age of 7-11 years when the feelings of the child is much more grown and has become less egocentric. This is known as the decentration which is empathetic approach. That is why this psychology is known as the modern child’s psychology(Unsworth, Brewer, & Spillers, 2011). This is the best psychology as it studies the mind of the child from the very beginning. It helps in studying a child’s mind from the very starting as defined by the stage and this might help in the upbringing of the child too. It truly processes the mental and the behavioral both aspects of a person and also from the very birth time of the child. Hence, Cognitive psychology is in my opinion is the best out of the three. Conclusion This report focuses on the contemporary approaches of the psychology out of which three: Biological, cognitive and humanistic psychologies are compared and contrasted. All the 3
Psychology three approaches are different from each other but the best approach in studying the mental and the behavioral state of the person is cognitive in my opinion. 4
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Psychology References Unsworth, N., Brewer, G. A., & Spillers, G. J. (2011). Variation in working memory capacity and forgetting over both the short and the long term: An application of the Population Dilution model.Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 23(2), 243-255. Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/20445911.2011.493153 Posner, M., Bourke, P. A., & Neisser, U. (1993). Cognitive Psychology.The American Journal of Psychology, 105(4), 621. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280293553_Cognitive_Psychology Kreibig, S. D. (2010). Autonomic nervous system activity in emotion: A review.Biological Psychology, 84, 394-421. Hayes, S. C. (2012). Humanistic Psychology and Contextual Behavioral Perspectives.American Psychological Adminitration, 49(4), 455– 460. Bergen, D. (2015). Psychological Approaches to the Study of Play.American Journal of Play, 51-69. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1080018.pdf King, L. (2012).Experience Psychology.McGraw-Hill Higher Education. 5