Psychology Perspectives Flashcards
What is Strucuralism?
The task of psychology was to analyse consciousness into its basic elements and investigate how these elements were related.
What is Functionalism?
Psychology should investigate the function of consciousness, rather than its structure
Consciousness exists because it serves a function – the role of psychology is to understand the function
Explain not just describe the mind’s content
Used objective methods, comparative psychology
What is the Psychodynamic perspective?
The ‘unconscious’ contains thoughts, memories, and desires that are well below the surface of conscious awareness but exert significant influence over behaviour.
Metaphor - Consciousness is like the tip of the iceberg
What is the Behaviourist perspective?
Objects or events in the environment (stimuli) come to control behaviour through learning.
Human behaviour can be understood entirely without reference to internal states such as thoughts and feelings.
Metaphor - Humans and animals are like machines
What is the Humanistic perspective?
Focus on the uniqueness of the individual
We are not powerless victims of external forces we
have an innate drive to improve ourselves
People are motivated to reach their full potential (self-actualisation)
People are innately good and will strive to realise their goals and ambitions (Maslow)
Metaphor - Life is like a bottle of milk – the cream always rises to the top
What is the Cognitive perspective?
Behaviour is the product of information processing
Focus on the way people perceive, process, and retrieve information
Metaphor - The mind is like a computer
What is the Evolutionary perspective
Human behaviours evolved because they helped our ancestors survive and reproduce.
Not just physical traits – our psychology too
Some behaviours are biologically determined
Metaphor - Life is like a race for survival and reproduction
