perspectives Flashcards
(8 cards)
systems perspective
“sees human behavior as the outcome of reciprocal interactions of persons operating within organized and integrated social systems”
- people are in continual transaction with their environment
- systems are interrelated parts or subsystems constituting an ordered whole
- each subsystem impacts other parts and whole system
- open or closed boundaries
- tend toward equilibrium
- useful for holistic view of persons in environment
- contextual understanding of behavior
- strengthen one part to impact whole system
- ecomaps and genograms can be used
conflict perspective
“draws attention to conflict, inequality, dominance, and oppression in social life”
- try to advance interests over those of others
- unequal power balance
- social order based on manipulation and control of nondominant groups, aliented from society
- lack of conflict = exploitation; conflict drives social change
exchange and choice perspective
“Human behavior based on self-interst and rational choices on ways to accomplish goals”
-people are rational, goal directed
self-interest, max rewards/min costs
-values, standards, expectations, alternatives influence assessment of rewards and costs
-exchange is essential in social life
-power comes from unequal resources given in an exchange
-ex. exchange theory, rational choice theory
social constructionist perspective
“focuses on how people learn, through their interactions with each other, to classify the world and their place in the world”
- consciousness shaped by social interaction
- social reality created when people develop common understanding of world
- people perform for their audience, but are also free and creative
- language, customs, culture, history impact how people see the world, creation of knowledge
- can modify meaning in process of interaction
- society=social processes
- experience is subjective, humans recreate themselves
- symbolic interactionism-how the self is influenced and shaped by social processes and the capacity to symbolize
psychodynamic perspective
“concerned with how internal processes such as needs, drives, and emotions motivate human behavior”
- emotions are central in behavior (unconscious and conscious mental activity motivating force)
- childhood central in emotional patterning
- use ego defense mechanisms to avoid being overwhelmed
- irrational drives
- battle conscious vs unconscious
- internalized experiences shape personality development
- internalized attitudes toward others and the self influences behavior and emotional states
- early bonds with caregivers have impact later in life
- ex. ego psych, object relations, attachment theory
developmental perspective
“focuses on how human behavior changes and stays the same across the life cycle”
- development occurs in clearly defined age graded stages-each qualitatively different from others, build on earlier stages
- development is the interaction of bio, psycho, social factors
- new task and status/role changes to move to next stage
- theorists–frued, piaget (cognitive), erickson (identity, 8 stages-diff psychosocial crisis), bowlby (attachment), bandura (social learning), kohlberg (moral development)
- ex. psychosocial (how internal and external forces shape life development by stages), psychosexual (pass through stages dependent on proper resolution of psychosexual conflicts at previous stage
social behavioral perspective
“suggests that human behavior is learned as individuals interact with their environments”
- similar process in different environments = diff behaviors
- problems are undesirable behavior, can be defined and changed
- learned by association with stimuli, reinforcement, imitation, personal expectations, meanings–socialized
ex. classical conditioning, operant conditioning (rewards and consequences), social learning (modeling), cognitive (conscious thinking basis for behavior and emotions), CBT (combo cognitive and behavioral)
humanistic perspective
“emphasizes the individual’s freedom of action and search for meaning”
- all are unique and valuable
- responsible for choices made in limits of freedom
- always have the capacity for change
- understand human behavior from internal frame of reference of individual
- we make psychologically destructive demands of others, trying to meet demands produces anxiety
- behavior driven by desire for growth, personal meaning, competence, need to bond with others
ex. maslow’s hierarchy of needs/self-actualization, person centered theory (rogers, innate drive toward self actualization, maintain congruence)
