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Psychology Perspectives

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Psychology Essay Psychology has five distinctive perspectives from which psychologists study. Although these perspectives are all based off of the four goals of psychology as a whole, they each posses many differences. The neuroscience perspective focuses on how humans and animals function biologically. Scientists who study this contribute to two of psychology’s four goals, describing and explaining. This view describes how animals and humans operate day to day, as well as explains how and why they do so. The psychodynamic outlook is based on the view that behavior is motivated by unconscious inner forces over which the individual has little control. One of the most famous psychologists of all time, Sigmund Freud, came up with this perspective, arguing that things such as dreams or word slips indicate our true feelings and thoughts. This perspective also falls under the goal of explanation, as psychologists use the unconscious activity to explain such things. Behavioral psychologists believe that the main focus of study should be centered on observable behavior that can be measured impartially, rather than guessing the inner workings of the subconscious. By doing so, they can then predict and influence an individual or animal, thus contributing to two of the four goals. The cognitive view focuses primarily on how people think, understand, and know about the world around them. This view describes and explains how and why people observe their surrounding world, as well as allows cognitive psychologists to predict thought processes and therefore influence or change the way people think. The final perspective is the humanistic approach. Psychologists of this belief suggest that all humans naturally strive to grow, develop, and be in control of their lives and behavior. Carl Rodgers and Abraham Maslow were the founders of this idea, stating that all

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