Psychology Yearbook

Key People/Theorists

Main Ideas

Strengths

Weaknesses

Cognitive Perspective

Plato and Descartes

Ulric Neisser was the father of cognitive psychology.

how people think, understand, and know about the world

1. It offers a lot of practical applications

2. Effective in treating anxiety

3. Based off actual experiments

1. It does not allow for direct observation

2. Not effective for all individuals

3. It overlooks other behavioral factors.

Behavioral Perspective

Ivan Pavlov, Edward Thorndike, John B. Watson, and B.F. Skinner

External behavior that can be measured or observed

1. Useful applications in therapy, education, parenting, and childcare

2. Scientific and replicable

3. Useful for modifying behavior in the real- world

1. Environmental determinism

2. Does not consider moods, thoughts, or feelings

3. Does not explain all learning

Psychodynamic Perspective

Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson, and Alfred Adler

Focuses on the unconscious and the importance of childhood experiences

1. Focuses on the effects of childhood experiences have on personality

2. It takes both nature and nurture into account

1. Unfalsifiable- the assumptions cannot be scientifically measured or proved wrong

2. Deterministic- it suggests that behavior is pre-determined, and people do not have free will

Humanistic Perspective

Focused on uniquely human issues, such as the self, self-actualization, health, hope, love, creativity, nature, being, becoming, and individuality

Concrete understanding of human existence

1. It emphasizes individual choice and responsibility

2. Satisfies the idea of most people

1. Promotes frustration among clients

2. Experience is required

Neuroscience Perspective

Franz Gall, Phineas Gage, Roger Sperry, Ronald Myers, and Michael Gazzaniga

Phillip Vogel and Joseph Bogen

The study of the nervous system, especially the brain

Based on activities of the neural and structural changes or alterations in the brain

1. Examines the effects of the brain damage or behavior

2. Record brain activity during behavior

1. Social pressure, environmental contributions, childhood experiences, and cultural variables