Psychology Perspectives

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hope u r fine dear members...we will try to go deeper within English and to explore different fields... the first would be psychology....There are various approaches in contemporary psychology. An approach is a perspective (i.e. view) that involves certain assumptions (i.e. beliefs) about human behavior: the way they function, which aspects of them are worthy of study and what research methods are appropriate for undertaking this study. There may be several different theories within an approach, but they all share these common assumptions.
Behaviorism (also called the behaviorist approach) was the primary paradigm in psychology between 1920 to 1950 and is based on a number of underlying assumptions regarding methodology and behavioral analysis:
* Psychology should be seen as a science. Theories need to be supported by empirical data obtained through careful and controlled observation and measurement of behavior. Watson (1913) stated that “psychology as a behaviorist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science. Its theoretical goal is … prediction and control” (p. 158).

* Behaviorism is primarily concerned with observable behavior, as opposed to internal events like thinking and emotion. Observable (i.e. external) behavior can be objectively and scientifically measured. Internal events, such as thinking should be explained through behavioral terms (or eliminated altogether).

* People have no free will – a person’s environment determines their behavior

* When born our mind is 'tabula rasa' (a blank slate).

* There is little difference between the learning that takes place in humans and that in other animals. Therefore, research can be carried out on animals as well as humans (i.e. comparative psychology.

* Behavior is the result of stimulus – response (i.e. all behavior, no matter how complex, can be reduced to a simple stimulus – response association). Watson described the purpose of psychology as: “To predict, given the stimulus, what reaction will take place; or, given the reaction, state what the situation or stimulus is that has caused the reaction” (1930, p. 11).




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