psychology perspectives assignment

Theoretical Perspectives of Psychology (Psychological Approaches)

Saul Mcleod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul Mcleod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

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Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc

Associate Editor for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education

Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.

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There may be several theories within an approach, but they all share these assumptions.

The five major psychological perspectives are biological, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, and humanistic, and provide different lenses through which phenomena are explained and analyzed.

You may wonder why there are so many different psychological approaches and whether one approach is correct and another wrong.

Most psychologists would agree that no one approach is correct, although in the past, in the early days of psychology, the behaviorist would have said their perspective was the only truly scientific one.

Each approach has its strengths and weaknesses, and brings something different to our understanding of human behavior.  For this reason, it is important that psychology does have different perspectives on the understanding and study of human and animal behavior.

Below is a summary of the six main psychological approaches (sometimes called perspectives) in psychology.

Behaviorist Perspective

If your layperson’s idea of psychology has always been about people in laboratories wearing white coats and watching hapless rats try to negotiate mazes in order to get to their dinner, then you are probably thinking about behavioral psychology.

Behaviorism is different from most other approaches because they view people (and animals) as controlled by their environment and specifically that we are the result of what we have learned from our environment.

The behaviorist perspective is concerned with how environmental factors (called stimuli) affect observable behavior (called the response).

The behaviorist perspective proposes two main processes whereby people learn from their environment: namely classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning involves learning by association, and operant conditioning involves learning from the consequences of behavior.

Classical conditioning (CC) was studied by the Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov . Though looking into natural reflexes and neutral stimuli he managed to condition dogs to salivate to the sound of a bell through repeated associated with the sound of the bell and food.

The principles of CC have been applied in many therapies. These include systematic desensitization for phobias (step-by-step exposed to a feared stimulus at once) and aversion therapy.

B.F. Skinner investigated operant conditioning of voluntary and involuntary behavior. Skinner felt that some behavior could be explained by the person’s motive. Therefore behavior occurs for a reason, and the three main behavior shaping techniques are positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, and punishment.

Behaviorism also believes in scientific methodology (e.g., controlled experiments), and that only observable behavior should be studied because this can be objectively measured. Behaviorism rejects the idea that people have free will, and believes that the environment determines all behavior.

Behaviorism is the scientific study of observable behavior working on the basis that behavior can be reduced to learned S-R (Stimulus-Response) units.

Behaviorism has been criticized in the way it under-estimates the complexity of human behavior. Many studies used animals which are hard to generalize to humans, and it cannot explain, for example, the speed in which we pick up language. There must be biological factors involved.

Psychodynamic Perspective

Who hasn’t heard of Sigmund Freud ? So many expressions of our daily life come from Freud’s theories of psychoanalysis – subconscious, denial, repression, and anal personality, to name only a few.

Freud believes that events in our childhood can have a significant impact on our behavior as adults. He also believed that people have little free will to make choices in life. Instead, our behavior is determined by the unconscious mind and childhood experiences.

Freud’s psychoanalysis is both a theory and therapy. It is the original psychodynamic theory and inspired psychologists such as Jung and Erikson to develop their own psychodynamic theories. Freud’s work is vast, and he has contributed greatly to psychology as a discipline.

Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis , explained the human mind as like an iceberg, with only a small amount of it being visible, that is our observable behavior, but it is the unconscious, submerged mind that has the most, underlying influence on our behavior.

Freud used three main methods of accessing the unconscious mind : free association, dream analysis and slips of the tongue .

He believed that the unconscious mind consisted of three components: the “ id” the “ego” and the “superego.”   The “id” contains two main instincts: “Eros”, which is the life instinct, which involves self-preservation and sex which is fuelled by the “libido” energy force. “Thanatos” is the death instinct, whose energies, because they are less powerful than those of “Eros” are channeled away from ourselves and into aggression towards others.

The “id” and the “superego” are constantly in conflict with each other, and the “ego” tries to resolve the discord. If this conflict is not resolved, we tend to use defense mechanisms to reduce our anxiety. Psychoanalysis attempts to help patients resolve their inner conflicts.

An aspect of psychoanalysis is Freud’s theory of psychosexual development . It shows how early experiences affect adult personality. Stimulation of different areas of the body is important as the child progresses through the important developmental stages. Too much or too little can have bad consequences later.

The most important stage is the phallic stage where the focus of the libido is on the genitals.  During this stage little boys experience the “ Oedipus complex “, and little girls experience the “ Electra complex .” These complexes result in children identifying with their same-sex parent, which enables them to learn sex-appropriate behavior and a moral code of conduct.

However, it has been criticized in the way that it over emphasizes the importance of sexuality and under emphasized the role of social relationships. The theory is not scientific, and can’t be proved as it is circular.

Nevertheless, psychoanalysis has been greatly contributory to psychology in that it has encouraged many modern theorists to modify it for the better, using its basic principles, but eliminating its major flaws.

Humanistic Perspective

Humanistic psychology is a psychological perspective that emphasizes the study of the whole person (know as holism).  Humanistic psychologists look at human behavior, not only through the eyes of the observer, but through the eyes of the person doing the behaving.

Humanistic psychologists believe that an individual’s behavior is connected to his inner feelings and self-image . The humanistic perspective centers on the view that each person is unique and individual, and has the free will to change at any time in his or her life.

The humanistic perspective suggests that we are each responsible for our own happiness and well-being as humans. We have the innate (i.e., inborn) capacity for self-actualization, which is our unique desire to achieve our highest potential as people.

Because of this focus on the person and his or her personal experiences and subjective perception of the world the humanists regarded scientific methods as inappropriate for studying behavior.

Two of the most influential and enduring theories in humanistic psychology that emerged in the 1950s and 1960s are those of Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow .

Cognitive Perspective

Psychology was institutionalized as a science in 1879 by Wilhelm Wundt , who found the first psychological laboratory.

His initiative was soon followed by other European and American Universities. These early laboratories, through experiments, explored areas such as memory and sensory perception, both of which Wundt believed to be closely related to physiological processes in the brain.

The whole movement had evolved from the early philosophers, such as Aristotle and Plato. Today this approach is known as cognitive psychology .

Cognitive Psychology revolves around the notion that if we want to know what makes people tick then the way to do it is to figure out what processes are actually going on in their minds. In other words, psychologists from this perspective study cognition which is ‘the mental act or process by which knowledge is acquired.’

The cognitive perspective is concerned with “mental” functions such as memory , perception , attention , etc. It views people as being similar to computers in the way we process information (e.g., input-process-output). For example, both human brains and computers process information, store data and have input an output procedure.

This had led cognitive psychologists to explain that memory comprises of three stages: encoding (where information is received and attended to), storage (where the information is retained) and retrieval (where the information is recalled).

It is an extremely scientific approach and typically uses lab experiments to study human behavior. The cognitive approach has many applications including cognitive therapy and eyewitness testimony .

Biological Perspective In Psychology

The biological perspective states that all thoughts, feeling & behavior ultimately have a biological cause. It is one of the major perspectives in psychology and involves such things as studying the brain, genetics, hormones, and the immune and nervous systems.

Theorists in the biological perspective who study behavioral genomics consider how genes affect behavior. Now that the human genome is mapped, perhaps, we will someday understand more precisely how behavior is affected by the DNA we inherit.

Biological factors such as chromosomes, hormones and the brain all have a significant influence on human behavior, for example, gender .

The biological approach believes that most behavior is inherited and has an adaptive (or evolutionary) function. For example, in the weeks immediately after the birth of a child, levels of testosterone in fathers drop by more than 30 percent.

This has an evolutionary function. Testosterone-deprived men are less likely to wander off in search of new mates to inseminate. They are also less aggressive, which is useful when there is a baby around.

Biological psychologists explain behaviors in neurological terms, i.e., the physiology and structure of the brain and how this influences behavior.

Many biological psychologists have concentrated on abnormal behavior and have tried to explain it.  For example, biological psychologists believe that schizophrenia is affected by levels of dopamine (a neurotransmitter).

These findings have helped psychiatry take off and help relieve the symptoms of mental illness through drugs. However, Freud and other disciplines would argue that this just treats the symptoms and not the cause.

This is where health psychologists take the finding that biological psychologists produce and look at the environmental factors that are involved to get a better picture.

Evolutionary Psychology

A central claim of evolutionary psychology is that the brain (and therefore the mind) evolved to solve problems encountered by our hunter-gatherer ancestors during the upper Pleistocene period over 10,000 years ago.

The Evolutionary approach explains behavior in terms of the selective pressures that shape behavior. Most behaviors that we see/display are believed to have developed during our EEA (environment of evolutionary adaptation) to help us survive.

Observed behavior is likely to have developed because it is adaptive. It has been naturally selected, i.e., individuals who are best adapted to survive and reproduce. behaviors may even be sexually selected, i.e., individuals who are most successful in gaining access to mates leave behind more offspring.

The mind is therefore equipped with ‘instincts’ that enabled our ancestors to survive and reproduce.

A strength of this approach is that it can explain behaviors that appear dysfunctional, such as anorexia, or behaviors that make little sense in a modern context, such as our biological stress response when finding out we are overdrawn at the bank.

Perspectives Conclusion

Therefore, in conclusion, there are so many different perspectives in psychology to explain the different types of behavior and give different angles.  No one perspective has explanatory powers over the rest.

Only with all the different types of psychology, which sometimes contradict one another (nature-nurture debate), overlap with each other (e.g. psychoanalysis and child psychology) or build upon one another (biological and health psychologist) can we understand and create effective solutions when problems arise, so we have a healthy body and a healthy mind.

The fact that there are different perspectives represents the complexity and richness of human (and animal) behavior. A scientific approach, such as Behaviorism or cognitive psychology, tends to ignore the subjective (i.e., personal) experiences that people have.

The humanistic perspective does recognize human experience, but largely at the expense of being non-scientific in its methods and ability to provide evidence.  The psychodynamic perspective concentrates too much on the unconscious mind and childhood. As such, it tends to lose sight of the role of socialization (which is different in each country) and the possibility of free will.

The biological perspective reduces humans to a set of mechanisms and physical structures that are clearly essential and important (e.g., genes).  However, it fails to account for consciousness and the influence of the environment on behavior.

What is the difference between a psychological perspective and a field in psychology?

Psychology approaches refer to theoretical perspectives or frameworks used to understand, explain, and predict human behavior, such as behaviorism, cognitive, or psychoanalytic approaches.

Branches of psychology are specialized fields or areas of study within psychology, like clinical psychology, developmental psychology, or school psychology.

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Major Perspectives in Modern Psychology

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Amy Morin, LCSW, is a psychotherapist and international bestselling author. Her books, including "13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do," have been translated into more than 40 languages. Her TEDx talk,  "The Secret of Becoming Mentally Strong," is one of the most viewed talks of all time.

Verywell / Emily Roberts

• Psychodynamic Perspective
• Behavioral Perspective
• Cognitive Perspective
• Biological Perspective
• Cross-Cultural Perspective
• Evolutionary Perspective
• Humanistic Perspective

Psychological perspectives are different ways of thinking about and explaining human behavior. Psychologists utilize a variety of perspectives when studying how people think, feel, and behave.

Some researchers focus more on one specific school of thought, such as the biological perspective, while others take a more eclectic approach that incorporates multiple points of view.

No single perspective is "better" than another. Instead, each simply emphasizes different aspects of human behavior.

This article explores seven of the major perspectives in psychology, where these perspectives originated, and how they attempt to explain psychological issues. It also provides examples of key ideas from each psychological perspective.

Major Perspectives

The early years of psychology were dominated by a succession of these different schools of thought. If you have taken a psychology course, you might remember learning about structuralism, functionalism , psychoanalysis, behaviorism, and humanism—all of which are different schools of psychological thought.

As psychology has grown, the number and variety of topics psychologists investigate have also expanded. Since the early 1960s, the field of psychology has flourished. It continues to grow rapidly, as has the depth and breadth of subjects studied by psychologists.

Psychological Perspectives Today

Few psychologists identify their outlook according to a particular school of thought. While there are still some pure behaviorists or psychoanalysts, the majority of psychologists today categorize their work according to their specialty area and perspective.

Purpose of Psychological Perspectives

Why are there so many different perspectives in psychology? It is important to remember that every topic in psychology can be looked at in many ways. For example, let's consider the subject of aggression.

• A professional who emphasizes a biological perspective would look at how the brain and nervous system impact aggressive behavior.
• A professional who stresses a behavioral perspective would look at how environmental variables reinforce aggressive actions.
• A professional who utilizes a cross-cultural approach might consider how cultural and social influences contribute to aggressive or violent behavior.

Here are seven of the major perspectives in modern psychology .

1. The Psychodynamic Perspective

The psychodynamic perspective originated with the work of Sigmund Freud . This view of psychology and human behavior emphasizes the role of the unconscious mind , early childhood experiences, and interpersonal relationships to explain human behavior, as well as to treat mental illnesses.

Much thanks to Freud's work and influence, psychoanalysis became one of the earliest major forces within psychology. Freud conceived of the mind as being composed of three key elements: the id, the ego, and the superego .

• The id is the part of the psyche that includes all the primal and unconscious desires.
• The ego is the aspect of the psyche that must deal with the demands of the real world.
• The superego is the last part of the psyche to develop and is tasked with managing all of our internalized morals, standards, and ideals.

While the psychodynamic perspective is not as dominant today, it continues to be a useful psychotherapeutic tool.  

2. The Behavioral Perspective

Behavioral psychology focuses on learned behaviors. It was founded on the work of psychologists such as Edward Thorndike and John B. Watson.   Behaviorism dominated psychology in the early twentieth century but began to lose its hold during the 1950s.

Behaviorism differs from other perspectives because it focuses solely on observable behaviors rather than on emphasizing internal states.

Today, the behavioral perspective is still concerned with how behaviors are learned and reinforced. Behavioral principles are often applied in mental health settings, where therapists and counselors use these techniques to explain and treat a variety of illnesses.

3. The Cognitive Perspective

During the 1960s, a new perspective known as cognitive psychology emerged. This area of psychology focuses on mental processes like memory, thinking, problem-solving, language, and decision-making.  

Influenced by psychologists such as Jean Piaget and Albert Bandura , the cognitive perspective has grown tremendously in recent decades.

Cognitive psychologists often utilize an information-processing model (comparing the human mind to a computer) to conceptualize how information is acquired, processed, stored, and utilized.

4. The Biological Perspective

The study of physiology played a major role in the development of psychology as a separate science. Today, the perspective is known as biological psychology (also called biopsychology or physiological psychology). The point of view emphasizes the physical and biological bases of behavior.

Researchers with a biological perspective on psychology might look at how genetics influence behavior or how damage to specific areas of the brain affect personality.

The nervous system, genetics, the brain, the immune system, and the endocrine system are just a few subjects of interest to biological psychologists. Over the last few decades, the perspective has grown significantly with advances in our ability to explore and understand the human brain and nervous system.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) scans give researchers tools to observe the brain under a variety of conditions. Scientists can now look at the effects of brain damage, drugs, and disease in ways that were not possible in the past.

5. The Cross-Cultural Perspective

Cross-cultural psychology is a fairly new perspective that has grown significantly in the last twenty years. Psychologists and researchers in this school of thought look at human behavior across different cultures.

By looking at these differences, we can learn more about how culture influences our thinking and behavior.   For example, researchers have looked at how social behaviors differ in individualistic and collectivistic cultures .

• In individualistic cultures (such as the United States) people tend to exert less effort when they are part of a group—a phenomenon known as social loafing .
• In collectivistic cultures (such as China), people tend to work harder when they are part of a group.

6. The Evolutionary Perspective

Evolutionary psychology focuses on the study of how the theory of evolution can explain physiological processes.   Psychologists who take this perspective apply the basic principles of evolution (like natural selection) to psychological phenomena.

The evolutionary perspective suggests that these mental processes exist because they serve an evolutionary purpose—meaning that they aid in human survival and reproduction.​​​

7. The Humanistic Perspective

In the 1950s, a school of thought known as humanistic psychology arrived. It was greatly influenced by the work of prominent humanists such as Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow .

The humanistic perspective emphasizes the role of motivation in thought and behavior. Concepts such as self-actualization are essential. Psychologists with a humanist perspective focus on what drives humans to grow, change, and develop their personal potential.

Positive psychology (which focuses on helping people live happier, healthier lives) is a recent movement in psychology with roots in the humanist perspective.  

A Word From Verywell

There are many ways to think about human thought and behavior. The different perspectives in modern psychology give researchers and students tools to approach problems and answer questions. They also guide psychologists in finding new ways to explain and predict human behavior. This exploration and deeper understanding can even lead to the development of new treatment approaches.

Fonagy P. The effectiveness of psychodynamic psychotherapies: An update .  World Psychiatry . 2015;14(2):137–150. doi:10.1002/wps.20235

Malone JC. Did John B. Watson really "found" behaviorism? .  Behav Anal . 2014;37(1):1–12. doi:10.1007/s40614-014-0004-3

Glenberg AM, Witt JK, Metcalfe, J. From the revolution to embodiment: 25 years of cognitive psychology . Perspectives on Psychological Science . 2013;8(5):573-585. doi:10.1177/1745691613498098

American Psychological Association. Biological psychology . 

Lonner WJ. Half a century of cross-cultural psychology: a grateful coda . Am Psychol . 2015;70(8):804-14. doi: 10.1037/a0039454

Cosmides L, Tooby, J. Evolutionary psychology: a new perspective on cognition and motivation . Annu Rev Psychol . 2013;64:201-229. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.121208.131628

Waterman AS. The humanistic psychology-positive psychology divide: contrasts in philosophical foundations . Am Psychol . 2013;68(3):124-33. doi:10.1037/a0032168

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

AP® Psychology

Psychological perspectives for ap® psychology.

• The Albert Team
• Last Updated On: March 1, 2022

The one constant throughout the entire AP® Psychology exam (and throughout the field of psychology as a whole) is that there are several different viewpoints, or perspectives, about how to think about and interpret human behavior. Whether you are talking about Sigmund Freud or Abraham Maslow, there has been a multitude of varying opinions on why humans act the way they do.

At this point in modern psychology, the varying viewpoints on human behavior have been split into eight different perspectives: biological, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, psychodynamic, sociocultural, evolutionary, and biopsychosocial. Having an understanding of each of these perspectives is a great way to increase your understanding of the various psychologists, theories, and disorders that you need to know for the AP® Psychology exam. And the best way to do well on the AP® Psychology exam is through understanding rather than straight memorization. That is why we are giving you a brief overview of each psychological perspective!

For most of the perspectives listed we have a more in-depth explanation available, but whether you are crunched for time, or you just need a quick review, this list of Psychological Perspectives for AP® Psychology will give you what you need.

Biological Perspective

To understand what the biological perspective (also known as the neuroscience perspective) is all about, you simply have to look at the name. Bio-psychologists base their explanations of human behavior solely regarding an individual’s biological processes. The three main causes of our thoughts and behaviors in a biological perspective are our genetics, hormones, and neurotransmitters. This means that our behaviors are not so much our choice, but a result of our genetic background, nervous system, and immune system.

A psychologist looking through the biological perspective would explain an individual’s extroverted behavior as a result of their genetic makeup from their parents, and the subsequent effect of those genes on certain neurotransmitters in their brain.

Our crash course review on the biological perspective offers a more detailed explanation.

Behavioral Perspective

Behaviorists and the behavioral perspective, in general, is heavily based on observable behaviors and actions; unlike some of the other perspectives, the behavioral perspective does not pay attention to cognitive processes because they are not observable. The behavioral perspective explains behavior through conditioning (such as classical conditioning ). Essentially, a behavioral psychologist will say that all behavior is learned.

A behavioral psychologist would explain an individual’s introverted behavior through what they have rewarded or punished for in the past. Maybe the individual has been punished in the past for attempting to extend their social circle, or they were rewarded in some way for withdrawing from social interaction. Find out more about the behavioral perspective with our crash course review .

Cognitive Perspective

Unlike the behavioral perspective, the cognitive perspective (as you would guess) is all about our cognitive processes. A cognitive psychologist looks at an individual’s behavior as a result of the way the individual interprets, perceives, and remembers the events and occurrences around them. Essentially, in order to understand an individual’s behavior and actions, you have to understand how they are processing the world around them and also why they are processing it in the way they are. This theory is heavily based on memory and perception as well.

For an individual with introverted behavior, a cognitive psychologist would look at it as how the individual interprets the social situations they are placed in; maybe the individual interprets people asking questions about their life as that they are judgemental, so they withdraw from social interaction.

You can find a more detailed look into the cognitive perspective with the crash course review on our blog.

Humanistic Perspective

The humanistic perspective was inspired mostly by Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers, who both emphasized their psychological viewpoint on free will and individual choice. The general humanistic perspective is also heavily based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (tip: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is a very important theory in psychology, always expect a question on it for the AP® Psychology exam). This theory essentially states that for a person to reach their full potential, they need to gain each of the five steps or needs. They are (in order) physiological needs, safety needs, love and belonging needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. In general, the humanistic perspective looks at human behavior as a whole, and that we are in control and chose the majority of our behaviors.

An example of how a humanistic psychologist would approach something is that they may say an introverted person may be choosing to limit their social circle because they find their needs are better met with a smaller group of friends. A critique of this perspective is that it is difficult to test with experiments and through the scientific method.

A more detailed look into the humanistic perspective is also available in our crash course review .

Psychodynamic Perspective

The psychodynamic (or psychoanalytic) perspective relies heavily on how the past has affected an individual’s psychological states. Psychologists who use this perspective believe that our unconscious mind (similar to Freud) is what controls the majority of our cognition and behavior.

Another way of explaining this perspective is that psychodynamic psychologists believe that the reason for anything that an individual does has to do with something in their past. To overcome something in the present, the individual simply has to understand what has happened to them in the past. This is one of the simplest perspectives, however, it is one of the most controversial. In using the same example, a psychodynamic psychologist would explain that an introverted person limiting their social interactions is due to childhood embarrassment or anxiety with social interactions.

Find a more detailed explanation of the psychodynamic perspective with our crash course review .

Sociocultural Perspective

For the sociocultural perspective, psychologists look at an individual’s behavior based on the influence of the individual’s culture. Essentially, this perspective looks at how individuals interact with their social and cultural groups, as well as how these groups influence an individual’s behavior. A social-cultural psychologist would look at an individual’s introverted or extroverted behavior as a result of the cultural rules of social interaction. A person may seem introverted, but in reality, they are following the social norms they have learned from their culture.

For a more detailed look at the sociocultural perspective, check out our crash course review .

Evolutionary Perspective

The evolutionary perspective is based on Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection. So, an individual’s thoughts and behaviors are based on what would give them the best chance of survival; subsequently, the behaviors that give the best chance of survival are passed on to further generations. An evolutionary psychologist would explain an extroverted behavioral trait as an evolutionarily advantage. If someone is outgoing and extroverted, they could make friends and allies who could protect them and increase their chance for survival.

You can find a more in-depth look into the evolutionary perspective with our crash course review .

Biopsychosocial Perspective

The biopsychosocial perspective is exactly what it sounds like; it is an integrated approach that uses the biological, psychological, and socio-cultural perspective in order to determine causes of behavior and cognitive processes. This perspective is a much more holistic approach to understanding behavior and attributes it to multiple causes rather than a specific approach like the other perspectives.

A psychologist who follows this perspective would look at introverted behavior as a result of genetics and biological processes, or past unrealized experiences, or social-cultural norms, or a combination of all three.

Psychological Perspectives on the AP® Psychology Exam

Understanding the various psychological perspectives is very important for success on the AP® Psychology exam. How any psychological concept, theory, or disorder is looked at comes through the lens of any of the psychological perspectives.

While a question on the psychological perspectives hasn’t come up in recent FRQ’s, it is still likely that you could have to use one of the perspectives as a way to relate to a given scenario. While the history and approaches portion of AP® Psychology only counts for 2-4% of the exam, it is still likely that you will get a multiple choice question relating to one of the perspectives. A multiple choice question may look like one of these examples (found in the Barron’s AP® Psychology review):

1. Behaviorists explain human thought and behavior as a result of

• past conditioning
• unconscious behavioral impulses
• natural selections
• biological processes
• individual choice.

2. In what way might a behaviorist disagree with a cognitive psychologist about the cause of aggression?

• A behaviorist might state that aggression is caused by memories or ways we think about aggressive behavior, while a cognitive psychologist might say aggression is caused by a past repressed experience.
• A behaviorist might state that aggression is a behavior encouraged by our genetic code, while a cognitive psychologist might state that aggression is caused by memories or ways we think about aggressive behavior.
• A behaviorist might state that aggression is caused by past rewards for aggressive behavior, while a cognitive psychologist might believe aggression is caused by an expressed desire to fulfill certain life needs.
• A behaviorist might state that aggression is caused by past rewards for aggressive behavior, while a cognitive psychologist might believe aggression is caused by memories or ways we think about aggressive behavior.
• A behaviorist would not disagree with a cognitive psychologist about aggression because they both believe that aggressive behavior is caused by the way we cognitively process certain behaviors.

The correct answer to question 1 is A, past conditioning. Behaviorists explain actions as learned behavior due to past conditioning (operant or classical).

The correct answer to question 2 is D, a behaviorist might state that aggression is caused by past rewards for aggressive behavior, while a cognitive psychologist might believe aggression is caused by memories or ways we think about aggressive behavior. This is because a behavioral psychologist is going to look at what we have been rewarded or punished for, while a cognitive psychologist wants to explain actions in terms of the way we interpret our environment.

The psychological perspectives are a great way to tie together everything you’ve learned in psychology. For each perspective, you should understand the basis of the viewpoint, as well as the application to a psychological situation.

So that’s it for this review on Psychological Perspectives for AP® Psychology! If you want to look into any of the perspectives further, click on the links in each section of this article. Are you struggling with any other topics for AP® Psychology? We have a supply of crash course reviews that are made to help you break down specific concepts before the exam.

Let’s put everything into practice. Try this AP® Psychology practice question:

Looking for more ap® psychology practice.

Check out our other articles on  AP® Psychology .

You can also find thousands of practice questions on Albert.io. Albert.io lets you customize your learning experience to target practice where you need the most help. We’ll give you challenging practice questions to help you achieve mastery of AP Psychology.

Start practicing here .

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5 Major Psychological Perspectives

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Psychological perspectives represent different ways of thinking about how people behave. Some of the main psychological perspectives that have emerged to help scientists study and understand human thought and actions include:

• The psychodynamic perspective
• The behavioral perspective
• The humanist perspective
• The biological perspective
• The cognitive perspective

Some psychologists take a single approach in their research. For example, a cognitive psychologist might utilize a cognitive perspective when analyzing human problems.

Researchers often take a more eclectic approach, incorporating many different perspectives to build a deeper and richer understanding of how humans think, feel, and behave.

Let’s take a closer look at each of the psychological perspectives. One important thing to remember is that no single perspective is considered the “right” approach. Each perspective brings essential insights to the understanding of psychology.

Table of Contents

What Are Psychological Perspectives?

Ever since the earliest days of psychology and Wilhelm Wundt’s lab , several different schools of thought have emerged to compete for dominance. These early schools of thought in psychology included structuralism, functionalism, psychoanalysis, behaviorism, and humanism.

Psychology has become more modernized, and the techniques and tools available to researchers to study human thought and behavior have also advanced.

Because psychologists now focus on many different aspects of human behavior, it’s unsurprising that many different psychological perspectives have emerged.

In today’s world of psychology, few psychologists would align themselves with a single school of thought. Instead, most go into a particular specialty area and then utilize one or many different psychological perspectives in their study and understanding of psychology.

Psychodynamic Psychological Perspectives

The psychodynamic perspective is based on the work of Sigmund Freud . Freud was the founder of the psychoanalytic school of thought in psychology. He also developed the use of important concepts, including the unconscious mind, ego, and defense mechanisms.

Freud believed that human behavior was motivated by an energy he called the libido. Personality, he suggested, was made of three main parts: the id, the ego, and the superego . The libido is the driving force between the part of personality known as the id.

The id is the most primal part of personality. It is present at birth and strives to fulfill all basic urges. As people age, part of the personality known as the ego develops, which is responsible for mediating between the id’s demands and reality. 

The last component of personality to emerge is known as the superego. This part of personality strives to make us behave in moralistic ways.

Freud also believed that much of our behavior is driven by unconscious desires, wishes, and urges. Childhood experiences play a critical role in shaping our personality and our behavior as we grow older.

Freud originated psychoanalysis , but other thinkers, including Freud’s daughter Anna Freud, Eric Erickson, Melanie Klein, and Carl Jung , also contributed to the psychodynamic perspective.

While psychoanalysis is not a dominant school of thought today, the psychodynamic perspective remains an important part of psychology.

Behavioral Psychological Perspectives

During the early part of the 20th century, the school of thought known as behaviorism emerged. The school of thought was focused on studying observable behaviors and making psychology a more scientific pursuit.

According to the behavioral perspective, behaviors can be explained by looking at the processes of conditioning and reinforcement . Two of the key ways that behaviors are learned are through the processes known as classical conditioning and operant conditioning .

Classical conditioning is the process that was first discovered by the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov during his famous studies on the digestive systems of dogs.

He discovered that the dogs had been conditioned to salivate whenever they saw the white coat of his lab assistant. Because the animals associated the white coats with the presentation of food, a learned response was formed.

Operant conditioning is the learning process described by the American psychologist B. F. Skinner . Operant conditioning involves using reinforcement or punishment as a consequence of a behavior.

Actions followed by reinforcement become more likely to be repeated in the future, while those followed by punishment become less likely to occur in the future.

Humanist Psychological Perspectives

The humanist perspective focuses on looking at human beings in a holistic way. Rather than focusing on dysfunction, humanists believe that people are innately good and possess an actualizing tendency that leads them to pursue self-actualization .

Those who take a humanist perspective emphasize the importance of free will and allowing people to maximize their full potential. The work of humanistic psychologists Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow is important in this view of behavior.

Rogers was the theorist behind client-centered therapy, a non-directional approach that stresses the importance of unconditional positive regard for mental well-being.

Maslow is best known for his famous hierarchy of needs . His hierarchy is often displayed as a pyramid in which the most basic needs lie at the bottom and increasingly complex needs lie higher up toward the peak.

Biological Psychological Perspectives

Physiology has played a major role in psychology since the earliest days of the discipline. However, it is only fairly recently in history that scientists and doctors have had the ability to look at the brain and other biological processes more closely.

Advanced brain imaging techniques such as MRIs and PETs have allowed psychologists to learn much more about how the brain, nervous system, and other body systems contribute to how we think and act.

Psychologists who take a biological perspective look at how the brain and nervous system work and the many factors that might influence them. Topics such as genetics, the limbic system, the endocrine system, and the immune system are just a few things that might interest someone who takes this perspective.

Biological psychologists also look at how brain damage and disease influence people’s actions as well as their personalities.

Cognitive Psychological Perspectives

While the first half of the twentieth century was dominated by psychoanalysis, behaviorism, and humanism, it was after 1960 that a new approach known as cognitive psychology began to emerge and rise to become a major force within psychology. T

The cognitive revolution led to many within psychology focusing on internal processes such as thinking, decision-making, language, and information processing.

The cognitive perspective, along with the biological perspective, is often considered one of the most prominent ways of thinking about the human mind and behavior today.

This field has grown considerably in recent decades as researchers strive to learn more about the mental processes contributing to people’s functioning.

How Are Psychological Perspectives Used?

So how do all of these different psychological perspectives the way that psychologists view human issues? Let’s take a look at a few examples of how psychological perspectives are used.

For example, imagine that psychologists want to investigate test anxiety. This type of anxiety can impact students and make it difficult for them to perform well on school exams.

Using a psychoanalytic perspective, one psychologist might choose to look at how unconscious influences might lead to or exacerbate test anxiety.

Using a behavioral perspective, another psychologist might look at how conditioning process have contributed to the anxious feelings. Behavioral techniques such as classical conditioning or operant conditioning might be used to help reduce the feelings of anxiety.

Using a cognitive perspective, another psychologist might look at the thought processes that contribute to these feelings of anxiety.

Using a biological perspective, a psychologist might look at genetic factors as well as brain processes that might lead to feelings of anxiety.

Using a humanist perspective, a psychologist might look for ways to help people focus on more positive aspects of their experience rather than dwelling on negative emotions.

As you can see, the many different psychological perspectives represent different ways of thinking about different issues that affect the mind and behavior. While some psychologists tend to take a different perspective over others, it is common today for professionals to take an eclectic approach when looking at a problem.

Learn more about some of the main branches of psychology .

Bland, A.M., DeRobertis, E.M. (2017). Humanistic perspective . In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1484-1

Boag, S. (2020). Psychodynamic perspective . In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24612-3_1415

Borghi, A. M., & Fini, C. (2019). Theories and explanations in psychology .  Frontiers in Psychology ,  10 , 958. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00958

Krapfl J. E. (2016). Behaviorism and society .  The Behavior Analyst ,  39 (1), 123–129. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40614-016-0063-8

Tarzian, M., Ndrio, M., & Fakoya, A. O. (2023). An Introduction and Brief Overview of Psychoanalysis .  Cureus ,  15 (9), e45171. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.45171

PSY 1010 - General Psychology: Assignment

• Research Tutorial This link opens in a new window
• Anatomy of Research Articles
• Evaluating Articles
• Managing Articles
• News vs. research articles
• Finding news articles and studies
• Databases - Searching
• Books / Ebooks
• Streaming Videos
• Psychology Scavenger Hunt This link opens in a new window

Psychology in My Life Writing Assignment

Purpose 

To measure students’ ability to:

• Explain major psychological concepts, theories, and perspectives.
• Read and describe research methods used in a peer-reviewed journal to explain behavior.
• Apply psychological concepts to personal, social, and organizational problems.
• Use information literacy skills to locate appropriate research and other relevant community resources and materials to create an informative essay.

Students will write an essay of 750-1000 words (not including title and reference pages) in which you analyze and synthesize psychological concepts apply them to your speculations concerning your career and your future life.  In the essay, you will need to clearly identify your career and why you have chosen it and then explain how what you have learned in psychology will enhance your career and life.   

This assignment is worth a possible 100 points.

The PSY 1010 essay will require you to use your critical thinking skills and your writing ability to address a question of primary importance:  How will you use psychology in your career and in your life?   In order to be able to successfully answer this question, you must be able to analyze and synthesize psychological concepts and be able to apply them to your speculations concerning your career and your future life.  In your essay, you will need to clearly identify your career and why you have chosen it and then explain how what you have learned in psychology will enhance your career and your life.   

Your paper will make use of two sources:

• The first source is your textbook itself. You will select FOUR PSYCHOLOGY concepts/topics from at least two different chapters to focus on in your paper.
• The second source is an article from a refereed (peer-reviewed) journal (preferably an American Psychological Association journal published within the last five years ) which addresses one of the psychological concepts or topics relevant to your intended career. You will want to find an article which is research (data-driven) based and which uses the experimental or correlational method .  The article must have the traditional sections associated with a research study (abstract, introduction (literature review), methods, results, discussion, references). That means no reviews of literature or other types of articles. If you are not sure, check with your instructor.

In discussing information from your text, you must reference the appropriate chapters, identify and define each relevant concept, and explain why the psychological concepts you focus on are or will be relevant to your career and your future life.  You will be expected to use specific examples of how the concepts will be relevant to your career. Merely saying a concept is important is not sufficient. You must be specific about how it will benefit you in your career.

For the journal article, you will be integrating the article and its content into your paper to highlight its significance to your chosen field of study rather than merely citing it.  You will be using the journal article to discuss its relationship to one of the concepts or topics you have selected as important to your career .  Note that you will be discussing the article and the implication of its findings for your career in some detail, not merely mentioning it in passing. 

Your paper must be done using APA formatting style which includes:

• A title page with the title in the middle of the page
• Page numbering in the upper right corner beginning with 1 on the title page
• In-text citations in APA format (that means the citation follows either the quote or the paraphrase of the information provided)
• A reference page at the end (called References) in APA format

Professional Journals

What is a professional journal?  

A professional journal is also known as a peer reviewed or scholarly journal. A professional journal publishes research articles by professionals in a particular field. Research articles are often lengthy and may contain tables and graphs. What  IS NOT  a professional journal?

A newspaper article, an entry in a dictionary or encyclopedia, an article from a magazine ( Time , Newsweek , Psychology Today , etc.) or an article you got from a website. (To access professional articles on websites, you usually have to have a subscription to the institution that publishes the journal. Some may be accessed for free, but usually it is the older back issues.) How do you find these professional journals in the library's databases?

See the section titled " Databases- Searching " in this research guide. It has an example on how to search for this type of article. 

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Resources: Course Assignments

Assignment: Foundations of Psychology

Topics in psychology.

STEP 1 : Visit the TED Talks website and search for a talk on the subject matter of psychology. Watch one of the talks that interests you, as long as it is a minimum of 8 minutes in length. At the top of your response, include the title of the TED Talk, the name of the presenter, when it was filmed, along with a link to the video.

STEP 2 : In an essay of between 200-400 words, respond to the following:

• Give a summary of the TED talk, emphasizing the speaker’s main points
• What did you find most interesting about the talk, and what will you most likely remember from the talk?
• What type of data or evidence did the presenter show to back up his or her information?
• Read the biographical information and do some basic background research on the presenter. What area of psychology do they work in? More specifically, which psychological perspective would you say best fits the type of work they do? Why?
• What other questions would you have for this presenter if you could have a conversation with him or her? What else would you like to know about the topic?

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• Ted Talk Perspectives Assignment. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution

General Psychology Copyright © by OpenStax and Lumen Learning is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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How to demonstrate critical evaluation in your psychology assignments

Thinking critically about psychology research

Critical thinking is often taught in undergraduate psychology degrees, and is a key marking criteria for higher marks in many assignments. But getting your head around how to write critically can sometimes be difficult. It can take practice. The aim of this short blog is to provide an introduction to critical evaluation, and how to start including evidence of critical evaluation in your psychology assignments.

So what does “critical evaluation” really mean?

Broadly speaking, critical evaluation is the process of thinking and writing critically about the quality of the sources of evidence used to support or refute an argument. By “ evidence “, I mean the literature you cite (e.g., a journal article or book chapter). By “ quality   of the evidence “, I mean thinking about whether this topic has been tested is in a robust way. If the quality of the sources is poor, then this could suggest poor support for your argument, and vice versa. Even if the quality is poor, this is important to discuss in your assignments as evidence of critical thinking in this way!

In the rest of this blog, I outline a few different ways you can start to implement critical thinking into your work and reading of psychology. I talk about the quality of the evidence, a few pointers for critiquing the methods, theoretical and practical critical evaluation too. This is not an exhaustive list, but hopefully it’ll help you to start getting those higher-level marks in psychology. I also include an example write-up at the end to illustrate how to write all of this up!

The quality of the evidence

There are different types of study designs in psychology research, but some are of higher quality than others. The higher the quality of the evidence, the stronger the support for your argument the research offers, because the idea has been tested more rigorously. The pyramid image below can really help to explain what we mean by “quality of evidence”, by showing different study designs in the order of their quality. 

Not every area of psychology is going to be full of high quality studies, and even the strongest sources of evidence (i.e., systematic reviews and/or meta-analyses) can have limitations! Because no study is perfect, it can be a good habit to tell the reader, in your report, (i) what the  design  of the study is that you’re citing, AND, (ii)  how  this affects your argument. Doing so would be evidence of critical thought. (See an example write-up below for implementing this, but do not copy and paste it!) 

But first, what do I mean by “design”? The design of the study refers to  how  the study was carried out. There are sometimes broad categories of design that you’ll have heard of, like a ‘survey design’, ‘a review paper’, or an ‘experimental design’. Within these categories, though, there can be more specific types of design (e.g. a  cross-sectional  survey design, or a  longitudinal  survey design; a  randomised controlled  experiment or a  simple pre-post  experiment). Knowing these specific types of design is a good place to start when thinking about how to critique the evidence when citing your sources, and the image below can help with that. 

Image source: https://thelogicofscience.com/2016/01/12/the-hierarchy-of-evidence-is-the-studys-design-robust/

In summary, there are various types of designs in psychology research. To name a few from the image above, we have: a meta-analysis or a systematic review (a review paper that summarises the research that explores the same research question); a cross-sectional survey study (a questionnaire that people complete once – these are really common in psychology!). If you’re not familiar with these, I would  highly suggest  doing a bit of reading around these methods and some of their general limitations – you can then use these limitation points in your assignments! To help with this, you could do a Google Scholar search for ‘limitations of a cross-sectional study’, or ‘why are randomised control trials gold standard?’. You can use any published papers as further support as a limitation.

Methodological critical evaluation

• Internal validity: Are the findings or the measures used in the study reliable (e.g., have they been replicated by another study, and is the reliability high)? 
• External validity: Are there any biases in the study that might affect generalisability(e.g., gender bias, where one gender may be overrepresented for the population in the sample recruited)?  Lack of generalisability is a common limitation that undergraduates tend to use by default as a limitation in their reports. It’s a perfectly valid limitation, but it can usually be made much more impactful by explaining exactly  how  it’s a problem for the topic of study. In some cases, this limitation may not be all that warranted; for example, a female bias may be expected in a sample of psychology students, because undergraduate courses tend to be filled mostly with females! 
• What is the design of the study, and how it a good or bad quality design (randomised control trial, cross-sectional study)? 

Theoretical critical evaluation

• Do the findings in the literature support the relevant psychological theories?
• Have the findings been replicated in another study? (If so, say so and add a reference!)

Practical critical evaluation

• In the real world, how easy would it be to implement these findings?
• Have these findings been implemented? (If so, you could find out if this has been done well!)

Summary points

In summary, there are various types of designs in psychology research. To name a few from the image above, we have: a meta-analysis or a systematic review (a review paper that summarises the research that explores the same research question); a cross-sectional survey study (a questionnaire that people complete once – these are really common in psychology!). If you’re not familiar with these, I would highly suggest doing a bit of reading around these methods and some of their general limitations – you can then use these limitation points in your assignments! To help with this, I would do a Google Scholar search for ‘limitations of a cross-sectional study’, or ‘why are randomised control trials gold standard?’. You can use these papers as further support as a limitation.

You don’t have to use all of these points in your writing, these are just examples of how you can demonstrate critical thinking in your work. Try to use at least a couple in any assignment. Here is an example of how to write these up:

An example write-up

“Depression and anxiety are generally associated with each other (see the meta-analysis by [reference here]). For example, one of these studies was a cross-sectional study [reference here] with 500 undergraduate psychology students. The researchers found that depression and anxiety (measured using the DASS-21 measure) were correlated at  r  = .76, indicating a strong effect. However, this one study is limited in that it used a cross-sectional design, which do not tell us whether depression causes anxiety or whether anxiety causes depression; it just tells us that they are correlated. It’s also limited in that the participants are not a clinical sample, which does not tell us about whether these are clinically co-morbid constructs. Finally, a strength of this study is that it used the DASS-21 which is generally found to be a reliable measure. Future studies would therefore benefit from using a longitudinal design to gain an idea as to how these variables are causally related to one another, and use more clinical samples to understand the implications for clinical practice. Overall, however, the research generally suggests that depression and anxiety are associated. That there is a meta-analysis on this topic [reference here], showing that there is lots of evidence, suggests that this finding is generally well-accepted.”

• Notice how I first found a review paper on the topic to broadly tell the reader how much evidence there is in the first place. I set the scene of the paragraph with the first sentence, and then the last sentence I brought it back, rounding the paragraph off. 
• Notice how I then described one study from this paper in more detail. Specifically, I mentioned the participants, the design of the study and the measure the researchers used to assess these variables. Critically, I then described  how  each of these pieces of the method are disadvantages/strengths of the study. Sometimes, it’s enough to just say “the study was limited in that it was a cross-sectional study”, but it can really show that you are thinking critically, if you also add “… because it does not tell us….”. 
• Notice how I added a statistic there to further illustrate my point (in this case, it was the correlation coefficient), showing that I didn’t just read the abstract of the paper. Doing this for the effect sizes in a study can also help demonstrate to a reader that you understand statistics (a higher-level marking criteria). 

Are these points you can include in your own work?

Thanks for reading,

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Resources: Discussions and Assignments

Assignment: foundations of psychology, topics in psychology.

STEP 1 : Visit the TED Talks website and search for a talk on the subject matter of psychology. Watch one of the talks that interests you, as long as it is a minimum of 8 minutes in length. At the top of your response, include the title of the TED Talk, the name of the presenter, when it was filmed, along with a link to the video.

STEP 2 : In an essay of between 200-400 words, respond to the following:

• Give a summary of the TED talk, emphasizing the speaker’s main points
• What did you find most interesting about the talk, and what will you most likely remember from the talk?
• What type of data or evidence did the presenter show to back up their information?
• Read the biographical information and do some basic background research on the presenter. What area of psychology do they work in? More specifically, which psychological perspective would you say best fits the type of work they do? Why?
• What other questions would you have for this presenter if you could have a conversation with them? What else would you like to know about the topic?
• Ted Talk Perspectives Assignment. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution