Psychology Is a Multi-Faceted Discipline

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Psychology is a dynamic, multi-faceted discipline which attempts to describe, explain and predict aspects of human behaviour (Phoenix and Thomas, 2007). Different psychological perspectives have emerged from different originating disciplines, each of which provides diverse insights into the same issue (Phoenix and Thomas, 2007). Each perspective adopts different objects of knowledge, asking different questions and using different methods to gather evidence (Cooper and Kaye, 2007). This essay addresses the question of whether diversity in perspectives is an obstacle to understanding. The essay critically analyses the strengths and weaknesses of evolutionary, cognitive and social psychology perspectives in the field of language and meaning and biological and social constructionist perspectives in the study of sex and gender, considering areas where perspectives are complementary, co-existing or conflicting (Cooper and Kaye, 2007). This is done in general terms, avoiding discussion at detailed levels. The essay argues that no single abstract perspective provides a full explanation but that diversity of perspectives actually provides a holistic approach which enriches our understanding. Language is a medium of communication used by humans to share knowledge, express emotions and co-operate with others to pursue a common goal (Cooper and Kaye, 2007). Humans are inherently social beings (Clegg, 2007) therefore language facilitates living in social groupings. The evolvement, acquisition and understanding of language have been approached from various perspectives, most notably evolutionary, cognitive and social. The object of knowledge for the evolutionary perspective is that language is species-specific and an evolved adaptive characteristic conveying an advantage on humans (Cooper and Kaye, 2007). A number of methods are used in an inductive approach to validate
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