Unit 8 Psychological Perspective Analysis

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Erin Goldsmith Unit 8 - Psychological Perspectives Task 1 P1, M1 20050665 Sam Adams The Behaviourist Perspective The behaviourist approach is based on the concept of explaining behavior through observations, and the belief that the environment around us is what causes us to behave in different ways. The behaviourist perspective was a dominant approach in psychology for the first half of the 20th century. The main assumption of the behaviourist perspective is that all behaviour is learnt and is shaped by the environment. The behaviourist approach tries to understand human behaviour in terms of what has been learnt. Behaviourists regard all behaviour as a response to a stimulus. They assume that what we do and the way we behave is…show more content…
Animals are used because behaviourists assume they learn in the same way as people but are more convenient to study. Laboratory settings are favoured because they allow researchers to very precisely control the conditions under which learning occurs. Two important learning theories proposed by the behaviourist perspective are classical conditioning. Classical conditioning explains how we learn behaviours through association and operant conditioning explains how the consequences of behaviours shape behaviour. The first of the theories involved in this approach is classical conditioning. This theory was developed by a Russian psychologist called Ivan Pavlov. He did an experiment with dogs to investigate their digestive systems. Classical conditioning theory involves learning a new behavior via the process of association. Two stimuli are linked together to produce a new learned response in a person or animal. There are three stages to classical conditioning. In each stage the stimuli and responses are given special scientific terms. In stage one, the unconditioned stimulus produces an unconditioned response. This means that a stimulus in the environment has produced a response which is…show more content…
Freud suggested that the mind is divided into three dynamic parts; the id, the ego, and the superego. These three structures have different roles and operate at different levels of the mind. The id is a part of the mind which is totally unconscious and exists at birth. It is focused on getting what it wants and consists of aggressive, sexual and loving instincts. The superego is formed as a result of socialisation and consists of all the instructions, morals and values that are repeatedly enforced as we are growing up. It takes on the form of a conscience and also represents our view of our ideal self. The main role of the superego is to try to overpower the activity of the id. The ego tries to balance the demands of the id and the superego. It is the rational part of the mind and is always seeking to do what is most helpful for the individual. Different behaviours can be understood by trying to infer which part of the mind is dominant at any time. A person who is very submissive, guilty and always wanting to please may have a very strong superego. A person who is impulsive, careless of other people’s feelings, does not think about the consequences of their actions and can be quite aggressive either verbally or physically, probably has a dominant id. A person who can be submissive and assertive when necessary, who is able to think about other people’s feelings but also take into consideration their own needs, has probably got a strong
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