Foundations of Psychology 1

Foundations of Psychology
Rachel M Lambert
Psychology 300
Ms. Croley
June 18, 2012











Foundations of Psychology 2
Foundations of Psychology
Psychology is built like a house, without a proper foundation, it would collapse.
The foundations of psychology include four perspectives. These perspectives have all be
developed over time with the help of theories, scientists, doctors, and psychologists. The
four perspectives are Psychodynamic, Behaviorist, Cognitive, and Evolutionary. These
perspectives are what are believed to be the reasons for the things that we, as humans feel
and react to daily situations in all aspects of our lives.
A Viennese physician, Sigmund Freud, developed the Psychodynamic Perspective
in the late nineteenth century. The psychodynamic perspective is divided into three
categories, which include, peoples actions are determined by the way thoughts, feelings,
and wishes are connected in their minds. The second category is that many of these
mental events occur outside of ones conscious awareness. Lastly, these mental processes
have the possibility of conflicting with one another, so people are unlikely to specifically
know the chain of events that leads to their behaviors, feelings, conscious thoughts or
intentions. Kowalski & Westen (2009) stated that, Our mental processes may conflict
with one another leading to the need for compromise among competing motives. With
this being said, it is believed that many of our mental events occur unconsciously and we
do not know why.
Russian physiologist, Ivan Pavlov inadvertently shaped the theory of Behaviorism
in the early twentieth century. Pavlov was studying the digestive systems of dogs when
he discovered that human and animal behaviors are largely acquired by learning.
Seventeenth century British Philosopher, John Locke stated that at birth a persons mind
is a blank slate and experience is what forms beliefs and behaviors. John Watson later
Foundations of Psychology 3

said that if he were given twelve healthy infants at birth, by controlling their
environments, he could ultimately control their futures. Kowalski & Westen (2009)
insisted that, a driving force behind the behaviorist perspective was the desire by
psychologists to separate the discipline from philosophy and thus be perceived as a
science. Behaviorism is summarized as ones environmental events subconsciously
controlling their behavior.
Jean Pigeat played a significant role in the development of the Cognitive
Perspective with his influence on studies of child development. The Cognitive
Perspective is based on the way humans perceive, process and retrieve information.
Cognitive psychologists are interested in how memory works, how people solve
problems and make decisions, and similar questions. The primary metaphor originally
underlying the Cognitive Perspective was the mind is a computer (Kowalski & Westen,
2011). Psychologists use the comparison between the mind and a computer because it
helps them model and understand the way the mind works. Ones environment provides
input which the brain stores and can later be retrieved.
Charles Darwin contributed with the discovery of the Evolutionary Perspective by
his theory of Natural Selection. Darwins argument was that as humans, we have adaptive
traits and without them, we would not have the ability to adjust and survive in a given
environment; he also argued that those adaptive traits would then be passed along to our
offspring. It is argues that many humans would not be alive if it werent for our ancestors
surviving, reproducing, and giving us chances to evolve. The Nature-Nurture controversy
plays a major role in the Evolutionary Perspective. The Nurture position argues that
Foundations of Psychology 4
behaviors are learned and not biologically received; where as, the Nature position
believes our behaviors are ordained biologically.
These perspectives are the building blocks to Psychology and without them and
the studies behind them; psychologists would not have a developed grasp on the human
mind. Each perspective plays an important role in ones mind whether you are
remembering a past event or empathizing with ones loss. The four psychological
perspectives we consider offer the same kind of broad, orienting approach as a scientific
paradigm, and they share its three essential features. Focusing on these particular
perspectives does not mean that other less comprehensive approaches have not
contributed to psychological knowledge or that nothing can be studied without them
(Kowalski & Westen, 2011).












Foundations of Psychology 5

References:
Kowalski, R. & Westen, D. (2011). Chapter 1: Psychology: The Study of Mental
Processes and Behavior. Retrieved from
https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/content/eBookLibrary2/content/eReader.aspx?assetMetaId=
68fa95dc-ac12-40c2-acee-7a84d94eac9d&assetDataId=dd71ba86-7f29-4038-ad12-
cceb49de03d4&assetpdfdataid=c89e1540-da9b-46cf-a431-3681b40431af#biblio0_2688.
Kowalski & Westen. (2009). Psychology: The Study of Mental Processes and Behavior.
Retrieved from Power Point.