Lecturer

Qazi Zuhair
ILMA University
Psychologists agree that there is no one right way to study the way people think
or behave. There are, however, various schools of thought that evolved
throughout the development of psychology that continue to shape the way
we investigate human behavior.
The five main psychological pillars or
domains
 Domain 1: Biological (includes neuroscience, consciousness, and sensation)
 Domain 2: Cognitive (includes the study of perception, cognition, memory,
and intelligence)
 Domain 3: Development (includes learning and conditioning, lifespan
development, and language)
 Domain 4: Social and Personality (includes the study of personality, emotion,
motivation, gender, and culture)
 Domain 5: Mental and Physical Health (includes abnormal psychology,
therapy, and health psychology)
Wilhelm Wundt
The biological approach

 The biological approach to psychology focuses on examining our thoughts,

feelings, and behaviors from a strictly biological point of view. In this
approach, all thoughts, feelings, and behaviors would have a biological cause.
This approach is relevant to the study of
psychology in three ways:
 Comparative method: different species of animals can be studied and then
compared to each other. This helps us better understand human behavior.
 Physiology: the study of how the nervous system and hormones work, how the
brain functions, how changes in the structure and/or function can affect our
behavior. For example, how prescribed drugs to treat depression can affect
our behavior through their interaction with the nervous system.
 Investigation of inheritance: the study of what we inherit from our parents
(through genetics). For example, whether high intelligence is inherited from
one generation to the next.
The psychodynamic approach

 The psychodynamic approach to psychology is most well-known for its ties to

Sigmund Freud and his followers. This approach includes all theories in
psychology that see humans functioning based on the interaction of drives and
forces within the person, particularly unconscious and between the different
structures of the personality.
Basic assumptions
 Our behavior and feelings are powerfully affected
by unconscious motives.

 Our behavior and feelings as adults are rooted in

childhood experiences.

 All behavior has a cause, and that cause is

usually an unconscious one.

 Personality is made of three parts (ID, ego, and

super-ego).
The behavioral approach

 Focuses on how one’s environment and external stimuli impact a person’s

mental states and development. More importantly, it focuses on how these
factors specifically “train” us for the behaviors we exhibit later on.
 People who support this approach to psychology over others may believe that
the concept of “free will” is an illusion because all behaviors are learned and
based on our past experiences. In other words, that we’ve been conditioned
to act the way we act so nothing is ever truly our own choice.
The cognitive approach
 It shifts away from conditioned behavior and psychoanalytical notions to the
study of how our mind works, how we process information, and how we use
that processed information to drive our behaviors.
 This approach focuses on:
 The meditational processes that occur between the stimulus and our response
to the stimulus.
 Human beings are information processors and all learning is based on the
relationships we form with various stimuli.
 Internal mental behavior can be scientifically studied using experiments that
show us how we react to certain stimuli.
The humanistic approach

 It was considered something of a rebellion against what psychologists saw as

the limitations of the behaviorist and psychodynamic theories of psychology.
It’s the idea that we should approach psychological studies uniquely for each
individual because we are all so vastly different.
 This approach puts emphasis on the uniqueness of every person and every
situation, suggesting that the other studies can never be fully accurate as
there is such a wide range of thoughts, feelings, and human behaviors that
can adapt and change as we do.
This approach focuses on:

 The idea that we all have free will.

 The idea that people are all basically good and that we have an innate need
to make ourselves and the world better.
 That we are motivated to self-actualize, grow, and thrive.
 That our experiences are what drive us.