Modern perspectives to

psychology
 Modern perspectives

Psychodynamic
perspective

Cross- cultural
Developments Biopsychological Socio cultural perspective
in behaviorism perspective perspective

Humanistic Cognitive
perspective
perspective Evolutionary
perspective
1. Psychodynamic perspective
Modern version of psychoanalytic theory- proposed by neo-Freudians
1. Individual psychology (Alfred Adler, student of Freud)
• Every human personality is unique and indivisible
• ‘The influences of both heredity and environment become the child’s
possession, and he uses them for the purpose of finding his path of
development. But neither the path nor the movement can be thought of, or
adopted, without a direction and a goal. The goal of the human soul is
conquest, perfection, security, superiority.’ (Adler, 1938)
• Life style, Sense of inferiority, will to power, social feeling, birth order-
determinants of personality
Conti..
2. Analytical psychology (Carl Jung, swiss psychologist)
• Individuation- the process of coming to know, giving expression to, and
harmonizing the various components of psyche; becoming one’s ‘own self.’
• Collective unconscious- inherited, universal themes that run through all
human life; the whole history of human race, lives on in us
• Archetypes- primordial images which are basic patterns, common to all of
us, present inside us.
• Persona- the mask that we present to the world
• Shadow- the side of our personality which we do not show to the world
• Anima- female component of male psyche; Aminus- Male component of
female psyche.
• Personality types- Extravert/Intravert?
Conti..
3. Karen Horney- Women psychologist
Basic anxiety- The feeling of being isolated and helpless in a potentially hostile
world.
4. Erik Erikson- Gives more importance to social factors, which could
determine our personality and behavior birth to death.
2. Developments in behaviorism
• Classical behaviorism, Watson- Observable behavior
• Neo- behaviorism, Thorndike- Non observable behavior like personality,
learning
• Radical behaviorism, B F Skinner- Experimental approach to psychology,
studying animal behavior to know the behavior of humans
• Cognitive behaviorism, Bandura & Rotters- Behavior is because of
cognition.
3. Bio-physiological perspective
The biological basis of behavior and cognition-
• Genetics- Behavioral genetics- the role of genetics in the development of
behavior (e.g. mental retardation- down’s syndrome- trisomy of 21st pair of
chromosome)
• Brain- Controls the cognition and behavior (e.g. damage to temporal- may
lead to amnesia)
• Neurotransmitters- Released by brain cells (neurons) (e.g. Serotonin- Feel
good hormone)
• Hormones- secreted by endocrine gland, into the blood stream, influences
behavior (e.g. The level of thyroid hormone)
4. Cognitive perspective
The role of cognition- information processing on behavior
Founder- Ulric neisser, American psychologist- wrote the book ‘Cognitive
psychology’ in the year 1965
Human brain and computers perform the same function- information
processing
5. Socio- cultural perspective
• Influence of people and culture on behavior
• Social psychology- studies the influence of society (public) on behavior (e.g.
Bystander effect)- What is bystander effect?
• Cultural psychology- Chambuli (African tribe) culture, men are submissive,
weak and home makers; women are dominative, aggressive and bread
winners
6. Evolutionary perspective
• Explains how thought and behavior helps in survival- Survival of the fittest
e.g. Research studies- Animals having more threat like Giraffe sleep only for 2
hours, other animals like tiger, bat which has less threat sleep for more hours

• Development of emotions for survival (e.g. Fear- to avoid danger), Feeling

of pain for survival (no experience of pain- death)
7. Cross- cultural perspective
Studies different cultures and understands the differences in behavior
and cognition
e.g. The act of physical closeness like hugs by opposite gender is
common in foreign culture and not in Indian culture