Psychological Perspectives And Related Research Studies

An outline and evaluation of three psychological perspectives and related research studies Introduction The behaviourist approach transformed psychology in 1913 when John Watson put forward the theory that psychology should be about the study of observable behaviour ignoring all mental processes such as thoughts and emotions (Malim 1998). He viewed introspection as not being a reliable and objective method for psychological study and believed the aim of psychology should be to understand and control behaviour (ibid). He proposed that psychology should be seen as a science using controlled variables within experimentation (McLeod 2007a). This scientific approach made for a dependable method of assessing behaviour, however, critics of this approach argued that this method created artificial situations holding little ecological validity (ibid). Behaviourists also believe we are all born a blank slate and that all behaviour is determined from learning from a person’s own environmental experiences either through classical conditioning, associating an external stimulus and a behaviour al response, or through operant conditioning, association via consequences where behaviour is shaped through reward or punishment (Malim 1998). However this belief doesn’t take into account a person’s spontaneity, creativity or their ability to solve problems without the time consuming trial and error process that behaviourists believe is necessary (ibid). Furthermore it fails to take intoShow MoreRelatedLow Socioeconomic Status Essay1566 Words   |  7 Pagesone’s psychological well-being is well established. Prior studies show that low-SES not only impacts individuals’ mental well-being, but also affects their children’s developmental trajectories. 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