1.15: Contemporary Perspectives In Psychology
Learning Activity 1.15
Summarising contemporary perspectives in Psychology
Complete the following table to summarise four contemporary perspectives in psychology. If you have an eBook you may complete the table online.
Use the internet to conduct research into the following areas:
Perspective
What is the main focus of this study?
What major assumptions does this study suggest?
How do they perform scientific research into this perspective? I.e. experiments or observations?
Note down any theorists that are known for their work into this perspective.
Biological
Biological Psychology is the study of physiological, genetic, and developmental mechanisms of behaviour in humans and non-human animals.
That behaviour can be largely explained in terms of biology, and that human genes have …show more content…
Observable behaviour can be objectively and scientifically measured.
By putting different kinds of life forms into different scenarios and observing their behaviour.
John B. Watson
Cognitive
Cognitive psychology is the study of mental processes such as "attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity, and thinking
Cognitive psychology is a pure science, based mainly on laboratory experiments.
The mind works in a way similar to a computer: inputting, storing and retrieving data.
Typically cognitive psychologists use the laboratory experiment to study behaviour. This is because the cognitive approach is a scientific one. For example, participants will take part in memory tests in strictly controlled conditions. However, the widely used lab experiment can be criticized for lacking ecological validity.
Ulric Neisse
Socio-cultural
The scientific field that seeks to understand the nature and causes of individual behaviour in social situations.
All behaviour occurs in a social context, even when nobody else is physically
Summarising contemporary perspectives in Psychology
Complete the following table to summarise four contemporary perspectives in psychology. If you have an eBook you may complete the table online.
Use the internet to conduct research into the following areas:
Perspective
What is the main focus of this study?
What major assumptions does this study suggest?
How do they perform scientific research into this perspective? I.e. experiments or observations?
Note down any theorists that are known for their work into this perspective.
Biological
Biological Psychology is the study of physiological, genetic, and developmental mechanisms of behaviour in humans and non-human animals.
That behaviour can be largely explained in terms of biology, and that human genes have …show more content…
Observable behaviour can be objectively and scientifically measured.
By putting different kinds of life forms into different scenarios and observing their behaviour.
John B. Watson
Cognitive
Cognitive psychology is the study of mental processes such as "attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity, and thinking
Cognitive psychology is a pure science, based mainly on laboratory experiments.
The mind works in a way similar to a computer: inputting, storing and retrieving data.
Typically cognitive psychologists use the laboratory experiment to study behaviour. This is because the cognitive approach is a scientific one. For example, participants will take part in memory tests in strictly controlled conditions. However, the widely used lab experiment can be criticized for lacking ecological validity.
Ulric Neisse
Socio-cultural
The scientific field that seeks to understand the nature and causes of individual behaviour in social situations.
All behaviour occurs in a social context, even when nobody else is physically