Major perspectives in psychology



Major Perspectives in Psychology

Introduction

Psychology is the science and arts of understanding of behavior, attitude, feelings and emotions of human beings and its influences with respect to their surroundings. It covers what are the factors that influence human behavior, why behavior and attitude of human beings get influenced by certain factors, what is the role of different factors in influencing human behavior. Psychology basically revolves around three major phenomena which are; perception, influence, interaction all of these three major phenomena go hand in hand. The perspective that I have chosen to be adopted as a therapist is of cognitive theory. The aim and objective of this paper is to talk about cognitive theory. In order to practice this theory one must know about the variegated perspectives of the theory. The following part of the paper discusses different perspectives of the cognitive theory. The following part of the paper undertakes the discussion from the development of the theory to its application in various fields.

Discussion

Psychology has undergone a profound paradigmatic shift in the past few decades. This field was originated in United States of America and undergone several changes and evolve itself into a separate field.

Integration of cognitive and social processes

During the period of 1970's integration and amalgamation of processes and methods had been observed in the field of social psychology. Cognitive themes, theories, and research techniques gained attention, which led to theoretical and methodological convergence. Scientific understanding of the way social and cognitive processes work together to influence behaviors has benefited from integrating European and North American social psychology.

Major principles associated with the theory

Cognitive theory is a learning theory of psychology that endeavors to interpret human demeanor by comprehending the thought processes (Baars, 2006). The assumption is that humans are ordered beings that make the alternatives that make the most sense to them. “Information processing” is a routinely utilized recount of the mental method, matching the human brain to a computer.

Contributions of three theorists to develop the theory

The Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget (1896 - 1980) has influenced the development of psychology in the field of cognitive development greatly. Development of stages of cognitive development is considered as an important contribution of Piaget in the development of cognitive theory (Baars, 2006). According to Piaget four main stages of cognitive development are sensor motor, preoperational, concrete operations and formal operations. In 1963, Bandura and Walters expanded cognitive learning theory principles through observational learning and vicarious amplification. Bandura's concept of self-efficacy became a source of understanding learning. He presented this self-efficacy concept in 1977, when he refuted the traditional learning theory (Restle, 2005).

Explanation according to the theory for mental processes associated learning

Cognitive idea of learning is important for mental learning process. This theory is often utilized in advertising. Commercials are mindfully aimed towards specific demographic groups. Each component of the advertisement, from the actors to the backdrop melodies, is selected in such a way that assist targeted demographic in recognition of the product through ...