by Courtney Lopez

Created on: November 29, 2010

Psychology focuses on the study of the individual's personality, emotions, and behavior. People, however, are born with different aspects of social lifestyles and life in general. Psychologists have found a simpler way to differentiate these personalities: By breaking down these aspects into seven, distinct perspectives.

Humanistic Perspective
Humanism was recognised by Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers in the 1950s and 60s, The humanistic perspective describes people who have a more positive attitude towards being human. They assume that instead of being confined inside humanity by fate, humans have free choice and can do as they please. How the average person lives and experiences life is basically what humanists focus on, but they also believe in the idea that every single person deserves to have respect.

Psychoanalytic Perspective
This approach best describes the unconscious mind. An individual's past memories and experiences are believed to stay put in their unconscious state. Sigmund Freud was a firm believer that an unconscious mind majorly affects one's behavior. A majority of his theories were based on dreams and what they symbolised depending on the memories or events that took place in that person's life.

Behavioral Perspective
The behavioral perspective is the learning of behaviors. In the 50s, it began decline as a major perspective. Today, it is popularised by psychiatrists and many counselors. The health of a person's mind is characterised by their behavior. These therapists use behaviorism to diagnose and treat many illnesses associated with someone's background. Their behavior can be greatly influenced by any sickness they have.

Cognitive Perspective
Processes of a person's mind is the main focus of the cognitive perspective. These processes include thought, memory, learning, and understanding of things. How people take in information and store it is another focus that relates to these processes. What separates this form of psychology from other perspectives, is that it uses scientific methods. It looks deeper inside the mind to its actual mental state.

Evolutionary Perspective
In this aspect of psychology, traits such as language and perception are accepted as adaptations. According to evolutionary psychologists, these adaptations were evolved from our ancestors in order for us to improve our thinking and problem solving. Some fears are believed to be inherited from these ancestral traits. Though mental traits have evolved over generations,

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