the science of behavior and mental processes

• applies the scientific method in testing claims and beliefs

Psychology

• founded Functionalism
• focuses on how behavior helps us adapt to demands placed on us in the environment

William James

• founded behaviorism
• holds that psychology should limit itself to the study of observable behavior

John Watson

• founded Gestalt psychology
• holds that the brain structures our perceptions of the world in terms of meaningful patters or wholes.
• "The whole is greater than the sum of the parts"

Max Wertheimer

• focuses on the mind and the unconscious
• the unconscious was responsible for primitive sexual and aggressive drives.
• believes childhood experiences play an important role in shaping our personalities and behaviors which are rooted in unconscious conflicts in childhood

Sigmund Freud

belief that environmental influences determine behavior and that psychology should restrict itself to the study of observable behavior

Behavioral Perspective

behavior is influenced by the struggle between unconscious sexual and aggressive impulses and opposing forces that try to keep this threatening material out of our consciousness

• focuses on our inner lives such as fantasies, wishes, dreams, and hidden motives which have an impact on popular literature, art, and culture

Psychodynamic Perspective

believes that free will and conscious choice are essential aspects of the human experience

• each of us as individuals who possess distinctive clusters of traits and abilities and unique frames of reference or perspectives on life

Humanistic Perspective

examines relationships between biological processes and behavior

Physiological Perspective

focuses on processes by which we acquire knowledge which includes thinking, learning, memory, use of language, and probable solving

Cognitive Perspective

examines how behavior and attitudes are shaped by social and cultural influences

Sociocultural Perspective