Approaches to Psychology

The BIOLOGICAL approach involves:

• trips to the zoo

• genes, hormones, processes of the brain

• dream interpretation

• early childhood experiences

The EVOLUTIONARY approach deals with

• adaptation over time, affecting behaviors or mental processes to help humans or animals survive and thrive

• the study of space and time

• laboratory experiments with rats

• how humans have responded to marshmallows through the ages

The PSYCHODYNAMIC approach deals with:

• sugar cubes and lab rats and how they adapt to change in their environments

• psychopaths and their imaginary friends

• unconscious thoughts and feelings that affect human behavior

• how our genes influence our behavior

The COGNITIIVE approach deals with:

• how your dreams affect your reality

• how humans and animals respond to environmental stimulus

• how machinery and technology affect our behavior

• how mental processes and thoughts affect our behavior

The BEHAVIORAL approach deals with:

• how our genes influence our behavior

• how we learn to behave as we do, how we respond to environmental stimulus

• how dreams influence our behavior

• why twins are so similar

The HUMANISTIC approach deals with:

• a holistic view of the individual, how his/her unique personality affects an individual's behavior

• how humans have evolved over the ages

• the collective unconscious and its influences on human behavior

• the importance of negative reinforcement in training humans or animals