Perspectives On Psychology And Evaluate Their Key Assumptions

Perspectives in Psychology This essay will give detailed descriptions of the behaviourist and cognitive perspectives in psychology and evaluate their key assumptions. The strengths and limitations of each perspective will be discussed along with an evaluation of their applications to contemporary issues in psychology. Finally there will be an analysis of the similarities and differences between each perspective and a conclusion. The behaviourist perspective is a scientific approach within psychology which claims that we are blank slates at birth and all human behaviour is learnt.Behaviourism was developed by John Watson in America in the early 1900s, (Cullis, T1999). Behaviourists focus on external conditions, learning and experience†¦show more content†¦He investigated his theory further by repeatedly pairing a neutral stimulus with an unconditional stimulus, such as the ringing of a bell with the arrival of food; this eventually led to the bell ringing alone causing the dog to salivate. Pavlov believed the bell was a conditional stimulus and salivating to the bell was considered the conditional response. B. F. Skinner was another influential psychologist who developed the theory of operant conditioning. Unlike Pavlov, Skinner thought that behaviour was determined by the consequences or rewards generated after the response, he called this operant conditioning, (Cherry, K 2005). Skinner invented a device which contained a button which an animal could press in order to gain food, water or some other form of reinforcement. Using this box he discovered two forms of reinforcement, positive (which resulted in a favourable outcome), and negative (which resulted in removal of unfavourable outcomes). Cognitive psychology, as opposed to behavioural psychology, is the science of how we think. Cognitive psychologists are concerned with the human brain and its functioning as an information processor. Key areas of interest within cognitive psychology are mental processes such as memory, perception, problem solving, language, creativity, attention span and thinking. Ulric Neisser published Cognitive Psychology in 1967