Master Perspectives of Human Behavior (Overview) with Picmonic for College

The psychodynamic perspective focuses on the unconscious, which contains thoughts, desires, wishes and motivations that affect what we do, although we are unaware of their influence. It holds that human functioning is unknown to the person. It also takes into account the balancing of the id, ego and superego.

The social/cultural perspective assumes that people act the way they do because of their social and cultural context. They are affected by spouses, friends, bosses, parents, children and strangers in their social circles.

The humanistic perspective takes an optimistic tone, rejecting the psychodynamic view's emphasis on hostility and conflict in humans. The humanistic perspective assumes that all human functioning is known to us, and moreover, that everyone has the power to reach their full potential and healthy functioning.

The behavioral/learning view takes into account how a person behaves due to the influence of experience and the environment. Control of the environment is observed under this perspective of human behavior and is called applied behavior analysis. Learning from others is also seen with this perspective, known as vicarious learning.

The cognitive perspective is concerned with the way humans think and know about the world around them. Psychologists using this view like to use machines as a metaphor for how information is processed by humans.