Psychology

The different theories that concern human psychology try to explain the logic behind human behavior in relation to what goes on in his mind and what influences him to do so. Most of the time, our thoughts and behavior are highly connected to the activities that go on around us be it in the environment or within our physiological systems. Therefore, it is good to observe human nature as one that is highly influenced by its surroundings. The human mind is complex and the explanations as to how it reacts are highly given by the perspectives of psychology. The perspectives assess, analyze and give an explanation as to why we react the way we do. Different perspectives explain the different reactions to different situations. We examine the different perspectives. There are seven critical perspectives of psychology. They are as follows the evolutionary perspective, behavioral perspective, neuroscience or the humanistic perspective, the socio-cultural perspective, the psychodynamic or psychoanalytic perspective, the cognitive perspective and the biological or behavior genetics perspective (Nemec, 2010).

The evolutionary perspective is largely based on Charles Darwins theory of Survival for the fittest. This perspective tries to explain how nature influences ones genes. It further suggests that behavior and the thought process are inherited from a lineage. The traits that one inherits are as such contained in the DNA of his or her parents. They are then passed on at birth to the child. The behavioral perspective suggests that our behavior is molded around what we see in our environment. The experiences one undergoes also serve to influence his behavior. For instance, a baby would normally observe how the people around it behave. It would then copy what it has seen or simply emulate the adults around it. The humanistic or neuroscience perspective features the way the human mind responds to happenings in the world around it. This would most likely be happenings like ones that solicit emotions o sympathy and empathy. A person would always feel the need to help others who are in certain situations. Therefore, this perspective tries to show how our brain comes up with emotions. It shows that to a big degree, we are all capable of being good.

The socio-cultural perspective is a perspective that looks at how the different cultures, social classes, our gender, ethnicity and other factors influence us. The way we carry ourselves out varies in all the cultures. People in the high class are bound to be of different thought and behavior. Suffice to say that we behave according to the dictates of our cultural and ethnic background. The psychodynamic or psychoanalytic perspective largely looks into how behavior is rooted in conflicts within the mind. Sigmund Freud explained that we unconsciously suppress our feelings and release the emotions that build up within through other means. For instance, when we are tense, we normally find something to do so that we can release the tension. Some of us listen to music or even go and engage in sports. We do this instead of venting our anger on other people or objects. The cognitive perspective deals with how we receive and process information and later react. Our thinking influences our behavior.

Therefore, it goes a long way in influencing us to choose what we think is the best way to react to a situation. For instance, when a person finds that playing basketball is more fun than listening to music, he will always choose basketball over music. Lastly, the behavior genetics perspectives, also referred to as the biological perspective, generally emphasizes that our genes and the environment have a large influence on individual differences. We respond differently to different stimuli. Most people like music but it seems to elicit different emotions in us. For instance, whereas some would always respond to good music by dancing and being happy, others would be happy to the point of shedding tears. Another aspect of this perspective is that different parts of the brain are responsible for different reactions. The part of the brain that responds to pain is different to the one that responds to happiness. Therefore, different parts of the brain process how we feel about pleasant and unpleasant stimuli (Oak, 2008).