Traditional Western approach to modern psychology The Traditional Western approach has had a great influence on modern psychology. The Traditional Western approach differs quite a lot from the African perspective, but has made a big impact on psychology today. Here are a few key aspects of the Traditional Western approach to modern psychology: • Assumes that psychology is a universal science that is objective and the knowledge is value-free The Traditional Western approach to modern psychology considers psychology as a science. The knowledge obtained needs to be free of values or predispositions as this could impact the theory or research completely. Our personal feelings need to be set aside to ensure accurate results. Psychology needs …show more content…
The traditional Western approach to modern psychology draws a sharp distinction between the knowing subject and the object of his or her knowledge. The knowing subject is stripped of particularities such as culture, race, gender, position and his or her existence in time and space. • Assumes psychic unity and sees the self as an independent individual or self-contained. Psychic unity refers to the assumption that all human beings are the same. It signifies that there are universal and underlying psychological processes that are deep-rooted in all individuals. If we look at the aim of psychology from this perspective, the aim is to look beyond superficial differences such as gender, race and culture to unveil these processes. In traditional psychology the “Self” is seen as a restricted or bounded and autonomous being. Internal attributes such as emotions, independence, thoughts, contextual factors as well as social factors defines the …show more content…
Culture refers to the knowledge that is part on from one generation to another within a society, which allows people to make sense of themselves and the world around them. Culture consists of languages, assumptions, norms of behaviour, values and ideas. Worldview refers to the set of basic assumptions that a group of people develop in order to explain reality and their purpose in the world. Worldview consists of time orientation, people-nature orientation, activity orientation and relational orientation. Discourse in languages refers to written or spoken communication. Traditional Western approaches suggest that psychology can be applied to everyone all around the world, without taking the above mentioned into account. Key aspects of the African perspective that differs from the Traditional Western approach includes the following: • An indigenisation of psychology that is based on worldviews, languages and philosophies. • Assumes that existence is concrete and not universal and takes people’s values, languages, worldviews and philosophies into account. • Joins with cultural psychology (how cultural traditions and social practices regulate, express and transform the human psyche) • Sees the self as a collective or interdependent self. • The self is defined in terms of relationships with others. • Criticises acculturation
Bolles, R. C. (1993) The story of psychology: a thematic history (pp 139 & 231-232). Pacifici Grove, Calif. : Brooks/Cole Pub. Co.
The foundation and development of a human being stems from the individual’s position within his/her life (for instance, his/her opinion, stance, about oneself in regards to his/her own expectations) and within his/her communities as a member of a household, a race or even as a gender. The key factor of this notion, take in consideration the vast knowledge a person can evaluate against their own understanding. A person emerge into the world as a blank slate that unconsciously and continuously devouring and weaving in stories told in voices that evokes correlation identification with an image created by a mother, father, brothers, sister, aunt, uncle, cousins, grandma, grandpa, and even nicknamed strangers into their root and skin. An open-minded
Then there is the subject, which is usually influenced by the culture around him and formed by the law. The self is subject to their economic status, ethnicity, education, language, etc. The stories a person knows and has
1. Personality- individual differences in characteristic 2. Psychodynamic theories- views that defends personality of conscious and unconscious 3. Psychoanalysis-
Audrey Nunez 21 July 2015 Psychology 2301 Dr. Alvarado Chapter 1 1. What is psychology? Psychology is not only the study of behavior and of the mind. It is also the scientific study of the brain and of why we do certain things. 2.
Psy20150 Essay. Name: Clodagh Finnerty Student Number: 13362386 ‘It has been argued that two events led to the development of the modern discipline of Psychology: the foundation of Wilhelm Wundt’s Institute of Experimental Psychology, and the introduction of a new theory of evolution, described in Darwin’s Origin of Species. Critically assess the impact of these events on Psychology and society.’
“An individual perception of self, of body image, of time, of space influences the way he or she responds to object and events in his/her life. As individuals grow and develop through the lifespan, experiences with changes in structure and function, of their bodies over time influence their perceptions of self” (King, 1981, p. 19). These concepts give us the basis for understanding how individuals are personal systems. Perception, is “A process of organizing, interpreting, and transforming information from sense data and memory” (King, 1981, p. 24).
However, due to the limitation of skills, most of the researches done are not well designed. A main limitation of psychology as a field of study is that it never captures the nature of consciousness (Willig, 2013), as human mind is bound up with meanings and interpretations which differ from one individual to another
It is said that events and/or happenings affect a person psychologically. This, in turn, can make said person act a certain way so that they can achieve a short sense of fulfillment. In the twentieth century, Sigmund Freud had an incredibly important idea about the “human psyche” (personality). He concluded that it is made up of more than one aspect and that the psyche was structured into three distinct parts – and, although each develop in different life stages and contain unique features, they all contribute to an individual’s behavior. The three parts include: the ego, superego, and the id.
The main aim of this assignment is to find out the strength and weakness, similarities and differences between the different approaches of psychology such as biological approach, behavioural approach and psychodynamic approach. I have chosen mental illness to evaluate these approach. The biological, behavioural and psychodynamic approaches of psychology are connected to the nature and nurture argument. The biological approach highly talks about nature side of the argument and states that all behaviour is biological and is treatable.
Psychology is the scientific study of how human think, how they feel about issues and their behaviour in this research we will learn the meaning of perspectives in Psychology, dwelling on the biological and behavioural approach, I will discuss the difference and commonalities between the two perspectives. WHAT’S PERSEPCTIVE IN PSYCHOLOGY In contemporary psychology perspective simply implies an approach that involves some assumptions about how people behave, how they function and the best way to define this seeming behaviours. There is no one way to approach this perspectives, one is not above the other, though for a long while the behavioural approach was holding the ace being assumed to be the only scientific one.
There are several similarities and differences between behaviorism (skinner) and psychoanalysis (Freud). Both behaviorism and psychoanalysis do not believe in the concept of free will in humans and they are both deterministic. Behavioral approach assets that the environment and the consequences of behavior control people while psychoanalysis believe that people are controlled by their unconscious drives. Through his observations, Freud believed that childhood experiences could lead to emotional problems in adulthood. Skinner in his experiment proved that behavior that produces pleasurable consequences is likely to be repeated whilst that which produces negative consequences is stamped out.
Rachel Danzig AP Psychology Dr. Eisen August 20, 2015 I. Psychology’s History A. Psychology’s Roots 1. Prescientific Psychology a. Socrates and his student Plato stated that the human mind is separate from the body and our knowledge is born within us b. Aristotle, Plato’s student, disagreed, concluding that knowledge can not be preexisting and we grow it from our experiences within our memories c. In the 1600s Rene Descartes believed that the mind can survive the body’s death and our brain holds animal spirits in its fluid and flow from the brain through nerves enabling reflexes d. In 1620 Francis Bacon established that humans functioned around order and patterns e. Adding to Bacon’s ideas was John
Psychology is defined as “the scientific study of the mind and behavior” (Introduction to Psychology, 2015). Psychology provides an overview of biology and behavior, sensation and perception, learning, memory, intelligence, language, motivation, emotion, abnormal psychology, and therapy (PSY 102 Course Syllabus, 2018, pg 1). Because psychology allows for a better understanding of how the mind and body work, this knowledge can be beneficial for any field of study or career. The theoretical and practical understanding of the basics of psychology can help with decision-making, critical thinking, stress management, time management, better understanding of others, improving communication, and even achieving goals and objectives, all components that allow someone to be more successful throughout their life. Throughout this course I hope to gain a greater understanding of historical and theoretical perspectives of human behavior and development (PSY 102 Course Syllabus, 2018, pg 2).
The self can be defined as ‘an organised, consistent set of perceptions of and beliefs about oneself’ (Passer, Smith, Holt, Bremner, Sutherland & Vliek, 2009, p676). We should aim to understand ourselves, learn know how we function