Signature Assignment

Instructions

Contemporary psychology has become highly diversified. Many perspectives have been adopted for the study of psychology. Each perspective sees behavior and experience in a unique way that frequently contradicts other highly regarded perspectives.

For this assignment, review the text to discover more about the six perspectives of psychology (biological, cognitive, developmental, humanistic, social, and clinical). This is based on your interpretation of the academic material. Rely on your own words and your understanding of the material for this assignment. Although direct quotes may be used, do so sparingly. Your instructor will want to know how you define the terms, perspectives, and ideas. Keep in mind that you still give credit to your source when paraphrasing the main ideas.

1. Describe each perspective, including at least one peer-reviewed article or text reference.
2. Select any two perspectives and identify similarities and conflicting viewpoints. How do these perspectives differ from the others? What are some standard views in the perspectives?
3. Select one of the following psychological disorders: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Identify which perspective would be most beneficial in understanding and treating the disorder. Provide supporting evidence using critical thinking from the course content, readings, and academic peer-reviewed sources.

Diverse Psychological Perspectives and Their Application to Autism Spectrum Disorder

Modern psychology has become an extensive branch of knowledge that includes many approaches that allow studying people and their actions from different angles. This diversification is essential in psychology because each approach provides valuable information and methods that help in solving various psychological problems. It is crucial to grasp these different viewpoints to enhance the future study of psychology and the effectiveness of treatments. This paper aims to describe six critical psychological perspectives: biological, cognitive, developmental, humanistic, social, and clinical. It will select two of these perspectives and demonstrate how they are similar, how they are different, and how these perspectives are different from other perspectives. In addition, one of these perspectives will be used to analyze a particular psychological disorder to illustrate the practical application of the perspective in diagnosing and treating the disorder.

Describing the Six Perspectives of Psychology

Biological Perspective

The biological perspective concerns the physical and hereditary factors that affect behavior. It examines how cognition and behavior affect brain regions, neurotransmitters, and genes. This is based on neuroscience and highlights the nervous system, endocrine system, and biological rhythms in determining behavior and cognitive functions. For instance, a current study demonstrated that respiratory modulation impacts brain function, thinking, and feeling (Heck et al., 2022). Some contributors to this view are early researchers like Ivan Pavlov, who researched classical conditioning, and researchers in neuropsychology and psychopharmacology.

Cognitive Perspective

The cognitive view concerns how people perceive information through sensory organs, store data, reason, and solve problems. It concerns how people encode, categorize, archive, and retrieve information. This perspective was formulated in reaction to behaviorism, which did not consider mental processes into consideration. Another significant contribution to the understanding of this field is the study by Blumberg et al. (2019) that focuses on the role of digital games as the context for children’s learning. Jean Piaget is one of the most famous theorists who introduced the theory of cognitive development in children. In contrast, contemporary cognitive psychologists are concerned with the issues of artificial intelligence and cognitive neuroscience.

Developmental Perspective

The developmental perspective is concerned with the changes that take place in the life of a human being from childhood to adulthood. It looks at how individuals grow and transform from infancy to childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age. Developmental psychology is a branch of psychology that deals with development patterns using biological, cognitive, and social theories. Blumberg et al. (2019) provide valuable insights into how digital contexts shape children’s thinking, focusing on developmental psychology as a process-oriented field. Some theorists in this perspective are Erik Erikson, who came up with the stages of psychosocial development, and Lev Vygotsky, who concentrated on the social aspect of learning.

Humanistic Perspective

The humanistic perspective centers on the person, the person’s capacity, and the positive outlook on people. This movie is based on feelings, emotions, and the transformation that a person can undergo. Humanistic psychology was formulated in reaction to psychoanalysis and behaviorism, which predetermined people’s actions. In this article, Robbins (2021) looks at the existential-humanistic perspective in positive psychology and how it is beneficial, particularly in today’s world problems like the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the most famous contributors include Carl Rogers, who is linked to client-centered therapy, and Abraham Maslow, who developed the hierarchy of needs.

Social Perspective

The social perspective deals with how the social context influences actions and cognition. It examines how society pressures people, how groups affect them, and how individuals engage with one another. This perspective is beneficial when explaining the effects of social impact, for example, conformity, aggression, and prejudice. Blumberg et al. (2019) provide an overview of digital games in children's social and cognitive development, focusing on individual and social factors. Some pioneers of social psychology are Kurt Lewin, the father of social psychology, and other modern social cognition and culture researchers.

Clinical Perspective

The clinical approach is based on the identification of mental disorders and methods of their treatment. It uses knowledge from different psychological paradigms to establish treatment methods that can be used to treat psychological disorders. Clinical psychology is based on the principles of empiricism and frequently entails the use of medication and psychotherapy as well as changes in behavior. Smith and Merwin (2021) explain how exercise can help with mental health disorders, thus showing the interdisciplinary approach of clinical psychology. Some famous contributors are Sigmund Freud, who developed psychoanalysis, and the modern clinical psychologists who practice cognitive-behavioral therapy, among others.

Comparison of Two Perspectives

Cognitive and Humanistic perspectives

Similarities

The Cognitive and Humanistic theories are very similar in focusing on the individual and their ability to change and grow. They stress the concept of internal dynamics that underlie behavior and occurrences. Cognitive psychology focuses on how people acquire information, process it, and make decisions, including memory and reasoning (Blumberg et al., 2019). Likewise, humanistic psychology concerns a person's potential for growth, essential worth, and opportunity for change for the better (Robbins, 2021). Both perspectives consider the individual's feelings and incorporate these into behavior.

Conflicting Viewpoints

Cognitive and humanistic perspectives differ in the approach and assumptions made. Cognitive psychology is an empirical science that operates on data gathered through empirical research and measurements. It often employs experimental research to study mental processes and quantitative data (Blumberg et al., 2019). The Humanistic perspective is more qualitative and subjective than the other two because it emphasizes personal experience and the worth of the personality. It frequently employs case study and narrative frameworks to consider the client as a holistic individual (Robbins, 2021). Cognitive theorists look at behavior as a function of the information processing system. In contrast, humanistic theorists view behavior as a function of the individual's choice and the pursuit of self-actualization.

Distinctions from Other Perspectives

The Cognitive and Humanistic perspectives differ from the Biological, Developmental, Social, and Clinical perspectives. The Biological perspective deals with the physical and hereditary aspects of behavior, which is different from the cognitive perspective and is more inclined toward the mental processes (Heck et al., 2022). Developmental psychology, like cognitive psychology, is concerned with mental processes. However, it focuses on the processes that change throughout a person's life, considering biological, cognitive, and social aspects. The Social perspective focuses on how social processes and cultural factors shape behavior; this gives a more comprehensive social environment than cognitive and humanistic psychology (Blumberg et al., 2019). Clinical psychology involves assessing and treating mental health disorders through psychological, sociological, and biological approaches (Smith & Merwin, 2021). Thus, cognitive and humanistic approaches are beneficial when used with other paradigms to gain a broader perspective on human activity despite their differences in the techniques and subjects of study.

Application to a Psychological Disorder

ASD is a developmental disorder that affects a person's communication and social interaction and causes them to have repetitive behaviors. ASD is classified as a spectrum disorder, which means that the severity and the symptoms can be quite different from one person to another. People with ASD may also have sensory issues and other related disorders like anxiety or ADHD. ASD is a developmental disorder that is expressed at an early age and affects an individual’s social and vocational adjustment throughout his or her lifetime.

Most Beneficial Perspective for Understanding and Treatment

The Developmental Perspective is the most useful in diagnosing and managing Autism Spectrum Disorder. This view stresses the developmental changes in behavior and cognition across the lifespan, which is especially important for ASD because early identification and treatment are critical. The study of developmental psychology entails information on the typical and atypical patterns of social and cognitive development; therefore, it is easier to grasp the developmental issues of persons with ASD. Studies have shown that the programs on the developmental domains in early childhood development are very effective in the future prognosis of children with ASD (Blumberg et al., 2019).

Critical Analysis

The Developmental Perspective is helpful because it focuses on the different stages in an individual’s developmental process and how failing to follow the typical development process may result in a disorder such as ASD. It helps determine the proper management and teaching strategies that would benefit the child with ASD as they develop. Concerning the above view, studies reveal that early childhood developmental care enhances the social communication and cognitive development of children with ASD (Blumberg et al., 2019).

Unlike the Biological Perspective, which may be more inclined toward genetic and neurobiological development factors, the Developmental Perspective also considers environmental and social development. Although the Biological Perspective can assist in finding out the causes of ASD, it may not be as helpful as treating the disorder. While the Cognitive Perspective assists in identifying the particular cognitive impairments that people with ASD experience, this approach might not encompass the developmental trajectory required to treat the disorder effectively (Heck et al., 2022).

However, one weakness of the Developmental Perspective is that it may not always include the specific biological processes that underlie ASD, which can help create some forms of medical interventions. Furthermore, although developmental interventions are proven efficient, they are only sometimes easy to apply and may take a long time, money, and cooperation from many parties.

Conclusion

This paper explored six critical psychological perspectives: Biological, cognitive, developmental, humanistic, social, and clinical. These are some of the approaches that are used in the teaching of learners. All the mentioned approaches provide different views on people's behavior and mental activity, thus helping to understand psychology comprehensively. Comparing the Cognitive and Humanistic perspectives, it was shown that both are centered on the individual, but their approaches and premises are quite different. The case of the Developmental Perspective in Autism Spectrum Disorder proved the efficiency of the approach and the ability to offer interventions that meet the developmental needs of the child with ASD. Integrating multiple perspectives is helpful since it enables the practitioner to gain a broad view of the disorder and its treatment. The presented integrative approach will be valuable for further psychological research and practice development. It will contribute to improving the treatment methods and better understanding of the multifaceted character of mental health disorders.