Essay
UNIT 11 Physcoligacal perpectives
- Institution
- PEARSON (PEARSON)
Essay of 16 pages for the course Unit 11 - Psychological Perspectives at PEARSON (Unit 11)
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Unit 11: Psychological PerspectiveLearning aim A: Examine how psychological perspectives contribute to the understanding
of human development and behaviour
Learning aim B: Examine the contribution of psychological perspectives to the
management and treatment of service user’s specific behaviours
P1: Explain how psychological perspectives are applied to the understanding of human
development.
Ahmed H.
Ahmed is 18 years old and has an eating disorder. Ahmed is currently in a specialist
treatment centre. He was referred to the unit following concerns about his severe weight
loss. It had been discovered that Ahmed would pretend to eat and then throw the food away
when he thought that no one was looking. Ahmed had previously had problems with his
weight and had been bullied throughout school, due to his obesity. He is currently refusing to
eat more than a small amount of food during the day.
Sarah K.
Sarah is 42 years old and regularly attends a community psychiatric clinic for support with
her ongoing clinical depression. Sarah was emotionally and physically abused as a child,
which has resulted in a low self-image and low self-esteem. She constantly apologies, even
though she has done nothing wrong and has days when life does not seem worth living.
Sarah has twice attempted suicide.
The behaviourist view is based on what the individual has learned through personality traits
like optimism, pessimism, and other such tendencies. A behavioural psychologist
emphasises that all sorts of behaviour are brought about by learning and that human
behaviour is a product of experience. Pavlov and Skinner are two theorists who support the
behaviourist viewpoint. A theory known as classical conditioning was created by Pavlov. A
conditioned stimulus interacts with an unconditioned stimulus to produce a behavioural
response known as a conditioned response. This learning process is known as classical
conditioning. It has been claimed that the emergence of phobias is connected to classical
conditioning. Skinner created the operant conditioning hypothesis. Operant conditioning
includes education based on the results of behavioural actions.
The social learning theory is based on how people learn other people that they are
exposed to in the environment. The social learning theorists believe that we learn through
observation and imitation from the media and environment. This is called observational
learning which was developed by Albert Bandura. Bandura states that people observe their
role models and their actions. The social learning theory believes that role models are
important as we learn new behaviours from them by imitating behaviours of the role model.
An example of how this affects other individuals is that if a child who has a celebrity as a role
model they might observe how the role model acts through the media and the child may
imitate them whether the role model is acting in a negative or positive way the child would
still imitate them. This could affect the child in a negative way as they might copy negative
,things from their role model. There are certain factors that are associated with role modelling
such as availability which is when behaviour is observed within the environment. Attention is
when the individual must focus on the behaviour and its consequences. Retention is when
the individual stores the behaviour that they have distinguished in their long-term memory so
that it can stay there for a long time. Reproduction is when the individual has the ability and
skills to carry out the behaviour themselves.
Motivation is when the individual receives the same reward (positive reinforcement) for
copying and observing the role model’s behaviour that they have seen. Culture and society
could influence the individual’s behaviour. This is because different cultures have different
rules and customs meaning that it would impact an individual’s behaviour. An example of
this is that in the UK people of different socio-economic groups would have different
behaviours towards things e.g. the way that money is spent, how you talk to people that are
older than you and how you may eat your meals for example if you eat at the table or eat on
the sofa while watching television.
The self-fulfilling prophecy has an impact in the way that we behave towards others and
how we expect them to behave towards us. If we view our self as likeable, polite, and joyful
towards people that we meet it would create a favourable impression. This means that
people that come across as polite and such would receive positivity from others. If people
behave in a way that people is against them then they are more likely to behave aggressive
and augmentative. Role theory states that living in a different culture, society and social
groups would influence us through others. Bandura is an example of this as he brought up
attention to the fact that people are influenced by their role models and by trying to imitate
their behaviour. This can influence and lead us to take up certain roles and try living up to
the expectations of that role.
The psychodynamic perspective is associated with Sigmund Freud who developed the
theory of psychodynamic psychology and the treatment called psychoanalysis. Freud
believed that we are not always aware of certain aspects of ourselves and that we are aware
of our conscious mind but not aware of our unconscious mind such as certain memories,
feelings, and past experiences which are locked away. He also believed that certain things
from our unconscious mind leaks out either through our dreams or tongue. The conscious
mind was like the tip of an iceberg as Freud believed that just the small part of the mind that
is available to awareness and the parts of the unconscious that we can easily access is
called the pre-conscious.
Freud believed that people all go through different stages of psychosexual development. At
the different stages the individual’s libido is concentrated on a part of the body that is
specifically relevant at that stage. If the need is met at each stage, then you would be able to
move to the next developmental stage. If there is a struggle or dissatisfying experience the
individual would be fixated at this stage. Another example of the importance of early
experiences is the development of the ego defence mechanism. The defence mechanism is
used to block out from consciousness and threats from any events. Examples of the defence
mechanism is repression, regression, denial, displacement and reaction formation. Freud
believed that the model of the mind is built in three dynamic parts. The Id is something that
we are born with it is about consists of sexual, aggressive, love, and death instincts. This is
part of the mind where it is unconscious.
The ego operates on the reality principles and it sustains the requests of the id and stops the
superego from being to harsh. The superego is about the values and morals of society that
is learned from your parents or others which is called the moral principle.
, The humanistic perspective is about the human experiences from the individual’s point of
view. It is also about free will and how we are all capable to make choices of our own.
Maslow is associated with the humanistic approach and believed that everyone is wanting to
become the best that they can be spiritually, physically, emotionally and intellectually.
Maslow called this self-actualisation he believed that we are all born with the aspiration to
become the best that we can possibly be, but we must pass through other stages to reach
the last stage.
Maslow created a theory called the hierarchy of needs which he explained that human
beings require to meet certain basic needs before they can go to the next level. He believed
that if the physiological needs are not met such as breathing, food, water, sleep and such
then you would not be able to move on to the next stage. After the physiological stage it’s
the safety/security stage which is freedom from anxiety, health, stability and such. Then love
and belonging which is friendships, family, and sexual intimacy. Self-esteem is the next
stage which includes confidence respect and such. The final stage is self-actualisation which
is the ability to achieve full potential. Another psychologist associated with the humanistic
perspective is Carl Rogers.
Carl Rogers was the founder of the concept person-centred therapy and was intrigued in the
concept of self. Self-concept is about the way that you view yourself including your physical
and biological attributes such as how short or tall you are, personal traits and such. Self-
concept is established from an early or young age. If a child is told that they are no good and
that they are bad, then their self-concept will contain these features. However, if a child is
applauded and valued then they would have a positive self-concept. Self-esteem is about
how we allocate a value to ourselves. This is linked to self-concept however it more about
what we believe we are worth.
A child that is cared for loved and respected are more likely to think of themselves as worthy
of love and affection as well as have self-acceptance. A child on the other had who is has
low self-esteem would believe that they are unworthy and unlovable. This could then make
them be withdrawn, shy or aggressive. Incongruence is what rogers believed that we hold
which is called the ideal self. This is about how we see our self as we feel we should be or
like to be. If there is an incongruence between our self and our ideal self, then we may
become unhappy.
The cognitive perspective is about how the brain processes information. Psychologist in
this field view the brain activity as an operation of a computer dealing with data. Jean Piaget
is associated with this perspective as he noticed that children of the same age group were
making the same mistakes in logic. He believed that the development in cognition runs
through a series of stages. The first stage is called sensorimotor stage which is from 0-2
years of age. This is when the infant learns through their senses and actions such as taste,
sight and such. At this stage the infant is experiencing the world through motor activity. The
next stage is called pre-operational which is from 2-7 years and at this stage the child
develops memory and language.
The child also develops egocentrism and lacks conversation skills. Next is the concrete
operational stage from 7-11 years which is when the child can start to understand
conversations however, they can’t yet solve problems mentally. The child is also no longer
egocentric and can understand things from a different point of view. The last stage is called
formal operation which is from 11+ years and Piaget believed that children at this age had
the same thinking level as an adult. He believed that children developed the ability to use
abstract thoughts and solve problems mentally. Information processing theory is about how
people learn to mentally process information. As a child grows older their ability to process
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