Sharni Leech
Unit 11: Psychological perspectives
Examining human behaviour and contributions to the management and
treatment of service users in health and social care
Theories in psychology, often known as psychological perspectives, offer several explanations
for how people evolve and grow over time, how they pick up knowledge and abilities, and how
their behaviour and personalities alter. Many approaches to thinking about development are
provided by psychological views, which can aid in our understanding of the many elements that
contribute to growth and change across a variety of areas, including cognitive, social,
emotional, and physical development.
P1: Explain how psychological perspectives are applied to the understanding
of human development
Behaviourist perspectives
Behaviourism differs from many other theories in that it holds that people (and animals) are
influenced by their surroundings and that we are the product of all that we have learnt from it.
The behaviourist viewpoint is interested by how environmental factors (referred to as a stimuli)
influence human behaviour (called the response). It also focuses on observable behaviours and
how environmental elements like reinforcement, punishment, and modelling affect and modify
them. This viewpoint is frequently used to comprehend how parenting practises and
disciplinary methods can affect a child's growth as well as how youngsters learn new skills and
habits through positive and negative reinforcement.
A Russian psychologist named Ivan Pavlov created the behaviourist perspectives “classic
conditioning” hypothesis. According to the theory of classic conditioning, people might react to
stimuli in an unconditioned way. Pavlov used dogs as an example to demonstrate how canines
could be classically trained to salivate in response to the ringing of the bell if it was presented
to them repeatedly while they were being fed. Bell sounds initially had no effect on the dogs’
salivation, making it a neutral response. They began to salivate as he then offered them with
food. The food was the unconditioned stimulus and salivation was an unconditional response.
On the other hand, if Pavlov rung a bell before giving the dog food, the dog would soon start to
salivate at the sound of the bell since it had been trained to link the bell with the food.
Salivation would change from being a reflective response to the bell becoming a conditioned
stimulus. Humans can use this to comprehend their responses and behaviour. It demonstrates
how some actions or reactions are a result of what we have been instructed in or otherwise
conditioned to do. It is believed that illogical fears and phobias are acquired though classical
,conditioning. Another instance is conditioned nausea, where a person experiences nausea at
the sight or scent of a certain food because it previously caused the upsetting of their stomach.
Operant conditioning, according to Frederik Skinner, argues that punishment and reward leads
to behaviour modification and learning. Reinforcement solidifies an action and increases the
likelihood that the behaviour will be repeated in the future. Punishment, on the other hand,
makes a response weaker and less likely that the behaviour will happen again. In his opinion,
conditioning mechanisms produce all learning. According to Skinners hypothesis, kids pick up
lessons through the results of their actions. “Parents apply principles of operant conditioning to
help teach their children about safety and shape them into healthy, productive members of
society,” says Hettema. Parents use operant conditioning by sending their kids to their room as
a form of punishment. Because the parents used negative reinforcement by sending them to
their room, this will make them less likely to repeat that behaviour in the future.
Social learning perspective
The social perspective places a strong emphasis on the significance of social and cultural
settings in determining how people develop. The perspective is useful in comprehending how
family dynamics, socialisation, and cultural standards can affect child growth and development,
including the creation of relationships and identity.
, The social learning theory, according to Bandura claims that people learn by imitating or
modelling the behaviours of others, especially those they view as role models. This is
demonstrated by Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment, which discovered that kids modelled the
actions of their parental figures. He argued that the effects of a behaviour can determine
whether or not it is repeated. For instance, if a behaviour is accompanied by an enjoyable
outcome or reward, it is more likely to be performed again, whereas a behaviour is less likely to
be repeated if it is followed by a negative result or punishment.
The theory also touches on the self-fulfilling prophecy, in which a person is given a label
describing themselves, others, or society at large and therefore live according to because they
believe it about themselves. For instance, if a teacher thinks a certain student is a problem,
they can unintentionally treat that individual differently, which can cause the student to turn
out to be a troublemaker because of how they were treated. Numerous aspects of life,
including relationships, health, and education, may be significantly impacted by this. When
people are aware of the self-fulfilling prophecy, they can identify and confront unhelpful ideas
and expectations, which will result in more positive outcomes. The self-fulfilling prophecy,
however, can also be a bad thing if it results in discrimination, for example.
In addition to education, psychology, and health promotion, the social learning theory has been
used in many other fields. It has been applied to explain how children pick up aggressive
behaviours from watching violent media, how individuals pick up new abilities through
imitation and modelling, and how social support can enhance health outcomes by promoting
healthy behaviours.
As well as influencing attitudes towards particular behaviours or beliefs, culture can also have
an impact on societal standards and norms in addition to what is deemed acceptable or
unacceptable. The legal system, government, and the economy are just a few examples of the
bigger social structures and organisations that have an impact on how we behave. Through
rules, regulations and cultural standards, society can affect individual behaviour.
According to the role model theory, people might pick up good behaviour from individuals who
they respect and appreciate. A person who acts as an inspiration to others or anybody else who
is viewed as having desirable traits or abilities is known as a role model. Examples may include
parents, teachers or celebrities. The theory suggests that people are more prone to imitate the
attitudes and behaviours of their role models. In addition to helping people develop and
