Humanistic Vs Cognitive Psychology Essay

The scientific study of the mind and its activities, both normal and abnormal". This implies a united group of researchers working together on issues of human activity.Five of the major schools are outlined below (there are more, but these are the predominant ones) Behaviourism Behaviourist dismiss all mentalistic concepts and observe only external behaviour. They attempt to control the 'stimulus' and record the 'response' of an organism. They view people controlled by their environment and specifically that we are the result of what we have learned from our environment. The behaviourist purposes two main processes: namely classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Key figures: Pavlov, Thorndike, Watson, Skinner, Wolpe, Bandura.

Cognitive Psychology
It's a young and extremely scientific approach. Initiated by Wilhelm Wundt, those early laboratories
They also adopt a similar experimental (medical) model, but their main interest concerns the physical (or physiological) basis of behaviour and the relationship between Mind-and-Body. Research areas: central nervous system, split-brain, stress, biofeedback, drugs, sensory deprivation.

Humanistic Psychology
It does recognize human experiences but at the expense of being non-scientific in it method and ability to provide evidence. Research areas: the self, motivation, guilt, anger, worry, love. Key figures: Rogers, Maslow, Kelly, Dyer.

These various schools of thought reflect their dynamic subject matter: Human Beings. Each school is important and says something about certain aspects of behaviour. Each must be understood in terms of its own underlying assumptions, definitions, terminology, and methodology. An unwitting benefit of these five competing schools (plus many others) is that they keep a critical check upon each others research. Hopefully, in the long-run, there will arise a more realistic understanding of what it is to be