Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

Contemporary Psychology11by environmental causes. Many psychologists who work in the area of mentalhealth also emphasize the behavioral perspective in explaining and treating psychologicaldisorders. In Chapter 5, on learning, and Chapter 14, on therapies, we’lldiscuss different applications of the behavioral perspective.The Humanistic PerspectiveThe influence of the work of Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow continues to be seenamong contemporary psychologists who take the humanistic perspective. Thehumanistic perspective focuses on the motivation of people to grow psychologically, theinfluence of interpersonal relationships on a person’s self-concept, and the importanceof choice and self-direction in striving to reach one’s potential. Like the psychodynamicperspective, the humanistic perspective is often emphasized among psychologists workingin the mental health field. You’ll encounter the humanistic perspective in the chapterson motivation (8), personality (10), and therapies (14).The Positive Psychology PerspectiveThe humanistic perspective’s emphasis on psychological growth and human potentialcontributed to the recent emergence of a new perspective. Positive psychologyis a field of psychological research and theory focusing on the study of positiveemotions and psychological states, positive individual traits, and the social institutionsthat foster those qualities in individuals and communities (Peterson, 2006;Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000; Seligman & others, 2005). By studying theconditions and processes that contribute to the optimal functioning of people,groups, and institutions, positive psychology seeks to counterbalance psychology’straditional emphasis on psychological problems and disorders (Gable &Haidt, 2005; Seligman & others, 2006).Topics that fall under the umbrella of positive psychology include personal happiness,optimism, creativity, resilience, character strengths, and wisdom. Positivepsychology is also focused on developing therapeutic techniques that increase personalwell-being rather than just alleviating the troubling symptoms of psychologicaldisorders (Snyder & Lopez, 2005). Insights from positive psychology researchwill be evident in many chapters, including the chapters on motivation and emotion(8); lifespan development (9); personality (10); stress, health, and coping(12); and therapies (14).The Cognitive PerspectiveDuring the 1960s, psychology experienced a return to the study of how mentalprocesses influence behavior. Often referred to as “the cognitive revolution” in psychology,this movement represented a break from traditional behaviorism. Cognitivepsychology focused once again on the important role of mental processes in how peopleprocess and remember information, develop language, solve problems, and think.The development of the first computers in the 1950s contributed to thecognitive revolution. Computers gave psychologists a new model for conceptualizinghuman mental processes—human thinking, memory, and perceptioncould be understood in terms of an information-processing model. We’ll considerthe cognitive perspective in several chapters, including Chapter 7, onthinking, language, and intelligence.neuroscienceThe study of the nervous system, especiallythe brain.positive psychologyThe study of positive emotions and psychologicalstates, positive individual traits, andthe social institutions that foster positiveindividuals and communities.Influence of Culture on Behavior: SocialLoafing Versus Social Striving Crossculturalpsychology highlights the factthat common behaviors are not alwaysuniversal. On Micronesia’s Ifalik Island,these islanders are working together toset a large fishing net. In highly collectivisticcultures like Micronesia, people tend towork harder in a group than when alone.This behavior, called social striving, contrastswith social loafing, which refers to expendingless effort as the size of the group increases(Latané & others, 1979). Althoughonce thought to be universal, social loafingis more common in individualistic cultures(Bond & Smith, 1996).The Cross-Cultural PerspectiveMore recently, psychologists have taken a closer look at how cultural factorsinfluence patterns of behavior—the essence of the cross-cultural perspective.By the late 1980s, cross-cultural psychology had emerged in fullforce as large numbers of psychologists began studying the diversity of humanbehavior in different cultural settings and countries (Berry & Triandis,2006). In the process, psychologists discovered that some well-establishedpsychological findings were not as universal as they had thought.