Common Psychological Theories – Behavioral sciences explore the cognitive processes within organisms and the behavioral interactions between organisms in the natural world. It involves the systematic analysis and investigation of human and animal behavior through the study of the past, controlled and naturalistic observation of the present and disciplined scientific experimentation and modeling.
It attempts to accomplish legitimate, objective conclusions through rigorous formulations and observation. Generally, behavior science deals primarily with human action and often seeks to generalize about human behavior as it relates to society.
Common Psychological Theories
There are numerous psychological theories that are used to explain and predict a wide variety of behaviors. One of the first things that a new psychology student might notice is that there are sure a lot of psychology theories to learn. Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, Erikson’s psychosocial theory, the Big Five theory, and Bandura’s social learning theory are just a few examples that might spring to mind.
Developmental Theories –
- Developmental theories provide a set of guiding principles and concepts that describe and explain human development. Some developmental theories focus on the formation of a particular quality, such as Kohlberg’s theory of moral development.
- Other developmental theories focus on growth that happens throughout the lifespan, such as Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development.
Grand Theories –
- Grand theories are those comprehensive ideas often proposed by major thinkers such as Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson, and Jean Piaget.
- Grand theories of development include psychoanalytic theory, learning theory and cognitive theory.
- These theories seek to explain much of human behavior but are often considered outdated and incomplete in the face of modern research.
- Psychologists and researchers often use grand theories as a basis for exploration but consider smaller theories and recent. research as well.
Behavioral Theories –
- Behavioral psychology, also known as behaviorism, is a theory of learning based on the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning. Advocated by famous psychologists such as John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner, behavioral theories dominated psychology during the early half of the twentieth century.
- Today, behavioral techniques are still widely used in therapeutic settings to help clients learn new skills and behaviors
Cognitive Theories –
- Cognitive theories of psychology are focused on internal states, such as motivation, problem-solving, decision-making, thinking, and attention.
Humanistic Theories –
- Humanistic psychology theories began to grow in popularity during the 1950s. While earlier theories often focused on abnormal behavior and psychological problems, humanist theories instead emphasized the basic goodness of human beings.
- Some of the major humanist theorists included Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow
Personality Theories –
- Personality psychology looks at the patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behavior that make a person unique.
- Some of the best-known theories in psychology are devoted to the subject of personality including the trait theory of personality, the “big 5” theory of personality, and Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development.
Social Psychology Theories –
- Social psychology is focused on helping us understand and explain social behavior.
- Social theories are generally centered on specific social phenomena, including group behavior, pro-social behavior, social influence, love and much more.
Importance of Psychological Theories:
Provide a Basis for Understanding the Mind and Behavior –
- Theories provide a framework for understanding human behavior, thought, and development.
- By having a broad base of understanding about the how’s and why’s of human behavior, we can better understand ourselves and others.
- Each theory provides a context for understanding a certain aspect of human behavior.
- Behavioral theories, for example, provide a basis for understanding how people learn new things.
Inspire Future Research –
- Theories create a basis for future research. Researchers use theories to form hypotheses that can then be tested.
- As new discoveries are made and incorporated into the original theory, new questions and ideas can then be explored.