Applying Psychological Theories To My Life

By Author: ANTHONY BILLS
Total Articles: 158
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Psychology can be regarded as a science of mind and behavior. The main goal of Psychology is to understand and the humanity by discovering the general principles and also in exploring specific cases and it main aim is to benefit the society. There are different names given to different professionals in this field, psychologist can either be a social scientist, behavioral and cognitive scientist. The scientist tries to understand the role of mental functions and in an individual and also the social behaviors and will also explore the psychological and neurobiological processes that dictate some functions and behaviors.
Psychologists explore different concepts like the cognition, emotion, phenomenological motivation, personality and behaviors among others. The psychologists employ the empirical methods to solely refer to causal and the correlation relationships between the different psychological variables. On the other hand, there are other psychologists who don’t rely on empirical and deductive methods but rather rely on the symbolic interpretation and other forms of deductive methods. Those who mostly use these techniques ...
... include the clinical and the counseling psychologists. The psychology incorporates the natural and social science and humanities (Egon and Yvonna, 34).

The psychological knowledge is applied to assess and treat mental health problems and also is applied to understanding and solving the problems in different and various ways in human activities. Though most of the psychologists are involved in different kind of therapeutic role and on the other hand, most of the researches that are done on psychology relates to social and mental behaviors and processes.
Psychological Theories
There are many and different psychological theories which are closely linked to each other and are divided into three main categories, behaviorism, constructivism and cognitivism. There are different ways these theories are applicable to human life and the dictate how human life is carried and taken through. Theories are used to define some reasons on how people think and act or behave and respond to some matters.
Behaviorism Theory:
Behaviorism theory is the earliest psychological theory. The theory was dominant in the 1950s and 60s and has a high influence even today although there are other new theories that have gained grounds over it.
Behaviorism is also regarded as a learning theory or a learning perspective where all physical actions are regarded as behaviors. According to the theory, all things that are done by organisms including acting, thinking and feeling are regarded as behaviors. Behaviorism is a development theory and observes the behaviors that are done by learners to respond to stimuli. The response to stimuli can either be positive or negative to certain a given kind of behaviors. In the behaviorism, punishment is one of the actions taken to reduce or eliminate the wrong doing while on the other hand; reward can be used to reinforce a good action or something good that has been done. Effects of behaviorism have helped in shaping one’s life and also in developing the skills through the right way and understanding the desired way of doing things (Egon and Yvonna, 54).
According to the behavior theory, knowing is positive response that is given to a certain stimulus. According to the theory, the behaviorists are not concerned on how the knowledge was acquired but rather the right response was given. Behaviorism is precisely described a way of acquiring new behavior. In terms of concepts, the process is passive with regard to the behaviorist. The learner can rely on the materials to adapt on the situation and also influence some behaviors which on the other hand are adopted from the real contexts of the real world (Egon and Yvonna, 64).
The experiments by behaviorists identify the conditioning as a universal process of learning. There are two main types of conditioning and each yield different behavioral patterns.
• Classic conditioning- This occurs when a natural reflux responds to stimulus. We are in one way or another wired in a way that some stimulus will respond in one way or another giving a specific reason. For example, when there is a forum and there needs a participation, some people may have fear to speak in public or may respond or behave in a specific manner that will show that they precisely have fear. In general, classic conditioning gives a way on how stimulus gives response to some feelings or show physically about the internal issue that have influenced the issue.
• Behavioral/ operant conditioning- this type of conditioning occurs when there is a response to a stimulus. In a simple term, operant conditioning can be regarded as simple feedback response system. For example, when a reward is given to respond to the behavior that has already occurred, it reinforces the occurrence of the behavior in future. In most cases, for example in schools, when a student is rewarded for having performed well, there is a probability that the student will work harder because is already motivated.
Critics of behaviorism
There have been many criticism of behaviorism theory.
• The behaviorism does not account all kind of human activities because it does not recognize or account the issue of mind.
• Behaviorism accounts for only those things with reinforcement mechanism; it ignores things like how children behave when acquiring a new language which has no way of reinforcement.
• Behaviorism ignores some other organisms even though they have notable behavior changes in response to the surroundings.
How behaviorism impacts my life
The behaviorism theory is simple to understand and tell ho it affects my life because it entitles only the observable behaviors. Its positive and negative effects have influenced and shaped the decisions that I make in my life and also in recognizing what am supposed to do and the impacts it might have to others and I. Behaviorism has been effective in treating the antisocial behaviors processed by many and also help in eliminating behaviors that could lead to bad behaviors and also encouraging behaviors that are helpful and effective to.
Cognitive theory
Cognitive theory mostly focuses on ones thoughts as a determinant of his behaviors and emotions. It attempts to explain the behavior of human beings; this is done by understanding the thinking processes. The theory works on the assumption that humans are logical beings and that they make choices depending on what makes most sense to them. The human mind is compared to information processing of the computer. Cognitive theory can also be used to refer to the development of persons thought processes this includes remembering, decision making and problem solving, right from childhood through the adolescence stage to adulthood (Phillips & Jonas, 42).
There are various subjects under the cognitive theory that try to explain the different aspects of the theory, these are; social cognitive theory which focuses on the various ways in which we learn to model the behaviors of other people. This theory is used in treating psychological problems including phobias. Also there is the cognitive development theory that focuses on the nature of knowledge and how human beings come to acquire, construct and use it. It is about the development of human intelligence and how a person perceives, gains understanding and thinks of his world through interactions of learned factors and genetic factors. Last but not least is the cognitive behaviorism which is a blended theory that incorporates both the behaviorism and the cognitive theory.
The cognitivism replaced the behaviorism in the 1960s and it dominated as the main paradigm. The theory mostly focuses in the inner mental activities and it opens up the mind of human being and tries to understand how people learn and interpret different issues and responds to them. The theory helps in understanding why some responses are given by people. Learning is defined as a change in the learner’s schemata (Phillips & Jonas, 35).
In responding to behaviorism, people are not programmed to do some things, they are independent and can do whatever they find good for them. People require participation in different activities and which their responses to this would be as a factor of what they think. The changes of behavior which is physical can be learned through observing the responses of what they think. The cognitive theory depends on the mind as a metaphor of mind, because the information comes in, processed and influences the change in behavior.
Cognitivism is a predominant perspective in which the human learning is described and explained. It emphasizes on the mental process in which it proposes that mental process can be unique to different species. Cognitivism continually emphasizes that the real cause of the behavior has more and great role to play in order to enact a certain role to occur. For instance, for a child to adapt and learn better, it’s a role of the teacher to ensure he is giving the right information and material to the student.
Application of cognitivism in life plays a vital role as it allows the external factor influence the internal factors. In most cases, the surroundings are the greatest cause and influence of what behavior will occur. Example, when the rain starts falling, everyone runs towards places where they can at least prevent themselves from rain. The rain is the main cause of people adopting that kind of behavior.