When someone says that psychology is a process of using simply common sense, this is far fetched. Psychology is the science of behavior and mental processes. (Myers,1998) Psychology is filled with hundreds of different theories and has been using studies to observe peoples behavior for years. Some parts of psychology are common sense, but every thing in life has some part of common sense in it. There are six major perspectives that the psychologists use when trying to figure out what is wrong with one of their patients. These different perspectives cover almost every possible area that can be covered.
Psychologists use these different perspectives to try and decipher what the person’s problems are and why they react the way they do. The first is a perspective called Neuroscience; this is how the body and brain create emotions, memories, and sensory experiences. The psychologists use this to perspective to try and figure out how the messages that the brain sends out are transmitted through out the body. (Myers. 1998) The psychologists use another perspective to find out how evolution influences behavior tendencies. This is called the evolutionary perspective. Behavior genetics is another perspective that is used to see how much our genes, and our environment, influence our individual differences. (Myers, 1998) These are all biological perspectives; the others have to do with the person’s environment.
Environment has a lot to do with the way that people react and behave in different situations. The psychologists use the behavioral perspective to find out how we learn observable responses. (Myers, 1998) The cognitive perspective is used to figure out how we process, store, and retrieve information. (Myers, 1998) The last of the perspectives is the behavioral one. This is when they try and figure out the different state of thinking and behavior between different cultures and situations. (Myers, 1998) The doctors could observe how and African would react to a situation and then test the same situation on an American and see how he reacts. (Myers, 1998) Research has a lot to do with what the doctors find in people. Whether it is just watching and observing a person or doing psychiatric tests. The only was that a doctor is able to find out what is wrong with the person is to do tests and research him.
There are two kinds of research that psychologists use to see how a patient is. The first is to conduct basic research, this builds the psychological knowledge base. They can do a variety of things with basic research. They can study the links between brain and mind, and study our changing abilities from the time of birth till the time that we die. The other kind of research that the psychologists can use is called applied research. This embarks upon the practical problems. Some psychologists study and advise on behavior in the workplace. Theses psychologists are called industrial/organizational psychologists and they use psychologies concepts to help the industries and businesses train their employees and help keep the employees happy. (Myers, 1998)
