The American Psychological Association defines psychology as the scientific study of
the mind and behavior. Psychology is a wide discipline that acts as an umbrella for many other
subfields such as human development, cognitive processes, and social behavior. Psychology
dates back to the Ancient Greeks, that is, in 1879 when Wilhelm Wundt launched the first
laboratory dedicated to psychological research (Woody & Viney, 2017). In other words,
Wilhelm Wundt is fondly referred to as the father of psychology. The laboratory was built at the
University of Leipzig in Germany. Over the years, psychologists have discovered different ways
of thinking about human behavior (Woody & Viney, 2017). Therefore, psychology has
developed various schools of thought explaining how individuals think, feel, and behave. This
paper will provide an overview of psychology’s seven perspectives, discuss two views, discuss
their similarities, and conflict viewpoints. It will also discuss how the two differ from others, the
common viewpoints, and select one perspective that can help understand a psychological
disorder. Psychology Perspectives
The Psychodynamic Perspective is a school of thought stemming from the works of
Sigmund Freud. This perspective believes that human behavior is influenced by childhood
experiences, the unconscious mind, and interpersonal relationships. According to Freud, the
human mind comprises three elements, including the superego, which manages morals,
standards, and ideas (Cherry, 2019). The ego is the other aspect of the psyche, which deals with
the real world’s demands. Lastly, the id deals with all the desires, including the primal and the
unconscious ones. Psychology Perspectives

The Behavioral Perspective is the second school of thought in psychology. It builds on
Edward Thorndike and John Watson’s works and focuses on observable behaviors, mostly how they are learned and enforced (Cherry, 2019). In other words, the Behavioral Perspective is
concerned with how observable behavior is affected by stimuli or external factors. The
perspective argues that people often learn from the environment either through conditioning or
operant conditioning. Psychology Perspectives

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