Writing Assignment
Psychological Theory
As discussed in class, all theories that take human beings as their subject matter have, at their core, fundamental assumptions that they build upon. Each theory answers the question “What is a human being” somewhat differently and, as a result, each one places different emphasis on certain types of explanations of why people act and behave as they do.
Choose two of the five theoretical perspectives in psychology (listed below) presented in the text and class discussions and, after providing brief summaries of their main points, compare and contrast how they answer the question, “What is a human being.”
Choose two (2) of the following:
(1) the psychoanalytic theory of Freud;
(2) the psychosocial theory of Erikson;
(3) the behaviorism of Pavlov, Watson, and Skinner;
(4) the social learning theory of Bandura;
(5) Piaget’s cognitive theory;