Professional Documents
Culture Documents
This portfolio is your final presentation. Depending on class size, delivery of presentations will take
place throughout Weeks Two, Three, and Four.
Create an original 20- to 30-minute capstone portfolio presentation that demonstrates your core
content knowledge. Presentation modalities may include, but are not limited to,
Microsoft PowerPoint presentations of 12 to15 slides, videos, and so forth.
Complete the following in your presentation:
Explain which theories you like and why you like them.
Explain which theories you dislike and why you dislike them.
Explain if there is a new method that you can apply to or research in psychology.
Explain how you used critical or creative thinking in the creation of the presentation.
For Local Campus students, these are 20- to 30-minute oral presentations accompanied by
Microsoft PowerPoint presentations.
For Online and Directed Study students, these are Microsoft PowerPoint presentations with
notes
Introduction:
Psychological theories are the grounds of psychology from which we gain an
understanding of the various aspects within this discipline. The many psychological
theories help to enlighten the connection that exists among body and mind. It is the
psychological theories that psychologists and therapists draw knowledge from in
order to effectively and correctly help individuals with mental illnesses overcome
their issues. Or at the very least function.
THEORIES
Cognitive Theories ( key points of this theory are attention, organization, memory and
recall).
each trait they possess, their personality will differ. Trait theory is the fact
that traits are permanent in the person, and will not change much over life.
The fourth is the cognitive-social learning theory. This theory suggests
people's personalities revolve around past experiences, what they have
learned, what others have experienced, and their surrounding environment.
In this theory people have certain expectations, and guides for their behavior
(Goodwin, 2005).
Most of the theories in behaviorism have problems even though they did lay
the groundwork for other theories. I do like B.F. Skinners operant
conditioning because I have always believed in changing behavior through
positive or negative reinforcement. An example is a teacher awards points to
those students who are the most calm and well-behaved. Students
eventually realize that when they voluntarily become quieter and better
behaved, that they earn more points. Cognitive theories I like best because
they mostly view the mind as a computer that can be programmed or
reprogrammed through a learning experience. My favorite is Piagets
cognitive stages of development. He opened the door in the educational
experience and how we view it. Humanist theories are okay if used in
conjunction with cognitive theories. Maslows hierarchy of needs gives a
wonderful description of a developmental goal for most people. Personality
theories address the complexity of humans. Even though Freud has been
controversial I like his basic understanding that opened up a new avenue in
psychology through psychoanalysis. The future of psychology lies in
explaining how mind, the brain, other biological systems of the body, and
human environments interact to produce behavior. Research in all these
theories will have a positive impact on psychologys future. All of the theories
have affected my view because many explain why we act and react the way
we do including me. It has given me a better understanding of my own view
of myself.
----This final class has summed everything up and made everything come
together as a whole on just what type of impact psychology has had on our
world. I used critical and creative thinking in this slide show by introducing all
the aspects and types of theories on psychology.
Conclusion:
When deciding how to present this portfolio the main issue was which theories I felt were most
important to me. I remembered first learning about certain theories and these are the ones
presented here. I have attempted to show the scientist I felt had the most influence in each of the
categories. Research into genetics and neuropsychology will be the future of psychology. Also I
believe there will be more sub-categories in the future as psychology expands into other areas
beyond education, business, and clinical.
References:
Goodwin, C. J. (2005). A history of modern psychology (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Berk, Laura,E. (2010). Development Through the Life Span (5th ed.). Retrieved from The
University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.