| Perspective | Focus | Sample Questions | Examples of Subfields Using This Perspective |
|---|
| Neuroscience | How the body and brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences | How do pain messages travel from the hand to the brain? How is blood chemistry linked with moods and motives? | Biological; cognitive; clinical |
| Evolutionary | How the natural selection of traits has promoted the survival of genes | How does evolution influence behavior tendencies? | Biological; developmental; social |
| Behavior genetics | How our genes and our environment influence our individual differences | To what extent are psychological traits such as intelligence, personality, sexual orientation, and vulnerability to depression products of our genes? Of our environment? | Personality; developmental; legal/forensic |
| Psychodynamic | How behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts | How can someone’s personality traits and disorders be explained by unfulfilled wishes and childhood traumas? | Clinical; counseling; personality |
| Behavioral | How we learn observable responses | How do we learn to fear particular objects or situations? What is the most effective way to alter our behavior, say, to lose weight or stop smoking? | Clinical; counseling; industrial-organizational |
| Cognitive | How we encode, process, store, and retrieve information | How do we use information in remembering? Reasoning? Solving problems? | Cognitive neuroscience; clinical; counseling; industrial-organizational |
| Social-cultural | How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures | How are we alike as members of one human family? How do we differ as products of our environment? | Developmental; social; clinical; counseling |