People have various perspectives on different ideas.

The same applies to psychology and what people find probable and improbable. The more scientific the study is, the more reliable the practice has been shown. Four major perspectives that have been viewed are psychoanalysis, behaviorism, and humanistic and positive psychology. Psychoanalysis is a perspective highly popularized by Sigmund Freud in the 1890s. Its main points are that all of ones personal development is completed by the age of 5 and human behavior is driven by the unconscious mind. This is one of the two perspectives still used by many psychologists. Nowadays psychologists down play Freuds take on sex drive and emphasize more on cultural experiences. Although the unconscious mind and early childhood experiences are still central to psychoanalyses, many believe that people are constantly developing, not that they are done by a very early age. Behaviorism is based off of how people react to things rather than how the mind works. This is the second perspective that is still widely used to date. The main concept is that people and animals tend to repeat behaviors that come with positive consequences and avoid ones that lead to negative consequences. If a person puts their hand on a hot stove and burns him or herself, they will be unlikely to repeat this action in the future. As demonstrated by Pavlov, through training and conditioning, a dog can salivate simply from the sound of a bell because it knows that what leads the sound is a treat. Humanistic psychology is based off of peoples innate capacity for personal growth and their ability to make conscious choices. Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslows work contributed and concentrated greatly on this perspective. They believed in positive life experiences that play into peoples lives. When in clinical sessions, they attempted to be as personable as possible and feel genuine concern for their patients. Many criticized humanists because this perspective is least scientifically based and people would often feel like nothing was being done. Positive psychology branched off of humanistic psychology and has only been around in the past 10 years. The thought is that normal functioning of human beings cannot be accounted for within purely negative frames of reference. Because this perspective is more scientific, it has been predicted that this may guide the future of psychology. Positive psychologists study what makes people happy and optimistic in their daily lives.