Question

PSYCHOLOGY HOMEWORK PLEASE HELP??

Using the cognitive and behavioral perspectives How might a psychologist in each of these perspectives approach John's situation? What might they think could be causing the situation? How might they try to resolve the situation?

Scenario: John is a 15 year old male. He lives with his mother who works multiple jobs to make ends meet. They reside in a rough lower socioeconomic neighborhood. He has not seen his biological father in 10 years. John spends a great deal of time with no adult supervision or influence and has started drinking alcohol. John had a history of being abused as a young child. John comes from an ethnic background that celebrates the importance of toughness in males. He gets acceptance from his peers who praise him for his toughness. Because he has had no real positive influences in his life, he often thinks very negatively about himself. He has been accused of bullying other kids in school and has been suspended on a number of occasions. He now faces the possibility of being expelled from school. His mother talks to the school psychologist about helping him look for more positive ways to express his strengths and masculinity.

Answer 1

Cognitive perspective in psychology is the study of internal mental processes like thinking, problem-solving, language, memory, attention, perception, and learning. It helps to study how the human brain works. It is not only the thinking pattern it studies it also studies how the thoughts impact one's behavior. It is the relationship between the input sensory stimuli that is leading to behavior through the thought process.

The behavior perspective is the effect of the environment that is external stimuli and how one responds to it. The environment is the peer group, social group, family members, neighbors, and teachers.

John’s background.

He is a 15-year-old male. He resides in a rough lower socioeconomic neighborhood with his mother who does multiple jobs to meet the household expenses. He has started drinking alcohol. He does not have any adult supervision. He comes from the ethnic groups that take toughness in a male as his strength.

He was the target of child abuse. He has not met his father for the last ten years. His toughness is praised by his peers. As he did not have any supervision and did not get parental love he has developed negative feelings towards life.

He was found bullying with other children and suspended from the school. Now he faces expulsion from the school. His mother is requesting the school authority to look at the positive side of her son and his strengths and masculinity.

The cause of his behavior is being neglected by the parents. As father had left him he did not have any support from him, and his mother is working the whole day. As he did not have guidance he was unable to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong. He is influenced by his peer who accepts him because he is a tough guy. Maybe he has started drinking alcohol due to peer pressure. At this age, the peer group influences more to the growing child.

He may be an intelligent boy but his ability is never tapped, as he did not get any support from an elderly person.

The behavior of the child as per the behavioral perspective is more influenced by his environment. At home, he is not guided, and in the school, due to his physique, he had started bullying other children, which means he has developed a negative trait.

As a psychologist, one should look into his cognitive ability, by asking him questions, his goal in the career, his future plans, his desire, ideas, and motivation. Once the therapist comes to know his desire and goal his ability and what prevents him from using his ability he can motivate John to devote more time to his studies. This is the age to learn for the future goal. As he is well built and has a strong physique he can be motivated to take part in school sports.

The environmental effect has created him to bully the children, throw his weight around, he has started drinking alcohol. He is on the verge of getting expelled from school. The psychologist's main aim has to tap his ability and motivate him because he is a growing child. He can mold his ways once he is motivated and made to focus on the positive aspects of life. As he is the target of child abuse and it is known that childhood experiences affect one’s life as per Sigmund Freud’s theory, it is important to study what he thinks about his past and how he wants to shape his future.

His mother’s request the school authorities to look at the positive side of his son, that is his well-built physique. The school can use him in his school team and get him busy in the sports activities. Because once his ability is accepted he will get motivated to act positively. He will even try to do well in his studies as well. The praise and acknowledging of his ability would act like reinforcement and reward would act as positive reinforcement.