Psychology’s Key Issues and Controversies

As you consider the many topics and perspectives that make up psychology, ranging
from a narrow focus on minute biochemical influences on behavior to a broad
focus on social behaviors, you might find yourself thinking that the discipline lacks
cohesion. However, the field is more unified than a first glimpse might suggest. For
one thing, no matter what topical area a psychologist specializes in, he or she will
rely primarily on one of the five major perspectives. For example, a developmental
psychologist who specializes in the study of children is likely to make use of the
cognitive perspective or the psychodynamic perspective more than the other major
perspectives.
Psychologists also agree on what the key issues of the field are (see Figure 3).
Despite major arguments regarding how best to address and resolve these key
issues, psychology is a unified science because psychologists of all perspectives
agree that the issues must be addressed if the field is going to advance. As you
contemplate these key issues, try not to think of them in “either/or” terms. Instead,
consider the opposing viewpoints on each issue as the opposite ends of a continuum,
with the positions of individual psychologists typically falling somewhere
between the two ends.
Nature (heredity) versus nurture (environment) is one of the major issues that
psychologists grapple with. How much of individual behavior is due to one’s
genetically determined nature (heredity), and how much is due to nurture (the
influences of the physical and social environment in which a child is raised)? Furthermore,
what is the interplay between heredity and environment? These questions
have deep philosophical and historical roots, and they are involved in many
topics in psychology.