At this point in modern psychology, the varying viewpoints on human behavior have been split into eight different perspectives: biological, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, psychodynamic, sociocultural, evolutionary, and biopsychosocial.

1. The Psychodynamic Perspective. The psychodynamic perspective originated with the work of Sigmund Freud. This view of psychology and human behavior emphasizes the role of the unconscious mind, early childhood experiences, and interpersonal relationships to explain human behavior, as well as to treat mental illnesses.

​A psychological perspective is a school of thought or a philosophy which would guide someone’s interpretation of an individual’s behavior​. Someone working from the ​biological perspective​would focus on how the brain and nervous system are working in combination to produce the aggressive behavior.

• Psychoanalytic Perspective.
• Humanistic Perspective.
• Trait Perspective.
• Social Cognitive Perspective.

If you want some work-life-balance, keeping the full-time job and doing a PhD at the same time is impossible. In most cases, having a consistent work-life-balance while doing a PhD alone is very hard. You can consider doing a part-time PhD that can be completed any time between 4 and 7 years (actual times may vary).

17 Answers. Each situation is different, and it might be hard to generalise, but roughly speaking, you can see a PhD thesis as requiring about 3-4 years working full time. For some people it might be a bit less, for others a bit more, but that’s a good average.

If you’re interested in teaching while doing your PhD, I’d recommend applying to programs where teaching is required (I did, for this reason). If this isn’t common in your field, you could try applying at universities known for undergraduate teaching: they are more likely to allow you to teach as part of your PhD.

A full-time PhD is regarded as a full-time commitment, so anything other than a supplementary job for a few hours per week is challenging. If you do decide to study part-time you may already have a job that will allow you to have flexible hours. Think also about part time work in a field that relates to your study.

It is actually very uncommon for students to do a Master’s before their Ph. D. That is because American universities don’t have this as a strict requirement. At the same time, it is also true that doctoral studies in the USA take anywhere between 6 and 8 years while in the EU are designed to last 3-4 years.