There are many different reasons that Alice may be having a difficult time being successful in math. Looking at Alice’s predicament from a psychodynamic perspective it may be assumed that at some point in Alice’s life she did not receive enough gratification or she received too much gratification at one of the stages of development. Most likely in Alice’s case this would have occurred during the ages of 12 months to 3 years during the anal stage where she would develop doubts about self, and lack of independence, or during the ages of 5-6 which is the latency stage where she would develop feelings of inferiority and no sense of mastery. Another approach to the reasons behind Alice’s difficulty in math could be observed through the behavioral perspective. With this theory it could be deduced that because for so many years Alice tried hard to be successful at math and failed at all attempts that she stopped trying. This is an example of operant conditioning. By Alice receiving negative feedback from all of her attempts to do well at math she learned that no matter what she tried to do she would still not be able to succeed. She was negatively reinforced for her positive behavior which in turn led to her no longer trying to succeed. We can next look at a cognitive perspective for Alice’s trouble in math. With this theory it might be assumed that because Alice does not do well at math that she does not have the mental capabilities to be successful and that she does not value math at all. Perhaps Alice never learned good study techniques or never learned how to focus on math. Perhaps she doesn’t care if she succeeds at math or if she ever learns how to do it. Looking at Alice from a humanistic perspective it can be assumed that over time as Alice grows and matures, she will choose through her own free will that she does want to succeed at math. She will realize her own potential and through self-actualization strive to reach her fullest potential and become a whiz at