Analysis of humanism and behaviorism

Document Type:Research Paper

Subject Area:Psychology

Document 1

The result of this was the birth of seven different perspectives of psychology which shape the scholarly world as it is today. The different perspectives include Behaviorism, Humanism, Cognitive, Psychodynamic, Biological, Evolutionary, and Socio-cultural perspectives of human psychology. Make no mistake the seven perspectives do not necessarily have to be looked at as competing pieces of the same field because out of the exploration of these scientists we get to understand human beings even better (Kramer, 2009). Of the seven perspectives, this paper will put more effort into two of these perspectives and evaluate the building blocks of these psychological perspectives and further look at the main differences and similarities in the said principles. One of the two psychological perspectives that this paper will put more emphasis on is the Behavioral perspective; whose most popular subscribers include B.

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According to these psychologists, human beings are innately good, and every decision that they make are made with the best intentions in mind (Cherry, 2019). Similarities The development of humanism school of thought owes its success to the works of influential theorists like Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers. Abraham Maslow, in 1943, devised the Theory of Human Motivation which explained human motivation in the form of a hierarchy of needs. Later on, in the 1950s Maslow and other psychologists convened a conference to discuss the formation of an organization that would be more devoted to the humanistic perception of psychology. They came to an agreement that the themes that were to be central in this organization’s new approach were to be, self-realization, individuality, and creativity among other related topics (Ross, 2018).

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In Behaviorism the operant conditioning has the aspect of positive reinforcement, which is also the case in Humanism where the view is that people should be given positive regards unconditionally in order to realize the good within them. Differences Just from the name itself, the behavioural perspective of psychology is keen on the observable actions or reactions of human beings to stimuli. Behaviourists argue that all actions of human beings are due to some reason and totally disregard free will because according to them, to all actions are learned. The psychologists from this school of thought tend to emphasize on the drive as the main cause of human actions. Drive only occurs when the normal body order of human beings is interrupted and thus necessitates restoration.

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Skinner published his book, Behavior of Organisms, where he first introduced the ideas of Operant Conditioning (Specter, 2018). Scientists from the behavioural school of thought are also convicted to the knowledge that everything known to a person is learned. This borrows heavily from the theory of Tabula Rasa (Clean/Blank slate) which posits that the brain of a child is blank at the time it is born. This means that whatever the child gets to know as they grow up is learned from their environments. This theory is in agreement with the theories of conditioning which posits that human behaviour stems from their past experiences. Unlike behaviourists, humanists think not of human beliefs, feeling, and thoughts as a product of their surroundings.

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Instead, they study the experiences one had while growing, their human meaning, and understanding. According to humanists, all people share traits like self-worth, and qualities like care, love and grief (Cherry, 2019). Humanism Behaviourism Examines abstract components of a human being like emotions, reason Examines observable actions of human beings like running away from danger or eating Assumes that humans have free will Disregards the possibility of human beings having free will Disregards the ideographic approach of psychology Embraces the ideographic approach of psychology Assumes that human beings naturally possess the characteristics and values of being good Assume that everything human beings know is leaned Table 1. 1 Differences between Behaviorism and Humanism References Cherry, K. Behaviorist Approach. Simply Psychology, 21-32. Specter, H. Behavioral perspectives of psychology.

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