Psychology of Learning and Motivation - Essay Example

Ethics Critique: Question One Psychological research is deeply rooted in examining and understanding why human beings do things the way they do. It focuses on the evaluation and assessment of the human mind and the underlying behaviors that are realized in the process. Human beings exhibit different behaviors and they also reason, act, and portray different emotions at any given point in time. These aspects are influenced by the environment in which an individual human being thrives over time. The growth and development of any given human being forms the basis of psychological research as researchers try to understand the thoughts, actions, and feelings of an individual across his/her life, and the influencing factors therein. According to psychological research, moral judgments are shaped by the human mind and behavior (Ross, et al.345). On the same note, moral judgments are influenced by what a person perceives to be right or wrong. In this respect, the issues of ethics moral, norms, and ethics emerge. These three issues vary from one person to another for differentiated reasons, among them individual growth and development, cultural effects, and the impact of the society on an individual. Therefore, based on the work of the mind and the underlying human behavior, a person can make moral judgments that do not necessarily match those that might be made by another person. Psychological research essentially explains how human beings make moral judgments, based on the human mind and behavior (Ross, et al.358). The right or wrong factor at an individual level is accounted for, alongside virtues and ethics that are also based on the human mind and behavior. The link between all the aforementioned variables can help in explaining the thoughts, judgments, or actions that an individual, or society for that matter, undertakes regarding any given situation or condition. In this respect, judgments or actions by human beings can be justified through psychological research. In understanding how human beings act, feel, and think prior to making moral judgments, psychological research factors in a number of variables that influence the whole process. To start with, human beings must be aware of some given form of morals in order to enable them make moral judgments. In other words, they must be in a good position to distinguish between right and wrong. This aspect is shaped by the environment, behavior, culture, and society among other variables. Once the human being is potentially in a position to differentiate right and wrong, the issue of moral judgment comes in relative to how it is realized and practiced. Morals and cultures are critically interlinked. The growth and development of human mind and behavior has essentially been captured by psychology studies through the relevant fields. The culture is the critical environment that an individual finds him/herself in, voluntarily or involuntarily. Since time immemorial, human beings organize them into differentiated groups or societies of people that develop a given system of livelihood. This system defines how its members interact and relate in different circumstances from time to time. The outcome of social groupings into cultures develops certain behaviors that orient the people involved to a given form of life. In circumstances that require taking actions or making judgments, the parties involved will act according to their behaviors and the underlying reasoning that has been shaped by the cultural mindset and all the individual and cultural behaviors therein. By examining human mind and behavior in the context of taking actions or making judgments that are based moral in nature, psychological research informs the whole process. In a broader context, the different social groupings and cultures found in a given society shape the mindset and the behavior of the broader society; social mindset and behavior. Social mindset and/or behavior are a collection of individual and cultural norms, morals, ethics, and behaviors that are harmonized to cater for the interests of all the parties involved. In this respect, the interest of many, if not all, members of the society are accounted for. Again, this is a matter of how human beings think, act, and feel in relation to their human mind and behavior (Ross, et al.366). This still serves the interests of psychological research in the moral judgments context. One of the most outstanding aspects of a human being is expression of emotions. Emotional responses by human beings to different circumstances vary from one individual to another. Emotions are critically influenced by human mind and behavior. The orientation of human mind towards specific situations affects action and reaction exhibited by human beings. Daily experiences are also factored in the process to constitute an emotional profile for an individual. Emotional responses are connected to the belief and behavior of a person, thereby informing that individual’s actions or judgments from time to time depending on emotional variances over time, subject to the underlying moral profile. Imagination is another critical factor that influences human behavior. Imagination is triggered by the human mind, resulting in variant imaginations across human beings. In this respect, human beings can hardly imagine or account for a given scenario through imagination in the same way. Again, human imagination is significantly influenced by human mind and behavior (Ross, et al.371). Diversity and dynamism in imagination is, therefore, exhibited differently by different people at different times. However, the common denominator is that judgments made by an individual or actions taken by human beings are critically linked to imagination. Essentially, this imagination is the result of human mind and behavior that psychological research examines. Psychological research is undertaken within several primary schools of thought in psychology, namely: structuralism, functionalism, psychoanalysis, behaviorism, humanism, and cognitivism (Ross, et al.379). These schools revolve around human mind, human behavior, and all the influencing factors in that line. In other words, human mind and behavior is studied across all the schools, with each focusing on how human mind and behavior fits in it. The variables that place human mind and behavior in each school are accounted for. In this respect, psychological research cannot fail to justify human judgment or action. Works Cited Ross, Brian, et al. Psychology of Learning and Motivation: Moral Judgment and Decision Making. New York: Academic Press, 2009. Read More