The Impact of Perspectives on Love Relationships - Essay Example

Compare and contrast the impact of perspectives on love relationships: The biological perspective in psychology relies on factors such as genetics and other internal biological functions of the body. For instance, an individual’s personality may reflect the inherited traits of their father or mother. Psychodynamic perspective, on the other hand, tries to interpret the human behavior by tapping into the subconscious and the unconscious of the human mind. Psychodynamic theory in its original form is by far the most controversial of psychological perspectives because of its heavy leanings on the influences of sexual libido. Jean Piaget had a different view on the human psychology. His cognitive theory emphasizes primarily on the development of the mind and the resulting behaviors. Learning perspective in psychology is a key concept for behaviorist psychologists such as B. F Skinner. The main focus of these psychologists was experiences and the environment in which these experiences occurred to achieve relative permanence in behavioral change (Avis 71). The social perspective is similar to the learning theory in regards to relying in experience and the environment. However, the social perspective relies on the influence of other individuals on the overall behavior of an individual. All these perspectives interact in a cohesive or contradictory way but the end goal is to describe the behavior. This paper will reflect on the relationship young children have with the environment. The aim is to establish why children express and accept love from their care givers in different ways. The relationship between young children and their caregivers is imperative to their growth development and future as adults thereof. The female or mother figure in the lives of both male and female children is as such, a corner stone for the child’s development. Indeed, Freud postulated on the importance of a mother in the child’s life to a point where other theorists such as Carl Jung criticized his bias. Nonetheless, the first three stages of psychodynamic perspective namely oral, anal and phallic stage are crucial in shaping a child’s expression of love. At the oral stage, the child’s main pleasure point is the mouth. Gratification comes from feeding which is the mother’s role. From this point, the child’s affection for the mother is greater than that they have with the father. This theory suggests that there should be balanced care giving. This is because over gratification or under gratification leads to fixation and thus unbalanced affection. Children who are over gratified tend to be over indulgent. Other traits such as sarcasm which accompany a cold attitude towards others may arise from underfeeding which is not appropriate for a relationship as the individual is not receptive to other people’s feelings (Avis 42). During the anal stage, the main pleasure point is the anus. A child my become distant or close to their parent depending on how the parent toilet trains them. Those parents who punish a lot make the children distant; they tend to shy away from love and affection. In later years, the child may develop masochist tendencies that cause them to let allow other people to treat them unkindly. On the other hand, a child not punished enough or properly toilet trained constantly seeks affection from others. They feel worthless in the absence of love and affection. In later years, these children may develop sadistic tendencies that cause them to be cruel to others to mask their insecurities. The phallic stage is responsible for sexual tension within the child. Freud suggested that the boy has Oedipus complex whereby he feels sexual attraction for the mother. At this point, the boy needs love and care the most and tends to look for their mothers approval. Carl Jung calls the sexual attraction the girl feels for the father, Electra complex. The girl seeks approval from the father. The love at this point is one of acceptance as the child needs to feel that they match up to the standards of the opposite sex parent (Avis 42 & 45). In summary, Freud focuses on the ability of the child to express love. At this point, the biological perspective can give a more scientific approach for the covert or overt ability of children in expressing and accepting love. The genetic makeup of an individual is a crucial determinant of their behavior. Of all the observable traits, introverts and extroverts are the most likely inheritable traits. A child who is predominantly an introvert does not openly express love and affection for others even their parents. On the other hand, a child who is predominantly an extrovert expresses love more openly and accepts love from others easily. At the early stages, an introvert child may show lack of interest when their mother leaves them or comes back. An extrovert may do the opposite that is cry when the mother leaves and show joy when the mother returns. As the child develops, an introvert gets satisfaction from the knowledge that their mother loves them while an extrovert will want these feelings expressed in physical action such as hugs and tokens of appreciation. However, these extremes are in few individuals. Most people tend to be ambiverts which describes a mix of the two extreme. As such, their mental development determines their ability to express their love for others (Avis 239). The cognitive theory by Jean Piaget has five stages. The first stage is the schema where the child has preconceptions of the world. In regard to this paper, the child schema for a mother is tenderness, provider, love and security. Such a child is easy to love themselves and others around them. This schema is not universal as there are children whose mothers were absent or irresponsible in which case the child’s schema may be insecurity, harsh treatment and a feeling of worthlessness. Such children do not love easily and tend to be cruel to others and even themselves. These schemas form the foundation for subsequent developmental stages. The second stage is assimilation which involves adding new information into an existing schema. For instance, a child may realize that a mother goes to work, cleans the house, and takes care of other siblings if any. This shows that the child is accepting that the mother’s responsibility is not solely to them and is, therefore, capable of sharing love (Avis 76 & 241). The last stages of cognitive development have no clear, distinguishing start and end point. The third stage is accommodation that entails adding totally new information into their existing knowledge. For instance, not all female s are mothers. Distinguishing the different roles of these individuals and still maintain the affection that is a common denominator for each the child needs adaptation. These means the child needs to distinguish the different types of love each person has. A mother has parental love; a sister has sibling love, and a teacher has obligatory love. This fourth stage allows for the child to separate the different roles of these individuals in their lives. As such, the child needs to establish equilibrium in cognitive functioning. This enables them to classify relationships in regard to the extent of affection of the presumed relationship. A child may cry when they are expressing emotion to their mother, but act unmoved when expressing the same issue to their peers in school. The initial stages of a child’s development are full of imagination and fantasies. In the event, that this child does not separate the real from the unreal then their relationship with others will be in strain (Avis 76 & 241). This is where social cultural perspective and learning theory of personality is applicable. The individual in this case is not solely responsible for their view of love, lack or presence of it thereof. On the learning perspective, Pavlov and Skinner both agree that the effects of learning are more adverse in relation to the results of an experience (Avis 69). Children, through this principle learn how to express love to their caregivers. At the adaptation stage of cognitive development, a child, through learning, distinguishes true love from fantasy love. For instance, at the phallic stage of development, a child expressing sexual attraction to the father will receive fatherly love. With time, the child learns that the only love their father is capable of giving is fatherly love and resigns herself to giving the appropriate love equal to what the father gives. Bandura on the social learning theory says that the process of learning requires attention, retention, production and motivation (Avis 75). For an introvert child to express love, the need to do so may arise because other children and their caregivers express love. Once motivation is sufficient, the child watches how other children express love. With time, the child adopts the socially acceptable way of expressing love. Works Cited: Avis, Paul. Psychological Perspectives. Pearson: Pearson S. A, 2009. Read More