The Study of Human Behavior - Essay Example

Introduction to Psychology - - Prajakta Kanegaonkar Q1: Six major perspectives on behavior. Behavior reflects as actions or reactions of a human being. This being the direct reflection of the mindset of a person, it has continued to be a subject of interest for behavioral scientists or psychologists. There are various factors that dominate the behavior of a human being. It became imperative to study the perspectives of human behavior to understand and interpret the logic of behavior. These perspectives are as follows: 1. The Cognitive Perspective Cognitive Perspective focuses on the study of mental processes such as think, perceive, remember and learn. This perspective is practically very useful. Various learning methods and techniques can be developed with the study of this perspective such as, enhancing memory skills, learning skills and retention of the data by the brain etc. the initial phase of behavioral psychology got diverted in the 1950s and the focus shifted to the processing of information by human brain. This period is known as cognitive revolution. This includes scientific research methods to study mental processes. There are various people who can make effective use of cognitive approach to behavioral study, such as teachers, trainers, educators, engineers, scientists, architects. All these people need to systematically process the information, store and retrieve it on time to make effective use of it. 2. Cross cultural perspective This concept explains the cultural influences on human behavior. To understand the concept let us first have a look at the definition of culture. Culture means many characteristics such as customs, attitudes, values, of a group of people which are passed on from one generation to another. A person belonging to one particular group would behave in one particular pattern or fashion. Although the basics of humanities do not change across the world, there are still considerable differences in the cultural and ethnic group the person belongs to. Today as the world is coming closer to form a global village it is all the more necessary to study cultural influences. For ex: in today’s corporate or business world it is not necessary that people from the same nationality or cultural group will work together. Chances are. The employees would have a mix of people from different cultures and nationalities. Understanding and respecting these differences enables the management to effectively implement strategies and policies within and outside the company. 3. The Biological Perspective This is also alternatively known as biopsychology. The physical aspects of a person would influence the person’s mental state and psychology to a large extent. It is therefore very necessary for a psychologist to understand and learn various biological functions of a human being. The study of brain and its functioning, genetics, hormonal balances and imbalances, illnesses all affect the human behavior a long way. For example, kids in the adolescent stage will behave differently than the kids in the preadolescent stage. 4. The Behavioral Perspective This particularly focuses on learned behavior of a human being. Although this concept has taken a backseat over a period of time, it still is an important concept to study when it comes to understanding the learning and reinforcing of behavior in a human being. Various therapies can be deviced with the help of this perspective. 5. The Evolutionary Perspective Evolution of a human being has provided interesting insights into the study of human behavior. Evolution brought about a lot of changes in the human beings, both physically as well as mentally. The study of evolution of man is a history of series of changing behavior which was not only dominated by the mental changes but also physical changes. The progress of a human being started taking place when man realized his superiority over other living forms. It has reflected in his behavior pattern and hence forms an interesting part of study of behavioral science and psychology. 6. The Humanistic Perspective This comes as the most logical extension of evolutionary perspective. Maslow in his theory of needs has stated that it is not only biological needs and changes that prompt a human being to behave in a certain way but also the emotional and various psychological motives as well. That is why his theory tends to analyze the human behavior from the basic biological need such as hunger and sleep and proceeds to the self-actualisation which prompts a person to go and seek acceptance from self as well as the society around. 7. The Psychodynamic Perspective This theory was developed by the eminent psychologist Sigmund Freud. He further developed the study of mind into two sections that is conscious and unconscious mind. He was successful in proving that human behavior largely reflects the commands and learning from the unconscious mind rather than the conscious one. Psychology and science today have gone ahead and proved that training and learning of the unconscious mind proves to be far more fruitful and revolutionary than that of a conscious mind. It is because unconscious mind stores the commands and learning in the process and provides to the operating system of the mind as and when required. Today Freud’s theory has proven to be the basis of many dynamic and revolutionizing researches world over. As we look into all the perspectives of the behavior, we can see that studying one perspective alone is not going to help in complete analysis of human behavior and psychology. All these factors together play a role in the actions of a human being. However some or the other factor dominates others when a particular pattern is observed. Although the research today is very well an advanced one these factors have proved to be the basis of the same. Q2: Discuss the following 5 concepts: What they are and the role they play in Experimental design? at is the overall logic of experimental design? ‧ Independent variable ‧ Dependent variable ‧ Experimental group ‧ Control group ‧ Operational definition Illustrate your answer by considering the experiment on the impact of alcohol and expectations on sexual arousal. Experimental method is the method used to conduct a research on the human behavior. This is a method in which researchers randomly assign participants to groups and control all the conditions other than one or more independent variables which are manipulated to determine their effect on some behavior which needs to be observed. Various components of experimental design are as follows: 1. Dependent Variable: The variable that is measured by the experimenter is known as dependent variable. The experiment seeks to determine the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable. This variable is measured by creating various standards and tests. The result of the experiment is the result of these tests and standards used to measure the dependent variable in an experiment. 2. Independent Variable: These variables are the ones that can be manipulated by the experimenter. This is an external factor in an experiment but affects the results of the test. 3. Experimental group: The experimental group is a group of people or participants exposed to independent variable or treatment. 4. Control Group: this is a group of participants which is similar to the experimental group but not exposed to independent variable. This is group is used for the comparison purpose. 5. Operational Definition: An operational definition is a demonstration of process. Properties used in an experiment should be sufficiently accessible which enables the experimenter to measure them and their effects on the experiment conducted. In the example that is quoted in the question, the factors of an experiment mentioned above can be analyzed as follows: 1. Experimental Group: This will be a group of participants between ages 20 to 25 years on which under controlled conditions the experiment is carried on. 2. Control group: This will be a group of participants which would belong to the same age but would not be introduced to controlled factors while studying their behavior. 3. Dependent Variable: As the experiment is to measure the effects of alcohol and expectations on the sexual arousal of the participants, the feeling of getting aroused sexually needs to be measured and forms as a dependent variable in the experiment. This can be measured by asking the participants to respond to a questionnaire method, answers of which could then be inferred or concluded. 4. Independent Variable: Alcohol and expectation of performance are the two independent variables which would affect the experimental group getting sexually aroused or not. In other words the variable (getting sexually aroused) is dependent on the independent and controlled variables (alcohol and expectations). 5. Operational definition: This would define the process of conducting an experiment. For ex: the experimental group would be asked to consume or alcohol or list pressures of performance by self or by the partner while the control group no such condition is given. Operational definition also explains various factors that are considered while an experiment is being conducted which include premises of the experiment, variables, terms and conditions of the experiment. Read More