Human Behavior Perspectives Comparison - Research Paper Example

Regarding their definitions, “anthropology is about how different people can be, but it also tries to find out in what sense can it be said that all humans have something in common” (Eriksen, 2010, p. 2). It is concerned with people and their culture, past, and how they interact. It also delves into detailed studies of local life in a certain group of people. For example, an anthropologist may want to study the factor that makes Americans similar and how these traits are affected by their history.

As for psychology, it is technically translated as the study of the mind or soul (Zimmer, 2009). However, it is currently known to “investigate a wide range of phenomena related to human behaviors and mental processes” (Vook, 2011, p.1). This field studies the individual person as well as how he thinks and acts. It is concerned on how a person views things and interprets in information. Specifically, it observes and records what humans do. A psychology student can perhaps conduct a survey on stress responses of teachers.

Sociology is “the study of human activity as it is affected by social forces emanating from groups, organizations, societies, and even the global community” (Ferrante, 2008, p.2). It pertains to aspects of a given society, its history, and how the members of that group interact. For instance, sociology reviews information and circumstances on gangs and how it influences the education of the youth. With these aforementioned explanations, it is easy to see the link between sociology and anthropology that is why these two are usually combined when studied in various universities.

These two spring much from language, history, archeology, and the like. Still, they have slightly dissimilar emphasis and different terminologies. On the other hand, much of psychology is based on neuroscience. It is also more focused on separate persons than groups. Though a branch of psychology called social psychology studies human interactions, psychology per se is more on the individual than the other two disciplines. Another difference is that psychology can study behavior of animals while sociology and anthropology basically deals with humans.

However, the latter two can still look into how humans relate with other creatures like plants and animals in their ecosystem. Concerning these domains’ aims, Eriksen furthers that anthropology mainly seeks to “account for the interrelationships between different aspects of human existence, and usually investigate these interrelationships taking as their point of departure a detailed study of local life in a particular society” (p.3). Anthropology seeks to ask big queries and extracts insights from small places.

In addition, this field aims to collect annals of ingenuity, interests, and how people have been solving conflicts. “At its best, anthropology provides the limiting case for people who want to enshrine their own prejudices as universal principles” (Just & Monaghan, 2000, p.146). With its goals, this field respects human diversity by respecting the myriad ways of how human species interpret and react to their environment. Regarding psychology, its goals are to predict, explain, describe, and change behavior (Wittig & Sinnett, 2002).

Through describing behavior, the norm can be understood better. For instance, through observation, testing, and correlational studies, a certain intelligence quotient score is established to be the average. This can be used to explain the different levels of intelligence as well as to