Psychology Of Human Nature

Matt Morris

Psychology

04/30/05

Psychology of Human Nature

Psychology is the very important perspective for human nature. It is very important for the individual environment. "Psychology is very much a product of the Western tradition. Whereas a new psychology of the year 2000 contains both the eastern as well as the Western tradition," (Frey,04/06). Psychologists call a person's self-concepts what a person perceives from the person's self-concept attitudes. It's related to Psyche means the integrate part of human mind motion connected to those with bodily concepts. "It however reflects true relationship with the mind-body concept. Attitudes and Social Cognitions addresses those domains of social behavior in which cognition plays a major role, including the interface of cognition with overt behavior, affect, and motivation," (Primis,119).

Major perspectives in psychology at this point includes psychoanalysis, humanism and sociobiology. Now, what's the concept of psychoanalysis is also a very important perspective. "As a therapy, psychoanalysis is based on observation that individuals are often unaware of many of the factors that determine their emotions and behavior," (Frey,04/06). "It is, in addition, a method for learning about the mind, and also a theory, a way of understanding the processes of normal everyday mental functioning and the stages of normal development from infancy to old age," (psychology.com). "Furthermore, since psychoanalysis seeks to explain how the human mind works, it contributes insight into whatever the human mind produces," (apa.org).

Sigmund Freud was the first psychoanalyst. "Many of his insights into the human mind, which seemed so revolutionary at the turn of the century, are now widely accepted by most schools of psychological thought. Although others before and during his time had begun to recognize the role of unconscious mental activity, Freud was the preeminent pioneer in understanding its importance. Although his ideas met with antagonism and resistance, Freud believed deeply in the value of his discoveries and rarely simplified or exaggerated them for the sake of popular acceptance," (apa.org). He saw that those who sought to change themselves or others must face realistic difficulties. But he also showed us that, while the dark and blind forces in human nature sometimes seem overwhelming, psychological understanding, by enlarging the realm of reason and responsibility, can make a substantial difference to troubled individuals and even to civilization as a whole. "Building on such ideas and ideals, psychoanalysis has continued to grow and develop as a general theory of human mental functioning, while always maintaining a profound respect for the uniqueness of each individual life," (psych.nwu.edu). "Sigmund Freud interpreted the behaviour in human beings as the outcome of a drive that constantly seeks releases," (Frey, 04/06). "However, upto this contexts it could be seen that Freud's psychoanalytic theory explains the most about the human nature," (Freud, introduction). In fact it determines the various stages and phalices in human selfhood as well as natural ignorance for the beings which ultimately gives much broader concept of the human nature. "According to Freud, people are often compelled to do things without knowing the reasons for their actions; the motivation for their actions is unconscious," (Freud, Civilization and its discontents). Sigmund Freud has many theories on how people develop. His most influential theory to the development of the human mind was his five psychosexual stages. "Freud's belief was that children were done developing after they finished going through puberty. The stages started with infants describing this as the oral stage, or the sucking stage. The anal stage deals with the one and two year olds. This age group is starting to potty train. After this stage the three through five-year-olds go through the phallic stage," (Freud, Civilization). "The child focuses on the genitals, as they discover it is enjoyable. Freud's fourth stage is the latency stage, including children six to twelve years," (Freud, Civilization). This is when their sexual interests are put on the back burn. "The last stage is the genital stage. Children going through puberty have a time of sexual reawakening. Other theorists criticized him by saying that there was more to development than sex," (Freud, Civilization). They also said a person does not stop developing after they turn eighteen. "Freud did develop another theory that many author's have described in their literary works which included the Id, Ego, and Superego. The Id, Ego, and Superego dealt with how the mind worked conscientiously and unconsciously. It also described the behavior of the human body and why we do the things we do. Freud was a real pessimist when it came to human nature. He identifies man's weaknesses in saying that man is a biological creature with biological drives. He reflected these ideas off of Darwin's original ideas," (Freud, Civilization).

Another big work is of Dr.Victor.E.Frankl regarding the Humanistic Psychology. Humanistic Psychology is a contemporary manifestation of that ongoing commitment. American psychology was dominated by two schools of thought: behaviorism and psychoanalysis. Neither fully acknowledged the possibility of studying values, intentions and meaning as elements in conscious existence. Their arose

the concepts of the forces," (runet.edu) "The 'First Force' systematically excluded the subjective data of consciousness and much information bearing on the complexity of the human personality and its development. The 'Second Force' emerged out of Freudian psychoanalysis and the depth psychologies of Alfred Adler, Erik Erikson, Erich Fromm, Karen Horney, Carl Jung, Melanie Klein, Otto Rank, Harry Stack Sullivan and others. These theorists focused on the dynamic unconscious - the depths of the human psyche whose contents, they asserted, must be integrated with those of the conscious mind in order to produce a healthy human personality. The third blow came to be about through the psychoanalysis," (psychology.ucdavis.edu).

Another very important work is the sociobiological theories by Dr. Edward Wilson. The sociobiological perspective on human nature also explain human nature very deeply. Sociobiology is the systematic study of the biological (evolutionary) basis of the human social behavior. Sociobiology is defined as the systematic study of the biological