Psychology Of Behaviour

Introduction Our first chapter will give you information about the psychological side of behavior. The first paragraph of this chapter, called Theory of behavior, consists of sub paragraphs that tell you something about the different theories developed by psychologists like Freud, Erikson and Maslow. There are many psychologists, so it is almost impossible to tell something about all of them. We have selected some psychologists with divergent views about how to explain human behavior. The second paragraph, Basic drives and motives, tells you something about why we react in a certain way in general. We explain some existing theories and give you some examples in which we take a look at the theories in practice. The third paragraph, called Social influences, explains how different environments can influence behavior. Your friends can influence you consciously but also unconsciously. Somehow you try to imitate them. Television programs can also influence your behavior. In this paragraph we will mainly focus on the aspect of violence on television and how this influences behavior. The last paragraph, called Emotions, tells you something about our feelings or emotions. There are some important theories in explaining emotions, which we will explain here. We will also give ways of expressing emotions

Theory Of Behaviour ~Freud~

According to Sigmund Freud, (1856-1939), human beings are just mechanical creatures, whom he views as prisoners of primitive instincts and powers, which we can barely control. He states that our purpose is to control these instincts and powers. His life "The soul is like an iceberg; it contains a Living from 1856 to 1939, numerous scientific discoveries took place during his life. When Freud was still young, Darwins' The conscious part and Origins of Species was published, and Fechner came up with the an unconscious underlying basics of psychology. part." Developments such as these had a tremendous effect on Freud's thoughts, yet the German, Helmholtz, was probably the person who had the greatest influence on Freud's way of thinking by drawing up the law of preservation of energy. This discovery is most likely the reason Freud started looking at people as a closed system of psychic energy that is floating between the conscious and the unconscious part of the human spirit. The iceberg Freud explained these concepts by comparing the human spirit to an iceberg. The visible

part of the iceberg (spirit) is the conscious part, which consists of everything we know and remember and the thinking processes through which we function. The unconscious part is made up of everything we have ever learned or experienced, including that which has been "forgotten". A part of these forgotten things are really gone, but the largest part of the unconscious has just been shut out, because it would be annoying to be consciously reminded of it. The influences of Helmholtz are also visible at other points. According to Freud, the material in the unconscious contains psychic energy. This psychic energy is constantly trying to get into the conscious part, while the conscious part keeps using energy to suppress undesirable discoveries. An expression of unknown powers is, for example, slips of the tongue. These expressions show that our unconscious was not strong enough to keep these powers outside the conscious part. Id, Ego and Superego Now we are going back to the theory of the id, the ego and the superego. The spirit of a newborn child just has an id, the instinctive incentives and reflexes that the human beings have developed during the last centuries. The only function of the id is to respond to the incentives. The ego develops itself from the id and from the discovery that the behavior of the id can have tedious results. The superego, a result of a person's socialization, is basically just the conscience, which mediates between needs of the id and the ego. When you are getting older, you start to develop more and more values.

~Erikson~

Identity Erikson (1902-1994), who mainly did research on children, teenagers, immigrants and fugitives, has become famous by his notion of identity. He said that the identity crisis is the largest in each of these groups. It has been scientifically proven that young people who are living on their own for the first time are experiencing a lot of fear and doubt. They are wondering who they are and what they are living for. "Identity is something individual, it arises from our past and our descent." Our identities are very personal and develop from our heritage and history. A person's identity is, therefore, a result of origin, such as Catholic, Jewish, Chinese, etc. The quality of that origin also has influence, so Prince Charles will have a completely different identity than an underclass citizen.

Creation of identity Erikson distinguishes different phases by the creation of identity. He thinks the first years of life have a big influence on the consciousness of our identity, because it is during this period that we develop trust. The second year is important because the child develops an autonomous drive, and, during the third year, the child develops initiative, which is controlled by the conscience (You can see a clear resemblance to the theory of Freud.). Throughout school, the child develops a consciousness of constructiveness. In other words, children like to do things with others and to imitate others. When puberty is reached, an identity crisis causes the adolescent to look for ideas to believe in. He/she

looks for groups to which he/she can belong and for groups through which the adolescent can discover his/her own wishes. Sometimes one adapts to a certain group to an extent that causes his/her own identity to be almost lost

~Maslow~
Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) is the founder of the so-called humanist(ic) psychology or social learning psychology. This school in psychology is called learning psychology, because the principals are applied on social relations. It is sometimes seen as the "third road" within psychology, because he has obviously chosen a very different direction than the supporters of Freud and Skinner. Maslows greatest contribution to the psychology has been his search for common sense. He thought that the best way to find out what went wrong with "wrong" people is to study healthy people first. He criticized many different movements. He blamed Freud for focusing mainly on mental illnesses and he blamed Skinner for basing his theory too much on animals. "Humans cannot live without needs, they tend to appease them all." Needs Maslow found out that people have certain needs. He categorized these needs in groups with different rankings: 1. Physical needs. These are needs that are necessary to stay alive. Examples are food, drinks and oxygen. 2. Safety needs. These needs are most visible when studying children, but order and stability are also important for adults. 3. Love needs and the need to belong. Examples are the need for friends and love. 4. . Aesthetic needs. An example of this need for beauty is the desire to embellish your home instead of just living in it (physical need). People are inclined to satisfy these needs. But, A person "rarely achieves a state of total satisfaction, unless for a short term"