Psychology is full of different fields and subfields. It is a science that is always evolving and changing. In psychology, there are five enduring issues. Every psychologist has an interest in these five enduring issues. There is person-situation, nature vs. nurture, stability and change, diversity and universality, and finally the mind and body. This is what it means to be human.
The first enduring issue, person-situation. Are we masters of our own fate or victims of circumstances? Everybody will have their own opinion. In this subject, I am in between the two. We all make decisions in life and there are consequences or results for every choice we make. In this case, we decide our own fate. But what about the situations that happen around us? We have no control of others decisions but we are impacted by them. For an example, somebody keeps stealing. The items that are being stolen are going to go up in price to make up for the one that was not paid for. One person did something wrong but everybody around them is paying for it. So in my opinion we decide our own fate in some cases, other times we are victims of circumstances.
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The second enduring issue is nature-nurture which is very debatable.
Is the person we become a product of innate, inborn tendencies, or a reflection of experiences and upbringing? In other words, are we a product of genetics or our environment? I would say we are mostly products of the environment around us. Others might disagree but here is why I say that. Society is constantly changing. Is our kids going to grow up exactly like we did? The music we grow up listening to, the TV shows we watch, our families, and even politics influence us. For example, if somebody grows up around foul language then they think it is normal and just fine for everybody to talk like that. They do not know it is wrong so in turn they speak like that as well. As human beings we tend to want to be like others and fit
in. The third enduring issue is stability and change. Are the characteristics we develop in childhood more or less permanent and fixed or do we change in predictable (and unpredictable) ways over the course of our lives? In some cases I believe that major events effect you for the rest of your life. The event that changes you can vary. It could be a death of a loved one, or an accomplishment you made, or even somebody you have met. Some things change you forever but I also say that characteristics we develop as a child stay with us. Some characteristics like being shy and outgoing stick with us. I am on both sides on this issue as well. The fourth enduring issue is diversity and universality. Does our understanding of human behavior apply equally well to every human being? With this issue I say no. No I do not think we understand human behavior equally to every human being. I say this because we do not know what it is like to be in another person’s culture. If I am Caucasian then I do not know what it is like to be Asian. I do not live in Asia, I do not speak the same language or believe in the same religion. I would understand another Caucasian better than an Asian. Every race has different cultures, religion, languages, and traditions. Everybody is different and everybody needs to know that and respect it. The fifth and final enduring issue is mind and body. How are the mind and body connected? I can’t choose which one of these are more important. I think they both are very important. If it wasn’t for the mind, our body would do nothing and if it wasn’t for the body then the mind can’t express itself. They work together like a team. If you get rid of one, the other is no good.
What does it take to make a human who they are? What influences affect each person in this spinning world of ours? Is it the parents and how much love each applies to raising an individual? Is it the environment to which they are born into? Humans are unpredictable at best, and when someone says they have humans figured out, they are proven wrong. We are creatures of habit who are never the same because of the very influences around us.
Have you ever thought about whether the way you are is based on your genetic makeup? Do you believe our environment shapes us into who we are, instead? In the psychology debate of nature versus nurture, I believe that nurture plays a big role in who
Inheritance, by Sharon Moalem, is a nonfiction novel that elaborates on what makes us who we are and why. Moalem states that even before we are born, our genes set up determines our lives. Our genes are adaptable sequences that can be altered by instances of trauma, simple dietary change, or just a small indiscretion. Through our experiences, our genes are changing and consequently limiting us. We have an unwavering predictable matter of the genes we have inherited from previous generations. Our future children could inherit many of our specific genes, good or bad. Even if our inherited
It is a common argument about whether humans are simply who they are because of genes, the nature of who someone is, or if it’s more due to interactions with outside ideas and actions, the nurture one receives. Different research has claimed both sides,
Many believe that our choices in life are already made for us and we have no control to what happens to us, although others believe that this life is like an epic journey and we can change our fate at any moment. It´s hard to choose which side you believe in my honest opinion I believe that our lives do not ¨lie in the fate of God¨ as stated by in the Iraq War Post by Faiza Al-Araji however I believe instead that our life is an odyssey, that we must travel through and make important choices by ourselves not by fate. But with many edvidence and claims in both story the question ¨How much in our lives do we actually controls?¨ wanders through our mind.
The field of psychology is a discipline, originated from many branches of science. It has applications from within a complete scope of avenues, from psychotherapy to professional decision-making. The flexibility and versatility of this field reflects its importance and demands in-depth analysis. Psychology was a division of philosophy until it developed independent scientific disciplines. The history of psychology was a scholarly study of the mind and behavior that dates back to the beginning of civilization. There are important details from previous theory psychologist, research have contributed to behaviorism approaches and have contributed towards specific current behavioral practices. Contemporary behavior therapy began to emerge into distinct practical and core learning theories concerning the needs and knowledge engaging cultural and professional differences.
Why are we the way we are? Is it because we want to be that way or because we were made that way? The debate regarding the nature of humans is one that will never end because there is so much support for each side. It is an issue that humans have spent generations pondering. Two of those people are Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. Both have made compelling arguments regarding nature versus nurture.
Nature vs nurture has been an ongoing debate for many decades among some of the greatest minds in psychology. Everyone is trying to figure out the source of human personality. Does our personality develop primarily by genetics, known as nature or is it based off of our environment and the way we were raised, nature? I believe it is a bit of both, but in my opinion nurture plays a bigger role.
We cannot be absolute when it comes what shapes us, yes indeed we come to this world which specific characteristic, our genes make us who we are but do not determine our future and our possible potential. Our cultural influence and our interaction with our environment make up our experience and step by step build our schemas and our perception regarding the world around us. Nature gives us the first tools in order for us to service, give us the information from generation to generation to overcome the possible obstacles. Then, nurture’s takes over, through the interaction with the averment, base to our cultural norms and rules we shape our beliefs; values; attitudes and behaviors. We learn how to behave, how to interact and how to communicate with the people around us. Thus, the answer between what side to choose, nature or nurture, I personally believe that the answer lies between the two of them. As we say, especially in the field of psychology, it depends. Yes, we born into this world we some innate information, but this information is interpreted from the stimuli we gather through the interaction we have with the
The term psychology has many meanings to different people, even to those who work within the psychological field. The word psychology derives from two Greek roots; 'psyche' refers to 'soul' or 'mind' and logo refers to 'the study of'. A more update definition of the word psychology can be found from Atkinson, et al (1991) “The scientific study of behaviours and mental processes.” However on Google Definitions the definition of psychology is “the mental characteristics and attitudes of a person” [accessed 16 September 2011], which gives somewhat of a contradiction. In this assignment I will be outlining and evaluating four key psychological perspectives. The psychological perspectives I have chosen are the behavioural approach, biological approach, cognitive approach and the psychodynamic approach.
Through time, psychologists have argued over whether only our genes control our behaviors in life or if the environment and the people surrounding us have any effect in our lives. This is called nature versus nurture. We do not know what dictates our behavior, or if it is a combination of both. One question is, if genes control our behavior, are we really responsible for our actions? I think that if we can make choices we are responsible for our actions. While or genes influence various aspects of our personalities, there is no denying that our environment has some effects too. Our genes make us, but our experiences and our surroundings shape the way we behave as people. The people we grow up with, especially our parents teach us ways of acting and thinking that we keep for the rest of our lives.
The five major theoretical perspectives in psychology are biological, learning, cognitive, psychodynamic, and sociocultural perspectives. Each one of these perspectives searches for answers about behavior through different techniques and through looking for answers to different kinds of questions. Due to the different approaches, each perspective form their own assumptions and explanations. Some perspectives are widely accepted while others struggle for acceptance.
Psychology is the scientific study of the mind, brain, and behavior. In psychology, and all of the other sciences, relying on opinions is abandoned in order to find out which explanations best fit the evidence or data given. Science continually forces us to question our findings and conclusions. Over time, psychology has advanced greatly and a main reason for such progressiveness is because of the change in the research model used.
Throughout our lives we have all been influenced by our environment and other outside forces. Our environment may change the way we think, act and behave in life. Since we are all products of our environment, it comes to no surprise that we, as humans, tend to behave in a society the same way others around us behave but at the same time we strive to find who we really are (Schaefer 73). Since birth, humans have always analyzed the world around them. With each day that passes, humans take in more and more information from the outside world. The information which humans obtain through their environment subconsciously influences the decisions people make throughout their daily life (Neubauer 16). On the other hand, our genetics also play a vital role in determining what type of person we are and what will we become.
In this essay I am looking at where Psychology as a discipline has come from and what affects these early ideas have had on psychology today, Psychology as a whole has stemmed from a number of different areas of study from Physics to Biology,