Discussion: Psychological Perspectives and Determinants of Behavior

Each psychological perspective offers a unique vantage point or lens through which to view human behavior. Consider violent behavior and, in particular, school shootings as an example. After a school shooting occurred, you probably recall hearing arguments from survivors, students, politicians, news anchors, bloggers, co-workers, family, and friends about why the shooter opened fire in a school. Whether you were conscious of it or not, each of these arguments could be attributed to a psychological perspective. For example, you may have heard people say that the incident occurred because the shooter played too many violent video games (behaviorist perspective), was severely abused as a child (psychodynamic perspective), or had a chemical imbalance (biological perspective). You may have also heard people say that the shooter lacked basic human needs (e.g., stable home and social support; humanistic perspective) or perceived his or her treatment by others as being unfair or unjust (cognitive perspective). Based on this example, you can see how psychological perspectives support and offer explanations for specific behaviors. You also can probably see the degree to which one’s biology (i.e., nature) and environment (i.e., nurture) are evident in each psychological perspective.

In this discussion, you will consider how psychological perspectives and one’s biology and environment explain and contribute to a variety of behaviors. 

To prepare for this Discussion:

• Review the psychology perspectives described on the Simply Psychology website and consider which perspectives interest you the most.
• Review the remaining Learning Resources on nature and nurture. Think about how nature and nurture relate to human behavior and to the different psychological perspectives.
• As you view this week’s media, consider the interplay between biology, experience, and behavior.

By Day 4

Post a response to the following:

Briefly describe the psychological perspective that interests you the most, and why. Then, explain how nature and nurture each contribute to behavior according to the psychological perspective you chose. Finally, evaluate how the interplay between biology and environment can impact behavior.