Three Faces of Psychology
Three Faces of Psychology
Imagine that three psychologists are having lunch together, and that you are eavesdropping on their conversation. There is a psychoanalyst (P), a behaviorist (B), and a humanist (H). Which of the psychologists is most likely to have made each of the following statements?
( H ) 1. I think people in our profession should put more effort into trying to understand mentally healthy people and prosocial behavior.
( P ) 2. Aggression is a human instinct. Society can control it to some extent, but we will never eliminate aggressive behavior.
( H ) 3. Your student may be under a lot of pressure from his parents, but that is no excuse for cheating. We are responsible for what we do.
( B ) 4. If you want to understand why she did it, look to the environment for clues instead of at inferred internal forces such as impulses and motives.
( P ) 5. We humans are products of evolutionary forces that have preserved selfishness, pleasure-seeking, and a tendency to deceive ourselves.
( H ) 6. It doesn’t seem to me that you need to dig into a person’s past in order to understand the person’s current problems and concerns.
( B ) 7. There aren’t any values inherent in human nature. Values are acquired in the same way we learn to say “please” and “thank you.”
( P ) 8. If we wanted to improve the character of people in our society, we would need to start when they are very young. By the time a kid is five years old, it’s probably too late.
( B ) 9. You may think your choice of chili and ice cream for lunch was freely made, but your perception of free choice is an illusion. Choosing chili and ice cream is predictable from the consequences of past behavior.
( H ) 10. General laws of behavior and experience that apply to all people are not very helpful if you want to understand a particular individual.
( P ) 11. You say people are inherently good, and he says they are inherently pretty bad. I don’t think people are
Imagine that three psychologists are having lunch together, and that you are eavesdropping on their conversation. There is a psychoanalyst (P), a behaviorist (B), and a humanist (H). Which of the psychologists is most likely to have made each of the following statements?
( H ) 1. I think people in our profession should put more effort into trying to understand mentally healthy people and prosocial behavior.
( P ) 2. Aggression is a human instinct. Society can control it to some extent, but we will never eliminate aggressive behavior.
( H ) 3. Your student may be under a lot of pressure from his parents, but that is no excuse for cheating. We are responsible for what we do.
( B ) 4. If you want to understand why she did it, look to the environment for clues instead of at inferred internal forces such as impulses and motives.
( P ) 5. We humans are products of evolutionary forces that have preserved selfishness, pleasure-seeking, and a tendency to deceive ourselves.
( H ) 6. It doesn’t seem to me that you need to dig into a person’s past in order to understand the person’s current problems and concerns.
( B ) 7. There aren’t any values inherent in human nature. Values are acquired in the same way we learn to say “please” and “thank you.”
( P ) 8. If we wanted to improve the character of people in our society, we would need to start when they are very young. By the time a kid is five years old, it’s probably too late.
( B ) 9. You may think your choice of chili and ice cream for lunch was freely made, but your perception of free choice is an illusion. Choosing chili and ice cream is predictable from the consequences of past behavior.
( H ) 10. General laws of behavior and experience that apply to all people are not very helpful if you want to understand a particular individual.
( P ) 11. You say people are inherently good, and he says they are inherently pretty bad. I don’t think people are