Using theory to understand, manage and treat human behaviours
Psychological Perspectives
Psychology is the study of human mind and human behaviour and seeks to understand our thoughts,
feelings and actions. Psychology is studied by psychologists who study mental processes and human
behaviour. Psychologists come up with psychological perspectives which are different ways of
understanding the mind and human behaviours. The 6 psychological perspectives are the
behaviourist, social learning, humanistic, cognitive, psychodynamic and biological perspective. In this
assignment, I will be talking about the 6 different psychological perspectives and explaining the
reason certain people behave differently according to the perspective. Therefore, psychology is
important in the understanding of human behaviour as it shed a light on why humans act the way
they do and providing multiple explanations as to why certain behaviours are portrayed.
The case studies I will be talking about in this assignment will be on Keira and Andy. Keira is 54 years
old and has become addicted to painkillers following a surgery three years ago. She found her
surgery a traumatic experience as it followed a diagnosis of cancer and has also altered her
appearance. Whereas, Andy is 32 years old and has recently been involved in a road traffic accident
where his partner died. He has been diagnosed as having post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and
has begun to self-harm.
Behaviourist Perspective – Understanding human development
The behaviourist perspective suggests how we are born as “blank slates” and all we have at birth is
the capacity to learn. This perspective focuses on the idea that all behaviour is learned from the
environment and the focus of this approach is on observable behaviour. The behaviourist
perspective consists of two main processes whereby people learn from their environment. One of
the processes is known as classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is a learning technique
associated with the relation between a stimulus and its response. I. Pavlov is the psychologist who
developed the theory of classical conditioning and is famous for an experiment known as Pavlov's
dogs. His experiments with dogs ultimately proved his key point, learning by association. In his
experiment, dogs instinctively salivate (unconditioned response) when given food (unconditioned
stimulus). Pavlov began to ring a bell (neutral stimulus) whilst giving the dog food. The dogs then
learn to associate the bell with food. The results were that the dogs began to salivate (conditioned
response) when only the bell (conditioned stimulus) was rung even when no food was given. The
other process of learning is known as operant conditioning which is a method of learning that occurs
through rewards and punishments for certain behaviours. The psychologist B.F. Skinner concluded
that behaviour is learned from the results of action. Skinner coined the term operant conditioning to
describe this. His experiment known as “Skinner boxes” showed that behaviour can be reinforced by
either: Reward (reinforcement) or Punishment. Positive reinforcement was demonstrated by a rat
presses the lever accidentally which leads to food being delivered. As a result, the rat presses the
lever deliberately and food is delivered. The addiction of the desirable food means that the rat keeps
pressing the lever, so he gets a reward. Therefore, the reinforcement increases the frequency of
desirable behaviour. On the other hand, negative reinforcement involves something bad being
removed as a result of a good thing being done. For example, your mum stops nagging you as you
have cleaned your room. However, punishment decreases the frequency of undesirable behaviour.
Positive punishment involves a punishment being given as a result of undesirable behaviour. For
,example, you haven't done your homework and as a result you get a detention. Negative
punishment on the other hand involves something desirable being taken away due to undesirable
behaviour. For example, getting your phone confiscated as a result of not doing your house chores.
The behaviourist perspective can help understand the development of behaviour for Keira and Andy.
In Keira’s case, her addiction to pain killers might have developed over time as she has not been
punished for this undesirable behaviour. Therefore, she is most likely to repeat this behaviour this
will increase the frequency of her pain killer intake. Moreover, positive reinforcement may have led
to her continuing taking pain killers. This is because taking pain killers the first time may have given
her a sense of reward such as a feeling of short-term pain relief which has ultimately increased her
frequency of pain killer intake as she wants to be regularly rewarded as a result of taking pain killers.
It can also be used to understand Andy’s behaviour of self-harm and how he has developed PTSD.
For example, as a result of the car accident in which his partner died, he could have associated cars
with traumatic accidents. This will mean that whenever he’s in a car or sees a car he would suffer
from severe panic attacks and begin to self-harm as he is constantly reminded of the accident and
may feel a sense of immense guilt.
Behaviourist Perspective – Understanding specific human behaviour
The behaviourist perspective helps to understand challenging behaviour as some people behave in
particular ways because those behaviours have been rewarded in the past which is why they repeat
the behaviour. This is known as positive reinforcement. As long as the individual perceives that the
behaviour is rewarding, they are likely to repeat it. Moreover, changing behaviour can be explained
through negative reinforcement, as the undesirable behaviour has been punished which decreases
the frequency of the undesirable behaviour being repeated. Furthermore, how the behaviourist
perspective promotes the use of systematic desensitisation treatment as it helps to address and
overcome different phobias. For example, for someone with a phobia (arachnophobia) during their
early sessions they will be exposed to a very small sketch of a tiny spider. Once they have learned to
associate this small sketch with feeling calm and relaxed, a larger sketch would be introduced this
process is repeated provided the patient remains calm until the stimulus moves from ahead to a
small photo to a large photo of a spide. Right through the sessions the deeply relaxed date is
maintained as a priority and ultimately the patient should learn to associate spiders of being calm
and relaxed and anxiety behaviour the phobia is then gone.
Ultimately, the behaviourist perspective can help understand specific changes in the behaviour of
Andy and Keira. In Keira’s case, operant conditioning can help us understand how to help Keira
overcome her addiction to pain killers. For example, negative punishment can be used because a
desirable stimulus, which could be her phone for instance, being taken away when an undesirable
behaviour (her taking pain killers) is demonstrated. This will help to decrease the frequency of her
addiction. On the other hand, Andy can use systematic desensitisation to gradually change his
association of cars with positive and non-frightening thoughts rather than anxious and traumatic
thoughts. For example, while being in a deeply relaxed state he could be shown a video of a small
car to a video of a larger car which can help him to associate cars with being calm and relaxed, and
the intense fear he had associated with cars has been reduced.
Social Learning Theory – Understanding human development
, The social learning theory explains behaviour as being the result of learning from people we are
exposed to in our environment. We can also learn new behaviours from people we observe either in
real life or in the media this is known as observational learning. A key psychologist, Albert Bandura
came up with an experiment to explore the social learning theory known as Bandura’s Bobo Doll
Experiment. In his study, Bandura aimed to see whether social behaviours like violence would be
obtained through observation and imitation. He played videos of individuals behaving violently
toward a large Bobo doll for young children. The kids were then allowed to play in a room with basic
toys and a Bobo doll, and their behaviour was watched. The finding of this study showed that
exposure to aggressive modelling increased aggressive behaviour in their children studied. The
children that were exposed to aggressive behaviour found new ‘novel’ ways to act aggressively e.g.
using a dull as a weapon of assault. Moreover, the baby doll experiments were used to examine
vicarious reinforcement. For example, children that saw adults being rewarded for aggressive
behaviour imitated the violent behaviour demonstrated, whereas the children that saw an adult
being punished for aggressive behaviour did not imitate the violent behaviour demonstrated.
As we live in a particular culture, society and social group, we are influenced by other people. This
influence leads us to adopt certain roles and try to live up the expectations that go with these roles.
We all take different roles and our behaviour will change according to the role we are currently in.
For example, a woman visiting a zoo with her children will take on the role of a mother.
Furthermore, if we observe our role model, who we admire, behaving in a particular way, we are
more likely to imitate such behaviour. Firstly, we see if the behaviour is available in the environment
for us to learn from (availability). Secondly, someone can only learn through observation if they
notice the role model’s behaviour (attention). Thirdly, to model the behaviour it needs to be
remembered and placed into the long-term memory so it can be retrieved (retention). This then
leads to the individual needing to be able to reproduce the behaviour this includes processing the
physical capabilities (production). Lastly, they must have a desire to repeat this behaviour, this is
strongly influenced by the role model and any consequences of the newly learned action such as
positive reinforcement (motivation). Another factor associated with role modelling would be self-
efficacy which is a personal judgement of how well one can execute causes of action required to deal
with prospective situations.
Furthermore, behaviour can be learned through culture as culture is the way of life of a person.
Social ethics, ideals, and morality are all part of culture. Therefore, it important to consider culture
when looking into behaviour as it forms an individual's everyday life and demonstrate their
behaviours based on what they deem acceptable and wrong. Moreover, a self-fulfilling prophecy is
when a person unknowingly causes a prediction to come true due to specific fact that he or she
expects it to come true. This will have a huge impact on the way with behave towards others and
expect them to behave towards us. For example, a student may he told by their teacher that they
are not hard-working which leads to them internalising this statement and ultimately results to their
underperformance in their school work.
The social leaning theory can help us understand the development of behaviour Keira and Andy. In
Keira’s case she might have observed her role model which could have been a family member or a
friend using pain killers and altering their appearance such as dying their hair which has motivated
her to imitate this behaviour. On the other hand, Andy may have been told that he was responsible
for the death of his partner, which he has deeply internalised and due to the intense guilt from the
self-fulfilling prophecy, he has begun to self-harm.
Social Learning Theory – Understanding specific human behaviour
