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Psychology of Human Nature

Psychology is the very important perspective for human nature. It is very much
important for the individual environment. �Psychology is very much a product of the
Western tradition. Whereas a new psychology of the year 2000 contains both the
eastern as well as the Western tradition�(Frey,04/06). Psychologists call a
person�s self concepts it includes what a person perceives from the person�s self-
concept attitudes. It�s related to Psyche means the integrate part of human mind
motion connected to those with bodily concepts. �It however reflects true
relationship with the mind-body concept. ATTITUDES AND SOCIAL COGNITION addresses
those domains of social behavior in which cognition plays a major role, including
the interface of cognition with overt behavior, affect, and
motivation.�(Primis,119).
Major perspectives in psychology at this point includes psychoanalysis, humanism
and sociobiology. Now, what�s the concept of psychoanalysis is also a very
important perspective. �As a therapy, psychoanalysis is based on observation that
individuals are often unaware of many of the factors that determine their emotions
and behavior.�(Frey,04/06). �It is, in addition, a method for learning about the
mind, and also a theory, a way of understanding the processes of normal everyday
mental functioning and the stages of normal development from infancy to old
age.�(psychology.com). �Furthermore, since psychoanalysis seeks to explain how the
human mind works, it contributes insight into whatever the human mind
produces.�(apa.org)
Sigmund Freud was the first psychoanalyst.�Many of his insights into the human
mind, which seemed so revolutionary at the turn of the century, are now widely
accepted by most schools of psychological thought. Although others before and
during his time had begun to recognize the role of unconscious mental activity,
�Freud was the preeminent pioneer in understanding its importance. Although his
ideas met with antagonism and resistance, Freud believed deeply in the value of his
discoveries and rarely simplified or exaggerated them for the sake of popular
acceptance.�(apa.org) He saw that those who sought to change themselves or others
must face realistic difficulties. But he also showed us that, while the dark and
blind forces in human nature sometimes seem overwhelming, psychological
understanding, by enlarging the realm of reason and responsibility, can make a
substantial difference to troubled individuals and even to civilization as a whole.
�Building on such ideas and ideals, psychoanalysis has continued to grow and
develop as a general theory of human mental functioning, while always maintaining a
profound respect for the uniqueness of each individual
life.�(psych.nwu.edu).�Sigmund Freud interpreted the behaviour in human beings as
the outcome of a drive that constantly seeks releases.�(Frey, 04/06). �However,
upto this contexts it could be seen that Freud�s psychoanalytic theory explains the
most about the human nature�(Freud, introduction). In fact it determines the
various stages and phalices in human selfhood as well as natural ignorance for the
beings which ultimately gives much broader concept of the human nature. �According
to Freud, people are often compelled to do things without knowing the reasons for
their actions; the motivation for their actions is unconscious�(Freud, Civilization
and its discontents). Sigmund Freud has many theories on how people develop. His
most influential theory to the development of the human mind was his five
psychosexual stages.� Freud�s belief was that children were done developing after
they finished going through puberty. The stages started with infants describing
this as the oral stage, or the sucking stage. The anal stage deals with the one and
two year olds. This age group is starting to potty train. After this stage the
three through five-year-olds go through the phallic stage.�(Freud, Civilization).
�The child focuses on the genitals, as they discover it is enjoyable. Freud�s
fourth stage is the latency stage, including children six to twelve years.�(Freud,
Civilization). This is when their sexual interests are put on the back burn. �The
last stage is the genital stage. Children going through puberty have a time of
sexual reawakening. Other theorists criticized him by saying that there was more to
development than sex.�(Freud, Civilization) They also said a person does not stop
developing after they turn eighteen. �Freud did develop another theory that many
author�s have described in their literary works which included the Id, Ego, and
Superego. The Id, Ego, and Superego dealt with how the mind worked conscientiously
and unconsciously. It also described the behavior of the human body and why we do
the things we do. Freud was a real pessimist when it came to human nature. He
identifies man�s weaknesses in saying that man is a biological creature with
biological drives. He reflected these ideas off of Darwin�s original ideas.
�(Freud, Civilization)
Another big work is of Dr.Victor.E.Frankl regarding the Humanistic Psychology.
Humanistic Psychology is a contemporary manifestation of that ongoing commitment.
American psychology was dominated by two schools of thought: behaviorism and
psychoanalysis. Neither fully acknowledged the possibility of studying values,
intentions and meaning as elements in conscious existence.Their arised the concepts
of the forces.�(runet.edu) �The �First Force� systematically excluded the
subjective data of consciousness and much information bearing on the complexity of
the human personality and its development. The �Second Force� emerged out of
Freudian psychoanalysis and the depth psychologies of Alfred Adler, Erik Erikson,
Erich Fromm, Karen Horney, Carl Jung, Melanie Klein, Otto Rank, Harry Stack
Sullivan and others. These theorists focused on the dynamic unconscious - the
depths of the human psyche whose contents, they asserted, must be integrated with
those of the conscious mind in order to produce a healthy human personality .The
third blow came to be about through the psychoanalysis. �(psychology.ucdavis.edu)
Another very important work is the sociobiological theories by Dr. Edward.O.Wilson.
The Sociobiological Perspective on Human Nature also explain human nature very
deeply. Sociobiology is the systematic study of the biological(evolutionary) basis
of the human social behavior. Sociobiology is defined as the systematic study of
the biological basis of all forms of social behavior, including sexual and parental
behavior, in all kinds of organisms including humans. �The sociobiologist is
interested in the more general features of human nature and the limitations that
exist in the environmentally induced variation. In the Sociobiology concept,
Consciousness might well consist of large numbers of coded abstractions, some fed
stepwise through a hierarchy of integrating centers whose lowest array consists of
the primary sense cells, others originating internally to simulate these
hierarchies . According to Wilson sex creates diversity and diversity (Wilson,
122). Wilson also focuses on the viewpoint that �The physical and temperamental
differences between men and women have been amplified by culture into universal
male dominance. �(Wilson, 128). From the viewpoint of religion, Wilson says �The
biological significance of sex has been misinterpreted by the theoreticians of
Judaism and Christianity.� (Wilson, 141). As such, it is a discipline�an inevitable
discipline, since there must be a systematic study of social
behavior.�(baldwin.apa.org). Pure sociobiological theory, being independent of
human biology, does not imply by itself that human social behavior is determined by
genes.� It allows for any one of three possibilities. One is that the human brain
has evolved to the point that it has become an equipotential learning machine
entirely determined by culture. �(Wilson, 141). �The approach is entirely
complementary to that of the social sciences and in no way diminishes their
importance�quite the contrary. �The human mind,� this argument often goes, �is an
emergent property of the brain that is no longer tied to genetic controls. All that
the genes can prescribe is the construction of the liberated brain.� The mind, in
other words, has been freed from the genes.�(psychology.net) A second possibility
is that human social behavior is under genetic constraint but that all of the
genetic variability within the human species has been exhausted. �Hence our
behavior is to some extent influenced by genes, but we all have exactly the same
potential.�(psychology.net). A third possibility, close to the second, is that the
human species is prescribed to some extent but also displays some genetic
differences among individuals. As a consequence, human populations retain the
capacity to evolve still further in their biological capacity for social behavior.
Then, Each theory of personality or psychological perspective on human nature has a
certain range of convenience. And they form similar aspects many of the times. As
Freud expresses about the aggression, similarly Wilson in the sociobiological
theory, expresses that � The cultural evolution of aggression appears to be guided
jointly by three forces, first being genetic predisposition, second necessities
imposed by the environment in which society finds itself and third being the
previous history of the group which biasses it towards the adoption of one cultural
innnovation as opposed to another. There lied certain range of similarities between
these two theories. �(Wilson, 112).
Now how were the theories of the psychologists differ in certain concepts is an
important point over here. Biology has been employed as a science that accounts for
the human body; it concerns itself with technological manifestations such as the
conquest of disease, the green revolution, energy flow in ecosystems and the cost-
benefit analysis of gene splicing. Psychoanalysis on one hand does not correctly
determine dysfunction, while sociobiology broadly generalizes a correlation between
man and animal. There are also many other range of differences between the two
theories. To utilize these faulty assumptions of human behavior would do nothing to
conribute to a sufficient theory of human nature. Sigmund Freud claimed that
psychoanalysis was the �third blow to human self-esteem(frey, 6th april). He
discovered psychoanalysis while treating white, middle class women that suffered
from hysteria. He found that the only effective technique in treating these women
seemed to be hypnosis; hence he came to be �thoroughly convinced of the power of
the unconscious. In essence, through psychoanalysis, freud assserts that man is not
the rational being he perceives himself to be, but rather a being �pushed around by
irrationality, and memories.� The individual behaves as he does due to the concept
between the id, ego and superego which makes up the mind. �The problem according to
freud was that uch of the thoughts in the unconscious mind are constantly
repressed. �(psych.nwu.edu) .. Whereas, On the Other Hand, �From studying insects
to larger animals, Edward o wilson, found that biological principles which now
apear to be working reasonably well for animals in general can be extended to human
beings.�( Wilson, 8 )�These principles display the true relativeness of the �only
members of a species that possess certain kinds of the physical traits adapt,
survive and reproduce in the world.� (frey, 04/20).. According to sociobiology, all
human social behaviour can be explained as the product of evolutionary processes
acting through genes. Freud detailed the background of the occasion in which he
first began to create psychoanalysis.� Consequently, through analyzing the manifest
content of is patient�s dreams, freud sought ot lok into the unconscious mind. He
found that in nearly all cases the. Psychoanalysis finds the cause of individual
behavior in the unconscious mind, sociobiology attributes �genetics as the only
factor of behavior�(www.psych.nwu.edu) He recounted a Dr. Joseph Breuer, who was
treating a hysteric girl. Through his assistance, freud came to conclusions that
led to psychoanalytic psychology. Because of the study of the neurotics he traced
back the symptomps absurprising regularity.This he believed, wa rue for both
sedes.. In terms of psychology human nature must be a product of millions of years
of natural selection by nature. Through millions of years of interaction between
genes and environment�(wilson 17).�It can be seen in such a way that When this
wish, which is best achieved though sexual love because it is the most intense
experience of an overwhelming sensation of pleasure furnished for our search for
happiness� . (Freud, 33).
� The fully functional human being of Carl Rogers or the healthy specimen of
Abraham maslow has no place in Freud�s theory of psychoanalysis. In terms of range
of convenience, the Psychoanalytic Perspective on human nature provides the
greatest explanatory leverage. Freud covers most factions of human
nature.�(runet.edu) For instance, �Freud discusses everything from human impulses,
to the interpretation of dreams. Freud drives more among the aggressive instinct
instinct of the human behavior,�(Freud, Civilization) �Frankl tries to manipulate
data searching by representing it in human nature concept as the human�s search for
the true meaning of life.�(Frankl, Man�s Search for Meaning) �Whereas Wilson
includes a lot about sociobiological features and perspectives of the human bodily
and mental behavior as well as implications of such fraternities in human
body�(Wilson, On Human Nature). The Freud�s theory as well as the sociobiological
can be represented as the Macrothesis. Freud�s psychoanlaytic psychology is not
effective in explaining all human behavior simply because it focuses very
specifically on those individuals that suffer from abnormal repressive tendencies.
�To psychoanalyze a mentally healthy individual with such a technique is analogous
to studying a microscopic specimen with dirty lens. Similarly if wilson�s
sobiological psychology is looked at, then the basis is found in biology of the
population and zoology in terms of comparision�(Wilson, chapter8) He utilized these
methods to explain the social behavior of the insects. Personality can best be
described as �personal qualities of an individual�. No two people have the same
personality, but yet all the different personalities in the world can be
characterized into four main theories. Sigmund Freud has many theories on how
people develop. His most influential theory to the development of the human mind
was his five psychosexual stage in the various kinds of the insects. With the
succes of such a method, he moved on to apply it to vertebrate animals. In the
final chapter of the resultant book delineating his theory, the social behavior of
man is demonstrated as being penetrated by the natural sciences. Critics have. In
that. Neither man or society is bad just at times it seems like one of the two
influences a little more of behavior. Man is both biological and social. The part
that simulates biological is the part of Freud�s theory where he states there is an
ID, Superego and an Ego. Another thing is agree with is Freud�s theory of the
Defense Mechanisms. The mankind uses each one of them in everyday life. Another
thing that is a great example of man being biological is that at sometimes man can
have animal drives and desires. The man is also driven by the idea of free will
which to. The mankind has free will but maybe takes it for granted. Thus, mankind
should be much more grateful and appreciative for the environment that is created
and for what they have become due to their environment. Man�s behavior just can not
be either biological or social because , mankind also passes on behavior through
genetic inheritance. Man has to be both according to my own theory . �The clear
perception of the human aggressive behavior as a structure, predictable pattern of
the interation between genes and environment is consistent with the evolutionary
theory.�(Frey,Lecture). � The cultural traditions of warfare in primitive societies
evolved independently of the ability of human beings to survive and reproduce.
�(Wilson, On Human Nature)
Thus, the ultimate theme of the psychologists reflects the symptoms of reaching the
conciled utmost goals towards the human nature. Freud explains gender differences
more whereas Wilson stresses on homosexuality and sociobiological aspect of the
human nature on the human nature than what Freud gave. On the other hand, Frankl
totally contributed towards concept of deep self in human beings search for the
destination(meaning) in their lives. The psychoanalysis perspective could be very
useful for the mind- body concept of the human nature as well as dealing with the
cultural and social issues(basically the gender issues). The sociobiological
concept circulates all the technological aspects by which the human genetic
materials have developed, the evolutionary concepts and the disciplinary stages of
various constraint related to human nature.
Thus, from all given reason from the above paragraphs, it can be clearly determined
that neither of the psychologists said complete in all the fields. There were even
similarities but only upto a certain extent.
Taking the Contrast of Freud and Wilson, it can be determined that Freud directed
towards the gender issues especially the psychological concepts of the gender
differences whereas Wilson in his sociobiological theory explains biological
interpretation and simulates mind-body conception with his theories.
However all the theories by both of them identified in its deep core the true
meaning of human nature. One focusing gender issues whether other happiness or so.
One going towards description of the human mind whereas other going towards the
bodily interpretation and its consequence over human nature. Neither claim to
completely elucidate all facets of the human nature. But Both Freud and Wilson said
a lot about the core of the personality , no matter in what instincts they
explained it. It was their ultimate goal towards the concept of interpreting the
human beings focusing towards the aspects and moralities of the core effecting the
human nature. Their theories helped a lot for the human society in finding the
relative core of the human nature. And these theories of Psychology is still much
worth regarding the personality as well as the human instinct of true self , true
nature as well as their behavior.