BEH/225 Week 1 Assignment
3/13/15

BEH/225 Week 1 Assignment

Psychology has been around ever since someone wondered why someone else did something, so basically a very, very long time. Psychology as its own science, however, has only existed for about two centuries. Wilhelm Wundt is credited as being the first psychologist and is known as the “father of psychology” (Coon, 2013). This was done when he set up his own lab where he could monitor people’s reactions to different stimuli (Coon, 2013). He insisted on using a strict routine for observing and noting these reactions (Coon, 2013). His doing so is what began to separate psychology as its own science. There are many perspectives in psychology that can explain human behavior. On some levels there is a Pavlovian response to certain things, we learned not to touch things that are hot because we will be burned or that we shouldn’t stick out tongues to something metal in the winter time. This is a conditioned response to a stimulus which is a perspective first adopted by Ivan Pavlov, who was a physiologist, but it can help explain some behaviors (Coon, 2013) Sigmund Freud suggested that our unconscious mind determines our actions and behaviors (Coon, 2103). These are but two of the many perspectives that can help to explain human behavior. On the subject of nature (genetic potential) vs. nurture (environmental influences) vs, personal choice, I feel that I sit at the center divergence point of all three. I feel that in many cases it does in fact take all three to make a person behave the way that they do, in many cases. There are those that are raised in an environment, be it love, hate, or in between, that fall into these traits as they grow up. Then there are those that resent their upbringing, typically the not so good kind, and decide that they are never going raise another they way that they were