Social-Cognitive and Humanistic Perspectives

Social-Cognitive and Humanistic Perspectives

Katherine Freeman

PSY 203

Social-Cognitive and Humanistic Perspectives

Several theories explain the development of human behavior. Peoples’ actions change from time to time for some reasons, which can be either internal or external. This paper will discuss two of the theories of human psychology, which are the social-cognitive perspective and the humanistic perspective. It will also examine the main themes, concepts, differences, and limitations of each approach (Cloninger, 2019).

The fact is that both theories accept that human behavior change whichever the way. According to Albert Bandura, social factors influence human behavior change. The Social-Cognitive Perspective theory states that people’s behaviors change through learning from various physical experiences or other people. It asserts that an individual’s experiences determine what reinforcements, expectations, and expectancies will shape his/her behavior. There are always particular reasons as to why people engage in certain activities, for example, to fit in a specific social setting in which they live. The main concepts involved in social cognitive perspective include; observational-learning, reciprocal determinism, self-efficacy, expectations, behavioral capability, and reinforcements (Medcof & Roth, 2016).

Observational learning explains that individuals develop their personalities and acquire different behaviors by observing other people. The concept here is copying the lifestyle of other people who one closely relates with or sometimes by watching some films. Reciprocal-Determinism concept assumes that both inner desires to achieve something and the external forces drive a person into doing something with some uniqueness. Self-efficacy states that behavior change involves facilitators and barriers. A person must have some capacity to adopt a new behavior with confidence. If there is no self-efficacy, then one may not be able to develop a unique personality. Expectations refer to the likely consequences of a person’s behavior. It focuses on the results of people’s actions and their consequences. Behavior change plus the reactions associated with one’s practice will either bring success or failure in performance. But due to certain expectations, people change their practices and develop new personalities to achieve what they expect in life or particular moments. Behavioral-capability examines someone’s ability to perform specific actions successfully. It involves some individualism and how much a person believes in him/herself. Therefore, the social cognitive perspective has something to do with human behavioral change (Medcof & Roth, 2016).

The theory has some limitations that question its concepts. First, it has assumptions that the change in the environment automatically changes people’s behaviors. It may be not accurate. Secondly, it does not clearly explain to what extent a person, environment, and behavior are responsible for behavior change. This theory disregards biological powers to determine one’s behavior and only concentrates on physical factors. Biological factors must count in behavior change as opposed by the social cognitive perspective, which only proposes that people learn to change. The theory also ignores motivations and emotions (Cloninger, 2019).

On the other hand, according to Carl Rogers, the humanistic perspective explains that biological factors determine human behavior change. The holistic view states that a person’s inner feelings and self-image influence behavior change. The humanistic perspective opposes the social-cognitive perspective on the determinants of social, behavioral evolution. It instead blames the whole behavior change process on the individual. It further describes that when a person has an innate capacity for self-actualization, which is everyone’s unique desire, then such an individual can willingly change his/her personality to achieve his/her expectations. The holistic theory is based on self-confidence and believing in oneself. People are born to be positive and pleasant in nature. This theory points out that people are born to grow and become better. It is the mind of a positive image that influences behavior change (Cloninger, 2019).

Drawing some ideas from Maslow’s theory, people are goal-oriented, and five main concepts determine the holistic perspective. They are empathy, the hierarchy of needs, free will, self-actualization, and self-efficacy. Empathy refers to the ability of individuals to understand themselves and others. People are expected to be morally upright and mindful. A person must be able to understand or feel what other people feel or place oneself in another person’s position. This means that people should share experiences to know what they are supposed to do for others. Secondly, the hierarchy of needs explains that people’s behavior change is greatly influenced by their desires of what they would want to have. For example, a person will need basic needs like food, shelter, and clothing before he/she can acquire easy things like a personal vehicle, among other extravagant items. This concept asserts that human necessities begin with the lowest to the largest, according to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Such needs include physiological, safety, sense of belongingness, self-esteem, and finally self-actualization (Medcof & Roth, 2016).

The free will concept in humanist perspective states that an individual will not be forced to adopt a new personality by the physical factors, but will willingly decide to change or not. Self-efficacy is the ability of a person to take new behaviors and maintain them for life. It describes that for one to change, there must exist barriers and facilitators that will either promote or hinder the development of a distinct personality. Finally, self-actualization is the desire to aim high and find ways to reach for setting goals in life. The idea examines that motivation, hard work, and non-divergent minds can achieve every highly set goal. It makes people change for a better future experience. If for example, someone was lazy, he could be industrious (Cloninger, 2019).

The weaknesses of the humanistic theory are the assumptions that every individual will grow to be positive and a perfect person. It ignores evil people and does not state what leads to evil persons or deeds. The second limitation is that it is not scientific enough. It does not consider physical stimulus to behavior change. It opposes some facts about physical factors that influence people’s behavior (Medcof & Roth, 2016). The third weakness is how it opposes that people do not develop new practices by learning and exposure to mixed phenomena when it is practical that children learn from their parents, they get to know the harmful and harmless objects by touching or observing how they hurt others. To conclude, the social cognitive perspective emphasizes that human behavior change is influenced mainly by learning process (cognitive process) and the physical factors while humanistic perspective bases it arguments on biological factors or inner feelings and positive self-image (Cloninger,2019).

References

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