Psycology. Humanistic, Behaviorist, and Social Psychological Perspectives

Humanistic, Behaviorist, and Social Psychological Perspectives
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Humanistic, Behaviorist, and Social Psychological Perspectives
People are defined by their behaviors. In particular, the rapid advancement of technology has significantly affected the way humans behave. Traditionally, individuals were more attentive and interested to interact with others physically. They would travel long distances so that they can meet those they love. However, today, things have changed. Although the Internet makes the world a global village, people continue to be farther apart from one another. Millennials do not value physical interactions with others since they have been brought up using electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, and computers. These people would rather chat with strangers who are miles away without recognizing others who are close to them. The behavior of checking social media has damaged physical human interactions. Things that used to bring people together, some decades ago, are no longer valued. In other terms, technology fosters individualism in one way. The paper focuses on the behavior of checking social media from a behaviorist, humanistic, and social psychological perspective.
The behaviorist perspective refers to the study of how humans behave. Indeed, it posits that human behavior is learned over time through reinforcement and conditioning (Pagoto et al., 2016). That is the reason why people’s behaviors keep changing since they depend on various things such as technology, mobility, and location. For example, before the introduction of smartphones, individuals traveled for long distances to meet their family members or friends. However, that behavior is dying gradually since people can use mobile phones to communicate and see those that they hold dear. As such, individuals check social media for various reasons. They include to get relevant information, perform business transactions, communicate with others, to do online shopping, undertake their duties, and for entertainment purposes. In reality, people check social media networks anytime, as long as they have an Internet connection. Besides, the web does not sleep. For sure, to change the behavior of checking social media is not as simple as it may appear. Individuals become addicts of the Internet, and some cannot even spend about ten minutes without checking social media platforms. Overall, it is hard to change one’s behavior, particularly when a person is addicted to it.
From the behaviorist perspective, checking social media has significantly contributed to the change in people’s behavior. Specifically, the technology improves individuals’ behavior in several ways. For example, people can communicate with their loved ones every time they miss them. They no longer need to travel long distances to transact. Nowadays, individuals can buy things online and send money using various platforms such as PayPal. People entertain themselves by watching movies and playing games on the web. However, individuals’ behaviors get worse when they are not in control of Internet usage. For instance, some people spend more time on the Internet doing irrelevant things. Others get depressed when they see their friends posting pictures depicting high social statuses. Moreover, checking social media while driving has been one of the primary causes of road accidents. Indeed, it would be incorrect to say that one does not use the Internet. In reality, two hours cannot pass without checking what is happening on the web. Sometimes one gets the feeling that the Internet has made a person an addict to it. Some of the similar behaviors about Internet users is that they spend more time surfing, cannot stay for a long period without an Internet connection, and they sacrifice physical interaction to chat with virtual friends who are miles away. In other terms, being online has become more important than being physically present, particularly to millennials.
The other relevant psychological perspective is humanistic. In particular, the humanistic perspective emphasizes things that contribute to the positive image of people. On that note, one can focus on the importance of checking social media in improving human well-being. Based on Abraham Maslow in his hierarchy of needs theory, humanistic view involves prioritizing things that enhance self-actualization, self-image...