Psychodynamic Approach To Human Nature

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When considering psychological explanations of human nature, I find it difficult to select one psychological perspective's views over another's. With most every approach, I agree with pieces of their practices and disagree with others. Having said that, I feel that, in my opinion, cognitive psychology probably does the best job explaining human nature. Cognitive psychology focuses on mental process. It studies how we learn, focus, and perceive the world. I think it is impossible to study human nature without focusing on mental processes. That is one of the critiques I have of the behavioral approach. Many of our human behaviors are learned behaviors and, as such, should be studied cognitively. It is my belief that every thing we do has some psychological reasoning behind it. Cognitive psychology, in my opinion, is the best way to study these behaviors. …show more content…
The psychodynamic approach is based on Sigmund Freud's ideas of unconscious thought, biological drives, and psychoanalysis which say that human nature is shaped by greedy instincts, demands of society, and childhood trauma. I disagree with this. I believe that there is much more to human nature than our cultural and social demands. Certainly, I believe that our interactions with our family and with society shape who we are, but I do not agree that biology, culture, and unconscious thought shape our human nature. To say this is to demean humanity to a more animalistic state. We are more than our biological urges, and that is what makes us human. Out of all of the different approaches to psychology, I feel that the psychodynamic approach explains human nature the worst and that the cognitive approach explains it the