be at peace with himself”.
427
Carl Rogers (1902-1987) was another
psychologist who argued that humans have this tendency towards self
actualisation.
Behaviourism
City girls just seem to find out early, How to open doors with just a smile.
428
Contrasting with the benign and individualistic theory of Maslow is
behaviourism. Its proponents such as John B Watson (1878-1958) and
Burrhus F Skinner (1904-1990) saw the human as a tabula rasa
(that is, a
blank slate) who responded to pleasure and pain through learned habits.
Because of this learning, when a particular stimulus was presented to an actor,
they responded with a specific behaviour that was geared to obtain pleasure or
to avoid pain.
Looking at the broad picture, according to behaviourism human development
is a continuous process, called conditioning. Stated in its extreme form,
behaviourism asserts says that a human will do anything that they have been
conditioned to do.
Aside from this explanation of why humans behave as they do, behaviourism
brought special consequences for psychology as a discipline. Since both the
stimulus and the behaviour were observable events in the outside world, there
was no need to refer to either the conscious or unconscious mind in explaining
behaviour. Consequently the study of behaviour was made both objective and
empirical.
Karl Marx
The final causes of all social changes and political revolution
are to be
sought, not in men's brains, not in man's insight into internal truth
and
justice... but in the economies of each epoch.
429
Karl Marx (1818-1883) is often associated with a view of historical causation
that is labelled economic determinism. There is, however, some controversy
among scholars as to whether economic determinism is the sole major force in
social causation or merely one of considerable influence. However, to explain
this notion briefly it will be best to explain it in pure form and defer that debate
to another time and place. Since Marx’s views are considerd in a later chapter
a brief statement will suffice here.
430
___________________
427
Maslow (1970)
428
Don Henley; Glenn Fry Lyin Eyes
429
Friedrich Engels (1882) Socialism -- Utopian and Scientific p54
430
Chapter 27 Irrationality
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