Is the environment solely responsible for the behavior of an organism?

Is the environment solely responsible for the behavior of an organism?

According to the postulation of B.F Skinner, the external environment is the only factor that is responsible for the determination of all the behavior of a person (Spielman, Jenkins, Dumper, Lovett, & Perlmutter, 2018). The argument is that organisms demonstrate specific, consistent behavior patterns because they have been developed over time in response to specific external conditions. He further argued that people get reinforced in the ideas that lead to positive consequences and abandon those with adverse outcomes. The theory also disputes the fact that personality is determined during childhood. On the contrary, it asserts that it is developed over the full range of the life of an individual.

I do not entirely agree with the behaviorism theory. The trait of a human being is more complex and cannot only be determined by external influences. There are internal factors that determine the behavior of a person; for example, the mood and emotions are critical factors. Furthermore, young children exhibit different temperaments even before exposure to any form of external influence. I believe that the theory is, at best, shallow and cannot account for the entirety of human behavior.

People and even animals can adapt their behavior appropriately when new information is introduced. This can happen even when there was a previously entrenched behavior pattern. People can still learn and unlearn their previous actions, or otherwise, extinction could have quickly taken place. Significant evidence of this weakness is in the acquisition of language by children. It is not possible that each language a child learns of reinforced, either positively or negatively, by another adult.

Furthermore, concerning language, when the child learns about language by imitation, he is supposed to learn everything correctly, even when the adult experiences errors of speech. However, this is not always the case. Speech is not only external acquired since the child in the process of learning learns various words and is then able to use them interchangeably, forming different sentences and words that were not initially acquired.

In reality, a lot of different factors, including genetics, life experience, and environment determine the behavior of an individual. Even if they eventually end up in similar circumstances in life, their choices are determined by a different set of issues. Learning is also strongly determined by the cognitive abilities of an individual. The fact that different people exposed to a similar set of instructions and conditions come out with different attributes is the other strong pointer to the fact that genetics plays a vital role in the development of personality traits. In an educational system, the principles of behavioral learning can be applied with a different level of success depending on the learners and the exact methods.

How does Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory apply in my life?

The theory postulated a hierarchy of needs ranging from biological to individual to social. At the bottom of the pyramid are the requirements a person requires to survive (Spielman et al., 2018). They include food, shelter, clothing, and warmth. The human being cannot function normally until these needs are first met. All the other human needs are irrelevant before the requirements in the first order are fulfilled.

Once the physiological needs are satisfied, the security needs become the next level of concern for a person. This level of need begins to control their lives as they desire to be in charge of their lives. The different levels include financial security, health, and physical protection from harm (Spielman et al., 2018). A person can address these needs by looking for a job, moving to safer neighborhoods, and putting money into their savings account.  The physiological and security requirements are collectively referred to as the basic needs.

The third tier of needs is social needs. They include the need for friendship, family, intimacy, and a sense of belonging. The personal relationship with family play an essential role, so does belonging to other groups such as clubs, religious organization, and sports team, among others. The need to love and be loved is innate in human beings and can be fulfilled at different levels.

The fourth level of needs is the esteem needs. It entails the need for appreciation and respect. One of the lower needs are fulfilled; it begins to motivate the behavior of an individual. People at this level increasingly desire gratitude and respect for their accomplishments, no matter the magnitude. People need to feel that they are valued wherever they are and that they are making a difference in the world. People who achieve their self-esteem needs tend to be confident in their abilities; on the other hand, those that do not realize it often has feelings of inferiority complex. Some of the means to achieve self-esteem needs include professional activities, academic accomplishments, and personal hobbies, among others.

At the peak of Maslow’s Pyramid is the self-actualization needs. It relates to the need for people to achieve their maximum potential in life. It is a state of optimal use of one’s talents, gifting, and capabilities to do what they are best capable of achieving. Self-actualization is based on self-awareness; these people are concerned with personal development and are hardly concerned about the opinions of others. They are ultimately interested in fulfilling their potential.

According to this theory, a person would not spend much money on self-esteem needs before attaining the requirements. For example, a person who does not have food to eat would not spend much time thinking about others’ perception of him. Instead, all the energies would be directed at getting food first before any other need.

The Relationship of the Idea to Me

I believe that education is an equalizer; it enables those that were born in poverty to eventually be at the same level as those from well-off backgrounds. As a child, I came from a humble background where it was often a struggle to get the basic needs that are at the bottom of the pyramid. Food was not always guaranteed, and my parents had to do several jobs to feed the family, cloth us, and shelter us. We did not always realize the struggle because the parents often kept their experiences away from us. However, the difference became visible to us as we matured. We realized that even at school, our dressing was below the standard common to most of our peers. All their motivation was to meet the most basic needs, which were food, clothing, and shelter. We did not have room for luxuries that most of our neighbors had. We used public transport and often relied on government support for our education and health needs. The food we ate was not the most nutritious but were just meant to meet our needs. Even the neighborhood was not so secure, but as a family, we persevered through it with some insecurity incidents, including muggings and petty theft.  As a family, I believe we were motivated by meeting physiological needs.

Our fortune changed a little bit when my elder brother got a job as an accountant with a local government agency. Even though he moved out, he supported my parents regularly to cushion us from the hard economic times. As a result of the new stream of income, the family moved to a better neighborhood, which was much more secure, better lit, and with fewer security incidents. Life became more bearable, and my parents were even able to save some money for an emergency. I believe, at this point, as a family, we were motivated to meet the second level needs, which are security. A better house and money in the bank account are essential sources of physical and financial security. As a family, we began to socialize with other families that were at our new-found economic level.

Eventually, my elder brother courted and married a beautiful lady because his social and financial status enabled him. Mostly, I consider him to have been meeting the third level of needs, which is social. Having achieved the first two-level of needs, he attained the third level, which was social. Personally, through my education, I believe that I will be able to fulfill this level of needs when I graduate and hopefully get a job. I plan to pursue my post-graduate education to the highest possible standard to achieve my self-esteem needs. I believe that courtesy of my knowledge, I will be able to play more critical roles in my country and society than my parents ever did because of their limited education. My passion for community improvement should enable me to be at the leadership roles in my country as I chart the destiny of our country. About self-actualization, I believe that I will be able to live and fulfill my potential in whichever area of life, especially about leadership. I think that I will live on to see my ambitions being fulfilled.

How can I cope with stress in my personal and professional life?

There are to main ways to cope with stress: problem-focused and emotion-focused coping. The problem-focused approach attempts to direct focus at the source of the problem to solve it and hence eliminate it (Spielman et al., 2018). In this case, the question has to be identified, the various available solutions identified, the different costs of the solutions determined, and the best alternative is chosen. For example, in a situation where there is a danger of failing a given course, the student can decide to approach the professor for a talk on the areas of concern, he can also choose to set aside more time to study and improve on the grades.

Emotion-focused coping entails reducing the negative emotions associated with the given situation. It involves distancing one’s self from a situation that is problematic by failing to focus on it entirely. For example, in the case of job loss, a person can choose to focus on more productive use of his time rather than lament about the job that has been lost. A problem-focused approach can be most effective when confronting controllable situations. At the same time, the emotion-focused method is used when handling cases that are beyond a person’s powers to change. Social support is a meaningful way to control the stress that people experience. These include friends, families, and support groups of various kinds.

How I can apply the Idea in my Life

I am easily weighed down by stressful situations and people. I like being in charge of any case, so whenever I do not have full control, this often makes me stressed. I have learned essential stress management techniques that I continue to apply in my student and private life.

I realized that my most significant source of stress was about deadlines, especially on matters related to my school work. About this, I applied the problem-focused approach to solving the situation. I learned time management. I can prioritize tasks, break-down tasks into smaller units, and I also delegate certain tasks whenever I can. Every single day that I wake up, I make a list of the duties to do in the order of their importance. I start with the high-priority tasks that require the most energy from me. Having handled these, I comfortably spend the rest of my day doing exciting tasks. The strategy had helped me to solve the problem of last-minute rush with assignments that I experienced early when I joined the college. I had delays with the professors, poor grades, and the pressure which severely affected my health. I also learned the wisdom of breaking down substantial overwhelming tasks into smaller bits. In so doing, I tackle the problem step by step and more energy and focus. For example, in writing my long term-papers, I take on the chapter by chapter so I can do a better job with less stress.

I also developed a robust social system to help me whenever I have issues that are beyond my ability. Some friends gladly put up my venting and just listen to me until I am relieved of the stressful situation I am facing. My parents and siblings have been beneficial to me since they understand my weaknesses regarding stressful situations. Even when there are some difficulties in the family, they intentionally shield me from such conditions to protect me; they only make me know things that I have to know. At the college, I need to develop more robust social support to which I can retreat under challenging circumstances. It needs to be composed of people across different personality characteristics so that we can help each other in our most significant times of need.

In the management of my stressful situations, I also need to create time for fun and relaxation. In my time, I will need to adhere to my time for relaxing. Even though I have always had it in my timetable, I hardly ever stick to it. The effect is that I am often very stressed and worn out by the end of the day. I will need to engage in some fun activities with close friends to help us with the process of relaxation. I am a lover of lawn-tennis, so I will need to join a club that can help me to sharpen my skills while I also relax to relieve me of any stressful situation. I will also consider some other essential relaxation techniques, such as yoga and meditation, among others.

I will also need to put in place a regime of regular physical exercise because of their proven value in reducing stress. I will start from the recommended monthly thirty minutes of physical activity as I improve my fitness level. The physical activities that I plan for include putting some music and dancing to the tune. I will need to get a dance trainer because I am not good at all in the art of dancing. I will also make deliberate choices to increase physical activities such as cycling to the grocery store, walking my dog around, using stairs instead of the elevator, and getting a partner to encourage me to do all these practices.

I will also attempt to practice the emotion-focused coping strategies. I will need to be more forgiving of the mistakes that a person does to me. This has been a significant source of my stressful conditions in the past, but I will need to overcome it. In the same way, I will have to adjust my very high standards and demand for perfectionism in my work and relation to people. My expectation of people to reciprocate for any favor I extend to them has been responsible for strained relationships with friends and relatives. Still, I need to improve on this problem. Above all, I will have to develop a heart of gratitude for the good and positive things that I have experienced from people and in life.

References

Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W., Dumper, K., Lovett, M., & Perlmutter, M. (2018). Psychology: OpenStax.