Analyzing Behavior: Implications via Philosophical Questions in Psych

This discussion board post delves into the implications of behavior, using 'love' as a central concept and exploring it through the philosophical lenses of free will versus determinism and the mind-brain problem. It references Stenberg’s triangular theory of love and the basic human needs it fulfills. The post contrasts free will, the idea that behaviors stem from independent decisions, with determinism, which posits that every behavior has a measurable cause. The discussion also examines the mind-brain problem, contrasting monism (the inseparability of brain and conscious experience) with dualism (the mind's control over the body). Additionally, it reviews two other student discussions, critiquing their clarity and centrality to the chosen behavioral examples (anger and interest) and suggesting improvements in relating the philosophical questions to the selected behaviors. The post concludes by suggesting that the mind-brain problem might be a better framework than nature versus nurture for understanding human interest.

Running head: Implications of the meaning of behavior
IMPLICATIONS OF THE MEANING OF BEHAVIOR

1
Implications of the meaning of behavior
There can be several implications regarding the concept of behavior. I have chosen the
concept of love as one of the implications of behavior as a concept. For that reason, I have
selected free will versus determinism and mind-brain problem as the two philosophical questions
in order to explain love. According to Stenberg’s triangular theory of love, love includes three
factors such as Intimacy, passion, commitment. The need of love for human species relies on
four basic needs to be alive that are the need of Survival, socialization, affirmation, procreation.
There are certain criteria for identifying true love such as physical abuse cannot be there if love
is there in a relationship. On the other hand, it can be assumed that people show Positive
behavior if someone likes them.
One of the significant philosophical issues regarding human behavior is the conflict
between free will and determinism. Free will is a kind of belief that every behavior is an outcome
of independent decisions taken by individuals. The concept of love is related to this issue as two
people are in love because they decide independently to be in love. On the other hand,
determinism states that every behavior has definite and measurable cause behind it. In the
context of love, this can be said that if someone loves a person then certainly there must be some
reasons for falling in love with that person.
On the other hand, mind-brain problem is another philosophical question that has two
views including monism and dualism. Monism supports the idea that physical brain is
inseparable from conscious experience while Dualism believes that mind is the all powerful
element in human beings that controls not only the brain but also each part of the body and is not
inseparable from brain. In this regard, this can be said that love can be defined from both the
views. From the perspective of dualism, it can be said that love does not happen after calculating
the outcomes of being in love with a particular person but when it happens both the physical and
emotional aspects of a human being. Moreover, after love consumes a person, the senses of brain
and mind get mixed up and inseparable.

2
Implications of the meaning of behavior
Discussion review
1. The first discussion has chosen nature versus nurture and free will versus determinism as
two philosophical questions. The concept of both the questions can be well understood
from this discussion. On the contrary, it is not clear from the discussion what implication
or example of behavior has been chosen for this. It can be assumed that may be the
student chose Anger as an example of explaining behavior but even if that is the chosen
example then the whole argument lacks centrality. This is so because the explanation of
both the questions cannot be traced back to the concept of anger as it seems that the topic
is about those two questions and not about anger itself. Moreover, it has been found that
the world view of a person depends on these questions whereas the definition of anger as
a part of human behavior could not be perceived from this discussion.
2. In this discussion, interest has been chosen as an example for explaining what behavior
is. For that reason, interest has been defined precisely and it has been mentioned that
interest is related to motivation of a person regarding something or something. Free will
versus determinism and nature versus nurture have been chosen to explain interest
further. This discussion holds the belief that interest of a person can depend on certain
factors such choice, personal abilities and on the environment where that person grew up.
These factors trace back to concepts of both the philosophical issues and thus it has been
established that interest can be well defined from the perspective of both of them. In this
context, it can be said that human interest might be better understood from mind-brain
problem rather than nature versus nurture issue as interest can well be defined more
precisely from the perspective of the mind brain problem.