Cognitive bias is an unconscious systematic pattern of thinking that can often result in errors in judgment. These biases stem from the brain’s limited resources and need to simplify the world in order to make faster decisions. Such biases are…
Sigmund Freud suggested that human personality was made up of three key elements. He called these the id, the ego, and the superego. According to Freud, it was the interaction of these three parts of personality that influence how people…
Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify, understand, and manage emotions. This involves not just understanding your own emotions, but also understanding the emotions of other people. Furthermore, emotional intelligence has been described as both a personality trait and an…
While conventional views of human intelligence focus on an individual’s intellectual potential, the theory of multiple intelligences suggests that intelligence is more than just a single general mental ability. First introduced by Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner in his 1983 book…
The nature versus nurture debate focuses on the question of whether genetic or environmental factors matter most in the course of human development. What is it that makes you who you are? Some might say that it is your genes…
Behaviorism is a theory of human psychology that suggests that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning. According to this approach to psychology, it is our interactions with our environments that shape what we learn, who we are, and how we…
Self-efficacy refers to your belief in your ability to succeed in certain situations. Your sense of self-efficacy has a major influence on how you approach challenges and goals. When confronted with a challenge, do you believe that you can succeed or…
Intrinsic motivation involves a driving force behind behavior that emerges from within rather than as a result of external reward. In other words, it is a type of motivation that involves doing things because you find them naturally satisfying, or doing…
Child development theories are focused on understanding and explaining how kids change over the course of childhood. Psychologists and development researchers have proposed a number of different theories to describe and explain the process and stages that children go through…
Self-actualization refers to the need to fulfill one’s total potential. It represents the need for growth that people constantly strive for as they reach toward fulfilling their highest level needs. What Is Self-Actualization? So what exactly does self-actualization entail? “What a…
