Why did the chicken cross the road? This is a question that almost everyone has asked at some point in their life. Have you ever sat back and wondered why we do the things we do? Psychologist do this every day. They have a way of looking at anything someone or something does and explaining the why of it. Psychology has seven major perspectives that are followed to explain the reasoning behind why things are done. They can even be used to explain why that chicken crossed to the other side of the road.
Biological psychology shows that most behaviors are inherited and have an adaptive function. Basically this says that we do things because of our genetic makeup and the DNA we inherit. What if the Chicken’s chromosomes and hormones are designed to tell them that they are supposed to cross that street? It makes you wonder if we do things because we just want to, or are we genetically designed to do these things because of what we have inherited. The biological perspective and the psychologist who study it believe that our behaviors are influenced by our chromosomes, hormones and our brain. Even when it comes to something as little as crossing a road.
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The behavior perspective believes that we do things based on what we have learned from our environment through classical and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning refers to learning by association and operant condition is learning from consequences. So if the chicken is taught that he gets food when he crosses the road, such as in classical conditioning, he will eventually start crossing the road anytime he is hungry. What if the chicken crosses the road for food because it learns that if it doesn’t there is a loud bang behind it? This is the operant conditioning approach. Either way the chicken has learned a behavior because of its environment and therefore is exhibiting the behavior