It is the uniqueness of character and personality among individuals that have influenced the way people relate and associate with each other. Moreover, the outlined differences determine how people react or respond to various situations. According to the American Psychological Association (2017), personality is defined as the different character patterns in an individual’s behavior, thoughts, and feelings. On the other hand, human behavior is referred to as the range of emotional and physical actions that are impacted by coercion, emotions, attitudes, ethics, and genetics among others which individuals embrace them in various ways that include biologically, intellectually and socially among others. In consideration that psychology is the study of the state of mind and behavior with the concentration of both conscious and unconscious elements, it is evident that the behind every action lies specific principles that the different psychologist seek to sought.
In the case of school violence, both victims and orchestrators of the events face traumatic experiences that are viewed differently by psychological experts that have specialized in the different branches of psychology. While psychology focuses on the broad thoughts and behavior of individuals, the various units that include, humanistic, cognitive and behavioral psychology focuses on the details of the associated elements. From the records and analysis of specialists and psychologists, it is clear that school violence has no clear determinant of the cause. Therefore, as highlighted by Dr. Christopher Heffner (2001), different individuals have specific reasons as to why they end up indulging in activities that initiate or promote violence within the school environment.
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Humanistic Psychology view on School Violence
According to Saul McLeod (2015), the study of humanistic psychology focuses on the whole individual identifying their outstanding traits from the rest. Furthermore, some of the essential perspectives of humanistic psychology include the good in humans that bring out their empathetic nature. While the incidences of school violence may be caused by different factors, anger and hatred are among the major catalysts in any form of abuse. Therefore, a humanistic psychologist would focus on the need for the doer of violence within the school to embrace, love and care for every individual within the institute. Moreover, in case the practice of violence within the school would be a reason to pass a message, humanistic psychologists encourage individuals to openly share their thoughts and feelings since it is among the study of psychology that promote hierarchy needs.
While the indulgement in violence in school or any other institute may be an exercise that satisfies the quench to harm others, humanistic psychology approach encourages the need to focus on the needs of others more than those that matter to self. It is through such activities that acts of love and care for others promote harmony among people. In the quest to determine reasons as to why individuals engage in violence causing deaths through attacks, a humanistic psychologist approaches such activities with the sense of understanding that violent behaviors are influenced by the subjective experiences that the individuals go through (Caffrey, 1969) . Consequently, in most cases, it is the thoughts, feelings, perception, senses, and memory of past experiences that violent individuals embrace which impacts their involvement in attacks and harm of others. Moreover, unlike other branches of psychology, humanism emphasizes on the need for individuals to take responsibility for every action they engage in especially self-growth and satisfaction because of the existence of free will. Humanistic psychology embraces positivity, hence shuns away from any form of activities that can deliberately cause harm either to self or other individuals.
A humanistic psychologist firmly believes that people are inherently good hence their characters in adulthood are affected by the conditions they are subjected to since childhood. On the contrary, just like many other experts, individuals are unique in their ways hence a generalized view of the causes of indulgement in violence is disapproved. Since the past has a lot of impact on the actions of an individual, humanistic psychology encourages individuals to focus on the present and work on solutions based on the current events rather than the past. Therefore, incidences of school violence that are either impacted by vengeance and association with the adverse company can be hindered in case the actors focus on their bright future and the current events. While some base the past incidences of violence on cultural differences, humanistic psychology views ethnic and racial disparity as a ground a positive alternative to embracing differences. Some individuals argue that for one to decide to murder fellow students who are innocent, they qualify for a mental check-up since only a depressed or seriously mentally challenged individual can kill. Ironically, humanistic psychology emphasizes on individuals, their needs and thoughts rather than engaging in medical or research centered approaches. Humanistic psychologists agree that hate is never the reason for individuals to participate in killings rather the silence. Therefore, the need to freely express oneself encouraging individual therapies that focus on helping one acknowledge who they are and embracing their fears purposely to reach their full potential.
Cognitive Psychology Approach on School Violence
Cognitive psychology, on the other hand, focuses on all the mental processes that involve memory, perception, creativity, thoughts, and problem resolution among others. In the case of school violence, a cognitive psychologist analyses that the primary cause of the incidences may be the memory of past activities that the individual was exposed to like programs or societal conflict. Consequently, individuals who engage in such activities have for a long time been subjected to a particular way of thinking that is bias. The tendency in aggressiveness and engagement in violent activities is mostly because of the persistence in focusing one's thoughts in a specific way. Moreover, innocent entertainments that have aggressive pictures in them affect individuals who frequently watch them and in some ways impact the need to practice the things that they attend. For instant, animated programs that most parents expose their children to have characters that exhibit super powers and strength that eliminate the villain in the script. Therefore, the need to associate to the powerful cast impacts the behavior and practices of the children. Moreover, the memory of the incidences and programs watched impacts the exercises and activities that individuals depict even in their adulthood.
Cognitive psychologists encourage the need for individuals to change their view or perception of some ideologies which they have picked throughout their childhood. Just like the humanism, cognitive psychology promotes the need for an individual to balance their thoughts and reactions towards various situations. Furthermore, it is essential for individuals to analyze their intentions first in collaboration with the impact it will have towards others. Consequently, issues of violence can be handled through the ability of the orchestrators analyzing their thoughts and balancing the reasons as to why they desire to harm or attack other individuals. Moreover, it is significant for them to mind the well-being of their potential victims (Amaral, 2011). Psychologists also encourage individuals to understand the events that can cause them to engage in violent activities by focusing on their mental state that dictates the change in emotions and feelings. That way it is easier for individuals to monitor signs that can lead them to violent activities hence staying alert and embracing self-control.
Behavioral Psychology on Violence
Like the rest of psychology branches, behavioral approaches to understanding the traits of both humans and animals. Unlike the rest, under behavioral psychology, the qualities of an individual are influenced by various factors that include the events happening around their environment and possible results from past incidences. About school violence, the impact of the act could be influenced by experiences the individuals had to face including the punishments or motivation towards their actions. On the other hand, the environment also changes an individual’s reaction towards some activities either by frequent exposure to violence or participation of the same (Reiss, Albert J, and Jeffrey A Roth) . Behavioral psychology emphasizes the fact that some traits are easily learned through continuous engagement in specific activities or observation to the same. Consequently, a violent student may be depicting historical events that they had to face during their childhood from a violent home or exposure to bullying from fellow students in school. Such behaviors can be handled through therapies that engage the individuals, one on one with the expert in facilitating the need to understand what is required of them from the environment.
Conclusion
School violence is viewed as one of the most unexpected activities because of the perception that students are young to engage in extreme events that hurt others. On the contrary, violence orchestrated by young individuals is on the rise because of astronomical factors most of which are environmental. As a result, different branches of psychology view the acts and remedies towards violence in a different way. In that case, factors that include the thoughts of individuals and exposure to some incidences from the environment are significant in influencing the characters of various people. In most cases, humans are identified as individuals who can learn and unlearn some traits if they are done consistently.
References
Amaral, R. (2011, March 28). Explaining Domestic Violence using Cognitive-Behavioural Theory (CBT) . Retrieved November 25, 2017, from Psychology For Growth: http://psychologyforgrowth.com/2011/03/28/domestic-violence-an-cbt/
American Psychological Association. (2017). Personality . Retrieved November 25, 2017, from American Psychological Association: http://www.apa.org/topics/personality/
Caffrey, B. (1969). Behavior patterns and personality characteristics related to prevalence rates of coronary heart disease in American monks. Journal Of Chronic Diseases , 22 (2), 93-103. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0021-9681(69)90062-9Heffner, D. C. (2001, November 15). School Violence . Retrieved November 25, 2017, from AllPsych: https://allpsych.com/journal/schoolviolence/
McLeod, S. (2015). Humanism . Retrieved November 25, 2017, from Simply Psychology: https://www.simplypsychology.org/humanistic.html
Reiss, A., & Roth, J. (1998). Understanding and preventing violence . Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
