The Meaning of Mark Twain’s Quote
From a social psychology perspective, Twain implies three aspects of human behavior. First, he appears to underscore the fact that behavior is a product of the social influences in life. He refers to the social factors shaping human life when he gives a chance that facts and happenings could influence one’s life. People learn from their social interactions with others, which helps them to shape who they become in life. Second, Twain suggests that human have an inherent behavior, one that descends from their biological origins, and one which influences the mind subconsciously. He suggests that individuals subconsciously decide what they want to do, and that the environmental influences on such decisions are only minimal. In this sense, his third idea is that the subconscious takes the greatest proportion of the factors influencing human action.
Applicable Psychological Theories and Real-Life Experiences
Mark Twain’s first and second ideas are explicable through the nature v. nurture theory explaining human behavior. Accordingly, nature refers to the pre-existing conditions, the genetic factors for this case, influencing human behavior. These factors are hereditary in most cases, which explains the occurrence of specific traits down people’s family lines. Contrarily, the nurture aspect of the theory acknowledges that human behavior is in part shaped by their environmental interactions—behavior is modelled through conditioning and learning experiences. Arguably, one is born in a state of mind blankness, and they begin modeling their behavior from their first interactions with the external environment. Therefore, in Mark Twain’s perspective, some behavior is principally a product of one’s interactions with their environment, which occurs mostly because humans live and operate in social groups. The nurture aspect of the theory is most applicable in this context, and it importantly explains the influence of peer pressure. For example, binge drinking is common among college students because of the social influences that they impart on each other through different interactions. Some of such students go to college with no histories of drinking, but find themselves experimenting with alcohol and other drugs of abuse. Later, they learn to abuse alcohol, which drives them into binge drinking.
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Apart from the nurture v. nature theory, Twain’s quote may be interpreted according to the constructs of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality. He importantly articulates the concept of the unconscious mind, which he refers to as a person’s reservoir of memories, urges, thoughts, and feelings, which are mostly hidden out of their conscious awareness. He postulated that most of the composition of the unconscious are perceived unpleasant or unacceptable, including feelings of anxiety, conflict, pain, and others. Despite their undesirability, Freud suggested that the unconscious mind continues influencing people’s actions despite their awareness of these underlying forces. Twain articulates this idea by suggesting that most of human action is initiated by what keeps flowing through their mind. In application, intuition and common sense are among the most useful examples of the unconscious mind. In this case, people are able to make sound decisions without the need for logical reasoning, such as love at the first sight, which turns out to be right choice of a marriage partner.
Lastly, Twain’s quote may be interpreted using Albert Bandura’s social learning theory. The latter model emphasizes the usefulness of observations and behavior, emotional, and attitude modeling from others. In many ways, Twain acknowledges that part of what people become is a product of knowledge, which in Bandura’s theory, is modelled on observations. For example, children learn non-verbal cues from observing and imitating adults in their environments. In many aspects, therefore, Twain’s quote has applications to social psychology.
