What are the biological,psychological and social elements of human behaviour?

Question

this is a topic being studied in IGCSE Advanced subsidiary level sociology.

Answer 1

I will do my best to separate out the influences, but biological, social, and psychological influences are all intertwined.

Biological - "drives" or "needs" such as the need for food, water, shelter influence our behavior, even in advanced industrial societies.  If I feel biological hunger, I will seek out food in some sort of way - in order to preserve my own life.  The way that this food is sought out is both psychologically and socially shaped - if I am anorexic, I will seek out food in different ways than one who is not anorexic (psychological influence). "Taco Bell runs" are modern social phenomena - there is a biological hunger, but the way that we quench that hunger is socially shaped (biology and psychology overlap - on balance, "drives" and "needs" are more the province of psychology than biology). Other biological influences are mutations, sexual behaviors, visual and vocal apparatuses/perceptual apparatuses, physical deformities, genetics - the list is endless. In short, biology clearly affects behavior.

Psychological influences - if all influences on human behavior were biological or social, then every person would react exactly the same to every biological or social influence. Thanks to psychological variations, individuals react/behave differently in regards to the same stimuli.  An alcoholic reacts differently to the same can of Budweiser than a non-alcoholic - the difference between the two is partly psychological (although there are still biological and social aspects of alcoholism). Two people who are abused by their parents will react differently to the same abuse - one will "shrug it off" with relative ease, and the other will be scarred for life. In the twentieth century, much was learned about how intimately psychology and biology are intertwined. Physical damage to the brain (biological) can result in mental disorders (psychological). Psychological factors can be mental disorders, "predispositions" (which are largely biological), sense of well-being, motivation, perception, cognition, etc.

Social aspects - Society shapes us in ways that are more powerful than individual people in our lives. When a person behaves in a way that is condoned by their peer group (a social group), that social influence may be more powerful than the word of an individual teacher or parent who disapproves of such behavior. Race, class and gender are powerful social forces which permeate our lives - even in societies that are supposedly "colorblind." Social influences are race, class, gender, nationality, early and late socialization, tribe, peer groups, work groups, war, social aspects of the economic and political organization of society, etc.

Once again, these are just notes.