IndexIntroductionBehaviorismHumanismAfrican understanding of Western theoriesEthical limits for the application of theoryConclusionReferencesIntroductionWe live in a world rich in points of view, perspectives and beliefs that they differ from person to person. We behave differently and express our opinions in very different ways. People from all over the world tend to have different norms and customs that they consider normal. Because of these sometimes limited ideas of normality, many people have become ignorant of the perspectives of other communities and fail to understand the differences. The study of the mind has presented several theories that explain why behavior and perception differ in different communities and also provide means to observe and evaluate such differences. Again, these theories also tend to be partial as they derive from narrow viewpoints and were formulated with a particular group as the focus. The African perspective, however, was neglected and, as a result, one-sided Western ideas were supposedly seen as capable of governing the African way of life. Narrowing itself to behaviorism and humanism, this text aims to outline the contributions, contradictions and impacts of these theories on the development of African psychology and the African way of life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Behaviorism This is a psychological theory that originates in the United States of America. Influenced primarily by The Pavlovs, JB Watson, its well-known founder, and B.F. Skinner, behaviorism flourished in the 1910s and 1920s. This school believed that the study of mental processes was of great irrelevance since they could not be observed or measured. He emphasized that the science of psychology should focus on observable behavior in relation to certain stimuli while ignoring the logical factor of human psychology, thus getting the name behaviorism. J Watson believed that patterns of behavior develop throughout a person's life based on lived experience, meaning that even the simplest habitual actions and reactions are learned and are not something you are born with. He also argued that a person's behavior could be altered or "programmed" by subjecting the person to specific controlled conditions, to the point where even the subject's abilities and talents are overridden. Behaviorism was based on experiments and subjects, with humans being the best choice for human psychology, but due to behaviorists' disinterest in mental processes led them to deviate towards animal subjects. This deviation was believed to be a step that would allow them to focus fully on the behavior of subjects they could easily manipulate or who would not be able to reason with the behavior they displayed. However, the theories were still considered applicable to humans, which are our primary focus. Ivan Pavlov, who had a major influence on some of Watson's work, introduced "classical conditioning" which went into great detail in terms of explaining the relationship between stimuli and behavior. We react differently to various objects and situations we encounter, and most of them we have already adapted to from an earlier stage in our lives and they tend to seem more natural. Pavlov's conditioning methods stated or rather demonstrated that other stimuli that did not induce any specific (neutral) behavior could be designedto provoke the same reaction that a previous "natural stimulus" could induce. It worked by introducing the neutral stimulus and the behavioral stimulus at the same time or in a sequence that intertwined the stimuli and made them appear to work together. An example can be taken from the popular shark horror film "JAWS" where they played a melody every time the "antagonist" shark attacked and as a result, it was thought that just hearing the melody implied that the shark was about to attack and that this only caused terror. The best thing is that the new reaction to the 'natural stimulus' would never be forgotten unless it was used for another type of conditioning contrary to the first. This method is not limited to just adding a single neutral stimulus, but you can have a chain of stimuli that generate a similar reaction by pairing the controlled stimulus with a neutral one. This is known as high-order conditioning. BF Skinner originated operant conditioning which evaluates the role reinforcement plays in inducing behavior. The behavior might turn into a habit or be repeated if it leads to some form of reward or positive outcomes. However, behavior that receives a neutral or negative response, such as punishment, is less likely to be repeated. This is one way that people can learn to distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable behavior in a given environment. HumanismIt is a school of psychology that emerged in the 1950s, also from the United States of America. The rise of the concept was led by Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow. The two strongly disagreed with hypotheses implying that humans have no control over their own destiny and which ultimately became part of the foundation of the theory. They paid more attention to emotions, creativity and personal drive, which could also prevent people from being seen as "victims governed by their environment". The school believed that people were redefining situations and experiences in their own ways, which would produce unique behaviors. the emphasis was on the fact that all human beings have free will. Humans are believed to have a greater mental capacity than other species and thus make them capable of deciding the type of behavior they choose to display. From the humanist point of view, self-esteem is more important and has greater influence than what happens outside our field of perception. However, self-esteem (self-concept) is also influenced by the type of education the person has received. While developing a personal perspective, the type of support you receive from the people around you will somewhat influence your level of interaction and trust in society. As important as educational aspects were, the school discouraged stereotyping of human behavior and believed that there would be distinct ways in which people processed challenges and responded due to differences in personal goals and desires, such as educational and relationship goals. . Of Western TheoriesBoth behaviorism and humanistic psychology originated in America to address and resolve challenges that are customized to the environment and how the people living there perceive reality. As Western concepts, the theories cannot fully understand the values ​​of African culture and lifestyles due to the exposure they have had with the culture. However, some Africans in developing countries have been forced to rely on Western psychological concepts due to constitutional laws and this tends to take them away from self-awareness. There are many ideas that can be considered, making it possible to explain some, 4-1.