Session 1

Reciprocal influences

* Behaviour, internal personal factors and environmental influences all operate as interlocking determinants of each other

I feel that this perspective makes the most sense. Humans are impressionable creatures- powerful events leave deep impacts in our mind. An example would be trauma from an accident. These environmental influences leave 'emotional scars' on us, and very often we are affected by these scars for life. A person may be very outgoing at first, but after experiencing the murder of his family, he could very easily become traumatized and turn into someone who felt more at ease when in solitude.

Of course, a person's original behaviour and internal personal factors could also affect the extent of the environmental influences on a person. A headstrong, stubborn person would be less affected by his environmental influences as opposed to a weak-willed person.

A person's internal personal factors would of course affect his behaviour. Some people are more introverted, some are more extroverted. Some enjoy organisation, some enjoy complete freedom. A person's personality would affect his actions towards others. It would also affect how one responds to the actions of others. For example, a forgiving person would be more quick to let someone's mistake be forgotten.

As such, we can see that varying any 1 factor would have effects on the other 2 factors and there are many real life situations that can exemplify this.