Human Nature In Social Work

What separates humans from all other animals, is our ability to think and make rational decisions. This key trait that humans possess gives the opportunity to create real meaning in life. These distinctions arise question to the nature we are pre disposed to as logical creatures. Humans are naturally social, therefore the nature in which we behave is often effected by social determinants. Therefore, the nature in which we behave is often changing and differing in various contexts. Within my own major, social work, determining the good of human nature is essential.

By interviewing Prof. Melissa Villarreal, I was able to get a better grasp of the aspects of human nature involving social work. She believes that any helping profession describes

Humans are naturally social creatures. It is in our nature to want to be around others and form meaningful relationships (Aubin, 1996). Psychology would say that we make these relationships as a need for survival. Much like the philosophical questions “Are we by nature good or evil?” Psychology tests this by looking at individual’s schemas or scripts in their day to day life. Schemas are the way individuals organize the relationships around them and scripts are the responses that are expected in any given situation (Aubin, 1996). Yet, studies done by S. S. Tomkins examine personal ideology in relation to these scripts. It appears that human emotion is the glue that clusters scenes into scripts. Tomkins 's script theory (1978, 1987) maintains that personality may be recognized as a plot composed of sequences of scenes that are organized within sets of scripts. The scene, which is the basic unit of analysis in script theory (Tomkins, 1978), is a specific experiential event within a human life with a perceived beginning and ending, the inclusion of at least one object, and the activation of at least one affect. Scenes vary greatly in scope and interconnectedness to other scenes (Aubin, 1996). The nature of humans varies from person to person based on life experiences and how we are raised. Ultimately, humans can be equally good or evil depending upon a plethora of circumstances.

Even so, the normative view of human nature is that humankind is inherently bad. One should be loved and respected only if one is worthy of love and respect, and only deserving human achievements should be approved (conditional on achieved value). The normative individual thus establishes within his or her mind a hierarchy of worthiness on which other individuals and the products created by others are placed according to some standard of virtuosity or deservingness (Aubin, 1996). However, there is no hierarchy of human worthiness for the humanist individual. All individuals should be objects of love and respect (unconditional positive regard), and all products created by humans should be accepted as unique and worthy contributions. Individuals or products that represent human weakness and frailty are embraced as genuine phenomena of humanity (Aubin, 1996). In turn, the choices that we make are based on where we fall in this spectrum of normativism versus humanism. Human nature then is constantly shifting throughout each individual’s