The Psychology Book

IN CONTEXT

APPROACH

Choice Theory

BEFORE

c.350 BCE Greek philosopher Aristotle says we are driven by three things: sensual appetite, anger, and boulesis, the rational desire for what is beneficial.

1943 Clark L. Hull says that all human behavior comes from four primary drives: hunger, thirst, sex, and the avoidance of pain.

1973 US scientist William T. Powers develops perceptual control theory (PCT), which suggests that our behavior is how we control our perceptions in order to keep them close to internally fixed reference levels.

AFTER

2000 US psychiatrist Peter Breggin publishes Reclaiming our Children, criticizing the use of psychiatric drugs as “cures” ...