Human Nature and Motivation: A Comparative Analysis between Western and Islamic Psychologies

Abstract

In the fi eld of psychology, the topics on human nature and motivation
have been quite extensively discussed. These two topics are interrelated
and inseparable. Any endeavor to understand man and his potentials makes
it necessary for one to venture into the study of human nature. Major topics
in psychology like motivation, personality, creativity, psychotherapy, mental
health, etc. could be well understood with a proper understanding on human
nature. In the light of this reality, what makes this research an appealing and
interesting one is the fact that the researchers had comparatively analyzed the
ideas on human nature and motivation showcased to the world by Western and
Islamic psychologies. The fact that there exist a great number of schools of
thought in Western psychology, the researchers had narrowed their scope of
investigation to three only. As such, they discussed the ideas on human nature
and motivation as conceptualized in Psychoanalysis, Radical Behaviorism and
Humanistic psychology. Upon analyzing Western theories, the researchers
performed a compare and contrast analysis with ideas provided by Islamic
psychology on human nature and motivation. This academic exercise was done
in the hope of identifying as to whether there exist any similarity and difference
between the two psychologies. Since the nature of this study was a qualitative
one, the researchers conducted a library research to collect the relevant data.
In analyzing the data related to the study, the researchers used the content and
textual analysis methods.