Essentials of Human Behavior - Integrating Person, Environment, and the Life Course - Second Edition

We present material to assist the reader to engage in personal reflection related to personal biases and social work values. Critical thinking questions appear in each chapter to assist the reader in ongoing critical examination of personal biases, conceptual frameworks, and empirical research. The content on diversity, oppression, human rights, and social and economic justice includes attention to issues of global social, economic, and environmental justice. Chapter 6, Culture and the Physical Environment, draws special attention to issues of environmental justice. All chapters draw on multidisciplinary sources and multiple ways of knowing about human behavior. A number of chapters include material on relevant social policies and historical, cultural, economic, and global influences on policy development. Theories of human behavior are a major focus of the book and are covered in every chapter. Each chapter includes practice principles for applying knowledge about human behavior for assessment and intervention. The multidisciplinary theoretical content includes theories of individual behavior, as well as theories of families, small groups, communities, formal organizations, social institutions, and social movements.