The Psychology of Business

Consistent with the growth and development of modern psychology, there has also been a growth and development in books and resources designed to help business people better understand and use psychology in order to improve interpersonal and business relationships (which has been great for me as an accounting major).

One of the first and classic self-help books is How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie. Carnegie, who was a contemporary of Sigmund Freud, has long been considered the father of the self-help movement in business.

 

Carnegie based many of his ideas off Freud and other contemporary psychologists.

In our readings for class, we learn that Freud believed that crucial to an individual’s development is the “pleasure principle” or the urge towards happiness. However, Freud also states that, “Integration in, or adaptation to, a human community appears as a scarcely avoidable condition which must be fulfilled before this aim of happiness can be achieved. In summary, people have both an urge for happiness and an urge to find union with others.

Carnegie states,

“Sigmund Freud said that everything you and I do springs from two motives: the sex urge and the desire to be great.”

“John Dewey, one of America’s most profound philosophers, phrased it a bit differently. Dr. Dewey said that the deepest urge in human nature is “the desire to be important”.

The main premise of How to Win Friends and Influence People that what people want the most is to feel important. If you can make someone sincerely feel loved, appreciated, and important you will have made a new friend and that friend will ultimately be more interested in what you might have to say because they know you honestly care about them.

In other words, if you can help someone fulfill their “urge for happiness” (i.e. feeling important)” or their “urge to find union with others”, you will be the best position to have a great interpersonal or business relationship with them. How to Win Friends and Influence People gives some great tips on how to accomplish this.

(*Sidenote, I highly recommend How to Win Friends and Influence People. It’s an easy and entertaining read that has significantly impacted my life for the better.)