Abstract This chapter examines the most important psychological concepts that have been used to explain human behavior. It begins by describing how psychological theories have moved from explanations at the situational level to explanations at the level of mental processes. It then discusses the most central theoretical constructs that have been proposed as determinants of behavior: attitudes, behavioral decisions, goal pursuit, habits, needs, and motivational orientations. Although each of these concepts has shortcomings, each still possesses great and distinct explanatory power to the extent that they can be included in a coherent theoretical model. The dual-system model integrates a number of psychological processes and specifies how they interact and determine social behavior.
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