Sigmund Freud Vs B.F. Skinner

1437 Words6 Pages
Sigmund Freud differed from B.F. Skinner in terms of approaching human behavior. Sigmund Freud was a psychodynamic psychologist. His idea about human behavior and development shows that behavior throughout life is motivated by inner, unconscious forces, stemming from childhood, over which people have little control. He focused on the realm of the unconscious mind and the defense mechanism of repression. He created the clinical practice of psychoanalysis for curing the mind ailment-psychopathology. The psychologist uses dialogue with the patient as the clinical tool. Psychodynamic psychologists implement a systematized study and theory of the psychological forces that underlie human behavior with greater emphasis on the interaction between the subconscious and the conscious motivations. Sigmund Freud theorized that psychological processes are flows of psychological energy in a complex brain that establishes psychodynamics. This is founded on the psychological energy named by him as libido. Sigmund Freud and his fellow psychodynamics studied the human mind’s relationship with a person’s mental or motivational factors mostly at the unconscious level. This group of psychologists divided their study into; a) Interaction of emotional forces which includes the interaction of the emotional and motivational influences that affect a person’s behavior and mental states specifically the unconscious person’s mind state; b) There are inner forces influences a person’s behavior. They concentrate their study on the study of emotional and motivational forces that have material influence on a person’s behavior and state of mind. Sigmund Freud emphasized that psychological energy was constant. Thus, emotional changes are characterized by displacements. This energy desired to rest (point attractor) by discharging (catharsis). Psychodynamics focused on the
Open Document