Compare and contrast Freuds view of child development with that of Behaviourism. Discuss the implications these similarities and differences have for the practice of counselling in each approach. Essay

Title: Compare and contrast Freud’s view of child development with that of Behaviourism.   Discuss the implications these similarities and differences have for the practice of counselling in each approach.


Sigmund Freud was born on 6 May 1856 to Galician Jewish parents in Příbor (German: Freiberg in Mähren), Moravia, Austrian Empire, now Czech Republic.   Owing to his precocious intellect, his parents favoured him over his siblings from the early stages of his childhood; and despite their poverty, they sacrificed everything to give him a proper education.

Freud is best known for his theories of the unconscious mind and the defence mechanism of repression. He is also renowned for his redefinition of sexual desire as the primary motivational energy of human life which is directed toward a wide variety of objects; as well as his therapeutic techniques, including his theory of transference in the therapeutic relationship and the presumed value of dreams as sources of insight into unconscious desires.

Freud is often referred to as "the father of psychoanalysis" and his work has been highly influential making such notions as the unconscious, the Oedipus complex, defence mechanisms, Freudian slips and dream symbolism popular.

Freud proposed that the psyche could be divided into three parts: Ego, super-ego, and id.   The id is known as the child-like portion of the psyche that is very impulsive and only takes into account what it wants and disregards all consequences.   The super-ego is the moral code of the psyche that solely follows right and wrong and takes into account no special circumstances in which the morally right thing may not be right for that situation.   Finally, the ego is the balance between the two. It is the part of the psyche that is, usually, portrayed in the person's action, and after the super-ego and id are balanced, the ego acts in a way that takes both impulses and morality into consideration.   Freud discussed this structural model...