Behaviourists Explain Maladaptive Behaviour in Terms of the Learning Principles That Sustain and Maintain It. Discuss This Statement and Show How a Behaviourists Approach to Therapy Is in Stark Contrast to Psychoanalytic One. Essay

Behaviourists explain maladaptive behaviour in terms of the learning principles that sustain and maintain it. Discuss this statement and show how a behaviourists approach to therapy is in stark contrast to psychoanalytic one.

INTRODUCTION


      Behavioural psychology, also known as behaviourism, is a theory of learning based upon the idea that all behaviours are acquired through conditioning. Conditioning occurs through interaction with the environment. According to behaviourism, behaviour can be studied in a systematic and observable manner with no consideration of internal mental processes. As human beings we are driven to understand who we are, what makes us tick and how the facets of our own personality make us individuals. The answer to this question according to behaviourists is that we are born with a handful of innate responses known as stimulus response units and that all of our complex behaviours are through learning by interaction with the environment. Behaviourism is the theory that the development of human nature is governed by our environment or nurturing. .


      As one of the oldest theories of personality, behaviourism dates back to Descartes, who introduced the idea of a stimulus and called the person a machine dependent on external events whose soul was the ghost in the machine. Behaviourism takes this idea to another level. Although most theories operate to some degree on the assumption that humans have some sort of free will and are moral thinking entities, behaviourism does not accept that maladaptive characteristics are inherent in a persons nature. “In the mind of the behaviourist, persons are nothing more than simple mediators between behaviour and the environment (Skinner, 1993, p 428).
There are two major types of conditioning:
1.Classical conditioning is a technique used in behavioural training in which a naturally occurring stimulus is paired with a response. Next, a previously neutral stimulus is paired with the...