Behaviorism vs. Psycho-analysis Abstract The most common definition of psychology is the study of mental processes, human behavior, and how they affect an individual’s physical state, mental state, and external environment. The most comprehensive theory developed to explain the given definition of psychology is psychodynamics, a theory of how thoughts and feelings affect our actions. Watson’s failure to focus on the unseen phenomena that is the subconscious and the conscious is what leads to the inevitable fading of his theory among psychologists. This paper argues against Watson’s claims, and for the Psychodynamic theory. “Psychology as the behaviourist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science.
The Collins English Dictionary (2009) defines personality as being ‘the sum total of all the behavioural and mental characteristics by means of which an individual is recognized as being unique’. Jung himself was unable to produce such a concise definition, but believed that personality or 'psyche', as he called it, consists of a number of differentiated but interacting systems. Jung (1990, p.531) stated that ‘from earliest times, attempts have been made to classify individuals according to types, and so bring order to the chaos’, and it is through examining these early attempts to define personality types, that we can see and understand
All definitions are correct in their own rights but as simple definitions can sometimes be misleading as through out history, Psychologists have not only disagreed about designation of psychology but what and how it should be studied. These approaches are often referred to as 'perspectives'. Each has a very different way of explaining human behaviour and makes different assumptions about the processes behind this behaviour. There are 5 major perspectives in Psychology offering different explanations as to why humans behave in the way they do. By comparing and contrasting two of these approaches the behaviourist and the biological approach it will highlight the different aspects to each approach.
From Hippocrates to current day psychology, things have come a long way from inexperienced physicians drilling holes in people’s heads, to the many different approaches that can be used today. The field of abnormal psychology is based upon the spiritual explanations of the past, and it has developed through many years, to the many different explanations that there are now for different mental illnesses.
Intelligence has been an important and controversial topic throughout psychology's history. In addition to questions of exactly how to define intelligence, the debate continues today about whether it can be accurately measured. While psychologists often disagree about the definition and causes of intelligence, research on intelligence plays an important role in many areas including policy decisions regarding how much funding should be given to educational programs, the use of testing to screen job applicants and the use of testing to identify children who need additional academic assistance. The term "intelligence quotient," or IQ, was first coined in the early twentieth century by a German psychologist named William Stern. Since that time, intelligence testing has emerged as a widely used tool that has led to the development of many other tests of skill and aptitude.
Research helps understand the states of consciousness, sensory experiences, emotions, motivations, and more (Willingham, 2007). Criticism of behaviorism Behaviorism failed to answer questions, explains aspects and human processes that cognitive psychology was able to do. Behaviorism’s main focus was what could be observed in behavior and why a behavior was done with a reward. Cognitive psychology came about because of what behaviorism was unable to explain and the criticisms that came with it. Such as, why behaviorism could not explain why a person did something without being given a reward.
In this work, Locke contradicts the theory of innate ideas and put forth the concept of the human mind as being a “tabula rasa” or blank slate where it is void of any ideas. Locke believed knowledge came from two sources: externally through the five senses and internally from functions of the mind such as perception, reflection, and doubting. Although both are important in the development of knowledge, the mind’s interactions between the two sources are the decisive
[3] The reality therapy approach to counseling and problem-solving focuses on the here-and-now actions of the client and the ability to create and choose a better future. Typically, clients seek to discover what they really want and how they are currently choosing to behave in order to achieve these goals. According to Glasser, the social component of psychological disorders has been highly overlooked in the rush to label the population as sick or mentally ill.[4] Reality therapy attempts to separate the client from the behavior. Just because someone is experiencing distress resulting from a social problem does not make him sick; it just makes him out of sync with his psychological
Skinner elaborated on Edward Thorndike’s observations that behavior was controlled by consequences of the actions. “Skinner called his approach “radical behaviorism” to distinguish it from the behaviorism of John Watson, who emphasized classical conditioning” (Wade & Tavris, 2006, p. 235). Skinner believed that behavior is a result of the types of consequences an individual may encounter. According to Skinner, there were three different types of consequences; neutral, reinforcement, and punishment. The neutral consequence was reported to not have any influence to behavior one way or the other.
Human personality is a key concept of individual differences in Psychology. There have been many different approaches to defining personality over the years however there is no accepted meaning although it has various definitions; one particular definition is quite significant: “....the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychological systems that determine his characteristic behaviour and thought” (Allport, 196) Personality theories are developed to discover issues such as why people differ from each other. The main approaches which define personality are psychoanalytical approaches (which are adopted by Freud), learning theories, cognitive theories, the trait approach, biological basis and the humanistic theories of personality. The humanistic theory is a big influence in contributing to the definition of personality. The humanistic theory of personality see’s the individual as unique and it views the world from different perspectives.