Comparing Behaviourism And Psychoanalysis

1932 Words8 Pages
The intent of this essay is to compare and contrast the psychological approaches known as Behaviourism and Psychoanalysis, in doing so, it will take out the fundamental points of these two approaches, reinforcing the differences and explaining them in detail. The first approach this essay will look in to is Psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud who is an Austrian psychologist, was the most famous psychologist connected to this approach, and he first proposed his psychodynamic approach. Freud’s perceptions states, that there are three main sections to the human psyche. ‘’ID’’ is the first this is the natural instinct, which seeks out constant fulfilment, the second is the ‘’EGO’’ this is peoples own personal fixed values that they developed when they were children, and the third section is the ‘’SUPEREGO’’ which is a set of learned ethics, taken from the society they live in and from our parents rules and morals. Freud also believed that when people are children that they all go through five stages which are oral. Anal, genital, phallic and latency, and that if the child is either over or under appeased in any of those stages they are more likely to have problems when they become an adult. Another piece of Freud’s theories was his studies of dreams; Freud believed that dreams acted as a type of fantasy which is used as a defence mechanism against the unacceptable desires of the ID. Fantasy would allow the individual to act out actions in their imagination, which can appease the urges of the ID, which are suppressed. Freud theorized that dreams are a subconscious manifestation of these suppressed urges, and that they serve mainly to satisfy an individual’s sexual and aggressive tendencies. Behaviourism is the other theory this essay will refer to. This approach states that all psychology must be completely measurable and recordable, if anyone wants it to be regarded
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