Psychoanalysis, Cognitive Development and

Behaviourism

PROFESSOR ACADEMY
28th April 2021
Today’s Discussion

Part I: Psychoanalysis
Part II: Piaget’s Cognitive Development
Part III: Behavioural Psychology
 Psychoanalysis – Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939)

• Father of Psychology
Important ideas:
• Conscious, Subconscious and Unconscious Mind
• Id, Ego and Super Ego
• Life and Death instincts
• Psycho-Sexual Development
Conscious, Subconscious and Unconscious Mind

Conscious Mind:
The ideas, thoughts and images that we
are aware of at any moment of our mental life
Subconscious Mind:
Lies just beneath the conscious layer –
which can be easily brought to the level of
consciousness at a moment’s notice
Unconscious Mind:
Hidden and usually inaccessible to the conscious
Structure of the Psyche: Id, Ego and Superego

Id: Pleasure Principle

Animal in man – Freud considered Id as the source of mental energy –
present at birth – it must get what it wants – selfish and unethical – follows no rules
– gives importance to needs and drives – the pursuit of pleasure
Superego: Morality Principle
Direct opposite to Id – ethical and moral aspect of the psyche – conscience –
aims at perfection
Ego: Reality Principle
Acts as intermediate between Id and Super Ego – i.e. 1) to control Id and 2)
to appease Super Ego
Eros and Thanatos

Eros – Pleasure drive – Life instinct –

main aims are survival and propagation of species –
sex urge and sexuality of human beings -

Thanatos – Death drive/destruction – when

a person is deprived of his sexual desire,
Thanatos dominates – loss of
One’s self – destruction of self or others –
Hatred, aggression, war, murder etc.
Psycho-Sexual Development

1) The Oral Stage (0-2 years)

Mouth is the first sex organ used for pleasure – the child gets pleasure by sucking
milk
2) The Anal Stage (2-3 years)
The child pleasure from organs of elimination – He derives pleasure by holding
back or letting go of body’s waste
3) The Phallic Stage (4-5 years)
Identifies biological differences between sexes – derives pleasure by playing with
the genital organs
Psycho-Sexual Development

This stage gives rise to the following complexes:

For Girls: Deprivation comples and Electra complex
For Boys: Castration complex and Oedipus complex
4) The Latency Stage (6-puberty)
Boys and girls prefer to be in the company of their own sex – neglects/hates
the opposite sex
5) The Genital Stage (puberty - )
Strong sensation and function of sexual organs – attraction towards the
opposite sex – urge for sexual intercourse
Piaget’s Cognitive Psychology
(Unit IV)
Bloom’s Taxonomy

1) Cognitive Domain
Knowledge of the learner
2) Affective Domain
Emotional aspect of the learner
3) Psychomotor Domain
Physical activities/ abilities of the learner
Piaget’s Cognitive Psychology

Stages of Intellectual Development:

1) Sensori-motor Stage (from birth to 2 years)
2) Pre-operational Stage (about 2 to 7 years)
i. Pre-conceptual phase (App. 2 to 4 years)
ii. Intuitive phase (App. 4 to 7 years)
3) Concrete Operational Stage (about 7 to 11 years)
4) Formal Operational Stage (about 12 to 15 years)
Sensori-motor Stage (from birth to 2 years)

• Characterized by the absence of language

• Learning is limited to direct sensory and motor interactions
• At birth, infant exhibits uncoordinated actions like sucking, looking, reaching and
grasping
• In the beginning (say till 8 months old), what is out of sight is purely out of mind.
• Gradually, the concept of object permanence develops
Pre-operational Stage (about 2 to 7 years)

• Understanding of symbols
• The learning of the language
• Understanding of Symbolic representations or images
i. Pre-conceptual phase: (App. 2 to 4 years)
• Mismatch (or generalization) of names, persons, objects, animals etc.
• Thinking is too imaginative and far removed from reality
• Inability to distinguish between living and non-living objects
• Egocentric nature (cannot understand that there is another perspective) - cannot
understand that there exist different modes of thinking
Pre-operational Stage (about 2 to 7 years)

ii. Intuituve Phase (App. 4 to 7 years)

• Formation of various concepts – able to differentiate between fruits etc.
• But how the child thinks/acts is purely intuitive and not rational
• Unable to understand concepts of ‘quantity’, ‘numbers’ etc.
3) Concrete Operational Stage (about 7 to 11 years)

• The child learns to deal with concepts and ideas

• Thinking becomes more logic and systematic
• No ego-centric
• Can think only about concrete things and not about abstract concept, phenomena,
ideas etc.
4) Formal Operational Stage (about 12 to 15 years)
• The child learns to deal with abstract ideas
• The creative aspects in the child are very much visible during this age
• Higher level thinking/ideas of the future has its foundation in this stage
Behavioural Psychology
Behaviourism: Introduction

It is a branch of Psychology. It is the method of systematic analysis of human (or)

animal BEHAVIOUR. By analysing the behaviour, we can decode the
stimuli/stimulus responsible for the behaviour. “Classical Conditioning” and
“Operant Conditioning” are important aspects of Behaviourism.
Behavioural Psychologists:
1) John B. Watson (American)
2) Ivan Pavlov (Russian)
3) B.F. Skinner (American)
4) Edward Lee Thorndike (American)
John B. Watson

• Little Albert experiment

• Combination of rat and a frightening
noise
• The child, even after being grown up,
could not overcome fear for rat till his
death
Classical Conditioning: Ivan Pavlov

S-TYPE
Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) - Food
Unconditioned Response (UCR) - Saliva
Conditioned Stimulus (CS) - Bell
Conditioned Response (CR) - Saliva
Classical Conditioning: Educational Implications

• Used in language learning: associating words with pictures

• Developing good habits like cleanliness, punctuality etc.
• Breaking of bad habits like fear etc.
Laws of Conditioning
1)Law of Causation
2)Law of Experimental Extinction
3)Law of Generalization
4)Law of Distinction
5)Law of Higher Order/Second Order learning