Psychoanalysis & Behaviorism

16 September, 2022
 Sigmund Freud-
1856-1939

Psychoanalysis

-Unconscious – contains thoughts, memories,

desires that are below the conscious
awareness but have a lot of influence on
behavior.
-Psychoanalytic theory – attempts to explain
personality motivation and mental disorders by
focusing on unconscious determinants of
behavior.

- Free associations - expressing consciousness in

order to access the unconsciousness.

- Defense mechanisms – repression, denial,

projection, displacement, regression,
sublimation.
-Psychoanalytic theory: People’s behavior is greatly
influenced by how people deal with their inner
sexual urges.

-Psychoanalysis – Freud treated people with

irrational fears, obsessions, anxieties.

-By 1920, the Psychoanalytic Theory was widely

known in the world.

-Catharsis / Purging – releasing of intense emotions

during the Psychoanalysis, for example when we cry.
-Childhood Influence
Freud believed that childhood experiences impact adulthood—specifically,
traumatic experiences that we have as children can manifest as mental health
issues when we're adults.
-Life and death instincts - Freud claimed that two classes of instincts, life
and death, dictated human behavior. Life instincts include sexual
procreation, survival and pleasure; death instincts include aggression,
self-harm, and destruction.

-Psychosexual development- 5 stages of growth during which personality

and sexual self develops. These phases are: oral, anal, phallic, latent and
genital.

-Interpretation of dreams-Freud also suggested that dreams were a form

of wish fulfillment. The problem is that some dreams focus on difficult
topics such as trauma, punishment, or anxiety. While Freud suggested
that such dreams were a way to cope with the problem rather than wish
fulfillment.
Personality is made of:

Id (unconscious)-it acts based on the pleasure principle.

Superego – strives to act in a socially appropriate manner.

Superego controls what is right and what is wrong and our sense of guilt.

Ego-seeks to please the id in realistic ways.

Freud’s Iceberg model
 Behaviorism
-Behaviorism – theoretical orientation based on
the premise that Psychology as science should
study only the observable behavior.

-Behavior – any observable response or activity,

by an organism. (video – 11.30 min)
Behaviorists
Ivan Pavlov
 Differences
Skinner Pavlov
-Behaviorism is often named as Stimulus –Response
(behavior) Psychology.

-Ivan Pavlov (1906) -showed that dogs could be trained

to salivate due to the conditioned reflex.

-John Watson (1925) – embraced the Pavlov’s model of

learning. “Nature / Nurture”.

-Skinner: there is a very simple principle of behavior

that: organisms tend to repeat behaviors that lead to
positive outcomes and not to repeat those behaviors
that have negative outcomes.
- Skinner: Free will is an illusion.