‘Compare and contrast the way in which the behaviourist and psychodynamic perspective account for how people make sense of their environments‘.

Psychology as a scientific study of behaviour and mental phenomena, in its systematic approach to observe, describe, predict and explain behaviour (class note), offers different approaches to studying and explaining behaviours, the main approaches includes, behaviourist, psychodynamic, cognitive, humanistic and biological. In this essay, two of the approaches (behaviourist and psychodynamic) will be discussed. There are two categories of behaviourism; radical which explain operant conditioning and classic or methodological behaviourism which explains classical conditioning. Watson (1913, 1919,) developed and popularised methodological behaviourism, while . . . as Morris (1988) recorded, Skinner's radical behaviourism start to be recognised within the academic folklore, in the late 1950s. Psychodynamic perspective was originally explained in the publication by Freud (1900) titled The Interpretation of Dreams, although there are many other psychodynamic theories based on Freud’s ideas (such as Jung’s, Adler‘s, and Erikson’s). This essay is purposed to highlight the similarities and differences between the two aforementioned psychological approaches (behaviourist and psychodynamic).

Behavioural approach emphasises scientific study of only observable and measurable behaviours, responses and their environmental determinant. In behaviourism learning theory applies and it has a focus on human behaviour as primarily a function of experience (nurture) instead of biology (nature). To a large extent, learning theories have been the foundation of many applications of psychology.

Skinner explained behaviour with his experimental research with rats and pigeons, based on Edward Thorndike research which explains the principle known as the ‘Law of Effect’. He used a type of puzzle box called Skinner box, which has a lever (experiment with rats) or button (experiment with pigeons), under which is a food tray. The experiment shows the relationship formed between pressing the lever or pecking the button and the delivery of food pellets. In this experiment, food is the reinforcement (reward) which helped in shaping the animal. Shaping involves rewarding the exact nearness of a desired behaviour, e.g. shaping the behaviour of a pigeon in a skinner box would involve identifying the desired behaviour, usually to peck at a button in order to deliver food pellets, and rewarding exact nearness of that behaviour. Subsequently, reward pigeon for being in the side of the box that has the button, then reward for touching 40cm radius of button then 20cm and so on, until finally pigeon touches button. Similar technique is adopted in training animals, performing (especially in circus) and working animals such as police dogs, this type of learning is referred to as operant conditioning. This can also be used by human in education setting. Positive reinforcement encourages the frequency of that particular behaviour being rewarded, whilst negative reinforcement involves the removal of aversive stimulus

Behaviourists made some assumptions about behaviour and it includes, (1) all behaviour is a response to a stimulus. (2) The environment we are in has influence on our behaviour. (3) We learned to respond to a particular situation in the same way if the same situation occurs again. (4) Internal mental processes can not be speculated. (5) Natural instinct (unlearned response and stimuli) exist in people, but most difficult behaviours are determined by the environment. (6) As learning process occurs in lower animals (rats, Pigeons, etc) so it is in higher animal (Humans).

The second psychological perspective is psychodynamic approach, contrary to behaviourist approach, explains the unconscious parts of the psyche (mind), early family experiences and disagreement between natural instincts and what society demand

Psychodynamic psychologists such as Freud, assumed that behaviour is influenced by three parts of the psyche (mind); id, which is unconscious part of our personality demanding immediate satisfaction and governed by pleasure principle; superego, which forms the sense of morality part of the mind, uses guilt and anxiety to perfect and civilise our behaviour; ego, governed by the reality principle, which finds a way of forming a compromise between id and superego. Mostly in some cases, defence mechanisms is used which reduced the natural response into more socially acceptable ways. For example, displacement technique is used by transferring impulse from one object or person onto a more adequate one (e.g. when annoyed with one’s wife then take it out one’s child) and with sublimation technique an immoral drive (e.g. masturbating in the public), can be reduced into a more socially acceptable act (e.g. playing string music instrument in a band). Freud (1909), acknowledged that children pass through five developmental stages, called psychosexual stages; Oral stage, which exists from childhood until about 15 months where pleasure is experienced through mouth; Anal stage, which exists between age of 15 months and 3 years 15 where Children experience pleasure from keeping of expelling faeces; Phallic stage, which exists between the age of approximately 3 and 5 years where pleasure is derived from their sex organs, and Oedipus complex is experienced at this stage which makes it the most relevant to the study; Latency stage, which exists between about five years old to maturity where sexual urge are controlled; and Genital stage, which exists from maturity onward, where pleasure is also experienced through the sex organs, but with opposite sex member.

Freud’s (1909) Little Hans case study of his fear of horses, is a psychodynamic research, where Freud translated Hans fear as a replaced fear of his Father while that he has of being bitten by a horse as a display of his worries of being castrated. This case study in particular, proof the presence of Oedipus Complex whereby Hans experience strong sexual love for her mother and wish to kill his father.

Psychodynamic psychologists made some assumptions about the way we behave such as, (1) behaviour is influenced by unconscious stimuli (2) What we think, say or act covers latent a inactive motive or plan. (3) The hidden motives for how we behave, shows our natural biological drives and our childhood experiences, (especially five years old). (4) Parental strategies adopted and inflicted onto us shapes our behaviour as adult.

In conclusion, behaviourist perspective is claimed to be scientific due to its theories based only on observable and measurable behaviour that can be proven, while on the other hand, psychodynamic perspective is deemed unscientific because its theories depends on what is going on under the surface (dream interpretation), subconscious motivation which are unobservable and made it difficult to be tested in an empirical manner. However, both are similar because they are deterministic and based on the fact that behaviour is consequential. Behaviourists focus on what stimulus produce what response and how to use this to change behaviour. Learning process is common to all species including humans, so we make sense of our environment through learning process and we try to model good learnt behaviour based on sense of morality, developed over time as we passes through different stages of development (Psychosexual Stage); memories, acquired through conditioning; gender, acknowledged at some stage of development; and language, learned from parent, However, all these processes combined to form basic tools needed to operate acceptably in Society today .