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Sigmund Freud & John B. Watson

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Sigmund Freud and John B. Watson were both prominent psychologists in the 20th century. Their beliefs and styles of teaching differed drastically. In Watson's Behaviorism, Watson believes that all mental experiences are strictly physiological where as in Freud's Psychodynamic Psychology, Freud believes mental ailments are psychological. John B. Watson sought out to establish that all psychological phenomena is a reaction of conditioning. Watson drew much inspiration from Ivan Pavlov and based his theories off of the "Pavlov's Dog" experiment. For example, in one of the most notorious experiments in psychology's history, Watson attempted to condition a young child to become frightened by a little white mouse. In my opinion, Watson was correct in hypothesizing that all mental experiences including, thinking, feeling and awareness of self are a result of conditioning. Sigmund Freud concluded that underlying, unconscious impulses press on the mind and are released as dreams, mannerisms, slips of the tongue and symptoms of mental illness. Freud held the assumption that free will, as humans know it, is a misconception and humans do not have as firm a grasp on rationality as they assumed. Freud proposes that humans are usually not aware of our true motives and because of this, we are not totally in control of our thoughts and behaviors. Although Freud had a few compelling ideas I believe, generally, that Freud was incorrect. Although I came to believe that Freud's idea of having unconscious thoughts pressing on the mind was correct but only to a small degree, I think humans are in control of their thoughts and behavior. I wholly agree with Watson's Behaviorism because a majority of people are a product of their environment, they are conditioned by their parents, friends and community to believe what they believe and behave how they

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