...Psychoanalytic theory vs behaviourism: motivation Freud's psychoanalytic theory with its model of the mind and its central concepts provides a better interpretation of one's behavior and accounts for behavior on a wider scope of issues than does the radical behaviorist theory of B. F. Skinner. Skinner successfully explains human behavior in terms of operant conditioning and reinforcing agents. He changes the focus from Freud's internalized (mental) processes to the importance of the external environment. Skinner emphasizes the importance of the directly observable behavior. However, he fails to completely account for behavior, excluding the original motivational drive. In contrast, Freud succeeds in construing the origins of behavior and motivation, which makes the psychoanalytic theory of Freud more adequate as a theory of personality. Throughout history humans have been puzzled by human behavior, the reasons behind it, and have been faced with the consequences of their own as well as others' behavior. Many studies have been done and theories developed in an attempt to explain this fascinating area of human existence. Among many theories and theorists, Freud's psychoanalytic and Skinner's radical behaviorist theories have been selected and looked at throughout the following paper. Theory of personality that Freud introduced together with its concepts, many deemed romantic, unprovable and sometimes obscene, has shaped the way humans view themselves in many cases...
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...It is from Ivan Pavlov’s (1849-1939) study of dogs that the behaviourist approach took the theory of classical conditioning. Behaviourism believes we learn to operate in our world by forming associations between a particular stimulus and the most appropriate behavioural response, stimulus response unit’s, which explains why we behave the way we do. Classical conditioning attempts to account for this through learning by association. Watson used this in his conditioning of his case study ‘little Albert’. He conditioned a baby to fear that which he previously had not by associating it with an instinctive fear. Watson was able to conclude from this that phobias are not a result of the unconscious, as psychoanalytic had believed, but were the result of conditioning. E.L. Thorndike’s concluded for his experiments on cats that there were two laws of learning; the law of exercise and the law of effect. The law of exercise stating that the more times a task is carried out the better we become at it; learning having taken place. The law of effect says that there is a link between our behaviour and its consequences. Thorndike showed we not only learned through Pavlov’s stimulus-response conditioned behaviours but also because behaviour has resulted in a positive outcome in the past. B.F. Skinner, influenced by Thorndike, contributed to behaviourism with the concept of operant conditioning. Operant conditioning requires a reward or unpleasant consequence during the learning process to...
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...have discussed several perspectives on learning such as Behavioural, Developmental, Psychodynamic, socio-cultural and humanist perspectives. Behaviourism has been an influential theory in educational psychology. Behaviourism was based on the belief that behaviours can be measured, trained and changed. Developmental perspectives is concerned with child development. Psychodynamic perspectives is concerned with the development of ‘self’. It is primarily a study of factors that may affect a child’s behaviour and development such as childhood experiences affecting emotions and behaviour as adults and the various conflicts throughout childhood that affect overall personality. Socio-cultural perspectives studies learning...
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...•behaviourism-the study of behaviour in an objective way. •social learning theory/cognitive behaviourism •attachment theory •evolutionary theory •behavioural genetics •Piaget’s theory of cognitive development •Erikson’s theory •developmental systems Define and describe the following research methods •correlational study •experimental study •cross sectional study •longitudinal study Study Questions 1. Define cohort and briefly summarize at least one major difference in how different cohorts, past and present, are experiencing childhood, old age, and adulthood (pp. 5-9). Cohorts are the birth group we grow up with through life. The past childhood cohort was growing up in a time when there wasn’t terrorism, internet, and when a child would quit school to help his fathers business. Nowadays, children are exposed to the media, social cliques and must stay in school for the duration of there childhood years. 2. Summarize the impact of socio-economic status, culture and ethnicity, and gender on development (pp.9-12). In the developing world, people are struggling for survival and their living standards are very bad, while in the developed world, things are the opposite. Culture and ethnicity place a huge tax on the development of man or woman. There are many different types of culture and ethnicity based on our parents’ background in most cases. In a Collectivist culture, one might be accustomed to hiding his feelings and always allowing the...
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...neither against nature nor nurture; nor am I biased to one side. The psychological theories (e.g behaviourism, cognitive psychology, biological perspective) that augment their respective altercations, while valid and fundamentally true, can be misconstrued by others, since we all collect different experiences throughout our lifetime. We all (at some point in our lives) face the effects of nature and nurture to some degree—regardless of the impact. While it is true that some of us are raised with more nurture than nature (and vice versa), it may be erroneous to conclude we are solely one or the other. I view myself as someone who has been heavily influenced by nurture as many people I have met throughout my life have affected me in ways I never thought were possible; as a result, I am able to cognitively think about the friendships (nature) and make rational decisions as to what I should do. Incidentally,...
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...to 1950. Behaviourists focus on the influence of the environment and study how humans are shaped through interactions with their environment. Behaviourism is a scientific approach in psychology that advocates the use of strict experimental methods in order to study only observable behaviour in relation to the environment. Internal processes that the brain is capable of such as thoughts, emotions and rationalisation are overlooked. This contrasts with the cognitive approach which looks at thought processes and other unobservable activities that occur in the brain such as memory, thinking, problem solving. This also conflicts with the psychodynamic approach, as by only focusing on external observational behaviour, the unconscious mind’s influence on behaviour is not taken into account. However behaviouristic psychologists consider inner experiences to be too subjective and difficult to measure, therefore they will only use objective, scientific procedures such as laboratory experiments. This is to allow researchers to control very precisely the conditions and establish empirical evidence, thus making behaviourism a very scientific approach to psychology. This is a strength to behaviourism, as experiments are measurable and can be replicated, producing reliable and consistent results. However a limitation of this aspect of behaviourism is that the methods and settings used in behaviourist research such as laboratory experiments can create an artificial environment, causing participants...
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...Describe and discuss the behaviourist approach. Refer to evidence in your answer (10 marks) Behaviourism is an approach in psychology that states that all behaviour is learned from experience. Behaviourists claim that humans are a blank slate for experience to write on, which is developed by life experiences and events. They dismiss the idea that biology is a deciding factor of who we are and believe that all learning can be explained in terms of stimulus response links, reinforcement and punishment. Behaviourists use methods such as laboratory experiments to study their theories in greater depth. They use animals to experiment on rather than humans, as it is seen to be more ethical but still results in valuable information. The behaviourist approach uses 2 main applications for explaining and studying behaviour, which are called classical and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning is a form of learning in which a stimulus adopts the ability to cause a specific behavioural response, which was originally evoked from another stimulus. An example of classical conditioning is Pavlov’s dog experiment (1902). Pavlov noticed that when a dog saw food (food being the unconditioned stimulus (UCS)), the dog then started to salivate (the salivation being the unconditioned response (UCR)). Pavlov then realised that if a dog associated food with any event/object, it would result in the same response (salivation). Whenever Pavlov gave the dog food, he would also ring a bell...
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...blood as an input and produces urea with filtered blood as an output. This is its function. In the same way an artificial kidney has the same function and so can still be regarded as a kidney. It has different properties; it is larger, made of plastic and metal. It has completely different “engineering” but its function remains the same. This defines it as a kidney. Because of this view from functionalism it allows this theory to overcome problems of many other materialist theories, hard behaviourism in particular. Functionalism is an advance on hard behaviourism as behaviourism states there is only objective behaviour; this is all there is to behaviour. It is actions as that is all we can empirically observe. For example hard behaviourists would state if we can see someone crying, all we can observe is their behaviour of crying, the tears leaving the eye and running down this person’s miserable face. There are no mental states and nothing happening in-between the thing that makes the person cry and saline tears being secreted from the tear duct. Behaviourism does not explain the place between a person’s mental states or “beliefs” before a behaviour is exacted. Behaviour is simply the way in which we act. Behaviour therefore is just simply the way we act. Returning to our tear example, it is merely production of saline liquid from a tear duct that implicates sadness. This is a problem as it does not acknowledge any interactions between how we feel or our “mental states” before...
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........................... Assumptions ........................................................................................................ Ivan Pavlov ‘Pavlovian Conditioning’ ................................................................ Watson & Raynor ‘Little Albert’ Experiment ..................................................... B.F. Skinner ‘Operant Conditioning’ ................................................................... Strengths and Weaknesses ................................................................................... Psychodynamic Perspective Definition ............................................................................................................. Freud’s Tripartite Theory of Personality ................................................... Assumptions ......................................................................................................... Freud’s Psychosexual Stages of Development ..................................................... Freud’s Ego Defence Mechanisms ....................................................................... Word Search ............................................................................................... Poster...
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...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...
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...Behaviourism is the belief that human or animal psychology can be accurately studied only through the examination of observable behavioural events, in contrast with subjective mental states (Kardas, 2014, p. 297). Although other psychological approaches had already demonstrated the utility of focusing on behaviour, Behaviourism, as a sub-discipline in psychology, developed largely because of the work of John Watson and B. F. Skinner. Both behaviourists agreed that studying behaviour, not consciousness, should be the main focus of psychology, but they differed in theory; Watson’s believed that behaviour could be demonstrated in classical conditioning, while Skinner believed in using operant conditioning. Both Watson and Skinner rejected the studying of consciousness. Watson was convinced that because it could not be observed it could not be studied. According to Watson (1913) the goal of psychology for a behaviourist “is the prediction and control of behaviour. Introspection forms no essential part of its methods, nor is the scientific value of its data dependent upon the readiness with which they lend themselves to interpretation in terms of consciousness” (p. 1). He felt that introspection was faulty at best and awarded researchers nothing but more issues. He pushed for psychology to no longer be considered the science of the mind; instead, he asserted that psychology should focus on observable behaviour (p. 9). Skinner also believed that psychology should study observable...
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...blood as an input and produces urea with filtered blood as an output. This is its function. In the same way an artificial kidney has the same function and so can still be regarded as a kidney. It has different properties; it is larger, made of plastic and metal. It has completely different “engineering” but its function remains the same. This defines it as a kidney. Because of this view from functionalism it allows this theory to overcome problems of many other materialist theories, hard behaviourism in particular. Functionalism is an advance on hard behaviourism as behaviourism states there is only objective behaviour; this is all there is to behaviour. It is actions as that is all we can empirically observe. For example hard behaviourists would state if we can see someone crying, all we can observe is their behaviour of crying, the tears leaving the eye and running down this person’s miserable face. There are no mental states and nothing happening in-between the thing that makes the person cry and saline tears being secreted from the tear duct. Behaviourism does not explain the place between a person’s mental states or “beliefs” before a behaviour is exacted. Behaviour is simply the way in which we act. Behaviour therefore is just simply the way we act. Returning to our tear example, it is merely production of saline liquid from a tear duct that implicates sadness. This is a problem as it does not acknowledge any interactions between how we feel or our “mental states” before...
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...Various theories are put forward to describe second language acquisition (SLA). The following theories represent serious thinking over the past century about the way a person acquires or learns a second language. The first theory will be Behaviourism. In mid-century, Burrhus Frederic Skinner developed behaviourist theory which predicted that any human behaviour could be learned through a process of stimulus, response, and positive or negative reinforcement (S-R-R). This S-R-R process is to make the desired behaviour become a habit that can be performed spontaneously. According to behaviourists, this process also can be applied into language learning. A concrete example of behaviourism applied directly to higher-level training, as a result of Bandura’ (1977) work, is behaviour. The terms are used interchangeably. This uses techniques such as "goal setting" and "self-reinforcement" to help people acquire the characteristics of a competent role model. Next, the second theory will be Language Acquisition Device (LAD) which developed by Noam Chomsky. Chomsky found out that there is an innate ability in every people which enable them to acquire and use language and this ability is known as LAD. Chomsky was not as concerned with the actual language being spoken as with the unspoken but understood rules that made the utterances appropriate, correct to native speakers. He argued that the stages of development that are required for children to develop their cognitive abilities in other...
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...Theories Comparison Paper Ivana Hamade June, 30 2015 Psychology Psychoanalysis and Behavioral Theory The purpose of psychoanalysis therapy is to issue suppressed emotions and experiences, for example to make the unconscious conscious. Psychoanalysis is commonly used to treat depression and anxiety disorders. It is only having a cathartic, like healing experience can the person be helped and "cured.” Psychoanalysis labels along with three things: One way is a method of mind investigation. Especially when it comes to the unconscious mind. Second, a therapy of neurosis inspired from the first method. Lastly, a new stand-alone punishment who is based on the knowledge developed from put on the investigation method and clinical experiences. The main issue in this theory is that Sigmund Freud explained is a basal conflict, from the early childhood, reflects itself in an actual conflict, without the person affected being aware of it. This is why in therapy the psychoanalyst tries to generate the transfer, so that the person can understand the link between the past conflict and the actual one and to understand that the way he behaves now was effective in the past, in his childhood, but is rather inefficient now and needs change (the coping mechanisms used to overcome or face the problem). The "dynamic" under discussion also refers to the id, ego, and superego and the way they interact so as to determine psychopathology. (Sigmund Freud's Theories | Simply Psychology. (n.d...
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...p1 Behaviourism Behaviourism is a psychological approach which focuses on an individual’s behaviour. Behaviourists focus on the relationship of response and stimuli. The behaviourism approach can be studied without the psychology and without the state of mind theory, this means that all behaviour can be observed. Behaviourists believe that behaviour can be explained by classical or operant conditioning. These two concepts are very important in psychology. Even though both result in learning, they’re quite different. Classical conditioning was first described by Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist. Pavlov looked at this concept through the use of his dogs and their ability to salivate in response to being fed and even if Pavlov just walked through the door. The reflex is ‘hard-wired’ into the dog. In behaviourist terms, is is an unconditioned response (a stimulus response that didn’t require learning). Unconditioned Stimulus (Food) > Unconditioned Response (Salivate) He conducted this experiment by presenting the dog with a bowl or food and measuring the amount of saliva. However, when Pavlov discovered that the dog associated anything with food which triggered the same unconditioned response. This is when he realised he made an important discovery. Pavlov continued throughout his life to study this type of concept and discovered that the dog did not salivate towards certain things afterwards (e.g. lab assistant). This must of been learnt because there was points...
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