Even if behaviorists had claimed they had the sole scientific viewpoint in the early days of psychology, most modern psychologists would acknowledge that there is more than one valid approach to the field. Each method has advantages and disadvantages, and they all contribute something unique to our knowledge of human behavior. This is why it’s essential for psychology to accommodate a range of approaches to the study of animal and human behavior. This paper is going to compare and contrast the psychodynamic and behaviorism perspectives.
Freud’s ideas of psychoanalysis have inspired numerous everyday concepts, including the unconscious, denial, repression, and the “analytical” personality. According to Freud, our adult actions might profoundly influence our early experiences. Aside from that, he thought that individuals didn’t have much agency in their decision-making. As a result, our actions are driven by our subconscious and early life experiences. The psychoanalytic approach developed by Freud may be used as a theory and a treatment. It’s the foundation upon which later psychodynamic theories, such as those of Jung and Erikson, were built. Freud’s contributions to psychology are many, and his body of work is extensive.
The creator of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, likened the human mind to an iceberg, with just the tip—our conscious, observable behavior—above water. The rest, the unconscious, submerged mind, has the greatest underlying impact on our actions. Free association, dream analysis, and accidental utterances were the three primary means by which Freud gained access to the subconscious (Vaillant, 2022). He proposed a trinity of ‘id,’ ‘ego,’ and ‘superego’ constitutive of the unconscious mind. The ‘id’ houses two primary drives: the survival instinct, or ‘Eros,’ and the sexual drive, or ‘libido,’ both essential to maintaining life. Thanatos represents our baser, more destructive instincts; their energy is diverted from ourselves and sent outside in the form of aggressiveness since they are weaker than those of Eros.
When the ‘id’ and superego are at odds, the ‘ego’ intervenes to mediate peace talks. If this tension is not alleviated, we may resort to avoidance strategies to calm ourselves. Psychoanalysis is a method for helping patients work through their issues. Freud’s notion of psychosexual development is a component of psychoanalysis. It demonstrates the impact of formative events on one’s mature identity. During each of these crucial years, a kid must be stimulated in a new and distinct way to help him or her reach their full potential. Both too much and too little might have negative effects down the road. The phallic stage is the peak of sexual development since it is when the desire is most concentrated in the genitalia. At this age, males have an “Oedipus complex” and girls an “Electra complex.” Having an identity based on their same-sex parent helps youngsters develop a sense of morality and sexual norms. It has been criticized for putting too much emphasis on sexuality and too little on interpersonal connections (Luyten, 2022). The circular nature of the idea renders it unprovable in scientific terms. However, psychoanalysis has made significant advancements in psychology by inspiring many contemporary theorists to improve upon it by drawing on its fundamental concepts while resolving its key shortcomings.
Psychodynamic thinkers no longer place much value in Freud’s notions, such as the id, ego, and superego, despite the psychodynamic perspective’s link with Freud and psychoanalysis. The modern method is based on a stable set of principles developed from and built upon Freud’s original ideas. Drew Weston, a psychologist, has identified five ideas that characterize modern psychodynamic theory and practice: First and foremost, most of what goes on in people’s heads, including their ideas, emotions, and motives, is unconscious. Due to mental reactions’ separate but parallel nature, people can have divergent opinions and emotions about the same person or circumstance. When one’s thoughts are at odds with one another, it’s often necessary to make a conscious compromise between competing impulses. The events of early life have lasting effects on later personality development, particularly in how we interact with others. How individuals conceptualize themselves, others and their connections influence their social engagement. Personality development entails maturation from a socially dependent to an interdependent condition characterized by forming and maintaining healthy, close relationships.
Many of these theories still center on the subconscious, but they also include how we develop and interpret bonds with one another. This is based on one of the most significant breakthroughs in contemporary psychodynamic theory: the concept of object relations. Object relations theory asserts that one’s early associations shape subsequent ones. People tend to seek out relationships that mirror the patterns they experienced in their early bonds, whether those bonds were positive or negative. This is helpful if one’s first interactions were positive ones, but it may cause issues if they are not. As a result, people tend to judge new relationships by their past experiences, regardless of how different the two may be. Transference describes a mental shortcut that helps individuals try to grasp a new interpersonal dynamic. Therefore, individuals conclude a new relationship based on their prior experiences, which may or may not be correct.
Many contemporary psychologists still find psychodynamic theory useful because of its many merits. First, it recognizes the significance of early experiences in shaping one’s adult identity and sense of well-being. For a second, it delves into what makes us tick regarding our basic instincts. This is how a psychodynamic theory may accommodate the nature/nurture issue. It suggests, on the one hand, that people’s ideas, emotions, and actions are heavily influenced by the innate, unconscious mental processes with which they are born. On the other hand, it stresses the significance of early attachments and experiences for maturation.
While the psychodynamic theory has some promising aspects, it also has several major flaws. First, its detractors say it’s excessively deterministic, which means it doesn’t allow for the possibility of free choice. Psychodynamic theory, on the other hand, implies that conduct is pre-determined and disregards human action by emphasizing the unconscious and the origins of personality in early experience. Others argue that psychodynamic theory is not scientific since it cannot be disproved. It is still challenging to test many of Freud’s beliefs since they were based on observations of individual patients in treatment. The unconscious mind, for instance, cannot be studied using scientific methods. However, there are a few testable hypotheses within psychodynamics, which has led to empirical support for several core concepts.
Behaviorism is distinct from other schools of thought since it holds that our actions are determined only by the lessons we’ve learnt through our upbringing. Environmental influences on behavior are of particular interest to behaviorists. According to behaviorist theory, there are two primary ways humans take in information from their surroundings and use it to shape their behavior: classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Both classical and operant conditioning entail learning from the results of previous actions (Mehrad, 2018). The Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov investigated classical conditioning. In his research on natural reflexes and neutral stimuli, he discovered that by repeatedly associating the sound of a bell with the reward of food, he could teach dogs to salivate at the sound of the bell. CC has inspired a wide variety of treatment modalities. Such treatments include aversion therapy and systematic desensitization for phobias, where the patient is gradually exposed to the feared stimuli.
An alternative view of psychology emerged with the widespread adoption of the behavioral paradigm. Once it was realized that behavior could be seen and quantified, psychologists were closer to the scientific community than they had been given credit for. According to Watson’s article, behaviorist psychology is an entirely empirical subject of natural science. There was a shift in the types of behavior investigated, and the methods used to describe them as the behavioral viewpoint gained popularity in the early 20th century. The behaviorism school of thought emphasized external phenomena, dismissing the significance of subjective experiences like feelings and biases in thinking.
The behavioral approach can provide precise predictions because it focuses on objective, observable behaviors. Since it is simple to recreate the stimulus-response environment in a lab, a large body of research supports the viewpoint. The research’s results may have useful applications in other disciplines. For instance, operant conditioning and positive reinforcement may pique students’ interest in the subject matter and encourage them to put up more effort in the classroom (Braat, 2020). Classical conditioning is used in psychotherapy to assist phobic patients in overcoming their fears by encouraging them to link those specific triggers to more pleasant experiences. Since every conduct is learnt, behaviorism also sheds light on the process of habit building and the possibility of changing both bad and positive habits. Supporting the nurture side of the ‘nature versus nurture argument, the behavioral viewpoint holds that we ascribe all complex behavior to reactions to the environment.
Critics of the behavioral viewpoint point out that it denies the existence of free will by suggesting that all of our conduct is determined by our learning and conditioning. Behaviorists believe humans are just reactive beings, influenced by external factors rather than autonomous actors, in our decision-making processes. This viewpoint makes us seem like simple machines rather than sophisticated social organisms. Therefore, the psychodynamic method, created by Sigmund Freud, critiques the behavioral viewpoint for failing to account for unconscious effects. Further, Freud argued against the behavioral paradigm because it treats infants as malleable, conditioned objects.
The psychodynamic perspective originates from Freud’s ideas that one’s unconscious drives and shapes their personality. It puts a premium on the subconscious and focuses on one’s history. However, this contrasts with the behaviorist approach in that the latter emphasizes the significance of the surrounding context. It is believed that people’s behaviors are influenced by their relationships with others and their surroundings. This implies that a person’s character is formed via their exposure to knowledge and the challenges they face. Associationists like Pavlov and other theorists like Skinner are the foundation of the behaviorist approach. Whereas psychoanalysts in the psychodynamic method seek fundamental causes, behaviorists believe that maladaptive behaviors can be unlearned and new connections may be acquired. As Freud argued, our adult personalities are the product of both our intrinsic urges (nature) and our early life experiences (nurture); the psychodynamic approach incorporates all of these factors, making the nature-nurture dispute the central dividing line between the two schools of thought (nurture). The behaviorist view solely considers how one’s upbringing and surrounding influence their actions.
The behaviorist strategy has merit since it makes use of empirical evidence. It is possible to replicate several tests to back up this notion. But unlike Freud’s writings, behaviorism doesn’t consider the subconscious. Our behaviors are influenced by both our conscious and unconscious mental processes; therefore, it’s important to recognize society’s role in shaping our habits and routines. In addition to this, the use of a behaviorist approach in education, language acquisition, and the correction of undesirable behaviors remains crucial. A person who acts timidly while presenting before a group might be pushed to overcome this fear by using a behavioral technique. To reap the rewards of a behavioral approach, we must, therefore, engage in the therapy of behaviors.
It’s also worth noting that there may be advantages from a combination of behaviorist and psychodynamic methods to modifying problematic behavior. A person’s inability to control their deviant behavior is a sign of psychopathy, which may have its roots in traumatic experiences at birth, early development, or other environmental variables. As was noted in the preceding paragraphs, psychodynamic thinking might be useful for determining an individual’s defenses. There is a 2014 study that examines the similarities and differences between psychodynamic and behavioral therapies. The authors here show that CBT and psychodynamic treatment effectively relieve depressive symptoms. In addition, these findings provide credence to the efficiency of both treatments (Leichsenring & Leibing, 2014). The unconscious emphasizes psychodynamic treatment, whereas stimuli and past behaviors are used in behavioral therapy.
Overall, the benefits of both approaches and the emphasis placed on certain behaviors are similar yet distinct. In psychodynamic therapy, for instance, the ego takes center stage as the therapist discusses the client’s inner world using concepts like “id,” “ego,” and “superego.” But behavioral therapy may help with the kinds of behaviors that are set off by environmental factors. Because of these stimuli, classical conditioning may occur, and the person may show signs of psychopathy. Because modern psychological treatments include both vantage points, they provide promising new avenues for persuasion.
References
Braat, M., Engelen, J., van Gemert, T., & Verhaegh, S. (2020). The rise and fall of behaviorism: The narrative and the numbers. History of Psychology, 23(3), 252.
Leichsenring, F., & Leibing, E. (2014). The effectiveness of psychodynamic and cognitive behavior therapy in treating personality disorders: a meta-analysis.
Luyten, P., & Fonagy, P. (2022). Integrating and differentiating personality and psychopathology: A psychodynamic perspective. Journal of Personality, 90(1), 75-88.
Mehrad, A. (2018). Appraise to social psychology, structuralism, behaviorism, Gestalt Psychology, and psychoanalysis. Academic Research Journal of Psychology and Counseling, 5(1), 1-4.
Vaillant, G. E. (2022). Involuntary coping mechanisms: a psychodynamic perspective. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience.
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