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Critical overview of psychodynamic theory
Critical overview of psychodynamic theory
Critical overview of psychodynamic theory
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The field of psychology has opened different hypothesis from a variety of theories with the aim of studying the behaviour of humans being as a result they concluded with five psychological perspectives. Behaviourist, Biological, Psychodynamic, Cognitive and Humanistic perspectives are the deduction after a depth study of mental activity associate to human behaviour. In this essay I will be comparing two psychological perspectives according to aggressive behaviour. The Behaviourist and Psychodynamic perspective are based on experiences during childhood. John B. Watson arose with the Behaviourist perspective affirming that the aggressive behaviour is learnt by environment as well as an external approach trough observation. Referent to the above, the children as well as the animals imitate behaviour from adults and people, we are saying this by an experiment performed …show more content…
Some perspectives assume that in our behaviour exists genetic basis that we inherit and they are the result of our conduct and actions. On the other hand, the nurture believes that the behaviour is learnt by experiences and are divided between social and physical influences. According to Psychodynamic perspective believes in nature and nurture by the fact that psychodynamic believes that our behaviour is in the brain structure and hormones but at the same time is related to past experiences. for example, a child diagnosed aggressive within school, his mother replies that the child 's father had the same aggressive behaviour and troubles with the police however, the child never met his father therefore, the child inherited his father 's behaviour. Behaviourist perspective argues that everything comes from experiences and rewards. for example, a mother who is teaching his daughter to be tidy through her behaviour and reward his daughter depends on her
Since the beginnings of psychology the debate of nature verses nurture has been going on. Certain psychologists take the position of the nature perspective. They argue that people are born with predispositions towards certain personalities, traits and other characteristics that help shape them into the people that they become later in life. Meanwhile multiple other psychologists argue the nurture perspective. They believe that people are born as a blank slate and their experiences over the course of life help shape their personalities, traits, and other characteristics.
Providing an all inclusive, concrete definition of what a mental disorder is a complicated task. Many factors are responsible for the development and presence of a disorder; therefore, pinpointing and providing a universal definition can be quite difficult. In order to provide a basic set of universal parameters in what constitutes and defines a mental disorder, The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) was developed in order to help clinicians and providers navigate the many disorders. While the DSM provides a definition of mental disorder, different perspectives of psychology offer various views of mental disorder.
Since the beginning of social psychology, psychologist has been trying to analyze how people’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior are impacted by aggression. When an aggressive person gets frustrated or upset, social psychologist tracks down what exactly drives them to commit crimes, atrocities, or even abuse. According to Kassin, Fein, and Markus, aggression is “behavior intended to harm another individual” (2016). Individuals who attain this trait don’t always have to physically abuse someone, aggressive attacks could be verbal, emotional, or mental as well. Although many might argue that people who are viewed as aggressive tend to harm another person because that is their only cure, however, there are alternative motives that drive aggression,
In 1913 a new movement in psychology appeared, Behaviorism. “Introduced by John Broadus Watson when he published the classic article Psychology as the behaviorist views it.” Consequently, Behaviorism (also called the behaviorist approach) was the primary paradigm in psychology between 1920 to 1950 and is based on a number of underlying ‘rules’: Psychology should be seen as a science; Behaviorism is primarily concerned with observable behavior, as opposed to internal events, like thinking and emotion; People have no free will – a person’s environment determines their behavior; Behavior is the result of stimulus resulting in a response; and All behavior is learned from the environment. How we process these stimuli and learn from our surrounds
One of the most researched topics in the history of psychology is aggression. One goal of social scientists has been to define aggression. Some believe that aggression is biologically preprogrammed, others look toward situational factors and this study suggests that aggression is learned. This study was conducted by Albert Bandura and his associates in 1961 at Stanford University. The researchers proposed that the children be exposed to adult models with either aggressive or nonaggressive ways, they would then be tested without the models present to determine if they would imitate that aggression they observed in the adult.
By its nature, psychodynamic approach recognises that experiences in childhood have an influence throughout our lives without the person being aware of it. It provides an important framework for judging one 's personality and behaviour. For example, the reason for a person committing a murder may be the fact that his violent father has always physically-punished him since childhood. Though, behavioural approach argues most of the human behaviour is mechanical, and one 's personality is simply the product of stimuli and responses. Therefore, the psychodynamic approach acknowledges everyone can suffer mental illnesses and conflicts without their
Aggression has been defined by social psychologists as ‘any behavior whose proximate intention is to harm another person.’ (Fiske, 2004, P.495) This definition emphasizes that intention has an important role to determine the type of aggression. Psychologists have determined that there are two types of aggression; the first, hostile aggression, has a sole aim of hurting another, this is usually impulsive, automatic and derives from anger. The second is instrumental aggression is controlled, usually premeditated and usually leads to a goal. This type of aggression can include self-defense. (Feshbach, 1964, P.495). For year’s scientists, psychologists and philosophers have debated whether we learn aggression or if it is inbuilt. The following theories will discuss both views.
... are determined by the stimuli in the environment we are in. Behaviourists believe that all behaviour is learned and in turn can be unlearned by pinpointing the stimulus which is provoking the behaviour and changing the individuals learned response towards it.
Behavior, Aggressive Cognition, Aggressive Affect, Physiological Arousal, and Prosocial Behavior: a Meta-Analytic Review of the Scientific Literature." Psychological Science (2001). EBSCO. DePaul Library. 7 Mar. 2008.
The theory of behaviorism was later advanced by JB Watson who argued that any behavior can be instilled in a child. Watson argued that any child can be classically conditioned to become anything or to acquire any behavior. The study off classical conditioning involves presenting to an animal or organism to a conditioned stimulus. There is no connection between the conditioned stimulus and the organism. The organism is then exposed to an unconditional stimulus which is then followed repetitively with the exposition of the conditioned stimulus over a certain number of times until the organism learns to associate the conditioned stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus to produce a conditioned response even at the absence of an unconditioned response. In the process the organism was found to elicit an unconditional response at the exposure to the conditioned stimulus.
In conclusion, the theory of behaviorism is based on observable behaviors for easier quantification and data collection. Effective techniques such as behavior intervention and discrete trial training originate from this school of thought. The approaches are very essential in altering the maladaptive behaviors in adults and children (Cherry, 2011). Today, conditioning and the use of reward and punishment are used to help people learn accepted behavior and in other cases to help them stop problematic behavior (Coon & Mitterer, 2008). This has made behavior modification and training easy and possible. Therefore, Dr. John Watson played a tremendous role in the transition of psychology from the work of earlier scholars to the modern scholars.
The five major theoretical perspectives in psychology are biological, learning, cognitive, psychodynamic, and sociocultural perspectives. Each one of these perspectives searches for answers about behavior through different techniques and through looking for answers to different kinds of questions. Due to the different approaches, each perspective form their own assumptions and explanations. Some perspectives are widely accepted while others struggle for acceptance.
SLT describes the occurrence of aggression being due to observation and imitation (modelling). When a person observes aggressive behaviour, it is likely they will model their behaviour based on their observation especially if there is direct reinforcement, being rewarded for aggressive behaviour. This could be in the form of achieving the desired outcome or gaining social approval from being aggressive. Additionally, this theory poses that if an individual sees another person being rewarded for aggressive behaviours they will be more likely to imitate this behaviour. This is presented as especially the case if high character identification is present for the observer, then aggression is more likely to be displayed/imitated (Bandura, 1961, 1969; Konijn, Bijvank, & Bushman, 2007; Turner & Berkowitz,
There are five main contributors to behaviorism. They are Ivan Pavlov, John Watson, B.F. Skinner, Albert Bandura, and Joseph Wolpe. The beh...
Behaviorism is the point of view where learning and behavior are described and explained in terms of stimulus-response relationships. Behaviorists agree that an individual’s behaviors is a result of their interaction with the environment. Feedback, praise and rewards are all ways people can respond to becoming conditioned. The focus is on observable events instead of events that happen in one’s head. The belief that learning has not happened unless there is an observable change in behavior. “The earliest and most Ardent of behaviourists was Watson (1931; Medcof and Roth, 1991; Hill 1997). His fundamental conclusion from many experimental observations of animal and childhood learning was that stimulus-response (S-R) connections are more likely to be established the more frequently or recently an S-R bond occurs. A child solving a number problem might have to make many unsuccessful trials before arriving at the correct solution” (Childs, 2004).