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The biological approach emphasizes physical and biological bases of behaviour. It looks at how brain functions influence different behaviours and personality. The study of nervous system has played a major role in the development of biological approach to psychology. On the other hand, the psychoanalytic approach explains personality, motivation and psychological disorders by focusing on the influence of early childhood experiences, unconscious motives and conflicts. This essay attempts to explain biological and psychoanalytic approaches to psychology with focus on their core assumptions, key features, similarities and differences.
The biological approach assumes that all behaviours have a physiological basis and certain behavioural characteristics can be transmitted genetically from one generation to another (W.E. Glassman 2009). The behaviour has a physical cause in the same way as physical illness. The causes of abnormal behaviour can be explained by understanding nervous system and the endocrine system. The psychoanalytic approach assumes that human behaviour and feelings as adults are determined by
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unconscious forces and our childhood experiences. The relationships especially parenting are the key in determining how we feel and behave. Freud’s psychoanalytic structure suggests personality as three-part structure – the id, ego and superego. We are born id, and acquire ego and superego by puberty. Freud also developed a psychosexual adult personality development model based on five stages (oral, anal, phallic, latent and genital). Both these approaches provide a framework to understand major influences on behaviour.
In explaining human behaviour, both approaches make assumptions to simplify human behaviour in terms of their own principles and beliefs. The biological approach believes on the nature side of the debate. The biological functions that are thought to influence our behaviour are set at the point of birth by the action of genes. The changes in our biology as we grow will have a corresponding effect on our behaviour. The psychoanalytic approach, on the other hand favours the nurture side of the debate. The only thing a child is born with, according to Freud, is an id which has a very healthy libido and further parts of the personality develop as the child interacts with the environment (including parents) until all the parts have developed and are functioning in a healthy
way. There are many perspectives by which both approaches differ. The biological approach assumes that it is the structural physiology, action of nervous system, genes and hormones that affect our behaviour. The psychoanalytic approach believes that it is our unconscious mind, that is inaccessible, controls our personality. The research methodologies in both approaches are also different. The biological approach uses experiments to investigate the effect of our biology on behaviour. The experiments are usually highly controlled and data collected is qualitative and subjective which adds to the scientific nature of the enquiry. On the other side, the psychoanalytic approach relies heavily on the use of case studies to investigate any aspect of normal and abnormal behaviour. The data collected from case studies is subjective and the interpretation depends on the individual’s viewpoint. Although evolved over hundreds of years and based on an intellectual and rigorous framework developed by Freud, the psychoanalytic approach is not regarded as an objective and scientific study of human behaviour. As the root causes of the human behaviour in both approaches are different, they also differ significantly in providing psycho-therapies. The biological approach uses biology as a basis for the therapy whereas the psychoanalytic approach uses dream analysis which tries to uncover what is contained in the unconscious mind. The psychoanalytic approach aided to the development of therapeutic techniques which have been used for treating patients. It also contributed to research and methodology of using case studies in psychology. It has been criticized due to difficulty in studying some of its premises scientifically. For instance, the case study method is non-scientific. Further it is hugely difficult to scientifically find support for its hypothetical constructs like id, ego and superego. The approach is also too deterministic as it rejects the idea of free will, and that behaviour is determined by unconscious motive and early experiences. With the advent of modern scanning techniques, a better understanding of how the brain and the entire nervous system work has been possible. The modern scanning techniques and other developments in biology have supported the biological approach of psychology in providing better understanding how a specific behaviour is connected to a specific area of the brain. It has also helped to understand the effect of drugs and how brain functions respond to different drugs. It is clear that the biological approach finds itself firmly on the genetic, or nativist side of the 'nature-nurture' debate. Its understanding of us as neurons, structures and functions in the brain has seen criticized as bring reductionist and deterministic. This is because this approach reduces our feelings and reactions to robot-like behaviour and ignores the factors in our everyday environment; our childhood experiences and the influence of friends and media that have been found to affect us. Another criticism of the biological perspective is low ecological validity to the use of laboratory experiments in most of its research. Laboratory experiments do not reflect a real life situation. This is a problem for psychology in that it is a subject interested in our real-life everyday behaviours. Laboratory experiments by their very nature often get human participants behaving in an abnormal manner. This leads to distorted data, and thus weak psychological conclusions. It is seen that there are many similarities and differences between biological and psychoanalytic approaches when it comes to explaining behaviour and giving different angles. No one approach has explanatory powers over the other. Furthermore, the psychoanalytic approach concentrates too much on the unconscious mind and childhood. As such it tends to lose sight of the role of socialisation and the possibility of free will. The biological approach reduces humans to a set of mechanisms and physical structures that are clearly essential and important (e.g. genes). However, it fails to account for consciousness and the influence of the environment on behaviour. It could be said that, even if you reject Freud's theories, his contribution to psychology is unarguable. Many of Freud's insights - the importance of childhood, or the idea that we are influenced by unconscious processes remain very influential even after most of his theoretical concepts have been rejected by the mainstream. The same could be said for the biological perspective in that its contribution to psychology has been very influential, for example it has provided us with another argument to the nature-nurture debate.
The aim of the psychoanalytic therapy is to resolve interpersonal conflicts, toward the end of reconstructing one’s basic personality. (Corey 2013). Gathering life-history data, dream analysis, free association, interpretation and analysis of resistance and transference. Such procedures are aimed at increasing awareness, gaining intellectual and emotional insight. This begins a working-through process that leads to the reorganization of the client personality. According to Freud, out most intense experience of anxiety occurs at birth, when we are speratated from our mothers. Using this model will allow to examine the aniety as the basis of all the clients feelings of anxiety. Seperation from his mother at the age of 6 may have had an impact. Finally, this model tend that if noramal, rational approaches of the ego to reduce anxiety are not effective, the ego revert to ego-defense mechanisms. Jackson’s was defensive when discussion of possible sexual abuse was introduced in the sessions. This was pointed out as the Defense Mechansims, Repression. Therapist find this useful to bring the past experiences to the present, so that the client can begin to be aware.
Sigmund Freud is credited with the establishment of the psychoanalytic theory. At the foundation of Freud's personality theory is that people are basically an energy system through which energy is directed and released through a means of expression that faces the lease resistance. Another aspect of Freud's theory is that the majority of one's development occurs in the early years of life, up until the age of five. There are three main stages: oral, anal and phallic. These may eventually become exemplified as types of adult personalities. Additionally, people's actions are ...
Many psychologists throughout many years present theoretical approaches in an attempt to understand personality. Hans Eysenck’s approach of personality differed from that of Sigmund Freud and his psychoanalytical theory of personality. Eysenck’s theory of personality relies on the scientific basis of biology in explaining human personality. Although Freud’s theories are intriguing to an open mind, Eysenck’s approach made measurable scientific sense. He relied on the use of trait and factor analysis, which is a statistical method. Freud relied on faith and his personal opinions based on observational research to reach the assumptions that set forth his theories (Feist & Feist, 2009). Eysenck and Freud did not agree on anything about understanding how and why the mind operates the way, it does.
What are the core assumptions and key features of the biological and psychoanalytic perspectives in psychology? In what ways are they similar and how do they differ?
The psychoanalytic perspective grew out of subsequent psychoanalytic theories (1901, 1924, and 1940) following decades of interactions with clients with the use of an innovative procedure developed by Sigmund Freud that required lengthy verbal interactions with patients during which Freud probed deep into their lives. In a nutshell, the psychoanalytic perspective looked to explain personality, motivation, and psychological disorders by focussing on the influence of early childhood experiences, on unconscious motives and conflicts, and on the methods people use to cope with their sexual and aggressive urges. The Biological perspective on the other hand looks at the physiological bases of behaviour in humans and animals. It proposes that an organism’s functioning can be described in terms of the bodily structures and biochemical processes that cause behaviour. This paper attempts to examine the similarities and differences between the psychoanalytic perspective and the biological perspective with the key focus on the core assumptions and features of these perspectives as well as their individual strengths and weaknesses.
that infants gain by clinging to a soft attachment figure (Harlow, 1959 as cited in Cook and Cook, 2014). During this time, the psychoanalytical and behavioral theories were well known, but Harlow’s discoveries were just the opposite. Psychoanalytical theories, focused on the structure of personality and how things like behavior and development are influenced by the conscious and the unconscious.
Famous psychological theorists Sigmund Freud and Carl Rogers were both the greatest researchers in our modern time. They both made a lot of advancement in psychological fields, clinical evidence and expertise. They both developed a theory of 'hidden' personality’, in which the psychologists theorized that people have a ‘hidden' personality within them, one which they are not aware of. This concept indicated that the human nature and the role play in rationale behind the human motivation. Sigmund Freud and Carl Rogers do have same common in their theories. They were both influenced by working within their patients and shared the familiarity through the many years of clinical performance. Based on their experimental studies, Sigmund Freud believed that the human nature is inherently aggressive, and Carl Rogers sustained that the people are innately are good. Indeed, Sigmund Freud and Carl Rogers have diverse opinions and different assumptions on the personality of a human. During the contemporary scientific research, I prefer to agree with Roger’s theory over the Freudian model because it is more in tune with findings of my experiences.
Psychoanalysis was approached by Sigmund Freud, with the aim “for reaching and radical reconstructing of the personality” (Fonagy 1995), by providing insight of self understanding to patients, with maladaptive behaviours. Freud worked with patients who expressed different symptoms which he investigated to be based on personality differences. This leads to the distinction of thre...
The biological approach looks at the relationship between behaviours and the body's physiological systems, especially the nervous system. Biological psychologists also believe that the chemical processes within the brain have an influence on behaviour. The treatments for the biological approach to psychology include, as previously said drug ...
"The premise behind the biological perspective in psychology is that all actions, feelings, and thoughts are associated with bodily events." Biological psychologists examine how all of the electrical impulses, hormones, and chemicals flowing through the body can effect behavior and how changes to these bodily functions can change behavior. They are concerned with how the aspects of biology effect peoples' emotions, learning abilities, and their perception of events.
The psychoanalytic perspective was first discovered by Sigmund Freud which uncovers the nature of the mind and leads to the discovery of the unconscious. The unconscious is layered underneath as the proprietary element of the individuals mind, it is built over time and is only revealed through dreams, and slips. The development of the unconscious can be built at an early stage, as it shapes our personality. The individual does not have access to the unconscious as it’s deep in the mind and we find these events and feelings unacceptable for our conscious.
Bio-Psychologists study the principles of biology as it relates to the comprehension of psychology in the field neuroscience that underlies ones emotions, ideology, and actions (Brittanica). Based upon the conduction of research, the relationship between the brain and ones behavior extends to the physiological process in one’s intellect. Scientists are cognizant that neurotransmitters function as a significant role in mood regulation and other aspects of psychological problems including depression and anxiety. A biological perspective are relevant to psychology in three techniques including: the comparative method, physiology, and the investigation of inheritance (Saul Mc. Leod).
The psychological genre as it relates to sociological and medicinal matters has gained an increasing amount of scientific approval. Impartiality and the scientific method are both integral components to a psychologist’s mode of practice. However, even the most esteemed of psychologists can only speculate at what makes human beings act the way they do. Absolutes play no function in psychology. Everything is relative and open to conjecture. Theologians give us their visions or thoughts about life. In the field of psychology, there have been many different regions of interest and speculation.
The basis of this approach is that psychological factors play a major role in determining behaviour and shaping personality. Freud argued that personality is composed of three major systems the id, the ego, and the superego. The id (biological part of personality) is present at birth and consists of inherited instincts and all psychological energies. The id operates according to the pleasure principle, seeking to reduce tension, avoid pain and obtain pleasure. The ego (executive part of personality) is conscious part of the mind, the “real” us.
Personality is an individual’s characteristic pattern of feeling, thinking and acting. Psychodynamic theories of personality view human behavior as a dynamic interaction between the conscious mind and unconscious mind, including associated motives and conflicts (Myers & Dewall, pg# 572, 2015). These theories focus on the unconscious and the importance of childhood experiences. Psychodynamic theories are descended from Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis, which is his ideology of personality and the associated treatment techniques. Psychoanalysis attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts. This theory also includes the techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconscious tensions. He proposed that childhood sexuality and unconscious motivations influence personality. Freud’s historically significant psychoanalytic theory became part of the human cultural legacy.