A Comparison of Psychological Perspectives

A Comparison of Psychological Perspectives

Two of the most fundamental psychological perspectives are the

psychoanalytic, and the behaviourist. The father of the psychoanalytic

approach was Sigmund Freud who believed that the mind was mostly

within the subconscious; "The mind is like an iceberg, it floats with

one seventh of its bulk above water." he divided the unconscious into

three primary sections: The id has no consideration, and only thinks

of the most basic needs; such as hunger and comfort. The id is based

on our pleasure principle, we can see the id as a newborn baby; its

needs must be met and all else is irrelevant. The ego is based on the

reality principle and is usually seen to develop at around age three.

The ego understands other people's needs and that being selfish may

harm us in the long run. The ego's job is to placate the id, whilst

considering the reality of the situation. The superego is thought to

be developed by the age of five and is the moral part of us, our sense

of right and wrong; it can be equated with the conscience as it serves

the same purpose. The ego needs to be the stronger of the three, as a

strong id would lead to actions with little thought for consequence,

and an over developed super ego would lead to rigidity in thought and

beliefs and lack of tolerance. The ego must negotiate between the two

and maintain a balance. The egos struggle to balance these parts of

our unconscious lead to the use of defence mechanisms to distort or

deny reality; these are unconscious actions to balance the mind. If a

man is annoyed at his partner, but cannot express that anger for fear

of the relationship ending, he m...

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...aws. All sciences have their factions and psychology is

no different; when dealing with study of the mind it is difficult to

make an exact science. The benefit is, we have gained much information

from both fields and many schools of thought have been born from them.

Reference:

Thomas, Roger K. (1994) Pavlov's dogs

Skinner, B F (1973) Beyond freedom and dignity; London: Penguin

Smith, M K (1999) the behaviourist orientation to learning

Gross, R Mcllveen, R (1998) Psychology-a new introduction

Hayes, N (1994) Foundations of psychology

http://oldsci.eiu.edu/psychology/spencer/freud.html

http://mason.gmu.edu

http://www.psy.pdx.edu/psicafe/Keytheorists/watson

http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/freud.htm

http://www.infed.org/biblio/learning-behaviourist.htm

http://mason.gmu.edu/~jshort/tagney.html