Sigmund Freud: The Rise Of Behaviorism

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In 1908, Sigmund Freud was asked to lecture at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts (Baughman, et. al, 2012). During the course of this time, psychoanalysis was introduced into the United States and a number of prominent psychologists begin to implement and practice Freud’s work. However, Freud did not travel to the United States to launch his work. In fact, Freud, who was of the Jewish background, remained in Austria until 1938. Then, he settled in London when the Nazi’s began to come into Austria. If Sigmund Freud had chosen to stay in Austria, or even if he had gone elsewhere, like the United States, there is a strong possibility that the development of psychoanalysis may have never come into existence. Freud certainly would not …show more content…

“In the first third of the century there was a great deal of ambivalence to his ideas in the United States. Other schools of thought, such as behaviorism and experimental psychology, were more popular” (Baughman, et al, 2005). The rise of behaviorism would be credited to John Watson because he was responsible for the initial theories of behaviorism. “Psychological behaviorism is the view that psychology should study the behavior of individual organisms. Psychology should be defined not as the study of the mind and internal mental processes via introspection, but as the science of behavior” (Darity, 2008 p. 275). Behaviorism was based off the scientific or objective study of human behavior, as well as being focused on evident behavior of …show more content…

First and foremost, Sigmund Freud was responsible for its popularity which began in the 1900’s and second, psychoanalysis is still used these days. There is definitely significance in looking at both the subjective and objective parts in the field of psychology. Psychology is a science, and in my opinion, I do not believe that there is a lot of room for vagueness. I believe the premise of psychology is comprised of a number of proofs, and the ability to analyze facts to accurately understand them. If we were to only look at one part of an equation, it could result in missing information that is important in determining why things happen the way that they do and what the specific reason(s) are for a particular problem. In other words, we would never gain the full answer and in turn, psychologists would not be able to properly diagnose and/or treat patients. The process that brought psychoanalysis into our world was definitely necessary. If it had been introduced earlier, it may have never gotten the attention and recognition it

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