In psychology there are a variety of differing perspectives and opposing schools of thought about how we should view human behaviour. These range from the genetic view of the world, to the more mechanical cognitive school, to work of Sigmund Freud and on to the ideas of the more scientific behaviourists in the twentieth century. All of these perspectives developed in different ways and have differing ideas as to how human behaviour is best explained and this essay will look at and aim to evaluate these differing schools of thought.
The origins of the psychological thinking can be considered go back to Rene Descartes’ concept of Cartesian dualism, positing the idea that the human mind could be viewed as separate from the rest of the human body (Hatfield, 2014). The biomedical view was greatly influenced by the work of Charles Darwin who published his theory of evolution by natural selection in 1859. In this Darwin put forward the idea that species gradually adapt their genetics to their environment over extended periods of time and that those species which fail to adapt are more likely to go extinct. The biological model emphasises the importance of genetic inheritance and looks at the structure of the brain and the nervous system. The brain is split into three main parts, the Cerebrum which governs higher mental functions like memory, the cerebellum which governs motor skills and basic human functions like breathing are governed by the Brain stem(Gross, 2015). The Phineas Gage case study showed that damage to different parts of the brain can have a profound effect on the human personality. This model also looks at neuro transmitters and chemical influences on the brain. One of the good things about the biomedical model is that it can allow us to have a greater understanding of how the brain actually works, which in turn can allow us to be able to develop medical treatments for conditions (Gross, 2015). The scientific nature of this approach also means that it has high degrees of reliability. However it could be considered reductionist in respect to the fact that it focuses on biological and genetic factors whilst not really acknowledging cultural or environmental factors in shaping behaviour (Gross, 2015). It is also rather deterministic in its view that we are products of our genes, not really considering human free will and choice. One possible medical application of biological learning would be convulsive therapy or ECT (Gross, 2015). This therapy has been seen as treatment for some more extreme mental illnesses and it involves passing an electric current through the patients, a process which has become more refined over time.
Perhaps more than any other school of thought the psychodynamic view is associated with one man, Sigmund Freud. Freud was born in the Czech Republic in 1856 and originally trained as a surgeon who was also interested in hypnosis. Freud is often considered to be one of the great original thinkers of recent times and whilst he may also be known for the psychosexual stages of development, his work was largely concerned with the idea of the unconscious mind. His seminal work The Interpretation of dreams was originally published in 1899 which outlined much of Freud’s beliefs about unconscious mental activity (Freud, 1997). In Freud’s view, a large amount of personality is not something that we are actively conscious of with things like our deepest fears and desires instead being repressed and inaccessible to us. He believed that the personality was made up of three different parts. The id which is the instinctive and pleasure seeking component, which is often in conflict with our more morally upright and controlling super ego. This conflict is moderated by the ego which essentially regulates our personalities. For Freud all human personality comes about as result of relationship between these three parts (Gross, 2015). Psychodynamic principles have been applied as a form of counselling, where patients are encouraged to take engage in free association in an effort to try and find the root of their problems in their unconscious (Talvitie, 2012). One of the arguments to be made in favour of psychodynamic theory is that it has been highly influential and has inspired the carrying out of further research. It could also be argued that there is something inherently compelling about some of Freud’s ideas in a way that they just seem to make sense. However, perhaps the most major criticism to be made is that it lacks empirical evidence and much of it involves simply taking Freud’s word on trust (Gross, 2015). The idea of the unconscious mind and its different components are a hypothetical construct which are not measureable, testable or able to be directly proven or disproven. It could also be considered to be a product of its time, Freud’s Oedipus complex for instance does not acknowledge that a child might not be heterosexual and Freud’s work in general would be considered to be overly focused on early childhood development. (Gross, 2015).
The behaviourist school has its origins in the research of Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, whose work on studying the salivation of dogs established the principle of classical conditioning at the beginning of the twentieth century. Classical conditioning is the theory of learning by association through means of conditioning a response to particular stimuli, this concept formed the basis of behaviourism (Gross, 2015). These ideas influenced John Watson who wrote a paper entitled ‘Psychology as the behaviourist views it’ in nineteen thirteen (Gross, 2015). Behaviourists focus on observable behaviours that we can witness ourselves, as opposed to the cognitive or psychodynamic schools of thought which study at mental processes and the inner workings of the mind. They believe that all behaviours come to us through learning and Watson’s ideas were furthered by Burrrhus Skinner who helped develop the concept of operant conditioning. As opposed to classical conditioning, operant conditioning is learning through positive or negative reinforcement (Gross, 2015). Skinner believed that behaviours can be trained through this process of rewards and punishments and he carried out various experiments on animals. Behaviourism became a dominant school of thought in psychology for much of the first half of the twentieth century. One of the advantages of the behaviourist’s perspective is that a large number of the studies for this work were carried out under highly controlled laboratory conditions which allow for the establishment of cause and effect relationships and give these studies high degrees of reliability (Gross, 2015). The work of behaviourists is also highly scientific with the emphasis being on observable behaviours and on empirical measurements that can be seen. However, one of the disadvantages is that behaviourism largely ignores biological influences or individual differences, instead viewing human beings as being programmable, passive receivers of stimuli. It is a largely reductionist view that assumes that we are all motivated by rewards and seeking to avoid punishment with this view not allowing scope for human free will (Gross, 2015).Behaviourist principles have been applied to different forms of therapy such as flooding. Flooding is a form of therapy where the patient is actively exposed to whatever they are afraid of in an effort to help them overcome their phobia essentially by mass exposure (Rachman and Wilson, 1980). This method has come under criticism over its ethics as it could harm the participants and their wellbeing can sometimes be at risk.
Unlike other perspectives the cognitive school came from an amalgamation of ideas from different contributors, as opposed to being based on the work of a singular theorist (Gross, 2015). It developed from contributions such as Noam Chomsky’s work on linguistics (Chomsky, 2015) and syntax beginning in the nineteen fifties, Elizabeth Loftus’work on eye witness testimony in the seventies (Gross, 2012) and George Millers work on short term memory in nineteen fifty six. These contributions ultimately led to Ulric Neisser’s seminal work entitled cognitive psychology being published in 1967 (Neisser, 1967). Cognitive psychology developed in opposition to behaviourism, which had been influential up to this point, questioning the notion that conditioning best explained human behaviours. Cognitive thinking was largely influenced by the further development of computers place in the nineteen fifties, with some believing that the human mind may operate in a way comparable to this technology and subsequently cognitive psychologists have used the computer analogy as a way of illustrating how they believe the mind works. This analogy states that our behaviour results from us processing external stimuli in our mind that we gather from the outside world through our five human senses (Gross, 2015). This processing is made up of five separate stages which are perception, attention, language, memory and thinking. Another important element of the cognitive perspective are schemas. The idea of schemas was developed by Piaget, these are essentially the internal representation of what something is. They involve organising information and experiences into blocks of knowledge that make sense of the people we meet and the situations we are involved in (Gross, 2015).The work of cognitive psychologists has been applied more practically in the form of cognitive behavioural therapy. CBT involves trying to understand the link between an individual’s thoughts, feelings and actions as well as the cyclical nature of negative thinking. It looks at how negative thoughts can encourage negative behaviours which in turn can lead to a person feeling bad which results in them being more likely to think bad things. Practitioners look to try to change what they see as faulty thinking to help their patients as part of this form of counselling which is widely practiced today, including in the NHS. An advantage of the cognitive perspective is that their findings have been easily and broadly applied to practical therapies such as the previously mentioned CBT but also play therapy. The comparison to computers can also be considered somewhat compelling with the basic principles of this approach being easily understood and seeming to make sense (Gross, 2015). One of the major criticisms to be made of this approach however is that it largely does not acknowledge biological influences in explaining human behaviours or the influence that the environment can have that. Also whilst it posits the idea of internal mental processing this cannot be tested, the cognitive perspective relies on the assertion of hypothetical constructs such as this meaning that processing cannot be empirically measured.
In summary, there are various different schools of thought in psychology with differing ideas as to how best to explain the human mind. These range from the biomedical view which places the emphasis on genetic inheritance, Freud’s ideas about the unconscious psyche, the cognitive schools mechanical view of the mind and the behaviourist’s view of learning through association and from our environment. It should be noted that all of these different perspectives have their own relative strengths and weaknesses, whilst all offering worthwhile contributions to the discussion of how human behaviour can best be explained.
Bibliography:
Chomsky, N. (2015) Syntactic Structures. Mansfield Centre: Martino Publishing.
Freud, S. (1997) THE INTERPRETAION OF DREAMS. Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions Limited.
Gross, R. (2012) Key Studies In Psychology. 6th ed. London: Hodder Education.
Gross, R. (2015) Psychology The Science Of Mind And Behaviour. 7th ed. London: Hodder Education.
Hatfield, G. (2014) DESCARTES’ MEDITATIONS. New York: Routeledge.
Neisser, U. (1967) Cognitive Psychology. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Rachman, S.J., Wilson, G.T. (1980) THE EFFECTS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL THERAPY. 2nd ed. Oxford: Pergamon Press Ltd.
Talvitie, V. (2012) THE FOUNDATIONS OF PSYCHOANALYTICAL THEORIES. London: Karnac Books Ltd.