PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACHES

Psychological approaches

Psychological approaches

Answer 1.1

Behavioral Psychology studies how the living organisms develop their behaviors in response to certain challenging conditions. Classical and operant conditioning both define the Behavioral Psychology (Adler, 1989, 33).

Behavioral psychology is based on the theory that all behavior is learned through conditioning. Behavioral Psychology, which is also known as behaviorism, argues that all behaviors are acquired by interaction with the environment through two main types of conditioning, operant conditioning and classical conditioning. Behavioral psychology theory observes that all behaviors can be studied and assessed without taking into account the internal mental state.

Classical conditioning is a technique used by behavioral psychologists based on the theory that a natural stimulus is always paired with a response. Through the study, Pavlov discovered that dogs salivate at the sound of a bell when they are called for the food (Benjamin, 1996, 44).

John B. Watson is known for working with a child one year old, named Little Albert. Watson presented a white lab rat to the young boy and then had his laboratory assistant make a loud noise behind the child's head. The boy soon became frightened whenever he saw a white furry object.

Operant conditioning theory

Operant conditioning is an association between behavior and consequence. Consequences should be immediate or linked to behavior. The theory works best with very young children who lack verbal skills and animals. The consequences can be defined as:

Something good start

Something good ending

Something bad start

Something bad ends

In many ways, 1900 was a significant moment in time. Just as we have recently experienced "millennium madness", so also the turn of the century was seen as a landmark social and cultural. From the perspective of psychology, the discipline was still in its infancy: Wilhelm Wundt had established the first laboratory of only 25 years earlier, and the psychology of William James, the first general text notable, had appeared only ten years earlier, 1890. However, one could argue that even more significant in terms of final impact on psychology and society, was the publication in 1900 of Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams (Beebe, 1988, 44).

The interpretation of dreams was a milestone because it represents the first book of Freud to capture popular and academic interest. Scientifically, the ideas of Freud on sleep and other mental processes are often controversial among his peers, and the controversy has not abated in more than 60 years after his death. However, if one accepts or rejects the theory of Freud, there is no doubt that psychoanalysis had a significant impact. His study of motivation and mental processes laid the foundation for all psychodynamic theories, and changed our culture by changing the way we see ourselves.

Understand how much our world was changed due to the work of Freud can be difficult to understand because we are immersed in a world of Freudian concepts. Every time you refer to do something "unconscious" or refer to someone having a big "ego", we are using Freudian terms. (Most people in our culture, in fact, find it hard to believe that ...