Evaluate The Psychodynamic Approach

The Psychodynamic Approach was developed by Sigmund Freud in the 1900. Freud main assumption is our behaviour is influenced by our unconscious mind and we are unaware of this, therefore Freud argued that we should focus on the unconscious mind rather than the conscious. Freud suggested that personality was split into three parts; the id, ego and superego. Freud suggested to have a healthy personality there had to be a balance between this three parts. Freud also suggested that childhood experiences affect our behaviour as adults. He believed we go through a series of stages called the psychosexual stages of development and if trauma or excessive pleasure occurs it will be reflected in our personality as adults. Freud created dream analysis
However a weakness of the psychodynamic approach is that it is reductionist, it over-simplifies the explanation of human behaviour and ignores other factors that may cause behaviours.

A key moment that developed after the psychodynamic approach was Behaviourism. The behaviourist approach assumes that behaviour is learned by our interactions with the environment and ours surroundings. It assumes our behaviour is changed and modified by the consequences of what we do. Behaviourists such as John Watson believed that the theory of learning can be applied through two types of conditioning: classical and operant. In classical conditioning an individual learns by association and is a technique used in behavioural training in which a naturally occurring stimulus is paired with a response, for example Pavlov observed his laboratory dogs would salivate to the sound of the dog feeder’s footsteps. They had learned to associate the footsteps with food. Later, Pavlov conditioned the dogs to salivate to a bell he rang before feeding them. Operant conditioning is a method of learning that arises through rewards and punishment, an association is made between behaviour and a consequence for that behaviour. For example Skinner put rats
It assumes that how we perceive ourselves and our environment influences how we feel and this in turn influences how an individual behaves. The cognitive Approach assumes that disordered think can cause disordered or abnormal behaviour. It also assumes that cognitive disorders have been learned, therefore, they can be unlearned, similar to the behaviourist approach. These behaviours can be monitored, evaluated and altered. Individuals can learn to challenge their faulty cognitions and self-defeating thoughts. Therefore the approach assumes cognitive change will lead to changes in behaviour. Cognitive psychology has been influenced by developments in computer science and comparisons are often made between how a computer processes information and how the human brain processes information. Cognitive research is often focused on how our brains process information, and the research tends to take place in the laboratory rather than in real-life settings although useful research has been done on eye-witness testimony and on dyslexia. For example Loftus and Palmer research who reliable eye-witness testimony is. They tested this by seeing how accurately people remember details after a complex event, such as an accident. Loftus also wanted to see if leading questions can affect these memories. They results supported this by showing