Psychodynamic vs Behaviourist Theory

Psychology is not just philosophical speculation and reasoning over the years it has evolved and it is now also recognised as a science, to understand what psychology is all about it is necessary to know it’s origins and the theorist who brought it out of obscurity, Sigmund Freud. He developed the Psychodynamic or Psychoanalytical perspective to enable better understanding of human behaviour these concepts will be discussed further later in this study. After Freud opened the gateway other perspectives and approaches have been developed, now with five main areas of psychology - Cognitive, Behaviourist, Biopsychology and Humanist approaches. For a comparison with the Psychodynamic theory, Behaviourist Theory will be discussed.

Psychodynamic theory is referred to in psychological literature more than any other. This is the stereotypical psychology - looking into your past, discovering hidden desires, rummaging through the unconscious. It is the most radical of the five theories, and by far the most criticised - accused of being sexist, seeing the human population as ill, and considering sex and hostility as the only motivation for human actions. However, this theory has proven to be one of the most influential forces in the twentieth century. Sigmund Freud believed that humans are driven from birth by two innate instincts Eros the life instinct - the self-preserving and erotic instinct and Thanatos the death instinct - the self destructive, aggression and cruelty instinct. These are controlled by a free floating sexual energy, the libido and is seen to be the single most important motivating force in adult life, driven from birth to enhance bodily pleasure. There is a lot more to the mind than meets the eye, much like an iceberg - only the very tip is showing. He is the one who came up with the concept of one's unconscious - the part of the mind where desires and memories are stored, unrecognised, only hinted at through dreams or slips of the tongue or the

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