Psychology Assignment Final
Describe and discuss how each psychological perspective explains smoking using empirical evidence
A perspective or approach in psychology is a specific understanding as to why and how individuals think, feel and behave. The perspectives/approaches are essential to the study of psychology; they reinforce all psychological thought and investigation. The purpose of this assignment is to evaluate the psychological perspectives in order to explain smoking.
The psychodynamic approach
Psychodynamic psychologists assume an individual’s behaviour is determined by their unconscious thoughts and memories, making it a deterministic approach. They believe that each manifest (surface) thought or behaviour hides a latent (hidden) motive or intention. This reflects our instinctive biological drives and early experiences, predominantly before the age of five. Primarily, how a child is treated by their parents, reflects their adult behaviour. This approach is regarded as a reductionist approach to psychology rather than a holistic one.
Sigmund Freud (1896-1939) believed that one of the key influences to his psychodynamic approach was the assumption was that the early childhood was particularly important in the development of an adults personality traits. According to (Gross, 2005) Freud claimed that development took place through three stages of psychosexual development, the oral, anal and the phallic. However, if a trauma occurs at any stage of development it could result in the child getting fixated (stuck) at that stage, if this does happen, then traces of that stage will remain in their behaviour as an adult. For example, smoking in adults can be explained through the oral stage of the psychosexual stages, where as a child a conflict occurs at the oral stage, where the sources of pleasure would be in the mouth, with the influences at this stage being breast feeding and weaning onto solid food. Therefore, the result of fixation is smoking, nail biting, dependency and
A perspective or approach in psychology is a specific understanding as to why and how individuals think, feel and behave. The perspectives/approaches are essential to the study of psychology; they reinforce all psychological thought and investigation. The purpose of this assignment is to evaluate the psychological perspectives in order to explain smoking.
The psychodynamic approach
Psychodynamic psychologists assume an individual’s behaviour is determined by their unconscious thoughts and memories, making it a deterministic approach. They believe that each manifest (surface) thought or behaviour hides a latent (hidden) motive or intention. This reflects our instinctive biological drives and early experiences, predominantly before the age of five. Primarily, how a child is treated by their parents, reflects their adult behaviour. This approach is regarded as a reductionist approach to psychology rather than a holistic one.
Sigmund Freud (1896-1939) believed that one of the key influences to his psychodynamic approach was the assumption was that the early childhood was particularly important in the development of an adults personality traits. According to (Gross, 2005) Freud claimed that development took place through three stages of psychosexual development, the oral, anal and the phallic. However, if a trauma occurs at any stage of development it could result in the child getting fixated (stuck) at that stage, if this does happen, then traces of that stage will remain in their behaviour as an adult. For example, smoking in adults can be explained through the oral stage of the psychosexual stages, where as a child a conflict occurs at the oral stage, where the sources of pleasure would be in the mouth, with the influences at this stage being breast feeding and weaning onto solid food. Therefore, the result of fixation is smoking, nail biting, dependency and
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