Comparing and Contrast Freud and Skinner’s Approaches to Understanding Behavior Term Paper

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast the approaches of two of the most significant personalities in the field of psychology: Sigmund Freud and B.F Skinner. These psychologists have contributed immensely to the growth of psychology as a credible science, and in the process adopted diverse perspectives. But their goals were the same: to be able to explain and understand the complexities of human behavior and to determine why humans behave the way they do.

Of the different approaches taken up, five can be said to be the major perspectives used by these psychologists – Biological, Psychodynamic, Cognitive, Behavioral, and Humanistic. Sigmund Freud was the main proponent of the psychodynamic perspective while B.F Skinner belonged to the behavioral school of psychology.

Main body

First, let us consider the psychodynamic approach of Freud. An Austrian psychologist of the early 1900s, Freud’s name is readily recognized as a psychologist by most people, even though they may be totally unacquainted with psychology. The psychodynamic approach advocated by Freud is based on the premise that “behavior is motivated by inner forces and conflicts about which we have little awareness or control.” (Feldman, 2002). Freud believed that most behavior is prompted by the unconscious part of an individual’s personality. He further suggested that a human being’s personality had three separate but interacting components: the id, ego, and superego. The id is the basic and primitive part of the personality that operates according to the pleasure principle, seeking constant gratification of natural instincts like hunger, sex, and aggression. The second component of personality, the ego, functions according to the reality principle, balancing the desires of the id with the limitations of the real world in which the person exists. The last and final component, the superego, could be stated as shaped by the ideas of right and wrong that society has laid down and as shown by significant individuals like parents, teachers, or other role models who influence a person. The superego, driven by the conscience and ego-ideals, helps a human being to control the wild impulses of the id. Thus it can be said that the ego acts as a buffer between the id and superego. An unrestrained id would result in reckless selfish individuals who care nothing for values or morals and act at the impulse of their id to satisfy their basic and primitive needs and thereby becoming a threat to society. On the other hand, an unrestrained superego would result in impractical perfectionism and low self-image.

Now we consider the behavioral perspective of B.F Skinner, an American psychologist of the 20^th century. His theory states that observable behavior should be the focus of the study of psychology. Proponents of the behavioral school argue that it is possible to elicit any sort of desired behavior by controlling the environment. Much of our present knowledge of how people learn new behavior is based on the behavioral perspective of psychology promulgated by Skinner. According to this school, “operant conditioning is learning in which a voluntary response is strengthened or weakened depending on its favorable or unfavorable consequences.” (Feldman, 2002). Skinner was interested in understanding how behavior would be modified by changes in the environment. He used the famous ‘Skinner box’, a chamber with highly controlled conditions to study operant conditioning involving laboratory animals. Skinner defined the process in which a stimulus increased the probability of preceding behavior being repeated. Thus Skinner theorized that personality is a collection of learned behavior patterns (Skinner, 1975).

When we compare the two different approaches of Freud and Skinner, we find that Freud’s theory concentrates on the inner person while Skinner chooses to focus on the outer person. The psychodynamic approach looks inside the person, delving into his wishes and his unconscious urges to determine the causes of his behavior. The behavioral perspective rejects this emphasis on the inner workings of the mind and lays focus on observable behavior which can also be measured objectively, making it more of scientific pursuit.

Freud had suggested that all humans pass through five stages of personality development: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. He held that unpleasant experiences or difficulties during any of the childhood stages may lead to particular fixations in adulthood. Over or under gratification of the child’s desires can also lead to maladjustment in adulthood. He also proposed that people tend to use unconscious strategies called defense mechanisms to deal with anxiety. Defense mechanisms include repression, regression, rationalization, sublimation, etc. On the other hand, Skinner believed that desired behavior could be elicited by a process called reinforcement. This is a process by which a stimulus increases the probability of a particular behavior being repeated. Reinforcers can be positive or negative. An example of a positive reinforcer is praise or reward which when given after a particular response will increase the chance of repetition of the response. Negative reinforcers increase the likelihood of repeating a response by removing an unpleasant stimulus from the environment following the particular response. For example, taking an aspirin relieves headaches. Here, the response of taking a medication removes the unpleasant stimulus of headache. Thus chances of a person who suffers a headache, taking aspirin to remove the headache is more than a person who doesn’t have a headache taking it. Skinner was of the opinion that childhood problems and maladjustments could be overcome by using suitable conditioning and reinforcement, i.e. new behavior could be learned.

Freud’s theories were later found to have their own limitations. Most of his theories were built on rather abstract concepts and lack the support of scientific data. They are mostly based on individual case studies. Also, Freud derived his theories from the study of a very limited population so it is not possible to generalize his theories across all cultures and societies or even an eider group of people. “His theory of problems in early childhood stages resulting in adult fixations offers no way to predict which way the difficulty will be exhibited.” (Crews, 1996). He also put too much emphasis on sexual urges and his belief that infants and children are driven to behave in particular ways for sexual gratification has come in for much criticism. At the same time, though Freud’s psychodynamic approach has been criticized on many features, some of its key elements like psychotherapy have provided a key to the understanding and treatment of different mental disorders besides understanding unconsciously motivated behavior like aggression.

Though Skinner’s approach does not deny the concept of personality traits, it chooses to lay more significance on the features of the person’s environment. It thus puts forth an optimistic attitude that humans are changeable through the process of learning new behavior patterns and personal and social problems can be solved using effective learning strategies. One criticism of Skinner is that most of his laboratory work involved animals. The results of this work could not be simply extended to humans. Also, laboratory use of animals raises sensitive issues of ethics and animal rights. Skinner’s works were also alleged to be highly conducive to justifying or advancing the cause of totalitarianism (Chomsky,1972). At any rate, Skinner’s contributions to psychology remain awe-inspiring. It has helped make headway in helping treat disorders, coping with drug addiction, and resolving aggression. His ideas on reinforcement and learned behavior have influenced theories of learning and teaching. It has helped develop strategies to improve employee performance at the workplace. Skinner believed that it was possible to create ideal behavior patterns based on the principle of conditioning and behaviorism.

Conclusion

Thus it can be said that while both approaches may have their own limitations, they have served as solid foundations for the next generation of psychologists to work upon. The distinction between the two different approaches of Freud and Skinner will blur as current research involves an integration of relevant features of both schools of thought.

Works Cited

1. Feldman, Robert S. (2002). Understanding Psychology. (6^th edition). New York: Mc Graw Hill.
2. Skinner, B. F. (1975). The steep and thorny road to a science of behavior. American Psychologist, 30.
3. Crews, F. (1996). The verdict on Freud. Psychological Science, 7.
4. Chomsky, N.A. (1972). The Case Against B.F. Skinner.