Compare And Contrast Behaviourism And Psychodynamic Theory

Behaviourism tries to explain behaviour without including organisms thoughts and feelings. Classical conditioning was the main method used by behaviourists to explain those behaviours. Classical conditioning showed how an organism develops reflexes in response to a stimuli that has been previously learned. Behaviourism developed even further when skinner identified a different method of learning which he named operant conditioning. Operant conditioning was learning that took place as a result of the consequences of the organisms action. Behaviourism was found by a psychologist named John B. Watson who didn’t believe in learning that went beyond the observable stimuli and response. Behaviourists believed that an organism can only learn tasks

Freud focused on the unconscious part of the mind and how it affects a person’s thinking and physical wellbeing. Psychoanalysis believed that our behaviour and emotions are controlled by our unconscious mind and although psychodynamic theory has influenced psychology in a positive way it has been criticized on scientific grounds as while behaviourist approach believed that psychological evidence should be derived from scientific study, psychoanalysis operated on a different base which believed that mental experiences were as important and valid as an evidence as the scientific study. Psychoanalysis were opposed to experimental research because they believed that a person’s mind cannot be studied under controlled conditions therefore psychodynamic approach is not considered scientific. Despite many differences behaviourism and psychodynamic approach also have some similarities for example both approaches believe that current behaviour is determined by past experiences, psychodynamic approach believes that what happened to you when you were a child has been locked away somewhere in the unconscious part of the mind that shapes an organisms