Abstract
This paper covers the debated topic on the psychological theorists – Sigmund Freud and B. F. Skinner – and discusses their theories. Additionally, this paper takes the opinion that considering the review of the behaviorism and psychoanalytic theories, B. F. Skinner best describes the psychological approach of understanding human behavior. Therefore, he could have served as a better therapist for depression patients.
Psychology, like other disciplines such as philosophy and theology has been subjected to several and constant controversy that has always encompassed several divergent philosophies, ideas, and perspectives. In philosophy, people belonging to a specific school of thought would seek to dispute the thoughts of another, or to shed more light on the same idea. However, some philosophers and psychologists have developed concurrent views such as those of Plato and Socrates, who were elitist opponents of Athenian democracy (Tae, 2010). Nevertheless, B. F Skinner and Sigmund Freud have depicted divergent and controversial views and perspectives of understanding behaviors. These different views have equitably attracted controversial discussions regarding the person with a better psychological perspective and approach on understanding the behavior of organisms.
In the discipline of psychology, B. F. Skinner versus Sigmund Freud has greatly been debated phenomenon with different psychologists taking different stands on this subject. The arising question from these debates is that, “if an individual is depressed, which therapeutic measure would be better applicable and why?” has raised a multiplicity of controversies. The Skinner versus Freud debate originates from their point of view and psychological philosophy, and their efforts to provide the understanding of behavior under behaviorism and psychoanalysis theories. While Skinner is the originator of the behaviorism perspective, Freud and his proponents believe that the psychoanalytic theory best explains behavior (Overskeid, 2007). This debate has elicited different view with some people supporting skinner, others supporting Freud, and others supporting neither of these psychological theorists. However, these debates seem to continue forever since different educators teach their students according to their understanding of these perspectives.
Sigmund Freud is the founder of the psychoanalysis psychological perspective of understanding behavior. This Freudian perspective seeks to explain concepts such as defense mechanism, fixations, the unconscious, and dream symbolism. According to Freud, all the psychic energy is generated by the libido (Freud & Strachey, 1991). He suggests that two competitive forces, which he defines as the conscious and the unconscious, influence the mental states of the human being (Kovacevic, 2007). Additionally, Freud asserts that the childhood experiences have significant influence on the behavior of an individual throughout his life. In his attempt to infer the origins of the problems that his patients faced, Freud sought to apply this theoretical perspective to interpret the clients’ information and sought to understand the unconscious developments to the conscious responsiveness. According to many of the proponents of this theoretical perspective, they assert that the best way to analyze depression and cure the problem would imply that the therapist investigates into the unconscious processes; interpret the finding of the investigations; and give relevant counsel to the patients on the probable solutions to overcoming these findings of conflicts that manifest themselves as of depression. They assert that Freud’s psychoanalytic theory with its central concepts as well as its models of the mind provides a better understanding of the human behavior on several issues compared to Skinner’s radical assertion. These proponents of the psychoanalytic perspective disregard behaviorism since they believe that the human behavior has very little or no insight to the internal cognitive and subliminal functions as compared to psychoanalysis that strictly focuses on these processes (Kovacevic, 2007). Most of the members of these psychoanalytic proponents also assert that behavior has little to infer about the causes of depression besides the obvious that every other person would propose, which they believe that could not provide solutions to such problems. The members of this group that support Sigmund Freud assert that the internal forces (the conscious and the unconscious) are the fundamental causes and sources of the state of the human mind, behavior, and psychological problems. The psychoanalytic psychological perspective also supposes that the fundamental sources that drives behavior stem from the aggressive instincts of the “id” and the sexual urges that the superego controlled and counteracted (Kovacevic, 2007). To the opponents of the Freudian perspective, they find this theoretical assertion to be very disgusting and ridiculous. Nevertheless, Freud’s research and ideas to explain the legitimacy of his theory, especially his intention of connecting the childhood experiences with the psyche and behavior of the adult in his later life has greatly influenced and shaped other researches, theories, and methods in therapy. In my support for this theoretical approach, I believe that Sigmund Freud clearly explains how the behavior of an adult relates to the childhood experiences as well as explains the possible causes of human behavior. On the contrast, I believe that Sigmund Freud’s disregard for the environment serves as a shortfall to this theoretical aspect of understanding human behavior. While he believes that behavior stems from internal drives, I also believe that the external factors also have an important role to play in shaping behavior.
In contrast, B. F. Skinners developed the behaviorism theoretical perspective to explain the understanding of human behavior. According to Skinner, he asserted that the former approach on understanding behavior, where Freud looks within a person (internal drives) to find the answers for subject’s unexplained reactions or feelings and behavior lacked credibility since these variables were unavailable for research. The former asserts that all features that shape the human behavior could be found in the environment of the subject (external factors). According to Skinner, the current and the previous environments of the subjects and their strengthening history to dissimilar behaviors in their past life are some of the important factors to consider in determining human behavior. Behaviorism, also known as behavioral psychology refers to a theoretical perspective of learning that is based upon the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning (Skinner, 2011). The conditioning in this psychological perspective, the conditioning occurs through the interaction between the individual and his environment, and that the responses to these environmental stimuli shape the behavior of the subject. Additionally, this theory differs with Freud’s theory in the fact that Skinner proposed that behavior can be studied in a systematic and observable manner without the consideration of the internal mental states since only observable behaviors should be studied as the internal states such as emotions, cognitions, and moods are subjective (Skinner, 2011). He further explains that with the right conditioning, every person is capable of performing any task notwithstanding his personality traits, genetic background, or internal thoughts. Skinner’s theoretical approach is further divided into two types of major conditioning as classical and operant conditioning (). Classical conditioning refers to the technique where stimuli are paired with responses. In this technique, a conditioned stimulus leads to a conditioned response, and an unconditioned stimulus leads to an unconditioned response. On the other hand, operant conditioning refers to the technique that occurs through the association between behavior and the consequences of that behavior (reward). This theoretical approach equally has its proponents, who assert that they consider the “talking therapy” might be beneficial, and that answering “silly” regards on childhood occurrences among other Freud’s techniques as ridiculous and fail to find the cause of the setback. Additionally, these proponents of Skinner’s perspective have asserted that learning the things that occurred in the subconscious mind might be impossible considering that they occurred in the subconscious state of the human mind. In finding answers to the questions surrounding human behavior, behaviorism theory has been successful compared to Freud’s perspective. I believe that the psychoanalytic theory has complicated inferences for the patients to make for instance in connecting their childhood occurrences with the present behavior. This also requires some level of trust between the patient and the therapist. Additionally, while behaviorism explains the visible things that can be explained, psychoanalysis rests on unobservable and imaginative assumptions (the subconscious). I also believe that considering the aforementioned reason, most people have been comfortable with understanding behavior from the visible environmental and visible factors compared to the imaginary illusions of the psychoanalytic perspective, hence the much liking for Skinner’s theory of understanding behavior.
As earlier mentioned, there are some people who believe that neither Skinner nor Freud single-handedly explained the understanding of human behavior. This group of people believes that combining these factors would help in treating the psychological disorders. They are of the opinion that Skinner and Freud’s positions characterize two divergent understanding of human behavior, and that were neither completely correct nor wrong in their points of view. Additionally, in their opinion, combining some sections of both Freud and Skinner’s perspectives like talking in relaxed and comfortable settings; carrying investigations of a patient’s past childhood experiences; as well as considering the internal unconsciousness and the consciousness are important from Freud’s theory. On the other hand, they also believe that part of Skinner’s behaviorism perspective like observing a patient’s past exposure, and possible rewards and lack of rewards for behavior.
After studying these theoretical approaches to human behavior and conducting several experiments to find the relations of between them, I have found out several interesting facts that have led to the divergent views on these theoretical approaches. While I concur with Freud to have made important contributions to the discipline of psychology, especially in explaining human behavior that are significant to the knowledge of learners of the phenomenon today, especially his perspectives on childhood developments and how they shape and affect an individual in the whole of his life, I strongly agree with B. F. Skinner. The latter’s position on understanding human behavior therefore answers the question that was earlier asked in this paper concerning the best therapist in case of a depressed patient. Both Freud and Skinner greatly contributed a lot to psychology as a discipline, and have greatly assisted in the way the subject is viewed and taught to learners in higher learning institutions. Additionally, they have shaped how therapy treatment is administered to different psychological patients today. Nevertheless, I find it difficult to accept that unseen sexual and subconscious urges as well as aggressive impulses are the powerful energies for human behavior. While there is evidence supporting both Sigmund Freud’s position and B.F. Skinner’s position, I find the evidence in support of Skinner to be more consistently viable and believable. Skinner uses scientific analysis that has much stronger basis for determining the causes of behavior and the observable environment. In this regard, I believe that since the human being lives in an environment, the latter must have some influence on the behavior of the human being. Therefore, disregarding these external factors for internal drives is basically unrealistic to. However, I believe that due to the divergent views and opinions of the learners and educators, the debate on B. F. Skinner and Sigmund Freud will never end. Additionally, I recommend that every person should reach his conclusion and determine what he believes and prefers considering the research and knowledge to decide on the evidence that he considers most credible. I believe B.F. Skinner would make a better therapist for depression than Sigmund Freud as his behaviorist method focused more on a practical and factual basis and would therefore make him more competent in getting to the immediate cause and treating the cause in a sensible way. Nevertheless, Skinner changes the focus from Freud's internalized (mental) processes to the importance of the external environment. Skinner also emphasizes the importance of the directly observable behavior. However, he fails to completely account for behavior, excluding the original motivational drive (Nevid, 2010).
References:
Tae D. (June 9, 2010). Were Plato and Socrates elitist opponents of Athenian democracy? Humanities 360. Retrieved from http://www.humanities360.com/index.php/plato-an-elitist-23664/
Overskeid G. (Sep, 2007). Looking for Skinner and finding Freud. American Psychology. 62(6):590-5. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.62.6.
Freud S. & Strachey J., (1991). On Metapsychology: The Theory of Psychoanalysis : 'Beyond the Pleasure Principle,' 'The Ego and the Id' and Other Works. City of Westminster, London: Penguin Books, Limited.
Kovacevic F. (2007). Liberating Oedipus?: Psychoanalysis as Critical Theory. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books.
Skinner B. F. (2011). About Behaviorism. New York City: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
Nevid S. J. (2010). Essentials of Psychology: Concepts and Applications: Concepts and Applications. Stamford, Connecticut: Cengage Learning.
