About psychology Essay

The psychologist has used different explanations or tools to explain behaviour. In psychology, there is a different approach which is Psychodynamic, Biological, Cognitive, and Behaviourist approach and every approach have their own perspectives. So, In this essay, the perspective chosen for Andrew and Amy are “Psychodynamic approach” and “Behaviourist approach”. Whereas, “Andrew is the manager of a building society branch and prefer to eat alone” and “Amy is the cleaner who works in Andrew company and she gets frozen with the feeling of terror of being alone”. Behaviourist approach is a study of behaviour which is learned from experience and it can be measured and observed and it’s not about investigating the mind with mental process. Watson was the most important founding father of behaviourism and also he developed a radical behaviourist approach to learn towards human that all learning comes from human experience. A radical behaviourist is a biology or nurture which is an insignificant influence of how people behave and what they do in their lives. Behaviourist approach considers into two theoretical perspectives which are “Classical conditioning” and “Operant conditioning” is a principle of learning of behaviourism which is applied to humans and animals. Likewise, Classical conditioning is form of learning which is systematically studied by by Pavlov. While Pavlov experimented, he discovered that dogs could be salivated to the bell’s sound if the sound was repeatedly presented at the same time as the food was given. So, continuously Pavlov dog’s started to learn to collaborate in the sound of the bell(stimulus) with the food(stimulus) and produce the salivation whenever they heard the sound of the bell. Thus, Pavlov was able to show the stimulus through experimenting dog like Food(Unconditioned stimulus) and dog Salivate(unconditioned response), Bell(conditioned stimulus) and Food(Unconditioned Stimulus) and dog salivate (unconditioned response), lastly Bell(conditioned stimulus) and dogs salivate (conditioned response). Moreover, Classical conditioning can be also used to treat a phobia by a technique called systematic desensitisation. Systematic desensitisation was developed by Wolpe(1958). This technique helps to weaken the association between the conditioned stimulus and conditioned response of anxiety or phobia. For example, a person has a phobia of spider, the association between the stimulus of a spider(conditioned stimulus) and fear(Conditioned response) would a weaken by showing the picture of a spider, then the fake spider from distance, then the real spider and so on. To have a success of this treatment patient must have to face their phobia. As well as, Flooding treatment is also from Classical condition which is very different from systematic desensitisation because in this treatment it involves the person with their phobia/anxiety without having relaxation technique or without having step-by-step build-up technique. This is a rapid treatment which is also known as exposure therapy. This therapy is quickly followed for example if a patient is scared of spider first will be visualising spider and imagine of picking it up and lastly holding up. The principle of flooding technique is that a patient has to unlearn that phobic object is associated with the feeling of unpleasantness. Furthermore, Operant conditioning is a learning method in which voluntary method is control or conditioned by its consequences. Skinner(1953) developed this method to experiment in behaviour to both human and animal. So, to study in behaviour experimentally he developed the “Skinner Box” where he kept a hungry rat and rat need to press a bar or lever. For the rat pressing the lever is not normal behaviour for a rat, the first step is to shape the behaviour and the reward would be foo. So, once rat came close to or touched the lever and done for few times, knows that pressing the lever to appear food then the rat would actually touch the lever to obtain the food. So, the lever pressing has been learned or conditioned as operant behaviour. In operant conditioning, there are three types of consequences of behaviour which are “Positive reinforcement”, “Negative reinforcement” and “Punishment”. Positive reinforcement is a strengths behaviour which receives a reward when a certain behaviour performed, Negative reinforcement is also a strength behaviour and it occurs when a behaviour. So, Behaviourist approach is very important strength and it is highly scientific which is applies the rigour of observation, measurement, and replication of experiments to study human and animal behaviour. Where Pavlov’s research into classical conditioning helped psychology to become more scientific and objective which has provided an understanding of how phobia and anxiety disorders in humans can occur and have provided effective treatment by means of systematic desensitisation therapy. Also, Skinner views an operant conditioning applying to all animals and humans. His main present view is that the basic laws of learning are universal across species. For example, Animals most learn what food is poisonous and which food is safe to eat. According to, Garcia(1989) evolution will favour animals that quickly learn what not to eat. Hence, In the operant conditioning of animals biology and evolution need to be taken account. Whereas, Psychodynamic approach was developed by Freud, who believed that helping and guiding patient is therapist responsibility by giving the direction during therapist sessions. Psychodynamic theory mainly focused on the unconscious mind which suggests that every early life experience result on unconscious conflicts which motivate adult behaviour. Freud explains in Psychodynamic approach that human minds are like an iceberg which means that thoughts are conscious at one time and vast majority human mental processes take place at an unconscious level which not easily access in conscious level. So, Freud distinguished into the three-level “unconscious”, “Preconscious” and “Conscious”. In which, Unconscious is a mental process which takes place without being aware and it also about memories from early childhood which is traumatic or upsetting. Preconscious is a long term memory which stored in the human brain which used for recognition and Conscious is which is aware of at any time about feelings and thoughts. Similarly, Freud also structures the personality into three which are “id”, “ego” and “superego”. Freud describes that the human mind is like to be an “Iceberg”, where the greatest part is hidden beneath the water or unconscious. Id exists of an unconscious mind which is a primitive part of the personality which takes on the pleasure principle Like example Id gets it what it wants. Ego is both unconscious and conscious mind which belief on the reality principle and it considers in social reality. Whereas, Superego is formed during the phallic stage which is also the part of the unconscious and conscious mind and it is based on moral principle. Furthermore, In Freud theory, the most important part was the notion that there are frequent conflicts among the Id, Ego, and Superego which cause the individual experience of anxiety. So, they are likely to conflict because they are guided by various principles in which conflict create anxiety and it is dealt by defence mechanisms, it is used by the ego and it is operating at an unconscious level. Defence mechanisms are designed to reduce anxiety and some of them are “Repression”, “Displacement”, “Projection”, “Denial” and “Intellectualisation”. Repression is an unconscious mechanism, it is like keeping a threatening thoughts out of consciousness which does not allow to become conscious, Displacement is unconsciously transferring impulses away from original threatening and targeting innocent, Projection is an individual attribute or places their thoughts, feeling onto their undesirable characteristic to others, Denial is which refuse to accept the reality of threatening event and Intellectualisation is about bringing thoughts of threatening events in ways which remove the emotion. Additionally, Freud also develops that adult personality depends on childhood experiences which is Psychosexual development in which children go through five stages Oral stage, Anal Stage, Phallic stage, Latency stage, and Genital stage. Oral stage appears during the first 18 months of life in which infant achieve satisfaction from feeding and depending, Anal stage occurs between 18 to 36 months of age which is a toilet training, it helps to explain that the why anal region becomes so important, Phallic Stage occurs between 3 to 6 years of age, in this stage boys experience the “Oedipus complex” which boys think their father as rival and developing superego and also in this stage girls experience “Electra complex” which girls think their father as their love object, Latency stage occurs from 6 years of age until the onset of puberty in which girls and boys do not spend time that much and lastly Genital stage is from the onset of puberty and throughout adult life in which sexual perversion is develop. Likewise, Freud also did a lot of case studies, throughout Freud 20 volumes of writing, 133 cases are mentioned but only six cases were developed into full accounts which were “Judge Schreber”, “Little Hans”, “Dora”, “Wolf Man”, “Rat Man” and “Unnamed female of 18”. Freud did not use case studies to prove his theories or his concepts of psychoanalysis. He did a case studies to show how psychodynamic concepts applied to real person’s mental life to give practical demonstrations on his theories and ideas and wanted to show how psychoanalysis could help treat and to extend “cure” who is suffering from mental disorder or struggling to deal with the difficulties of everyday life. The main use of his case study method is to allow detailed and qualitative data to be collected. The idea of psychodynamic is that differences in individual personality can be traced back to the early conflicts between wish and experience. As well as, Freud uses a Psychoanalysis treatment which is a “talking cure”. Psychoanalysis treatment helps patients to analyse about their emotions in which they may not be aware. This treatment helps to treat the root causes of the phobia rather than the symptoms in which psychodynamic therapist may have seen the causes of the unconscious. So, to find of unconscious conflict and embarrassing thoughts psychologist may use the indirect technique which involves “free association” and “dream analysis”. Free association is the first thinking consciously of the phobia and reporting whatever that all comes in mind and it helps to see in unconnected thoughts make up some kind of pattern and it is interpreted to relate to certain unconscious thoughts and conflicts which is related to the Oedipus complex stage of psychosexual development( between 3 to 5 years). So, Psychodynamic is the definition of phobia which involves the use of a defence mechanism that used by ego, known as displacement. So, this treatment is to all about making aware of phobia that it is a displacement from unconscious conflicts and disturbing thoughts. For psychoanalysis treatment, it may take years but overall objective of psychodynamic therapy is to help strengthen the ego so that it can cope with the unconscious Id and superego irrational thoughts. A strong ego often feels in control which can cope with feelings of anxiety without thinking that all these feelings are overwhelming. So, according to scenario Andrew is a manager who is a single man aged 40. His staff thinks he is a “shy” person and he is not an “open up” person. He usually eats his lunch alone in his office and tries to avoid company while eating even he tries to eat he can’t swallow and start to feel faint. His eating alone habit started since the age of 15 when he used to take his plate up to the room. Even though he believes he does not need help sometimes he feels lonely and if someone could help him. According to his life story, he may have developed “Social Phobia”. For his treatment psychologist may use psychoanalysis treatment which is a “talking cure”. Because this treatment help him to analyse of his emotion which he may not be aware of and it helps him to be aware that his phobia/anxiety is a displacement from unconscious conflicts and disturbing thoughts which helps him to make his ego strong so that he will be able to cope with irrational thoughts from the unconscious id and superego. From the same scenario, Amy who works in Andrew office is scared of being alone and had panic attacks when she found herself being alone in a gym changing room. Amy may have developed phobia or anxiety of being alone because she had a bad experience in her past which she do not remember or maybe she is scared of a ghost which is may be called “Specific Phobia”. So, from the Behaviourist theory as a treatment for Amy will be Classical conditioning. For her anxiety/phobia psychologist may use “Systematic desensitisation” treatment because these treatments can be done step by step which can help her to face her phobia but she has to practice relaxation techniques whenever her anxiety arise or approaching her to face the situation of her phobia. If flooding treatment is done to her she may have a panic attack which can be dangerous for her health. For Andrew, psychoanalysis treatment may not be effective or become a successful treatment for his anxiety/phobia. Because this treatment takes many years and at that time it may get worse rather than getting better. So, a psychologist may use Cognitive therapy which helps to remove the conscious, distorted and catastrophic thoughts and also it is a process of behaviourist ideas which takes both positions in nature and nurture. In cognitive therapy, one technique is cognitive restructuring which is developed from rational emotive therapy(Ellis 1970) and another technique is a cognitive rehearsal. Cognitive restructuring restructures irrational thoughts which are not reality and helps to change their thoughts to rational and more in normals ways. Cognitive rehearsal helps the individuals to think and helps to stop thinking about the negatives. So, once the therapy is ended, it has been given cognitive strategies which can be developed further and to maintain individually to cope an ability and to reduce the phobia. Whereas, systematic desensitisation treatment and cognitive therapy have long-lasting benefits over a number of years. Conclusion, different perspective have their own different ways of treating human behaviours which can be effective or cannot be effective and it has its own strengths and weakness. Whereas, Psychodynamic approach to treatment which is known as psychoanalysis which involves daily sessions which can be continued for years. This approach also tries to make sense of irrational aspects of human mental lifelike, dreams, slips of tongue, jokes or forgetting things which have strong emotional importance. But maybe psychoanalysis treatment may not be effective for Andrew. So, Cognitive therapy can be used for Andrew which it investigates mental processes, functioning and characteristics and makes him believe that he is overemphasising and underemphasising him to cope and to adjust to life. Behaviorist approach based on Classical conditioning may be successful for Amy because it includes the technique of systematic desensitisation therapy because its main goal is to weaken the association between the conditioned stimulus and the conditioned response which is widely used by health psychologists.