The Open War Between Psychoanalysis And Behaviorism, Explained In 8 Keys
Psychology is a science that has embraced multiple forms and ways of understanding the human mind and its functioning. Different schools and currents of thought have appeared and disappeared, some being born to complement others or in opposition to their ways of seeing and acting.
Two of the psychological currents that have traditionally had opposing positions have been psychoanalysis and behaviorism. These currents have not only pointed towards different objectives but they also define some basic concepts, such as “behavior” or “mind”, in completely opposite ways.
In this article we will review the main fronts on which the battle between psychoanalysis and behaviorism
Being one of the best known psychological schools, Psychoanalysis focuses its interest on the unconscious part of the mind. This current understands our behavior as the result of conflicts caused when managing and repressing the instincts and drives that emanate from the unconscious and that cannot be completely eliminated, but simply repressed.
Based on the ideas of its founder Sigmund Freud, psychoanalysis structures the human mind in different aspects, moving from the unconscious to the conscious. Concepts such as It, Ego and Superego refer to the part of our being that generates impulses, manages them and censors them based on social and learned morality, respectively. There are conflicts between the different parts of our being, which the ego tries to solve by using various defense mechanisms.
On a therapeutic level, psychoanalysis tends to deal with “hidden” aspects of the person When explaining psychopathology, orthodox psychoanalysis tends to focus on past events, explaining current symptoms based on events experienced in the early stages of human development, in which different phases are visualized as the person develops. The presence of unresolved conflicts at some point in development will generate symptoms in the future, causing regressions to previous life stages.
For this current, the core of psychic life is the drive or instinct In this aspect, the different psychodynamic authors have considered that these drives focused on different aspects, in the case of the most classic psychoanalysis being libido or sexual desire.
In addition, symbolism is often used both in the interpretation of the psyche and in various types of therapy and treatment. Aspects such as dreams and unconscious manifestations are of great interest to explain mental contents.
behaviorism
The behaviorist current however, aims to study the human mind in the most rigorous and empirical way possible through its only directly observable correlate: behavior. Its highest priority is to achieve a scientific and testable explanation of behavior. Therefore, it seeks an objective observation, discarding unverifiable assumptions as much as possible.
For behaviorists, behavior is governed by the capacity for association between different types of stimuli, the responses given to them and the consequences that these responses have. On the other hand, it is proposed that we are governed by universal and unalterable laws. We simply capture the information and from this we react in a specific way according to its characteristics.
Mainly it is considered that we are merely reactive entities to the conditions of stimulation, learning through the repetition of associations. However, some variants of behaviorism, such as radical behaviorism, understand that there is freedom and empowerment in the possibility of alter our environment so that it influences us the way we want
This paradigm, and especially the radical behaviorism advocated by BF Skinner, refrains from attributing a fundamental role to mental processes when it comes to explaining how we behave, and the mind is considered rather as something that, although it exists, cannot be analyzed objectively. The therapies created under this paradigm focus on the present, without focusing on past aspects, and aim to modify the current behavior of the subject who comes for consultation in order to make it more adaptive through processes based on learning.
These currents in the history of psychology have often been opposed and even described as totally contrary The reasons for this are many and, in fact, many authors consider that behaviorism was born from opposition to psychoanalytic methodology
Among the many differences, we highlight eight below.
1. Objectivity vs Symbolism
The psychoanalytic current is based on concepts that, although they reflect an interesting point of view of reality and although they have proven useful in many cases, They are not empirically verifiable Aspects such as the unconscious, dreams or the conception of different types of internal conflicts or the different structures that are part of the psychic apparatus are widely discussed by behaviorists, who consider that it is only possible to explain human behavior through empirical methods.
2. From the outside to the inside: Personalists vs Environmentalists
One of the main differences or conflicts between psychoanalysis and behaviorism is the focus on different aspects. psychoanalysis focuses on the intrapsychic It considers that the origin of mental disorders and maladaptive behaviors is found in a poor resolution of the subject’s intrapsychic conflicts, with their defense mechanisms not being efficient to deal with them.
However, for behaviorism, all behavior is explained through associative processes which will be determined to a large extent by the characteristics of the stimuli. Thus, behaviorism practically does not take into account internal factors but focuses on environmental aspects and processes elicited by elements external to the psyche.
3. Present and past
Behaviorism is a paradigm that focuses on current behavior and conduct. Although maladaptive behavior can be explained based on erroneous learning or a lack of training, the main thing in both therapy and research is to focus on the present process. Psychoanalysis, on the other hand, tends to analyze behavior and the mind. through the personal history of the individual, its understanding and analysis. That is, it is based on the past that caused the problems, and that is why it gives a lot of importance to childhood.
For psychoanalysis, behavior is governed by the concept of drive, which is mediated by the ego to make it coherent and acceptable to the superego and society as a whole. However, behaviorism explains behavior based on the repetition of the association between stimuli and responses.
5. Concept of personality
For behaviorism, personality is nothing more than a behavioral pattern learned through repetition of stimuli while psychoanalysis considers it a way to manage and adjust our impulses and drives to social and moral reality.
6. Action mechanisms
While psychoanalysis is based mainly on carrying out analysis of deep aspects and aims to bring to light different conflicts without acting directly on them, behaviorism focuses on teaching the patient new behaviors directly through learning.
7. Objective of therapy
Psychoanalysis aims to reduce the level of tension and internal conflict in the patient through various methods, while the objective of behavioral therapy focuses on making vary behavior towards more adaptive forms
8. Transfer and countertransference
The relationship with the patient is an aspect of great importance in the practice of psychology. However, these concepts are especially worked on and used by psychoanalysis, with behaviorism establishing a more aseptic relationship in order to avoid transference phenomena beyond the establishment of a good therapeutic relationship.
