Exploration of Psychodynamic and the Behavioural Learning Approaches

Psychology is the scientific study of the mind that influences our behaviour using professional practice. The word psychology comes from the Greek 'psyche' meaning mind, soul and spirit. Wilhelm Wundt opened the first psychological laboratory in Germany to investigate the mind through inspection and observation of individuals to identify the conscious mind. Psychologists take a lot of different approaches into consideration when trying to understand human behaviour. Some of these are the biological approach, the psychodynamic approach, the learning approach and the cognitive approach.

This essay will cover famous theorists associated with the psychodynamic approach and the behavioural learning approaches in children that help form a child's development. We will discuss the unconscious and subconscious theory experimented by Sigmund Freud and evaluate his research methods. This essay will also include the learning theory of Albert Bandura's theory of Classical conditioning and Operant conditioning and evaluating his studies, experiment and his methods used. A debate on free will vs determinism and Nature and Nurture will link back to Freud and Banduras theories and evidence of their experiments.

Sigmund Freud's Psychodynamic Approach

The psychodynamic approach is a psychological theory that explains the function of the human mind focusing particularly on the conscious and unconscious mind. Theories suggests that events that take place in childhood can stay in the unconscious mind and later appear in adulthood.

A theorist associated to the psychodynamic approach was medical doctor Sigmund Freud. Freud was the first to study the conscious and unconscious mind in that we associate with psychology. Freud compared the mind to an iceberg and said that only about one-tenth of the mind is conscious, and the rest of our mind is unconscious. Freud believed that we are only aware of a small section of our mind and the rest stays hidden in the unconscious that affects our behaviour. Sigmund Freud gave a theory of the personality and called it the Tripartite model and are split into three categories of the personality of the unconscious mind. These are called The Super ego, the Ego and the ID instincts. The ID ego Freud believed id present from birth and called it the pleasure principle. He says that this instinct seeks gratification from for example hunger, thirst and sex. In a child's environment the ego and superego help control the ID. As a child grows and learns by interacting with others the superego acts as the conscious mind and tells us how to behave telling us what is right and wrong. Freud said the ego is the reality principle and satisfies the ID in a realistic way but if there becomes an imbalance of the three unconscious principles that this can then lead to anxiety disorders and unhealthy behaviours. Sigmund Freud believed that the Ego protects itself with defence mechanisms and uses the unconscious Ego to restore and reduce behaviours such as anxiety without our minds being aware. According to Freud we all use ego defence mechanisms. Some of these include denial, displacement and rationalization. 

Sigmund Freud suggested that there is a stage in development called the psychosexual stage and this begins at birth. Freud believed that a child goes through four stages of development before they reach maturity. These stages are the:

• Oral stage - Stimulation of the mouth from feeding and sucking.
• Anal stage - Entered at the age of two when acting out towards potty training and defecating.
• Phallic stage - Becoming interested in the genital area and desire for intimacy.
• Genital stage - Begins at puberty and develops sexual interests in others.

All these stages give gratification to the individual.

Sigmund Freud was interested in the theory of the sexuality in child development stages and believed that this was an important study of his theory with the Oedipus complex of the Phallic stage. Freud conducted a case study on his friend's son who was 5years old at the time and named it Little Hans. The boy from the age of three was interested in his penis that his mother said he would get the doctor to cut off if he kept touching it and his father also reported to Freud when the boy was five years old that he had a phobia of horses. After Freuds study and research, he believed that Hans's phobia of horses was in fact a symbol for his father and that Hans was frightened his father would castrate him for having desires towards his mother. The case study of Little Hans provided support for Freud's theory of the Oedipus complex and the Phallic stage which is between the age of three and six years old when Hans developed a sexual love for his mother. Freud believed that Hans developed a defence mechanism for coping called the identification which then developed a fear that his father would castrate him.

Freud used a case study method of the Oedipus complex theory to investigate Little Hans phobia of horses. Freud had only met the boy once to conduct his research and only relied on the Fathers letters as evidence as he was friends with Hans Father which could be seen as being bias as the Father was already aware of Freuds work. The study Little Hans was conducted once on one boy between the age of three and five and how his behaviour and situation was at the time. The results of the case study are difficult to generalise with other children and would be difficult to say whether other children would react in the same way or situation, this questions the usefulness of the case study and changing behaviour in children. Freud gathered most of his information from Hans's father. Some information on the boy's emotions on which fears he felt stronger for than others may have been lost when interpreted through only letters and could have been easily altered to fit into Freud's theories. Freud gathered quality data from the letters and his meeting with Hans and collected in depth information that was needed for his case study, but this study would only be ever unique to Hans as they were his own personal thoughts.

A learning theory evaluates information and knowledge of how people process learning. The psychologists of learning study and research how learning influences behaviours. There are Three types of learning in behavioural psychology. They are classical conditioning, operant conditioning and observational learning. Classical conditioning is a learning process that provokes a response. Operant conditioning is a learning process that uses reinforcement and punishment with probability of a response occurring. Classical conditioning was discovered by Russian physiologist Pavlov. He experimented a learning response in a dog with a bell sound and through the pattern of stimulus and response the dog learnt to associate the sound of the bell with food.

Albert Bandura's Behavioural Learning Approach

Albert Bandura is a social cognitive psychologist and seen as one of the greatest psychologists. Bandura is best known for his observational learning, self-efficacy and social learning theory. Bandura suggests that observation plays a primary role in development through social theory and observing the actions in children Susman. Bandura added a social element in his theory as he believed that people learn from watching others. His approach showed the importance of observing, modelling and imitating children's emotional reactions.

Albert Bandura conducted and experiment in 1961 called the Bobo doll. This was demonstrating his theory of how children learn aggression by imitating behaviour. He chose three groups with equal number of children in each group and the same numbers of boys and girls in each group. One group was in a controlled group. One group would be exposed to aggressiveness and one group would be exposed to non-aggressive. The experiment lasted for ten minutes in each room. In one room and adult paid no attention to the bobo doll, in another room the adult would be violent to the bobo doll by smacking, punching being verbally aggressive to the bobo doll. After ten minutes each child was then taken to a different room to play with toys for two minutes with no adult in the room. After a two-minute play the children where then taken to the last experiment room that had a variety of toys in and a Bobo doll. Psychologists observed each child's behaviour and level of aggression from a two-way mirror for twenty minutes. Bandura's predictions were correct that the children who witnessed the adult being aggressive to the Bobo doll imitated the exact behaviour they had seen from the adult. Boys of the groups also acted in more physical aggression than the girls did as predicted by Albert Bandura. Bandura believed that the aggression from the adults towards the Bobo dolls made the children think that the behaviour was acceptable to imitate once the adults had left the room.

Alberts Banduras Bobo doll experiment in 1961 used the social learning method of observing and recording his findings of the experiment. The scientists made their predictions before the experiment and had the same number of boys and girls in each experiment room with one male and one female adult along with the Bobo doll to make the experiment equally fair. As all children in each room had similar aggression levels, I don't think this gives an accurate generalisation of how aggression can be copied in all children given the children were all from similar backgrounds. This experiment would benefit being experimented on a wider community and with children from various social backgrounds. I agree with the theory that children will imitate aggressive adult behaviour and carry that with them into adulthood if exposed for a prolonged amount of time.

Free will and determinism evolves around our behaviour and forces that we have no control over and how we react and act in certain ways. The determinist approach suggests is predictable and free will is an illusion and we have internal and external forces that we have no control over. External determinism is behaviour that’s the individual cannot control such as influence from parents. Albert Bandura, s experiment supported his social theory that children imitate behaviours from others. Free will gives us the choice on how we behave and free from the influences of others and taking the control of our own behaviours.

Nature and Nurture both have influences on human behaviour and define our personality, cognitive traits and psychopathology. The colour of a person's eyes, pigmentation of the skin and hair colour are genetically inherited through the nature position and are the genetics that are inherited. Some psychologists wonder if then behaviours and personalities we adopt are also inherited before we are born. Behaviour and how you are brought up in childhood contribute to the Nurture position and psychologically forms a child's development. The Bobo doll experiment by Albert Bandura gave evidence that children learn aggression through imitation and their environment. Sigmund Freud believed that any events that take place in our childhood along with parenting is important in a child's development and shapes an individual's personality.

In conclusion, this essay explains the Psychodynamic approach of Psychology and theorist Sigmund Freud. We have discussed his theory of the Tripartite model and ego mechanisms within the human mind and behaviours and his case study of Little Hans, showing his methods of research. This essay also looks at Albert Banduras theory of Behavioural Learning and his belief and research of child conditioning and reinforcement. Banduras case study of the Bobo doll gives evidence to his theory that children will imitate behaviours of others.

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