Schools of Thought in Psychology Debate

The three main school of thoughts in psychology are behaviorism, humanism, and psychoanalysis. These school of thoughts attempts to explain the human behavior using different ways but aligned to a common thread throughout the explanation. While the three school of thoughts uses different approaches, they explain the same thing. Particular theories and concepts are also used by the three schools of thoughts to explain and bring an understanding into particular case scenarios. At the same time, this paper compares the strengths and limitations of each of the theories under particular case scenario. 

Psychoanalysis School of Thought 

Psychoanalysis school of thought began as an instrument for enhancing poignant anguish. It is a therapy method in education concerned with the human psyche while at the same time acting as a way of appreciative the process of customary on the daily basis mental implementation and the phases of normal expansion from the younger years to the older ages. The idea of the psychoanalysis school of thought initially began to draw much attention in the 1890s through its main theorist Sigmund Freud in Vienna. As a neurologist, Freud was trying to find out important management techniques for the patients who had shown the symptoms of being neurotic. Initially, Freud theory was seen as a component of three elements which included the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is majorly composed of the primordial urges while ego on the other and is composed of the building block of the moral fiber, thought-provoking and dealing with authenticity ( Barratt , 2015). The third element which is the superego is made up of the human individuality that is capable of holding all the ethics as well as the principles that we inherit from the parents and our cultures. According to Freud, the interaction and communication between each of these three elements are what is responsible for the multifaceted human behavior. 

Sigmund Freud, born on May 1856 and died on September 1939, is considered as the father and the founder of the psychoanalytic approach to psychology. Freud believes that it is the unconsciousness drives that are responsible for motivating people and making them act in act certain way. According to Freud, the mind plays a significant role in its responsibility in the control of both the conscious and unconscious decisions based on the drives and forces ( Barratt , 2015). It is the unconscious desires that motivate people to act accordingly. Freud believed that a person’s personality is made up of id, ego, and superego. The actions of people are as a result of their own minds, which are then pushed by the desires and pulled by coincidence. 

He did not believe in the existence of the supernatural forces that affect the way people reason or the way people act. According to him, the idea of id is responsible for the way people act whenever it is not in line with the superego or ego. He viewed religion as an illusion that derives its powers from the simple fact that it falls within the instinctual desires. People believe in religion to derive explanations to the anxieties and the tension that they do not want to consciously believe in. he refuted the claim that religion makes people behave morally because he believed that there was no force that was responsible for controlling the way people act. It is the unconscious desires according to Freud that make people act in a certain way. He believed that id is part of the mind that holds the most basic and primal instincts of humankind. It is also the impulsive as well as the unconscious section of the mind that always has the desire to seek immediate satisfaction ( Barratt , 2015). He believed that people could only be cured by making their unconscious thoughts to be conscious by gaining insight. 

Freud further believed that ego is what is responsible for maintaining a realistic sense on earth by creating a balance between the pain and the pleasure. He argues that even though ego does not know the difference between the right and the wrong, it is aware that not all human drives can be met at ones. Ego is therefore what is responsible for maintaining the balance of the desires originating from id by taking into consideration cultural and ethical issues. Psychoanalysis has been applied in psychotherapy to help release repressed emotions and thoughts by making the unconscious conscious. It is used for anxiety and depression disorders among patients. 

In the article “A review of the Relationship among Parenting Practices, Parenting Styles and Adolescence School Achievement,” Christopher Spera argues over the many issues that have had a correlation on the parenting involvement. The socialization progression is always bidirectional in the sense that the messages that the parents convey to their children may vary in the manner these children internalize these messages ( Barratt , 2015). It argues that authoritative parenting style is often associated with increased children educational achievement, despite the findings varying across cultures. In his work on psychoanalysis and the culture, Freud claimed that the relationship between the psyche and social relationship operates in the opposite direction. He gave an example that a son’s rage at the primal father’s freedom to do his own instincts and wished without restraints can lead to the murder of the father. The development of the sense of guilt brings in more egalitarian. He argued the form of the society is determined by the neurotic conflicts. The contribution of Freud to the modern culture and experience never ended with his death as his influence continues to prevail. 

Humanism School of Thought 

This school of thought was developed in response to the behaviorism and psychoanalysis school of thoughts. This approach to psychology emerged in the mid of 20th century in what was viewed as a response to the weaknesses of Freud’s psychoanalysis approach and B.F. Skinner’s behaviorism. The early sources of the humanistic school of thought were the work of Carl Rodgers. The conceptual approach of this school of thought emphasizes the individual’s inherent drive towards self-actualization which is the process of realizing and expressing one’s own creativity and capabilities ( Grogan , 2013). This approach adopts a holistic means to the existence of human beings by paying close attention to elements such as creativity, free will as well as developing a positive human potential. Humanistic approach promotes the need for human beings to view themselves as a whole person bigger than the sum of any parts while at the same time advocates for the need to have self-exploration. It recognizes the human spiritual inspiration which is seen as an integral part of the human psyche. 

In therapy, this approach to psychology promotes the need for self-awareness and mindfulness that can assist the client change their mind and behavior towards a positive behavior change. It permits the merging of the mindfulness and the behavioral therapy that can help produce a positive social support. Humanistic therapy has been described as crucial in proving the opportunity to lead the troubled people back to the positive behavior change. In the 20th century, the humanistic psychology was known as a third force after the psychoanalysis and the behaviorist approaches. 

Towards 1930s, the psychologists such as Abraham Maslow and Carl Rodgers were interested in focusing on the human issues which included self-actualization, hope, health, creativity, and individuality ( Grogan , 2013). This meant gaining a concrete understanding of the whole human existence. This approach identifies the behavior of human being not through the eye of the observer, but through the eye of the individual person involved in the behavior. It has both ethical and philosophical importance to the society while also enhancing critical thinking and creativity. The contribution of Abraham Maslow to this school of thought emphasized on the abnormal human nature. He was interested in the human potential looking for experience while at the same time improving the mental health by promoting personal growth. Maslow went ahead to identify a hierarchy of human needs in which he mentioned five levels of these needs. Psychological needs are associated with the human survival which includes food, shelter sleep, and water. The second level of the needs mentioned by Maslow is the safety needs which is basically the need for security. Social needs and belongingness are the human needs concerned with the love and affection. The esteem needs which falls at the fourth level of human needs include the human requirement for respect, confidence, and achievement. In the last level of needs, Maslow identified self-actualization, which is concerned with the need for realization of one’s own potentials. According to Maslow, these needs have a hierarchical order, and unless one need is fulfilled, the next level of need cannot be fulfilled. 

Carl Rodgers also made a significant contribution to the field of psychology by focusing on human potential, with his major influence being in psychology and education. His contributions draw from a variety of humanistic psychotherapy which involves rehabilitation, holistic wellbeing, body labor and the existential psychotherapy. Humanistic school of thought identified five basic principles that guide its assumptions. These include; human beings as human, supersede the sum of their parts and therefore cannot be reduced to the components of their parts. This means that human beings exist as a whole, and cannot be condensed to the various components of their body parts. Another principle states that human beings exist in a unique context as well as in a cosmic ecology. Human beings are aware and have consciousness which includes having an awareness in the context of other people. Human beings are responsible and have the ability to make choices in life. The last principle of humanistic psychology states that human beings seek meanings, value, and creativity in their lives because they are aware of the cause of future events and act intentionally with specific goals. 

Humanistic psychology has always been applied in counseling and therapy. It is used to help the client develop a strong sense of self-actualization. It teaches the clients that they have the ability to meet their full potential for self-fulfillment and achievement. When the clients have an inner conflict, the therapist attempts to provide an insight-based therapy, meaning that the clients are provided with an insight into the inner conflicts that they experience. This therapy involves using a non-directive method where the therapist listens to the client without making any judgment allowing the client to develop insights themselves. This will enhance the feeling of acceptance and value, which will then come with full realization of one’s potential and abilities to recover. 

Behaviorism School of Thought 

This school of thought was founded by John W. Watson. Watson believed that human behavior could be measured, trained and changed. He placed his focus on the theoretical underpinnings in the behavior analysis. This theory makes an assumption that all behaviors are as a result of a consequence produced by the history of an individual, including events such as punishment and reinforcement or reflex produced due to the response to certain stimuli in the environment. While behaviorism recognizes the significant role that is played by inheritance in behavior shaping, the focus is much on the environmental factors and how they shape human behavior. As it moved to a scientific perspective, this approach of psychology was defined as a school of thought that combines all the elements of philosophy, methodology, and theory. It was viewed as a “do this and get that” aspect of psychological where the behaviors were seen to be as a consequence of an expected reinforcement from the environment. 

Behaviorism came as a result of the rejection of structuralism which was considered to be subjective in nature, and which focused on the conscious nature of human mind. In the behaviorism, the focus of the behaviorists is on the observable human behavior. The behaviorist theorists believed that behavior is usually learned and that new learning will lead to acquiring new behavior patterns due to environmental conditioning. The theory recognized the role of both positive and negative reinforcement in the shaping of human behavior. The behaviorism can be summarized as a type of psychology that focuses on the study of the obvious observable actions and the reactions of individuals. Unlike psychoanalysis which focused on human mind, behaviorism emphasizes the impacts that the environment plays in constructing and influencing the way people behave ( Sober , 2014). These theorists rejected the idea of consciousness of mind, claiming that it goes back to the old days of superstitions and magic. 

According to behaviorism theorists, human traits such as character, integrity, and personality are not derived or determined internally by an individual but are as a result of the behavior patterns that have been established due to environmental conditioning ( Sober , 2014). Ivan Pavlov who is considered the founder of conditioning, greatly influenced behavior by studying conditioned reflex in both human and animals. Behaviorism can be said to have some direct descendant of the work of Pavlov, who studied conditioned reflexes which later developed into classical conditioning. He mentioned in his studies that unconditioned stimulus, when paired with conditioned stimulus, would evoke reaction causing an animal to behave in a certain way. 

Watson, on the other hand, relied on the observational method as the only way to understand the behavior of human and animals. He believed that all actions and behaviors are as a result of the responses to the environmental conditioning. “Environment is the primary shaper of behavior and maintained that if the environment of the child could be controlled then any kind of the desired behavior could be obtained from the child.” Some of Watson’s prominent quotes states that “Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take anyone at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select -- doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors" (John Watson, 1930). Watson preferred environmental factors to heredity factors when determining the behavior of individuals. His contribution in the field of psychology is applied in child education. He said that as long as the environment could be strictly controlled, any child who is normal could be raised to become anything that the parents desired. Watson further held that psychologists should focus on observable behavior rather than focus on the mind and the consciousness. Both human beings and animals would work towards the things that will help them survive while at the same time avoiding things that harm them. He, therefore, noted that by simply have control of the environment, any behavior could be controlled. 

B.F. Skinner also made a remarkable contribution to the field of behaviorism psychology through many of his books and work on operant conditioning. The technique of behaviorism is applied in the mental health by the professionals. Skinner made contributions in the field of psychology education. Operant conditioning is useful in parenting to help parents use reinforcement and punishment to attain the desired behavior in children. 

Parenting involves a bidirectional interaction that links various groups or generations. Behaviorism impact the way society thinks in many ways including the parents bringing up their children or teachers enhancing the learning in a classroom environment. Teachers can improve the educational outcome of students by modeling efforts and reinforcing certain undertakings such as assignments. This will help the students to conform to the reinforcement. Parents can also influence the environment of their children so that they obtain the desired behavior in their children. As noted by Watson, as long as one can have control of the environment, any desired behavior in a child can be obtained. 

Case Study 

In this case, there is a 31-year-old woman named Jennifer. Jennifer has a challenging personality; frequently dealing with high nervous tension job while at the same time finishing her 2nd year as a medical resident in a hospital. She had been an overachiever in the past have completed top honors in medical school. She is much principled, and this becomes a problem when she fails to meet these principles. She is currently with the feelings of unimportance and self-embarrassment because she is unable to maintain her principled life as she had done before. 

Applying the three school of thoughts to the case of Jennifer, the psychoanalysis will argue that she is having issues with one of the elements, either id, ego or superego. However, psychoanalysis may not provide a solution to Jennifer’s case because it would want to identify and change the unconscious to conscious in Jennifer. On the behaviorism approach, it would be argued that she is having a problem with her behavior. Behaviorism would attempt to solve the issue using operant conditioning which I think cannot help the situation. Humanism, on the other hand, would argue that she is having issues with motivation. The humanistic approach would attempt to enhance positive reinforcement and the need for self-realization in Jennifer. I think the humanistic approach will be most useful in helping the case of Jennifer. Since she is struggling with motivational issues, humanistic therapy that aims at enhancing positive thinking and self-actualization will be most appropriate. 

I, therefore, find a humanistic school of thought to have more strengths than the other two when it comes to consoling and therapy. However, behaviorism is useful in achieving a positive child behavior and appropriate parenting. I, however, find psychoanalysis to have fewer applications in the modern new life as compared to the other two school of thoughts. 

Conclusion 

Each of the three school of thoughts attempts to discuss the same thing but using different approaches. While the behaviorism is more useful in reinforcing the desired behavior in a child as well as parenting, the humanistic approach is useful in humanistic therapy for people struggling with motivational issues as well as those who lack self-realization. These school of thoughts have remained useful and will continue to be useful in the modern life for centuries to come. 

References  

Barratt, B. B. (2015).  Psychoanalysis and the postmodern impulse: Knowing and being since Freud's psychology . Routledge. 

Grogan, J. (2013).  Encountering America: Humanistic psychology, sixties culture, & the shaping of the modern self . New York: Harper Perennial. 

Sober, E. (2014). Mentalism and behaviorism in comparative psychology. In  comparing behavior  (pp. 127-156). Psychology Press.