Psychoanalysis and Behaviors and its Effects on Modern Psych
I've decided to do my research on psychology and its evolution, specifically regarding behaviorism and psychoanalysis. There are many debates between behaviorism and psychoanalysis as they stand as pivotal movements that influenced modern psychological thought and practice. They helped lead to the emergence of integrative approaches that transcend the previous limitations that existed due to the singular theoretical frameworks of behaviorism and psychoanalysis. This complex dynamic between the two theories helped to not only enrich our understanding of human behavior and mental processes but also propelled the field towards ensuring the use of evidence-based practice, emphasizing the fusion of empirical research and clinical expertise to advance therapeutic interventions and optimize the care for mental health.
To start my research I first came up with the question "How did Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory influence the understanding and treatment of mental illness during the late 19th and early 20th centuries?". I put this question into ChatGPT to see what information it would give me. Through this, I found out that Freud seemed to have a big impact on understanding and treating mental illnesses. Sigmund Freud was the first to introduce the idea of the unconscious mind, meaning that human behavior is driven by memories, conflicts, desires, and wishes that occur subconsciously in the mind. ChatGPT also brought up how Freud used psychoanalysis as a therapeutic approach, emphasized childhood experiences, and thought sexuality was a significant factor in human development and mental health. Finally, it made a strong claim that stated Freud had "laid the groundwork for the development of modern psychology and psychotherapy". Since this was such a strong claim, I wanted to see how accurate ChatGPT was regarding his influences and if he had truly laid the groundwork as many before him made breakthroughs. Thus, I put the same question I put into ChatGPT into Google to further my research and either prove or disprove ChatGPT. The first website that stood out to me was from the "Institute of Psychoanalysis" in London. From here I found out that Freud used hypnosis as psychological treatment. He would have patients talk about anything that would come to their mind and then use the information he gained to help relieve their symptoms, later calling this 'free association'. In other words, Freud was delving into the idea of the unconscious mind being a driving force for people. Since he would have them talk freely about things such as their desires, dreams, and memories to then use that information to help with their symptoms, it shows that these subconscious things that people think of are the same things that help them thrive and push through life. This breakthrough along with his publication of the first ever 'psychoanalytic' book (Institution of Psychoanalysis) pushed him to later abandon hypnosis and start using the term 'psychoanalysis' when he would refer his clients to this new clinical method. Thus, based on the information from this website, ChatGPT seems to be pretty accurate so far. However, I wanted to dive a bit deeper to gain a better understanding of how he influenced understanding and treatment. When researching, I came across another website called Simply Psychology that talked about Sigmund Freud's influences. Here they bring up his psychoanalytic theory, the unconscious mind, personality, and psychosexual development.
However, something that stuck out the most to me that differed stemmed from his contributions; it was the term "neo-Freudians". Neo-Freudians refer to psychologists who were initially followers of Freud but later developed their theories and modified or challenged his ideas (SimplyPsychology). Some names that were on this list were Carl Jung, Karen Horney, Anna Freud, and Erik Erikson. This stood out to me the most because it shows how his work was influential and helped lead to a better understanding of treatments and mental health. A major issue within Freud's theories and ideas was that it could explain behavior but not predict behavior, which is a major part of psychology. However, due to his work, many other psychologists and scientists during the late 19th century and early 20th century were able to use his work to develop their work and form new theories or find ways to predict behavior by challenging or modifying his original ideas. For example, Erik Erikson (1902-1994) went beyond Freud's theory of psychosexual development and brought in social and cultural aspects which led to his theory of psychosocial development. His theory emphasized that there were eight stages and each of them helped shape an individual's identity and relationships. Eventually, this theory was modified and is now used to understand social cognition among people. Thus, without Freud's initial work and theories, scientists may not have been able to reach this point in understanding social interactions. The same idea can be said for all his other work as many other scientists looked into different aspects that have now become well-known and proven theories, illnesses, and treatments, such as PTSD. (Mentalhelp) Freud argued that childhood trauma and trauma in general can influence the way people behave and can cause different ways people try to cope. This eventually led to the discovery of PTSD and child psychology. In conclusion, Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory helped lead to the understanding of mental health and treatment due to this breakthrough being adapted to help better predict behavior and create new therapy techniques.
Despite of my research, I still had more questions, especially after looking at the the different theories that had stemmed from his work, specifically behaviorism. Behaviorism is the theory that human and animal behavior can be explained in terms of conditioning without appealing to thoughts or feelings. Thus, I asked the following question to ChatGPT, "How did the emergence of behaviorism in the early to mid-20th century challenge and diverge from Freud's psychoanalytic approach to understanding and treating mental illness?'
ChatGPT told me that behaviorism challenged a lot of Freud's theories such as the unconscious mind, treatment approaches, and its practical applications. ChatGPT argues that behaviorism had rejected the concept of the unconscious mind and argued that instead behavior could be explained through a conditioning process. To see if this is true, I continued to research. In a paper from the University of Central Florida, they talk about how behaviors that were originally unconscious could be conditioned to produce a different behavior or reaction. This goes against Freud's theory as he claimed that these behaviors couldn't be conditionally changed and were always unconscious as they stemmed from desires and memories. The main goal of behaviorism was to help explain and predict behavior with a clear reason behind why certain behaviors happen. To test this theory, Ivan Pavlov experimented using a dog by conditioning the dog to salivate when it heard a bell ring as the dog would associate the bell ringing with food being given. Pavlov would then call this "classical conditioning". Many other studies were done in a similar way such as B.F. Skinner's "The Skinner Box" experiment, focused on positive and negative reinforcement. The result of his experiment led behaviorists to reject the idea of the unconscious mind more as his experiment showed that reinforcement changes the behaviors in the mind and influences what someone does instead. Due to a lot of these studies, behaviorism seemed to prove that unconscious motivations weren't the factor for behavior, it was the conditioning from those around that would impact what drove a person to do, want, or act a specific way. These breakthroughs then influenced the way people would approach treatment. Freud's psychoanalysis relied heavily on talk therapy and exploring unconscious conflicts, which is something ChatGPT mentions. It states that behaviorism instead used behavior modification techniques that aimed directly at observable behaviors. One technique that stood out to me that is majorly used today is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). CBT is a psychological treatment that involves changing an individual's thinking and behavioral patterns (American Psychological Association). This type of therapy is based on the principles of behaviorism such as that psychological problems are based on learned patterns of unhelpful behavior and that these problems can be solved by learning better ways of coping. They try to help individuals using CBT by having people learn to recognize their distortions in thinking, get a better understanding of the behavior and motivations of others, face their fears, and use role-playing to prepare for problematic interactions with others. These all tie into behaviorism's idea of using behavior modification techniques for observable behaviors. This diverges away severely from Freud's style of treatment as his treatment would only address behaviors that couldn't be observed. Compared to Freud's theory, behaviorism seemed to be more practical when applied to behavior, especially in fields like education and clinical psychology according to ChatGPT and the websites I mentioned previously since these behaviors are observable and can be applied directly to why they occur.
After researching these two questions, it led me to my third and final question, "How did the debate between behaviorism and psychoanalysis influence the development of modern psychological theories and therapeutic approaches?". When asking this to ChatGPT, it claimed that it led to the integration of perspectives, started a cognitive revolution, and highlighted the importance of evidence-based practice. Based on ChatGPTs response and combining all my research, it has shown me that because there is such a drastic debate between behaviorism and psychoanalysis, it has led psychologists to seek a middle ground and integrate aspects from both theories. For example, child psychology and trauma within children uses aspects from both psychoanalysis and behaviorism. This is because child psychology is the study of the psychological process of children and how these processes differ from those of adults (Britannica). This idea is based on Freud's psychoanalysis theory as it uses aspects about the unconscious mind and how when children become traumatized, they repress the trauma into their unconscious mind which can then cause them to become ill (Mentalhelp). Behaviorism then comes into play when treating this type of trauma by either using CBT or directly observing what behaviors have resulted from this trauma and then creating specific therapy techniques for the individual based on their behavior. Thus, showing that both behaviorism and psychoanalysis became major parts of modern psychology and treatment through integrating perspectives. Continuing, this can also be applied when addressing cognitive psychology. Since behaviorism only treated observable behaviors and psychoanalysis treated more internal mental processes, cognitive psychology emerged. This psychology emphasizes the operation of "mental processes that are related to perceiving, attending, thinking, language, and memory through inferences from behavior" (American Psychological Association). It looks directly at behaviors that emerge from the unconscious mind and how to treat them. This process is what created the idea of cognitive-behavioral therapy. Finally, as a result of the debate between the two theories, the importance of evidence-supported treatments became more relevant. For a new treatment or theory to come out, it has to be tested repeatedly through studies, evaluations, observations, and testing (National Library of Medicine). Without these tests, it makes it more difficult for new treatments to be put in place which is drastically different from before. Not only that but these tests also now have to be ethical for both humans and animals if they are involved. Previously, ethics weren't as emphasized which is why studies such as Little Albert were allowed to be conducted. By ensuring this it helps emphasize effectiveness and accountability when developing and applying treatment protocols and research.
In conclusion, Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytical theory and behaviorism have been impactful in shaping the landscape for modern psychology. The different perspectives created a broad range of theories and approaches that have helped enrich our understanding of human behavior, mental illness, and treatment. The clash of both theories helped spur innovation and integration which led to the development of many different approaches such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, cognitive psychology, social learning, and humanistic psychology, all of which prioritize evidence-based practice and holistic understanding. As psychology continues to evolve and more theories and treatments arrive, the ideas learned from these debates highlight the importance of embracing diverse perspectives to advance the field and improve mental health care for individuals worldwide.
