Compare and contrasting Freudian psychoanlytic theory and one neo-Freudian

Compare and contrast Freudian psychoanalytic psychology with one neo-Freudian theory Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory was a ground braking and innovative way to look into a human's mind and how it works. It tries to explain behaviour by seeking it in the unconscious mind of a human. The unconscious mind stores a variety of aspects, ranging from past memories, hopes, ideas, and also past traumas that a person experienced. The unconscious mind is not perceivable in everyday activities. However it has a great deal of effect to our normal and everyday behaviour. Nevertheless Freud received an enormous and fierce opposition concerning the premises that psychoanalytic theory was based on and the validity it has. Freud's main principle for the theory was mainly the pleasure principle. He also annoyed lots of people because of his psychosexual growth stages focuses to much on the sexual part. Many psychologists then try to come up with an alternative idea in how to explain the development of behaviour. One of them is Erik Eriksson with his psychosocial development stages. Both of them do try to explain how the personality develops through stages according to the theorist's premise. Freud uses the sexual pleasure as his premise and Eriksson uses the interaction between the person and the social surroundings. Freud's psychosexual stages strives in explaining the development

  • Word count: 1036
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Psychology
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According to the National Research Council, discrimination has a two-part definition: a) different treatment based on an individuals race and b) different treatment based on inadequately justified factors other than race

Discrimination According to the National Research Council, discrimination has a two-part definition: a) different treatment based on an individual's race and b) different treatment based on inadequately justified factors other than race -for example , to treat with an unfair way to an individual due to his political beliefs , gender, economical and social status -( Devine, 1989). Discrimination can occur in two levels: a) in a personal level -when the individual develops stereotypical beliefs for the members of a community, engage into a violent behavior against them and considers his social/ethical group superior to other groups - (Devine, 1989). b) in a group level : when a group of people or an organization give less opportunities/privileges or behave with an insulting way to individuals, who belong to a particular age/Race/religion/ group etc , which the group members consider inferior to them (Allport ,1954). The psychological explanations about discrimination include the following theories: a) Genetic predispositions. The individuals who are prejudiced might have a particular personality type known as "the authoritarian personality "(Adorno,1950).The authoritarians personalities have a set of inflexible and rigid beliefs ,which make them to immediately reject or act against to individuals with different values/ethics/ cultures and ethnicity (Adorno,1950).

  • Word count: 737
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Psychology
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IB Revision Psych

IB HIGHER Level May 2003 Psychology Notes Learning Perspective A. Development and Cultural Contexts Historical Context: A. Very early influence - Aristotle suggested that learning occurs by association between things - French philosopher, Compte, founded positivism, the belief that only definite/positive things are valid (18th Cent.). This became part of the scientific zeitgeist - Jaques Coeb (worked on plant tropisms), was interested in the responses of plants, focusing on stimulus-response relationships. - Cognitive psychologists decided they needed to understand the black box but behaviourists ignored it. B. Other historical conditions (zeitgeist) - Behaviourism emerged in the 1st two decades of the 20th century. - In the early 20th century there was a very positive zeitgeist in USA, shown by the social, educational and intellectual history of the 20th Cent. It came out of the optimistic and materialistic culture of the time. - Development of Behaviourism was in response to psychoanalysis, i.e. Freudian psychology, which dealt with the unconscious repressions, and subconscious. Behaviourism rejected this, thinking it was unscientific. - Psychology born in 1879 when Wundt set up the first psychology labs in Leipzig. C. Watson's reaction against introspection - Watson, an American and father of Behaviourism rejected introspection as unscientific, since it is a

  • Word count: 20191
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Psychology
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Using a psychological framework, explain what is meant by free will and determinism.

Using a psychological framework, explain what is meant by free will and determinism. The discussion over free will vs. determinism started thousands of years ago and has been one of the longest debates in history, still going on today. In the 16th century everyone believed that they had no choice in life and that god and the church decided everything. Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a Dutch philosopher, disagreed with this idea and argued against Martin Luther who delivered this message, as the spokesperson of the church. Erasmus was one of the first to contradict this idea with the concept of Free will, which is that you have a free choice of how to behave. This debate has been going on for centuries and it will go on even longer in the future. Free will is the concept that we can freely and actively have a choice, without outside factors and circumstances having an impact on your decisions. Those who believe in free will, for example humanists, discuss that even though our decisions are affected by the internal and external circumstances, do choose to act as they do. They believe that in a certain situation, if you have chosen to act a certain way it have been different from the way you act according to the circumstances. Most people like to believe that there is such a thing because it doesn't make humans seem like puppets held on strings. They believe that we have at

  • Word count: 1126
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Psychology
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Freud's Theory on Structure and Functioning of Personality

DESCRIBE AND EVALUATE FREUD'S THEORY ON THE STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONING OF PERSONALITY Sigmund Freud developed his ideas about the structure and functioning of personality from work with mental patients. He believed that personality has three aspects: the id, the ego, and the superego, all developing at different stages in life. Firstly, Id is the primitive mind, the part of the personality which contains our primitive impulses such as sex, anger and hunger (basic needs and feelings). At birth a baby's mind is all id. Id is the source for libido (psychic energy) and it has only one rule: the "Pleasure Principle": The id demands immediate satisfaction of our two main instincts (Eros and Thanatos). In Freud's view, the id is totally unconscious; it has no contact with reality. It functions in the irrational and emotional part of the mind. Secondly, the Ego is the part of the personality which maintains a balance between our impulses (id) and our conscience (superego). It is the Freudian structure of personality that deals with the demands of reality. The ego develops out of growing awareness that one can't always get what he wants and realises the need for compromise. It functions with the rational part of the mind, relates to the real world and operates via the "Reality Principle". The ego's job is to get the id's pleasures but to be reasonable and devise a realistic strategy

  • Word count: 924
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Psychology
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Psychodynamics - Methodology

Explain how different research methodologies (e.g. case study, observation, interviews) used in psychodynamic psychology may affect the interpretation of behavior The psychodynamic psychology attempts to understand behavior in terms of the workings of the mind, with an emphasis on motivation and the role of past experience. Accordingly, the focus is on the internal processes that cannot be observed directly. With the strong emphasis on the role of unconscious, the research methods that can reveal inner mental processes should be selected. Deciding upon which methodologies to use to be able to best investigate the mental processes can in turn strengthen or doubt the theory that will emerge form the findings. Freud, as a leading figure of psychodynamic psychology, attempts to explain personality, motivation, and psychological disorders by focusing on unconscious determinant of behavior. According to him, unconscious contains thoughts, memories, and desires that are well bellow the surface of conscious awareness, but that nonetheless exert great influence on behavior. He developed psychoanalysis, a theory and a therapy based on his concern with human mental disorders, such as irrational fears, obsessions, and anxieties. His approach to methodology was qualitative and he used forms of post-modern content analysis. His entire research was based on case studies because by its

  • Word count: 876
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Psychology
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Evaluate schema theories with referance to relevant research studies

Evaluate schema theory, with reference to research studies Schema are mental network of knowledge outline, centering on a specific theme, belief and expectations about particular aspect of the mind, which help us to organize our knowledge, but also organizes assumptions about things and are used for interpreting and processing information. Schemata help understand how people categorize and interpret information but how memory can be distorted. Reconstructive memory is an explanation used to show how memory could be distorted through schemas but schemas are a quite vague theory as it is unknown how we acquired them, how schemas influence schema theory and it is therefore vague. Bartlett's research was mainly on reconstructive memory; his serial reproduction experiment revolved about a story which involved ghost, Indians and was mainly abstract for people who were not of this culture. He thought that western cultured people would not be able to read and remember a traditional American Indian story since they haven't got a schema of it. A group of people was asked to read through the story twice and then from memory write it back down in a story form to test their recognition. They were not de-briefed and did not know the aim of this study, but a week later they were asked to come back and write down what they could remember of that story. With more time interval, the

  • Word count: 968
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Psychology
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Briefly describe and compare each of three Psychological Perspectives covered by the course (Learning, Biological, & Cognitive). What are their basic assumptions about the nature of behavior? How are they similar? How do they differ?

Briefly describe and compare each of three Psychological Perspectives covered by the course (Learning, Biological, & Cognitive). What are their basic assumptions about the nature of behavior? How are they similar? How do they differ? Behaviorists use the study of learning, to predict and control behavior, this is one of the three main perspective psychology is viewed in; the learning perspective. It was developed mainly in the US, by Watson, Skinner and Pavlov, who all believed that experience is what formed the knowledge of behavior. Watson believed that behavior consists of association between the stimulus and how humans react and respond to it. Pavlov, who worked with classical conditioning, studied this with a dog and training him to salivate when hearing a specific tone. Skinner's assumption was that behavior is determined by the "reward or reinforcement" (Eysenck 23). Watson thought that behavior is determined by the environmental factors rather than the inheritance. The learning perspective differs from the cognitive because it bases its assumptions purely on the observable behavior. However they are similar because both perspectives regard the concept of stimuli and response as part of their assumptions about behavior, even though behaviorist reduce it to just this concept. In contrast to the learning perspective which focused on observable behavior, the cognitive

  • Word count: 591
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Psychology
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Explain the formation of stereotypes and their behaviours

Explain the formation of Stereotypes and their effects on behaviour. The term stereotyping is defined as the social perception from an individual, by observing another individual's physical attributes, or observing a group membership of an individual and from the beliefs that associates with the group of people with certain traits all together. Stereotyping can be considered as well, as the generalization of attributions made about a group or to its group members, as well this can either be positive or negative generalization. The main explanation of stereotypes lies in the behaviours of socio- cultural groups and/or individuals' factors, where they determine a certain 'image' of a particular group. Studies have been carried out to explain formations of stereotypes. This includes categorizing individuals, otherwise known as "social categorization", illusionary correlation (Hamilton and Gifford 1976), social identity theory and in-groups and out-groups (Tajfel). The studies that have been carried out for investigating into the behaviours are the self- selfish prophecy & beliefs of stereotypes traits. There are many theories to explain what are stereotypes; however, these are examples that I will use to support my explanation of the formation of stereotypes and their effects on behaviours. Social identity theory (Tajfel) shows and assumes of an individual improving their

  • Word count: 1335
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Psychology
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Balancing Work and Family

Balancing Work and Family Work and family are both central to our way of life. Finding a balance between the two is an issue of importance to men, women and employers. Today, nearly 50 percent of families have two wage earners. Less than one-fifth of families are "traditional" breadwinner/homemaker families.1 Research suggests that when adults add children to their family, men and women tend to become more traditional in how they divide workloads. In other words, tasks become delegated by gender rather than by interest or ability. However, in order to successfully balance multiple roles, adults may need to become even less traditional than they were before becoming parents. Today, nearly 50 percent of families have two wage earners. Managing more numerous and complex work and family roles is a source of stress for many of us. Stress comes from two primary sources: role strain and spillover. Role strain occurs when the responsibilities of one role interfere with performing other roles. For example, a job that requires long hours or excessive travel may have a negative impact on a partnership or parenting role. Spillover is when the conditions and relationships in one area of our lives affect us in another area. For example, inflexible work hours, an overbearing supervisor, or a less-than-positive work environment can have a negative impact on your family life. Family

  • Word count: 1320
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Psychology
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