Chapter 11:

Behaviorism and

Psychoanalysis in the Mid-20th

Century

PSK302-History of Psychology IIAssoc. Prof. Okan Cem Çırakoğlu okanc@baskent.edu.tr

Further Development of Behaviorism

Reviewers frequently labeled Edward Tolman (1886–1959) as purposive behaviorist, and his views were called purposive or operational behaviorism.

Further Development of Behaviorism

Karl Lashley (1890–1958) was a student and follower of John Watson. Inspired by behaviorism’s main principles, he dedicated his life to the study of brain mechanisms of animal behavior. His work included research on brain regulations of sensory receptors and the cortical basis of motor activities.

He showed that the brain cortex functions not as an assemblage of different centers responsible for different action but rather as one mechanism.

Further Development of Behaviorism

Clark Hull (1884–1952), tried to reduce practically every aspect of human existence to mechanical, physical terms. He emphasized that the “machine” was a metaphor, yet the basic principles of physics according to which machines and human bodies function are the same.

Behaviorism According to

B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)

B.F. Skinner uniquely combined the qualities of a researcher, engineer, writer, and public figure. was one of the most prominent psychologists of the 20th century. His theory and especially his proposed social applications have generated support, heated debates, and critical reactions. His name today is frequently quoted in popular literature and scholarly journals around the world.

Behaviorism According to

B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)

The “Skinner Box”

A mouse placed inside a specially made box was free to move around it. As soon as the animal pressed a lever (at first accidentally), a small food pellet was automatically released on a tray so the mouse could eat it. In behaviorist terms, the mouse’s lever-pressing act was reinforced by the food delivered immediately after. Skinner began to measure many elements (or variables) of the process: the time elapsing before the mouse presses the lever, the number of repetitions before the animal learns a habit, and so forth.

Behaviorism According to

B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)

All Behavior Is Conditioned

The rats would develop their reflexes by achieving certain goals such as getting food after pushing a button. They would quickly learn about the consequences of their behavior. Rewards or punishments follow certain actions. This type of learning has received the name operant conditioning. The word operant has several meanings, but in the context of Skinner’s ideas, it meant activities producing effects. The rat in the box presses the button (an activity), and then the food is delivered (an effect).

Behaviorism According to

B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)

Universal rules of

conditioned behavior

Animals

Individualism

Society

A Winding Road of Psychoanalysis

Popular Appeal. Few psychologists in the early 1900s could foresee a rapid growth of public fascination with psychoanalysis two decades later. Newspaper articles, magazine stories, and books contributed to this frenzy. A new fashion trend was emerging among the educated circles in the United States and Europe in the 1920s.

Money. Scores of professionals turned to psychoanalysis not only because it was an interesting theory and seemingly useful method. Psychologists, psychiatrists, anthropologists, literary critics, journalists, and people of many other professions gradually discovered that their use of psychoanalysis generated money and could even bring a stable income.

Theoretical Expansions:

Ego Psychology

In the history of psychology, only a few children of famous psychologists continued the successful work of their parents. One was Anna Freud (1895–1982), the youngest of Sigmund Freud’s six offspring. Anna Freud did not live in the shadow of her prominent father. She became one of the most respected psychologists of the 20th century as a theorist, innovator, and clinical practitioner.

Work of Anna Freud

In the history of psychology, only a few children of famous psychologists continued the successful work of their parents.

Her most influential book was The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense (1936), in which she focused on the struggle of the ego with the overwhelming demands of the id and other powerful restrictions imposed by reality. The function of the ego is to regulate and defend itself from these contradictory demands. Ego defenses can be described as defense mechanisms or specific unconscious structures that enable an individual to avoid awareness of anxiety-arousing issues.

Defense Mechanisms

Erik Erikson’s Stages of Development

On the basis of his observations of hundreds of patients, Erik Erikson (1902-1994) theorized that all people pass through eight developmental stages that stretch from birth to death. In each stage, the ego faces a developmental conflict or crisis. If the crisis has a positive resolution, the person’s ego is strengthened by gaining greater adaptation.

Psychoanalytic Ideas in Testing

Henry Murray (1893–1988). One of Murray’s major contributions to psychology was the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) developed together with Christina Morgan. In its original form, the test contained 19 pictures. A person undergoing testing was asked to tell a story about each of these pictures. The pictures were sufficiently vague to leave enough to the imagination of the person taking the test. Murray’s main idea was that the test taker in the process of picture interpretation would reveal specific psychological needs that are difficult to identify by other methods.

Thematic Apperception Test

Assessment of Behaviorism and

Psychoanalysis

Behaviorism and psychoanalysis were based on scientific determinism, a fundamental position according to which mental processes are determined by past events.

Because of their belief in the possibility to improve humanity through social changes, both psychoanalysis and behaviorism shared similar progressive ideas.

Assessment of Behaviorism and

Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis and behaviorism portrayed behavior as the process of constant adaptation of the individual to changing conditions.

Behaviorism appeared as a set of universal principles applicable in any cultural settings. Psychoanalysis, however, earned a reputation as a theory and method valid primarily within the Western culture.

Yet behaviorism and psychoanalysis stood for two distinctly different ways to understand psychology. One way was to study discrete and measurable responses. The other way was to focus on the depth of experience.