Psychological Theories: Freud, Behaviorism, Cognitive & Humanistic

Posted on Jan 28, 2025 in Psychology and Sociology

Psychoanalytic Theory

  • Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), Jacques Lacan
  • Theory of personality and defense mechanisms.
  • The relationship between the self, and the id, ego, and superego (reality principle and pleasure).
  • Theory of the instincts.
  • The new theory of instincts: Eros and Thanatos.
  • Theory of Sexuality.
  • Phases: oral, anal, phallic (Oedipus complex), latency, puberty.
  • Dreams.
  • Theory of culture.

Behaviorism

  • John B. Watson: One of the most important American psychologists.
  • Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849-1936): Classical conditioning.
    • Work on physiology: conditioned reflex.
    • Acquisition, extinction of conditioned response, generalization and discrimination of stimuli.
  • J.B. Watson (1878-1958)
    • Founder of behaviorism.
    • Psychology can only deal with what is observable: the science of behavior.
    • You must set the laws of operation of an organism from its conduct.
  • Edward Thorndike (1874-1949)
    • Law of effect.
    • Animals and people act through trial and error.
    • Conditioned Response (C-R).
  • Frederik B.F. Skinner (1904-1990): Operant Conditioning.
    • Discover the laws that govern learning.
    • Types of instrumental conditioning: positive reinforcement, punishment, omission, negative reinforcement.
    • Punishment and Proportionality.
    • Partial reinforcement programs: ratio, interval.
  • Albert Bandura: Observational learning.

Wilhelm Wundt

First laboratory of scientific psychology.

Evolutionary Psychology

  • Jean Piaget (1896-1980), Lev Semenovich Vygotsky
  • Intelligence and child psychology.
  • Development stages:
    • First period: sensory-motor intelligence (first 2 years of life).
    • Second period: preoperational stage (2-7 years).
    • Third period: concrete operations (7-12 years).
    • Fourth period: formal operations (12-16 years).

Cognitive Psychology

U.S. 1956. J. Bruner, G. Miller, and Alexander Luria.

  • Critical of behaviorism: does not explain the workings of the human mind.
  • Influence of neurophysiology studies and the computer revolution.
  • Definition: the study of intellectual processes, from simple to complex: perception, attention, memory, language, reasoning.
  • How do we think? The metaphor of the computer:
    • Hardware (brain and neuronal circuits).
    • Software (mental structures that organize information).
    • RAM.
    • ROM: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.

Humanistic Psychology

  • U.S. 50s and 60s as an alternative to orthodox psychoanalysis and behavioral psychology (third way).
  • Authors: Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) and Carl Rogers (1902-1987)
  • Theory of motivation according to Maslow.
  • Why do people do what they do?
  • What are the reasons that cause the behavior of people?
  • Human: good-natured, needs to be checked to satisfy.
  • Deficit needs:
    • Physiological: food, drink, sleep, sex, etc.
    • Protection and safety: feeling secure, safe.
    • Love and acceptance: to be loved by others and belong to a group.
    • Valuation: pursuit of self-esteem and positive growth needs.
    • Needs to live in full-peak experiences.
  • The process of becoming a person according to Rogers.
  • What are the behaviors of people who are really themselves?:
    • Stop using masks.
    • Giving voice to “you”.
    • Giving up meeting imposed expectations.
    • Stop striving to please others.