The open war between psychoanalysis and behaviorism

Psychology is a science that has embraced multiple forms and ways of understanding the human mind and how it works. Different schools and currents of thought have appeared and disappeared, some being born to complement others or in opposition to their ways of seeing and acting.

Two of the psychological currents that have traditionally had opposing positions have been psychoanalysis and behaviorism. These currents have not only pointed towards different objectivesBut they also define some basic concepts, such as "behavior" or "mind", in totally opposite ways.

In this article we will review the main fronts on which the battle between psychoanalysis and behaviorism.

• Related article: "The 7 main currents of Psychology"

Psychoanalysis

Being one of the best known psychological schools, psychoanalysis focuses its interest on the unconscious part of the mind. This current understands our behavior as the result of conflicts caused when managing and repressing instincts and drives that emanate from the unconscious and that cannot be completely eliminated, but simply repressed.

Based on the ideas of its founder Sigmund Freud, psychoanalysis structures the human mind in different aspects, going from the unconscious to the conscious. Concepts like Ello, Me and Superego they refer to the part of our being that generates impulses, manages them and censors them based on social and learned morals, respectively. There are conflicts between the different parts of our being, which the self tries to solve by using various defense mechanisms.

At the therapeutic level, psychoanalysis tends to address "hidden" aspects of the person. When explaining psychopathology, orthodox psychoanalysis tends to focus on past events, explaining current symptoms based on events experienced in early stages of human development, in which different phases are visualized as the person develops. The presence of unresolved conflicts at some point in development will generate symptoms in the future, causing regressions to previous life stages.

For this current, the core of psychic life is the drive or instinct. In this regard, the different psychodynamic authors have been considering that said drives are focused on different aspects, being in the case of the most classical psychoanalysis libido or desire sexual.

In addition, symbolism is often used both in the interpretation of the psyche and in various types of therapy and treatment. Aspects such as dreams and unconscious manifestations are of great interest to explain mental contents.

Behaviorism

The behaviorist current, However, aims to study the human mind in the most rigorous and empirical way possible through its only directly observable correlate: behavior. Their highest priority is to achieve a scientific and testable explanation of the behavior. It therefore seeks an objective observation, discarding as far as possible unverifiable assumptions.

For behaviorists, behavior is governed by the capacity for association between different types of stimuli, the responses given to them and the consequences that these responses have. On the other hand, it is proposed that we are governed by universal and unchangeable laws. We simply capture the information and from this we react in a specific way according to its characteristics.

Mainly it is considered that we are entities merely reactive to the conditions of stimulation, learning through the repetition of associations. However, some variants of behaviorism, such as radical behaviorism, understand that there is freedom and empowerment in the possibility of alter our environment so that it influences us as we want.

This paradigm, and especially the radical behaviorism advocated by B. F. Skinner, refrains from attributing a fundamental role to mental processes When it comes to explaining how we behave, and the mind is considered rather as something that, although it exists, cannot be objectively analyzed. The therapies created under this paradigm focus on the present, without focusing on past aspects, and aim to modify the current behavior of the subject who comes to the consultation in order to make it more adaptive through processes based on the learning.

The conflict between both currents

These currents in the history of psychology have often been opposed and even described as totally contrary. The reasons for this are many and, in fact, many authors consider that behaviorism was born out of opposition to psychoanalytic methodology.

Among the many differences, we highlight eight below.

1. Objectivity vs Symbolism

The psychoanalytic current is based on concepts that, although they reflect an interesting point of view of reality and although they have been shown to be useful in many cases, are not testable at the empirical level. Aspects such as the unconscious, dreams or the conception of the different types of internal conflicts or the different structures that are part of the psychic apparatus are widely discussed by behaviorists, who consider that it is only possible to explain human behavior through methods empirical.

2. Outside in: Personalists vs Environmentalists

One of the main differences or conflicts between psychoanalysis and behaviorism is the focus on different aspects. Psychoanalysis focuses on the intrapsychic. It considers that the origin of mental disorders and maladaptive behaviors lie in a bad solution of the subject's intrapsychic conflicts, his defense mechanisms not being efficient to make them front.

However, for behaviorism, all behavior is explained through associative processes which will be largely determined by the characteristics of the stimuli. Thus, behaviorism practically does not take internal factors into accountInstead, it focuses on environmental aspects and processes elicited by elements external to the psyche.

3. Present and past

Behaviorism is a paradigm that focuses on current behavior and conduct. Although maladaptive behavior can be explained on the basis of erroneous learning or a lack of training, the main thing in both therapy and research is to focus on the process Present. Psychoanalysis, on the contrary, tends to analyze behavior and the mind through the individual's personal history, your understanding and analysis. That is, it is based on the past that caused the problems, and that is why it gives great importance to childhood.

4. Explanation of the behavior

For psychoanalysis the behavior is governed by the concept of drive, which is mediated by the ego to make it coherent and acceptable to the superego and the whole of society. However, behaviorism explains behavior based on the repetition of the association between stimuli and responses.

5. Personality concept

For behaviorism, personality is nothing more than a behavioral pattern learned through repetition of stimuli, while psychoanalysis considers it a way of managing and adjusting our impulses and drives to social and moral reality.

6. Mechanisms of action

While psychoanalysis is based mainly on carrying out analysis of the deep aspects and tries to bring to light the different conflicts without acting directly on them, behaviorism focuses on teaching the patient new behaviors directly through learning.

7. Goal of therapy

Psychoanalysis intends with its action to reduce the level of tension and internal conflict in the patient through various methods, while the goal of behavioral therapy focuses on make vary behavior into more adaptive ways.

8. Transfer and countertransference

The relationship with the patient is an aspect of great importance in the practice of psychology. However, these concepts are specially worked on and used by psychoanalysis, establishing behaviorism as a more aseptic relationship in order to avoid transference phenomena beyond the establishment of a good relationship therapy.

• Related article: "The transference and countertransference in Psychoanalysis"