Essay - Freud Skinner Freud Versus Skinner—the Unconscious Versus Optimal Conditioning Introduction...

Freud Skinner

Freud versus Skinner—the unconscious ***** optimal conditioning

Introduction

According to Sigmund Freud, maladaptive behavior, including criminal maladaptive behavior, is the result of individual trauma, usually experienced during the early stages of psychosocial development. Psychological malformations of character indicate ***** failure ***** the individual ***** resolve early childhood conflicts. However, B.F. Skinner saw human beings, not as complex psychological entities possessing conflicts between egos, ids, and superegos, nor ***** ***** product of individual and familial social forces. Rather, Skinner saw the individual as conditioned almost immediately from birth, like an animal, by exterior pressures that rewarded or punished certain *****s. The family, but also society, including teachers, friends, and other influences could exert these conditioning f*****ces or stimuli.

***** *****

***** Freud, human development centers on the structure of ***** unconscious. Freud believed that because so much of our motivations are *****, human beings are not entirely in control of their behaviors. By becoming aware of the buried memories and impulses rooted in ***** unconscious an ********** can gain ***** over his or her actins. Skinner also saw the individual as subject to f*****ces beyond his or her control, but ***** without rather than from within. An individual w***** subject to re*****ards and punishments for certain behaviors, which ********** the person's characters and behavior patterns. These ***** might exist long after the 'shaping' rewards ***** punishments have been withdrawn. For Freud, a drug dealer or sociopath might *****ly pursue a certain life path as unconsciously reenacting unresolved conflicts ***** an abusive family environment. F***** Skinner, these ***** behaviors arise ***** the environment of the criminal has rewarded such behaviors, and did not expose the individual to rewards for other behaviors, like studying hard in school.

Childhood history

For Freud, the family romance, or the Oedipal and Electra dramas, are at the heart ***** ***** development, and can often result in traumas that inhibit healthy social functioning. Childhood history for ***** is a series of learning opportunities, which may or may not facilitate healthy adult functioning.

Focus of counseling and *****rapy

Getting to the root ***** childhood ***** ***** at ***** heart of Freudian therapy. This is often done by free association, ***** tapping into associations that the ***** might ***** be immediately ***** of, but inhibit mature ***** relationships. There is ***** a focus on underst*****nding how a crisis at a st*****ge during ***** child's psychosexual development has lead to a regression or a fixation in one of these states, and resulted in a malf*****med personality, such as an antisocial personality. Therapy for Sk*****ner is focused on reconditioning the individual to no longer perform negative behaviors, ***** conditioning them to perform positive behaviors.

Human learning

Human ***** in Freud ***** the imposition of the superego, or social rules and emotions (such as guilt) that curtail the primal id's impulses to seek pleasure. These inhibitions can be *****ive, and are necessary for ***** to function, ***** ***** also result in complexes the foster anti***** behavior. For Sk*****ner, rather than stress