The Dynamics of Psychoanalysis

The Dynamics of Psychoanalysis

By: Thomas Hutchinson

Both classical conditioning and psychodynamic theory have played a pivotal role in the

development of social psychology. For nearly all of the past century they have shaped and

influenced the way psychologists, philosophers and ordinary people have felt about the nature of

the human psyche. It is because of this that we continue to use those theories today to predict the

outcome of certain situations.

In our particular case we have a situation where one hundred women have been asked to rate the

degree to which they agree or disagree with a certain a statement when associated with a picture

of an old man or of a young man. Separately, there is the question of their preferences for being

supplied few or many facts. It is in such cases that both theories can be used to predict what their

opinions will be.

Classical Conditioning, or behaviorism, began with John Watson and continued with B.F.

Skinner. It ultimately became a well known but widely discredited theory based on the

hypothesis that human behavior can be explained entirely in terms of reflexes, stimulus-response

associations, and the effects of reinforcers. More specifically, it contends that mental states can

be analyzed through behavior or through a predictable way of acting, and that the greater the

number of presentations of stimuli there are, the greater the produced response is. In our

particular case, those aspects will help to predict the influence on the women's ultimate response

both to the pictures of the old and young man and to the number of facts supplied them.

Psychodynamic theory, due largely to Sigmund Freud has had a lasting effect on the school of

psychology. Unlike Behaviorism, it is still thought to have significant validity. Freud constructed

a personality theory made up of three primary components. They are known as the id, ego, and

superego. The most primitive of the three is the id. Its basis is the pleasure principle with its

prime outlook on life being only a search for passion and personal satisfaction. On the next level

comes the ego. It represents reason and common sense, more commonly known as the reality

principle. On the highest level is the superego. It is motivated only by its drive for morality.

Consequently it becomes the repressive and guiltful component as it attempts to internalize the

morals it strives for. Those three elements, though, do not exist as individual and unrelated

aspects of the human psyche. Rather they coexist simultaneously with the ego attempting to

reconcile the continuos inner conflict between the id and superego. This theory helps to predict

the outcome of the women's ultimate opinions as well.

Both psychodynamic theory and behaviorism can help us determine the result of these women's

decisions. Without more detailed information on their backgrounds and the specifics of the case,

however, it is almost impossible to make a valid prediction. Thus we have to supply certain

assumptions. In the case of these one-hundred female participants who are presented with the

varying pictures, facts, and opinions, we will assume that they are women who are well educated,

middle aged, and upper-class as well as being happily married. These conditions undoubtedly

influence their responses on both the validity of the statements of the young man as opposed to

the old one, and the extent of the facts supplied to them.

While the theory of classical conditioning may vary greatly from the theory of psychodynamics,

in our specific case both theories ultimately yield similar responses. Within Behaviorism, a

certain stimulus will produce a certain response based on the associations made with that

stimulus. When these characteristically defined woman are presented with the picture of the old

man as opposed to the young one, they are more likely to agree with the old man based on the

associations made with him. Because they have likely been educated by similar looking

professors, when they see a picture of this stern yet scholarly man, they immediately associate

him with knowledge and wisdom. When they see the young man, however, they associate him

with nothing but youth