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Sigmund Freud was an Austrian physician who invented psychoanalysis

o Psychoanalysis basic ideas:

Besides inherited personality, human development is determined

by events in early childhood

Human behavior, experience and thought is largely influenced by

external influences

Attempts to bring these drives into awareness meet psychological

resistance in the form of defense mechanisms

Conflicts between conscious and unconscious material result in

mental disturbances/illnesses such as anxiety, depression, neurosis,

etc.

Liberation from effects of the unconscious material is achieved by

bringing the material into the conscious mind

o Psychoanalytic theory emphasized the unconscious determinants of

behavior and the important of psychology

o Freuds ideas were controversial and met with resistance in academic

psych, however as more psychologists developed an interest in

personality, motivation, and abnormal behaviour

o

Psychoanalytic concepts were incorporated into mainstream psycho The influence of behaviourism was boosted greatly in B.F. Skinners

research

o Skinner agreed with Watsonpsych should study only observable

behaviour (behaviourism)

o Working with lab rats and pigeons, Skinner demonstrated that organisms

tend to repeat responses that lead to POSITIVEconsequences and not

repeat responses that lead to neutral or negative

o

Based on the belief that all behaviour is completely governed by external

stimuli (external forces), Skinner argued that the choice of free will is an

illusioncontroversial and misunderstood ideas

o Humanism emerged in the 1950s when behaviourism and psychoanalysis

were found unsatisfactory

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o Humanism emphasized the unique qualities of human behaviour and

humans freedom and potential for personal growth

Humanists take an optimisticview of human nature

People are not pawns of their heritage or environmental

circumstances, such as fate, destiny, etc.

To date, humanists greatest contribution to psychology has been

their innovative treatments for psychological problems and

disorders

Psychology in Canada