behaviorism psychoanalysis and HTE psychology

Introduction
Psychoanalysis, behaviorism, and humanistic, transpersonal, and existential (HTE) psychology are the three primary movements in the study of the human experience. Each of these movements uses different research methodologies and epistemologies, and each focuses on different aspects of the human experience. Moreover, each of these movements presents unique therapeutic interventions and goals in the field of psychology. With each having contributed tremendously to the social sciences, psychoanalysis, behaviorism, and humanistic psychology can also be integrated for a richer understanding of human consciousness and the human condition. Historical context of the science and practice of psychology helps illuminate the field’s core values.
Historical Context and Rationale
Although inquiries into the human experience can be traced through the disciplines of philosophy and religion, the first scientific, empirical studies of human nature and behavior began more concertedly in the nineteenth century. William Wundt opened the first real laboratory dedicated exclusively to psychology in 1879, signifying the birth of the scientific study of psychology prior to its fragmentation into different empirical disciplines (Baker & Sperry, 2018). Following initial forays into structural and functional analyses of the human mind, researchers began to take varying approaches including those that focused on the internal or subjective experiences of people, such as psychoanalysis, and those that focused more on measurable outcomes such as behaviorism.
Behaviorism and psychoanalysis dominated the field of psychology for much of the early twentieth century. Both of these movements evolved relatively concurrently, with behaviorism assuming the mantle of scientific, empirical approaches to measuring and controlling human behavior and psychoanalysis concentrating more on emotions and consciousness. Sigmund Freud is the founder of the psychoanalytic movement, and his theories continue to influence psychology. Neo-Freudians such as Adler, Horney, and Erikson are also among the most influential thinkers in the psychoanalytic movement. Skinner, Watson, and Pavlov are the dominant historical figures in the realm of behaviorism, which went on to influence other branches of psychology that rely heavily on the scientific method. Humanistic, transpersonal, and existential psychology evolved from the 1960s onward and is a radical response to both behaviorism and to psychoanalysis. May, Maslow, and Rogers are the three most important figures in HTE psychology. These three movements share surprisingly little in common in spite of their all falling under the rubric of psychology.
Each of these movements has been essential in evolving the field of psychology. Psychoanalysis offered unique insights into the nature of human personality and the origins of pathological thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Freud’s theory divides the human mind into the superego, ego, and id. Psychoanalytic theory also emphasizes the importance of unconscious psychic content, which a psychotherapist can help coax from a patient through the analysis of dreams. Freud and other psychoanalytical theorists also focused on the formative years, during which children progress through psychological stages. Therefore, Freud also promoted developmental psychology. Psychoanalysis influenced many other movements within psychology, including more modern revisions of Freudian theory like psychodynamics. Finally, psychoanalysis has been critical for various therapeutic interventions based on talk therapy and therapies focusing on the client’s childhood, personality disorders, self-concept, and subconscious urges.
Although they evolved at roughly the same historical period, behaviorism is wholly unlike psychoanalysis. Whereas psychoanalysis is all about the subjective experiences of the human being, behaviorism is about what is objective or observable. Behaviorists like Pavlov, Skinner, and Watson conducted experiments showing how stimuli evoke responses in the human being, contributing much to theories of human learning. Behaviorism is historically significant because of its ongoing contributions to empirical clinical psychology, to cognitive-behavioral psychology, and branches of the field dealing that focus on how to eliminate undesirable behaviors or motivate desirable behaviors.
HTE psychology is unlike either behaviorism or psychoanalysis. However, HTE approaches do share in common with psychoanalysis an emphasis on subjective experiences and phenomena: “psychoanalysis and humanism have certain compatible features, but that they generally represent opposing vantage points in the study of subjectivity,” (Hansen, 2011, p. 21). HTE approaches to the human experience tend to include spirituality as part of the human experience (Elkins, Hedstrom, Hughes, et al., 1988). While humanism, transpersonal, and existential psychology have their own unique stances, they all tend to focus on goals like self-actualization, self-fulfillment, identity, and personal growth (Williams, 2017). As influential as psychoanalysis and behaviorism, HTE “seeks to bring psychology back to the source, to the psyche,” (Matson, 1971, p. 7).
Psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud is the father of psychoanalysis, the movement of psychology focused mainly on the subconscious and unconscious mind, its inner or repressed urges, and how those urges may manifest as neuroses, conflict, or problematic behaviors and experiences. Also central to psychoanalysis is the process of psychotherapy, led by a trained analyst who leads the client through a long-term process of unearthing the root causes of emotional trauma. Techniques like dream analysis are used to delve into the less literal elements of the human experience, while an assessment of childhood experiences helps to reveal the sources of maladaptive behaviors. One of the core tenets of psychoanalysis is that sexual urges are latent in the human being since birth, impacting relationships with parents, peers, and the self (Jasiurkowski, 2018). Repressed or unprocessed sexual urges towards the parents can result in problematic psychological development.
Another tenet of psychoanalysis is that the human psyche is divided into three related components: the id, ego, and superego. The id represents childlike desires and the longing for instant gratification and pleasure. The ego represents the main self one constructs throughout their life span, and the superego is the repository of social conditioning, norms, and societal rules. Conflicts between these three structures of the self can cause personality disorder or dysfunctional relationships. Other central principles in psychoanalysis include the death wish, accounting for self-destructive behaviors, and the concept of coping mechanisms like transference and repression, which are unconscious processes.
Critiques of Freudian theory helped to expand and develop the tenets of psychoanalytic theory. Neo-Freudians like Jung, Erikson, and Horney were less fixated on early childhood sexuality, while still retaining the core elements of Freudian theory. For instance, Erik Erikson built on Freud’s stages of psycho-sexual development to propose a more comprehensive model of human development. Other developmental psychologists like Piaget followed suit. Karen Horney also interjected feminist perspectives into psychoanalysis to provide a more comprehensive model for understanding and improving the human experience.
Behaviorism
Behaviorism takes a firmly scientific, empirical approach to the study and treatment of human behavior. Emphasis in research and treatment are on measurable, observable outcomes such as specific changes in behavior. The fundamental tenet of behaviorism is that human beings are like animals: they react to stimuli in predictable ways, and learn patterned behaviors based on rewards or punishments. Each person learns their behavior from environmental stimuli or due to innate tendencies that are biologically predetermined. In fact, the behaviorism movement can be divided into two different camps: the radical camp of Skinner and the methodological camp of Watson (Day, 1983). Watson promoted the idea that human beings are born essentially as blank slates onto which identity and behavior is modeled solely from interactions with and reactions to external stimuli. Methodological behaviorism, on the other hand, allows for some genetic or biological predispositions that combine with environmental or social stimuli. However, behaviorism as a whole is based on the belief that behaviors can be learned, unlearned, and changed. Because so much contemporary psychotherapy is based on a client’s desire to change behaviors like addiction or dysfunctional relationships, behaviorism has been instrumental in applied psychology. Behaviorism has transformed psychology into a scientific pursuit, allowing it to encompass neuroscience and cognitive science as well as psychoanalysis and HTE (Sperry, 1995).
Humanistic, Transpersonal, and Existential Psychology
In some ways a “revolt against former methods of psychological theories,” humanistic, transpersonal, and existential psychology focus on issues like finding self-fulfillment and meaning in life, reaching a sense of self-actualization, and the exercise of free will (Williams, 2017). Main figures in the HTE movement include Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers. Using the methods of phenomenology instead of empiricism, HTE psychologists are less interested in taxonomy and pathology than on helping people to reach their own self-designed goals. HTE methods and theories are influenced as much by philosophy and metaphysics as by psychology. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs epitomizes the tenet of self-actualization in humanistic psychology. Carl Rogers’ theory of unconditional positive regard laid the foundation for transpersonal psychotherapy, and Rollo May introduced the tenets of existential philosophy into psychology to explore the experience of anxiety related to death and mortality. HTW psychology makes up for the potential to fragment the human experience, and can address issues that neither psychoanalysis nor behaviorism can.
Synthesis of the Movements
Because each of these orientations “is grounded in a particular epistemic value system that dictates the way knowledge about others should be acquired,” it may seem challenging if not impossible to merge or synthesize them (Hansen, 2011, p. 21). These three movements have completely different values, beliefs, and assumptions, as well as different goals in terms of research and treatment interventions. However, a synthesis of these three major movements does allow for a more holistic understanding of the human experience.
Setting aside their methodological differences, behaviorism, psychoanalysis, and HTE all have something to offer psychologists and clients, and their respective therapeutic interventions could be combined to provide multimodal healing. In fact, many sub-disciplines in psychology owe tribute to more than one of these movements. For example, cognitive psychology is most frequently aligned with behaviorism because of their similar epistemologies and methodologies but cognitive science “ has incorporated seminal concepts of psychoanalysis without acknowledging this influence,” (Bucci, 2000, p. 203). Human beings, human problems, and the human experience are complex. Therefore, a synthesis of behaviorism, psychoanalysis, and HTE prevent oversimplification of psychological issues. A person who seeks therapeutic interventions for a cognitive or emotional issue may benefit from applying multiple methods for managing thoughts, behaviors, and life goals.
Applications
Research and clinical psychology have promoted greater understanding of human behavior, human nature, and the human experience. These three movements have also formed the basis of evidence-based practice, applying theory towards therapeutic interventions. Each of these movements can be applied towards clinical practice, in areas as diverse as education, organizational/industrial psychology, or on psychopathology. The primary application of psychology no matter what the theoretical orientation is to help people.
The theories behind behaviorism have been instrumental in promoting evidence-based practice in psychology. Most psychologists, even those who are grounded more on another movement such as psychoanalysis or HTE, “would still agree that they are concerned to observe and understand the behavior of organisms,” (Staddon, 1973, p. 25). The inner mental life of beings is important from a phenomenological perspective, as any HTE or psychoanalytic practitioner would claim, but ultimately a person interacts with the world and with other people. A person’s actions, his or her behaviors, form the basis of their ego consciousness, their self-concept, and how others perceive and react to them. Likewise, ignoring the phenomenological approach of psychoanalysis or HTE would lead to reductionism, materialism, and gross oversimplification. A person is not simply the sum total of their behaviors but complex beings whose mental and emotional responses are not always predictable.
Next Steps
The next steps in the development of psychological approaches to understanding human behavior and experience would be to continue synthesizing elements of these three major movements. To become too rigidly dedicated to one or the other of these movements prevents a fuller, richer, and more realistic understanding of the human experience. If the goal of psychology remains healing, insight into the human condition, and the ability to help with psychological problems, then a multimodal approach makes the most sense. The future of psychology most likely also depends on deeper understanding of how the brain and biochemistry impact psychological states including self-perception and self-actualization (Barrett, 2009). HTE offers the potential for therapists to help clients find meaning and purpose in their lives; psychoanalysis offers the chance to better process and understand childhood experiences and the root causes of anxiety or hang-ups, and behaviorism provides the tools for learning and unlearning specific behaviors.





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