Freud and Watson: contrasting psychological theories

Freud vs. Watson

Sigmund Freud and John B. Watson

Sigmund Freud and John B. Watson were chosen for this essay due to the distinct differences between the two. Freud is known as the Father of Psychoanalysis and Watson is known as the Father of Behaviorism.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), was an Austrian physiologist, medical doctor, psychologist and is recognized as the founder of psychoanalysis (Freud pp). He is regarded as one of the most influential and authoritative thinkers of the twentieth century (Freud pp).

In the beginning, Freud worked closely with Joseph Breuer, but went on to elaborate the theory "that the mind is a complex energy-system, the structural investigation of which is proper province of psychology (Freud pp). Freud refined and further articulated the concepts of the unconscious, of infantile sexuality, of repression, and proposed a tri-partite account of the mind's structure (Freud pp).

This was all part of a "radically new conceptual and therapeutic frame of reference for the understanding of human psychological development and the treatment of abnormal mental conditions" (Freud pp). The multiple manifestations of psychoanalysis as it exists today, can be traced in almost all fundamental respects directly back to Freud's original work (Freud pp). Moreover, his innovative treatment of human actions, dreams, and "indeed of cultural artifacts as invariably possessing implicit symbolic significance has proven to be extraordinarily fecund, and has had massive implications for a wide variety of fields, including anthropology, semiotics, and artistic creativity and appreciation in addition to psychology" (Freud pp). With psychoanalysis, Freud's strongly believed that he had invented a new science of the mind, however, this remains a subject of much critical debate and controversy (Freud pp).

John Broadus Watson (1878-1958), was an American psychologist who is considered the founder of behaviorism (John pp). He is notorious for boasting, facetiously, that he could take twenty human infants, and by applying behavioral techniques, could create whatever type of person he desired, whether beggar or thief (John pp). Watson's behaviorism placed emphasis on the external behavior of people and their reactions to given situations, rather than the internal and mental state of the individuals (John pp). He believed that the analysis of behaviors and reactions was the only objective method of gaining insight into human actions (John pp). Watson has become immortalized in psychology textbooks for his attempt to condition fear of a white rat into the nine-month-old boy, Little Albert (John pp). According to Watson, unhealthy adult personalities were the result of habit systems carried over from infancy (Watson pp). "Early childhood was key, and a detailed knowledge of child development was indispensable for designing a behavioral social technology" (Watson pp).