22 CHAPTER 1
Behaviorism
The approach to psychology that focuses on
understanding directly observable behaviors
in order to understand mental illness and
other psychological phenomena.
Key Concepts and Facts About The Transition to Scientifi c Accounts
of Psychological Disorders
- Freud played a major role in making the study of psychological
disorders a science, largely by developing new methods for di-
agnosis and treatment; he also proposed an extensive theory of
psychopathology. Freud’s methods included hypnosis (which he
later abandoned) and free association. - According to Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, thoughts, feel-
ings, and behaviors are a result of conscious and unconscious
forces—such as sexual and aggressive urges—continually
interacting in the mind. Moreover, he proposed that the mind
is structured so as to function across three levels of conscious-
ness: the conscious, the preconscious, and the unconscious.
Freud stressed that many mental processes occur outside our
awareness but nonetheless infl uence thoughts, feelings, and
behaviors. Unacceptable urges are banished to the uncon-
scious, where they inevitably gain strength and eventually de-
mand release. - Freud proposed three psychic structures in the mind—id, ego,
and superego—which are continually interacting and negotiat-
ing. The ego frequently employs defense mechanisms to trans-
form confl ict in a way that prevents unacceptable thoughts and
feelings from reaching consciousness. - According to Freud, each individual passes through five psy-
chosexual stages from infancy to adulthood, of which four
involve particular erogenous zones. For healthy psychological
development, each stage requires the successful completion of
a key task; otherwise, the person will develop a fi xation. Mental
illness can take the form of neurosis or psychosis. Freud also
proposed that parents’ interactions with their child are central
in forming the child’s personality.- Freud’s followers focused on a variety of issues related to the
development of the self and of the ego, the role of motiva-
tion, the possibility of unconscious archetypes, and the ways
moment-to-moment interactions between child and parent can
contribute to psychological disorders. Various forms of psycho-
dynamic therapy have been proposed, each drawing primarily
on a different aspect of psychodynamic theory. A drawback
of psychodynamic theory is that it has proven diffi cult to test
scientifi cally. - Humanistic psychologists such as Carl Rogers viewed psycho-
dynamic theory as too mechanistic and opposed to free will.
Rogers proposed that symptoms of distress and mental illness
arise when a potential route to personal growth is blocked, as
can occur when there is incongruence between the ideal and
real selves. Rogers developed client-centered therapy to de-
crease incongruence in clients. - Lasting contributions of psychodynamic theory include the focus
on mental processes and mental contents and the concept that
such processes and contents can be hidden from awareness.
Scientifi c Accounts of
Psychological Disorders
In the early 20th century, advances in science led to an interest in theories of psy-
chological disorders that could be tested rigorously. Several different scientifi c ap-
proaches (and accompanying theories) that emerged at that time are still with us
today; they focus on different aspects of psychopathology, including behavior, cog-
nition, social forces, and biology. These scientifi c accounts and theories have thrived
because studies have shown that they explain some aspects of mental illness. Let’s
examine these modern approaches to psychopathology and how they could explain
Big Edie and Little Edie’s lifestyle.Behaviorism
All of the views discussed so far focus on forces that affect mental processes and men-
tal contents. However, some psychologists in the early 20th century took a radically
different perspective and focused on directly observable behaviors. Spearheaded by
American psychologists Edward Lee Thorndike (1874–1949), John B. Watson (1878–
1958), and Clark L. Hull (1884–1952), and, most famously, B. F. Skinner (1904–
1990), behaviorism focuses on understanding directly observable behaviors rather
than unobservable mental processes and mental contents (Watson, 1931). The behav-
iorists’ major contribution to understanding psychopathology was to propose scientifi -
cally testable mechanisms that may explain how maladaptive behavior arises (Skinner,