Psychology is a science that has embraced multiple forms and ways of understanding the human mind and its functioning. Different schools and currents of thought have appeared and disappeared, some being born to complement others or in opposition to their ways of seeing and acting.

Two of the psychological currents that have traditionally been at odds with each other have been psychoanalysis and behaviorism. These currents have not only aimed at different objectives , but also define some basic concepts, such as “behavior” or “mind”, in totally opposite ways.

In this article we will review the main fronts on which the battle between psychoanalysis and behaviourism has taken place.

Psychoanalysis

Being one of the best known psychological schools, psychoanalysis focuses its interest on the unconscious part of the mind. This school understands our behaviour as the result of conflicts provoked at the time of managing and repressing the instincts and drives that emanate from the unconscious and that cannot be eliminated completely, but simply repressed.

Based on the ideas of its founder Sigmund Freud, psychoanalysis structures the human mind in different aspects, moving from the unconscious to the conscious. Concepts such as Ello, Yo and Superyó refer to the part of our being that generates impulses, manages them and censors them on the basis of social and learned morality, respectively. There are conflicts between the different parts of our being, which the “I” tries to solve by using different defence mechanisms.

At the therapeutic level, psychoanalysis tends to treat “hidden” aspects of the person . When explaining psychopathology, orthodox psychoanalysis tends to focus on past events, explaining current symptomatology on the basis of events experienced in early stages of human development, in which different phases are visualised as the person develops. The presence of unresolved conflicts at some point in development will generate symptoms in the future, causing regression to previous life stages.

For this current, the core of psychic life is drive or instinct . In this aspect the different psychodynamic authors have been considering that these drives were centered in different aspects, being in the case of the most classic psychoanalysis the libido or sexual desire.

In addition, symbolism is often used both in the interpretation of the psyche and in various types of therapy and treatment. Aspects such as dreams and unconscious manifestations are of great interest in explaining mental contents.

Behaviorism

The behavioural current , however, aims to study in the most rigorous and empirical way possible the human mind through its only directly observable correlate: behaviour. Its top priority is to achieve a scientific and contrastable explanation of behaviour. It therefore seeks an objective observation, discarding as far as possible unverifiable assumptions.

For behaviourists, behaviour is governed by the capacity of association between different types of stimuli, the responses given to these and the consequences that these responses have. On the other hand, it is proposed that we are governed by universal and unalterable laws. We simply capture the information and from this we react in a concrete way according to its characteristics.

We are mainly considered to be merely reactive to the conditions of the stimulation, learning by repeating associations. However, some variants of behaviourism, such as radical behaviourism, understand that there is freedom and empowerment in the possibility of altering our environment so that it influences us as we wish .

This paradigm, and especially the radical behaviorism advocated by B. F. Skinner, abstains from attributing a fundamental role to mental processes when explaining how we behave, and the mind is considered rather as something that although it exists cannot be analyzed in an objective way. The therapies created under this paradigm focus on the present, without focusing on past aspects, and aim to modify the current behaviour of the subject who comes for consultation in order to make it more adaptive through processes based on learning.

The conflict between the two currents

These currents in the history of psychology have often been opposed and even described as totally opposite . The reasons for this are many and, in fact, many authors consider that behaviorism was born from the opposition to psychoanalytic methodology .

Of the many differences, eight stand out below.

Objectivity vs. Symbolism

The psychoanalytic current is based on concepts that, although they reflect an interesting point of view of reality and although they have been shown to be useful in many cases, are not contrastable on an empirical level . Aspects such as the unconscious, dreams or the conception of the different types of internal conflicts or the different structures that form part of the psychic apparatus are widely discussed by behaviourists, who consider that it is only possible to explain human behaviour through empirical methods.

2. From outside to inside: Personalists vs. environmentalists

One of the main differences or conflicts between psychoanalysis and behaviorism is the focus on different aspects. Psychoanalysis focuses on the intrapsychic . It considers that the origin of mental disorders and disadaptive behaviours is found in a poor solution of the intrapsychic conflicts of the subject, his defence mechanisms not being efficient to face them.

However, for behaviorism all behavior is explained through associative processes which will be largely determined by the characteristics of the stimuli. Thus, behaviorism practically does not take into account internal factors , but focuses on environmental aspects and processes elicited by elements external to the psyche.

3. Present and past

Behaviorism is a paradigm that focuses on current behavior and conduct. While maladaptive behavior may be explained by poor learning or lack of training, the focus in both therapy and research is on the present process. Psychoanalysis, on the other hand, tends to analyse behaviour and the mind through the individual’s personal history , understanding and analysis. In other words, it is based on the past that originated the problems, and that is why it gives much importance to childhood.

4. Explanation of behaviour

For psychoanalysis, behavior is governed by the concept of drive , which is mediated by the ego to make it coherent and acceptable to the superego and society as a whole. However, behaviorism explains behavior based on the repetition of the association between stimuli and responses.

5. Concept of personality

For behaviorism, personality is nothing more than a behavioral pattern learned through the repetition of stimuli , while psychoanalysis considers it a way of managing and adjusting our impulses and drives to social reality and morality.

6. Mechanisms of action

While psychoanalysis is mainly based on the performance of deep analysis and aims to bring out the different conflicts without acting directly on them, behaviorism focuses on teaching the patient new behaviors directly through learning.

7. Objective of therapy

Psychoanalysis aims to reduce the level of tension and internal conflict in the patient through various methods, while the objective of behavioural therapy is focused on making vary the behaviour towards more adaptive forms .

8. Transfer and Countertransference

The relationship with the patient is an aspect of great importance in the practice of psychology. However, these concepts are especially worked on and used by psychoanalysis, establishing behaviorism a more aseptic relationship in order to avoid transferential phenomena beyond the establishment of a good therapeutic relationship.