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Core Assumptions

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What are the core assumptions and key features of the biological and psychoanalytic perspectives in psychology? In what ways are they similar and how do they differ? When comparing the biological and psychoanalytic approach to psychology, you are able to see that they are different from one another. For example, the biological approach assumes that the mind and behaviour originate from the functioning of the body and that behaviour is driven by biological instincts. Whereas the psychoanalytic approach claims behaviour is driven by instincts such as the unconscious processes as well as the conflict between unconscious desires (pleasure and reality principle). Additionally, both approaches have a common feature of being reductionist, …show more content…

Firstly, the id which is related to the primitive instincts of the body and has a pleasure – pain principle that emphasises immediate gratification. Secondly, the superego which is the ethical component of a person’s personality and is partly conscious and partly unconscious. It reflects society’s moral standards and forms during the Oedipus complex. Lastly, the ego which has a reality principle and is a moderator of conflict between the id and superego that sometimes causes anxiety. To prevent these conflicts within an individual, defence mechanisms are often used, for example, repression which helps the conscious mind to deal with the unresolved conflicts (cited in Ian Fairholm, 2012). Furthermore, Freud also believed that there were three levels to the mind which are known as the conscious, preconscious and unconscious. Apart from the features mentioned above, the core assumption of the psychoanalytic perspective is that a person’s personality depends on childhood experiences. In this psychosexual development theory, Freud assumed that all children go through five stages. These are the oral stage, anal stage, phallic stage, latency stage and genital stage. He believed that a fixation would occur if a child experienced extreme problems or pleasure. (Eysenck, 1994) One of the great issues with the psychoanalytic approach is falsifiability. Popper (1969, 1972) claimed, there should be at least some evidence that can contradict the claims

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