Compare and Constrast Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods Essay

Based on Freud’s theory (psychoanalytic) human functioning 1. The structure of the mind and the distinct functions of Personality The Freud’s structural theory (Freud, 1923, 1926) dispenses with the concepts of a fixed id, ego and superego, and point out unconscious and conscious conflict among wishes:dependent, Controlling, Sexual, Aggressive, guilt, shame, emotions (especially anxiety and depressive affect), And defensive operations that shut off from consciousness some aspect of the others. Id, ego, and super-ego are the three parts of the † Psychic apparatus † of Freud ‘s structural model of Moreover, healthy functioning (adaptive) is also determined, to a great extent, by resolutions of conflict. According to Freud’s theory that explain human functioning based on three level, Ego strengths include the capacities to control oral, sexual, and destructive impulses; to tolerate painful affects without falling apart; and to prevent the eruption into consciousness of bizarre symbolic fantasy. Synthetic functions, in contrast to autonomous functions, arise from the developmet of the ego and serve the purpose of managing conflictual processes. Defenses are an example of synthetic functions and serve the purpose of protecting the conscious mind from awareness of forbidden impulses and thoughts. One purpose of ego psychology has been to emphasize that there are mental functions that can be considered to be basic, and not the derivatives of wishes, affects, or defenses 2. Defence mechanism The ego fights acontinual battle to stay on top of the warring id and superego. Occasionally, their conflicts produce anxiety that threatens to overwhelm the ego. The anxiety is a signal that alerts the ego to marshal defence mechanisms. Unconcious protective processes that keep primitive emotions associated with conflicts in check so that the ego can cotinue its coordinating function. We all use defence mechanisms at times,they are sometimes adaptive and other time they are maladaptive. Human use defence mechanisms to function well and this defence mechanism can be used under the unconscious and conscious state of mind. However, it is important to note that autonomous ego functions can be secondarily affected because of unconsious conflict. For example, a patient may have an hysterical amnesia (memory being an autonomous function) because of intrapsychic conflict (wishing not to remember because it is too 3. The stages of Psychosexual development Freud’s assume that each child is born with a source of basic psychological energy called libido. Further, each child’s libido becomes successively focused on various parts of the body (in addition to people and objects) in the course of his emotional development. During the first postnatal year, libido is initially focused on the mouth and its activities, nursing enables the infant to derive gratification through a pleasurable reduction of tension in the oral region. Freud called this the oral stage of development. During the second year, the source of excitation is said to shift to the anal area, and the start of toilet training leads the child to invest libido in the anal functions. Freud called this period of development the anal stage. During the period from three through six years, the child’s attention is attracted to sensations from the genitals, and Freud called this stage the phallic stage. The half dozen years before puberty are called the latency stage. During the final and so-called genital stage of development, mature gratification is sought in a heterosexual love relationship with another. Freud believed that adult emotional problems result from either deprivation or excessive gratification during the oral, anal, or phallic stages. A child with libido fixated at one of these stages would in adulthood show specific neurotic symptoms, such as anxiety. According to him, unconscious mental structure called the id contains a person’s inborn, inherited drives and instinctual forces and is closely identified with his basic psychological energy (libido). During infancy and childhood, the ego, which is the reality-oriented portion of the personality, develops to balance and complement the id. The ego utilizes a variety of conscious and unconscious mental processes to try to satisfy id instincts while also trying to maintain the individual comfortably in relation to the environment. Although id impulses are constantly directed toward obtaining immediate gratification of one’s major instinctual drives (sex, affection, aggression, self-preservation), the ego functions to set limits on this process. In Freud’s language, as the child grows, the reality principle gradually begins to control the pleasure principle; the child learns that the environment does not always permit immediate gratification. Child development, according to Freud, is thus primarily concerned with the mergence of the functions of the ego, which is responsible for channeling the discharge of fundamental drives and for controlling intellectual and perceptual functions in the process of negotiating realistically with the outside world. Although Freud made great contributions to psychological theory—particularly in his concept of unconscious urges and motivations—his elegant concepts cannot be verified through scientific experimentation and empirical observation. But his concentration on emotional development in early childhood influenced even those schools of thought that rejected his theories. The belief that personality is affected by both biological and psychosocial forces operating principally within the family, with the major foundations being laid early in life, continues to prove fruitful in research on infant and child development. Freud’s emphasis on biological and psychosexual motives in personality development was modified by the German-born American psychoanalyst Erik Erikson to include psychosocial and social factors. Erikson viewed emotional development over the life span as a sequence of stages during which RIGIDITY/FLEXIBILITY The quality of being rigid; stiffness; inflexibility; absence of pliancy; specifically, in mech. , resistance to change of form. In all theoretical discussions respecting the application of forces through the intervention of machines, those machines are assumed to be perfectly rigid so far as the forces employed are able to affect their integrity of form and structure. Rigidity is directly opposed to flexibility, and only indirectly to malleability and ductility, which depend chiefly on relations between the tenacity, the rigidity, and the limit of elasticity. Flexibility- means holding our own thoughts and emotions a bit more lightly, and acting on longer term values rather than short term impulses, thoughts and feelings. Why? Because thoughts and emotions tend to be unreliable indicators of long term value. We have no control over them and they tend to ebb and flow – sometimes dramatically. If we trust our thoughts and emotions and act based on them, we can often overlook the more important, sustained patterns of action which bring true meaning, vitality and richness to our lives. Question 2 Behaviourism and education-how behaviourism view human functioning Behaviourism focuses on one particular view of learning: a change in external behaviour achieved through a large amount of repetition of desired actions, the reward of good habits and the discouragement of bad habits. In the classroom this view of learning led to a great deal of repetitive actions, praise for correct outcomes and immediate correction of mistakes. In the field of language learning this type of teaching was called the audio-lingual method, characterised by the whole class using choral chanting of key phrases, dialogues and immediate correction. Within the Problem Based Learning (PBL) environment, students may be encouraged to engage with the learning process and their peers within the group by positive reinforcement from a skilled facilitator to increase positive actions of engagement, contributions and questioning. Negative behaviours e. g. ack of engagement, negative contributions, could be minimized by the facilitator using negative reinforcement. Within the behaviourist view of learning, the â€Å"teacher† is the dominant person in the classroom and takes complete control, evaluation of learning comes from the teacher who decides what is right or wrong. The learner does not have any opportunity for evaluation or reflection within the learning process, they are simply told what is right or wrong. The conceptualization of learning using this approach could be considered â€Å"superficial† as the focus is on external changes in behaviour i. e. ot interested in the internal processes of learning leading to behaviour change and has no place for the emotions involved the process 1. 1 Operant conditioning Operant conditioning (or instrumental conditioning) is a type of learning in which an individual’s behavior is modified by its consequences; the behaviour may change in form, frequency, or strength. Reinforcement is a consequence that causes a behavior to occur with greater frequency while punishment is a consequence that causes a behavior to occur with less frequency and extinction is caused by the lack of any consequence following a behavior. When a behavior is inconsequential (i. e. , producing neither favorable nor unfavorable consequences) it will occur less frequently. When a previously reinforced behavior is no longer reinforced with either positive or negative reinforcement, it leads to a decline in that behavior. 1. Positive reinforcement (Reinforcement): occurs when a behavior (response) is followed by a stimulus that is appetitive or rewarding, increasing the frequency of that behavior. In the Skinner box experiment, a stimulus such as food or a sugar solution can be delivered when the rat engages in a target behavior, such as pressing a lever. 2. Negative reinforcement (Escape): occurs when a behavior (response) is followed by the removal of an aversive stimulus, thereby increasing that behavior’s frequency. In the Skinner box experiment, negative reinforcement can be a loud noise continuously sounding inside the rat’s cage until it engages in the target behavior, such as pressing a lever, upon which the loud noise is removed. 3. Positive punishment (Punishment) (also called â€Å"Punishment by contingent stimulation†): occurs when a behavior (response) is followed by a stimulus, such as introducing a shock or loud noise, resulting in a decrease in that behavior. 4. Negative punishment (Penalty) (also called â€Å"Punishment by contingent withdrawal†): occurs when a behavior (response) is followed by the removal of a stimulus, such as taking away a child’s toy following an undesired behavior, resulting in a decrease in that behavior. Classical conditioning by associating one thing with another. Operant conditioning = by the consequences of what we do.