Question

Apply: a 4-year-old becomes frightened of the dark and refuses to go to sleep at night. how would a psychoanalyst and a behaviorist differ in their views of how this problem developed?

Answer 1

A psychoanalyst would focus on unconscious conflicts and early childhood experiences as the cause of the fear of the dark, while a behaviorist would approach the problem from a learning perspective, focusing on how the child's behavior is reinforced or punished by the fear.

Step-by-step explanation:

A psychoanalyst and a behaviorist would differ in their views of how this problem of a 4-year-old being frightened of the dark and refusing to go to sleep at night developed. A psychoanalyst would focus on unconscious conflicts and early childhood experiences as the cause of this fear. They might suggest that the child's fear of the dark represents a symbolic fear of the unknown or a desire for security and parental protection.

On the other hand, a behaviorist would approach this problem from a learning perspective. They would focus on how the child's behavior is reinforced or punished by the fear of the dark. For example, if the child receives attention or avoids bedtime by expressing fear, this behavior may be reinforced, leading to the continuation of the fear.

Answer 2

The view of the psychoanalyst would come from the approach that when children move through a series of stages, in which they face conflicts between biological drives and social expectations. So fear of the dark reflects an unconscious motive or anxiety, an anxiety about nighttime separation from the parent for example could be a source of the fear. On the other hand, the behaviorist's approach would focus on environmental occurrences and behavioral responses. This would cause the child to be scared of the dark if a previous experience in the dark had been negative, such as hearing a loud noise late at night or a having a nightmare.