Randy
: B.F. Skinner in both *Science and Human Behavior* and
: in *Verbal Behavior* argued that many psychodynamic
: concepts could be translated into the language of
: operant psychology. Thus, he suggested that the
: Freudian concept of repression could be subsumed
: under the concept of punishment as understood
: in his experimental analysis of behavior. And he
: suggested ways that the Freudian defense mechanisms
: could be reinterpreted in terms of the language
: of operant psychology. Likewise, he went further
: to suggest ways that the Freudian model of personality
: of id, ego, and superego could be understood
: behavioristically, in which the id was to be identified
: with biologically-based reinforcement contingencies,
: the superego with socially-contrived reinforcement
: contingencies, and the ego with repertoires of behavior
: that we develop to mediate between biologically-based
: reinforcement contingencies, and the socially-based
: ones.
:
: On Tue, 01 Apr 2003 17:17:02 +0000 loupaulsen at attbi.com writes:
: > The other side of this: even if such 'forgetting' is due to software
: > rather
: > than hardware (to the extent that this distinction makes sense), it
: > seems to
: > me there are a lot of ways to explain it other than the
: > 'psychodynamic' ways.
: > Just operant conditioning would do it, wouldn't it? - thinking about
: > X causes
: > distress, you avoid doing things that cause you distress, so you
: > think about X
: > less. This accounts for a hell of a lot of my own procrastination
: > and
: > avoidance behavior, I can tell you. You can call that "crude
: > protection of
: > the individual", but so is not touching hot stoves.
: >
: > lp
: > > There is a thing called short term memory loss. People who have
: > > brain damage often have it. So do people with fibromyalgia and
: > other
: > > conditions. Lots of times people are not diagnosed with these
: > > conditions and they are sent to the shrink by their incompetent
: > > physicians who do not give a proper diagnosis. Short term memory
: > loss
: > > is physiological in origin so I think you have to be careful here.
: > >
: > > Marta
: > >
: > > >On Mon, 31 Mar 2003, RE wrote:
: > > >
: > > >> In sessions
: > > >> I've had patients broach a difficult, important subject and
: > then forget
: > > >> about what they had been talking about ten minutes later, or
: > else forget
: > > >> about it by a session the next day, at the same time
: > complaining of feeling
: > > >> "foggy-headed" and the like. To try to talk about this in any
: > way other
: > > >> than repression -- out of control, motivated forgetting that
: > crudely
: > > >> protects the individual -- is absurd. If it's hard to study,
: > that doesn't
: > > >> mean it doesn't happen.
: > > >> Randy
: > > >>
: > > >
: > > >I agree. There is some pretty convincing research that supports
: > your
: > > >observation that motivated forgetting is a common defense
: > mechanism.
: > > >But this example is more the exception than the rule when it
: > comes
: > > >to scientific tests of psychodynamic ideas.
: > > >
: > > >Miles
: > >
: > >
: > > --
: > > Marta Russell
: > > Los Angeles, CA
: > > http://www.disweb.org
: >
:
:
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