psychoanalysis is a lengthy treatment that involves bringing unconsciousconflicts and repressed emotions into the conscious mind to be resolved.
to access the unconscious mind, Freud used freeassociation,dreamanalysis and slip of the tongue.
free association - the patient responds with the first word that comes to mind when they are given a word
dream analysis - the interpretation of dreams to reveal hidden thoughts and feelings
slip of the tongue - when a person uses one word but means another. Freud analyses the wrong word
is psychoanalysis effective?
not very effective
Eysenck found only 44% of psychoanalysis patients showed improvement, against 72% of patients that were treated by hospitals and GPs.
costly and time-consuming
Operant learning theory states that behaviour is learned through reinforcement and punishment. Has been applied to offenders via token economy which is a behaviourmodification programme
how token economy works
institution draws up a list of desirable characteristics e.g obeyingrules
when offender behaves in desired way, they earn a token
tokens can be exchanged for rewards such as phonecalls
through selectivereinforcement, good behaviour becomes more likely
is token economy effective?
studies show an improvement in behaviour, but once reinforcement stops, the behaviour tends to disappear.
however, offenders return to crime more slowly than offenders who didn’t undergo the programme
makes prisoners more manageable.
Some cases in USA of food and drink being withheld and used as rewards. Critics argue that these are a humanright, not a privilege to be earned
Aversion therapy applies Eysenck's personality theory to the treatment of sex offenders.
Eysenck states that criminals tend to be strongly neurotic and extravert. his makes them harder to condition because they are resistant to learning through punishment. So punishment needs to be ‘stronger’.
conditioning to change sex offenders behaviour is as follows:
offenders asked to think about an unacceptable sexual fantasy until they are aroused.
a stronglyaversive stimulus is then administered, such as an eclecticshock
procedure is repeated until offender comes to associate deviantarousal and stimulus.
is aversion therapy effective?
very limited success
only short-term results
its use in attempting to ‘cure’gay people ha also been criticised as human rightsabuse.