Occam's Razor Analysis

If ever there were a theory of the human mind in the history of psychology that was antithetical to the idea of Occam’s Razor, it would be classical psychoanalysis. Classicial psychoanalysis refers to the psychological and therapeutic theories and techniques created by Viennese physician Sigmund Freud. The main tenet of psychoanalysis is that much of our behavior and thought stems from primitive unconscious forces that dwell within us. These forces lie outside our conscious awareness and control. In fact, the behaviorists often used the Occam’s Razor to argue against classical psychoanalysis and its theories. Behaviorists often critiqued that psychoanalysis implied unnecessarily complicated and convoluted explanations for problems.
The limitations …show more content…
Freud’s conception of women has consistently been denounced as being heavily biased. Women’s lives, in Freud’s theory, were centered on their reproductive functions. His belief in the inferiority of women to men was evident in ideas like the penis envy—the theory that the lack of a penis created a feeling of inadequacy in women. He defined the whole gender in terms of lacking something male, rather than as having something feminine. Women, to him, were incomplete (and hence inferior) men in a …show more content…
The humanist perspective was against psychoanalysis in at least two important aspects. First, it was unequivocally opposed to the idea that there is an innately pathological nature to mind. The humanists believe that people are generally good and can achieve self actualization, while on the other hand, classical psychoanalysis suggests one can never truly be mentally “healthy” or experience true mental “well-being”. Second, psychoanalysis, is intensely deterministic, whereas humanist approaches, particular those of the existential persuasion, emphasize on the idea of free will and importance of choice in shaping life events and