Sigmund Freud was the pioneer behind the Psychodynamic Approach. Some of this theory's basic assumptions are:
- The unconscious mind is the primary source of human behavior. This part of the mind is inaccessible to a person's conscience.
- Feelings and decisions are influenced by previous experiences, which are stored in the unconscious part of the mind.
The Humanistic approach criticizes the psychodynamic approach because it considers that it is too deterministic. Its basic assumptions are:
- A personal agency, which refers to the choices we make in life, is the force behind the minds functioning.
- People make choices in order to achieve self-fulfillment. In other words, they continuously seek to grow psychologically.
The main criticism that both approaches receive is that they offer an unscientific analysis of human behavior. Many of the proposed theories are subjective and difficult to prove scientifically.
