Introduction
The focus of this guide is to diagnose Hamlet and Ophelia using both a cognitive and behavioral approach instead of the much used psychoanalytic approach. The reason behind this is that the psychoanalytic approach is out dated and has many flaws. Much of it is based off of instinctual and sexual desires and supposes a lack of free will. It was originally brought around by Freud, who contradicted himself many times, stole many of his ideas, and who was a practicing MD not a psychologist. In any case, the reason to use any of his theories would be because the text you’re discussing might have been influenced by his ideas because of his popularity. Since this paper discusses Hamlet, a play written some two hundred years before, there is no danger in that.
Cognitive psychology has been well tested and is used today. It looks at the mental processes by which knowledge is acquired, stored, and retrieved. Since the study the internal processes like perception, memory, language, etc. they also look at how it is affected by mental conditions and disorders. This approach will help look at the effects of disorders on the mind and what it could mean for an individual.
Behavioral psychology, on the other hand, looks at primarily observable behaviors. This school of study looks in to the effects stimuli have on people. Since it observes behaviors it diagnoses and treats by the observable behaviors. Since we have limited knowledge about the working mind of a character in text it is essential we focus on the behaviors, which is where this approach comes into play.
Cognitive psychology has been well tested and is used today. It looks at the mental processes by which knowledge is acquired, stored, and retrieved. Since the study the internal processes like perception, memory, language, etc. they also look at how it is affected by mental conditions and disorders. This approach will help look at the effects of disorders on the mind and what it could mean for an individual.
Behavioral psychology, on the other hand, looks at primarily observable behaviors. This school of study looks in to the effects stimuli have on people. Since it observes behaviors it diagnoses and treats by the observable behaviors. Since we have limited knowledge about the working mind of a character in text it is essential we focus on the behaviors, which is where this approach comes into play.