| Area of Disagreement | Psychoanalytic Theory | Behaviorism |
| The unconscious | Emphasizes unconscious wishes and urges, unknown to the person but powerful all the same | Holds that the unconscious not only is unknowable but also may be a destructive fiction that keeps people from changing |
| Observable behavior | Holds that observable behavior is a symptom, not the cause—the tip of an iceberg, with the bulk of the problem submerged | Looks only at observable behavior—what a person does rather than what a person thinks, feels, or imagines |
| Importance of childhood | Stresses that early childhood, including infancy, is critical; even if a person does not even remember what happened, the early legacy lingers throughout life | Holds that current conditioning is crucial; early habits and patterns can be unlearned, reversed, if appropriate reinforcements and punishments are used |
| Scientific status | Holds that most aspects of human development are beyond the reach of scientific experiment; uses ancient myths, the words of disturbed adults, dreams, play, and poetry as raw material | Is proud to be a science, dependent on verifiable data and carefully controlled experiments; discards ideas that sound good but are not proven |