...Major School of Thoughts in Psychology Adel Pena PSY/300 December 07, 2011 Dr. Delvida Long Major School of Thoughts in Psychology A realm of thought and emotions researched since the 1870s by many, in clinical studies, through science and technology is Psychology. Psychology is often known as “the scientific investigation of mental processes (thinking, remembering, feeling, etc.) and behavior. Understanding a person requires attention to the individual’s biology, psychological experiences, and cultural context.” (Kowalski & Westen, 2009, p.3) This paper will indulge into the foundation of psychology and the assumptions attributed with it. The two major schools of thought in psychology are known as structuralism and functionalism. Other schools of thought are also behaviorism, psychodynamic, and cognitive. Now in regard to the two major schools, structuralism is known as the first school of psychology and can be attributed to Edward Titchener and Wilhelm Wundt. They were interested in studying the structure of consciousness and wanted to compose a chart similar to the periodic table to illustrate the elements of human consciousness. Structuralism is supposed to break down the mental process in its simplest of forms and also through introspection. Titchener believed that experimentation was the only way to develop a method of psychology that did not apply too much “free...
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...PSYCOLOGY Wilhelm Wundt is the man most commonly identified as the father of psychology. Why Wundt? Other people such as Hermann von Helmholtz, Gustav Fechner, and ErnstWeber were involved in early scientific psychology research, so why are they not credited as father of psychology? Because Wundt's formation of the world's first experimental psychology lab is usually noted at the official start of psychology as a separate and distinct science. By establishing a lab that utilized scientific methods to study the human mind and behavior, Wundt took psychology from a mixture of philosophy and biology and made it a unique field of study. Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt (16 August 1832 – 31 August 1920) was a German physician, physiologist, philosopher, and professor, known today as one of the founding figures of modern psychology. Wundt, who noted psychology as a science apart from biology and philosophy, was the first person to ever call himself a Psychologist. He is widely regarded as the "father of experimental psychology".[4][5] In 1879, Wundt founded the first formal laboratory for psychological research at the University of Leipzig. This marked psychology as an independent field of study *Introduction of Psycology Psychology is the scientific study of behavior, cognition, and emotion. Psychology is an academic and applied discipline involving the scientific study of mental processes and behavior. Psychology also refers to the application of such knowledge to various spheres of...
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...Foundations of Psychology One of the most complex and diverse subjects in all of the social sciences is the study of the mind. Psychology, the constant attempt to understand human behavior, full of variables and unpredictable. Although psychology as a whole can be supported by many different theories and even sub-theories, there are six major schools of thought that are common knowledge to every professional in the field. The six major schools of thought are functionalism, psychoanalysis, behaviorism, cognitivism, structuralism and humanistic psychology. These six major schools of thought may as well be the foundations of psychology. Functionalism is one of the most influential theories in modern psychology because it focus on describing and understanding thoughts and what thoughts do, without questioning the reasons behind them or the process of how they do it. The Psychoanalysis school of thought was originally created by Sigmund Freud. The psychoanalytic perspective attempts to explain the different human behaviors by analyzing the subconscious mind. Sexual natural behaviors play a very significant role in psychoanalysis. Sigmund Freud himself suggested that “the instinct to pursue pleasure, which is described as sexual in nature, lies at the root of human development”. (Coomarsingh) The behaviorist school of thought is the one that pushes the practical side of psychology. By enforcing experiments and comparing the results to even more repeated experiments, it gives the...
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...Foundation of Psychology Psychology is the study of human behavior and mind. According to Psychology: The Study of Mental Processes and Behavior defined psychology as the scientific investigation of mental processes (thinking, remembering, feeling, etc.) and behavior. Psychology alone has more than one basic foundation. Psychology can be as broad as biology and as detailed as philosophy, because it includes humans who are very complex in nature. Psychology involves more than how people act; it includes their thought process, emotions, memories, and analysis of events. When psychology was first introduced people weren’t sure if it was a science separated from biology and philosophy. The major school of thought in psychology exemplifies the major theories within psychology. Over the years there are many schools of thoughts in psychology that has developed, that are in addition to the main eight which are structuralism, functionalism, rationalism, behaviorism, psychoanalysis, humanistic psychology, Gestalt psychology, and Cognitive Psychology. . The first school of thought, structuralism was endorsed by Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Bradford Titchner between 1890-1920 in Germany and the US. This school of thought analyzes the mental processes and broke in down into the most basic component. Techniques such as introspection was use to examine how the human mind processed information. Due to the concept of structuralism, John Dewey was credited as the founder of functionalism...
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...Foundations of Psychology Erica McLeod PSY 300 September 25, 2012 Betsy Ferronato Foundations of Psychology When psychology first emerged as a science, the process of explaining the human mind and human behavior began. In this writing we will present a brief synopsis of what psychology is and introduce the reader to the primary biological foundations of psychology that are linked to behavior as well as introducing the reader to the major schools of thought in psychology. In Kowalski and Westen Sixth Edition of Psychology, psychology is defined as “the scientific investigation of mental processes such as; thinking, remembering, feeling, and behavior. Understanding a person requires attention to the individual’s biology, psychological experience, and cultural context.”(Kowalski & Weston, 2011). Each component is necessary in formulating who the individual is. As we delve into history, we must be cautious in our analyzation of human behavior and the human mind that we do not contribute our analyzation to a single thought or process as many times it may be a conglomeration of events or items that contribute to the overall picture of a person’s psychological process. Furthermore, Kowalski specifies in his writing that “humans are complex creatures whose psychological experience lies at the intersection of biology and culture.”(Kowalski & Weston, 2011). He expounds upon this fact by stating that “all psychological processes occur through the interaction of cells in the...
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...Foundations of psychology By: Ashley Chandler December 23rd, 2012 Abstract My goal during this essay are Identifying the major schools of thought in psychology and we will examine their major underlying assumptions. I will also identify the primary biological foundations of psychology linked to behavior. There are so many parts to psychology that are completely different it is important to know that psychology is a science. Theoretical science but still a science non-the less; each of the four schools of thought are different in many ways, and each school of thought has their own specialist like anything else. Example; “It’s like a doctor, it’s not any doctor its one you have to see specifically like an OB or a neurologist.” In psychology there are four major schools of thought evolutionary, psychodynamic, cognitive and Behavioral, along with the biological foundations...
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...Foundations of psychology May 09, 2011 Foundations of psychology There are many schools of thought within the study of psychology. Commonly, most people are only aware of a few of the general therapies and some of the research connected with psychology, but there are far more schools of thought and study in the field of psychology than what the public may be aware of. The four main perspectives concerning psychology is divided by schools of thought. Each of the four schools of thought is based on different studies and assumptions where the causes and treatments are concerned, in reference to psychology. The main four schools of thought are psychodynamic, the behaviorist, cognitive, and the evolutionary. The Psychodynamic Perspective The school of psychodynamic was “founded by Sigmund Freud ( HubPages Inc, 2011),” and evolved from Freud’s theories that all people have “powerful unconscious motives that underlie their conscious intentions. (Kowalski, R. & Westen, D. (2009)” A few of the issues that Freud and his followers focused on was repressed issues from one’s past, and helping people bring foreword these past issues so they may be dealt with by using reason, helping people face the nature of their problems. Freud believed that people can be totally unaware of their subconscious motivations and process that affect their conscious thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and intentions. The psychodynamic...
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...Foundations of Psychology Foundations of Psychology Nathan Teggerdine PSY/300 GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY Instructor: Ashley Dolecki There seems to be seven major schools of thought in psychology, structuralism, functionalism, gestalt psychology, behaviorism, psychoanalysis, humanistic and cognitive. Each major school of thought has it’s own major underlying assumption’s. First structuralism was one of the first major schools of thought in what was modern psychology. The structuralism approach really focuses on breaking down the mental process into really basic components. Functionalism was first formed based on the theories of the structuralist school of thought and was heavily influenced by the work of William James. (Cherry, 2014) Gestalt psychology is the school opf thought that looks at the human mind and a persons behavior as a whole. (Cherry, What is Gestalt Psychology?, 2014) Behaviorism was one of the main school of thought in psychology in the ninteen twenties until about ninteen fifty. Behaviorism is made up of a number of underlying assumtions reguarding specific methodology and behavioral analysis. (Mcloud, 2007) Psychoanalysis school of thought is mostly based on the idea that most of the time, people are completley unaware of things that determine what emotions they are feeling and when. It is also said that because these factors are for the most part on an unconscious level, during times when someone is struggling, advice and help from family members...
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...Foundations of Psychology The essence of psychology is the scientific study of the human mind, behavior, and mental processes. Psychology seeks to understand through research and application, the behaviors and emotions of human beings. Through this paper, the writer will examine the foundations of the study of psychology, the major schools of thought, and will identify the fundamental biological links to behavior. As a subject of study, psychology was established by Wilhelm Wundt, who in the late 1800s “founded the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany” (Kowalski & Westen, 2009, p.8). Wundt paved the path for psychology to emerge from what had been simply philosophical debate into scientific investigation. His main method of investigation was introspection, he trained observers to relay information of their mental reactions when presented with several objects, by recording this information, he was able to conclude that “the basic elements of consciousness are sensations (…) and feelings” (Kowalski, et al., 2009, p. 9), although he believed that experimentation was important to understand the basic elements, he knew that it was not the only way to understand psychology. Structuralism One of Wundt’s students, Edward Titchener, did believe that experimentation was not only useful, but that it was the only method of scientific investigation appropriate for psychology. Titchener established what became known as the structuralism school of thought; structuralism catalogued...
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...The foundations of psychology were set upon the discovery of the relationship between biology and philosophy. The birth of psychology is a direct result of these two studies combining to make an intriguing study of human behaviors, emotions and reactions. Psychology became equally important to other studies when it became apparent that it reflected both biological aspects as well as aspects of philosophy. Combined, these two studies allowed the discovery that people exhibit behaviors and emotions for many reasons. Human’s exhibit behaviors(s) in reaction to environmental factors, taught behavior, natural instinct, as well as an array of other scenarios trigger such behaviors. “Humans are complex creatures whose psychological experience lies at the intersection of biology and culture”(Kowalski & Westen, 2005). Psychology was (in some perspectives) stumbled upon in very early biological studies. It was observed that patients with head trauma injuries were test subjects to the identification of the correlation between the human brain and physical responses. This discovery opened the door to the study of human psychology. The finding that the human brain interacted with the body in producing reactions and actions led to an entirely new world of study filled with fascinating aspects, now known as psychology. The foundation of psychology is built largely upon philosophy and was rooted from such philosophers such as Aristotle and Descartes...
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...Foundations of Psychology PSY 300 August 8, 2011 Teresa Neal Foundations of Psychology The human being is a complex and sometimes mystifying being. Our actions, behaviors, emotions, mannerisms, and functions are all so complicated and sometimes mystifying. Questioning why we do what we do, act the way we do, behave in a certain manner, or react to a situation, even asking these questions in general is the very reason for the study of Psychology. Psychology is the scientific investigation of mental processes and behavior, and as stated in our book, psychology lies in the intersection of biology and culture [ (Kowalski & Westen, 2009) ]. Throughout the journey of psychology there have been many brilliant and ground breaking scientists and psychologists who’ve laid the foundations for what is studied today. Through these journeys many schools of thought and perspectives have been formed into this foundation which we still use today. It is said that Psychology is between biology and culture, it is meaning that biology covers the central nervous system and within that system are the areas with which control many of our mental processes. Culture has a place on the opposite boarder of psychology because how and where we grew up effects the way we are in regard to our behavior and reactions to situations. While Psychology is said to border biology and culture, it is said to be born from philosophy. When Philosophers started looking for more answers in regard to the nature...
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...Foundations of Psychology Karen Johnson PSY 300 January 25, 2014 Foundations of Psychology There are many ideas regarding why humans think, have the feelings or behave the way that they do. According to Kowalski and Western (2009) psychology is “the scientific investigation of mental processes, (thinking, remembering, and feeling). There are four major schools of thought in psychology and each has its own theory on the subject, though all have influenced mankind’s understanding of psychology. Each of these perspectives takes on a different theory of the causes and various psychological disorders with unique approaches to treatment. Freud started the psychodynamic approach, he theorized that people have “powerful motives that underlie their conscious intentions” (Kowalski & Western, 2005, p. 8). The psychodynamic approach includes all the theories in psychology that see human functioning based upon the interaction of drives and forces within the person, particularly unconscious, and between the different structures of the personality. According to The Interpretation of Dreams, “It inaugurated the new practice of psychoanalysis, and impacted society and culture in the interpretation of literature and art.” Freud’s belief that dreams are highly symbolic, containing both secret and unhidden meanings as well as underlying, unconscious thoughts. Dreams he suggested are our unconscious wishes in disguise. As stated in Psychopathology of Everyday Life, “By discarding...
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...Contemporary psychology deals with a vast range of topics; while at the same time looks into human +behavioral patterns and mental processes from the cultural level to the neural level. Psychologists study all matters pertaining to human mental issues that begin right from birth and continue until the death of the person. So, by gaining full understanding of the history of psychology, you will be able to better understand how the individual topics are studied and what has been learned so far. Doubts, Questions at the Beginning Right from the beginning, the study of psychology has been faced with a number of difficult questions. The first question of how is psychology defined established it as a separate science, separate from philosophy and physiology. Other additional questions that psychologists were also faced with throughout the history of the subject were: What issues and topics should the subject of psychology deal with? What methods of research should be used when studying psychology? Should research be used in order to influence education, public policy and other aspects of human behavior? Is psychology a science? Should psychology focus on internal mental processes or on observable behavior? Physiology and Philosophy While psychology did not really emerge as a separate science until the latter half of the 19th century, its initial history can be traced right back to the ancient Greeks. During the 1600's, the famous French philosopher, Rene Descartes, introduced...
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...Foundations of Psychology Jacob Wilkins PSY 300 July 29th 2013 Genevieve Molina Abstract A large part of psychology is devoted to discovering and treating mental health issues, but that's just the beginning when it comes to applications for psychology. As well as mental health, psychology can be used for a variety of issues that affect our health and daily life. Throughout the history of psychology it has branched into different thought. These schools of thought are used to explain different views on human thought and behavior. The different schools of thought in the field of psychology are; psychodynamic, behaviorism, cognitive, and the evolutionary perspective. While these schools of thought are sometimes seen to compete against each other, collectively each perspective has helped our understanding of psychology as a whole. The psychodynamic perspective is the approach that is considered the most popular with the discipline of psychology. Sigmund Freud, a Viennese physician. First developed this theory in the late 19th century. This approach was based on the fact that people's problems can not only be caused by physical pain or conscious thoughts, but by powerful unconscious motives. This way of thinking became popular due to its ability to explain human behavior. The psychodynamic perspective is based on three ideas. "First, people’s actions are determined by the way thoughts, feelings, and wishes are connected in their minds. Second, many of these mental events...
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...Background of psychology Psychology has brief history as a scientific discipline though it has been studied since ancient time under the faculty of philosophy. The word psychology was derived from Greek word 'psyche' and 'logos' literal meaning of which was 'soul' and 'study' respectively. The definition of psychology had ever been in the process of change since then. The development of psychology can broadly be traced into four periods: Ancient Greek period, per-modern period, modern period and current status 1. Greek period: Greek philosophers had contributed much for the development of psychology. Some of the key contributors were Socrates was interested in studying the reincarnation of soul. Soul or mind was considered as the representation of individuals. Plato, a bright student of Socrates expanded Socrates concepts in philosophy about life and soul. It was Aristotle who wrote first book in psychology called Para Psyche; about the mind or soul. In the book, he introduced the basic ideas in psychology today, like law of association. However, the notion of psychology was primarily related to study of soul or mind at that stage. Later on it was found that physical existence of soul was doubtful. Also, there was controversy in defining soul and mind among the philosopher. The contributors of the period never focused on the behavior of individual. That is why the attention was diverted from the study of soul or mind 2. Pre-modern period it was during 1800's that psychology was established...
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