...Foundations of Psychology John Stafford University of Phoenix PSY/300 Abstract There are several major approaches to psychological study with several other disciplines falling under these primary approaches. Ranging from psychodynamic to evolutionary perspectives, and rarely sharing a unified paradigm, psychology has advanced since the late 1800s to be a wide-ranging field of human study. Foundations of Psychology The study of psychology found roots in philosophy. However, Wilhelm Wundt, who founded the first psychological laboratory, led the recognition of psychology as a science in 1879. In the mid-to-late 1940s standards were put into place for the doctoral programs designed to place emphasis on a general knowledge of psychology. This knowledge included the history of psychology, and modern disciplines of physiological, comparative, developmental, and social psychology. Students were also required to gain an understanding of research methods, advanced statistics, and psychological scaling (Zlotlow, Peterson, & Nelson, 2011). Behavioral Foundations of Psychology The major topics covered in behavioral psychology include evolution, heredity, and adaptation and learning, mating habits, parenting behaviors, and primate study. Behavioral psychology primarily focuses on the study of animal behavior to obtain a deeper understanding of human behavior. Studies like Ivan Pavlov’s (1849-1936) research on classical conditioning, also referred to as “Pavlov’s Dogs,” he...
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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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...The Foundations of Psychology Psychology is the scientific investigation of mental processes and behavior. Mental processes include how a person thinks, feels, remembers as well as a person’s behavior. When a doctor needs to understand a person they need to know the person’s biology, psychological experience, and cultural context. People’s experiences during their life from birth to adulthood are what shape how they feel and think. Early psychologists established several approaches and schools of thoughts of psychology. These schools of thought are known as the psychodynamic, behaviorist, cognitive and evolutionary perspectives. They came up with these by research and study which will be discussed throughout this paper. In many respects, these perceptions have progressed independently, and at the center of each are singularities the others tend to ignore (Kowalski & Westen, 2011). Despite their differences, each school of thought sought evolution for psychology as well as advancement of human understanding while remaining focused on the unique characteristics of contemporary psychology. Psychodynamic Perspective. The psychodynamic perspective belief is that most of the mental processes and emotions happen at the unconscious or subconscious levels, meaning below conscious awareness. Sigmund Freud was one of the most influential thinkers in the early twentieth century whose work in the psychodynamic...
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...Foundations of Psychology January 19, 2012 Foundation of Psychology Psychology is the study of the mind and the behavior of the subject in question. Multiple tests are conducted on the subject to discover what makes the individual tick. Like all scientific studies there must be a foundation for researchers to build their own studies from. Psychology is no different with its major schools being: behaviorist, psychodynamic, cognitive, and evolutionary. The behaviorist perspective is based off the information created by John B. Watson, Ivan Pavlov, and B. F. Skinner around the early 1950s. This theory is of the belief that there is a “relation between observable behaviors and environmental events or stimuli” (Kowalski and Westen, 2009). Classic conditioning was a method created due to the research of one Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov conditioned his dogs to begin salivating at the sound of a bell. Classic conditioning generally speaking is where the subject has been trained to give certain responses due to certain stimuli (Heffner, 2011). Exhibit A would be Pavlov’s dogs. Skinner later discovered that an individual’s behavior can also be controlled by stimuli from the environment that could either reinforce the response or deal out a punishment. The primary method to researching this perspective has been experimental. It allows researchers to make educated guesses before creating a situation to test their theory. The theory of psychodynamics was created by Sigmund Freud during the...
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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 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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...Running head: FOUNDATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGY Foundations of Psychology Heather Tarbunas Axia College University of Phoenix PSY 300 Dan Erickson September 3, 2012 Foundations of Psychology Psychology reminds me of a field of endless dreams. Once we think that we have an understanding of it, there is so much more to learn. For many years there has been much research done to help for us to better understand life. There have been many debates as to how the human mind works. Today what we are going to talk about are some of he major schools of thought that have been influential to our understanding of psychology. The first would be structuralism and functionalism. William Wundt was a man in which many referred to as the father of psychology. He was affiliated with Edward Titchener, an American psychologist who studied under Willam Wundt. William enjoyed studying the consciousness of people. His focus was based on trying to reduce the mental process down to the most basic of elements. Together they had identified the elements in the sensation of taste: sweet, sour, salty and bitter. William Wundt considered humans to be “emotional creatures” and assumed that all mental activities involved emotion, which preceded cognition.(Speilberger, Charles D (2006) Cross cultural assessment of emotional states and personality Vol. 11(4), p297-303) Tragically, after the death of Edward Titchener in 1927, the influence of structuralism had started to fade. Functionalism...
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...Foundations of Psychology Judith A. Reitz University of Phoenix The Foundations of Psychology Psychology studies the minds of human behavior; it has been traced back many years to the times of the Romans, even then these philosophers had argued about what is being questioned today. So knowing that psychology has been around for many years, and today the same questions are still being sought after. The complexity of human nature and exactly what makes us humans tick continues to be the main study of behavior and psychology go hand and hand. The Forerunners of Psychology: Many times over the same people that studied thinking and behaviors has been brought up in the studies of Psychology such as Aristotle, he was the one that thought that the “psyche is the form of body”(Moore & Bruder, 2005, p. 179) and who can forget the woman who studied the many processes of thinking as well as proposed to “inquire the nature of the instrument we use in which to observe”(Moore & Bruder, 2005, p. 262). Also in the forefront of pioneers was Wilhelm Wundt whom his students and he utilized a type of procedure called introspection in his self created laboratory as early as 1879 in Leipzig, Germany, Wundt (Kowalski & Westen, 2005) believed Psychology to be a science. The procedure of introspection which worked by presenting...
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...Foundations of Psychology Paper Geni Mayes PSY300 10/11/2013 Ashley Dolecki Foundations of Psychology Paper The five major schools of thought in psychology are psychoanalysis, behaviorism, humanistic psychology, Gestalt psychology, and cognitive psychology. However, there are many sub-categories to each of these basic schools each of them deals with all aspects from biological to environmental. The main different schools of psychology that vary both in attitude and in methods of working are these that consist of the Freudian, Jungian and Adlerian schools as well as Gestalts, behaviorist, and cognitive schools. Behaviorism is the term and school of thought from B. F. Skinner, who mainly focused on observable behavior. . His goal was of relating behavior to experimental conditions. Skinner had several theories in regard to operant conditioning. Skinner believed that learning is a function of overt behavior and changes in an individual’s behavior is a result of events that occur in the individual’s environment (Morris & Maisto, 2010). Psychoanalysis was invented by Sigmund Freud, who believed that the human mind was composed of three elements: the id, the ego, and the superego. This school of thought emphasizes the influence of the unconscious mind on behavior. Psychoanalysis delves into the innermost parts of the mind and reveals the causes of individual thoughts and behaviors. Freud researched repression, immorality of the subconscious, memory, par amnesia...
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...Foundation of Psychology Name PSY/300 Date Instructor Foundation of Psychology There are many ideas regarding why humans think, have the feelings, or behave in the way that they do. According to Kowalski and Westen (2009), psychology is “the scientific investigation of mental processes (thinking, remembering, feeling, ect.) and behavior” (Chapter 1). This paper will work to identify the major schools of thought in psychology and examine their major underlying assumptions. This paper will also work to identify the primary biological foundations of psychology linked to behavior. Psychology first came to be in the 1800’s. Doctors found it interesting that people suffering from severe head trauma were affected by memory and language difficulty. This showed there is a connection between one’s brain and his or her behavior. According to Kowalski and Westen (2009), William Wundt, often described as the "father of psychology" opened the first psychological laboratory in 1879, in Leipzig, Germany (Chapter 1). One of Wundt’s most common methods was introspection. Introspection is “the method in which trained subjects verbally reported everything that went through their minds when presented with a stimulus or task” (Kowalski & Westen, 2009, Chapter 1). Edward Titchener, a student of Wundt, began the first school of thought known as structuralism. Structuralism “attempted to use introspection as a method for uncovering the basic elements of consciousness and the way they combine...
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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 Lisa Powell PSY 300 July 20, 2015 Shane Williamson Foundations of Psychology The science of psychology has been a controversial study since its discovery. It is sometimes referred to as a “fake science” or claimed to be useless. But trying to understand how the human brain works has been inherent in the human species since we became more advanced. And after all, the human brain is so advanced that it actually named itself. Within the field of psychology there are many different pillars of ideas on which the study stand upon. The following will discuss the major schools of thought in psychology and what they project. It will also delve into the primary biological foundations and how they are linked to behavior. Functionalism has the most influence of any theory. It is the theory of our mental states as humans. According to functionalism, “mental states are identified by what they do rather than by what they are made of ” (Polger, n.d.). In the words of Koening, “Psychological functionalism attempts to describe thoughts and what they do without asking how they do it. For functionalists, the mind resembles a computer, and to understand its processes, you need to look at the software -- what it does -- without having to understand the hardware -- the why and how underlying it” (Koenig, n.d.). The anaolgy of the mind as a central computer is the simipliest way to describe the theory and the assumtion is that the brain is in control of all actions...
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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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...Foundations of Psychology General Psychology 300 December 4, 2011 Foundations of Psychology A variety of theories make up the foundations of psychology ranging from the physiological to the unconscious. Psychology traces its roots to philosophers such as Charles Darwin, psychologists such as Sigmund Freud or B.F Skinner and various physicians and biologists. Scientific Experimentation is the method of some of the perspectives use, while some rely solely on clinical observation. The biological foundation of psychology is biopsychology. Neuroscientists “investigate the electrical and chemical processes in the nervous system that underlie these mental events” (Kowalski, 2009, p. 6, para. 1). Mental events include thoughts, feelings, and fears just to name a few. When studying the brain, neuroscientists observed patients with severe brain trauma, concluding they showed lack of language and memory or a drastic change in personality. These results proved that the brain and behavior worked together. One of the issues arising from the study of biopsychology is the term localization of function, meaning to the extent to which different parts of the brain control different functions. The belief at one time was that each psychological function happened in a specific part of the brain, when after several observations realized psychological circuits are distributed throughout the brain and contribute to a psychological event. Once the biological foundation of psychology was built...
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...Foundations of Psychology Denise Silven PSY/300 General Psychology April 8, 2013 Kaisa Freeman Foundations of Psychology “Psychology is the scientific investigation of mental processes (thinking, remembering, feeling, etc.) and behavior” (Kowalski & Westen, 2011, p. 3). In order to understand a person, his or her biology, psychological experiences, and cultural context must be deciphered (Kowalski & Westen, 2011). This paper will include a discussion of the major schools of thought in psychology and the major underlying assumptions of these schools of thoughts, or perspectives. In addition, the primary biological foundations of psychology that are linked to behavior are identified. Major schools of thought in psychology According to Kowalski and Westen (2011), psychology has several schools of thought “that can be used to understand psychological events” (p. 13). The earliest schools of thought were structuralism and functionalism. Structuralism used introspection to reveal the structure of consciousness and functionalism searched for reasons for the psychological processes that helped people adapt to their environment. Other perspectives in psychology are psychodynamic, behaviorist, cognitive, and evolutionary. These perspectives were developed independently of one another; however, they have all made considerable contributions to the psychology arena. There are phenomena at the center of each of these perspectives that the other perspectives do not...
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