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Psychology
Psychology is said to have a very long past but a short history as a modern science. Its
historical roots can be traced by the various schools of thought that led to its development as a
scientific discipline.
Scientific psychology began in 1879 when Wilhelm Wundt established the first
laboratory of Psychology in Germany. Wundt attempted to understand the basic elements of
consciousness and how they worked together to create the experience of being alive. His
contribution then led to the creation of Structuralism founded by his British student Edward
Bradford Titchener. Wundt, Titchener and the leaders after him were called structuralists because
they believed that the task of psychology is to identify the basic elements of consciousness in
much the same way that physicists break down the basic particles of matter. Furthermore,
structuralism is identified as a psychological approach that emphasized studying the elemental
structures of consciousness hence it is sometimes called “elementarism”. Since it uses
introspection (the examination of own thoughts, sensation, feelings, etc. and reporting them) it is
also referred to as “introspective psychology” (Fox, Prilleltensky, & Austin 2009).
While many of the early psychologists were studying the nature of conscious experience,
another group was trying to understand the useful functions that consciousness served. In 1875, a
young professor of biology and philosophy at Harvard University named William James was
fascinated by the work of Charles Darwin, who suggested in his theory of evolution that every
physical characteristic evolved in a species because it served a purpose. James suspected that the
same things could be said about the human mind. He speculated that thinking, feeling, learning,
remembering, and other processes of human consciousness existed only because they helped
individuals survived as species. Because he can think, he is better able to find food, avoid
danger, and care for each other – all of which help the human species survive. Functionalism
continues to have a strong influence on contemporary psychology, but the terminology has
changed. Instead of talking about the functions of human consciousness, psychologists now used
the term cognitive processes. Cognition is a broad term that refers to all intellectual processes perceiving, believing, thinking, remembering, knowing, and deciding, and so on.
Another movement in psychology is credited to John B. Watson’s behaviourism who
was deeply impressed by the work of Ivan, Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, who studied
conditioning. Pavlov’s research and theories were not immediately accepted in the United States,
but his concepts were taken up in writings by John B. Watson in 1920’s. Watson felt that it was
impossible to study the private mental processes because only outward behaviour could be
measured and scientifically understood. According to him, the only things which could be
objectively analyzed and quantitatively measured are overt responses emitted by organisms.
Responses are elicited by stimuli hence, behaviourism also became known as S – R psychology.
Moreover, behaviourism denied the existence of instinct tendencies on human beings
emphasizing instead the reflexes as the human way of survival (Skinner, 1974).
While behaviourists advocated the use of strict experimental procedures to study
observable behavior in relation to the environment, gestaltists emphasized the “organization”
and the quality of wholeness that inheres in both behaviour and experience. Gestalt psychology
was born with Max Wertheimer along with Wolfgang Kohler, Kurt Lewin and Kurt Koffka. The
German word “gestalt” means “form”, “pattern”, “organization”, or “configuration’’. Unlike the
Behaviorists, the Gestaltists did not protest against the concept of conscious experience and
introspection in any form. However, they objected to the idea of breaking down “Mental
Chemistry” into component elements because once this is done the unity and organization is
destroyed. Their idea revolves around the motto “that the whole is greater than the sum of its
parts” or “the whole consists of parts in relationship”
Psychoanalysis is a school of psychology that was developed by Sigmund Freud who
was later regarded as “Father of Psychoanalysis”. This approach focuses on the unconscious
mind as a determinant of behaviour. According to Freud, humans are born with instincts for
personal gratification that are contrary to the mores of society. Society seeks to suppress these
innate tendencies and part of the individual’s normal development means successful mastery on
behaviour; they can cause people to speak or act without being aware of the real causes of their
actions. Furthermore, these suppressed impulses can be expressed through everyday behaviour as
well as by dreams and mental illness.
Humanistic psychology views that human beings possess an innate tendency to improve
and determine their lives by the decisions they make. Leading humanists like Abraham Maslow
and Carl Rogers did not agree with Freud that conscious processes were unimportant. They
believe that human beings determine their own fates through the conscious decisions they make.
Like Freud, however, the humanists believe that the unconscious mind often defeats efforts to
make good decisions. This school of psychology gave rise to Transpersonal psychology. While
humanistic psychology was the first to acknowledge the value of a person’s inner life as a source
of truth, transpersonal psychology attends to the whole person; body, mind, and spirit and it
focuses attention on human capacity for self-transcendence as well as self-realization. Moreover,
it is concerned with the optimum development of consciousness. Its precursors explain that
Transpersonal psych offers a more inclusive vision of human potential, suggesting both a new
image of the human person and a new world view distinguishing them from the lower animals.
On the other hand, it is important to note that psychology is multidisciplinary. Basic to
the study is its biological foundations that focus on the Nervous System and the human brain.
The nervous system is an arrangement of highly specialized cells which serve as conduction
system enabling the organism to respond to internal and external stimuli. It is made up of
interconnected nerve cells that transmit information throughout the body. There are four defining
characteristic of the nervous system: (1) it communicates via electrochemical transmission, (2) it
is characterized by its complexity, as the brain alone is composed of billions of nerve cells, (3) it
can integrate information from many sources and create a coherent psychological experience,
and (4) it has a great capacity to adapt to changes in the environment and the body (Hergenhahn,
2005).
Neurons are the basic conducting unit of the nervous system. The billions of neurons, or
nerve cells, that underlie all the activity of the nervous system form a communication network
that coordinated all the system of the body, enabling it to function. Ninety percent of the body’s
neurons is contained by the brain. Anatomically, the brain is the part of the central nervous
system that fills the upper portion of the skull. Although it weighs only about three pounds and
could be held in one hand, the brain contains billions of interacting cells that integrate
information from inside and outside the body, coordinate the body’s actions and enable us to
talk, think, remember, plan, create, and dream. It can be viewed that the brain is a complex,
versatile, and flexible network that controls our behavior and mental processes. The evolutionary
psychology approach, which emphasizes the importance of adaptation, reproduction, and natural
selection in explaining psychology, considers how the human nervous system has evolved to its
complex present state. Most scientists believe that behavior is determined by the interaction of
the environment and the organism's biological inheritance (Hergenhahn, 2005).
In the psychological world, the schools of thought are many and the biological foundation
of the discipline is complex. Like other sciences, psychology is continually changing. What was
very much in vogue just twenty-five years ago on the psychological scene may now be seen as
archaic. But are these changes really bringing about quantifiable improvements in the human
condition? Few would argue with the results that enhancements in medical science have
produced over the last 150 years. Yet based on the current emotional state of our society, it
would be difficult to say that modern psychology as a science is producing greater results today
than at any other point in time in the modern era.
References:
Fox D.R., Prilleltensky I., & Austin S. (Eds.) (2009). Critical psychology: An introduction (2nd
ed.).
London, UK: Sage Publications. p. 13-19.
Hergenhahn, B.R. (2005). An introduction to the history of psychology. Belmont, CA, USA:
Thomson Wadsworth. pp. 529-535.
Skinner, B.F. (1974). About Behaviorism. New York: Random House.