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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.