psychology
Emergence Of Psychology
Psychology as the study of Conscious
Experiences
The science of psychology had its formal
beginning in 1879 when Wilhelm Wundt
(1832-1920), a German psychologist set up a
laboratory at the University of Leipzig to study
mind/mental activities. He studied the
conscious experience of mind through
introspection.
Cont.
Earlier he devoted attention on studying the
building blocks of the mind. Later he defined
psychology as the study of conscious
experiences, he found the system of
psychology known as “ Structuralism”.
Psychology as the study of Conscious
Experiences
Formally defining psychology as the study of
Conscious experience ,he developed a model
that came to be known as Structuralism.
Structuralism: An early approach to
psychology which focused on the
fundamental elements that form the
foundation of thinking , consciousness,
emotions , and other kinds of mental states
and activities.
Using introspection , Wundt presented his
trained subjects with a stimulus such as bright
green object and asked them to describe it in
their own words.
He thought that we can understand the
structure of mind through the reports of
subjects.
Functionalism:
William James was the founder of this School
of thought. He was influenced by Darwin’s
work and he believed that psychology should
explain the functions of consciousness as it
influences behavior.
Functionalist used not only introspection to
study behavior but also used tests, surveys
and experimental techniques to study
functions of psychology as science of
consciousness.
Psychology as the study of
unconscious processes
Sigmund Freud(1856-1939), an Austrian
physician was the founder of psychoanalytical
school.
He specialized in the disorders of the nervous
system.
He observed that some of his patients had
nothing physically wrong with them, even
though they had symptoms of physical illness
Psychology as the study of
unconscious processes
( headaches, exhaustion, insomnia and so
forth). He suspected that mental conflicts lay
behind these symptoms_ conflicts that had
been pushed out of normal awareness and
into a part of mind called “ unconscious”.
He believed that if unconscious conflicts
could be brought into patient’s consciousness
, they would
Psychology as the study of
unconscious processes
lose their power to control the patient’s life.
He used psychoanalytic technique to uncover
unconscious conflicts of his patients.
Freud helped his patients to interpret and
understand their mental problems.
He called his approach to treatment as
Psychoanalysis.
Psychology as the study of
unconscious processes
Freud believed that early past experiences of
which a person is unaware significantly
influence his current behavior.
He treated people with psychological
problems.
Criticism:
Freud laid strong emphasis on sex and
aggression but did not fully explain
consciousness and human behavior.
Psychology as the study of Individual
Differences:
Individual psychology is a term used
specifically to refer to the psychological
method or science founded by the Viennese
psychologist Alfred Adler.
The term individual psychology can also be
used more generally to refer to what is more
commonly known as differential psychology
or the psychology of individual differences ,
which study the ways in which individual
people differ in their behavior.
Cont.
Adler was among the co-founders of the
psychoanalytic movement as a core member
of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society.
The concept of 'individual psychology' was
formulated in the process in which Adler
broke away from the psychoanalytic school of
Sigmund Freud.
Cont.
Adler called his theory Individual Psychology
because he felt that each person was unique
and no previous theory can be applied to all
people.
He also emphasized the training of parents,
teachers, social workers and so on to allow a
child to exercise their power through
reasoned decision making whilst co-operating
with others.
Psychology as the study of Observable
Behavior:
In 1913, another American psychologist John
Watson (1878-1958) because the founder of
the School of thought known as Behaviorism.
He believed that psychology should be the
Science of Overt Behavior. He rejected the
ideas of structuralists and Functionalists.
Cont.
He called psychology as the Science of overt
behavior that can be observed and studied
through objective measurement.
He believed that psychology should be hard
science, like physics and chemistry.
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