Zusammenfassung der Ressource
THE EVOLUTION OF
PSYCHOLOGY
- A NEW SCIENCE IS BORN
- Psychology's intellectual parents were the disciples of
philosophy and physiology.
- By the 1870's, a small number of scholars
in both fields were actively exploring
questions about the mind.
- "How are bodily sensations
turned into mental awareness
of the outside world?"
- "Are peoples perceptions of the
world accurate reflections of
reality?"
- "How do
mind and
body
interact?"
- It was a german
professor,
Wilhelm Wundt,
who eventually
changed this
view.
- Wundt
campaigned
to make
psychology
an
independent
discipline
rather than
a stepchild
of
philosophy
and
physiology.
- Wundt's campaign was so successful
that today he is widely characterized
as the founder of psychology.
- Wundt declared that the new psychology
should be a science modelled after fields
such as chemistry and physics.
- PHILOSOPHY,
PHYSIOLOGY, AND
PSYCHOLOGY
- Psychology: Study of the human mind
and its functions, especially those
effecting behaviour in a given context.
- Philosophy: the development of
ideas about mind, behaviour,
and human nature; which
developed itself through the
periods of Renaissance.
- Physiology: Branch of biology dealing with the
normal functions of living organisms and their
parts.
- STRUCTUALISM
VS
FUNCTIONALISM
- The first two major schools of
thought. Both were entangled in the
fields first great intellectual battle.
- Wilhelm Wundt,
founder of the first
psychology lab, is
often associated
with this school of
thought. Despite
the fact that it was
his student,
Edward, P
Tichener, who first
coined the term to
describe this
school of thought.
- Structualism was based on the
notion that the task of psychology
is to analyze consciousness into its
basic elements and investigate
how these elements are related.
- Functionalism was
based on the belief
that psychology should
investigate the
function or purpose of
consciousness, rather
than its structure.
- Functionalists sought to
explain the mental process in
a more systematic and more
accurate manner.
- Functionalism was heavily
influenced by the work of William
James and the evolutionary theory
of Charles Darwin.
- Functionalism also emphasized individual
differences, which had a profound effect on
education.
- BEHAVIOURISM MAKES ITS DEBUT
- In the early 1900's, another major school of
thought appeared that dramatically
altered the course of psychology.
- Behaviourism is a
theoretical orientation
based on the premise that
scientific psychology should
study only observable
behaviour.
- Founded by John, B
Watson
- Watson thought if psychology
were a science, it would have to
give up consciousness as its
subject matter and become
instead the science of behaviour.
- Although Watsons views shaped the evolution of psychology for
many decades, but his ideas did not go unchallenged.Gestalts
and Sigmund Frued (both psychologists) had different views on
how psychology should develop.
- FREUD BRINGS THE UNCONSCIOUS INTO THE PICTURE
- During frauds medical practice, he treated people troubled by psychological
problems. Such as irrational fears, obsessions, and anxieties, with an innovative
procedure he called psychoanalysis.
- According to freud,
the unconscious
contains, thoughts,
memories, and
desires that are well
below the surface of
conscious
awareness; which
exerts great
influence on
behaviour.
- Frueds psychoanalytic theory attempts to
explain personality, motivation, and mental
disorders by focusing on unconscious
determinants of behaviour.
- HIs theory gained influence only very slowly, but where it
did get noticed, it had considerable impact. By 1920 The
Psychoanalytic theory was widely known around the world,
but it continued to meet with considerable resistance in
psychology.
- According to Horstein,
by the 1940's,
"Psychoanalysis was
becoming so popular it
threatened to eclipse
psychology entirely."
- BEHAVIOURISM FLOURISHES
- B.F Skinner's impact on
society was significant; in fact
he became arguably the most
famous scientist of his time.
- Although Skinner
was influenced by
Watson's
methodological
behaviourism and
by Pavlov's work
on conditioned
reflexes, he
eventually
developed a
system based on
his own philosophy
of a radical
behaviourism.
- "Organisms tend to repeat responses that lead to
positive outcomes, and they tend not to repeat
responses that tread to neutral or negative outcomes"
Despite its simplicity this principle turns out to be
quite powerful.
- Skinner showed that he could exert remarkable
control over the behaviour of animals by
manipulating the outcomes of their responses
- According to Skinner people
are controlled by their
environment, not by
themselves. In Short,
Skinner arrived at the
conclusion that free will is
an illusion.
- There is no doubt that Skinner
significantly impacted the developing
field of psychology. His influence went
beyond academia, for some time he was
the face of psychology.
- THE HUMANISTS REVOLT
- Beginning in
the 1950's, the
diverse
opposition to
behaviourism
and
psychoanalytic
theory blended
into a loose
alliance that
eventually
became a new
school of
thought called
"humanism"
- Humanism is a theoretical orientation
that emphasizes the unique qualities of
humans, especially their freedom and
their potential for personal growth.
- The most prominent architects of the humanistic
movement have been Carl Rogers and Abraham
Maslow. Both he and Maslow maintain that to
fully understand peoples behaviour, psychologists
must take into account the fundamental human
drive toward personal growth.
- More generally, the humanists
have argued eloquently for a
different picture of human
nature than those implied by
psychoanalysis and
behaviourism.
- PSYCHOLOGY COMES OF AGE AS A PROFESSION
- The 1950's saw psychology come into a
profession. Their work falls within the
domain of applied psychology, the
branch of psychology concerned with
everyday, practical problems.
- Today, the broad umbrella of applied psychology
covers a variety of professional specalties,
including school psychology, industrial and
organizational psychology, and counselling
psychology.
- COGNITION AND NEUROSCIENCE
- Cognition
refers to the
mental
processes
involved in
acquiring
knowledge.
In other
words,
Cognition
involves
thinking to
conscious
experience.
- Congnition
theorits have
argued that
psychology must
study internal
mental events to
fully understand
behaviour.
- The 1950's and the
1960's also saw many
discoveries that
highlighted the
interrelations among
mind, body, and
behaviour.
- Advocates of the
biological or
neuroscience
perspective maintain
that much of our
behaviour can be
explained in terms of
structures of and
process in the brain.
- Interest in the
neuroscience
approach to
psychology
has increased
dramatically in
the past few
years and is
pervasive
across all
areas, of
psychology,
including
development,
clinical,
personality,
and social
psychology.
- THE
EMERGENCE
OF
EVOLUTIONARY
PSYCHOLOGY
- This renewed
focus on
evolutionary
principles in
psychology has
its roots earlier
human and
comparative
research.
- Evolutionary
psychology
examines
behavioural
processes in
terms of their
adaptive
value for
members of a
species over
the course of
many
generations.
- The 1960's and 1970's
brought major
breakthroughs in the
field of evolutionary
biology .
- By the mid 1990's, it became clear
that psychology was witnessing the
birth of its first major, new
theoretical perspective since the
cognitive revolution in the 1950's
and 1960's.
- THE POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
MOVEMENT
- Seligman was inspired to
launch a new initiative within
psychology that came to be
known as the "Positive
Psychology Movement" from his daughter.
- Seligman went on to
argue convincingly that
the field of psychology
had historically devoted
too much attention to
pathology, weakness,
damage, and ways to
heal suffering. He
acknowledged that this
approach had yielded
valuable insights and
progress, but he argued
that it also resulted in an
unfortunate neglect of
the forces that make life
worth living.
- Positive psychology uses
theory and research to
better understand the
positive, adaptive,
creative, and fulfilling
aspects of human
existence.
- The PPM has also led to the
development of interventions and
exercise designed to promote well
being.