Psychology Theories
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Psychology has been around since the ancient Greeks, it comes from the roots of philosophy and physiology. Psychology took its root as a separate discipline in the late eightieth centuries. According to R. Gross, (2010), (pg 5-7) “Psychology became an academic discipline in eighteen seventy nine, when Wilhelm Wundt opened the first psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig in Germany”, this date has marked the official beginning of psychology as an academic discipline.
According to N. Benson,(2007), (pg2),””Psychology” comes from the two words: Psyche and Logos. The word psyche (pronounced “sigh-key”) is from the Greek word yuxn-meaning “breath of life” i.e. soul or spirit, loosely translated as MIND”. Although psychology is the study of mind and behaviour, some psychologist still believe that this is not the suitable way to define the word “psychology”, reason being that the mind is abstract, allowing them to mainly study behaviour due to the fact that it can be observed. Psychology focuses on how the interior (mind) communicates or expresses itself on the exterior (physical) of a human being. They are numerous areas that psychology has developed its studies and professions; for example; social psychology, focuses on how interaction impact individual and group behaviour, school psychology works in education system, and experimental psychology which focuses on researching the behaviour of human and animals.
In this assignment, I would explain the reasons for the development of Psychology. I would look at the different reasons of why the psychology movement made a significant impact in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, I would focus on the important turning points and breakthroughs in psychology. Finally, I would conclude with my thoughts on the different approaches.
In todays psychology studies, they are many different approaches that have emerged in the psychology field. An approach in psychology is a perspective of ones view, ideology and assumptions regarding humans behaviour. These approaches in psychology are made of various different types of theories that reinforce their studies. Psychology differentiates itself from sociology due to the fact that it focuses on individual as opposed to sociology which focuses on groups in society. Similar to sociology, psychology also got divided into two groups in the eightieth and ninetieth centuries, known as structuralism (structure of the mind) and functionalism (function of behaviour). Edward B.Tichener, a European, founder of structuralism, formed structuralists who used trained subject to break down consciousness through a process called introspection. Whereas in the eightieth centuries, functionalism founder, an American psychologist William James became one of the biggest influences in psychology, he mainly focused on how behaviour worked in accordance with environment, using observatory methods to do his research. Both structuralism and functionalism were early schools of thought, focused on consciousness but their conceptions were totally different. These two early schools of thought in the ninetieth centuries brought forward major arguments between American psychologists and European psychologists on who were right or wrong, which eventually led to more research and development in psychology.
Sigmund Freud is the founder or the birth father of psychodynamic approach sometimes known as psychoanalysis in the eightieth ands ninetieth centuries making his approach one of the most significant breakthroughs in psychology. Sigmund Freud ideology developed into a collection of theories, which formed the basis of the psychodynamic approach to psychology. Sigmund Freud mainly investigated the unconscious mind, which usually came out during the slip of tongue; he also believed that ones childhood had massive impact on ones adult way of behaving. Freuds theories were based only on what is patients confided in him through therapy, continues case studies making is theories not scientifically proven. He also believed that human being had very little choices in life meaning that ones life was shaped by their behaviour and childhood experiences. Psychodynamic approach based the mind (psyche) as the centre piece of the theory, dividing it into major parts which are the following; “Id”, this the amoral part of the mind, “Ego”, this is the rational, civilised and part of the mind,