The Contribution of Different Approaches to Psychology for the Development of Modern Psychology

Psychology is a vast field which consists of theories and approaches where it involves certain assumptions on human behavior. How they function and the aspects of the behavior that needs to be studied, in addition to the research methods that are needed to be followed in order to understand it thoroughly. These approaches provide characteristic viewpoints and emphasize different factors. These approaches have contributed towards the development of modern psychology in various ways.

There are many historical approaches that lead to determining of psychology to the field it is today. Structuralism arose as the first approach in the history of psychology.it was the study of sensation and perception that set up our conscious mental experiences. Wilhelm Wundt contributed towards structuralism and is now considered as the father of psychology .he established the first psychological laboratory in 1879, in Leipzig, Germany. The dedication of this laboratory towards psychology is marked as the commencing of modern psychology. However, Wundt’s greatest contribution towards modern psychology was his method of introspection which discovered conscious mental processes by asking individuals to look deeper and state their sensations and perceptions. Even though psychologists today greatly criticize his method of introspection as unscientific, it considerably contributed to the development of psychology towards experiments in a more scientific manner.

Functionalism arose from structuralism where it studies the function of conscious mind rather than the structure and it was focused on how our minds adapt to the changing environment. James prospected the mental activities as having developed through ages of evoluti...

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... hence making it equally helpful towards the development of modern psychology.

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