In psychology, we have the five schools of thought. Structuralism, Functionalism, Behaviorism, Gestalt Psychology, and Psychoanalysis. Famous psychologists used all of these schools of thought throughout history. Some were kept around and some ended. They all had an effect on psychology in their own way. We will discuss the major themes and concepts from each of the schools of thought. Structuralism became the first school of thought and some of the ideas associated with the structuralist school were advocated by the founder of the first psychology lab, Wilhelm Wundt. One of his students, a man named E.B. Titchener, would establish and name structuralism, although he broke away from many of Wundt’s ideas and at times even misrepresented
Gestalt Psychology focuses primarily on elementistic nature of Wundt’s work. The foundation of Wundt’s psychology were sensory elements. Gestalt psychologists made this the target of their opposition. Watson’s behavior began its attack on Wundt and Titchener and on functionalism in 1912. Eventually they would become to oppose each other. Gestalt psychology came from the research study conducted in 1910 by Max Wertheimer while going on vacation riding a train to Germany. He got the idea for an experiment about seeing motion when no actual motion occurred. He left the train, abandoning his plans, purchased a toy stroboscope and verified his insight in a preliminary way. The stroboscope, a forerunner of the motion picture camera, rapidly projects a series of different pictures on the eye, producing apparent motion. He later did extensive research at the University of Frankfurt (Schultz, et al., 2012). The fifth school of thought is Psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis in the beginning was distinct from mainstream psychological thought in methods, subject matter, and goals. The subject matter is psychopathology, or abnormal behavior which was relatively neglected by other schools of thought. The primary method was clinical observation rather than controlled laboratory experiments. Psychoanalysis deals with the unconscious which was virtually ignored by other systems of thought (Schultz, et al., 2012). Psychoanalysis was meant
Psychoanalysis covers a broad class of scientific methods. Psychoanalysis is a system of psychological theory and therapy that aims to treat mental disorders by investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the mind and bringing repressed fears and conflicts into the conscious mind by techniques such as dream interpretation and free association. One method of psychoanalysis I like to use on my clients is the Ink Blot test. This is used for associative responses (Example of Psychoanalysis, n.d.). The ink blot test is also called the Rorschach test. It is a method of psychological evaluation. I use these tests in attempt to examine the personality characteristics and emotional functioning of my patients. The ink blot test is used in diagnosing underlying thought disorders and differentiating psychotic from non-psychotic thinking. This happens in cases where the patient is reluctant to openly admit to psychotic thinking (Online Rorschach Test,
Psychoanalysis is a theory that explores personality traits on the conscious and unconscious level. According to TheFreeDictionary.com, “Psychoanalysis is the most intensive form of an approach to treatment called psychodynamic therapy. Psychodynamic refers to a view of human personality that results from interactions between conscious and unconscious factors. The purpose of all forms of psychodynamic treatment is to bring unconscious mental material and processes into full consciousness so that the patient can gain more control over his or her life” (Psychoanalytic Treatment). Sigmund Freud is the founder of the Psychoanalysis Theory. He had many followers. One of those followers was Jung. As time went on, Jung’s perspective on personality
Psycho analytical approach believed that human personality is controlled by our subconscious thought therefor to understand conscious we have to understand what is in the human mind.
Psychology is the study of the mind, its biology, and behavior if the individual. The father of psychology, Wilhelm Wundt, used objective measurement and controlled analyzing to find and emphasize separation between psychology and philosophy (McLeod). Wundt opened the Institute for Experimental Psychology at the University of Leipzig in Germany in 1879, using his background in physiology to study reactions and sensations (McLeod). There is no doubt that he, along with the later help of Sigmund Freud, launched what is now modern psychology. Psychology and its research helped the world understand the inner workings of the mind and how it affects everyone around us.
The main contemporary forms of psychodynamic treatment are psychoanalysis, which is intensive and long term and psychodynamic psychotherapy, which relies on the same principles but is more conversational. Researchers have found that all psychotherapies are relatively effective, although some treatments are superior for some disorders. According to Renner, Morrissey, Mae, Feldman and Majors (2011), there are four major approaches to therapy for psychological disorders. Psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive and humanistic approaches each have their own characteristics in relation to therapy. Psychodynamic therapists share the belief that a patient’s psychological disorder is the result of the person’s unconscious.
Therapies in psychology continue to grow, evolve and change for the benefit of the patient. Past treatments have been used a building blocks to advance the value of each previous psychoanalysis. The past cures or studies are known as structuralism, functualism, behaviorism, gestalt psychoanalysis, and psychoanalysis and in the future we will look bad seed syndrome.
Titchener, who was a one student of Wundt, on the other hand, described his system as structuralism, which involves the analysis of the structure of the mind. Tichener broke down consciousness into elemental feelings and sensations. Wundt held the belief that consciousness was vital in scientific psychology, thus dependent on structuralism. He used introspection to study the functions of the mind occurring in active experience. It is however, imperative to note that Wundt’s introspection could not be used to establish higher functions of the mind. He divided the active experiences as feelings and sensations (Titchener, 1915).
Psychology is the investigation of the mind and how it processes and directs our thoughts, actions and conceptions. However, in 1879 Wilhelm Wundt opened the first psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig in Germany. Nevertheless, the origins of psychology go all the way back thousands of years starting with the early Greeks. This foundation is closely connected to biology and philosophy; and especially the subfields of physiology which is the study of the roles of living things and epistemology, which is the study of comprehension and how we understand what we have learned. The connection to physiology and epistemology is often viewed as psychology, which is the hybrid offspring of those two fields of investigation.
Psychology formerly integrated with the subject philosophy; these two formerly considered as one. Philosophy was the center of all learning but many academicians focus more on mathematics, physics, and biology. By the late 1800s, many philosophers created their own disciplines and the era of modern psychology slowly emerged. They soon began calling themselves psychologist. Authors have varying opinion about the founding fathers of the said science; some traces its roots as far as Aristotle and Plato (Benjafield 1996). Other authors believe that modern psychology started at the introduction of experimental psychology and for this reason, several experimental psychologist were also named the father of psychology including, Wilhelm Wundt and Gustav Fechner (Matson, 2009). However, one thing is for sure about psychology – it originated in Europe and introduced in the United States sometime in the late 1880s. Prior to this period, psychology crosses the realms of the paranormal because many practitioners at that time engaged themselves in psychic healing and spiritual quest. They were known as pseudo-psychologists and they were particularly popular in Germany. At the onset of modern psychology in the United State, the discipline focused more on the academics. American psychologists at that time put more emphasis on teaching rather than engaging themselves in research. It was at this period when several schools of thoughts emerged to explain behavior, cognition, and consciousness. In this paper, two of the earliest school of thoughts will be discussed. These are Structuralism and Functionalism. These two will be compared and contrasted.
Gestalt psychology was founded by German thinkers Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler and Kurt Koffka. They mainly focused on how people interpret the world around them. The Gestalt perspective formed partially as a response to the structuralism of Wilhelm Wundt, who focused on breaking down mental events and experiences to the smallest elements. Structuralists had failed in explaining the concept of ‘apparent motion’ and ‘illusory contours’.
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) officially opened an institution and laboratory for Psychology, in Leipzig, Germany. Many students were also taught here on experimental psychology. Wundt was touted as a great lecturer, and some of those taught, emulated Wundt's work and made a significant contribution to psychology; for example Edward Titchner (1867-1927), who introduced 'Structuralism' to the United States of America. This facility was renowned through out the world as the premise on which psychology became a science, because, it was there Wundt carried out extensive research on several hypotheses.
Psychology is concerned with the assessment, diagnosis, counseling and treatment of people concerning mental health. The three theories discussed above have thus focused on providing great contribution regarding the increased knowledge to the solving mental health problems. Psychoanalysis has explored several thoughts and has unearthed the aspect of unconscious mind; there is the theory of behaviorism that gives explanation on the reasons as to why people behave in a certain manner and finally the humanistic theory that is critical in explaining the nature of human beings in the
Psychodynamic approach studies unconscious activities in the mind to elaborate on human thoughts, feelings and behaviour (Bernistein, 2013). Freud was able to treat clients by making them recall negative aspects of their past through psychoanalytic techniques such as free association, dream interpretation and transference (Wollheim, 2008).
There have been many theorists when in comes to Psychology but the main three are Sigmund Freud, who discovered psychoanalysis, Carl Rogers, who founded the Humanistic approach, and Albert Bandura who discovered the social cognitive theory. All three of these individuals are important and their opinions are highly valued. Each of them gives different ideas and attempt to give an explanation about the way personality develops.
Psychology started, and had a long history, as a topic within the fields of philosophy and physiology. It then became an independent field of its own through the work of the German Wilhelm Wundt, the founder of experimental psychology and structuralism. Wundt stressed the use of scientific methods in psychology, particularly through the use of introspection. In 1875, a room was set-aside for Wundt for demonstrations in what we now call sensation and perception. This is the same year that William James set up a similar lab at Harvard. Wilhelm Wundt and William James are usually thought of as the fathers of psychology, as well as the founders of psychology?s first two great ?schools? Structuralism and Functionalism. Psychologist Edward B Titchner said; ?to study the brain and the unconscious we should break it into its structural elements, after that we can construct it into a whole and understand what it does.? (psicafe.com)
Psychology as a self conscious field was believed to have been founded in 1879 when German physiologist and philosopher Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychology laboratory at...