The human mind and the way humans behave have been primary topics of study amongst historians for many years. Studies have been conducted in different professional areas to gain knowledge and understanding of humans, in an attempt to control behavior. The study of human behavior is known as behavioral psychology or behaviorism. The goal of early behaviorists and functionalists was to bring about a more reliable psychology. The behaviorists believed they would achieve this goal by excluding introspection and focus on the study of behaviorism.
This research paper seeks to address this branch of psychology in detail by explaining its meaning, the relationship between it and other fields of psychology and the differences as well as the similarities it has with these other fields. Further, the paper will also discuss the diverse research methods that are applicable with social psychology to determine how a person affects groups of people and how these groups affect an individual. Definition of Social Psychology Social psychology is an in-depth study of socialization. Gordon Allport (1985) defined it a discipline that utilizes scientific methods to understand as well as explain how thoughts, feelings and behaviors of human beings are influenced by the actual, implied or imagined presence of other people (Smith & Mackie, 2000). Cantril (1934) regards it as being the scientific learning o... ... middle of paper ... ..., 31(5), 297-330.
The central purpose of this essay is to critically discuss the importance of understanding human evolution and the history of psychology for the modern psychologist. For the human evolution, the essay will be addressing on how we and other species descended from our ancestors and how the different environment has helped to us to become more adaptable. Regarding the history of psychology, the essay will be discussing on how psychology branched off from the philosophy approach to become its own science. The essay will then go on discussing how the understanding of both human evolution and history of psychology would be used by modern psychologist. Every story has a beginning and an end.
Psychological Bulletin, 109(2), 163-203. Retrieved April 4, 2014, from the PsycArticles database. Salo, R., Henik, A., & Robertson, L. C. (2001). Interpreting Stroop interference: An analysis of differences between task versions. Neuropsychology, 15(4), 462-471.
A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), p.p. 308. Retrieved January 15, 2014, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0054346 Maslow, A. (1943).
Psychiatric News, 46(8), 1-1, 28. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/docview/864089271?accountid=27965 Shaw, B. F. (1977). Comparison of Cognitive Therapy and Behavior Therapy in the Treatment of Depression. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 45(4), 543-551. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.45.4.543 Wedding, D., & Corsini, R. (2014). Current Psychotherapies.
Classical conditioning explains how people learn behaviours through association and operant conditioning explains how the consequences of behaviours shape behaviour. Classical conditioning is related to learning by association, and refers to the conditioning of reflexes. During Pavlov’s experiment, it was determined that new external stimuli such as sights as sounds, with the original stimuli could be associated with reflexes. Operant conditioning involves learning through the consequences of behavioural responses. Skinner adapted the principles which were investigated by Thorndike, to explain how many aspects of human behaviour are acquired.
Psychology is define as the study of human and animal behavior and of the mind. Psychology is a science because new use research and empirical data to answer theories and make predictions to explain different phenomena. In science we use observation, experiment, analysis and asking questions. You also must do your background research and form a hypothesis. In psychology there are typically several different hypotheses.
The phenomenon introduced by Wundt into psychology was the experimental dimension of conducting exploration under controlled settings, presenting it as a feasible investigational science. His theory and thought structure description would further be enhanced and promoted by a staunch student, Titchener, who furthered the theorem under a psycho-representation of structuralism (McLeod, 2008). Wundt's tool of introspection in emotional trials had got critiqued with time as a non-scientific module, even with science-methods deploying it in study by latter psychologists. The ou... ... middle of paper ... ...w.simplypsychology.org/wundt.html Plucker, J. (2013, November 7).
The key assumption of cognitivism is that people have different mental states each of which can lead to a different response. The manipulation of these different states can be described in terms of algorithms all of which has become the defining paradigm of psychology (Sperry 1993) One major contribution that cognitivism had on the study of psychology as a science came in the form of psychological theories. It returned the conditioning theory as well as comparative psychology back to a position where they recognized the there were a number of qualitative differences between the psychological processing of humans and animal (Greenwood, 1999). This is as a result of the empirical prob... ... middle of paper ... ...an Psychology. American psychologist, 47(2), 308-318 Robins R.W, Gosling S.D & Craik R.H (1999) An Empirical Analysis of Trends in Psychology.