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Approaches to Psychology

The word psychology is derived from the Greek psyche (mind, soul or spirit) and logos (discourse or study). Literally, then, psychology is the ‘study of the mind’. Psychology came from three main areas of study, which are philosophy, physics and biology. Greek philosophers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle outlined many of the problems in psychology in the 5th century BC. Darwin’s theory of evolution also had an impact on psychology. In 1879 Wilhelm Wundt opened the first psychological laboratory at the University of Leipzig in Germany. Wundt and his colleagues were trying to investigate the mind through introspection by observing and analysing the structure of their own conscious mental process. For the first time scientists applied scientific investigation methods to the study of mental processes.

However, by the early twentieth century introspection was being questioned by an American psychologist, John B. Watson who studied behaviourism. The school of behaviourism itself was influenced by the functionalist school of psychology, founded by John Dewey in 1886 (Handout). Darwin's theory of evolution and the idea of the 'survival of the fittest' influenced the functionalist's. To try and understand human behaviour they stu

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Watson also completely denied the existence of the mind or consciousness.

For the behaviourist, learning is obtained through the operation of conditioning and the linking of a stimulus with a response. These stages of psychosexual development include the oral stage, anal stage, phallic stage, latency stage and the genital stage. Behaviour is determined by the pursuit of things that have been positively reinforced in the past, for instance an athlete will compete because he/she is praised for winning. Both approaches have been modified and built on by theorists and researches critical of the original theories, thereby making a huge contribution in the process. Thorndike who built puzzle boxes for cats in 1898. The behavioural approach is reductionist it reduces the complexity of human behaviour to a few principles of learning. Watson believed that the majority of all behaviour is learned after birth and that learning is obtained through the operation of conditioning, and the linking of a stimulus with a response. Many psychologists regard the aims of behavioural psychology, to predict and control, with suspicion. Freud theory is built on the studies of neurotic Viennese women and is therefore not valid when assessing healthy women or for that sake in assessing men. Children are very similar to one another, and tend to develop in the same way. In 1920 Watson and Rayner conducted an experiment with Little Albert an 11 month old baby where the UCS was a hammer striking a steel bar behind Albert’s head. Eysenck a behaviour therapist regards the little Albert experiment as a demonstration of how all phobias are acquired in everyday life. ‘Little Hans’ was Freud’s only child patient and Freud cited his case studies of ‘Little Hans’ as supporting his Oedipus complex four years after he had formulated his theory. The most important of these stages is the phallic stage during which all children experience the Oedipus complex.

Approximate Word count = 1651
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

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