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
Most psychologists' today would agree that childhood trauma and family relationships have an impact on a developing child. 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. According to Freud there are different stages in the early years. However, the psychoanalytic approach did provide important contributions to psychology. Another criticism of behaviourism is that theories are mostly based on work with non-human animals. In 1900, Sigmund Freud, a neurologist living in Vienna, published his psychoanalytic theory of personality. For the behaviourist, learning is obtained through the operation of conditioning and the linking of a stimulus with a response. The behavioural approach is reductionist it reduces the complexity of human behaviour to a few principles of learning. The most important of these stages is the phallic stage during which all children experience the Oedipus complex. In addition, Hans's therapy was conducted mainly by his own father, who supported Freud's ideas. Watson also completely denied the existence of the mind or consciousness. Freud remains a dominating figure, for or against whom virtually all therapists feel compelled to take a stand'. The psychoanalytical approach is concentrated on the mind and the unconscious while the behavioural approach is critical of other approaches that concerns themselves with the mind.
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