hey everyone here is the last paper I submitted to my Psychology Prof. still hasn't graded it yet - wonder what he's doing with all that money hes been getting paid as a teacher for if he aint grading papers -oO-
Psychology Studies
The science of Psychology has always varied through time. While some feel strongly it is based on behavior, others feel just as strongly that it is based upon thought processes and functions. There really is no right or wrong view on how it should be studied and applied. Even the oldest Psychological perspectives helped shape the field into what it is today. This paper will discuss three different outlooks on the matter: structuralism, cognitive, and behavioral.
Structuralism was the very first perspective of psychology and was begun by a man named Wilhelm Wundt. He used a method known as introspection where subjects catalogued their own individual experiences of the conscious mind. The belief was that the mind could be broken down to basic units and studied similarly to the way someone would study chemistry and physics. Any participants gave verbal reports of their experiences such as rather than saying broccoli was a vegetable they focused on the shape, texture, color, and taste of it. The big problem with this was, however, as no two people are alike finding similarities among the reports was difficult. On a more complex level, he proposed that there was a tridimensional state that contributed to feeling and the conscious. He proposed there was equilibrium between pleasure-displeasure, tension-relaxation, and excitement-calm/depression and that by analyzing a person’s feelings it would have a place somewhere upon this tri-level of emotion and thus explain how the individuals’ conscious is operating. Basically proposing that being conscious is composed of only sensation, feeling, and images. His partner, Edward B. Titchener, placed more emphasis upon the imagery aspect of this theory. He tested for sight, sound, reaction-time, and a wide array of other tests and some are still used today – such as word association. Though his work did not last the test of time, its basic underlying principles are carried on through cognitively oriented psychologists.
The cognitive outlook was mainstreamed from the 1960s onward, when the Center for Cognitive Studies was founded at Harvard University by George Miller and Gerome Bruner. This area of psychology focused more on actual processes of the brain – like thought and memory retention and creation – and was aided by the invention of the computer. With the computer came the ability to simulate human thought processes at a much higher level of detail and increased – not only the research done in this field – but also raised interest of it to others. This process of psychology focused intently upon how thinking occurred, where memories are stored, how memories are made, and how they are utilized. Miller taught at Harvard, Princeton, and the Rockefeller universities and has received numerous awards from being elected into the National Academy of Sciences in 1962, to being granted the American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Contribution Award in 1963 and later becoming the president of the American Psychological Association in 1969. Sadly, due to the increasing involvement in the Vietnam War, government funding to this organization was cut and its cessation was shortly thereafter followed. His final view towards defining the proper subject matter of psychology came at the end of his distinguished career when he said “Consciousness constitutes the natural phenomenon that should be the primary object of scientific investigation in this field.” (Encyclopedia of Psychology, Vol. 5 p 271, 2000)
The final perspective glanced at will be that of behavioral psychology, which focused more upon observable behaviors than speculation of mental processes such as thought or memory. It began in the early 1900’s when Ivan Pavlov began studying the indigestion of dogs. He noticed that the dogs would salivate more heavily – not only when they saw or smelled the food – but also when the keys to unlock the room they were kept in made noise and jingled. The animals had learned to associate this noise the same as sight and smell when it came to food. This one small observation later lead to the discovery and understanding of how organisms learn to associate events within their environment, providing a basis for helping those with such diseases as autism and the occasional unruly child. After Pavlov, John B. Watson took up the same field of study and pushed more to study this field in greater depth, convinced it would lead to huge advancement.
After Pavlov and Watson came the renowned B. F. Skinner, who’s simple approach to psychology may be stated: behavior changes as a result of its consequences. In layman’s terms it would be that free will does not determine our behavior but rather our surrounding environment and its consequences that shape individual behavior. Some of Skinner’s methods have been used to teach people with schizophrenia how to speak after years of being mute and has also had an impact upon the safety of manufacturing plants. If you have gone to an amusement park and seen trained animals such as dolphins and whales performing shows, this is a modern day example of Skinners’ principles in action.
While the methods and area of study may be different between these three outlooks towards the human psyche, the one main drive is clear – to be able to better understand why it is people do the things they do. Why are some individuals who grow up in bad neighborhoods able to leave that life behind and go on to become remarkable success stories while others give themselves over to the life of crime that is so readily available to them? Why do some that are given everything lead such horrible, unproductive lives? Why do those children behave so much better than the ones right next to them? These are the questions that both sides are attempting to answer – just in a different way. Hoping to see a book on understanding women one day.
References
Blumenthal, A. (2000) Miller, George Armitage. Encyclopedia of Psychology, Vol. 5 (pp. 270-271) American Psychological Association. doi: 10.1037/10520-116
WUNDT’S THEORIES/DOCTRINES/PRINCIPLES. (2006). In Elsevier’s Dictionary of Psychological Theories. Retrieved from
http://www.credoreference.com/entry/estpsychtheory/wundt_s_theories_doctrines_principles Davis, S. F. Psychology 5th Edition (2007) Ch's 1 & 2 retrieved on Nov. 9, 2009 from
http://www.mycampus.aiu-online.com/Classroom/BookshelfPersonal knowledge and experience
Tue Nov 17, 2009 9:53 pm
