Foundations of Psychology There are many schools of thought in psychology, most psychologists use a combination of the different theories but some believe only one is accurate. It depends on what answer we are looking for and what our thoughts are on the different theories.
Behavioral Neuroscience/ Biopsychology Biopsychology is the field that investigates the electrical and chemical processes in the nervous system that creates emotions, and behavior in a person. They study when there is trauma to the head it can cause a person’s behavior to change as in the famous case of Phineas Gage, a rod had gone through his brain causing damage to his brain that was so severe that his personality changed (Kowalski & Westen, p.6, 2011). A major issue is the localization of function where as stated by the authors Kowalski & Westen (2011) “different parts of the brain control different aspects of functionality” (p.7).
Cross- Cultural Psychology Cross – cultural psychology is a field in which they study if phenomena occurs the same in a particular group of people. They believe that one’s character is effected by their culture, values, and way of thinking.
Introspection
In 1879 Wilhelm Wundt started the first psychological lab (Kowalski & Westen, p. 9, 2011). The method he used here was introspection where trained observers verbally reported everything they thought when given a stimulus or task. The objects where varied and from their responses he can conclude that the basic elements of consciousness are sensations and feelings (Kowalski & Westen, 2011).
Structuralism
One of Wundt’s students Edward Titchner took Wundt’s ideas of introspection and tried to make a “table of elements of the human consciousness, much like the periodic table developed by chemists” (Kowalski & Westen, 2011, p.9). Where Wundt believed using many theories Titchner believed