...30, 2015 General Psychology Early and Modern Perspectives of Psychology Throughout the years many great minds have opened up to the challenge in opening up to study how the human brain functions and what it can cause a person to do and feel; this is called Psychology. These theorists have each came up with their own ideas of why humans, as well as animals, function the way it does and even though each and every one of them have very different ideas it does mean that they are wrong. As time has passed these theories have become bigger, brighter and with more time they will more than likely continue this research which has a lot questions still unanswered. For example, in the late 1870’s and early 1900’s the study of psychology had just started in many places around the world. One of the first people to start this research was Wilhelm Wundt, also known as the “father of psychology”. He was the first to open a psychological laboratory in Leipzig, Germany around 1879 where he studied non-physical structure of the mind as his first attempt to bring objectivity and measurement to psychology. Wundt had a student by the name of Edward Titchener who believed that every experience could be broken down into individual emotions. Titchener also applied introspection method to thoughts and physical sensations; all this was known as Structuralism. During this time there were many minorities such as women, Hispanics and African Americans that contributed to psychology but were not actually...
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...While a few different schools of thought dominated the early years of psychology, the number of topics studied by psychologists has grown dramatically since the early 1960s. Today, few psychologists identify their outlook according to a particular school of thought. While you may still find some pure behaviorists or psychoanalysts, the majority of psychologists instead categorize their work according to their specialty area and perspective. Every topic in psychology can be looked at in a number of different ways. For example, let’s consider the subject of aggression. Someone who emphasizes a biological perspective would look at the how the brain and nervous system impact aggressive behavior. A professional who stresses a behavioral perspective would look at how environmental variables reinforce aggressive actions. Another psychologist who utilizes a cross-cultural approach might consider how cultural and social influences contribute to aggressive or violent behaviors. The following are just a few of the major perspectives in modern psychology. The Biological Perspective The study of physiology played a major role in the development of psychology as a separate science. Today, this perspective is known as biological psychology. Sometimes referred to as biopsychology or physiological psychology, this perspective emphasizes the physical and biological bases of behavior. This perspective has grown significantly over the last few decades, especially with advances in our...
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...Karla G. Campos Psychology Class August 29, 2015 Historical Influences Do you know that psychology has been part of everyone’s live? Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental process of people and animals. You may not realize it, but you use psychology every day; when you know how to act in each place correctly. On the other hand, psychology has goals as description, explanation, prediction, and control. They help them to know and understand the humans’ behavior. As described, there are many perspectives of early and modern of psychology. We are going to start talking about the perspectives of early psychology. These are structuralism, functionalism, gestalt psychology, psychoanalysis, and behaviorism. Structuralism the earliest approach in modern psychology, founded by Wilhelm Wundt in 1879 in Germany, its goal was to evaluate the basic elements of a cognizant experience. Also, he was the father of psychology. One of Wundt’s students was Edward Tichener who brought the structuralism to America. They believed that every experience could be broken down into each emotion. After a while, in 1894, one of Titchener’s students was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in psychology. Regrettably, structuralism died in 1900s. On the other hand, functionalism was created by William James. Structuralism’s work was to how the brain allows humans...
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...The Foundations of Psychology Psychology is the scientific investigation of mental processes and behavior. Mental processes include how a person thinks, feels, remembers as well as a person’s behavior. When a doctor needs to understand a person they need to know the person’s biology, psychological experience, and cultural context. People’s experiences during their life from birth to adulthood are what shape how they feel and think. Early psychologists established several approaches and schools of thoughts of psychology. These schools of thought are known as the psychodynamic, behaviorist, cognitive and evolutionary perspectives. They came up with these by research and study which will be discussed throughout this paper. In many respects, these perceptions have progressed independently, and at the center of each are singularities the others tend to ignore (Kowalski & Westen, 2011). Despite their differences, each school of thought sought evolution for psychology as well as advancement of human understanding while remaining focused on the unique characteristics of contemporary psychology. Psychodynamic Perspective. The psychodynamic perspective belief is that most of the mental processes and emotions happen at the unconscious or subconscious levels, meaning below conscious awareness. Sigmund Freud was one of the most influential thinkers in the early twentieth century whose work in the psychodynamic...
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...The cognitive approach to human and comparative psychology rests on two main assumptions: 1) there are cognitive representations and processes that act on those representations 2) we can discover these representations and processes, albeit indirectly (Willingham, 2007). This approach offers a middle ground between B.F. Skinner’s cut-and-dry input—output relations and C.L. Hull’s hypothetical constructs and intervening variables. In the first case, there is no room for intermediary cognitive processes between stimulus and response, outside the realm of simple associative learning. In the second case, there is lacking an explicit scientific means by which to objectively observe the theoretical cognitive mechanisms in question. However, E. C. Tolman was one of the first psychologists to suggest that intermediary cognitive processes could be deduced through the results of scientifically rigorous experimentation (Zentall, 2002). It is on this very basic proposition, that theoretical cognitive processes can be inferred by observing behavior, which most informs the developmental milestones in the formation of the cognitive perspective as a branch of psychology. Development of Cognitive Psychology The development of the cognitive approach as a mainstream psychological perspective is marked by four major milestones: 1) the shortfalls of the behaviorist perspective of psychology 2) the ability for abstract constructs to account for the aforementioned shortfalls 3) the bridging of abstract...
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...History and Overview of Abnormal Psychology Gary D. Neer PSY/410 March 9th, 2012 Analu Sing History and Overview of Abnormal Psychology The science of abnormal psychology or known as psychopathology tends to be a controversial science. Within this science, there is no simple or direct answer, nor any precise definitions. As with the origin and still today, identifying normal from abnormal behavior is still challenging. However, to understand this science of mystery, one should look into the origin of abnormal psychology; including the challenges in defining what is abnormal psychology and categorizing normal and abnormal behavior, how abnormal psychology evolved, and analyze the psychosocial, biological, and socio-cultural theoretical models related to the development of abnormal psychology to come to a better understanding of abnormal psychology as a discipline. Origin of Abnormal Psychology Abnormal psychology has been a continuous debate throughout history. Psychologists have development many theories trying to explain psychological instability. Generally, history has place abnormal psychology (psychopathology) into three diverse explanations (Barlow & Durand, 2004).The mystical view regards abnormal behavior as a direct result of supernatural possession. Between 1800 B.C. and 1700 B.C, the Hammurabi’s, in the Mesopotamian region, viewed abnormal behavior as the self-possession of gods, ghosts, and spirits, which caused disease in a person’s body or mind (Hornstein...
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...Early Psychology: Perspectives and Theories 3 Early Theories of Psychology By: Jasmine N. Gresham AIU online: Course work unit one individual project SSCI206-1205D-01 Aspects of Psychology Short Description of each Perspective: Gestalt: Is a psychology term which means "unified whole". It refers to theories of visual perception developed by German psychologists in the 1920s. These theories attempt to describe how people tend to organize visual elements into groups or unified wholes when certain principles are applied. Founded by Max Wertheimer, was to some extent a rebellion against the molecularism of Wundt’s program for psychology, in sympathy with many others at the time, including William James. In fact, the word Gestalt means a unified or meaningful whole, which was to be the focus of psychological study instead. Behaviorism: hard core behaviorists believe that everything you do is because of conditioning. You are merely a puppet, an animal trained to act one way or another by your parents and society. Physiological: the name says it all - most everything you do or feel can be traced back to a chemical, neurological, physical reaction of some kind in your body. Examples that represent each perspective: * Example of Gestalt:...
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...The Diverse Nature of Psychology Marie Feltio PSY 490 February 9, 2015 The Diverse Nature of Psychology The field of psychology has its modern origin set just over 100 years ago and during the last 100 years, interest in the field has risen increasingly. Psychology is the scientific discipline that works to explain human emotion, cognition, actions, and motivations. The diverse nature of psychology is clearly defined in its 54 divisions of the American Psychological Association (APA) as each unit addresses a different perspective of psychology providing a distinct aspect of human interaction (Plante, 2011). Although the psychology field has its own diverse distinctions, it offers a variety of perspectives that respects and honors the individuality of every person regardless of background. The diverse nature of the field of psychology provides a greater ability of embodying the humanity as a whole because of its broad nature and diversity. Influence of Diversity on Major Concepts in Psychology Diversity poses an enormous influence on the major concepts in psychology. The cognitive-behavioral, humanistic and psychodynamic perspectives respectively represent different perceptions of human behaviors, each providing and exclusive theory on human nature. The variety of these perspectives and their respective variations are reflective of the diverse thinking among humanity. No person will perceive an event in the same way as another person, and the same should be noted for...
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...The Science of Psychology Chapter 1 Chapter 1 Learning Objective Menu • • • • • • • • • • • • • • LO 1.1 LO 1.2 LO 1.3 LO 1.4 LO 1.5 LO 1.6 LO 1.7 LO 1.8 LO 1.9 LO 1.10 LO 1.11 LO 1.12 LO 1.13 LO 1.14 Definition and goals of psychology Structuralism and functionalism Early Gestalt, psychoanalysis, and behaviorism Modern perspectives Skinner, Maslow and Rogers Psychiatrist, psychologist, and other professionals Psychology is a science; steps in scientific method Naturalistic and laboratory settings Case studies and surveys Correlational technique Experimental approach and terms Placebo and the experimenter effects Conducting a real experiment Ethical concerns in conducting research Principles of critical thinking LO 1.1 Definition and goals of psychology What is Psychology? • Psychology - scientific study of behavior and mental processes. • Behavior - outward or overt actions and reactions. • Mental processes - internal, covert activity of our minds. • Psychology is a science • Prevent possible biases from leading to faulty observations • Precise and careful measurement Menu LO 1.1 Definition and goals of psychology Psychology’s Four Goals 1. Description • • • What is happening? Why is it happening? Theory - general explanation of a set of observations or facts Will it happen again? How can it be changed? 2. Explanation 3. Prediction • • 4. Control Menu LO 1.2 Structuralism and functionalism Structuralism • Structuralism - focused...
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...Cognitive Psychology Definition Paper PSY 360 Cognitive Psychology Definition The cognitive approach to human and comparative psychology supports two major projections: 1) there are cognitive representations and processes that act on those representations (Willingham, 2007). 2) we can discover these representations and processes, albeit indirectly (Willingham, 2007). This approach proposes a consensus amongst B.F. Skinner’s cut-and-dry input²output relations and C.L. Hull’s hypothetical constructs and intervening variables. In the first case, there is limited access for intermediary cognitive processes among stimulus and response, independent from the domain of effortless associative learning. In the second case, there is lacking a definite scientific means by which to impartially observe the theoretical cognitive mechanisms at hand. Nonetheless, E. C. Tolman was one of the first psychologists to insinuate that intermediary cognitive processes could be determined through the results of scientifically meticulous experimentation. It is on this extremely complex proposal, that theoretical cognitive processes can be inferred by observing behavior, which most informs the developmental milestones in the formation of the cognitive perspective as a branch of psychology. Cognitive Psychology relates to developments, both past and present, in the investigation of the memory process, verbal communication, discernment, the ability to...
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...Psychological Perspective Paper Introduction Psychology is the study of human and animal behavior. There are various perspectives within psychology and the upcoming paragraphs deal with 6 psychological perspectives: Behavioral, Cognitive, Biological, Developmental, Psychodynamic, Sociocultural and Evolutionary. Psychological Perspectives All six perspectives seek to explore and examine human behavior and makes use of varying techniques in order to do so. Each perspective tries to search for answers to different questions, which exist about behavior. Each of these perspectives is different hence they have there own reasoning and explanation. Among the perspectives of psychology, many have been accepted some whereas others have had difficulty in being accepted. Behavioral Behavioral Psychology is a branch is psychology that claims that all behavior is learned through conditioning. The field is also known as behaviorism. The idea behind it is that all people acquire their behavior by interacting with their environment through classical condition or operant conditioning. Classical conditioning is the involuntary, or automatic, response to a stimulus (i.e. fight or flight response) where as Operant conditioning is that of a learned behavior through positive/negative reinforcement (consequences) or positive/negative punishment. (What Is Behavioral Psychology, 2011) Cognitive Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology that studies mental processes including how...
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...Psychology Perspectives 5 main psychology approaches: * Behaviorist Perspective * Psychodynamic Perspective * Cognitive Psychology * Biological Psychology * Evolutionary Psychology Behaviorism – different from most other approaches because they view people (and animals) as controlled by their environment and specifically that we are the result of what we have learned from our environment. * Concerned with how environmental factors (stimuli) affect observable behavior (response)) 2 main processes learn from environment: * Classical conditioning * Operant conditioning Behaviorism- scientific study of observable behavior working on basis that behavior can reduced to learned S-R (Stimulus-Response) units. Classical conditioning- studied by Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov. Looking into natural reflexes and neutral stimuli he managed to conditioning dogs to salivate to the sound of a bell through repeated associated of the sound of the bell and food. * Principles of CC applied in many therapies include systematic desensitization for phobias and aversion therapy. Operant conditioning- B.F. Skinner investigated voluntary and involuntary behavior. Skinner felt that some behavior could be explained by the person’s motive. Therefore behavior occurs for a reason, 3 main behavior shaping techniques: * Positive reinforcement * Negative reinforcement * Punishment Psychodynamic Perspective Sigmund Freud- many expressions from our daily...
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...American Intercontinental University Abstract Ever wonder how the human mind operates. It all started with early perspectives. Early perspective is the starting foundation of our modern day psychology. These perspectives will be the building blocks to a wide world of figuring out the mind and how we as humans think. The study of psychology is so deep, that we will not fully understand it all. In this paper I will inform you about each perspective and provide examples. Individual Project Week 1 Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. The discipline embraces all aspects of the human experience — from the functions of the brain to the actions of nations, from child development to care for the aged. In every conceivable setting from scientific research centers to mental health care services, "the understanding of behavior" is the enterprise of psychologists (APA, 2011). There are many early perspectives that surround psychology. These are behaviorism, cognitive, culture and diversity, evolutionary, functionalism, gestalt, humanistic, physiological, psychodynamic, and structuralism. Behaviorism is a theory of learning based upon the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning. An example of this perspective is learning how to tie your shoes, because it is a learned behavior that must be practice to achieve. Cognitive is form of psychology that examines internal mental processes, such as creativity, perception, thinking, problem solving, memory...
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...be able to: * Define psychology. –Psychology can be defined as the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. This means it is the science that looks to understand the things people do such as eat, walk, or talk, as well as the personal processes we go through such as feeling, thinking, dreaming, or remembering. * Identify the goals of psychology. There are 4 basic goals of psychology that are used to help understand behaviors and mental processes of individuals. 1. Describe the different behaviors that have occurred or what is happening. 2. Explain the causes of the behavior by telling why it occurred. 3. Predict how someone will behave in future circumstances. 4. Change a behavior by preventing unwanted outcomes or encouraging desired goals. * Recall the history of psychology. -1879, Wilhelm Wundt founded first psychological laboratory in Germany. He was interested in studying conscious experiences such as sensations and feelings. Waundt is considered to be the “Father of Psychology” -1890, Shortly after the opening of the 1st lab, early researchers Edward Titchener and William James brought the study of psychology to the U.S. They focused on the structures of the mind and the functions of human behavior. In 1890 James wrote the Principles of Psychology. -1892, The American Psychological Association was founded at Clark University, the 1st president was G. Stanley Hall. -1900’s, Another perspective of psychology that became prominent during...
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...Psychology Paper Historical Roots of Psychology Psychology as defined in the Merriam Webster dictionary is the science of mind and behavior. It has been around for 130 years in the realms of science. In the history of psychology, there are different people who studied different aspects under this topic. One of those people were Plato who was Aristotle’s teacher. He stated that the soul could exist even when away or separated from the body. This concept is known as “dualism”. “In dualism, ‘mind’ is contrasted with ‘body’” (http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2012/entries/dualism). Another person is René Descartes. He agreed with Plato about the concept of dualism and he believed that the “pineal gland” which is the small organ at the base of the brain involved in sleep was the “seat of the soul” (Saundra K. Ciccarelli, 2012). “The pineal gland played an important role in Descartes' account because it was involved in sensation, imagination, memory, and the causation of bodily movements” (http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2011/entries/pineal-gland/). By this information we can connect the pineal gland being the seat of the soul by it being involved in sensation, imagination, memory, and the cause of bodily movements. It is said to be the seat of the soul because it is where the soul from being “individual”, becomes one with the body. Gustav Fechneris who was a physician and a physicist, often credited with performing some of the first scientific experiments that...
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