The interest in explaining human conduct was initiated by Erudite Greek thinkers who incorporated
the knowledge and concepts of Physiology and Philosophy to comprehend it better. Although, the
concept of Psychology as a formally and individual science emerged in the late 1800s. This scientific
field studies various aspects of the behaviour in human beings that includes the conscious and
unconscious part of the mind, brain functions, personality, and social-cultural influences. Considering
philosophers utilised rationality and examination procedures in their theories, psychologists employ
scientific methodologies to expound human demeanour and thoughts. William Wundt was a German
physiologist, considered the pioneer of Modern Psychology. Most of his outstanding contributions
were creating the first experimental laboratory in the European continent (Hothersall. 2003). The
writing of his major work was named the "Principles of Physiological Psychology (1980), where he
endorsed that the statement of psychophysical parallelism, which explain that every physical event
has a mental counterpart, and each particular action has a physical one. The experimental reflection
was the method that Wunt promoted to portray and analyse the self-internal considerations and
awareness and tried to apply exploratory techniques to examine inner mental proceeding responses.
Wundt's work in brain science was a pivotal foundation for future branches of Psychology, and most
of his students became distinguished researchers such as William James (Functionalism). During the
1900s, Psychology experienced a dramatic change with the incorporation of Sigmund Freud, author
of Psychoanalysis. Most of his work and projects were with clinical patients who suffered hysteria; this
circumstance led him to propose that childhood experiences and unconscious impulses dictated the
behaviour and personality in adulthood (Benjamin, 2007). In the early 20th century, Behaviourism
appeared with a novel perspective emphasising observable behaviour. Ian Pavlov and Jhon Watson
were faithful supporters of it. Later in the 20th century, Carl Rogers and psychologists, just as Abraham
Maslow with the humanistic psychological school (Portolano & Evans,2005), mentioned that selfdetermination, free will and the hierarchy of needs are part of this theory. The cognitive perspective
(Albert Bandura,2003) replaced the previous one because of its Social Learning Theory that includes
perception, decision-making memory, languages, etcetera (cognitive process). This essay will discuss
the following Psychology approaches: Cognitive with a complementary theory and supporting
experiment that will provide us a comprehensive understanding, followed by its antecessor
Behaviourist, and conclude Human-centred approach. Cognitive Psychology includes the action of
reinforcement that leads to a greater engagement to a specific behaviour; this approach includes
animals and human beings as the subject of study and investigation. It suggests that the brain can be
compared to a computer with the same methodical process, which elects, processes, classifies and
uses the information. As opposed to Behaviourism observation, cognitive psychologists highlight the
mental process such as reasoning, attention, analysing, decision making in their importance on the
execution of actions. The five senses acquire the external inputs (sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste),
followed by initiating a cognitive process that includes the following procedures: perception, judging,
reasoning, evaluating, learning, and remembering. Those external additions are stored in the memory
(internal inputs) and is retrieve when the moment requires, empirical methods are implemented to
measure the cognition, these could be with the execution of experiments that are conducted in a
supervised environment, the comparison where individuals with opposite abilities participate, cases
studies and medical methodology to reveal when the brain is operative and with scans observe which
parts are functioning (PET, EEG, FMRI). In other words, internal mental processes cannot be observed
directly, but the inference might be that a person is thinking based on how they act. The role of
"Schemas" is introduced in this approach, and they are "little packs of information" that helps to
interpret incoming facts speedily and effectively. However, it could lead to distortion of information
that has been selected and decipher environmental stimuli using schemas that might not be relevant;
thus, this causes inaccuracy. Francious Donders was of the most notorious researchers who developed
the science of the mind. It was demonstrated in one of his most famous experiments where he
investigates Mental Chronometry which, in simple words signifies, the length of time that an individual
decides. Nowadays, the methodology that it was applied is usual practical by contemporary
psychologists. Behaviourism is one the most common approach applied by psychologists and clinicians
to explain behaviour in humans (Prilleltensky & Fox 199, p4). The behaviourist branch is focus mainly
on visible conduct or actions, ignoring the internal process such as feelings or thoughts. This
perspective claims that the response of a stimulus in behaviour is mainly influenced by the
environment or external factors—the American Psychologist. B.F Skinner performed crucial research
in operating conditioning; as a behaviourist, his work was concentrated on how behaviour was
affected by its consequences. He acknowledged that the outcomes stimulate behaviour, and as a part
of his investigation, Skinner elaborated a chamber that allowed the detailed study of the concept of
modifying behaviour through reinforcement and punishment. This device recognised as an operative
conditioning chamber or "Skinner box" has remained a crucial resource for investigators, analysing
behaviour in the context of his experimentation; Skinner's focus on positive and negative
reinforcement of learned behaviours had a lasting impact on psychology that slightly diminished since
the growth of research in cognitive psychology despite the fact that this conditioned learning is still
applied in human behavioural modification. Skinner was the author of two controversial science books
about the importance of operant conditioning for creating happier lives. Some arguments for his
approach in operant conditioning, organisms learn to associate a behaviour and its consequences.
Operant conditioning identifies the interaction between positive and negative reinforcement and
punishment regarding operant conditioning. The familiar words such as positive-negative
reinforcement and punishment in an operant conditioning context do not mean good and bad.
Positive means that have been added an element, and negative means an element is removed.
Reinforcement signifies that behaviour is increased, and punishment linked to the decrease of
behaviour either can be positive or negative. One and all reinforce positive or negative increase the
likelihood of a behavioural response; all punish positive or negative decrease the likelihood over
behavioural response. In positive reinforcement, a desirable stimulus is implemented to increase the
behaviour in negative reinforcement, the removal of an unwanted stimulus to increase the behaviour.
In positive punishment, an undesirable stimulus is introduced to decrease behaviour; in negative
punishment, an aversive stimulus is removed to reduce the behaviour. Skinners studied rats and
pigeons in an operant conditioning chamber (Skinner box); he understood that the information from
the animals generalises to human behaviour. The rat (exploratory creature) pressed a lever that
delivered food to provoke the same action and reinforce those behaviours; a reward must be included.
The Psychodynamic approach states that the old behaviour can be explained in terms of inner conflicts
in mind. Sigmund Freud (most notable represent) highlights the role of the unconscious mind, the
structure of the personality and the influence on the childhood experiences on individuals. Freud
believes that the unconscious mind determines most of our behaviour and is motivated by
unconscious emotional drives. This approach includes the term "tripartite personality ", and according
to Freud, personality is composed of three parts: the ID, the natural part, the instincts and drives of
the personality (innate desire, pleasure-seeking, aggression and sexual impulses present at birth) it
demands instant gratification of needs. The Ego is motivated by the reality principle and mediates the
conflict between ID and the Superego, and it is a defence mechanism to achieve this. Super Ego
develops from three to five years, and it is more a bit motivated by the morality principle. It punishes
the Ego for guilt for wrongdoing. To be mentally healthy and have emotional stability, the Ego must
be able to balance the demands of the Ego and the Super Ego. If the super Ego is dominant, the
individual might develop a neurosis or depression, and if the ID is dominant, the individual might
develop psychosis such as schizophrenia. It is believed all, according to this psychological view, that
the mind is divided into three: conscious mind (access effortlessly), preconscious and the unconscious
(part of the mind that cannot be accessed without the help of a trained psychoanalyst). When
unconscious conflicts between the ID and the Superego cannot be solved, the Ego creates anxiety and
to reduce this anxiety; we use defence mechanisms including repression ( sexual or aggressive urges
or painful childhood memories that are repressed), displacement (an impulse may be redirected from
its original target onto a more acceptable) and denial (refuse the reality and not acceptance of facts).
The case of Anna O. conducted by Breuer might be essential to comprehend Psychoanalysis, Anna
who whose real name was Bertha went to treatment under the supervision of Breuer. Her symptoms
such as hallucinations, headaches, blurred vision, dissociate disorder, etcetera led to the diagnosis
that she was suffering "Hysteria", and the method of treatment was "The Talking Method", which
appears in their book "Studies of Hysteria" (1895). The conclusion of this essay was to provide the
basic knowledge to understand the origin of Psychology as part of the science field and briefly define
three main approaches those theories, findings, and experiments have helped to obtain a professional
insight into the complexity of the human being.
Introduction to Psychology 1
Psyc-1124-MO2-2020-21
Tutor : Abigail Jackson
001170730
History of Psychology
(This information has been the recent update because it was not include in previous one , first one
sent)
Reference
Benjamin, L. T. (2007). A Brief History of Modern Psychology. Malden, MA, USA: Wiley -Blackwell
Publishing.
Pickren, W. E. & Dewsbury, D. A. (2002). Evolving Perspectives on the History of Psychology.
Washington, DC: APA.
Prilleltensky, I. & Fox, D. 1997, Critical Psychology: An Introduction, Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Prilleltensky, I. 1992 Humanistic Psychology, Human Welfare and the Social Order. The Journal of Mind
And Behaviour, Autumn, Volume 13, Number 4 ps 315-327
Hernegenhahn, B. (2008). An Introduction to the History of Psychology. New York: Cengage.
Hunt, M. (2007). The Story of Psychology. New Jersey: Anchor.
Hothersall, D. (2003). History of Psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill.