Foundations Of Psychology Wk 1
Foundations of Psychology Tiara Clark PSY/300 March 1, 2015 Mrs. Cara Patterson
Foundations of Psychology The study of psychology is fundamental to understanding mental processes and human behaviors. In the earlier years of psychology, there were two schools of thought that dominated: structuralism and functionalism. Structuralism focused on the structure and content of consciousness while functionalism focused on the function of psychological processes (Kowalski and Weston, 2011). Over time, psychology developed from different perspectives, each with their assumptions. In psychology, the major perspectives are the psychodynamic, the behaviorist, the evolutionary, and the cognitive. The psychodynamic perspective, founded on the principles of Sigmund Freud, rests on three fundamental assumptions (Kowalski & Weston, 2011). The first assumption is that people’s actions are in direct correlation with the thoughts and feelings they have predisposed in their mind. Thus, behavior is connected to feelings and emotions, for example, crying when sad, smiling when happy, and yelling when angry. As stated by Kowalski and Weston, the second is “many of these mental events occur outside of conscious awareness”. (2011) Under this assumption, these actions--crying, smiling, yelling—are done without conscious thought. The last assumption in this perspective is that many of the mental processes are in conflict with each other. The psychodynamic perspective and its theories have long been criticized for not being scientifically grounded. However, many theorists believe that this point of view focuses on the entire person and not just individual instances providing a fraction of one’s actions and behaviors (Kowalski & Weston, 2011). The behaviorist perspective, also known as behaviorism, was founded on the principles of Ivan Pavlov and focuses on the connection between external forces and behavior. In this
Foundations of Psychology The study of psychology is fundamental to understanding mental processes and human behaviors. In the earlier years of psychology, there were two schools of thought that dominated: structuralism and functionalism. Structuralism focused on the structure and content of consciousness while functionalism focused on the function of psychological processes (Kowalski and Weston, 2011). Over time, psychology developed from different perspectives, each with their assumptions. In psychology, the major perspectives are the psychodynamic, the behaviorist, the evolutionary, and the cognitive. The psychodynamic perspective, founded on the principles of Sigmund Freud, rests on three fundamental assumptions (Kowalski & Weston, 2011). The first assumption is that people’s actions are in direct correlation with the thoughts and feelings they have predisposed in their mind. Thus, behavior is connected to feelings and emotions, for example, crying when sad, smiling when happy, and yelling when angry. As stated by Kowalski and Weston, the second is “many of these mental events occur outside of conscious awareness”. (2011) Under this assumption, these actions--crying, smiling, yelling—are done without conscious thought. The last assumption in this perspective is that many of the mental processes are in conflict with each other. The psychodynamic perspective and its theories have long been criticized for not being scientifically grounded. However, many theorists believe that this point of view focuses on the entire person and not just individual instances providing a fraction of one’s actions and behaviors (Kowalski & Weston, 2011). The behaviorist perspective, also known as behaviorism, was founded on the principles of Ivan Pavlov and focuses on the connection between external forces and behavior. In this
References: Bereczkei, T. (2000). Evolutionary psychology: A new perspective in the behavioral sciences. European Psychologist, 5(3). Doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1027//1016-9040.5.3.175 Cognitive Approach (Psychology). (n.d.). Psychologist World. Retrieved from http://www.psychologistworld.com/cognitive/approach.php Evolutionary psychology. (n.d.). Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from http://www.iep.utm.edu/evol-psy/ Kowalski, R., & Westen, D. (2011). Psychology (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc Graham, G. (2010). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/behaviorism/