Psychology is commonly defined as 'scientific ' study of human behaviour and cognitive processes. Broadly speaking the discussion focuses on the different branches of psychology, and if they are indeed scientific. However, it is integral in this to debate to understand exactly the major features of a science, in order to judge if psychology is in fact one. There must be a definable subject matter - this changed from conscious human thought to human and non-human behaviour, then to cognitive processes within psychology 's first eighty years as a separate discipline. Also, a theory construction is important. This represents an attempt to explain observed phenomena, such as Watson 's attempt to account for human and non-human behaviour in terms of classical conditioning, and Skinner 's subsequent attempt to do the same with operant conditioning. Any science must have hypotheses, and indeed test them. This involves making specific predictions about behaviour under certain specified conditions, for example, predicting that by combining the sight of a rat with the sound of an iron bar banging behind his head, a small child will learn to fear the rat, as is the case of Little Albert (1923). Also, empirical methods are used in scientific fields to collect data, relevant to the hypothesis being tested, as is the case in many psychological experiments, such as the use of brain scanning in Dement and Kleitman 's 1957 study.…
Since the beginning of their knowledge, anthropologists have studied virtually every imaginable aspect of other peoples' lives such as culture and land, but what of the examination of anthropology itself, and of its plans and theories?…
Anthropology can be defined in basic terms as the study of humankind. It incorporates the findings of many other fields such as biology, sociology, history and economics. Since the study of humankind is so broad, anthropology is divided into four major fields which are Cultural, Archeology, Physical and Linguistic. I have found that each of these fields has many specialized areas or subfields that can open the doors to a wide-variety of fascinating, interesting and even unexpected careers.…
A critical figure was Wilhelm Wundt, who, in 1879 in Leipzig, founded the first formal laboratory devoted to experimental psychology. The students he educated at his laboratory often became founders of their laboratories all over the world. From here, psychology became established as a separate discipline and laboratories came to existence in universities all over northern America where Edward Tichener became one of the first psychologists.…
With the first formal experimental laboratory established in Leipzig Germany, psychology was able to be recognised as its own independent study of science. Wilhelm’s laboratory brought academics from all over, to make studies of the human mind and abnormal psychology. The population of fascinated scholars became to set a trend. Following the trend were more foundations of new laboratories in the United States. However not all laboratories were getting the funding they were hoping for, making it hard for laboratories to get the proper equipment.…
Yes, the introduction of article gives an overview of the history of laboratories for psychological research; and discuss how with the help of established research laboratories, psychologists were able to investigate the mind, and identify different mental disorders and abnormal behaviours. Five sources are cited in the introduction. “The laboratories are more than jars, charts, and apparatus: the spirit that reigns in these rooms is the same that is found in other laboratories of exact science” (Nicholas, 1893, p.399 as cited in Benjamin, 2000, p.318), “American psychology laboratories joined their natural science counterparts in the 1880’s, bringing the experimental method to the investigation of mind” (Boring, 1929, as cited in Benjamin, 2000, p.318).…
References: Goodwin, C. (2008). A history of Modern Psychology 3rd. ED. . Hoboken, NJ: Wiley and Sons.…
The study of psychology contains a history. Unlike a general history course taught by a history teacher, the history of psychology is taught by a psychology teacher (Goodwin, 2008). Several philosophers are associated with the beginnings of psychology as a formal discipline. Multiple philosophers in the western tradition were primary contributors to the formation of psychology as a formal discipline. During the nineteenth century, in particular, many great developments in the science of psychology were founded. Several philosophers, including those of western tradition and the specific advancements of the nineteenth century are significant portions…
Psychology was originated from the roots of philosophy Socrates, Aristotle and Plato asked many hard questions for example how the mind works. “According to psychology historian Morton Hunt, an experiment performed by the King of Egypt, as far back as the seventh century B.C., can be considered the first psychology experiment (Hunt, 1993, p. 1). The king wanted to test whether or not Egyptian was the oldest civilization on earth. His idea was that, if children were raised in isolation from infancy and were given no instruction in language of any kind, then the language they spontaneously spoke would be of the original civilization of man -- hopefully, Egyptian. The experiment, itself, was…
References: Goodwin, C. J. (2008). A History of Modern psychology (3rd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.…
The definition of presentism is to interpret the past only in terms of present concepts and values. Example, if an individual were to look at the Revolutionary War and how it was fought in the present one may find this unconventional and lacking the ability to win. In those days however it was more of an honor to fight in a straight line rather than in the present day from far distances with better weapons. Historicism is the understanding of an event in the terms of knowledge and values that existed at the time of the event (Goodwin p. 8).…
Today, Wilhelm Wundt is known as “the father of psychology.” He is duly credited with this title, for in 1879, he was the first person to create the first psychological laboratory dedicated to the experimentation of psychology. Wundt was attempting to measure the “atoms of the mind,” which was the fastest and simplest mental processes by using a machine to measure the time lag between a person hearing a ball hit a platform and their pressing of a telegraph key. As a result, this lab was established, and the psychological laboratory in the University of Leipzig was recognized and headed by Wundt and soon thereafter became a learning center for all those interested in psychology. It was at around this time that he established his famous theory of introspection. Introspection could also be called self- observation and this method made people look inward and retell the different experiences they had when they did different things like smelling or tasting something. Though sensations are technically outside the mind, they were considered psychological. This was used to find the mind’s structural elements by both Wundt and his student Edward Titchener. The studies he and his students had also done were on perception and sensation along with studies on vision and reaction time. Wundt taught many other students as well, passing on his knowledge of psychology and he also published 53,000 pages worth of psychology on various subjects including books like The Principles of Physiological Psychology and the ten volume Volkerpsychologie , the latter published when he became interested in cultural psychology when he realized that experimental psychology only covered the surface of psychology in general. These many accomplishments of Wundt only solidify his title of “the father of…
2. Schultz, S. E., & Schultz, D. P. (2011). A history of modern psychology (10th ed.).…
Psychology 101 Review Outline Chapter 1: Introduction I. Basic Definitions (pg 3-5): A. Psychology - The scientific study of behavior and mental processes B. Theory - A general principle proposed to explain facts are related C. Hypothesis - A testable prediction about conditions under which particular behaviors or mental processes work D. Replication - Repetition of a study to verify research findings E. Goals of Psychology - To describe, explain, predict, and influence behavior/mental processes F. Basic (new knowledge) vs. applied (practical problems) research II. History and Types of Psychology (pg 6-13): A. Wilhelm Wundt: father of psychology, established 1st psychological lab in Leipzig in 1879, developed…
| Wilhelm windt opens the first experimental lab in psychology in Germany in 1879. Influence people, Albert bandura, Freud, Charles Darwin, Jean Piaget,…