Although interest in the matters which psychology is concerned with, namely the human mind and human behavior, dates all the way back to times of antiquity, psychology did not truly emerge as a distinct field of experimental study until the 19th century, enabling its transition from philosophical supposition to soft science. This development is largely credited to Wilhelm Wundt, a German physiologist who is widely regarded as the “father of experimental psychology.
”Wundt was a proponent of one of the first major schools of thought in psychology: structuralism. Kim, 2006; Boeree, 2007) Structuralism’s essence lies in Wundt’s definition of psychology as a study of the mental consciousness through formalized introspection. Effectively speaking, this means attempting to deconstruct mental processes down to their most basic components. Though Wundt passed on his structuralist approach to psychology to his student, Edward Titchener, it was an approach that was largely opposed by another influential school of psychology known as functionalism.
Functionalism, whose best known proponent was the pragmatic multi-disciplinary intellectual William James, was proposed as a reaction to structuralism, which contended that the nature of mental processes is not nearly as important as their purpose in how and why an individual interacts or adapts to particular situations. They eschewed introspection and in favor of systematic observation, and were a large influence on behaviorism. (Boeree, 2007) Interestingly, James was also notable for his insistence that psychology maintain foundations on established scientific principles, specifically biology.Since then, much psychological research, especially in the fields of neuroscience, biopsychology and psychometrics, has maintained an explicitly biological foundation. Early psychological theory attempted to link psychology with physiological changes while philosophers such as Descartes proposed a variety of physical models to explain behavior that would create the link which rationalizes a duality between mind and body.
James asserted that in order for psychology to move from beyond the realm of pseudoscience, it must accept that all theories must admit that their validity originates in neurological truths.In effect, “brain-experiences” and bodily experiences must be taken into consideration alongside the lived contexts which psychological research seeks to give most of its attention to. Another reaction to Wundt’s structuralism was the school of Gestalt psychology. Gestalt psychology proposes that better understanding is derived not from the deconstruction and categorization of mental processes, but understanding the ‘wholes’ which they form. Gestalt psychology best exemplifies the axiom, “The whole is greater than the sum of its individual parts,” by attempting to rationalize the holistic end-result of a variety of mental processes.
The late 19th century to early 20th century saw the rise of psychoanalytic approaches to psychology, most notoriously those methods put into practice by the likes of Sigmund Freud, who constructed a highly sexualized approach to personality that has achieved widespread familiarity. In any case, Freud maintains great influence on significantly more sophisticated and developed forms of psychotherapy and personality theory. (Mitchell & Black, 1995) Psychoanalysis, as developed along or against the lines initiated by Freud, emphasizes a historical approach to psychology.Essentially, mental processes and human behavior in the present is the end result of many personal developments in the past, whether sexual or otherwise.
Another example of a psychologist whose theories fell in the school of psychoanalysis was Erik Erikson who supposed a psychosocial theory of personality development that broke its formation down into stages. (Harder, 2002) Between the behavioristic approach to psychological research, and the ubiquity of psychology, it was not surprising that psychology had begun a reputation of being cynical and objectifying.Some felt that behaviorism reduced individuals into slaves of the physics of the mind, while psychoanalysis functioned as a kind of clinical Schadenfreude, designed to confirm the dark suspicions of pessimists. Eventually, the mid-20th century saw the emergence of humanistic psychology. Humanistic psychology gave greater attention to individual self-improvement, growth and actualization, and was founded on faith the innate goodness of humanity. As such, mental and social illness was constructed as deviance resulting from dysfunction.
Humanistic psychology is best exemplified by the work of Carl Rogers. Rogers believed in the idea that the human organism is driven by an “actualizing tendency” that aims for the improvement of the self and the development of its abilities. As such, manifestations of dysfunction and neurosis in man are largely a result of the conflict between our individual need for actualization and the stresses that society places upon it, what could essentially be termed an “incongruity” between the real self and the ideal self that we construct for ourselves under the influence of society. (Boeree, 2006)Referenceshttp://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/rogers.htmlhttp://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/historyofpsych.html
