Psychology Approaches History & Schools PDF

Approaches, History and Schools of Psychology- Brief class notes ◼ Approaches refer to broad ways of understanding behaviour Major approaches ◼ Behavioural ◼ Cognitive ◼ Psychoanalytic ◼ Phenomenological/ Humanistic ◼ Biological Behavioural Approach...

Approaches, History and Schools of Psychology- Brief class notes ◼ Approaches refer to broad ways of understanding behaviour Major approaches ◼ Behavioural ◼ Cognitive ◼ Psychoanalytic ◼ Phenomenological/ Humanistic ◼ Biological Behavioural Approach ◼ Human behavior can only be studied in terms of observable stimuli and observable responses to stimuli ◼ Human mind cannot be studied and is not a valid subject matter of scientific psychology ◼ Emphasis - role of environment in determination of behavior ◼ Laws of learning ◼ John B. Watson, Ivan Pavlov and B. F. Skinner were noted behaviourists Cognitive Approach ◼ Cognitive processes such as attention, perception, memory and decision making etc. are important to human existence ◼ Focus on mental processes is important for understanding behavior ◼ Behavior cannot be understood only as mechanical chains of stimuli and responses ◼ In 1950s, the study and research in cognitive processes started getting prominence ◼ Information processing approach Psychodynamic Approach ◼ According to the psychodynamic approach behavioral aspects are determined by the unconscious processes that are beyond our awareness ◼ Sigmund Freud’s approach - major psychodynamic approach ◼ As per Freudian approach, anxiety, depression or other mental problems can arise due to painful experiences in early childhood that a person suffering from the problem cannot consciously remember ◼ The terms psychodynamic and psychoanalytic both refer to Freudian approach. However, psychoanalytic approach refers specifically to Freud’s theory Humanistic Approach ◼ Deterministic view of behavior was not acceptable to Humanists ◼ Humanists emphasized the ideas of free will and personal growth  ◼ Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers believed that human beings have a striving to achieve their full potential ◼ Maslow - self – actualization, which has been understood as the inherent capacity to realize one’s potential fully and become an actualized and enhanced person ◼ Carl Rogers developed client centered therapy in which the therapist is a facilitator of the client’s self-growth. It is a non – directive form of therapy ◼ Psychotherapy - releasing of an existing capacity ◼ All aspects of behaviour and not only psychotherapy ◼ Actualising tendency – intrinsic aspect, desire to grow and enhance ◼ Subjective experience of the individual – phenomenological approach ◼ Humanistic – phenomenological approach ◼ In contrast to positivist approach Sociocultural Approach ◼ Human beings are socially situated. The social aspects and cultural contexts determine behavioral responses. ◼ The socio – cultural approach is concerned with the study of how behaviors and thoughts are impacted by the social and cultural aspects ◼ Psychologists study the differences determined by social norms and culture of different groups Biological Approach ◼ This approach is concerned about studying how brain and physiological processes influence behaviour ◼ Includes behavioural neuroscience and evolutionary psychology ◼ Psychologists using the biological approach study physiological aspects of behaviour through experimental method. History of Psychology ◼ Focus: Schools of psychology ◼ Paths to modern psychology: Ancient philosophy, religion, physiology, physics ◼ Roots in philosophy: Most important antecedents to modern psychology - Not a scientific phase - Western philosophers ◼ Roots in philosophy ◼ Several questions were investigated ❖ How do we know? ❖ Nature of the relationship between mind and body  ❖ Definition of mind (Changed several times) ❖ Roots in philosophy ◼ Early Greek philosophers (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle) ◼ Middle Ages (Descartes) ◼ British Empiricism (Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley, David Hume, James, Mill, James Stuart Mill) ◼ Early Greeks Specific contributions ◼ To recognize that mind and body differ in nature (Dualism) ◼ Nature of mind and body and their relation to each other (Dualistic position: separating mind and body) ◼ Suggested the notion of understanding the unknown by reducing it to its constituent parts ◼ Two methodological approaches: Empirical and Rational Middle Ages ◼ General intellectual darkness ◼ Toward the end of the Middle Ages a few thinkers questioned the th th dogma (15 and 16 century) ◼ French philosopher and mathematician Descartes stands in direct relationship to the history of modern psychology - Dualist (interactionist) - Accurate descriptions of nervous system - Path of nervous impulses From Descartes onwards rapid development of science Emergence of psychology: British philosophy and physiology ◼ British Empiricism ◼ Dealt with problems that have a bearing on methodology and orientation ◼ Scientific phase not yet in ◼ Empiricism places the origin of mind in sensation ◼ Higher mental processes – complexes of persistent impressions held together by associations ◼ Associations due to certain conditions present at the time of sensory impressions (repetition, contiguity) ◼ Notion of tabula rasa (blank tablet) ◼ Greeks: Questions about nature of mind  ◼ Empirical – assimilationist tradition: answers in elementalism and associationism ◼ An experimental/ observational approach was now required to explore these issues (paved the way for scientific psychology) To summarize – ◼ Primary material of mind – sensations ◼ Mind can be reduced to its elements by analysis ◼ John Stuart Mill: Ideas generated from elements are not merely the sum total of individual parts (Gestalt psychology) Scientific Psychology ◼ Psychology became empirical ◼ Unique contributions by Weber, Fechner, Helmholtz and Wundt ◼ Wundt: Founder of Psychology as a formal academic discipline. Established the first experimental lab in Leipzig, Germany in 1879 ◼ Wundt: Leader of the first school of psychology ◼ Schools of Psychology ◼ Migration to Leipzig ◼ Psychology grew either as an offshoot from the Leipzig lab or as different schools of thought outside Germany – schools were formed ◼ For several decades (1900 t0 1930 approx.) psychology took shape through schools – contemporary psychology developed from these schools Structuralism ◼ Wundt, Titchener ◼ Wundt: Experience as the subject matter of psychology (experience dependent on an experiencing person) ◼ Structure of mind (analysis should be applied to psychological phenomena) ◼ Structure of the mind ◼ An attempt to compartmentalize the mind into its basic parts – mental elements ◼ Elements of consciousness: Sensations, images, affective states (intensity, duration etc.) ◼ Introspection: Trained observers objectively examine and verbally report what is going on in their minds in response to controlled stimulation; objective attitude ◼ Criticisms of introspection ◼ Not verifiable, retrospection and memory distortions, subjective, influence of observer’s attitude, considerable laboratory training ◼ How to study conscious processes of children and mentally disturbed individuals (introspection by analogy)  ◼ Criticisms of structuralism ◼ Reliance on introspection as its main method ◼ Failure to relate mind and action ◼ Narrow in approach; weakened and collapsed Functionalism ◼ The study of mind as it functions in adapting the organism to its environment ◼ American psychologist William James (psychologist, physiologist, philosopher; versatile intellect and pragmatic philosophy) ◼ Psychology dept., Univ. of Chicago ◼ Dewey, Angell, Carr ◼ Major text: Principles of psychology (1890) ◼ Opposed the reduction of mind to its components ◼ Emphasized studying consciousness as an ongoing process (stream of consciousness) ◼ Mind as revealed in habits, knowledge and perception – active give and take with the environment ◼ Mind as functional in adjustment. It is not static ◼ Connection between mind and behaviour ◼ Learning as adaptive process, perception, intelligence ◼ Regarded introspection as a limited method Behaviourism ◼ Main proponent: American psychologist John B.Watson (began his career in psychology at Chicago University) ◼ Pavlov, Skinner, Thorndike ◼ Objective experimental procedures ◼ Studies on animals ◼ Major emphasis: Study of observable behaviour such as actions, responses, performances ◼ Goal of psychology: To identify S-R relations ◼ Environmental influences ◼ Major contribution to theory of learning ◼ Pavlov - demonstration of the use of S-R analysis in his description of classical conditioning Gestalt Psychology ◼ A different kind of reaction to structuralism th ◼ The Gestalt movement began in Germany in the early 20 century (about the same time behaviourism began to dominate American Psychology) ◼ Against reductionistic analysis – whether such analysis was structuralist or behaviouristic in nature  ◼ Main contributors: Wertheimer, Kohler, Koffka ◼ Gestalt roughly means ‘form’ or ‘organized whole’ ◼ Emphasis on whole, rather than parts ◼ Basic principle: The whole is more than the sum of its parts ◼ Primarily studied visual sensory and perceptual processes ◼ Gestalt psychology is often identified as a theory of perception ◼ Rejected the S-R approach ◼ Emphasized experimentation and observation ◼ Learning, problem solving and thinking ◼ Mental organization of components (order; how the components relate to each other) ◼ Seeing the whole picture – moment of insight ◼ Direct total experience (no reduction) ◼ Molar approach as opposed to molecular approach Psychoanalysis ◼ Synonymous with the name of Sigmund Freud ◼ A theory of personality ◼ Complex ideas about human personality and behaviour ◼ Work on hysteria and clinical practice ◼ Unconscious mind consists of emotions, motivations, thoughts, and memories that are beyond conscious awareness ◼ Ego defense mechanisms - psychological strategies that are used unconsciously; protect from anxiety and conflicts ◼ According to Freud, psychological development in childhood occurs through psychosexual stages of development ◼ Structure of Personality: Id, Ego, Super-ego ◼ Id – Unconscious – Basic impulses such as sex and aggression, seeks immediate gratification, pleasure principle ◼ Super Ego – Mostly preconscious - Ideals and sense of morality, internalized from parents and society ◼ Ego – Mostly conscious, mediates between id impulses and moral principles and inhibitions of super ego, reality principle