Foundations of Psychology Essay

Theories have been composed and exposed by various philosophers to clarify their reasoning about the mind. Dualism, Behaviorism, and Identity Theory, are well-known theories supported by well-written explanations. A modern theory, Functionalism provides ample insight to the main problem philosophers deal with, the mind/body problem.

Searching for the elements of conscious experience, as in Structuralism, did not obtain the original goal; it relied too much on the deliberation of one’s own thoughts. The experimental tactics used in structuralism would not work with standards of current time because the experiments were too subjective, making the results seem unreliable. Functionalism, believing that mental processes could be explained by understanding the adaptive

The concern about life is a main human characteristic. No matter if his concern is concentrated in himself or in persons or things that surround him and constitute his environment, everybody wants to know why people, himself included, behave the way they behave. Everybody, also, wants to improve his behavior, so as to live in harmony with himself and the society.

Functionalism was developed as a response against structuralism and I think that at the time it was considered that psychological functions could be best understood in relation to their function rather than their structure. I think that at that particular time of period the study of structuralism was based on what happens when an individual does something, and functionalism studied how and why. Functionalism developed according to evolutionary theory when structuralism focused on

Functionalism is a consensus perspective, whereby society is based on shared values and norms into which members are socialised. For functionalists, society is seen as a system of social institutions such as the economy, religion and the family all of which perform socialisation functions.

On the other hands, the structural functionalism, which is also called as simply functionalism, it is a framework for building theory or perspectives that sees or seek the society as a complex system and whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability for the betterment of society. There are two theorists are well known including Herbert Spencer and Robert Merton, who were major contributors to this perspective or theory.

The functionalism theory is also known as structural functionalism and lays claim on the fact that the society is composed of interdependent portions each of which adds to the functioning of the whole society. Functionalists break

Psychology is not just philosophical speculation and reasoning over the years it has evolved and it is now also recognised as a science, to understand what psychology is all about it is necessary to know it’s origins and the theorist who brought it out of obscurity, Sigmund Freud. He developed the Psychodynamic or Psychoanalytical perspective to enable better understanding of human behaviour these concepts will be discussed further later in this study. After Freud opened the gateway other perspectives and approaches have been developed, now with five main areas of psychology - Cognitive, Behaviourist, Biopsychology and Humanist approaches. For a comparison with the Psychodynamic theory, Behaviourist Theory will be discussed.

Psychology is made up of many perspectives, such as, behavioural, biological, cognitive, social, humanistic and finally, psychodynamic. This essay will focus on the behavioural perspective and the biological perspective. According to J Walker (2012) the behavioural perspective is based on behaviourism and is the study of observing behaviour when in certain contexts and events. The biological perspective however, explains behaviour by focusing on the function of the nervous system, genes and the brain.

For example, the taste of lemonade (perception) to be a molecule of conscious experience could be analyzed in terms of elements (sensations) i.e. sweet, sour, cold, warm, bitter, and how it was identified by introspection (observation). Wundt’s structuralism was quickly abandoned because it could not be empirically or scientifically tested, it was also criticised for favouring deterministic structural forces over the ability of individual people to act refusing the suggestion of freewill. But at the end of the 19th century and lasting only 25 years Structuralism was still seen as a historically important school of thought and it was the movements that it developed, rather than structuralism itself that pushed forward the progress of psychology

The Functionalist Theory however is associated with the Humanistic Personality Theory because they are both behavioral and mental theories. Functionalism is based on experiences and how it affects our current behavior. With the Humanistic Theory and its beliefs of dealing with the present functionalism allows you to retrieve memories to help you make your decision. I believe that functionalism also contributes to self worth. My whole life I have been achieving accomplishments, whether big or small, and it gives me a self worth to look back at all of them.

Functionalism is a consensus perspective that sees society as based on shared values into which members are socialized. It sees society as like an organism, each part performing functions to maintain the system as a whole. For example, religion, the education system and the family perform socialization functions. The functionalist theory though developed from the ideas of theorists such as Herbert Spencer and Emile Durkheim, can trace its origins as far back as the founding father of sociology, Auguste

This research article was taken from the Association for Psychological Science (APS) Journal. This specific issue had a total of ten articles, and while they are covering different topics and studies, some of them do focus on similar ideas. Psychology is all about the study of the mind, and how it has different parts intended for unique functions. It seems like a good portion of the articles for this specific journal deal with emotions and how the body interprets them. One article deals with the stress of different generations, while another deals with an individual’s willpower against sugar. There is an article about self-esteem and how that varies during a lifetime, as well as an article on cooperation. The article that will be specifically discussed in this research paper also has to deal with how the body interprets things when it comes to a stressful situation, such as a crime. It looks at how reliable eyewitness testimony is after traumatic events, specifically in regards to lineups.

looking at process rather than structure is a common attribute of modern psychology. As an

Functionalism was one of the earliest schools of thought in psychology. It was an American perspective which came in reaction to Structuralism, the very first school of psychology. Functionalism came into light under the influence of thinkers such as William James and Charles Darwin.