I Am Looking At Where Psychology As A Discipline

William James’ book was entitled: Principles of Psychology which was published in 1890 and also established him as one of the greatest thinkers of his time.

The British Psychological Society states that ‘Psychology is the scientific study of people, the mind and behaviour’ (BPS). In this essay I will be discussing what is actually meant by this and whether psychology fits into both the traditional views of a science, as well as more contemporary perspectives. It is widely suggested that Psychology is a “coalition of specialities” meaning it is multi-disciplinary (Hewstone, Fincham and Foster 2005, page 4). I will therefore examine whether it could be considered wrong to think that all parts of the discipline should neatly fit into one view of a scientific approach.

Biological/Structural Psychology is the perspective of Psychology that studies how functions of the body, including hormones, genetics, and the brain affect behavior. Psychobiologists use tools such as CAT and PET scans to observe the body and study how anatomical phenomenon and genetics affect behavior. From these fields of Psychology came important Psychologists, such as Edward Titchener, a structuralist pupil of Wilhelm Wundt. Wundt was an extremely influential structuralist who is credited with establishing psychology as a real field of study (Richard Kasschau). He is also credited with developing a method of self-observation called introspection, where participants record their own thoughts, then the psychologist analyzes them. Wilhelm Wundt

Psychology viewed as an old discipline. Psychology can trace its roots to the 5 century BC to the Greek philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle and Socrates, because we grapple with the same questions they attempted to answer. On the other hand, we could view psychology as emerging when philosophy and physiology merged to include experimentation and empirical methods to answer those questions about 200 years ago. Thus, it also viewed as a new discipline in 1879, which the approach taken to study make psychology became a science and distinguish from the older discipline philosophy and form modem

As Hermann Ebbinghaus, a German psychologist, explains, “psychology has a long past but only a short history.” Despite the interest shown in early Egyptians and Greek philosophers, the formal history of psychology dates back to 1879 when Wundt made the first psychology lab in Leipzig, Germany (Cite what is psychology). Wundt is responsible for creating structuralism, a focus on the structure of the mind and the belief that there is a connection between sensation, emotion, and behavior (cite hslibguides.islipufsd.org). This played a significant role in psychology’s history, creating debate and theories leading to several schools of

The most significant impact on the field of psychology was the explication of consciousness and its functions. During the early 20th century, psychology began to changed dramatically; Therefore, consciousness had

Through his extensive publishing’s, laboratory and teaching of students who would further his work, he ensured that psychology remained scientific and not revert to philosophy. Wundt’s belief was that the main goal of psychology should be analyzing and understanding the human consciousness.

There have been many contributions over time from world-renowned philosophers and psychologists to the field of psychology, but the man referred to as the Father of Modern Psychology is Wilhelm Wundt. He was the first person to become a psychologist, and he was the first person to organize a laboratory, which was at the University of Leipzig, that was specifically dedicated to studying behavioral and emotional characteristics of the mind. “Wundt was important because he separated psychology from philosophy by analyzing the workings of the mind in a more structured way, with the emphasis being on objective measurement and control.” (Father of Psychology). During Wundt’s time, workings

Wilhelm Wundt and his followers in Germany introduced structuralism, “the analysis of the basic elements that constitute the mind” (Schacter, Gilbert, & Wegner, 2009), but James argued that “consciousness was more like a flowing stream than a bundle of separate elements” (Schacter, Gilbert, & Wegner, 2009). James would introduce his own reformed version of structuralism called functionalism. “Functionalism is the study of the purpose mental processes serve in enabling people to adapt to their environments” (Schacter, Gilbert, & Wegner, 2009). Structuralism observed the build of these mental processes, while functionalism wanted to know how and why these mental processes functioned. While most of the psychological breakthroughs, such as phrenology, were debunked due to the lack of scientific proof, there is still a dedicated branch of psychology today that studies functionalism. This speaks to the work of James, who is still widely referenced by psychologists

William James is seen as one of the first prominent American psychologists. He was the first to teach psychology in the U.S. and created the first American psychological laboratory. James is most well-known for his book, The Principles of Psychology and is associated with Functionalism, or the theory that all parts of a society serve a purpose and are required in order for the society to continue. Throughout his life William James made many contributions to psychology through his theories and books.

One of the next major fields of psychology was introduced by American psychologist, William James. William James wrote the first American introductory psychology textbook, Principles of Psychology, in 1890 (Locurto, 2013). William James, influenced by Charles Darwin’s biological principles, defined the study of psychology as the study of mental life, but it was the function of mental life that was central-consciousness must have survival value- to his definition. It is in James’ work that the transition from dualism, a term coined by French philosopher Rene Descartes stating that the body exerts a greater influence on the mind than previously believed in history, to a more monistic functionalism where the brain and the mind are the same (Locurto, 2013). Moreover his believed in the free will, according to his auto-motor theory of behavior

“The roots of psychology can be traced back through centuries. Cave men and cave women probably wondered why each behaved as they did. Since at least the time of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle in ancient Greece, psychological topics have inspired lively curiosity” (Bernstein, 6). In 1879, founded by Wilhelm Wundt the science of psychology was born. Since then psychology has been and always will be an ever-growing scientific field.

This information has been separated from a mixture of sources and they show up here in completely arbitrary request. In the history of psychology it was originally the branch of philosophy until the late 1800s, it examines the mental blueprints and behavior setting off again to the old Greeks regardless is in its earliest stages. The authentic scenery of mind examination unfolds that various distinctive issues still exchanged words by specialists today are set aside a few minutes’ philosophical traditions.

Prior to psychology being recognised as a scientific discipline in its own right, it was mainly a philosophical concept developed by theorists in areas such as animism and dualism. However, these philosophies were not based on objectivity unlike today’s psychology which maintains that for an investigation to be deemed scientific it must be based on the scientific method, which involves gathering empirical and measurable evidence.

He displays that he is pleased with psychology in regards to its progress. Due to the fact that he discussed what the development of psychology overtime and showed that people are becoming more interested in the history of psychology, showed that he was satisfied with the amount of growth that occurred in comparison to psychology in the early twentieth century. But on the other hand, he showed that he is concerned that the history of psychology lack diversity. He shows that we need to do more research so that we can understand different cultures and so that training can be readily available for those who wants the help their country and for those who wish to go to non- western countries to practice psychology. The audience that he addressed included students who are studying psychology, budding Psychologist, authors of psychology history textbooks, lecturers and individuals who are already