Looking at the Word Psychology: From Ancient to Modern Meanings
The word psychology has had several different meanings from ancient to modern times. Here is its present definition: Psychology is the science that studies the behavior of organisms. Three words in the definition merit special attention:(1) science, (2) behavior, and (3) organisms.
Behavior has three aspects:(1) cognitive processes, (2) emotional states, and (3) actions. Cognitive processes refer to what an individual thinks. Emotional states refer to what an individual feels. Actions refer to what an individual does.
William James, the dean of American psychologists defined psychology as “the science of mental life.” He believed that the purpose of psychology should be to investigate such mental processes as thinking, memory, and perception.
Contemporary, scientific psychology has four explicit goals: (1) describe, (2) explain, (3) predict, and (4) control behavior. These goals are the same commonsense goals that we all use in everyday life.
The Classical Schools of Psychology: Five Great Thinkers and Their Ideas
From a historical perspective, the first school of psychology to be established was structuralism. Its founding personality was Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920). As already noted, he founded the world’s first psychological laboratory. Wundt was trained in physiology, the study of the functions of the body. He became interested in studying not so much the physiology of the sense organs such as the eyes and ears, but in how simple sensations associated with the sense organs combined to form what we call human consciousness.
William James (1842–1910), teaching at Harvard in the 1870s. James had an interest not only in psychology, but also in physiology and eventually in philosophy. James founded a psychological laboratory at Harvard; he also authored The Principles of Psychology, the first psychology textbook published in the United States. The book was published in 1890, and this can also be taken as the date when the school of psychology known as functionalism was born. The principal personality associated with it is James, and he is said to be the dean of American psychologists. According to James, psychology should be more interested in how the mind functions, or works, than how it is structured. Consequently, James stressed the importance of studying such processes as thinking, memory, and attention. You will recall that James defined psychology as “the science of mental life.” This definition is certainly reflected in the processes just identified.
The German psychologist Max Wertheimer (1880–1943), like James, was also dissatisfied with Wundt’s structuralism. Wertheimer believed that Wundt’s emphasis on the importance of simple sensations as the building blocks of perceptions was misguided. According to Wertheimer, a melody, for example, is more than an aggregate of sensations. It is a pattern. And the perception of the melody depends much more on the pattern itself than on the individual notes. A melody played in the key of F can be transposed to the key of C, and it is still the same melody. However, all of the notes, the sensations, are different. The general pattern that induces a complex perception is described with the German word Gestalt. Gestalt is usually translated as a “pattern,” a “configuration,” or an “organized whole.”
Returning to the United States, behaviorism is a fourth classical school of psychology. Its founding personality is John B. Watson (1878–1958). A wave of enthusiasm for Watson’s ideas swept him to the presidency of the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1915, and this can be taken as the starting date for behaviorism. Doing research first at the University of Chicago and then at Johns Hopkins University, Watson came to the conclusion that psychology was placing too much emphasis on consciousness. In fact, he asserted that psychology is not a mental science at all. The “mind” is a mushy, difficult-to-define concept. It can’t be studied by science because it can’t be observed. Only you can know what’s going on in your mind. If I say I’m studying your mind, according to Watson, it’s only guesswork.
Ways of Approaching the Study of Behavior: Searching for Explanations
As noted earlier, one of the goals of scientific psychology is to explain behavior. When someone does something, particularly something unexpected, often the first question that pops into our minds is why. If the answer can be resolved to our satisfaction, we have an explanation. There is often more than one way to explain the same behavior. Sometimes rational thinkers disagree. This has resulted in a set of viewpoints, major ways in which behavior can be explained. These viewpoints greatly influence how research is done, how psychologists approach the study of behavior.
The first viewpoint to be identified is the biological viewpoint. The biological viewpoint asserts that behavior can be explained in terms of such factors as genes, the endocrine system, or the brain and nervous system. The biological viewpoint assumes that we are all organisms, made out of protoplasm, and the most solid explanations are those that recognize this.
The second viewpoint to be identified is the learning viewpoint. The learning viewpoint assumes that much, perhaps most, behavior is learned. Behaviors are acquired by experience. The learning viewpoint owes much to the influence of the philosopher John Locke (1632–1704), who said that the mind at birth is a tabula rasa (i.e., a “blank slate”), meaning that there are no inborn ideas.
The third viewpoint to be identified is the psychodynamic viewpoint. This viewpoint owes much to the influence of Freud and psychoanalysis. It asserts that a human personality contains a field of forces. Primitive sexual and aggressive impulses are often in conflict with one’s moral and ethical values. An individual’s emotional conflicts can induce or aggravate chronic anxiety, anger, or depression. The psychodynamic viewpoint is of particular value when one seeks to understand the behavior of a troubled person.
The fourth viewpoint to be identified is the cognitive viewpoint. This viewpoint asserts that an immediate cause of a given action or an emotional state is what a person thinks.
The fifth viewpoint to be identified is the humanistic viewpoint. This viewpoint asserts that some of our behavior can only be understood in terms of psychological processes that are uniquely human. This viewpoint owes much to existentialism, a philosophical position originating in Europe that places an emphasis on the importance of free will and responsibility.
The sixth viewpoint to be identified is the sociocultural viewpoint. This viewpoint assumes that much of our behavior is determined by factors associated with society and culture.
Fields of Psychology: Of Laboratories and Clinics
Psychology as a profession expresses itself in different fields, or domains of interest. There are a number of fields of psychology, such as clinical, experimental, counseling, developmental, physiological, human factors, and industrial.
Clinical psychology is the field associated with psychotherapy and psychological testing. A clinic is a place where sick people go for help; consequently, clinical psychologists try to help persons with both well-defined mental disorders and serious personal problems.
The word psychotherapy, in terms of its roots, means a “healing of the self.” In practice, a clinical psychologist who employs psychotherapy attempts to work with a troubled person by using various methods and techniques that are designed to help the individual improve his or her mental health. This is done without drugs. An informal description of psychotherapy refers to it as “the talking cure”.
Psychological testing is a process involving, in most cases, the administration of paper-and-pencil intelligence and personality tests. Test results can be helpful in both making an evaluation of the state of a person’s mental health and suggesting a course of treatment.
Experimental psychology is the field associated with research. Experimental psychologists investigate basic behavioral processes such as learning, motivation, perception, memory, and thinking. Subjects may be either animals or human beings. Ivan Pavlov’s experiments on conditioned reflexes, associated with the learning process, used dogs as subjects.
The remaining fields of psychology will be briefly described in terms of what psychologists associated with them do.
A counseling psychologist provides advice and guidance, often in a school setting. Sometimes he or she will, like a clinical psychologist, attempt to help individuals with personal problems. However, if the problems involve a mental disorder, the individual will be referred to a clinical psychologist or a psychiatrist.
A developmental psychologist is concerned with maturational and learning processes in both children and adults. Although a developmental psychologist is usually thought of as a “child psychologist,” it is important to realize that a given developmental psychologist might have a particular interest in changes associated with middle-aged or elderly people.
A physiological psychologist, like an experimental psychologist, does research. Subject areas include the structures and functions of the brain, the activity of neurotransmitters (i.e., chemical messengers), and the effect that hormones produced by the endocrine glands have on moods and behavior.
A human factors psychologist combines a knowledge of engineering with a knowledge of psychology. For example, he or she may be part of a team that is attempting to redesign an aircraft control panel in an attempt to make it more “user friendly” in order to reduce pilot error associated with misperceptions.
An industrial psychologist usually works for a corporation. The principal aim is to provide a work environment that will facilitate production, reduce accidents, and maintain employee morale. A theme that guides industrial psychology is “the human use of human beings.”
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