Psy 101 Module 1&2 Discussion Q-Pre-Assignment Lewis Be prepared to answer the f

Question

Psy 101 Module 1&2 Discussion Q-Pre-Assignment Lewis Be prepared to answer the following questions in class by reading the first two modules in the textbook. Type out answers with bullet pointed responses. Module 1 1. How has psychology changed from it being first established as a science in Germany in 1879 to the present day science we know it today? What pioneering psychologist were you particularly impressed with regarding his or her contributions to the field? Why? 2. What is the difference between nature and nurture? Which one is most influential in making us who we are today? 3. Describe psychology's levels ofa an imr . tant way of looking at behavior and mental processes? 5. Whic the various topics studied in the field of psychology interest you the most? Why?

Explanation / Answer

1. Psychology was established as an independent scientific discipline under the leadership of Wilhelm Wundt and the Structural School at the Univeristy of Leipzig in Germany in 1879. It was there that important works in the area of consciousness and mental processes began to emerge as the main areas of research in Psychology. Since Psychology was founded on the principles of a ‘science’, Psychological studies were grounded in the experimental method. Much of what was studied was based on the research conducted by trained psychologists within the controlled setting of the laboratories.

* It was in this setting of laboratory research that internal processes of consciousness such as sensation, perception and complex thinking had begun to subsume the area of interest in Psychology. At this time, psychophysics emerged as a key domain of Psychology.

* However, as Psychology began to spread as an academic discipline across the Atlantic, the new emerging group of psychologists began to question the scope and the significance of experimentation in Psychology. A pioneering opposing school of thought emerged in the United States and the United Kingdom led by William James and his school of Functionalism. For the functionalists, the key area of research in Psychology was not mere abstract structure or the processes of consciousness but the adaptive function of the mental processes and behaviour as a whole and eye focused on studying human beings in relation to their larger environment. With functionalism, there was a growth in the spread of Psychology as a discipline from beyond the four walls of the university and the laboratory and functionalists like John Dewey, Harvey Carr, etc, popularised Psychology as a way to address social problems in the area of mental health, education systems, the legal and industrial organisations.

* Then over the years, Psychology became a focal point of theories that moved beyond the simplistic ideas about perception and consciousness. Psychology became the discipline that began to address maladjustments in behaviour and ‘treating’ or reinforcing ‘learning’ of adaptive behaviours with the rise of the behaviourists on the scene of American Psychology. At about the same time, the currents of laboratory research within the German school of Psychology gradually dissipated and the Psychoanalytic School led by Sigmund Freud began to tak e a center stage. Psychology was now concerned not only with the earlier conscious thought processes and the recent focus on the observable behaviour, rather hidden unconscious motivation and childhood experiences had begun to grasp the attention of the psychoanalytic psychologists. Thus, mental illness and abnormality became a large part of the subject matter of Psychology.

* Then within United States, existential philosophy of Husserl and Sartre had begun to change perceptions about human condition within the psychological paradigms. Focus began to shift towards the potential of human beings and their capacity for change rather than their passivity to unconscious motives or stimulus-response chains. Humanistic Psychology of Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow added new theoretical spectrums in the form of their ideas of ‘fully functioning individuals’ and empowering the patients and clients within the healthcare system thereby furthering the mentally hygiene movement within clinical psychology.

* Thus with age, Psychology had began to address the large complexities of the sociology-political environment. In this light, the development of Sir Turig’s Artificial Intelligence(AI) also reinforced a strong cognitive Revolution in Psychology and many cognitive psychologists began to argue in favour of a computer analogy within Psychology to study the mental activity in human beings.

* Today, with the influence of globalisation and multicultural contact, psychologists too have begun to take notice the changing reality of the world. Inter cultural, inter-racial contact have also been brought within the scope of psychological theories in Cross cultural psychology and social psychology.

* Thus we see that the Psychology of 1879 has expanded beyond the academic space and become more in tune with the everyday reality of people in diverse field of work such as family, school, organisations and industries, healthcare, as well as varied cultures, societies and ethnicity.

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