Timeline of the History of Psychology

Timeline of the History of Psychology The History of Psychology Marisa Alexander The development of psychology took place in eras. The contributors of a period provide the next necessary step for improvement of new philosophies sometime discarding all or part of the previous to provide a new perspective. This essay will explore the major contributors from the ancient Greeks to more modern times and demonstrate the improvement over time to where psychology is seen as a science. Between 470-322BCE rose three major philosophers that played a pivotal role shaping western philosophical thinking. Philosophers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle were the foundation of what psychology as a science is today. They were switching from using mysticism or mythology to understand their world to experience and scientific inquiry. Socrates used the power of reasoning and was the first to use a scientific approach to psychology that focused on various causes of behaviour (Hergenhahn, 2009). His student Plato followed in his footsteps. Plato believed that ideas were innate and the brain is the mechanism of mental processes. His innate ideas were denied by Aristotle who suggested that the heart was the mechanism of mental processes. He proposed that emotions emphasized thoughts and behaviour and cause selective perception in the environment.Their philosophy flourished in that period and even after Athens defeat. The Greek city-state was defeated by Sparta (431-404 B.C) which caused the collapse of Athens. The Romans invaded the Greek territory and there was a need for a philosophy that can address the instabilities and ills of this era. To address this issue the Romans focused on helping individuals live a good life. Philosophies such as stoicism, skepticism, Epicureanism and Neo-Platonism emerged. These philosophies were involved in the transition from philosophy to Christianity. There were various conflicting versions of Christianity so to eliminate this issue Constanine placed the responsibility on bishops to arrive at a single set of documents to govern Christian communities. Through this in C. 380 Christianity became the approved religion in Rome by Theodosius I. there were some aspects in philosophy that were useful to Christianity and was incorporated along with Judaism into the religion by Augustine. Augustine’s work fell into the medieval period; this period marked the fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Renaissance period (approx. CE 400 – CE1300). It was a period of rebirth and a transition from being God centred to being more human centred (Hergenhahn, 2009). Having an open mind was one of the requirements of this time. Ushering in this period was the devastating epidemic the Black Death which killed approximately one-third of Europe. This changed Europe social and economic situation drastically for the worse. Frustration caused Europe to seek comfort in Christianity. It was a time when the Roman Catholic Church was the authoritative figure in all aspects of Europe’s life. The renaissance period was a difficult time for the church as it was threatened by the loss of its powers on the state. This made way for the emergence of leaders to govern the state without the church. Other factors threatened the authority such as the invention of the pr inting press by Johannes Gettenburg (1445). The invention meant that literature would be easily accessible and not just owned by the elite. It also meant that they would not have to rely on the interpretations of the priest but they can read and interpret for themselves. The period steered way for new philosophies that would: belief in individual potential, see religion as more personal and less institutionalized, show an intense interest in the classics, and have a negative attitude toward Aristotle’s philosophy (Hergenhahn, 2009). Bacon, Descartes and Galileo work emerged around C.1610 which created a scientific revolution in psychology. Bacon was an empiricist whose vision for sciences was to be able to solve human problems. He focused on inductive reasoning which dealt with facts that can be observed. Descartes on the other hand, was a rationalist who saw the mind and body as two separate entities. The body is observable and measurable. In contrast, the mind is not directly observable. He also stated that ideas were innate and they are experienced with such precision and uniqueness that they need to be accepted as true. Galileo explored the laws that governed the physical world. He tried to apply the laws of the universe in understanding h uman thought and behavior through deductive reasoning which deals with predicting an event from general principle. So based on the laws he concluded that psychology was impossible to predict because of the subjective nature of human thought (Hergenhahn, 2009). Locke was an empiricist who opposed Descartes philosophy of innate idea (King, Viney Woody, 2009). In 1690 Locke published An Essay Concerning Human Understanding which defended empiricism and concerned itself with determining the boundaries of human understanding in respect to a wide variety of topics (Uzgalis, 2001). Locke thought that if all humans had innate ideas as Descartes stated, then all humans should possess these ideas and since they do not, then Descartes’ philosophy of it is not true. He believed that our minds were like a blank paper or slates at birth and through sensory experiences it would be furnished with the necessary ideas. In 1808 Gall had a different perspective for understanding human behavior. He believed that faculties (personality and intelligence traits) were stored in specific parts of the brain (King et al, 2009). The shape and size of a person’s skill he believed was a good indication for presents or absence of personality and intelligence traits. While Gall focused on physical features Weber was concerned with sensations. Weber was the first to quantify perceived differences between a physical stimulus and sensation, his work entailed experiments what looked at just noticeable differences between stimuli. Just noticeable difference is the standard detectable difference between the standard and the comparison weight. He published his research on The Sense of Touch in 1834. Another approach surfaced called evolutionary psychology and was pioneered by Charles Darwin. In his publication of the Origin of Species (1859) it explains that we develop behaviors and cognitive abilities to adapt to our environment for our survival (Houck 1999). Twenty years later there was a new discovery by Wilhelm Wundt, he was the first to establish a lab for studying psychology in 1879 and used introspection to collect information. He conducted experiments examining the physical on the psyche and agreed with Darwin’s concept on the importance of adaptation (Kim, 2006). In his research he recognized the need for scholarly journals but his new research did not fit with the established physiology or philosophy journals (King et al, 2009). So in 1881 he published the first issue of Psychological Studies. Wundt and Titchener dominated the introspective self-observation approach when Ebbinghaus began his research on human memory. Ebbinghaus was systematic and cautious in his approach to the study of memory; this changed the standard by confirming that higher cognitive processes could also be studied scientifically. His method moved the study of memory out of philosophy and into the domain of empirical science. His study showed that memorizing meaningless is more difficult that memorizing meaningful ones, an increase in the amount of material increases the amount of time it takes to learn it, relearning is easier that initial learning and forgetting takes longer after relearning (Plunker 2013). He then discovered that forgetting happens rapidly right after learning occurs and slows down over time.He published his findings in 1885 Memory: A Contribution to Experimental Psychology. Hall was a functionalist and influential in launching psychology as a science and in its development as a profession. Just as Ebbinghaus, Stanley used scientific methods in conducting his experiments; his is famous for work on child development, especially adolescence (King et al, 2009). Hall spearheaded the scientific approaches in the field of psychology. In 1887 he launched theAmerican Journal of Psychology (APA), and in 1892 he organised the American Psychological Association and held the position as its first president (Perry, 2006). Calkins was the fourteenth (14th) president of APA in 1905; she did her dissertation and was refused her doctorate from Harvard University even though she met the requirements. Thorndike was a behaviourist which is a branch of psychology dealing with objective experimental approach and learning behaviours. His theory focused on connections created in the mind between environmental stimuli and the organism’s response, where as previous theorists focused on connections between ideas. In 1898 An Experimental Study of the Associative Processes in Animals was his thesis he wrote on his experiments conducted on animals (Wozniak, n.d). Apart from Thorndike, there are other behaviourist who influenced psychology with their works, there are Watson, Skinner and Pavlov. Watson published a piece in 1913 on Psychology as the Behaviourist Views where he discussed his position on behaviourism and the theoretical goal to predict and control behaviour. He stated that itshould onlybe about things we can directly observe, that is, the relationship between the environment and the behaviour of the organism (Watson, 1913). Skinner dealt with modifying behaviour through re inforcement and punishment. He did experiments with animals and published his work as The Behaviour of Organisms in 1938. Then there was Pavlov who published his work on Lectures on Conditioned Reflexes in 1928 which dealt with finding from his experiment he discovered though observing a pattern. He noticed that the dog was conditioned to have a reflex action; this pattern was not the real intention of his experiment. This he called classical conditioning. A different perspective of psychology emerged in the beginning of the twentieth century that focused on the unconscious part of the mind. This was developed by Freud, who stated that there are events or things that the mind cannot deal with that is stored in the unconscious. Also there are structures that make up our personality such as the id, ego and superego and the each have a responsibility. He also proposed developmental stages which has a connection to sexuality or erogenous zones. Apart from this he stated that unconscious thought or issues manifested in dreams. Freud published Interpretations of Dreams in 1900 to describe his work on the subject. Freud had followers of his approach such as Alfred Alder, Erik Erikson, Carl Jung, and his daughter Anna Freud. They all went on to depart from his theory and develop their own using his foundation. Another perspective to understanding human behaviour is Gestalt. This movement in psychology was launched by Wertheimer in 1905 and opposite to behavioural perspective that viewed the parts or saw thing on a molecular level; this approach was more on a molar (holistic) level. It represents a more cognitive aspect in psychology since the focus is on perception and the forming of self-organizing tendencies which provide insight through an overall view. There were other theorist that followed this movement such as Wolfgang KÃ ¶hler and Kurt Koffka who worked with Wertheimer. Humanistic is similar to gestalt but they extend their focus from a more perceptual consciousness to cover the organism’s entire state of being. Behaviour should be understood from a subjective perspective (individual experience) and it is not dependent on the past. Instead the individual is allowed to make their own choices or choose their own part. Rogers published the theory as it relates to counselling i n 1942 in Counselling and Psychotherapy. The Latest great contribution to psychology was the publishing of the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM 5). This was published in 2013 and contained a classification system for diagnosing mental disorders. In the previous years there was one revision and many four (4) editions of the same book. The first edition of this book was published in 1952 and ever since then as became the bible of mental disorders and useful providing valuable information on the matter. In conclusion it was necessary for the development of psychology to be a science for it to go through the rigorous changes in time. There were many instances for the theorists living in that time to adopt the changes and integrate them into their theories. As previously mentioned there were a lot of building of this approach for ancient Greek from philosophy with many other hard sciences such as physics, physiology add to it throughout the years to be developed to what it is today. References Hergenhahn, B. R. (2009). An introduction to the history of psychology (6th ed.). Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Pub. Co.. Houck, R. (n.d.). Charles Darwin. Psychology History. Retrieved April 30, 2014, from http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/darwin.htm Kim, A. (2006, June 16). Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt. Stanford University. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/wilhelm-wundt/#TheFraExpPsy King, D. B., Viney, W., Woody, W. D. (2009). A history of psychology: ideas and context (4th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Parry, M. (2006). G. Stanley Hall: Psychologist And Early Gerontologist. American Journal of Public Health, 96(7), 1161-1161. Plucker, J. (2013, November 7). Human Intelligence: Hermann Ebbinghaus. Human Intelligence: Hermann Ebbinghaus. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from http://www.intelltheory.com/ebbinghaus.shtml Uzgalis, W. (2001, September 2). John Locke. Stanford University. Retrieved April 30, 2014, from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke/ Watson, J. B. (1913). Psychology As The Behaviourist Views It.. Psychological Review, 20(2), 158-177. Wozniak, R. (n.d.). Classics in the History of Psychology. Introduction to Thorndike (1911) by R. H. Wozniak. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Thorndike/Animal/wozniak.htm

Value and Purpose of Literature

Value and Purpose of Literature Literature is expressed in varying ways, such as poetry, novels, history, biographies, and essays. Depending on which type of work you are reading, the purpose and interpretation is different as it is depending on the person that is reading it. The purpose of literature is to get a diverse set of people to read the same piece of work and comprehend it differently, but still have the same affect on them. The purpose also depends on the genre. History is a guide for the future; it helps us figure out future plans and to help us not make the same mistakes we did back then. Poetry and novels are more of an artistic way to entertain people or to get how you truly feel onto paper and see if anyone else could relate. Biographies and essays are more of an informational bit written to persuade or inform the reader of an occurring problem or of a person who is significant in the work they have accomplished. The Red Badge of Courage, written by Stephen Crane, is a fictional novel talking about a soldier in the Civil War that ditches the war to save his self and then feels guilty and goes back to become one of the best soldiers in his regiment. This novel was written clearly for entertaining the reader and for a little history lesson about who won the war. A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles, is also a fictional novel about a young man at a school readying him for war where he finds what he is capable of. The value of literature is measured on how much the reader enjoyed the book. Reading is a pleasing way to pass the time for some people and can in many ways affect the way you live and the way you think. The value a book can have on a reader is unlimited. It can change the way people live with and influence each other, helps one understand the past and how the world has evolved, teaches a lesson that will inspire the reader to live a better life, and helps us asks questions related to the standards of a â€Å"good† life, but doesn’t always answer them. Literature is one way that humans can communicate their thoughts and feelings to one another. Though the genres, purposes, and interpretations may differ, it is a universal tool and usually affects the reader in more than one way.

What Everyone Else Does When It Comes to Statistics Essay Topics and What You Should Be Doing Different

What Everyone Else Does When It Comes to Statistics Essay Topics and What You Should Be Doing Different Descriptive essay topics might be either easier or tougher. It's also advisable to constantly work to increase your writing style and create your essay attractive to read and simple to navigate. As you begin on your descriptive essay, it's important that you identify just what you need to describe. Quick Tips for Writing Your Descriptive Essay Writing a descriptive essay may be a rich and fulfilling experience, but nevertheless, it may also feel somewhat complicated. A descriptive essay format shouldn't be an issue because it's nothing from the ordinary and many writers have encountered it. To compose an outstanding essay, it's vital to use specific academic language. Statistics essays expect a lot of essential research and has to be written dependent on clear, set guidelines. Inside my experience, descriptive essays are only difficult in regards to deciding just what things to write about. The Hidden Facts on Statistics Essay Topics Basically, you don't need to include irrelevant data in your paper. If it's necessary to select your own subject, then you're likely to be spoilt for choice as there are a huge collection of research topics for statistics that fall under different research locations. Efficiency is the secret here. The degree of measurement determines what sorts of diagrams and statistical values are appropriate. The other sort of descriptive statistics is called the measures of spread. A frequency table demonstrates how of ten a specific score is provided. Even though the chart has shown detailed info, the demand for dispersion will assist in achieving more precise data collection. Different types of Statistics There are two varieties of statistics. An essay on descriptive statistics is usually utilized to describe the key qualities of a given set of information. There are many kinds of statistical analysis you'll be able to perform, such as inferential statistics, which is utilised to predict what the data might be later on. Moreover, data description stipulates a foundation for inferential statistics. Description Statistics essays need a lot of research. Explain the way the write-up employs descriptive statistics. Health statistics offer empirical data to help in the allocation of public and private funds and help to ascertain how research efforts ought to be focused. Descriptive statistics essays go together with doing the calculations to find the essential measures. The topics ought to be relevant to the times and ought to relate to a larger populace. Actually, people who master statistics can acquire high level jobs, including an actuary. Descriptive statistics can only be employed to spell out the group which is being studied. The Good, the Bad and Statistics Essay Topics The total idea of statistics utilized in business is to create beneficial and financially sound decisions. Learning statistics might be wonderful asset for you in the job world. Descriptive statistics are extremely critical in all elements of life. Another situation statistics play a significant p art in is financing. Statistics might be an exception, however, with the aid of bets examples everything is possible. The aim of every statistical analysis is to help you receive an in-depth comprehension of the variables involved in your study. You want to know more about the most efficient rehabilitation methods for that sort of injury, or a comparison of two methods. A particular kind of musculoskeletal injury could be common in athletes in X sport. How to Get Started with Statistics Essay Topics? Each point ought to be in its own paragraph and needs to be mentioned in the very first sentence or what's often known as the topic sentence. The audience should discover the introduction fascinating in addition to appealing to their senses. Your principal focus ought to be on the statistics that will assist your reader understand your argument and not ones which are likely to mislead them. Once you introduce the subject together with the way you are thinking about approaching it, the next thing to do is to perform a deep analysis. After getting the data sets, you've got to conduct your analysis working with the appropriate set of methods that fit your objective. In some instances, individuals prefer to set the descriptive statistics in parentheses. The choice and method of description largely is dependent upon the sort of information involved. The system you use is dependent on how complicated it's to summarize the end result. You might also be asked to visualize and interpret a data collection. When performing statistics, you will wind up discovering the median, mean, and mode for assorted sets of information. Data can likewise be represented in the shape of graphs or histograms to better understand what's going on in the experiment. These days, it's possible to capture such personal data utilizing smart wearable devices.

Enlightenment Assessment The Ideal Of Reason - 1270 Words

Patricia Totman Instructor: Course: Date: Enlightenment Assessment: the Ideal of Reason The greatest initial collapse of the Enlightenment ideals occurred at the beginning of the 19th century. It was associated with the realization of the limitations of the mechanical-mathematical view of the world and a number of social upheavals, including the bloody French Revolution, which gave birth to dictatorship and terror. These forced to question the possibility of a â€Å"social contract.† Moreover, the awareness of the inhumanity of the capitalist system tarnished the ideals of absolute reason and progress. Gradually, the belief in progress and the human mind gave way to pessimism. The paper will assess the rationality of Enlightenment and its perception in the modern world. Since antiquity, the philosophers embraced the view that the mind was the authority responsible for the truth and the adequate knowledge of the world. Accordingly, the quality of reason was identified with the quality of cognitive tools, which were investigated by the logic and the doctrine of method. The practical application of the mind was seen in the fact that it controlled the affects, feelings, and desires by ordering and limiting them in accordance with the proper judgments. The mind dominated the emotional-affective area representing a kind of superhuman or divine authority in a person. The relationship of the mind and affects was regarded as relations of higher and lower principles, whichShow MoreRelatedThe French Revolution And The Enlightenment1708 Words   |  7 PagesEnlightenment in Europe was a period in which ideas were legitimately from one country to another. It is also known as civilization time where traditional authority was put to the question while embracing t he notion of humanity to improve human change. The French revolution was directly in motivation by Enlightenment ideals which marked a peak of its influence and a beginning of its fall. The Enlightenment s imperative of the seventeenth-century forerunners incorporated the Englishmen Francis BaconRead MoreRomanticism And The Formation Of The Romantic Era1920 Words   |  8 PagesRomanticism relate to the Enlightenment? A simple question, but with a very complex answer. Essentially, the Enlightenment is the very reason for the formation of the Romantic era. In order to understand how the Enlightenment inspired Romanticism, it is important to be familiar with each era as a separate entity. Consequently, the Enlightenment, also known as the â€Å"Age of Reason,† began during the late 1600s and lasted up until the mid-late 1700s. Some of the most prominent ideals that came into existenceRead More Gullivers Travels Essay1312 Words   |  6 Pagesintelligent, noble creatures gover ned wholly by reason, and the Yahoos are naked, dirty humanoids that seem at best, barbaric creatures. The purpose of Part IV is to show the extremities of human nature, and to display both the good and bad qualities through two different examples. Swift makes the good quality of human nature seem more foreign to the reader by attributing that good quality, reason, to a horse. It also puts the period of Enlightenment in perspective for the reader. The main purposeRead MoreSwifts Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift Essay1267 Words   |  6 PagesTravels enables us to critically and harshly analyse our world and encourages us to evaluate the customs of early 18th century English society in relation to an ideal humanity. In order to address the injustices prevalent in human constructs and behavior, Swift uses literary techniques to induce a state of extreme self-doubt. The satires assessment of humanitys positive and negative traits is developed through Gullivers awkward proce ss of identifying with the loathsome Yahoos and idolising the rationalRead More Adorno and Horkheimers Dialectic of Enlightenment Essay3209 Words   |  13 PagesHorkheimers Dialectic of Enlightenment Myth is already enlightenment; and enlightenment reverts to mythology (Dialectic of Enlightenment XVI) Adorno and Horkheimers obscure and nihilistic text Dialectic of Enlightenment (DoE) is an attempt to answer the question why mankind, instead of entering a truly human condition, is sinking into a new kind of barbarism (DoE, p.xi). The result is a totalising critique of modernity; a diagnosis of why the Enlightenment project failed with no attemptRead MoreSummary Of The Symposium 1373 Words   |  6 Pagesspeeches heavily deviate from a speech about love, and turn it into a speech that uses love to support and justify their beliefs. Characters in the Symposium twist the meaning of love to fit their own principles, rather than provide an objective assessment. Pausanias’s speech utilizes love to justify his relationships with younger boys. Pausanias’s speech begins by outlining two distinct types of love: â€Å"It follows, therefore, that the same distinction of title - Common and Celestial - should be appliedRead More John Dewey Essay1595 Words   |  7 Pages John Dewey was one of the greatest minds in history. A philosopher, his concern was democracy and its ideals. A thinker about the problems in education. A prominent voice in America, commanding the admiration of those who agreed with his views, and respect for his mind even from those who did not. The man: John Dewey, an American philosopher. Dewey’s pedagogy was one with three distinctive traits: it was democratic in that it called for pluralism. It was a follower of the scientific method in thatRead MoreJails and Prisons History and Development Final1591 Words   |  7 Pagesgone from detention for purpose of public humiliation or deterrence, to an â€Å"out of sight out of mind† mentality, which segregated convicted individuals from the rest of society. State prisons have their roots in the penitentiary reform ideals of the Age of Enlightenment. The Three Prisons Act is the first law that authorized the establishment of federal prisons. This act was an important milestone for U.S. prison reform. This most important fact is that this act laid the foundation for the federal prisonRead MoreThe Ethical Philosophy Of Immanuel Kant1532 Words   |  7 Pagesopposed to the consequences; what one should do in practice should be thought of as substantive concepts. Along with our fundamental ability to recognise t his, Kant strongly believed that it is our duty as individuals to utilise our ability to wield reason and rationality as morally autonomous beings. These obligations manifest to Kant in the distinctive forms of the Categorical Imperative. The Categorical Imperative is an unconditional demand of an action regardless of context or circumstance. ForRead MoreAge of Enlightenment and Century5169 Words   |  21 Pagesof art reproduced below express the artistic, philosophical and cultural values of their times. (Pictures of Michelangelo s David and Giacometti s Man Pointing 1947). 3. 82: Compare and contrast the cultural values of the Enlightenment with those of the sixteenth century Northern Renaissance. 4. 84: Compare and contrast the views of Machiavelli and Rousseau on human nature and the relationship between government and the governed. 5. 85: To