Psychology, Its History, Schools, and Applications Essay

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Updated: Mar 20th, 2024

Introduction

Nowadays, the sum of scientific knowledge is rapidly increasing. As scientific disciplines develop and grow, there often appear numerous points of contact and overlapping areas between them. It leads to interdisciplinary studies conducted in a number of fields at the same time. However, some scientific disciplines are diverse by themselves, and their findings can be useful on their own in a wide range of other spheres. Psychology is one of these diverse disciplines. Not only it has historical roots reaching in a large number of areas of study, but also its schools of thought are so various and their findings are so many-sided that its achievements can be used in a variety of spheres, both theoretical and practical.

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Historical Development of Psychology

Psychology can be defined as the scientific study of the mind. It is considered that psychology as an academic discipline first emerged in 1879 when Wilhelm Wundt opened a laboratory in Germany (Hergenhahn & Henley, 2014). However, numerous reasons needed to exist for a separate discipline to emerge. There had to be grounds that indicated the necessity of starting the research of this specific area, and previously gathered data on the subject.

And indeed, the study of the human mind had existed for centuries, even millennia, before the academic discipline of psychology was started. The mind was studied mainly by using philosophical means, both in the Western and the Eastern cultures. In the East, for example, such prominent thinkers as Lao Tzu (Taoism), Confucius (Confucianism) and Tao-sheng (Buddhism) studied psychological aspects of the human (Fung, 1966). However, our focus here will be on the Western culture, for academic psychology is mainly the product of the Western civilization.

In Ancient Greece, many thinkers studied how the human mind works, including Plato and Aristotle. One of the most important pieces of Ancient Greek writing is Aristotle’s treatise On the Soul, especially its Book 3, which, among other issues, investigates the nature of imagination, perceiving, intellect, thinking, and knowledge (Aristotle, n.d.). Numerous thinkers examined the issues of the soul (which was usually perceived as responsible for the mental and psychological processes) during the Middle Ages, but their scholastic inquiries were usually conducted within the bounds of the Christian theology.

In the 17-18th centuries, with the emergence of rationalism and the scientific method, the nature of the human mind was investigated further. Rene Descartes established a strong dualism between the mind and the body, which, although the problem had been raised in the ancient times, would become one of the important issues for the modern psychology as well. Also, the scientific method which started developing in this period, thanks to the work of Roger Bacon and other thinkers, would be later used in psychological studies (Hergenhahn & Henley, 2014).

The works of Immanuel Kant provide a thorough and scrupulous investigation of the human mind and reason. Kant believed that the mind “looked” at the surrounding world utilizing the innate, a priori forms of sensibility, space and time, which gave structure to all the phenomena that people perceive, both external (through the prism of space) and internal (through the prism of time). Therefore, the philosopher believed that we never experience the world directly, only through the a priori forms of sensibility; thus, the world always remains a thing-in-itself. Kant also provided an explanation of a mechanism using which the mind formulates and grasps various concepts. Even though Kant’s teachings were largely proved wrong after Einstein found out that neither time nor space are absolute and homogenous, his works still are an example of unique rigorousness and thoroughness, and his contributions to the study of the human mind were significant (Rohlf, 2010).

Interestingly, astronomers were the first to realize the potential usefulness of physiology and psychological knowledge to a number of scientific areas, when Friedrich Bessel realised (circa 1815) that the difference in time in star observation of different scientists were caused by individual differences in reaction time rather than by incompetence (Hergenhahn & Henley, 2014, p. 219-220). There also were other studies close to psychology in the 19th century. For instance, Charles Bell in 1911 published a pamphlet that summarized the existing knowledge about the nature of the nerves and the nervous system.

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Importantly, this work distinguished between sensory and motor nerves, showing that various “mental functions are mediated by different anatomical structures” (Hergenhahn & Henley, 2014, p. 221). Further, in the 1940-1950s, a prominent German physician Herman von Helmholz carried out his study on the rate at which nerves conducted signals. Helmholz also conducted influential research on conversion of sensation into perception, colour vision, auditory perception, etc. (Hergenhahn & Henley, 2014, p. 224-227).

In the second half of the 19th century, experimental psychology started emerging. Prominent representatives of the period include E. H. Weber, G. T. Fechner, and W. M. Wundt. As it was mentioned, Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt was the person who in 1879 opened a laboratory in Germany, from which point psychology is considered to be born as an academic discipline.

Therefore, it is worth stressing that psychology has roots that reach deep into the history of our civilization, and numerous contributors from a variety of disciplines to its base of knowledge. The study of the mind has taken much from philosophy, as well as from medicine; other contributing fields include physics, biology, anthropology, and so on.

The Diversity of Psychological Schools of Thought

While psychology was developing as an academic discipline, numerous and diverse schools of thought emerged within it. Each of these schools had its specific principles, areas of focus, methods, and their findings could be applied in different spheres.

For example, Wundt’s school of voluntarism was devoted to uncovering knowledge for the sake of pure science, rather than for practical reasons. Voluntarists believed that consciousness had to be studied via experiment and thorough observation. Structuralists also wanted to develop pure science, and it was their opinion that the mind has an underlying structure. The representatives of the school of functionalism, on the other hand, wanted their findings to be practically applied to improve the quality of life. They thought that the mind has a number of functions which need to be discovered; unlike structuralists and voluntarists, they were uninterested in simply classifying the mental phenomena (Wertheimer, 2012).

The school of behaviourism was grounded on the idea of objective psychology, and its representatives rejected the need to study consciousness, believing all behaviours to be responses to physical stimuli, and consciousness to be a part of those responses. On the other hand, psychoanalysts focused on consciousness and the unconscious parts of the mind, believing that the unconscious processes are responsible for a large part of our feelings and behaviours, and using their knowledge in order to treat patients suffering from mental problems and conditions (Gabbard, Litowitz, & Williams, 2012).

Psychobiology, a major school of psychological thought, combined the findings of behaviourists and psychoanalysts, stating that mental phenomena are grounded in human physiology. Psychobiologists usually attempt to discover the correlations existing between the physiological and the psychological aspects of the human, and use experimental means to conduct their studies. The findings of this school can be used in a wide range of areas.

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Cognitive psychology, one of the newest schools of psychological thought, studies human cognition, memory, reasoning, attention, judgment, and so on. It is among the most diverse schools of psychology, combining the findings of numerous disciplines such as medicine, neurobiology, philosophy, artificial intelligence and information technologies, linguistics, etc. (Hergenhahn & Henley, 2014).

The Subfields of Psychology and the Diversity of Areas of Use of Psychological Knowledge

American Psychological Association (n.d.) lists 54 divisions of APA, which are interest groups created by the members of this organization. The quantity of these divisions shows the width of the range of issues to which the findings of psychology can be applied. For instance, these divisions are related to such spheres as schooling, education and development; religion; arts and creativity; cognitive science; engineering; consumer behaviour; environmental, population and conservation psychology; psychopharmacology; law; clinical issues; trauma treatment; and many others.

It is clear, therefore, that the findings of psychology can be used in a variety of areas. In addition, the findings of particular schools can be especially useful in certain fields. Psychoanalysis, for instance, is widely known to have been used in the medical setting in order to deal with some psychopathological conditions. The findings of the school of psychobiology can be used in medicine (for instance, to treat or prevent substance abuse (Alim et al., 2012)), in education and rehabilitation (e.g., to help children who have suffered from child neglect (De Bellis, 2005)), in law (for example, in order to deal with criminals who behaved aggressively and violently and find an appropriate method of rehabilitation for them (DĂ­az, 2011)), or in clinical setting (for instance, to help deal with psychopathological problems (Tops et al., 2007)). Cognitive psychology, being an interdisciplinary field, can be used in artificial intelligence studies and computer engineering (Hunefeldt & Brunetti, 2004), education (Roediger, 2013), medicine, and many other spheres.

In addition, the more general findings of psychology can also be employed to study a wide range of aspects of the human’s existence. They can be used to study art (for instance, psychoanalytical approach is rather often employed in order to explain certain phenomena of art), religion (psychology of religion is a separate field of study), and many other areas of culture. Psychological findings are also employed in other, more practical spheres; for instance, the studies in customer psychology are often promoted and utilized by businesses; sports psychologists help sportspersons in their endeavours; etc. Thus, the areas of application of psychology are numerous and diverse, and this scientific discipline contributes much to our society.

Conclusion

To sum up, it should be pointed out that psychology has its origins in a number of other disciplines and areas of study, such as philosophy, physiology, medicine, physics, and so on. Throughout the history of psychology, a number of schools emerged within the discipline, each contributing something that could be used in a variety of ways. Today, the diversity of psychology can also be seen from the number of its possible applications; its findings can be used in medicine, law, artificial intelligence, education, business, etc.

References

Alim, T. N., Lawson, W. B., Feder, A., Iacoviello, B. M., Saxena, S., Bailey, C. R.,…Neumeister, A., M.D. (2012). Resilience to meet the challenge of addiction: Psychobiology and clinical considerations. Alcohol Research, 34(4), 506-515. Web.

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). . Web.

Aristotle. (n.d.). . Web.

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De Bellis, M. D. (2005). The psychobiology of neglect. Child Maltreatment, 10(2), 150-172. Web.

DĂ­az, J. L. (2011). The psychobiology of aggression and violence: Bioethical implications. International Social Science Journal, 61(200/201), 233-245. Web.

Fung, Y.-L. (1966). A Short History of Chinese Philosophy (pp. 38-48, 60-67, 93-103). New York, NY: Macmillan. Web.

Gabbard, G. O., Litowitz, B. E., & Williams, P. (Eds.). (2012). Textbook of Psychoanalysis. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing.

Hergenhahn, B. R., & Henley, T. B. (2014). An introduction to the history of psychology (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Hunefeldt, T., & Brunetti, R. (2004). Artificial intelligence as “theoretical psychology”: Christopher Longuet-Higgins’ contribution to cognitive science. Cognitive Processing, 5(3), 137-139. Web.

Roediger, H. L. (2013). Applying cognitive psychology to education: Translational educational science. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 1-3. Web.

Rohlf, M. (2010). Web.

Tops, M., Boksem, M. A. S., Wijers, A. A., Van Duinen, H., Den Boer, J. A., Meijman, T. F., & Korf, J. (2007). The psychobiology of burnout: Are there two different syndromes? Neuropsychobiology, 55(3-4), 143-150. Web.

Wertheimer, M. (2012). A brief history of psychology (5th ed.). New York, NY: Psychology Press, Taylor & Francis Group.

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