INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

Psychology is an academic and applied discipline involving the

systematic, and often scientific, study of human/animal mental functions
and behavior. Occasionally, in addition or opposition to employing the
scientific method, it also relies on symbolic interpretation and critical
analysis, although it often does so less prominently than other social
sciences such as sociology. Psychologists study such phenomena as
perception, cognition, attention, emotion, motivation, personality,
behavior and interpersonal relationships. Some, especially depth
psychologists, also study the unconscious mind.
Psychological knowledge is applied to various spheres of human
activity, including issues related to everyday lifesuch as family,
education and employmentand to the treatment of mental health
problems. Psychologists attempt to understand the role of mental
functions in individual and social behavior, while also exploring the
underlying physiological and neurological processes. Psychology
includes many sub-fields of study and applications concerned with such
areas as human development, sports, health, industry, media and law.
Psychology incorporates research from the natural sciences, social
sciences and humanities. A professional theorist or practitioner of
psychology is called a psychologist

THE DEFINITION OF PSYCHOLOGY

The word "psychology" is the combination of two terms - study (ology)
and soul (psyche), or mind. The derivation of the word from Latin gives
it this clear and obvious meaning: The study of the soul or mind. This
meaning has been altered over the years until today, this is not what the

word means at all. The subject of psychology, as studied in colleges and

universities, currently has very little to do with the mind, and absolutely
nothing to do with the soul or spirit.It is important to understand that
words and ideas are supposed to refer to something. "The large tree in
the front yard" refers to an actual thing that can be seen, touched and
experienced. "The man walking his little dog last night at sunset" refers
to an actual event that can be seen, observed and experienced. The realm
of mind is an actual realm that can be experienced, and at one time there
were words that accurately referred to this realm.
Let's see what a few dictionaries have to say and how a word could alter
and lose its true and actual meaning.
"Psyche" is defined as:
1. The spirit or soul.
2. The human mind.
3. In psychoanalysis, the mind functioning as the center of thought,
emotion, and behavior.
And defining "soul", we have:
1. the spiritual or immortal elements in a person.
2. a person's mental or moral or emotional nature.
Most of us would agree we have a "psyche" per the above definitions in
the sense of mind, thought, and emotions. Most would also agree they
have a "soul" per the second definition above relating to man's mental,
moral or emotional nature. We might all have different notions about
what these ultimately are, but few could sanely disagree they exist.The
derivation of "psyche" comes from Latin and the Greek psukhe - breath,
life, soul. To get a better "feel" for this term try to think of it as the
invisible animating principle or entity that occupies, interacts with and
directs the physical body.

WHAT IS THE MIND??

Originally, and for thousands of years, the subject of psychology
involved the study of the human spirit, soul or mind. This involves
things and functions not obviously visible to the physical senses. You
can't see a mind with one's eyes. You can't "feel" a thought with one's
hands. You can't place an emotion on a scale and weigh it. You can't
detect imagination, even with sophisticated electronic detection devices.
Just because some scientist's electronic device measures various
electronic pulses or signals when you are asked to imagine something
does not at all mean that they are "measuring imagination". What they
are measuring is some brain reaction that occurs when you initiate an act
of imagination. There is a relationship between the mind and the brain,
but this relationship is almost completely unknown and not understood.

The same is true for any chemical reactions or events that occur
concurrent with imagination, thoughts or feelings. There is some
relationship, but it is poorly understood. In fact, the entire framework of
the relationship is poorly conceived. Modern "scientific" fields, since
they haven't been able to study or detect these things with the physical
senses or laboratory measuring devices have taken a drastic leap and
declared that these things therefore don't exist. They have therefore
asserted that these things don't deserve recognition, and should be
ignored in any "legitimate" study of man, the mind, and human
behavior. John Watson, a typical behavioral psychologist had this to say:

The extent to which most of us are shot through with a savage

background is almost unbelievable.... One example of such a religious
concept is that every individual has a soul which is separate and
distinct from the body.... No one has ever touched a soul, or seen one
in a test tube, or has in any way come into relationship with it as he
has with the other objects of his daily experience ....

The behaviorist asks: Why don't we make what we can observe the
real field of psychology? Let us limit ourselves to things that can be
observed, and formulate laws concerning only those things. Now what
can we observe? We can observe behavior - what the organism does or
says. And let us point out at once: that saying is doing - that is,
behaving. . . - John Watson, behaviorist

Strangely, the study of the mind has come into the peculiar position of
being a study that denies the mind! That's like biology denying the
existence of biological organisms, but going on pretending to still be the
science of biological organisms while actually dealing with something
else entirely. A subject can't exist if it denies the very basis of its own
existence by definition. That is the state of modern western psychology
and psychiatry. They can't and shouldn't exist, but they do. The entire
structure of these subjects as they currently exist is a sham.
There is constant activity within each of our "invisible worlds". We are
each in some way constantly analyzing problems, entertaining thoughts
of tomorrow's occurrences, recalling yesterday's failures, wallowing in
the sadness of a loss, concentrating on the creation of a musical
composition, or day-dreaming. There are ever changing feelings and
emotions about everything we experience, and an endless parade of
judgments and commentary about what we see. Actually, for many of
us, we have too much mind. It goes on and on and never seems to stop. It
is a constant source of images, memories and ideas intruding themselves
upon our awareness. Most of us can't control any of this and simply
accept as inevitable this continual parade of images and ideas appearing
across the landscape of our mind.

THE HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY

The study of psychology in philosophical context dates back to the
ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, China, India, and Persia.
Psychology began adopting a more clinical and experimental approach
under medieval Muslim psychologists and physicians, who built
psychiatric hospitals for such purposes.
In 1802, French physiologist Pierre Cabanis helped to pioneer biological
psychology with his essay Rapports du physique et du moral de
l'homme (On the relations between the physical and moral aspects of
man). Cabanis interpreted the mind in light of his previous studies of
biology, arguing that sensibility and soul are properties of the nervous
system.
Though the use of psychological experimentation dates back to
Lamazes Book of Optics in 1021, psychology as an independent
experimental field of study began in 1879, when Wilhelm Wundt
founded the first laboratory dedicated exclusively to psychological
research at Leipzig University in Germany, for which Wundt is known
as the "father of psychology". The year 1879 is thus sometimes regarded
as the "birth date" of psychology. The American philosopher William
James published his seminal book, Principles of Psychology in 1890,
laying the foundations for many of the questions on which psychologists
would focus for years to come. Other important early contributors to the
field include Hermann Ebbinghaus (18501909), a pioneer in the
experimental study of memory at the University of Berlin; and the
Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (18491936) who investigated the
learning process now referred to as classical conditioning.

PSYCHOLOGY AS A PROFFESSION
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Clinical psychology includes the study and application of psychology for
the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologicallybased distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and
personal development. Central to its practice are psychological
assessment and psychotherapy, although clinical psychologists may also
engage in research, teaching, consultation, forensic testimony, and
program development and administration. Some clinical psychologists
may focus on the clinical management of patients with brain injury
this area is known as clinical neuropsychology. In many countries
clinical psychology is a regulated mental health profession.
The work performed by clinical psychologists tends to be influenced by
various therapeutic approaches, all of which involve a formal
relationship between professional and client (usually an individual,
couple, family, or small group). The various therapeutic approaches and
practices are associated with different theoretical perspectives and
employ different procedures intended to form a therapeutic alliance,
explore the nature of psychological problems, and encourage new ways
of thinking, feeling, or behaving. The four major theoretical perspectives
are Psychodynamic, Cognitive Behavioral, Existential-Humanistic, and
Systems or Family therapy. There has been a growing movement to
integrate the various therapeutic approaches, especially with an
increased understanding of issues regarding culture, gender, spirituality,
and sexual-orientation. With the advent of more robust research findings
regarding psychotherapy, there is growing evidence that most of the
major therapies are about of equal effectiveness, with the key common
element being a strong therapeutic alliance. Because of this, more
training programs and psychologists are now adopting an eclectic
therapeutic orientation.

HISTORY: Although modern, scientific psychology is often dated at

the 1879 opening of the first psychological laboratory by Wilhelm
Wundt, attempts to create methods for assessing and treating mental
distress existed long before. The earliest recorded approaches were a
combination of religious, magical and/or medical perspectives. Early
examples of such physicians included Patajali, Padmasambhava,
Rhazes, Avicenna, and Rumi.[7]
In the early 19th century, one could have his or her head examined,
literally, using phrenology, the study of personality by the shape of the
skull. Other popular treatments included physiognomythe study of the
shape of the faceand mesmerism, Mesmer's treatment by the use of
magnets. Spiritualism and Phineas Quimby's "mental healing" were also
popular.
While the scientific community eventually came to reject all of these
methods, academic psychologists also were not concerned with serious
forms of mental illness. That area was already being addressed by the
developing fields of psychiatry and neurology within the asylum
movement. It was not until the end of the 19th century, around the time
when Sigmund Freud was first developing his "talking cure" in Vienna,
that the first scientifically clinical application of psychology began.

COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGY
Counseling psychology is a psychological specialty that encompasses
research and applied work in several broad domains: counseling process
and outcome; supervision and training; career development and
counseling; diversity and multiculturalism; and prevention and health.
Some unifying themes among counseling psychologists include a focus
on assets and strengths, person-environment interactions, educational
and career development, brief interactions, and a focus on intact

personalities. In the United States of America, the premier scholarly

journals of the profession are the Journal of Counseling Psychology and
The Counseling Psychologist.Two differences in particular may
distinguish the field of counseling from the field of counseling
psychology: first, counseling is almost entirely an applied field: that is,
the occupation of counselors is generally counseling and psychotherapy.
In contrast, counseling psychology is both a research and applied field;
applied work might include teaching, consultation, and clinical work,
which in turn could include supervision, assessment, and forensic
evaluation, in addition to counseling or psychotherapy. A second
distinction is the breadth of topics encompassed by counseling
psychology. In addition to studying and teaching counseling, counseling
psychologists also engage in research in areas such as career
development, culture, ethnicity, gender, identity development,
personality, sexual orientation, race, and research methodology.

HISTORY: Counseling psychology, like many modern psychology

specialities, started as a result of World War II. During the war, the U.S.
military had a strong need for vocational placement and training. In the
1940s and 1950s the Veterens Administration created a specialty called
counseling psychology, and Division 17 (now known as the Society for
Counseling Psychology) of the American Psychological Association was
formed. This fostered interest in counselor training, and the creation of
the first few counseling psychology Ph.D programs. The first counseling
psychology Ph.D programs were at the University of Minnesota; Ohio
State University; University of Maryland, College Park; University of
Missouri-Columbia; Teachers College, Columbia University; and
University of Texas at Austin.

EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
Educational psychology is the study of how humans learn in
educational settings, the effectiveness of educational interventions, the
psychology of teaching, and the social psychology of schools as
organizations. Educational psychology is concerned with how students
learn and develop, often focusing on subgroups such as gifted children
and those subject to specific disabilities. Although the terms
"educational psychology" and "school psychology" are often used
interchangeably, researchers and theorists are likely to be identified in
the US and Canada as educational psychologists, whereas practitioners
in schools or school-related settings are identified as school
psychologists. This distinction is however not made in the UK, where
the generic term for practitioners is "educational psychologist."
Educational psychology can in part be understood through its
relationship with other disciplines. It is informed primarily by
psychology, bearing a relationship to that discipline analogous to the
relationship between medicine and biology. Educational psychology in
turn informs a wide range of specialities within educational studies,
including instructional design, educational technology, curriculum
development, organizational learning, special education and classroom
management. Educational psychology both draws from and contributes
to cognitive science and the learning sciences. In universities,
departments of educational psychology are usually housed within
faculties of education, possibly accounting for the lack of representation
of educational psychology content in introductory psychology textbooks.

HISTORY: Educational psychology cannot claim priority in the

systematic analysis of educational processes. Philosophers of education
such as Democritus, Quintilian, Vives and Comenius, had examined,
classified and judged the methods of education centuries before the
beginnings of psychology in the late 1800s. Instead, aspirations of the

new discipline rested on the application of the scientific methods of

observation and experimentation to educational problems. Even in the
earliest years of the discipline, educational psychologists recognized the
limitations of this new approach. In his famous series of lectures Talks to
Teachers on Psychology, published in 1899 and now regarded as the
first educational psychology textbook, the pioneering American
psychologist William James commented that:

Psychology is a science, and teaching is an art; and sciences

never generate arts directly out of themselves. An intermediate
inventive mind must make that application, by using its
originality.

According to Berliner educational psychology theorists' attitude to the

world of educational practice has shifted from initial interest to disdain,
and eventually to respect.

Charles Hubbard Judd

In 1912, Thorndike, who developed the theory of instrumental

conditioning, presaged later work on programmed instruction, mastery
learning and computer-based learning:

If, by a miracle of mechanical ingenuity, a book could be so

arranged that only to him who had done what was directed on
page one would page two become visible, and so on, much that
now requires personal instruction could be managed by print.

Among the few works of educational psychology historiography is

Educational Psychology: A Century of Contributions which presents
chapter-length biographies of 16 eminent scholars whose work has
significantly influenced the development of educational psychology

INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Industrial and Organizational Psychology applies psychology to
organizations and the workplace. (In late 2009, the Society for Industrial
and Organizational Psychology plans a vote to either retain its name or
to change it to the Society for Organizational Psychology or something
similar that eliminates the word "Industrial" and retains the word
"Organizational". Any such change might cause many American
researchers, practitioners and educational programs in I-O psychology to
change over to the new name to describe their field.) "Industrialorganizational psychologists contribute to an organization's success by
improving the performance and well-being of its people. An I-O
psychologist researches and identifies how behaviors and attitudes can
be improved through hiring practices, training programs, and feedback
systems

HISTORY: The "industrial" side of I-O psychology has its historical

origins in research on individual differences, assessment, and the
prediction of performance. This branch of the field crystallized during
World War I, in response to the need to rapidly assign new troops to
duty stations. After the War the growing industrial base in the U.S.
added impetus to I-O psychology. Walter Dill Scott, who was elected
President of the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1919,
was arguably the most prominent I-O psychologist of his time, although
James McKeen Cattell (elected APA President in 1895) and Hugo
Mnsterberg (1898) were influential in the early development of the
field.. Organizational psychology gained prominence after World War
II, influenced by the Hawthorne studies and the work of researchers such
as Kurt Lewin .

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
'Developmental psychology', also known as human development, is
the scientific study of systematic psychological changes that occur in
human beings over the course of the life span. Originally concerned with
infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence and
adult development, aging, and the entire life span. This field examines
change across a broad range of topics including motor skills and other
psycho-physiological processes; cognitive development involving areas
such as problem solving, moral understanding, and conceptual
understanding; language acquisition; social, personality, and emotional
development; and self-concept and identity formation.
Developmental psychology includes issues such as the extent to which
development occurs through the gradual accumulation of knowledge
versus stage-like development, or the extent to which children are born
with innate mental structures versus learning through experience. Many
researchers are interested in the interaction between personal
characteristics, the individual's behavior, and environmental factors
including social context, and their impact on development; others take a
more narrowly focused approach.
Developmental psychology informs several applied fields, including:
educational psychology, child psychopathology, and forensic
developmental psychology. Developmental psychology complements
several other basic research fields in psychology including social
psychology, cognitive psychology, ecological psychology, and
comparative psychology.

HISTORY: The modern form of developmental psychology has its

roots in the rich psychological tradition represented by Aristotle, Tabari,
Rhazes, Alhazen, and Descartes. William Shakespeare had his
melancholy character Jacques (in As You Like It) articulate the seven
ages of man: these included three stages of childhood and four of

adulthood. In the mid-eighteenth century Jean Jacques Rousseau

described three stages of childhood: infans (infancy), puer (childhood)
and adolescence in Emile: Or, On Education. Rousseau's ideas were
taken up strongly by educators at the time.
In the late nineteenth century, psychologists familiar with the
evolutionary theory of Darwin began seeking an evolutionary
description of psychological development; prominent here was G.
Stanley Hall, who attempted to correlate ages of childhood with previous
ages of mankind.
A more scientific approach was initiated by James Mark Baldwin, who
wrote essays on topics that included Imitation: A Chapter in the Natural
History of Consciousness and Mental Development in the Child and the
Race: Methods and Processes. In 1905, Sigmund Freud articulated five
psychosexual stages. Later, Rudolf Steiner articulated stages of
psychological development throughout human life.
By the early to mid twentieth century, the work of Vygotsky and Piaget,
mentioned above, had established a strong empirical tradition in the
field.

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Social psychology is the scientific study of how people's thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or
implied presence of others.[1] By this definition, scientific refers to the
empirical method of investigation. The terms thoughts, feelings, and
behaviors include all of the psychological variables that are measurable
in a human being. The statement that others may be imagined or implied
suggests that we are prone to social influence even when no other people

are present, such as when watching television, or following internalized

cultural norms.
Social psychology is an interdisciplinary domain that bridges the gap
between psychology and sociology. During the years immediately
following World War II, there was frequent collaboration between
psychologists and sociologists. However, the two disciplines have
become increasingly specialized and isolated from each other in recent
years, with sociologists focusing on "macro variables" (e.g. social
structure) to a much greater extent. Nevertheless, sociological
approaches to social psychology remain an important counterpart to
psychological research in this area.
In addition to the split between psychology and sociology, there has
been a somewhat less pronounced difference in emphasis between
American social psychologists and European social psychologists. As a
broad generalization, American researchers traditionally have focused
more on the individual, whereas Europeans have paid more attention to
group level phenomena.

HISTORY: The discipline of social psychology began in the United

States at the dawn of the 20th century. The first published study in this
area was an experiment in 1898 by Norman Triplett on the phenomenon
of social facilitation. During the 1930s, many Gestalt psychologists,
most notably Kurt Lewin, fled to the United States from Nazi Germany.
They were instrumental in developing the field as something separate
from the behavioral and psychoanalytic schools that were dominant
during that time, and social psychology has always maintained the
legacy of their interests in perception and cognition. Attitudes and small
group phenomena were the most commonly studied topics in this era.
During WWII, social psychologists studied persuasion and propaganda
for the U.S. military. After the war, researchers became interested in a
variety of social problems, including gender issues and racial prejudice.
In the sixties, there was growing interest in new topics, such as cognitive
dissonance, bystander intervention, and aggression. By the 1970s,

however, social psychology in America had reached a crisis. There was

heated debate over the ethics of laboratory experimentation, whether or
not attitudes really predicted behavior, and how much science could be
done in a cultural context (see Gergen, 1973). This was also the time
when a radical situationist approach challenged the relevance of self and
personality in psychology.
Social psychology reached maturity in both theory and method during
the 1980s and 1990s. Careful ethical standards now regulate research,
and greater pluralism and multiculturalism perspectives have emerged.
Modern researchers are interested in a many phenomena, but attribution,
social cognition, and the self-concept are perhaps the greatest areas of
growth in recent years. Social psychologists have also maintained their
applied interests with contributions in health and environmental
psychology, as well as the psychology of the legal system.

PSYCHOMETRIC PSYCHOLOGY
Psychometric Psychology is a branch of psychology that studies
personality and individual differences. One emphasis in this area is to
construct a coherent picture of a person and his or her major
psychological processes.Another emphasis views personality as the
study of individual differences, in other words, how people differ from
each other. A third area of emphasis examines human nature and how all
people are similar to one another. These three viewpoints merge together
in the study of personality.
Personality can be defined as a dynamic and organized set of
characteristics possessed by a person that uniquely influences his or her
cognitions, motivations, and behaviors in various situations [2]. The word
"personality" originates from the Latin persona, which means mask.
Significantly, in the theatre of the ancient Latin-speaking world, the
mask was not used as a plot device to disguise the identity of a character,

but rather was a convention employed to represent or typify that

character.
The pioneering American psychologist, Gordon Allport (1937)
described two major ways to study personality, the nomothetic and the
idiographic. Nomothetic psychology seeks general laws that can be
applied to many different people, such as the principle of selfactualization, or the trait of extraversion. Idiographic psychology is an
attempt to understand the unique aspects of a particular individual.
The study of personality has a rich and varied history in psychology,
with an abundance of theoretical traditions. The major theories include
dispositional (trait) perspective, psychodynamic, humanistic, biological,
behaviorist and social learning perspective. There is no consensus on the
definition of "personality" in psychology. Most researchers and
psychologists do not explicitly identify themselves with a certain
perspective and often taken an eclectic approach. Some research is
empirically driven such as the "Big 5" personality model whereas other
research emphasizes theory development such as psychodynamics.
There is also a substantial emphasis on the applied field of personality
testing.

FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY
Forensic psychology is the intersection between psychology and the
criminal justice system. It involves understanding criminal law in the
relevant jurisdictions in order to be able to interact appropriately with
judges, attorneys and other legal professionals. An important aspect of
forensic psychology is the ability to testify in court, reformulating
psychological findings into the legal language of the courtroom,
providing information to legal personnel in a way that can be
understood. Further, in order to be a credible witness, for example in the

United States, the forensic psychologist must understand the philosophy,

rules and standards of the American judicial system. Primary is an
understanding of the adversarial model under which the system
functions. There are also rules about hearsay evidence and importantly
the exclusionary rule. Lack of a firm grasp of these procedures will
result in the forensic psychologist losing credibility in the courtroom. A
forensic psychologist can be trained in clinical, social, organizational or
any other branch of psychology. In the United States, the salient issue is
the designation by the court as an expert witness by training, experience
or both by the judge. Generally, a forensic psychologist is designated as
an expert in a particular jurisdiction. The number of jurisdictions in
which a forensic psychologist qualifies as an expert increases with
experience and reputation.
Questions asked by the court of a forensic psychologist are generally not
questions regarding psychology but are legal questions and the response
must be in language the court understands. For example, a forensic
psychologist is frequently appointed by the court to assess a defendant's
competency to stand trial. The court also frequently appoints a forensic
psychologist to assess the state of mind of the defendant at the time of
the offense. This is referred to as an evaluation of the defendant's sanity
or insanity (which relates to criminal responsibility) at the time of the
offense. These are not primarily psychological questions but rather legal
ones. Thus, a forensic psychologist must be able to translate
psychological information into a legal framework.
Forensic psychologists also provide sentencing recommendations,
treatment recommendations, and any other information the judge
requests, such as information regarding mitigating factors, assessment of
future risk, and evaluation of witness credibility. Forensic psychology
also involves training and evaluating police or other law enforcement
personnel, providing law enforcement with criminal profiles and in other
ways working with police departments. Forensic psychologists work
both with the Public Defender, the States Attorney, and private
attorneys. Forensic psychologists may also help with jury selection

SCHOOLS OF PSYCHOLOGY
STRUCTURALISM: Structuralism is an approach to the human
sciences that attempts to analyze a specific field (for instance,
mythology) as a complex system of interrelated parts. It began in
linguistics with the work of Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913). But
many French intellectuals perceived it to have a wider application, and
the model was soon modified and applied to other fields, such as
anthropology, psychoanalysis, literary theory and architecture. This
ushered in the dawn of structuralism as not just a method, but also an
intellectual movement that came to take existentialism's pedestal in
1960s France.
Structuralism enjoyed little popularity, and its general stance of
antihumanism was in sheer opposition to the Sartrean existentialism that
preceded it. But in the 1970s, it came under internal fire from critics who
accused it of being too rigid and ahistorical. However, many of
structuralism's theorists, from Michel Foucault to Jacques Lacan,
continue to assert an influence on continental philosophy, and many of
the fundamental assumptions of its critics, that is, of adherents of post
structuralism, are but a continuation of structuralism.
Structuralism isn't only applied within literary theory. There are also
structuralist theories that exist within philosophy of science,
anthropology and in sociology. According to Alison Assiter, there are
four common ideas regarding structuralism that form an 'intellectual
trend'. Firstly, the structure is what determines the position of each
element of a whole. Secondly, structuralists believe that every system
has a structure. Thirdly, structuralists are interested in 'structural' laws
that deal with coexistence rather than changes. And finally structures are
the 'real things' that lie beneath the surface or the appearance of
meaning.

HISTORY: Structuralism appeared in academia in the second half of

the 20th century, and grew to become one of the most popular
approaches in academic fields concerned with the analysis of language,
culture, and society. The work of Ferdinand de Saussure concerning
linguistics is generally considered to be a starting point of structuralism.
The term "structuralism" itself appeared in the works of French
anthropologist Claude Lvi-Strauss, and gave rise, in France, to the
"structuralist movement," which spurred the work of such thinkers as
Louis Althusser, the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, as well as the
structural Marxism of Nicos Poulantzas. Almost all members of this socalled movement denied that they were part of it[citation needed].
Structuralism is closely related to semiotics. Post-structuralism
attempted to distinguish itself from the simple use of the structural
method. Deconstruction was an attempt to break with structuralistic
thought. Some intellectuals like Julia Kristeva, for example, took
structuralism (and Russian formalism) for a starting point to later
become prominent post-structuralists. Structuralism has had varying
degrees of influence in the social sciences: a great deal in the field of
sociology.

GESTALT THEORY: Gestalt psychology or gestaltism (German:

Gestalt - "shape" or "figure") of the Berlin School is a theory of mind
and brain positing that the operational principle of the brain is holistic,
parallel, and analog, with self-organizing tendencies, or that the whole is
different from the sum of its parts. The Gestalt effect refers to the formforming capability of our senses, particularly with respect to the visual
recognition of figures and whole forms instead of just a collection of
simple lines and curves. In psychology, gestaltism is often opposed to
structuralism and Wundt.

HISTORY: Although Max Wertheimer is the founder of the

movement, the concept of Gestalt was first introduced in contemporary
philosophy and psychology by Christian von Ehrenfels (a member of the
School of Brentano). The idea of Gestalt has its roots in theories by
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Immanuel Kant, and Ernst Mach.
Wertheimer's unique contribution was to insist that the "Gestalt" is
perceptually primary, defining the parts of which it was composed,
rather than being a secondary quality that emerges from those parts, as
von Ehrenfels's earlier Gestalt-Qualitt had been.
Both von Ehrenfels and Edmund Husserl seem to have been inspired by
Mach's work Beitrge zur Analyse der Empfindungen (Contributions to
the Analysis of the Sensations, 1886), in formulating their very similar
concepts of Gestalt and Figural Moment, respectively.
Early 20th century theorists, such as Kurt Koffka, Max Wertheimer, and
Wolfgang Khler (students of Carl Stumpf) saw objects as perceived
within an environment according to all of their elements taken together
as a global construct. This 'gestalt' or 'whole form' approach sought to
define principles of perception -- seemingly innate mental laws which
determined the way in which objects were perceived.
These laws took several forms, such as the grouping of similar, or
proximate, objects together, within this global process. Although Gestalt
has been criticized for being merely descriptive, it has formed the basis
of much further research into the perception of patterns and objects (
Carlson et al. 2000), and of research into behavior, thinking, problem
solving and psychopathology.
It should also be emphasized that Gestalt psychology is distinct from
Gestalt psychotherapy, although there is a commonality in their names.
One has little to do with the other.

FUNCTIONALISM: Functionalism is the oldest, and still the

dominant, theoretical perspective in sociology and many other social
sciences. This perspective is built upon twin emphases: application of
the scientific method to the objective social world and use of an analogy
between the individual organism and society. The theory is associated
with mile Durkheim and more recently with Talcott Parsons. It was
developed by other sociologists in the 20th century and was a popular
idea until the 1970s when it came under criticism from new ideas.
Functionalism is most often associated with sociology and sociocultural
anthropology.
The emphasis on scientific method leads to the assertion that one can
study the social world in the same ways as one studies the physical
world. Thus, Functionalists see the social world as "objectively real," as
observable with such techniques as social surveys and interviews. They
believe that rules and regulations help organize relationships between
members of society. Values provide general guidelines for behavior in
terms of roles and norms. These institutions of society such as the
family, religion, the economy, the educational and political systems, are
major aspects of the social structure. Institutions are made up of
interconnected roles or inter-related norms. For example, interconnected roles in the institution of the family are of wife, mother,
husband, father, son, brother, sister and daughter.
The theory is based around a number of key concepts. First, society is
viewed as a system a collection of interdependent parts, with a
tendency toward equilibrium. Second, there are functional requirements
that must be met in a society for its survival (such as reproduction of the
population). Third, phenomena are seen to exist because they serve a
function [Holmwood, 2005:87].

Functionalists believe that one can compare society to a living organism,

in that both a society and an organism are made up of interdependent
working parts (organs) and systems that must function together in order
for the greater body to function. An example of this can be found in the
theory of Emergence. Functionalist sociologists say that the different
parts of society e.g. the family, education, religion, law and order, media
etc. have to be seen in terms of the contribution that they make to the
functioning of the whole of society. This organic analogy sees the
different parts of society working together to form a social system in the
same way that the different parts of an organism form a cohesive
functioning entity.

BEHAVIOURISM: Behaviorism or Behaviorism, also called the

learning perspective (where any physical action is a behavior) is a
philosophy of psychology based on the proposition that all things which
organisms do including acting, thinking and feelingcan and should
be regarded as behaviors.[1] The school of psychology maintains that
behaviors as such can be described scientifically without recourse either
to internal physiological events or to hypothetical constructs such as the
mind.[2] Behaviorism comprises the position that all theories should have
observational correlates but that there are no philosophical differences
between publicly observable processes (such as actions) and privately
observable processes (such as thinking and feeling).[3]
From early psychology in the 19th century, the behaviorist school of
thought ran concurrently and shared commonalities with the
psychoanalytic and Gestalt movements in psychology into the 20th
century; but also differed from the mental philosophy of the Gestalt
psychologists in critical ways.[citation needed] Its main influences were Ivan
Pavlov, who investigated classical conditioning, Edward Lee Thorndike,
John B. Watson who rejected introspective methods and sought to
restrict psychology to experimental methods, and B.F. Skinner who
conducted research on operant conditioning. [3] In the second half of the

twentieth century, behaviorism was largely eclipsed as a result of the

cognitive revolution.

PSYCHOANALYSIS: Psychoanalysis is a body of ideas developed

by Austrian Physician Sigmund Freud and continued by others. It is
primarily devoted to the study of human psychological functioning and
behavior, although it also can be applied to societies.Under the broad
umbrella of psychoanalysis there are at least twenty-two different
theoretical orientations regarding the underlying theory of understanding
of human mentation and human development. The various approaches in
treatment called "psychoanalytic" vary as much as the different theories
do. In addition, the term refers to a method of studying child
development.
Freudian psychoanalysis refers to a specific type of treatment in which
the "analysand" (analytic patient) verbalizes thoughts, including free
associations, fantasies, and dreams, from which the analyst formulates
the unconscious conflicts causing the patient's symptoms and character
problems, and interprets them for the patient to create insight for
resolution of the problems.
The specifics of the analyst's interventions typically include confronting
and clarifying the patient's pathological defenses, wishes and guilt.
Through the analysis of conflicts, including those contributing to
resistance and those involving transference onto the analyst of distorted
reactions, psychoanalytic treatment can clarify how patients
unconsciously are their own worst enemies: how unconscious, symbolic
reactions that have been stimulated by experience are causing
symptoms.