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Dualism - Mind and body
French philosopher, Rene Descartes, believed that the human mind and body are two separate, functioning systems. The interaction, however, is believed by Descartes to be via the pineal gland in the brain. He named this theory 'dualism' and formulated the mind-body problem philosophy to examine the relationship between mind and matter. -
Structuralism - Scientific research
In the nineteenth century, physiologists began to investigate on the structures relating to the brain, such as the nervous system and sensory organs. Hermann von Helmholtz was a German physiologist who tested the speed of nerve impulses in a frog's leg to futher understand the method of sending and receiving information through nerve impulses and hormones. The successes soon allowed him to develope theories that could be applicable to the study of humans. -
Structuralism - Bit by bit
A German physiologist who was intrigued in the study of human conciousness was Wilhelm Wundt. His researches and theories concluded that the topic of structuralism can be broken down into each separate elements including thoughts, feelings, sights, sounds and other sensations. Wundt also used a data collection technique called introspection, breaking down images and describe their features in smaller pieces of information. -
Functionalism - The big picture
William James defined psychology as a study of conciousness, much like Wundt. However, he believed the approach to this study should be as a 'whole' and not separated into individual subjects. He was mainly interesting in questions such as 'why' and 'how' our conciousness lead us to behave the way we do. This study was coined the term 'functionalism' and it focused on the study of functions and their purposes. -
Psychoanalysis - Unconciousness
Understanding behaviour and mental processes and the roles of unconcious conflicts was Signmund Freud's project. He challenged the previous theories and methods of structuralism and functionalism, focusing on the roles of unconcious conflicts and motivations to explain specific behaviours and mental processes. According to Freud, unconciousness is instinctively connected with sexual and aggressive behaviours. -
Behaviourism - Reward and punishment
American psychologist John Broadus Watson made a huge impact on the development of psychology in studying concious experience and behaviour. He believed that psychology should focus on the observable behaviour that could be objectively measured and confirmed. This approach came to be known as 'behaviourism'. His study led psychologists to come to a hypothesis that everything a person does is either influenced by rewards or punishments. -
Psychology as a Science
Starting from 1879, psychology was considered as a science due to its scientific nature, but included a wide range of perspective and theories known as 'schools of thoughts'. Fields included structuralism, functionalism, psychoanalysis, behaviourism and humanism. Each school had a leading researcher and their own focus and method of study. -
Humanism - Positive qualities
Humanistic psychology was the attempt at understanding behaviour and mental process that was involved with showing the positive values and potential of each individual human beings. Carl Rogers, an American clicnical psychologist, believed that this method of approach complemented past studies where psychologists have only focused on the negative impacts of human behaviour. His theory was that psychology is meant to be a topic showing the great attributes and uniqueness in human nature. -
Greek Philosophers
To understand the human nature and behaviours, Socrates, a Greek philosopher and his followers Plato and Aristotle wrote about human thoughts, feelings and theorised memory, sleep, dreams, senses, pleasure, pain and desire. The wide range of studies lead the men to question whether humans were born or grown to become either rational or irrational beings. These questions continue to exist in today's philosophy and remains to be studied by psychologists.
