Foundations of Psychology Paper
Foundations of Psychology Paper
PSY/300
May 13, 2012
Psychology encompasses a vast range of different thoughts, theories, and biological foundations on behavior of why people act the way they do. Once a part of philosophy, psychology has developed into several schools of thought that describe the theories some of these individuals use to approach what they are observing from different people and their actions. Some of these theories do have conflictions from others, but all have a good amount of validity to their theories. Many things contribute to the biological well being of a person and those things can determine what kind of behavior the person will display. The major schools of thought are introspection, structuralism, functionalism, psychodynamic theory, cognitive theory, and behavioral theory. Introspection was a method in which a person would report anything the person had come across their mind when they were given some kind of stimulus or task to do. Structuralism used introspection to uncover parts of consciousness and how they combine into ideas with one another. Functionalism applied the Darwinian Theory where roles or functions would aid in helping an individual adapt to their environment. The psychodynamic theory has three parts that describe it. The first one is thoughts, feelings, or wishes determine the way person will act. The second one is most of the thoughts a person has come outside of the person’s awareness. The third is that the mental processes may conflict with one another leaving to possible compromises within some of the competing motives of a person. The behavioral theory suggests that there are many things that can stimulate a person such as an object or an event within the person’s environment can control the behavior of a person through learning. The cognitive theory suggests that the perception, process, and the way a person retrieves information allows the person to interact in daily activities. Although all these
PSY/300
May 13, 2012
Psychology encompasses a vast range of different thoughts, theories, and biological foundations on behavior of why people act the way they do. Once a part of philosophy, psychology has developed into several schools of thought that describe the theories some of these individuals use to approach what they are observing from different people and their actions. Some of these theories do have conflictions from others, but all have a good amount of validity to their theories. Many things contribute to the biological well being of a person and those things can determine what kind of behavior the person will display. The major schools of thought are introspection, structuralism, functionalism, psychodynamic theory, cognitive theory, and behavioral theory. Introspection was a method in which a person would report anything the person had come across their mind when they were given some kind of stimulus or task to do. Structuralism used introspection to uncover parts of consciousness and how they combine into ideas with one another. Functionalism applied the Darwinian Theory where roles or functions would aid in helping an individual adapt to their environment. The psychodynamic theory has three parts that describe it. The first one is thoughts, feelings, or wishes determine the way person will act. The second one is most of the thoughts a person has come outside of the person’s awareness. The third is that the mental processes may conflict with one another leaving to possible compromises within some of the competing motives of a person. The behavioral theory suggests that there are many things that can stimulate a person such as an object or an event within the person’s environment can control the behavior of a person through learning. The cognitive theory suggests that the perception, process, and the way a person retrieves information allows the person to interact in daily activities. Although all these