Intoduction to Psychology
Chapter I
Introduction to Psychology
Wilhelm Wundt
Psychology started as a branch of philosophy in 300 B.C. with the great precursors like Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, St. Augustine and etc. The first psychological laboratory was established by Wilhelm Wundt in Leipzig, Germany and He made himself the “father of experimental psychology”. Psychology is the scientific study of behaviour and mental processes. Behaviour is anything that a person or animal does, feels, thinks or experiences. And there are two classifications of behaviours which are the overt and covert. In the overt, behaviours are directly observed or seen while in the covert behaviours are not directly observed. On the other hand, to describe behaviour, to explain behaviour, to predict behaviour and to control or change behaviour are the goals of psychology. There are schools of thoughts in psychology and these are the following; structuralism, functionalism, gestalt, behaviourism, psychoanalysis and purposivism or “hormic psychology”. Structuralism focuses on the conscious experiences, as the building block of the behaviour. While functionalism focuses on how the mind works in order to serve certain function in an individual’s environment. However gestalt emphasizes on the over-all pattern or the organization of any experience rather than on its specific elements. Gestalt is a German word which means “unified form or shape”. Whereas behaviourism advocates measurable and objective behaviour. In psychoanalysis, human motives and desires that are contained in the individual’s unconscious experiences which are driven out to awareness through acceptable manner. While the purposivism or “hormic psychology” by William Dougall believed that the objects, movements and behaviours have definite purposes. There are also the contemporary perspectives in psychology. The biological, cognitive, psychodynamic, humanistic, behavioural and socio-cultural are the examples of these contemporary
Introduction to Psychology
Wilhelm Wundt
Psychology started as a branch of philosophy in 300 B.C. with the great precursors like Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, St. Augustine and etc. The first psychological laboratory was established by Wilhelm Wundt in Leipzig, Germany and He made himself the “father of experimental psychology”. Psychology is the scientific study of behaviour and mental processes. Behaviour is anything that a person or animal does, feels, thinks or experiences. And there are two classifications of behaviours which are the overt and covert. In the overt, behaviours are directly observed or seen while in the covert behaviours are not directly observed. On the other hand, to describe behaviour, to explain behaviour, to predict behaviour and to control or change behaviour are the goals of psychology. There are schools of thoughts in psychology and these are the following; structuralism, functionalism, gestalt, behaviourism, psychoanalysis and purposivism or “hormic psychology”. Structuralism focuses on the conscious experiences, as the building block of the behaviour. While functionalism focuses on how the mind works in order to serve certain function in an individual’s environment. However gestalt emphasizes on the over-all pattern or the organization of any experience rather than on its specific elements. Gestalt is a German word which means “unified form or shape”. Whereas behaviourism advocates measurable and objective behaviour. In psychoanalysis, human motives and desires that are contained in the individual’s unconscious experiences which are driven out to awareness through acceptable manner. While the purposivism or “hormic psychology” by William Dougall believed that the objects, movements and behaviours have definite purposes. There are also the contemporary perspectives in psychology. The biological, cognitive, psychodynamic, humanistic, behavioural and socio-cultural are the examples of these contemporary