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OfflineAnxietyDrive
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Schools of Thought in Psychology
    #13004746 - 08/04/10 11:31 PM (13 years, 6 months ago)

Traditionally, psychology is the study of the human psyche or mind. Today, psychology is defined as the scientific study of human behavior. This definition arose because of the impact behavioral and cognitive psychology has had on the field. There are five active areas in psychology. These areas either have been around for a long time in a different form, as within philosophy, or have broken apart and merged with newer fields. An example of the latter is the Gestalt school, which eventually merged with cognitivism. Unfortunately, Gestalt psychology failed to sign a prenuptial agreement. Cognitivism received Gestalt love and glory. The reason for this was the emergence of computing and the computer as metaphor for consciousness. Many Gestalt ideas dissipated as cognitivism progressed, although interest in categorizing and understanding human perception in a holistic manner has stayed true to cognitive psychology.

Psychology didn't actually begin as a science until German psychologist Willhelm Wundt opened the first psychological laboratory at the university of Leipzig in 1879. This kicked off the school of structuralism. After Wundt set up his laboratory, other laboratories emerged around the world. Ever since, psychology has been a multiparadigmatic discipline that explores human behavior from different perspectives and through various lenses. I will briefly describe each school.

Older schools:

Structuralism: This was the first school of psychology. Structuralists focused on understanding the nature of mind scientifically. They used techniques such as introspective analysis or simply "introspection." Structuralism was mainly concerned with breaking down the elements of thought to the simplest level, or understanding the "structure of consciousness." The two most important structuralists were Willhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener. Structuralists were not interested in abnormal psychology nor with its practical implications. Structuralism died out because of the rigidity of its proponents. For instance, Titchener was adamant that psychology stay strictly scientific and only study the elements of thought.

Functionalism: This was the rival school of Structuralism. Functionalism stressed the importance of consciousness and behavior. Darwin's theory of evolution influenced this school's methodology. Major players within functionalism, like William James, stressed the importance of pragmatism - the use of whatever works as being beneficial to the development of psychology. James was probably the first person to describe consciousness as a "stream" or "river." Edward Thorndike was also a important for functionalism. His experiments on behavior caused functionalism to outstrip structuralism. Functionalism was so successful that newer fields of psychology adopted most of its assumptions and methods, including Behaviorism.

Gestalt: This school focuses on studying the whole aspects of conscious experience and behavior. It cropped up as a reaction to the molecular approach to psychology, which focuses on the elements of consciousness, much like Wundt's version. The Gestaltists felt that the molar approach to psychology was more important, molar meaning focusing on the phenomenological and subjective aspects of consciousness. The person instrumental to the development of Gestalt psychology was Max Wertheimer. He made a keen observation we now refer to as "phi phenomenon," which is basically the illusion that light is moving from one place to another although it's not actually occurring. Other important figures in Gestalt psychology include Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Kohler. Gestalt psychology merged with modern day cognitivism.

Phi Phenomenon:

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Newer Schools:

1. Behaviorism: an outgrowth of Functionalism. This school focuses on learning and the observable behavior of organisms. Ivan Pavlov and B.F. Skinner remain huge influences on "neobehaviorism." Behaviorism also stresses that behavior be the single most important factor in psychology. Skinners brand of behaviorism is called Operant conditioning or instrumental conditioning. This kind of conditioning relies on environmental stimuli to affect behavior. Pavlovian conditioning, on the other hand, is more passive and relies on reflexes from the organism. Both forms of conditioning in Behaviorism have had a huge scientific and practical impact on psychology and the study of human behavior.

2. Psychoanalysis: Started by Freud in the late 1800's, this school relies on interpreting information from the unconscious mind in order to understand human pathology. It grew out of clinical research and anecdotal evidence. Psychoanalysis was also one of the first coherent views on personality because it took many aspects of it into consideration. Psychoanalysis also devoted time to understanding human impulses and basic drives. Freud called "sex" and "aggression" the primary motivating forces of the unconscious, and he said that "dreams are the royal road to the unconscious." Other important figures in psychoanalysis include Alfred Adler, Karen Horneye, Carl Jung, Anna Freud, and Melanie Klein.

3. Humanistic: This school, created by Abraham Maslow, focuses on the healthy aspects of human functioning. Humanistic psychologists take information and many ideas from the existentialist philosophers such as Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, and Sartre. A key idea in humanistic psychology is the notion of self-actualization. A person who has met their basic or deficit needs in life can go on to self-actualize and become a whole, fully functioning person. Humanistic psychology arose as a reaction against both psychoanalysis and behaviorism. Humanistic psychologists blamed psychoanalysis for being "pathologizers" and trying to find the flaws and ugliness in human behavior. They blamed behaviorists for being too rigid and turning humans into mindless robots, not focusing on more intimate and sensual aspects of human experience. Another important figure in humanistic psychology is Carl Rogers, who created Client-Centered Therapy, which aims to create the self-actualizing tendency in the individual.

4. Cognitive Psychology: This branch of psychology focuses on cognitive processes and thinking. The cognitivist tries to look for negative thinking patterns in humans and change those patterns. This school of thought came into existence along with the computer, because the metaphors used for computing fit as an analogy to human mental processes. For instance, in cognitive psychology neural patterns are referred to as "neural networks," which is a direct correlation to computing. Cognitive psychologists study everything from perception, memory, thinking, and problem solving to language. An important idea in cognitive psychology is the notion of cognitive dissonance. Here's the Wiki definition: "Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding contradictory ideas simultaneously." Important people for the cognitive school include George A. Miller and Noam Chomsky. For clinical cognitive psychology both Aaron Beck and  Albert Ellis remain important contributors. *note: cognitive psychology has been combined with the behavioral school for a powerful approach to therapy called (CBT) or cognitive-behavioral therapy.

5. Biological Psychology (psychobiology): This is one of the fastest growing areas of psychology. New information becomes available from the brain sciences everyday and bolsters understanding of the human nervous system. This school focuses on the anatomy and neurophysiology of the brain and how it reflects behavior. Both neurotransmission and brain anatomy play a role in determining behavior and mental processes. This research has led to the development of drugs that help people suffering from mental illnesses and neurological conditions. This is known as "pharmacotherapy." Important people in biological psychology include Karl Lashley, Sperry, Donald Hebb, and Hans Eysenck.

I wrote this as a general introduction to psychology. I hope the conversations can develop around it and go deeper. I will be modifying this for errors or information that I left out.

Thank you.




Resources:

Hergenhahn, B. R. (2008). An Introduction to the History of Psychology (6th ed.). Wadsworth Publishing.

Hunt, M. (2007). The Story of Psychology (Upd Rev.). Anchor.

http://psychology.about.com/od/historyofpsychology/a/schoolsthought.htm


I wrote this to spur some more conversation for psychology, and give people a general introduction into the basic schools of psychology. I hope this is helpful. If you see any mistakes or hope to modify it, please let me know.

Edited by AnxietyDrive (08/05/10 01:13 AM)

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Offlinecircastes
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Re: Schools of Thought in Psychology [Re: AnxietyDrive]
    #13005314 - 08/05/10 01:52 AM (13 years, 6 months ago)

Interesting, thanks.

Jung's "Psychology of the Unconscious" blows my mind.


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OfflinejivJaN
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Re: Schools of Thought in Psychology [Re: AnxietyDrive]
    #13006008 - 08/05/10 08:19 AM (13 years, 6 months ago)

Quote:

" Structuralism was mainly concerned with breaking down the elements of thought to the simplest level, or understanding the "structure of consciousness."




I like that.
I wish psychology focused more on what i perceive to be fundamentals.

The most important question IMO being  - how are consciousness and thought processes related ?
Are they one and the same ?


What do you think ?
I have come to believe quite the opposite through my psychedelic experiences.


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All my posts in this forum are strictly fictional.
They are derived from an acute mental illness , from which i am forced to lie compulsively.
I have never induced any kind of mind altering substance in my life  and i have no intentions whatsoever of doing anything illegal.
If I have ever suggested such a thing it would have most likely been , due to my personality disorder and i probably do not remember it at all..

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OfflineAnxietyDrive
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Re: Schools of Thought in Psychology [Re: jivJaN]
    #13007309 - 08/05/10 01:10 PM (13 years, 6 months ago)

Quote:


The most important question IMO being  - how are consciousness and thought processes related ?
Are they one and the same ?


What do you think ?




This depends on what perspective you approach the question from. I think it's possible to set aside the notion of "consciousness" and think solely about thought processes, which can be easily explained using neurology and cognitive psychology. These areas suggest that thought processes are conglomerations of neural webs and networks that feedback into one another. Indeed, much of the brain works like this, that is it uses neural networking and "reentrant" processing. On a structural level, the frontal cortex deals with thinking and idealizing, but almost all aspects of the brain work in conjunction. For example, the Thalamus is important for routing sensory and perception signals all over the brain, but you can add consciousness as far as alertness and wakefulness is concerned.

On the other side of the coin, things get complicated when you add in the mind-body problem, which tackles the question of how our brain and bodies physical components work to produce subjective feelings (called qualia) and consciousness. I'm inclined to agree that something OTHER may be going on when it comes to consciousness and mind, at least that is what my own experiences with psychedelics and other drugs have taught me. For scientists and philosophers this issue always becomes counterintuitive and paradoxical.

Read the work of either David Chalmers or John Searle to get a grasp of the philosophical arguments. Read the work of neurologists like Oliver Sacks and Ramachandran to get a base understanding of brain functioning in regards to malfunctioning brain conditions and consciousness.

Anyway, I'm rambling now. What do you guys think?


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Edited by AnxietyDrive (08/05/10 02:35 PM)

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Offlinefloatingupstream

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Re: Schools of Thought in Psychology [Re: AnxietyDrive]
    #13008010 - 08/05/10 03:39 PM (13 years, 6 months ago)

Do you know anything about Stanislav Grof? He seems to have a lot of interesting things about psychedelic healing.

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OfflineAnxietyDrive
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Re: Schools of Thought in Psychology [Re: floatingupstream]
    #13008125 - 08/05/10 04:12 PM (13 years, 6 months ago)

Quote:

floatingupstream said:
Do you know anything about Stanislav Grof? He seems to have a lot of interesting things about psychedelic healing.




Yeah. I've read several of his books. The thing about Grof is that he relies mainly on anecdotal evidence to support his claims. However, I don't see this as a theory destroying position because he was mainly a clinical psychologist, thus he derived most of his ideas from the clinic the same way Freud did. Psychoanalysis came about not because of any laboratory research, but because of observations made in the clinical setting. The same can be said of "transpersonal" psychology of which Stan Grof, Charles Tart, and others defend.

The main theme in Grof's work is the idea that mystical experiences tend to let one relive his birth trauma. Essentially, Grof takes Freud's psychosexual stages and pushes them back into the womb, that oceanic paradise prior to birth. He then delves into a psychoanalyical and spiritual assessment of the stages of the birth experience, called BPM's, or "Basic Perinatal Matrices," which document the feelings, emotions, and thoughts regarding each stage as a person passes from the womb into the world. Grof discovered this theme of reliving birth trauma when using LSD psychotherapy on his clients...he found that the psychedelic experience mimics this early rupture from oceanic world of the womb. There's more to it, but it's also important to note that when psychedelics became illegal and taboo he created a method of inducing these states without drugs. He called it "holotropic breath work."

If you want an overview of his stuff I recommend you read his book "Psychology of the Future."


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Edited by AnxietyDrive (08/05/10 04:13 PM)

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Offlinefloatingupstream

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Re: Schools of Thought in Psychology [Re: AnxietyDrive]
    #13008989 - 08/05/10 07:40 PM (13 years, 6 months ago)

Thanks dude!

What do you have to say about Holotropic Breath Work? If you don't mind...

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Offlinecircastes
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Re: Schools of Thought in Psychology [Re: floatingupstream]
    #13010530 - 08/06/10 01:38 AM (13 years, 6 months ago)

I've had one or two successful experiences with it, myself. Completely self-administed - I didn't attend any workshops. In one, I entered a state of ecstasy and had several very drawn-out orgasms without even thinking about my genitals. Very... cool. In the other, I felt massive tensions in particular chakra spots on the body being released, and I burst into tears for no real reason except perhaps as a release of repressed emotion.

Listening to FSOL - Lifeforms or the like seems to facilitate it. You can actually hit a new state of awareness within 10-15 minutes in some cases, if you're doing it all properly (not much to it except patience really).

I haven't had the patience to explore it further. I was desperate to fix some problems back then.


--------------------
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My shield...
My armour...

TESTED
WITH
FULL
FORCE

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OfflineAnxietyDrive
Aspiring Psychologist
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Registered: 01/03/09
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Re: Schools of Thought in Psychology [Re: circastes]
    #13015227 - 08/06/10 11:46 PM (13 years, 6 months ago)

Quote:

circastes said:
I've had one or two successful experiences with it, myself. Completely self-administed - I didn't attend any workshops. In one, I entered a state of ecstasy and had several very drawn-out orgasms without even thinking about my genitals. Very... cool. In the other, I felt massive tensions in particular chakra spots on the body being released, and I burst into tears for no real reason except perhaps as a release of repressed emotion.

Listening to FSOL - Lifeforms or the like seems to facilitate it. You can actually hit a new state of awareness within 10-15 minutes in some cases, if you're doing it all properly (not much to it except patience really).

I haven't had the patience to explore it further. I was desperate to fix some problems back then.




Very cool experience.

Floatingupstream, I recommend you listen to whatever he has to say about holotropic breathwork. I don't have personal experience with it. :shrug:


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