Foundation of Psychology

Foundations of Psychology

Psychology is made up of numerous schools of thought, structuralism, functionalism, psychodynamic, behaviorist, cognitive, and evolutionary. These schools of thought have different assumptions, which sometimes offer contradicting facts and sometimes offer facts that complement each other (Kowalski & Westen, 2009). The early foundation of psychology is derived from two main schools of thoughts with many underlying assumptions derived from early psychologist who studied the mind (Kowalski & Westen, 2009). The early foundation of psychology is derived from two main schools of thoughts with many underlying assumptions derived from early psychologist who studied the mind (Kowalski & Westen, 2009).

The early school of thought developed by Edward Titchener known as structuralism, attempts to use the detailed mental self examination of ones own feelings, thoughts, and motives as a method for uncovering the basic elements of consciousness and the way they combine each other into ideas (Kowalski & Westen, 2009). Experimental psychologists who followed Titchener went even further, viewing the study of consciousness itself as unscientific because the data of sensations and feelings could not be observed by anyone except the person reporting them. Structuralism attempted to uncover the basic elements of consciousness through introspection (Kowalski & Westen, 2009).

The other early school of thought known as functionalism was influenced by Darwinian Theory that looked at explanations of psychological processes in terms of their function in helping the individual adapt to the environment. From a functionalist perspective, it is no accident that the idea of running comes into consciousness when a person sees a bear showing its teeth but not when he sees a flower (Kowalski & Westen, 2009). Consciousness serves a function, and the task of the psychologist is to understand that function. Functionalism attempted to explain psychological processes in terms of the function they serve (Kowalski & Westen, 2009). Psychology lacks a unified paradigm, or a system of theoretical assumptions employed by a scientific community to make sense of a domain of experience. Instead psychology has a number of perspectives, or schools of thought, which can be used to understand psychological events (Kowalski & Westen, 2009).

Sigmund Freud was the founder of the psychodynamic perspective, which emphasizes the influence of the unconscious mind on behavior. This perspective rests on three key premises. First, people's actions are determined by the way thoughts, feelings, and wishes are connected in their mind. Second, many of these events occur outside the conscious awareness. Third, these mental processes may conflict with one another, leading to compromises among competing motives. People are unlikely to know precisely the chain of psychological