Foundations in Psychology, Essay Example

There are many schools of thought in psychology, including behaviorism, the psychoanalytic school of Freud, Systems psychology, functionalism, humanistic/Gestalt, and cognitivism. However, there are three major schools of thought that are typically adhered to over the others. Behaviorism, psychoanalysis, and humanistic psychology are the three major schools of thought. Freudian psychology formed the basis of psychological thought because Sigmund Freud is considered to be the father of psychology. He concerned himself primarily with attempting to understand the subconscious mind, linking present behaviors and feelings to past experiences. Even though a large portion of Freud’s theories were found to not hold according to modern scientific understandings, his contribution to the field of psychology was significant because it allowed us to develop modern psychoanalysis, which psychologists still use today to treat patients. Overall, the method is used primarily to understand the traumatic events that were present in a client’s past that contribute to the persistence of harmful behaviors and patterns in the present time.

Freud’s contribution to the modern understanding of psychology is important because he has helped us understand that repressed thoughts and previous events have the ability to impact our current behaviors. Even though many people forget about significant occurrences that have happened in the past, therapists attempt to help their patients remember these events and to use this understanding to help guide them through the recovery process. As a consequence, we have learned that it is possible to refine and modify behaviors based on these recognitions in addition to the willingness to change put forth by the patient (Gellner, 1993). Even though the inner workings of the mind are still little understood, Freud’s techniques are effective and continue to help people modify their behaviors and feelings in a positive manner today.

The understandings of psychology that Freud generated related mainly to the environmental aspect of the brain. With a modern understanding of genetics and other physiological processes, it is reasonable to argue that erratic behaviors could be controlled through a mixture of therapy and medication. Furthermore, the exact reasoning posed by Freud has not been backed up by evidence. His theory of the Oedipus complex, for example, is not grounded in evidence. Therefore, it is important to appreciate Freud’s understandings for what he was able to accomplish during his time period, although it is also important to attempt to understand these ideas in a modern context in order to maximally benefit the patients that rely on these principles.

Behaviorist psychology evolved from the psychoanalytic theory in a sense. The most important aspect of this theory is rooted in the understanding of classical conditioning experiements conducted by Pavlov. In these experiments, Pavlov learned that animals can be trained to experience a reaction based on priming the brain to associate stimuli with certain outcomes. In this case, Pavlov would ring a bell before feeding dogs. After ringing the bell after the dogs were adequately conditioned for this response, he found that the dogs would salivate because they were expecting food, even though no food was put before them. As a consequence, this allowed scientists to gain unique insight into the mind, understanding that people could essentially be trained to behave in certain ways. Therefore, therapy methods that are designed to alter behaviors can focus on this method.

Behaviorism is a major tenet of many parenting and education styles today. Positive and negative feedback are important components of the awards process. When children are given rewards for behaving, they begin to associate these prizes with positivity and are therefore more likely to engage in these positive behaviors. On the other hand, they are more likely to avoid actions that will result in a punishment, or negative feedback. Studies have found that behaviors can be conditioned more effectively when a positive reward is provided. Therefore, many psychologists have been able to take this understanding of the human mind into consideration when working with their parents. They attempt to counsel their patients in a manner that helps them modify their behaviors and reactions into ones that are considered to be more normal by taking advantage of this feedback. By analyzing situations and determining how the client feels as a consequence of these behaviors, the counselor can reasonably help these individuals achieve happiness and come to recognize the positive and negative feedback that they are encouraging from their own interactions. Ultimately, these discussions of behavior and responses are expected to have a positive impact on the client and allow them to understand how to properly act in situations.

Gestalt psychology derived from experimental psychology experiments and have provided us with a better understanding of how our thoughts and memories are formed. This theory is particularly relevant to educators because understanding the evolution of thought is extremely important in trying to help students to learn to develop new understandings. Essentially, children are said to begin their lives as a blank state. They then develop understandings of the world around them based on the context of their thoughts and beliefs. When children are able to form new thoughts easily, it is because what they are learning is within the context of what they already know. As a result, the development of thought is a scaffolded processes that occurs over a long period of time. Psychologists and educators are able to work together in a manner that helps people understand how they perceive the world around them and to build upon these perceptions by analyzing the thought development process.

Overall, this is an important understanding because the way that thoughts are developed and are processed is related to the ability of an individual to react appropriately to different situations. It becomes challenging for therapists to gain an understanding of human thought and to help clients when they recognize that their gestalts, or blocks of knowledge, were formed in a manner that is counterproductive to appropriate thought or behavior (Carlson et al., 2010). To help these patients recover, these therapists are able to use their understanding of knowledge development in order to better help them learn how to re-associate what they know with more conventional or appropriate behaviors. In gestalt therapy, the relearning process is the essential part of the therapy and the role of the therapist is to help train these individuals to learn how to think about events and the context of events more appropriately. Even though many behavioral theories of psychology exist, it is often necessary for therapists to use a combination of methods in order to ensure that they are best able to help the recovery of their patients. This helps to ensure that these individuals are able to get all of the help they need.  

References

Carlson, Neil R. and Heth, C. Donald (2010) Psychology the Science of Behaviour Ontario, CA: Pearson Education Canada.

Cioffi, Frank. (1999). Freud and the Question of Pseudoscience. Peru, IL: Open Court.

Gellner, Ernest. (1993). The Psychoanalytic Movement: The Cunning of Unreason. London: Fontana Press.