Individual Paper Week 1
Gilbert A. Diaz
PYS/300 General Psychology
Professor Karin Detweiler
4 April 2014
University of Phoenix
Individual Paper Week 1
Schools of Psychology
Psychology has six schools of thought when it comes to the principal types of psychology. Human beings has struggle on the fact what makes us, us. Philosophy has been asking this question since the dawn of time. Moreover, with this lingering questions philosophers had argue whether it is the conscious or unconscious mind that gave birth to psychology. Early psychologist began to argue that the mind is what make us, us and began to use scientific measures to prove these theory.
As psychology as a science grew so did early thought on how to determine on how the mind works. Early psychologist began to come up with their on scientific theory and what gave way to the six different schools of thought in psychology. These six schools of thought are as follows:
1. Functionalism
a. Functionalism tries to determine how thought processes work in the brain and why thought is an unprovoked response (McCormick, 2003).
2. Gestalt Psychology
a. Looks at how the mind processes partial information based on the influence of various laws, rules or organizing principles. Then taken that data and processing it as a whole (Kohler, 1959).
3. Psychoanalysis
a. Psychoanalysis looks at the subconscious to explain human behaviors (Sherman, 2007).
4. Behaviorism
a. Uses observation of behavior, instead of analyzing the brain to determine behavior. Also believes that it is the key principle of psychology (Moore, 2011).
5. Humanistic Psychology
a. Believes motivation is the key factor as to how we think. Heavily based on Kant’s philosophy (Ryback, 2011).
6. Cognitivism
a. Like behaviorism, cognitivism uses scientific experiments to understand how the mind works. The key difference between cognitivism and behaviorism is that, cognitivism believes you can study and understand how the mind works on the inner level (Arponen, 2013).
Each school of thought has various notion when it comes to how the mind works. Each school will be tested and improve as technology and scientific theories evolve and improve. In theory to become a well-rounded psychologist, we must understand each of these theories and pool from each theory to help those who seek guidance to overcome their personnel demons.
Biological Foundations of Psychology
Neurons are the first primary biological foundation of psychology that is linked to behavior. As part of the nervous system, neurons carry and transmit sensory information to and from different parts of the body. There are three different kinds of neurons: sensory, motor, and interneurons. Without the function of these neurons, we would not have such sensations as touch smell or taste or the ability to walk stand or run.
The peripheral nervous system is the next primary biological foundations of psychology. Peripheral nervous system carries messages to and from the central nervous system through sensory receptors located throughout the body. This system takes care of the necessary functions of the body such as breathing, digestion and even waste evacuation.
The central nervous system is another primary biological foundation of psychology. Dealing with the brain and spinal cord, the central nervous system is used to control the vital functions of the body. This area also deals with visual and auditory functions as well as our different behaviors, such as our eating, sleeping, and sexual activities. Due to the necessity of the central nervous system, it deals with all of our functions.
Genetics and evolution is the last primary biological foundation of psychology. This deals with our psychological attributes, such as our intelligence or personality. All behavior has adapted over time and plays a key part to our survival and reproduction.
Different factors influences our actions and continues to evolve of biological foundations. Our environment continues to push our