Psychology First Developed as a Formal Discipline

Psychology first developed as a formal discipline in the late 19th century, even though its origins actually date back to ancient Greece (Wright, 2011, p.407). As philosophers began to probe the nature of the human mind, the theory of psychology and its overall acceptance in society began to evolve. As we look back at psychology's early beginnings, evidence of the emergence of several different schools of thought are revealed and their differences clearly delineated.

One of the first schools of thought to emerge was that of functionalism. Proponents of this school felt that the role of psychology was to investigate the function of consciousness, or the purpose of human thought (Wright, 2011, p.407). The functionalists wanted to understand how the mind worked rather than merely describing its contents and they focused on the motivations of mental processes and behavior (Hergenhahn, 2009, p.336). The functionalist school of thought was in direct contrast to structuralism. Structuralists believed that psychology should describe the basic elements of consciousness (Wright, 2011, p.407). The focus of structuralism inevitably became the structure of the mind and the observation of conscious events, hence the name structuralism (Hergenhahn, 2009, p.275).

Surely the most famous of all schools of thought was that of psychoanalysis, which was founded by the most famous practitioner of psychology, Sigmund Freud. Freud believed that people were motivated by unconscious forces and that if they were able to find a suitable outlet for these forces, they could develop a more healthy personality (Wright, 2011, p.408). Freud believed that merely discussing the mental and emotional ailments that tormented a person was enough to alleviate many of the symptoms associated with these problems. Behaviorism rejected this approach, preferring instead to focus on the direct observation of human behavior (Wright, 2011, p.409). This school encompasses the theories of conditioning in which a person associates a certain response with a given stimulus.

Humanistic psychology sought to bridge the gap between the study of the unconscious mind and behavioral psychology by focusing on a better understanding of the conscious mind (Wright, 2011, p.409). The general belief that all humans are driven to achieve their full capacity led naturally to a therapy in which people clarify their sense of self (Wright, 2011, p.409). Cognitive psychology, on the other hand, expands upon behaviorism to study the processes involved in storing and utilizing information (Wright, 2011, p.409). Cognitive psychologists believe that the brain functions in certain ways and must be understood from a biological perspective. Often the brains inner machinations are likened to a computer that stores information in a logical manner and, if properly understood, can be analyzed in a similar manner.

The basic biological foundations of psychology include the entire nervous system, including the brain. The nervous system is composed of the central nervous system, composed of the brain and spinal cord, and the peripheral nervous system, the nerves connecting other parts of the body to the central nervous system (Smith et al., 2003, p.53). The brain itself is divided into three distinct parts, each controlling different functions within the nervous system. Using neurons and chemical signals from neurotransmitters, the brain's signals are carried throughout the nervous system and to the various parts of the body (Smith et al., 2003, p.37). When these signals are interfered with, a person's behavior may be detrimentally affected.