Psychology Final

Before anyone reads I thought I'd give brief overview of the feat it took to get this paper online Natrually I'm a perfectionist about my work, that or I don't even try, but I have never sat down for 10 hours without a break trying to perfect my work. Natrually after 10 hours it becomes tiring, so please excuse any typos or poor grammar I may have used. Enjoy!


Michael McMaster

6/6/07 Psychology 101

The Science of Psychology

Throughout all time, mankind has sought to understand. This is the core philosophy of science: to explain, to describe, to predict and ultimately to control. But what is it that allows reasoning, what allows the existence of science. The mind has always seemed to elude humanity’s understanding, as it must be enacted to reason of itself. Hence, psychology arises, a new field of science to better understand and examine the “mind,” the very manifestation that allots human’s to think. Like all sciences, many factions arose and the field began to evolve throughout time. As time passed, new schools and concepts of the mind arose ranging from concepts of rationality- based theories to Empiricist proofs. However, no matter which school arose, all of them were chastised ad qualified by the scientific theory.

But the understand the value of this statement, one must understand how and why psychology can be ranked amongst the core sciences of the modern society.

Psychology is accepted as a science for one sole reason, it passes the scientific theory. Psychology, like all sciences exist in the Epistemological Psychology because it seeks evidence of the mind and how it operates (Lecture Notes). These perspectives provide description of the mind at work, explain in what way it works, predicts the outcome or decisions made my the rational mindset, and ultimately control the mind such that people learn to understand the mind’s shortcomings, or demonstrate control over the mind. However, at the core of what is a scientific theory lies the ability to prove such a theory falsifiable. Since the very beginning of the schools of Psychology, beginning with the Psychodynamic School, psychology has been proven testable and falsifiable. Because of this, psychology can be considered one of the core sciences humanity enacts on a regular basis.

The unique nature of psychology however, resides in the multiple schools of psychology, for even though each one has its own unique lens in viewing the “mind,” each one has withstood the test of time. Perhaps the way to best understand psychology is to begin with the first school of psychology, the psychodynamic school (Psychology Book). The psychodynamic theory of psychology began with Sigmund Freud. Freud theorized that human “mind” was divided into three facets, formally known as the “iceberg theory.” The iceberg theory believed at birth the human mindset resided within psychic energies called a “libido” or the human primal lust. The human “iceberg” at this time residing under this primal force, is known as the “ID;” it is the basic lustrous force within the human psyche. As a child Freud theorized that the “ID” dominated the mindset. As the human grew up, the “iceberg” surfaced and from rising partially above the libido the “superego” and the “ego” were created. The “Superego” is the facet of the human mind that has absorbed the laws and moral standards of the society one lives in. The “ego” is the combined mentality acquired from a conflicting superego and ID; this is also the visible “mind” people present. To defend the mental well-being of the ego two dependant psychic forces, Repression and Catharsis occur to deal with deep trauma. Repression is a mental disconnection of an event, and catharsis is the reunion of such a memory (Lecture Notes). However, Freud’s most remembered theory was that of Psychosexual Development. From birth to the age of 1 year, a person enters the Oral stage, where all the psychic energies, wants and lust are focused on the mouth (Lecture Notes). From the first to the third year of age the person enters the Anal Stage, where the focus is primarily based on bladder functions (Lecture Notes). At the third stage, from the age of three to six, the stage divides based upon gender, and on a side note is where the sexism begins (Psychology book). In the third Stage the Phallic Stage, men enter what Freud calls the “Oedipus complex,” while women enter the “Electra” complex (Psychology book). The Oedipus complex consists of the theory that the boy begins to adopt the morals and values of his father, a longing for his mother, and an anxiety of castration (Psychology Book). The Electra complex believes that the girl begins a longing for her father, and while she lacks castration anxiety, she has phallic anxiety and desires power, which is displaced upon her body defense mechanism. From the age of six to twelve, the libido lies latent once more. At the final stage, the Genital Stage the person’s psychosexual development is complete. However, should the Id experience great trauma at any of the previous stages in its development, the person encounters “fixation” a phenomenon where the subject retains the characteristics of that stage. Perhaps Freud’s most remembered and criticized perspective however is on dreams. As Freud stated, dreams are “the royal road to the unconscious” (Psychology Book). Freud believed dreams were projections of unconscious wish fulfillment through one of two ways: manifest, where the desire is overwhelmingly apparent, or Latent content, where the wish is hidden or disguised through some form of symbolism. Freud’s pupils C. Jung and K. Horney also made exceptional contributions the psychodynamic school. C. Jung can be credited with projectionism, the concept of projecting one’s values and philosophies onto another. K. Horney, a woman, challenged Freud in Psychosexual Development in the Phallic stage, claiming it was men who had womb envy, not the other way around (Psychology Book). This she claimed was the reasoning for why so many buildings were erected; to compensate for the lack of an ability to create (Psychology Book). The Psychodynamic school of psychology performs research based on an interpersonal relationship, where the therapist observes and analyzes the patients reactions during therapy (Wikipedia). As an example of treatment for Psychodynamic school of thought, let’s assume a psychologically ailing person seeks a therapist from their school. The subject seems to be exhibiting irrationality, and extreme tension. As a therapist fro this school, questions are likely to begin concerning one’s childhood and any trauma one might have had in the past as a child. From there, the therapist might likely ask what the patient’s dreams have been lately. The therapist asks for any childhood tension in an attempt to establish catharsis, and relive psychic tension within the patient. with the same purpose, the therapist attempts so seek out any latent or manifest desires present within the dreams that the patient’s subconscious Id has been lusting for. Hopefully, through the patient realizing their subconscious desires or through catharsis of one’s troubled past, the patient will be cured of the mental illness by being relieved of the tension within their libido (wikipedia).

However, as Freud’s theories fell to criticism a new more simplistic concept sprang forth, the Behaviorist school. Soon Behaviorism began to spread engulfing followers of the Psychodynamic School along with a majority of the populous.

The leaders of Behaviorism were Ivan Pavlov, Edward Thorndike, John Watson, and B. F. Skinner. Behaviorism started with Isaac Pavlov, a physiologist who was performing research on the digestion of animals (Psychology Book). From his study on salivation he discovered that an unconditioned stimulus combined with a unrelated stimulus, the normally unconditioned stimulus became a method for receiving a previously unrelated response! As in his experiment, if the bell is rang while the meat powder is delivered the dog associates the ringing of the bell with the food, eventually causing the dog to salivate at the ringing of a bell (Psychology Book). Watson, often called the “Father of Behaviorism” is credited with the first study of conditioned responses on humans. In his (in)famous experiment where he took a child form an orphanage, “Little Albert” and conditioned him to fear small animals. Through his demonstration of causing of causing a large sound to occur whenever the large and frightening sound was issued when the child approached the white rat, “Albert” soon grew a fear of small creatures especially rats. This led to he theory that phobias may be conditioned stimuli form childhood. Finally Thorndike created the concept of behavioral adaptation, proving a creature can be conditioned to perform a given task or action using conditional responses. As demonstrated with his experiment of the cat in the cage, as the cat is continuously placed back inside the cage, it learns through conditioning the release lever creates the desired reaction of releasing it. Finally the great Skinner, is known for his studies on operant conditioning (Wikipedia). From his work the concept of successive approximations was created; a concept that through reward for progressively better behaviors could ultimately lead to a normally peculiar behavior, even getting pigeons to play ping-pong (Psychology Book)! However for proper reinforcement a given ratio or interval must be established. FR, a “fixed ratio” reinforces a given behavior over a given amount of times the desired stimulus occurred (Psychology Book). This causes a high rapid rate of response. A prime example of this is “piecework” within sweatshops. VR, or “variable ratio,” rewards the conditioned subject at inconsistent spacing between the stimulus desired being enacted (Psychology book). Behavior in this manner is sudden and occurs in bursts, but the reward still remains inconsistent. An example of this are the slot machines in Las Vegas, allowing a given jackpot to be delivered at inconsistent times the lever was pulled. The conditioning schedule can also be fit to perform over a given time interval, known as FI and VI (Psychology Book). Reward or a response over a given interval produces low response, yet is stable and consistent. Variable interval is where the reward occurs over a variable time period, despite the given stimulus presented or the number of times it is enacted (Psychology book). Behaviorist concepts thrive off of the belief only through experimental methods can one truly evaluate properly (wikipedia). A prime example of this is the famed experiment of Cooley, proving that human beings themselves can and have been conditioned to trust an authority figure’s judgment over our own. A prime study that could be easily performed would be to test one’s conditioning in regards to racial and class tension. By placing a given subject in a situation and having them interact with another member of a different social class or race, and record the observations. All one must do is simply perform the same interaction except with different members of race and social class to attempt to observe if any different interactions occur. If they do, (and they likely will) then the subject has been conditioned to behave in a certain manner towards one person as opposed to another. As a behaviorist, to cure a patient with a mental “illness” all one must do is locate through experimental observation what conditioned stimulus is creating the ailment, and create another conditioned stimulus to counteract it. For example, if a person becomes afraid of cats as a conditioned phobia, all one must do to treat this illness, is create a pleasant stimulus and slowly accompany it with said cat. Soon, the cat will lose its ability to create a response of fear.

While Behaviorism was blazing the trial for Psychology, another faction still rose to oppose it, the psychometric school of psychology. Because of this school, the world has been “blessed” with byes and ethno and socio-centric Intelligence tests.

The Psychometric school of Psychology began originally with Binet who was originally asked to create an examination to explain and determine slow learners (Psychology Book). Stern created a test with questions based upon one’s intelligence for a given age, and then divided the answers correctly answered by their age; this became known as the infamous “Intelligence Quotient” or I.Q. (Psychology book). The psychometric school of intelligence believed that one’s intelligence could be broken down into two forms of intelligence: Fluid and Crystallized (Wikipedia). Fluid intelligence is the ability to learn and comprehend, while crystallized intelligence is the ability to retain memory (Psychology Book). To properly examine a subject, one would simply require them to take an examination and be evaluated. The problem with this concept however is that if a patient is mentally ill, it is merely because of their mental capabilities.

As the psychometric school drew attention to itself, skeptics came in to criticize it. While it did attempt to map “intelligence,” it failed to explain the actual phenomenon that occurs within the human mind during the thought process. Could human being possibly have their ability to reason change over time? As these questions arose, so did the Cognitive School of Psychology.

Cognitive psychology has been gifted with many great leaders, but none as well known as Jean Piaget and his theory of cognitive development of a child’s mind (Psychology book). Cognitive psychology believes that human psychological development is not continuous but is discontinuous, and as Piaget proposed occurs through several stages (Psychology book). The first stage is known as the Sensory Motor Stage, which occurs from birth to two years of age (Psychology Book). At this stage the infant theoretically cannot recognize the existence of something outside its realm of senses, known as object permanence (Psychology book). At the second stage, the Preoperational stage, from two years to six years of age, the child gains the ability of combining and separating in a logical manner, such as learning to build a block tower with a large base (Psychology Book). In addition, the child at this stage is not able to think backwards, what has previously been done cannot be undone (Psychology book). The third stage of Piaget’s Cognitive development is the Concrete Operational Stage. At this stage the child becomes able to reverse a process in thought, for example knowing two times four equals eight because four times two equals eight, where this kind of mental progression was to possible during the preoperational stage (psychology book). At the final stage the subject reaches the Formal Operations Stage, the child learns metaphysical concepts such as honor, loyalty, etc (Psychology Book). Another great contributor the Cognitive School of Psychology is Tolman, a behaviorist who discovered the concept of latent learning (Psychology book). Through his testing of rats in a maze, he based his research on two factors, error rate and time (Psychology book). For his control groups of rats placed in the maze, one was given no reward for completing the maze (psychology book).For the second control group, he allotted cheese as a reward to be placed at the end of the maze, and a learning curve began to appear. To his other control group which was not given any reward until the eleventh trial, he noted when the reward was given, rapid learning appeared to occur (Psychology book). Through this experiment learning was proven to occur despite the stimulus’s around it; this came to be known as latent learning. As the cognitive school of psychology expanded so did it’s influences. Miller, a cognitive psychologist discovered that people learn through “schema,” or relatable chunks of information that can be memorized in amounts of seven plus or minus two chunks of information (Psychology book). Through this concept of relating events or something of importance within a schema, memory can pass from short-term to that of long-term (Psychology book). Majority of short-term memory is maintained via rehearsal; either being Maintenance rehearsal, or elaborate rehearsal (Psychology book). In maintenance Rehearsal, the desired information is paced in short-term memory and looped in order to attempt to memorize it (Psychology book). Elaborative Rehearsal is where schema is used to help retain information (psychology book). Like memorizing even forgetting has its own methods, usually because of encoding failure, the inability to properly comprehend the information interference, an alteration in one’s lifestyle such that it affects memories, or decay, the lack of using the given information (Psychology book). Finally, in response the psychometric school of thought, two major psychologists stepped up to question its simple concept of intelligence. In Sternberg’s triarchic theory if intelligences, three main forms of intelligence exist, analytic, creative, and practical (Psychology book). Analytical intelligence is simply book smarts, the ability to solve problems mentally, while creative intelligence fosters insight via experience (Psychology book). Finally practical intelligence utilizes the ability to comprehend and alter something to operate efficiently in everyday life (Psychology book). In addition, Howard Gardner, a Harvard University psychologist argued that such a statement left many “gifted” people to be listed as otherwise for their inability to perform well under a school system (Psychology Book). Gardner proposed that there were eight different forms of intelligence: language, logic and math, visual and spatial thinking, music, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist skills respectively (Psychology Book). The most common methods used by cognitive scientists is the famous scientific method for experiments. A perfect study for cognitive psychologists is to examine children and their ability to reason. Cognitive psychologist’s focuses are on the ability of the child to reason according to piaget’s claims and to test the ability for one to use schema for memory. A prime test would be to ask someone a simplistic math question like what is nine times three. To satisfy the schema concept one could hold up a blank flashcard each time this question was presented to the subject. After this question is presented, the child can discuss another topic for roughly twenty to twenty-five seconds for the sake or retaining short-term memory, after which the child will be presented with the same blank flashcard and asked for the equation. Afterwards, that question may be followed up by the question what is three times nine, determining the ability to think backwards and the child’s cognitive development. According to a cognitive psychologist, for proper therapy a mentally ill patient needs a different outlook on how they view their world and what they valued as important (Wikipedia). By altering what is important mentally, the patient will also have an altered outlook on the world and be at the very least somewhat treated.

As all the fields of psychology fought for the title right to reign supreme Humanistic psychology arose with a new concept: psychology needed to fulfill its purpose by benefiting mankind, ultimately.

Humanistic psychology is a school unlike all the others: it is without much physical evidence but it’s meaning is useful to keep it in mind, what psychology’s purpose ultimately is. Two of the most influential characters in the field of Humanistic Psychology is Abraham Maslow and Rogers (psychology book). Maslow created the backbone concepts of humanistic psychology which are:

1) Not very much can be learned by studying animals,

2) Subjectively perceived reality serves as a primary lens of understanding human behavior,

3) Studying individuals provides more insight than studying groups of people and seeking what lies in common as a whole

4) The strides made in psychology should always be geared to the benefit of humanity

5) Research and experiments should be made in an effort to solve problems for people

6) Psychology should create a template for what defines a human being, including the value of language, metaphysical values, human emotion, and the methods humans seek fulfillment in their lives. Maslow also created a hierarchy of needs, where the human needs on the bottom must be met before the higher levels can be satisfied (psychology book). Finally, Rogers defined the concept of self-actualization or self-fulfillment (Psychology book). Self actualization occurs when someone learns to find a connection between the ideal self and the real self. This concept of self-fulfillment was later examined by Erik Erikson who believed adolescence to be a point of decision-making, where one chooses whether or not to commit and to explore one’s life possibilities (Psychology book). An idealistic study of a humanist psychologist would be to examine a high-school student during the summer. This study could be an ideal since it represents the opportunity to observe an older adolescent’s ability to seek and commit to a career path or job, and it also allows a chance to view an opportunity for the real self to merge with the ideal self, since the season is usually a break where students can achieve many of their goals without too much interference. Finally if a humanistic psychologist were to treat a mentally ill patient it would likely involve motivational counseling, and a new outlook on life. If one’s view is subjective to realty, than a change of view could easily serve as a treatment for whatever is ailing the patient.

As the humanists stepped forward, they grew rapidly but didn’t have a chance as technology caught up with psychology. Now the brain could be mapped and understood and hence the Bio-psychologists took the stage.

Ever since the story of Phineas Gage, the railroad worker who suffered brain damage, and suffered personality changes, scientists have been dying to understand the brain and its functions. As technology finally caught up with psychology, the bio-psychologists took precedence over all other schools. While one can argue what the mind is, one has great difficulty disputing the brain cells and they’re apparent operations. Biopsychology can be thanked by the work of T. Szazs, who boldly stated, “In absence of physical evidence, there can be no such thing as a mental disorder” (Psychology book). However the true beauty lies within the brain and central nervous system itself, not the scientist who discovered it. Within each neuron, brain cell, one finds an alarmingly complex structure. On each nerve cell lies dendrites, branch like-structures that transmit information from cell to cell (Wikipedia). On the other end lies the axon, which is used to transmit electrical impulses (Wikipedia). Interestingly enough, neurotransmission is a electro-chemical reaction, in that is brings the neurons from negative seventy mili-volts, resting potential, to a particular level of energy potential, being negative sixty mili-volts, the neuron will release a synaptic vesicle which will open the ion channel in another nerve, via a neurotransmitter entering the other nerve’s receptor site allowing ions to flow in and create a continuous charge, spiking at roughly positive thirty mili-volts, that will carry itself up through the central nervous system until instructions are given in response (psychology book). The brain regulates every single reaction, even the increase in heart rate during an emotional time or experience, courtesy of the sympathetic system (Psychology book). Also within the brain, two psychologists, Olds and Milner, found the reward center of the brain that can be stimulated to cause the sensation of pleasure. Using this structure in accordance with electrical stimulation, one could easily manipulate the mind of other creatures (psychology book). The “remote control rat” was a prime example of this, having attached a battery pack to a rat, inserting an electrode into each receptor for a rat’s whiskers and one for the reward center in the brain. By stimulating these in combination, the scientists were able to manipulate the rat literally by remote control (psychology book). Since biopsychology involves direct observation of the brain, t is not surprising that the primary method of research is direct observation. In addition, this is quite feasible for, unlike the other schools of psychology, Bio psychology actually can be objectively observed, as a brain can’t try to conceal itself or how it works. The perfect case for a biopsychologist is essentially any type of human being, particularly one’s with mental illnesses or disabilities. Biopsychologists find these situations ideal as, knowing physically what a normal brain looks like, they can identify abnormalities characteristic to other diseases. Essentially, biopsychology’s observe the physical characteristics of the brain. If a patient were to be treated for a mental illness by a bio-psychologist, the patient would likely receive a brain-scan, followed by prescriptions for a medication to deal with the illness.

Last but certainly not least, in recent times a new concept of psychology arose. The questions quickly arose, can the current schools of psychology really cross over cultural lines so easily, or are they centered to a pre-dominantly European society. In this light a new school has recently been trying to earn it’s right to be distinguished like the others, the school of sociocultural psychology.

The sociocultural school of psychology has only recently been trying to gain its independence from the other schools, however it has grown massively recently. The philosophy behind this concept of psychology is that when crossing cultural boundaries, one must accept a paradigm shift in psychology. The credited “father of multicultural psychology,” Sammy Sue, is an Asian-American citizen who studied how value systems change when you cross cultures (Psychology book). Along with him, John Berry, a Canadian psychologist who studies social structures via host groups, and Helms, the mother of Black psychology, have all come together to promote this new field and bring this school to fruition (Psychology book). The simple belief is that the other schools of psychology fail to grasp properly, the different cultural norms present in different cultural societies, especially common amongst minority groups. Social psychologists attempt to se experiments and quantitative research as the primary methods of their observations. An ideal study for a social psychologist would be to take a person seeking a psychologist of a given race, and observe the reactions received and the ability to properly asses and understand the patient’s needs based upon the cultural standpoints from which each therapist originates from. The main focus of the study worth observing is the actual interaction between the patient and the therapist concerning how well the therapist was able to comprehend the needs of the patient, while also keeping records of the cultural backgrounds of both parties. As a social psychologist, to properly treat a mentally ill person, the patient must first be properly transferred to a therapist who has been familiar or immersed within the cultural background of the patient. From there, the patient could be properly assessed as to what illness exists, if it exists and is not a cultural construct.

Conclusively, psychology has always been qualified by the scientific theory and, unlike the other sciences, it holds multiple stances on a single issue, creating a more encompassing viewpoint in a given subject. From the pure rational theories or Humanism to the pure empiricist proofs of Bio-psychology, psychology has enveloped the human mind in general, despite its individuality. And in the end, after all the research of the mind, to the proof of the brain’s function, one cannot easily defend the mind is merely atoms and molecules. The mind has not only allowed humanity the ability to reason of itself, it has allotted people science. In the end, even though the schools may bicker, mankind can finally understand, to a certain extent, the mind. In the end, mankind can finally understand better.








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