Psychology is still considered as a bridge between philosophy and physiology. Physiology describes and explains the composition of the brain and nervous system, while psychology explains the process of mental occurrence and how it is reflected in our thoughts, languages and behaviors. Philosophy is about ideas and concepts, and psychology is a working mode to explain how ideas and concepts are formed and concepts.
All science develops from philosophy by applying scientific methods to philosophical problems, but the intangibility of disciplines such as consciousness, perception and memory means that psychology is slow in the transition from philosophical speculation to scientific practice. In some universities, especially in the United States, the department of psychology was originally a branch of the department of linguistics, while in other universities, especially in Germany, they were established in the department of science. However, it was not until the late19th century that psychology became an independent scientific discipline.
Answering philosophical questions with scientific methods, but these intangible natural sciences (such as consciousness, perception and memory) all involve philosophy, and the transformation from philosophical inference to scientific practice is slow. In some universities, especially in the United States, psychology is a branch of philosophy, while in other universities, especially in Germany, psychology is set up in science departments. It was not until the19th century that psychology took its place as an independent scientific discipline.
William Feng Te established the world's first experimental psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig on 1879, which marked the understanding that psychology is a real scientific discipline and has opened up new fields in previously unexplored research fields. In the 20th century, psychology flourished. All its major branches and movements have evolved.
1879, Wilhelm Wundt established the world's first psychology laboratory in Leipzig University, which means that the cognition of psychology has become a real scientific theme, and at the same time it has opened up a new field of exploration. In the 20th century, psychology developed vigorously, and the related main branches and actions made effective progress.
Ps: University of Leipzig, located in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany, founded in 1409. It is one of the oldest universities in Europe and the second oldest university in Germany, second only to the University of Heidelberg (1386) and slightly higher than the University of Rostock (14 19).
Like all sciences, its history is based on the theories and discoveries of successive generations, and many ancient theories are still relevant to contemporary psychologists. Some research fields are the early research topics of psychology, which have experienced different interpretations of various schools of thought, while others have ups and downs, but each time they have a great impact on later thinking and occasionally give birth to new exploration fields.
Like all sciences, its history is based on the theories and discoveries of generations.
The easiest way to get in touch with psychology for the first time is to look at some of its main movements roughly in chronological order.
Order, as we do in this book: from its roots in philosophical thought, through behaviorism, psychotherapy, and the study of cognitive, social and developmental psychology, to differential psychology.
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Even in the early days, psychology had different meanings for different people. In the United States, it is rooted in philosophy, so the method adopted is speculative and theoretical, dealing with concepts such as consciousness and self. In Europe, this research is rooted in science, so the focus is on examining psychological processes, such as sensors (perception and memory under controlled laboratory conditions).
However, even the research of psychiatrists who pay more attention to science is limited by introspection. The essence of their method: Pioneers like hermann ebbinghaus became the objects of their own research, effectively limiting the scope of the topic to those that can be observed in themselves. Although they used scientific methods and their theories laid the foundation for this new science, many psychologists of the next generation found their process too subjective and began to look for more objective methods.
In A.D. 1890, the experiment conducted by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov proved to be very important for the development of psychology in Europe and the United States. He proved that animals can be trained to react, and this idea developed into a new sport called behaviorism. Behaviorists think it is impossible to study psychological processes objectively, but they find it relatively easy to measure behaviors, which are the manifestations of these processes.
They began to design experiments that can be carried out under controlled conditions, first on animals to gain a deeper understanding of human psychology, and then on people. Behaviorists' research is almost entirely focused on how behavior is formed through interaction with the environment; This "stimulus-response" theory is widely known because of the work of John Watson.
New learning theories began to rise in Europe and the United States, and aroused public interest. However, almost at the same time that behaviorism began to appear in the United States, a young neurologist in Vienna began to develop a theory of mind, which overthrew contemporary thinking and inspired a very different method. Based on the observation of patients and medical records, rather than laboratory experiments, sigmund freud's psychoanalysis theory marks the return of subjective experience research.
He is interested in memory, childhood development and interpersonal relationships, and emphasizes the importance of unconsciousness in determining behavior. Although his ideas seemed shocking at that time, they were widely adopted soon, and the concept of "talk therapy" continues to exist in various forms of psychotherapy today.
In the mid-20th century, behaviorism and psychoanalysis fell out of favor and returned to the scientific study of psychological process. This marks the beginning of cognitive psychology, which is a movement rooted in the holistic method of gestalt psychology, which is interested in studying perception. After World War II, their works began to appear in the United States; By the late 1950s, cognitive psychology had become the dominant method.
The rapidly developing fields of communication and computer science provide psychologists with a useful analogy. They developed theories in the fields of attention, perception, memory and forgetting, language and language acquisition, problem-solving and decision-making, and motivation. Even countless forms of psychotherapy emerged from the initial talk therapy, which were influenced by cognitive methods.
Cognitive therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy, as substitutes for psychoanalysis, have led to movements such as humanistic psychology that pay attention to the unique quality of human life. These therapists turn their attention from curing patients to guiding healthy people to live more meaningful lives. Although psychology mainly focused on individual thoughts and behaviors in the early stage, people are now more and more interested in the way we interact with the environment and others; This has become the field of social psychology.
Like cognitive psychology, it is largely attributed to Gestalt psychologists, especially Kurt Lewin, who fled from Nazi Germany to the United States in 1930. Social psychology quickened its pace in the second half of the 20th century, when research revealed new invasive facts about our attitudes and judgments, our tendency of obedience and conformity, and the reasons for our aggression or altruism, all of which were increasingly related to modern city life and the constantly improving communication world.
Freud's lasting influence is mainly felt through the new field of developmental psychology. At first, it only focused on children's development, and the research in this field expanded to include life-long changes from infancy to old age. The researchers mapped the methods of social, cultural and moral learning, and the way we form attachment. The contribution of developmental psychology to education and training is enormous, but less obviously, it affects people's thinking about the relationship between children's development and attitudes towards race and gender.
Almost every school of psychology touched on the theme of human uniqueness, but in the late 20th century, this field was regarded as an independent field in the psychology of difference. In addition to trying to identify and measure personality characteristics and various factors that constitute intelligence, psychologists also study the definition and measurement of normality and abnormality in this growing field, and study to what extent our individual differences are the product of environment or the result of genetic inheritance.
Many branches of psychology exist today, covering the whole range of spiritual life and human and animal behavior. The overall scope has expanded to overlap with many other disciplines, including medicine, physiology, neuroscience, computer science, education, sociology, anthropology, and even politics, economics and law. Psychology has probably become the most diverse science.
Psychology continues to influence and be influenced by other sciences, especially in the fields of neuroscience and genetics. In particular, the debate in congenital and acquired dating back to Francis Galton1870s continues to this day; Recently, evolutionary psychology has contributed to this debate by exploring the psychological characteristics as congenital and biological phenomena, which are influenced by the laws of heredity and natural selection. Psychology is a huge discipline, and its discovery concerns each of us.
In one form or another, it affects many decisions of government, commerce and industry, advertising and mass media. It affects us as groups and individuals, and contributes as much to the public debate about the structure or possible structure of our society as to the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. Psychologists' ideas and theories have become part of our daily culture, so much so that many of their discoveries about behavior and psychological processes are now simply regarded as "common sense".
However, although some viewpoints explored in psychology confirm our instinctive feelings, there are also many viewpoints that make us rethink; When psychologists' discoveries shake traditional and long-standing beliefs, they often shock and anger the public. In its short history, psychology has given us many ideas, which have changed our way of thinking and helped us understand ourselves, others and the world we live in.
It has been questioned deep-rooted beliefs, excavated disturbing truth, and provided amazing insights and solutions to complex problems. As a university course, it is becoming more and more popular, which is not only a sign that psychology is related to the modern world, but also a sign of exploring the fun and excitement brought by the richness and diversity of this subject, which has been studying the mysterious world of human mind.