PSYCHOLOGY ASSIGNMENT UNIT I

Psychology Assignment Unit I: Contributions of Key Theorists

Psychology Assignment Unit I: Contributions of Key Theorists

Introduction

The paper highlights the major contributions of the historical psychologists keeping in view their role in the theoretical and practical development of psychology.

James William

James represented an influential role in the dissemination of pragmatism. His thinking relates to a doctrine he called radical empiricism. He Produced a monumental work of analytical psychology, and Varieties of Religious Experience (1902), which is regarded as the founder of the “psychology of religion ", the culmination a fascinating life story. William being enthusiastic researcher subliminal processes of consciousness and paranormal phenomena, shocked the scientific world of his time when he defended the free exercise of the healers (curanderos or mental healers) and therapies such as mind-cure (Simonton, 2002).

Wilhelm Wundt.

The philosopher and psychologist founded the first Institute of Psychology in Leipzig. In his philosophy, he was a follower of the realistically justified, voluntarist idealism. In philosophy, according to him, the general findings to a single unified system are without contradiction. His particular field was psychology. The work of Wilhelm Wundt emphasized the importance of the will in mental processes. He tried to establish the psychological concepts based on scientific and experimental methods. Wundt's folk psychology deals with individual issues such as myth, language and morality (Watson, 1997). According to him, mental processes are complex; he recommended the ethno-psychological methodology. In this distinction as a contrast between natural and social science, Wundt followed the neo-Kantian conception of the flow, which he applied to the field of psychology.

Sigmund Freud.

Freud's contribution according to great philosophers of this time refers to as the most important since the days of Aristotle. The reality is that only Freud gave the best methods for understanding the mind, both normal and pathological. Freud's psychoanalytic method is the acquisition of much knowledge as possible of the three consecutive instances as alleged psychic personality and relationships between themselves and the world outside. He used that knowledge to prevent and treat disorders caused by disharmony between them. His significant contributions are in the area of unconscious and planned development (Simonton, 2002). Most of his work was extended by the psychologists that helped shaping up the new theories in cognitive psychology.

Erick Erikson.

Erickson Erikson is best known for his work on the redefinition and expansion of the stage theory of Freud. He stated that development works from an epigenetic principle. Erikson's developmental theory is the fundamental contribution in the field of psychology refers to as theory of development. It can be compared with Freud in the sense that states that the human development happens in eight stages (Heppner, 1990). Erikson developed a psychoanalytic model to describe the personality development of children and adults, their perspective takes into account the psychological and social links and the individual's behavior by age. His thesis is basically a theory of ego psychology unlike Freud, who focused on the unconscious and the id. For Erikson, the development of personality is based on sequences of ...