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PSYCHOLOGY: What Is It?

by  Dr. ALEC  GILL MBE

Collins Dictionary defines PSYCHOLOGY as: "The scientific study of the mind and its activities, both normal and abnormal". This implies a united group of researchers working together on issues of human activity. Not so. The label Psychology is similar to the umbrella term Politics - it covers many opposing camps. Five of the major schools are outlined below (there are more, but these are the predominant ones):

SCHOOLS of PSYCHOLOGY

PSYCHO-ANALYST: This discipline was established by Sigmund Freud. His psycho-dynamic theory of the unconscious mind stresses inner conflict between the id, ego and superego. He suggested that problems during the pre-puberty psychosexual stages of development cause emotional problems in adult life. Analysts interpret dreams, word associations and slips-of-the-tongue to access the unconscious mind. Similar psycho-therapists include: Adler, Erikson, Fromm, Jung, Sullivan.

BEHAVIOURIST: Radical Behaviourists dismiss all mentalistic concepts and observe only external behaviour. They attempt to control the 'stimulus' and record the 'response' of an organism (S-R Psychology). Research areas (mainly with animals): learning, reinforcement, behaviour modification, role-models. Key figures: Pavlov, Thorndike, Watson, Skinner, Wolpe, Bandura.

COGNITIVIST: They follow a similar empirical/experimental line as the Behaviourists, but argue that 'mediating factors' must occur between the Stimulus and Response (S-O-R). No overall theory, but focus on separate cognitions such as perception, attention, memory, problem-solving and language. Research areas: attitudes, intelligence, body language, personality, thinking. Key figures: Baddeley, Beck, Bruner, Cattell, Chomsky, Fantz, Festinger, Hudson, Mischel.

PSYCHOBIOLOGIST: They also adopt a similar experimental (medical) model, but their main interest concerns the physical (or physiological) basis of behaviour and the relationship between Mind-and-Body. Research areas: central nervous system, split-brain, stress, biofeedback, drugs, sensory deprivation. Key figures: Blakemore, Eccles, Geschwind, Harlow, Hubel, Levine, Zubek.

HUMANIST: This school is critical of the above four disciplines because they are 'reductionist'. Humanists advocate a wholistic, person-centred approach to human psychology. Therapists empathize with the client, adopt the attitude that everyone is basically good and has the capacity to resolve their own personal problems. Research areas: the self, motivation, guilt, anger, worry, love. Key figures: Rogers, Maslow, Kelly, Dyer.

CONCLUSION: These various schools of thought reflect their dynamic subject matter: Human Beings. Each school is important and says something about certain aspects of behaviour. Each must be understood in terms of its own underlying assumptions, definitions, terminology, and methodology. An unwitting benefit of these five competing schools (plus many others) is that they keep a critical check upon each others research. Hopefully, in the long-run, there will arise a more realistic understanding of what it is to be human. Recently, I have become interested in NLP: Neuro-Linguistic Programming which seems to tie together many diverse strands of Psychology.

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