Developmental psychology.pdf

26 Background and Methods
Emergence of Modem Psychology
3. Psychology emerged as a clearly formulated science just a century ago,
stimulated by developments in three fields: empiricism in philosophy, which
stated that ideas are not innate but acquired through experience; Darwinian
biology, which demonstrated the value of naturalistic research and
stimulated interest in human and animal behavior; and experimental
methods in physics, which showed that the relations between stimuli and
responses could be measured.
4. The founding of modern psychology is credited to Wilhelm Wundt, who
established the first laboratory and wrote the first handbook of experimental
psychology. He was interested in the study of feelings and sensations, and
his students, intending to discover the structure of the mind, developed an
approach to psychology called structuralism.
5. William James, the founder of American psychology, stimulated the new
movement by his creative writing and teaching. He inspired a broad
development of psychology, emphasizing the functions rather than the
structure of mental life, and therefore his approach was called
functionalism.
Current Perspectives in Psychology
6. There are two different aims in much of modern psychology. In basic
research the aim is to increase our understanding of ourselves and the world
in which we live. Research psychologists want to find out about things; they
obtain and disseminate information on human and animal behavior and
experience. Another aim in modern psychology is the betterment of
humankind, to be achieved through practical applications of psychological
knowledge. This approach, called applied psychology, includes many diverse
specialties, one of which is clinical psychology. The field of psychology
today is a highly diverse enterprise, and the growth rate in almost all
specialties has been precipitous.
7. In the early decades of the twentieth century there arose different systems
or models of psychology, one of which was behaviorism, which emphasizes
an objective approach and focuses upon the study of overt behavior. In
another system, psychoanalysis, the basic concept is unconscious motivation,
which states that human behavior is influenced by past events in a person's
life, of which that individual is no longer aware. Another model, humanistic
psychology, arose more recently in resistance to both behaviorism and
psychoanalysis, emphasizing humanity's unique capacity for growth and
choice and stating that the study of subjective reality is the proper topic for
psychology. Still another, cognitive psychology, focuses upon the role of
conscious mental processes in human behavior, especially perceiving,
remembering, and thinking.
Ethical Issues in Psychology
8. Research in psychology has raised many ethical questions, just as it has in
physics, biology, chemistry, and other sciences. For this reason, an
interdisciplinary ethics committee from the sponsoring institution must
evaluate all research proposals. In addition, there are procedures for the
certification or licensure of psychologists.
9. The wide variety of ethical issues in psychology is also reflected in society
as a whole. Within psychology and law these questions include involuntary
commitment to a mental hospital, the custody of children, and victimless
crimes. Through basic research and applied specialties, psychology attempts
to contribute to solutions of these issues.