Question

Visit the website given below and collect information about various schools of thought of psychology:

https://www. verywellmind.com/psychology-schoolsof-thought-2795247

Answer 1

1. Structuralism: Spearheaded by Wilhelm Wundt and Edward B. Titchener, this first school of psychology focused on breaking down mental processes into basic components to understand the mind’s structure. It relied heavily on introspection, a method where trained subjects described their inner sensations and perceptions.
2. Functionalism: Influenced by Charles Darwin and championed by William James, John Dewey, and Harvey Carr, functionalism shifted away from static mental elements to examine the practical purpose of thoughts and behaviors, focusing on how mental processes help humans adapt and survive.
3. Psychoanalysis: Founded by Sigmund Freud, this perspective revolutionized the field by emphasizing that human behavior is driven largely by the unconscious mind, repressed memories, and childhood experiences. It utilized therapeutic techniques like free association and dream analysis to uncover hidden conflicts.
4. Behaviorism: Led by John B. Watson, B.F. Skinner, and Ivan Pavlov, behaviorism rejected the study of unobservable internal mental states, focusing strictly on measurable, observable behavior shaped by environmental interactions through classical conditioning (associating stimuli) and operant conditioning (reinforcement and punishment).
5. Gestalt Psychology: Developed by Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler, and Kurt Koffka as a challenge to reductionism, this school maintains that the whole of an experience is greater than the sum of its parts. It highlights how the human mind naturally organizes sensory information into unified, coherent patterns.
6. Humanistic Psychology: Emerging in the 1950s as a ‘third force’ led by Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow, humanistic psychology focuses on free will, personal growth, and self-actualization. It views humans as inherently motivated to achieve psychological health and realize their maximum potential.
7. Cognitive Psychology: Gaining prominence in the 1950s and 1960s with thinkers like Jean Piaget, Noam Chomsky, and Ulric Neisser, this school shifted attention back to internal mental processes. It studies how the mind acquires, processes, stores, and retrieves information regarding memory, attention, language, and problem-solving.