History of Modern Psychology,

Schools and Perspectives

Objectives
Today we will be going over what
Psychology is, Its history, the different
types of perspectives there are, and
how they are used.
What is
Psychology?
Psychology is a science that focuses on the study of human behavior
and mental processes.
In short, psychology is the study of why humans do what they do and
how they come up with ideas to do said things.
We have seen examples of this on throughout our previous unit, But
how do Psychologists observe the actions we talked about and how do
they perceive them?
A Brief History of Modern
Psychology

Psychology is one of the newer sciences people study being only 146 years
old being created in 1879 by Wilhelm Wundt who is known as the father of
modern psychology.
While this sounds old think of how long astronomy, chemistry, math,
history, art studies and other subject areas of studies have been around.
Why do you think it took so
long for Psychology to get
recognized as a Science?
Get together a group and discuss what issues may arise when trying to
prove psychology is a science.
A Brief History of Structuralism

● Like most famous scientists Wilhelm Wundt had many students but his stand out
student E.B Titchener will create the very first “school” of psychology or way of
thinking about human behavior in scientific categories. Think of how “science”
here is split into multiple different areas of studies.
● E.B Titchener is credited with creating Structuralism which is the theory that we
can analyze the basic elements of thought and sensations to determine the
structure of conscious experience.
● An example of how example of how a structuralist may think is similar to how a
chemist would break down chemicals into their most basic elements.
Take a look at the picture below and break it down
into as many small details possible.
Thinking like a Structuralist

What were some of the things you noticed about the grass?
Thinking like a Structuralist

● What were some of the things you noticed about the grass?
● Did you notice all the different shades of green, maybe you noticed how
some had small holes it, or maybe you even noticed similar white stripes on
every blade, or maybe you noticed something completely different.
● This is how Structuralist think they try to notice how everything comes
together to make a whole.
How Do You Adapt To Your
Environment?
A Brief History of
Functionalism
● After Structuralism was born more psychologist started to create their own theories
to disprove him.
● The first of these people was William James who is the first major American
psychologist he is credited with creating Functionalism
● Functionalism is the theory that emphasized the functions of consciousness and the
ways consciousness helps people adapt to their environment.
● Functionalist are more concerned with how your brain adapts to your environment
rather
Hands up if you think your
childhood impacts who
you are today.
A Brief History on
Psychoanalytic Perspective

● Psychoanalytic perspective is one of the more popular schools of Psychology and

it was created by Sigmund Freud who happens to be one of the well known
psychologists of all time mostly due to how often this type of psychology is used
in both real world and media.
● Psychoanalysis perspective is the school of thought that focuses on how behavior
springs from unconscious drives and conflicts.
● Think of this as how our past childhood experiences or tramas impact us as adults
and this is one of the few schools that rely on personal observation and self
reporting instead of experiments and controlled lab studies.
What do you see?

What are birds doing in the video?

What caused the first bird to start
dancing?
Did the second bird join in?
How do the birds feel?
A Brief History on Behaviorist
Perspective
● This is the study of behavior nothing more, nothing less this school of thought
was created by John B. Watson as he thought trying to study the unconscious
mind was a waste of time. It's not that he didn’t care about why people act the
way act rather he thought since it couldn’t be seen then it wasn’t a true science.
● Behaviorist perspective this school of thought focuses on what we can learn from
observable responses.
● This school was much scientific in practice and is pretty much the opposite of
Psychoanalytic perspective school of psychology.
● In modern times its main focus is on rewards and observations.
Why are quotes like this so
popular?
A Brief History of Humanistic
Psychology

● Humanistic psychology is unique in the fact that it is actually two schools

combined into one. This school takes both psychoanalytic and behavioral
psychology and merges them into one. The idea was created by a bunch of
psychologist but the main leader of the group was Carl Rogers.
● Humanistic psychology is the school of thought that focuses on the conscious
experience, the individual’s freedom to choose, and capacity of growth.
● He believed that humans have free will in their decision making, and that people
strive to reach their full potential. But he rejected the idea that humans are
controlled by rewards and reinforcements.
PSYCHOLOGY PERSPECTIVES AT A
GLANCE
Breaks actions and things down to the small details and observes how they create
Structuralism
the whole.

Functionalism Focuses on how animals adapt to their environment.

Focuses on behavior stems from the unconscious mind that is made up from past
Psychoanalytic
memories and traumas

Behaviorist Focuses on observable behavior

Humanistic Focuses on the individual’s freedom to choose, and capacity of growth.