Explore the history and influential people in the field of psychology - Essay Example

Running Head: History and influential people in the field of psychology Affiliation: History and influential people in the field of psychology Several histories try to explain the characteristics of different people in the field of psychology. These characters played major roles in the field of psychology and improved people’s understanding of the human conduct and the culture in which we live. The following are some of the prominent thinkers in the field of psychology:Historical perspectivesB. F. SkinnerHe was the most prominent psychologist who contributed a lot in the field of psychology.

He was a philosopher in the field of science and he therefore performed a research through experimentations and his explanations based on the behavioral aspects of the results. However his work was criticized and considered to have been misrepresented and misunderstood. His work was later corrected and his theories became of great help to other theorists who came after him to as they used to improve the field of psychology.Freud Sigmund He studied physiological psychology. He held a notion that not all cultural differences have an impact on behaviour.

Freud majored in clinical and human development including anomalous psychology. His theories greatly contributed to the field of clinical psychology.Albert BanduraHe contributed to cognitive revolution in the field of psychology in 1960’s. He designed a theory known as the social learning theory which emphasized the need for observation during teaching and learning process. He also emphasized the important use of imitation and modeling.Jean Piaget Piaget dealt mostly with the study towards understanding children’s intellectual development.

His perspective led to the growth and maturity of developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, genetic epistemology and reform of education. He has great impact in the field of education. He emphasized education for children; he believed that education will only save the society from collapse and failure.Carl RogersCarl Rogers did studies on human potential in the field of educational psychology. He was a great humanist thinker who came up with a heroic influence in therapy the Rogerian therapy.

His influence to the world was through a thorough research .His research was to display psychological environments for open communications and how one is capable of achieving their desired potential.Modern perspectivesThe Biological PerspectiveIt is also known as biopsychology or biological perspective. This perspective pays attention to physical and biological aspects of human behaviour. Its growth has most recently advanced with improvement in scientific research and medicine that has led to greater understanding of the human body such as the brain and the nervous system.

Behavioral perspectiveBehavioral psychology is a modern field in psychology that studies learned behaviors as a basis for learning new behaviours. This seems to be a continuation of the behaviorism perspective of the twentieth century. The perspective study’s how individual behaviors are learned and reinforced. It has been recently applied in explaining and treating mental health disorders.Cross-cultural perspectivesThis perspective emerged to the field of psychology twenty years ago. Modern researchers and theorists examine different human behaviours across a wide range of cultural settings.

It looks at the possibility of how cultural traits can affect thoughts and behavior. Evolutionary perspective (Jerome Barkow, Leda Cosmides and John Tooby in1992)In this perspective, the centre of attention is on the relationship between evolution and physiological processes. Theorists consider the main ideology of evolutionary perspective such as natural selection and apply them to psychosomatic occurrence. Modern psychologists hold a strong belief that hereditary qualities have a connection with social and personal traits.

Humanistic perspective (Kirk Schneider 2008)It emerged early in 1950s but remained dormant until most recently. It borrows ideas from Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow. It lays emphasis on how motivations influence thoughts and human behavior. Humanistic perspective still has room for more studies for example on self-actualization.The different perspectives discussed in this paper carries with it strengths and weakness based on what the study looks for or concentrates. It is worthwhile; to bear in mind that humanistic perspective seems to have room for further investigation.

Furthermore, its techniques have a wide range of application areas, the techniques of humanistic approach can be taught to scholars in the field of psychology with a view of expounding on the untouched fields. It is also very helpful in treatment of several psychological problems. Humanistic theories and ideologies seem to direct development of new perspectives in the field of psychology. For instance in the year 2000, Dr. Martin Seligman introduced positive psychology into the field. Positive psychology encourages use of research methodologies and techniques such as surveying and data collection a direction that human perspective theorists have over years not utilized.

The other area of psychology that has been impacted by this approach is in coaching psychology in sports where emphasis is placed on promoting individual potentials.References:Kalat, James W., (2010). Introduction to Psychology: 9th ed. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.Eysenck, M., (1994), Perspectives on Psychology; Principles of Psychology: east Sussex: Psychology Press.Firestone, P. & Dozois, D., (2006).Abnormal Psychology; Perspectives: 3RD Ed. New Jersey, NJ: Pearson