Foundations of Psychology

Psychology was born from philosophy, when philosophers had a period of doubt about the limitations of morality, justice, and knowledge. In the late nineteenth century a need to understand the nature of thoughts, behaviors in minds, and feelings brought scientific investigation. Culture and biology have as much to do with psychology as philosophy does with the constraints of how a people think, feel, and act. Since this first laboratory psychology has answered many questions about the mind and the way people think. Psychology has been developed through biology, culture and philosophy whereas the school of thought in psychology helps with current perspectives.

Biology and Psychology

            Behavioral neuroscience or biopsychology occurs when physicians or biologists not psychologist study electrical and chemical processes of the nervous system. On September 13, 1848 Phineas Gage set off an explosion that sent a bar through his head and change his personality. This accident set forth experiments producing surgical lesions in different regions of the animal’s brains to determine the effects on behavior. In 1836 Marc Dax a physician wrote a paper suggesting that aphasia or language disorders were associated with the brains left side. Localization of function was a major discover for behavioral neuroscience. Other discovers within the left hemisphere after Dax came from Paul Broca, who discovered that people with lesions in the left hemisphere’s front section could comprehend language but not speak. Carl Wernicke discovered that damage in the brain near Broca sections could speak fluently and follows grammar rules but made little sense. Just as much as the biology has to do with psychology the way a person was brought up also has an effect.

Culture and Psychology

                        Culture difference can create psychological difference. Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict are the first psychologically sophisticated anthropologists to address the relationship of personality and culture. “They argued that individual psychology is fundamentally shaped by cultural values, ideals, and ways of thinking. (Kowalski & Westen, 2005)” A developing child will conform to standards set by his or her culture. Psychological anthropologists observed the way child-rearing molds personalities.

Waking at a certain time, arriving and switching classes in a timely manner, even being punctual for work are not natural to humans but have become part of a person’s character or personality. Cross-cultural psychology was founded by a group of researchers pondering relationships between culture and psychological attributes. “Psychologists are now pondering the extent to which decades of research on topics such as memory, motivation, psychological disorders, and obedience have yielded results about people generally or about a particular group of people. (Kowalski & Westen, 2005)” Psychology can process the comparison and distinguish between universal and cultural processes with cross-cultural comparison. When philosophy wanted to know about nature, psychology was born.