Reflections on Psycholgoy

What is Psychology? Is it all just a crapulent joke that some old man invented just so he could get to call himself a doctor?  There are so many misperceptions that are created by the media about it.  It doesn’t help that there is a million different career paths that you can take with such a degree.  Well psychology is both a study of the human mind and behavior, which seeks to understand and explain thought, emotion and behavior.  Its applications include treatment, enhancement, performance, self-help, ergonomics and many more aspects of mental health.(Van Wagner, 2005)

Early psychology evolved from philosophy and biology.  The word is derived from the Greek word Psyche, which means soul or mind.  It took flight when Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychology lab in Germany.  His research utilized a school of thought known as structuralism.  This involved the description of structures that compose the mind, heavily relying on analysis of sensations and feelings through introspection and the subjective process.  Wundt believed that if properly trained, an individual could properly identify the mental processes that accompany feelings, sensations and thoughts. (Van Wagner, 2005)

Throughout its history, there have been many schools of thought formed to explain human thought and behavior. Each of whom have greatly contributed to our understanding of psychology.  This paper focuses on three of these; Behaviorism, Cognitive Psychology, and Social Learning.

 ‘When it comes to building the human brain, nature supplies the construction materials and nurture serves as the architect that puts them together.’  Ronald Kotulak. (Call, 1999)

We cannot look a Psychology without looking at. The brain and how it works.  Psychology is a science that includes biology.  Inner workings of the brain have always been a mystery.  Experts have developed countless theories about where intelligence comes from and its relationship between nurture and nature.  We have managed to finally calculate the phenomenal number of interconnections that are made among brain cells as they communicate with each other and have technology that allow us to look inside the living brain so that we can observe the chemical activity as thoughts and emotions are processed. (Call, 1999)

At the most microscopic level, the human brain consists of about one hundred billion nerve cells called Neurons.  These are simple data processors like the chip in a computer, which work by firing “action potentials” to send signals from one part of the body to another. The simplest “behavior” is the spinal reflex, and all you need are two neurons.  An example of this is the knee jerk reflex. There are sensory neurons in your quadriceps muscle. When the patellar tendon is stretched, it sends a signal to the motor neuron that causes a contraction of the quads, thus bringing the muscle back to its original length. Or another example is the ability to feel and respond to emotions and actually physically express these through Music and art.  The brain’s power to handle complex tasks is because of the ability to orchestrate the activities billions of neurons that work together attacking problems, sort of like a symphony conductor. (Call, 1999)