The psychology is a science that studies the psyche, reflected in the behavior of the individual occurs through various processes of the mind.
This science, also known as psychology, studies the behavior caused by human behavior, understanding experiences as an interrelated set of actions.
This discipline, considered by many the science of the mind, can be understood from different perspectives.
For example, behaviorists seek to understand psychology from a scientific perspective, applying a rigorous method as a mechanism for doing science. On the contrary, from the humanist currents the understanding of the mind from the social is sought.
From psychology, it is possible to understand elements of human behavior such as their perception of things, the motivation that moves them to carry out an activity, the emotions that it produces, interest in certain issues, intelligence and the development of interpersonal relationships, among others.
Those who practice the science of psychology are psychologists, who work in multiple fields of work, each thinking in different environments.
Psychologists on many occasions adhere to a theory that ends up being their current of thought and work trying to apply its postulates.
From Ancient Greece there is a record of the first psychological incursions, which with contemporaneity resulted in the formation of multiple psychological schools that are exercised from different areas.
These schools can be clinical, educational, social, industrial, health, forensic, sports psychology or even those that are dedicated to the specific study of people with a certain age range, such as child and youth psychology or that of the elderly..
Schools of psychology
Philosophy is the mother of all sciences. From the philosophical thoughts raised, especially with regard to Western philosophy, a line and pattern have been set for all sciences, which have determined their actions within the framework of the philosophical currents that have been postulated.
Historically, many psychological currents have arisen, which have become schools of thought in psychology.
This is the psychological discipline proposed by the Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. As a result of these approaches, Freud is considered the father of this discipline.
Psychoanalysis arises, in the first instance, as a method of research on the individual, his characteristics and their origins. It is also understood as the way to discover the elements of the unconscious that shape the individual.
All these inferred and determined knowledge are analyzed and especially interpreted.
Consequently, a psychotherapeutic process begins based on all the information previously collected, which is where psychoanalysis is properly applied by the psychologist in order for the patient to guide his existence in a way that is beneficial to him.
Emphasizing the natural and with a deep link to physics, behaviorism seeks to convert the psychological process into steps that follow the scientific method, always quantitatively in a cause-effect relationship. This current has in the American John B. Watson one of its greatest exponents.
Burrhus Frederic Skinner also contributed enormously, proposing concepts that would become behavior modification processes such as operant conditioning, which also in a cause-effect scheme, believes that humans will repeat actions that generate positive consequences and reject those that bring them negative.
As its name implies, cognitivist psychology studies cognition. This refers to all those mental processes of the individual that are related to a greater or lesser extent with knowledge.
The objective of this psychological current is to study knowledge with all the mechanisms that it has to produce it.
In addition, they study how knowledge properly works in the mind, so functions such as memory storage, reproduction of knowledge, retention capacity and the formulation of new aspects of knowledge produced by the logical capacities of the mind are analyzed..
This branch has also leaned towards quantitative research, being related to mathematical calculations on the mind, as well as medical theories.
In the mid-twentieth century, an opposition to behaviorism and psychological theories closely linked to the basic sciences such as mathematics naturally emerged.
This opposition took shape within the framework of humanistic psychology, which is sustained in philosophy to achieve its tasks and categorizes the existential aspects of the person, that is, those that constitute his being. These may be the freedom with which they act, the knowledge they master, and the responsibility they exercise.
In addition to opposing behaviorism, it also faces psychoanalysis because it considers psychology merely qualitative, so it should not be understood as a natural science.
However, one of the greatest exponents of humanism, the psychologist Abraham Maslow, creator of the world-famous Maslow pyramid of needs, claimed that humanism was an integrating force of the psychological theories previously raised.
Gestalt
Also known as form psychology, Gestalt psychology is a psychological trend that emerged in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century.
Inspired by the apriorisms of Immanuel Kant, who changed the conception of research and the evolution of philosophy in general, Gestalt proposes that everything that the subject does is the product of an individual perception that in turn is originated by the experiences that he has lived.
Gestalt theory and its psychological application understand that all beings have defined functions and actions, which is encompassed in a behavior that must be discovered in order to fully understand it, because by understanding its nature, being is understood.
Among the most important exponents of this psychological school are Kurt Koffka, Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler and Kurt Lewin.
References
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