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Essay / The question of the origins of psychology is what...
The understanding of ourselves and the humans around us has been studied by many great historians such as Aristotle and Descartes. Researchers like these would ask psychological questions about what motivates us and why. It was not until the end of the 19th century that psychological research was considered a scientific discipline in its own right. Psychology began in 1879 when a man named Wilhelm Wundt established a psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany. This laboratory would be considered the birthplace of experimental psychology. In the lab, Wundt has independently trained more than 180 students. More than 100 of these students came from other countries and then returned to their home countries with their knowledge of experimental psychology. Among the hundred, Edward Titchener returned to the United States and established his own psychology laboratory at Cornell University. Titchener's idea was to identify the basic elements of the mind. This was later known as structuralism. (Feist and Rosenberg) Structuralism was the first school of psychology and attempted to divide mental processes into fundamental parts. Introspection has been used to understand basic levels of consciousness. Structuralism is important because it strongly influenced experimental psychology. (Feist and Rosenberg) Structuralism itself did not last long as a school because it was concerned with internal behavior that could not be observed or measured. Functionalism was formed as a direct reaction to structuralism. Functionalism was greatly influenced by the works of evolutionary theory by William James and Charles Darwin. Instead of focusing on the elements of consciousness, functionalism focuses on the purpose of consciousness and its behavior in a middle of paper......y focuses on how different parts of the brain and how Genetics influence behavior and thought processes. (Feist and Rosenberg) The evolutionary perspective focuses on how human behaviors and tendencies are passed down through genes and, due to survival instincts, behavioral tendencies evolve over time and generations. (Feist and Rosenberg) The sociocultural perspective recognizes that ethnicity, religion, occupation, and socioeconomic class determine how behaviors change over time. (Feist and Rosenberg) There are many schools of thought on how to understand human nature and the reactions we have to our environment. Most believe that a combination of these theories best helps us understand human nature and behavioral tendencies. In order to have a comprehensive understanding of psychology, we must delve into the origins of these different perspectives..