January 11-13: What We Did in Class

From January 11th to January 13th, we have been discussing the different types of psychology and how psychology has developed over time. First, we learned that there are over 60 different divisions of psychology that are recognized, but there are only seven specific fields of psychology. These fields include Developmental Psychology, Physiological Psychology, Personality Psychology, Clinical/Counseling Psychology, Social Psychology, and Industrial/Organizational Psychology. Each of these fields have a specific purpose and reach all bases in terms of research and helping people and businesses that need psychological help. In addition, we learned about the development of psychology over the years. Psychology emerged in the late 19th century when people first began to apply science to the thoughts and actions of humans. The first form of psychology to arise was structuralism, which focused on physical sensations, feelings, and memories and how these sensations evoked "structures" in the mind. Many people disagreed with the ideas and structuralism, and believed that rather than focusing on sensations, psychologists should focus on people's experiences. A new form of psychology arose called Functionalism, which main ideas were that organisms use their experiences to function effectively in their environment. Later, Sigmund Freud created Psychodynamic Psychology, which tapped in on the unconsciousness through dreams and lucid expression, believing that a person's true desires are expressed through the unconscious mind. In the early 20th century, Behaviorism emerged that taught sensitizing and desensitizing the human mind through reinforcement. Finally, Cognitive Psychology was developed, which focused on research methods and emphasized the metal process of how a person thinks or makes decisions.