Psychology is the science that studies human behavior and its mental processes. Rather, Psychology studies what motivates human behavior - what sustains it, what ends and its mental processes, which go through sensation, emotion, perception, learning, intelligence...
The history of Psychology, whose etymology derives from Psyche (soul) + Logos (reason or knowledge), is confused with Philosophy until the mid-nineteenth century. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle kick-started the thought-provoking investigation of the human soul:
For Socrates (469/399 BC) the main characteristic of the human being was reason – an aspect that would allow man to stop being an irrational animal.
Plato (427/347 BC) – disciple of Socrates, concludes that the place of reason in the human body was the head, physically representing the psyche, and the medulla tria as a function the link between mind and body.
Already Aristotle (387/322 BC) – disciple of Plato – understood body and mind in an integrated way, and perceived the psyche as the active principle of life.
During the "Christian era" - when all knowledge was produced and kept under lock and key by the Church, St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas start from the positions of Plato and Aristotle respectively.
In 1649, René Descartes – French philosopher – published Passions of the Soul, reaffirming the separation between body and mind. Thought that dominated the scientific scene until the 20th century. Some researchers claim that this hypothesis assumed by Descartes was a subterfuge found to continue his research, developed from the dissection of corpses, with the support of the Church and protected against the Inquisition.
The fact is that at the end of the 19th century, scholars at the time decided to distance Psychology from Philosophy and Physiology, giving rise to what was called Modern Psychology. Observable behaviors become part of scientific research in laboratories with the aim of controlling human behavior. In this sense, theorists aim their actions in an attempt to build a consistent theoretical body, seeking the recognition, finally, of Psychology as a science.
It is in this investigative scenario that three theoretical currents emerge: Functionalism, Structuralism and Associationism.
Functionalism was developed by William James (1842/1910) who had conscience as his great concern – how it works and how man uses it to adapt to the environment.
In Structuralism Edward Titchener (1867/1927) was also concerned with consciousness, but with its aspects structural - perceived consciousness, that is, its elementary states as structures of the Nervous System Central.
Associationism was introduced by Edward Thorndike (1874/1949). His point of view was that man learns through a process of association of ideas – from the simplest to the most complex.
At the beginning of the 20th century, three more main currents emerged, which in turn gave rise to the diversity of psychological currents we know today:
Behaviorism – emerged in the US with John Watson (1878/1958). It was known by the S-R theory, that is, for every behavioral response there is a stimulus.
Gestaltism – emerged in Europe, more precisely in Germany, with Wertheimer, Köhler and Koffka, between 1910 and 1912 and denies the fragmentation of actions and human processes, postulating the need to understand man as a totality, rescuing the relationship between Psychology and Philosophy.
Psychoanalysis – theory developed by Sigmund Freud (1856/1939) recovers the importance of affectivity and has the unconscious as its object of study.
Today, in the 21st century, the knowledge produced by Psychology and the complexity and capacity for transforming human beings, ended up greatly expanding its area of activity.
Thus, Psychology today can contribute to several areas of knowledge, enabling each area an infinite range of discoveries about man and his behavior, or about man and his relations.
Are they:
Experimental Psychology
Personality Psychology
Clinical psychology
developmental psychology
organizational psychology
educational psychology
Learning Psychology
Sports Psychology
Forensic Psychology
neuropsychology
By Regina Célia de Souza
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/psicologia/o-que-e-psicologia.htm
