Psychology as a science covers a wide area in social science. It studies the mental, mind and emotional issues. Psychology over the years has evolved and various theories explain the changes in behavior and emotions expressed by human beings. The perspectives developed in psychology include cognitive, behaviorism, diversity and culture. Everything in the world revolves around psychology. The fathers of psychology come up with theories that cover and explain the essence of different behaviors and actions.
The theory of behaviorism was founded by Ivan Pavlov who did a research on the behavior of dogs. He did a research on their digestion. The theory is also known as behavioral psychology. The theory is based on the idea that behaviors are learned and acquired through conditioning in the environment. Individuals’ behavior is shaped through the exposure to the environment. For example in the society and new born children will have certain traits acquired through the interaction with people as they grow.
Behaviorism also is depicted in by animals for example the experiment conducted to find out the behavior of the dog during meal time. The stimuli attached to the sight of food will make the dog have a mentally about food, the reflexes of the brain and the central nervous system play a key role in behaviorism. The dog associates food with the ringing of the bell. In the daily lives we encounter behaviorism theory relates to the lives we depict the classical conditioning. Operant conditioning is in relation to the punishment attached to coming a certain mistake, children often demonstrate this conditioning whenever they wrong, they know by making a certain mistake will result in punishment (Ratcliffe, 2007).
Another theory in psychology concerns the structuralism school/theory. The theory focuses on deeper analysis of issues that concerns breaking down mental components to simpler and easy terms. The theory studies the structure of consciousness. The proponent of structure theory, Edward b. Titchner, and his core purpose was to discover the smallest unit of thought. The theory holds that observation and application of scientific concepts of making observations, performing experiments and making a conclusion by doing analysis are important things to perform. Wilhelm used a method called introspection; it is the observation of someone’s heart, soul or mind and the processes directly (Burke, 2006). The use of the method arose due to unreliability of the scientific experiments performed in observing people’s minds and the processes. The Scientifics experiment was too subjective and the psychologist desired to use introspection method. In the experiment there are various components which include the consciousness of and individual, affection (explains the elements of emotions), sensation (explains the essence of perception), and images (the elements of ideas and knowledge). An example that would portray the theory concerns the daily activities performed, in schools, students get emotional when they perform poorly in their exams, this is due to the consciousness that failure is related to laziness and lack of concentration in school work (Ratcliffe, 2007).
The third theory to be analyzed and demonstrated is the functionalism theory also known as the school of functionality, basically the structuralism theory goes hand in hand with the functionalism theory. Since both theories concentrate on the mind and they deal with the behavior of the people. William James, the founder of the theory argues that the essence of the knowledge. The theory considers individual’s readiness to the adaptation to the environment. The theory of functionalism in psychology depicts the importance of using experiments to support the theory. In most instances the theory fails to account for the claims it proposes. In the society, the key areas that perform tasks are credited to functionalism theory. The theory puts emphasis on the mind and behavior.
The theory preferred is the behaviorism theory. The theory depicts the real life situation on how behavior is linked with the environment one is exposed. In most circumstances the learned behavior regards the people that one interacts with. The society is a social place, the social institutions one attends molds the behavior that one depicts. In high schools and colleges for example students have a culture of partying every weekend. They also depict and use certain terms when communicating with each other. In addition their mode of dressing changes as soon as one enters college (Burke, 2006).
The theory that fails to impress is the theory of functionalist. The theory in the first placed does not conduct any experiment to emphasize the claim of studying the components in the mind. One could fail to relate the real life situation when using the theory. In fact most parts of the theory relate to structuralism whereas the structure theory conducts experiments to break down the units of thought.
In making a sound decision on the choice of the theories I based on the use of examples and analysis. The key points in the theories depict the strength of the theory. As much as the theories try to analyze their claims one require a keen look at their claims. The challenging part is the perception and the core values of the theory (James, 2010).
The future of psychology is bright. The theories explained by the great scholars cover a wide area. Since psychology involves the study of the human mind, emotions and perceptions. Much has been revised and the theories improved since psychology has become a broad discipline and many people have pursued it as a career. Students taking psychology showed a great example since they are able to explain various things in the society. Counseling psychology has been used mostly in hospitals in helping patients come to their senses (Burke, 2006).
Research in psychology is important in order to keep the coming generation informed about psychology. Theories need to perform a research to explain the emerging issues for example the drastic change in behavior in the current world. For example in marriages, bestiality and the use of drugs by young people need to be explained using psychological knowledge (Burke, 2006).
The information in the presentation adds knowledge. The ability to explain behaviors and top think critically in trying to understand the psychology of people. The concept of knowing the processes that take place in the mind is essential. The critical point of view is broadened due to the information acquired concerning the theories. Ones overview also understands various phenomena that occur in the world. The effect of the presentation conducted creates room for self analysis in knowing the theories and on how to apply them in real life situations (Sternberg, 2007).
The use of creative thing in the presentation is depicted well on the use of terms. Critical thing involves thinking before acting and taking analysis, the use of examples that concern the related scenarios and facts. The systematic and logical sequence of arranging the theories according to the preference and their significance is a sign of creativity. In essence creativity comes from the mind and putting them down into action to expound on the key points in the order of preference.
References
Ratcliffe, M. (2007). Rethinking commonsense psychology: A critique of folk psychology, theory of mind and simulation. Basingstoke [England: Palgrave Macmillan.
Burke, P. J. (2006). Contemporary social psychological theories. Stanford, Calif: Stanford Social Sciences.
James, W. (2010). The principles of psychology. New York: Dover Publications.
Sternberg, R. J., Roediger, H. L., & Halpern, D. F. (2007). Critical thinking in psychology. Cambridge [England: Cambridge University Press.
