A brief history of psychological development

A brief history of psychological development

Psychology is a science that studies human psychological phenomena and their psychological functions and behavioral activities under their influence, taking into account outstanding theories and applications. The following is a brief history of psychological development collected by me for reference only. Let's have a look.

A brief history of psychological development

As a science, psychology has only a short history, but it has a long past. Psychology can be traced back to ancient philosophy. Philosophy and religion have long discussed the relationship between body and mind, and how human knowledge is produced. Ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle, and ancient China thinkers such as Xunzi and Wang Chong all had many expositions on mind.

In the west, from the Renaissance to the middle of19th century, the psychological characteristics of human beings have always been the object of study by philosophers, and psychology is a part of philosophy. The British Bacon, Hobbes, Locke and others in this period, as well as the French Encyclopedia thinkers at the end of 18, all tried to correct the psychological thought distorted by theology in the Middle Ages and give scientific explanations.

Bacon's inductive scientific methodology has played a great role in the development of modern natural science. Hobbes put forward that human knowledge comes from the outside world, and Locke first put forward the concept of association, which promoted the development of psychology. Lamater, a French encyclopedic school, simply described man as a machine in his book Man is a Machine. Although these ideas have mechanical materialism, they are all of progressive significance.

/kloc-In the mid-9th century, due to the further development of productive forces, natural science has made great progress, and the prestige of science has gradually taken root in people's hearts. At this time, physiology, as a twin science of psychology, is approaching maturity, and psychology begins to get rid of the general discussion of philosophy and turn to the study of specific problems. This background laid the foundation for psychology to become an independent science.

Modern psychology was founded in 1879. This year, German psychologist Feng Te established the world's first psychology laboratory in Leipzig, and psychology was declared to be independent from philosophy and become a science. Feng Te is a philosopher and physiologist. His psychology laboratory mainly studies the psychological process of feeling and perception, mainly using physiological experimental techniques, so he calls his research "physiological psychology" or "experimental psychology".

So far, modern psychology has experienced a history of more than one hundred years. During this period, the discussion about the research object of psychology has been repeated many times. At first, Feng Te thought that psychology was a science to study people's direct experience or consciousness, and complex psychological activities were composed of simple units. The task of psychology is to decompose psychological activities into some psychological elements. For example, the perception of a book is composed of rectangular, certain size, green cover and other sensory components.

This view was undoubtedly influenced by the development of chemistry at that time. Analytical methods are used in chemistry, and chemical elements are constantly being discovered. Because of this, later generations called Feng Te's psychological system elemental psychology or structural psychology. Feng Te, a pioneer of modern social psychology, also studied national psychology in his later years. Feng Te has enrolled a large number of senior students from Europe and America in Leipzig. After they returned to China, they set up psychology departments and psychology laboratories respectively, which made this new science rapidly popularized.

The psychology founded by Feng Te only prospered for thirty or forty years before it met with difficulties. The problem arises from the definition that "psychology is the science of studying consciousness". Because to recognize this definition, we need to recognize the existence of consciousness first, but not all psychologists can agree with it. American psychologist Watson first challenged Feng Te's psychology.

Watson pointed out that if psychology is to become a science and be on an equal footing with other disciplines of natural science, it is necessary to have a thorough revolution and give up consciousness as the research object of psychology. Watson said that consciousness is a subjective thing, and no one can see or touch it, let alone put it in a test tube for testing. This illusory thing can never be the object of scientific research.

He believes that scientific psychology should be based on things that can be observed objectively. The behavior of human and animals can be observed objectively, so behavior is the object of psychological research. Psychology is a science that studies behavior. It wants to explore what makes an organism happen and what behavior occurs in what environment. As for the inner process of the mind, we can only speculate, not be sure, so we don't have to pay attention. Watson set off a far-reaching behaviorism movement in the field of psychology.

Neo-behaviorism appeared around the 1940s, emphasizing the study of human and animal behaviors on the basis of experimental operations. Skinner, a new behaviorist, made the boldest attempt to transform society by using the principle of behaviorism. He wrote a novel Walden II, which described a utopian ideal society in the form of a diary. Skinner called this social design "behavioral engineering" and pinned the realization of such a society on China. In the 1960s, the United States was involved in the Vietnam War, and social crises were everywhere. People began to doubt the American social system and yearn for an ideal society, so this book spread like wildfire.

From the 1920s to 1950s, behaviorism had a great influence in America. Behaviorism has always dominated American psychology. Now it seems that behaviorism theory is too simplistic and absolute, and we can't deny the existence of human thinking and consciousness just because the activities of the mind are invisible. Similarly, in physics, atoms, molecules and electrons are invisible to the naked eye, but they can still be studied with instruments or other tools. Psychological activities such as people's thinking can also be studied objectively through technical means. Psychology, after all, should study the internal process of human psychology. Moreover, people's social activities are extremely complicated, which cannot be explained by simple behavioral engineering.

At the same time of the rise of behaviorism, there are two schools of psychology in Europe, one is the Gestalt School and the other is the Psychoanalysis School.

Gestalt psychology was born in Germany, which opposed the essentialism of Feng Te's structural psychology, and its representatives were wertheimer, Kaufka and Koehler. Gestalt is a transliteration of German Gestalt, which means wholeness and gestalt. This school advocates that psychology studies the internal process of the human brain, and thinks that when people observe external things, what they see is not completely determined by the outside world, but that there is some kind of "field" power in people's minds to organize stimuli into a gestalt, thus determining the external things that people see. At that time, the theory of "field" was popular in physics, and the Gestalt school believed that the human brain was a part of the material world, so the laws of physics could also be applied to the activities of the human brain.

Gestalt psychology studies the intelligence of apes. Koehler observed how the ape folded several wooden boxes and climbed to the top of the boxes to get the bananas hanging on the roof. Apes can also connect sticks to get food blocked by railings. Gestalt psychologists believe that people and animals solve problems through sudden epiphany.

Gestalt School opposes Feng Te School's emphasis on analysis, and thinks that psychological phenomenon is a whole, and the whole determines its internal parts. This view, which emphasizes integrity and comprehensiveness, is conducive to the future development of psychology. Scientific research should not only look at problems from the perspective of analysis, but also the overall relationship is the more important aspect.

Psychoanalysis school comes from psychiatry. It has brought a huge impact on psychology, so that it can't be ignored when discussing psychological objects. Austrian doctor Freud used hypnosis and free association to make mental patients recall the past to find out the cause. He found that the patient's childhood experience, especially the emotional relationship between children and parents, was very important. He also found that dreaming often reflects a person's internal psychological contradictions, so analyzing patients' dreams is also a kind of treatment.

Freud believed that, on the one hand, the inner biological lust of human beings is the most basic impulse; On the other hand, people's social customs and ethics limit the venting of this primitive impulse and suppress it into unconsciousness. The content of consciousness is rational and conscious; Unconscious content is often contrary to reason and morality. When the contradiction between reason and unconsciousness intensifies, neurosis occurs. In order to cure the disease, it is necessary to analyze the patient's unconsciousness. This is psychoanalysis.

Psychoanalytic school believes that psychology is the function of studying the "unconscious". It is believed that people's fundamental psychological motivation is unconscious impulse. It is this powerful "unconscious" psychological activity that plays a decisive and fundamental role in people's lives. As for the conscious psychological process, it is just some isolated fragments exposed on the surface. In recent years, new psychoanalysis no longer emphasizes the role of biological impulse, but pays more attention to the social relationship between people. The incidence of mental illness is very high in western society, so psychoanalytic theory is easily accepted.

In the development of psychology, Soviet psychology is different from western psychology represented by the United States. Sechinov regarded brain reflection as the basic concept of psychology, and later Bechtelev wrote a book "Reflection". Then, Pavlov specially studied conditioned reflex. His conditioned reflex theory promoted the rise of American behaviorism. Pavlov's theory had a great influence on Soviet psychology, which became one of its theoretical foundations, and also directly influenced the psychology of China and some eastern European countries after the founding of New China.

In China, modern psychology began with the reform of education system and the establishment of new schools in the late Qing Dynasty. At that time, psychology courses were first offered in normal schools, and most of the textbooks used were translated from Japan and the West. 1907 Wang Guowei retranslated the English version of Introduction to Psychology by Danish writer Houding. 19 18 Chen Daqi published the Outline of Psychology, which is the earliest book named after psychology in China. 19 17 Peking University established a psychology laboratory, 1920 Nanjing Normal University established the first psychology department in China.

At this time, structural psychology, behavioral psychology, gestalt psychology and psychoanalysis were introduced into China, and China began to have his own psychological research. After the founding of New China, 195 1 established the Institute of Psychology of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and set up psychology majors and teaching and research departments in many universities and normal universities.

Employment prospect of developmental psychology

Training objectives: This major trains senior professionals who have the basic theories, knowledge and skills of psychology and can engage in psychological research, teaching and management in scientific research departments, colleges, enterprises and institutions.

Main courses: general psychology, experimental psychology, psychostatistics, physiological psychology, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, cognitive science, etc.

Statistics on Employment and Salary of Psychology Major

Through the analysis of the employment situation of psychology major in 9 17, the average salary level of psychology major is 6420 yuan.

According to work experience and length of service, the salary of psychology major is 1000, and the graduates are 5 150, 3-5 years 6070, 0-2 years 7680, 6-7 years 9850, 8- 10 years 10.

Do you think the above statistics about employment salary of psychology major are accurate? Too high or too low?

Statistics on Employment Ranking of Psychology Majors

What is the employment prospect of psychology major? According to 10 1596 employment data analysis:

Among all 1099 majors, psychology ranks 36th in employment.

Psychology major ranks second in employment among 36 majors of Neo-Confucianism.

The employment ranking of psychology major in psychology two majors 1.

Statistics on Employment Fields and Directions of Psychology Majors

What are the employment directions of psychology majors? Which field is in greater demand? According to 10 1596 employment data analysis:

The region with the largest demand psychology major is Shanghai, accounting for18%;

The general direction of demand psychology is Internet/e-commerce, accounting for 2 1%.

Employment direction of psychology major:

After graduation, students majoring in psychology can go to education, engineering design departments, industrial and commercial enterprises, medical care, justice, administrative management and other departments to engage in teaching, management, counseling and treatment, technology development and other work.

I. Colleges and universities

1. Due to the improvement of national economic psychological level, psychological problems are paid more and more attention. Nowadays, major universities are scrambling to set up psychology departments, and the demand for teachers is increasing day by day. There are only a few majors that teach psychology in colleges and universities after graduation from master's degree. Most schools need doctoral degrees, and doctoral study is also one of the choices for graduate students.

2. Colleges and universities attach great importance to students' mental health, and offer public courses in psychology one after another, thus expanding the employment of psychology. Psychological counseling centers in colleges and universities also provide employment opportunities for psychology.

Second, civil servants.

Public security system: public security bureau, reeducation-through-labor camp, prison, border checkpoint.

Third, enterprises.

Mainly engaged in headhunting (talent agency), enterprise consulting, human resource management, market research.

Fourth, primary and secondary schools.

Psychological counseling department

Five, psychological counseling workers

Engaged in psychological counseling.

Intransitive verbs hospitals and clinics

Students majoring in clinical psychology and medical psychology can go to hospitals or psychological clinics to engage in psychological counseling and treatment.

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