Introduction to Psychology, Part 4 - by @amitvegada

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The concept and practice of psychoanalysis remain important today, even though competing theories in the young field of psychology have either fallen away or developed into something else.

When behaviorism gained a stronger profile during the first half of the 20th century, there was another big shake-up. Heavy hitters like Ivan Pavlov, John B. Watson, and B. F. Skinner were key players here. They focused on the study of observable behavior.

You may recall Skinner's experiments, in which he trained rats and pigeons, as well as infants, to perform certain behaviors. Around the time Freud escaped to England, Skinner published his Behavior of Organisms, bringing into existence the behaviorism movement which continued to be in vogue into the 1960s.

There were of course other important forces at the time, such as Freud's psychoanalysis, which had many descendants that were collectively called psychodynamic theories. Research on this topic focused on the role of early experiences in shaping unconsciousness and how those experiences affect our thinking, feeling, and behavior.

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By the mid-20th century, other major forces in psychology were also brewing -- we'll explore later in upcoming lessons including humanist psychology, which focuses on nurturing personal growth; neuroscience, cognitive science, and all of which contributed their own unique takes on the study of the mind.

A nice amalgam of all these different approaches makes up the formal definition of psychology today, which examines behavior and mental processes. It recognizes the need to observe and record behavior, whether it be screaming, crying, or playing saxophone in front of an imaginary audience, but also lends credibility to what we are thinking, feeling, and believing while we are working up a sweat on our invisible instruments.

As I said before, my main point is that psychology is an integrative science. The discipline still gets grumpy and disagrees plenty, yet its essence is much more about developing a variety of questions and trying to answer them using a variety of methods.

The human mind is complicated. There is no one way to open it; it must be pricked at from all sides to be effective. Owen Gingerich remarked that we know the human brain to be the most complex physical object ever created on Earth, even among those who have gazed into the distant expanses of the universe. And we all get to have one! Of our very own! We'll knock about right here on our own.

As we explore psychology over the next several months, we will delve into ways in which it applies to our lives, our minds, and our hearts, as well as introduce new ways of understanding others, the world, and ourselves.

Thanks for reading this lesson in Psychology.