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The Founders Of Psychology

Feb 17, '08 12:35 AM
by Prabu for everyone

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920): Wundt is also credited with the foundation of structuralism, as he was interested in identifying the smallest structure of the conscience. Wundt is also credited with the founding of the first psychological laboratory, in 1879 in Leipzig, Germany, where he studied the measurement of mental processes with an instrument referred to as a thought meter. The instrument was a calibrated pendulum with needles, which struck bells when swinging back and forth. The purpose was for Wundt to subtract the participants’ estimated time from the actual measured time of the bells being struck by the needles, and the differential scores provided a measurement of participants’ thought swiftness. In lay terms, Wundt’s studies provided the idea that speed of thought processes varied between individuals, and paved the way for empirical studies (Gregory, 2001).

William James (1842-1910): James adopted a broader view of psychology in the development of functionalism, the development of which he is attributed. He used introspection in his studies, but argued that experiences could not be fragmented into fundamental units as proposed by structuralism. Being influenced by Darwinism, James was not interested in discovering the constitution of the smallest structure of the psyche, but rather what was its function, and how it aided in the human survival. Thus, the purpose of functionalism was to identify how the human organism acquired new habits by asking the questions: what is the purpose of behaviors, and what are their importance (Gregory, 2001).

Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911): Galton was a pioneer of experimental psychology, as he believed that almost anything was measurable, and attempted to measure human intellect through the use of reaction times and sensory discrimination. Among Galton’s influential works are Hereditary Genius (1869), in which he argues the importance of genetic factors, and Inquiries into Human Faculty and its Development (1883), which highlighted individuality in mental processes. Galton is attributed the initiation of the mental test movement, and the scientific psychology of individual differences (Goodenough, 1949; Boring, 1950). Galton furthered the brass instrument tradition, but used techniques which enabled the gathering of data more efficiently, as he set up a psychometric laboratory in London, at the International Health Exhibition in 1884. Galton’s work demonstrated that objective tests could be devised, producing meaningful scores obtained through standardized procedures (Gregory, 2001).

James McKeen Cattell (1860-1944): McKeen Cattell, a student of both Wundt and Galton, is considered the dean of American psychology. With Wundt he studied reaction times for various mental reactions, but wanted to study these reaction differences in s systematic fashion, a direction which the philosophically oriented Wundt had no interest investigating. Under Galton's tutelage, McKeen Cattell studied individual differences and coined the term mental tests. These tests included: hand squeeze strength, hand movement rate, two-point threshold for touch, pain resistance, weight differential, reaction time to sound, time for naming colors, bisection of a 50-centimeter line, judging the duration of ten seconds, which perpetuated the Galtonian tradition of unifying bodily and mental energy. McKeen Cattell's influence reached individuals such as E.L. Thorndike, R.S. Woodworth, E.K. Strong, and Clark Wissler (Gregory, 2001).

Alfred Binet (1875-1911): Binet, having begun his career in medicine, is widely known as the creator of the first intelligence test, after having transferred into psychology to study the two-point threshold and associationist psychology with John Stuart Mills. Binet argued that intelligence could be better studied through examining higher psychological processes rather than sensory processes, and added that attention could play a major role in mental test scores especially in children. In 1904 the Minister of Public Instruction in Paris brought forth modifications to their educational system, which wanted to identify special needs students and develop classes better suited for their needs. The selection of these children required an assessment tool, which Binet and Simon provided with the 1905 scale. The purpose of this scale was classification rather than measurement; it was brief and practical; it examined practical judgment; and it was arranged by approximate difficulty levels rather than content. The 1905 scale was revised to be weighted towards verbal skills, and standardized on the responses of 300 normal children aged between 3-13. This revised scale later led to the IQ scale proposed by Terman in 1916, which aimed at measurement of intelligence (Gregory, 2001).

John Broadus Watson (1878-1958): Broadus Watson is credited with the founding of the behaviorist perspective, and claimed that if psychology was to be considered a natural sciences it would have to limit itself to observable and measurable events. The premises of behaviorism were that individuals acted in present events as functions of previous learning, situational influences, and rewards, rather than conscious choices (Rathus, 1995).

Max Wertheimer (1880-1943): Wertheimer, along with Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Köhler founded the Gestalt perspective, which focused on perception and the manner by which it influences thoughts and problem resolution. Contrarily to behaviorists, gestaltists believed that human nature could not be explained by simply focusing on observable behaviors, nor that human perceptions, emotions, and thoughts could be explained as functions of fundamental units, as proposed by structuralism. According to the Gestalt perspective, perceptions are more than the sum of their parts, but are determined by each of its parts (Rathus, 1995).

Charles Spearman (1904): Spearman perceived intelligence as a function of two factors: a single general factor, and numerous specific factors, and he contributed to factor analysis in order to advance his theory of intelligence. The general factor was reflective of a pervasive type of intelligence, whereas the specific factors were reflective of abilities in specific activities. Spearman believed that individual differences in the general factor were due to variability in apprehension of experiences, education of relations, and education of correlations, where education refers to figuring things out. Although interesting, Spearman's two-factor theory collided with the existence of group factors, however factor analysis was a great contribution to the field of psychology (Gregory, 2001).

Donald O. Hebb (1904-1985): Hebb, founder of the psychobiological perspective, reasoned that more than one mechanism were responsible for learning, and is credited with coining the terms short-term and long-term memories. Hebb initially proposed that if any information stayed in the short-term storage long enough that it would be stored in the long-term memory. However, this idea was discredited as studies demonstrated that excitation enhanced memory, but that excessive or prolonged stress impaired memory. As a contribution to Hebb's theory, Baddeley and Hitch proposed the term working-memory to parallel active thinking, to emphasize that long-term memory is formed as we work with the information (Rathus, 1995).

Psychoanalysts

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939): Sigmund Freud is considered as one of the most influential characters in the realm of personality theory, as his system of psychoanalysis was the first formal personality theory. Initially driven towards neurology, Freud reoriented himself towards psychology and the examination of sexual conflicts as the source of neuroses. Freud's theory argued the effects of the life instinct, the libido, the cathexis, the death instincts, and the aggressive drive. His personality theory was structured upon three levels; the Id, the Ego, and the Superego, which were acted upon by the three types of anxieties (objective, neurotic, moral). Freud also proposed defense mechanisms as techniques used to protect one's self from anxiety, and the psychosexual stages of development (oral, anal, phallic, latency-genital) which resulted in fixations if the conflicts were not resolved within the developmental stages. Being greatly influenced by the works of Plato, as evident through the Oedipus complex, Freud became one of the most controversial, yet influential figures of the developing field of contemporary personality theorization (Schultz & Schultz, 1998).

Neuropsychologists

Carl Jung (1875-1961): Initially adhering to the Freudian perspective, Jung departed form his mentor and developed his own perspective called Analytical psychology. Jung disagreed with Freud in that he broadened the concept of libido to a more generalized psychic energy that included but was not restricted to sex. He also believed that individuals were affected by what had happened to them as children, but also by what could happen to them in the future. Jung also placed more importance on the unconscious than did Freud, as he made it the focal point of his theory. Jung brought forth concepts such as opposition, equivalence, and entrophy principles, extraversion and introversion, the eight psychological types, the collective unconscious, archetypes, persona, the shadow, as well as the anima and the animus. The most widely accepted Jungian concepts include: word-association tests, complexes, introversion-extraversion, and mid-life crisis (Schultz & Schultz, 1998)

Alfred Adler (1870-1937): Adler's personality theory is referred to as Individual psychology, as it focused on the unique aspects of each individual and refuted the idea of biologically predetermined motives as proposed by the psychoanalysts. According to Adler, individuality was determined by unique social environments and interactions, and he placed much importance on birth order. Adler proposed that each individual has an ideal self and that the purpose is to strive to achieve that ideal, and the motivation to do so was found within the inferiority feelings, which can transform into inferiority complexes if the individual is unable to compensate. Adler also proposed four personality types: the dominant, the getting, the avoiding, and the socially useful types. Adler emphasized the concept of free-will rather than adhering to the idea that humans are victims of their selves and their childhood (Schultz & Schultz, 1998).

Erich Fromm (1900-1980): Fromm was an adamant psychoanalyst, philosopher, and historian who viewed personality as a function of social and cultural influences and of universal forces that historically influenced humanity. Thus, Fromm allows for a simultaneous individuality and similarity among individual personalities as all humans have different social and cultural influences, while still being subjected to similar influences. Fromm brought forth the ideas of authoritarianism, destructiveness, and automaton conformity, and explained them as functions of striving to regain security by escaping the negative aspects of freedom. Fromm’s six psychological needs include: relatedness, transcendence, rootedness, identity, frame of orientation, and the need for excitation. Furthermore, Fromm presented nine character types: receptive, exploitative, hoarding, marketing, productive, necrophilous, biophilous, having, and the being character type. Although not all character types have been validated, there has been support for the receptive, hoarding, and exploitative types (Schultz & Schultz, 1998).

Henry Murray (1893-1988): Murray’s system of personality is referred to as personology, and its premise is rooted in the concept that personality stems from the brain. Murray claimed that everything upon which personality is based, such as feelings, memories, beliefs, fears and values, found their basis in the physiology of the brain. Murray’s divisions of personality were borrowed from Freud’s, but he added the concept of Ego-ideal, which was a reflection of ideal behaviors. Murray also conceived of needs as motivators for behaviors, and proposed four main needs: primary (related to survival), secondary (related to emotional and psychological satisfaction), reactive (related to responses to specific objects), and proactive needs (related to spontaneity). One major assessment tool associated with Murray’s personology is that of the Thematic Apperception Test (Schultz & Schultz, 1998)

Life-Span Approach

Erik Erikson (1902-1994): Erikson was accepted as one of the most influential psychoanalysts, despite not earning a university degree. Trained in the Freudian tradition, Erikson expanded upon Freud’s theory, suggesting that personality continues to develop beyond childhood and throughout the life span, and he argued that the ego was an orthogonal portion of the personality that was not dependent on the Id. Furthermore, Erikson deviated from the Freudian tradition as he acknowledged the influence of culture, society, and history on personality. Erikson’s personality theory was based on the idea of the epigenetic principle of maturation, and divided the development of personality into eight psychosocial stages: trust vs. mistrust; autonomy vs. doubt and shame; initiative vs. guilt; industriousness vs. inferiority; identity cohesion vs. role confusion; intimacy vs. isolation; generativity vs. stagnation; and ego integrity vs. despair. Erikson claimed that at each stage the individual must cope with a crisis in either an adaptive or a maladaptive manner. If one stage was dealt with in a maladaptive manner, the following stages could not be adequately attended, resulting in a maladapted individual (Rathus, 1995).

Gordon Allport (1897-1967): Allport's view of psychology was orthogonal to psychoanalysis, as he believed that it should focus more on conscious or visible motivations. Claiming the uniqueness of individual personalities, Allport argued that heredity provided the physique, intelligence, and temperament potentials which were the expanded or limited by environmental conditions. Allport described three types of personality traits: cardinal, which reflect general and pervasive traits which are indicative of the true nature of the person; central traits, which reflect the general nature of the individuals behavior; and secondary traits, which reflect inconsistent attitudes or behaviors, unreflective of the true nature of the person. A major proponent of Allport's theory is the concept of functional autonomy of motives, which implies that motives in normal and mature are not dependent upon the experience from which they developed. An example is when children play the piano so as to please their parents, but as adult they continue to play because they have grown to appreciate the activity. Furthermore, Allport refers to the proprium as his term for the ego or self, and divides its development into seven stages (bodily self, self-identity, self-esteem, extension of the self, self-image, self as rational coper, propriate striving) (Schultz & Schultz, 1998).

Raymond Cattell (1905- ): The major goal of Cattell's personality theory is the prediction of the response of human behavior to certain stimuli. In Cattell's psychological testing it was not uncommon to have fifty different measurements, the responses to which were then subjected to factor analysis so as to identify common factors through correlations, and called these correlated factors, traits. Common traits were those seemingly possessed to some degree by all persons, while unique traits were those seemingly possessed by few. Ability traits referred to how efficiently one could skillfully work towards accomplishing a goal, while temperament traits referred to how one generally behaved as responses to the environment, and dynamic traits referred to motivations and interests. Furthermore, source traits refer to permanent traits which compose the basic factors of the personality, while surface traits are composed of source traits and are thus potentially unstable and susceptible to change according to the situation. Constitutional traits on the other hand are source traits dependent upon physiological traits, and environmental-mold traits are source traits learned through social interactions. Finally, the central aspect of the theory are the ergs, which are permanent constitutional traits that provide energy for goal directed behaviors, as they are the innate units of motivation (Schultz & Schultz, 1998).

Hans Eysenck (1916- ): The fact that Hans Eysenck is the most frequently referenced figure in psychology validates his status as a pioneer of the research field referred to as behavioral genetics, which studies the relationship between genetic factors and personality traits, as he argued that inherited factors may play an as important role in shaping personality as environmental factors. Eysenck conceived of personality in terms of three continuums: (i) extraversion versus introversion (E); (ii) neuroticism versus emotional stability (N); (iii) psychoticism versus impulse control (P). Eysenck argued that extraverts and introverts differed in the basal levels of cortical arousal; whereas extraverts are oriented towards the outside world, introverts experience sufficient cortical self-stimulation that they prefer tranquil situations. Individuals scoring high on the neuroticism continuum are more anxious, depressed, tensed, irrational, and moody, and demonstrate greater activity in the cerebral regions responsible for the control of the sympathetic nervous system. Individuals scoring high on the psychoticism scale demonstrate aggressive, antisocial, and egocentric traits. These traits may be examined via the Eysenck personality questionnaire (Rathus, 1995).

Humanistic Approach

Abraham Maslow (1908-1970): Maslow's personality theory is referred to as the Hierarchy of needs theory, and in essence it is an arrangement of innate needs, from strongest to weakest, which activate and direct behaviors. The pyramid of needs is structured as follows: the first of the lower or deficiency needs are the physiological needs, which include such necessities as food, water, shelter, and sex; the second of the lower needs are the safety needs which include physical security, order and stability. The first of the higher or growth needs are the belongingness and love needs; the second of the higher needs are the esteem needs; and the highest level needs include the need for self-actualization. Although Maslow argues that the goal of life is self-actualization, he specifies that it is a on-going developmental process, which can never b reached because no-one can reach perfection; there will always be something upon which one can ameliorate. Characteristics of self-actualizers include realistic perception, self-acceptance, spontaneity, focus on external problems, detachment and need for privacy, social interest, meaningful interpersonal relations, creativeness, and resistance to enculturation. It should be noted that self-actualizers can be retrograded in their actualization process depending on the satisfaction of other lower needs (if one no longer has access to food, the focus will be put on getting food rather than self-esteem) (Schultz & Schultz, 1998).

Carl Rogers (1902-1987): Rogers' personality theory was one based on empathy as he believed that the only way to understand someone's personality was through that person's own point of view, and that present feelings and emotions greatly impact personality. Rogers believed that every person was driven by the innate tendency towards self-actualization, or what Rogers called a fully-functioning person, so as to develop physical and psychological abilities and potentials. Important proponents to Rogers' theory include: unconditional positive regard, positive self-regard, conditions of worth, and conditional positive-regard. The premise of the theory is that individuals can strive towards self-actualization if they are provided with unconditional positive regard, which refers to receiving approval regardless of behavior. If a person receives continual unconditional positive regard, they will eventually develop positive self-regard where they will view themselves in a positive light, thus paralleling self-esteem. However, if conditional positive regards demonstrated, meaning that approval is given only if certain behaviors are satisfied, and disapproval is provided when other behaviors are performed, it sets conditions of worth and thus impedes self-actualization (Corey, 2001).

Cognitive Approach

George Kelly (1905-1967): Kelly's personal construct theory conceives of personality in terms of cognitive processes, and claims that humans are capable of interpreting behaviors and events, which aid them in predicting the behaviors of others. Kelly describes the concept of construct, as intellectual hypotheses devised to interpret or explain events, and are dichotomous in that you interpret what will cause, but also impede an event from occurring. Furthermore, the idea that constructs are not fixed is confirmed through the concept of constructive alternativism, which implies that we are free to revise or replace constructs with alternative constructs. Moreover, Kelly proposed the idea of range of convenience, which implies the range of events to which the construct may apply, as some constructs may apply be relevant to certain people or situations but not to others, and the idea of permeability, which implies that constructs may be expanded or revised as functions of new experiences (Schultz & Schultz, 1998).

Jean Piaget (1896-1980): Piaget’s cognitive development personality theory was based upon the premises of constructivism, and his interest in the root of knowledge drove him to focus his attention on the psychology of children. According to Piaget, people developed deliberate cognitive representations of their environment, which they could then manipulate. Piaget agreed that cognitive processes followed a series of stages, and even though certain children may reach stages before other children, the order of stages in invariable. According to Piaget’s constructivism, the stages follow one another because of assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation refers to the reaction through reflex of habit to certain stimulus, through schemas which are observable behaviors where mental processes occur in the acquisition or organization of knowledge. Accommodations are the formations of alternative ways to react to stimulus. The interaction between assimilation and accommodation is known as adaptation. Finally, the cognitive developmental stages proposed by Piaget were the sensorimotor stagefrom birth to 2 yrs; preparatory stage from 2 to 7 yrs; concrete operations stage from 7-12 yrs; and the formal operations stage which lasts from 12 yrs and up (Rathus, 1995).

Behavioral Approach

Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904-1990): Skinner's work was an attempt to account for all behaviors in factual and descriptive terms, rather than develop a personality theory, as he conceived of psychology in terms of a science of behavior. Skinner did not deny the existence of internal forces, but he doubted their utility in studying behavior from a scientific point of view. In his person-situation debate, Skinner described humans as empty organisms in that no internal processes could exhaustively explain behaviors, and thus relied and environmental or situational effects. Skinner's basic idea was that behavior could be controlled by consequences, such that reinforcers were significant in controlling behavior. Positive reinforcers increase, whereas negative reinforcers decrease the frequencies of behaviors, while Skinner argued that punishments were less successful techniques. Respondent behaviors referred to responses provided in order to provoke certain environmental stimuli, and reinforcement referred to rewards aimed at increasing the likelihood of certain responses to occur. Operant conditioning was an important tool in Skinner's technique, and implies changing reinforcement schedules so as to modify responses. Ceasing reinforcement will in essence cause extinction of the responses. The concept of operant conditioning was vastly referenced by using the example of the Skinner box, in which Skinner conditioned pigeons to press bars so as to receive food rewards. With respects to personality theories, operant conditioning is most efficient in behavior modification practices, which may be supplemented with token economy techniques (Rathus, 1995).

Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936): Pavlov, through his salivating dog study, highlighted the behavior modification technique known as classical conditioning. Being a physiologist, Pavlov was searching for receptors in the mouth, which were responsible for activating salivation glands, but found that the experimental subject, the dog, salivated as a non-learned response at the presence of food, and found that the salivating reflex could be conditioned or learned through association. On order to do so there must be four components: condition stimulus, conditioned response, unconditioned stimulus, and unconditioned response. Thus, the manner in which classical conditioning works is that the subject is presented with the unconditioned stimulus (in the Pavlov's dog's case it was a bell); then the subject is presented with the conditioned stimulus (in this case it was food); which caused the unconditioned response of salivating at the sight of food; finally, after multiple trials, the subject begins salivating after hearing the bell (CS) because he believes that food will be forth coming, such that the salivating has become a conditioned response to the sound of the bell. Thus, learning has occurred through association, since the dog has associated the sound of the bell with food. Removing the conditioned stimulus from the equation will have the progressive effect of causing extinction of the behavior because the association will no longer exist. However, the association will not be forgotten as if the conditioned stimulus is brought back to the equation, the conditioned response will also reappear; this phenomenon is referred to as spontaneous recovery (Rathus, 1995).

Social-Learning Approach

Albert Bandura (1925- ): Bandura’s social learning theory is referred to as observational learning, which implies that new responses are learned through observing the behaviors of others. Rather than experiencing reinforcement for themselves, Bandura argued that people can learn through vicarious reinforcement, which means that we internalize the consequences of other peoples’ actions, and thus adjust our behaviors as functions of those consequences. Through his Bobo doll studies, Bandura highlighted the concept of modeling, which refers to a behavior modification technique by which individuals observe the behaviors of others and then participate with them in that behavior. Bandura argued that modeling caused disinhibitions, thus the weakening of inhibitions. In order for the effects of observational learning to be maximized through modeling, Bandura proposed certain characteristics of models and observers. He argued that we might be more prone to be influenced by individuals resembling ourselves, such that cartoons would have less modeling effects than humans upon other humans. Furthermore, age, and gender play an important role as we are more likely to mimic the actions of a model resembling ourselves, and we are more inclined to mimic individuals of higher status and prestige. Moreover, people with low self-esteems and confidence, or that have been rewarded for certain behaviors in the past are more likely to be influenced by modeling, such that individuals with high self-efficacy are not (Schultz & Schultz, 1998).

Julian Rotter (1916- ): Rotter’s personality theory brings forth the concepts of locus of control and environmental effects. The concept of locus of control refers to someone’s believed level of control over reinforcers. Internal locus of control refers to the idea that a person believes that they cause the reinforcement, whereas external locus of control is the belief that the reinforcement occurred by chance and that the individual had no part in its occurrence. The theory is based on the idea that the behavior potential, that being the likelihood that a certain behavior will occur in a certain situation, depends on the expectancy, that being the belief that a certain behavior will lead to the reinforcer, and the reinforcement value, that being the importance given to the reinforcer by the individual. The theory implies that in order for a behavior potential to take place the expectancy level and reinforcement value must be high. If the expectancy level is not high, the reinforcement value must be sufficiently high so as to compensate. If both expectancy and reinforcement value are low, the behavior will not take place. Furthermore, task difficulty plays a role in the likelihood of behaviors taking place. If a task is difficult, the reinforcement value must also be of significant importance. If a person believes that they can provoke the reinforcement, thus have internal locus of control, the behavior is more likely to occur than if the person believes in the external locus of control (Schultz & Schultz, 1998).

Cognitive Behavioral Approach

Albert Ellis (1913- ): After experimenting with psychoanalysis, Ellis, who is known as the grand-father of cognitive behavior therapy, decided to combine humanistic, philosophical, and behavioral techniques to develop the rational emotive therapy in 1955, now referred to as the rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT). The basic assumption of REBT is that through their interpretations, people contribute to their own symptoms and disorders, and the basic hypothesis of the theory is that emotions develop from beliefs, interpretations, and reactions to life situations. The A-B-C theory of personality argues that there is an activating event (A), and the beliefs (B) concerning that event lead to emotional and behavioral consequences (C). Thus, the goal of REBT would be to modify the faulty beliefs or cognitions through challenging them, providing cognitive homework, changing one’s language, using rational-emotive imagery, role playing, and practicing shame-attacking exercises. Thus, it is a behavior modification technique which does so by modifying the cognitive processes and irrational beliefs which cause the irrational behaviors (Corey, 2001).

Aaron T. Beck (1921- ): Beck is known as a pioneer in the field of cognitive therapy, which is in turn known as the most comprehensive theory of depression. In attempting to validate psychoanalysis’ conception of depression, Beck redirected his aim and developed the idea that depression was caused by cognitive distortions, or errors in logic. According to Beck, negative thoughts reflect underlying dysfunctional beliefs, which are triggered by situations, and thus lead to depression. Other areas which cognitive therapy are useful for are generalized anxiety, panic disorders, alcoholism, drug abuse, eating disorders, interpersonal problems, and personality disorders. Certain defense mechanisms proposed by Beck are: arbitrary inferences, selective abstraction, overgeneralization, magnification or minimization, personalization, labeling, and polarized thinking. Furthermore, in addition to creating the Beck Depression Inventory as a standardized depression analysis tool, Beck is the founder of the Beck Institute which serves as a research and training center for cognitive therapy (Corey, 2001).

Social Psychologists

Leon Festinger (1919- ): Festinger brought forth one important concept of the psychological mind in that he believed that attitudes and actions are either related or unrelated to one other, and that the relationship between attitudes and actions may be consonant, which means characterized by consistency, or it may be dissonant, thus characterized by inconsistency. Festinger proposed that dissonance produces tension or stress, and that the amount of dissonance depends on numerous factors. In essence, Festinger believed that the amount of dissonance experienced equaled the number of dissonant cognitions multiplied by their importance, divided by the number of cognitions multiplied by their importance. Thus, when dissonance is experienced, people are motivated to reduce it, and the greater the dissonance, the greater the motivation to reduce it. Festinger’s example is people being asked to say that sorting cards is pleasurable; those who were given sufficient money did not experience dissonance because the reward was big enough, while others experienced dissonance and thus modified their thinking about the activity so as to reduce the dissonance (Reyes, 2001).

Stanley Milgram (1933-1984): Despite the fact that Milgram’s work is of great importance in understanding human nature, much controversy surrounded his series of experiments on obedience to authority conducted at Yale University between 1961-1962, which rendered him famous. Milgram’s study demonstrated that 65% of subjects, ordinary residents of New Haven, were willing to give apparently harmful electric shocks of up to 450 volts to victim, simply because an authority figure ordered them to do so. The victims were, in reality, actors who did not receive actual shocks, but this was only revealed to the subjects at the end of the experiment. Ethical issues were raised as a follow up of these studies, as psychology officials doubted the ethical standards of deception used in the studies (Miller, 2001).

Philip Zimbardo (1933- ): Before being elected president of the American Psychological Association in for 2002, Zimbardo was better recognized for his Stanford prison experiment, in which he had volunteer participants either take upon the role of prison guards or prisoners in a real life prison setting. The participants were asked to act accordingly to their roles, and within days the experiment had to be stopped to ensure the physical and psychological health of the participants who had taken their roles to an extreme. Zimbardo has also won 24 diverse awards, served on 20 various boards and consultation groups, and authored no less than 20 books, and 120 journal articles. Zimbardo is also recognized for his work with the documentary films “Discovering psychology”, in which he highlights through video taping major proponents of the field of social psychology through practical applications of concepts (Zimbardo, 2002).

Existential Approach

Viktor Frankl (1905-1997): Being a Nazi prisoner from 1942-1945, and having his children, wife, and parents die in concentration camps, Frankl used his traumatic experiences in developing his existential approach to the field of clinical psychology. The essence of the existential approach is reflected in the saying, “what does not kill you only makes you stronger”, such that you learn and gain from experiences. Frankl’s view of human activity was less deterministic that Freud’s, in that Frankl based his approach on freedom, responsibility, meaning, and the search for values. He also developed logotherapy, which means therapy through meaning. Frankl referred to humans as having the means to live, but not having meaning in their lives, such that they experience existential vacuum, or meaninglessness. The existential approach was developed upon six propositions: (i) the capacity for self-awareness; (ii) freedom and responsibility; (iii) striving for identity and relationships to others; (iv) the search for meaning; (v) anxiety as a condition of living; (vi) and awareness of death and nonbeing (Corey, 2001).

Internet Links

American Psychological Association

Canadian Psychological Association

Psychoanalysis

Neuropsychology

Humanistic Perspective

Cognitive-Behavioral Perspective

Social Psychological Perspective

Existential Psychological Perspective

References

Corey, G. (2001). Theory and practices of counseling and psychotherapy (6th Ed.). California. Brooks/Cole.

Miller, H. (2001). Stanley Milgram, 1933-1984. Available at: www.fates.cns.muskingum.edu/~psych/psychweb/history/milgram.htm