Development of Psychology

Development of Psychology Introduction The functioning of the human mind has long been a fascinating subject that humans have been trying to gauge since early civilizations. Thus, the study of the mind and human behavior, psychology, was at the center of the ancient civilization of Egypt and Greece. It was through ancient rulers using mind and behavioral understanding of their subjects that they could predict the reaction of those they lorded over. However, psychology was not seen as a scientific discipline since it was considered as part of philosophy. But towards the end of the 19th century, in the 1870s, the study of psychology broke out from philosophy in the US and Germany. This reemergence of psychology as a distinct scientific field would herald the march of psychology into the heart of social and political issues at the turn of the 20th century.

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This paper aims to trace the route taken by the field of psychology since it started being considered a major scientific discipline. First up is to look at the role that pioneers in the field and other trendsetters played in placing philosophy at the heart of academia during the late nineteenth to early twentieth century. German Physician Wilhelm Wundt was the first pioneer of psychology who made the transition of making psychology mainstream. The role of women in the early phases of the practice is also examined. Then the paper looks at the important theories that are considered as fundamental to the study and practice of psychology. These theories are examined in the context of how they have influenced contemporary society and women, especially in terms of putting psychology in the mainframe of scholarly excellence in institutions of higher learning (Cherry, 2012). The paper also traces some of the negative perceptions that the science of psychology has had to deal with over the years. To this effect, this paper looks at some of the social factors that have governed psychology.

Various research methods and psychology theories are observed in terms of how they have contributed in opening up new frontiers in the practice and also how bad choices of methods have contributed, to the negative perceptions psychology has received over the decades.

The role of professional organizations such as the American Psychological Association (APA) is also examined in terms of how such organizations have served to streamline the practice of psychology by putting into place some much needed rules and regulations (Governance Operations Staff, 2011). All this is done in the context of how the field of psychology has evolved over the years to include women in the practice and profession. By doing this, the paper aims to look at the strides that women are making and their continued importance in the discipline of psychology. Lastly, the paper concludes by looking at some of the recent trends in

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psychology that are sure to make psychology and its practice remain at the top of health practices and general human welfare.

Influential psychologists The German professor Wilhelm Wundt is widely regarded as one of the key founders of the modern practice of psychology (Cherry, 2012). As a matter of fact, it was Wilhelm Wundt who first made the break of psychology from philosophy when he at the University of Leipzig in 1879 established the first laboratory solely dedicated to psychological research. To this end, he is considered the pioneer of modern day experimental psychology. By establishing the psychological research center, Wundt was able to carry out comprehensive experiments and studies on how external factors such as religious beliefs influenced human behavior and actions (Baker, 2012). His background as a medical physician also saw him concentrate his experiments on the relation between damaged brains and mental disorders. Apart from being a pioneer, many other early psychologists trace their plunge into the field to his tutelage, on account of being his students. Among his most famous students is the first American professor of psychology, James McKeen Cattell.

The psychologist William James is widely regarded in the field of psychology for his efforts of being the first American academic to offer a course of psychology in an American university at Harvard. He had very deep interests in experimental psychology and was himself a big advocate of alternative healing (Baker, 2012). He believed that most of the problems that manifest into diseases and other ailments could be cured, or at the very least, managed by adopting alternatives to conventional medicine (Cherry, 2012). In his psychological school of thought, he was big on functionalism and was constantly championing for expansion in the thought process that according to him was key in the discipline of psychology. William James

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was an intellect who wrote what is widely considered as being among the most influential texts in the discipline, the ‘Principles of Psychology’ in 1890 (Grogan, 2008).

The Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov is one of the pioneers of contemporary psychology.

He was a brilliant physiologist who indeed went ahead to win the 1904 Nobel Prize in Physiology. However, in the field of psychology, it is his work with the behavior of dogs commonly referred to as Pavlov’s Dogs that he is most renowned for (Baker, 2012). He examined the relationship between saliva and the effect it had on food. He referred to his epic study as conditioning reflex whereby dogs would salivate when presented with food while a bell was rung. With time the dogs came to associate the ringing of the bell with the presence of food.

This breakthrough in Pavlov’s conditional reflex was to form the basis of conditioning as a psychological tool that could be used to influence learning and behaviorism. His studies on dogs form the basis of today’s comparative psychology (Cherry, 2012).

Sigmund Freud was an Austrian scientist whose greatest contribution to the field of psychology was his works on psychoanalysis. Through his work in neurology and medicine, he was able to do extensive research on the relation between the unconscious mind and how repression could be achieved of the mind under relaxed conditions. To achieve these relaxed conditions, Freud applied a procedure he referred to as psychotherapy in his psychoanalysis in which a patient, who was subjected to relaxed conditions, would chat with a psychoanalyst in what was a therapeutic procedure (Baker, 2012). Despite contemporary psychology not being entirely reliant on psychoanalysis, Freud’s work in the field is still among the most influential in the therapeutic field of psychiatry and its related academic research and studies.

Influential Women Psychologists

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Women have been somewhat made invisible when it comes to their contribution in psychology. It is for this reason that Laurer (Furumoto, 1985) feels that there is need to highlight the experience of female psychologists in the development of psychology, just like male psychologists have been focused upon. Understandably, during the emergence of the discipline of psychology, women intellects were not that many in the field. However, there were still women who made significant contributions in the early development of the discipline albeit without as much breakthrough as their male counterparts (Baker, 2012). Among the early pioneer women psychologists was the American Mary Whiton Calkins. She first pursued her undergraduate studies and completed them in 1884 and started teaching Greek at Wellesley College. After teaching Greek for a while she began to teach he new discipline of psychology (Grogan, 2008). Calkins faced difficulties of studying psychology within the US because of the infancy of the program in local institutions and was forced to consider going to Europe. Calkins was to eventually join Harvard University and studied under the psychologist William James. At Harvard, she invented the ‘paired-associate task’ involving memory tests in a study linking numbers and colors. It was unfortunate that Harvard refused to grant her a doctorate despite her thesis being approved. Despite this considerable setback, Calkins proceeded to become a respected psychologist who published over one hundred papers and was also elected in 1918 as President of the American Philosophical Association.

Another important woman pioneer in psychology was the daughter of psychologist Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud. Although her entry into the field was largely outshone by the shadow of her father’s success, Anna slowly and gradually made a name for herself in the field.

Her foray into the field began via her close association with her father and Anna credits her interests in the field from the interactions that she also had from her father’s associates. Anna

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initially started by translating to German her father’s works on psychoanalysis. Her field of interest was child psychology in which she expanded on Freud’s psychoanalysis to include the field of child psychoanalysis (Baker, 2012). Although Anna never earned an advanced degree, her work was nonetheless very influential to such a point that in 1932 she opened her private child psychology practice in Vienna. Her work and research included various techniques that were in practice at the time but with one major difference. She theorized that in analyzing children, the same principles can be applied in detecting the symptoms wit the difference in symptoms between children and adults being attributed to the developmental aspects of growth.

She is also credited with being a pioneer in examining defense mechanisms and egotism via her 1936 book The Ego and the mechanisms of defense (Cherry, 2012).

The German born American psychoanalyst Karen Horney was one of the most influential women psychologists. Her credence largely emanates from her works in promoting female psychology. Initially, gender psychology was driven via the works of male psychologist such as Sigmund Freud whose theories on gender psychology were to the most part skewed against women. Thus her works are highly regarded by feminist who laud her research in questioning the Freudian theories of sexuality (Baker, 2012). Apart from critiquing Freudian works, Horney was a medical doctor earlier on when she resided in Germany before migrating to America in 1930.

Based on her medical background, she did a lot of research on the human brain. To this effect, Horney developed the theory of neurotic needs. Her works in the fields of Non-Freudian psychology and the theory of neurotic need greatly have greatly contributed to research on the field of psychology over the decades (Grogan, 2008). However, her greatest impact perhaps to psychology was her work in the field of feminine psychology. This work had the effect of

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encouraging women to take up psychology en masse, especially with the rise of feminist movements during the mid 20th century (Plante, 2011).

There is a call to mentor women in the psychology discipline, particularly in specific disciplines in psychology. By keeping a chronology of issues touching on women in clinical psychology, it is viewed that this would promote mentorship and usher more women in the psychology discipline (Matthews, 1995).

The study of psychology An area of psychology that has seen increased participation of women over the decades has been in educational institutions. During the evolution of psychology into a distinct scientific discipline, the pioneers of the field in both Europe and America were mainly male (Compagnucci & Cardos, 2009). The fact that there were no female pioneers who were involved during the early development of psychology was largely due to the disparity in enrolment that existed in the study of philosophy (Baker, 2012). This meant that by the time psychology came to being from philosophy, there was always going to be a gender disparity in the field in its infant stages. As a matter of fact, the leading German psychologist Wilhelm Wundt did not have any female students whom he worked with to the point of awarding them doctorates during his stint at Leipzig. This, coupled with the continued male domination even in America under pioneers such as William James, led to the science of psychology being viewed as a gender biased field that was solely dominated by males (Compagnucci & Cardos, 2009). Institutions of higher learning have seen an increase in interest in their programs by women who are now challenging their male counterparts for enrolment opportunities.

This interest by female students saw enrolment statistics for various fields in psychology equilibrate from the mid 21st century and into the turn of the new millennium. Presently, leading

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academic institutions in America such as the Ivy League institutions, Harvard and Yale and other leading institutions in Europe such as Cambridge University have nearly normalized their intake for both graduate and undergraduate courses (Roeckelein, 2006). In the Ivy League colleges, the gender parity is almost 2:3 in favor of the males; the same applies in the UK where female enrolment levels are at about 40%. Although the statistics are still skewed against females, the important thing to note is that enrollment and the resulting disparity is not mainly as a result of discriminatory enrolment practices, but rather a result of application (Compagnucci & Cardos, 2009). The greatest advantage in the increased female enrolment is that the psychology profession benefits as a whole from the diversity and difference in perspective that is brought about by an all inclusive field of experts.

Research methods and psychological theories There exist various research methods that exist in the field of psychological research. The choice of methods used is dependent on many factors, chief among which is the kind of information that the study aims to derive from the research. To this end, the type of instrumentation becomes imperative as it determines the kind of techniques that are adopted (Plante, 2011). These research techniques are either qualitative or quantitative. The techniques used are important as they are the basis through which results are judged and interpreted from. In experimental research, for instance, more workable results are achieved when quantitative techniques are used as, depending on the details of the method, the results obtained can be scientifically used to postulate and predict outcomes in related fields. Time is also an important determinant of the research method that is chosen. The duration of a project is paramount in the obtained outcome especially in cases where the sample of study is not in a controlled

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environment and is essentially free to leave or is subject to unpredictable changes during the duration of the study.

Research methods used in psychology have over the years changed significantly depending on the psychological theories that the research is based on (Roeckelein, 2006). There are various theories in psychology, among them behavioral, developmental, personality, learning, cognitive, and social psychology theories. In behavioral theories, the importance of conditioning is examined on how a subject’s thought process can be changed over time. Pioneer psychologists were synonymous with their works in using behavioral theories in their research projects. Pavlov perfected the use of classical conditioning in psychology through his experiments with dogs. Today classical conditioning is still used in therapeutic practices in shaping behavior and skills.

Developmental theories are useful when undertaking research or learning about the process of human learning, growth and development (Plante, 2011). Essentially developmental theories are very useful when it comes to the study of character and development. Sigmund Freud was a pioneer in his early works on using development theories in his psychoanalysis works. This theory can be very helpful especially when it comes to studying the role that different parenting styles have on the overall societal development (Roeckelein, 2006).

Developmental theories have in the recent past been used to explain the push for gender equality and clamor for human rights as basic requirements in today’s society. Researchers for instance attribute the success of the feminist movement to gradual societal enlightenment, through female education and empowerment, which had the effect of highlighting social disparities that existed in many communities.

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Personality theories can be used to explain the importance of perception on drawing persons to religion and strong leadership (Roeckelein, 2006). Many of the pioneers who made the break from philosophy were very determined to examine the relation between the human mind and what draws them to religion. The field was to expand to include the role that perception, gender, social settings and personality presence had on the behavior and thought process of individuals. It is through such theories that the role of women in psychology over the years can be explained. Initially, women were considered to be the weaker sex and were wrongly considered to be inferior to men intellectually (Baker & Pickren, 2007). It is such perceptions that hampered the entry of women into academia, especially those disciplines that were considered as challenging such as mathematics and the sciences. To this end, women in scientific fields and to be specific in psychology found it difficult to break through due to the negative societal skepticism (Louw, 2002). However, developments in research have served to dispel the earlier linkage that had been drawn between intellectual capacity and sex, and as a result academic and intellect capacity now form the basis of admission to academic institutions.

Professional organization The profession of psychology in the world over is governed by professional bodies which serve to enforce professionalism in the practice (Plante, 2011). Professionalism is enacted via the enactment and enforcement of various codes of ethics that are aimed at ensuring that occupational practices such as experimentation do not go out of hand. These codes of ethics ensure that national and international laws are observed in the practice in addition to the enforcement of basic human rights components when it comes to treatment of mental health like is the case for psychiatrists. The professional organizations are also instrumental when it comes to protecting the general public against quacks who infiltrate the practice with the aim of fleecing

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persons and institutions under the guise of helping them. Thus, these organizations are responsible for vetting and accreditation of persons and institutions teaching or practicing psychology (Governance Operations Staff, 2011). In many countries psychology is considered as a medical practice that directly influences the welfare of the general public and as such ought to be morally responsible to the citizenry and it is through practitioners joining professional bodies that the government and other agencies can make the practice accountable. An important aspect of professional organization with regard to women is the measures taken to decrease gender disparities in the discipline.

Examples of prominent psychological professional organizations include the American Psychological Association (APA), the Canadian Psychological Association and the British Psychological Society. To highlight the role that women leaders in the field of psychology are playing, take the case of the APA. The American association was among the earliest professional organizations of psychology to be formed back in 1892 and had in it one of the pioneers of psychology, Stanley Hall, as its first president. The APA served as an important reference to other countries who wanted to form their own professional organizations (Governance Operations Staff, 2011). The APA has also been at the center of empowering women in the profession and practice of psychology. In its system of leadership in which the presidency of the APA is subject to annual leadership changes, there have been 13 women presidents overall. The first woman president was Mary Calkins who took up the position in 1905 (Cherry, 2012). This was a significant step because of the early nature of the discipline which had disproportionate female practitioners. The second woman took up the presidency sixteen years later. However, the shortfalls in significant female psychologists in comparison to the men meant that it would take another fifty one years before a woman could take up the mantle again in 1972 (Baker, 2012).

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The gender parity in the presidency of the APA was to take a positive turn in the years following the new millennium as five out of the twelve presidents since 2000 to 2012 have been women.

What this shows is that at no time during its 120 year history has females in the APA taken such an active role in the discipline within the American shores.

Factors affecting the development of psychology External social issues have long been shaping the perception of psychology in the eyes of the public (Macrae et al. 2010). Consequently, psychology has had a host of negative and positive effects as a result of these factors. Social factors that have influenced the study and practice of the discipline include public perception, poor funding opportunities for research activities, and social barriers among other issues. The results of negative public perceptions have mainly been attached to psychiatrists, for instance, whose practice has been wrongly viewed over time as not being a significant practice in health care. The case has been worse for women psychiatrists who suffer from the double agony of individuals sneering at their profession while also undermining their gender (Plante, 2011).

Another reason that has been cited as having greatly contributed to limiting the influence of psychology and women professionals, to be exact, has been the lack of funding for research.

Psychology is a very evolving field of study that requires constant research if it is to remain relevant and therefore funding becomes paramount to ensure sustenance of the discipline (Plante, 2011). The lack of funds has been cited as one of the reasons why women in the practice of psychology are only well represented in the developed nations of America and Europe, while in places like Africa the practice is only limited to a few academic institutions. Early controversial works by pioneer psychologists, that have since been refuted, such as Freud’s psychosexual

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theory have been cited as contributing factors that limited the entry of women in the practice and delayed the enactment of gender, racial and class equality calls the world over (Louw, 2002).

Recent trends in psychology Professionals in psychology have over the decades had their career choices greatly limited. It went as a rule of thumb that any graduating psychologist had to look forward to being absorbed in one of two places or both. These primary employment sources for psychologists were in the practice of clinical work or in academia. Researchers have credited this apparent lack of a diverse field of opportunity as a factor that was mainly responsible to the failure of the field to continually compete with other scientific disciplines in attracting the best pool of intellect (Vogel et al. 2007). What was more worrying for these careers paths was that in most places the opportunities were skewed against women. However, recent trends in places like the US has seen the roles of psychologists extend beyond clinics and academia.

Applied psychology now finds greater use in fields such as marketing whereby big firms are keen to exploit psychology in determining which areas of their markets they ought to focus more on. Health psychology has also grown in bounds due to the continued evolution in health practices. Now, psychologists are used in healthcare policy formulation, maintenance and promotion of health practices and in the general treatment and prevention practice (Baker & Pickren, 2007). This is especially true when it comes to cancer treatment where an oncology and psychology consultant virtually go hand in hand in whatever treatment option that is adopted, be it surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy. What this new avenues have done is to increase the career opportunities especially for women psychologists in field such as marketing.

A positive trend that has been developing over the years is the continued use of psychology in public policy processes. Here, the use of psychology has increased tremendously

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especially when it comes to the research and subsequent enactment of policies and legislations (Burke, 2006). This use of psychology in matters considered as being important to the public is pivotal in the sense that it encourages more research to be undertaken by government and other agencies before embarking on important programs and initiatives (Plante, 2011). For example when it comes to government launching awareness campaigns against STDs and gender issues, the role of psychologists becomes important especially in studying the behavior and character of the target audience so as to come up with a campaign strategy that will achieve its goals. With regard to women, the exploits of psychology in public policy processes such as affirmative action and gender equality initiatives has greatly been beneficial to feminist psychology (Vogel et al. 2007).

Professional organizations are now more responsible for the work of their members especially when it comes to the experimental aspects of psychology. Strict codes of ethics are presently in existence banning the use of human test subjects in crude techniques and procedures for the sole purpose of research (Macrae et al. 2010). The same is also extended to the ban in use of cruelty during animal testing. In addition to the code of ethics that are in place, these professional bodies are also strict and adhere to human rights practices. The human rights initiatives the world over are inevitably linked to women rights and so the new practices have seen women’s roles in psychology take a bump up over the decades. One of the ways in which it has improved is the formation of female professional organizations that champion for these codes of ethics and enforcements of the bans of unethical experimentation. Examples of such organizations are the Association of Women in Psychology (AWP) formed in 1969. Also the APA has over the years formed divisions within it that are expressly put in place to enhance the role of women in psychology (Burke, 2006).

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Conclusion The study and practice of psychology has undoubtedly grown since the times of Wilhelm Wundt in the 1870s. The scientific discipline has grown with the help of the influential early pioneers in both Europe and America. The practice has evolved from its gender biased past where males were the pivot of all matters in psychology to include women. The first step was the normalization of enrolment levels in the premier educational institutions and research centers.

Women have since continued to play major roles in the administration of sensitive professional organizations such as the APA. This era of continued gender equality in the field has seen women oversee the injection of professionalism in the field through the implementation of codes of ethics practices. The result has been the transformation of research methods and psychological theories to include issues of human rights especially in experimental psychology. Overall these transformations have shed off the negative influences of social factors that served to give the discipline negative perceptions and limit female participation.

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