Content Psychology

In the 1860s, content psychology emerged in Germany. The main representatives of the content psychology school include Fechner and Wundt.

Fechner's (1801-1887) psychophysics is a rigorous science about the functional relationship or dependence between body and mind or between external stimuli and psychological phenomena. It is an independent discipline between psychology and physics. Fechner, inspired by Herbart, believed that psychology could be measured. After many experiments and derivation, he summarized the relationship between sensory intensity and stimulation intensity as the following formula: S=C*log(R/R0), where S-sensory intensity; C-applicable to each sense in different sensations constant; R-stimulation intensity; R0-stimulation intensity at the threshold.

This formula shows that the effect of stimulation is not absolute, but relative to the intensity of the existing feeling. In his research on psychophysics, Fechner created three psychological measurement methods: the minimum noticeable difference method, the true-error method and the mean difference method. Fechner brought the quantitative measurement methods of physics to psychology and provided tools for later psychological experimental research. From the perspective of the history of the development of modern psychology, Fechner should be considered one of the main founders of modern Western psychology. His psychophysics laid the foundation for the establishment of Wundt psychology.

Wundt (1832-1920) was one of the founders of modern psychology. In the history of psychology, his name is directly linked to the independence of psychology and the establishment of experimental (content) psychology.

Fechner (1801.4-1887.11) was a famous German physicist and the founder of psychological physics. Fechner is an idealist animist in philosophy. He believes that everything has a soul, that the mind and things are inseparable, that the heart is the main thing, and that things are just the appearance of the heart. He made precise mathematical measurements of mind and matter and attempted to determine their relationship. The publication of his "Outline of Psychophysics" in 1860 established his status as the founder of psychophysics.

Constructivism

School of Psychology

Constructivist school of psychology, also called constructivist school of psychology, was adopted by Titchen, Wundt’s most loyal student. The School of Psychology was established in the United States nearly 20 years after its formation. It is the inheritance and further development of content psychology ideas. However, the constructivist school of psychology is by no means the same as the school of content psychology. There are differences between the two in terms of the time and place of their formation, as well as research methods and specific content.

The structuralist school of psychology has an important relationship with Titchener's personal efforts. And declined after the death of

Titchener, a representative figure of constructivist psychology

Titchener. And developed in the debate with the functionalist school of psychology.

Spirit of the times:

A hundred schools of thought are contending in the scientific community. Germany had actually become the center of psychological research in the world at that time.

The debate between functionalist psychology and structuralist psychology

Among the structuralist psychology schools, only Titchener always adheres to the obvious tradition. He is a scholar with a persevering and argumentative personality. , Titchener died of a brain tumor in 1927, and the controversy gradually subsided.

The contribution and limitations of the constructivist school of psychology in the development of psychology

The constructivist school was the first school in the history of psychology to apply experimental methods to systematically study psychological issues. Under their demonstration and advocacy, Western psychological experimental research was rapidly disseminated and developed.

The theoretical basis is pure empiricism.

Regard psychology as a pure science, which only studies the psychological content itself and its actual existence without discussing its meaning and function. So it is extremely narrow.

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Functionalism

Psychological School

Broadly defined functionalist psychology has gone through a long historical period since the mid-1850s, including the Conative Psychology School, the Würzburg School, the Geneva School, Behaviorism and Colombian functionalist school of psychology, etc. The functionalist school of psychology in the narrow sense mainly refers to the Chicago School of Functionalist Psychology (Pragmatist School of Psychology) in the United States. Appeared in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Spirit of the Times:

Since the emergence of Darwin’s theory of evolution in 1859, religion and theology have suffered a fatal blow. James, Dewey and others merged subjective idealism, utilitarian philosophy and empirical-critical theory, and used Darwin's theory of evolution to create a pragmatist philosophy. Its basic point is that "existence is usefulness". There is no objective measure of truth, and the only criterion is success.

The contribution and limitations of the functionalist school of psychology in the development of psychology

It emphasizes the adaptation and function of psychological phenomena to the objective environment and is not limited to the study of conscious experience.

Concerned about the effectiveness and application of psychology in various fields and the improvement of psychological research methods.

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Behaviorism

School of Psychology

Academic background: Behavioral psychology is a rebellion against traditional psychology. It is based on the philosophy of mechanical materialism and positivism, and is influenced by animal psychology and functionalism psychology. Next, the modern school of psychology emerged.

The essence of behaviorist psychology is to absolutely oppose consciousness and behavior.

Theoretical forerunner:

Decartes: Animals are just machines that occupy space, and their movements are just mechanical functions; humans are also machines, but they have additional body parts. onto the conscious soul.

The period from 1913 to 1930 was the early period of behaviorism. It was founded by the American psychologist Watson on the basis of Pavlov's conditioned reflex theory. He advocated that psychology should abandon too many concepts such as consciousness and images. Subjective stuff, only studies of stimuli and responses that are observed and can be measured objectively. Regardless of the intermediate links, Watson calls it a "black box operation." He believes that human behavior is acquired, and the environment determines a person's behavior pattern. Whether it is normal behavior or pathological behavior, it is acquired through learning, and can also be changed, increased or eliminated through learning. He believes that Once the regular relationship between environmental stimuli and behavioral responses is identified, the response can be predicted based on the stimulus, or the stimulus can be inferred based on the response, so as to predict and control the behavior of animals and humans. He believes that behavior is a combination of various physical responses that an organism uses to adapt to environmental stimuli. Some are expressed on the outside and some are hidden internally. In his eyes, there is no difference between humans and animals, and they all follow the same rules.

New behaviorism theory appeared in 1930. New behaviorists represented by Tolman revised Watson's extreme views. They pointed out that there are intermediate variables between the stimulation received by the individual and the behavioral response. This intermediate variable refers to the physiological and psychological state of the individual at that time. They are the actual determinants of behavior. They include demand variables and cognitive variables. Need variables are essentially motivations and include sex, hunger, and the need for safety in the face of danger. Cognitive variables are abilities, which include object perception, motor skills, etc.

There is another radical branch of behaviorism in new behaviorism, represented by Skinner. Skinner proposed operant conditioning based on Pavlovian classical conditioning. He made a homemade "Skinner box" and installed a special device in the box. When the lever is pressed once, food will appear. He put a hungry mouse into the box, and it will run around and explore freely.

Skinner, a representative of behaviorist psychology

By chance, he got food by pressing the lever once. After that, the rat pressed the lever more and more often, that is, it learned to get food by pressing the lever. Method, Skinner named it operant conditioning or instrumental conditioning, food is the reinforcer, and the process of using reinforcers to increase the frequency of a certain response (ie, behavior) is called reinforcement. Skinner believed that reinforcement training was the primary mechanism explaining the body's learning process.

Zeitgeist:

The Objectivist trend. The great development of science since the 18th century has eliminated many things that were taken for granted or superstitious in the past. Mysticism is challenged. Positivism has never had a market. Emphasize empirical, social knowledge that can be used as objective observation.

The contribution and limitations of the behaviorist school of psychology in the development of psychology

Promoted objective research in psychology and expanded the research field of psychology.

The prominent emphasis on behavior not only promotes the application of psychology, but also enables people to see new hope.

Behaviorism appeared in the United States. At the beginning of the 20th century, natural science developed rapidly. Some young psychologists were dissatisfied with the Wundt school. They believed that psychology could not study consciousness, and believed that psychology and other natural sciences were at a disadvantage. In the same status, it should study objective things that are visible and tangible, that is, behavior, like other natural sciences.

The behavioral school believes that human psychological consciousness and mental activities are elusive and inaccessible, and psychology should study human behavior. Behavior is the combination of bodily responses by which an organism adapts to changes in its environment. These responses are nothing more than the contraction of muscles and the secretion of glands. The study of behavior in psychology is to find out the relationship between stimulus and response, so as to infer the response based on the stimulus, and to infer the stimulus based on the response, so as to achieve the purpose of predicting and controlling human behavior.

The main representatives of this school are Watson (1878～1958) and Skinner (1904～).

Watson's main views: (1) Mechanical materialist determinism; (2) He believes that psychology is a natural science and a department that studies human activities and behaviors. It requires psychology to give up all relations with consciousness and proposes Two requirements: first, the differences between psychology and other natural sciences are only differences in division of labor; second, concepts in psychology that cannot be explained by universal scientific terms must be abandoned, such as consciousness, mental state, psychology, and will. , images, etc.; (3) Strongly demanding that the objective method of behaviorism be used to oppose and replace the introspection method, believing that there are four objective methods: first, the natural observation method without the aid of instruments and the experimental observation method with the aid of instruments; Second, oral report method; third, conditioned reflex method; fourth, test method. Skinner belongs to the new behaviorist psychology. He only studies observable behaviors and tries to establish a functional relationship between stimuli and responses. He believes that events between stimuli and responses are not objective and should be rejected. Skinner believed that the problem of consciousness could be accounted for without abandoning the behaviorist position. [3]

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Gestalt< /p>

School of Psychology

In 1912, M. Wittmann published the paper "Experimental Research on Simulation", marking the rise of a school of thought.

Some forerunners in theory:

The philosophical thought of German philosopher Kant: Perception is not a passive combination of impressions and sensory factors, but the active organization of these elements into a complete experience and combined experience.

Physicist Mach ("Analysis of Senses" 1885): The sensations of spatial patterns (such as geometric figures) and temporal patterns (such as tunes) have nothing to do with the elements. Even though the spatial orientation of the observer looking at the object may change, his visual or auditory perception of the object remains unchanged. For example, a table remains a table in our perception no matter which side it is viewed from, or from the top, or from a corner. The same series of sounds, such as a melody, may change tempo but still appear to us as the same melody. (I think that even if the scale changes or there are wrong notes, it will not affect people’s perception of this tune.)

Ellenfer: The quality of some experiences cannot be combined with the traditional combination of various senses. To explain, these qualities are called Gestalt qualities, or morphological qualities. Perception is based on something other than individual sensation. A tune is a quality independent of the particular feelings that compose it.

Zeitgeist:

In the last decades of the 19th century, as physics recognized and accepted the concept of force fields, it used the concept of atomism less and less. Such as magnetism, light and electricity. These force fields are considered to have both spatial extension and gestalts or models. They are seen as new structural entities rather than the sum of the actions of individual elements or particles.

Wittmann's quasi-kinetic experiment

Based on

Koffka, the representative figure of Gestalt psychology

Kofka, Kaoru With Le as the subject, Wittmann used a tachoscope to project two rays of light through two slits, one vertical and the other at an angle of 20 or 30 degrees to the vertical line. If a light is first shown through a slit, and then another light is shown, and there is a long time interval (more than 200 milliseconds) between the two lights, then the subject will see two consecutive lights. If the time interval between the two lights is short, the subject sees two consecutive lights. However, there is an optimal time interval (about 60 milliseconds) between the two lights, and the subject sees the light moving from one place to another, and then moving back again. This is a clear example of the whole being more than the sum of its parts.

The contribution and limitations of the Gestalt school of psychology in the development of psychology

The Gestalt school of psychology emphasizes that the whole is not equal to the sum of the parts, but that the whole exists before and restricts the parts. the nature and meaning of the part. This view is consistent with objective facts to a certain extent. From this point of view, Gestalt psychologists resolutely oppose elemental analysis of any psychological phenomenon, which plays a certain role in exposing the errors of mechanistic and elementalist views in psychology. At the same time, they have conducted a large number of experimental research works in the field of perception and achieved many results of scientific value. At present, some knowledge about the laws of perception described in general psychology textbooks, such as the occurrence of kinesis phenomena and the significance of the relationship between figures and backgrounds in the process of perception, etc., are basically derived from the research results of the Gestalt school. In addition, Kohler's "epiphany" and Wertmer's "creative thinking" also have a certain impact on the study of learning.

The Gestalt School of Psychology, as an independent school, is the reason why people are interested in conscious experience. At least it regards conscious experience as a legitimate research field of psychology, and continues to promote people's research and development of conscious experience. Interest is meaningful. At the same time, the Gestalt School's pertinent and firm criticism of the contemporaneous schools also had an important impact on the development of psychology.

Limitations:

Regard the world of direct experience as the only sure and knowable world.

Completely simplify all psychological problems into mathematical problems.

This actually violates the system view.

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Psychoanalysis

School of Psychology

The school of psychoanalysis was born in 1900. Its founder was the Austrian psychiatrist and psychologist S. Freud (1856-1939). The theories of this school were widely circulated in the 1920s and were quite influential.

Freud believed that human psychology can be divided into two parts: consciousness and subconsciousness. The subconscious cannot be conscious by the person. It includes primitive blind impulses, various instincts, and motives and desires that are suppressed after birth. He emphasized the importance of the subconscious mind and believed that sexual instinct is the basic driving force of human psychology and the eternal force that controls personal destiny and determines social development.

Freud divided personality into three parts: id, ego, and superego. The id is innate, including innate instincts and primitive desires; the ego is separated from the id and is located in the id. It controls and regulates the id with the external world; the superego is the "moralized self", including conscience and ideals, and its main function is to guide the self to limit the impulses of the id. The three are usually in a state of balance, and when the balance is disrupted, psychosis can result.

The school of psychoanalysis attaches great importance to the subconscious mind and psychotherapy, expands the field of psychological research, and obtains some important psychopathological laws. However, some of their main theories are opposed by many people. In the mid-1930s, a group of psychologists represented by H.S. Sullivan, K. Horney, and E. Fromm opposed Freud's instinct theory. Pansexuality and personality structure theory emphasize the influence of cultural background and social factors on the occurrence of mental illness and personality development, forming new psychoanalysis in the United States. The new school of psychoanalysis still retains some basic ideas in Freud's theory. Although there are different conceptual names in its theory, in the final analysis, it is still the subconscious drive and innate potential that play the main role.

The main representatives of this school are Freud (1856~1939), Adler (1870~1937) and Jung (1875~1961). [4]

Old psychoanalytic school

Early orthodoxy (emphasis on biological factors as the basis of human spiritual life):

Freud: Freud's psychoanalytic theory

Freud, a representative figure in psychoanalytic psychology

New school (focusing on the spiritual culture of society):

Rong Grid:

Adler

Honey:

Fromm:

Sullivan:

The contribution of the psychoanalytic school of psychology to the development of psychology: the field of study of the unconscious and subconscious mind.

Limitations: 1. The tendency of pansexualism; 2. The tendency of biologicalization; 3. The theory is highly subjective.

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Humanism

Psychological School

Humanistic psychology emerged in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s and is one of the main schools of contemporary psychology in the United States. The humanistic school of psychology, represented by Maslow, Rogers and others, parted ways with the psychoanalytic school and the behaviorist school, forming the third trend of thought in psychology.

Obviously influenced by phenomenology and existential philosophy.

Zeitgeist:

Counterculture movement. Dissatisfied with society.

It was founded by American psychologist A.H Maslow, and its current representatives include C.R Rogers. Humanism opposes the tendency to vulgarize and animalize human psychology, so it is called the third trend of thought in psychology.

1. Maslow’s self-actualization theory

Rogers, a representative figure in humanistic psychology

Hierarchy of needs theory, namely Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, It is the hierarchy of needs theory proposed by American Jewish humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow in his book "The Theory of Human Motivation" in 1943. It divides human needs into five levels from low to high like a ladder. They are: physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs and self-actualization needs. They are one of the behavioral science theories. People must at least partially satisfy the lower-level needs before satisfying the higher-level needs. The first type of need is a lack of need, which can lead to scarcity motivation and is common to humans and animals. Once it is satisfied, tension is eliminated, excitement is reduced, and motivation is lost. The second type of needs belongs to growth needs, which can produce growth motivation and is unique to human beings. It is a heartfelt need to develop and realize one's potential beyond the satisfaction of survival. Only when this need is met can individuals enter a state of psychological freedom, embody human nature and value, and generate a profound sense of happiness, which Maslow calls "peak experience."

Maslow believed that all human beings have inherent natures such as truth, goodness, beauty, justice, and joy, and have the same values ??and moral standards. The key to achieving human self-realization lies in improving people's "self-knowledge" or self-awareness. , making people realize their inner potential or value. Humanistic psychology is to promote people's self-realization.

2. Rogers’ self-theory.

A newborn baby has no concept of self. As he (she) interacts with other people and the environment, He or she begins to slowly distinguish himself or herself from those who are not. After the initial self-concept is formed, people's self-realization tendency begins to activate. Driven by the power of self-realization, children carry out various experimental activities in the environment and generate a large number of experiences. Through the body's automatic evaluation process, some experiences will make him feel satisfied and happy, and some will be the opposite. Satisfying and pleasant experiences will make children seek to maintain and reproduce them, while unsatisfactory and unpleasant experiences will make children try to avoid them. Among the positive experiences that children seek, one is the experience of being cared for by others, and the other is the experience of being respected by others. Unfortunately, the satisfaction of children's need for care and respect depends entirely on others, others. (Including parents) decide whether to give care and respect based on whether the child's behavior conforms to his or her value standards and behavioral standards. Therefore, the care and respect of others are conditional, and these conditions reflect the values ??of parents and society. Rogers said this These conditions are value conditions. Children continue to experience these value conditions through their own behaviors, and will unconsciously internalize these values ????that belong to their parents or others and become part of their own structure. Gradually, children are forced to give up their own values. When the organism's evaluation process evaluates experience, it becomes using the social value norms internalized in the self to evaluate experience. In this way, alienation occurs between the child's self and experience. When there is a conflict between experience and self, the individual will Feeling threatened, causing anxiety. When an individual has a premonition that experience is inconsistent with the self, the individual will use defense mechanisms (distortion, denial, selective perception) to process the experience so that it is consistent with the self at the level of consciousness. If the defense is successful, the individual will not have an adaptation disorder. If the defense fails, a psychological adjustment disorder will occur. The goal of Rogers' person-centered treatment is to remove the internalized part of the self that is not originally one's own, and find ways to Return to his own thoughts, emotions and behavior patterns, and in Rogers' words, "become himself" and "come out from behind the mask". Only such a person can give full play to his personal functions. The essence of humanism is to let people understand their own nature, no longer rely on external values, let people trust and rely on the body's evaluation process to process experience, eliminate the values ????imposed on him by the external environment through internalization, and let people can Freely express one's thoughts and feelings, determine one's own behavior by one's own will, control one's own destiny, repair damaged self-realization potential, and promote the healthy development of personality.

The contribution and limitations of the humanistic psychology school in the development of psychology

It opposes the psychoanalytic school that only uses sick people as research objects and regards people as victims of instinct. It also opposes The school of behaviorism that regards people as physical and chemical objects. He advocates studying issues that are meaningful to human progress and cares about human value and dignity.

Ignore the constraints and influence of the conditions of the times and social environment on human innate potential.

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Geneva

The Geneva School, also known as the Piaget School of Psychology, was founded and led by Piaget, a professor at the University of Geneva in Switzerland, an outstanding psychologist and philosopher.

Influenced by Kant.

Spirit of the times:

The concept of openness. The spirit of compatibility and need.

The contribution and limitations of the Geneva School in the development of psychology

The integration and development of psychological schools. Child Psychology.

Western scholars regard Piaget, Pavlov, and Freud as the three giants of contemporary psychology.

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Cognition

School of Psychology

Cognitive psychology began in the mid-1950s, developed rapidly after the 1960s, and was formally formed in 1967. The publication of the book "Cognitive Psychology" by the American psychologist Neisser in 1967 marked that cognitive psychology has become an independent school.

It has an inheritance relationship with Wundt psychology. Influenced by Gestalt psychology. It is the reaction of behaviorism.

Cognitive psychology can be divided into broad and narrow senses. Cognitive psychology in the broad sense refers to any study of people’s cognitive process, which belongs to cognitive psychology. Currently, it is usually referred to in Western psychology circles. Cognitive psychology refers to cognitive psychology in a narrow sense, also known as information processing psychology. It refers to using the perspective and terminology of information processing to study human cognition through analogies with computers, simulation, verification and other methods. It believes that human cognitive process is the process of receiving, encoding, storing, exchanging, operating, retrieving, extracting and using information, and summarizes this process into four system models: perception system, memory system and control system. systems and reaction systems. It emphasizes that a person's existing knowledge and knowledge structure play a decisive role in his behavior and current cognitive activities. Its most significant results are groundbreaking research in the fields of memory and thinking.

The basic view of modern cognitive psychology is to regard people as information transmitters and information processing systems.

It is proposed that there are three types of coding in short-term memory:

① Auditory coding is the phonological code;

②Visual coding is the graphic code;

③Semantic coding is meaning code.

It is believed that people divide things into three types of codes according to their various characteristics and store them in three different locations, and then the memory can be retrieved through three different ways: sound, shape and meaning.

Spirit of the times:

The rapid development of information technology. The study of computer intelligence.

Humanism

School of Psychology

Humanistic psychology is a psychology with unique Chinese characteristics. It believes that only the essential attributes of human beings, that is, the Only by starting from human nature can we correctly elucidate issues such as human psychological activities, psychological structure, psychological motivation, personality and its development, psychopathology, clinical psychological diagnosis and correction. Only by grasping human nature can we enter the palace of the human psychological world. Its representative figure is Professor Guo Nianfeng.

The main points are:

1. Human nature is a combination of three basic attributes.

2. Human psychological motivation is demand.

3. Personality is the concrete manifestation of human nature in individual people, and human nature is an abstraction of personality.

4. The connotation of human nature is constantly developing and changing.