To understand the basics of psychology you must first understand a short history of it and it's development....
Psychology part. I
.....psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental process
..........Behavior can be either covert of overt
...............covert behavior is internal private behavior
...............overt behavior is the external viewable behavior
People constantly make unsupported and unprovable observations such as but not limited to....
.........."Man cannot fly"[pre-kitty hawk]
.........."There is a God"
.........."There is no God"
Such observations should be avoided. Rather empirical evidence is preferred.
..........Empirical evidence is that which can be supported by observation, measurement, and experience.
A Short History of Psychology
Psychology started with ]Wilhelm Wundt' about 120 years ago, at least the true study of psychology. Wundt helped bring psychology away from philosophy, and is created with being the first to truly study psychology experimentally. Wundt also provoked the use of scientific study and introversion in order to answer psychological questions.
.....Wundt used stimuli, or any physical energy that is sensed by an organ, in order to create responses. He then gauged the responses through introspection, or looking inward and viewing ones own thoughts and feelings. This form of psychology was known as 'experimental self-observation'
Structuralism
......A man named Edward B. Tichner brought Wundts ideas over to the U.S. Tichner refered to Wundts ideas as structuralism. Structuralists believed everything was an element. Should you look at a pencil, its hue is an element , its weight, and anything else that can be perceived.
..........The problem arose when two structuralists met. Since their views were based on introspection, if they disagreed, neither could prove themselves right nor the other wrong.
Functionalism
.....Functionalists came about in order to understand how the mind functions and adopts to its specific environment.
..........Functionalists also played a major role in bringing animals into the world of psychology, as well as starting Educational and Industrial psychology.
Behavioralists
.....Behavioralists challenged those ideas of the Functionalists. Behaviorists rather put the limelight on the study of overt behavior.
...............Behaviorist John. B. Watson observed the relationship between stimuli, events in the environment, and the response in animals. After realizing that he could understand animals through this, without even the need to talk to them, he contemplated that this may also be true for humans. Watson applied Ivan Pavlov's concept of conditioning and used it to explain most behavior(conditional repsonses are those learned to be attached to any given stimuli)
.....Radical Behaviorists
..........B.F. Skin ner is a prime example. He reasoned all behavior could be simplified to stimuli and conditioning responses alone.
.....Cognative Behaviorism
..........A mixture of the two, it is used to explain behavior by considering some reactions to be those of behaviorism, and other to be that of cognitive thinking.
Gestalt Psychology
.....A school of psychology shool of thought that put weight on the study of thinking, learning, and perception. Ideas such as the fact that you can play a melody in any tune, and as long as the relationship between then notes are the same, that song will be recognizable. But if the relationship changes, for example you wait a day between each note, the song is unrecognizable.
...............There motto was "the whole is greater then the sum of its parts"
Psychoanalistic Psychology
.....Sigmund Freud, an Austrian doctor, was developing his own theory in 1895. His idea was that a humans mind also had an unconscience part to it. He reasoned these unconscious thoughts and urges greatly affected our behavior, especially that of sex and anger. These unconscious thoughts because they were threatening were banished and repressed, but they can sometimes peak out and be revealed in our dreams, emotions, and verbal mistakes.
...............(The 'Freudian slip' are often jokes, such as a late student saying "I'm sorry I couldn't get here any later.")
.....Freud is also credited with viewing childhood as greatly effecting adult personality, as well as creating the first talking science, psychoanalysis.
.....Though Frueds work is highly aclaimed, most of it was just the building blocks. Neo-Fruedian, are people who have taken Freuds basic ideas, yet added new ideals or changed others, most commonly they switch the pressure from sex and anger to social pressures and relationships.
...............famous neo-fruedians: Alfred Adler, Anna Freud, Korean Horney, Carl Jung, Otto Rank, Erik Erikson
.....Freuds main ideas have been changed around but they still are evident and live on psycodynamic theories
Humanism
.....A psychological approach thats foci is human experience, problems, potentials, and ideals. They reject the Freudian ideology and strongly disagree with the aura of determinism that is evident in Fruedian and Behaviorist views. Rather they promote free will, and the idea you control your own reactions. Humanists believe that one must constantly work to develop ones full potential through choices, they call this Self-Actualization.
Schools of psychology were once fierce competitors, todays psychologists instead are eclectic, and draw from all the schools. Still though there remain five main schools of thought.
..........cognative
..........humanistic
..........behavioristic
..........psycodynamic
..........biopsycological
Biopsycological wish to explain all forms of thought through the use of the brain and body mechanics
Cognative psychologists study human thinking, knowing, and understanding, and information processing.
Experimental psychology
--1875~ First psychological course offered by William James
--1878~ First American Ph.D in psychology awarded
--1879~ Wilhelm Wundt establishes first psychology laboratory in Germany
--1883~ First Amercian psychological lab founded at Johns Hopkins University
--1886~ First American psychological textbook published by John Dewy
Structuralism
--1898~ Edward Titchner advances psychology based on introspection
Psychoanalytic psychology
--1895~ Sigmund Freud publishes first studies
--1900~ Frued publishes The Interpretation of Dreams
Behaviorism
--1906~ Ivan Pavloc reports his research on conditioning
--1913~ John Watson presents behavioristic view
Gestalt psychology
--1912~ Max Wertheimer and others advance Gestalt viewpoint
Neo-Freudism
--1914~ Carl Jung breaks from Freud
From http://abeeda.com/index.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=4
Think I got most of the typos. there still are a few, like I saw shool instead of school when reading it but couldn't find it again. I corrected most of the major ones. If you notice some just tell me, otherwise I need to get back to work. One more thing, remember not to take anything I say as solid evidence, much of it is just my opinion on equivical evidence. I won't be spouting anything like Animcal Spirits in your face I hope, but still it is best to research the hard evidence yourself. I'll try to post the actual case reference from here out. Nothing in the above needed anything like that. Best of Luck
~capi crimm