u07_a01 History of The Three Major Schools of Psychology

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Running head: Three Major Schools of Psychology 1 Three Major Schools of Psychology Stephen Scott History and Modern Systems of Psychology Schools of Thought in Psychology Debate Capella University August 24, 2018

Three Major Schools of Psychology 2 Three Major Schools of Psychology Within the field of psychology there has long been a debate about which school of psychology is the most beneficial in treating patients with mental illness. The three major schools of thought in psychology are psychoanalysis, behaviorism, and humanism. Many psychologists will argue the value of each one. This paper will look at the history of each of these major schools of thought in psychology to gain a better understanding of the major concepts of each school and the major theorists that contributed to each school. This will give a better insight into the strengths and weakness of each school. Furthermore, this paper will apply research to a case study to determine how each school would treat the patient and which school would be most appropriate in their treatment. History of Psychoanalysis The history of psychoanalysis is vast and has many contributions to society and culture. The main person responsible for psychoanalysis becoming a new science in Psychology is Sigmund Freud. His discoveries of the mind are so influential to the science of psychology that he is considered as important as Einstein, Copernicus, Columbus and Darwin (Samuel, 2014). The father of psychoanalysis started his career as a medical student for the University of Vienna in 1873 and was inspired by his studies on Darwinism and his professor Franz Brentano so much that he decided to dedicate his professional life as a researcher of sciences (Benjamin, Jr., 2014). Once he was finished with his degree he sought out work with experts in the field of neurology. Around 1880, a researcher named Joseph Breuer spend time learning from Jean-Martin Charcot in Paris, about the treatment of patients suffering from hysteria through hypnotism (Samuel, 2014). After receiving training in treating hysteria Breuer decided to return home to Vienna and started treating his now famous patient Anna O. Per Benjamin (2014), “In 1880, Breuer

Three Major Schools of Psychology 3 began treating a young woman, given the case name of “Anna O.,” who, after the death of her father, to whom she was greatly attached, experienced problems such as headaches, partial paralyses, periods of overexcitement, visual disturbances, and loss of sensation. Other symptoms appeared later including multiple personalities, speech difficulties, bizarre hallucinations, and an inability to drink.” Breuer spent time talking with Anna about the reasons surrounding her inability to consume beverages and he found out that is was due to being repulsed by seeing a woman allow her dog to drink water from her glass (Benjamin, Jr., 2014). The process of retelling this story and explaining the emotion to Breuer had an effect of Anna being able to once again drink water. He came up with a theory called catharsis method and felt that the reason she was able to drink again was because she released her repressed feelings and once a feeling was let go of the symptoms vanish (Samuel, 2014). This work started to gain interest from Freud and led to him becoming a student of Breuer. Some historians feel that the science of psychoanalysis started after Breuer and Freud discussions about the success of treating patients by talking to them about what emotions they were experiencing at the time (Samuel, 2014). Freud would become interested in treating patients that were suffering from mental illness due to this exposure in his career. He was a pioneer in treating patients suffering from mental illness because he was more interested in what the reasons for the mental illness were rather than focusing on what its effects were on the person (Samuel, 2014). Freud developed many different theories on the mind during his time. His theory on neuroses can be largely contributed to the patients that he gave therapy to. He treated many women that suffered from hysteria and they had symptoms similar in nature to the case of Anna that Charcot treated years before (Benjamin, Jr., 2014). Anxiety, defense mechanisms, and childhood sexuality were the main points of his theory (Benjamin, Jr., 2014). It took him a few years to publish his ideas on treating mental illness because Freud was

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Three Major Schools of Psychology 4 meticulous about updating his theories and ensuring that they were ready for the public to hear. He discussed his work on chimney sweeping with his peers in 1893, at a meeting of the Vienna Neurological Society and it was not well received (Samuel, 2014). This would have been discouraging to most people, but Freud continued to research the mind. Since he was not assigned to work at a specific hospital he would typically use his personal home to discuss his theories beginning in 1902. (Samuel, 2014). This led to many students coming weekly to listen to his thoughts and think about ways to utilize his psychology in their own work. In 1909, his work gained the attention of Stanley Hall at Clark University in Massachusetts and he was given an honorary doctorate (Samuel, 2014). It took over another decade before his work would be published in English in 1920 and was the start of the new psychology gaining popularity in America (Samuel, 2014). His work has a huge influence on society in America. Freudian phrases and words from psychanalysis such as suppressed desire and ambivalent attitudes started to be talked about by the public and not just the scientific community (Samuel, 2014). It was also common to have intellectuals discussing how different figures in history might have used psychoanalysis to write play or books (Samuel, 2014). Even though many of Freud’s theories cannot be proven and have been discarded by the scientific community as only existing in speculation of case studies and not scientific method psychoanalysis can be given credit for expanding the field of clinical psychology (Benjamin, Jr., 2014). The fact that much of the scientific community could not produce scientific methods of psychoanalysis led to the rise of behaviorism in the United States. History of Behaviorism Many researchers during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s started conducting experiments dealing with the behaviors of animal subjects. Ivan Pavlov was one of the first scientists to study

Three Major Schools of Psychology 5 behavior in animals. He was interested in how a dog would produce saliva reflexively to the stimulus of food being presented to it (“The History of Psychology-Behaviorism and Humanism,”n.d.). Pavlov noted that the producing of saliva was an unconscious effect of the stimulus of food being brought to the dog and wanted to test if another stimulus could be partnered with the food such as the ringing of a bell to elicit the same effect. He would ring the bell each time he presented food to the dog and overtime he removed the stimulus of the food and was able to produce the reflex of saliva by just ringing the bell. In 1897, Pavlov would publish his results and the process was called classical conditioning (“The History of Psychology-Behaviorism and Humanism,”n.d.). This led other researchers to look at the study of behavior and a new science of psychology called behaviorism was created. Behaviorism was a scientific method in psychology that looks at objective ways to examine the relationship between stimulus and response. In 1913, John Watson was an influential psychologist in the United states that wrote an article called “Psychology as the behaviorist views it,” and this is what was basically the start of the behaviorism in America (“The History of Psychology- Behaviorism and Humanism,”n.d.). Watson had many concerned about psychoanalysis being a true science of psychology because consciousness was not able to be scientifically measured and was interested in looking how behaviors were learned and how they could be modified or controlled. While working at Johns Hopkins University in 1920, Watson conducted his most famous experiment on behavior with a rat and an infant named Albert. He worked with a white rat to create a fear in the infant Albert. At first the Albert had no fear of the white rat when Watson would place the rat near the infant (McLeod, 2017). Then he would start to create an extremely loud sound each time the rat was placed near Albert and this would cause the infant to cry and run away from the rat (McLeod, 2017). The important thing about this experiment is

Three Major Schools of Psychology 6 that it showed that behaviors can be learned or created through different stimulus. This work inspired other researchers to conduct their own experiments. B.F. Skinner was an American researcher that was interested in behavior consisting of reinforcement and punishment as the main reasons behind any behavior, also referred to as operant conditioning (“The History of Psychology-Behaviorism and Humanism,”n.d.). To study the effects of reinforcement and punishment Skinner created a special box known as a Skinner box. The way the Skinner box worked was to separate the subject, usually a rat, from their normal surroundings and have the rat push a button that would give either a positive reinforcement with food or a punishment by letting out a loud noise, and a small light that would be neutrally correlated with either the positive or negative reinforcement (“The History of Psychology-Behaviorism and Humanism,”n.d.). The method of operant conditioning is still used by modern psychologists to modify the behaviors of their patients. Even though the psychology of behaviorism and psychoanalysis were in control during the early 1900’s many psychologists were uneasy due to perceived negativity and not agreeing with the unconscious as the main force behind all actions that was conceived by Freuds theories (McLeod, 2017). Behaviorist theories were viewed too simplistic to explain all the actions that the human mind goes through (McLeod, 2017). This led to many psychologists looking at ideas that explored the personal control, intentions, and what was good to improve self-perception and behaviors (McLeod, 2017). These new ideas were the start of a new science of psychology called humanism. History of Humanism The psychologies of limited perspectives and negative views of psychoanalysis and behaviorism were the reason that many psychologists started to look at psychology and how it could be used to help humans reach their highest potential. The start of humanism can be traced

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Three Major Schools of Psychology 7 back to ancient Greece with the Greek tragedies showing humans being challenged by gods and other mythical creatures to emerge as heroes (Moss,2016). This view of humans having the potential to do great things with their lives and how to help them achieve this maximum potential is at the core of humanism. The pre-humanism movement began with the theories of Alfred Adler and his belief that humans do not behave the way they do just because of instincts but felt that people can create different behaviors by looking at their futures with determination (Moss,2016). For example, a person strives to become a psychologist and they ensure that their behaviors are in line with purposeful goals of learning psychology and they will achieve the desired behavior. Adler’s individual psychology was one of the first to break away from the theories of psychoanalysis and the libido being a purely sexual drive instead of one that drives all human goals (Benjamin, Jr., 2014). This split in thinking led to psychologists like Abraham Maslow to continue looking at the self and the person as the focal point for therapy. Maslow is considered the to be the father of humanism psychology because he combined many other views, theories, and research into a series of journals, seminars, and putting them into a formal collection (Moss,2016). He saw humanism psychology as a chance for psychology to focus on the entirety of humans who were in peak health and were not suffering from a mental illness (Moss,2016). He felt that many psychologies were too focused on people who were unhealthy mentally to look for reasons to explain human behavior or experience (Moss,2016). Instead he looked at how a human who was mentally and physically healthy would be able to explain human capability and by using empirical research methods he could study the person who had achieved self-actualization and compare how they lived their lives to show how other people could achieve the same in their own lives (Moss,2016). Humanism psychology also looks at how a person has free will to change their behaviors and make choices and this makes them

Three Major Schools of Psychology 8 unique from other animals who are mostly driven by their basic instincts to make decisions (McLeod, 2017). One type of therapy that emerged from this movement that can still benefit clients today is client-centered therapy. During the 1950’s Carl Roger’s developed his theories on client-centered therapy. Per Moss (2016), “ the conditions that define the core of his therapy are that (a) two persons are in emotional contact; (b) one of them, called the client, is troubled; (c) the other, called the therapist, shows genuineness and congruence in the relationship; (d) the therapist experiences and displays unconditional positive regard for the client; (e) the therapist achieves and expresses an empathic understanding of the client; and (f) the client perceives the genuineness, positive regard, and empathy of the therapist. Create these conditions, Rogers asserted, and the client will self-actualize in his or her own self-defined directions”. There are many psychologists that continue to embrace theories of Maslow in modern practice. These modern psychotherapists guide their clients to learn about themselves to gain an understanding of how to become the best human they can be (Moss, 2016). The client centered approach to therapy is beneficial to helping patients become self-actualized, but it will need to continue updating how it approaches the therapy to update techniques as more research is advanced in the other fields of psychology. Summary of Case Study There are many different case studies that can be looked at to gain a perspective on how each of the major schools in psychology can be applied. The case study deals with a woman who is 29 and single. She has spent her youth working towards scholastic goals. She has ensured that she is the top of her class through high school and college. This has helped her to attain the prestigious, but stressful position as a medical student for a huge hospital. This experience has started to become very demanding on her emotional stability. Since she is

Three Major Schools of Psychology 9 naturally critical of her self and how she performs at work and school making mistakes on the job can led her to view herself as unimportant and she feels guilt that she did not perform better in that situation. Talking to a therapist of psychologist would be helpful to this patient. Each of the three school of psychology could give insight on how to help this patient through specific therapy techniques. Case Study Related to Psychoanalysis The theories of psychoanalysis would look at the woman in the case study as suffering from hysteria. Hysteria is a condition that has been removed from the diagnoses of mental illness, but some researchers are still looking at it to exist in the 21 st century. The French psychoanalyst Charles Melman believes that hysteria is still a clinical issue and that it comes out in the form of depression and psychoses (Costa & Lang, 2016). The woman in the case study is suddenly experiencing feelings of unimportance that could be seen by a psychoanalyst as depression being caused by hysteria from working in such a high stress and demanding environment. Current researchers can look at how current societal and cultural changes have changed the way a patient suffering from hysteria might look in modern times from the way Freud and Charcot defined it years before (Costa & Lang, 2016). Freuds psychosexual theories could be used to explain why this woman is now suffering from hysteria or depression now in her twenties. Freud spent time dealing with more than 25 different patients suffering from hysteria that had all dealt with sexual disturbance in infancy and youth that were now manifesting in neuroses in adulthood (Benjamin, Jr., 2014). The way that a psychoanalyst could perform treatment on the patient in the case study is to begin learning as much about the underlying problems that might be causing her to exhibit these symptoms through hypnosis. The technique of hypnosis would allow the psychoanalyst the ability to find out information that

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Three Major Schools of Psychology 10 might be buried deep in the patients subconscious (Benjamin, Jr., 2014). Another way to help the patient would be to have the psychoanalyst spend the session asking the patient to talk about whatever was currently on their minds to find out if there were any concealed information in what they said that might give insight into what the patient was dealing with (Benjamin, Jr., 2014). For example, the patient might be asked to walk the psychoanalyst through a typical day of her life. She could explain her thoughts and feeling as she woke up in the morning, how she felt going to work, and how the events at work would make her feel at the time they happened. This would allow the psychoanalyst the ability to find what thoughts and actions might be causing the patient to feel worthless even though she has accomplished so much. By talking out her feelings and finding out why she has thought of worthlessness the patient will be aware and be allowed to change these thoughts before and as they are happening. Behaviorism Related to Case Study Behavioral therapy would be useful in treating the patient in the case study. The treatment of using behavioral therapy is different from most because it treats a patient’s neuroses with behavior modification techniques without the use of medication, physical treatment, and doesn’t involve talking to patient to find out information tracked in their subconscious (Rachman, 2015). Many psychoanalysts were worried that behavior therapy would cause the neurotic symptom to be replaced by another one, but surprisingly this was not the case as behavior therapy was not considered to be dangerous because of so many successfully treated patients (Rachman, 2015). The treatment of anxiety disorders has shown great success with behavioral therapy. British researcher Wolpe conducted tests on animals to create a method for diminishing fears in his patients (Rachman, 2015). This was accomplished by exposing the patients to the stimulus that was causing fear over and over in small doses and each time the

Three Major Schools of Psychology 11 patient would be instructed in techniques to relax during this fear response (Rachman, 2015). The woman in the case study is starting to exhibit fears of failure in her job. Since she has been a consistent top performer during her schooling and previous jobs, she has a difficult time adapting to making mistakes and not having the typical success that she is used to. This situation can create anxiety as she tries to perform future tasks at her job she might anticipate failing again. This type of anxiety can get worse over time as she becomes more anxious in her current role at work. The therapist in this situation could use cognitive behavioral therapy to work with the woman to expose her to making mistakes and failing in a controlled environment where she can then practice thinking about relaxing thoughts to calm herself down during the heightened period of anxiety (Rachman, 2015). This could help her learn how to change her thoughts during work, so she is more relaxed, and this would manage her anxiety, so she could perform to her maximum ability. The more that she goes through challenging tasks that she might fail at and succeed the less her anxiety will be overtime. Humanism Related to Case Study The woman in the case study would benefit from the person-centered therapy that was created out of humanism. This approach is much different from the therapies conducted through behaviorism and psychoanalysis. One of the biggest differences is that the patient is referred to as a client and they are ultimately in charge of ensuring they get the most out of therapy to improve their lives (McLeod, 2015). The client can accomplish positive changes in their life by figuring out what the problem they are dealing with is and what would be the best way to improve the situation (McLeod, 2015). The relationship between the therapist and client is much closer to friendship than in other therapies (McLeod, 2015). Another difference is in focusing on the present and future of the client’s life rather than trying to get them to come to terms or let go

Three Major Schools of Psychology 12 of the past (McLeod, 2015). The woman in the case study would spend time getting to know her therapist on a personal level and they would create a close friendship with each other. Once this trust was established the therapist could work on helping the client learn about how the world affect them and what their view of the world is (McLeod, 2015). This would have the benefit of increasing the woman’s self-worth by looking at how she has impacted the world around her (McLeod, 2015). Since she is a medical resident she could focus on looking at the future benefit that she will give to her patients as she successfully treats them, and this would help her to not feel as helpless or worthless when she does make a mistake. Summary and Conclusion In conclusion, the history of each of the major schools of psychology can give insight into the many different types of therapy and techniques that can be used to help their patient. Each school employs different thoughts on what the best way to help these patients would be. In psychoanalysis the patient might benefit from the therapist learning about past events that might have led to her current problems with feeling worthless. They would find out hidden things in the person’s subconscious by listening for cues as the patient talks about her typical day at work at the hospital. Behavioral therapy could show the patient how to deal with the feeling of failure by having her exposed to more situations that could potentially lead to her not accomplishing a task, but she would counter the anxiety of the failure by thinking about relaxing thoughts. The person-centered therapy would be the most beneficial out of the three schools of psychology. The way the therapist gains the trust of the client to create a friendship together would help the patient feel more self-worth each time she went to therapy because of gaining a new friend. The other major benefit of this therapy is the therapists focus on the future of the patient and their goal to help the patient become the best human they can be. The patient in the case study could

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Three Major Schools of Psychology 13 be continually reminded of the future benefit that she will perform on the many patients she will treat during her career with success that the present failures of her job will seem small in comparison.

Three Major Schools of Psychology 14 References Benjamin, Jr., L. T. (2014). A brief history of modern psychology (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley and Sons. Costa, D. S., & Lang, C. E. (2016). Hysteria today, why? Psicologia USP, 27 (1), 115. doi:10.1590/0103-656420140039 McLeod, S. A. (2017). Behaviorist approach . Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/behaviorism.html McLeod, S. A. (2015). Person centered therapy . Retrieved from: https://www.simplypsychology.org/client-centred-therapy.html Moss, D. (2015). The roots and genealogy of humanistic psychology. In K. J. SchneiderJ. F. Pierson & J. F. Bugental the handbook of humanistic psychology: Theory, research, and practice (pp. 3-18). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: 10.4135/9781483387864.n1 Rachman, S. (2015). The evolution of behaviour therapy and cognitive behavior therapy. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 64 , 1-8. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2014.10.006 Samuel, L. R., & ProQuest eBooks. (2013;2014;). Shrink: A cultural history of psychoanalysis in America . Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. The History of Psychology-Behaviorism and Humanism. (n.d.). Retrieved From: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/waymaker-psychology/chapter/reading behaviorism/

u07_a01 History of The Three Major Schools of Psychology

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