Psychology refers to use of science to understand the mind and behavior. The development of this field of study has been due to contribution of several individuals. In this paper I will look on the contributions of Alfred Adler, B.F. Skinner, Abraham Maslow, Ivan Pavlov, Sigmund Freud, Wilson James, Erik Erikson and Solomon Asch in the growth of psychology.
Alfred Adler was born in Austria and lived between 1870 and 1937. In his early life he had health conditions that made his childhood to be full of inferiority. This made him to come up with the idea of inferiority complex, which according to him is as a result of feeling inadequacy due to real or imagined issues in life. He grouped his thought on inferiority as primary inferiority and secondary inferiority (GoodTherapy, 2015). Whereas, the latter occurs in adulthood due to challenges in meeting goals one has set to cover the feelings of inferiority complex one has felt since childhood, the primary inferiority occurs in early years and it is caused by social, intellectual, physical defects and psychological issues that leave the child helpless and can result to inferiority complex.
Alfred is well known for his contribution in the development of individual psychology. He believed the formation of a personality was more influenced by the feelings. The actions of a person according to Alfred are as a result of what people make a person to feel or the things a person goes through in life or enters the world with. His theory indicates that every person has inferiority complex of which he or she spends a good time working to overcome. According to Alfred the individuals with inferiority feelings can be helped to overcome them through working on their unconscious (GoodTherapy, 2015). Alfred categorized personalities as; learning type, avoiding type, dominating types and socially useful types. His psychology helps the first three groups, whom he believed had mental problems, to be socially responsible.
B.F. Skinner was from Pennsylvania and lived between 1904 to 1990. He is known in the field of psychology for his contribution in what he used to call radical behaviorism. Among his works are Operant Conditioning using reinforcement schedules, that states that a behavior can be changed by factors like reinforcements through rewards and it can also be altered by punishment. In his works the idea of self will was regarded as an illusion (GoodTherapy, 2015).
The major invention of Skinner is the Skinner box, which is a device that uses operant conditioning to manipulate behavior. The idea of operant is very useful today in the fields like mental health care, education and in training of dogs. The works of Skinner added a lot in the growth of experimental psychology (GoodTherapy, 2015).
Sigmund Freud lived between 1856 and 1939. His major contribution was in the development of psychoanalysis. This concept states that all people possess unconscious mind that house thoughts, desires, memories and feelings. Sigmund discovered that it is in the unconscious mind where repressed emotions, unexpressed desires resides and he came up with an idea of letting the patient talk as a therapy of their problems (Verywellmind, 2021). Talk therapy or psychotherapy utilizes the idea that talking of issues that are bothering a person relieves distress.
Apart from talk therapy Sigmund also played a role in the development of stages of psychosexual that are used in child development. He believed that a child must complete a stage in order to proceed to the next stage and if a stage is not completed it will result to a problem in adulthood. He also came up with the concepts of dream interpretation as way of understanding an individual consciousness and personality and the concept defense like forgetting one’s problems and projection. His work acknowledges that not all mental issues can be traced by physiology and cultural differences affects behavior.
Ivan Pavlov was a Russian Physiologist who lived between 1849 and 1936. His major contribution in psychology is the classical conditioning which is accepted in several cultures. Ivan discovered that a behavior can be formed by conditioning the stimulus. He carried out his experiments with the digestive functionality of a dog. He knotted that dogs would salivate when food was delivered. He came up with an idea of ringing a bell before delivering food to dogs. Once, the dogs were used to the sound of a bell which was followed by food they could start to salivate. This happened even in situations that had no food.
The idea of conditioning played a great role in development of behaviorism. The idea shows how for example individuals can develop fear. It is possible for individuals for instance who have found themselves trapped in places or situations they cannot escape to develop fear while they find themselves in such situation though not trapped. The concept is very useful in understanding behaviors portrayed by individuals.
Abraham Maslow was a psychologist who was born in America and lived between 1908 and 1970. Unlike other psychologists who concentrated on understanding strange behaviors, Maslow focused on growth of a healthy society. Although, human needs are not satisfied in a step by step order Maslow contributed a lot in psychology by coming up with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in which he classified human needs in five groups. That is, physiological that are majorly basic needs, safety that entails good health, financial security and protection from wars, belonging that includes being part of a community and enjoying family, friends and partners love, esteem which entails self-confidence and acceptance, and self-actualization which is ability to use one’s potential fully.
The Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is important in psychology in that if these needs are not met or realized individuals are likely to develop mental related illnesses. For example, if the basic needs are not met which are at the bottom of the hierarchy individuals will either die or become ill. The same to other levels, stress, depression and anxiety await those who cannot meet them.
Erik Erikson was born in German on 1902 and rested on 1994. He is remembered in psychology for psychosocial development theory, in which he believed people go through eight stages and each stage has its own crisis that must be solved in order to develop specific psychological quality of that stage. These stages develop qualities like hope, will and determination, sense of purpose and competency, relationships, raising a family and integrity. The opposite is also true in that those who experience negativity develop mistrust, shame, doubts, guilt, inferiority, isolation, despair and the like.
William James is regarded as the father of American psychology. He was born in New York on 1842 and died on 1910. His theoretical contribution to psychology are; functionalism that considers the whole event including the impact of the environment to the behavior. James Lange Theory of Emotion suggests that an event activates a physiological reaction that is then interpreted. Pragmatism which says that the truth of an idea is beyond proof.
Solomon Asch was born in Poland on 1907 and lived up to 1996. He contributed a lot in social psychology through his experiments on prestige suggestion, impression formation and conformity. Asch believed that characteristics that identifies a person are related and they borrow from impression formation. He also found that people are prone to conforming to social setting and this can make people to harm each other. Lastly he found that people tend to conform to the will of people who have high prestige and this is the concept that makes propaganda to be effective.
In conclusion, these individuals though some of their works raises issue of debate, they did play a great role in shaping modern day psychology. Some of their concept are still accepted across cultures and are a source of help in health care especially mental health, education and in other fields like politics and sociology.
Alfred Adler was born in Austria and lived between 1870 and 1937. In his early life he had health conditions that made his childhood to be full of inferiority. This made him to come up with the idea of inferiority complex, which according to him is as a result of feeling inadequacy due to real or imagined issues in life. He grouped his thought on inferiority as primary inferiority and secondary inferiority (GoodTherapy, 2015). Whereas, the latter occurs in adulthood due to challenges in meeting goals one has set to cover the feelings of inferiority complex one has felt since childhood, the primary inferiority occurs in early years and it is caused by social, intellectual, physical defects and psychological issues that leave the child helpless and can result to inferiority complex.
Alfred is well known for his contribution in the development of individual psychology. He believed the formation of a personality was more influenced by the feelings. The actions of a person according to Alfred are as a result of what people make a person to feel or the things a person goes through in life or enters the world with. His theory indicates that every person has inferiority complex of which he or she spends a good time working to overcome. According to Alfred the individuals with inferiority feelings can be helped to overcome them through working on their unconscious (GoodTherapy, 2015). Alfred categorized personalities as; learning type, avoiding type, dominating types and socially useful types. His psychology helps the first three groups, whom he believed had mental problems, to be socially responsible.
B.F. Skinner was from Pennsylvania and lived between 1904 to 1990. He is known in the field of psychology for his contribution in what he used to call radical behaviorism. Among his works are Operant Conditioning using reinforcement schedules, that states that a behavior can be changed by factors like reinforcements through rewards and it can also be altered by punishment. In his works the idea of self will was regarded as an illusion (GoodTherapy, 2015).
The major invention of Skinner is the Skinner box, which is a device that uses operant conditioning to manipulate behavior. The idea of operant is very useful today in the fields like mental health care, education and in training of dogs. The works of Skinner added a lot in the growth of experimental psychology (GoodTherapy, 2015).
Sigmund Freud lived between 1856 and 1939. His major contribution was in the development of psychoanalysis. This concept states that all people possess unconscious mind that house thoughts, desires, memories and feelings. Sigmund discovered that it is in the unconscious mind where repressed emotions, unexpressed desires resides and he came up with an idea of letting the patient talk as a therapy of their problems (Verywellmind, 2021). Talk therapy or psychotherapy utilizes the idea that talking of issues that are bothering a person relieves distress.
Apart from talk therapy Sigmund also played a role in the development of stages of psychosexual that are used in child development. He believed that a child must complete a stage in order to proceed to the next stage and if a stage is not completed it will result to a problem in adulthood. He also came up with the concepts of dream interpretation as way of understanding an individual consciousness and personality and the concept defense like forgetting one’s problems and projection. His work acknowledges that not all mental issues can be traced by physiology and cultural differences affects behavior.
Ivan Pavlov was a Russian Physiologist who lived between 1849 and 1936. His major contribution in psychology is the classical conditioning which is accepted in several cultures. Ivan discovered that a behavior can be formed by conditioning the stimulus. He carried out his experiments with the digestive functionality of a dog. He knotted that dogs would salivate when food was delivered. He came up with an idea of ringing a bell before delivering food to dogs. Once, the dogs were used to the sound of a bell which was followed by food they could start to salivate. This happened even in situations that had no food.
The idea of conditioning played a great role in development of behaviorism. The idea shows how for example individuals can develop fear. It is possible for individuals for instance who have found themselves trapped in places or situations they cannot escape to develop fear while they find themselves in such situation though not trapped. The concept is very useful in understanding behaviors portrayed by individuals.
Abraham Maslow was a psychologist who was born in America and lived between 1908 and 1970. Unlike other psychologists who concentrated on understanding strange behaviors, Maslow focused on growth of a healthy society. Although, human needs are not satisfied in a step by step order Maslow contributed a lot in psychology by coming up with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in which he classified human needs in five groups. That is, physiological that are majorly basic needs, safety that entails good health, financial security and protection from wars, belonging that includes being part of a community and enjoying family, friends and partners love, esteem which entails self-confidence and acceptance, and self-actualization which is ability to use one’s potential fully.
The Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is important in psychology in that if these needs are not met or realized individuals are likely to develop mental related illnesses. For example, if the basic needs are not met which are at the bottom of the hierarchy individuals will either die or become ill. The same to other levels, stress, depression and anxiety await those who cannot meet them.
Erik Erikson was born in German on 1902 and rested on 1994. He is remembered in psychology for psychosocial development theory, in which he believed people go through eight stages and each stage has its own crisis that must be solved in order to develop specific psychological quality of that stage. These stages develop qualities like hope, will and determination, sense of purpose and competency, relationships, raising a family and integrity. The opposite is also true in that those who experience negativity develop mistrust, shame, doubts, guilt, inferiority, isolation, despair and the like.
William James is regarded as the father of American psychology. He was born in New York on 1842 and died on 1910. His theoretical contribution to psychology are; functionalism that considers the whole event including the impact of the environment to the behavior. James Lange Theory of Emotion suggests that an event activates a physiological reaction that is then interpreted. Pragmatism which says that the truth of an idea is beyond proof.
Solomon Asch was born in Poland on 1907 and lived up to 1996. He contributed a lot in social psychology through his experiments on prestige suggestion, impression formation and conformity. Asch believed that characteristics that identifies a person are related and they borrow from impression formation. He also found that people are prone to conforming to social setting and this can make people to harm each other. Lastly he found that people tend to conform to the will of people who have high prestige and this is the concept that makes propaganda to be effective.
In conclusion, these individuals though some of their works raises issue of debate, they did play a great role in shaping modern day psychology. Some of their concept are still accepted across cultures and are a source of help in health care especially mental health, education and in other fields like politics and sociology.
