Impact of Applied and Behaviorist Psychology - Essay Example

This served to heighten the doubt, of the concept of consciousness psychology, to the extent that some psychologists doubted whether consciousness really existed. These were some of the basis, on which Angell based his opinion, that the concept of consciousness in psychology was almost becoming extinct, as did the concept of soul. The rise of the animal psychology is yet another reason as to why the concept of consciousness psychology was heading towards extinction (Simonton, 2002). The study of animal psychology raised the questions as to when one is supposed to attribute consciousness to an organism, creating an avenue through which the doubt on consciousness psychology was highly doubted and another school of thought in psychology eventually found its roots.

Thus, behaviorism eventually emerged as a dominant school in psychology, which has effectively remained so, throughout the 21st century. There were various ideas and individuals who can be credited with this transformation, which saw behavioral psychology, effectively replace consciousness psychology. The first major idea was that psychology is supposed to be a science of behavior and not of the mind (Sternberg, 2003). With this idea, the internal states of the mind such as beliefs, desires, and goals were denounced, effectively bringing to the end the era of consciousness psychology.

The other idea that is attributed to this change is the fact that the perception that consciousness psychology broke down the essence of psychology into basic elements, other than allowing it be studied as a whole. This led to the emergence of behavioral school of thought, which served to attribute every aspect of psychology to behavior, thus treating it as a whole (Simonton, 2002). The persons who are credited with this major transformation include John Watson, who instilled major changes in the perception and practices in the field of psychology.

He revolutionized psychology to become an objective branch of natural science, where he introduced the practice of experimentation and tests as the basis for objective psychology (Watson, 1913). He served to refute introspection as a method applicable in psychology, requiring the application of objective methods only, related to behavioral study. Another individual who can be attributed to this change is Ivan Pavlov, who carried out studies with dogs, to come up with the theory of classical conditioning (Simonton, 2002).

Henry Donaldson also undertook some studies with the rats, while Edward Lee worked with cats (Sternberg, 2003). These are the ideas and the persons who can be credited with carrying out the trend that Angell predicted. The development of Industrial Organizational psychology is part of this movement, in that it entails the study of the behaviors and attitudes of employees within an organization, which can lead to the success or the downfall of the organization (Simonton, 2002). Industrial Organizational psychology is the scientific study of the employees, their work places and organizations.

The industrial and organizational psychologists are a key part of industrial success, in that they contribute to the welfare of the people within their organizations, as well as their work places. Industrial Organizational psychology deals with how the attitudes and behaviors of the employees can be improved, through the process of employee recruitment, training, and development. This