History of Phychology - Essay Example

History of Psychology 333 Dec 16th, 09 History of Psychology The current paper illustrates as to why and how the history of psychology serves to be a unifying field in studying the development of psychology. It traces a history of events inspired by Galton to measure intelligence. The latter part discusses the perpetuation of racist attitudes in the western societies and sheds light on how psychological research. The last part looks at the dilemma of the minorities and women in the nineteenth century - a time when gender and racist biased barred many from higher education in psychology. . Question 1: History of psychology - a unifying force: When looking at the history of psychology, all its advances and drawbacks, it's easy to see why this is a highly fragmented field of study. Most of the greatly noted psychologists seem to advance their field of study only by ignoring and denying all other possibilities. This is cause for concern since most of these people seemed to wage conflict upon each other (3). If one would look at the whole history in its entire context, however, one would realize these conflicts of yesterday should be seen as a reason to unify today. The answer seems obviously clear, without looking at the whole picture it is easy to overlook something or come to false conclusions. Today these theorists seem childish because of their rivalries, going so far to prove their theory was right they would stretch reality just to make it fit their created ideas while ignoring the ideas of others even where it could easily explain where their theory lacked. A great example of this would be the subject of how humans gain knowledge. Many have claimed it would be through instinct, or learning, or our surroundings. Each theory stood out with strengths and weaknesses but by studying the whole history of these conflicts we can see that the weaknesses of some theories are covered by the strengths of others. This idea should indeed prove to be unifying since it teaches us very well that we must look at each problem from several points of view or else the answer to its question may always be too far out of reach. Question 2: Measurement of intelligence: Modern foundations for the psychologist's efforts to measure human intelligence took place mainly in the 1800's. It was during this time that Francis Galton, a man who was greatly influenced by Charles Darwin, discovered the classic argument of 'nature verses nurture' and was the first to utilize survey as a method for data collection. He was greatly interested in studying the variations in human ability and was convinced that superior qualities were passed down from parent to offspring through heredity. Through this he coined the term 'eugenics' and believed the human race could be improved through controlling the attributes received from parent to child (3). Further along in history and we have great minds such as Wilhelm Wundt who is often referred to as the 'Founder of Modern Psychology'. A man who made great advances in the field of Experimental Psychology. Wundt created the tool of introspection and used it in order to gain a further understanding of the human mind and how it reacted and experienced different stimuli (3). Charles Spearman, one of Wundt's students, also had a great impact on the efforts to measure human intelligence as he became the known as the father of the classical test theory. Spearman suggested that intelligence is generated by a single quality which he named the 'general factor'. He was able to demonstrate that scores on all mental tests could be correlated through a set of variables. This test continues to be one of the most popular tools in current intelligence research (3). On a separate front, L.L. Thurstone later confronted Spearman's 'general factor' with his own 'theory of primary mental abilities. This theory stated that, instead of intelligence coming from one main ability, it came from seven separate ones. The seven abilities including: word fluency, verbal comprehension, spatial visualization, number facility, associative memory, reasoning, and perceptual speed. These new advancements helped shape new IQ tests which looked at the variety of human knowledge (1). Today one of the more notable psychologists focused on human intelligence is Carol Deck currently a professor at Stanford University. Her current studies involve how a person's perceived intelligence affects their behavior. She states that one can view intelligence as either something that is constant and cannot be changed or something that can be added to through the effort of the individual. Depending on what the individual believes their chances at achieving their goals at academics can be either high or impossible (4). Question 3: Evidence of racism: The history of racism in the western society dates back to when the Europeans first came to know the people of the African descent. The Whites then didn't spare a moment to conclude that the Blacks were physically and psychologically inferior to them. Such a bias continues to corrupt the western societies hitherto. The manifestation of this often results in the Blacks represented as socially, economically and intellectually depressed beings. Compared to them the White lot was viewed as the carriers of the superior genotype and thus qualitatively better humans (2). Robert V. Guthrie accounts for this observation in terms of psychological inferences and explanations. In doing so he firmly asserts the role of psychological treatments causing to keep the issue alive. He believes much of the methods applied in psychology for analysis and interpretations drawn from it are in many ways meant to degrade one human form to upgrade the status of the other. For long the European and the white North American scientist have advocated Galton's social Darwinism thus driven by that the white psychologists are more inclined towards treating their samples discriminately. Often using the terms like poor as synonyms to the blacks and generally starting with the assumption of them belonging to the lower rungs of the social ladder (2). He further elaborates on the fact that the observations in such experiments were in many instances, not obtained from homogeneous samples. Such as the whites belonging to middle class with access to good quality of life would be compared to poor blacks having little or no availability of facilities. This, Guthrie argued, naturally yielded a flawed perception of the blacks' humanistic abilities while reinforcing the incorrect notion of the white superiority (2). Guthrie also demonstrates the role of I.Q testing in this perspective. He provides that the tests of intelligence were meant to address intelligence according to a particular cultural framework that was designed to give the white and advantage over the blacks. Therefore the whites did well while the blacks lagged behind culminating in the flawed conclusion of the psychological and cognitive abilities of the blacks and keeps racism a burning issue (2). Question 4: Barriers to higher education: Until the advent of the experimental and applied psychology, the history of psychology generally lacked contributions by the minority and women psychologists. A large part of the reason was the very obstacles these demographic groups faced by the mainstream white psychologists. The women rejection to higher education continued in the nineteenth century despite the foundations of women colleges and coeducational institutions. The reasons for this were mostly subjected to women mind as inferior to men, higher education being harmful to women and not basically intended for, these ideas culminated in the widely held movement of the social exclusion of women from colleges and institutes of higher education by introducing quota system to limit the number. In addition the contributions of the women in field were rarely acknowledged in an attempt to create general discontent among the population for further pursuits. (2) Kenneth Clarke and Mamie were the rarest Afro - American psychologists who were able to prosper in a time when the minorities faced much the similar barriers as women in obtaining higher education during the nineteenth century .Their rejection mainly revolved around the racist attitude and a general presumption of the lower under developed cognitive abilities which alienated their access to institutes of higher education (2). Conclusion Drawing the conclusion it is possible to use the many historical disagreements among pioneering psychologist to the advantage of the development of the field by unifying them for a singular purpose. Such as the several approaches in measuring intelligence. It is also noted that the relation of psychology in instigating racist attitudes is certain much owing to the methodology adopted by the European and White North American psychologists. Such racism was at one time heightened with its manifestation resulting in creating obstacle for the minority and women to obtain higher education in psychology. Bibliography 1. Benjamin, L.T. (2007) A Brief History of Modern Psychology. Malden MA, U.S: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2. Guthrie, R.V. (1998/2004) "Even the Rat was White" A Historical View of Psychology.USA: Allyn and Bacon. 3. Leahey, T. (2004). A History of Psychology: Main Currents in Psychological Thought. (6th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall. 4. Human Intelligence: biographical outlines: Carol S. Dweck. Retrieved December 15, 2009, from: http://www.indiana.edu/intell/dweck.shtml. Read More