Contemporary theories in psychology based on philosophical assumptions - Essay Example

Contemporary theories in psychology Contemporary theories in psychology The idea of incorporating philosophy and philosophical assumptions in contemporary psychology may be vague. However, it is difficult, almost impossible to distance philosophical assumptions from psychology, in that these assumptions are the basis of critical thinking, allowing the modern day psychologists to analyze and apply logic, while developing their psychological theories (Sternberg, Roediger, & Halpern, 20007). Worth noting, is the fact that contemporary psychologists have deserted the tradition of aligning their psychological theories to a given school of thought, rather incorporating the aspects of many schools of thoughts, in developing and realizing their psychological perspective.

With this in mind, then it becomes difficult for such psychologists to ignore the philosophical assumptions as underlined in various schools of thoughts, as this forms the basis of their critique of the already existing theories and psychological viewpoints, to generate a new perspective (Sternberg, Roediger, & Halpern, 20007). Most psychological theories are developed, by applying the philosophical assumptions as the main idea, which psychologists validate logically to give rise to the contemporary psychological theories.

Philosophical assumptions serve as the basis of conceptualizing and critically analyzing ideas for the psychologists (Sternberg, Roediger, & Halpern, 20007). The implication of these philosophical assumptions, through the application of logic, helps the psychologists to build on and validate ideas, eventually generating a psychological theory that can be empirically tested such as Pythagoras theorem. Thus, philosophical assumptions are the basis of critical thinking for contemporary psychologists, who has first to understand the underlying assumptions regarding their area of interest, then develop alternative assumptions and ideas, giving rise to new contemporary theories, such as the Anaximenes (Sternberg, Roediger, & Halpern, 20007).

ReferencesSternberg, R.J., Roediger, H.L., & Halpern, D.F. (Eds.). (2007). Critical thinking in psychology. New York: Cambridge University Press.